Untitled

Ding Dong

Brian got up to answer his door, walking through his two-storey house.

He opened the door, only to be met with Johnny jumping on him, knocking him to the floor.

“Bri-Bri!”

“What the... Johnny! Hey dude, I missed you too. Now get off.”

Johnny laughed, before being pulled off Brian by his girlfriend, Lacey, and moving to let the others through the door.

“What the fuck are you doing down there?” Matt laughed, and helped him up, his girlfriend Val following him through the door.
Brian brushed himself off, and glanced up, into the green eyes of Zacky. He immediately looked down again, his cheeks burning as he mumbled, “Hi.”

Zacky smiled shyly, “Hi Brian.”

Jimmy shoved past Zacky, breaking the moment and pulling his new wife, Kayleigh, behind him.

They all walked through to the living room, fighting over who sat where.

“Do you want anything to drink or eat?” Brian asked, being a good host. “Bearing in mind the only thing to drink I have is beer.”

They all laughed, and Zacky said, “I’ll come help you bring them from the kitchen.”

Brian nodded, and they walked to the kitchen together. Once out of view of the others, Brian slammed Zacky up against the fridge and kissed him hard, leaving them both breathless.

“Whoa,” Zacky breathed once they pulled away. Brian nuzzled his neck, pressing butterfly kissing to the soft skin there.

“I missed you,” he whispered. “Last night was amazing...”

“Yeah,” Zacky chuckled. He pulled back, looking Brian in the eye. “Should we tell the others?”

“I don’t know... do you want to?” Brian replied, biting his lip and wrapping his arms around Zacky’s waist.

“I don’t know,” Zacky mumbled wrapping his arms around Brian’s neck. “I feel really bad keeping it secret from them.”

“Me too, they’re our best friends,” Brian said. “But I’m not sure how they’ll react.”

Zacky buried his face in Brian’s shoulder. “Why are things so complicated?”

“I don’t know baby...” Brian murmured, kissing the top of Zacky’s head softly.

“I think we-"

“Hey guys, are you gonna bring the beer through or not?” Matt’s voice called from the living room.

Zacky and Brian jumped apart quickly, scared that someone would come in and see them.

“Yeah, just coming!” Brian shouted back. He turned to Zacky. “Let’s leave it for a while, OK?”

Zacky nodded, kissing him quickly before taking the beers from the fridge. Brian did the same, and they returned to the others together.

Before Brian could sit down, the doorbell went again. A confused look flashed across his face. “Were we expecting anyone else?”

Everyone either shrugged or shook their heads, and he went to answer the door for a second time.

"Brian!” Brian’s mother shouted as he opened the door, and she grabbed him into a hug.

“Hey Mom,” he smiled, returning the hug. “What’re you doing here?”

“I just came by to give your laundry to you, sweetie. You really need to get your washing machine fixed.”

She walked through to the living room, seeing everyone there.

“Yeah I know, Mom, thanks.”

“Ah, Zachary,” she smiled when she saw him, “I’m glad you’re here, I’ve got your underwear here too.”

The rest of the band raised their eyebrows, staring at Zacky with amused and confused expressions.

Zacky shot a worried glance at Brian, who was standing behind his Mother, before replying, “Uh, y- you have?”

“Yes, dear. I found them on the floor of Brian’s bedroom yesterday. Did you have a shower after you jumped on the bed or something? I heard you two bouncing around... I thought you were a little too old for that sort of thing though!”

Jimmy coughed.

“You were jumping on the bed with Brian?” he asked incredulously, his forehead creased.

“Erm...” Zacky stuttered, looking down, before Brian saved him.

“Haha, I didn’t know you were there, Mom!”

“Yes, I used the spare key under the door mat. I thought someone was hurt. I heard a scream!”

Brian chuckled nervously, “Uh, what screaming? You heard a scream? There was no screaming!”

“Well I certainly heard something... perhaps you fell off the bed. Anyway, I’d better go now. Here’s your laundry, dears.”

And with that, she left, shutting the front door quietly.

The living room was silent.

The guys glanced between Zacky’s red face and Brian’s worried look.

“What. The. Fuck,” Johnny broke the silence.

Brian and Zacky started stammering incoherent words, before Matt said “I’m willing to bet you guys weren’t jumping on the bed, were you?”

“Um... no,” Zacky whispered, tears threatening to spill over. Brian put his arm round Zacky’s shoulders, trying to comfort him.

“Is there something you want to tell us?” Jimmy asked, angry that a secret was being kept from the rest of the band.

Zacky let out a loud sob, before pushing Brian’s arm away. “I didn’t want you guys to find out like this,” he said, running up the stairs and into Brian’s bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

Brian started to go after him, but was pulled back by Matt.

“Oh no, you’re not going anywhere until you tell us what’s going on!”

“Yeah, what the hell do you think you’re playing at? How long has this been going on for? You-” but Jimmy was interrupted by Kayleigh.

“Honey, calm down and let him speak,” she said soothingly.

Jimmy took a deep breath. “You’re right, Kays. Sorry,” he said, kissing her softly before turning back to Brian.

Matt stood in front of Brian, eyes flashing angrily. He looked as if he were about to yell, but Val pulled him back gently. “Matt, calm down, shouting at Brian won’t get you anywhere.”

Matt looked at her, before stepping away from Brian, who’s face showed fear and worry.

“So, talk,” Johnny said through gritted teeth. Lacey rubbed his arms, also trying to calm her boyfriend down.

“Please, let me explain later, OK? My boyfriend is up there crying. I need to go comfort him.”

“Boyfriend!?” they all shouted, but Brian was already half-way up the stairs.

He opened the door quietly after knocking, and walked in.

His heart felt like it was breaking when he saw Zacky face down on the bed, crying his eyes out.

Brian walked over to the bed, pulling Zacky into his arms.

“I’m sorry I left you with them,” Zacky sobbed into his chest.

“It’s OK,” Brian replied, rubbing Zacky’s back. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell them sooner. I’m sorry my Mom is so stupid!”

They both laughed, and Zacky wiped his eyes, smearing eyeliner everywhere.

Brian chuckled softly, before fixing Zacky’s makeup with his thumb.

“Are you OK, honey?” he whispered, kissing him softly.

Zacky nodded. “Should we go down together?”

Brian nodded, and Zacky went to get up only to be pulled down by Brian, their lips meeting. Zacky moved to straddle Brian, but was pushed away gently.

“We have to go down,” Brian mumbled against his lips.

“Tease,” Zacky replied, grinning as he broke away and pulled Brian up off the bed.

Zacky tried to lace their hands together, but Brian jumped back, and started tickling him.

“This is pay-back for the ‘tease’ comment!” he said, laughing as Zacky squealed, and ran down the stairs, giggling.

Brian chased him, wrapping his arms round Zacky’s waist when he caught him. They fell onto the sofa, laughing.

Suddenly, Zacky froze underneath Brian, staring at the six pairs of eyes that were watching them.
Brian followed Zacky’s gaze, and blushed, getting off Zacky when he noticed that they were being watched.

All the girls started squealing. “Aw, you guys are so cute together!” Lacey commented, and the other two girls nodded their heads, grinning.

Zacky and Brian sat next to each other on the sofa, their fingers laced, smiling anxiously at the other men.

“Aren’t they cute?” Val nudged Matt, smiling.

Matt gave a small smile. “Yeah, I guess they kinda are...”

“Well, this is gonna take some getting used to. I didn’t even know you guys were gay!” stated Johnny.

“So...you guys are OK with us being together?”

Matt and Johnny shrugged and nodded, smiling slightly.

“Jimmy? Are you OK with this?”

“Look, I have nothing against you two being together, but I’m just hurt you didn’t tell me! I thought we were best friends, do you not trust me? How long have you been keeping this from us?”

“Jimmy! Babe, just calm down and let them tell you, OK?” Kayleigh said, and kissed him sweetly, shutting him up.

Jimmy sighed, and nodded, looking expectantly at Zacky and Brian.
The pair looked at each other.

“Of course we trust you. We just weren’t sure how you’d react! We thought you might be angry, or hate us or something...”

“We could never hate you guys.”

“We were going to tell you, we just didn’t know when, or how,” Zacky said quietly.

“You didn’t answer my last question,” Jimmy reminded them.

“Um... maybe... a few months...,” Brian mumbled, looking ashamed.

“How many is a few?” Matt asked curiously.

“Um... seven, I think,”

“Seven fucking months!?” Jimmy roared, but was shut up by a warning glance from his wife.

“Seven months? How the hell did we not notice?” he said, looking angry with himself.

“Sorry...,” Zacky said.

“Wait... all those times you went to the bathroom together, and when you were ‘working on guitar riffs’? When you were too tired to go to clubs with us, and stayed on the tour bus together? You were... Oh my God,” said Johnny, covering his eyes, trying to get rid of the images in his mind.

Brian and Zacky looked at each other, blushing.

“OK, how serious is this? I’m just thinking about the band... I don’t want you guys to break up and make us suffer too, you know?” Matt said, looking at the couple expectantly, waiting for an answer.

“It’s serious,” Brian said, smiling at Zacky and stroking his knuckles with his thumb.

“I love him.”