A/N: Short chapter. :/
Things resumed some level of normality.
Both of them knew.
Both of them would never speak of it again.
It would remain a blip on the radar that would be tangled in their better memories.
"Can I ask you a question?" Adam said the instant everyone left the room.
"You just did," Tommy stated, looking everywhere but the pain that was Adam's eyes.
"When the tour ends" - Tommy couldn't help but cringe – "I'm staying in Paris for a few weeks after."
"Cool." Tommy picked up a copy of The Rolling Stone with Metallica on the cover and mindlessly flipped through the pages.
"I was gonna ask if you wanted to stay with me." Adam's gaze pulled Tommy's from the magazine. Tommy didn't say anything. "Please say something." Please say yes.
"Why should I?" Tommy asked in a monotone.
"Because it will be fun and we'll have a really great time." Adam answered like he had been waiting for Tommy to ask this question since forever.
"That's vague." Tommy made a slight gesture to the air next to him.
"I'm starting to get really fed up with this hard to get façade you've been putting up. I made a mistake, okay? I'm sorry! I've told you that a million times. It won't happen again. Seriously, I try to reach out and be nice to you, treat you like a normal person, and I get this shit? No! That's not okay, Tommy!" Adam spat. Without giving Tommy time to do anything, he turned on his heel and stalked out the door.
Tommy could still feel Adam's presence in the room. He set down the magazine, curled up on the couch and tried not to start crying. His breathing was shaky and his eyes were probably getting misty by the way his vision fogged up but he couldn't fucking cry.
"I'm such a bitch." He choked out. He hadn't expected Adam to do that. He should have. He deserved it way sooner. Adam was right. Tommy had led him on like a naïve little puppy and then kicked him out in the cold. All he was doing was try to be nice and spend quality time with his friend. It seemed like their relationship was over.
But because Adam was that kind of guy and Tommy wanted to be that kind of guy, their onstage antics didn't waver. Adam didn't give Tommy a chance to talk to him offstage so all he could do was give him apologetic glances whenever he could.
People noticed. They always did with Adam and Tommy.
Taylor approached him in Milan before they went onstage.
"What's going on with you and Adam?" he shouted over the increasing roar of the crowd.
"Nothing." Tommy mouthed, mood soiled. Did he really have to answer this shit?
"Well I'm here for you if you wanna talk." He said before Tommy walked into the strobe lights and became a different person.
Monte confronted him late at night on the bus one night.
"You and Adam are hardly talking anymore," he stated.
"And?" Tommy retorted, irritation escalating.
"It's just weird. Did anything happen?" Monte asked.
"No." Tommy said tersely, getting up to go to bed.
The bunk would remind him of that night. Of Adam's body on top of him, heat radiating off of him in tidal waves. He hadn't been able to sleep in it for days after. The memories still grabbed at him like thin tendrils trying to tear him asunder from time to time. He couldn't stand it. But if he slept anywhere else, everybody would eventually connect the dots.
"Tommy, I'm not an idiot." Monte replied.
Tommy turned around. "I just should have said yes to Paris." He spat and stalked off to the bunk. He would have nightmares that night.
