The boys liked to spend the days they didn't have concerts together, silently, and all tangled up. Jake and Jeremy were sitting next to each other, Michael was laying across their legs reading a book, and Rich had chosen to sit on Jake's side, leaning onto him and holding onto his arm, legs pulled up to his body and eyes closed.
Jake continued to scroll absently on his phone, until he made a soft, sort of amused sound. "Hey, we're actually pretty popular on tumblr," he said.
"Like, twenty one pilots popular or…?" Michael asked, not looking up from his book.
"I don't think we'll ever be twenty one pilots popular, Mikey," Rich said, yawning and keeping his eyes closed.
"Nice to see you have faith in us, dude," Michael teased with a little laugh.
Nevertheless, after a few moments, Michael closed his book, Rich opened his eyes, and Jeremy put his own phone away, and the boys crowded around Jake's tiny phone screen. Jeremy, after a moment's thought, brought out his laptop so they could all see better.
"This is surreal," Jeremy said after he had scrolled a bit.
"Oh my god, we've made it," Michael said with a laugh. "Look, people have ships!"
"Ships?" Rich questioned, curiously. "Seriously?"
Jake laughed, both at the concept of people shipping any of them and how Rich's lisp made him sound.
"The ship names are… creative," Michael had to admit. "Ha, look at the one for me and Jer."
Rich leaned over to look. "We tell that story one time," he said.
Michael grinned. "I like the one they have for us. 'Expensive headphones'." At everyone's confused sounds, he clarified. "Rich's name, for the expensive part, and the fact that I wear these just about everywhere." He tapped the large white headphones around his neck.
"Pins and patches is pretty clever," Jake offered, fiddling with his pan pride pin for only a moment.
"Okay, but spicy bis?" Jeremy questioned, pointing out the name for him and Rich.
"Well, you both are bi."
"They're not supposed to know that yet, though," Jeremy replied. "And where do they get the 'spicy'? I'm almost jealous of you guys, yours are a bit more creative." There was a smile in his voice, though.
"Aw, don't worry," Rich teased with a kiss on his cheek. "Your ship name with Jake isn't as creative or cool either." He laughed at Jeremy's offended expression.
"Rude." Jeremy, of course, wasn't being very serious. "You're one to talk," he continued. "Yours and Jake's ship name is just your names put together."
"Got me there."
"Do you think any of them consider the truth?" Jake asked.
"Bound to be someone, right? Oh, fan art!" Michael said almost excitedly. "Some people are really good at drawing – look at that one."
"Some of these people are really dedicated," Rich murmured. "Oh my god, do we have fanfiction?"
"I'm not sure I want to find out."
"Point there…" Rich couldn't help but laugh a little.
The boys had an interview the following morning, and as they waited for it to begin they quietly teased each other. The interview smiled at them before turning to the camera and saying, "Today we have with us here the Boardwalk Boys. How are you guys doing today?"
The four responded with varying degrees of positive answers.
Rich was only half paying attention to the questions asked, until one caught his attention.
"So, is there anybody special in any of your lives?"
Rich suddenly remembered the night before and before he could help himself, he laughed. The interviewer looked at him quizzically, tilting her head in question.
"Sorry," Rich was quick to say. He glanced at his boyfriends. They were smiling a little too.
The four of them made a split-second decision right then and there. They all met each other's eyes, nodding before Rich reached out his hand to Jeremy. Jeremy took his hand and reached out to Michael. Michael did the same, grabbing Jeremy's hand and letting Jake grab his.
The interviewer watched this exchange bemusedly before donning a look of understanding. "So, all together, then?" she asked.
"You could say that, yeah," Michael replied.
The interviewer, for her part, didn't seem at all bothered and moved on, only pausing to ask a question or two about their thoughts of society's views of polyamory.
Rich thought their fans reactions in the tumblr tag later were hilarious, though.
