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- What Will The Papers Say? [Purple]
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What Will The Papers Say? [Purple]
None of them would ever forget the day that Mark knocked himself out on a door. Only Mark could ever cause that amount of chaos through a mere lapse of concentration, but Gary, Howard and Jason all suspected that he had enjoyed all the fuss which had followed. For Mark the day had involved a lot of sitting around and lying down and had really been rather boring – although he had taken a childish glee from riding in the ambulance. For his friends however the day had involved initial panic, followed by mild concern and lengthy phone negotiation with Elwood. However all four men remembered the unguarded banter which a little worrying had uncovered and they all looked back on that day as a sign of just how far their friendship had come. With that thought in mind, Mark almost didn’t care that there was a large purple bruise down the side of his face; ‘Could you knock me out on the other side? At least it’d match then…’ he had briefly grumbled to Gary, but his discontentment didn’t last long with the memory of that day to keep him smiling.
Gary remembered pacing the waiting room. It seemed as if they had spent hours in that waiting room – Jason had charmed information from a nurse whilst Howard discovered that hospital coffee tasted like dishwater and Gary had found himself signing a delighted woman’s cast. Gary had been the most disconcerted by the entire event. Even if Mark had come to by the time the paramedics turned up, the fact he’d been unconscious at all was distressing and now Gary found himself grappling with the concept of doctors shoving him around from test to test without anyone to hold his hand. He was fiercely protective of Mark and he hated the idea that Mark should ever be scared.
“He’s with the consultant now,” Jason said, interrupting Gary’s thoughts.
“Is that supposed to reassure me?” Gary grumbled, wrinkling his nose. Jason chuckled.
“It’s the consultant I feel sorry for – Mark’s probably chatting his ear off!” he grinned, giving Gary a small shove in an attempt to cheer him up. Gary rubbed a hand over his face and let out the sigh he had been holding for a little too long.
“Ok, I get it, I’m being overprotective…I can’t help it. Mark just makes you want to look after him, doesn’t he?” he asked Jason, who smiled and shrugged.
“I don’t think he does it on purpose…he’s kind of like the puppy you know you can’t keep but you fall in love with him anyway,” he replied making Gary laugh.
“So…how much exactly did you have to do to get the nurse to tell you where he is then?” he asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“Picture and a kiss…I had to haggle her down from you serenading her using nothing but my fame and boyish good looks,” Jason grinned playfully in response.
“Boyish?” Gary snorted teasingly.
“Quiet you! I’m highly sought after by the women of this country!” Jason retorted, barely managing to keep a straight face, a twinkle in his eyes.
“Not by the nurses though – I thought she wanted a song from me rather than a kiss from you?” Gary pointed out. Jason rolled his eyes. At that moment, Howard appeared behind them, his polystyrene cup of coffee suitably disposed of.
“You been flirting with the nurses Jay?” he questioned with a cheeky grin. Jason folded his arms.
“Do you even need to ask?” Gary put in, shooting a sly smile at Jason.
“Will you pair ever stop taking the piss?” he questioned with a smile.
“You know the answer to that question Jay,” Gary replied and Howard chuckled.
“It’s our job, as your mates, to constantly keep the taking piss Jay,” he put in. Gary grinned, realising that the banter had put a stop to his nervous pacing.
Howard, meanwhile, remembered trying to reason with Elwood. It had taken a while for the three of them to realise they ought to try and get in touch with Emma but once they did it was Howard who was volunteered to make the reassuring phone call. ‘You give good comfort voice’ Jason assured him with a grin and Gary had looked jokingly between the two of them with one eyebrow raised.
“Had any luck yet?” a familiar voice questioned twenty minutes later and Howard could only smile at that rough warm voice and his smile widened as Jason presented him with a steaming cup emblazoned with a Caffé Nero logo.
“Bloody hell Jay, will you marry me?!” Howard grinned, taking the offered coffee. Jason laughed.
“Steady on! I take it from your need for good coffee that you still haven’t managed to get Emma on the phone then?” he asked, a knowing sparkle in his eyes.
“I tell you, Elwood doesn’t give up easily!” Howard grinned.
“Takes after his father like that,” Jason replied with an affectionate smile.
“He just keeps talking my bloody ear off! Every time I ask him where his mum is he just says ‘Somewhere’ then goes off into his own world,” Howard sighed.
“Definitely like his father…how exactly do you knock yourself out on a door anyway?!” Jason frowned, tilting his head slightly. Howard shrugged.
“Damned if I know mate, Gaz was the one who was there…I suppose I ought to have another try at getting Emma really,” he said, glancing down at his phone.
“Give it here, let me try,” Jason put in, holding out his hand. Howard duly placed his phone into the offered hand, pulling a face.
“You better pay me back for the call mind!” he joked. Jason rolled his eyes.
“What did you spend your last pay check on?! You don’t fool me mate, I know when you’re skint coz the day you’re out of a job is the day I am too!” he pointed out mischievously.
“I’m taking back that proposal!” Howard teased and Jason chuckled.
“You won’t be saying that in a minute,” he said certainly. Howard raised an eyebrow.
“Why?” he asked sceptically. Jason smiled, a glint in his eyes.
“Listen and learn...’ello mate!” he said into the phone.
“Jason!” exclaimed the voice on the end of the line.
“How are you little ‘un?” Jason asked.
“Amazing!! Are you and daddy having fun? Howard keeps phoning me! I don’t think he’s having fun, he sounds all grumpy like Gary does!” Elwood babbled and Jason couldn’t help but think the boy was more like Mark than Mark was.
“Listen mate, you remember who took the blame for you spilling that juice?” he put in, changing the subject. Howard was frowning at him but he waved a hand at him to show he knew what he was doing and Howard continued to listen.
“Maybe…” Elwood conceded reluctantly and Jason could almost hear the slight pout in his voice.
“Well now I need you to do me a favour…” he went on.
“But I don’t want to!” Elwood protested quickly and Jason sighed. Time for a different approach.
“Ok…well how about, instead of you doing me a favour, I come round and play with you for bit? How would you like that?” he questioned gently.
“Yes!! Mummy Jason’s coming! Jason’s coming!!” Elwood exclaimed loudly, the sound of him running off to find Emma swiftly following. Jason laughed, holding the phone a little away from his ear. Howard shook his head.
“Why are you always the favourite?!” he chuckled softly. Jason shrugged, his eyes twinkling, but he didn’t reply and instead he turned his attention back to the phone.
“Slow down there little ‘un! I can’t come unless you let me talk to your mum…” he said smoothly, his smile broadening as he heard the scuffle of the phone being all but flung at Emma.
“You’re unbelievable,” Howard sighed, smiling affectionately at his friend.
“You just wait ‘til the honeymoon!” Jason joked with a wink.
Despite all this, Jason most remembered their oddly unguarded comments to the press. It was Gary who’d started it but Jason had to admit that none of them had exactly held back when they’d spoken about Mark. There is just something about Mark that makes people let their guard down and smile, his genuine nature making others feel the need to at least try and be half as honest as he is. But then, these days, they were all unguarded in the way they spoke of each other. The utter lack of barriers in their friendship, their easiness with affection and heartfelt chatter, meant that they often forgot that the press shouldn’t really be told all that much. Jason in particular found it odd that, whilst he personally believed that newspapers ought to have more important things to fill their pages with than what Gary thought of Howard, he still would end up letting slip his regard for Mark or his respect for Gary. There was something about the way the four of them naturally fitted into place that somehow put the rest of his life into order, set it straight. As they’d chattered easily to the press outside, Jason had realised that their easiness could transcend anything, even when one of them was in hospital.
“Gary! Gary!! Is it true that Mark is being treated for concussion after a fight?” a reporter yelled. Gary hadn’t intended to talk to them. He’d only come out to check on Howard and he’d made sure his resolve to ignore the prying eyes of the British press had been steely. But a fight? He couldn’t let that rumour be published. Mark’s personality was not one which usually led to fighting. Even when drunk Mark wasn’t the fight starting sort – in fact, the more alcohol that went into his system, the more affectionate he became. So Gary turned round.
“Mark Owen is one of the single most beautiful creatures I have ever met…I don’t know a single person who would ever even think of fighting with him! He is simply the nicest, gentlest man you will ever meet…” he replied, but just as he was about to make his point, he felt a hand on his arm.
“But, what Gaz is trying to say is…he’s not exactly the brightest bulb…” Jason put in, a cheeky smile on his lips that made Gary laugh.
“He’s in his own world that lad,” Gary agreed, shaking his head slightly, an affectionate smile on his face and a thoughtful look in his eye.
“Always has been, always will be,” Jason agreed.
“Take your eye of ‘im for ten seconds!” Gary said and Jason laughed.
“He just wanders off, not a care in the world! It’s the same on tour, the most common thing you’ll hear backstage at our shows is ‘We’ve lost Mark’ – I promise you. Head in the clouds,” he added.
“So…what did happen to him then?” frowned one woman, thrusting her Dictaphone further forwards. Jason and Gary both blinked slightly, suddenly remembering the press were there.
“Oh! Yeah…he…well he walked into a door,” Gary shrugged.
“A door?” one man said, looking at them sceptically from over his notepad.
“We’d understand if you thought it was a poor cover-up for something…but this is Markie we’re talking about!” Jason chuckled.
“Anything’s possible with that lad,” Gary agreed and with that they left.
Gary and Howard returned to the waiting room to wait, as good friends should, until one of them managed to persuade the nurse into telling them a little bit more than she should. Neither was as good as Jason at charming the information out of her, but they had to make do as Jason had left to entertain Elwood. So, until Emma had eventually arrived, they had been left to their own devices.
To Mark, the way he had spent the day had not been particularly memorable. Instead, Mark remembered most the events of the day after. Once he finally got home – finding Jason and Elwood curled up under a blanket in the armchair in the lounge – he had time to consider just how important the day had been for their friendship. Because nothing had happened. But they were still there for him, rallying for him as if he were at death’s door. He was only out for a few seconds, a minute at most, but the concern they felt was written in their eyes when they visited the next day. They told him of their waiting room pacing and their negotiations with his three-year-old. They told him he was a twit, because really, who walks into a door and knocks themselves out? They told him it could only ever happen to him. Jason demanded ‘Give us a cuddle before your knock yourself out again and we’re back at square one’ before he was suddenly ambushed as his biggest fan realised he was back. Once Elwood had been prised off Jason and persuaded that he wasn’t actually a member of the band and therefore ought to go and play, they had returned to their chatter and Mark couldn’t help his giddy grin when they told him of their encounter with the press.
“He was pouring his flipping heart out when I got there!” Jason exclaimed as Gary tried to brush off the comments printed across the morning papers.
“What are you lot on about?!” Mark asked, unaware of the entertainment story of the day.
“We’re on about Gary calling you beautiful to every columnist who wants a good headline,” Jason answered, flashing Gary a playful grin.
“That’s a bit gay isn’t it?” Howard asked with a smirk.
“Yeah, coz it’s really ruining this band’s proud straight history…” Jason commented wryly.
“Point taken,” Howard laughed and Mark giggled as Gary tried to hide his laugh behind his hands.
None of them would ever forget the day that Mark knocked himself out on a door. It became an event which they never talked about, but that they all kept dear. It was sometimes written in looks they shared, often whispered in smiles they exchanged and always present beneath the surface of the banter they cheerfully threw about. They’d come a long way together and after that day they were all pretty confident that some things are just written in the stars – they were sure their friendship was always destined to form a constellation all its own.
Gary remembered pacing the waiting room. It seemed as if they had spent hours in that waiting room – Jason had charmed information from a nurse whilst Howard discovered that hospital coffee tasted like dishwater and Gary had found himself signing a delighted woman’s cast. Gary had been the most disconcerted by the entire event. Even if Mark had come to by the time the paramedics turned up, the fact he’d been unconscious at all was distressing and now Gary found himself grappling with the concept of doctors shoving him around from test to test without anyone to hold his hand. He was fiercely protective of Mark and he hated the idea that Mark should ever be scared.
“He’s with the consultant now,” Jason said, interrupting Gary’s thoughts.
“Is that supposed to reassure me?” Gary grumbled, wrinkling his nose. Jason chuckled.
“It’s the consultant I feel sorry for – Mark’s probably chatting his ear off!” he grinned, giving Gary a small shove in an attempt to cheer him up. Gary rubbed a hand over his face and let out the sigh he had been holding for a little too long.
“Ok, I get it, I’m being overprotective…I can’t help it. Mark just makes you want to look after him, doesn’t he?” he asked Jason, who smiled and shrugged.
“I don’t think he does it on purpose…he’s kind of like the puppy you know you can’t keep but you fall in love with him anyway,” he replied making Gary laugh.
“So…how much exactly did you have to do to get the nurse to tell you where he is then?” he asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“Picture and a kiss…I had to haggle her down from you serenading her using nothing but my fame and boyish good looks,” Jason grinned playfully in response.
“Boyish?” Gary snorted teasingly.
“Quiet you! I’m highly sought after by the women of this country!” Jason retorted, barely managing to keep a straight face, a twinkle in his eyes.
“Not by the nurses though – I thought she wanted a song from me rather than a kiss from you?” Gary pointed out. Jason rolled his eyes. At that moment, Howard appeared behind them, his polystyrene cup of coffee suitably disposed of.
“You been flirting with the nurses Jay?” he questioned with a cheeky grin. Jason folded his arms.
“Do you even need to ask?” Gary put in, shooting a sly smile at Jason.
“Will you pair ever stop taking the piss?” he questioned with a smile.
“You know the answer to that question Jay,” Gary replied and Howard chuckled.
“It’s our job, as your mates, to constantly keep the taking piss Jay,” he put in. Gary grinned, realising that the banter had put a stop to his nervous pacing.
Howard, meanwhile, remembered trying to reason with Elwood. It had taken a while for the three of them to realise they ought to try and get in touch with Emma but once they did it was Howard who was volunteered to make the reassuring phone call. ‘You give good comfort voice’ Jason assured him with a grin and Gary had looked jokingly between the two of them with one eyebrow raised.
“Had any luck yet?” a familiar voice questioned twenty minutes later and Howard could only smile at that rough warm voice and his smile widened as Jason presented him with a steaming cup emblazoned with a Caffé Nero logo.
“Bloody hell Jay, will you marry me?!” Howard grinned, taking the offered coffee. Jason laughed.
“Steady on! I take it from your need for good coffee that you still haven’t managed to get Emma on the phone then?” he asked, a knowing sparkle in his eyes.
“I tell you, Elwood doesn’t give up easily!” Howard grinned.
“Takes after his father like that,” Jason replied with an affectionate smile.
“He just keeps talking my bloody ear off! Every time I ask him where his mum is he just says ‘Somewhere’ then goes off into his own world,” Howard sighed.
“Definitely like his father…how exactly do you knock yourself out on a door anyway?!” Jason frowned, tilting his head slightly. Howard shrugged.
“Damned if I know mate, Gaz was the one who was there…I suppose I ought to have another try at getting Emma really,” he said, glancing down at his phone.
“Give it here, let me try,” Jason put in, holding out his hand. Howard duly placed his phone into the offered hand, pulling a face.
“You better pay me back for the call mind!” he joked. Jason rolled his eyes.
“What did you spend your last pay check on?! You don’t fool me mate, I know when you’re skint coz the day you’re out of a job is the day I am too!” he pointed out mischievously.
“I’m taking back that proposal!” Howard teased and Jason chuckled.
“You won’t be saying that in a minute,” he said certainly. Howard raised an eyebrow.
“Why?” he asked sceptically. Jason smiled, a glint in his eyes.
“Listen and learn...’ello mate!” he said into the phone.
“Jason!” exclaimed the voice on the end of the line.
“How are you little ‘un?” Jason asked.
“Amazing!! Are you and daddy having fun? Howard keeps phoning me! I don’t think he’s having fun, he sounds all grumpy like Gary does!” Elwood babbled and Jason couldn’t help but think the boy was more like Mark than Mark was.
“Listen mate, you remember who took the blame for you spilling that juice?” he put in, changing the subject. Howard was frowning at him but he waved a hand at him to show he knew what he was doing and Howard continued to listen.
“Maybe…” Elwood conceded reluctantly and Jason could almost hear the slight pout in his voice.
“Well now I need you to do me a favour…” he went on.
“But I don’t want to!” Elwood protested quickly and Jason sighed. Time for a different approach.
“Ok…well how about, instead of you doing me a favour, I come round and play with you for bit? How would you like that?” he questioned gently.
“Yes!! Mummy Jason’s coming! Jason’s coming!!” Elwood exclaimed loudly, the sound of him running off to find Emma swiftly following. Jason laughed, holding the phone a little away from his ear. Howard shook his head.
“Why are you always the favourite?!” he chuckled softly. Jason shrugged, his eyes twinkling, but he didn’t reply and instead he turned his attention back to the phone.
“Slow down there little ‘un! I can’t come unless you let me talk to your mum…” he said smoothly, his smile broadening as he heard the scuffle of the phone being all but flung at Emma.
“You’re unbelievable,” Howard sighed, smiling affectionately at his friend.
“You just wait ‘til the honeymoon!” Jason joked with a wink.
Despite all this, Jason most remembered their oddly unguarded comments to the press. It was Gary who’d started it but Jason had to admit that none of them had exactly held back when they’d spoken about Mark. There is just something about Mark that makes people let their guard down and smile, his genuine nature making others feel the need to at least try and be half as honest as he is. But then, these days, they were all unguarded in the way they spoke of each other. The utter lack of barriers in their friendship, their easiness with affection and heartfelt chatter, meant that they often forgot that the press shouldn’t really be told all that much. Jason in particular found it odd that, whilst he personally believed that newspapers ought to have more important things to fill their pages with than what Gary thought of Howard, he still would end up letting slip his regard for Mark or his respect for Gary. There was something about the way the four of them naturally fitted into place that somehow put the rest of his life into order, set it straight. As they’d chattered easily to the press outside, Jason had realised that their easiness could transcend anything, even when one of them was in hospital.
“Gary! Gary!! Is it true that Mark is being treated for concussion after a fight?” a reporter yelled. Gary hadn’t intended to talk to them. He’d only come out to check on Howard and he’d made sure his resolve to ignore the prying eyes of the British press had been steely. But a fight? He couldn’t let that rumour be published. Mark’s personality was not one which usually led to fighting. Even when drunk Mark wasn’t the fight starting sort – in fact, the more alcohol that went into his system, the more affectionate he became. So Gary turned round.
“Mark Owen is one of the single most beautiful creatures I have ever met…I don’t know a single person who would ever even think of fighting with him! He is simply the nicest, gentlest man you will ever meet…” he replied, but just as he was about to make his point, he felt a hand on his arm.
“But, what Gaz is trying to say is…he’s not exactly the brightest bulb…” Jason put in, a cheeky smile on his lips that made Gary laugh.
“He’s in his own world that lad,” Gary agreed, shaking his head slightly, an affectionate smile on his face and a thoughtful look in his eye.
“Always has been, always will be,” Jason agreed.
“Take your eye of ‘im for ten seconds!” Gary said and Jason laughed.
“He just wanders off, not a care in the world! It’s the same on tour, the most common thing you’ll hear backstage at our shows is ‘We’ve lost Mark’ – I promise you. Head in the clouds,” he added.
“So…what did happen to him then?” frowned one woman, thrusting her Dictaphone further forwards. Jason and Gary both blinked slightly, suddenly remembering the press were there.
“Oh! Yeah…he…well he walked into a door,” Gary shrugged.
“A door?” one man said, looking at them sceptically from over his notepad.
“We’d understand if you thought it was a poor cover-up for something…but this is Markie we’re talking about!” Jason chuckled.
“Anything’s possible with that lad,” Gary agreed and with that they left.
Gary and Howard returned to the waiting room to wait, as good friends should, until one of them managed to persuade the nurse into telling them a little bit more than she should. Neither was as good as Jason at charming the information out of her, but they had to make do as Jason had left to entertain Elwood. So, until Emma had eventually arrived, they had been left to their own devices.
To Mark, the way he had spent the day had not been particularly memorable. Instead, Mark remembered most the events of the day after. Once he finally got home – finding Jason and Elwood curled up under a blanket in the armchair in the lounge – he had time to consider just how important the day had been for their friendship. Because nothing had happened. But they were still there for him, rallying for him as if he were at death’s door. He was only out for a few seconds, a minute at most, but the concern they felt was written in their eyes when they visited the next day. They told him of their waiting room pacing and their negotiations with his three-year-old. They told him he was a twit, because really, who walks into a door and knocks themselves out? They told him it could only ever happen to him. Jason demanded ‘Give us a cuddle before your knock yourself out again and we’re back at square one’ before he was suddenly ambushed as his biggest fan realised he was back. Once Elwood had been prised off Jason and persuaded that he wasn’t actually a member of the band and therefore ought to go and play, they had returned to their chatter and Mark couldn’t help his giddy grin when they told him of their encounter with the press.
“He was pouring his flipping heart out when I got there!” Jason exclaimed as Gary tried to brush off the comments printed across the morning papers.
“What are you lot on about?!” Mark asked, unaware of the entertainment story of the day.
“We’re on about Gary calling you beautiful to every columnist who wants a good headline,” Jason answered, flashing Gary a playful grin.
“That’s a bit gay isn’t it?” Howard asked with a smirk.
“Yeah, coz it’s really ruining this band’s proud straight history…” Jason commented wryly.
“Point taken,” Howard laughed and Mark giggled as Gary tried to hide his laugh behind his hands.
None of them would ever forget the day that Mark knocked himself out on a door. It became an event which they never talked about, but that they all kept dear. It was sometimes written in looks they shared, often whispered in smiles they exchanged and always present beneath the surface of the banter they cheerfully threw about. They’d come a long way together and after that day they were all pretty confident that some things are just written in the stars – they were sure their friendship was always destined to form a constellation all its own.