by Megan Derr
"I'm always happy to have such fine clients," Jason demurred, and fell into conversation with her and Jake while everyone else dispersed into their own little groups.
Redd eventually nudged through the cluster to clap Cooper on the back. "When you got a secret, you sure got a secret. You gonna announce it?"
Cooper shrugged. "Not right now. I will eventually. My family knows. Ya'll know. That's all that really matters to me. I'm sorry this turned into such a thing. I should've done like some folk told me and admitted it earlier."
"Nah," Redd said. "I got a cousin, he came out a few years ago and his damned family and so-called friends gave him all the grief he'd been afraid of. Got so bad the boyfriend who'd made him come out broke up with him anyway."
"Same thing happened to an old friend of mine," Janette said. "Tore her life apart, and she'd been sure her family would back her. It's completely understandable why people are afraid even around folk they love."
Redd shook his head, grinned. "But for a man who prefers to keep it quiet, I don't think you could have picked further from quiet if you'd tried."
Dai grinned, moved closer to them. "I'm actually pretty quiet when I'm not on stage. I swear the only fights I pick anymore are with Jet."
Redd flicked a glance at Jet, smiling. "Yeah, I've heard about you."
Jet grinned back and gave Dai a shove.
"I'm pretty sure everyone has heard about him," Dai replied, shoving Jet back. "He's the one who never keeps his damned clothes on."
Redd laughed. "My niece is gonna be crushed if ya'll ever make it public. She's sworn by the whole kissing cousins thing for years."
Dai laughed, and Jet choked on the beer he'd just taken a sip of, dissolving into a coughing fit. Nearby, Jason cast them a warning look. "Quit roughhousing."
"Yes, mom," Dai retorted. "Stop scowling, you're at a party not a deposition."
"Don't get mad at them, it was my fault. I was teasing them about being kissing cousins," Redd said, earning a glare from Jet and Dai and an eye roll from Jason.
Dai took a swallow of beer. "We're more like brothers than cousins, but from what I understand, that wouldn't stop anyone."
"Whatever sells tickets," Jet said. "Though I will draw the line at kissing Dai. That just sounds weird and gross."
"Better me than Jason," Dai retorted, sending Jet into a third coughing fit as he once again made the mistake of trying to drink his beer.
Jason glared murder at them. "You're at a dinner party, not a rave, knock it off or so help me—"
"Yeah, yeah," Dai cut in. "Shut up and butt out."
"I mean it," Jason said. "Enough."
Dai rolled his eyes and ignored him, put his attention back on Jet. "You going to live?"
"Probably," Jet said around a gasp. "Could we stop talking about incest, maybe? Clearly it's more than I can handle."
Dai started to reply, but was drowned out by another coughing fit—this time Jason, who shot him a 'don't say a fucking word' look.
"Y'all keep trying to kill each other," Cooper said. "I'm getting some food. Want me to grab some for you?"
"Sure." Dai smiled, grinning even wider when Cooper shyly kissed his cheek before striding across the room to the buffet tables.
Jason strode off toward the bathroom. Dai stole Jet's beer and sat down next to Callie at one of the tables. Jet grumbled but went to get his own, the rest of the band trailing along behind him.
"Nice hair," Redd said. "My niece is always trying to match it. She gets mad you change it so often 'cause she can't afford to keep up."
Dai grinned. "Tell her I'm sorry. I get bored with a color fast. Though I may have to rest it soon. All the bleaching and dying is hard on hair."
Cooper laughed as he sat and set two plates down. He thanked Jake for the beers he set in front of them, then said, "Seeing your real color is going to be weird. Never thought pink hair would be what I consider normal."
"I prefer my brand of normal," Dai replied, then dove into his food as everyone else started to do the same.
He frowned a little while later when he realized he'd run out of beer. Leaning over, he kissed Cooper's cheek, smiling faintly at the pleased look that got him, then stood and headed over to the buffet tables. He poured two new beers from one of the various pitchers at one end of table, glancing back over where Cooper was still chatting with Jake and the rest of his band, who were ribbing him quietly over something to judge by the grinning and shoving. Then he wandered over to where Jet had holed up in a corner and was furiously writing on napkins. "You didn't bring our notebook, dumbass?" He set the beers down, nudging one close to Jet, then pulled up an empty seat. "What are you working on?"
"Duet, look it over," Jet said and shoved three text-riddled napkins across the little table.
"Shouldn't you be drinking and pissing all of us off by getting naked?" Dai asked idly as he turned the napkins and began to read the lyrics and various annotations Jet had written out. "In the mood for a heartbreaker, huh? But since when do I duet? Who the hell is going to sing with me?"
Jet looked at him like he was an idiot. "There's just two fucking bands in this room and you have to ask that stupid fucking question?"
Dai flipped him off without bothering to look up. "What the fuck is this bit? No, that's going."
"No, it's not, stop being such a bitch. It just needs cleaning up."
"It needs to be burned."
Jet flapped a hand impatiently. "I've had a few beers and we were up too fucking early to deal with ol' Nicky. Cut me some slack. Better yet, go make out with your boyfriend and leave me the hell alone." He reached out to take his napkins back.
Dai held them out of reach. "I'm not done. Back off or they accidentally go in my beer glass."
"Unnecessary roughness," Jet muttered.
"You don't even know which sport that's from," Dai retorted.
"Neither do you!"
Ignoring that, Dai smoothed the napkins back out on the table. "You think Jake will go for it?"
Jet snorted, looking across the room as he downed half his beer. "Please. Even an idiot could see Jake and Cooper are still kind of edging around each other. Things are better, but they're not really fixed yet. I think Jake would do anything to set everything to rights once and for all. But even discounting that, yeah, he'd go for it. These kinds of mashups are popular right now. It'll be awesome."
Glancing at the lyrics again, Dai asked, "Am I seriously going to be singing a duet about two dudes fighting over some girl."
"Speaking of shit that is popular and will do stupidly well…"
Dai heaved a long sigh. "At least you keep it interesting."
"I keep it making money."
"Whatever happened to artistic integrity?" Dai asked, grinning over the edge of his beer.
"Every third album, and I prefer when 'integrity' rhymes with 'retired at forty as a multi-millionaire'."
Dai rolled his eyes because they'd both literally walked away from millions to form their band. "Whatever. Give me your damn pen." Jet handed it over, and they settled to bickering over the song.
They didn't stop until Jason came over glaring death. "Stop acting like idiots or I swear I will make you regret every day for the next six months."
"Seriously," Kim added. "Stop with the yelling before Jason makes all of us miserable. Again."
"You stop yelling," Jet retorted. Kim, Ricky, and Misha rolled their eyes.
"What in the heck is going on over here?" asked Redd, looking equal parts amused and confused. Beside him, Cooper's other bandmate, Callie, just looked amused.
Jason pinched the bridge of his nose. "The same thing that usually happens when these brats are left unsupervised too long."
"He started it," Jet muttered, flipping Jason off. "There's nothing wrong with the last verb."
"We'll see if you stand by that when you're sober," Dai retorted.
"Oh, you're one to talk of sober right now."
Cooper chuckled and moved in c
lose, hauled Dai to his feet. "What are ya'll bickering over?"
"They're not bickering," Kim said. "They're songwriting. It's literally the only way they know how to do it. What are you losers working on? Can't you enjoy a party like normal deviants?"
"No," Jason and Dai said at the same time. They glared at each other.
Jet snickered. "Normal is not an adjective that's ever applied to me. We're writing a duet for Jake and Dai to sing."
Jake startled, then looked at them warily before sliding his gaze to Cooper. "Are they being serious? Should I be worried?"
"Yes and yes," Cooper replied. When Jake gave him a look, he shrugged. "You asked."
"What's the duet?" Jake asked.
"Still working on it," Dai grumbled but stood and walked over to him to hand off the napkins. "We'll have a better draft for you in a couple of days."
"Couple of weeks," Kim interjected. "Don't even try to fucking lie, you sorry ass losers. You'll fuss and bitch and moan for at least that long to get it right before you let anyone else see your precious baby."
Jake laughed. "Oh, so they're artistes, huh?"
"And how," Ricky replied.
Dai flipped off the entire room as they all laughed. "What do you think?"
"Looks good so far," Jake said, handing back the napkins. "You know where to find me when there's details to be hammered out. If not, your sorry ass boyfriend can figure out where I've gone." He laughed when Cooper gave him a light shove.
Dai returned the napkins to Jet. "We'll finish this discussion tomorrow." He yawned. "For now, would anyone object if I bailed on this party?"
"I think Cooper doesn't object," Redd drawled, laughter in in his voice. "And he don't care what the rest of us have to say."
Cooper just grinned and hustled Dai toward the door, leading the way to get their coats. The others laughed and began to gather up their own belongings, and they waved goodnight to the owner, Jessie, on their way out to the lot where their cars were the only ones remaining.
Dai slid into the back of the car waiting for him and Cooper, smiling softly when Cooper slid in next to him. "I'm glad everything went so well for you," he said as the car drove off and the panel between the front and back seats slid up.
"Thanks," Cooper said. "Seems it's always the way, worrying for nothing."
"Eh. You never know when family will turn on you. Look at mine: they don't care I'm gay, but they'll never forgive me for running away to become a rockstar. They tolerate my existence, but if I ever crossed another line they've drawn, my dad wouldn't hesitate to break me in any way he could."
"Speaking of family, you'll have to come out to meet mine. Not this time. They're all scattered anyway and my sister will bury me in the furthest acre of the property if you come while she's away, but soon. Maybe for Christmas, if you're not busy doing other things."
Dai twisted in his seat and reared up to kiss Cooper hard. The car hit a bump, sending them tumbling back, and Cooper landed with a grunt as he sprawled on the seat and Dai sprawled on him. He grinned. "Well if you hate the idea that much…"
"Totally hate it," Dai replied. "Will they like me?"
"Of course they will," Cooper replied. "Nobody with half a brain could hate you, Dai. Hell, I couldn't even resist you the first time we met. If you can teach this old cowboy new tricks, I think you'll have my family in your palm inside of five minutes."
Dai laughed, hauled them both back up to sitting. "I'll settle for my cowboy."
Cooper grinned, slow and hot and a little mischievous. "That you've got, honey. Forever and a da—"
Dai cut him off with a hard pinch and chased it with a kiss.
Fin
About the Author
Megan is a long time resident of LGBTQ fiction, and keeps herself busy reading, writing, and publishing it. She is often accused of fluff and nonsense. When she's not involved in writing, she likes to cook, harass her cats, or watch movies. She loves to hear from readers, and can be found all over the internet.
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