It's 3 AM Do You Know Where Your Children Are?

[hellomajortom]

For this Nexus photoprompt:



Tom sat down beside Robert on the couch in the lounge area of the hotel. “Hell this day. It's finally quiet.”

Robert laughs as he takes the cup of tea. “It won't last more than an hour.”

“It's three in the damned morning.” Tom can't say if he is surprised or exhausted.



“Aarne will be up soon and down here bothering us, strung out and bored while Joe is asleep.” Robert glanced at his watch and smile. “Mick and Zack are out but Ziggy and Damien are always down here in the middle of the night binging on food. I've never seen people eat so much food.”

The astronaut laughs so much he sets his tea down. “If that boy can put away as much as Ziggy, I'm surprised.”

“What I gather is the Dogs, or at least Damien, eat in the middle of the night when the Ministry is less likely to bother them.” Robert talked to all the rockstars, more than most. It was his job, in a way, to remember how they move and what they need.

“Well, that makes sense.” Tom went back to sipping his tea beside his old friend. “I know Rik and Vars are usually up early. I've seen Viktor roll down the hall; grouchy, hungover and looking for the other punk enough to know he does.”

Robert nodds his agreement. “Those two are a tornado but I've seen them up late drinking when everyone else has crashed for the night. That Norwegian treats him like gold, you can see it.”

That got them both laughing. “They both put on a lot of act, more bark than bite even if I've had to bail them on more than one fight recently.”

There was a pause in silence while room service delivered some pastries and another pot of tea to the two men sitting in the sofa.

“It's good they've found good counteraparts.” Robert mentioned. He was still single, divorced from his short marriage long ago, but he knew what it was to want someone to be your partner.

“OH!” Tom snorted a laugh. “Until you are the one trying to wrangle them as they feed off each other.”

Robert laughs more as he picks up one of the pastries. “You don't have to keep the limo in one piece.”

Tom could only shake his head and then smirks like a bad school boy. “You mean the sex mobile.”

“Are you two talking about the limo?” Aarne just appeared out of nowhere in a way that startled Tom as he plopped down on the couch, not really caring if there was enough space or not. “The punks didn't break it or set it on fire or something?”

The Fin was talking fast, probably from hitting the drugs, some kind of drugs, before coming down to steal their pastries.

“No, it's in one piece still.” Robert confirms while watching the drummer stuff almost a whole danish in his mouth.

“Hey dad.” Ziggy appeared from the hall and headed for the stairs with Damien in tow, both grinning in a way that looked like trouble. Aarne noticed it too and bounded up off the couch, taking Tom's tea with him. The three tall, skinny figures disappearing into the stairwell.

“I'm going to have to go down there.” Tom sighs, rolling his eyes at the missing tea cup. They were like crazy vultures. Tom couldn't control his giggles as he imagined the rockstars, Sharknado style, rolling through a town. It was pretty accurate.

Robert waved him off while pulling out another tea cup from the cart. He'd endured this for too many nights to not hoard extra cups. “Those three will be fine. I can't say the kitchen will have anything left in an hour but they're not likely to do much but get loud.”

Tom's grateful for the tea. Usually he would be asleep by now but they all had crashed earlier in the day while the others were practicing and on stage. Waking up at eleven at night really screwed up your sleep schedule. “Who's next?”

Robert raised a brow while drinking from the tea cup. “Hmm... Probably Rik. He's been getting into shit with Joe and the triplets that just went downstairs. Yesterday morning all I heard was Hunter and Gilly screaming.”

Tom covered his face in laughs. “Is that what the whole 'monsters in the room' thing was yesterday?”

“Probably.” Robert didn't know but that sounded right. He found it rather sweet how they all pranked the hell out of each other. Even the punks turned on the others occassionally and started shit. “I know Mick, Hunter, Gilly, Wierd and Gloria usually sleep in. Zack and Joe seem to stumble out when they notice their body pillows are gone.”

Tom was snorting again with laughter. Robert had been his friend since they started the Airforce in Britian. That was thirty years ago now, more like brothers than friends at this point. Robert was one of the few who knew, really knew, Tom's family and the ins and outs of what that meant.

“Godmorgen, Robert. Åh! Morgen Tom.”

Tom looked up to see the Dane; bright and chipper as if it wasn't four in the morning. He could only look at Robert.

“Sov godt, Rik?” Robert answers and then looks at Tom. “What? He's teaching me Danish.”

The laughter was threatening again but it was a good type of laughter and better than the headache of the rockstars at mid-day or after a show when they were off their rockers and doing whatever was illegal or should be.

“Is this what you do every morning?” Tom leaned close to his friend and shook his head again.

Robert threw an arm around Tom, happy for the closeness. “Who do you think watches them while you are out and sleeping?”

“Thank you.” Tom finally responded while he watched a cart rolling down the hall. The vodka and coffe --- the punks were up.

“You should get some sleep.” Robert gave Tom a push. “To bed.”

Tom gave his friend a shove as he put his tea cup down. “I'm not tired yet.”

“Go to bed.” Robert starts laughing because the late night was making them both a little loopy. The teasing was something they didn't indulge in.

Laughter, high pitched and girly, stops both of the older men. Both glance up to see Aarne giggling so much he was leaning on the wall snorting behind his hands. “You two look like Rik and Billy!”

Tom stops and glances at Robert and started laughing too. He turns on the Fin, getting up and pushing him a little toward the door. “Where's your saner half?”

Aarne randomly kisses Tom's cheek. “Sleeping. Oh! I'll go wake him up.”

Tom motions at the Fin bounding off down the hall. “That's your problem. I'm going to bed.”

“Good night, Tom.” Robert waves and went back to his tea. Either the Fin would climb back into bed or the chaos was going to start before sunrise today.