crush | janiel

chapter three

the stage was blurry as lights flickered behind us as the scenery drop, and the sound of fans screaming and shouting our names while we performed brought back the same happiness i felt every time we performed. every city we performed in the fans brought so much joy and so much energy in every show, and each show was different in its own way. whether it was the fans doing projects, bringing in different types of gifts, pictures, and obviously the smiles they wore on their faces, or us, probably fucking up something on stage, like messing up a lyric, or falling on stage in front of thousands of people. but at the end, it brought the same type of feeling every time. the adrenaline rush, the exhaustion that actually felt relieving, and obviously the sound of the fans coming from off the stage. being on stage whereas in the crowd feels like looking out to your world, which was true since the fans were truly our world. but at the same feeling it felt unreal. realizing that you're the artist performing to this huge crowd, that they're screaming the lyrics to your song, and that you're the ones that they're here to see.
"i can't hear anything!"
i turned my head to see zach's smile as the crowd's noise got louder. sweat trickled down my neck as i wiped my hair out of my face, setting it back in its place, and turned my head back to the crowd. a smile crept over my face and then a thought came over my mind.
"daniel."
i closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, sucking in the feeling and the crowd. my heart was racing over performing and jumping out crazily, but eccentrically.
"daniel."
i opened my eyes to see jack standing next to me, concern on his face. fixed the in-ears in my ears as i turned my attention to him as he spoke.
"everything ok?"
my gaze shifted back to the fans, and then back to him.
"i'm more than ok," i smiled.
his expression softened as a grin. appeared onto his face. i was about to turn back to the crowd when i felt a pair of arms wrap around me. jack squeezed me tightly as i let out a laugh and squeezed back, the crowd's noise hurting my ears a little to the reaction. he pulled off as jonah tapped my shoulder and motioned us both, pointing at the corner of the stage.
"jonah you didn't-" i started, but jack's laugh interrupted the moment, resting his arms on his knees, bending down and laughing.
zack, our photographer soon appeared near zach, as he carefully carried out the cake onto the stage which caused the crowd to 'aww' and scream louder. the camera's focus shifted towards corbyn, who started giggling and covering his face in embarrassment.
"but i thought you guys were certain we couldn't celebrate it on stage," he said as we all walked behind him, zach surprisingly holding the cake stably.
"well, it was last called for, eben insisted you got the same experience like daniel did on his birthday," zack spoke.
"there was cake in my hair zack fuck off!" i shot back, as jonah laughed at the sight of the memory probably both of us had replaying in our minds.
jack held the mic for zach out as he started slowly bringing the crowd's attention back, and singing happy birthday.
"happy birthday to you..." we all sang.
corbyn looked at the cake and then back at each of us mouthing, "i hate you guys."
"you love us," i mouthed back with a smile, as everyone continued to sing.
"happy birthday dear corbyn-"
"almost!" jack piped in, which made the crowd laugh.
"happy birthday to you."
the crowd let out a noise again, as corbyn blew out the candles on the cake. it was in this moment where zach held the cake in one hand instead of two where we all knew what he planned on doing. jack and i stepped out of the moment including jonah standing next to zack as zach ran to corbyn who attempted to get away from the scene but obviously failed. the cake hit his face as he just paused in his spot, zach cheering at the victory. all of us came by him again, as i pointed my finger out to his face, taking some frosting on my finger and tasting it.
"well, at least the cake is good," i pointed out, trying to lighten out the mood as everyone laughed.
corbyn reached out to bug me away as i bumped into jack and tripped over, his hands barely catching me, causing him to tumble over too on top of me. the crowd laughed as corbyn whipped out cake on his face laughing, while jonah and zach both lost it. jack stumbled back up, putting his head up, but not moving from on top of me and met eye contact with me. his face had a mixture of an 'i'm sorry' look but he was laughing at the same time.
"god you're so stupid daniel," he giggled out, laying his head back down onto my chest as we both laughed. we both laid there together for a couple more seconds, until corbyn let out his hand to me, as i pulled both me and jack up.
"i hate you guys, really tricked me into thinking this wouldn't happen!" he exclaimed annoyed.
"i wasn't even aware of this i'm innocent!" i put my hands up in defence.
jack mirrored the exact same position as corbyn rolled his eyes and turned back to the crowd. i heard jonah's voice saying goodbye to the crowd as we all waved and ran back behind stage, filled with excitement and giggles. zach licked corbyn's face and corbyn pushed him away.
"zach!" he said disgusted.
we all let a disgusted 'eww' out as zach licked the frosting.
"i'm just saying, as memorable as it was to witness corbyn getting caked in the face on stage, the cake is fucking delicious."
jack moved away from my side putting his finger near corbyn's face, as corbyn slapped his hand.
"stop it!"
jonah and i laughed, while corbyn was handed a towel to wipe it off, and we walked back to the bus. i handed the jacket i was wearing to a crew member when i met eyes with jack. he smiled and looked down, shuffling his hair.
"what?" i asked stepping near him.
"you suck at holding your balance."
i rolled my eyes at him as jonah pushed past my shoulder, and we followed him to go see the fans waiting outside near the bus.
"and you suck at pulling me back up."
"i'm small let me live!" jack's voice echoed in the hallway.
i laughed at his comment as i opened the door slowly, which lead towards the bus, as the voices of fans again cancelled out any other noise and crew surrounded us from the sides so fans wouldn't mob us. a girl tugged at the my shoulder as i drew my attention to her, and her face lit up, tears in her eyes.
"aww don't cry," i said, as she hugged me.
"i love you daniel," she cried happily, as jon pulled me away to get on the bus.
"i love you too," i replied smiling, while jonah pulled my shoulder to keep moving.