I'm a Changed Man

The next morning, Sisky and William woke up in the same bunk, arms around each other. Sisky shuffled and leant forward to kiss William’s cheek. He opened his eyes and pulled back. He grinned widely, poking William’s shoulder. “Bill, Bill, wake up!”

“Sisky?” William’s eyes snapped open. “We’re back!”

“Oh my God, I never thought I’d be that happy to see you again, Bill.” Sisky leant forward and kissed William. William returned it hungrily, wrapping his arms around the younger man.

“Bill, Sisky, you guys gonna get ready? We’ve got an interview in less than an hour.” Mike knocked on the wood next to the bunk, then next to the one opposite too.

“We’re both here.” William said, pulling the curtain back. “And we’re back.”

“You’re back?” Mike grinned at them. “Awesome!”

“Wait, they’re back?” Butcher poked his head out of his bunk. Sisky and William nodded enthusiastically. “But how guys, as far I knew, there was no hot chocolate on the bus.”

“There wasn’t. We went to sleep last night as each other and we woke up normal.” William said, climbing out of the bunk but hitting his head. “Ow, mother fucker!”

“Guess you have to learn to be tall all over again, Bill.” Sisky giggled gleefully. William poked his tongue out at him.

“Come on, midget, get your ass out of the bunk.” William moved to his bunk and found his clothes. He changed in the bathroom, finally glad that he was in his own clothes.

When he walked back out, he found that Sisky had changed in his bunk and was in the kitchenette area, on the phone to who William assumed was Travis.

“Yeah, no idea how it happened, it just did.” Sisky said, grinning. “Yeah bro, we already agreed, no more hot chocolate on tour, at home, not anywhere.” He paused, listening to Travis talking. “Awesome dude, we’ll see you later at sound check. Bye.” Sisky hung up and looked at William. “Hey, good looking.”

“Yes you are.” William bent down for a quick kiss. “Did you mean what you said last night, Sisky? Do you love me?”

“Yeah, I do.” Sisky grinned at him, before his face fell slightly. “Wait, is that too sudden? Fuck, I knew I shouldn’t have said it-”

“I love you too Adam.” William interrupted him. He kissed Sisky again. “I think last night reminded me that, whether or not I knew it, I’ve always been in love with you.”

Sisky’s smile was so big, William thought it might light up the darkest room. “Really?”

“Really.” William nodded, grinning. He pulled Sisky into another kiss, but they got cut short by three sharp coughs. They parted and saw the rest of their band staring at them.

“So, you two, huh?” Butcher said. William and Sisky blushed. “Well, I can’t say that I’m not that surprised.”

“It’s about time you two finally got together.” Mike grinned at them. “Now come on, we’ve got an interview.”

Later that night, after the gig (and thank fuck they were back in their normal places on stage) William and Sisky curled up in the younger man’s bunk together.

“So, who are we going to tell then?” Sisky asked.

“Well, everyone.” William said. “I mean, when we tell them is a different matter, but we’ll tell everyone about us. I don’t want to hide us, well, maybe from the press.”

“Yeah, I don’t really want to have to answer all the gay questions and get abuse from homophobes.” Sisky nodded. “How about whenever we see people, we tell them?”

“Yeah, that could work. Although I’m going to ring Nate and tell him now.”

Sisky nodded. He knew how close William in particular was to Cobra’s drummer, they’d known each other since before Nate joined Cobra, back when he was just a merch guy for a band that Academy were touring with.

When he told Nate the next day, he told William that it was about time he got off his skinny ass and got with Sisky. He said that when they rolled into New York for the tour to meet up with him and the guys, since Nate was there planning Cobra’s new album.

The next two weeks were the best weeks of the tour for Sisky. The tour was going fantastically, he was back in his own body and he was finally with William after years of wanting him. They stayed in the same bunk while they were on the road and when they had a hotel night, they would get a single double bed in their room.

Everyone on tour had accepted the two of them quickly and happily. Mike, Michael and Butcher saw that the two of them were so much happier than they been earlier in the tour, or at any time. It made a difference on stage. Sisky had always given William the doe eyes on stage, but now it went both ways. Whenever William looked over at Sisky, his eyes would soften and his voice grew stronger.

During Big Mess one night a few weeks after they changed back, William decided to change his routine a little. During the chorus, he walked up behind Sisky, still singing, and put one arm around his shoulder, resting on the younger man’s chest.

Then he stopped singing for a second and licked a streak down Sisky’s cheek before walking away to finish the song. The majority of the crowd screamed at the action and Sisky blushed furiously, not noticeable under the bright lights.

When they got off stage, Sisky walked up to William.

“Hey Sisk.” William grinned, leaning down to kiss him, but Sisky stopped him.

“What the fuck was that on stage, William?” Sisky hissed.

William stared at him. “I… it was just some fun Sisky-”

“No, that was practically outing us on stage!” Sisky glared. “I thought we were gonna keep this private until we decided to go public?”

“Sisky, it’s not like I kissed you on stage. Come on, Ryan and Brendon have kissed on stage and no one’s outted them about it.” William paused for a second. “Well, I guess they haven’t really since Ryan and Jon got together, but still.”

“Bill, I don’t want us to get out, I don’t want to have to deal with that-”

“Oh, so you’d rather that we stayed a secret then? Yeah, I can see that you really care about me then.”

“Oh my God, you’re being such a jerk!”

“Really? Well I know how much you hate jerks, so I guess you should stay away from me then, yeah?” William walked away from him, heading back to the bus, avoiding the worried looks from his other band mates and the angry one from his boyfriend, or after that, his ex boyfriend.

That night, William stayed in his own bunk for the first time in a few weeks. When he heard Sisky say his name, he just turned to the wall and pretended to be asleep. A few moments later, he heard Sisky walk away and get into his own bunk.

He looked at the pictures on his bunk wall. There were a few of the band together, some of him, Gabe and Travis fucking around on nights out and a few of him and Sisky that had been taken recently. One that he’d put up straight away was one where he had his arms around Sisky, kissing his cheek while Sisky was holding onto his arms and grinning. They were both looking at the camera.

He smiled at the memory of the day, just two short weeks ago. Then frowned when he thought about what had happened that evening. How everything could go shit again after such an amazing few weeks.