Practice had just finished when everyone was sent to the locker room to get change. Everyone else was already preoccupied to see both of the coaches coming into the locker room.

Coach Sheen had blown his whistle, allowing Coach Taylor to speak over the newly found silence.

"I would like to remind everyone that the coach leaves at 8:30 sharp and we expect every one of you to arrive with ample time to spare this Friday." Coach Taylor reminded everyone.

Coach Sheen continued. "Anybody who does not arrive on time will be left behind and therefore won't join us the 2 day trip to see the Penguins versus the Cheetahs."

"As all of the arrangements are provided for you, by the school, we expect everyone to comply with the arrangements and the itinerary scheduled." Coach Taylor finished off.

As they both departed, both teams were amped up with excitement for the trip. As far as both teams were away, Principle Thompson had arranged a professional contract where the Penguins provided a mentoring program that supports the Ravens in any upcoming endeavours. And as they had close connections with Stonebrook Academy, Principal Thompson managed to include the Eagles on the trip.

~~~~~~~~~~~

And so, several days later, it was the day of the trip when both the Ravens and the Eagles were waiting by the coach at the designated time. Huddled around the entrance as a large group, they all awaited further instructions.

"To save all of the trouble and earache of organising who sits where, who rooms where and all that other time wasting crap, we believe we've made an easy quick way to sort it all out for you." Coach Taylor announced.

Coach Taylor passed a large bowl for Adrian to hold, filled with scraps of paper.

"What's this for?" Adrian had asked his coach.

"Each seat on the coach is assigned a random number. Everyone will take a number out of the bowl and sit in the corresponding seat. Whoever you sit next to will be your roommate for the next 2 days." Coach Taylor declared.

While both teams were murmuring amongst each other, Adrian whispered to his coach.

"Is this really necessary? Can't we just pick our own seat and roommate? What if we get paired with someone we hate?" Adrian had asked.

Coach Taylor ignored everything Adrian had asked. "The clock is ticking, let's get going, and onto on the bus."

Adrian watched as every single person, other than himself, picked a number from the bowl and sit in their seat. As the last one in, Adrian was forced into the only available space. Making his way through the narrow passageway, the last seat was towards the back.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Adrian said out loud.

Brody was practically beaming at Adrian. "Hi roomie!"

Adrian quickly looked around and saw Adam who was sitting next to Callum.

'Of course they get an easy person to share a room with.'

He went over to them and addressed the pair. "Hey Callum, you mind swapping with me?"

Although Callum would usually help anyone who asked for his help. "Sorry Adrian, but umm, Coach Sheen is staring right at us..."

Adrian turned his head and saw it for himself. Withdrawing on the spot, Adrian was forced to sit back down by Brody.

Once he sat down by the window, Brody whispered to him. "You know, I feel like you managed to rig this so that you would get me alone..."

Adrian choked at the suggestion. Internally he was thinking, 'I can't share a room with you for 2 days, this early in whatever thing we have going on! This is way too rushed between us.'

Externally, he told Brody. "How would I rig something as random as this!" He shouted back.

Brody only chuckled. "I did see you whispering to your coach before we picked our seats..."

Adrian refuted the implication as he proclaimed his innocence. "I just asked if we could choose our own seats but he just completely ignored me."

Brody had agreed for the sake of it but Adrian sensed that he wasn't done teasing him just yet.

~~~~~~~~~~

Adrian was woken up by a pothole in the road, causing the vehicle to shake him awake. The sudden disturbance moved him from his spot where he realised he had fallen asleep against Brody's shoulder.

Brody looked back at him, smiling at confused looking Adrian.

"It was just the car, you can go back to sleep if you want. They said it's still another hour or something away before we get there." Brody gently told him, trying not to disrupt his heightened senses after being suddenly woken up.

"Won't you get bored on your own?" Adrian asked, rubbing his eyes softly.

"You were busy working late last night and you had to get up early." Brody reminded him. "I'll give you full permission to use me as a cushion again if you like."

Adrian expected Brody to tease him about that, with a little smirk that Adrian would usually find charming. However Adrian didn't get any of that from Brody, just a genuine, meaningful offer.

Adrian nodded his head as he slumped back down onto Brody. "Thank you." Adrian whispered.

Brody tapped Adrian's head by softly bumping his own head, giving him a hidden display of affection without any words needed.

~~~~~~~~~~

70 minutes later and Adrian was woken up again from his nap, this time all naturally. Brody was reading a book that he had brought along with him in his bag.

Still a little hazy from his nap, "You brought a book on this trip?" Adrian asked.

Brody looked to his side and saw Adrian was awake. "Nice nap?" Adrian nodded as Brody showed him the front cover of his book. "Murder on the Oriental Express, by Agatha Christie. Ashley leant it to me."

"Isn't that a movie?" Adrian asked as he sat up and stretched from his seat.

"The book came out first, and this is apparently a classic. Books are always better than the movies anyway." Brody explained.

Adrian tried to argue how time saving watching the film is, over reading the book. "But you have to spend hours reading it, compared to a film where it's only like 75 minutes."

Brody snorted with laughter at that. "Typical. You're probably one of those people who reads 5 minutes in a chapter and declares they earned themselves a break."

"That is so me." Adrian laughed with him. "Will you read some of it to me?"

Brody was hesitant, "You sure? I'm already like a quarter of they way in and you'll probably miss some key information."

A still sleepy Adrian lacked a filter. Adrian shrugged as he slumped himself on the back of his seat, as he answered honestly. "I just like listening to your voice."

Brody's heart swelled triple the size after hearing that confession. Brody looked at Adrian who seemed unfazed, probably not even realising he said that out loud.

'How do you keep doing this to me?' Brody asked himself.

"Okay, I'll read you a chapter."

~~~~~~~~~

The coach journey was 40 minutes away from its destination when Adrian had decided to split open his bags of snacks for him to share with Brody. They were halfway through the second bag when Brody suggested to play some games to pass the time.

"Okay so I'm going to give you three statements and you have to pick out which one of them is the lie."

Adrian nodded as he understood the game. "And what do I win?" Adrian asked as his competitive nature came out naturally.

Brody couldn't help but laugh at that. "You don't win anything, you dork! It's just something we can do to pass the time."

Adrian pouted as a protest which Brody found childish yet cute at the same time.

"Bragging rights?" Brody asked dubiously.

Adrian's expression was blank. "That's like the default prize you tell a competitive person to coerce them into playing."

Brody nudged Adrian with his shoulder. "See, you're already winning! Great job!" Brody grinned at him.

Adrian's expression quickly morphed into fake anger as he playfully punched him in the arm, "Cheeky asshole."

Brody laughed wholeheartedly at Adrian. "Okay, you ready?" Adrian had nodded and so Brody began the game.

"Okay, statement number 1, I can play the piano.

Number 2, I once got placed into police custody when I was younger.

And number 3, I once fell of a standing motorcycle."

Adrian listened closely to the first two statements before bursting out laughing at Brody because of the third one. It was louder than expected for someone on a public bus, as several people turned to look at them. The pair seemed to ignore the stares as they all turned back around.

After thinking it through, he had decided. "Obviously it is number 2, there's no way someone like you would be taken in the by the police."

Brody made a buzzer like sound, indicating Adrian was wrong.

"What?!" Adrian gasped.

"It was number 1."

"And you saying it was number 1 isn't the lie?" Adrian joked.

Brody shook his head. "I can play the guitar if that helps." Brody suggested, indicating that he couldn't actually play the piano.

Adrian wanted to know about the two truths. "Okay now explain the other two."

"The jail one was when I snuck into the movie theatre with my friends when I was 11. I was the only one that got caught and they wanted to scare me straight."

Adrian snickered at that which only brought a smirk from Brody.

"Fiiiine, scare me bi then." Brody said flatly which brought music to Brody's ears as Adrian laughed.

"And the motorcycle?"

"I didn't realise how heavy the bike is once you kick the pedal stand off the ground!" Brody explained.

Adrian was laughing harder at Brody when he gently shoved Adrian. "Doesn't matter, I won that one so it was worth it. Now it's your turn."

~~~~~~~~~~

"Ok so statement number 1, the first time I ever tried out for a sports team in middle school I was so nervous that I threw up over the P.E teacher.

Number 2, I once blamed Adam for stealing back my headphones from our teacher a few years ago, and until this day he doesn't know about it.

And the last one, I once broke both of my arms in the span of four days from each other."

Brody explained his reasoning for choosing which one out loud. "You know what, they all could be true. The first one just sounds so much like present you that it's possible for a younger version of you to do that. The second statement, the last half makes it more believable. The third one, well, who hasn't broken a bone before?"

Brody was in deep thought before he answered number 3. "Did I get it right?"

"Damn it!" Adrian cursed.

Brody cheered his celebratory win. He then remembered the Adam statement. "Wow that's pretty bold and daring of you to set Adam up like that..."

Adrian was quick to try and silence Brody. "Sshhhhh!" He placed a finger on his own lips.

Brody wasn't finished teasing Adrian, in fact, he felt bold as well. Brody was smiling as he made the motion to stand up. "Poor Adam shouldn't have to live with that when he doesn't even know he did nothing wrong. And it MUST be tearing you up on the inside..."

Adrian pulled Brody back down on the chair before anyone saw him and covered his mouth with the palm of his hand. "Not another word, Brody!"

Brody joked back with him as he responded by licking Adrian's palm, causing Adrian to pull back and for Brody to laugh out loud again.

~~~~~~~~~~~

They were 5 minutes away from the hotel so they decided to end it with one more round. Brody was the one to finish the game.

"So, number 1 I sleep in a Pikachu onesie.

Number 2, I have a elephant teddy on my bedside table."

And number 3, I've never seen The Lion King before."

Adrian answered the first one as the lie. His reasoning was that he thought the elephant one was too cute to deny as a lie, and he had never seen The Lion King either so he thought it was possible.

"Ding ding ding! We have a winner." Brody announced. Adrian fist pumped the air before Brody leaned in closer. "I actually just sleep in my underwear..." Brody whispered into his ear.

Adrian choked on his saliva as he coughed. He looked back at Brody who was still sporting a shit eating grin.

During the middle of his coughing fit, the coach had stopped as everyone saw the hotel past the windows.

Coach Taylor stood up from his seat. "Everyone we're here. Grab your stuff and line up with your roommate so we can all give you your keys for the entire trip once we get inside."

~~~~~~~~~~

The hotel was at a higher quality standard than Brody had expected. For a school to pay for an entire team of kids for two overnight stays, this place was pretty nice.

The interior design of the reception was based around a light brown wooden panels. Several orchids, ferns and other potted plants could be seen on the desk, on the tables and by the windows. Ceiling lights were consistently spread out from the roof and from where they were all standing, they could see the large dining room that catered towards regional based cuisines. Brody managed to see a doorman as the elevator door closed, holding the luggage trolley besides several other guests.

Once all of the players were given a key to there room, they had all split up to go to their rooms for a couple of hours. Brody led the way towards their room when he stopped outside the door, waiting for Adrian. Brody saw a look of uncertainty in Adrian's eyes as they stood outside. Brody was going to check if he was okay but Adrian had already opened the door, seemingly gloss over the uncertainty that he just had in his eyes.

==========