The Next Stage - 38. Rocky

“My babies~” Jasper grins as Ryan walks into the studio with Elijah on one hip and Jasmyn on the other. He’s pretty sure Ryan does this on purpose. One, because it makes his arm muscle bulge, and two because, surely, he knows he’s sexy as hell when he’s carrying their kids around. Ryan offloads Elijah to Jasper, and places Jasmyn down in the playpen Jasper has set up in the corner of the room.

“Ahh.” Ryan gives a relieved sigh as he throws himself onto the couch.

Jasper smiles, turning around and holding in a button on the panel before him. “Sorry, Luke. Time for a break?”

In the recording room, Luke gives a smile and a thumbs up, taking his headset off and heading out to join them.

“How’s it going?” Ryan asks.

“We’re just doing finishing touches, then I swear we’ll release this album and I’ll be the house husband for a few months so you can like, leave the house and get some air.” Jasper slides his chair away from the desk as Elijah reaches for the buttons. “Have they been a handful for you? You look exhausted.”

“They’ve had their moments. Neither of them napped for me. Seems like Jazzy is cutting her day sleeps really early, and I think Lijah is teething. He’s been screaming and biting and it’s just been too loud and overwhelming for my brain today,” Ryan sighs. “Hey Luke. Sorry to interrupt you guys.”

“That’s alright. Jasper was just being overly picky over tiny changes anyway.” Luke teases.

Jasper feigns offence. “I’m not producing a shi-poorly made album. This will reflect on my music producer skills as much as on our aging singing career.”

“Aging careers, says the guy not even hitting late 20’s yet.” Luke laughs.

“We’ve been out of the spotlight for a long time. We have to make a flawless entry to re-integrate ourselves with the artists that have been circulating the charts for the last few years.” Jasper points out and Luke mouths along almost word for word what Jasper is saying because he’s clearly heard this numerous times.

“You guys know one of your first hits in The Obsolete just hit a record number of views on Youtube, right?” Ryan can’t help smiling at how worried Jasper seems to be about his relevance in the industry he practically owned not all that long ago.

“Yes, but...”

“And there’s been a lot of talk online about this upcoming collaboration. Your fans are definitely still out there.” Ryan also knows that Jasper hasn’t been online much. He’d been distancing himself from his social media platforms more and more, and it’s genuinely likely he’s not seen the building excitement about this album. “Also, people are writing fanfiction about you two.”

“It only took over half a decade for fans to consider me an actual option. What an honor.” Luke says sarcastically.

“Well the bar has been drastically lower since Blake died, I married Ryan, and Simon goes periodically MIA. There’s really only you left.” Jasper shrugs.

“Ignoring your literal husband, and my wife.” Luke laughs.

Jasper smiles cheekily. “Everyone loves a scandal.”

“Not to mention the planet is full of people. It’s not like we’re the final two people in existence and therefore forced to realize our love for one another goes further than friendship.”

“Nobody said it had to make sense, Luke.”

“No offence but I wouldn’t even kiss you if we were the last two people on the planet.”

“Nobody said anything about kissing, Luke. The only thing that matters is which one of us bares children.”

“Oh, no. Don’t, don’t start that conversation. Please. I don’t have the capacity for this today.” Ryan frowns, closes his eyes and shakes his head.

“You.” Luke states.

He’d never want to read what’s written about him, because Jasper, having put on some muscle tone more recently is actually most times written as the top in LuSper fanfiction. Ryan has to keep this piece of useless information to himself, because he doesn’t want to admit just how much time he’s spent falling down the rabbit hole of his husband and their friend being secret lovers. The concept fascinates him, because his imagination had its limits, but fangirls seem to be able to bend reality to suit them.

“How are you going?” Luke asks Ryan, sitting in the other office chair at the recording desk with Jasper.

Ryan snaps out of that line of thought. “I’m looking forward to the part where these two don’t fight all the time.” Ryan points at his kids.

“Good luck. We thought that with our boys but it’s gone from Fi and I taking turns dealing with the emotional outbursts of Zak, to us dealing with one kid each and never getting a break.” Luke laughs.

Ryan smiles to himself and shakes his head. “Have kids they said. It’ll be fun they said.”

“You’re the one that wanted them so badly.” Jasper reminds him lightly, while poking his tongue out to amuse Elijah with his tongue bar. “Why don’t you go for a walk along the beach or something? Have some time to yourself now.”

“I would, but what if I never return?”

“You’ll return. And when they go to sleep tonight you’ll go into their rooms to check on them and come out grinning and saying how cute they are when they are sleeping and how much you love them.”

“It truly is a trap. They know they are cute, so no matter how much they break you, they know you’ll still love them.” Ryan sits up, looking over at Jasper with a smile Jasper is familiar with.

“What?”

“I got a call today.”

“From?”

“Maddison. You don’t know her, but she’s directing Rocky Horror, the show I auditioned for a few months ago when you two were overseas.”

Jasper’s eyes widen and he grins. “And?”

“They’re casting me as Rocky for the musical!”

The announcement sends a simultaneous spark of excitement at Ryan getting the role, and fear that Ryan’s difficult day today was a glance into what he’s going to spend the next few months dealing with himself at home. Stay at home dad. Two kids. The rigmarole of rehearsal schedules invading their lives again. At least Jasper was almost finished studying, and if he really applied himself, he’d probably be able to breeze through the next few assessments and be done sooner, but then there’s an album release and promotion work and he’d been dreaming of performing again. All of that would be impossible to juggle with the kids. And he couldn’t even ask Beth for help with the kids because growing one for herself had been an absolute nightmare for her body. They poor woman had been up to the hospital multiple times for the morning sickness that has continued through the entire first half of her pregnancy. Flynn and Grace had their hands full with their little semen demons. Jasper had been trying to make plans to see them again for weeks but nothing was lining up. Life was just getting way too complicated.

“You know my mom will help out with the kids if you let her.” Ryan states, as though reading Jasper’s mind.

“We’ll be fine,” Jasper lies, knowing damn well this will be a struggle to manage. “I wasn’t even worrying about them. I was trying to remember if I know anything about this musical. So, Rocky Horror? Is it a horror musical? Because that sounds awesome.”

“You have got to be kidding me?”

“I don’t know why you are still surprised when I tell you I haven’t seen a musical.” Jasper rolls his eyes.

“Rocky Horror Picture Show. Everyone has seen Rocky Horror.”

“Is it actually a horror musical?”

“Let’s do the time warp again~” Luke sings but Jasper is blank.

“Of all the people I could have married, how did I end up with the one person in the universe who isn’t even somewhat familiar with Rocky Horror.” Ryan asks rhetorically as he gets off the couch and walks over to Jasper, shaking his head. “I’m going to take that walk you offered me, then I’m doing the dishes, make dinner, put these kids to bed and force you to watch it.”

“Sure.” Jasper laughs. “But is it a horror musical?” Jasper asks again.

“Of all the times I’ve been appalled by your upbringing, this may just be the worst.” Ryan says so dryly it cracks Jasper up. To insinuate his lack of knowledge of musicals is the worst part of the parenting failures is tremendously stupid to the point of hilarity.

“Go for your walk.” Jasper says, grabbing the collar of Ryan’s shirt and pulling him in for a sweet kiss.

“Bye Luke.” Ryan gives a wave as he heads for the door.

“Cya. Congrats on the show.” Luke waves back. “Is it a horror musical?” he asks Jasper mockingly.

“Well it’s titled Rocky Horror.”

**** 

By the time Ryan gets back from his walk, he’s in awe to find Jasper in the house, not still in the studio. Both kids are clean and in their pajamas, the dishes are done and Jasper is in the process of cooking. It’s a genuine relief to come home to, so Ryan sneaks through to the stairs, and decides to take a shower.

Caring for their kids is a beautiful struggle and one he wouldn’t change for anything, but having the pressure taken off him unexpectedly is always such a good feeling. Speaking of good feelings, he’s so relaxed, his arm against the glass wall of the shower and his head resting on his arm, letting the warm water blast down over his back, that he doesn’t hear Jasper come in. He feels Jasper’s hands on his waist, slowly rising up his body to his shoulders, and a soft kiss on the back of his neck.

“Are you burning dinner?” Ryan asks and Jasper smacks his arm, slightly insulted.

“Dinner is finished, the kids are eating, or throwing it at each other. I don’t care, I’ll clean them and the house later. What’s important is, I realized I didn’t congratulate you for getting the part. I also realized you said you’ve been cast as ‘Rocky’, so you’re a main character, right?” Jasper asks.

“Kinda.” Ryan shrugs and turns around with a smile. “I can’t believe you haven’t-”

Jasper cuts him off with a determined kiss, while his hand slips down Ryan’s body. So routinely familiar with where this is going, Ryan’s body readily responds to Jasper’s touch. Shower sex had become their most common type since doubling the kids in their house. Mostly because it felt like the most time efficient way to go about things. They both showered in one go and got to enjoy themselves. There was a time and place for long, passionate sex, and that time would be some time around whatever age their kids move out of home. For the foreseeable future they could rely on, and weren’t even disappointed by the fact they are able to be completely satisfied in 5 minutes, sometimes less if they were really pressed for time. They’d practically trained their bodies to make the most of any and every opportunity they get these days.

The kids have predictably made a mess with their food but are captivated by the cartoons Jasper left on for them. Are they winning any awards for parents of the year? No. But they are keeping each other happy and sane as well as keeping small humans alive. While they could be contained by a highchair, food and the same movie they’ve watched 3582 times this week alone, they could get away with sneaking off for a quickie.

The last thing Jasper wanted was to sacrifice his relationship with Ryan. Above all, he wanted to remain a role model for a loving partnership so Jasmyn and Elijah would grow up aspiring to be looked at the way he and Ryan look at one another.

Right now, they aren’t giving each other the adoring and valued gazes, instead it’s the ‘which kid are you cleaning up?’ look. Jasper covers Jasmyn’s face with a cloth, making silly noises as he cleans her face, neck and hands. He takes her bib off and lifts her from the high chair then glances at Ryan who is lifting up Elijah. The speed at which they had the ‘clean up after the kids’ routine is something they are both pretty proud of. They take the kids to the bathroom and fight them to get their teeth brushed which is always a mission filled with headache inducing, blood curdling, banshee screams finished off with tucking them into their respective beds and kissing them goodnight then flicking on the star projector that plays lullabies to help get the kids to sleep.

Then Jasper is cleaning the high chairs, Ryan is cleaning the floor and its finally time for them to eat their dinner and head to bed.

“Sit your ass down. You have to watch this. Immediately.”

Jasper smiles and sits, watching Ryan search for the movie. Jasper could probably make the effort to watch a bunch of classic musicals so when Ryan mentions one Jasper has at least some idea what he is talking about, but he loves the mortified look on Ryan’s face whenever Jasper says he hasn’t seen something, almost as much as the excitement in the way Ryan sets up a movie that means a lot to him. Ryan settles on the bed beside Jasper and the two share a sweet kiss before the movie starts.

Seven interruptions later and Jasper has barely followed the confusing story line. He’s had to change a nappy, make a bottle, put Jasmyn back to bed, put Elijah back to bed, put their confident explorer Jasmyn back to bed again because now that she can walk and has a floor bed, she doesn’t stop. Ryan had to stop the movie to settle Elijah again and before they know it, they are asleep on opposite edges of their bed with both children asleep soundly between them and the credits running.

“Did you like the movie?” Ryan asks as Jasper makes his way to the kitchen the following morning.

“I don’t remember watching any of it past the ‘Make you a Man’ song. But is there a song about touching? Because I’ve had the weirdest lyrics stuck in my head all morning."

“Toucha, toucha, toucha touch me~ I wanna be dirty~”

“That’s the one! I knew it must have been a song subconsciously making it into my head. I mean, I know I’m horny enough to think something like that up, but it was in a woman’s voice. I’m deprived, but not enough for those thoughts to be in women’s voices.”

Ryan stares at him with a smile. “Deprived? Since last night?”

“I’m deprived every minute I have to see you in clothes,” Jasper winks. “And considering you’re cast as the hot guy in little gold pants, I’m going to be deprived a lot.”

“Should I be offended that I’m cast in one of the only roles that doesn’t require singing or dancing for this musical? All Rocky does is have muscles and be the mostly silent love interest of Frankenfurter. He doesn’t even really have lines.”

“You’re still new to the musical scene, Ry. Most of the people you worked with on Chicago have been dedicating years and years of training to get a part. You have to be grateful you’re in. Make a good impression and aim for roles that show off your skills more down the track. For now, let the people who’ve dedicated their lives to it, enjoy showing off all their hard work.” Jasper states as he sits at the table, watching Jasmyn and Elijah crawling around the lounge room together playing.

“You’re right.” Ryan sighs.

“Plus, people are going to be so busy staring at you in those gold pants, nobody is going to care if you didn’t sing or dance that much.”

“You’re really obsessing over the gold pants.”

Jasper smiles. “It’s all I noticed about the character, I’m not going to lie. Are you excited for rehearsals to start?”

“I really am. I’m sorry, I know it’s going to be hard for you, but I cannot wait.” Ryan grins.

Despite all his inner stress about how he’s going to handle the demanding rehearsal schedule, Jasper is beyond excited to see Ryan on stage again, living this dream of his. And he knows he owes Ryan all the enthusiasm and adoration right now, because when he and Luke release this album they will want to go on tour and it’ll be Ryan’s home to be the suffering at home parent while Jasper goes and lives his dream. Their entire future was going to be taking turns being home and supporting the other.

“I’m really proud of you, Ry,” Jasper says before kissing him softly. “Any idea who your understudy is?”

“Nope.” Ryan lies and he feels wrong about it, but he doesn't want to deal with the reaction he knows he’ll get when Jasper finds out. The last thing they need right now is any complications between them. And there really is no need for Jasper to be worrying. Because even though Ryan is slightly looking forward to seeing Elliott in costume, he also has no intention of giving in, no matter how much Elliott hits on him while they work so closely with one another.

Besides, if Jasper has managed to keep a mostly professional or friendly boundary despite his clear attraction to Leo for all these years, Ryan could handle working with his own temptation for a few months.