Two's Company, Three's A Crowd, Four's...A Double Date?! - FletcherJones; Jonny/Scott - Part 1
Title: Two's Company, Three's A Crowd, Four's...A Double Date?!
Author: Me, imagination55. LOP is keeping guard at my nail varnishes.
Pairing: FletcherJones, OTP <3; Jonny/Scott (Avenue), new OTP <3
Genre: Fluff/Humour/Romance
Part: 1/2
Rating: Light R at most - my mind couldn't resist some talk of sex, some implied sexual acts and foul mouths. Oops!
Summary: They say there’s always one gay guy in a five piece boyband...
Disclaimer: This is not true, made up, yaddayaddayadda. The beauty of fiction!
Dedication(s): the_first_chibi because she's been my own personal cheerleader since I started this piece. Thank you, sweetheart! ♥
A/N: This began so very randomly a couple of months ago, long before it was announced that Avenue would tour with McFLY so its a bit freaky that they did! lol. I just wrote it because I wanted to put my new boys into a situation with my favourite OTP. :) (And I didn't know at the time that Scott went to Sylvia Young's too lol) Shockingly enough, its a proper fic and not just smut! It's also a journal exclusive (lol) that I finished last night 'cos I'm not sure if it'll fit on mcflyslash yet as Tom and Danny don't always appear in it. Hmm. Comments are especially great love. <3
Walking around backstage at a summer show, it occurred to Danny that they hadn’t performed at something like this in a while. Writing the new album in sunny Australia had him feeling like he’d missed out a lot. Although their latest gig was in a park in Carlisle, he still felt refreshed and excited that they were back up North. Maybe he could sneak in a quick visit to his mum before him and the rest of the lads travelled down to London again.
Glancing sideways at Tom, who was hanging out with him, Danny could tell that his mind was elsewhere and that now his gaze was also captured by something or someone else. The brunette followed his boyfriend’s line of sight to see that he was watching Harry talking to someone he didn’t recognise. They both stopped on the spot. They weren’t due on stage for a while yet and it was always fun seeing Harry try and be polite to complete strangers he frankly couldn’t give a rat’s arse about. The guy was suffering from a hangover too from the night before, his aviator sunglasses the telltale giveaway because Carlisle wasn’t exactly known for its hot weather and Danny was sure he’d heard on the television that morning that this ‘summer’ had been a bit of a washout.
“Thank fuck for that!” the two guitarists heard a voice say in a distinctly Scottish lilt, if all be a little breathless.
They turned around together to find a guy standing nearby, hands on his knees and face pinked with colour. When he saw that he had their curiosity sparked, he straightened up and his cheeks probably grew even redder, this time with a blush of embarrassment.
They watched him point to the man Harry was talking to, “My dad” he explained, sounding just short of rolling his eyes in exasperation. Nothing like a wayward parent for the usual parent/offspring roles to reverse. “I keep telling him not to go off like that. I still have trouble getting past security sometimes so God knows how he does it! Scots charm perhaps. I better get to him before he embarrasses himself”
Silently, Tom and Danny saw the dark haired young man take a few steps towards his father before he halted and they knew what was coming.
“Shit! You’re Tom and Danny from McFLY, aren’t you?” he asked rhetorically then glanced at who his dad was happily engaged in a conversation with, “Oh God, and Harry”
“You know us?” Danny responded teasingly, only to get an elbow in the ribs for his trouble from Tom. “I mean-”
Tom smiled, “It’s nice to meet you…?”
“Ross” he smiled a little in return, “Ross Candy. I’m, uh, in a group”
“Oh!” Tom exclaimed brightly, as they shook hands, “Are you part of Island’s newest venture? Despite what the press would like us to say, we’re still good mates with everyone there. They looked after us well. I heard some of the girls have been swooning over fresh meat”
Danny heard his bandmate laugh but was slightly worried by how coy Ross was being and was he looking a little pale too? So, he tried to help. By blurting out the first question that came to mind.
“So you’re in a boyband, eh? Which one of you is the gay one then?”
Tom had long since stopped giggling at his own terrible attempt at making new friends in the industry.
“Excuse me, what?” Ross asked before Tom could ask Danny a question too - something along the lines of what the hell he thought he was playing at!
“Y’know” Danny shrugged uncomfortably as two pairs of eyes bored into him, “That thing. They say there’s always one gay guy in a five piece boyband”
Thankfully Ross didn’t appear offended as such, just surprised at the candour of the brunette, “Well, we’re not really a typical boyband so…but anyway, I better go”
He checked that his father hadn’t run off again then smiled at Tom and Danny, making a perfect, hasty exit out of the awkward turn in the conversation, throwing a “it was nice to meet you too!” over his shoulder as he went.
Danny waited until Ross had grabbed his dad, who seemed to be obliviously having a brilliant time among the acts, then leaned in towards Tom and said, “So, do you think it’s him?”
++++
“…and then, you won’t believe this, he told me about some kind of fact where apparently,” Ross crooked his fingers for air quotes, “‘there’s always one gay guy in a five piece boyband’”
Max frowned, having walked in on the conversation at the wrong time, “What the fuck?! Who was this nutter?!”
Ross turned to his bandmate and grimaced, “Danny from McFLY”
“Oh. Are you sure that’s his surname?”
Max choked out a laugh as Ross gave him a hearty shove in the shoulder.
“So what did you tell him?” Andy wondered from the step he was perched on with his guitar. They were due on stage soon but Ross felt the need to get what had happened off his chest. Andy suddenly sat up with a jolt, “I hope you said we’re not really a typical boyband!”
Ross looked at him straight faced, “That’s exactly what I said” he shook his head, “We’ve been around each other for way too long already”
“Nah” Andy smiled, returning to idle strumming, “We’re just dead proud of it and we should be”
“Alright, svengali, slow down there before you bust an artery”
Max cuffed Andy around the back of the head then Andy tried to get him back with a push and before anyone knew it, they were all involved in a good natured scuffle where no one could escape to their designated little trailer because it was too far away.
“Hey! Not the face, remember?!” Andy shouted, amusement clear in his tone as Max got him in a headlock as he tried to stop his guitar from falling off his lap whilst trying to tickle the other male into submission.
“Er, guys?” offered a quiet voice, like they thought they were interrupting something. Max, Ross and Andy turned to see Scott standing with his hands stuffed into his jeans pockets, “Did I miss something vital here?”
“What, other than Andy vying for musical world domination and making a tit of myself in front of two, possibly three, people who’re probably halfway there?” Ross shrugged his shoulders and grinned, “Not much”
Scott smiled, “Who’d you meet?”
“The guys in McFLY. Nice blokes from what I could tell…whilst trying to drag my dad away from Harry”
Ross stepped away from Max and Andy who still looked freeze framed in their attack on each other and appeared odd with Max’s arm looped around Andy’s neck in that headlock. Ross then regaled the rest of his tale to Scott.
Scott tried not to show his surprise. “That can’t be true…can it?”
“I don’t know!” Ross laughed, “I don’t think he did either. It was either that or listen to Tom talk about us being ‘fresh meat’ at Island” he pulled a thoughtful face, “Come to think of it; I think it was awkward for all of us. Now I don’t feel so bad”
“Yeah. Right. I’ve just gotta go. Somewhere” Scott jerked his thumb behind himself and was gone by the time Ross had turned to reply.
“We’ve gotta be on stage in fifteen!” Andy sighed, rolling his eyes and subconsciously humming the opening bars to their debut single.
++
Jonny was leaning against an equipment case and trying to appear interested in the flirting some model-life waif in huge sunglasses was unsubtly bestowing upon him when he looked over his shoulder and saw Scott in the distance. His eyes widened as the gap between them closed quickly and for a moment he thought that his bandmate was having a crazy five minutes and was going to end up snogging him in front of everyone. He blinked out his reverie as he felt Scott grab his arm, say one or two apologetic words he didn’t mean to the waif then pull Jonny away for some supposed privacy.
“What if they know?!” Scott exclaimed, clearly in the midst of a panic that Jonny wasn’t privy to yet, “It’s barely been a few weeks! Shit! I knew I shouldn’t have started this!” Suddenly his gaze hardened, as if he had just realised something and he poked a stern finger at the other confused blonde’s chest, “Actually you started this! How much of a cliché am I?!”
“Scott, stop” Jonny urged, holding up his hands in front of Scott’s face to placate him then tentatively taking his arms in a gentle grip, “Just stop and tell me what the hell is going on”
Scott sighed, immediately deflated as he’d been forced to abort his panicked state. He untangled himself from his bandmate’s grasp that couldn’t have looked anything more than platonic anyway and glanced around anxiously. Eventually, he looked up into Jonny’s eyes again.
“I think they know”
+++++
It was late afternoon by the time McFLY struck their last guitar chord, bass line and banged a drum beat and the only thing missing from the energetic, successful day was the sunshine. At least it hadn’t poured down with rain.
“That was pretty awesome” Danny enthused with a happy grin as three of them handed their instruments over to the guitar technicians.
Tom nodded in agreement with a smile, still wiping hard earned sweat from his forehead.
Despite having the capacity to headline the gig, the lads weren’t the last band to perform on the stage as their life had got pretty busy, maybe even busier, now that they were operating largely independently and they needed to be at other places in the area rather than chilling out for the rest of the day.
To Tom’s eyes, Danny had seemed to have forgotten all about his question to Ross earlier that day and the blonde suspected that he just wanted to help anyway. ‘Fresh meat’ was meant to be a light-hearted joke and even though he tried to laugh, it did sink rather rapidly. He’d been best friends with a core group, ie. his bandmates, for long enough that he’d got lazy on social etiquette or, Christ, picked up on Dougie’s sick humour!
“So then,” Danny started, putting his arm around Tom’s shoulder as they marched off preferably to a refreshments tent, “which one is gay?”
Caught off guard although he knew he shouldn’t be because he’d just been thinking about that conversation himself, Tom blinked at Danny, “What?”
“From that boyband! It’s been bugging me; I’ve got to work it out!”
Tom groaned in annoyance, “Just forget it! You only said it as it was the first thing that came into that idiot head of yours!”
Danny looked at him, shocked, “How did you-?”
“I know a lot…” Tom interjected smugly then turned to follow Dougie and Harry to the nearest tent before Tommy came to find them to let them know that it was time to leave.
Danny wasn’t far behind when his ears picked out a conversation not consisting of mindless relaxed chatter between two voices.
“…Ross said something about someone in every boyband is gay or whatever and-”
“-And you ran off like a freaked rabbit to come and find me?”
Danny spotted the direction in which the intriguing talk was coming from and his eyes lit up as he saw one, taller blonde put a comforting arm around the other. It could’ve just been platonic but Danny knew that scene, knew the underlying emotions that went with calming down someone you cared for. That and the fact that a certain Ross had been mentioned. Coincidence, he thought not.
++++
“Get off me, you idiot!” Scott rolled his eyes as he pushed Jonny away but he couldn’t quite hide his smile. He tugged on his clothes and Jonny waited. “Besides, I have a plan”
He was right to wait too.
“What happened to ‘oh save me Jonny before our wicked secret that we fancy each other gets out!’?”
“I just didn’t know what to do! Aren’t you supposed to find it sweet or something that I did come and find you?”
“Oh I do” Jonny grinned, “You saved me from making excuses to Bug Eyes over there. Maybe I should come out, once and for all. C’mere you”
He reached for Scott again, this time his arm skimming his head and wrapping around the back of his neck, pulling the shorter blonde into his jacket until Scott ducked the move.
“Will you stop that!” he demanded, sounding stupidly petulant, but still he didn’t totally look down his nose at an opportunity and made sure to take hold of Jonny’s sleeve, “Come on, we have work to do!”
“What? What’re you talking about? Where are you taking me?”
Scott gave up trying to drag a confused Jonny behind him and reversed their positions instead (as if that didn’t give him thoughts he didn’t need right then!), pushing around the taller blonde like he knew how much Jonny liked him, as a valued member of their group and otherwise, and didn’t mind exploiting it.
To Jonny, it seemed like they walked for hours but there was no truth in it as performing at an outdoor gig for a healthy sized crowd hardly meant that those people had come from miles away from civilisation. Scott was determined, he had to give him that, and Jonny was more than pleased when they eventually stopped so that this nonsense could stop too. That was until he properly looked at where they were standing.
“What are we doing here?” he whispered, a nice chance going begging for him to lean in closer to his bandmate because he suspected that the next few minutes wasn’t going to be totally legal and about making new friends.
“Ross met Tom and Danny, right? Well, they started this! They might’ve figured out that we’re it!”
“Maybe they’re detectives in their spare time…”
Grumpy over the lack of worry coming from his accomplice, Scott faced the door in front of him so that if Jonny wanted to he could laugh and be done with it. It wasn’t like Scott didn’t know that he was overreacting slightly. He just wanted to give them all a fair chance. It was protective of him but they were typecast already with being in a boyband, never mind if the statistic he was fretting about was actually true! He couldn’t see how coming out now, just when they were starting, could help any either. It was best to keep schtum and for that to happen, well, it still had to be a secret, obviously. No one, not even nice, potential industry friends, could know. They were new to being thought of as together like that.
Jonny must have thought Scott was mad at him instead of deep in thought as Scott felt a hand come to rest on his shoulder, “You alright? I’m sorry; I just don’t want you panicking over nothing. We’re on stage soon, panic over that”
Scott smiled at him a little, appreciating the effort and liking the way Jonny’s face came alive in response. They were stood grinning at each other by McFLY’s trailer until the elder looked at his watch and his eyes widened.
“Shit! We’d better find the others!”
He wasn’t sure what but something made Scott shake the immediacy off, “You go. I’ll be there, don’t you worry”
Jonny laughed but still seemed very unsure and probably curious too. In a stubborn panic, Scott appeared to be unstoppable unless you knew how to unwind him (no dirty puns please) so the trick for him now was to be the picture of calm.
“I just need to do something” a metaphorical light went on inside his head, “Get rid of the stress and psyche myself up, you know how it is”
After a terrifying second of nothing, Jonny relented and gave Scott another radiant smile which didn’t make him feel guilty at all, oh no. “Yeah, I guess I do. Just make sure you are, otherwise plenty of people will want your blood”
“You say the most romantic things”
“Play your cards right and you might find out if I am”
Scott hoped he hid his body’s reaction well as Jonny’s hand moved from his shoulder, along his arm and ended in a brief brush of his fingers before he broke into a jog and Scott let his attention return the matter at the fore. Funny, he never thought his first proper lie towards anyone in the group would be that he was psyching himself up for a gig when the truth was a more sinister, desperate idea of breaking and entering. He loved performing with all his heart and soul, this was why he was trying to make it big with his mates, so for a shaky moment he didn’t actually think that Jonny would buy it, which made the guilt that much harder to swallow.
The situation proved to unfold stunningly easy as he found himself in a band’s trailer who was much more famous than him after a few well placed, discreet tugs to the door handle. Clearly someone had forgotten to properly lock it.
On autopilot and in a bit of a rush anyway, he searched for any personal belongings. He felt that surge again - them knowing something about him meant that a career was at stake, one that hadn’t even got off the ground yet. They had contacts too, what with the double whammy and being tied to their old record label.
He was flicking through a mobile phone, peering at various email addresses and phone numbers, wondering which ones to make a note of when the jolt of the fact that he was supposed to be on stage hit him like a punch to the stomach. That hadn’t changed and Jonny was right - if he missed this, well, it would be difficult to explain a way out of such glaring ineptitude. Thinking about the group, he pocketed what was in his hand and made a run for it. He barely registered the relief on his bandmates’ faces as they stood by the side of the stage before he was handed a microphone.
+++++
“Where the hell did I put that?” Tom mumbled to himself as he patted his pockets in a futile exercise at locating what he was looking for. “Guys? Anyone seen my phone?!”
He walked into the room of the studio flat as they had dubbed it where the mixing desk was and where Danny was leisurely swinging around in his big leather chair and Dougie had his arm draped over the microphone they used to mostly record their demos at their own little creative base. Harry was practicing one of the next soundproof rooms. Danny and Dougie both shook their heads.
“When did you have it last?” Dougie asked, trying to dodge the leg that Danny was cheekily trying to hook around his ankle with every time he spun in his direction.
Tom tried to think backwards for a moment. “The gig in Carlisle”
“Oops, Tom’s gotta buy a new phone then” Danny supplied unhelpfully with a giggle.
++
Amidst the missing mobile phone saga, Tom got home that night to find an email sent from an address he had no recollection of. He thought it must be junk at first but the fact that it seemed to come from an email address that actually made sense made him think twice about deleting it.
From:
Sent: 04 Sep 2008; 01:08AM
To:
Subject: Mystery solved with added apology
Did I just rhyme there unintended?!
Hi. You don’t actually know me but I can guess you’ve been looking for your phone and I know where it is…that sounds creepy, sorry!
I mean, I…well…I have it. By accident! Sort of. Look, you can probably tell I’m with Universal-Island and we’d be labelmates if you hadn’t quit (brave and brilliant move by the way) but still I’d like for you to get your phone back, not least because it’s been keeping me awake since I’ve had it (I mean the guilt) and I’ve been lying to my…I’m not sure I can call him my boyfriend to be honest. But that’s not important!
Maybe if you reply or something we can sort this whole mess out.
Sorry again,
Scott.
Tom sat back into his sofa, not knowing how to feel. He was happy and relieved that his phone had been found so he didn’t have to buy a new one but how the hell did this guy get his hands on it in the first place?! Regardless of voices in his head telling him not to (thankfully not sounding anything like his best friends), Tom began to set out a reply. One wouldn’t hurt…
From: Tom Fletcher
Sent: 04 Sep 2008; 03:17AM
To:
Subject: RE: Mystery solved with added apology…and a dash of confusion!!
I think it was less rhyming and more…lyrical? You certainly win ‘most inventive greeting in an email’ anyway.
Hi back. I’m a bit confused so I thought I would reply to you so that you can clear a few things up for me.
How did you by-accident-sort-of come across my mobile phone of all things?!
Actually I think that’s all of what I would like to know right now. I appreciate the guilt. I can also oddly appreciate the non-boyfriend thing too, just don’t tell anyone. Took me ages to accept myself and him in my life like that. It’s nosy of me but you sound…as confused as I am about my phone! Christ, what a pair. Maybe it was fate we’re in correspondence with each other like this now…
You didn’t…look at anything else besides contact details on my phone, did you?
UI, hey? So you’re in a band yourself? Someone who’s up half the night because of the grip of creativity as well?
Sounds like you need to stop apologising too. You sound frazzled.
Tom.
+++++
Never in a million years did Scott Clarke think he’d be responding to emails sent from someone who was already living the dream that he craved. He was on his way but this was just the beginning. Neither did he think that he’d be in contact with said person after he’d basically, well, all but stolen the guy’s mobile phone (and in this day and age, for a busy lad, it was probably torture to live without) backstage at a gig they were on the small bill for! He guessed that this really was a taste of the crazy side of the fame lifestyle. Or maybe he’d just gone momentarily insane!
Mulling his possible answer over to that and what he should and would say back to Tom’s surprisingly passive reply, Scott nearly jumped a mile, startled, as a pair of hands fitted over his eyes before revealing their blonde, blue eyed, if a little sleepy looking, owner.
“Whatcha doing?”
Scott immediately tensed then couldn’t help laughing a little as Jonny tried to take more notice of what was on his laptop screen. He couldn’t move far as he was stretched out across the sofa in his boxers and an old, comfy t-shirt but luckily Jonny seemed to get bored quickly and went to take a seat where Scott’s feet were laid. Instead of choosing anywhere else to sit, he picked up the shorter blonde’s legs and sat in their place, depositing his bandmate’s bare limbs nonchalantly in his lap. Talking of bare, Scott made a conscious effort to stare at the screen in front of him rather than the body of the guy he’d taken to enjoying snogging the face off in a recent development of their working relationship and friendship. He daren’t twitch a single toe for delicious fear of brushing against toned stomach muscles. Seemed like Jonny preferred to sleep in just his boxers and Scott couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed before in the mornings. Then again, until a few weeks ago, why would he?
“You still haven’t answered” Scott felt a finger press against his shin in a demand, “What actually happened?”
“What?” he was confused now, the question not matching up with the first, “When?”
Jonny rolled his eyes in the semi-darkness, the fine bone structure of his face highlighted by the small lamp on the table behind Scott’s shoulder and the light flaring out from the computer screen.
He leant forward, hand moving up near to the shorter blonde’s knee, eyes zeroed in on the reaction he’d get, “Too domestic?”
“Um…the Carlisle gig” Scott blurted out the answer to the earlier query, biting his lip afterwards.
Jonny relaxed back, dropping the contact between his warm palm and Scott’s leg as he put his arm briefly over his eyes, “Too sleepy for ‘I knew it’. Spill. I promise not to freak out”
Snorting a laugh, Scott let him hang a little as he typed in another email to Tom as fast as he could…
From: Scott Clarke
Sent: 04 Sep 2008; 03:35AM
To: Tom Fletcher
Subject: You know how I feel?
OK Tom, well, I kind of stole it from your trailer. Actually there’s no ‘kind of’ about it. It’s been looked after though. Then again, why should you believe me when I’ve just told you I’m the one who made your phone go MIA?!
I have a reason. Or at least I think I do. Probably a shoddy one. To cut a long story short, do you remember a chance meeting with a mate of mine? Ross? At the Carlisle gig? We’re in a group together (before you say it, yes a boyband, but that word gets such a bad rep these days, it’s so unfair) and you were with [Danny?] when you met Ross and it got back to us about some silly fact that at least one member in every five piece boyband is gay. I’ll admit I freaked out…because I think I am that One. Hell, I know I’m gay, known for what’s felt like forever, but I didn’t think it would come into my career. I just want to sing.
I’m not making this short, am I? Anyway, whilst I was going mental inside my head, I had a blonde idea and I broke into your band’s trailer, looked around for a way of contacting you but I had to be on stage in minutes so I nicked your phone until I could put it back. Only you’d left by the time I had remembered. I wanted to make sure of how much you knew about me and the gay thing and if you knew more (because Jonny can be a showy bastard sometimes…and I say that with the greatest affection in mind, I swear). …so that’s how I came to have your phone. Fucked up, right?
I just didn’t want this whole gay thing to bring any attention we didn’t want, especially since the non-boyfriend? Happens to be in the same group as me. It’s nice of you to say it might be fate but I’m starting to feel like I’m bringing you into shit you don’t need to know. Technology really does make certain things easier.
I’ll have your phone sent to you ASAP.
Scott.
PS. So you’re saying you had a non-boyfriend too? How did you work that one out?
From: Tom Fletcher
Sent: 04 Sep 2008; 03:51AM
To: Scott Clarke
Subject: RE: You know how I feel?
Awesome, thanks! I’m just glad it wasn’t some scary person who screams a lot who found it that’s all I can say! Chill out, mate.
God, I sound like my boyfriend. Yeah, non-boyfriend turned into boyfriend because he’s my best friend and I couldn’t ignore my feelings for him for the rest of our working life as God knows when we’ll quit this crazy business, if we ever will!
We should meet, properly, and then I can decide whether you and this non-boyfriend of yours have hit the boyband jackpot and are the two loved up queers in your group after all! (It’s a total myth by the way. Danny speaks before he thinks sometimes, especially when he desperately wants to help. I should tell you all the details of when we met your friend Ross)
Double date?
Tom.
+++++
Following his tête-à-tête with his new pal, Scott, at ridiculous o’clock in the morning, Tom wasn’t in the mood to sleep any longer. With the weather not being particularly warm lately, he was dressed fully in pyjamas, especially after returning home from glorious sunshine on the other side of the world. He thought about knitting until he become sleepy enough to move upstairs to bed or watching a DVD, but he had become too excited about his idea. He wanted to run it by Danny, in the hope that he’d agree to it. Providing that Scott agreed too, of course.
He decided to get a head start on the planning by asking Danny right now, heading over to the brunette’s flat in hastily put on Converse. It was 3AM and Danny was probably going to kill him but what if when he got back there was another email from Scott, asking for details? He’d have nothing to tell him and if he left it until morning maybe he’d have lost the spontaneity to do something like this. He’d taken most of the chances offered in his career so far, so surely it wasn’t completely mad to try and take them elsewhere too?!
Obviously knowing the lads well enough that they might call at an ungodly hour, whatever the level of importance, Danny grunted a jumbled hello then waited for Tom to get through the downstairs door and up to the third floor in their special flat block where the brunette lived. He had the door open as Tom approached and turned around without saying anything, leaving Tom to shut it in his wake.
“It’s obvious that I woke you up” Tom said, doing his best to sound apologetic as he walked up to Danny and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s naked torso.
“Come to bed” Danny mumbled, patting Tom’s hands then plodding off in the direction of his room, “We can talk there”
Once they got into bed, all tangled limbs and lips against hair, Tom told him of the soap opera feeling saga that he’d been dropped into. He checked every now and again that Danny hadn’t gone and fallen asleep and the last time he did, his lover had a wary look about him.
“So what you’re saying is…”
“This guy seems great!”
“You’ve talked to him through how many emails?!” Danny continued to look unconvinced, they weren’t exactly having a quiet life themselves these days, “I dunno, Tom”
With them laying facing each other, Tom grinned as he lowered his hand between their bodies, pressing his palm against Danny’s boxers and feeling for his cock. It was sneaky but he’d had experience of it working in the past.
Sadly, it seemed that Danny was wise to his antics and he curled his legs up, trying to shield himself as he let out a chuckle. They struggled playfully with each other for a moment until he rolled over. Tom spooned against him, a lot less unperturbed than Danny would’ve hoped. The brunette felt a chin on his shoulder and he looked up into Tom’s brown eyes, sparkling in the night.
“Come on” the blonde coaxed gently, not hiding his smile, “It could be fun. New friends, a chance to be nosy, rather than worrying about people being nosy in our business”
“Careful, you’ll turn into a curtain twitcher. Knitting, gossiping…God, I’m really still seeing a girl!”
Buoyed up by the usual easy banter, Danny seemed resigned to the fact that he probably wouldn’t be getting anymore sleep until he agreed. Knowing this, Tom straddled his hips, leaned his chest into him, feeling cotton rub across flesh, and kissed him sweetly, lingering.
“Okay” Danny answered quietly, kissing Tom back quickly, “They’re cute so it should be cool”
Tom sat up a little and frowned, “You know who they are?”
“I meant to tell you what I heard at the Carlisle gig but I forgot”
“Well, we wouldn’t have known who was who anyway I suppose” Tom sighed, climbing off his boyfriend and settling in to get some shut eye now that the decision had been made, “If you think they’re cute then they must be. Not sure Scott will agree to this, but I hope so. Like I said…” his sentence petered out so that he could yawn, “It could be fun”
“Blonde” Danny mumbled almost incoherently, but, not quite realising how tired he was until he was in a warm bed next to a warm body, Tom barely heard his lover speak as he was already halfway into dreamland.
++++
When Scott woke up the next morning, he didn’t expect to still be on the sofa in the living room. That very thought had him properly awake in seconds and he tried to remain calm as he felt legs against his. It could only be one person, of course, and the fact that they were not in private in one of their bedrooms made him feel incredibly jittery.
He blearily felt around for his laptop on the floor then sat up, ears adjusting to the sound of cutlery clinking against china. Max was sat on the other sofa not covered in sleeping bodies, eating breakfast. Without saying a word, Scott gingerly got to his feet, leaving Jonny where he was, snuggled up against the opposite arm of the furniture.
“Car’s here in twenty!” Max called after him as he left the room, sleepily ruffling his hair and yawning widely.
It felt like he hadn’t slept at all and for a moment he worried about looking like shit. He stepped into the upstairs bathroom on his way past and inspected himself before looking at what was clasped in his palms. Quickly locking the door, he thought to see if Tom had replied to his last email or not. He couldn’t remember if he’d seen it as he didn’t actually remember falling asleep either. At least he hadn’t woken up in a compromising position with his bandmate, which would’ve been hard to explain away. He couldn’t even use the “I was drunk” excuse because the times when he went out to parties now were to enjoy himself, sure, but also for work commitments to help along the group’s publicity. It didn’t really lend itself to getting incoherently hammered. But he didn’t have to think of any of that anyway. It didn’t happen.
“It didn’t happen” he repeated to himself as he studied his morning reflection in the mirror above the sink, waiting for the laptop to load so he could check the all important email inbox.
Double date?
Tom.
Chewing on his lip, Scott sat down on the nearest available surface (the toilet seat) and wondered what Jonny would say if he neglected to tell him of Tom’s suggestion until it was too late to back out. Besides, Scott was intrigued about how these guys were as people, just being their normal selves, even if he did suspect that they were younger than him and Jonny as they offered their, ahem, services. Still, he supposed, they could be seen as old hands now, having survived for a few years in the business when he and his mates were just starting on their journey. If they had any advice to share on anything, it would be cool to hear it.
From: Scott Clarke
Sent: 04 Sep 2008; 03:35AM
To: Tom Fletcher
Subject: RE: Double date
Yeah, okay. Where/when?
S.
++
“You did what?!”
Scott held out a placating hand, “Come on, Jon. It could be fun”
Jonny backed the other blonde into the wall, dangerously near to Scott’s open bedroom door. A camera crew were skulking around the flat to film their humble abode for official website content so their proximity like this was even more of an issue than normal. Scott could tell from Jonny’s face that he wasn’t angry as such; they weren’t a thing so he had no right to be.
“I don’t even know when” he added, trying everything not to concentrate on how close Jonny was to him, “They’re busy guys, just like us” he saw a hint of a smile appear at Jonny’s mouth. “I didn’t mean it like that”
Jonny breathed out and came impossibly closer, a hand lightly at Scott’s neck as he rested his forehead against the bedroom wall.
“Fine” he whispered, “Just let me know anything else”
He moved his finger against Scott’s skin, making him shut his eyes for a brief moment and sharply inhale a breath.
“This is torture” Scott whispered back, as he fisted pale hands in the front of Jonny’s shirt and held on tight, the urge to kiss the blonde almost completely tangible.
Seemed like Jonny had the same idea but was daringly willing to act upon it, keeping a reassuring hand against the side of Scott’s neck as their lips met quickly, developing into a sweet succession of kisses to something lengthier.
“Go” Scott demanded eventually, the first to break away, releasing his hold and giving a gentle, teasing pat to Jonny’s jeans back pocket, “Before something happens”
“There’s nowt like a tease” Jonny sighed dramatically, snaking an arm back around the doorway he was half out of to give Scott a friendly push backwards.
Scott spun around on the spot and fell onto his bed, grinning like a loon.
++
Three weeks rolled by in a blur of promotion on radio, television, in magazines and a lot of gigs. Parties still came around and were typically hard to resist, although it did the trick for getting them seen and their name heard. Scott barely had time to think about Tom’s offer, let alone check to see if he had anymore details on where and when. For all he knew, a double date to them two could mean something wild and that didn’t exactly fit with making sure he didn’t break his neck by partaking in stupid acts.
Tonight, they were blissfully staying in, away from the press and the odd creepy girl near the house, who seemed to twig that five lads living in a flat together equalled only a few possibilities - students (but they’d have to be pretty damn well off) or the next hot boyband. The evening was for chilling out, probably getting drunk and eating bad food. They were waiting on pizza to be delivered and getting ravenously hungry in that lazy, buzzing with alcohol way. It was easy and so comfortable, even the quiet.
With his laptop tucked under his arm, Scott passed Andy’s room on the way towards the stairs, saw him strumming away on his guitar as he looked out the window (probably to jump down the staircase and get to the door for the arriving food!) and thought about joining him. The quiet only seemed to exist here and he knew that Andy wouldn’t ask questions about what he was doing yet chatter from below and what sounded like a raucous fight was calling him.
“If you stand there for much longer, she’ll see you” he told the brunette, amused by the thought.
Andy turned around and gave him a smile, “Go and show her some moves, Scotty”
Scott raised an eyebrow, “No chance! I’ll never be a match for a crazy girl”
“I think we’re gonna have to get used to it, mate” Andy laughed, finally putting his guitar down on his bed and walking out of his room.
As he moved in front of Scott, he faltered and changed his mind, offering the lead. Scott laughed, hearing Andy muttering that he knew his place, even if he did quite fancy musical world domination. The closer they got to the foot of the stairs, the louder the noise got from the living room. Both of them could see a shape in the frosted glass of the door and, away from the direct hit of sound, they could hear the doorbell ringing incessantly.
Scott went into the living room and sprawled out across the two seat sofa he seemed to use the most, shaking his head at Max and Ross fighting it out on the PS3 on the other sofa with Jonny trying his best to naughtily distract them. With his head tipped back from a hand in his face, Jonny looked over to Scott and they shared an insignificant smile. He was just climbing down from his above position when Andy yelled that the pizza had come and then dashed into the kitchen, followed by friends desperate to literally grab a slice. Scott turned his attention back to what was resting on his lap until he felt the seat dip next to him, luckily having enough presence of mind to fold himself in.
“Any news from Tom?”
Sitting closest to the door, Scott glanced over his shoulder then back at Jonny, “Yeah. A place not far from here actually. He suggested tomorrow” Then Scott didn’t hide his surprise, “Sounds like its dinner. I hope they’re paying”
“Who’s paying?” Scott and Jonny looked up to see Max in the doorway, but before they could make their excuses he was shouting to the others, “Who paid for the pizza?!”
“I did. I answered the door! So you owe me!”” Andy said out of the line of sight then appeared with a long arm, taking Max’s share clean from his hand.
Scott looked down at his fingers quickly as Jonny squeezed them surreptitiously and smiled. It would be good to get out for a while.
++
Ready before his bandmate, Scott made his way into Jonny’s room, nonchalantly throwing himself onto the blonde’s bed just as he caught him changing shirts. Everything seemed different now, to carry a different meaning, and although it should’ve unnerved him, he tried to act like he didn’t care. It was easier to cope that way.
Neither of them had time to dwell on this during the day as the usual hive of activity carried on in their lives and he suspected that Tom and Danny were going to be feeling the same, if not more.
“You always take ages” Scott complained, making himself comfortable by swapping onto his stomach and grabbing the nearest pillow to hold.
Jonny looked at him through the mirror he was using as he buttoned up the probable umpteenth shirt, “You want me to go out looking a mess?”
Scott leaned up on an elbow, “You never look a mess”
“Exactly!” Jonny answered brightly, having clearly won the argument so to speak, “I take my time is all”
His smile got wider as he abandoned the rest of the buttons and turned around. Scott knew what was going to happen and even if his mind didn’t welcome it, his body had no such qualms as Jonny got on his bed and straddled Scott’s hips, sitting triumphant.
“Get off”
“What? The others fight like this all the time!” Jonny jabbed him in his sides at a few different places to make his bandmate wriggle.
“But it’s different” Scott replied adamantly, dodging him, “It means something. So get off before I kick you off”
“Alright, bossy boots, keep your shirt on”
Scott put Jonny’s pillow back in its place with a little more force than necessary as Jonny went to stand in front of the mirror again, “Yeah, and you should too”
The blonde looked down at his half undone buttons and with a sigh himself did the rest of them up as Scott neared his bedroom door.
“I’m fed up of being so secretive y’know” he confessed, making Scott stop in the doorway.
He turned to stare at him for a few measured moments then said quietly, “Me too”
++
“Right, we’re off” Jonny announced the other three with a smile, “Don’t wait up”
“We’re not gonna wait in for you anyway” Max said with a grin, “Whilst the oldies are away, the young ‘uns go out to play!”
Jonny rolled his eyes then ushered Scott out the door, cutting off the curious questions that were about to come. With their early exit, they waited for the taxi outside. It had rained a lot in recent days, leaving the autumn air feeling decidedly fresh whenever there was a dry break in the weather. The stars were beginning to appear and it looked to be a good night to go out and have some fun. He checked the window high behind him to see three faces staring back at him, so he laughingly gave them the finger, turning to Scott when he heard him speak.
“Do you think we should tell them?”
Either he could tell that Jonny had just seen them or this guy was freakily intuitive as he’d been staring across the road the whole time the others had been trying to spy on them. Maybe they knew something was up after all. Or just excited that they were enjoying their evening apart. Jonny shrugged, leather jacket creaking slightly with the movement.
“They’d be cool with it I reckon. But you’re right” Scott met his eyes, surprised, “Let’s just wait and see. Take it slow”
“Yeah…as slow as you get ready”
Scott could feel a smile creep onto his face and nudged his elbow gently into Jonny’s stomach before the sound of an engine happily drew that particular conversation to a close.
+++++
On the outskirts of London, Tom was just on his way over to Danny’s place. He’d gone for the smart casual approach, digging out his polo shirt and tie, a pair of dark jeans and his trusty Converse. The fact that his hair had grown made it look like he’d put effort into it but that it wasn’t a big deal. Just meeting with friends. A pleased flutter told him that maybe it would eventually come true. He doubted that Danny was even at all ready, still messing about with his hair and searching for something he’d probably misplaced.
What Tom wasn’t expecting to find when he walked in was Danny sitting in his kitchen, engrossed in the laptop on the table. He had a shirt on but it was unbuttoned, bare feet and whatever he was staring at seemed very interesting indeed.
“Hey” Tom spoke, moving to stand beside him and putting a hand on the brunette’s shoulder, “What you looking at?”
Danny’s ‘I’ve been clever’ grin shined out from his face and Tom had to laugh fondly.
“I checked out that group’s name and besides some stuff about X Factor coming up, I found their name and their website”
Tom waited, kinda underwhelmed, “Yeah, so? We can quiz them about that when we get there”
He emphasised that then pointedly gave his boyfriend an once-over glance, indicating his state of half dress. Danny brushed him, and his concerns, away, not finished with telling Tom about his little detective spell.
“I’ve seen them, remember?! Look!”
Being demonstrative instead of just trying to convince Tom of his findings (he was stubborn as hell sometimes); he clicked on a couple of pictures then leaned back on the kitchen chair. Tom saw his satisfied smile then squinted at the screen, eyes slowly widening.
“Well...” he cleared his throat, “Looks like we’ve bagged ourselves a good looking couple. Think we’ll end up being thought of as the ugly ones?!”
Danny chuckled, putting an arm around Tom’s waist and a hand at his face to kiss him, “Never. Not to me anyway. Although if they’re up for anything…”
Tom pulled a sarcastic face before pushing Danny up out of his seat, “Talking of which, go finish getting ready, we can’t be late on a first date!”
++++
Part 2
Author: Me, imagination55. LOP is keeping guard at my nail varnishes.
Pairing: FletcherJones, OTP <3; Jonny/Scott (Avenue), new OTP <3
Genre: Fluff/Humour/Romance
Part: 1/2
Rating: Light R at most - my mind couldn't resist some talk of sex, some implied sexual acts and foul mouths. Oops!
Summary: They say there’s always one gay guy in a five piece boyband...
Disclaimer: This is not true, made up, yaddayaddayadda. The beauty of fiction!
Dedication(s): the_first_chibi because she's been my own personal cheerleader since I started this piece. Thank you, sweetheart! ♥
A/N: This began so very randomly a couple of months ago, long before it was announced that Avenue would tour with McFLY so its a bit freaky that they did! lol. I just wrote it because I wanted to put my new boys into a situation with my favourite OTP. :) (And I didn't know at the time that Scott went to Sylvia Young's too lol) Shockingly enough, its a proper fic and not just smut! It's also a journal exclusive (lol) that I finished last night 'cos I'm not sure if it'll fit on mcflyslash yet as Tom and Danny don't always appear in it. Hmm. Comments are especially great love. <3
Walking around backstage at a summer show, it occurred to Danny that they hadn’t performed at something like this in a while. Writing the new album in sunny Australia had him feeling like he’d missed out a lot. Although their latest gig was in a park in Carlisle, he still felt refreshed and excited that they were back up North. Maybe he could sneak in a quick visit to his mum before him and the rest of the lads travelled down to London again.
Glancing sideways at Tom, who was hanging out with him, Danny could tell that his mind was elsewhere and that now his gaze was also captured by something or someone else. The brunette followed his boyfriend’s line of sight to see that he was watching Harry talking to someone he didn’t recognise. They both stopped on the spot. They weren’t due on stage for a while yet and it was always fun seeing Harry try and be polite to complete strangers he frankly couldn’t give a rat’s arse about. The guy was suffering from a hangover too from the night before, his aviator sunglasses the telltale giveaway because Carlisle wasn’t exactly known for its hot weather and Danny was sure he’d heard on the television that morning that this ‘summer’ had been a bit of a washout.
“Thank fuck for that!” the two guitarists heard a voice say in a distinctly Scottish lilt, if all be a little breathless.
They turned around together to find a guy standing nearby, hands on his knees and face pinked with colour. When he saw that he had their curiosity sparked, he straightened up and his cheeks probably grew even redder, this time with a blush of embarrassment.
They watched him point to the man Harry was talking to, “My dad” he explained, sounding just short of rolling his eyes in exasperation. Nothing like a wayward parent for the usual parent/offspring roles to reverse. “I keep telling him not to go off like that. I still have trouble getting past security sometimes so God knows how he does it! Scots charm perhaps. I better get to him before he embarrasses himself”
Silently, Tom and Danny saw the dark haired young man take a few steps towards his father before he halted and they knew what was coming.
“Shit! You’re Tom and Danny from McFLY, aren’t you?” he asked rhetorically then glanced at who his dad was happily engaged in a conversation with, “Oh God, and Harry”
“You know us?” Danny responded teasingly, only to get an elbow in the ribs for his trouble from Tom. “I mean-”
Tom smiled, “It’s nice to meet you…?”
“Ross” he smiled a little in return, “Ross Candy. I’m, uh, in a group”
“Oh!” Tom exclaimed brightly, as they shook hands, “Are you part of Island’s newest venture? Despite what the press would like us to say, we’re still good mates with everyone there. They looked after us well. I heard some of the girls have been swooning over fresh meat”
Danny heard his bandmate laugh but was slightly worried by how coy Ross was being and was he looking a little pale too? So, he tried to help. By blurting out the first question that came to mind.
“So you’re in a boyband, eh? Which one of you is the gay one then?”
Tom had long since stopped giggling at his own terrible attempt at making new friends in the industry.
“Excuse me, what?” Ross asked before Tom could ask Danny a question too - something along the lines of what the hell he thought he was playing at!
“Y’know” Danny shrugged uncomfortably as two pairs of eyes bored into him, “That thing. They say there’s always one gay guy in a five piece boyband”
Thankfully Ross didn’t appear offended as such, just surprised at the candour of the brunette, “Well, we’re not really a typical boyband so…but anyway, I better go”
He checked that his father hadn’t run off again then smiled at Tom and Danny, making a perfect, hasty exit out of the awkward turn in the conversation, throwing a “it was nice to meet you too!” over his shoulder as he went.
Danny waited until Ross had grabbed his dad, who seemed to be obliviously having a brilliant time among the acts, then leaned in towards Tom and said, “So, do you think it’s him?”
++++
“…and then, you won’t believe this, he told me about some kind of fact where apparently,” Ross crooked his fingers for air quotes, “‘there’s always one gay guy in a five piece boyband’”
Max frowned, having walked in on the conversation at the wrong time, “What the fuck?! Who was this nutter?!”
Ross turned to his bandmate and grimaced, “Danny from McFLY”
“Oh. Are you sure that’s his surname?”
Max choked out a laugh as Ross gave him a hearty shove in the shoulder.
“So what did you tell him?” Andy wondered from the step he was perched on with his guitar. They were due on stage soon but Ross felt the need to get what had happened off his chest. Andy suddenly sat up with a jolt, “I hope you said we’re not really a typical boyband!”
Ross looked at him straight faced, “That’s exactly what I said” he shook his head, “We’ve been around each other for way too long already”
“Nah” Andy smiled, returning to idle strumming, “We’re just dead proud of it and we should be”
“Alright, svengali, slow down there before you bust an artery”
Max cuffed Andy around the back of the head then Andy tried to get him back with a push and before anyone knew it, they were all involved in a good natured scuffle where no one could escape to their designated little trailer because it was too far away.
“Hey! Not the face, remember?!” Andy shouted, amusement clear in his tone as Max got him in a headlock as he tried to stop his guitar from falling off his lap whilst trying to tickle the other male into submission.
“Er, guys?” offered a quiet voice, like they thought they were interrupting something. Max, Ross and Andy turned to see Scott standing with his hands stuffed into his jeans pockets, “Did I miss something vital here?”
“What, other than Andy vying for musical world domination and making a tit of myself in front of two, possibly three, people who’re probably halfway there?” Ross shrugged his shoulders and grinned, “Not much”
Scott smiled, “Who’d you meet?”
“The guys in McFLY. Nice blokes from what I could tell…whilst trying to drag my dad away from Harry”
Ross stepped away from Max and Andy who still looked freeze framed in their attack on each other and appeared odd with Max’s arm looped around Andy’s neck in that headlock. Ross then regaled the rest of his tale to Scott.
Scott tried not to show his surprise. “That can’t be true…can it?”
“I don’t know!” Ross laughed, “I don’t think he did either. It was either that or listen to Tom talk about us being ‘fresh meat’ at Island” he pulled a thoughtful face, “Come to think of it; I think it was awkward for all of us. Now I don’t feel so bad”
“Yeah. Right. I’ve just gotta go. Somewhere” Scott jerked his thumb behind himself and was gone by the time Ross had turned to reply.
“We’ve gotta be on stage in fifteen!” Andy sighed, rolling his eyes and subconsciously humming the opening bars to their debut single.
++
Jonny was leaning against an equipment case and trying to appear interested in the flirting some model-life waif in huge sunglasses was unsubtly bestowing upon him when he looked over his shoulder and saw Scott in the distance. His eyes widened as the gap between them closed quickly and for a moment he thought that his bandmate was having a crazy five minutes and was going to end up snogging him in front of everyone. He blinked out his reverie as he felt Scott grab his arm, say one or two apologetic words he didn’t mean to the waif then pull Jonny away for some supposed privacy.
“What if they know?!” Scott exclaimed, clearly in the midst of a panic that Jonny wasn’t privy to yet, “It’s barely been a few weeks! Shit! I knew I shouldn’t have started this!” Suddenly his gaze hardened, as if he had just realised something and he poked a stern finger at the other confused blonde’s chest, “Actually you started this! How much of a cliché am I?!”
“Scott, stop” Jonny urged, holding up his hands in front of Scott’s face to placate him then tentatively taking his arms in a gentle grip, “Just stop and tell me what the hell is going on”
Scott sighed, immediately deflated as he’d been forced to abort his panicked state. He untangled himself from his bandmate’s grasp that couldn’t have looked anything more than platonic anyway and glanced around anxiously. Eventually, he looked up into Jonny’s eyes again.
“I think they know”
+++++
It was late afternoon by the time McFLY struck their last guitar chord, bass line and banged a drum beat and the only thing missing from the energetic, successful day was the sunshine. At least it hadn’t poured down with rain.
“That was pretty awesome” Danny enthused with a happy grin as three of them handed their instruments over to the guitar technicians.
Tom nodded in agreement with a smile, still wiping hard earned sweat from his forehead.
Despite having the capacity to headline the gig, the lads weren’t the last band to perform on the stage as their life had got pretty busy, maybe even busier, now that they were operating largely independently and they needed to be at other places in the area rather than chilling out for the rest of the day.
To Tom’s eyes, Danny had seemed to have forgotten all about his question to Ross earlier that day and the blonde suspected that he just wanted to help anyway. ‘Fresh meat’ was meant to be a light-hearted joke and even though he tried to laugh, it did sink rather rapidly. He’d been best friends with a core group, ie. his bandmates, for long enough that he’d got lazy on social etiquette or, Christ, picked up on Dougie’s sick humour!
“So then,” Danny started, putting his arm around Tom’s shoulder as they marched off preferably to a refreshments tent, “which one is gay?”
Caught off guard although he knew he shouldn’t be because he’d just been thinking about that conversation himself, Tom blinked at Danny, “What?”
“From that boyband! It’s been bugging me; I’ve got to work it out!”
Tom groaned in annoyance, “Just forget it! You only said it as it was the first thing that came into that idiot head of yours!”
Danny looked at him, shocked, “How did you-?”
“I know a lot…” Tom interjected smugly then turned to follow Dougie and Harry to the nearest tent before Tommy came to find them to let them know that it was time to leave.
Danny wasn’t far behind when his ears picked out a conversation not consisting of mindless relaxed chatter between two voices.
“…Ross said something about someone in every boyband is gay or whatever and-”
“-And you ran off like a freaked rabbit to come and find me?”
Danny spotted the direction in which the intriguing talk was coming from and his eyes lit up as he saw one, taller blonde put a comforting arm around the other. It could’ve just been platonic but Danny knew that scene, knew the underlying emotions that went with calming down someone you cared for. That and the fact that a certain Ross had been mentioned. Coincidence, he thought not.
++++
“Get off me, you idiot!” Scott rolled his eyes as he pushed Jonny away but he couldn’t quite hide his smile. He tugged on his clothes and Jonny waited. “Besides, I have a plan”
He was right to wait too.
“What happened to ‘oh save me Jonny before our wicked secret that we fancy each other gets out!’?”
“I just didn’t know what to do! Aren’t you supposed to find it sweet or something that I did come and find you?”
“Oh I do” Jonny grinned, “You saved me from making excuses to Bug Eyes over there. Maybe I should come out, once and for all. C’mere you”
He reached for Scott again, this time his arm skimming his head and wrapping around the back of his neck, pulling the shorter blonde into his jacket until Scott ducked the move.
“Will you stop that!” he demanded, sounding stupidly petulant, but still he didn’t totally look down his nose at an opportunity and made sure to take hold of Jonny’s sleeve, “Come on, we have work to do!”
“What? What’re you talking about? Where are you taking me?”
Scott gave up trying to drag a confused Jonny behind him and reversed their positions instead (as if that didn’t give him thoughts he didn’t need right then!), pushing around the taller blonde like he knew how much Jonny liked him, as a valued member of their group and otherwise, and didn’t mind exploiting it.
To Jonny, it seemed like they walked for hours but there was no truth in it as performing at an outdoor gig for a healthy sized crowd hardly meant that those people had come from miles away from civilisation. Scott was determined, he had to give him that, and Jonny was more than pleased when they eventually stopped so that this nonsense could stop too. That was until he properly looked at where they were standing.
“What are we doing here?” he whispered, a nice chance going begging for him to lean in closer to his bandmate because he suspected that the next few minutes wasn’t going to be totally legal and about making new friends.
“Ross met Tom and Danny, right? Well, they started this! They might’ve figured out that we’re it!”
“Maybe they’re detectives in their spare time…”
Grumpy over the lack of worry coming from his accomplice, Scott faced the door in front of him so that if Jonny wanted to he could laugh and be done with it. It wasn’t like Scott didn’t know that he was overreacting slightly. He just wanted to give them all a fair chance. It was protective of him but they were typecast already with being in a boyband, never mind if the statistic he was fretting about was actually true! He couldn’t see how coming out now, just when they were starting, could help any either. It was best to keep schtum and for that to happen, well, it still had to be a secret, obviously. No one, not even nice, potential industry friends, could know. They were new to being thought of as together like that.
Jonny must have thought Scott was mad at him instead of deep in thought as Scott felt a hand come to rest on his shoulder, “You alright? I’m sorry; I just don’t want you panicking over nothing. We’re on stage soon, panic over that”
Scott smiled at him a little, appreciating the effort and liking the way Jonny’s face came alive in response. They were stood grinning at each other by McFLY’s trailer until the elder looked at his watch and his eyes widened.
“Shit! We’d better find the others!”
He wasn’t sure what but something made Scott shake the immediacy off, “You go. I’ll be there, don’t you worry”
Jonny laughed but still seemed very unsure and probably curious too. In a stubborn panic, Scott appeared to be unstoppable unless you knew how to unwind him (no dirty puns please) so the trick for him now was to be the picture of calm.
“I just need to do something” a metaphorical light went on inside his head, “Get rid of the stress and psyche myself up, you know how it is”
After a terrifying second of nothing, Jonny relented and gave Scott another radiant smile which didn’t make him feel guilty at all, oh no. “Yeah, I guess I do. Just make sure you are, otherwise plenty of people will want your blood”
“You say the most romantic things”
“Play your cards right and you might find out if I am”
Scott hoped he hid his body’s reaction well as Jonny’s hand moved from his shoulder, along his arm and ended in a brief brush of his fingers before he broke into a jog and Scott let his attention return the matter at the fore. Funny, he never thought his first proper lie towards anyone in the group would be that he was psyching himself up for a gig when the truth was a more sinister, desperate idea of breaking and entering. He loved performing with all his heart and soul, this was why he was trying to make it big with his mates, so for a shaky moment he didn’t actually think that Jonny would buy it, which made the guilt that much harder to swallow.
The situation proved to unfold stunningly easy as he found himself in a band’s trailer who was much more famous than him after a few well placed, discreet tugs to the door handle. Clearly someone had forgotten to properly lock it.
On autopilot and in a bit of a rush anyway, he searched for any personal belongings. He felt that surge again - them knowing something about him meant that a career was at stake, one that hadn’t even got off the ground yet. They had contacts too, what with the double whammy and being tied to their old record label.
He was flicking through a mobile phone, peering at various email addresses and phone numbers, wondering which ones to make a note of when the jolt of the fact that he was supposed to be on stage hit him like a punch to the stomach. That hadn’t changed and Jonny was right - if he missed this, well, it would be difficult to explain a way out of such glaring ineptitude. Thinking about the group, he pocketed what was in his hand and made a run for it. He barely registered the relief on his bandmates’ faces as they stood by the side of the stage before he was handed a microphone.
+++++
“Where the hell did I put that?” Tom mumbled to himself as he patted his pockets in a futile exercise at locating what he was looking for. “Guys? Anyone seen my phone?!”
He walked into the room of the studio flat as they had dubbed it where the mixing desk was and where Danny was leisurely swinging around in his big leather chair and Dougie had his arm draped over the microphone they used to mostly record their demos at their own little creative base. Harry was practicing one of the next soundproof rooms. Danny and Dougie both shook their heads.
“When did you have it last?” Dougie asked, trying to dodge the leg that Danny was cheekily trying to hook around his ankle with every time he spun in his direction.
Tom tried to think backwards for a moment. “The gig in Carlisle”
“Oops, Tom’s gotta buy a new phone then” Danny supplied unhelpfully with a giggle.
++
Amidst the missing mobile phone saga, Tom got home that night to find an email sent from an address he had no recollection of. He thought it must be junk at first but the fact that it seemed to come from an email address that actually made sense made him think twice about deleting it.
From:
Sent: 04 Sep 2008; 01:08AM
To:
Subject: Mystery solved with added apology
Did I just rhyme there unintended?!
Hi. You don’t actually know me but I can guess you’ve been looking for your phone and I know where it is…that sounds creepy, sorry!
I mean, I…well…I have it. By accident! Sort of. Look, you can probably tell I’m with Universal-Island and we’d be labelmates if you hadn’t quit (brave and brilliant move by the way) but still I’d like for you to get your phone back, not least because it’s been keeping me awake since I’ve had it (I mean the guilt) and I’ve been lying to my…I’m not sure I can call him my boyfriend to be honest. But that’s not important!
Maybe if you reply or something we can sort this whole mess out.
Sorry again,
Scott.
Tom sat back into his sofa, not knowing how to feel. He was happy and relieved that his phone had been found so he didn’t have to buy a new one but how the hell did this guy get his hands on it in the first place?! Regardless of voices in his head telling him not to (thankfully not sounding anything like his best friends), Tom began to set out a reply. One wouldn’t hurt…
From: Tom Fletcher
Sent: 04 Sep 2008; 03:17AM
To:
Subject: RE: Mystery solved with added apology…and a dash of confusion!!
I think it was less rhyming and more…lyrical? You certainly win ‘most inventive greeting in an email’ anyway.
Hi back. I’m a bit confused so I thought I would reply to you so that you can clear a few things up for me.
How did you by-accident-sort-of come across my mobile phone of all things?!
Actually I think that’s all of what I would like to know right now. I appreciate the guilt. I can also oddly appreciate the non-boyfriend thing too, just don’t tell anyone. Took me ages to accept myself and him in my life like that. It’s nosy of me but you sound…as confused as I am about my phone! Christ, what a pair. Maybe it was fate we’re in correspondence with each other like this now…
You didn’t…look at anything else besides contact details on my phone, did you?
UI, hey? So you’re in a band yourself? Someone who’s up half the night because of the grip of creativity as well?
Sounds like you need to stop apologising too. You sound frazzled.
Tom.
+++++
Never in a million years did Scott Clarke think he’d be responding to emails sent from someone who was already living the dream that he craved. He was on his way but this was just the beginning. Neither did he think that he’d be in contact with said person after he’d basically, well, all but stolen the guy’s mobile phone (and in this day and age, for a busy lad, it was probably torture to live without) backstage at a gig they were on the small bill for! He guessed that this really was a taste of the crazy side of the fame lifestyle. Or maybe he’d just gone momentarily insane!
Mulling his possible answer over to that and what he should and would say back to Tom’s surprisingly passive reply, Scott nearly jumped a mile, startled, as a pair of hands fitted over his eyes before revealing their blonde, blue eyed, if a little sleepy looking, owner.
“Whatcha doing?”
Scott immediately tensed then couldn’t help laughing a little as Jonny tried to take more notice of what was on his laptop screen. He couldn’t move far as he was stretched out across the sofa in his boxers and an old, comfy t-shirt but luckily Jonny seemed to get bored quickly and went to take a seat where Scott’s feet were laid. Instead of choosing anywhere else to sit, he picked up the shorter blonde’s legs and sat in their place, depositing his bandmate’s bare limbs nonchalantly in his lap. Talking of bare, Scott made a conscious effort to stare at the screen in front of him rather than the body of the guy he’d taken to enjoying snogging the face off in a recent development of their working relationship and friendship. He daren’t twitch a single toe for delicious fear of brushing against toned stomach muscles. Seemed like Jonny preferred to sleep in just his boxers and Scott couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed before in the mornings. Then again, until a few weeks ago, why would he?
“You still haven’t answered” Scott felt a finger press against his shin in a demand, “What actually happened?”
“What?” he was confused now, the question not matching up with the first, “When?”
Jonny rolled his eyes in the semi-darkness, the fine bone structure of his face highlighted by the small lamp on the table behind Scott’s shoulder and the light flaring out from the computer screen.
He leant forward, hand moving up near to the shorter blonde’s knee, eyes zeroed in on the reaction he’d get, “Too domestic?”
“Um…the Carlisle gig” Scott blurted out the answer to the earlier query, biting his lip afterwards.
Jonny relaxed back, dropping the contact between his warm palm and Scott’s leg as he put his arm briefly over his eyes, “Too sleepy for ‘I knew it’. Spill. I promise not to freak out”
Snorting a laugh, Scott let him hang a little as he typed in another email to Tom as fast as he could…
From: Scott Clarke
Sent: 04 Sep 2008; 03:35AM
To: Tom Fletcher
Subject: You know how I feel?
OK Tom, well, I kind of stole it from your trailer. Actually there’s no ‘kind of’ about it. It’s been looked after though. Then again, why should you believe me when I’ve just told you I’m the one who made your phone go MIA?!
I have a reason. Or at least I think I do. Probably a shoddy one. To cut a long story short, do you remember a chance meeting with a mate of mine? Ross? At the Carlisle gig? We’re in a group together (before you say it, yes a boyband, but that word gets such a bad rep these days, it’s so unfair) and you were with [Danny?] when you met Ross and it got back to us about some silly fact that at least one member in every five piece boyband is gay. I’ll admit I freaked out…because I think I am that One. Hell, I know I’m gay, known for what’s felt like forever, but I didn’t think it would come into my career. I just want to sing.
I’m not making this short, am I? Anyway, whilst I was going mental inside my head, I had a blonde idea and I broke into your band’s trailer, looked around for a way of contacting you but I had to be on stage in minutes so I nicked your phone until I could put it back. Only you’d left by the time I had remembered. I wanted to make sure of how much you knew about me and the gay thing and if you knew more (because Jonny can be a showy bastard sometimes…and I say that with the greatest affection in mind, I swear). …so that’s how I came to have your phone. Fucked up, right?
I just didn’t want this whole gay thing to bring any attention we didn’t want, especially since the non-boyfriend? Happens to be in the same group as me. It’s nice of you to say it might be fate but I’m starting to feel like I’m bringing you into shit you don’t need to know. Technology really does make certain things easier.
I’ll have your phone sent to you ASAP.
Scott.
PS. So you’re saying you had a non-boyfriend too? How did you work that one out?
From: Tom Fletcher
Sent: 04 Sep 2008; 03:51AM
To: Scott Clarke
Subject: RE: You know how I feel?
Awesome, thanks! I’m just glad it wasn’t some scary person who screams a lot who found it that’s all I can say! Chill out, mate.
God, I sound like my boyfriend. Yeah, non-boyfriend turned into boyfriend because he’s my best friend and I couldn’t ignore my feelings for him for the rest of our working life as God knows when we’ll quit this crazy business, if we ever will!
We should meet, properly, and then I can decide whether you and this non-boyfriend of yours have hit the boyband jackpot and are the two loved up queers in your group after all! (It’s a total myth by the way. Danny speaks before he thinks sometimes, especially when he desperately wants to help. I should tell you all the details of when we met your friend Ross)
Double date?
Tom.
+++++
Following his tête-à-tête with his new pal, Scott, at ridiculous o’clock in the morning, Tom wasn’t in the mood to sleep any longer. With the weather not being particularly warm lately, he was dressed fully in pyjamas, especially after returning home from glorious sunshine on the other side of the world. He thought about knitting until he become sleepy enough to move upstairs to bed or watching a DVD, but he had become too excited about his idea. He wanted to run it by Danny, in the hope that he’d agree to it. Providing that Scott agreed too, of course.
He decided to get a head start on the planning by asking Danny right now, heading over to the brunette’s flat in hastily put on Converse. It was 3AM and Danny was probably going to kill him but what if when he got back there was another email from Scott, asking for details? He’d have nothing to tell him and if he left it until morning maybe he’d have lost the spontaneity to do something like this. He’d taken most of the chances offered in his career so far, so surely it wasn’t completely mad to try and take them elsewhere too?!
Obviously knowing the lads well enough that they might call at an ungodly hour, whatever the level of importance, Danny grunted a jumbled hello then waited for Tom to get through the downstairs door and up to the third floor in their special flat block where the brunette lived. He had the door open as Tom approached and turned around without saying anything, leaving Tom to shut it in his wake.
“It’s obvious that I woke you up” Tom said, doing his best to sound apologetic as he walked up to Danny and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s naked torso.
“Come to bed” Danny mumbled, patting Tom’s hands then plodding off in the direction of his room, “We can talk there”
Once they got into bed, all tangled limbs and lips against hair, Tom told him of the soap opera feeling saga that he’d been dropped into. He checked every now and again that Danny hadn’t gone and fallen asleep and the last time he did, his lover had a wary look about him.
“So what you’re saying is…”
“This guy seems great!”
“You’ve talked to him through how many emails?!” Danny continued to look unconvinced, they weren’t exactly having a quiet life themselves these days, “I dunno, Tom”
With them laying facing each other, Tom grinned as he lowered his hand between their bodies, pressing his palm against Danny’s boxers and feeling for his cock. It was sneaky but he’d had experience of it working in the past.
Sadly, it seemed that Danny was wise to his antics and he curled his legs up, trying to shield himself as he let out a chuckle. They struggled playfully with each other for a moment until he rolled over. Tom spooned against him, a lot less unperturbed than Danny would’ve hoped. The brunette felt a chin on his shoulder and he looked up into Tom’s brown eyes, sparkling in the night.
“Come on” the blonde coaxed gently, not hiding his smile, “It could be fun. New friends, a chance to be nosy, rather than worrying about people being nosy in our business”
“Careful, you’ll turn into a curtain twitcher. Knitting, gossiping…God, I’m really still seeing a girl!”
Buoyed up by the usual easy banter, Danny seemed resigned to the fact that he probably wouldn’t be getting anymore sleep until he agreed. Knowing this, Tom straddled his hips, leaned his chest into him, feeling cotton rub across flesh, and kissed him sweetly, lingering.
“Okay” Danny answered quietly, kissing Tom back quickly, “They’re cute so it should be cool”
Tom sat up a little and frowned, “You know who they are?”
“I meant to tell you what I heard at the Carlisle gig but I forgot”
“Well, we wouldn’t have known who was who anyway I suppose” Tom sighed, climbing off his boyfriend and settling in to get some shut eye now that the decision had been made, “If you think they’re cute then they must be. Not sure Scott will agree to this, but I hope so. Like I said…” his sentence petered out so that he could yawn, “It could be fun”
“Blonde” Danny mumbled almost incoherently, but, not quite realising how tired he was until he was in a warm bed next to a warm body, Tom barely heard his lover speak as he was already halfway into dreamland.
++++
When Scott woke up the next morning, he didn’t expect to still be on the sofa in the living room. That very thought had him properly awake in seconds and he tried to remain calm as he felt legs against his. It could only be one person, of course, and the fact that they were not in private in one of their bedrooms made him feel incredibly jittery.
He blearily felt around for his laptop on the floor then sat up, ears adjusting to the sound of cutlery clinking against china. Max was sat on the other sofa not covered in sleeping bodies, eating breakfast. Without saying a word, Scott gingerly got to his feet, leaving Jonny where he was, snuggled up against the opposite arm of the furniture.
“Car’s here in twenty!” Max called after him as he left the room, sleepily ruffling his hair and yawning widely.
It felt like he hadn’t slept at all and for a moment he worried about looking like shit. He stepped into the upstairs bathroom on his way past and inspected himself before looking at what was clasped in his palms. Quickly locking the door, he thought to see if Tom had replied to his last email or not. He couldn’t remember if he’d seen it as he didn’t actually remember falling asleep either. At least he hadn’t woken up in a compromising position with his bandmate, which would’ve been hard to explain away. He couldn’t even use the “I was drunk” excuse because the times when he went out to parties now were to enjoy himself, sure, but also for work commitments to help along the group’s publicity. It didn’t really lend itself to getting incoherently hammered. But he didn’t have to think of any of that anyway. It didn’t happen.
“It didn’t happen” he repeated to himself as he studied his morning reflection in the mirror above the sink, waiting for the laptop to load so he could check the all important email inbox.
Double date?
Tom.
Chewing on his lip, Scott sat down on the nearest available surface (the toilet seat) and wondered what Jonny would say if he neglected to tell him of Tom’s suggestion until it was too late to back out. Besides, Scott was intrigued about how these guys were as people, just being their normal selves, even if he did suspect that they were younger than him and Jonny as they offered their, ahem, services. Still, he supposed, they could be seen as old hands now, having survived for a few years in the business when he and his mates were just starting on their journey. If they had any advice to share on anything, it would be cool to hear it.
From: Scott Clarke
Sent: 04 Sep 2008; 03:35AM
To: Tom Fletcher
Subject: RE: Double date
Yeah, okay. Where/when?
S.
++
“You did what?!”
Scott held out a placating hand, “Come on, Jon. It could be fun”
Jonny backed the other blonde into the wall, dangerously near to Scott’s open bedroom door. A camera crew were skulking around the flat to film their humble abode for official website content so their proximity like this was even more of an issue than normal. Scott could tell from Jonny’s face that he wasn’t angry as such; they weren’t a thing so he had no right to be.
“I don’t even know when” he added, trying everything not to concentrate on how close Jonny was to him, “They’re busy guys, just like us” he saw a hint of a smile appear at Jonny’s mouth. “I didn’t mean it like that”
Jonny breathed out and came impossibly closer, a hand lightly at Scott’s neck as he rested his forehead against the bedroom wall.
“Fine” he whispered, “Just let me know anything else”
He moved his finger against Scott’s skin, making him shut his eyes for a brief moment and sharply inhale a breath.
“This is torture” Scott whispered back, as he fisted pale hands in the front of Jonny’s shirt and held on tight, the urge to kiss the blonde almost completely tangible.
Seemed like Jonny had the same idea but was daringly willing to act upon it, keeping a reassuring hand against the side of Scott’s neck as their lips met quickly, developing into a sweet succession of kisses to something lengthier.
“Go” Scott demanded eventually, the first to break away, releasing his hold and giving a gentle, teasing pat to Jonny’s jeans back pocket, “Before something happens”
“There’s nowt like a tease” Jonny sighed dramatically, snaking an arm back around the doorway he was half out of to give Scott a friendly push backwards.
Scott spun around on the spot and fell onto his bed, grinning like a loon.
++
Three weeks rolled by in a blur of promotion on radio, television, in magazines and a lot of gigs. Parties still came around and were typically hard to resist, although it did the trick for getting them seen and their name heard. Scott barely had time to think about Tom’s offer, let alone check to see if he had anymore details on where and when. For all he knew, a double date to them two could mean something wild and that didn’t exactly fit with making sure he didn’t break his neck by partaking in stupid acts.
Tonight, they were blissfully staying in, away from the press and the odd creepy girl near the house, who seemed to twig that five lads living in a flat together equalled only a few possibilities - students (but they’d have to be pretty damn well off) or the next hot boyband. The evening was for chilling out, probably getting drunk and eating bad food. They were waiting on pizza to be delivered and getting ravenously hungry in that lazy, buzzing with alcohol way. It was easy and so comfortable, even the quiet.
With his laptop tucked under his arm, Scott passed Andy’s room on the way towards the stairs, saw him strumming away on his guitar as he looked out the window (probably to jump down the staircase and get to the door for the arriving food!) and thought about joining him. The quiet only seemed to exist here and he knew that Andy wouldn’t ask questions about what he was doing yet chatter from below and what sounded like a raucous fight was calling him.
“If you stand there for much longer, she’ll see you” he told the brunette, amused by the thought.
Andy turned around and gave him a smile, “Go and show her some moves, Scotty”
Scott raised an eyebrow, “No chance! I’ll never be a match for a crazy girl”
“I think we’re gonna have to get used to it, mate” Andy laughed, finally putting his guitar down on his bed and walking out of his room.
As he moved in front of Scott, he faltered and changed his mind, offering the lead. Scott laughed, hearing Andy muttering that he knew his place, even if he did quite fancy musical world domination. The closer they got to the foot of the stairs, the louder the noise got from the living room. Both of them could see a shape in the frosted glass of the door and, away from the direct hit of sound, they could hear the doorbell ringing incessantly.
Scott went into the living room and sprawled out across the two seat sofa he seemed to use the most, shaking his head at Max and Ross fighting it out on the PS3 on the other sofa with Jonny trying his best to naughtily distract them. With his head tipped back from a hand in his face, Jonny looked over to Scott and they shared an insignificant smile. He was just climbing down from his above position when Andy yelled that the pizza had come and then dashed into the kitchen, followed by friends desperate to literally grab a slice. Scott turned his attention back to what was resting on his lap until he felt the seat dip next to him, luckily having enough presence of mind to fold himself in.
“Any news from Tom?”
Sitting closest to the door, Scott glanced over his shoulder then back at Jonny, “Yeah. A place not far from here actually. He suggested tomorrow” Then Scott didn’t hide his surprise, “Sounds like its dinner. I hope they’re paying”
“Who’s paying?” Scott and Jonny looked up to see Max in the doorway, but before they could make their excuses he was shouting to the others, “Who paid for the pizza?!”
“I did. I answered the door! So you owe me!”” Andy said out of the line of sight then appeared with a long arm, taking Max’s share clean from his hand.
Scott looked down at his fingers quickly as Jonny squeezed them surreptitiously and smiled. It would be good to get out for a while.
++
Ready before his bandmate, Scott made his way into Jonny’s room, nonchalantly throwing himself onto the blonde’s bed just as he caught him changing shirts. Everything seemed different now, to carry a different meaning, and although it should’ve unnerved him, he tried to act like he didn’t care. It was easier to cope that way.
Neither of them had time to dwell on this during the day as the usual hive of activity carried on in their lives and he suspected that Tom and Danny were going to be feeling the same, if not more.
“You always take ages” Scott complained, making himself comfortable by swapping onto his stomach and grabbing the nearest pillow to hold.
Jonny looked at him through the mirror he was using as he buttoned up the probable umpteenth shirt, “You want me to go out looking a mess?”
Scott leaned up on an elbow, “You never look a mess”
“Exactly!” Jonny answered brightly, having clearly won the argument so to speak, “I take my time is all”
His smile got wider as he abandoned the rest of the buttons and turned around. Scott knew what was going to happen and even if his mind didn’t welcome it, his body had no such qualms as Jonny got on his bed and straddled Scott’s hips, sitting triumphant.
“Get off”
“What? The others fight like this all the time!” Jonny jabbed him in his sides at a few different places to make his bandmate wriggle.
“But it’s different” Scott replied adamantly, dodging him, “It means something. So get off before I kick you off”
“Alright, bossy boots, keep your shirt on”
Scott put Jonny’s pillow back in its place with a little more force than necessary as Jonny went to stand in front of the mirror again, “Yeah, and you should too”
The blonde looked down at his half undone buttons and with a sigh himself did the rest of them up as Scott neared his bedroom door.
“I’m fed up of being so secretive y’know” he confessed, making Scott stop in the doorway.
He turned to stare at him for a few measured moments then said quietly, “Me too”
++
“Right, we’re off” Jonny announced the other three with a smile, “Don’t wait up”
“We’re not gonna wait in for you anyway” Max said with a grin, “Whilst the oldies are away, the young ‘uns go out to play!”
Jonny rolled his eyes then ushered Scott out the door, cutting off the curious questions that were about to come. With their early exit, they waited for the taxi outside. It had rained a lot in recent days, leaving the autumn air feeling decidedly fresh whenever there was a dry break in the weather. The stars were beginning to appear and it looked to be a good night to go out and have some fun. He checked the window high behind him to see three faces staring back at him, so he laughingly gave them the finger, turning to Scott when he heard him speak.
“Do you think we should tell them?”
Either he could tell that Jonny had just seen them or this guy was freakily intuitive as he’d been staring across the road the whole time the others had been trying to spy on them. Maybe they knew something was up after all. Or just excited that they were enjoying their evening apart. Jonny shrugged, leather jacket creaking slightly with the movement.
“They’d be cool with it I reckon. But you’re right” Scott met his eyes, surprised, “Let’s just wait and see. Take it slow”
“Yeah…as slow as you get ready”
Scott could feel a smile creep onto his face and nudged his elbow gently into Jonny’s stomach before the sound of an engine happily drew that particular conversation to a close.
+++++
On the outskirts of London, Tom was just on his way over to Danny’s place. He’d gone for the smart casual approach, digging out his polo shirt and tie, a pair of dark jeans and his trusty Converse. The fact that his hair had grown made it look like he’d put effort into it but that it wasn’t a big deal. Just meeting with friends. A pleased flutter told him that maybe it would eventually come true. He doubted that Danny was even at all ready, still messing about with his hair and searching for something he’d probably misplaced.
What Tom wasn’t expecting to find when he walked in was Danny sitting in his kitchen, engrossed in the laptop on the table. He had a shirt on but it was unbuttoned, bare feet and whatever he was staring at seemed very interesting indeed.
“Hey” Tom spoke, moving to stand beside him and putting a hand on the brunette’s shoulder, “What you looking at?”
Danny’s ‘I’ve been clever’ grin shined out from his face and Tom had to laugh fondly.
“I checked out that group’s name and besides some stuff about X Factor coming up, I found their name and their website”
Tom waited, kinda underwhelmed, “Yeah, so? We can quiz them about that when we get there”
He emphasised that then pointedly gave his boyfriend an once-over glance, indicating his state of half dress. Danny brushed him, and his concerns, away, not finished with telling Tom about his little detective spell.
“I’ve seen them, remember?! Look!”
Being demonstrative instead of just trying to convince Tom of his findings (he was stubborn as hell sometimes); he clicked on a couple of pictures then leaned back on the kitchen chair. Tom saw his satisfied smile then squinted at the screen, eyes slowly widening.
“Well...” he cleared his throat, “Looks like we’ve bagged ourselves a good looking couple. Think we’ll end up being thought of as the ugly ones?!”
Danny chuckled, putting an arm around Tom’s waist and a hand at his face to kiss him, “Never. Not to me anyway. Although if they’re up for anything…”
Tom pulled a sarcastic face before pushing Danny up out of his seat, “Talking of which, go finish getting ready, we can’t be late on a first date!”
++++
Part 2