You And I: On Tour

Troye VII

The next morning when I woke, I found myself unable to move. I was lying on my back, one arm wrapped around Connor as he cuddled into me like a koala, his head on my chest. I laughed and the motion made him stir a little and I kissed the top of his head.

"G'morning, baby." He mumbled.

"Baby?" I questioned with another laugh. He twisted his head to look at me.

"You don't like it?" I tilted my head in thought.

"I do, but I don't think it's quite right. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yeah. I was just testing it out. You've got nicknames for me. I just wanted one for you." He lifted his head and pressed a kiss to my lips.

"Honestly, I just like the way my name sounds when you say it." I muttered when he pulled back. He pouted.

"But I want a nickname for you." He whined. I lifted the hand that was under him and ruffled his hair.

"You're cute. If you really want one, we can find one. But take your time. Like I said, I like the way you say my name."

For  a while longer, we just lay together, enjoying being close. But eventually we had to get up and head to the venue for sound check. It wasn't far but since there was already a massive crowd of fans waiting, a little black town car picked us up from behind the hotel and drove us to the hidden performer's entrance.

"Morning boys." Emma greeted us when we got to the dressing room. Connor was still yawning and he grunted an unintelligible reply.

"Hey Em. Are you excited for tonight?" I asked, laughing at Connor.

"Yeah. But I'm also looking forward to going home." She turned to pick up something from the table behind her. "We've had to change around a few things just because of how their lighting system works."

"So...what's different?" I took the paper she was holding out to me, scanning over it. Connor looked over my shoulder.

"Why are you singing the homecoming song?" He pointed to where I had the song written for the end of the show.

"I thought it'd be nice to end the tour with that one since it means so much to the two of us." I told him. Emma caught my eye and smiled. I hoped Connor hadn't seen that. What I'd told him, was partly true. But there was another surprise I had in store for him during that final song.

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By the time lunch rolled around, Connor and I were exhausted. We were lying on the sofa in the dressing room, taking a break before we went out for final checks. My phone was across the room when it rang and I groaned, not wanting to get up.

"I'll get it." Connor offered, already pushing himself up off the sofa.

"Thanks, Connie Frannie." I smiled at him. 

"Hello?...Oh, hi Zoe...Yeah, we're on break now...sure...where did you have in mind?...okay, we'll see you in ten." He tossed the phone to me. "Get up, lazy. We're going to meet the others for lunch."

"My feet hurt." I complained. Connor just laughed and took hold of my hands, trying to pull me up. I instantly went limp, not helping him at all. "Carry me?" I asked.

"No way. You're taller than me, it wouldn't work."

"Is that your way of saying I'm too heavy for you." I teased and I saw the look of shock in his eyes as he scrambled to back-track what he'd said.

"No, I didn't mean...I meant..."

"It's okay, Con. I know what you meant." I said, laughing and letting him pull me up. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed the tip of his nose. "I was only teasing."

"You're mean." He pouted but held my hand as we left the venue together. We told Emma where we were going and she just nodded absently, waving us on as she focused on whatever it was she was doing. 

"Mm. It's nice to feel the sun." I said when we were out in the open. I tilted my head up to feel the sun on my face better. 

"I know. It feels like we haven't been outside properly in ages."

"That's because we haven't. Apart from the bus breaking down yesterday, we've barely been outside in a week."

"Three months, more like. We've been either on a plane, on a bus, in a hotel or in a venue for pretty much the whole tour."

"I guess. After tour, let's make an effort to go outside more."

"Definitely. New York is beautiful in April." He rested his head on my shoulder as we walked.

"Not as beautiful as you." I replied.

"Do you guys ever not flirt with each other?" We spun around to find Joe and Caspar walking behind us. Caspar was grinning at his comment.

"What? We're allowed to." I said. "How long were you two listening?"

"We just heard what you said, T." Joe clarified for us. We were outside the little cafe where Zoe wanted to meet.

"Where are the others?" Connor wanted to know.

"Inside. Cas and I were running late." I raised an eyebrow suggestively, earning myself a glare from Joe and a light slap on the arm from Caspar.

"Don't go there." Caspar pleaded. Connor pushed open the door and we were greeted by the smell of fresh coffee and the sound of chatter.

"Joe! Over here!" We looked to where Tyler was waving at us. I was glad he'd chosen to call out to Joe rather than Connor or I. It meant that the attention wasn't on us.

"Hey guys." We greeted, sliding into the little booth. I say little but it was actually quite big. Big enough to hold all of us comfortably.

"You two look like you're about to fall asleep." Kayla observed, looking between Connor and I.

"We are. Sound check is exhausting." Connor replied with a laugh.

"Tell me about it. At least with the actual performance, the adrenaline helps. This is just going through the motions." I agreed.

"Well, it's your last one." Alfie reminded us.

"Thank god." I laughed. "I love tour. I love performing. But I don't love sound check."

"You seem to enjoy some of it, though." Tanya said.

"What do you mean?" She pulled out her phone, scrolling through it until she found something. Then she turned it around and showed me the picture on the screen. It was one of the many Connor had taken of me during various sound checks throughout the tour. "Connor!" I complained.

"What? It's a cute photo." He defended himself.

"Does that mean I can send those pictures of you sleeping to our friends?" I asked. In Berlin, Connor had fallen asleep in the dressing room after the show and he'd looked so cute, I couldn't help taking a couple pictures. Now, he blushed red at the memory.

"No. I didn't think you still had them."

"What are you guys talking about?" Niomi asked.

"Can I tell them?" I asked Connor and he shrugged.

"Go ahead."

"Con fell asleep after one of the shows and I took pictures because he looked cute curled up on the sofa."

"Aww." Zoe cooed. "You guys are too cute."

"So are you and Alfie." I replied, glancing at my phone to check the time. "Um, can we order? Connor and I have to be back in half an hour."

"Oh, right, yeah." Everyone scrambled to sort out what they wanted and in a few minutes, we were eating and talking, having fun being back together again. Eventually, Connor and I said our goodbyes, promising to see them after the show, and headed back to the venue for final checks.