The "Twins" of Mischief and Their Keyboardist Pals!

Keyboards

Syd watched Rick play. The singer rested his head on the keyboardist's shoulders.

"You play pretty..." the boy muttered. His eyes started closing and Rick smiled to himself.

"Why don't you go to bed, Syd?" Rick suggested.

"No, no, keep playing... Play that one song you sing... 'Summer '68' or whatever..." the obviously tired Syd muttered. 

"Syd, you're tired. Go to bed!" Rick scolded lightly.

There was a pause before Syd spoke again.

"Not unless you go with me. You know I don't like sleeping alone..." Syd pouted slightly before yawning.

"Promise you'll go to sleep?" Rick chuckled. The sleepy guitarist was already halfway there. Rick laughed and followed Syd to bed.

Jim watched with envy.

"Why don't you ever do that for me?" he hissed at Ray. The other keyboardist gently whacked Jim with a book.

"You never ask," Ray replied.

"Well... Will you? Will you play me a lullaby and then take me to bed?"

"Jim, I don't..."

Ray took one look at the singer and sighed. 

"Fine. Just this once."

Jim beamed and hugged his friend. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Ray smiled inwardly. It was nice to see the usually energetic man finally calming down. Jim walked over to the keyboard and sat down.

"What, are you going to play?" Ray asked lightly. Jim smiled.

"Nope. I'm going to cuddle you while you play."

"Jim, I don't--"

"Ray, you never let me do anything fun. Rick lets Syd do basically anything, but you never let me do anything! Please!"

Ray studied Jim. The singer was on the verge of tears.

"Fine. Fine! Just don't fall asleep on me!"

"Why?"

"Because I won't be able to carry you!"

"Are you saying I'm fat?!"

"No! I'm saying I'm weak!"

"Liar!"

"Jim, please. Truth is, I just don't want to carry you. It's...weird..."

"You mean you think it's gay?"

Ray flushed.

"Raymond. Tell me straight, man. You don't want to be thought of as gay, do you?"

Jim frowned as he waited for an answer.

"Ray? Jim? Is everything okay?" Rick's voice suddenly spoke. "I heard you two arguing and it's keeping Syd up... He's beat and needs sleep. He asked if you two could argue about your love life in the morning."

Ray flushed more. "Love life?! Are you--" The keyboardist stormed off.

"I said something wrong, didn't I..." Rick sighed.

"He's hiding something..." Jim muttered. "I don't know what it is, but it bothers me."

Rick looked at Jim. The singer's brow was furrowed and he was biting his lip.

"We'll figure it out. For now, why don't you head to bed, eh?" Rick said. Jim sighed and nodded.

"We also have to figure out how to tell him about you and Syd..." 

Now Rick flushed.

"We're just... We're just friends... We aren't in a romantic relationship..."

Jim turned to the kitten. "You want to be."

Rick's nose twitched. "We'll talk about it tomorrow." He turned and went back to the bedroom.

"Yeah. Tomorrow..." Jim mumbled. He glanced at the clock. It read 12:15. The singer gasped. "This is tomorrow..."