I'd like to cover the earth with a fresh-baked yummy dessert
people couldn't live in it, but I think it's worth the money and hurt
'cause I couldn't tolerate all the empty places in the world

blue canary in the outlet by the light switch
he watches over you
make a little birdhouse in your soul
- Birdhouse In Your Soul (Dial-A-Song), They Might Be Giants

 

It got to the point where JC needed a sleep mask and he suspected as he tumbled out of his bunk in the morning with it slipped down around his neck that Justin and Chris were secretly insulting him. JC and his shiny black full-coverage personal low.

He cut off the tag so that they would never know that the model he had ordered was called the DozeMeister.

 

In Boston, JC went to Joey's room at 4 am. He hadn't really gotten to sleep yet.

"Joey." JC patted his shoulder. "Joe."

Joey shifted backwards, reaching for an imagined bedmate.

"Wake up," JC said quietly, and Joey blinked.

"Dude," Joey said. He wiped at his eyes and looked up at JC. "Dude."

JC shifted on one foot and tucked an errant piece of hair behind his ear. "Joey?"

Joey turned over, muttering something like s'drunk, and started snoring. JC wasn't careful about shutting the door behind him.

In the safety of his own bathroom, JC put on a long-sleeved sweatshirt and sleep pants, even though it was pretty warm. He stared dispassionately in the mirror and tried to convince himself he wasn't gaudy.

Which he wasn't. He just glowed. In the dark. A little.

He just had a nice luminescence about him.

He'd adjust.

 

At the venue the next day, JC shoved Lance into a supply closet with a broken light-bulb.

"The fuck --" Lance sputtered.

"It isn't funny," JC said. He wished he could be more menacing, but it was difficult if not daunting when you knew you were currently emitting something that strongly resembled a halo. "I can't sleep. Tell me how to get it off."

"JC, you. You're." Lance studied him carefully for a minute, JC's light giving his eyes an unnatural cast. Then, with a shrug of helplessness, he snorted.

"I heard you. I heard you making fun of my body wash. You did something. Like, with chemicals."

"Your -- ?" Lance sighed. "C, cross my heart, I have nothing to do with this."

"Can it, Bass, I'm on to --" JC stopped his planned speech short at Lance's unexpected sincerity. "oh," he said.

"Aside from wanting to congratulate whoever pulled it off." Lance slapped him hard on the shoulder and reached around a bucket of brooms to open the door. "Handy," Lance said.

 

Justin yelped when JC slid into his bunk in the dead of night, and JC had to clap a hand over his mouth. "Shut up," JC whispered fiercely, hunkering down on Justin's pillow and making himself comfortable. "I can't take it, just shut up, everyone shut up, and help me go to sleep."

Very, very slowly, he removed his hand. Justin made a strangled noise.

"Well?" JC said expectantly.

"How. What did -- " Justin paused, bit his lower lip. "Man, what did you do to yourself?"

"I didn't do anything," JC hissed. "Sometimes these things just happen."

"Really? Since when do people 'just happen' to glow in the dark?"

"Since forever, probably." JC wondered when all of his friends had become so unhelpful.

"Mm." Justin frowned. "I think that these things always happen for a reason."

"Since when do they 'always happen'?"

"Oh, you know. Since forever, probably." Justin smiled, then reached out to slide the sleep mask up over JC's head. "You can stay, but I get this."

"I need that," JC protested. "I keep myself awake."

"Which you're gonna do anyway. Meanwhile I can't even sleep with the TV on and there's a human Glo-Worm in my bed." Justin put the mask on, adjusted the strap, and tugged JC close to emphasize the point.

 

JC had barely knocked, hadn't even really meant to, but Chris answered the door right away. His bed was unmade and the lights were off, but JC wasn't sure he'd woken him. "I'm sorry," JC said automatically. "I can't --" He stopped short, stumbling back a little into the hallway.

"What?"

JC traced over the textured wallpaper in the hotel hallway with his right hand. "I didn't know." He looked down. Chris was standing in a patch of moonlight. Over his shoulder, JC could see the city skyline and a few bright stars through the open window.

"What is it?" Chris insisted.

"I didn't know." JC cleared his throat. "That you were afraid of the dark."

"I am not --" Chris began, aghast. JC grinned and stepped into the room to stop him before he got too far.

~ fin

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