Becoming

New Frontier

In the morning, Dave slipped back to his own room in time to pick up the expected wake-up call, then he showered quickly and dressed for the day as he brewed coffee in the single-cup maker. Since no one in the band would be surprised at seeing him letting himself into Ade's room with coffee on an early wake-up call day after all these years, he laughed and gave Steve a wave as the other man knocked on Nicko's door with a frustrated sigh.

"Morning, Harry," he said quietly, not wanting to make too much noise in the hallway.

"Morning, Davey," Steve replied. "I see Ade gave you his key as usual?"

"Yeah, makes life easier, innit? Not like he don't know he's a heavy sleeper," Dave chuckled. "And I know to come prepared." He jokingly raised the cup of coffee he held in Steve's direction.

"Wish Nicko'd believe it one of these years," Steve grumbled, heading for the lifts. "I'd best get a spare key from the desk to prod his arse outta bed."

"Good luck," Dave said as he opened Ade's door. He stepped inside and closed the door quietly behind him, before moving over to the bed and giving his lover a kiss. "Time to wake up, love. I brought coffee for you."

Ade grumbled something unintelligible and tried to bury his face in the crook of Dave's elbow.

Chuckling warmly, Dave shook Ade's shoulder lightly. "Come on, love, you need to wake up this morning so you can properly say goodbye to Emppu and thank him for the Fazer factory tour. You wouldn't have all that chocolate without him, after all."

"S'too early," Ade grumbled. "Do'wanna ge'up."

"I brought coffee for you, Ade," Dave coaxed. "Wake up for now. I promise you can sleep again once we're on the bus in a couple of hours."

"Fiiiine," Ade sighed, using Dave as a support to pull himself into sitting up. "Still think s'too early." Taking the cup Dave offered him, he took a sip, then drank half of it in one go. "How long've I got?" he asked.

"Looks like about an hour, so we've got time to grab some breakfast," Dave said with a glance at the clock. "I know you'll probably only want toast if you plan on going back to bed once we're on the bus, but I'm gonna want a bit more than that."

Ade nodded. "Yeah, okay," he said with a yawn, before gulping down the rest of the coffee. "Thanks for waking me up," he said, giving Dave a kiss before levering himself out of bed and shuffling towards the loo.

Dave started the coffee maker while Ade showered, so that his lover could have a second cup before they headed downstairs.

"You're the best, baby, thank you," Ade said gratefully as he took that second cup of coffee, sipping it as he pulled on sweats and his trainers, looking for the most comfortable clothing for the trip, especially as he did plan to retreat to his bunk for a nap once they hit the road. By the time he finished the cup, he'd finished dressing and combing his hair as well as packing his suitcase. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Love you, Ade," Dave said softly, giving him a tender kiss. "I'll just need to grab my bag as we go by to the lifts."

He did just that and they made their way downstairs, where Ade grabbed a bagel and cream cheese and Dave made himself a bacon butty at the buffet, which they wrapped up as Jan entered the buffet.

"Morning, you two," Jan said with a smile. "Harry asked me to grab some food for himself and Nicko, as we're starting to get a little short on time."

"Best grab something for Bruce as well, then," Dave said. "Since I didn't see him in here, I'm going to assume he's been lingering with Emppu and won't have time to eat either."