The hotel that they were at actually was where they got to take a three day break. The only thing they had to do during that break was one single interview. It was mid tour and there was always a small few day break planned around then to ease up the tension for the guys.
AJ woke up on the first day of his break with more energy than he usually did. The show the night before had been awesome, and the movie afterwards with Brian in his room had been even better .The best part had been the kiss goodnight. Brian had let AJ kiss him before heading out of the room and back to his own.
Now that Howie and AJ were talking again, more of the tension had eased among the group. AJ and Howie and Brian were all talking fine, and Brian and Kevin were talking ok, as were Kevin and Nick and Howie and Nick, but neither AJ nor Brian had come around to talking to Nick yet.
Thinking that in his head as he got dressed, AJ had to grin. That sounded absolutely insane. Complicated, too. At that moment he didn’t really care. They had a free day, and he wasn’t planning on wasting a single moment of their time. Especially not worrying over everyone and their varying degrees of homophobia.
Right now he focused on the good stuff. Three days of free time! He’d built himself some flexible plans. Plans, of course, that dealt with Brian. Flexible, though, so if Brian had something he wanted to do, AJ could just change his own around.
So once he had clothes on he headed out from his room, headphones in and hat pulled low. Somehow, against all odds, he managed to not only sneak out of the hotel, but go down to Starbucks and get two coffees and get back inside the hotel without fans spotting him. That only increased his goofy mood.
Practically bouncing from all his energy, AJ tripped coming out of the elevator and almost managed to spill the two coffees. If it hadn’t have been for Howie being right there, he would have. His best friend helped steady him with a laugh. “Shit, J, you almost bathed me in hot coffee. What’s got you rushing around?” Howie teased once AJ was steady again.
“Not rushing.” AJ flashed him a grin and did a little half a jig. “Energy. I’ve got energy.”
“How many of those coffees have you had already?”
Laughter echoed down the hallway. AJ couldn’t help it. It felt so good to be teasing with his best friend again, and to not have that tension there. He gave Howie his widest, most innocent grin. “Honestly? None. But I’m about to drink the shit out of this mocha!”
“Hopefully it doesn’t mess up your balance even more. Don’t trip on any more shadows, Age.”
Pretending mock indignation, AJ glared at him. “I am totally balanced. I’m a freaking ninja, D.” he insisted. It didn’t faze Howie at all. He simply leaned against the wall and smirked at AJ. “Yeah, J, that’s why I had to catch you before you crashed into me.”
“That was a fluke! I’ve got total balance! I could do flips around this place and not fall on my ass. You should know that. I used to do that shit all the time.”
“When you were younger. I don’t know anymore, man.” Howie shook his head sympathetically. “You are getting older and shit.”
AJ scowled at Howie and handed him both coffees. Next he toed off his shoes to put them against the wall. He ignored the others who gathered in the hall; Kevin, Nick, Brian, their security Marcus, and Steve. He focused on tightening his belt and tucking in the front of his shirt. Then he gave Howie one more glare.
“Round off back handspring.” Was all Howie said. The twinkle in his eye had AJ chuckling.
Looking down the long hallway, AJ took a deep breath, loosened his muscles up as he backed up slightly, and then he was running forward. He dropped his lower half and twisted so that he was facing away from Howie with his legs in the air. He dropped his feet down, raised his top half, and proceeded to do a few backflips down the hallway, finally landing with a hop and his arms up in the air.
Applause broke out down the hallway. With a grin, Brian stepped up beside AJ and made a gesture. The two grinned and then shot off, repeating the process, but this time with Brian by his side. They landed together near Howie, red in the face from chuckling as they did it.
Brian put his hands on the ground and kicked his legs up before starting to walk around on his hands, much to the amusement of others. AJ did as well, walking on his hands for a few before stopping and doing a few pushups with his body straight lined upwards. Naturally, Brian had to do the same beside him.
It was Howie who came over and started counting as Kevin and Nick cheered and thumped on the sidelines. Blood rushed to AJ’s head when Howie hit “Ten! Eleven! Twelve! Thirteen!” By the count of ‘twenty’ AJ couldn’t do it. He folded down, letting his body flop to the ground as the blood rushed back to the rest of his body.
Two pushups later, Brian joined him, panting and laughing. “I won.” He announced, so out of breath he almost couldn’t speak.
AJ smacked the back of his hand against Brian’s stomach. “Shit, Littrell. You’re a fucking monkey. It doesn’t count.”
“The hell it doesn’t. I’m just more athletic than your scrawny ass.”
AJ sat up, taking Howie’s hand to assist him as he climbed the rest of the way to his feet. “Fuck that shit. Be nice to my ‘scrawny ass’ or you won’t get the coffee I brought you.” He taunted Brian, holding a hand out to help him up.
Amusement was bright on Brian’s face. “Coffee? Well, why didn’t you say so?” Halfway to his feet Brian let himself drop so that he was on his knees before AJ. “Oh great athletic and muscular AJ, might I humbly beg thee for a spot of delicious coffee?”
The hall echoed with everyone’s laughter. AJ took the coffees from Howie, handing over the one for Brian. “Here, you nerd. Get up.” He pulled Brian up to his feet, the both of them grinning like lunatics. The look that Howie gave AJ was full of humor and understanding as his eyes drifted between them.
“So,” AJ sipped on his coffee, ignoring the others that started to mill around them. “What’re you doing today?”
Brian took a drink of his coffee, smiling as he tasted it and realized that AJ had even remembered the way he liked his coffee. “That depends.” He said suddenly, riding off instinct.
“Oh yeah? On what?”
“On what you’re doing.”
The two smiled and shared a look together. AJ knew then that his plans for the day were perfect. He looked at Brian from head to toe. “Well, why don’t you go put on some blue jeans and tennis shoes, maybe a hat, and we’ll go find out.”
No one else was paying attention to them, so no one saw the sparks that danced between them. Brian briefly touched AJ’s hand before heading to do as asked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thirty minutes later Brian stared that the lights and commotion before him. “A carnival? You brought me to a carnival?” he asked in surprise. This had not been what he’d expected from a day with AJ. Movies, yes. Shopping, yes. Going out to eat, yeah. But a carnival? He couldn’t help feeling surprised by it. Pleased, too.
“Yep.” AJ said confidently. He grabbed hold of Brian’s hand and yanked him up toward the ticket counter. “We’re going to forget about our shit today, Rok. Forget about responsibility and problems and people who irritate us. For a while we’re just going to let loose and have some clean, honest fun.”
The idea sounded wonderful. Brian found himself grinning as AJ bought two bracelets to give them unlimited rides on all the attractions there, as well as a bag full of tokens for the games. After getting the bracelets on they headed out toward the main area. Brian looked around at all the lights and listened to the sounds of families and kids screaming and laughing around them. The smell of fried foods filled the air.
Surrounded by it all, with AJ at his side, Brian gave up the good fight. He took all his troubles, all his problems, and shoved them out of his mind. He didn’t let himself think about what had happened to him, or about the band, or about anything but himself, and the man standing next to him. They weren’t going to be easily recognizable. Both were dressed in simple blue jeans and shirts, AJ’s with longer sleeves to hide his arms. They also both had on their cowboy hats, which helped them blend in with the crowd. Brian found himself feeling happy and content there.
That peaceful feeling stealing over him, Brian pointed to the bumper cars. “Let’s go there!”
“You’re on, sucker.” AJ taunted as, together, the two took off.
They rode rides for the next two hours, laughing and having a jolly time. AJ tried and tried to convince Brian to get on the roller coaster with him, but to no avail. Then, when AJ made to go on by himself, Brian grabbed his arm and begged him not to get on. “They’re death traps, Age!”
“Oh they are not! Look at all those people, B. They rode the thing just fine and survived.”
“Please, just…don’t. Ok?” Brian stared at the coaster as it ran over the tracks and shuddered lightly. No way could he ever get that high up in the air. He’d hurl. Hell, even the thought of AJ up there had his stomach rolling slightly.
Faking a dramatic sigh, AJ flung his arm over Brian’s shoulders. “Fine, fine. For you, I’ll stay on the ground. I guess. You and your goofy fear of heights, my friend. You’ve got to get over it.”
“Oh yeah?” Brian said, slanting him a look from under his hat. Devilishly he pointed around AJ, saying “Look, J! That clowns coming to make balloon animals for us!”
As he’d known would happen, Brian laughed while AJ squealed and jumped to the other side of him, looking where Brian had pointed. When he realized that there was no clown coming, and Brian was bent double laughing, he put his hands on his hips and glared at him. “Oh, very funny you ass. Mock a man’s fear of clowns.”
“Your face!” was all Brian could gasp out. Then he was doubled over again, holding his hat on his head as he laughed.
AJ rolled his eyes but couldn’t resist smiling. He had wanted to help Brian relax, and so far it was working. “Well if you’re done mocking me, and you won’t let me ride the coaster, can we at least go get some grub?”
Nodding, Brian straightened up, wiping the tears from his eyes as he continued to chuckle. “Sounds good.”