Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Oooh, what about this one?"

Davey jolted in response to the laptop that had just been thrust in front of his face. Blinking a few times, he started to read over the advertisement that Jack had so gracefully presented him with. He looked back and forth from Jack to the screen with an expression that could only be described as resigned bafflement. "Jack, this is a job listing for rap producers."

Jack's eyebrows furrowed for a brief moment before he gave a grand smile. "Of course it is, Dave! 'M just keeping you on your toes."

Davey rolled his eyes in response to the obviously fake explanation, trying to keep the fond smile off his face. He rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration as he considered their current predicament. He turned to his right to face Jack, who instead of sitting across from Davey at their shared desk, was currently rolling around the room in his desk chair.

"Jack," he said in the same tone that always meant he was currently pondering something. Jack hummed absentmindedly, no doubt scrolling through more job listings, informing Davey that at least he was somewhat listening. "If we're both extremely accomplished NYU graduates, why will no one give us a job?"

"They clearly just don't understand our genius." Jack replied with his typical smug grin, before looking up and noticing the clearly unamused look Davey was giving him. "Uh, but maybe we 'oughta try some other methods? Instead of just looking for jobs, maybe we could make some ads of our own." He amended, trying to come up with a response to make Davey feel a bit better.

Davey let out a dramatic sigh as he dropped his forehead onto the desk. "Maybe…" he said half-heartedly. "but there's no guarantee that people would see it, and we don't exactly have the budget for marketing." Jack didn't say anything in response, but Davey knew that it just meant he was thinking about an alternative. Davey picked at his cuticles as he considered more possibilities.

"Shit, Dave. This could be it.. Look at this!" Davey was almost knocked out of his seat as Jack unintentionally rammed his chair into him in his excitement. He chuckled as Jack shoved the clutter off of Davey's desk to make room for the laptop (what can he say, he's a writer), which he slammed down with a bit more force than was really necessary. Davey read through the first page of the ad and could practically feel Jack buzzing with excitement beside him.

Looking for Producers:

Indie Musician Katherine Plumber is in need of producers to write a commercial jingle for her new product. Follow the instructions below to apply for the job.

"You might just be right, did you read the rest?" Davey said raising his eyebrows and smiling at the excitement visible on Jack's face.

"Nah, but I figured we could go over it together."

"Ok, so it says here that we can sign up for an interview with her agents. To apply though, we need to compose a tune for a product targeted towards teen girls…" Davey explained, scanning through the attached document that held the rest of the info. Momentarily glancing behind himself at Jack, who was currently leaning over Davey's shoulder and reading with him. "They're looking for people with experience in various types of music, can work with different mediums, and are willing to write lyrics."

"Well what do ya know! Doesn't that describe us perfectly?" Jack pointed out, before barreling on without waiting for a response. "We can do that easy-peasy, and we'll get the job no doubt. This could be our shot!"

Davey stood up and started pacing the length of their small office. "We do fit the criteria… but, the instructions are really vague. And we don't know anything about teenage girls." he started pointing out, "And, do you know anything about Katherine Plumber? I've barely listened to her music."

He was torn from his questioning by Jack grabbing his shoulders and shaking him, and Davey squinted suspiciously at the mischievous gleam in his eyes. "Dave. Davey. David." affronted by the unusual use of his name, Davey opened his mouth with a rebuttal, but was quickly stopped. "Ay, those are just specifics. Listen, we can work with those instructions, we had professors who gave us less to work with. And I'm sure Medda could help us out if we called. Plus, we can do some research into this lady. We'll be fine."

Davey pursed his lips, mentally running through the pros and cons of this situation. But as Jack stared at him with that fierce determination in his eyes that Davey loved so much, he found it hard to come up with any negatives at all.

He made one last attempt at convincing himself that this was a terrible idea, before deciding that it was an irrelevant variable, and promptly nodding his head. "Fine, we'll-" he started in a serious tone, before being cut off by Jack's gremlin-like laugh that always made an appearance alongside him getting what he wanted. He shook his head and sighed, laughing as Jack did the stupidest victory dance that he had ever seen.

"Y'know, you're awful lucky that you have such a good friend that puts up with your shenanigans, Jack." Davey prodded, wearing a look of faux disappointment on his face.

Jack just gave him his unfairly endearing—partially due to its lopsidedness—grin, "You know you love me." he correctly pointed out, reaching up to put his arm around Davey's shoulder.

Davey jokingly scoffed in response, lightly elbowing jack in the stomach. Jack threw his forearm in front of his face, before dramatically collapsing back into his chair. "You wound me Dave! I bare my soul to you, and you reject me!" he proclaimed, failing to keep the giggles out of his speech.

"Well don't let me stop you," Davey said with his hands on his hips, imitating his mom whenever she was scolding him. "You have a jingle to get to work on, don't you Jackie?"

"Woah woah woah, somebody's forgetting that we have a jingle to work on." Davey watched as Jack quite obviously had just gotten a chaotic idea. "I ain't doin' this without my partner." Jack reminded in his carefully perfected—but still ridiculous—southern accent.

Davey's face dropped in horror. "Oh no- not the cowboy phase. Jackie I can't do that again." he said with a blank stare, suddenly bombarded with flashbacks of Jack's intense cowboy obsession back in sophomore year of college. It had been 3 months filled with a crappy southern accent, Davey being forced into watching countless old western movies, and Jack insisting they try activities like bull riding. Davey shook his head and blinked rapidly, attempting to rid himself of the painful memory.

"I don't know how you put up with that one. Honestly, pretty impressive." Jack relinquished, returning to his thick Manhattan accent.

"You got lucky, I had the roommate switch form already filled out when you finally dropped it." Davey teased, though he would never really consider leaving. "Do you think we should get to work on the jingle though?"

"Oh! yeah, I completely forgot, any ideas?"

"Not one, you wanted to do this, you must have one, right?"

"Absolutely not." Jack replied with confidence. They stared at each other for a minute, before both devolving into giggles.

Chapter Text

"Jack! Why is your stuff everywhere?!" Davey yelled from across their small office as he was frantically shoving Jack's things into cabinets.

"My stuff is everywhere? Have you seen your part of the desk?" Jack looked up from his laptop in bafflement, gesturing to the chaotic mess of papers and notebooks that was Davey's half of the desk.

"Well yes but-" Davey paused to take a deep breath. He really needed to calm down, the interview was in 10 minutes and he couldn't have a panic attack in that amount of time, he would officially have to postpone that until later. "My stuff, is clearly confined to just my side of the desk. Your stuff, however, is sprawled across the whole room." Davey argued, pointing to the pile of miscellaneous trinkets of Jack's that he had to pile into a bucket.

He's reminded of their freshman year of college, and he wonders if maybe them procrastinating on cleaning has become a habit. It was the end of second semester, and both of them had procrastinated on packing up their things. On move-out day, they were both running around the apartment desperately throwing things in boxes, not paying attention to whose it was. They were moving into an apartment together anyways, it didn't really matter as long as they got the stuff packed. It was actually this apartment/office that they were preparing to move into.

"Dave, we can worry about that afta the interview. You already made sure that the part of the room that will be on camera is clean, so why do you need to worry about the rest? Just focus on calmin' down. You're gonna be fine." he pointed out, surprising Davey at the fact that he was being the voice of reason for once.

Davey shut his eyes and pulled lightly at his hair, trying to get himself to calm down. When that didn't work, he decided he would have to resort to his back-up plan: letting Jack distract him. "What are you working on, anyways? you're very…. erratic." he noticed that Jack was much more chaotic than normal—despite what one would assume, Jack was actually very tidy when it came to their work, Davey was the one that was a disorganized mess—glancing from his laptop to his notebook to his bass at a rate that was surely too fast to be getting anything done.

"Just, trying to make sure I ain't missing anything, I don't wanna mess this up. I'm uh, very…" he looked up at the ceiling as if he was trying to remember the right word.

"Scattered?" Davey offered.

"Uhh yeah that." Davey decided that whether or not their room was clean was not going to matter if Jack was too nervous to remember what he needed to be doing.

"Jack, we've rehearsed the song a hundred times, you have it memorized. You have nothing to worry about, it sounds perfect. Like you said, we're gonna be fine." Davey reassured. He understood Jack's anxiety, they hadn't found out that they would have to play the jingle live until two days ago, and that added a lot more stress. Still, Jack was a great composer and bassist, the song really was perfect.

Jack looked at his notebook briefly before shutting it, and it was like a switch flipped. He leaned back in his seat and Davey narrowed his eyes at the shit-eating grin on his face. "Why, I don't know what you're talking 'bout Dave. I said you were gonna be fine, I ain't said nothing about me being fine."

Davey was practically flabbergasted. How in the world could Jack go from nervous breakdown to his usual smartass self in seconds? Jack never failed to mystify him. he gave Jack the most deadpan stare he could muster, before muttering "asshole." and turning to sit at the keyboard. He did his best not to smile at Jack's mock-offended gasp.

Davey turned back around as Jack messily shoved his things into a drawer. He watched in curiosity as his friend stood up, started bouncing up and down, and shook his arms and head. When he caught Jack's eyes, he raised a questioning eyebrow, only to be met with "What? I gotta turn on the classic Jack Kelly charm."

Davey elected to ignore the easy grin that had found its way onto Jack's face in favor of rehearsing his piano part. He wasn't much for playing instruments, but they had both decided that it would be ideal if Davey could at least learn piano, plus he had a knack for it anyways. Jack was the one who composed and played all of the instruments, and Davey wrote lyrics and sampled vocals. But there were times where Jack needed to be able to hear multiple parts at once, so he would make the drums a backing track, Jack would play bass, and Davey piano.

"Ooooh, Dave, Dave, when do you think I should work in some magic?" Jack asked half-jokingly.

Now Davey knew his friend was not in fact a magician, so he would much rather that type of magic—or any type, for that matter—not be part of their interview. "Maybe never." he answered with a huff. He had to actually turn away from Jack because he pulled the most comically adorable puppy-eyes known to man, and Davey really didn't need to deal with that right now.

He figured that maybe it wasn't the most ideal circumstance in the world to not be able to say no to his best friend if he pulled a certain look, but hey, what can you do? He was lurched from his derailed train of thought when he was hit in the head by a flying pen. Before he could even turn around to question why that was necessary he was interrupted. "You were playin' Undertale again, Dave."

Oh. That makes sense. Occasionally, when Davey gets distracted and is sitting at the keyboard, he absent-mindedly started playing the same eight-note sequence over and over again. It had become a habit at this point, and he glared at his hands like it was their fault. He turned to the clock and saw that they only had a few minutes left, so he figured they should get ready. "Jack, you ready?"

Instead of an answer, Davey was graced with a thumbs up. He waited for Jack to set up his stool beside him, and Davey decided that he should probably go over one last thing. "And Jack, if they give us notes, don't be rude."

"Gasp, I am lovely, Dave. I'm crushed that you would ever think that of me."

"No, you're- wait did you just say 'gasp' out loud…?"

"Ohhh, look, Crutchie's calling! Better answer that."

Davey decided to let whatever the hell that was go and pay attention to their agent, Crutchie, who was setting up the interview. They said a few quick thank yous before they were officially in the call with their reviewers.

On the screen in front of them was an older man wearing a plain grey suit. His first thought was that he looked a bit bland to be working for an indie musician, and his second thought was that maybe he and Jack should've dressed a bit nicer than their jeans and t-shirts.

"Hello, gentlemen. I am Nigel Snyder. I will be your interviewer for today. And you two are Jack Kelly and David Jacobs, correct?"

Davey decided that in case they did get the job, he should probably tell him that he goes by Davey. "Davey, please." He nodded, though somewhat disdainfully, and seemed to pull out some type of forms or papers.

"So, your resume states that you are both NYU graduates? Could you please give me some details on that? Your resumes weren't the clearest."

"Uh yes, we both graduated in May of this year. I got a bachelor degree in English and in creative writing." Davey's initial plan when he had first started in college wasn't actually producing, it was to be a writer. But when his roommate brought up the possibility of them working together at some point during sophomore year, he decided that it seemed like a more enjoyable profession anyways. Plus, he was still writing, anyways.

"And I got my bachelors degrees in music theory and music production." Jack added. He had gone into college with producing in mind. However, he hadn't planned on Davey joining him.

"Alright then, now what do each of you do, in this duo?" Hm, Davey was sure that they listed that on their resume, but Mr. Snyder could've just missed it. It was definitely on there though…

"I compose the music and play the instrumentals, and Dave writes lyrics and samples vocals." Davey was grateful that Jack supplied that answer, because he was distracted by the question itself.

"So David," Davey had to kick Jack under the view of the camera because he could just feel that Jack was about to correct Mr. Snyder. "It seems that Jack here does most of the heavy lifting, what do you bring to the table?" Davey just blinked at him. That was not a question he was expecting to receive, nor was it a question he had even considered before. As he was wracking his brain to think of something to say, Jack spoke up.

"Hey, Dave brings plenty to the table. He writes great lyrics, which I could never do, cause I'm not real good with words. and 'e helps play piano when we do a recording session so I have less backing tracks when we play." Jack argued with a surprising bit of frustration in his voice. Davey was thankful, because as he thought about it he wasn't really sure if he could answer that question by himself.

"Thank you, but I asked David, I'd appreciate if he could answer. So, out of the two you, Mr. Kelly certainly seems to have better qualifications, you don't seem to have anything related to music under your belt. And furthermore, this project is just a short tune, we don't exactly need a lyrical genius to write the song. So what reason can give me not to just hire Mr. Kelly and call it a day?"

Davey was shocked, he was expecting an interview, not an interrogation. Why was he being targeted? "Well, I definitely don't have as many qualifications as Jack but I do have experience in working with him on songs." That probably wasn't the strongest response, but he was trying his best.

"It don't matter if you don't need a lyrical genius, I can't do it by myself. And me an' Dave are a package deal, so that's it." Mr. Snyder just scoffed and wrote something on his paper. Davey gaped at Jack, he felt like he could cry—first because he felt like he was in high school being bullied by his teachers again—but also because he had no idea what he had done to deserve that kind of defending. Jack looked genuinely upset that Mr. Snyder had implied Davey wasn't as important, as if he needed any more convincing that Jack was perfect.

"Well, get on with the sample then." Mr. Snyder said, and Davey had a sneaking suspicion that it didn't matter how amazing it was. He looked at Jack, who was currently turning on the amp. Jack nodded at him and started the tune.

♩ ♫ ♪ ♬ Hey girl, you can be a star! Treat yourself, and you can fly so far ♬♪♫♩

Well, at least they played it without a hitch. It sounded pretty good. Davey looked from Jack to the laptop. "Oh my god, they hung up." Jack glared at the laptop as if he could scare it into calling Mr. Snyder back. Davey just slid off the stool onto the floor. "Jack, that was a shitshow." Davey laughed—maybe cried a bit too, he was overwhelmed, ok?—with his hands covering his face.

Jack reached over and gave Davey a comforting pat on the shoulder. "I-am-completely-positive-I-fucked-that-up-so-lets-pretend-we-are-getting-the-job-before-we-have-to-start-looking-for-a-new-job celebration cupcakes?" Leave it to Jack to figure out a way to somehow make this situation a little bit better.

"Ah, what the hell, for sure." Davey replied, hoping that maybe if they celebrated their epic failure now, it wouldn't hurt as much when they read the inevitable rejection letter.

Chapter Text

"Well, I can't say I expected anything different." Jack reassured, looking far less disappointed about the email they had just received than Davey.

"I know, I know. He could've been nicer about it though, Y'know, let us down slowly?" Davey reread the three-sentence email for what felt like the 30th time, full well knowing that the words' meaning was not going to change.

"Dave, did you really expect that Mr. 'what do you bring to the table' Snyder was going to be kind about telling us we didn't get the job?" Jack lowered his voice into a mocking impression of Mr. Snyder. And realistically, Davey knew Jack was right, but still, manners.

"Fair point." Davey picked at a stray hang-nail on his thumb, before sighing and looking up at Jack—who was sitting across from him on his side of the desk—before looking back down. "I'm sorry Jack, I should've been able to answer him and give a good response. And I should've just waited to correct my name. I ruined our chance."

Davey had gone to sleep two nights ago feeling terrible. This was going to be such a good opportunity, and he messed it all up. He didn't have the right qualifications, and it was going to be the reason Jack didn't get an amazing job. Heck, Mr. Snyder practically told them that he planned on hiring Jack. This would've been much easier if Jack could've just taken the job and run.

Jack took a deep breath and rubbed at his forehead, clearly about to say something, but Davey cut him off. "And he's right, I don't do as much work as you, and I don't have any degrees related to music. That's why no one's hiring us." Davey took vague note that his thumb was now bleeding a little.

"David Jacobs." Jack said in a tone serious enough that Davey felt inclined to look at him. He was pretty sure Jack developed that voice when trying to handle all of his little brothers. "That was in no way whatsoever your fault. that guy had it out for ya since the moment that interview started. I don't know what he had against us, but we weren't getting the job the moment he saw us." Davey would make the argument that it was just himself not getting the job, but he was whacked in the face with another pen before he got the chance to interject. Seriously, Jack must be close to running out of pens. Every time he throws one at Davey, he steals it. Jack can't have many more.

"No, I'm not done yet, just thinkin." he scolded, popping his jaw like he always did when he was trying to get his words right. It made Davey's skin crawl when he did that, it was so unnatural. Anytime someone asked, Jack says it had always been like that. But Davey has a suspicion that Jack might've received more punches in his time than he'd care to admit.

"It shouldn't matter that you don't have any music degrees, that's only important if you're composing or playing, and guess what? That's my job. Your degrees help you wit' your job, so its fine." Davey could reason with that, the work he had to do with poetry was close enough to writing lyrics that there wasn't much difficulty adjusting. But there was still the matter of him not doing nearly as much. The workload was completely imbalanced.

"But-"

"What'd I say bout interrupting? Anyways, you do a lot of work. And just because you have less work don't mean it isn't just as difficult for you. Your insurance stopped paying for your ADHD meds right? so you haven't been able to get them." Davey nodded slowly, not quite sure where this was going. "And your brain gets more cluttered when you can't take your meds right?"

Jack's method of comforting was interesting, to say the least. He didn't make his voice softer, or try to sound more gentle. He didn't change the way he spoke or tiptoe around touchy subjects. He actually did the opposite. When Jack was trying to convince someone they would be Ok, he scolded them for thinking anything negative about themselves and assertively claimed they were amazing. Davey has coined the term 'aggressive encouragement'.

Davey thought about the question and nodded again. Jack did have a point. He had grown up most of his life taking medicine to deal with the symptoms of his ADHD. But about 4 months ago, right after graduation, his insurance stopped covering his prescription because 'it wasn't a medical necessity.' which was bullshit, because Davey couldn't function properly without it, and also because $120 a month was way too much for him to afford right now.

So anyways, his ADHD had been completely unchecked for the last four months, which made staying organized, making himself work, and being actually coherent much more difficult. Not to mention the fact that his ADHD and anxiety both effected each other. Which meant that he was having a lot more panic attacks lately, which in turn meant that he was getting more scatter-brained. It was a vicious cycle, and one they had both been getting used to in the past few months.

"It probably would've sucked to work under that guy anyways." Davey decided, he'll try to look on the bright side. He looked up at Jack, and noticed that he had a smug grin on his face. Davey just knew that it was because he was proud of himself for digging Davey out of this ditch; but in Davey's defense, Jack's mom was actually the sweetest woman he had ever met, and she should really look into being a therapist. It was only reasonable that Jack would've picked up some tactics from her.

"But what are we supposed to do? We still don't have a job, and everyone we talk to is telling us no." Listen, Davey would look on the bright side, but he still had to think rationally. Neither of them had official jobs, they needed a way to afford rent.

Jack slowly spun in a circle, scanning the room. "I don't know, we'll, we'll keep writing. We'll figure something out. We need a boost. We'll put ourselves out there." Jack said, looking more and more confident the more he talked. Though he was clearly coming up with this plan as he went, he had no trouble making it seem like he had complete faith in what he was saying. It was fascinating, really.

"What do we write though? All of the other songs we've done we're specific commissions." Davey replied skeptically.

"Uhh, grab that notebook of yours and pick a rhyme or something outta it, figure something out from there! and I'll play something that matches the feel." Davey admired the Jack's faith, and he was honestly flattered that Jack thought he could come up with something that easily, but he was in no way convinced.

"Look, I wish it was that easy, but it takes me more time. And this notebook's a disaster-" Davey reasoned, picking up the notebook and flipping through the pages, trying to find one with words he could actually read.

"Dave, you aren't getting it. It don't have to be your notebook, I know you got a dozen poetry books over there you could use. We've got plenty of time to work on this. I mean, all we need is one hit song and we're set. and we've got a spark here, Dave-"

"But a spark isn't a fire Jack- wait, that's actually kind of smart." Davey grabbed a new notebook from his cabinet—he needed to start a new one, the old one was not comprehensible—and started writing something down. He heard Jack rush to their little corner of instruments, and Davey followed him over.

Well, this sucked. two hours of picking random phrases from a poetry book and trying to turn it into anything worthwhile produced nothing. Figures that one single phrase that sounded kind of good wasn't enough to write a song on, despite what they both hoped.

"Shit." Davey looked over at Jack, he was holding his acoustic guitar, and making a comically sad face.

"You look like a kicked puppy, what's wrong?" Now that he thought about it, Jack's expressions could be compared to that of a dog's nine out of ten times. There was this one; where he made Davey's heart melt with how miserable he looked, the one where he had an idea and looked like when a dog had just seen a squirrel, the one where someone did the tiniest thing for him and it looked like someone told a dog it was getting adopted… Needless to say, Jack was very expressive, and Davey might need to make a catalogue soon and then give it to Jack for his birthday as a joke.

"My pick just snapped, and it was my last one." Oh. That was interesting. Usually Jack would just laugh it off and grab a different instrument, not look like he was on the verge of tears. Maybe it was safe to say they had spent enough time on this tonight. They clearly weren't getting anywhere, and Jack didn't seem to be in too great of a place right now.

"Ok, why don't we call it for tonight? We've been working on this for a while, and we need a break. We can go to Guitar Center tomorrow and pick up some more." Theoretically that should be a good compromise, Davey hoped Jack would be Ok with that option.

"No, Dave! We can't give up yet. This has been our dream since we was kids!" Well, there goes that. Davey scrounged through the folds of his very tired brain for a way to get Jack to take a break peacefully. They really didn't need Jack to be sleep deprived tomorrow.

"Since you were a kid, unless you consider me being in my sophomore year of college a kid." Davey joked, trying to ease the conversation. "We're not giving up, we just need to stop for the night so we can work better tomorrow." Jack just eyed him skeptically. He sighed, Davey knew what he had to do, he just really didn't want to do it. "I'll tell you what, why don't we watch that cowboy movie you always really liked? The one with Christian Bale."

He watched as Jack immediately started grinning. "Great. I'll get the TV ready, you get the popcorn." he said, happy as can be, already dashing over to the couch. Davey stared in disbelief, had he just been played? "Thanks Dave, you're the best." Jack called out, looking right at Davey through the middle finger that was currently being held up.

He went over to the microwave and put the popcorn in. Davey watched in bafflement as Jack literally skipped to his room to get the DVD. Four years of living with Jack and he still managed to surprise him. "I found it!"

Davey sighed. It was going to be a long night.

Chapter Text

Davey got out of bed with a groan and wearily made his way to the cheap coffee pot that sat in their kitchenette. Last night, instead of doing the sensible thing after finishing Jack's movie—go to sleep—they had made the wonderful decision to stay up and watch two other movies they had been wanting to watch for a while.

And it was fun, it really was. However, they didn't go to sleep until three a.m. That was fine for Jack, but unfortunately for Davey, his internal clock refused to wake him up any later than 6:30. Jack did not have that same problem though, so now Davey was stuck with nothing to do while he was asleep.

Davey was pretty sure he had zoned out, because last he checked he was starting to make coffee, and now it was done and he had two pieces of toast. He shrugged, it must have been the sleep deprivation.

He looked around their apartment while trying to decide what to do. They had a nice sized apartment for New York City. The entrance lead to a common area with their couch and TV that was connected to a mini kitchenette. Apart from that was the biggest room, their office, which held the extensive instrument collection (he still had no clue where Jack bought them that he was able to afford that many) and their desk. There were also two bedrooms and a bathroom.

It was a great size for the rent they paid. By New York City standards, they should be paying at least double this, but their landlord was a really nice guy. Jack's mom had introduced them to her friend Bryan Denton, and he offered them a place. He said that he'd let them live there for cheap because they had potential, and he was sure they'd have plenty enough to pay it back someday.

Davey wasn't too sure about that, but it was nice, and he definitely appreciated the cheap place. He eventually decided that in the minimum of 3 hours he likely had until Jack woke up, he should probably try to get some work done, he could at least continue their search for a job.

Five minutes into his search, Davey had already managed to make his way onto YouTube, and it just went downhill from there. He found this really cool-looking video about snakes, and it turned out to be a care-guide for Brazilian Rainbow Boas. They were beautiful snakes with an iridescent shine to them, and they were really amazing. He may have gone down a rabbit hole of videos on information about them and how to take care of them.

One hour later and Davey knew absolutely everything there was to know about taking care of these snakes. Was he ever going to have a pet snake? Probably not. Did he even like snakes? Not particularly. But it was, in fact, the first thing that caught his eye that had the potential to distract him from working, so he would roll with it.

If Jack didn't wake up soon though, Davey might have to resort to actually attempting to work. And that couldn't possibly end well. He was way too tired to make anything half-way coherent.

Maybe he could go through his email. It had definitely piled up for long enough, and he can work on it without needing too much focus. He stared at the little red bubble that said 999+ and sighed. This wasn't going to be fun.

So far, all Davey had gained from this experience was that he really needed to separate his work email and personal email. Because right right now, he was pretty much short-circuiting at the sight of an email from Katherine Plumber herself right between a Build-a-Bear coupon and a Guitar Center email.

I want to hire you!

Hello, this is Katherine Plumber, and I'd like to discuss another interview over the….

What. The. Hell? Davey really wanted to open the email. He also wanted to go back to sleep, but that was besides the point. The question was: does he wake Jack up so they can look together and possibly be disappointed by a scammer, or does he let Jack sleep and open it himself?

No. He needs to wake Jack up, because he definitely isn't waiting two hours for him to wake up on his own. But Jack needs to be there in case it does happen to be legit. It probably isn't real though, they messed that interview up bad…, There's no reason she'd want another interview with them. He shouldn't get Jack's hopes up. Davey paced in circles as he thought.

Screw it, he's gonna go wake Jack up, and if its nothing, well they can start work earlier.

"So whadaya wanta show me, Dave? Can't it wait til later? I'm tired." Jack whined, as Davey literally dragged Jack out from his door. He was making progress, slowly. He was holding Jack's ankle and pulling him through the apartment like he was trying to hide a body. When they finally made it, Davey decided that Jack would owe him a new notebook for that.

Davey pointed to the little email summary on his screen, and he watched as Jack squinted at it. "Awww, Dave! You want to get Build-a-Bears? I'm down, but I'm pretty sure that coulda waited." Jack laughed, giving Davey a pat on the shoulder and turning towards his room.

Davey wasn't sure what he did to deserve this, but he sighed and grabbed the back of Jack's shirt to pull him backwards. "No, the one under that." He heard Jack mutter a short 'oh' before reading the right header.

"Did ya read it yet?" Jack asked, looking back at Davey with a surprising bit of nerve on his face.

"Nah. But I figured we could go over it together." Davey said with a grin, imitating Jack from just a week and a half earlier.

Jack must've been just as nervous as Davey felt, because neither of them had made a move to open the email. Davey looked back and forth from Jack to the email a few times, before taking a deep breath and opening it up.

I want to hire you!

Hello gentlemen, my name is Katherine Plumber, and I'm reaching out to discuss setting up a meeting to discuss the position of writer for my commercial jingle. I'd like to personally apologize for the way your previous interview was dealt with, Mr. Snyder has been thoroughly dealt with. You seem like great candidates and I think I would enjoy working with you. Please respond back if you would like to meet up. Thank you.

Oh. Well that was unexpected. His hands were shaking and he was breathing quick—like a good panic attack. "Holy shit holy shit holy shit-" Davey was ecstatic, but he also felt like he might throw up. He leaned on the desk to balance himself; his brain was cycling through thoughts at the speed of light and he was trying to regulate it. Davey couldn't even tell how he felt about it, but he knew that this was good—they were finally on track.

Jack was leaning in towards the computer, blinking rapidly with his mouth hanging open. Davey watched as Jack had the same realization he did. Jack turned to him with wide eyes and started grinning. Davey put his hands on Jack's shoulders and turned him to face him. "Jack, we have a job!" He was beaming with relief, and some pride too. They had done it.

Jack looked at him like he was insane. "Are you kiddin' me Dave? We have more than a job, we have a future!" Jack had a gleam in his eyes that reminded Davey how much of a dreamer he really was. And to see Jack realizing that their shared dream was being realized, that made him all the more excited.

"Jack, why don't you go call your ma? I'll work on replying." Davey watched as Jack nodded in excitement. Then he glanced around the room searching for his phone, before realizing he left it in his room. He ran back to his room, and Davey could hear murmurs of him telling Ms. Medda all about the job.

Davey sat back down in his chair. He had a backlog of thoughts he needed to process and file now, he needed to get to work on that. He could barely believe that this was real. He started drafting a response to the email, wondering if this meant he had put his English degrees to good use or not.

"God, I can't believe you're making me do this." Davey frowned, looking at all of the puddles on the sidewalk they were about to step onto. It had just finished raining, and now they were outside. It was just so dreary. And he hated getting his shoes wet.

"I'm not making ya do anything. You asked me how I wanted to celebrate, and this is how I want to celebrate." Davey sighed and followed alongside Jack, who was for some reason trying to step in all the puddles. He didn't get it, they felt so weird and soggy. But Jack was right, Davey agreed to this.

Sometimes Davey wondered if Jack had a past life where he would've needed to be familiar with the streets of New York. It had always seemed like Jack had an uncanny knowledge of where everything was and how to get here. Anywhere Davey went, he needed a GPS—unless Jack was there, because he functioned practically the same (just more easily distracted.)

And they were finally at their destination, the mall. Davey wasn't sure which one, he thinks they must all be connected somehow because there's no way that many of them- He was distracted from his thoughts by Jack randomly speed-walking in no specific direction. Davey still didn't know why they were here, but figured he was about to find out.

And find out he did, because now he was standing in front of the Build-a-Bear. "Jack. I am not making a Build-a-Bear." He looked at Jack with a dead-pan stare. He should've expected this, honestly. He knew there was no convincing Jack not to make one, but he would not be spending his money on one of these.

"But Dave, you have a coupon. And look, they have a sale on best friend bears! Please, we need something to remember this." Jack pointed at the poster in the window displaying their deal on specific bears, and he pulled his 'please give me money, I'm just a poor orphan' look. Davey would just have to resist it though, because he was not- "and if you don't make a bear I'm hiding all of your notebooks and pens."

Fine. He would make a Build-a-Bear.

Chapter Text

"Jack. Give her back." Davey glared at Jack with a heat that could burn him alive.

"You didn't even want her! I'm just borrowing her." Jack was grinning, he looked so goddamn smug Davey just wanted to-

Ok. For context: Davey had made the Build-a-Bear. And they might have had one that was a snake that just so happened to look like a Brazilian Rainbow Boa and Davey just couldn't resist. And yes, technically he didn't want it originally, but then he had to do the dance and name her—he went with Bluebell—and make her a birth certificate and dress her up. And maybe Davey had gotten attached. And maybe he had slept with her all night because she was very cuddly.

And if Davey would literally throw himself in front of a bus for Bluebell, that was his problem, and no one else's. The fact that he had technically said that he didn't want her didn't give Jack the right to sneak into his room and steal it though! "Jack, please. She is my child. I would die for her. Where is she?" Jack just gaped at him. He seemed shocked.

"You didn't want her?!?" Davey didn't see what the problem was—he did but shhh—he made a Build-a-Bear and he loved it and then Jack took it. Davey took a deep breath, this was fine. "Look, I'll give her back… in a few days." Never mind. This was not fine. Davey was about to receive a prison sentence over a Build-a-Bear (it would be worth it).

So now, Davey and Jack were sitting at their little kitchen table and waiting for Katherine to get there. For once, Davey had actually made sure they were done cleaning with time to spare. It was really nice, they weren't running around, they weren't panicking, it was great! On the other hand, that meant Davey had a lot more time to get nervous because his mind wasn't preoccupied.

"Dave, you're already jittery from nerves, I don't think ya need coffee to top it off." He looked over at Jack, who was sitting completely sideways in the chair. He decided not to question it though, there was some correlation between Jack and sitting in weird positions when he was playing Block Blast, and Davey was going to figure it out eventually.

"It's replacing my meds." He grumbled, narrowing his eyes at Jack. Because yes, technically Jack was right, Davey was already awake and didn't need any caffeine. But he was nervous and he didn't need to break routine and make it even worse. Plus, Jack had no business talking when he was eating Mac n' Cheese for breakfast at nine in the morning.

Jack doesn't respond—probably because he's too engrossed in Block Blast—but it was ok, because Davey was busy thinking through potential interview questions and answers in his head. He knew it was probably a bit much since they had already been hired, but he wanted to be careful after last time.

He heard a quiet "fuck." muttered from where Jack was sitting, which meant that he had lost the game. Great, now they could talk about interview stuff so they don't mess it up again.

An hour after Davey and Jack had finished discussing the interview, they heard a knock at the door to their apartment. Davey jumped up from his chair and rushed to open the door. He looked down at Ms. Katherine Plumber, and all he could think was 'fuck. We guessed wrong again.'

The first interview, they had been way too casual with their jeans and t-shirts in comparison to Mr. Snyder's suit. So this time, they had dressed a bit more formal. Davey was wearing white collared shirt with a cream colored vest over it, and his chocolate brown slacks. Jack had a royal blue button up and some grey slacks.

Ms. Plumber on the other hand, was wearing a beaten up Finding Nemo shirt and some jeans.

Before Davey could open his mouth to introduce them, he was lightly shoved out of the way by Jack. "Well hello Miss Plumber, a pleasure to meet 'cha." Davey scanned Jacks face as he held out a hand to shake and put on his charming smile. He frowned, Davey knew the look that was growing more present in Jack's eyes.

She raised her eyebrows and shook Jack's hand. "And you are…?"

"The name's Jack Kelly." Jack welcomed her inside where she caught sight of Davey, who had been standing just out of her sight (unintentionally, to be fair)

"Ah! So you must be Davey Jacobs." She shook his hand, and Davey was glad to see her using the right name.

"Yes. Nice to meet you, Ms. Plumber." He smiled at her before turning to glare at Jack. He was trying to convey the message of 'you need to behave.' But Jack was looking at the ceiling and pretending to whistle.

"Please, Katherine is fine. Um, do you guys want to discuss the job and stuff?" Davey relaxed a bit, Katherine didn't seem nearly as uptight as Mr. Snyder, and thank God for that.

Jack replied happily, and Davey zoned out as Jack gave Katherine a mini-tour and brought her to their office. After the initial greeting, the two were immediately bouncing off of each others jokes and jabs easily. Davey felt bad for not joining, but he never knew what was ok to say around new people, so he usually just let Jack handle it and watched until he could figure it out.

He was thinking about the fact that people needed to more clear on what they expected during interviews, and how it would make things so much easier, when Jack waved his hand in front of him. It wasn't condescending, just letting Davey know he was needed again, he appreciated the gentleness of the gesture.

"Hey, Dave. Katherine wants to ask us some questions before we talk about the job. You want to answer questions and ask anything while I write it down?" Davey quickly nodded, searching for the small list of questions he had on a post it note. Usually he would write, he was better at taking down the info in a concise but effective way. But without his meds he ended up mishearing or just mot processing things more, and he didn't want to annoy her by repeating 'what?' Over and over again.

"So, what's the story on you two? How'd you decide you wanted to start producing?" Katherine pulled out a notepad like a reporter, and leaned forward in her seat like this was some insightful question that would answer everything.

"Well, Jack and I were assigned roommates back in freshman year at NYU, and we just kind of stuck together after that. Then he asked if I wanted to help with lyrics and stuff and I figured it would be really fun. So that's kind of it for me." Davey explained carefully, pretending like it wasn't completely absurd to switch career goals on a whim because of a guy.

"'Ey! That is not how that happened and you know it. I, have wanted to do music since I was 16. My ma runs a theater, and I loved helping out with the shows. But Dave, wanted to be a writer, and he liked writing poetry. So I figured, that's like lyrics right? And he liked watching me play, And I cant do lyrics, so I asked if he wanted to help out, and it took some convincing, but it worked!" Jack explained enthusiastically, making wild gestures with his hands as he spoke; matching Katherine's infatuation with his invigorating story-telling.

Davey just shook his head and sighed. There went his plan of seeming like a mentally-stable individual. He took a sip of his tea as Katherine nodded thoughtfully. "And at what point in there did you start dating?"

Davey almost spit out his drink. What? He looked at Jack, who was looking at him, and they both turned to look at Katherine. "Huh?!" They said in unison. Baffled and a little bit flustered, Davey just blinked at her.

"Like, at what point between your freshman year and now did you guys start dating? Before or after you decided to work together?" Katherine asked like it was an easy question, like they were dating. He wasn't sure what to say, surely some variation of 'we aren't dating,' but he was a bit hung up on the fact that she thought that in the first place.

"We, uh. I think you've got the wrong idea. Me an' Davey aren't dating." Well, there. Thank God for Jack handling that, oh so eloquently. But dang, that hurt more than he would've liked to hear. Just because it's true doesn't mean Davey was happy about it.

Katherine narrowed her eyes at them, "Sure, you're not dating. You just, happen to live together, work together, have the same goals in life (that revolve around the other, might I add) and you've got nicknames for each other? Even though you two don't exactly strike me as the nickname type? I mean, didn't you say you just went to Build-a-Bear?"

Ok Davey had to admit she had a point—he wasn't one to give or use nicknames, but it was different. They had been living together for five years at this point, and it's normal to live with college roommates for a while. And he didn't really have an excuse for the other two, but he also did technically want to date Jack, so he was sure Jack had an excuse.

"No, seriously. We're not, dating. Dave's my best friends. Plus, I'm straight and he don't do all that." Davey just nodded along with Jack. As far as jack knew he was right, Davey didn't do all of that, he never had.

Katherine just shook her head quickly and frowned. "Oh. Well I'm sorry to assume. I'm glad to see two friends who can stay connected after college, it's not always that winds up happening."

Davey took another sip of his tea as he nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, me too. I'm glad we got to stick together." He thought for a minute before turning towards Jack. "Not sure what I would've done without you, Jackie." He surprised himself with his blatant honesty, but was more surprised when Jack looked a bit bashful.

"Aw, shaddup Dave. What, did ya bust up your brain or something?" Jack was smiling a bit too much and sounded sincere enough that Davey knew he was trying to hide how much he appreciated that. So Davey just rolled his eyes and turned back to Katherine who was observing with a look on her face that he couldn't quite place.

She once again put on the face that Davey now had to assume was her 'reporter face' as he wondered what had happened to the actual interview questions. "Seriously though, what's the story behind the names? I'm curious." Davey drew in a deep breath. That was a fair question, he supposed.

• - - - - - - - - - ________

Davey thought about the first time he had met Jack. He was unpacking his things into the compact dorm and his roommate wasn't there yet. Unfortunately, he hadn't had the luck to know someone going to this school, so he had to be randomly assigned a roommate. He was meticulously setting up his desk to be perfectly organized (of course, this was back when he still had his meds and wasn't a complete disaster.)

Much to his disappointment, the RAs had explained that he should leave his door open on move-in day so people could introduce themselves and be friendly. He understood, but it gave him less of a heads-up when people were there and coming inside. He was proved right on his point when he had been startled by the out-of-the-blue "Hey.. This is pretty nice!" that came from behind him.

David jumped up from where he was sitting and whipped around to face the door, unknowingly knocking his glasses off the table in the process. In front of him was a guy that looked to be his age, wearing some ripped jeans and a t-shirt that seemed to be covered with paint? The guy stared at David with raised eyebrows as if to say 'are you good?' and he realized he should probably say something instead of just standing there. He quickly dusted off his pants as he apologized. "Uh, I'm sorry. You just startled me a bit… Are you my roommate?"

The guy huffed out a laugh, "what gave it away, the suitcase or the duffle bag?" Oh. Yeah he probably should've figured that out. Well, this was a great first impression, he had already embarrassed himself multiple times in the span of two minutes.

David scratched at his nail, "I'm- I'm David Jacobs." He introduced himself, trying not to sound too formal. He held out his hand for a handshake, he squinted as Jack just dropped all of his stuff on the floor, before shaking his hand in return.

"Jack, Jack Kelly." he said with an easy grin. "Pleased to be makin yer acquaintance." David's lips quirked into a smile at the formal phrase paired with the thick and casual accent. He nodded and took note of the guitar slung across his back, before he watched as Jack began looking around the room.

"So, Davey, where're ya from? You don't sound much like you're from 'ere." Jack was scanning the desk and the drawers, and David frowned.

"Its, um, its David. Sorry." he didn't want to be rude by correcting Jack, but he also didn't want to be called the wrong name for the entire semester.

Jack turned back around to face him. "Sure, sure." he squinted at David, before his eyes widened like he had an idea. "Lemme guess, you're from Illinois, ain't ya Davey?"

• - - - - - - - - - ________

And from then on, David Jacobs became Davey.

"Um, well… I went by David up until college, never went by anything else." He gave Katherine a brief summary of the events, before noticing that Jack seemed a bit distracted. He was looking at Katherine, and being awfully quiet.

"Everyone else just, picked up on Davey, and it stuck—whether I liked it or not, might I add—and this one," he said, gesturing to Jack, "decided that I needed another nickname. wait, why, actually?" honestly, he had hated the name Davey at first, it just sounded so wrong, but after a while it felt more right, more him. It disconnected him from his parents and their scolding use of his name. And it brought him closer to his friends and their teasing. But he never did ask why Jack decided on Dave.

"Whaaat? Everyone stole my name for ya, so I had to find anotha."

"You could've just, called me Davey, like everyone else?"

"But I wanted to be the only one, if everyone calls you Davey, its just what you prefer to go by. A nickname is something for like, three or less people. So it's no fun to call ya Davey!" Jack whined. Davey just smiled, it was nice to have a special name Jack called him.

Katherine chuckled and wrote something down again—seriously, what was up with that?—"That makes sense I guess, so what's up with Jackie?" Ohhh right, that was also something.

Jack raised his hand quickly and took the question. "Oh, oh! I've got this one." He was suddenly very engaged in the conversation, back in his normal exciting mood as usual.

"So Davey is real sarcastic when he ain't so tense, and sometimes he needed a way to be condescending'. So to get back at me for adding the "ee" sound to his name. He started doing the same to me to get under my skin. But I think eventually we both started using it normally."

Hm. He was exactly right. "Yeah. Yeah that just about sums it up." Davey took off his glasses and started fiddling with the bridge piece. "Not to be a buzz-kill, but shouldn't we get back to the interview and stuff?" He was getting just a little bit overwhelmed with all these questions about him and Jack. He needed a question he had prepared for.

"Of course!" Katherine quickly pulled out a stack of papers with their resume, and interview notes. "So, I already know about your degrees and roles and stuff, but what about job experience, what have you done in the past?" She clicked a pen and Davey watched as she spun it between her fingers.

"Well, for the past few years I've been helping my ma at her theater. Sometimes I play the music for the shows and sometimes I just help set up. Y'know, we should go see one of the shows sometime." Davey rolled his eyes at Jack cheap attempt at flirting.

Katherine nodded thoughtfully in response to Jack's answer, writing something down about his experience. Davey was a bit concerned with his experience, so he just explained it briefly.

"I've helped his mom with vocals and demonstrations for the shows, just showing people what to do. And I've worked at a library the past few years." He felt like maybe working in a library wasn't the most helpful for this job, but it couldn't hurt to be thorough.

Davey felt the side-eye Jack was giving him. "But Dave's also been a published poet for years. Hes won awards and stuff. It just doesn't make him money." It was true, Davey maintained his poetry writing through college even though it wasn't his goal anymore, and it helped keep his mind ready to write lyrics..but unfortunately, it wasn't a real job.

"Hm. Interesting…" Katherine started scribbling something down on her paper that Davey couldn't read, and he shifted in his seat awkwardly.

Finally, Katherine seemed ready to move on to the next question. "So, what are you guys hoping for out of this job?" Davey thought about it for a minute. That was an interesting question, one he had lots of answers to.

Unfortunately, Jack seemed to blurt out the first answer that came to mind. "I'd rather tell you what I'm hoping for tonight." The look Jack had on his face told him that this was one of the times he wasn't flirting in his typical joking way.

He hated to say it, but Davey was so relieved when Katherine leaned away from Jack with a hesitant, "oookay…" Jack frowned and pulled his puppy dog eyes on her.

it was there and then that Davey decided that Katherine Plumber was his hero. Because she seemed to be immune to Jack's tactics. She looked at his face and said, "Now I know you're not that pathetic." Before flicking his forehead and carrying on.

Davey stared at her in awe. Resisting Jack's puppy eyes? That was certainly deserving of his praise.

Chapter Text

Katherine had just finished explaining the details of the job. They needed to compose and write lyrics for a jingle that would be used to market Katherine's new perfume line. It wasn't exactly what Davey had been hoping for… Usually he liked to write more along the lines of elegant and sophisticated speech (it just came with the poetry style he used) and he wasn't very used to simple and catchy phrasing.

On the other hand, Jack seemed ecstatic. He was practically bouncing around with the ideas of all the different styles he could use. Davey watched Jack run to grab his guitar. Grabbing a new notebook and pen, he turned to Katherine as she opened her laptop.

"Well, Lets get started,"

He sat in his desk chair, tapping his pen to his notebook. The past two hours had been spent listening to Katherine's ideas for the product, what she was comfortable singing, and trying to come with ideas. Once again, they were at a loss. Neither Jack nor Davey were well-versed in advertisement style music, and they were trying to figure it out as they went.

By this point, Davey was glaring holes into the pages of his notebook with scribbled out lyrics. The perfume's scent was generic, and difficult to come up with a good lyric for. He looked to Jack, who was switching back and forth from instruments to try and figure something out.

Davey rolls his chair over to Katherine, who is impatiently waiting for them to come up with something.

"Ok, we need to figure something out, right? First we at least need some adjectives for the scent," he pointed out.

Katherine nodded thoughtfully, "Autumn, ginger, ooh- notes of nutmeg?"

Davey shook his head, "No, not unique enough. It's gotta stand out," he looked around his desk for a minute, taking note of how unusually tidy it was.

After a few minutes of discussing, Jack popped in with a mischievous grin, "Well hello, miss."

Davey recognized this, he was trying to be charming. Katherine rolled her eyes. "And what do you want?"

Jack straightened his posture, looking down at her, "Can't you see it, in my eyes?"

Davey cringed, Jack and his pick-up lines.

"Ooookay? but seriously, what's up?" Katherine smirked, obviously indifferent. Davey felt bad, but every time Katherine rejected one of Jack's advances, he cheered a little bit inside.

Jack just groaned, sitting down on Davey's desk. "Well, I was gonna ask ya how you want the song to sound."

"How I want it to sound..?"

"Yeah, y'know. Like how ya want it to feel?" Jack explained, though Katherine was obviously a bit lost.

"What do you want the tone of the song to be," Davey clarified, "relaxed, poppy, elegant, anything like that helps us get a better idea of what to write."

Katherine nodded with understanding, "How about kind of show-tunes adjacent?"

Now that, Davey could get behind.

A little while later, they had made some great progress. They didn't have much in the forms of lyrics or melody, but they had ideas. While Davey was looking for synonyms for a word they'd like to use, Jack moved over to him.

"Hey'a Dave," he said carefully, in that tone that meant he was going to ask for something, "its awful late, would'ja be willing to pick up lunch for the three of us?"

Davey narrowed his eyes. It was 4:00 p.m. far past when they all should've had lunch. He sighed and agreed, standing up and stretching. He could probably use some air and a walk anyways, he's got a lot of pent up energy right now.

As he walked out the door of their apartment, Jack called out a quick, "Thanks Dave!" before turning back to Katherine.

When Davey finally made it back after about an hour, he found Jack and Katherine talking. Katherine looked much more comfortable and animated than when he left, and Jack looked absolutely enthralled by whatever story she was telling.

He felt a pang of disappointment as he hung his keys on their hook, wondering why Jack had to fall for practically every girl he met, then scolded himself. Just because he was in love with Jack didn't make it fair for him to criticize him.

He started setting food out on their counter. He had picked up some Italian, it always made him feel better. The other two made their way into the kitchen, talking about Katherine's recent trip out west.

"Hey guys, I got some lunch," he said, before realizing it was already 5:00, "actually, I got us dinner."

Katherine responded with a quick "thanks" before continuing her story, and Jack hardly acknowledged him at all. Davey would pretend it didn't hurt. After they had all gotten their food, Davey sat down at the counter to eat.

He watched as Jack and Katherine returned to the office with their food, but he made no move to follow. He was feeling quite down, and would rather have not accidentally given the impression that he didn't like Katherine if he came off as cold.

He picked at his spaghetti, before deciding he wasn't very hungry anymore and making the effort to clean up.

He must've zoned out for a while, because before he knew it, he heard Katherine and Jack exchange goodbyes before the door shut.

'Would've been nice of her to say goodbye' he grumbled.

He sighed, deciding to make a cup of coffee. He had a feeling he wouldn't get much sleep tonight, might as well be productive. He leaned on the counter, trying to direct his thoughts towards something a bit less dreary.

When he heard the sound of his coffee being finished, he looked up and caught Jack making his way towards the kitchen. Davey tilted his head and raised his eyebrows at Jack's expression.

Jack, positively beaming, declared, "Dave, I think she's the one."

Chapter Text

Davey blinked at Jack, mouth agape, "Pardon?"

"You heard me," he said, leaning against the counter on the side opposite Davey.

Jack was right. Davey absolutely had heard him. In fact, Davey had heard those five words about a dozen times in the years he's been his roommate.

Davey opened his mouth to refute the statement but was instead interrupted, "I've never felt so inspired, Davey! I feel like I could compose a hundred songs right now!"

He sighed as Jack darted to his instruments and started frantically making notes, "Jack you really should sleep, it's 10:00 p.m."

Davey had seen this all before. Jack falls in love with every woman he meets, and nothing he said or did could prevent it. Maybe by trying to divert Jack's attention he could protect him from another heartbreak as result of Jack scaring a girl off by coming on too strong.

"Nah, Dave I can't do that. I'll stay up. I don't think I'll even get tired. I hafta work through these ideas."

Or maybe he wouldn't be able to divert his attention after all. Davey sat down in his desk chair, still sipping his coffee. He didn't have plans to sleep anytime soon, might as well make sure Jack didn't work himself to exhaustion.

"Did you just pull up pictures of her?" Davey asked with a mix of weariness and confusion.

"Look, I made her my background!" he replied with a grin, showing Davey that indeed, Katherine was the subject of Jack's home screen.

"Jackie, that's a bit creep-"

"Wait, I'm resizing it," Jack interrupted with a tone that implied everything would be fixed if the picture simply matched the size of his phone.

Davey sunk further into his chair, positively baffled. Jack had a habit of getting so fixated on people that he forgot about how his actions could be perceived. It was just how he was. He was the epitome of giving a relationship everything he had.

"So, why is Katherine your background?" he asked, hoping for a reason that justified the switch from the previous picture of Jack and Davey at a carnival.

Jack didn't hesitate to answer, "She's my muse Davey, its her eyes, her smile, wait, her voice!"

"Jack Kelly I swear if you call her I am setting all of your instruments in the rain," he said sternly.

Jack sheepishly returned his phone to his desk, informing Davey that his assumption was accurate. "Jack, you cannot call her. It is 11:00 at night."

"But I have a question."

"You can ask her tomorrow. Now please, get some sleep," Davey said, standing up to leave the room. He shook his head, what would Jack do without him.

Jack nodded in a disappointed manner as Davey shut the office door.

"Heyyy, Katherine, how ya doin?"

Davey let out a groan loud enough that surely Katherine could hear it even through the phone that Jack had still decided to call her on.

Chapter Text

Davey sat at his desk, more awake than he had felt in months. It was 2 AM, but he couldn't sleep. He laid in bed for hours just thinking. He felt suffocated by the constant barrage of thoughts that refused to quiet.

Davey shook his head and ran his hands through his curls, then leaned back in his chair with a sigh. After a short moment of contemplation, he started to clear his desk. Whenever he got this way, restless and ruminating on a certain topic, he had to write. There were just so many thoughts in his head, and if he didn't get them out, he would just curl up and marinate in his own stew of pathetic chicken noodle soup.

Most times Jack was there to listen to him, and Davey knew that Jack wouldn't mind if he were to wake him up for another late night word vomit. Unfortunately, Jack was the subject of said troubles.

He slid his rolley chair across the room to his bookshelf, and pulled a thin notebook from behind his section of classic literature—He knew Jack would never near that area, so it was safe—and ran his thumb along the smooth cover.

It was simple, a leather-bound notebook with nothing on it, simply the word 'Davey' engraved on the spine. He made it when he took a book-binding class a few years back. The pages were brittle and weathered, but this notebook had helped Davey so much through the years.

He flipped through pages filled with poems a bittersweet smile on his lips. When he started working with Jack on writing lyrics, he shifted his writing style to match Jack's composing, which was vastly different from his melancholy and somber tone. He kind of lost touch with the part of himself that enjoyed writing these poems so much, but this notebook was here whenever he happened to feel inspired

The notebook he held in his hands was filled to the brim with poems written for him. They wouldn't be published, they wouldn't be lyrics, they were meant to help Davey find solace in getting words out when he couldn't say them aloud.

His eyes drifted over a particularly worn page, to a poem written years ago when Jack and Davey had only been friends for a bit more than a semester. He wrote it when he realized how infatuated with Jack he had become, after the months of getting to know his roommate.

Davey flipped to the next blank page and scribbled down a title.

'The Truth About The Moon - A Lovelorn Letter to Myself'

It was just a few months after they met that he started associating Jack with the Moon, but it was a lot longer before he really realized how deeply entwined the metaphor had become.

Davey and Jack had long since abandoned their studying. The plan for the night had been to study for their respective exams at one of the campus' many libraries. After about 2 hours of dimly lit pages and the smell of dusty books, they decided they needed a change of pace.

As they walked outside to find it was quite dark already, Jack looked up and claimed that they had to take a break to watch the stars. "It's not often we get a night we can just sit and see the stars," He had claimed.

About an hour later, all hope of returning to their studies was lost. Davey giggled hopelessly while Jack came up with the most ridiculous stories for random made-up constellations.

As Davey watched Jack gesture to different stars and weave wild tales with a mischievous grin he realized that he'd felt happier right now than he had ever before. Sitting here with Jack, he felt so free, he really hoped they could do this again.

A few days later Davey would end up suggesting that Jack joined the stargazing / astronomy club, and he did. So it became their monthly tradition to sit in the park and Jack would point on constellations give colorful retellings of the real stories.

These nights would very quickly become the event that Davey most looked forward to each month.

For the first few months of college Davey had assumed his feelings for Jack were completely platonic. He'd never really had a ton of friends back home, so this must be what having a best friend felt like.

Only after Davey had gotten close with the rest of Jack's friends did he realize that his previous understanding of his feelings had been false. He had an infatuation with Jack that no one else inspired.

"'Ts one of the big reasons I wanna go to Santa Fe, Davey." Davey hummed in response. Jack was intently gazing at the moon, and Davey couldn't help but notice how beautiful he looked under the moonlight.

"Well the moon is just so much bigger out west Davey." He said, spreading his arms out as a visual representation.

Though Jack loved learning about the stars, his true obsession with the night sky had been fueled by the Moon.

"The moon is just the same size as it is here Jackie."

******———______———******

Latin name: Luna

Hundreds and thousands of miles away from here

No signs of water, or life, or atmosphere

******———______———******

"You just don't get it Davey," Jack said with a wistful look. "In Santa Fe, the moon illuminates everythin' so much better."

It's just the light reflecting off the sun, Davey thought, and there's no difference between here and Santa Fe. But Davey would humor him.

"Oh, 'illuminates' huh? Learn that in your stargazing club?"

"Shut up," Jack grumbled with a suppressed grin.

******———______———******

This is the truth about the moon

The facts are black and white

******———______———******

Davey just watched Jack stare up at the sky with an unfamiliar expression. He couldn't possibly imagine what was going on in Jack's head right now. It was almost reminiscent of grief. There was something vulnerable in his eyes, and Davey was dying to understand every thought running through his mind. Jack looked like he was meant to lay here in the moonlight, and Davey realized he should commit such a soft moment to memory.

"Why do you like watchin' the moon, Davey?" Jack said, turning to him with a curious tone.

******———______———******

And yet I couldn't think of one

while watching It tonight

******———______———******

Davey's breath caught in his throat. He didn't know what to say. All he could think was 'because I'm watching it with you.' Davey decided to keep quiet, instead turning back to the sky. There wasn't any response, in this moment he didn't give a damn about the moon.

"Listen Davey, in Santa Fe, there ain't all this hustle and bustle of a big city. It's quieter there. There ain't so much light pollution you can't see the stars most nights. It's calm there, I can't wait to have that." Jack said with more conviction and longing than Davey previously had thought possible.

He had no clue what to say, so he just nodded. Jack looked over at him to see Davey's deep-in-thought expression, and they both fell into a comfortable silence as they stared up at the sky.

******———______———******

I felt the words all fly away, so fast, so far

Til every letter every number

Had turned into a star

******———______———******

Davey thought about how Jack, reckless, charming, wonderful, Jack had rendered him speechless. Davey, the boy that would never shut up once he was comfortable had been speechless, the boy that never ran out of things to say, who was always told to be quiet, was speechless. And it was because he was stargazing with a roommate he couldn't be more different from.

That night was a turning point in the way Davey looked at Jack. He wasn't just some musician that didn't have a big goal. Jack's biggest personality trait was no longer 'charming' or 'reckless,' but a dreamer.

That night brought a lot more conversations about Jack's dream of a simple and calm life. Each picture Jack would paint with his stories had Davey more hopelessly enamored with his now best friend. And each one had Davey wishing Jack would take him too.

And each time Davey felt himself fall deeper and deeper into the fantasy of the life he could share with Jack, he scolded himself. Jack was straight, Jack wasn't in love with Davey, and the longer Davey let himself feel this way, the more hurt he would cause in the future.

Every time Davey felt the dopey grin on his face that came from noticing something new about Jack,he reminded himself that he needed to stop feeling this way.

Once more Davey was lying in the grass with Jack as they looked up at the shining night sky. The stargazing club had been undergoing some changes in leadership, so classes were on hold for now. Unfortunately, this meant that Jack hadn't learned anything new since last month.

Instead of telling stories like usual, Jack had elected to stay quiet. They sat in a comfortable silence as they relaxed under the stars. Davey found himself drifting through thoughts of a quiet future.

He was pulled from his train of though by a lulling melody. He looked over to see Jack softly humming a tune, one he'd never heard before. It likely wasn't a new composition though, as it didn't sound like what Jack usually wrote, so it must be something else.

Davey carefully studied the side of Jack's face as he stare upwards, taking in every detail of his friend's image.

******———______———******

And was the moon especially bright?

I really can't recall

******———______———******

Before he knew it, Jack was looking back at him with a raised eyebrow. Davey immediately turned away, only a little embarrassed. (Though the blush on his cheeks would say otherwise)

He looked up to see Jack standing over him, holding out a hand to help Davey up. "Care for a dance?" he asked playfully.

"You… I don't know how to dance, Jack," Davey pointed out.

"Aww, c'mon! It'll be fun, look, I'll lead, and I can teach ya!" Jack prodded, guiding Davey's hand to his waist in a standard waltzing position.

Davey nodded hesitantly, if suffering through the embarrassment of failing at a waltz allowed him this moment with Jack, he would do it again and again. Jack started humming once more as he attempted to guide Davey through the steps. To say it wasn't going well would be an understatement.

Davey stumbled and stepped on Jack's toes more times than he could count, but not once did Jack get mad, they'd just laugh and keep going. Eventually, Davey forgot to be embarrassed at all, and he basked in the laughter and closeness he shared with the man he loved. his roommate

******———______———******

And this was the first time the fact of the matter

didn't matter at all

******———______———******

This time they were stargazing was different. Rather than amazing Davey with fantastic tales of heroes and tragedies, Jack took this opportunity to tell him about the girl he had just met.

Davey felt his mind wander as Jack went on and on about the new love of his life. His heart ached every time Jack would be so content with a person that wasn't Davey. He longed to hear Jack talk about him in the same way he discussed every girl he became infatuated with, but he knew his fantasies were hopeless.

******———______———******

Shall I try to deny

all I know for a moment that's gone?

******———______———******

Davey knew he had to stop. He couldn't be jealous of these girls when he always knew he would never have a chance with Jack. Jack was straight, end of story, he needed to get over himself and be happy as his friend.

"One day, Dave, I'm gonna meet a girl and together we're gonna move to Santa Fe s we can see the moon together."

Bring me instead Davey wished to say, but it would never be that simple.

******———______———******

This is the truth about the boy

there's nothing more to say

******———______———******

But even though Davey repeated this to himself over and over, Jack still had a tighter grip om him than ever before. And every time Jack wove his stories into an intricate tale, Davey was enamored with the sight.

******———______———******

But when I looked into his eyes

I could not look away

******———______———******

It became another tradition of theirs to dance every once and a while. Whenever they were both stressed from exams or a new composition, Jack would put on a song and pull Davey into a rhythm. It was never clean or pretty, but if made the both of them laugh, and Davey would take every chance he could get to share another moment with Jack.

Jack had a way of pulling him in and making Davey feel more comfortable than anyone else could. It made his heart throb to think of a time when he couldn't experience this with Jack anymore.

******———______———******

And then as gentle as a breath, his hand was touching mine

And I discovered a feeling I somehow could not define

******———______———******

Davey recalled each time Jack would look at him after telling a joke to see if he thought it was funny, or the little moments when Jack would look so proud of Davey for coming out of his shell.

Every instance made him glow with a fuzzy warm feeling he couldn't push away. It was then that Davey realized his feelings ran deeper than romance or friendship. it was a devotion to Jack that caused him to stay regardless of the outcome. It was the willingness to let himself be hurt just to stay with Jack as long as he could. He would learn to be ok with the fact that Jack would never love him back.

And he did. Davey grew to be content with the life he had with Jack. They were roommates and best friends, and that's how it would stay. Of course he still got a bit sad every once and a while, but he had accepted that his love would remain unrequited.

******———______———******

At least I don't shed many tears down here in my cocoon

where I'm protected by my facts

like the truth about the moon

******———______———******

And if Davey used the fact that Jack was straight to escape the thought that maybe he wouldn't love him regardless of sexuality, well, that was for him to know.

Davey looked over the page, now a full poem. He felt lighter after having written it down, but at the same time, his reminiscing led to some bitterness over forgotten memories.

Davey shook his head to escape the creeping in drowsiness, and it occurred to him that maybe sleep could be helpful, given the unreasonable hour in the night it was. He placed his notebook back behind his other books, and stood up, his knees protesting the action.

A little bonus content: the poem from the beginning of the chapter

Chaos

Perfect Massachusetts night

A thousand tiny specs of light

go streaking cross the summer sky

shooting stars they fall from grace

hurdle blind through outer space

there's gotta be, some reason why

all around the heavens slowly start to fall

they go tumbling through a universe that makes no sense at all

yeah the worlds a mess

its chaotic and random, I couldn't care less

cause I found something true

in the intricate chaos of you