“You’re such a queen.” AJ flashed a grin at Brian, teasing him with their old joke. He stretched his body out on the bed and let his eyes travel over Brian’s body, enjoying the view.
As always, Brian pretended to look shocked. “Me? A queen? I think you’ve got it backward.”
“Oh, whatever, Bri. You’re the little domestic goddess over there.”
It took everything Brian had not to laugh. There was no arguing that point as he was standing there folding up their clothes to stick into the suitcase. It had been an idyllic few days in Florida, but now they were moving on to the next stop in the tour. “I still say you’re the queen. I don’t know how no one’s figured out yet that you’re gay!”
“Excuse me?” AJ sat up straighter on the bed to give Brian a glare. The corners of his mouth twitched with repressed laughter.
“You heard me. I mean, come on, Alex. You have more clothes than any woman I know…”
“Does not make me gay!” AJ interjected.
Brian kept talking as if AJ hadn’t said anything. “You have hundreds of pairs of shoes…”
“I like to walk comfortable!”
“You take forever to get ready to go anywhere important…”
“So, shoot me for wanting to look nice!”
A small giggle escaped past Brian’s lips as he put the last item in the suitcase. He turned toward AJ to give him the last comeback he had. “What about your solo?”
Confusion settled on AJ’s face. “My solo?” he asked curiously. The honest confusion had Brian smirking again. “Yes, Mr. Echo, you’re solo. I mean, come on, you never actually say you’re talking about a chick in there. An really, can you ‘get all inside me, and I can get all inside you too’ with a girl? I don’t think so.”
AJ’s mouth dropped open. He stared off into space at a total loss for words. “Holy shit.” He finally said. “I never thought of that.” The purse shock in his voice was enough to have Brian giggling.
Right as Brian would have crossed over to him and kissed him the hotel room door burst open. Nick came in, walking like he owned the place. “You two ready yet? Kev’s busting a bitch to get us out of here.” His eyes moved over to AJ. “What’s up with him?”
“I called him a queen.” Brian replied without thinking about it.
Nick’s mouth dropped open and he turned to glare at Brian. “You swore you’d never tell him that’s what we call him!”
The laughter that Brian had been holding in finally burst out of him when he watched AJ’s face transform from shock, to annoyance, and finally settling on something both amused and evil. “Oh, Nick, I didn’t tell him!” he gasped out as he sat on the edge of the other bed. “But you just did!”
For just a split second everything was still. Then Nick was spinning and dashing away and AJ was hot on his trail. Brian could hear them racing down the hallway and back up it. He gathered up his bags and AJ’s as well, laughing to himself over how many bags AJ had. Somehow he managed to get them all to the door, but once there he had to stop to laugh.
AJ was hot on Nick’s tail shouting curses and threatening him. Nick was laughing and shouting “Queenie, queenie!” over his shoulder.
“I swear to God, Nick, I’m gonna catch you and kick your fucking ass!” AJ took advantage of Nick’s laughter slowing him down and suddenly shot forward even faster. When he was close enough he jumped, landing on the younger man’s back. Looking like a monkey, AJ wrapped his legs around Nick’s waist to hold on tightly and put him in a headlock, his other hand coming up to rub his knuckles into the top of Nick’s head. “Tell everyone I’m not a queen!”
“You’re the biggest queen!” Nick laughed out. He was trying to pry AJ’s legs off and stumbling around the hall.
Looking over, Brian saw Kevin and Howie standing by their doors, bags over their arms, holding on to the doorframes they were laughing so hard.
“The hell I am! Tell them all I’m masculine!” AJ insisted. With a loud laugh Nick pushed backwards to the wall, thinking to pin AJ there. It just gave AJ more leverage to continue to mess up Nick’s hair, something they all knew he hated.
“Ah! J, knock it off! Damn it, leave my hair alone!”
“Tell them!”
“No!”
“Do it!”
“NO!”
“Do it now!” AJ put an evil accent on his words that made it come out sounding hilarious.
Laughing fit to burst and unable to get AJ’s legs to let go, Nick finally shouted out “AJ’s masculine!”
Smug now, AJ let go of Nick’s hair and used his shoulders to hop down. Just as he was walking back down toward his and Brian’s room everyone heard Nick mumble “A slightly masculine Queen.” Before AJ could even get all the way turned around Nick had darted into his room and slammed the door. Hands on his hips, AJ glared for a second before shouting “I will get you back, Carter! It’s on now!”
The general public assumed that it was Nick and Brian who were the only pranksters in the group. Truth was, AJ could get just as bad as the rest of the. Howie and Kevin, not so much. But if pushed, those two would join together and could blow everyone else out of the water.
Without thinking, AJ walked up and took his bags from Brian, still grumbling. Then he proceeded to take Brian’s bags as well, waving off his protests. It was such a natural moment for them that neither really thought anything of it. AJ always did things like that. He hoisted the duffle bags over his shoulders and took the others up in his hands.
It made Brian smile most of the time to see the way that AJ liked to pamper him. More often than he would admit to AJ, actually. He still put up token protests, but to himself he admitted that it made him feel good inside to know that AJ loved him so much.
But neither had realized how it looked until they were standing by the elevator with Howie and Kevin and the two were looking at them funny. “What?” Brian asked them self-consciously.
“Since when do you hire AJ to carry your bags?” Howie asked. His tone was curious. “You lose a bet or something like that, J?
Shit. Brian froze for a second, unsure of what to say. Thank God for AJ’s quick mind. “Don’t make me get into that story, D. It aint pretty.” He said this with such frustration in his tone that the two older members of the group started to laugh. To Brian’s surprise they fell for it, ribbing him the whole way down to the busses.
The bus arrangements had already been discussed and, as it stood, Kevin and Howie got the first bus while Nick, AJ, and Brian got the next. Not ideal for the lovebirds, but they had no logical reason to protest. Now, though, Brian bit his lip and wondered if the battle between Nick and AJ could work to his advantage. He felt a moment of shame, thinking of using his best friend like that, knowing that Nick would hate being stuck with Kevin and Howie on a bus for hours.
The decision was taken out of his hands, though, when they arrived in the parking garage. There, standing by one of the busses, as Denise, AJ’s mom.
AJ’s mouth dropped open in surprise for just a split second. Then he visibly gathered himself, dropped all the bags to the ground, and ran forward to scoop her up in his arms. Denise laughed as her son spun her in a circle before setting her on her feet.
“Ma! What’re you doing here?” AJ grinned at her and kissed both her cheeks.
Flushed with laughter and love, Denise grinned back at him. “Do I have to have a reason to see my baby boy now?”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it, Ma.” He teased her. The two wore identical smiles now. It was easy to see where AJ had got some of his charm and good looks. Definitely where he got his humor from. Denise was a crack up.
Watching them, Brian gathered up the bags that AJ dropped, intending on getting them to the bus before AJ realized he had them all. He should have known better. Right as he got close AJ stuck a hand out, never pausing in what he was saying to his mother, and started to take things from Brian’s hands. Denise raised an eyebrow at him. “Hello, Brian. You not feeling well?”
“I lost a bet.” AJ interjected. “An no, I don’t wanna talk about it, an no, I don’t need to give details. Suffice to say I’m slightly a slave right now.”
Brian’s heart swelled with love. AJ was going to take the part of pretending he was enslaved as a part of a bet just so no one would question the way he helped out Brian. To know that he was willing to make himself be the subject of laughter just so he could ‘take care of’ his baby, well, it made Brian feel like the most important person in the world.
“A bet? Baby, you’d think you’d learn!” Denise laughed. “Now, you’re sure you don’t mind? I thought I’d be so nice for us.”
Having missed part of the conversation, Brian was at a loss as to what was going on. He watched as AJ kissed his mother’s cheek again. “It’s fine, Ma. I’m always happy to see you, you know that. There’s some things I want to talk to you about anyways.” The look that AJ gave Brian over Denise’s shoulder was full of nerves, a slight amount of fear, and an apology. In that instant Brian understood.
They had agreed that the next time they could they would sit down and tell Denise about their relationship. She was going to be the first person to know the truth. Which meant that, from the sound of things, Denise would be on their bus with them.
In short order the others got on their busses, Nick now riding with Howie and Kevin, and they were getting ready to head down the road. While Denise set her bag in the back of the bus, Brian took hold of AJ’s arm. “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked him quietly.
AJ bit his lip but nodded his head. “If I don’t do it now I won’t get the courage. Plus, I’m lucky she hasn’t seen something yet. She reads me way too well. We’re damn lucky she hasn’t figured it out on her own. The only reason she hasn’t, I think, is that we haven’t been around her.”
They’d discussed all this before, but Brian had just had to make sure. His own stomach was swirling with nerves as he looked down the bus. God, he hoped that this all went ok!