The busses rolled into the back lot of a hotel in Sydney, where they would be staying for the night in preparation for the show. Darren stretched his arms as he hopped down the last couple of stairs out of the bus. Chester was doing the same, glancing over long enough to smile at Darren. Ben was the next out, walking over to where Chester was standing near the door.

"Can I go see Dub?"

"Sure, and tell Joe to get his ass out here and unload his crap."

Ben jumped on, squeezing passed the rest of the band who were unloading their bunks for the night. Mike grabbed his shoulder before he got to the back door.

"If I were you, I'd watch out. We haven't heard anything out of there for the last hour...Who knows what could have happened..."

"Come on Mike, how bad could it be? They wouldn't have killed each other. Jay's not like that..."

"I'm just saying...Maybe there is something that he hasn't told you about himself that you really should know..."

Ben started laughing under his breath.

"What? Like he's gay or something?"

Mike shook his head, dropping his grip as he went back to his previous work. Ben shook it off, walking the last couple of steps to the door, pausing with his hand on the handle. He listened for a moment, finally assuming that they were asleep, before opening the door slowly. Nothing could have prepared him for what he was met with.

"Oh good lord...Too much visual..."

Jay and Joe were asleep, both cuddled together on the small couch, Joe's pants no where to be seen. He had a very contented look on his face, leaving no doubt to what had gone on.

"Great, first I spend six hours trying to think of a way to apologize, and then this happens. WAKE UP!"

Ben turned away, slamming the door rather harshly. Mike started to laugh, throwing his duffel over his shoulder.

"I warned you Carey. You really need to sit down and have a heart to heart with him before you do something really stupid."

"Like what? Go homo like your entire band?"

"And your lead duo?"

"FORGET IT! ARGGGGGGGGG........."

Ben stormed off the bus, everyone watching him as he plowed into the compartments under the Savage bus. Chester looked up from his conversation with Darren, smiling.

"Wow Darren, I never knew that he could sound like me..."

The both busted out laughing, Ben turning a bright tinge of red as he hauled his gear into the hotel.

"Something tells me that we are going to need to switch some rooming lists around..."

"Tell me about it...I never knew Joe was like that, he's usually so quiet."

"Chaz, it's the quiet ones that you need to watch out for."

"Amen to that bro..."

**

Jay yawned, smiling as he felt the warm body pressed snuggly against his. Joe moved slightly as he began to wake up, trying to stretch out but being hampered by a pair of arms wrapped around him.

"What the hell?"

"Shhh, Joe, it's just me. I think someone saw more than he wanted to..."

"Who cares? He can kiss my ass if he thinks that I'm embarrassed about it."

"That's all good for you, but that was my roommie."

"Oh, poor Ben...Guess we'll just have to change the rooms. Phe will switch with you."

"Well, before we go talk to the guys about it, how about we find your pants and get decent. Don't need anyone else having an episode today."

Joe grinned and slid off the couch, looking for where they had thrown his pants. Grabbing them, he looked back to see Jay sighing deeply, his happy expression gone.

"What's wrong? This not okay with you?"

"No, it's not that. It's just that Ben is one of the best friends I've ever had...It didn't matter how much we fought, it always turned out alright in the end."

"So what is the problem?"

"I turned my back on him...And he just found out something about me that I should have just come out and told him in the first place."

Joe fastened his belt, coming back to sit on the couch again.

"Okay...Maybe tonight you should stay in his room and talk some stuff out with him. I think 'us' is a good thing, but not at the cost of loosing something you've had by you."

"Thanks Joe. You're the best."

They were interrupted by a knock at the door, Darren poking his head in.

"Sorry for bothering you, but I need to talk to you, Jay. I have a couple of things that need to be cleared up as soon as possible. Any room changes that I need to know about?"

"Not tonight, Darren. I have to have some time with Ben...to...explain some things."

"Alright, as soon as you're ready, here's your room key. I'm just next door."

"Thanks Daz."

**

"Damn it all to hell!"

Ben slammed the door as hard as he could, collapsing on the bed closest to the window. For one of the few times in his life he was about to cry. His dream was falling apart, and it was all his fault for not doing something sooner about it. Being on tour only made it worse, everyone banging on him for everything he'd done wrong.

"He promised me, he swore that we would never keep anything from each other...Why now?!"

"Why what Ben?"

Jay was standing quietly in the doorway, looking deathly serious.

"You lied to me, Jay. We swore that we wouldn't keep any secrets."

"We were just kids Ben. I think we've both got some things to settle out."

"Why aren't you staying with Mr. Boy-Toy?"

Jay dropped his bags by the side of his bed, sitting on the edge.

"Because he doesn't mean as much to me as my old friend does. Can we just talk?"

"You're going to sit down and tell me why the hell you've been so edgy?"

"And you are going to tell me why you can't leave my problems alone..."

Ben got up, wandering back into the living room, picking up the phone.

"Might at well order some room service. It's going to be a long night..."

Jay put away his bags until Ben came back, satisfied that he had ordered at least one of everything on the menu, plus some. He was sure that he was going to make this go as easily as possible. Sitting back on his bed, he folded his legs up and rested his elbows on his knees.

"You go first. I need to rethink something I was going to say."

"Alright, just hear me out. The whole story about why I was fired was a lie. The project was never ruined, hell, it was some of the best work I'd ever done. What got me fired was something more serious, the reason why Darren drags me everywhere. He had come into the studio with me because he wanted to record a demo of a song that he had written. We were alone, and things went further than I thought they would. The studio technician came in earlier than usual with the boss, and caught us in the act. Needless to say, no one was very impressed. That's why I lost my job, and that is why Darren is always trying to do something about it."

"And you've...always...been...?

"God...Of all the things I wanted to say tonight...Ben, you break my heart every time you bring some new 'girlfriend' around. I've known since high school, but I was too scared that you wouldn't feel it back."

Jay dropped his gaze, not daring to meet Ben's eyes, scared of what he'd say. Ben cleared his throat, being broken from his silence by a knock at the door.

"I'll...ahh...go grab that, yeah?"

Ben got up, running for the door and wheeling the cart back to the table.

"Come on, let's talk like we used to, over a good meal."

Jay shrugged, more to himself than Ben. Pulling a chair out for himself, he helped Ben set the table up with all the food.

"Think you ordered enough?"

"Hey, at least I know I picked something you'll eat..."

"True."

Once they had full plates, the conversation started up again, a more casual instance.

"So, all this time, you've been gay and never told anyone?"

"Bi, thank you, and no...Have you seen the stuff that they do to people like me?"

"You were that scared?"

"Wouldn't you be? Ben, I fell for you, rock hard, but I understand how this works. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before..."

Ben nodded, taking another bite.

"Still friends then?"

"Better believe it. I'm not going to leave you behind because of something like this. I'm even going to help you out...We are going to find you another job by the end of this tour. I promise you that much."