Becoming

Dream Of Mirrors

Emppu had left by the time Dave got Ade sleepwalking out to the bus alongside Jan guiding Nicko. Bruce and Steve helpfully took care of the luggage, and they got on the road. The next couple of weeks passed uneventfully; Dave and Ade spent time talking with their respective wives about their holiday plans, and the shows continued to happen with minimal issues. However, Dave noticed that Rod's assistant Jones had taken to glaring at him at random moments and speaking in condescending tones when he had to talk to either Bruce or himself.

Dave didn't give Jones's rudeness much thought, though. Thinking back just a little, he realised that Jones started his rudeness back in Helsinki – given his obvious homophobia towards Bruce and Emppu, Dave figured Jones must have decided that his declaration that some of them might or might not have 'experimented' in their younger days, meant that Dave himself had been with a man, and so now he was coming in for a share of the homophobia. But since Jones never said anything outright, Dave figured that ignoring his rudeness was the best way of handling it.

They'd just crossed the Channel on the ferry and gone through Customs, heading into London for the first of the two shows there before their break. Unfortunately, traffic heading towards London from Dover appeared to be at a standstill. As they sat amidst a sea of unmoving vehicles on the motorway, Jan and Nicko headed over to talk with Steve and try to distract him, or at least keep him from snapping at everyone for no reason. Dave and Ade plunked down by Bruce to do the same thing. They all knew that both men had notoriously short tempers and didn't want to risk the two falling into old habits of sniping at each other over a situation completely beyond anyone's control.

"...be fine, Bruce, he's a grown man. I'm sure he's smart enough to go inside if he gets chilled," Dave said in an effort to reassure the increasingly agitated singer that Emppu wouldn't freeze to death by waiting outside in the well-above-freezing temperatures. "But text him again if you want the reassurance."

"I don't want to make him feel like I can't trust him to do the right thing, though," Bruce fretted.

"So, start by apologising," Adrian suggested. "Tell him you're sorry for sounding like his nagging mum, but you're concerned about him and that you just want to know he's safe and warm."

"You really think he won't be mad at me? Bruce questioned.

"I'm sure of it," Dave said. "We're obviously running a lot later than we figured on, so you've got reason to text again, or even call."

Smallwood's phone rang just then. The manager answered and frowned, speaking in a hushed voice for a few minutes before hanging up with a frustrated expression. He stood up and called for attention. "Right, listen up, you lot. I think we all agree we've had an excellent few weeks on the road so far, yeah? Unfortunately, it looks as if Murphy's Law decided to slap us in the face today. This traffic isn't just a delay due to a collision resulting in a closed lane; a petrol tanker rolled over and exploded. No one was seriously hurt, thank God, but the whole bloody motorway is closed, and half the roads around here are too narrow to take the bus on. We're looking at a minimum of three more hours before we get there, because of the roundabout way we'll need to take to get past the accident – and that's only after we make it to the next slip road and off the bloody motorway!"

Steve looked ready to rip someone's head off. "Who's in charge at the venue?" he asked. "Who's going to explain to the media what's going on?"

"I sent Jones on ahead with the equipment last night," Smallwood said. "I'm not best pleased with how much of a miserable bastard he's acted so far this tour, but this might be his chance to redeem himself; we'll see how well he handles the media without me there."

"Hopefully," Steve said, not looking overly optimistic. "Bruce, you said Emppu's already at Earls Court? Think he could lead the techs in doing soundcheck for us? At least that way we'll know FOH has all the settings dialed in so we can just roll in and get on with the show. Surely someone onsite will be willing to pretend to be you and sing for a few minutes."