“How are you going to tattoo on the road? Do you plan on cloning yourself? Where’s all your stuff?” Jimmy asked as he loaded your suitcases from your car’s trunk to that of his own since he had already done a run to the buses.

“I’ll make do with the time that I’ve got don’t worry. And the stuff I need to be able to tattoo on the buses is very little, especially since the people know it won’t be like a parlor. I’ve got basic inks and my needle, all is good in the tattoo world,” you answered for the millionth time that day.

Jeph had asked you the first nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred ninety-nine times before you had made it to Jimmy’s. You were leaving your car there for the eight weeks you would be on the road, figuring it the best way to go about things.

“And why did you agree to tattoo people while on tour since you just got finished slaving away doing it at mad speeds to get here in the first place?” Jimmy asked as he slammed his trunk down.

At least that was a new question and not a repeat of Jeph’s constant, well, questioning. He was super sweet and all, and the fact that he was worried about your stress level increased that ten fold, especially since all he wanted was for you to have a good time, but it was starting to rag on your nerves a little. But you just swallowed it, it was only minor and was only really getting to you because of the stress you were under from everything up until this point.

“Because I can Jimmy that’s why. It’s my passion. I’d ask you why you jump right into studio after just having done one or more continuos tours, but I know the answer. It’s your passion. We do what we love to do regardless of anything else,” you said as you jumped into the passenger seat of Jimmy’s trusty car.

“Whatever floats I guess,” Jimmy replied as he stepped in the driver’s side.

“Shit does,” you replied with a laugh.

“Huh?” Jimmy asked confused as he started his car and made to back out of his driveway.

“You said, and I quote, whatever floats. And my reply was, shit, because shit floats. For the most part, unless it’s one of those really heavy meaty ones that sink to the bottom of the toilet and leaves streaks down the bowl when you flush,” you answered as Jimmy drove down the busy streets, the warm air of L.A. blowing the few strands of loose hair around your face.

Jimmy burst out laughing as he drove and a few times you were worried that with his eyes closed he might kill you by driving off the road. But then you remembered who he was and that his driving skills were pretty much second to none.

“Do you honestly stare at your shit in the toilet, studying it before you flush it away?” Jimmy asked once most of hysterical laughter had abided.

“Not as a rule,” you said with a smile before turning to face out the window again, taking in as much of your beloved L.A. scenery before you were cooped up on a bus for eight weeks.

“Good god I love you Kales Mae,” Jimmy said with a soft chuckle as he reached his right hand in-between the two of us and grabbed a hold of my left.

You simply drove the remainder of the way to the buses holding hands through speeding traffic without so much as a word spoken. Jimmy and you didn’t need to talk, you had always wondered if he and you were telepathically connected some way, always had. No scratch that, growing up you had always thought Zacky and you were but when that died it became Jimmy and you against the world. You didn’t know if the hitch in my throat was your breakfast coming up to visit the world again at the thought of Zacky or if it was the memory of what you two use to be like. How you would never be like again. You swallowed the lump and chalked it up to it being revulsion.
-xXx-
“Welcome to party central!” Matt announced once Jimmy killed the engine where the buses were all parked.

And while we would meet up with the rest of the smaller bands joining us for the tour it was still the two buses for us and The Used’s bus as well. And if you’ve ever seen official label tour buses, those bitches are huge. So three en massed was a sight to behold. You grinned at Matt as he walked up to you with open arms as you got out of the car and enveloped you in a hug.

“I know that it wasn’t our idea to ask you on tour, or that we’ve never even considered it before sis, but I’m glad you’re here with us,” Matt said into your hair as he squeezed you tight.

“I know, and I don’t mind that it never really came up. We both got famous roughly around the same time and our time was forever hence forth taken up. I got enough of touring back when we were younger and crammed in a dinky van,” you replied, a smile gracing your features.

“And Syn use to snore some awful and we would plug his nose with toilet paper,” Johnny said happily as he walked up for a hug as well.

“Sup short stuff,” you teased as you hugged him.

“Or Johnny use to have to pee so bad mid stretch of highway with no restroom available for miles and would do the Johnny pee pee dance in the front seat,” Syn replied as he came up for his hug.

You hugged him back. You had only just seen them all the other night for the big dinner that turned into an all out whipped cream war but everyone seemed to be running on adrenaline. Must be what starting a tour felt like, and you liked the idea that it made everyone all nostalgic and huggy.

When you let go of Syn you saw Johnny glare at him and punch him in the arm, barely causing Syn to blink.

“Or when Matt would sing bad show tunes to pass the time when the radio would crap out and we would be forced to listen because some how, mysteriously, all our batteries in our walkmans and discmans were dead or missing,” Jimmy added, shooting a knowing glance Matt's direction where Matt simply shrugged his shoulders innocently.

You found yourself smiling at the old memories of what life was like on the road in the old days, before you all had become famous in some form or another. Before life had separated you and led you different directions. You had forgotten some of the things, but with the guys reminding you each memory came back crystal clear, as if it had only happened last week. And then a voice broke through the haze of your trip down memory lane.

“Or when Kales would force us to play the license plate game or what girlie flicks on the television in the bad motels,” Zacky said, adding his own two cents.

He didn’t sound conniving or like he was smearing the memory with anything cruel, but he didn’t sound particularly happy either, just sort of monotone.

You nodded your head his direction quickly, not in the mood to start things just yet as you hadn’t even gotten on the road. And the road was shaping up to a very long time at this point. And you hoped beyond hope that how you had left things the night of the fancy dinner had carried over to now. It’s not that you particularly cared whether or not Zacky liked you, you just didn’t want to have to deal with the migraines he gave you for eight weeks while forced to share a very tiny space and one bathroom with him. You had even gotten over the slight disappointment and hurt you had momentarily felt when he seemed to so easily break into his mysterious fantastic self when Jeph and Dan had interrupted your goodbyes that night.

But most of all you didn’t want to mess this up for your brother, or Jimmy. The other guys sure, they meant the world to you and you didn’t want to botch their tour. But to your brother this meant everything, and Jimmy meant everything to you. And while you knew you were going to try your damnedest to keep things civil between you and Zacky it wasn’t solely a one sided enterprise. He had to keep up his own end of the bargain.

“Kaaailey!” a loud voice carried our over the air that had only slightly solidified at Zacky’s entrance.

You grinned as a flying ball of skin, dirt and grime came in contact with you, nearly knocking you over. Consequently Syn had to catch you so you and your assailant didn’t bite the dust.

“Hiya Cracken,” you laughed as you peeled him off you.

Notes

And so it doth begin!
The shit is about to hit the fan as they like to say!