Life On The Road

"Alright, so who's goin' on who's team? It's 2v2, so pick wisely!"

M, Syn, Zacky and Jason had all arrived at the bowling alley after having their breakfast. Almost immediately after walking inside and over to the desk, they started to discuss who was on who's team. They all agreed that M and Syn could not be on the same team, even though neither of them were happy about it. After a short while though, the pair had seen the more competitive side of things and were suddenly both so determined to thrash the other man's team. From there, it as just who would join which team. As they all slipped on their bowling shoes, Zacky grabbed hold of Syn's upper arm.

"I'm on Brian's team!" He announced. Syn chuckled as he felt the younger guitarist latch onto him.

"Fair's fair, but me and Matt are gonna kick your asses!" Jason replied with a grin, wandering over to the vocalist.

"More like kiss our asses," Syn snickered, causing Matt to roll his eyes.

"Whatever you say, Gates," he mumbled. The group headed over to their alley and they split into their teams, Syn and Zacky standing on the left side and M and Jason to the right. M then produced a coin from his pocket and walked over to his lover, "Heads or tails?"

"Hm...Tails."

The coin was flipped. It landed in Matt's palm and he immediately covered it, before slowly revealing it. Heads.

"Fuck!" Syn groaned, stepping back slightly.

"I never specified the rules, Haner. I never said 'Whoever wins starts first', did I?" Matt asked with a grin.

"Suck a dick, Sanders..." Syn answered, "Just fuckin' start."

"First of all, I already planned on suckin' that dick, so hush. Secondly, I was gonna let you start. Nevermind," the vocalist said. Brian let out another groan and slumped on the bench beside the younger guitarist, watching as Matt and Jason briefly decided who would bowl first out of the two. They settled on Matt bowling first, so long as Brian bowled first for his team. With that, he heaved one of the heavier bowling balls out from the rack and prepared to throw.


Things got really tense nearing the end of the game. There was only a few points difference between the two teams, and the competition between Matt and Brian had been upped. They had decided to switch turns with their teammates, meaning the pair would be the last to bowl. Syn watched as Zacky struck a spare and Jason merely missing the last pin. M glanced over at his boyfriend, watching as he got up from his seat beside Zacky and wandered over to him. Matt stood too, and they positioned themselves so their faces were centimetres apart, their chests pressed against each other.

"You're goin' down, Shadows." Syn growled lowly. If there was one thing the guitarist had definitely picked up during his time with Matt, it was confidence - something he lacked when he was younger.

Matt just laughed, "We'll see about that."

Syn took a few steps back and walked over to the rack, then paused. "Is it hot in here, or is it just me..?" He glanced around briefly and then stripped off his t-shirt, tossing it at Matt before picking up the ball. He paced around for a moment, knowing full well that people were staring at him, admiring his tattoos and the partly chiseled body he possessed. Sure, he didn't look as good as Matt did with all those tattoos, piercings and muscle, but damn he was still attractive as fuck and he knew it.

And if there was one person, excluding Matt, who couldn't take his eyes off of that man, it was Zacky. He'd kept his crush on the older male silent for quite some time, for he was too embarrassed to speak about it, and he knew Matt would kill him if he found out. He always regretted not making a move early on or during the break between Brian and Matt, but now all he could do was watch as Matt got to enjoy Brian. He would be lying if he said he wasn't jealous of his vocalist. He hoped he would just move on, but every time he tried, all he could remember was one night when his dream came true. When Brian was his. Sure, it screwed the band over for a few weeks, but Zacky had what we wanted for once.

"Earth to Zacky V, Earth to Zacky, hellooooo?"

The guitarist snapped out of the fantasy daydream he had fallen into and looked up, his eyes meeting chocolate brown orbs almost instantly. Synyster grinned, lightly batting Zacky around the head before looking up at his boyfriend, who was preparing himself for his shot. The younger male chuckled lightly, rubbing the back of his head.

"You alright there, ZV? You seem a bit.. out of it-" Syn then spoke. Zacky just shook his head and smiled.

"Oh, I'm fine. Just kinda started daydreamin'," he replied, eyes wandering over Brian's shirtless body. He didn't get long though, as Syn moved to watch Matt. The vocalist repeated his boyfriend's actions, stripping off his shirt to reveal his tattooed skin. Syn's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped, his eyes raking over his torso. Matt smirked at the reaction, briefly posing at him before Jason slapped his back and told him to get a move on. He groaned and turned his attention to the game. He had to get a strike to win. Anything less and Synyster and Zacky won. He could never let that happen, no matter how much he loved him.

He took a deep breath. He aimed. He threw. Everyone's eyes followed the ball.

Strike.

"WOOOOOOO! FUCK YEAH! That's how you do it!" Matt roared, punching the air with both fists. Syn couldn't believe it. He'd been defeated by a matter of 5 points. 5 points. Matt would never let him live this down. He stood there, jaw hanging wide open, eyes wide, completely gobsmacked.

The vocalist glanced over at his love and chuckled softly, "Sorry baby, but it had to be done." Syn nodded a little and sat back down, staring at the scoreboard. 5 points.

So this is what it was like to lose to Matt. Jason had felt it yesterday, now Syn and Zacky had felt it. Both guitarists then watched as Matt and Jason celebrated, arms around each other and jumping about. Zacky looked up at Brian, who then glanced down at the ground. His ego was clearly hurt.

"You uh... wanna go grab a drink?" He asked quietly, gently nudging Syn.

"Yeah..." The older man nodded, quietly getting up and walking over to the nearest vending machine, buying himself a bottle of coke. Zacky followed suit and the pair leaned against one of the walls. A few minutes later, Matt and Jason walked over to the pair and Matt's arms immediately wrapped around Syn's frame, embracing him in a big hug.

"You know I love you, don't you BriBear?" M spoke softly against Syn's ear. The guitarist nodded.

"Yeah... It's just, I'm Synyster fuckin' Gates... I don't lose.."

"I know, I kinda crushed your ego there and I'm sorry. How about, we'll forget the bet and everything and instead of doing something as a group tonight, I'll just make it up to you?" The vocalist suggested, eyes locking with Syn's. He agreed, and the pair shared a few quick kisses before they all decided to head back to the bus.


Once they arrived back to the bus, they found Jimmy and Johnny happily snuggled up on the couch, snoring away under a massive blanket. Jimmy's head was rested on a mountain of pillows, while Johnny's rested upon his lover's chest. Matt, knowing just how annoying it as to be rudely awoken (especially when sleeping with his boyfriend on the couch), warned everyone to stay as quiet as possible to reduce the chance of awaking the sleeping musicians. Everyone quietly crept past the couch and to the bunk room, where Matt and Syn crawled into their bunk. Jason and Zacky decided to head to the back room to play on Matt's xbox.

As they set up the game, Jason looked over at his friend,a thought lingering on his mind.

"Zacky?"

"Yeah Jase?"

"Do you have a thing for Syn?"

Zacky paused and looked over at the roadie, "Uhh..."

"Hey, it's okay. You can tell me, I won't say a word to anyone else." Jason reassured, placing his hand on Zacky's shoulder.

"Yeah... I'm sure it's just lust though..." He admitted quietly, "I mean, I've got a massive crush on him... But the only thing stopping me from moving on is the memory of that one night I got with him all those years ago..."

"You still remember that? I can barely remember what I ordered for breakfast this morning!" Jason laughed, before shaking his head, "Sorry, got carried away. Look, maybe try talking to him?"

"Talk to him? And tell him how I feel? Are you out of your mind?!" Zacky cried, "No way dude!"

Jason sighed deeply, "Do you want to try and get him out of your head or no?"

"...Fine. But what about Matt?"

"Wait for Brian to be alone and make sure he's not around. I'm sure Brian will understand." Jason suggested with a smile.

"Alright, thanks dude." Zacky nodded. Jason just nodded too and patted his back, before suggesting they get to the game.


A few hours later, M came into the back room to grab Zacky and Jason, saying they were having a whole group game of truth or dare. As everyone piled into the main room, they sat down in a very odd looking circle. Johnny and Jimmy refused to move from the couch, Brian and Matt took up the opposite couch and Zacky and Jason sat on the floor. Neither of them minded and were more interested in getting on with the game. They made each other admit and say some pretty bizarre stuff, like weirdest interests, answering odd questions and obviously, a lot of sexual stuff. Luckily for the youngest guitarist, the topic of him and Syn never came up. The dares were just as weird, one of the most memorable one being Matt having to climb onto the top of the bus ass naked, another being Jimmy having to suck Johnny off under the blanket.

As the day drew to a close, everyone retired to their bunks, Jason getting to have Johnny's old bunk as the bassist crawled into his lover's bed. Syn and Matt snuggled up together and spent most of the night watching youtube videos and generally enjoying one another's company. Zacky decided just to go straight to sleep, not wanting to think of anything more. He just wanted to forget that one night, despite how much he loved it. It haunted him, and he just wished it would go away.



And then another thought made it's way into Zacky's head - The meet and greet. Their next event, excluding shows. He knew all too well the fans would ask questions.

Why couldn't it all just go away?

Notes

Hey guys! Hope you liked this chapter!
The next one's going to have a lot of drama in it! Any predictions? Leave them below!
Thank you as always for reading!