Two old friends find themselves attracted to one another, and decide to start a relationship despite the potential problems that could easily cause them.
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"Samson... that sounds bloody familiar," Dave muttered as they left the pub, heading towards his place. "Oh! That's Clive's old band. The singer's someone new, though, Clive said the guitarist was doing vocals when he was with 'em."
"We'll have to let Steve know about their new singer on Monday," Ade said. "Assuming he don't know about the bloke already. I've not paid too much attention to scouting the competition since I decided to let go of Urchin, y'know? Between playing out those shows and starting to learn Maiden's stuff, I just didn't really have time to go 'round to the pubs on the regular." He shrugged a bit and added, "Didn't really want to go out either. Barry's the only one of the blokes I was ever really friendly with aside from you, and with him newly married cos of Nancy getting up the duff, he wasn't for going out much anymore. You know why I mostly tried to avoid Andy, and then he and Alan turned into best mates pretty quickly, so I wasn't so comfortable with him anymore either."
Dave nodded as they climbed the stairs to his bedsit. "Yeah, I get it. Like with me in Maiden; Steve's the bloke I'm really comfortable hanging out with, and I get along with Clive pretty well, but I never truly hit it off with Denny. We got along, he was nice enough, we just, dunno, didn't have much to say to each other. And of course, Paul is, well, Paul." He unlocked his door and let Ade enter first, then locked it again behind them.
Ade smiled and pulled Dave into his arms, kissing him softly. "Well, hopefully I'll get along well with Steve and Clive as well. I'm not so worried about Paul, beyond being civil, y'know?"
"Yeah, I know," Dave said, melting into Ade's arms. Tugging his boyfriend to the bed, he pulled Ade down and they stopped talking in favour of more intimate communication, eventually falling asleep snuggled together, with smiles on their faces.
*****
When Ade got off work on Monday, he hurried to the garage to meet up with Dave. His boyfriend had already packed up two of his guitars and amps for him, so they each picked up one set and headed for the bus stop.
Dave gave Ade a grin as they waited. "Don't look so nervous, they're gonna love your playing."
"They'll love my playing, but will they like me?" Ade asked.
"Hell, yes!" Dave said. "What's not to like?"
Ade blushed. "Eh, you bloody well know I'm awkward as hell meeting new people."
"Yeah, but your skill's gonna speak loud and clear," Dave said. "And even you loosen up over a pint or two. Just don't have so many that you start babbling, yeah?"
"Yeah," Ade said as the bus pulled up.
When they got off at the Cart and Horses, Steve gave them a wave from just up the road. "Enjoy the time off, Dave?" he asked as he jogged towards them.
"Spent half of it rehearsing with Ade," Dave answered with a smile. "We figured he might as well start learning Denny's solos straightaway, especially since he'd already gotten most of the rhythm parts down."
