Let's Take Over the World

Tonight's our night...like every night before.

Chapter 9

The weeks following were the best of my life. Everything was great. Touring was great, Danny was back on his feet, he wasn't drinking too much, he wasn't doing any drugs, and best of all: he wasn't sleeping around. He'd cut the black out of his hair, and he looked so much better for it. He lost some of the weight he'd gained when we first began touring. I'd broken up with Sam, and both her and Emma were thrilled for Danny and I.
We'd decided to leave our relationship out of the public eye, but I think a lot of our fans had noticed a difference in the way we were now. We'd always joked that we were sleeping together, but now that there was a bit of truth there, the joking was slightly more serious, and I think the fangirls could tell.
“Thank you, Los Angeles!” he screamed down the mic. “We love every single one of you crazy fuckers!” he turned to smile at me. Tonight was our last show before we went home for our first ever UK tour and we were all pumped for it. We couldn't wait to play home shows; something we have never done before.
We sprinted off stage, waiting in the wings as the crowd chanted, “ONE MORE SONG! ONE MORE SONG!” we gave it a couple of minutes before Danny went out on stage.
“You want another song?” the crowd went wild. “If you want another song, then girls, we have a condition: your bras need to be on this stage. We wanna see your fucking boobs!” the crowd went wild and, sure enough, bras were hurled at him. It didn't hurt to see him do this like it used to; I know he's just fucking with the crowd now. The intro to Alerion was played. “Well done. Looks like you earned your encore.” the rest of us ran back on the stage as it morphed into the beginning of Final Episode, nearly tripping on bras as we did.
We started playing the songs and Danny winked at me. He looked like he was planning something. As we finished playing Final Episode, he reached over and kissed me, squarely on the lips. He'd kissed me on stage before, when he was drunk or high, but never like this. The crowd went crazy for it. I kissed him back, but pulled away when he tried to deepen it, reminding him that we weren't in private.
“Thank you, California!” he yelled again, before we left the stage for the final time that evening. As soon as we were backstage, I kissed him again, deeper this time.
“What was all that about?” he knew what I was referring to: the kiss. I panted, still out of breath from the show.
“I just wanted to see how they'd react.” he was out of breath too. “I've been thinking, Ben, maybe we should come out to the public.” he met my eyes. I could see he was serious.
“Do you really want to?” I asked. I'd wanted to, but I didn't think he was ready for it.
“I really do. I'd rather be happy than hold up my reputation.” I grinned and kissed him again.
“Okay then, the next time we do a big interview, we'll tell them.” he smiled just as widely and we went back the the tour bus. Usually we'd go to a bar or something, but our flight left in two hours, and we had to be at the airport as soon as the roadies had packed up all our things, which didn't usually take more than an hour, so there was no point in pushing it.
We all showered quickly, not really wanting to be sat on an eight hour flight disgusting and sweaty; we were flying first class, but it still wouldn't be a pleasant experience.
None of us really said much on the drive to the airport; we were all just anxiously waiting to get home. I was honestly excited just to get back to London. I hadn't been there since I was seventeen when we stayed a few nights after moving back from Dubai. I missed my home.
I held Danny's hand as we walked through the airport, earning us curious glances from people who recognised us. We didn't have the chance to stop and sign things since we went straight through the airport to the plane, for which I was grateful. It's not that I didn't like signing, it was just that I was so tired right now, and all I wanted was to be home.
We sat together on the plane, and I slept pretty much the whole journey, his hand in mine, my head on his shoulder.

The security checks were horrible. They took far longer than necessary, of course, and I just wanted to get outside. Trying to find ways to pass the time, I looked and found our tour schedule in the bottom of my hand luggage. I felt a smile cross my face as I read the timetable.
“What's up with you?” Danny asked, seeing my probably psychotic expression.
“We're playing Brixton tomorrow night. That's like...two minutes away from where I used to live. I can't even count the times I've been there.”
“Um...that's great for you.” he didn't really know what to say. I could understand. Yay, we were playing a concert and shit, but it was somewhere I'd dreamed of playing since I was about twelve.
“Come on, Danny. I'm home. I haven't been properly here in four years, and now I'm going to be playing in a venue I used to wait outside for hours in the rain and dream of standing on the stage. Can you really not see where I'm coming from?”
“I suppose. I mean, I never lived anywhere near any decent venues so I can't really empathise, but I suppose I see where you're coming from.” he smiled, trying to understand. I wrapped an arm around his shoulders, laughing.
“You don't really get it, do you?”
“Not at all.” we both smiled at his response. “I mean, I've already played most of the places I used to go see bands.” he explained.
“It's alright. I get it.” I kissed him, earning some odd glances from people around us, but Danny glared at them all and they looked away. He kissed me again and I couldn't help but laugh at the protective look on his face.
“No one gives my Benny funny looks.” he growled playfully. I kissed him one more time and punched him gently in the shoulder. The others were standing in front of us and started gagging dramatically. I hit them too. The line started moving shortly after.
“Ugh! Fucking finally!” I yelled, probably a little louder that was acceptable in public. I got a few more funny looks, but I didn't really care.
It took about half an hour longer before we got out of the airport. Kyle had said that there would be a bus waiting there for us and, sure enough, when we reached the exit, our driver was waiting for us. The crew had all been on the same flight as us, but Dave's luggage was being picked up with the others when they went to get our shit so he could drive us to the hotel.
We stepped out into the cool English air and we all breathed a sigh of relief.
“It's good to be home, eh?” James said.
We all responded simultaneously. “Fuck yes.”
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I'm sorry it's short; it's really just a filler chapter to jump ahead :)