Beau felt the bus rolling to a stop when he was standing under the spray of the shower. He wasn’t technically supposed to be in there when they were moving, but they’d all been pretty relaxed about that, and there was no way he wanted to go to bed without rinsing himself off first.
He sighed as he ran his hands over his stomach, smiling and blinking through the water as he thought back to Isaac’s hands touching him so lustfully.
By the time he turned the water off, the bus had come to a halt, and he was able to step out and grab his towel without slipping across the tile. He dried himself enough to pull on fresh underwear, then slung the towel over his shoulder as he stepped out of the bathroom.
“...food, yeah?” He walked out mid-conversation between Mark and Isaac, where Mark was leaning against the wall between the bunks and Isaac was propped up on his elbows, half hidden by his curtain.
They paused to look at him and Mark gave him a sleepy smile.
“Yeah, that’d be good,” Isaac answered him, looking back up at their manager. “We’ll organise something and wake you when it gets here.”
“Thank you~” Mark sang, then hoisted himself up into his bunk and disappeared behind the curtain.
“Hey,” Beau said quietly to Isaac. His host looked at him properly then, freezing then scanning his eyes up and down Beau’s damp, half naked form.
“Hi.”
Beau smiled, standing in silence as Isaac stared at him. Then he laughed and shook his head, turning to sit on the edge of his own bunk.
“So? Food?”
“Ah,” Isaac shook his head and paid no mind to the pink that began to dust across his cheeks. “Yes. We’re on dinner duty. The pantry is looking pretty abysmal, so we need to pick some take away to get delivered.”
Beau nodded as he idly lifted the towel to pat dry his hair. “I’m kind of in the mood for Japanese,” he thought aloud, looking to Isaac for confirmation.
“Fine with me, I’ll eat anything,” Isaac responded, throwing his hands up. “I’m buggered, will you do the order? Just get Adelaide anything with noodles.”
Beau laughed and nodded, then reached back into his bunk to find his phone. He shoved aside his Kindle and an old shirt as he searched for it, dropping them to the ground to get them out of the way.
When he turned back around with his phone in his grip, Isaac was laying flat on his stomach with his cheek on the pillow and an arm slung over the edge of the bunk. His knuckles grazed the floor, before he picked his hand up and swung it vaguely towards Beau.
“Can I borrow that?”
Beau looked around. “Hmm?”
Isaac swung his hand again, trying to point. “Can I read on your Kindle? I’m tired but awake, you know what I mean?”
“I think so,” Beau chuckled, then reached down to scoop it up and pass it to him. “You can log me out if you wanna use your own account, or just go through my library. I’ve got… Way too many books,” he laughed again, before finally rising to his feet to find a more comfortable spot on the sofa.
“Thank you,” Isaac yawned, trailing off as he slunk back into his bunk and left Beau to choose their meal.
~~~
Beau sat outside in a t-shirt and pyjama shorts while he waited for their delivery driver. As promised, he went straight to Mark’s bunk once it had arrived, gently prodding him awake so he could come to join them at the table.
He pried open Adelaide’s curtain next, finding her already awake and browsing on her phone, then bent down to Isaac’s when everyone had already collected at the table.
“Dinner’s here,” he cooed, flapping the curtain with his hand. He didn’t get a response, so he pried open the edge of it, peeking at Isaac in the darkness.
His host was turned onto his side, facing away from the curtain. His shoulders slowly rose and fell, and the borrowed Kindle was set neatly on the pillow beside him. Beau smiled and left Isaac to sleep, knowing how worn out he must have felt after their… Strenuous activities.
At the table, he caught up with Mark and Adelaide, learning about the podcast Mark had been listening to at the wheel, and the online tangent Adelaide had wandered down in her bunk. He lied about snoozing and reading when they asked what he’d been up to, and was thankful for their tired and distractible states for not noticing how bad of a liar he was.
When they finished, the three of them decided to head out for a walk, in an effort to stretch their legs and work through their meals before they would lay down to sleep for the night. Beau wandered down the hall to put on some proper pants and wake Isaac to join them, but his host was still silently laying in his bunk, showing no signs of waking.
“Skip’s sleeping,” he shrugged at Adelaide, who waved a dismissive hand towards Isaac’s bunk.
“Leave him. I’ll send him a text just in case he wakes up, but we won’t be long. Let’s go,” she smiled, already gesturing towards the door.
The sun still shone brightly despite the late hour, and its heat lingered in the air as they walked. At first they decided to wander the grounds of the holiday park they were parked in, but when they got to the gate they couldn’t resist stepping just a little further out.
Adelaide and Beau gawked at the bright city lights in the distance and jumped at the opportunity for selfies in front of every famous chain store or restaurant that they passed. Mark grinned sleepily as he watched their excitement blossom over the most mundane American occurrences.
The sun was finally starting to set as they arrived back at the bus, but pale blue light still leaked across the sky to remind everyone that summer was far from over.
Regardless of the time, Mark was ready to pass out and beelined straight for his bunk once they were aboard. Beau helped Adelaide up into her bunk, then paused when he leant down to pull his own curtain back.
The curtain was already drawn, revealing the top of his bunk and his slightly askew pillow. He ducked down to lean inside, but froze when he saw his Kindle sitting on top of his pillow with a hand written note attached to it.
We need to talk.
Beau’s breathing seized in his throat as he picked up the device and stared at the note. He threw a glance over his shoulder, but Isaac’s bunk was empty behind him.
He tore the note off his e-reader and powered it on, frowning as he ran through every horrific circumstance in his mind. Before he could follow too long of a tangent, the screen lit up and his library loaded into view.
Beau released a long, shaken sigh when he saw the most recently read books in his library, where all his downloaded fan fiction had risen to the top of the device.
Fuck.
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