Becoming

Invaders

True to his word, once they were all on the bus in the morning – and Ade had woken up properly – Dave quietly asked Bruce to come back to the lounge for a bit.

"Sure, mate, what d'you need?" the singer asked, looking curious.

"Ade and I need to talk to you for a bit," Dave said. "Nothing bad, I promise."

Bruce nodded and followed Dave to the back lounge, where Ade was already waiting. The taciturn guitarist grabbed three beers out of the mini fridge and passed them out.

Bruce popped the top of his and took a drink. "Right then, what's up?" he asked.

Dave toyed with his bottle. "Well, erm, this is really awkward and all... and we do appreciate the thought behind what you been doing... but... well... we want you to stop finding birds for us," he said. "We know you're trying to be nice and all, but..."

"Half why I been drinking so much lately is cos I ain't into public sex," Ade muttered, red-faced. "And you and your bird of the night being in the same room counts as public for me. But if I wasn't too pissed to be bothered that you're there, I'd frankly not be able to perform at all – and I'd rather the groupies not go 'round telling their friends I can't get it up, y'know?"

"I feel the same," Dave said quietly. "Mind, we got nothing against you having your fun – we'd just rather wait in the hotel bar until your guest leaves, yeah?"

"Bloody hell, I'm sorry, mates," Bruce said, sounding sincere. "S'pose I just figured since you two don't have steady girls like Clive does – or a wife like Harry – that you'd be alright with it. Guess I should've asked, yeah?"

Dave smiled. "Yeah, but we know you meant well, s'why we didn't say anything sooner. Lord knows I felt awkward enough trying to figure out how to say it without sounding like I was judging you or whatever – and Ade there can just barely bring up any personal topic before he's known someone a year or more!"

Bruce chuckled at that last comment. "Yeah, I believe that one! I think what you just said now, Ade, is the most I've heard you say that don't have anything to do with the songs we're working on together."

Still blushing, Ade took a drink and grinned a bit. "S'truth, though. I'm not much for random chatter. 'Spect that's half why Urchin never did so well as I'd have liked, I never was comfortable as the front man, bantering with the crowds and all."

"Bit of a shame, that," Bruce said with a smile. "You've a fine voice, you know – bloody hell, what am I saying, you bloody well fronted Urchin, of course you know you sing well. Still, it's nice to have someone who sings as well as you do taking the backing vocals, so thanks, mate."

"You're welcome," Ade said.

"Are we all good, then?" Dave asked. "No hard feelings, Bruce?"

"Nah, mate," Bruce said. "I might've fucked up, not asking you blokes if I should bring company for you, but you were nice about asking me to stop, so we're all good. Sock on the door handle, then?"

"Yeah," Dave said with a grin. "That's the standard, innit?"

All three men chuckled and held up their beer bottles in a toast to their new agreement. After that, they popped Monty Python and the Holy Grail into the VHS player and opened a bag of crisps. Clive came in before the opening credits finished and grabbed a beer of his own, cramming in on the sofa with the other three.

"Who's been holding out on me?" the drummer asked with a chuckle. "If I'd known there was a Monty Python tape hiding on the bus, I'd have been watching it at least twice weekly!"