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The Complete Fic Directory
- All I Do Each Night Is Rehearse The Pray Routine
- Appendicitis
- An Act Of Un-Remembrance
- Beginnings
- Better Than Today - Kylie Minogue
- Black
- Breathe Out
- Christmas Shopping
- Choreography
- Dancers
- Dangling
- Days
- Default Settings/Do You Love Me? [Part One]
- Displacement Theory [Blue]
- DJ (I Could Be Dancing) - Alphabeat
- Enchanted
- Ends (Loose And Otherwise) [Ends]
- Enemies
- Family
- Fine Time To Lose Your Mind - Jack McManus
- Fireworks
- Flat Tyres And Palm Prints [Birth]
- Flu
- Friends: A Dictionary [Friends]
- From Angels To The Moon/The Soup
- Green Light [Green]
- Hell Raisers
- Home Invasion
- Hours
- In My Veins
- Insides
- It Was The Death Of Something [Death]
- Just Like Children [Children]
- Kiss And Make Up
- The Last Time
- Lonely At Christmas
- Love Songs
- Lovers
- Middles
- Midnight Sun
- Mistletoe
- Months Go By [Months]
- More Important Than Fear
- Muddied Stars [Brown]
- Not Enough
- Of Peacocks
- On The Subject Of Angels [Orange]
- Playing House [Parents]
- The Price Of Friendship
- The Prize
- Post-Match Analysis
- Puddles
- Red
- Secret Admirer
- Secret Agent Owen
- Shades
- Shine - Skies Of America
- Slow Dancing In A Burning Room
- Snap
- So Good To See You
- Stage Fright
- Stay (Oh Darlin')
- Study In Motion
- Summertime Feeling - S Club 7
- Sunrise
- Sunset
- Teammates
- That Night In Amsterdam/Do You Love Me? [Part Two]
- This
- Three Sets Of Three
- Twenty-Nine (And A Half)
- Under A Colourless Sky [Colourless]
- We Found Something That Belongs To You [Outsides]
- We Were Strangers Once [Strangers]
- Weeks
- What Did You Say This Time?
- What Will The Papers Say? [Purple]
- White Out [White]
- The Wordsmith/Breathe In
- Years
- Yellow
- Yesterday's Promise
- 3-0 Defeats
- Barlow's Music Shop Series
- Fanfiction Challenges
- The Postcard Prompts
- OT3, OT4 & OT5
- Stories By Band Member
- Stories By Ship
- Stories By Genre
- Stories By Era
- Band-Free AUs
- Prompt Requests
- Other Fandom Fics
- Follow Me
Middles
“Markie, it’s the middle of the night,” he sighed tiredly but Mark simply looked up at him with wide eyes and Jason rubbed a hand over his face before disappearing inside. Mark smiled quietly at the wordless invitation.
Jason had never closed a door on Mark. It didn’t matter if he turned up in the middle of the night, the middle of dinner, the middle of a phone call or the middle of a holiday, Mark was never turned away. Jason would simply leave the door open to him as a silent invitation and no matter what he was in the middle of it would be dropped for the sake of Mark. Jason was always there for Mark - lending a listening ear, an understanding smile, a comforting arm.
“What’s up Markie?” Jason asked softly, handing him a mug and joining him on the sofa. Mark clutched the mug and stared in to it, Jason’s eyes boring in to him. He wouldn’t say it, he couldn’t say it. He was an optimist – it would work out, it would! This was stupid. Jason hadn’t wanted to do it anyway so why had he come to him? Jason already knew the reason for his visit though, he could tell when he looked up and met his gaze. Those eyes didn’t miss a thing and Mark was powerless.
“What’ve we done Jay?” he let out at last. Jason glanced away. Mark sighed and took a sip of his drink before suddenly looking up at Jason enquiringly.
“Hot chocolate!” he exclaimed softly, a gentle smile gracing his lips. Jason looked back at him and laughed.
“What were you expecting?!”
“I don’t know…herbal tea?” Mark suggested with a cheeky grin. Jason rolled his eyes.
“I’m not a complete health freak you know!” he replied, but he was still smiling. Mark chuckled.
“No, you just have an unnatural amount of love for yoghurt!”
Mark wasn’t one for issues. He wasn’t one to breakdown during life’s struggles or let the world get to him. Instead he usually took the lows with the same quiet glow as he did the highs. But he was only human. And to know that there was someone out there who wouldn’t think twice about making him a hot chocolate at 2am, when the world was finally getting too much or the mountain was finally seeming too big to climb, was something he was grateful for. Of course, there was a price to pay. Jason left you with no room to hide. His eyes alone were capable of opening up your heart, and once the gates were open Jason never shied away from stepping through and having a good look around. Jason was a man familiar with issues and consequently he knew very well that laying all of your thoughts out and talking them through was not only a daunting undertaking but also an immensely helpful one. So on the rare occasions when Mark was not filled with love and enthusiasm for the universe and its mother, he always knew the best way to spring back up from whatever fall he had taken was to go and let Jason torture and care for him with those searching blue eyes of his. There was something disarming about those eyes.
Jason stifled a yawn. He hadn’t been asleep anyway. He’d been thinking, turning it all over and over in his head and thinking about everything from every angle imaginable. He was surprised Mark was scared. Of all of them, he had been the most enthusiastic. But after the press conference, fear had set in. Except for Jason. He still firmly believed that the nausea would’ve come if he’d passed the opportunity by in just the same way it had come when he had agreed to go through with it. Besides, if it brought Mark back to his doorstep, even if it was at 2am, then it had to be a good thing.
“So come on, you were the only sober one, why are we doing this?” Mark asked him suddenly. Jason wasn’t capable of lying to Mark. The look on his face was so expectant, as if he thought that Jason had some proof that everything was going to be ok.
“I don’t know Markie. But if I walked away from it now…I’d miss you three like hell,” he admitted. A smile spread slowly across Mark’s face.
Jason was equally disarmed by Mark. He couldn’t close a door on him even if he wanted to. Mark was the nicest man he had ever met; bubbly and kind and optimistic. There was a light and warmth to Mark that meant the door was already open before Jason could even ask what was wrong. Besides, Jason didn’t care if it was the middle of World War Three, if there wasn’t a smile on Mark’s lips then the world needed to stop until it had all been sorted out. Jason would do everything in his power to help his sweet, gentle little friend back on to his feet. He was so often the comforting arms of the band that the action of embracing a crying man was almost second nature to him. The love he felt for Mark was matched only by that he felt for Howard and Gary, outside of his family of course, and his arms would hold them tighter than ever when they cried. Sometimes it was for his own reassurance as much as theirs, their worries shared. But on the occasions when Mark appeared on his doorstep with tired eyes and an expressionless face, he held him tight to try and keep him away from the world. So much of it would roll off Mark without leaving a single scratch. But sometimes it all got too much, even for him. And Jason didn’t like that. To his mind, Mark didn’t deserve to have his light burn any less bright just because the world wasn’t fair. So he would hold him close and fight the world away with his comforting arms. He’d never told the others that, but he didn’t really need to. They all felt a certain protectiveness when it came to Mark. Irrational really. Mark didn’t need protecting, he could shine perfectly brightly on his own. He just needed arms to fall back in to when the weight of burning ever bright became too much for him to bear. Jason was more than happy to provide those arms. No matter what he was in the middle of, his arms were always held out waiting, his door always open. It helped Mark keep on shining through almost every storm; the knowledge that if this was the storm that knocked him down, Jason was waiting to pick him right back up again.
“You do know I’m not leaving here without my hug Jay,” Mark said. Jason smiled.
“You never do Mark,” he laughed, embracing Mark warmly. Mark seemed to have forgotten his anxiety at some point and Jason hugged him a little tighter for good measure before releasing him back to the mercy of the world. But Mark simply beamed at him.
“It’s good to have you back mate,” he said with a cheerful smile. Mark had a way of smiling that could melt icecaps and Jason couldn’t help but smile back.
“It’s the middle of the night Markie. Time to go home and get some sleep.”
Jason had never closed a door on Mark. It didn’t matter if he turned up in the middle of the night, the middle of dinner, the middle of a phone call or the middle of a holiday, Mark was never turned away. Jason would simply leave the door open to him as a silent invitation and no matter what he was in the middle of it would be dropped for the sake of Mark. Jason was always there for Mark - lending a listening ear, an understanding smile, a comforting arm.
“What’s up Markie?” Jason asked softly, handing him a mug and joining him on the sofa. Mark clutched the mug and stared in to it, Jason’s eyes boring in to him. He wouldn’t say it, he couldn’t say it. He was an optimist – it would work out, it would! This was stupid. Jason hadn’t wanted to do it anyway so why had he come to him? Jason already knew the reason for his visit though, he could tell when he looked up and met his gaze. Those eyes didn’t miss a thing and Mark was powerless.
“What’ve we done Jay?” he let out at last. Jason glanced away. Mark sighed and took a sip of his drink before suddenly looking up at Jason enquiringly.
“Hot chocolate!” he exclaimed softly, a gentle smile gracing his lips. Jason looked back at him and laughed.
“What were you expecting?!”
“I don’t know…herbal tea?” Mark suggested with a cheeky grin. Jason rolled his eyes.
“I’m not a complete health freak you know!” he replied, but he was still smiling. Mark chuckled.
“No, you just have an unnatural amount of love for yoghurt!”
Mark wasn’t one for issues. He wasn’t one to breakdown during life’s struggles or let the world get to him. Instead he usually took the lows with the same quiet glow as he did the highs. But he was only human. And to know that there was someone out there who wouldn’t think twice about making him a hot chocolate at 2am, when the world was finally getting too much or the mountain was finally seeming too big to climb, was something he was grateful for. Of course, there was a price to pay. Jason left you with no room to hide. His eyes alone were capable of opening up your heart, and once the gates were open Jason never shied away from stepping through and having a good look around. Jason was a man familiar with issues and consequently he knew very well that laying all of your thoughts out and talking them through was not only a daunting undertaking but also an immensely helpful one. So on the rare occasions when Mark was not filled with love and enthusiasm for the universe and its mother, he always knew the best way to spring back up from whatever fall he had taken was to go and let Jason torture and care for him with those searching blue eyes of his. There was something disarming about those eyes.
Jason stifled a yawn. He hadn’t been asleep anyway. He’d been thinking, turning it all over and over in his head and thinking about everything from every angle imaginable. He was surprised Mark was scared. Of all of them, he had been the most enthusiastic. But after the press conference, fear had set in. Except for Jason. He still firmly believed that the nausea would’ve come if he’d passed the opportunity by in just the same way it had come when he had agreed to go through with it. Besides, if it brought Mark back to his doorstep, even if it was at 2am, then it had to be a good thing.
“So come on, you were the only sober one, why are we doing this?” Mark asked him suddenly. Jason wasn’t capable of lying to Mark. The look on his face was so expectant, as if he thought that Jason had some proof that everything was going to be ok.
“I don’t know Markie. But if I walked away from it now…I’d miss you three like hell,” he admitted. A smile spread slowly across Mark’s face.
Jason was equally disarmed by Mark. He couldn’t close a door on him even if he wanted to. Mark was the nicest man he had ever met; bubbly and kind and optimistic. There was a light and warmth to Mark that meant the door was already open before Jason could even ask what was wrong. Besides, Jason didn’t care if it was the middle of World War Three, if there wasn’t a smile on Mark’s lips then the world needed to stop until it had all been sorted out. Jason would do everything in his power to help his sweet, gentle little friend back on to his feet. He was so often the comforting arms of the band that the action of embracing a crying man was almost second nature to him. The love he felt for Mark was matched only by that he felt for Howard and Gary, outside of his family of course, and his arms would hold them tighter than ever when they cried. Sometimes it was for his own reassurance as much as theirs, their worries shared. But on the occasions when Mark appeared on his doorstep with tired eyes and an expressionless face, he held him tight to try and keep him away from the world. So much of it would roll off Mark without leaving a single scratch. But sometimes it all got too much, even for him. And Jason didn’t like that. To his mind, Mark didn’t deserve to have his light burn any less bright just because the world wasn’t fair. So he would hold him close and fight the world away with his comforting arms. He’d never told the others that, but he didn’t really need to. They all felt a certain protectiveness when it came to Mark. Irrational really. Mark didn’t need protecting, he could shine perfectly brightly on his own. He just needed arms to fall back in to when the weight of burning ever bright became too much for him to bear. Jason was more than happy to provide those arms. No matter what he was in the middle of, his arms were always held out waiting, his door always open. It helped Mark keep on shining through almost every storm; the knowledge that if this was the storm that knocked him down, Jason was waiting to pick him right back up again.
“You do know I’m not leaving here without my hug Jay,” Mark said. Jason smiled.
“You never do Mark,” he laughed, embracing Mark warmly. Mark seemed to have forgotten his anxiety at some point and Jason hugged him a little tighter for good measure before releasing him back to the mercy of the world. But Mark simply beamed at him.
“It’s good to have you back mate,” he said with a cheerful smile. Mark had a way of smiling that could melt icecaps and Jason couldn’t help but smile back.
“It’s the middle of the night Markie. Time to go home and get some sleep.”