U-N-I - 7. Chapter 7

Our first world tour was over and although it had been stressful and exhausting at times, I can honestly say that it was also the best days of our lives. The first dates in the US had gone really well and we were starting to really crack that market. Mainly because journalists in Europe were constantly referring to us as the band that could become as big as U2. It didn't necessarily have anything to do with our music, even though there were many similarities, it had more to do with the fact that we were from Dublin like they were, and because Bono loved us. He spoke so highly of us in the media that people who probably wouldn't have paid attention to us did. He was sort of like a godfather and he was definitely giving us great publicity.

By the time the tour ended, we had sold over fifteen million copies of our second album. We had become extremely popular. Everyone wanted a piece of us. Fans and paparazzi were always camping outside our place, there was never a huge amount of people, but whenever we would leave our place, there would always be a few fans waiting outside and a couple of reporters around the corner, ready to snap a few pictures. We couldn’t wait for them to move on to someone else. We’d figured they would eventually get bored of taking the same pictures of five guys looking annoyed in a hooded top every time we stepped outside, but so far, they hadn’t.

We were living in London’s Notting Hill. We had grabbed an opportunity to buy a whole building. We had often told Tom our manager that we wanted to live together, far from thinking that it could become a reality. We all really wanted to keep living close to each other, in a way it was a continuation of our childhood, to all continue to live next door.

One day Tom talked to us about a new real estate project one of his acquaintances had told him about. An old warehouse was being turned into seven apartments. As soon as we visited the place and saw what they were doing with it, we knew it would soon become U-N-I's headquarters. It was perfect for us, definitely an opportunity not to be missed. The apartments were huge and we could design them to fit our style, but what really finished to convince us was how well-secured the building was. We could come in and out without having to worry about fans or reporters stopping us at the front door. We had a nice outside space too and three empty apartments that we could do whatever we wanted with. The smallest ones would become a recording studio for sure, probably a gym and a game room too and then we all agreed that there'd be one for Rachel.

Jordan and I managed to convince her to move in with us because she wanted to go to an art school in London. She had always been very artistic and loved to draw, paint and create. After our break up, we didn’t speak for a while, but it didn’t last long. She was friends with all of us, the guys loved her and I didn’t want her out of my life at all. So little by little, we started spending time together again, as friends. Everything went back to normal in her relationship with Jordan Dylan and Damon first, she’d had a very hard time being around Robbie again at the beginning, especially when he was being affectionate with me, but eventually she got used to it.

The first time she had seen us kiss, we were having a small party at Jordan’s place to celebrate his 19th birthday. It was late, everybody had gone home. We were a bit drunk and Rob and I started making out in the corner of the room. I was sure she had left, but when I opened my eyes, I saw her watching us. I froze a little and Rob turned his head and let go of me when he saw her too. She looked at me with the saddest and most resigned expression on her face, and probably fully realized at that moment that she really had lost me for good. Her attitude changed after that, and she started behaving toward me and Rob in the same way as she behaved with the guys. We had become friends again, and I was glad to still have her in my life.

It was eight am, we were still in bed. I had been awake for like half an hour and I was checking social media when he awoke.

"Come on, sleepy head, wake up. We have press to do this morning."

"Uhhh, go without me," he groaned, stretching his arms.

"Yeah, you wish!"

He checked his phone as well and after a few minutes, I got up and put some pajama bottoms on. He did as well and as we started heading out of our room, I turned around and said,

"Hey, why don’t we stop for take out at that organic place on the way like we did last week, it was excellent."

"Yeah, sounds good." he agreed.

He placed his hand over my lower back and gave me a quick peck on the lips, which I returned, making it last a bit longer. I had just intended to kiss him briefly though but we had no self-control when it came to this. He kissed me back, with a little more pressure and I felt a slight shiver rush through me as his tongue quickly slid into my mouth. He wrapped his arms around my back and pulled me into him and I embraced him tightly. We closed our eyes and started kissing more deeply. I got hard instantly and pressed my crotch against his morning wood, grinding my cock against his and grasping his broad shoulders. He broke the kiss and we looked at each other and grinned slyly.

He slipped his hand down my pajama bottoms, not breaking eye contact with me and grasped my cock firmly, squeezing it, forcing a groan out of me.

"I just can't keep my hands off you," he smiled as he began stroking me firmly.

"Ooh," I quietly moaned.

He placed his other hand behind the back of my neck and gently kissed and licked my lips as his thumb spread the precum over my cock and his hand moved up and down my erection smoothly. I pressed my body firmly against his to increase the sensation and his hand rubbed against his crotch as he jerked me off faster and faster.

He started kissing my cheek, then my ear, his kisses moving down to my neck and began nibbling at it so softly that it made me tremble and I felt shivers run up and down my spine.

"Oh yeah, feels good."

Rob continued licking my neck gently and I moaned quietly, enjoying his nibbling and stroking; he raised his head and looked into my eyes as his hand continued pumping my cock and I humped myself against it.

I smashed my lips against his and slipped my hands down his pajama bottoms. I grabbed and rubbed his muscular ass cheeks, pulling him into me a little more. His hand on my cock was squeezed between our bodies, which just increased the pleasure I was feeling and I lost myself more and more in the sensation. I loved the feeling of his hand running over my cock.

"I'm almost there," I whispered closing my eyes, running my tongue over his lips.

My cock was now leaking like a tap and his hand was rapidly moving up and down my length.

"Yeah, come on, shoot it, shoot it," he murmured and softly licked my tongue and pressed his lips against mine, kissing me lovingly and letting out small sexy sighs.

I moaned and he began to furiously pump my cock as I squeezed him to me.

"Come on shoot it, baby," he moaned sensually again, and I buried my face in the crook of his neck, smelling him and feeling his warmth against my face as I concentrated on my approaching orgasm.

I suddenly felt my cock pulse in his hand and groaned,

"Oh yeah".

My whole body tightened and jets of cum started shooting out of me, soaking his hand as well as my pyjama bottoms. He continued stroking me through the whole orgasm, holding me tight against him too.

When my orgasm had subsided, I raised my head a little and kissed him softly again.

"That was so good," I giggle. My hands slowly released his ass cheeks and moved up his back, I squeezed him to me a little harder, "you're the best!" I said invading his mouth with my tongue again, and we kissed passionately for a few seconds.

"Come on, I'll return the favor in the shower," I told him, grinning slightly.

We headed toward the bathroom and stepped inside the shower, letting the water spray over our bodies for a moment, enjoying the warmth of the water. I placed my hands over Rob's shoulders and placed a kiss on his neck. He turned a little to face me and I leaned into him, wrapping my arm around his shoulders and bringing my lips to his. We kissed deeply and I gently pushed him closer to the shower wall and backed him up against it, my lips never leaving his.

Pressing my body hard against his, I let one of my hands slide down his arm and then up his chest, feeling his hard body against the palm of my hand. I caressed his pec and a sensual moan escaped his lips when I started nibbling at his neck and lightly pinching his nipple.

“You make me so horny,” he moaned with a smile as he kissed my cheek, he was running one of his hands up my back while the other one rubbed the back of my neck.

“I can see that.” I whispered with a grin as I brought my hand down to his erection, wrapped my fingers around it and gently stroked him, “damn, I love this thing,” I smiled as I felt that my touch made his gorgeous dick throb and pulse in my hand.

He held me closer against him, and one of his hands slid down to my ass. He began caressing my ass cheeks as I teased his neck and shoulders with my lips and tongue, still holding and stroking his hardness, my hand pressed between our bodies. Feeling how turned on he was and how hard his cock was made me want to have him in my mouth and I started kissing down his chest. He closed his eyes to enjoy the feeling and held my head as I found his hard nipple and he moaned to encourage me to suck and lick it, I gave special attention to his nipples as one of my hands roamed up and down his tight stomach.

My lips descended further down and I knelt down in front of his hard member. I looked up at him and smiled as I wrapped my hand around his erection and gave it a few strokes. Then, I gazed at his beautiful cock, pointing straight out, so hungry for it that my own dick started to respond. I wrapped my lips around the head and started a slow up and down motion, only taking a couple of inches inside my mouth. I could hear him moan a little but the noise of the water made it harder to concentrate on the hot and sexy sounds he was making. I started pulling on my dick to add to the pleasure I was feeling, as I took more of him in my mouth. I grasped his balls in my hand and rolled them around as I bobbed my head up and down his cock a little faster, taking a little more of him each time until I relaxed my throat and let his cock slowly enter my mouth almost completely.

“Ohhhhh,” he moaned hard as his hand grabbed my hair.

I pulled back, bobbed my head up and down a few times and slowly went down on his pulsing cock again. Rob sighed and quivered, loving what I was doing. I continued blowing him for a while, until my knees started to hurt and I slowly stood up again, kissing up his chest and finally reaching his neck.

"You’re so damn hot baby, I love your hard dick in my mouth." I told him as I stroked him, increasing my pace, he had his eyes closed, "Whatcha thinking about?" I asked him

"You," he answered with a moan.

"Yeah? You want me?" I asked, kissing the area right behind his ear.

He moaned and I took his hand with my free one and pressed it on my chest, making him run his fingers between my pecs and over my abs,

"I'm right here, you can have me whenever you want."

He caressed my chest and squeezed my pecs and I forced my tongue inside his mouth, kissing him hungrily for a few seconds as I continued jerking him off. We really didn't have time to make this last. My hand slid quickly up and down his shaft, precum escaping his slit. He was getting close and I kept up my pace. In my effort to get him off rapidly but with maximum pleasure, I pressed my finger against his hole. He pushed back on it and it easily popped in. He gasped and relaxed again,

"Oh yeah, make me cum!"

I massaged his hole with my finger and he whimpered, leaning his forehead on my shoulder. I continued jerking him off and my finger slid back and forth, teasing him gently.

"Are you close?" I asked and he nodded slightly, concentrating on my hand on his cock and my finger up his ass as he caressed my back.

"You like my finger up your ass? Feels good? - Imagine I'm fucking you, I'm fucking you hard, I'm slamming my cock hard and fast deep inside you. Can you feel it?" I moaned, inserting another finger inside him and he clung to me. "You love it when I fuck you, don't you? I bet you want me to fuck you right now. I could cum deep inside you. Yeah, imagine I'm cumming inside you, come on, cum with me, now, come on baby," I urged, jerking him off faster.

He let out a deep groan and let loose a stream of white semen that shot over my arm and my hand.

"Ohh god that was good! You're amazing," he said, leaning his body against the wall.

He touched his cock and shuddered a little, feeling too sensitive, he took a deep breath and just stayed there, basically waiting for his orgasm to subside.

"Damn, we're really are gonna be late," I laughed and started soaping his chest.

He smiled and we stepped underneath the water to wash ourselves. I had done a great job of turning myself on too and I was hard again but I didn't do anything about it, although Rob did jerk my cock a few times and left me wanting more. We got dressed and left without eating anything to stop at an awesome take-out breakfast restaurant.

We started the day with a radio interview, just Rob and I. We would very rarely go to interviews as a five-piece. It was either Rob and me, sometimes Jordan would come with us, or only Jordan and Damon, or Rob and Jordan… Dylan hated doing interviews and he would always manage to get out of that chore. Although, I had to admit, Rob and I loved it. Most of the time, we really enjoyed ourselves and had fun joking around with the journalist.

We were being ourselves and our fans always said in comments on the internet whenever we read them that we were fun, cool and easy-going, genuine and sweet human beings really, not to mention attractive, who didn't let the fame get to our heads. We did try to keep our feet firmly on the ground, we tried to be nice to and available for our fans.

When we arrived, we were greeted warmly by the people there, as well as the radio host. After the usual preparation, because it was to be filmed as well as recorded, we started the interview.

"We’ve got Robbie and Mark from U-N-I today with us! What’s happening guys?"

Rob started with a bit of a joke,

"What’s happening is, we’re just, you know, it’s just a regular day in the life of soft rock superstars."

The host laughed and asked,

"What would you say if I said ‘How is it hanging’?"

Rob replied with a smile,

"It’s hanging good!"

And I added,

"To the left!" because I just knew it had to be a question about a sex-related topic.

The interviewer clapped his hands and screamed enthusiastically,

"YEEES!! I’ve done that question for a year and nobody would give it the right answer!!"

I smiled proudly and Rob laughed,

"We would always come through if you want penis jokes!"

We all laughed and he said again,

"Yeees !", thrilled that he had finally found someone who gave him the answer he had been waiting for.

And I thought that we really had to stop doing that in interviews. But we couldn’t help it, it was just fun. And most presenters like him knew we liked joking around and so their questions were not always very serious ones with us. We knew there were a few rumors going around on social media, on fans forums about Rob’s sexuality and about our friendship, because we did joke a lot about it. I guess it was a way for us to pave the way for when we were finally ready to come out publicly.

Our fans had actually come up with a name for it, mixing our last names Myers and Emery into "myemers", and they would post pictures of the two of us from interviews or on stage, on which we appeared to be close and a bit more than just very good friends. There was indeed a lot of chemistry between us on stage and fans had definitely noticed something. Although I don't think they actually believed it to be true.

Now he added,

"Ok, I’m gonna ask you a serious one, are you ready?"

"What is it?" Rob asked, because I knew him so well I could tell he was immediately a bit worried.

He was always scared that one day somebody might just ask him ‘are you gay’?

But he didn’t, the host just asked,

"If you had the choice between a bionic arm and a bionic leg, what would it be?"

Rob asked,

"Is it like a trick question?"

"No."

" Is there a correct answer? To the left? Is that what we’re supposed to say?" we laughed.

"Ok, I would always go for the arm!" Rob answered.

"Why?"

He looked at me and I said,

"Because it would come in useful some nights."

We laughed and Rob asked him,

"What would you go for?"

"I think the arm."

"Why?"

"Just because you guys said it."

"Just cause you’re copying us!" Rob said

"Yeah, I’m sucking up to you!" he joked.

"Yeah you haven’t thought this through!" Rob joked.

"I don’t know, I just don’t have any questions prepared, I figured I’d just made them up like this."

"Ah ok, so now do you wanna ask us about how often we get drunk or something?"

"Yeah, ok," he laughed.

"Terrible radio host," Rob joked.

"Maybe I should just start talking about your next record and your projects and stuff like that?"

"No, no, no, it’s alright," I said, "let’s keep going this way!"

"You like this way better?"

"Yeah!" we answered.

And the interview actually became more serious and focused on our music, eventually he asked us,

"Is it the idea of like being a band at the moment, and being a band that is going to transcend generations, is that what you mean? Like a band like U2? Because I think that’s maybe the point you’re at, you can become a historic band."

"Well maybe." Rob answered. "But we have to get a bit better."

"Are you just talking about music though?"

"Basically, yeah."

"Really? Because I feel you have already raised the bar with "A message". Again, so many songs that make the listeners feel deeply. They pull your emotions and send chills down your spine!"

"Yeah, seems like we're good at writing those kind of songs, aren't we!" I said.

"You really are!" he confirmed enthusiastically. "Your songs are again so powerful on this album, everything just sounds so good! This is a very vibrant and exciting album in my humble opinion, the atmosphere is just… cool. People are wondering, what is the song 'A message' about?"

We both looked at each other with a smirk on our lips and Rob leaned in closer to him and said in a whisper,

"Maybe someday, we'll tell you!"

This song was 'A message' to our gay fans, as well as a song about our relationship. Again, Rob was making one of those innuendos about his sexuality that always kept the fans wondering.

"So you’re gonna record another new exciting album, it’s cooking?"

"As soon as we finish this interview… " I joked.

"Yeah you should start baking! Where are you gonna record? You can record anywhere!"

"Well no, we can’t actually," I laughed "Our manager told us the other day, you know you have to stay in London, not enough money."

"We would love to record in our… building, where we all live," Rob explained. "We’re in the process of building a recording studio there, we hope it can be ready for us to record the next album there."

"Yeah? That’s great! 'Cause you all live together still! And really, it’s just about a bunch of guys who get together as friends and …"

"And who have a lot of musical sex!" Rob joked, finishing his sentence.

He laughed and repeated,

"And who have a lot of musical sex, I love that!" he chuckled, "No, but is it just about being a band, being in the same room and playing darts or pool or whatever and making music, is it important to still keep that, when you have the money to go wherever?"

"I think if we lost that connection," I put in, "then everything else would fall apart. But if we think that we’re playing well together, then everything else tends to be good. And we just know that the best way to do that is to go into a little room, have Jordan and Rachel, who’s a friend, paint it, and just play in it you know. It’s not rocket science, we don’t want to make things more complicated than that. We just have to find ourselves a great producer that breaks us down to the very root of our personalities and that’s what Nigel Smith did on ‘A message’"

"Well you know what? I can see you guys have really grown, 23 now? I can see it right now! Are you gonna work with Nigel Smith again?"

"Maybe." I answered. "But we don’t know if he wants to work with us again. Rob drove him crazy" I joked.

He laughed,

"I did not! Jordan did."

"Are you impossible to work with?"

"No - maybe," Rob said. "But he pushed us a lot to do things we’ve never done before, and it can be difficult, you know. ‘Cause he’s just gonna say, you’re just not good enough, go back in there and do it again," he said authoritatively.

"And he does that!" I added. "He makes us work hard and we really salute him for that, because we don’t want to enter the safety zone and be in danger of repeating ourselves."

"Yeah we don’t want to be in danger of repeating ourselves," Rob repeated twice and laughed.

"Do you feel the pressure? People are expecting a lot from you, the world waits in optimistic anticipation for your third release!" he said dramatically and added," People wanna see what U-N-I still has up their sleeve! Because you have already changed your sound between your first two albums, so…’

"Not dramatically", I answered. "we believe that there'll be a sound shift. We aren't afraid to be experimental and to be daring but we don't want to wander too far from our core sound. We do wanna try new things on every album we release though. I know we might go against what the fans are expecting on a few songs." I smiled.

"Hey, do you guys like piano?" Rob asked. "Well here's a trumpet solo!" he exclaimed.

The host laughed and Rob added. " A message' is a little less personal than our previous work. So, if you're one of our fans who like to lock themselves in a room and cry about how you personally relate to the song "Shiver", you might not be as crazy about our new album. But who knows what kind of songs are gonna emerge in the future? We haven't really started yet. You're right though, we are risk takers musically, but we don't want to take people's expectations in one delicious scoop and toss them out the window!"

The host asked,

"Well, I have to tell you, I think you're not gonna disappoint because I believe the production work on your second album was already a lot better. Things build and fall so smoothly, it flows so well. It's like you're telling a story, which is awesome. A little bit of piano over here, a touch of acoustic, some epic electric guitar work to spice things up, your voice is amazing…there really aren't any bad songs on the album, and really some songs are quite simply phenomenal."

We thanked him and he asked,

"So, when you play together then, how do you approach song writing when you’re in the studio?"

"We just play long enough and just wait you know," I answered. "We just play longer than other people. ‘Cause I think the great songs are just around, and if you wait long enough, they will just eventually fall down onto you."

"That’s a nice way to approach it."

"Yeah," I confirmed.

"Do you realize now, everything that’s happened to you so far? Because when your first album went to number one, you just had no idea how it happened. But now you’ve come all this way, you’ve done all these interviews, are you in that same mindset of, ‘I didn’t expect all this to happen’?"

I answered,

"I think the more we go on, the more we know we’re gonna have to do lots of interviews and talk about ourselves and what we do in the studio and all that, so we just have to make sure we like what we do and we’re enthusiastic about it. But to answer your question though, it’s a yes, we realize what’s happening now and we’re trying not to fall in any traps, like fighting over money or stuff like that, and so far, so good!"

"Yeah," the presenter added, "people say, we do it cause we love the music, I think that’s easy to say when you’re very successful, right? Do you think, if it hadn’t had broken for you guys you would still be doing it, and still trying to break?"

"I hope so," I answered. "I’m pretty sure that we’d be playing on, you know, weddings and hotel resorts somewhere, but we’d probably be the same people."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I’m pretty sure." I confirmed. "Jordan might have done something else," I laughed. "He might have said, ‘fuck this’, I’ll see you on Saturday for rehearsals to hang out but I’m not playing in hotel resorts seven nights a week."

Rob laughed.

"Do you get along as a band? I know you’re very close-knit, but there must be a bit of eye-rolling and door slamming, you must do each other’s heads in sometimes, in the same way that a family does."

"Not really." I said

"No?" he asked surprised.

"No," Rob agreed. "I think on our last album we had one fall out between myself and Jordan, that lasted about three minutes. You know, apart from me and Jordan, everyone else is very calm. So we’re really working on it. And we’re a lot better, aren’t we?" he asked me.

"Yeah," I answered.

"Yeah, would you agree?" he asked again.

"I would agree, yeah," I said and he pushed me with his shoulder because he knew I was lying.

The host added,

"I think that as the lead singer and frontman surely it’s your job to not be calm! It’s what we call LSD ! Lead Singer Disorder!"

"Yeah ? LSD? Funny, I like it!" Rob laughed, " See!" Rob turned to me pointing at the interviewer, ‘he told me, "I’ve got an excuse now, it’s LSD!"

I laughed,

"That's convenient. What’s Jordan’s excuse? ‘Cause he’s actually more hyperactive than you are!" I joked and Rob laughed. Indeed, he and Jordan just loved going out, drinking and partying at every opportunity, always making more friends and meeting new people, they constantly needed to be doing something entertaining when Dylan and me, even Damon, were more quiet and enjoyed spending more quality time together, writing music or just hanging out together.

"But I think it’s important that I’m surrounded by people who keep me sane, you know," Rob said. "They can eye roll me and slam the door in my face, and I just have to take it."

" 'Cause you need them."

" ‘Cause I need them, yes!" he agreed and smiled at me.

He asked us a few more questions and we wrapped up the interview.

When we left, my phone rang. It was Tom, our manager.

"Mark, are you guys done?"

"Yeah, we’re about to leave."

"Ok, don’t! A taxi’s picking you up, you’ve got a quick interview with ‘The Sun’, and then you’re done for the day, alright?"

"‘The Sun’? Why?" I asked him, a bit startled.

"I don’t know, they want to write an article about you I suppose. I’ll wait for you two over there."

"That’s just weird Tom, why would a tabloid like that want to interview us?"

‘The Sun’ was like the worst tabloid newspaper in the UK. These people just liked to slag people off.

"Hey, I don’t know, just go, it won’t be a very deep interview with them, that’s for sure, what are you worried about?"

I remained quiet for a few seconds and finally said,

"Well, that they might know something about Rob and me."

"No, I’m sure it’s nothing to do with that," he said in a reassuring tone.

"Alright then, see you there!" I told him, but I was still worried.

I turned to Rob who had heard the conversation.

"Don’t you find that weird? That the ‘The Sun’ would want to interview us?" I asked him.

"Yeah, it is weird," he said worriedly.

"Tom doesn’t seem to think so… Maybe we shouldn’t go," I told him.

"No, we’d better go. I wanna make sure they don’t know anything about us."

When we got there, they let us in a room and asked us to wait for a moment. We sat on one of the large sofas. There was orange juice on the coffee table. We had some as Tom asked us a few questions about the interview we had just done. The room was small and cozy; there were a lot of old articles plastered on the walls and I stood up to have a look at them while we waited for the journalist to show up. After a moment, the journalist walked into the room. He was a tall, quite handsome man with a very English attitude and he seemed to be in his thirties.

A big black guy, who looked like a security guard, looking very serious and emotionless, immediately followed him, he stood by the window, looking through it.

I looked over at Rob and Tom, who had the same worried expression on their faces.

Why was there a security guard in the room with him?

We knew why… we just knew that they knew.