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Jimmy wakes up next to Lister, as he has been for the past few days. There’s something peaceful about the sleeping Lister Bird. He’s relaxed, one cheek presses against the mattress and he loosely clutches a pillow to his chest.
Jimmy isn’t even properly awake before his brain is replaying the event of the night before like it had just happened.
Of all the emotions that surface at the memories, the most substantial is happiness. Lister had kissed Jimmy like it was the only thing in the world that mattered. Like he was holy. Jimmy had kissed the tattoo on Lister’s neck, he’d cradled his cheek in his hand and kissed him like he’d wanted to for so long.
Jimmy takes his phone from the night stand and checks the time. 6:52 AM his screen reads. He squints against the brightness of his lock screen, a picture of a rose that Pierro had sent Jimmy a few weeks ago.
Jimmy has no reason to be up so early. It’s The Ark’s second to last day before they have to do some promotional stuff and start their newest album tour, but he knows he isn’t going to fall back asleep.
Jimmy slips out his bed and pulls on some sweat pants and his Black Parade hoodie. He grabs a bagel from the kitchen and sits on the couch. He scrolls through his music library for a while before putting his headphones in and turning on the record by boygenius much louder than is probably good for his hearing.
He locks his phone and takes a bite of his bagel.
He slept with Lister.
Lister, one of his closest friends, one of the two people in the world who actually understands his life. Lister who Jimmy’s liked for three years. Lister who’s liked Jimmy for even longer. Lister his bandmate.
Jimmy can’t quite figure out if he has or has not massively fucked up.
He’s itching to talk to someone about it, but the idea of actually talking about it makes Jimmy want to vomit.
Jimmy stares at his bagel with a single bite taken out of it.
He feels sick.
What does this mean for them? Is it even possible for them to date? Is it possible for them to go back to being friends?
He likes Lister, he really likes Lister, but he doesn’t know if they can risk the band over that. Can they?
If they date they’ll probably break up and then the band will split from the stress and he’ll lose both of his best friends in one foul swoop.
And what if they don’t date and Lister secretly resents him for the rest of their lives? What if the band splits because they don’t date and they harbor hatred of each other for years and years until it’s finally too much and they can’t even stand looking at each other?
It’s an hour and a half and half a bagel later before Lister finds Jimmy on the couch, eyes closed, head rested on the arm.
“ Jesus! ” Jimmy says when Lister taps him on the shoulder, effectively scaring him out of his thought spiral.
“Sorry,” Lister says. “How’re you…?” Jimmy hadn’t been expecting Lister to be prepared for this conversation either, but it seems that Lister is just as uncertain as Jimmy.
“Did you just get up?” Jimmy asks.
“Uh, yeah,” Lister runs his fingers through his hair which is sticking straight up in some parts. “I was gonna eat something and then find you.” Lister’s voice is just on this side of quieter than normal.
“Yeah, um, do y’want to talk in my room? Since Frances is still here…?” Jimmy asks.
So the two of them end up in Jimmy’s room. Jimmy sat on the center of his bed, Lister sat in the desk chair holding a bowl of cereal in his lap.
“I always thought that everything was always too complicated, with the band I mean, and then I really though I screwed up any potential for anything when I kissed you before. But I like you Jimmy. A lot.”
Jimmy thinks he nods. The room is too hot, his clothes are too tight, he can feel Lister watching him. He is going to throw up.
“Jimmy?” Lister asks, leant forward slightly in his chair, bowl on the desk.
“What about everyone else, the fans, Rowan?” Jimmy says before he can think better of it. His heart is beating too fast in his chest and he feels himself start to sweat like it’s 100 degrees in the house.
“Who else is there to think about? This isn’t about what the fans might think if they found out, which they wouldn’t, it’s about us. Me and you, nobody else.” Lister’s eyebrows are pulled into a frown and his words become faster the more he speaks.
“We’re The Ark, we have to think about everybody else.” Jimmy meets Lister’s eyes. “You saw how they treated Bliss, they’d turn on all of us, and then what?”
“Sure, some of them might, but not all of them! Can’t we just talk about this like adults and forget the band for five minutes?” Lister’s shouting by now.
“This effects more than just us! At the very least think of how the press will spin this. What they’ll say about us, about Rowan. ” Jimmy’s yelling, too. Lister has to know what people will turn this into? It could ruin their careers.
“This isn’t about Rowan !” Lister runs a hand over his face, exasperated.
“We can’t talk about the two of us without talking about everyone else, that’s not how it works!” Jimmy hands are clasped together too tight in his lap.
“Do you even have feelings for me?” Lister asks suddenly. It’s said mostly out of anger, but a sliver of his voice sounds horribly sincere.
Jimmy sighs. “Yes, I told you that.” He fights to keep his voice at a normal volume.
“No, you didn’t.” Lister’s voice has gone quieter as well, the heat of the argument burnt out.
Jimmy opens his mouth to say something else. Apologize, try to talk. He’s not sure.
Before he can Lister is out of the chair and the door is shut behind him and after a few seconds Jimmy hears another door click shut and locked.
Jimmy falls back on his bed and puts his hands over his face. “ Fuck .”
***
Jimmy stays glued to his notebook for the next three hours. Some of it trains of thoughts, rants, ramblings about Lister. Eventually his writing dissolves into copying down lyrics and chord progressions that have been bouncing around in his head for god knows how long.
Rowan and Frances migrate to the living room as the morning turns to afternoon and Jimmy decides to join them because he might go crazy if he stays in his room by himself any longer and Lister is still in the practice room with the door shut.
Jimmy: can I crash ur date?
Rowan: Yes? We’re just watching Doctor Who
Jimmy: so you’re really amping up the romance?
Jimmy smiles when Rowan sends him an emoji that’s flipping him off and emerges from his room, only to immediately nearly run directly into Lister.
“Sorry,” Jimmy mumbles. He forces himself to look up at Lister. “You alright?”
“Yeah, headed to the kitchen.” Lister does an odd gesture down the hall and walks away much too fast.
Jimmy just stands there until he can no longer see Lister around the corner.
“Hi!” Frances greets as Jimmy sits in the armchair.
“Hi,” Jimmy says, mustering what he hopes is a convincing smile.
Rowan raises an eyebrow at Jimmy and Jimmy shakes his head and they all turn their heads back to Doctor Who .
Jimmy hears Lister in the kitchen and as he walks back down the hall. It takes far too much effort to keep his eyes on the television.
***
Jimmy can’t sleep. He’s tried listening to music, watching YouTube, reading, writing, but his mind won’t shut off. He is en route to going insane before dawn.
His brain won’t stop replaying his and Lister’s argument. He fucked up. He should’ve let Lister talk, they should’ve talked about them before the rest. But can they even be separated from The Ark? Do Jimmy Kaga-Ricci and Lister Bird exist as people outside of The Ark?
Jimmy wants to cry, but he’s already done that and he refuses to cry again.
It’s well into the morning before Jimmy falls asleep.
***
It’s almost 1PM when Jimmy is too hungry to stay locked up in his room. Frances went home sometime that morning. He doesn’t run into Lister on his way to the kitchen.
With every fiber of his being begging him to lock himself back in his room, he knocks on Lister’s door.
A soft “yeah” comes from the other side of the door and Jimmy pushes it open.
Lister is sitting on his bed with the acoustic guitar he keeps in his room. There's a notebook on the bed, but Lister closes it before Jimmy can see anything in it.
“I’m sorry, I was a dick.” Jimmy says, still standing a few inches away from the door.
“You’re right, though.” Lister’s voice is grim.
“That doesn’t matter.” Jimmy says. “We could’ve talked about that later.”
Lister doesn’t say anything.
After a while Jimmy wonders if he should just leave, but before he can Lister is off his bed and he’s pulling Jimmy into a hug.
Jimmy’s about to say something else when Lister’s phone starts to ring. He frowns, Lister only has ringtones set for a very few select people. Lister fishes his phone from his pocket. “Fuck, sorry, it’s my mum.” Lister slides the button to answer and Jimmy leaves.
***
They never actually get to talking about them , but they seem to go back to normal after that afternoon.
The three of them are busy getting ready for tour all day. Of course, they technically have until the day after since their first show is only in London and they’ll spend one last night in their apartment before tour really kicks off, but they’ve played that game before and lost.
Rowan and Jimmy eat supper together, Lister in his room, on the phone discussing how and when he can contact his therapist if need be.
Jimmy hopes he’ll be fine for the tour, but he has a few emergency numbers if not, so does Rowan.
Jimmy’s fairly certain Rowan knows something is going on with him and Lister, but he doesn’t ask about it. Part of Jimmy is glad he hasn’t, part of him wishes he would.
Rowan retires to his room early and Jimmy goes to check up on Lister.
“You packed?” He asks from the doorway. Lister is sprawled out on his bed, eyes shut, lights still on.
“God, I hope so.” Lister says, opening his eyes to look at Jimmy.
“Wanna watch Brooklyn 99 ?” Jimmy asks.
“Please.” Lister scoots over on his bed and pulls his t-shirt off. It’s not something that would normally phase Jimmy, but tonight he has to put in an effort to not pay attention to it.
Jimmy turns off the lights and crawls into bed with Lister, resting his head on his shoulder as the opening of the show plays softly on the TV.
***
It’s 4AM when both of their phone alarms begin to sound. In unison, they blindly grope for their phones and click snooze.
Jimmy sighs and gets up, pocketing his phone and turning the light on. Lister’s protests are muffled by the pillow he covers his face with.
Jimmy shrugs. “I’ll be fine if you don’t show up to this photoshoot, but Rowan will kill you.”
“He can’t kill me if I’m already dead from being woken up at such an ungodly hour!”
Jimmy laughs and throws Lister’s shirt at him and Lister fake-screams when it hits him in the head.
While not living in London is wonderful for The Ark 90% of the time, it’s nightmarish the 10% when they have to show up to photo shoots and interviews at 5:30 in the morning and they have an hour drive into the city.
Somehow they make it there in time. Lister had slept the entire car ride and Rowan spent nearly the entire time texting Frances, who was, for some reason, also awake at 5AM.
Lister is half awake for the entirety of hair and makeup, Jimmy silently scrolls through his phone, sending off messages to Angel about the shoot every now and again, while Rowan chats with the makeup artist.
Once they’re all dolled up, they’re presented with the outfits they’re expected to wear and sent off to put the first set on.
They’re all in varying shades of sunset orange, and the outfits are best described by Rowan as high-fashion cowboy , to Lister’s absolute delight.
Jimmy has on orange leather bell bottoms, a deep-sunset orange button up tucked into the pants, a bolo tie with angel wings, and a pair of dark orange-brown slightly platform cowboy boots.
Rowan is dressed in similarly leather orange bell bottoms, a plain white button up with a deep orange fringe jacket on top of it, and the tallest heeled cowboy boots Jimmy has ever laid his eyes on. Rowan is over the moon and Jimmy has heard several people place bets on when he’s going to eat it first. Unluckily for them, Rowan is somehow more agile in heels than he is flats.
Lister has light orange denim bell bottoms, a deep orange cropped t-shirt with white text that says save a horse, ride a cowboy , and a fringe jacket like Rowan’s except Lister’s fringe almost reaches the floor, and similarly slightly platformed boots, and, to Lister’s delight, a bedazzled cowboy hat.
“How did you get them to get you that shirt?” Rowan asks, equally appalled and impressed.
Lister grins ear to ear as he says, “ I didn’t have to! ”
Jimmy snorts at the look on Rowan’s face, and then immediately again when Lister almost trips on fringe.
The three of them are rounded up in front of the cameras and stand there for who knows how long before they’re ushered away to put on new outfits that they then get photographed in, rinse and repeat until Jimmy is ready to burn all the clothes in the world.
They talk about the album a bit with the interviewer before they’re are shuttled off to another interview, before they make the drive back to their apartment, where they all promptly shut themselves in their rooms for three hours before Jimmy decides to wash the rest of the makeup off him and without previous discussion, they all end up eating supper together.
***
They’re first show is in London, with a day between it and the second show, so they can have one last night at home before they get back on the road again for the next few months.
Jimmy is wearing a striped orange and black oversized cropped t-shirt with a long sleeve fishnet shirt underneath it, black skinny jeans and combat boots.
Rowan is in a black t-shirt dress with orange gogo boots, and Lister is in black jeans and the save a horse, ride a cowboy shirt that he had begged to keep, and trainers.
The meet and greet was nice, nearly everyone told them how happy they were that The Ark was back, or told them that they looked happier, or that their new album changed their lives, which Jimmy still found a bit dramatic, but appreciated the sentiment.
It was a smaller meet and greet than they used to do, which caused some upset, but truth be told, they were lucky Rowan was willing to do meet and greets at all anymore. Their personal security was nearly doubled and they implemented extra security procedures to get into their shows. Rowan said if he got hit in the head with a brick again he was quitting the band and living a life as a recluse.
They opened with a new song, one of the more upbeat bittersweet pop-y ones that’s been played on the radio constantly since it was released.
Despite the radio time, Jimmy can’t believe how many of them know all the words. It’s all of them , really, he can’t see a single face in the crowd who isn’t grinning ear to ear and shouting Jimmy’s lyrics back at him. He feels happier than he’s remembered feeling at a show for years.
They immediately go into Joan of Arc and the crowd goes wild as soon as they hear the first second of the intro begin.
Jimmy mouths the words to the intro before they jump into the song.
“ London !” Jimmy hears Rowan say as the last chords of Joan of Arc fade out. “It’s wonderful to see all of your faces!” Rowan says, idly strumming a chord on his guitar.
“It felt fitting to start this tour with a London show, seeing as the last show we played before our hiatus was right here in the O2, wouldn’t you agree?” Jimmy says grinning into the microphone and shooting a look across stage at Rowan, who’s taking a drink of water.
“It’s fucking great to be back.” Rowan says, screwing the lid of his water bottle back on.
“You ready?” Jimmy asks Rowan into the mic, more for the show than to check. Rowan nods and begins to play the intro to another one of their new songs.
It’s a song Rowan wrote, sonically very upbeat, lyrically mixed, some bits sad, others hopeful, others pissed off. It’s a very Rowan song, Jimmy thinks.
The song ends and Jimmy shoots a glance at Lister who’s switching his drumsticks to one hand and standing up to see the crowd. “How are you tonight, London?” He asks in a low voice, adjusting his microphone.
The crowd roars in response and it takes Lister several tries to get a word in again. “Jim and Ro have been trying to tell me to talk at shows more, personally I think I talk enough, but it seems fitting that I introduce this next song.” He pauses and scans the crowd, looking a bit in awe by the sheer amount of people hanging onto his every word. “I don't know if you’ve heard, but this is the first album I have writing credit on.” There’s another roar and Lister pushes on. “Before it was mostly Rowan and some Jimmy, but a man gets bored during a several year long hiatus and a man also gets bullied into taking his writing seriously by his band mates.” Rowan laughs at this. “So without further ado, here’s a song I wrote, I hope you like it, and if you don’t just keep that to yourself.” Jimmy laughs. Lister readjusts his mic and sits back down, nodding to Jimmy who starts to play the intro on the keyboard.
It’s one of Jimmy’s favorite songs on the album. It’s the first song Lister ever showed Jimmy and Rowan. They didn’t change much when they recorded it, they just played what Lister told them to.
It never got out that Lister spent their hiatus getting sober, and Lister didn’t want to talk about it, so Jimmy supposes the fans will vastly misinterpret it.
He sees several people in the crowd cry during this song and he feels some combination of empathy for them and pride for Lister.
They play the rest of their set smoothly and at the end of the night they all stand together center stage while confetti falls around them. Jimmy has brought his microphone with him and Lister gestures for it.
“Thank you so much! We love you! We hope you enjoy the new album as much as we do!” He wraps his arm back around Jimmy and they all take a bow as the confetti tangles in their hair and the fans scream their love and the lights over the crowd undim as they disappear backstage.
Rowan checks his phone and smiled at a notification. “Frances is in London, I’m gonna go see her before we leave.” Rowan says, dialing her number.
“Just us then?” Lister says, patting Jimmy on the back.
“Just us,” Jimmy says, running his fingers through his hair and watching pieces of confetti drift to the ground.
***
The thrill of performing again begins to wear off on the car ride home. They drop Rowan off at the place Frances is staying (Jimmy thinks Rowan says the girl who’s house it is is called February.) and begin the ride home. It always feels longer at night, Jimmy thinks.
It doesn’t take ten minutes into the drive for Lister to sit sideways in the seat with his legs across the backseat, his feet in Jimmy’s lap. Jimmy moves his arm to lay across Lister’s legs, his hand loosely holding his ankle.
Jimmy rests his head on the window and watches the houses and fields go by as they make their way home on a two lane highway.
Idly, Jimmy’s thumb begins to move back and forth across the sliver of skin not covered by socks or pants. After a moment Jimmy begins to wonder if he’s making Lister uncomfortable. He moves his hand away so it can rest on the seat between them. Lister’s eyes tear away from the window for the first time since they’d gotten in the car with a look of mild distress in them. Jimmy meets his eyes and Lister’s head tilts just slightly to the side. Jimmy lets his hand fall back to Lister’s ankle and he leans his head back against the window, but doesn’t break eye contact with Jimmy.
The eye contact isn’t uncomfortable, but there’s something in Lister’s gaze that Jimmy can’t quite grasp. They sit like that for several minutes before Jimmy’s phone buzzes and he breaks the eye contact to check the notification
It’s a Twitter message from Angel Rahimi
Angel : hi!!! Your first show back was amazing!!
There's a photo attached that Jimmy isn’t sure if Angel took or found online of the three of them on stage, confetti mid air, arms around each other and grinning at the crowd.
“Who’s it?” Lister asks after Jimmy reads the message.
Jimmy holds his phone out to Lister. “It’s Angel,”
Lister doesn’t try to take the phone from Jimmy, but he rests his hand on Jimmy’s wrist as though to hold it still.
“Was she there?” Lister asks.
“I think so,” Jimmy says though he isn’t really sure. He clicks his phone off to stick it back in his pocket and Lister’s hand slowly falls away from Jimmy’s wrist.
They sit in silence for the rest of the ride. At some point, Lister closes his eyes but Jimmy can't quite tell if he’s asleep or not.
When they get home Lister holds the front door open for Jimmy with his foot and stands in the entryway while Jimmy locks it behind them before he slips into the kitchen to turn the kettle on.
Lister leans against the island opposite Jimmy and watches him pull two mugs from the cabinet and drop teabags into both of them.
Both their phones buzz with a message,
Rowan: staying at Frances’ friend’s tonight. Be home in the morning
They shoot off a reply so Rowan won’t worry and turn back to the calm atmosphere of the kitchen after midnight.
Jimmy catches himself staring at Lister’s neck tattoo and forces his gaze elsewhere, only to find Lister’s eyes, staring back at him.
“Your concealer is crusty.” Lister reaches a hand out to brush away the crusted makeup under Jimmy’s eyes. His hand cradles Jimmy’s jaw, his fingertips still a bit chilly from the cold outside, thumb gently swiping away the flakes of concealer.
Jimmy begins to say that it never stays but the words die in his throat and he finds himself leaning ever-so-slightly into Lister’s touch.
“I missed performing.” Lister says and begins to retract his hand, but Jimmy catches his wrist.
“Me too.” Jimmy says as Lister’s hand melts back against this cheek.
Jimmy takes a tentative step forward. Lister’s eyes dart around to Jimmy’s eyes, lips, hair, his hand still on Lister’s wrist.
Jimmy’s other hand slowly comes up to cradle the back of Lister’s skull, gently pulling him closer, though Lister doesn’t hesitate to lessen the distance.
The tips of their noses brush together and Lister breathes, “Jimmy…”
“Lister,” Jimmy replies softly, and Lister’s eyes flutter shut at the sound.
Lister’s other arm finally comes up to pull their bodies closer together.
“We shouldn’t,” Lister says, sounding as though he’s going to say more, but he doesn’t.
“Why not?” Jimmy says, scratching gently at Lister’s scalp.
“Why not…” Lister breathes and closes the distance between them.
Jimmy steps forward until Lister’s back is pressed to the island again and Lister’s hands find their way under Jimmy’s shirt.
“Jimmy…” Lister sighs as Jimmy breaks away from the kiss and begins to press kisses on Lister’s neck, one hand still cradling Lister’s skull, the other loosely gripping his bicep.
Lister spins them around and lifts Jimmy onto the counter. Jimmy’s legs wrap around Lister’s waist and he finally finds his way back to Lister’s lips, hands on either side of Lister’s face.
The teapot whistles and they both jump apart.
“ Fucking teapot, ” Jimmy grumbles and Lister laughs. Jimmy grabs Lister’s hand and pulls him back over to him. He kisses Lister and then rests his forehead against the other’s. “Wanna go to my room?”
“We’re sweaty and covered in makeup and hairspray.” Lister says, though he smiles back at the slight upward tilt of Jimmy’s lips.
“We can shower later.” Jimmy says, twirling a piece of Lister’s hair at the base of his neck.
Lister wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.
Jimmy hits his chest with little force. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
“Kinda is though, isn’t it?” Lister says, wrapping his arms back around Jimmy and kissing him.
“That a yes, then?” Jimmy asks between kisses.
“Yes,” Lister answers.
***
Jimmy’s head is on Lister’s chest, an arm slung around his middle and Lister’s hand is rubbing idle circles on Jimmy’s back.
There’s YouTube playing softly in the background but Jimmy isn’t awake enough to register what it is.
Jimmy hears a phone buzz and feels Lister’s body stretch to grab it.
Lister runs his fingers through Jimmy’s hair, gently untangling knots. “Ro’s on his way home.” Lister’s voice is quiet but seems to fill the room in the silence of the morning.
Jimmy sighs and buries his face back in Lister’s chest. “What time’s it?”
“Almost eight,” Lister replies and Jimmy hears him set his phone back on the bedside table.
Jimmy reluctantly sits up and reaches over Lister to grab his phone off the nightstand.
They sit next to each other and say nothing for several minutes before Lister says. “So. At what point does this stop being an isolated incident?”
A laugh slips past Jimmy’s lips before he can think better of it, and the tension drains away at the sound. “Last time kind of wasn’t an isolated incident, either.”
“Touché,” Lister says.
Jimmy thinks for a moment. “I didn’t think we were going to do…this, anymore.”
Lister nods slowly. “Neither did I,”
“Is this…” Jimmy struggles to find the right words. He pushes thoughts of the band away and continues. “Something that you want?”
Lister tilts his head to the side in question.
“A relationship, I mean.” Jimmy says, barely containing the feeling of terror at how much Lister is thinking about it.
“Yeah,” Lister finally says. “It is, I just,” He looks at the space of bed between them and chews on his bottom lip. “You were right,” a pause, “about the band, and the fans.”
Jimmy considers it for a moment. “What does that mean for us then?” Jimmy cringes at himself as he basically recites the script of every romance movie ever written.
Lister smiles slightly at Jimmy. “I don’t know.”
They sit in silence for who knows how long.
“Does anything really have to change?” Jimmy says.
Lister frowns. “How so?”
“Like, the options aren’t just date or don’t.” Jimmy begins. “Why can’t we just keep doing this,” Jimmy gestures between them. “Like not changing anything.”
Lister cracks a smile. “Jimmy Kaga-Ricci are you suggesting a friends with benefits situation?”
“You said it, not me.”
“Seriously, though, are you?” Lister asks in a much more sincere tone.
“Sorta, sorta not.” Jimmy shrugs. “If you wouldn’t hate that.”
“I wouldn’t hate that.” Lister says.
“Well, neither would I.”
“Does that mean, my friend Jimmy, that I can kiss you?” Lister asks with a grin.
“You can kiss me,” Jimmy says, so Lister does.
“C’mon, Rowan’s gonna be home soon and unless you want to explain this to him, you should get dressed to.” Jimmy says when he slips out of bed and picks up his clothes off the ground.
“I sleep in your room loads.”
“It’s Rowan, he’ll just know.” Jimmy says.
“So is there much of a point in getting out of bed and dressed if he’ll just know?”
Jimmy throws a pillow at Lister.
“ Hey! ” Lister throws the pillow back at Jimmy, but he’s already put a hoodie and boxers on and slipped into the hallway.
“Have fun talking to Rowan!” Jimmy calls.
Lister huffs and gets out of bed.
***
Rowan comes home and everything is normal. The three of them spend most of the day in their respective rooms, laying around and calling family to talk before their days and nights are filled with travelling and performing for the next couple months.
Eventually Jimmy joins Rowan who is tidying his already clean room. They talk about tour and their schedule for the coming week like they always do the day before tour starts. It’s a perfectly normal conversation until Rowan asks,
“So you are Lister are sleeping together?” He raises and eyebrow at Jimmy’s facial expression.
“ How do you know? ” Jimmy asks after a few beats too long.
“Context clues.” Rowan says with no further explanation and Jimmy laughs inspite of himself.
“Fuck off, how’d you know?”
“I like that you thought I wouldn’t know.” Rowan grins.
“I fucking told Lister this morning that you would know!” Less shocked and more amused that his prediction came true in less than twelve hours time.
“I swear to god, I will get my own place if you two become insufferable.” As Rowan says this, Lister appears in the doorway, one eyebrow raised.
“Who’s insufferable?” Lister asks, plopping himself down on Rowan’s bed, arms folded behind his head.
Without missing a beat, Rowan says, “My two roomates that’re fucking.”
“How the hell do you know that?” Lister exclaims, which makes Rowan and Jimmy burst out laughing.
“I told you !” Jimmy says through fits of laughter.
The next day they’re up early to travel and get ready for the show, and for the first time in a long time they’re all genuinely excited for tour, instead of secretly dreading it.
The Ark doesn’t stop trending on Twitter until the end of the tour.