U-N-I - 28. Chapter 28

As Alicia had dreamt of, Dylan and she had gotten married on a beautiful Australian beach and so we weren't the only one using the break from touring to go on a honeymoon. They travelled around New Zealand for a month and when we eventually all got back home in London, we started rehearsing together again, even writing new material.

Indeed, we had decided early on that we'd continue touring the world in 2020. The gigs were going so incredibly well that we really wanted to please our fans and play in as many cities and countries as possible so we kept adding more dates when it was possible, knowing that we'd take a very long break from it all afterwards. We'd been offered four more gigs in Japan in late March which we accepted before embarking on our planned tour schedule in South America in April.

A few weeks before Jordan and I had been working out in the gym we'd had installed in the basement of the building we'd bought collectively all that time ago; the other three were in our studio working on a song we'd all been going through before lunch.

Jordan had seemed distracted, distant, not quite like himself as we'd trained and although I knew I had to wait for him to express whatever was on his mind, his attitude had got me worried.

I couldn't think of a reason why he'd be acting this way. There was a deeply thoughtful expression on his face that I couldn't read. I could only hope that it wasn't anything serious and that it didn't involve the tour. But what if it did? Did he not want to go back on the road? Had he had enough? – Maybe he was only tired.

"You ok mate?" I asked.

"Yeah," he just answered, not looking at me.

We were going through our post-exercise stretching with the quiet voice of Yasmine Hamdan playing in the background.

"You're awfully quiet, you've barely said a word for the past thirty minutes. Are you upset about something?"

"Uh?" he asked, looking at me, No, why?"

"I dunno, you seem thoughtful."

"Oh – yeah I guess I am, sorry."

He continued stretching but I stopped and just wondered what was going on with him with an annoying knot in my stomach.

After a couple minutes, he stopped, took a few deep breaths and exhaled loudly.

"Mark," he began saying then stopped as if he was hesitating, "do you remember the Dublin launch event for the album and tour?" he asked.

"Just about," I said, "we've been a bit busy since then," I chuckled. "Why?"

"Erm, well – there was somebody there who worked for the promo company. I'm sure you remember her cause we talked with her and she told us she was in some of Rachel's classes when she was in Trinity College."

I thought about it and quickly remembered who he was talking about.

"Yeah, sure I remember her," feeling relieved to hear him talk about a girl, "her name was," I thought about it for a moment, "it was typically Irish I remember."

"Grainne," he put in.

I nodded,

"What about her?" I asked quietly.

"Well, we really hit it off that day, like really. You probably don't remember this but I didn't leave with you guys after the event. I drove her home and we talked for like an hour in the car and then we had dinner..."

"Wait, that was back in January? Like a year ago! Why are you only talking to me about her now?"

He let out a small chuckle,

"We've been keeping in touch, while we were on the road I mean," he said and paused, "and then when you got married, we saw each other again; I didn't stay in Dublin just to see my mum and dad. I figured that it'd be a great time to really get to know each other."

"So now you're interested in getting to know the girls you sleep with?" I joked.

He shook his head slightly,

"C'mon, the whole trophy-girlfriend-syndrome antics I think I was only doing it because it's what's expected 'cos one of us had to," he sniggered, "I was just waiting for the real thing. I want someone who gets me and Grainne does."

"Holy shit!" I thought, knowing my jaw had dropped, this was so far away from Jordan's usual love-'em-and –leave-'em behaviour I could've believed it was Dylan I was talking to.

"I think there's a but in there, am I right?"

"Not exactly, well sort of, look," he dropped his head and huffed, "we've pretty much done all our growing up doing what we do, this, our crazy life's become normality for us, including Rachel – and Grainne sort of works in the business, I mean she's worked with Muse, Snow Patrol and a boatload of others so it's not like fame, or rather dealing with famous people would be a new experience for her," he paused.

"But doing what she does doesn't put her slap bang in the middle of the craziness you mean," I put in to tell him I understood what he was trying to say.

"Yeah, exactly and she sort of knew us when we'd just left school, but that was twelve years ago. She needs to get to know me, us, the way we are now. How do you think the rest of the guys'd feel about her travelling with us when we go back on the road?"

"Wow! Didn't see that coming bro'."

"I really think her coming with us would show her that actually, most of the time, being on the road is hours, days, of boring travel to nameless hotels in places we rarely get to explore with a sudden, exhausting, explosion of energy to cap it off every couple or three days."

"Hey, carry on talking like that you'll put me off touring for good," I laughed.

"S'true though, isn't it? And I need to know that she fits in with all of you guys, don't want to create a so-called Yoko Ono situation." he looked away so I waited for him to sort his thoughts, "When you think about it the people Dylan and me marry are actually marrying into our band-family not just our genetic ones aren't they?"

"When you put it like that yeah they are. Looks like Rach, Damon me and himself got off lightly," I chuckled.

"Do you recall what Dylan said to you, the night of your wedding before we went on stage, about the opening lines of "Green Eyes" I mean? Well he was right, you two are the rock this band stands on."

"Wow, that's - it's," I stammered, hearing him repeat Dylan's words – it had clearly made a big impression on him.

"So do you think the others will go for it?"

"Gets my vote dude, if she can handle being around us, especially on tour, without losing her marbles then she's definitely a keeper. But what about her job?"

"She's asked about taking a sabbatical and they're ok with it."

I'd heard his reference to marriage but hadn't commented on it, Dylan and Alicia had got married barely more than two months before so maybe he'd been thinking of them when he'd said it.

Maybe.

I thought about the fact that the round of major promotional events had been a year before, way back in January 2019, and I wanted to ask when their relationship had officially started, before or after our wedding, but then I remembered something.

"Hang on, when we went to Madeira," I paused then smiled at him, "now I remember, Rachel told me that you were gone the whole time and told no one where you went. You went somewhere with Grainne didn't you?"

"Yeah," he laughed, "as soon as you let the rest of us in on your proposal plans, I asked if she'd be able to get the time off work immediately after it."

"Where'd you go?"

"Well, like I said, I really wanted to spend time with her so I surprised her and we went to Florence for a day and then from there, we went where the mood took us. We rented a car and just drove around the country. We ended up in Croatia. It was fun."

I laughed,

"You drove from Italy to Croatia?"

"Well, yeah, through Slovenia."

"Dude, that must've been great. And come on, if she's willing to take some serious time away from her work it's gotta be significant bro'."

"We, um, we missed each other," he mumbled, looking at his feet again.

"Know how that feels," I said quietly, "and Rob was only gone a few weeks, you two have already survived being apart for longer than that."

"Not quite," he grinned mischievously.

"What d'you mean 'not quite'? We were on the road for months last year."

"Remember the parties I was going to on my own? Me buggering off to go skiing or rock-climbing? Me doing stuff none of you were interested in at the time whenever we had a couple or three days down-time?"

"You were meeting up with her!" I exclaimed.

"Sure was, we racked up some serious frequent-flyer miles," he chortled.

"Good on ya!"

He smiled and the look on his face was priceless.

"Dude, you are so in love with this girl!"

"I am!" he replied unabashedly.

I grinned.

"I swear, when I first saw her, I just knew she was what I'd been waiting for."

"You knew as soon as you saw her?" I asked surprised.

"I knew within fifteen minutes yeah," he said convincingly.

I was silent for a short moment,

"C'mon, let's tell the others," I said, "I can't believe you were missing a woman, you getting all mushy on me?"

"You want me to?" he sniggered, as he mimed blowing me a perfectly-pouted kiss in the most outrageous manner, it had us both laughing instantly.

"Well you know that bet was never paid out, are you thinking it's time? Before you seriously think about committing to straight-dom," I smirked, blowing him a kiss in return and adding a lascivious wink.

"Fuck off," he'd laughed as we left the gym.

"Am I the only one who knows?" I asked quietly before we began to climb the stairs.

"Not for much longer," he replied.

To Jordan's relief, but at no surprise to me, Rob, Dylan and Damon thought Grainne spending time on tour with us would be a good move, once they'd got over their collective surprise at Jordan being in a relationship and having been able to keep it going pretty much long-distance for so long – and without any of us catching on.

Rachel was all for it too; what she'd suggested was that Grainne's presence, should it be noticed could be easily explained away as her being part of the promo team.

"So when do we meet this girl?" Damon asked with eagerness.

"Yeah, bring her over," Rob said, "if she got you to settle down, she must be quite special!"

"She is," Jordan confirmed, "and don't you scare her away with all your stories," he laughed.

Rob smirked at Jordan and seemed to think about all the stories he could share with Grainne.

"I swear to god!" Jordan threatened laughingly.

-------

As soon as we all met Grainne it almost immediately felt like our band family was complete, Grainne fitted so well into our group of friends. She was a truly lovely girl, fun, sweet but no pushover and beautiful in a very natural way. Jordan was crazy about her it was obvious how much they were meant for each other.

She came with us to Japan for our first-ever gigs in Osaka and Fukuoka. We were to play at the Fukuoka Dome baseball stadium. One of the reasons we'd chosen the venue was because of its retractable roof – if the weather turned against us we could at least keep our audience dry!

Much to the crew's happiness, Calvin my former guitar tech had been given his old job back and was going to be back on tour with us in 2020 but Rob and I were worried that Nick wouldn't be. We were thrilled to find out a couple weeks before flying to Osaka that he'd been offered work with the sound crew to run the live recording desk.

I might have had something to do with it.

Because of the virus and the semi-quarantine we'd been in, Rob and I hadn't been able to go any further with Nick than some very superficial flirting. My 'secret' wedding planning had quickly taken up virtually every moment I could get alone, including when Rob was sleeping and then after we got married, any thoughts of inviting Nick to have some fun wasn't so appealing anymore. We only wanted each other and so we almost stopped talking about it.

Besides it had taken a while for both of us to be absolutely certain that Nick was nowhere near the '150% straight' Damon had described him being the first time Rob and I had seen him. But now that he had accepted to keep touring with us and he seemed more than happy to be in Japan to kick off our 2020 tour, we couldn't wait to see if something would finally happen with him.

---

We had already played two gigs in Osaka but had had very little time to talk with Nick. He'd either been working with Calvin in Osaka to bring him up to speed or he'd spent most of his time with the other tech guys.

"I've missed you today," I said to Rob as I placed my hand behind his neck and pulled him close to me for a kiss.

"Yeah, me too. Feels like we've hardly seen each other."

"We haven't," I said and he kissed me some more.

"How were the interviews, learnt any Japanese?" I eventually asked since I hadn't gone with him.

"I have, but I can never remember what each word means!" he joked and pulled out the paper on which he had written what he wanted to say to the crowd during our first gig in Fukuoka.

"Look," he said and started reading it to me.

The first two sentences he seemed to master the pronunciation to but then he struggled to say the third one,

"Like, I can never remember how to pronounce this word. I'm gonna ask Nick later. Have you worked with him at all today?"

"Oh my god yeah I have! Is it me or is he even hotter than he was last time we saw him?" I asked.

"No, he is, he totally is," Rob confirmed, "the outfit he's wearing today..." he groaned with lust, "Let me break it to you right now, we're gonna have sex with him before this tour is over!" he said laughingly.

I laughed too,

"He's so hot!"

"You know, you can flirt with him again, I'm all for it!"

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have him back on the crew, that's too much temptation!" I said.

"Hey why not call him and see if he wants to come here to go through the acoustic set, so we can get to spend a bit of time alone with him?" Rob asked devilishly.

"Are you serious?"

"Well yeah, not saying anything's gonna happen but...," he smirked.

I wiggled my brows,

"I should ask him to bring your Seagull, in case we actually do end up just going over the acoustic set."

"That's likely," he retorted.

I laughed,

"How the fuck do we go from 'hey let's go over some guitar stuff' to 'hey let's have a threesome'? Or do we just molest him as soon as he walks in the room?"

"Dude we, well mostly you two, have been flirting our way around the elephant on this tour since fucking Tokyo last year. Don't you think it's time we actually did something about it? It's obvious he's up for it, he gave us so many signals last year...that we've chosen to ignore," he said as he waved a finger between us.

"Yeah, but like I said where do we start?"

"We don't, you do. You know what, don't call him, go and find him, see if you can get him alone, well alone enough to do a bit more flirting," he sniggered, "but just make it frigging obvious that the guitars are just an excuse."

"Why don't you go, I'm not good at this!"

"Oh, come on, try it!" he insisted.

"I don't know!" I said, shaking my head.

"Well babe, we're turning thirty in two months...," he said and stared at me, "Time is running out!" he exclaimed playfully.

I cracked up and he did too.

"Alright, I'm gonna try!" I said with a huff, "I'll be back soon."

"Maybe you won't be returning alone," he grinned, "just buzz me if you don't!"

----

I wandered through the backstage area, everybody else must have been in their own dressing rooms because I saw that the Green Room was empty as I walked past it. That sent me in the direction of the stage hoping that I'd find Nick there rather than the crew-room.

I did.

I hesitated waiting in the shadows, trying to figure out a way to do this, Rob had always been better at this than me. Nick had his back to where I stood as he compared the settings on my back-line amps to something on his tablet, deep in concentration; when he got to the end of the row he was as close to the Dobro as he could be. I pushed myself forward, my trainers making no sound on the stage floor and by the time Nick realised I was there, I was barely six inches from him, already reaching round him as if to pick up the guitar.

He jumped when he suddenly became aware of my proximity,

"Oh hi Mark," he gasped as he spun round to face me, bringing us even closer together.

"Sorry, I thought you'd heard me mooching over," I fibbed, as I pulled my hand back from the Dobro, I locked eyes with him.

"No, I was away with the tech fairies," he smiled.

"How is Calvin catching up?"

"I think he's ready to take over from me."

I nodded, faking disappointment,

"To be honest, I wish he wasn't," I said straightforwardly. "I think I'm gonna miss you, you're the best guitar tech I've ever worked with."

"Really? Wow, thanks. I take that as a huge compliment. You know I'm here to..."

"...make you guys happy," I said together with him and we both let out a small laugh.

He grinned and that dimple I remembered so well popped,

"I must have done a good job."

"You did a great job."

"You know, uh," he said hesitantly. "I was well chuffed when Steve asked if I fancied running the live recording desk out front." he smiled.

"I know. Rob and I were glad you could get the job. It wouldn't have been the same without you. I just wish I could have kept you as my guitar tech. I mean Calvin's good - but you..."

I paused and he opened his mouth to speak,

"Well, look Mark," he interrupted and took a quick look around him to make sure we were still alone, "Can I be honest with you?" he asked in a whisper.

"Of course," I nodded.

"Please don't tell him I told you this but Calvin's been itching to move to the sound crew for ages. He just didn't say anything because up to him having to go home last year, there'd never been an opening to do it. He was just happy to get his job back – but I saw his face when he realised I'd been offered the job he actually wanted... And before you ask he took a very similar sound-engineering course to the one I did, maybe the live recording desk isn't a great place for him to start but from the conversations we've had, I've no doubt that driving the front of house sound desk is well within his skill-set."

"You mean, there's a possibility that I could still have you as my guitar tech?" I smiled.

"That's your decision but I'm sure Calvin would agree."

I knew I had a bright smile on my face. I couldn't hide my satisfaction,

"Well, as I've said, you're the best tech I ever had - and I only want to work with the best!"

There was a short silence and we locked eyes with each other.

"I wouldn't want to make things – awkward though," I could tell from the look in his eyes that he knew I wasn't just talking about him swapping jobs with Calvin.

"Yeah, I understand."

We kept looking at each other and stopped talking for a short moment, the sexual tension was palpable.

"So –" I began saying, knowing it was now or never, "I'm here because I was thinking of going through the acoustic stuff with Calvin, but," I stalled.

"But?" he asked.

"But now I think we could find a more fun way of passing some time."

I took a very small step closer to him and he didn't try to move away.

"Hey I can't blame you, you know your stuff, going through it over and over again can get a bit boring...," he said with a smirk.

"Why don't you come with me? Rob and I were just chilling in our dressing room, we'd love to have your company," I said with more authority in my voice than even I had expected and he looked at me for a few seconds.

"Yes, sir!" he smiled flirtatiously, knowing exactly what I had in mind.

I leaned to pick up the Dobro and my body brushed against his.

"Should I bring Robbie's acoustic?" he asked me.

"Sure, we don't want anyone jumping to the wrong conclusions," I said quietly.

"No, we wouldn't want that," he replied in equally low tones.

As we strode away from the stage, I quickly called Rob. I didn't need him to answer, my name on his screen would tell him all he needed to know. Nick followed me carrying Rob's Seagull guitar as we walked back to our dressing-room, saying nothing. I had to admit that, brief as it had been, the feel of his body against mine had only served to turn me on more and now, the fact that he was doing exactly as I'd told him to made him seem even hotter. By the time I opened the door to our dressing-room, my cock was already at far more than half-mast. I locked the door as soon as we were both inside.

"In the interests of full disclosure," Nick said, "I'll be the one driving you back to your hotel after the gig."

"How did that happen?" Rob asked.

"You don't want to know," Nick replied.

I stood my guitar against the wall beside the door and Nick followed suit with the Seagull.

"Well zip-a-di-do-dah, it seems the stars have aligned at last," Rob chuckled.

I walked round the back of the sofa where Rob sat at one end and leaned over to kiss him, he reached up to put a hand to the back of my head and hold me to him a little longer.

"That is so hot," Nick said, not yet moving any nearer to us.

"Well, ever since we've met you, we've wondered how much hotter it could be if you joined us," Rob told him with a distinctly naughty grin.

Nick smiled and walked closer to Rob and I,

"Wanna find out?" he asked seductively.

"Do we wanna find out?!" Rob said looking at me, ready to play.

"I've been waiting for this moment, I thought you'd never ask," Nick said.

"We figured," I responded with a grin.

"Cold hard facts moment guys, what is and isn't allowed?" he asked.

"We don't kiss on the mouth and we only top," Rob replied.

"So you've done this before?" he asked.

"We have, but not for a while," Rob answered, "what about you?"

"In various ways and in various combinations," Nick replied with a chuckle, "but I gotta say, I've rarely wanted to do it as much as I do right now."

"So where do you wanna start?" I asked.

"I don't know, where the fuck do I start?" he said.

"Something you should know about me," I told him, "I really like watching Rob getting blown by someone else. Why don't you start with that?" I asked, feeling more than a little dominant, the thought of watching my man having fun with Nick was so appealing.

"Oh god, yes," Nick breathed, looking intently at Rob's crotch.

"Fine with me," Rob said.

"Let him see your beautiful cock," I told Rob quietly and kissed the side of his face.

Nick smiled and knelt in front of Rob between his outstretched legs.

Rob unzipped his fly, raising his hips just far enough to slide his jeans and boxers down past his knees.

"Do you mind?" Nick asked, looking, I noted, at me not Rob, to know if he could undress Rob completely.

"Not at all," I answered before Rob could.

"Jeez," Nick exclaimed when he'd completed his task, "I have a confession to make, my imagination did not do you justice."

He laid his hands on Rob's thighs and slowly stroked them towards where his hard dick lay.

"I think this cock deserves my undivided attention!" he said and buried his face in the crease where Rob's right thigh met his pelvis then ran his tongue over his balls,

"Tell me what you want," Nick said then continued licking Rob's balls.

"Let me watch you tongue him before you suck him," I was really getting into this being in charge attitude.

"My pleasure," Nick replied, before starting to flick his tongue within Rob's cover, then moving his head to lick in long, slow, strokes from the tip to the base of Rob's hard cock and back, then teasing the tip again.

"Yes!" Rob gasped closing his eyes and dropping his head to rest it on the back of the sofa as Nick kept doing exactly as I told him to.

It seemed like so long ago since I had watched someone suck Rob's beautiful cock, it felt delightfully naughty and I couldn't help smiling as I watched Nick's tongue and lips on the tip of Rob's cock and his face as Nick's tongue played with his piss hole.

I started giving Rob quick gentle kisses as I watched Nick perform.

After doing this for a few moments Nick started stroking Rob's balls,

"Can I?" he asked, again looking at me for the answer, as he held up a finger then pointed it towards Rob's ass and I nodded in reply.

I watched as Nick lips wrapped around Rob's left nut and he sucked on it, then he let it pop out of his mouth and he moved to the other one. His finger caressed Rob's taint and he started fingering his hole.

"Oh fuck!" Rob gasped, his hips bucking when Nick's saliva-slicked finger breached his boy-hole.

"Easy, I want to enjoy this," I murmured to him.

"And I don't?" Nick chuckled before resuming his task.

I watched entranced as Nick pleasured Rob with his mouth and finger.

Rob was dripping precum and Nick lapped it up with a sexy moan, then he ran his tongue around the base of Rob's cockhead before he began to move his mouth down Rob's shaft until Rob's cock was almost all the way in his mouth. I watched as he bobbed his head up and down and sucked hard, obviously massaging Rob's shaft with his tongue. This was definitely not the first cock he'd sucked, I thought.

This went on for a few minutes until Rob began face fucking Nick a little, who eventually came up for air.

"Enjoying this?" I asked Nick.

"You have no idea. I haven't sucked a cock in so long, it's fucking good!" he said and went down on Rob again, he seemed to love what he was doing.

"Oh god," Rob moaned and pulled me to him. We looked deeply into each other's eyes for a second before we began making out. His breathing quickly got heavier. I knew what that meant, he was loving the blowjob Nick was giving him. My own hands hadn't been idle, I'd tugged off Rob's T-shirt and had been teasing his nipples and stroking his beautifully toned chest. I felt his body tense up a little and I watched as Nick's head bobbed up and down faster. He was really getting into it.

Rob looked up at me again with his intense green eyes,

"I wanna cum so much."

"Yeah, I want you to cum for me," Nick said as he came up for air.

"Slowly," I spoke. "I don't want him to cum yet. I'd love to suck both of you!"

Rob smiled,

"Mmm yes, suck him off baby, I know how much you want that!" Rob teased me.

"I do," I answered as I climbed over the back of the sofa to sit beside Rob.

"You can cum when he does, if he does," I said to Rob.

"There's no if about it," Nick retorted as he knelt higher up, giving him the best angle to take all of Rob's length into his mouth.

"Oh fuck yeah, you're good," Rob shuddered, "almost as good as you are," he whispered to me.

"That's another one of my many talents! I'm here to keep you guys happy," Nick quickly said with a chuckle.

"As always, you're doing a great job. Drop your trousers," I ordered him as I sat myself on the floor.

He didn't need telling twice and immediately did as I'd told him.

My eyebrows shot up when I saw the long tube still covered by Nick's underwear. It seemed to stretch up to his pelvis. My hand automatically traced the line of his hard cock through his underwear and then I pulled them off, eager to see what they were hiding.

"Fuck," I gasped and Nick looked at me with a grin but he didn't say anything, he just licked Rob's balls as he watched my reaction.

I stared at Nick's hard-on and thanked our lucky stars that we had the 'no fucking us' rule. It had to be the biggest cock I had ever seen and I couldn't wait to try and see how much of it I could take in my mouth.

"You like what you see," he whispered just for me to hear.

I simply smiled and looked up at Rob who didn't seem to have paid attention to what Nick had just said. I looked at his cock for a brief second and noticed that it wasn't particularly veiny and while it was pretty thick in proportion to the rest of his body, it wasn't vulgarly so.

I immediately leaned forward and wrapped my hand around this gorgeous cock and Nick went down on Rob again. I began slowly fisting him, my strokes in time with how he was moving his mouth up and down Rob's pole but the temptation to take him in my mouth was too strong.

"Sit next to him," I said with authority in my voice, sliding to the floor to take his place.

He did as he was told and moved to sit next to Rob, who still had his eyes closed, completely focused on his own pleasure. Nick opened his legs to give me better access to his gorgeous dick and then he swallowed Rob's ready-to burst erection. I immediately wrapped my lips around his circumcised well-formed cockhead, licked it and then ran my tongue along his long thick shaft before sucking the tip again.

He was so close to cumming that I could feel his cock throbbing in my hand. I had serious doubt about my ability to deep throat such a massive tool but it was so hot that I couldn't help but at least try, almost gagging.

I decided not to take him all the way yet, I was pretty sure I'd get another opportunity later, so I sucked him as deep as I could without it being uncomfortable. He seems to enjoy my efforts and it almost made me cum myself.

"Mmmm," he let out a loud moan and sighed in pleasure as I played with his balls.

"I'm so close," Rob breathed, resisting the urge to cum as long as he could.

"Not yet," I told him.

"Umph," I heard Nick grunt when Rob's hips bucked involuntarily as his orgasm built, forcing his cock down Nick's throat; although Nick didn't try to pull away.

I took one of Nick's large balls into my mouth and then moved to the other one. I could feel them tightening up and I knew I could let Rob cum. For a couple more minutes, I bobbed my head up and down Nick's magnificent cock, stopping on spots I could tell were making him whimper.

"Fuck, I can't wait, I've gotta cum," Rob moaned.

"Me too," Nick added, briefly lifting his mouth from Rob's dick to watch me.

A second later, he was blowing Rob again and moving faster. Rob rocked his hips at the same pace, I replaced my mouth with my hand and began moving it at the same rate on Nick's cock.

Rob grabbed hold of Nick's head and forced him all the way down onto his cock again. I watched as Nick swallowed Rob's juice and his own showered from his dick onto his jacket.

"Oh fuck!" Rob cried, his body convulsing with every wave of his orgasm.

Nick didn't release Rob's flesh, even after both their orgasms had ended; he'd dropped his head to rest it on Rob's body as I'd milked the last of his jizz from his balls, he shuddered with every stroke of my hand.

"That was fucking brilliant," Rob gasped as he tried to regain control of his breathing, finally lifting his head from the back of the sofa.

"I hope to fuck we've got plenty of condoms," Rob chuckled.

"If you haven't, I have," Nick retorted as he slid down the sofa and began to re-dress.

Rob looked at me, his eyes, as always, telling me so much; right now, they were telling me it was my turn to be the centre of attention.

I climbed back up on the sofa to kiss him and we made out passionately, satisfied with ourselves and what had just happened.

"I think it's time Nick and I made you cum as hard as we just have," Rob smiled, already reaching towards my fly.

"Dammit," Nick hissed as there came a knock at the door. I turned to him to see that he had taken off his cum-spattered jacket but was otherwise fully dressed again.

"Put Mark down, Rob," we heard Rachel half-laugh, "there's been a change of plan."

We all suppressed giggles and Rob grabbed all his clothes and dashed to the bathroom,

"Hang on," I called as Nick and I shot across the room to pick up the two guitars.

Nick motioned for me to go back to the couch as he opened the door,

"Oh, hi Nick," she said, clearly surprised at finding him there and more to the point, both of us fully dressed.

"So, what's changed?" I asked her, just as Rob returned from the bathroom.

"Seems like there's been something lost in translation, the people who are doing the photo-shoot for the deli-sushi chain have just let Tom know they'll be here in half an hour."

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Rob shouted, "don't they know we're supposed to be chilling before stage-time? I'm telling Tom to tell them to sod off."

"Rob," Rachel put on her I-know-best voice, "the company's donating a huge wadge of cash to HIV research and the best gay-support group in Japan. If you don't do it, that money may well be lost."

"Okay, okay, I get it," he chuntered, still not happy.

"So, we're good with the swaps then?" Nick asked me, he winked at Rob and I, as he was standing beside Rachel she couldn't see him do it.

"We'll tell them they've got an hour at the most to get it done," I told her, "or rather our trusted translator will," I looked at Nick.

"Not a problem boss, pass Abby to me and I'll get the guitars back on stage. Are they intending to do the photo-shoot in the Green Room?"

"I think so," Rachel replied, "the rest of the guys were already there, Tom's there as well."

"I'll see you there in a few minutes, then," Nick told us as he left the room.

It was clear to see that the photographer and his entourage were being apologetic about the mix-up, but obviously weren't happy at the time-limit we'd all agreed upon before letting them join us, as Nick explained things to them.

All the time the photographer was speaking with Nick, his three assistants had been setting up their equipment and a girl from the food company was setting out plates and dishes of delicacies. The shoot over-ran the hour but not by much, although as soon as it was finished, we all left the Green Room to ready ourselves for the gig ahead.

When we got back to our dressing room Rob locked the door, then rested his arms on my shoulders,

"I know someone who didn't get any attention earlier," Rob said, "what can I do to make up for it?"

"Anything you want," I giggled.

"I can't believe we got interrupted just when things started to get interesting for you!"

"Oh don't worry about it, just because I didn't cum doesn't mean I didn't have fun."

"Oh no, I'm sure you did!" he smiled and then kissed my cheek tenderly several times. "So, how good was it?" he asked in my ear, "sucking someone else's cock again?"

"Rob, it can never be as delicious as yours, but it was but pretty darn good!" I answered, and for some reason, decided against telling him about how big Nick's dick was – for now.

------

"Go and get comfortable," Rob murmured after we'd finished dinner.

We were back at the Fukuoka Dome and about ninety minutes away from stage-time, that odd period when we could just chill-out, knowing that everything was as ready as it could be, but also needing to psyche ourselves up for the gig. Like I said, odd.

"What're you doing?"

"I wanna get some before and during shots to post later, I'm getting the before, Nick's getting the during."

"Oh ok, see you later then but don't take too long," I smirked.

------

Rob joined me in our dressing room sooner than I'd expected – and he wasn't alone,

"Well I wasn't expecting this," I grinned as Rob locked the door.

"We all know there's been no chance to pick up where we had to leave off last night, equally we all know that you didn't get to properly participate, so Nick and I thought tonight would be the perfect opportunity to make up for it."

"You'll get no argument from me," I chuckled.

"As I recall I had a very talented mouth to enjoy," Rob began,

"Well I did have a pretty fine cock to play with," Nick put in.

"Thank-you," Rob smiled at him.

"And now," Nick smirked, "we think that this time you should have our undivided attention."

Rob began by pulling me into a long and passionate kiss, gradually as his hands roved over my torso beneath my t-shirt. He eased it off and me down to a semi-reclining position against the sofa arm.

"Still hot as hell, I love watching this," Nick said quietly as he sat in the big comfy chair at the end of the couch.

"Why don't you?" Rob said.

He seemed happy to simply watch as we made out for a while. Rob had knelt beside the sofa so he could run not just both his hands but his mouth, tongue and lips all over my abs, pecs and nipples as well. I let him have control and was more than happy to give it to him. It was only when he reached to unfasten my jeans that Nick moved to join us.

"Allow me," he said as he took over from Rob, who immediately placed one hand behind my neck, rubbed my pectoral muscles with the other and kissed me deeply.

As I'd already been barefoot, it took only a few seconds for Nick to have me fully naked.

"I think we'll have these," Rob moved my arms so that they rested on the sofa arm above my head as he spoke softly, "here, move them and we might just stop."

I slightly raised my head to look at what Nick was doing. His eyes met mine and he smiled then he stared at my hard-on with lust.

"Loving what I see," he said before touching me. Both his hands rubbed my pelvis and then, for the first time since I couldn't remember when, a different hand stroked my cock.

I dropped my head back and Rob gazed into my eyes. "I've told Nick how much you like your balls being licked and your cock jerked hard and fast when you cum but that's for later, I think you need slow and gentle for now."

He resumed teasing my body with his lips and tongue and Nick stroked me nice and slow. The combination very quickly had me shivering and gasping as a result of their actions.

"I think we need to ease off," Rob told Nick, "don't want to disappoint my beautiful man by getting him off too fast," he gave me a wicked smile before kissing me briefly.

"He did make us wait," Nick sniggered.

"He did, you're right," Rob agreed.

Neither stopped what they were doing, they simply did it slower or even lighter. I felt Nick's lips wrapping around my cockhead and he began gently licking and sucking.

"Oh fuck Rob, come on, there's two of you doing me, that's not fair," I complained as I tried to get Nick to take me deeper inside his mouth.

"I know, but remember how hard I came when Nick blew me, how hard he came, well we think you deserve nothing less."

I gripped the sofa arm as Rob stroked my pectoral muscle, then he licked my nipple, which I loved, and I tried to push my chest against him.

"Rob that feels," how it felt, they'd never know.

"Guys! We've got a problem," we heard.

It was Tom hammering on the door,

"Come on, now! And bring your personal baggage."

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me!" I hissed, I couldn't believe it was happening again.

"Hang on, Mark's in the bathroom," Rob yelled back.

"Please tell me he's not in the fucking shower," we could all hear Tom's exasperation.

"Nah, I think he's cleaning his teeth," Rob replied.

All through their exchange I'd been dragging on my clothes, cursing under my breath while Nick was clearly trying not to laugh. Rob dashed to flush the loo and grab our bags as Nick and I picked up the guitars they'd brought as cover.

"What the fuck's going on?" I demanded when I pulled open the door.

"I might have to pull the gig," Tom replied morosely.

Rob and I looked at each other, instantly worried, having no idea why Tom would have to do such a thing.

We followed him to the Green Room and was stunned by how many people were crammed into the space; I quickly realised it was all of the on-stage crew and most of the sound and light crews.

"Tom?" Dylan began but our manager held up a hand to stop him.

"About an hour ago I was told that it looks like the backers are going into liquidation. I can't take the risk of everything being impounded if the administrators try to claim your stage set, instruments, everything are part of the backers' assets."

"Fuck, Tom!" Rob exclaimed.

"Rob, don't worry. If we pull the gig and the crew work through the night, we can bring the local luggers back in early, we might buy ourselves enough time to at least get the instruments and sound rig to the airport."

"Okay, but how...," Dylan said and Tom interrupted him again.

"I've got local lawyers working on proof of possession papers to file with the local courts first thing as a pre-emptive strike. I'm not sure it'll be enough but if the wagons are rolling before the administrators have a chance to lay their claim, we might have the opportunity of getting everything and everybody out of the country."

"Hang on, there's no way anything's going to happen at this time of night. I mean, these things don't happen after close of business, do they?" Damon exclaimed.

"Trouble is lad, it's not after close of business in New York where the backers are based," Tom replied.

"Bollocks," Jordan spat.

"How long before the audience is all in?" Rob asked quietly.

I could tell by his tone and the look on his face that he was putting some sort of plan together but I couldn't begin to think what it was.

"Half an hour I'd expect, why?" Tom asked in reply.

"Well even if things do go belly-up in New York, they're the biggest part of a day behind us and by the time places open there, everything here will still be closed so the lawyers here will still have the opportunity to file whatever's needed here," Rob responded – I was starting to think I could tell what Rob was up to.

"Our U.S. lawyers are working on it already and they're liaising with the legal firm in Tokyo but I still want to cover all the bases," Tom informed us.

"Nope, not doing it," Rob told the room in general, "I say we do the gig but to cover Tom's bases we get the guitars, piano and drums off-stage literally as we leave it."

"Do you think that can work?" I asked.

"Yeah, Nick," he said to him, "as soon as Mark and me use a guitar for the last time, you can get it in its case – Jord, bring your bass off with you, Nick can have its case ready. If needs be, we'll find a way to get them to the hotel at least."

"Sure," Dylan put in, "the keyboard's got to be the next quickest to wheel out, what's that take two or three guys?" he asked.

"Yes," Rob answered. "The rest of the stage techs can concentrate on dismantling the drum-kit, ok. It'd be great to get as much of the back-line out as possible as well, some of those amps are old friends," he chuckled mirthlessly.

Tom nodded,

"Yes, okay. After that they can have the stage and lights. Mind you, they'll have to explain to LiteFX why they've nabbed something that we've only hired."

"We have never cancelled a gig since the first time we set foot on a stage and I am not doing it now," Rob all but growled, "Tom, come and let me know when you're told the audience is in."

Tom looked at the rest of us and we let him know we agreed with Rob.

"Nick, I think I'll need your help with something," Rob said to him.

"Whatever I can do," he replied.

We were all in a subdued mood as our techs left to do their jobs and we to wait to do ours – I wondered if any of us would be able to lift our spirits enough to do it well. Nick, Rob and I made our way to the scene of our nearly-threesome in silence.

"So tell me what you have in mind, what can I do to help?" Nick asked Rob when we got there.

"Just a sec," Rob replied as he riffled through my bag.

When he'd found what he'd been looking for – my notepad and pen – he began to explain his idea,

"Tom's got people doing all the legal stuff but I think we've got something better."

This part of what he'd been thinking back in the meeting was beyond me.

"What?" I asked, giving him a puzzled look.

"Our fans!" he exclaimed. "I say we use our fans to gain the moral high-ground. We ask them to post on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, wherever, that if the money men succeed in impounding our stuff, we'll have to cancel the rest of the tour and disappoint all those other fans. Well with Nick's linguistic skills we can ask them," he looked pleadingly at him.

"Umm, Rob I can't teach you how to say all that in Japanese, there just isn't time."

"I don't want you to, I want you to translate for us, please."

Nick thought about it for a moment then nodded.

"Good, now we've got some writing to do and we got to do it quick. Hopefully, it'll also bring the situation to the attention of the insurance company faster, I reckon they'll be all over it as well."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, after needing a replacement guitar tech, then the stomach bug this is the third and biggest problem this tour's had."

"Jeez, I hadn't thought about that. Why did you ask Tom about the audience?" I asked Rob.

"Because we, to quote Tom, are making a pre-emptive strike of our own. We're telling the fans before we go on. Let's get something down on paper then we can ask the others what they think."

We didn't get the chance to write a single word, a moment later Jordan walked in closely followed by the others; none of us said anything for a long moment, it was Rachel who broke the silence,

"For what it's worth my opinion is that you made the right call Rob."

"Cheers Rach, and to clarify, your opinion's always valued," they smiled briefly at each other.

"Rob's had another idea. We were about to make a start on it and then see what you think," I said and we began explaining Rob's plan to them.

They all understood quickly and we were soon putting pen to paper. Nick put in some ideas to make it easier for him to translate it and by the time Tom joined us we were all set.

"We need you to let the sound guys know we'll be on stage in ten minutes and we'll need two mics," Rob told him, "oh, and a couple of white follow-spots on the C-stage'll be enough to go with them, the camera crew'll need to get us up on the screens as well."

"What're you up to?" Tom asked suspiciously.

"Tom, my friend," Rob draped an arm around our manager's shoulders, "you do what you do and leave what we do to us. We'll be there in," Rob made an exaggerated motion to look at his wrist where there was no watch, "nine minutes."

"Alright, alright, I'll tell them, but whatever you're planning, I don't like it," Tom chuntered as he turned to leave the room, already reaching for the radio at his hip.

----

"Good evening," Rob began after we'd all walked to the C-stage.

It had been hard to not acknowledge their cheers of greeting but we'd all decided that it was the only way to start our fans thinking that something serious was going on. Consequently, a hush had already begun to come over the audience, starting with those closest to the stage who'd been the first to see us appear from behind the stacks but who'd quickly realised that we weren't about to perform for them, before we reached the C-stage.

"We have been blessed with some of the most amazing fans in the world," Rob continued then paused to give Nick time to translate, "and tonight we need to ask for your help."

Little by little, Rob and Nick outlined the situation to the audience. Before long there was a sea of cameras recording the moment; at the end of it somebody shouted something in Japanese and we all looked at Nick.

"Roughly translated, he said they'll have to get past us," he told us off-mic.

Before taking to the stage, we'd all posted on our own and the band's Twitter feeds and moments after Rob stopped speaking, we'd begun getting notifications that we'd had responses – lots of them! Jord held up his phone to show the crowd the lit screen,

"Keep them coming guys, let's make this big, huge," he said into Rob's mic with Nick adding an impromptu translation.

A cheer began with those nearest to us, and like waves on a shore, flowed to the back of the stadium.

"We'll see you soon," Rob told them simply.

This time as we walked along the runway style B-stage back to the main one, we waved and smiled to our fans, once there we jogged from it.

Even though we knew the groundswell of support for us was building rapidly on-line, we still intended to follow Tom and Rob's plans to make a start on getting our personal gear from the venue as quickly as possible after the gig was over.

In the end, it had been the instant and overwhelming support of our fans, not just in the audience but around the world, which had got us back on track for kicking out a spectacular gig.

"Thank-you Japan, goodnight and farewell, we love you!" Rob called as the last chord of our final encore died away, "please never give up and believe in love!" he continued and we all waved as we left the stage at our normal pace, but once we were hidden by the stack to the right of my stage position, we all grabbed the cases in which Nick had already stowed mine and Rob's guitars. Jordan packed away his bass and as soon as he was done, we hurried to the exit.

Tom had arranged for the crew bus to be waiting for us; it was big enough to hold everything we needed to get away from the stadium except Dylan's piano.

We all helped stow our gear in the surprisingly large cargo spaces and inside the coach – it felt like we were back in our early days when we were our own roadies; by the time everything was on board we were all laughing like crazy, it was as if we were in some mad film about a heist.

We cheered and clapped as the coach swung out of the car-park and onto the road beyond, heading to our hotel; the second phase of Tom's plan was that after dropping us off, the driver would head to the freight terminal at the airport where he'd wait for the lorry carrying Dylan's piano, the fold-back equipment and the flight cases for our instruments and amps.

We were due to leave the country at lunchtime the following day, next stop South America with two gigs each in the cities of La Plata, Santiago, Lima, Sao Paulo, Rio, Bogota and Mexico City before playing Europe again, starting in Barcelona. After that it would be Canada and North America for the seventh and final leg of the tour.