Joey liked the fact that his friends came to him for comfort. He thought maybe was just that he'd fucked so much stuff up that they knew he wouldn't judge, or maybe the fact that he never quite minded being woken up the way JC or Lance did.

Lance told Joey, when he said as much, that he was wrong. "It's your hugs, Joe. They like, rock." And then he'd snuggled into Joey's arms, smiling just a little bit, when fifteen minutes earlier he'd been worried and upset about a business deal gone bad.

Joey liked it best when JC came to him. He always knocked hesitantly, peeking his head in silently and Joey could just see the weight of the world on his shoulders. It was always something dealing with insecurity or his feelings of inadequacy, easy stuff, Joey thought.

He hated it when people asked him for relationship advice, and JC never did that. Bobbie was there and sometimes not, but JC never seemed to feel like that mattered. He didn't seem to care about touching her, being held by her, and that made his enthusiasm for Joey's hugs so confusing.

There was always a glass of some sort of alcohol in his hand when he talked to Joey, and JC talked faster than normal, too fast, it seemed sometimes, like he was purging some sort of poison. "I'm a fucking joke, Joe. People laugh at my songs." That was usually the gist of it, and then he'd look at Joey, eyes wide and too bright and Joey would open his arms.

Joey always held JC the longest, petting his hair and saying things like, "They just don't get you, dude. We know that you're a genius." or simply, "Shhh, don't worry. It's all okay." JC never pulled away, and sometimes Joey thought that maybe he'd fallen asleep, but that never happened. He was glad, because he'd thought about brushing tiny, soft kisses against JC's hairline.

They weren't suggestive hugs, no inappropriate touches, but there was something about the way JC's hair smelled or the way he felt delicate against Joey's body. He usually wound up saying something like "Oh my god, it's two in the morning" and then patting JC on the back and easing backward.

Two days later, he'd see JC shining brightly, Bobbie smiling at him, and he'd feel ashamed for waiting for the next crisis.

~end~