Beautiful Chaos (jake x johnnie)

two

"Why do you keep looking at that magazine?" Johnnie asked Ian that night a year ago in his basement. He was plucking at his guitar boredly as Ian flipped through the issue like it was some kind of amazing book.

Ian closed it and held the cover up to Johnnie. "Do you know who this is?"

Johnnie studied the attractive man on the front. "No, I don't."

"He's Jake Webber, he's literally our age and is an up and coming punk rock star," Ian said, "in this interview he said he was discovered outside his local mall, and then he got a record deal. Now he has so many fans and he's selling out shows all over the place. The whole story is crazy."

Johnnie took a swig of a soda he had and then set it back down. "Is there a point to this story except for the fact that you're his fanboy?"

Ian let out an exasperated sigh. "I swear, when I talk to you sometimes it feels like I'm talking to a brick wall."

"Wow, that was harsh."

"Look, I'm saying, this could be us one day," Ian pressed, "if we just keep working hard and booking more gigs, maybe we could get discovered too and we can get famous."

Johnnie nodded. "You're right, but getting discovered in our town is literally impossible."

"You're right, we just need a good opportunity—and I think I've found the perfect one," Ian stood up and picked up a poster off of the pool table in the corner of the room. He handed it to Johnnie who read the title.

"Battle of the bands," he mumbled to himself.

"They're having it in the next city over at some convention center, and I think we should join." Ian grinned.

Johnnie shoved the paper back towards him. "No...there's no way."

"What? Why?"

"I could barely perform at the bar the other day, there's no way I can do a competition like this."

"Johnnie, c'mon, you need to stop cutting yourself short," Ian gripped his shoulders and locked eyes with him, "you're one of the most talented people I've ever met and your songwriting skills are insane. You can't let your stage fright make you keep doubting yourself. You need to stop holding yourself back okay? I believe in you."

Johnnie gazed back at him quietly.

"C'mon," Ian slung an arm around his shoulder and stared straight ahead, "just imagine our band, Beautiful Chaos, getting to the end of the competition and securing the crown for best band. And all of these people will be cheering for us and clapping."

Johnnie followed his gaze, picturing a large crowd calling and chanting their names. His heart raced in his chest at the thought of it.

Ian looked at him, another bright smile on his face. "Doesn't that sound amazing?"

It did.

But when Ian died, so did their dream of winning Battle of the Bands. When Ian died, so did a part of Johnnie. He sunk into a dark hole and he could not pull himself out of it. Amidst his depression, he also forgot about the young rockstar on the cover of the magazine that inspired Ian so much. But somehow, the superstar that he saw had become his roommate. And that image of him in the magazine didn't match how he was in real life.

Halfway through the night, Johnnie heard Jake stumbling out of the room in the dark. He hit his toe on something and started cursing loudly. Then the door clicked closed and Johnnie didn't hear from him again until a few hours later. He practically fell through the door when he came back in, scaring Johnnie out of his sleep.