FIC: Get By With A Little HelpFrom My Friends-- MCR/the Used, Matt/Jepha, mature
title: Get By With A Little Help From My Friends
author: lisa roquin
rating: 15+/mature
fandom: rps- My Chemical Romance/The Used
pairing/characters: Matt Cortez/Jepha Howard, Bert & everybody else somewhere around.
series/sequel: set 6-7 years after With Friends Like These... (3parts connected)
disclaimer: lies, fiction, untrue. completely and totally made up. I know no one, know nothing of their personal lives. I make no claims of knowing much of anything.
summary: With My Chem off the road for the next few months due to impending baby boom (two Ways and a Toro due over the summer) Matt takes the job offer of tour managing The Used.
warning: the pogo stick man of the crack-ocalypse Bert established off&on D/s relationship, language,
author notes: written for talk_bingo on dreamwidth prompt "lovers" (posting these as I get to them/get done)
word count: 2145

timeline/verse notes: we're calling this summer 2010. Since the last didn't really adhere all that rigidly to reality's timeline, this is all made up too. Used coheadlining summer festival outdoor tour (not Warped, same Idea, slightly smaller) All that's necessary to know for this fic making sense on it's own—Bert is insane. Matt & Jepha had D/s relationship, strictly on the road thing, through two Warped and two Taste of Chaos tours and a few other short tours way back when Brian was tour-managing The Used & managing MCR.






Even if it had been a few years since he'd heard that war cry Matt dropped his bag and braced himself. One broken wrist from Bert was more than fucking enough, thanks.

"Oof, fuck you're gaining weight," Matt managed catching Bert behind the knees to avoid any injury by the crazy fucking monkey getting a better hold on Matt's back by wrapping his legs around Matt's waist—or something. Maybe he was being paranoid, but better safe than sorry.

"You're riding with us!"

"Yeah. I know. Three months of living on a bus with you. I've lost my mind."

"You—" Bert's voice suddenly small and worried.

"What?"

"You took the job..."

"Yeah, and?"

"You still mad about—"

Matt rolled his eyes. "Ancient history. I'm not even sure what the fuck all happened with you two and I don't wanna know. That doesn't have anything to do with the fact you're you. You break my wrist again and I'll break your ass."

"I didn't mean to," Bert huffed.

"Mmm hmm Yeah. I know."

"You're going to bitch about that forever, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Matt agreed.

"Asshole," Bert muttered and sniffed at Matt's neck. Licked once, hummed and licked again. "You still taste good."

"You lick me again, I beat your ass."

"Jepha would get jealous."

"Bert!"

"You're not seeing anyone. Brian said so. After he screamed for a while."

Matt sighed. "No, I'm not."

"Jepha's single again."

"BERT!" Matt snarled quietly.

"Pissing our tour manager off before the bus even takes off all that wise of a thing to do, Bert?" Dan asked ambling up with a sack from one of the stores Matt had passed on the way to the hotel.

"Jepha brought his Tinkerbell backpack and everything."

Matt groaned.

Dan raised an eyebrow.

"Quinn and I even got you presents."

"Oh jesus fucking christ."

"Dan, grab his bag, c'mon they're up in the room!"

"Bert. I can find a wall with your name on it real goddamned fucking fast. Preferably brick or concrete," Matt said tightly.

Dan gave him a nervous wary look.

Bert...

Well, Bert was Bert. And he just cackled like a crazed hyena.

"Matt's gonna take care of Jepha," Bert grinned at Dan.

"Don't you think Jepha might have something to say about that Bert?"

"He's all shaky and fucked up. And you take good care of him."

"Did you hire me to tour manage or be Jeph's dom?"

"Both?" Bert grinned and licked behind Matt's ear.

"You wanna see dom? I'll take my belt to your ass, McCracken, then stick you in your goddamned bunk tied and gagged til morning. Quit fucking licking me."

"You're gonna make Jepha jealous keep talking dirty to me like that," Bert giggled.

"How the fuck have you lived this long? Seriously. That you haven't died of your own stupid or someone fucking killing you for it? How?" Matt growled.

"Just lucky I guess," Bert mumbled.

Matt sighed. "Quinn and Jeph would be lost without you. Even if they might help me gag you, tie you up and toss you in your bunk for a while."

"You're gonna like your presents," Bert said gleefully.

Matt sighed. He frowned catching sight of Dan's expression as The Used's drummer grabbed his duffel bags. "Dude? What?" Matt demanded. Bert tensed on his back.

"Danny? You--c'mon. Uh uh. You don't get to be asshole," Bert said in an odd tone somewhere between scared little kid and schizophrenic psychopath ready to torture someone to death.

"Just—caught by surprise," Dan managed.

"How the fuck is that possible?" Bert demanded dangerously. A controlled calculated very intelligent dangerous far from his usual drunk-monkey screwing around.

"I kinda thought you were—just being you and trying to see if you could make Jepha blush or get pissed."

Bert sighed. "Yeah he had her..."

Matt dug his fingers in the back of Bert's knees and snapped, "Bert?"

"I didn't do anything! She didn't have any problem with us. She just--liked to play with groups, and have toys while Jepha was busy. And Jepha...got too much after a while. Wasn't like she was going behind his back and screwing around and shit...Jepha knew. Just...got to the point they just didn't work any more mostly. Not any hard feelings or shit. Still friends and he won't let us kill her or anything, just not working any more," Bert murmured quietly.

The hotel staff didn't even blink at Matt walking through the lobby to the elevators with Bert on his back. Well, this was Los Angeles. And the one in a housekeeping uniform they passed in the hallway on the floor the suite was on, well, her expression could only be summed up as oh god, a rock star, tomorrow's going to suck.

He'd been in LA a week. The crew and buses and equipment all set to go. The first show would be the next night. The band had been busy with interviews and whatever the hell else the last two days. Nothing he'd had anything to do with, not yet. He got the joy of herding them through radio stations and getting them to the appropriate area set up for DJ and VJ crews at the venues for the next three months or so though.

Jepha looked up from picking at the knee of his jeans, wide eyed, wary and more worn down and plain wrecked than Matt remembered ever seeing him.

"There are lines, Bert. Remember them or I'll find brick walls."

"He's single!" Bert hopped off Matt's back and bounced toward Quinn. "Go get his presents! That's me and Quinn's room. That's Dan's. That's yours and Jepha's."

Matt ignored Bert, eyes locked on Jepha. "Jeph?" he asked softly.

Jepha looked up at Matt through lowered lashes, a little color rising in his cheeks.

"Jeph?" Matt repeated softly.

"Yeah, the tour?"

"Always only had to ask, Jeph, no different now," Matt promised. They'd hooked up through about a half dozen tours way back. Whenever Matt had ended up working the same tour that had The Used on the bill. With or without MCR on the bill too. Brian had tried to keep the bands together as much as possible when he was tour-managing The Used and managing MCR. Matt had picked up more than one carry-over job when the guys were recording Black Parade. Brian had tossed his name at people he knew—who worked for The Used. There hadn't been any real hesitation because the one hiring knew Matt, just hadn't realized he was available.

Jepha nodded and gave him a shy little smile.

"SIT! PRESENTS!" Bert bounced.

Jepha groaned and leaned forward hiding his face in his hands.

Matt sat down next to Jepha on the suite's couch. He put his arm around Jepha who sat up and turned into him, pressing his face into Matt's shoulder.

"Sorry," Jepha whispered.

Matt kissed his forehead. "You know better than that."

"I know—just—,"

Matt smiled and slipped his finger under Jepha's chin, tilting his head up for a kiss. "This is going to be traumatizing, isn't it?" he fought laughter as he spoke.

"It's Bert and Quinn," Jepha smiled back, Matt's amusement catching him as well.

"Hey!" Bert protested. "You know you're the strangest kinkiest fucker there is, Cortez. We couldn't decide what the hell to watch. So Quinn got to judge since he's boring..."

"Judge...what?" Matt asked warily.

"Wierdest things ever used to be tied up with or tie someone up with."

"Oh Christ."

"Jepha won hands down and got to pick the movie. But, really, you're fucking bizarre, Cortez," Bert announced. "He never said who but it so has to be you."

"Try broke, busy, and in the middle of a damn tour. Improvision and creativity from necessity. Work with what you have," Matt shot back and raised an eyebrow at Jepha.

"Dan came up with panty hose and scarves. Bert came up with handcuffs, sheets, jumpropes," Jepha rolled his eyes. "I still say the handcuffs don't count. Not if the only time that it wasn't from being arrested was when Branden handcuffed you to keep you out of his hair."

Matt grinned.

Jepha relaxed a little further into his side, comfortable and sweetly familiar even if it had been years since he'd gotten to touch like this. Phone calls, emails, occasionally their paths crossed just as friends who hadn't seen each other in a while but it had been since the last time they were on the same tour that he'd had Jepha melted into his side like this.

"You know you're the only one they've ever really been such idiots making productions like this."

"Look who I work for usually," Matt tilted Jepha's chin up and stole another kiss. "They know I'll take after them, and only them. And they got away with it once, so they're not quitting."

"Point," Jepha agreed.

Matt gently rubbed Jepha's back. Jepha melted further against him with a little hum that sounded very close to a purr.

"You two are soooo cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute," Quinn teased coming back into the central room of the suite with a large duffel bag that looked fairly heavy.

"Bert's just annoying when he does that, you sound like a complete fucking moron," Jepha muttered.

"Seriously. You have to be making this shit up. Gauze bandages?" Quinn pulled the box containing a roll of gauze out of the duffel bag.

"Not for tying, idiot, more for saving skin, that goes under electrical or duct tape," Matt rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, Jepha's got delicate skin," Bert nodded. "That's good."

"Were the other options for movie viewing really that bad that you just had to win?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, and Bert pissed me off," Jepha shot back, blushing.

"Just give me the goddamned bag, and settle down, no getting blitzed. You two have a phone interview in two hours," Matt grumbled getting up and grabbing the duffel bag of god knew what all from Quinn.

Jepha stood and let Matt steer him into the bedroom.

Bert cackled behind them.

Jepha flipped him off.

"Sorry," Jepha whispered as Matt pinned him against the wall within a second of the door being closed behind them.

"Jeph," Matt said with a shake of his head.

"They're—"

"Jepharee."

"Sorry."

Matt shook his head. "You know better than that."

Jepha swallowed.

"What am I gonna do with you?"

Jepha arched an eyebrow, smile tugging at his lips.

"Smart ass," Matt laughed and leaned a little harder against Jepha.

Jepha tried to look innocent--and failed.

"Seriously, you okay, Jeph?"

"Not really," Jepha closed his eyes. "Tired."

"They need me to knock em into a wall?"

"No...no, just..."

"Yeah, I get it," Matt whispered and brushed a kiss across Jepha's lips.

"Don't have to," Jepha managed to get out.

"If you think I'm passing up the chance to have you for a while, then Bert's finally driven you out of your mind."

"Don't wanna be a burden."

"Christ..." Matt shook his head. "You say that again and you're going to be in fucking tears for days begging to come. You're not a burden. Anyone passing you over is an idiot, even if you come with Bert."

Jepha swallowed.

"Gorgeous. So sweet and well behaved, so responsive. Take my breath away, Jeph. No where near a burden. Hear that again I'm gonna get pissed and I'm gonna go find out who needs killed from Bert and Quinn."

"You only—only a tour at a time—"

"You only ever asked for a tour at a time."

Jepha's eyes opened wide.

"Shh," Matt whispered, letting go of Jepha's wrists above his head, hands moving over Jepha's and lacing their fingers.

"What's—what's on offer?" Jepha stared.

"See where anything goes after the tour..." Matt whispered. They'd been good together when they'd hooked up for tours they were both on in the past. Gotten to be good friends over the years beyond that.

"I—"

"Shh," Matt silenced Jepha with another kiss.

Jepha's eyebrow arched in irritation.

"You're rundown and tired and you'd agree to just about anything when you're getting manhandled like this. Least you used to, loved it back then." Matt pressed into Jepha a little more.

"Fuck still do. Been a while since I was with anyone that really could..."

"Mmmm," Matt kissed him again. "Think about it. Got the whole tour, beyond that even if just need a night here or there, held for a bit. Always just gotta ask Jeph, if I'm free the answer's gonna be yes."

"And...more than that."

"You haven't figured out you could have anything you want from me, yet? Pretty much always could have had?"

"Since when?"

Matt smiled ruefully. "Since I nearly passed out when you landed on the cast on my wrist that first hotel night."

Jepha's eyes were absolutely huge as his breath caught.

"Shh, that's not changing. Got a little while before gotta herd Bert and Quinn."