p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"There were 8 bands in total that would be taking the stage, each performing a set of about 15-20 minutes. Great Frog coming up second was unfortunate in a sense, they'd have to deliver a knock-out performance in order to be remembered, and as the bar patrons got progressively more intoxicated throughout the night, inevitably their judgement would become more and more skewed. However, when the time came for the boys to take the stage, Roy reached the peak of his high, and he was riding the buzz. Every collision of his sticks to the skins felt like the world's greatest achievement. Who even gave a fuck about those other bands anyway?/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason watched from the side of the stage as Roy lost himself in the music, the percussion crashing and sounding in faultless rhythm. Chucky's voice was husky with a distinctive, unusual edge, an inflection coated the lyrics that was never present when he was simply speaking. The boys were animated, like they owned the stage; they flowed from one song to another, calling out to excite and engage the crowd. Jason gazed, transfixed at the way the sweat on Roy's skin seemed to shine with the flashing colours of the various stage lights. His eyes were shut, his auburn lashes fanned out against freckled cheeks, there was a furrow of concentration between his brows, his teeth were clamped down on his lower lip, and Jason marveled at how someone could look so at peace and at war all at once. Roy was made for this./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason caught sight of a group of girls a few feet from him, they murmured and giggled amongst themselves, and shot appreciative looks at the musicians. Jason felt his fists clench as one of them stared unabashedly at Roy, and spent the rest of the song in stunned silence at his overreaction. Roy was his friend, he was talented and attractive and in his element, it made sense that other people would see that, too. The set ended with the resounding note of that song. Roy took a long pull of his beer bottle, his neck was stretched out long, the sweat-slick skin of it exposed, his hair was damp around his nape, the girls giggled again. As the applause rang out, Chucky gave a few over-dramatic bows in quick succession, he laughed boisterously before saluting the crowd. The girls huddled around the steps as the boys descended from the stage, one of them quickly latched onto Chucky's elbow. And Jason inhaled sharply, and watched in abstract horror as Roy winked at one of them, backing her against the sound box to press a filthy kiss to her mouth./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The boys hauled the gear back out to the van, the girls trailing behind them. The peppy blonde that Roy had kissed tapped his shoulder, she herded him around the corner, and without a word exchanged between them, the harsh, damp gravel of the alley was biting into the skin of her knees. Roy's head fell back against the brick, and he panted a profanity into the night air./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"When Roy returned not long after, the boys were having a smoke, sat on the floor of the van with the sliding door open. They smirked as he approached. "span style="font-style: oblique;"Fuck/span, why did I let that happen?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Chucky laughed, "It's the blow, man...no pun intended," he waggled his eyebrows and Roy rolled his eyes, "shit makes you cocky...and kinda horny."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""span style="font-style: oblique;"Great./span" Roy breathed./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Speaking of, you're gonna be coming down any second. You want another line?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy shook his head, already feeling guilty for leaving Jason alone most of the night. "I gotta find Jay."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""That reminds me," Chucky started suddenly, he turned to the other guys, "Don't mention the drug stuff to Roy's boytoy. He nearly bit my head off earlier for even suggesting it. And we do not want a falling out with our drummer. Not after we just tore the roof off this place."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The boys smirked at each other, but nodded in agreement. Joey and Chuck fist bumped. The bassist turned to Roy after a moment, "No offense, but why do you think you owe him anything, anyway? It's not like you're dating the guy."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy contemplated that for a second. He knew it was true, but still, he wanted to be someone that Jason could be proud of. "Look, I like him, alright? And if he could span style="font-style: oblique;"not/span find out that I'm a gigantic fuck-up, that would be great."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Joey just scoffed, and took a long drag of his cigarette. "We're all fucked up Roy-boy. Some people are just better at hiding it."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy found Jason sat at a booth at the back, swirling the dregs of his lemonade in the bottom of his glass. "Hey," he ventured, before he took a seat beside the younger boy./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason gave him a smile that seemed a little strained. His chest still felt pinched tight from having witnessed Roy kiss someone else, perhaps it was naive of him to think that the kiss to his temple meant anything. Roy had drained quite a few beers, for all Jason knew, the older boy could just be an affectionate drunk. He disguised his hurt as best as he could. "You guys were incredible," he told the older boy softly./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Thanks," Roy breathed, he relaxed back into his seat a little. Roy was filled with the nearly overwhelming sensation that he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, like every positive thing had been ripped away all at once. He'd known in theory that a cocaine comedown was anything but a fun time, but the force and suddenness of it was staggering, and having to hide it from Jason made him feel even lower than the drug crash already had. Dirt had nothing on Roy Harper./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason watched Roy carefully, his shoulders slumped, his entire demeanour screaming 'crestfallen', he worried that something might have happened. This wasn't the place for personal conversations, and he made the assumption that it wasn't something Roy wanted to talk about. "So, uh...that's your type, huh?" He attempted to change the subject, he inclined his head towards the blonde girl from earlier, who was now making doe-eyes at the current band's vocalist. Perhaps that was what had Roy so down all of a sudden, the possibility of that made Jason span style="font-style: oblique;"ache/span./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy looked up in surprise for a second, his eyes barely flitted to the girl in question before he was meeting Jason's gaze. "What? No. I uh, that was just heat of the moment, I guess...I don't really think I have a span style="font-style: oblique;"type/span. What about you?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason stared at Roy for a long moment, before he drained the remainder of his lemonade. "Never really thought about it."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy's bandmates rejoined them in the next second. And immediately Roy knew they'd been snorting. Luckily, Jason didn't know any of them well enough to notice the differences in their behaviour and general demeanour. As the rest of the bands played their sets, the crowd was getting restless, more alcohol flowing as the night went on. Chucky was making loud and obnoxious digs at other band's performances, and though Roy knew his arrogance was a tell-tale symptom of his high, it was still bad showmanship. He could tell that Jason really wasn't impressed with Great Frog's lead vocalist. Roy had switched to soft drinks, and hadn't bought himself a single beer since their set finished, but his bandmates hadn't felt the need. Roy had heard that the influence of another substance could help lessen the blow of a comedown, but his friends were taking that to another level, they were shit-faced drunk by the time the results were even announced./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"When Great Frog ranked in third place Chucky jumped to his feet, the jarring movement sent multiple beer bottles toppling, fortunately most of them were already empty. Roy could see the rant coming, Chucky's refusal to accept the result for what it was, was building up. Roy had to cut it off. He yanked at Chucky's arm, levelled him with a stern gaze before their group headed out the back entrance. They didn't even stay to hear which of the remaining two bands had snagged the win./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"As the boys headed towards the van, Chucky pulled out his keys. "Like fuck!" Jason swore suddenly, the band all turned to him, equally surprised and confused by his outburst./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I am span style="font-style: oblique;"not/span getting in that van with any of you behind the wheel," before anyone could respond, Jason's fingers curled around Roy's wrist, "And neither are you," he told the older boy sternly, his eyes blazed and his hold tightened./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Everything was silent for a tense moment, all of them frozen and contemplating. It was Joey who spoke up, "Alright fine, we'll all just crash out in the back," he waved a hand in a dismissive gesture before he reached for the sliding door./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason stared at Roy, awaiting his reaction. The older boy's expression softened when he met Jason's gaze. He knew that Jason needed to get home. With a sigh, Roy turned to Chucky, and held out a hand. "Gimme your keys. It's not that I don't trust you, but I don't."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Chucky huffed but handed the keys over without complaint, Roy walked over to stand at Jason's side. "We'll walk back, we're not wasted, so it's not a problem. I'll text you guys tomorrow." He told his bandmates sternly, they all grunted and waved their goodbyes./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy and Jason headed over the road, opposite the bars entrance, they took a shortcut through a small wooded area that led onto private property, large fields stretched before them. It was far too late for anyone to notice them trespassing, and the walk through the grass was peaceful. They could use some peace after the night that they'd been through./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason watched from the side of the stage as Roy lost himself in the music, the percussion crashing and sounding in faultless rhythm. Chucky's voice was husky with a distinctive, unusual edge, an inflection coated the lyrics that was never present when he was simply speaking. The boys were animated, like they owned the stage; they flowed from one song to another, calling out to excite and engage the crowd. Jason gazed, transfixed at the way the sweat on Roy's skin seemed to shine with the flashing colours of the various stage lights. His eyes were shut, his auburn lashes fanned out against freckled cheeks, there was a furrow of concentration between his brows, his teeth were clamped down on his lower lip, and Jason marveled at how someone could look so at peace and at war all at once. Roy was made for this./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason caught sight of a group of girls a few feet from him, they murmured and giggled amongst themselves, and shot appreciative looks at the musicians. Jason felt his fists clench as one of them stared unabashedly at Roy, and spent the rest of the song in stunned silence at his overreaction. Roy was his friend, he was talented and attractive and in his element, it made sense that other people would see that, too. The set ended with the resounding note of that song. Roy took a long pull of his beer bottle, his neck was stretched out long, the sweat-slick skin of it exposed, his hair was damp around his nape, the girls giggled again. As the applause rang out, Chucky gave a few over-dramatic bows in quick succession, he laughed boisterously before saluting the crowd. The girls huddled around the steps as the boys descended from the stage, one of them quickly latched onto Chucky's elbow. And Jason inhaled sharply, and watched in abstract horror as Roy winked at one of them, backing her against the sound box to press a filthy kiss to her mouth./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The boys hauled the gear back out to the van, the girls trailing behind them. The peppy blonde that Roy had kissed tapped his shoulder, she herded him around the corner, and without a word exchanged between them, the harsh, damp gravel of the alley was biting into the skin of her knees. Roy's head fell back against the brick, and he panted a profanity into the night air./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"When Roy returned not long after, the boys were having a smoke, sat on the floor of the van with the sliding door open. They smirked as he approached. "span style="font-style: oblique;"Fuck/span, why did I let that happen?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Chucky laughed, "It's the blow, man...no pun intended," he waggled his eyebrows and Roy rolled his eyes, "shit makes you cocky...and kinda horny."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""span style="font-style: oblique;"Great./span" Roy breathed./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Speaking of, you're gonna be coming down any second. You want another line?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy shook his head, already feeling guilty for leaving Jason alone most of the night. "I gotta find Jay."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""That reminds me," Chucky started suddenly, he turned to the other guys, "Don't mention the drug stuff to Roy's boytoy. He nearly bit my head off earlier for even suggesting it. And we do not want a falling out with our drummer. Not after we just tore the roof off this place."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The boys smirked at each other, but nodded in agreement. Joey and Chuck fist bumped. The bassist turned to Roy after a moment, "No offense, but why do you think you owe him anything, anyway? It's not like you're dating the guy."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy contemplated that for a second. He knew it was true, but still, he wanted to be someone that Jason could be proud of. "Look, I like him, alright? And if he could span style="font-style: oblique;"not/span find out that I'm a gigantic fuck-up, that would be great."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Joey just scoffed, and took a long drag of his cigarette. "We're all fucked up Roy-boy. Some people are just better at hiding it."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy found Jason sat at a booth at the back, swirling the dregs of his lemonade in the bottom of his glass. "Hey," he ventured, before he took a seat beside the younger boy./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason gave him a smile that seemed a little strained. His chest still felt pinched tight from having witnessed Roy kiss someone else, perhaps it was naive of him to think that the kiss to his temple meant anything. Roy had drained quite a few beers, for all Jason knew, the older boy could just be an affectionate drunk. He disguised his hurt as best as he could. "You guys were incredible," he told the older boy softly./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Thanks," Roy breathed, he relaxed back into his seat a little. Roy was filled with the nearly overwhelming sensation that he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, like every positive thing had been ripped away all at once. He'd known in theory that a cocaine comedown was anything but a fun time, but the force and suddenness of it was staggering, and having to hide it from Jason made him feel even lower than the drug crash already had. Dirt had nothing on Roy Harper./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason watched Roy carefully, his shoulders slumped, his entire demeanour screaming 'crestfallen', he worried that something might have happened. This wasn't the place for personal conversations, and he made the assumption that it wasn't something Roy wanted to talk about. "So, uh...that's your type, huh?" He attempted to change the subject, he inclined his head towards the blonde girl from earlier, who was now making doe-eyes at the current band's vocalist. Perhaps that was what had Roy so down all of a sudden, the possibility of that made Jason span style="font-style: oblique;"ache/span./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy looked up in surprise for a second, his eyes barely flitted to the girl in question before he was meeting Jason's gaze. "What? No. I uh, that was just heat of the moment, I guess...I don't really think I have a span style="font-style: oblique;"type/span. What about you?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason stared at Roy for a long moment, before he drained the remainder of his lemonade. "Never really thought about it."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy's bandmates rejoined them in the next second. And immediately Roy knew they'd been snorting. Luckily, Jason didn't know any of them well enough to notice the differences in their behaviour and general demeanour. As the rest of the bands played their sets, the crowd was getting restless, more alcohol flowing as the night went on. Chucky was making loud and obnoxious digs at other band's performances, and though Roy knew his arrogance was a tell-tale symptom of his high, it was still bad showmanship. He could tell that Jason really wasn't impressed with Great Frog's lead vocalist. Roy had switched to soft drinks, and hadn't bought himself a single beer since their set finished, but his bandmates hadn't felt the need. Roy had heard that the influence of another substance could help lessen the blow of a comedown, but his friends were taking that to another level, they were shit-faced drunk by the time the results were even announced./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"When Great Frog ranked in third place Chucky jumped to his feet, the jarring movement sent multiple beer bottles toppling, fortunately most of them were already empty. Roy could see the rant coming, Chucky's refusal to accept the result for what it was, was building up. Roy had to cut it off. He yanked at Chucky's arm, levelled him with a stern gaze before their group headed out the back entrance. They didn't even stay to hear which of the remaining two bands had snagged the win./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"As the boys headed towards the van, Chucky pulled out his keys. "Like fuck!" Jason swore suddenly, the band all turned to him, equally surprised and confused by his outburst./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I am span style="font-style: oblique;"not/span getting in that van with any of you behind the wheel," before anyone could respond, Jason's fingers curled around Roy's wrist, "And neither are you," he told the older boy sternly, his eyes blazed and his hold tightened./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Everything was silent for a tense moment, all of them frozen and contemplating. It was Joey who spoke up, "Alright fine, we'll all just crash out in the back," he waved a hand in a dismissive gesture before he reached for the sliding door./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason stared at Roy, awaiting his reaction. The older boy's expression softened when he met Jason's gaze. He knew that Jason needed to get home. With a sigh, Roy turned to Chucky, and held out a hand. "Gimme your keys. It's not that I don't trust you, but I don't."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Chucky huffed but handed the keys over without complaint, Roy walked over to stand at Jason's side. "We'll walk back, we're not wasted, so it's not a problem. I'll text you guys tomorrow." He told his bandmates sternly, they all grunted and waved their goodbyes./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy and Jason headed over the road, opposite the bars entrance, they took a shortcut through a small wooded area that led onto private property, large fields stretched before them. It was far too late for anyone to notice them trespassing, and the walk through the grass was peaceful. They could use some peace after the night that they'd been through./p