On the Road - All Time Low

[alyssa]

So I've been obsessed with All Time low (especially Jack) for a little while and I was working on this and then was inspired by flowerpower67's fic Overworked, so here's the result

For anyone who doesn't know and is interested this is the band: http://userserve-ak.... Dont Panic.png far left is Zack Merrick (bass/backup vocals), leaning forward is Alex Gaskarth (Lead singer/guitarist), the one with half blonde hair is Jack Barakat (lead guitar/backup vocals), and far right is Rian Dawson (drums) and they're amazing and completely worth checking out if you don't know them They're a punk/pop group and have quite a range of different stuff so even if you don't like some there may be other stuff that you do!

Note: There is some swearing 'cause they do swear a lot so sorry if you don't like that but I was trying to keep it as close to in-character as I could.

Part 1

“Jack… Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack.”

“M’pfh. Wha’ time?”

“Twelve-thirty. I’m bored, Matt made me get up.”

“Rian and Zack?”

“Went out, you still drunk?”

“Nope.”

“Hungover?”

“Nope.”

“I’m still bored.” Jack sniffed and rolled over so that he was facing the singer.

“Go play Crysis or something. I’m sleeping.”

“You’re awake now. Come on, we’ve got that interview at two anyway.”

“Which leaves another hour for sleep.” He sniffed again, wrinkling his nose as it began to tickle and turning to muffle a sneeze into his pillow.

“Gross.” Alex laughed, “hey, you okay?” His happy expression faded as Jack began to cough, still facing into his pillow.

“Ugh, yeah, think I got Zack’s cold.”

“D’ya need, uh, a doctor or anything?” Jack rolled his eyes and sat up, shoving Alex off his bed so he could get up.

“Ndah, Zach was over it ind, what, two days? I’ll be finde.” He sniffed again as standing made his nose run more persistently and accepted the box of tissues that his friend offered, grabbing one and blowing his nose.

“You still okay to do the interview? Or do we need to reschedule?”

“I’m fine, let’s go play FIFA or something.” The singer grinned and disappeared back to the back lounge area of their bus to set up the game. Without bothering to get changed, Jack grabbed Alex’s Snuggie from the side of his bed to wrap around himself and followed him, still holding his box of tissues.

***

Later that afternoon the other two members of the band came back to the bus to find their lead singer spread out on one of the couches with Star Wars playing on the TV and Jack wrapped in Alex’s blanket/robe thing, fast asleep with his head on the singer’s stomach.

“Hey guys, big day?”

“He caught your cold, been out since we got back from the interview.”

“And so you rewarded him with Star Wars?”

“I’b right here y’kdow.” Jack sniffed thickly and blinked his eyes open.

“No you’re not; you’re sleeping, shut up.” Alex grinned as Jack halfheartedly punched his leg.

"Was sleepi’g till... ng'ishoo! Till you started talki'g."

"You gonna be okay to go on tonight?"

"Yeah, course!" Jack sniffed and sneezed again.

"You’d better not be getting snot on me."

"You ndeed to cha'ge your shirt adyway, this ode’s ugly." He grabbed a tissue and blew his nose, chucking it in the general direction of the rubbish bin.

"Enough Star Wars, who's up for Halo?" Rian and Zack sat down on the other half of the couch while they waited for the other two to reply.

"Always, c’mon sneezy sit up." Alex smiled, trying to get up with the guitarist still on top of him. In response, Jack coughed and cuddled closer until Alex managed to sit, dragging his friend with him. "Chuck the controllers." Alex grabbed them as Zack handed two over, passing the second to Jack who was still leaning on his shoulder.

An hour later Zack and Rian were convincingly beating their lead singer and guitarist, unsurprising really, with Jack stopping to cough or sneeze every few minutes and just generally being a really easy target.

"E'ptshh!"

"Bless you, what’s that? Like fifty?"

"At least," Rian laughed as Jack finished another sneezing fit and blew his nose.

“Shut up,” the guitarist made a face at the drummer and pulled out his phone. “Combe ond, we’ve gotta go get ready, gotta leave ind tend.”

“Well at least you guys’ve got your hair done already.” Zack looked over at Jack and Alex, both of who looked like they’d just woken up; Jack especially had his black hair sticking up in all directions on one side and plastered nearly flat on the other and neither of them had bothered to straighten it that day, knowing that they’d get it redone before the show anyway and both just opting for beanies for the interview earlier. “That’s at least half an hour saved when we get there.” He caught the box of tissues as it flew at his chest. “You suck at throwing when you’re sick.”

***

“Ehshoo! Ng’hishh!”

“Jack? You gonna live?”

“Yeah Danddy, but Zack bay ndot. This is his fault.” So far since they had arrived at the venue for that night’s concert they had run sound check, gotten dressed, and had their hair and makeup done with the hair people spending twice as long as normal trying to get all the tangles out of Jack’s from sleeping on Alex all afternoon. Likewise the girl doing his makeup had spent long enough that he had started falling asleep trying to give him back some colour and hide how red his nose had gotten and he couldn’t help but roll his eyes at her efforts since he was just gonna have to blow his nose and rub it all off anyway. Next time he so had to switch makeup people with Alex, this one had kept trying to feel his forehead and asking him if he had a fever no matter how many times he told her it was just a fucking cold.

“Guys, get ready. You’re nearly up.” Listening, Jack could hear the opening band beginning their final song and the crowd screaming. That screaming was really starting to mess with his brain. He pushed a hand to his head, willing the pain away for a moment before he felt someone grab his arm.

“Drugs.” Alex grinned as he passed over the heavy duty headache stuff and Jack eagerly dry swallowed it.

“You tryi’g to get be sto’d so I cad’t show you uhh… up? Hih’tschh!”

“Please, we all know they come to see me.” Jack laughed as he grabbed his guitar from the stand and glanced around, seeing Rian and Zach close behind them.

“Mbay I rebi’d you who gets prese’ts every show?” He raised an eyebrow and blew his nose one more time to try and get it as clear as he could and the four of them headed on stage to the sound of more screaming than they had ever thought could happen in one room before they started performing.

______________________________________________________________________________

There you go, hope you liked it! Please comment and let me know what you think, I should be able to put the next part up in a day or two depending on how time goes.

[Amberlight24]

OMYGOODNESS this is WONDERFUL! so adorable! Thank you so much! Can Alex get sick too??? It seems only fair

[party_snake]

I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS STORY! I'm honestly an Alex girl but this story is so amazing that I just want to wrap my arms around Jack! Keep up the amazing writing!

[SpookyScarySkeleton]

Can you not leave a cliffhanger?. Those piss me off >->. Please continue I beg of you !. I need to see sneezy Jack during an Interview. I love All TIme Low <3 please continue and this fic is perfection <3 I ship Jalex(Jack+Alex) hardcore c:

[alyssa]

@Amberlight24 - Haha thank you It is focused more on Jack but there will be some Alex in there for you in another part or two, aren't two of them always better than one?

@mutant_and_proud - Thank you! Most people do tend to love Alex and of course I do to because it's just Alex and what's not to love I'm just a little bit more obsessed with Jack XD

@DeathNoteOwner - Sorry! I didn't think that was too bad a cliffhanger and this part was pretty much ready for posting anyway so I hope this makes up for it!

So thanks for the feedback guys! I was amazed to get 3 replies in one day and I really do appreciate people letting me know what they think and that they're reading the story! Without further delay, here's the next bit, hope you enjoy Sorry about the lack of sneezing in this part, more in the next one, promise!

Part 2

“There’s a story at the bottom of this bottle...”

As they finished Dear Maria, Jack ran over and wrapped his arms around Alex. Turning around to face him, Alex hugged him back. "Fuck you're hot," he hissed.

"You kdow it," Jack grinned, releasing the singer and running over to high five Rian as he emerged from behind the drum kit while Alex yelled thanks for coming out to the crowd. Running back to the front of the stage Jack stuck his arms into the crowd, high fiving as many of the fans as he could.

"Hey! Trying to tell me something?" He heard Zack yell from his place on the other side of the stage. Jack laughed, winking at the crowd and turning to jog over to Zack, jumping into his back and waving, giving the audience a thumbs up as they cheered and laughed. He glanced over to see Alex with his arm around Rian, still calling to the audience. Another few minutes and the doors were opened, the crowd beginning to drift out of the stadium and Matt was waving them off stage. Alex and Rian gave a bow to the crowd and followed Zack, who was still piggy-backing their waving lead guitarist, offstage.

"That was fucking awesome!" Rian laughed as Zack unceremoniously dumped his passenger onto a soft seat backstage.

"Great show guys!" The crew gathered around them offering congratulations and enthusing about the show. It really had gone well. The crowd had been amazing, although Jacks bra collection was somewhat smaller than usual and had been left on his microphone stand when Zack had carried him offstage, and the show had gone off without a hitch apart from one badly timed sneeze from Jack into his microphone in the middle of Six Feet Under the Stars. After a few minutes of congratulations and excited talking Alex realised that Jack hadn’t joined the knot of band and crew members. Subtly slipping off to the side he tracked down where Zack had left their friend.

“Fuck, Jack.” The guitarist was curled on the chair and sounded like he was trying to cough his lungs out of his chest. He was drenched in sweat, even more than usual after a show, and his face was bright red. “Fuck why didn’t you say you weren’t up to this?” Alex carefully lifted Jack’s head enough so he could slide in underneath him, raising his head and chest enough to stop him from coughing although his breathing still sounded worryingly tight and wheezing.

"Did it." Alex had to admit it was true. If he hadn't known before the show that the guitarist was unwell he certainly wouldn't having a guessed it with Jack dancing and running around the stage like a maniac for the entire show. Right now it was hard to figure out how he had done it, collapsed on a chair with his voice completely wrecked, but on stage he had held it together brilliantly. Must’ve been adrenaline or something.

"Fucking idiot," Alex muttered. "You feel like an oven." The heat he had noticed on stage was still pouring off his friend. Jack's only reply was to sneeze freely over Alex’s legs.

"Guys? Oh. Crap, is he okay?" Their tour manager found the two, quickly taking in Jack's pathetic appearance.

"He's burning up."

"Damn, stay there." Matt disappeared down one of the halls as Rian and Zack found them and sat down on the ground next to them. A minute later Matt returned carrying a medical kit and trailed by the opening band. He pulled out a thermometer and handed it to Alex who pushed Jack’s hair out of the way so stick it in his ear.

“I think we’re gonna have to pass on drinks tonight, sorry guys.” Alex apologised to the other band, still running his hand through his friend’s hair. “I’m gonna go put Jack to bed as soon as we get out of here.”

“’lex, go out. I cad-”

“Nope, we’re staying in tonight so suck it up.”

“Dod’t have to stay with be.” Jack sniffed and gave up on trying to keep his eyes open.

“You’re useless when you’re healthy. If we leave you alone while you’re sick we’ll have to look for a new guitarist. Far too much hassle in the middle of a tour.” Alex laughed, “I’m staying with you, like it or not.” Jack just nodded in response, too tired to think of anything else.

“No problem, maybe another time.” The lead singer of their opening act (Alex thought his name was Shaun) replied as the thermometer beeped and Alex held it up to see the numbers.

“Fuck, it’s over 102 Matt.” The tour manager glanced at his watch and, seeing it had been about twenty minutes since the end of the show, determined it had been long enough for the worst of the crowd to clear so that they could get back to the bus without getting mobbed.

“Let’s get him back to the bus. Jack, can you walk?”

“Yes.” Jack snapped, suddenly irritated at everyone fussing. He felt Alex slip out from under him but made no attempt to get up, or even open his eyes.

“Um, want to try it?” He could hear the frown in the manager’s voice as he spoke again. Responding to this, he dragged his eyes open and shoved himself up so he was standing next to the others. “Okay, let’s get back to the bus.” Jack nodded and took a step forward… straight into Rian which sent him stumbling and falling back into Zack who caught him.

“How about you give up walking for now?” Zack smiled and easily scooped the guitarist into his arms and began to walk towards the back door of the venue. Over the short walk back to their bus, Jack could feel himself falling asleep in Zack’s arms despite his efforts to stay awake. Before he knew it, Alex was opening the door to the bus and Zack was carrying him through to his bed.

“Seriously guys, go out, get drunk, have fun. There’s no reason for all of us to stay in.”

“You sure?” That was Rian speaking, or maybe Zack, but probably Rian. Jack considered opening his eyes to check but decided that it actually didn’t matter who was talking. “Can you two manage alone? You can barely even make your own breakfast Alex.”

“Go.” Jack managed to croak out. “He does’t... hishoo! Deed to bake breakfast.” Rian just rolled his eyes, putting his hand over Jack’s forehead and wincing at the heat radiating off him.

“You’re sure you can manage?”

“Yes! Really, go.” Alex all but shoved the other two members of All Time Low out of the trailer to go meet the others.

“They did’t cha’ge?” Jack croaked out, vaguely aware of how sweaty and gross their show outfits typically were at the end of a concert.

“Did, you must’ve been asleep.” Alex watched as Jack nodded and drifted back to sleep. He’d been in and out since they got off stage although at the moment it seemed far more ‘out’ than ‘in’. As he looked around the bus he could see various crew members grabbing jackets and wallets from their bunks before heading out for the night. “So what now?”

“First I’d say try get his fever down a bit. I think we’ve got medicine somewhere around here. Other than that he’s just gotta sleep it off.” Alex nodded, sitting down next to his best friend on the bunk while Matt left in search of medicine, returning a few minutes later with a box of cold stuff and taking out two pills. “Jack, you still awake?" Alex shook his head when Jack made no move and took the pills and box from their tour manager.

"Go catch up with Jeff and the others, I can take care of Jack. There’s no point both of us staying in and I’m not leaving." Matt looked at him for a moment before nodding and grabbing his stuff, instructing Alex to make sure that Jack drank water or juice, no alcohol, and to call him if anything went wrong.

"Jack, wake up Jack..." Alex shook his friend until he received a muffled groan in response. “I’ve got drugs…” Jack dragged open his eyes, sniffing miserably.

“Dod’t feel like partyi’g todight.” He gave a few rough coughs into his pillow and curled up again.

“Wrong type of drugs dude.” Alex laughed and shoved his best friend until he looked over again. “Take them, I’ll grab you some water. Stay awake.” He flashed a smile as Jack hauled himself to sit in his bunk, leaning against the wall and pulling out his phone to play some game while he waited, dry swallowing the pills as he did so. When Alex returned a minute later Jack was watching the door and reached out to take the glass, draining it in a few mouthfuls. Glancing up at Jack’s hair, still damp with sweat from the show and down at his own disgusting shirt Alex made a quick decision. “We need to shower.” Jack just looked up, raising an eyebrow but not making any move to get up. “Up, come on.” He pulled off his own shirt, dumping it on his bunk and grabbing a pair of sweatpants to change into and then turning to go through Jack’s bag, pulling out a pair of his pyjama pants and a hoodie. By the time he found everything, Jack had made it off his bed and shuffled to the bathroom where he was sitting on the toilet. Joining him, the singer turned on the water to warm up and pulled Jack’s shirt off. “Gotta stand up to shower.” Jack shook his head.

“Too tired.”

“You can sleep after.” Alex offered a hand; pulling Jack to his feet and helping him undo his jeans so he could get undressed. He reached over and adjusted the water temperature so it would be tolerable but far cooler than he would usually like before taking the rest of his own clothes off and allowed Jack to lean against him, still radiating heat.

“Fuck that’s cold.” He complained as Alex pulled him under the water.

“Not really but it’ll get your temperature down.” Alex remembered when he was little and running a high fever his parents would put him in a cold bath to get it down. They didn’t have a bath on the bus but hopefully the shower would have the same effect. Absentmindedly Alex began to wash the combination of sweat and products out of his hair before turning and reaching up to do the same for Jack who was starting to shiver slightly. “You know there’s no way you’re going on tomorrow if you’ve still got a fever, right?”

“We have a show, I’b goi’g od.”

“Not if-”

“Yes if,” Jack wrinkled his nose and turned away from Alex to sneeze into his hands, washing them off under the spray. “I’b goi’g od whatever. You do, we all do.” Alex rolled his eyes.

“And that always works out so well.” He remembered one show in London where he had been coming down with something before the show but gone on anyway and by the time they had gotten off and finished up the goodbyes to the lingering fans he had been running a fever of nearly 103 and had ended flying very uncomfortably back to the US the next day with everyone else on the plane looking at him like he had the plague and then spending nearly a week crashed out in bed barely able to even talk. Jack just shrugged, leaning against the wall after Alex finished washing his hair.

“I’ll be fide.” He yawned widely and was cut off by another sneeze. Alex made a face, flicking water at his friend and dragging him back under the spray before opening the door of the shower to dry himself off and get dressed again. A moment later Jack followed suit, switching off the water as he did so and wobbling slightly as he bent down to grab his clothes. He quickly got dressed, huddling in the hoodie and trying to get warm again after the cold water, shivering when his hair dripped down his back. He saw Alex turning round to face him and before he registered what was happening a towel was shoved over his head as his friend attempted to dry his hair off. Jack laughed and took the towel, rubbing his head until enough of the water was off so his jumper stayed dry and hanging it on the side of the shower to dry off.

“Bed?” Alex asked as Jack yawned again.

“Mbovie?”

“Go put one in.” Jack smiled and shuffled off to the back lounge while Alex headed back to their bunks and grabbed Jack’s half empty box of tissues and the blanket off his bed, dragging it back to where Jack was curled on the couch with the opening screen to Goldfinger paused on the TV.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

There you go Hope everyone liked it! Please comment and let me know what you thought! The next part should be up pretty soon too, more sneezing in that one

[missfemmefatale]

Omg I love this story so much!

[SpookyScarySkeleton]

Awwwwe yes more sneeezy Jack. Uh I ask for contagion maybe, maybe Alex could be sick with Jack. Too much Jalex cuteness <3 woo. Amazing :3

[Grasper]

Wow sniffly, sneezy, stuffy-sounding Jack?

[alyssa]

Thanks for the lovely feedback everyone, it's always much appreciated! Fear not DeathNoteOwner, Alex is coming up soon!

Part 3

Two and a half hours later the two were wrapped in the blanket with Jack snoring softly into the singer’s side while he read an article on black holes on his phone.

Bzzz. Bzzz.

Exiting out of the article Alex dragged over the bar to answer the call.

“What’s up?”

“How’re you guys doing?” Alex laughed at Rian’s question.

“You need more to drink.”

“Seriously, your collective incompetence hasn’t killed Jack yet?”

“No Rian, why does no one believe that we can have a safe, well behaved night in? Matt called like twenty minutes ago.” He heard Rian and Zack laughing on the other end of the call.

“‘Cause we’ve all seen your guys’ idea of a ‘sensible night’. So what’ve you been doing?”

“We had a shower and watched Goldfinger and right now Jack’s sleeping and I’m pretty sure he’s drooling on me.”

“His fever gone down any?”

“Yeah, it was just under 101 when Matt called. Now go away, drink some more and stop worrying.”

“W’ssup?” Jack’s groggy voice slurred from where he was curled into Alex and was followed quickly by two harsh sneezes.

“Ri doesn’t trust us to be good.”

“What?” The confused voices of the other half of the band sounded together through the phone.

“You woke Jack.”

“Oh, hey man. How’re you feeling?”

“He doesn’t want to talk to you, you woke him up.” Jack reached up and tried to take the phone but ended up more just grabbing Alex’s hand. The singer smiled and moved the phone down to between them, turning the volume up so they could both hear.

“W’dya wadt?”

“Just calling to check up on you guys, your fever was scary high earlier. How’re you doing?”

“’Kay, ‘lex wahh… heshhh! N’ishoo! watched Jabes Bo’d with be.” He broke off to sneeze and accepted the offered tissue to blow his running nose.

“Yeah, he said. Go back to sleep now.” Jack nodded tiredly and closed his eyes, cuddling closer to his friend.

“See he’s alive, now go away and I don’t want to hear from you again until bus call.”

“I’ll make sure of it.” Zack laughed through the phone and one of the two ended the call. Alex ran his fingers through Jack’s hair, relieved to feel that although he was still warm, he wasn’t radiating heat like earlier. He began to hum softly, punctuated every few seconds by Jack sniffling but in less than a minute he was snoring again. Alex glanced at the time on his phone. 1 am. The others would be back in two hours or so. He flicked back to the article and continued to read.

***

“Hey Zack, have a look at this.” Rian whispered as he looked into the back lounge. Alex and Jack were curled up together on one of the couches with Jack’s box of tissues sitting on the floor next to them and Alex’s phone fallen next to it. Jack’s arms were wrapped around the singer and Alex’s hand was still buried in his friend’s hair.

“They’re so sweet.” Zack laughed softly and entered the room as quietly as he could, picking up the blanket that had slipped half off them and spreading it to properly cover the sleeping men. He reached over and brushed his hand over Jack’s forehead giving Rian a thumbs up when he found it to be not overly hot. He quietly left the room and Rian closed the door so that when the rest of the crew arrived back at the bus they wouldn’t disturb the two.

***

“Hey, come on in.” Rian grinned at the reporter as he opened the door, waving her inside. “Uh where would you like to do this? We usually use the back lounge but that’s… occupied at the moment. Oi Zack, get out here.” Most of the crew had gone out already or were in other areas of the bus, careful to keep quiet when near the back lounge where Alex and Jack were still sleeping.

“Hi, I’m Sarah, anywhere is fine, what’s going on back there?” Zack laughed as he emerged from the back.

“Alex and Jack are sleeping.” The confused look on the girl’s face was enough to prompt him to explain. “Jack’s sick and they fell asleep in there last night, well, this morning I guess.”

“Jack’s generally pretty cuddly, he likes to hug people and shit, but when he gets sick he pretty much needs someone to cuddle at all times. Last time he had a cold he kept migrating to Alex’s bunk and waking us all up until everyone just told them to start the night together so we could all get some sleep.” Rian joined in Zack’s laughter as he explained.

“They’re still out?”

“Dead to the world.”

“Think Alex’s got it yet?” Zack just shrugged, sitting down at the counter and motioning for Sarah to do the same. “Well, we’re all yours.” Rian winked, smiling at her as he slid in next to Zack.

***

“Touring all the time is great, we find it a really great way to be able to keep in touch with our fans. I wouldn’t change how much we tour even if -” Rian’s answer was interrupted by two harsh sneezes from the door. Turning around he saw their guitarist sitting in the doorway, face buried in his shoulder. “Jack, what’re you doing up?” He shrugged.

“Ishhoo! Deed a dri’k.”

“And how is sitting in the hallway going to help with that?” Jack just looked at him blankly, obviously still partially asleep.

Rian laughed and slid off his seat and went to pull his friend to his feet. "You’re pathetic, orange juice?" Jack nodded and coughed deeply for a moment, accepting the glass as Rian handed it to him and sipping at it. "Go hang out with Zack for a minute, you need cough stuff."

“Ri…” he whined, heading over to slip into Rian’s seat next to Zack.

“Is your fever back up?” Jack shook his head and made a face when Zack reached over to put a hand over his forehead.

“Not too bad.” When he removed his hand Jack promptly rested his head against Zack’s shoulder. Smiling slightly Zack wrapped an arm around his friend’s waist and turned back to the reporter. “Sorry about this. He really is like a toddler when he’s not well. And when he is.” He grinned teasingly at the guitarist who ignored him.

“Hey... I ... Eh...ha'tchoo! I’b Jack.”

“I’m Sarah, nice to meet you. Don’t worry about it.” She smiled at the two as Jack looked sideways at her from Zack’s shoulder.

“Shut up, you need to be able to talk later if you want a shot of getting on stage tonight.”

“I’b goi’g a’d you cad’t stop be.”

“Well you’re gonna have to be able to talk to convince Matt of that. So be quiet.” Rian reappeared and handed over a small cup of synthetically coloured syrup. Jack sniffled and swallowed it, sticking his tongue out at the disgusting taste. “Shove over.” He squished in beside the other two.

“So do you guys get sick on tour a lot?”

“Well, everyone gets colds now and then but we manage to avoid the worst of the bugs. Of course, every once in a while someone gets something bad like when Alex got bronchitis right before we got back from London last year and Zack managed to give us all flu a few years ago but nah, on the whole we’re pretty lucky.”

They continued to talk for another twenty minutes with surprisingly little input from Jack aside from a few harsh sneezes muffled either into his hands or arm.

“I should get going, it was great to meet you all though. Jack I hope you feel better soon.” He mumbled a faint ‘thanks’ from where he was still resting against Zack as Rian got up to show the reporter out while Zack called goodbye from where he was, unable to move out of his temporary position as ‘pillow’.

“Think it’s time to wake Alex?” Zack glanced at his watch and saw it was nearing 3 pm with no sign of the singer getting himself out of his makeshift bed. It was getting late, even for Alex, especially as he hadn't gone out the night before.

“I’ll go.” Jack looked up with a far-too-innocent smile, suddenly far more alert, slipping out of his seat and making for the back lounge.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sorry if it cuts off too abruptly but this was getting pretty long but the next part should be up soon! I've nearly finished editing it so hope that makes up for it As always please let me know what you thought, the feedback is much appreciated and always make me feel good and fuzzy

[Grasper]

I love how Jack is a baby when he's sick

[SpookyScarySkeleton]

Awwwie Jack is so adorable <3. Please do torture Alex . Jalex <3 . Yeh this is an amazing fic c: I love it

[alyssa]

Thanks for the lovely comments! It's great to log on here to put up the next part and have great comments already waiting

@Grasper I always imagine that Jack would just be one of those guys who turns into a little kid again 'cause he's always hugging the others and stuff and he just sort of seems like that kind of person So here we are...

@DeathNoteOwner Your patience shall be rewarded Here you go, have Alex too!

This part's more like a collection of scenes but hopefully still enjoyable

Part 4

By the time the other two caught up with him he was sitting next to their singer poking his cheek.

“Alex, Alex, Alex, wake up, Alex.”

“Ng’mpff.”

“Wake u-up…”

“Fuck… eh’mpff! Fuck off Jack.”

“Alex…” Finally the singer rolled over, scowling.

“What?!”

“Woah, calb dowd. It’s like 3 a’d Zack was woderi’g if you were still alive.”

“It’s afternoon?” Alex blinked and rubbed his eyes.

“Yup, I beat you up by about ad hour.”

“You okay Alex?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You’ve been asleep for over 12 hours, we thought you died.” He just shrugged and pulled Jack to sit next to him so he could lie down across his lap and look up at the rest of the band.

“You better yet?” Jack wrinkled his nose and grabbed a tissue, sneezing twice in response. “Fever’s still down though?” He looked over at Rian and was relieved when the drummer nodded. “So did you guys do anything fun last night or just sit around missing us?”

“You wish, actually Shaun and the others were really cool, you’d have a great time with them.” Rian grinned; going out with their opening band had actually been very similar to partying with Alex and Jack, just with a few more people and slightly less nudity.

“We actually had a pretty good night right here, although the shower could have been warmer.” He winked at Jack who made a scandalised face and pretended to hit him across the head. “Have you guys eaten yet? I’m starving.”

“We ate earlier but Jack hasn’t had anything yet.” Zack laughed as Alex quickly got up and dragged Jack towards the kitchen for food. Leaving them to it, Rian and Zack headed back to the back room where all their stuff was kept, Zack grabbing his weights and heading outside and Rian settling down with his laptop and headphones.

“You’ve gotta eat.”

“Dot hu’gry.”

“You’re always hungry.”

“Eh’hushh! Dot whed everythi’g tastes like sdot.” Alex reached over and scooped some of Jack’s mostly uneaten lunch onto his own fork.

“You’ve gotta eat something before we go on tonight though.” Jack rolled his eyes and scooped up some of the noodles, sticking them in his mouth and raising an eyebrow that clearly asked ‘happy?’ “Sure you’re gonna be up for tonight anyway?” Jack swallowed and nodded.

“Course, besides after todight we’ve got a couple of days off.”

“A day driving and then an interview and signings the next and more shows and signings and shit after that.”

“Yeah, a couple of days off.”

***

“This is a really bad idea.”

“Relax Riad, everythi’g’s… gheh… godda go… Ng’ishoo! Go fide.” Jack sniffed, blowing his nose for probably the hundredth time since sound check alone.

“Ri, it’s too late to do anything now anyway.”

“I know but it’s still a bad idea. You’re not sounding too great either.” He turned to face Alex as he tried to discreetly cough into his sleeve.

“Loosen up, I’m fine it’s just dusty in here and Jack’ll be good. He was fine last night.” Rian just rolled his eyes and stalked off somewhere else, leaving Jack and Alex alone in the All Time Low dressing room.

“I got you sick?”

“Yeah you… you idiot… heshoo! But don’t you dare pull a Rian. We’ve got a couple of days to shake this before our next show and I’ve barely even got a sniffle.” Jack nodded and held his arms, smiling happily as Alex laughed and leaned in to hug him back. “Come on; let’s go check out the crowd.”

***

“I told you-”

“Fuck off.” Alex croaked from where he was lying with his head on Rian’s lap.

“You done?” They heard Zack ask softly from the bathroom where Jack had been curled since they got back to the bus, attempting to keep the little bit of food he’d eaten inside his body. A minute later he appeared around the corner, shuffling over to collapse on the other couch with Zack following him soon after, carrying a blanket since Alex had claimed their one from last night, and shoving his feet over to make room to sit down. He handed over the blanket and watched as Jack curled up under it and closed his eyes.

“Hang on a minute.” Rian laughed when Alex whined in response to his pillow moving out from under him.

“Why?”

“Time for meds, both of you could use some.” As he left the room the others could hear him talking quietly to other members of the crew who had decided to stay back for the night. The bus was strangely quiet, lacking the usual loud music, although that was probably because Alex or Jack generally turned it on in the first place and both had been complaining of splitting headaches since they got offstage. Zack nodded as Jack shivered under his blanket and Alex sneezed into his arm. He reached over and pushed the blanket away from Jack’s face to feel his forehead, getting up to do the same to Alex afterwards.

“You’ve just gotta share everything...”

“Show went well though.” Zack nodded and went to sit back down, allowing Jack to curl up against him and wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

“Fever check.” Rian tossed the thermometer at Zack who caught it and stuck it in Jack’s ear, pulling it out when it beeped.

“Fuck, 102.2.” He traded Rian the thermometer for a bottle of medicine and glanced over as Alex accepted the instrument, sticking it in himself although allowing Rian to read it a few minutes later.

“101.6. Here.” Rian grabbed the bottle from Zack and handed it over to Alex who fished out a couple of pills and dry swallowed them, wincing and coughing as they scraped against his throat. “Do you two wanna sleep or what?”

“Think Jack’s got that sorted already.” Zack smiled as Jack looked up hazily from where had managed to gradually shift pretty much on top of him. “Wanna go to your own bed?”

“’kay here…” Jack mumbled without bothering to open his eyes. Zack laughed and rolled his eyes, of course Jack was always gonna want to stay with his friends.

“How about Alex goes with you? He needs to go to bed too.”

“Do not.”

“Be good and go play soft toy.” Rian rolled his eyes. They were in a professional band, touring around the world and everything, but Alex and Jack still acted like they were seven. Alex made a face but nodded and stood up, holding a hand out to help Jack up and then leading him through to the back to get settled in one of their bunks for the night. When Rian and Matt went to go check on them a quarter of an hour later Jack was wrapped around Alex and both were fast asleep.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

There you go Hope you liked it! As always please let me know what you thought and if you have any suggestions to make it better, either in storyline or in actual writing!

[Grasper]

@Grasper I always imagine that Jack would just be one of those guys who turns into a little kid again 'cause he's always hugging the others and stuff and he just sort of seems like that kind of person So here we are...

Aw well it's totally adorable! Is Alex going to be getting any worse?

Edited November 27, 2013 by Grasper

[SpookyScarySkeleton]

Well a scene were sick Alex&Jack are on stage and Alex sneezes while singing, ending In an embaressed Alex c:. Also Jack could sneeze on stage too. adorable parts already <3 . Also uhm they could accidentally sneeze on fans at the signing and at the interview they could be really sick/sneezy :3 just all those options sound good

[Amberlight24]

I am absolutely LOVING this!!! You are a wonderful writer and the way you write about your characters is so adorable and engaging....I like that you gave Jack the spotlight the most He deserves some lovin' along with Alex haha

[PetalPunk]

AW!!!!!! Thanks so much for the plug! I'm so happy I inspired you to write an ATL fic! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while..been really bust with University....

Anyway, I hope you don't mind if I give you a few tips to make your writing a bit more coherent:

1. with lots of dialogue, it would be helpful to add "alex said" or "jack said" after whomever was talking. It makes the conversation easier to follow.

2. After someone talks it's helpful to know who was just talking. Some of the time Alex was talking and then after the quote you had Rian doing an action and I was really confused as to who was talking in the first place.

Just small things to make your writing easier to read.

I really liked this story! It's adorable, now just to be clear on plot...Are Jack and Alex both sick now?

[alyssa]

Hey everyone! As always thanks you so much for the lovely feedback! I do apologise for the delay, some of my friends are about to set up a YouTube channel and stuff so I've been helping them out so have been really pretty busy! So to make up for it here is a chapter just for all the Alex fans Sorry it's a little short but I really wanted to get it up tonight! Thanks for the advice flowerpower, I've tried to apply it in this part so everyone please let me know if you think it's improved it?

Part 5

Despite how crappy he was feeling Alex was awake again within an hour, just lying there staring at the top of the bunk.

“You okay?” Someone asked from one of the top bunks when he sneezed painfully into his arm.

“Yeah.” He returned to staring blankly at the top of Jack’s bunk for a while until there was movement from above him.

“Can’t sleep?” The voice asked quietly. He shook his head, turning to look as Jeff climbed down from his bunk. Jack didn’t seem to be having that problem, promptly passing out on top of him as soon as they got to bed and if he wasn’t so damn hot and breathing stuffily Alex would have checked to see that he was still alive. “Wanna go watch something? I think Danny picked up some new movies this afternoon.”

“Sure, what’d he get?” Asked Alex.

“Dunno, he said there was some stuff we’d like though so let’s go check it out.” Jeff replied happily.

The singer carefully wriggled out of his best friend’s arms, pulling the blanket back up so it was still covering Jack once he was out, and following their lighting guy out to the back of the bus. He could hear Zack, Rian, and a couple of the other guys out the front but other than that the bus was relatively quiet with a lot of the crew still out at bars or with friends. Grinning, Jeff held out a collection of different movies for him to choose from. Danny really had got quite a selection, including some of their favourites that they’d either lost or left behind. Alex laughed and pointed at Total Recall, picking up the blanket he’d forgotten earlier and going to crash on one of the couches while Jeff stuck the movie in and disappeared, returning a moment later with beer and Gatorade. “Matt’s banned you and Jack from all alcohol until you’re both over this bug.” He explained, handing over the bottle. “You’re gonna have to imagine the vodka.”

Alex rolled his eyes but twisted open the bottle, taking a few gulps as he realised how thirsty he was. “It’s ndot the sambe.” Jeff just laughed at his complaint and sprawled out on the other couch before hitting play.

***

“Kishh’uh, ’tschuu! Hishoo! Ihh…” Alex scowled and scrubbed at his nose as the last sneeze refused to come out, instead just buzzing frustratingly in his sinuses.

“Stuck?” Jeff laughed as he watched the singer’s breath hitching but unable to get rid of the irritation. He tossed over a box of tissues which went ignored as Alex continued to try to get out the sneeze. Generally this probably wouldn’t be so amusing but after quite a few beers everything started to seem funnier, not to mention that the expression of concentration that Alex was wearing was priceless. Another minute or so went by before anything actually happened.

“Hhh… Ih’tschhh! Ow.”

“You okay?” The singer just gave a nod, burying further under his blanket and turning back to see the last few minutes of the movie. By the time it finished Jeff was rambling about something he’d read that any other time Alex would have found pretty interesting. Now though he was barely able to even understand what Jeff was saying through the cotton wool that his brain seemed to have turned into. He wasn’t sure how much longer Jeff talked for, probably a while, before Matt made his way back towards the back lounge.

“What’re you doing up?” He sighed, noting the familiar scene of the end screen of some movie still up, and Jeff and Alex situated around the back lounge rambling about space and stuff. Sure it was pretty common but the last time he’d seen the singer he’d been fast asleep and honestly they’d been hoping he would stay that way.

“Oh hey Matt, Alex couldn’t sleep so we watched a movie.” Jeff smiled at their tour manager. “Don’t worry, he had kids Gatorade.” Alex made a face at the description and yawned widely which didn’t go unnoticed by Matt.

“Good, you going back to bed now?” After a moment’s thought Alex nodded. It was only about one a.m. but he was exhausted even after napping earlier. Matt looked him over critically. “You good or do you need a hand?” He still seemed far better off than Jack but with those two you never really knew what was going on.

“I’mb finde.” Alex yawned again and stood up, gathering his blanket and heading slowly back to their bunks. He could hear Jeff and Matt talking behind him and some of the others out the front as he made his way to bed.

“Hey Alex.” Danny greeted from where he was sitting on his bunk, face illuminated in the semidarkness by his laptop screen. “Movie with Jeff?”

“Yeah, how’s Jack?” He sat down on his bed across the narrow walkway from Jack’s and looked over at his friend who was still sleeping, his arm now hanging out the side of his bunk and blanket twisted around his legs.

“Wouldn’t stop moving for a while but he hasn’t woken up or anything.” Alex nodded, reaching over and fixing the covers, taking the chance to brush a hand across the guitarist’s forehead as he did so. Still kinda warm but he didn’t really know how bad his own fever was so it was hard to gauge how high someone else’s was.

“Go to bed dude.” He rolled his eyes at Danny’s comment but did as he had been intending and climbed into his own bunk, pulling the blankets over his face and closing his eyes.

___________________________________________________________________________________

So thank you again to everyone who's reading this Please let me know what you thought! I don't know how busy I'm gonna be for the next few days 'cause we're doing the first video soon but I'll try to get the next part up really soon!

[SpookyScarySkeleton]

Awesome !. Uhm at first I was kinda confused that u put "Jeff" I thought it was a misspelling of "Jack" but soon caught on he was another tour member. Well maybe just stick to less charecters as it got confusing for me or intruduce the new charecters fully . Other than that it was really good

[PetalPunk]

I agree with DeathNoteOwner. Be careful introducing new characters, sometimes it gets confusing if there are a lot of characters and especially if the names sound alike, like Jeff and Jack.

And this is much easier to understand. Great job!

I really liked it!

Now that Alex and Jack have slept for so long, make them get up and be completely miserable with lots of sneezing. That's the stuff that's fun to read.

[Grasper]

Now that Alex and Jack have slept for so long, make them get up and be completely miserable with lots of sneezing. That's the stuff that's fun to read.

I second this so much

[alyssa]

Thanks for the comments guys! Sorry for any confusion, Jeff Maker is the lighting designer for All Time Low and he tours a lot with the band and I've seen quite a few interviews where they talk about him and Jeff and Alex watching random movies all night so yeah, sorry for just assuming everyone knew him though! Here's the next part, I've actually had it done for a little while but I've been without an internet connection!

Part 6

The bus was quiet for the majority of the next day. They were driving so the entire crew and band were all in the small space but everyone was careful to keep it quiet to avoid waking their singer. Jack made it up by about lunchtime but by two in the afternoon Alex had yet to make an appearance.

“Hishh’uh, eschh, isshoo!” Jack winced as sneezing sent pain shooting through his head.

“Bless,” Rian placed a mug on the table in front of him and gently pushed his fringe back to feel his forehead. “How’re you feeling?”

“Like shit.” He mumbled, pressing against the bridge of his nose in an attempt to alleviate some of the pressure that had built up in his face. Noticing the action Rian slid in to sit next to his friend at the little table. He was starting to get worried that there was something other than a cold going on here. Presumably Jack had the same bug that Zack had shaken off in a few days, although admittedly Zack was better at taking care of himself and so hadn’t ended up with a sky-high fever after every show, and he definitely had the same thing as Alex seeing as their singer had caught it from him but he was far worse off than either of them. When they’d checked earlier Alex’s temperature was reasonable even without medicine but Jack’s was still higher even with regular doses and to put it simply he was just all around sick and miserable. While Rian was lost in thought Jack had pulled the mug over to investigate. “What is it?”

“Tea, it’s supposed to help you feel better.”

“’S ndot worki’g.” Jack wrinkled his nose and coughed as he breathed in the steam.

“Generally it only helps when you drink it; try breathing through your nose. Maybe the steam’ll help a bit.” While worth a shot, the advice went largely unfollowed as Jack tried it and ended up coughing wetly into his wrist after he couldn’t manage to get any air through his sinuses. Rian just gently rubbed his back and put an arm around his friend, allowing him to rest his head on his shoulder. “You up to having anything to eat?”

So far Jack had refused any food and after he’d lost it all the previous night nobody was inclined to push him if he said no.

“Dod’t thi’k so…” He mumbled, sitting up properly and sipping at his tea. “Hashoo!”

“Bless, here.” Zack handed over a fresh box of tissues as he came into the front room. “How long till you’re due for more meds?”

“’Nother two hours at least.” Rian answered softly, watching as Jack gently rubbed at his face. “Do we have any decongestants?”

Zack frowned, considering this. “Don’t think so. Someone’ll get some when we next stop. Alex’s sounding pretty stuffed up too.”

“He’s up?” Jack looked up at the mention of his best friend.

“Awake, hasn’t actually made it out of bed yet but yeah he’s awake.”

Jack sniffled and pushed himself up, picking up his mug and slipping past Rian, heading for the bunks.

“Bordi’g, you’re fidally awake.” Well, awake seemed to be a fairly loose term. Although he was sitting leaning against the wall Alex was just staring at his blanket, twisting his hair around his fingers. He didn’t even look up until Jack sat down at the bottom of his bed.

“Hey.” His voice was completely shot, deep and rough, pretty much matching Jack’s actually.

“You left.”

“Couldnd’t sleep so Jeff a’d I watched Total Recall. They would’t let mbe drink.” Alex made a face.

“You’re allowed to drink, in fact it’s encouraged. You’re just not allowed alcohol.” Jeff’s voice carried down from his bunk.

“Are you godda get up?”

“Mbaybe.” Alex just shrugged, fingers beginning to twirl his hair again. “How lo’g’ve you beend up?”

“Two hours? A while.” Jack pinched his nose to stifle two strong sneezes. “Fuck!” He winced at the flare of pain through his head.

“What’s up?”

“Siduses.” He grabbed a tissue and gently blew his nose, trying to avoid further hurting it.

“Indfected?” Jack shook his head. “Good.” Looking up Alex could see just how uncomfortable his friend was looking. Evidently this bug had hit Jack hard, harder than it seemed to have hit him even if he did feel pretty crappy. “Combe here.” Opening his arms he smiled when Jack immediately scooted over to lean into them. “You’re warmb.”

“Took bedicide whed I got up, Ri says it’s ndot too bad.” Alex nodded and ran his fingers through his friend’s hair, the two sitting quietly like that for some time, the silence interrupted only by various coughs and sneezes.

“Hey, what do you two want for dinner?” Zack pulled back the curtain in front of Alex’s bunk to reveal the two curled up together playing something on Jack’s phone, his empty mug sitting on the floor next to the bunk.

“Umb, what’s arou’d?” Alex looked up while Jack just mumbled something too faint to make out and continued staring at the screen.

“The usual, Mexican, Chinese, pretty much whatever you want, you can come with if you want but you’ve gotta get dressed. Jack you’ve gotta eat something.”

“I’ll have Chngishh! Chidese, the usual. He’ll have soup, yes, you’re goi’g to eat.” Alex sniffled and smiled innocently at Zack who was rolling his eyes at having to take their order.

“Hp’tshh!”

“Bless, we’ll be back soon, try actually make it out of bed will you?” Alex smirked and nodded as Zack left. Probably some of the crew would eat at wherever they got dinner, it was generally more comfortable than all of them trying to eat in the bus, but he didn’t feel up to going out and Jack looked even worse off than he felt.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

There you go! Hope you liked it and as always please let me know what you thought

[SpookyScarySkeleton]

Awwwwwe Jalex <3 Please Continue ! I love this <3

[PetalPunk]

Presumably Jack had the same bug that Zack had shaken off in a few days, although admittedly Zack was better at taking care of himself and so hadn’t ended up with a sky-high fever after every show, and he definitely had the same thing as Alex seeing as their singer had caught it from him but he was far worse off than either of them.

For me, there is a lot of confusion here. Too many pronouns, he, him, them. Be specific with names here. There are too many and too many guys to go around naming each one he and him in one sentence. It gets really confusing.

Although he was sitting leaning against the wall Alex was just staring at his blanket, twisting his hair around his fingers

GAH! As soon as I read that Alex was awake, I was wondering if you would put him awake and playing with his hair! That's the kind of fan I like, we pay attention in interviews! That's the one thing his bandmates hate about him...he lies in bed playing with his hair for at least 30 minutes after he wakes up! Kudos for getting that in there!

Pretty good! Remember to quote whomever is speaking right after the quotation, it got a little jumbled at the end with different people talking and doing action. I love the Jalex parts. More sneezing from Alex though, and make Jack have a sneezy sinus infection.

[Amberlight24]

Loving this so much, SO MUCH!

[babygirl45]

I request jack gets worse and then Alex decides to hide how bad he feels so they can focus on jack and then once jack is a little better Alex passes out in Zack's arms and ends up waking up in the hospital with over a 104 degree fever.