What Happens on the Cruise

11. Friends in Low Places

Tim woke up to the comfortable warmth of Austin curled against him, one leg thrown possessively over his. He kissed Austin's forehead.

"Hmm? Time is it?" Austin murmured.

"Still early. I'm going to help Chris and Adam pack up. You can stay here and sleep more if you want."

"'Kay," Austin answered, snuggling back under the covers.

Tim got ready quickly and slipped out the door, smiling at the sight of Austin's tousled hair barely peaking out of the covers.

He frowned as he walked down the hall, considering what he should do about their relationship. No matter what they did, it was going to be awkward, but he didn't want to hurt the other man.

Tim spotted Rob hauling a suitcase out of the Rupps' room and into the cabin he was sharing with Matt.

"Look who's finally up," Rob greeted him. "Hot date last night?"

"None of your business," Tim answered. This was a tradition Tim and Rob had kept up since Tim had joined Home Free as a guest bass. That every once in a while it happened to be true didn't affect the routine in the least.

"Morning, Tim," Matt called.

Tim stuck his head into Adam and Chris's cabin. Chris was frantically throwing clothes into a suitcase, while Matt appeared to have taken everything from the bathroom and was sorting toiletries into various Ziplock bags. Adam was sitting on the bed carefully folding up a beautiful batik skirt that he'd obviously bought for Ericha. His movements were slow, like he was moving through water while frenetic activity was going on all around him.

"We need to hurry," Chris said, taking the skirt from Adam's hands and laying it on top of a stack of Adam's clothes.

"I w-wasn't done with that," Adam said.

"It's good," Chris answered. "We need to get this done so we can make sure all the band gear is packed right."

"Leave that to us," Tim said. "You concentrate on getting your stuff ready."

"I don't want to leave all the gear to you guys," Chris responded. "Adam, what are you doing?"

Adam had taken the skirt off the stack and was carefully refolding it, smoothing it out after each fold.

"We don't have time--"

"Chris," Tim interrupted. "Leave him alone."

Chris looked at Tim, perplexed. "What? I'm just trying to get us going."

Tim took him by the elbow and pulled him out into the hall. "Your personal stuff is almost all packed. Stop rushing him."

"Look, we're all worried about Ericha. I'm just trying to get him home to her."

"You know when he starts feeling overwhelmed he gets really obsessive about everything being perfect."

"I know, but time's ticking and he's wasting--"

"He's doing the best he can."

"We don't ha--"

"Chris," Tim hissed, gently shaking the other man. "He's just lost a child."

Chris blinked at him and Tim watched as realization slowly dawned. Chris pressed his hand to his mouth, tears springing to his eyes.

"He's just lost his third child," Tim continued.

Chris found the wall behind him and slid down till he was sitting in the floor. "I didn't think about that. I was just trying to get him home."

"Your heart was in the right place."

Chris shook his head "I've been such an asshole."

"Hey, man," Tim heard Austin's voice and looked into the room to see Austin had arrived and was kneeling next to Adam. "Are these clothes ready to go?"

"Yeah." Adam's voice was almost inaudible.

"Okay. I'm going to get them all snugged into this bag while you finish up with that skirt. It's really pretty, by the way. I'll bet your wife will love it."

***

"Thanks for all your help. We really appreciate it," Matt said as he locked the last case closed.

"No problem, man. It gave me a chance to hang out with some of my favorite people in the whole world," Austin answered.

Adam and Chris had left a couple hours before, leaving their three bandmates to deal with all the gear, merchandise, and stage dressing.

"Now to get our stuff packed," Rob said, wiping sweat from his forehead.

"Oh, Tim. I think I left my notebooks in your room," Austin said.

"Yeah, I think you did," Tim said. "Come on."

The two men walked out, then Rob looked at Matt. "You think they...?"

"Don't know," Matt said.

"All I know is Austin's wearing the same shirt he had on last night, complete with the spot where he spilled salsa on it."

"Well aren't you Columbo?" Matt teased.

"Yeah. I'm still a little freaked that Tim's... you know... bisexual. I totally did not see that coming."

"Is it going to bother you if they do have a relationship?"

Rob shrugged. "Nah. I'll get used to it. Though I am a little worried what happens if they have some kind of lovers spat."

"They're professionals. They wouldn't let their personal lives affect their performance."

"I hope you're right," Rob said, shaking his head.

***

Austin had left quite a bit more than his notebooks in Tim's cabin, but it still didn't take very much time for him to secure it all into his theater bag. Tim laughed and shook his head as Austin added the copy of the Quran.

"What? They put it there to be taken, so I'm taking."

"Am I going to have to start calling you Mohamed?"

"Nah. I like Ahmed better," Austin teased back. "Or maybe Suleiman. That's kind of cool, right?" He reached across the bed and picked up the condoms and lube. "Did you want to keep either of these?"

"No. You bought them," Tim answered, then considered the other man. "We should talk about last night."

"What's to talk about?" Austin asked. "We were both feeling sad and lonely, and we had a good time. No strings."

"Are you sure?" Tim asked.

"I'm sure. What happens on the cruise stays on the cruise."

"Right," Tim answered.

Austin popped the condom box open and pulled out single wrapped condom, waving it at Tim. "You wanna have one last go before we make our farewells?" He gave Tim a mischievous grin.

Tim smiled back. "Oh, I think I could be persuaded."