The first thing Adrian noticed was how soft the carpet looked. The carpet was all fluffed up and an even lighter tone of brown than the lobby. Walking across the room, Adrian looked out of the window and saw the landscape. The sun was still bright outside and Adrian couldn't wait to see how everything looked like at night. He went to have a sneak peek at the bathroom and not a lot was packed in the small space. A single sink with an adjacent toilet bowl, and a shower stall was all that fit inside the bathroom.

Adrian then checked the beds, they were both a twin single and they seemed a lot closer together when he stepped towards the beds. There was only one small shared bedside table with a lamp on top that separated the beds. Brody had already set himself on the bed by the door so Adrian took the one by the window. Dropping his bag at the foot of the bed, Adrian flopped down on the bed which was firmer than it looked. The sheets were still fresh and soft, Adrian crawled up the bed and rested himself on the back of the bed board, trying to relax.

"So what do you think of this room?" Brody asked from his bed, seemingly comfortable.

Adrian had responded. "It's pretty cosy." He then got up from his bed to grab his phone from his bag. Before he could check it, Adrian was spun around and pulled closer by Brody.

Brody held Adrian before giving him a sweet kiss. Adrian was just as happy to receive the kiss as he went back in for another gentle kiss on the lips.

"Kind of romantic don't you think?" Brody spoke softly to Adrian.

Adrian nodded his head, before giving him one last peck. "I mean having both of our teams here spoils the mood by just a smidge but other than that, we have our own space in the end, so I like it."

Brody nodded along. "And are you sure you didn't rig this?" He laughed as a joke which resulted in Adrian pushing him down, laughing at the joke himself, before going into the bathroom.

Once he got inside, Adrian then locked the bathroom door behind him. He's been feeling his heart rate speed too quickly the last couple of minutes and not in a good way. He just needed some space, a breather. Adrian braced his hands on the sink before looking in the mirror.

'Deep breaths...'

His initial thoughts back on the coach however returned and they kept creeping up on him, manifesting and gnawing at him.

'How was he going to sleep with Brody when he might not be ready to?'

Adrian was caught between his physical needs displaying something different from his emotional needs, which were also conflicting with his mental needs.

They've been a lot more flirty ever since the morning after their first kiss. Sometimes Brody instigated it, and sometimes Adrian did as well. It made Adrian feel happy and alive, very much alive.

But being this close in what felt like a very small room, this quickly, was too much for Adrian to comprehend.

Adrian didn't feel ready for any of this. He's never even had a long term relationship before.

But now he was suddenly sharing a room with another person, a guy as a matter of fact, all of the sudden and it scared him, a lot. He didn't even know he was interested in men last year but now it's all about this one guy who is sitting on the bed in the next room. It was about how that person meant so much to him and how much he could mean to him in the future.

Adrian liked Brody, a lot. He didn't want to screw it up by rushing things too quickly and overstepping boundaries. He didn't want to mess it up by not committing enough either. Maybe Brody wasn't getting enough from Adrian which leads to the end of them, or maybe all of this will scare Brody off.

Adrian was lost and confused.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Brody looked at the clock on his phone and saw that Adrian had been in the bathroom for over 15 minutes. It was eerily silent as there was no water running, no footsteps pacing and no noises from his phone since it was still in his bag.

Brody felt something was off. He knew he saw something in Adrian before he entered the room and he wanted to give him the space he needed, but now he was definitely worried about him.

Brody got up from bed and gently knocked on the door. "Adrian?"

Brody knocked on the door again before Adrian replied from behind the door. "I'll be out in a minute."

The one minute turned into two, two turned into four and before he knew it there was another knock.

Brody tried again. "It's just me, you can talk to me about anything you know."

Brody was met with silence. His heart was tearing, knowing that something was wrong with Adrian and he wasn't sure what it was. With one last attempt and another gentle knock on the door. "Take all the time you need, I'll be out here whenever you need me okay? I'm getting worried and I just want to make sure everything's all right."

Brody was about to walk away when he heard a click unlock the door. The door was still closed and Adrian was on the other side still. Brody pushed opened the door instead and he saw Adrian was sitting on the edge of the sink with his head in his hands. It didn't look like he was sick or crying, just visibly frustrated and lost, to the point that he had locked himself in the bathroom for over 20 minutes.

It was like an instinct for Brody, who wrapped his arms around Adrian, and held him closely as he rested his head on top of Adrian's.

~~~~~~~~~

Brody waited, and waited with Adrian. He waited long enough with him in the bathroom until Adrian began to open up again in an ever so quiet manner.

"I don't know how much I can give you, I don't know if I can do any of this..."

That one sentence was already painful for Brody, but he knew it best to wait until Adrian was ready to carry on without feeling forced to speak.

"Since we got close, I felt that there's always been something there between us. And amazing as it feels, it's just as scary as well.

We've been going great so far, and I really do like you.

But walking into this room, it hit me. I've never been with anyone before, in any kind of manner. And now we're in this room together, all alone, and if there's something romantic between us, like at all, then there's certain, expectations, involved.

Sharing this room feels like so much is happening, so quickly. One minute we're getting to know each other, and then we kiss, and then we get even closer with each other.

And it's great and everything, but now it feels like all the boundaries are about to come off since we're moving to the next level, and I don't know how much I can offer you. I don't know how ready I am to be with you, like that.

So I'm sat here thinking, am I actually ready for any of this?

I want to be, for you. But is that my head telling me or my heart? Am I actually ready or is it my brain and heart tricking me."

Brody felt that Adrian had finished speaking his mind about what had been troubling him lately. Brody kissed the top of his head before he bent down on his knees so he could look at Adrian in the eyes. Brody grabbed his hands and placed another gentle kiss on them before speaking.

"Adrian I am so, so sorry that you've been feeling like this. It has never been my intention for you to feel pressured into doing something you might not be ready for.

When we had to share this room together, I honestly was not expecting anything other than us just sleeping in the same room together, that's it. Nothing else, no implication or expectations of sex or anything like that.

If it still isn't right for you and you don't feel ready for us to be this close so fast then I can rent another room, just to make sure you're comfortable with the idea that I don't want us to have to move faster than either of us are ready for.

I like you just as much as I did when I first saw you, and if you're not ready for us to get closer, just sleeping in the same room and ONLU sleeping, then we can pause this. I can give you more space, physically, emotionally, whatever. Because I understand that this all seems like a lot and it probably is a lot.

So I'll wait, I'll wait for you until you're comfortable with going at whatever pace you want, Adrian. Because I care about you so much that I would do anything for you, as long as you're happy.

How you feel in here and in here matters the most to me." Brody had tapped Adrian's temple as well as his chest, indicating his heart.

Adrian's sniffled slightly in attempt to recompose himself. "You really mean all of that don't you?" Adrian asked out loud rhetorically but Brody nodded his head regardless.

Adrian got up from the sink and made Brody stand on his feet before embracing him in a very deep hug. Adrian felt Brody squeeze him so Adrian only held on tigger, resting his head on his shoulder in the warm embrace.

~~~~~~~~~~

They didn't expect the day to take an emotional sharp turn so quick, but now that it happened they were assured about one and another.

Brody led Adrian away from the bathroom as it was getting colder in there. Adrian was going to go onto his own bed when Brody offered to just hold him, no strings attached.

And so they were like this, for over an hour. Just talking to each other casually, with no one outside their room existing. Brody offered to watch something on Netflix using his phone but Adrian was happy with how they were now.

Brody had his arm snaked around Adrian's shoulder as he propped himself on Brody's torso. There wasn't a lot of room on the bed so Brody had to hold him close so they wouldn't fall off. Brody was embracing him as he leaned his back onto the headboard. Brody was massaging Adrian's hands with his only available one, twiddling with his hands as he held them gently in his lap.

Brody has been placing gentle kisses to the side of Adrian's head every now and then since they were cuddling.

It seemed like they were back on track, and Brody was happy with where they were at.

~~~~~~~~~~

"I know we talked about US for a while earlier and I'm glad we did." Brody told Adrian as they were still in bed with each other. "But full disclosure, there's something I did that now seems really wrong, ever since you told me what you felt earlier."

Brody pulled himself away so he could talk to Adrian properly. He moved himself to sit on the edge of Adrian's bed. Adrian himself only mirrored his position on the opposite bed as he waited for Brody to talk.

Brody nervously scratched the back of his head, thinking that it was best to get it out and done with. Like ripping off the band aid, "I kind of rigged our pairing on the coach..."

Brody was met with silence in the room before Adrian said something. "What do you mean?" Adrian asked puzzled.

"Towards the end of the whole picking phase, when someone sat next to me on the coach, I convinced someone that was sitting alone to switch seats with me so that my room partner was still unclaimed."

Adrian slowly nodded as he began to understand it.

"I only switched seats twice, and then at the end it was 50:50 whether I got you or one of your other teammates." Brody shrugged his shoulders. "I took my shot and I was lucky to get paired with you."

Adrian still didn't have a readable expression on his face, only still nodding along as he asked. "Can I ask why?"

Brody rested his arms on his knees as he was messing with his fingers. He still made sure there was some space between them so Adrian could react if needed to. "I, really, only thought that it was JUST sharing a room with you and nothing extra. I thought it would be a good way for us to get closer connected with each other like spiritually. We haven't been able to spend a lot of time together with school, work, hockey and other stuff.

But then after we talked in the bathroom, you felt all sorts of pressure and expectations and that was because of MY selfish actions." Brody looked at the floor, emphasising how ashamed he was of his actions that caused so much internal conflict from Adrian's inner self.

Adrian spoke up to get his attention after processing everything. "I understand it then I guess. I mean I'm selfish as well then since I just wanted us to have some more quality time together.

And while I wasn't prepared for what I thought we had to do, I don't really regret anything that has happened in this room or on the coach.

And now you told me this when we already got over that hurdle.

I trust you Brody, before we kind of got together I trusted you. And then with what you told me in the bathroom I trusted you even more. And now, I still do. I believe your intentions were good and there's no harm now anyway.

Brody heard the sincerity behind all of that and he couldn't help but look back at Adrian. He didn't know what reaction to expect from Adrian, after hearing it all Brody felt relief and delight. "I really want to kiss you right now." Brody laughed as he confessed.

Adrian placed a chaste kiss on Brody's lips before adding a second affectionate kiss.

Adrian urged Brody to come back on the bed with him. As they did, they returned to the same spot they were in earlier. Both of them feeling they had a clearer and cleaner conscience.

"I'm not going to forget you teasing me for rigging the room when it was you and not me that did it." Adrian joked with Brody. "I'll get you back for that later or something."

Brody laughed as he brought Adrian's hand to his lips and kissed it. "Im counting on it."

~~~~~~~~~~~

There was a knock on the door later the same evening when the pair were disturbed. Adrian withdrew his hands from Brody as he got up from the bed to answer the door.

Adam was on the other side as he pushed himself in and made his way through the room. "All of our rooms do look the same..." Adam spoke out loud.

Adrian was confused. "Did you come into our room just to tell us that?"

Adam laughed with Brody. "The Coach said that this evening's meal at the lobby is cancelled because there was some food contamination thingy. Anyway, he said that there's a carnival nearby and everyone's allowed to go there instead and do whatever for the rest of the night."

At hearing the news, Adrian was excited as his eyes lit up. "A carnival?! Awesome, let's go." He said as he addressed them both.

Brody was already happy at the idea, now he was happy Adrian had perked up at the idea as well.

Adrian had already ushered Adam out the door so that they could all get ready. Their current outfit was more suited for a lazy day in so they decided to get changed and wear more appropriate gear for their fun night out. They had agreed to meet everyone down at the lobby in 20 minutes.

==========