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AJ sighed, frustrated as he tried unsuccessfully to make all of his clothing fit into his suitcase for the fifth time. He was beginning to lose his patience. They would be leaving for the first stop of their tour, having just finished two long weeks of rehearsals. He needed to be ready to go on time, but his suitcase was making this an impossible task. He could barely keep his eyes open from lack of sleep and he could not seem to make all of his important clothing fit in the fucking suitcase.

He had had every intention of taking a nap but once he had managed to reach the solace of his hotel room he was reminded again of all the horrific things that had happened the night before and it was next to impossible for AJ to even close his eyes let alone settle down and drift off. Once his hotel room door slammed shut he felt completely alone and desolate. His heart as completely broken and just looking at the bed made him somewhat afraid. He wasn't sure when, if ever, that he would feel normal again.

He had quickly busied himself packing and getting his things together to move on to the next city. He was dreading the bus ride, but he knew being late would only make things worse. He didn't want to get Howie in an uproar. Howie hated when things did not go according to plan and being late would definitely fuck up the plan.

AJ couldn't believe Leighanne actually showed up. She hated being on tour. He was actually starting to believe that she wouldn't come this time and he and Brian could figure whatever this was between them out the right way. He thought he would have time to convince Brian that he should be with him and not her. Then she showed up, fawning all over him and hanging on his every word. Was he the only one who could tell it was all for show? Her whole public display of affection was fake. The woman didn't have an affectionate bone in her body, let alone one for Brian. AJ could clearly see she had no real feelings for him, but somehow Brian managed to be out of his mind in love with her. He still couldn't understand why he was the only one who could tell how fake she was.

Just as he tried to zip the suit case for the sixth time, the zipper got stuck. As he yanked it roughly to make it zip the rest of the way it jammed up more and began to split down the side. He let out a strangled scream and made a mental note to purchase suitcases that didn't have to be zipped. He watched as articles of clothing began to ooze out of the sides of the overloaded suitcase. Getting pissed off he picked the whole thing up and threw it as hard as he could against the wall with a yelp. He sank to the floor and buried his head in his hands. There was a knock at the door and AJ had to take a deep breath before he went off the handle.

"Who the fuck is it?" He yelled kicking the suitcase on his way to the door. He prayed it wasn't Brian, that just wasn't something he was prepared to deal with right now. He opened the door slowly to see who was there and sighed in relief when he saw who was standing on the other side. He had never been so excited to see Nick in his whole life.

"What's up Chaos?" he said smiling moving aside so Nick could enter his trashed hotel room.

"It looks like chaos in here Bone, what'd you do?" Nick stepped into the room and shivered as their hands touched briefly. Nick ignored the sensation and continued to inspect the room.

"I had some trouble getting all packed up." AJ smile sheepishly. He sat down on the edge of the bed and motioned for Nick to do the same.

"I can see that," Nick said still picking up AJ's suitcase off of the floor. He placed it on the bed and unzipped it properly before dumping it's entire contents on the bed beside AJ.

Nick chuckled softly to himself as he began to pick AJ's shirts up and fold them one by one. He busied himself making sure he folded them as small as he could so he could get them all to fit. AJ sure didn't know how to pack lightly. He tried to ignore AJ's gaze as he placed the folded t-shirts inside the suitcase.

"You don't have to do that Nick," AJ said softly placing his hand on top of Nick's larger ones to still his actions.

Nick looked up at the older man with an unrecognizable expression. "I know, but I want to J. You look tired, why don't you stretch out and take a nap." Nick tried not to think too hard about AJ's hand on his own and waited patiently for him to move it. Once he did he went back to packing AJ's suitcase.

AJ shook his head but didn't say anything. He couldn't go to sleep, no matter how much he wanted to. He knew he would never be able to relax enough to. He began to hand Nick items that needed to be put in the suitcase. He didn't question Nick's act of kindness. He enjoyed the company and it was nice having someone doing something for him for a change instead of always being the one to give.

"You want to talk about whatever is bothering you?" Nick asked softly after a long moment of comfortable silence.

AJ dropped the shirt he was ready to hold nick and looked at him startled. "What do you mean?"

"No reason to freak J. I can just tell something's weighing on your mind is all. I just want you to know that I am here for you if you want to talk otherwise forget I said anything." Nick began placing the remaining items in the suitcase. He slowly and successfully zipped it up.

"There you go J. Now you'll be ready to go when the others are." Nick said moving AJ's suitcase over to the hallway by the door. "Is there anything else you need help with before we leave?"

AJ shook his head, "Nah, I'm good, but if you have nothing else to do you can stick around and watch TV with me or something." Nick hesitated for a second not knowing if this was such a good idea. AJ never wanted to hang out alone with him very often that just went to show how badly AJ didn't want to be left alone. Nick hesitated a second longer before nodding and sitting down beside AJ on the bed. He grabbed the remote and scooted back against the headboard so he could sit up. AJ scampered up beside him and tried unsuccessfully to grab the remote back.

"I'm not watching fucking cartoons Nick, so you better give me that remote right this damn minute." AJ barked.

Nick laughed. "I'm not going to make you watch cartoons so calm your bony ass down."

They flipped through all the channels that the hotel had to offer before settling on some stupid horror movie. Nick got bored with the movie pretty quickly and took a glance at AJ. He was beginning to doze off. He scanned the room seeing if there was any clue as to why AJ was acting the way he was. He was brought out of his thoughts as he felt AJ lay his head on Nick's shoulder. Nick stilled unsure of what to do next. Nick looked at AJ's face and watched the emotions play over his sleeping features. He carefully moved his arm and pulled the smaller mad closer to himself holding him tightly. He was amazed at how well the older man fit against him, how much it warmed him, how much he liked it, craved it. He watched AJ's eyelids flutter and wished he could know what he was dreaming.

AJ's face was masked with pain and Nick wished with all he had that there was something he could do to wash away the pain, something he could do to fix it, to fix AJ. He couldn't remember the last time he saw or heard AJ truly happy. He though that once AJ had left rehab that they would be putting all of the horrible things behind them and AJ would be the same old AJ again, but AJ was still broken. Nick wished he could be the one to pick him back up and piece everything back together. Nick sighed heavily and wrapped his other arm around AJ's sleeping body, pulling him as close to his own body as possible. He laid his head lightly on top of AJ's and quickly fell asleep, holding on as tightly as he could to his older band mate.