"Tommy, you have really soft hair." Sasha tilted her head like a curious bird as she twirled the blonde hair on her index finger.
"I use Garnier Fructis Long 'n' Strong!" He nearly shouted to the whole bus. He was on this bus tonight because Cam had gotten upset with him and requested Brooke spend the night with them on the bus instead of Tommy. Tommy had just shrugged it off, making some far-off male guess that she was on her period.
"I'm proud of you." Sasha nodded, flipping Tommy's hair to each side of his head. His roots were beginning to show but normally a bunch of them got their hair dyed at the same time to save their precious free time so he had to wait.
"You should be." Tommy rolled away from Sasha and spread out on the small couch as much as possible. Adam and Terrance were squished together on the other couch across the bus reading.
"I hate when shampoo is, like, yellow." Adam looked up from The Hunger Games for just a moment. "It makes me feel like I'm washing my hair with pee."
"Who the fuck's pee is that consistency?" Sasha gave him a freaked out look and smirked when Terrance chuckled.
"Adam, I read some of that book and I was wondering why the girl's name is Catnip." Tommy blurted out randomly. Everybody paused for a moment when there was a loud crash of small objects falling from the back of the bus. Taylor called out some word of apology and everyone returned to their business after Sasha left to go investigate.
"It's not. Gale only calls her that because when they first met he thought she said her name was Catnip." Adam explained without looking up from the book.
"Um, okay. But why are you reading a teen book?" Tommy asked, proud of his last read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
"I needed a break from Wuthering Heights." Adam gave Tommy some unreadable look and Tommy couldn't tell if he was kidding.
"Oh, okay." He said trying to make it seem like he knew what was happening. He sat there awkwardly as Terrance and Adam silently read their books. The faint sounds of Sasha and Taylor cleaning up whatever happened were all he heard. That and the constant loop of Wight Spider going in the back of his head. He watched the digital clock on the table tick away, the minutes seeming longer and longer. The bus was rocking and rolling on the pothole infested street and it would have bothered him if it didn't remind him of the gentle rise and fall of being on a ship. He expected Adam to say something after thirty minutes of silence but it never happened. Sasha came strolling through the small space in between the couches shortly followed by Taylor but they quietly climbed up in their bunks and fell asleep. "I guess I'm gonna go sleep in your bed." Tommy finally said when his level of boredom surpassed to infinity and beyond. Sasha made a wolf whistle from her bunk which Tommy chose to ignore. All of his clothes and belongings were on the other bus so he didn't even have an iPod to entertain himself. It usually took around four in the morning to get tired but being unconscious was better than just sitting there.
Tommy got up from the couch and slipped into the back room that was Adam's before the singer could protest. Adam was too engrossed in that book to probably even notice. When Tommy got into Adam's room it was all he could do not to gasp. He had never been there before, and for a bus it was pretty fucking radical. As soon as he threw himself on the wall-to-wall mattress, he knew sleeping on his own crappy bunk every other night would be painful. It was soft and the comforter was the kind you could wrap yourself up in and feel like you were on a cloud. And so Tommy did just that and lay there, breathing in the fresh downy scent of detergent. He felt high without the drugs. The windows that lined the curved back of the bus reflected city lights and twinkling stars and if only he could get some D'yer Mak'er playing, this would be so much more awesome. When Adam didn't come barging in the room after three minutes, he figured Adam didn't care. He lay there tangled up in the maroon blankets for a long time thinking about random memories that came to mind. Nothing from Glam Nation, though. Ones like the first day of ninth grade and his first pay check.
"Tommy?" someone murmured from the door that brought Tommy out of his haze of bliss. He poked his head out of the blankets to find Adam leaning in the small doorframe. He noticed that his head was bumping against the ceiling before he was finally ripped free from the fantasy world this room had brought onto him. "What are you doing?"
"I really want my iPod." He said slowly, unaware he didn't actually answer Adam's question.
"Well you're lucky because I actually found it in my pocket for some reason." Adam pulled the small piece of heaven out of his pocket. Tommy lazily made grabby hands for it really hoping Adam wouldn't make him leave the bed. Instead of tossing it or making him get up, Adam climbed on the bed next to Tommy and handed it to him gently. Since Tommy was spread diagonally over the foot of the bed, Adam just pushed himself up against the side of the bed onto the pillows lining it.
"No headphones?" Tommy whimpered looking around for them as if they would magically appear.
"No, but we can plug it into the dock." Adam said. At this, Tommy pulled himself up and began searching for this apparent dock. Adam pointed to the head of the bed, Tommy made a noise of realization and he plugged it in. The ending of Angel of Death began playing. He scrunched up his face, really not in the mood for Slayer.
"I hope…" he murmured searching for Led Zeppelin.
"Hope what?"
"This." Tommy said as he finally found D'yer Mak'er. "When was the last time I listened to this?"
"I know the words to this!" Adam beamed suddenly.
"Psh, who doesn't?" Tommy muttered crawling back into his bundle of blankets. Adam began humming along while Tommy spasmed at the bottom of the bed trying to get comfortable. He finally ended up with his head sticking out facing Adam. Adam's ice blue eyes locked with Tommy's. He felt at home in that kind, happy look. Adam sunk down onto the bed and crawled over to Tommy so all that was between them was Tommy's blanket and their own clothes. His breath hitched as Adam's face got so close to his. Perhaps it was too close but he wasn't really sure what their limits were anymore.
"I put it on repeat." Adam breathed as if he could feel the slight dread coming from Tommy as the song drew to a close. Tommy smirked, and made this his excuse to pull slightly away. Adam didn't move closer, he might have even brought his face further away from Tommy's too. He watched Adam's hand with big, brown eyes reach over to touch his hair. His touch was gentle and even sweet unlike the rough hair pulling on stage. Adam had admitted one night that Tommy just had "pullable hair" and nobody was quite sure what that was but Tommy just said okay. "You really do have soft hair."
"Really, thank the Fructis." Tommy answered, reveling in the feeling of his hair being played with. When he was a kid he used to always play with those spidery scalp massagers and since then he just loved for his hair to be played with.
"Thank you, Garnier Fructis for giving Tommy such soft hair!" Adam shouted loud enough it caused Terrance to tell him to shut up. The fact that the others were still on the bus in their own bunks brought Tommy back to earth.
"I should be going to Brooke's bunk now. Well, my bunk for tonight… but yeah." Tommy suddenly said. Adam pouted his lip looking very upset.
"My kitty is leaving?" he whined, making his eyes go all big and blue and impossible to say no – well, yes in this case – to. Tommy burst out laughing and squirmed around in the blanket. He tried to ignore the slight awkwardness of Adam calling him his kitty while they were on a bed together lurking in this pit of his stomach.
"I can stay, if you insist." Tommy explained as if it were that obvious.
"Well I insist! I insist a lot." Adam tugged on a lock of Tommy's hair as if he could pull him closer. Tommy didn't budge, but he did permit Adam a longer stay.
They mostly just listened to the same song on repeat while Adam played with Tommy's hair and scratched his scalp. There wasn't much to say but Adam figured out how to make light conversation so Tommy didn't feel too awkward. Adam finally pulled away, getting annoyed with listening to the same song over and over and shuffled the phone. Heartbreaker was the next song in the queue and the riff was cool so Adam decided to listen to this on repeat for the next however long.
"What's with all the Led Zeppelin?" Tommy asked, voice laced with sleepiness. Before Adam had gone over to change the song he was nearly asleep.
"Your iPod."
"Not complaining." About anything.