R42: Keep it a Secret

a short fic inspired by this video:

YouTube- Interview to Chris and Johny from their Latin American Tour by R42

or, skip to the story:

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“I think Jonny has really got a lot to say about it.”

Jonny cocked his head up and stuttered, “A-about what?”

He stared deep into Chris's eyes and started to panic. It wasn't his fault he couldn't keep his concentration when he was sitting next to the most beautiful man on the planet. And the flash of Chris's tongue as he wet his lips did nothing help.

“You know what- what- you know, about that thing,” Chris vaguely replied. Jonny's nerves settled a little and he smiled to himself. Then Chris turned back to Miller. “What was the question, man?”

“Erm...” Miller thought for a moment, ponderously pushing his glasses up. “Eh, forget it, I'll think of a new question. Let's see... oh, well, were you nervous? Did you get nervous before the first gig?”

Jonny figured that he should be the one to answer, and so he took a few seconds to prepare what he would say. “Yeah... but, uh, not at all once we started playing.”

“Once we started playing we were like... we were like, high or something. It felt fantastic, if I'm honest. ” Chris gave a little laugh, and turned to Jonny, who was also chuckling. “Although, Guy might have been, 'cause I thought I saw him hanging with one of the roadies and that dressing room smelled kinda funky when I went in there.”

“Yeah, it did, didn't it?” Jonny laughed. “But I don't think that's fair to say that when Guy's not even here.”

“Fine,” Chris rolled his eyes, which Jonny always thought looked lovely despite the sarcasm behind it, “I'll say something about Will later on to balance it out.”

“What are you going to say about him?”

Chris chewed his lip and looked up at the ceiling. He shot his head over in Miller's direction and said, “You're Roadie 42? Do people know just how lovely you are? Do they know how important you are?”

“Oh, well, that's...” Miller began, obviously flattered by Chris's questions. In the background, Jonny silently messed with his beard, laughing at what was being said, but focusing on wishing that Chris would say something like that about him instead. “I'm just a small cog in a big machine.”

Chris shrugged and replied, “Same here, we all are. We're all just working for Will Champion. That's the way it's always been, and that's the way it always will be.” The room burst with laughter, and Chris winked at Jonny, whose heart fluttered hopelessly.

“So, without Will, there would be no Coldplay?”

“Well, in that sense, yeah, but there would be no Coldplay without any of us. It just wouldn't... work, you know? And especially... especially not without Jonny.” Jonny almost broke into a million pieces at the feel of Chris's hand resting on his thigh. Jonny slowly looked up at Chris. Chris had sounded so sincere, with a tone that was completely different from anything he'd ever heard Chris say before. And the look in his eyes was one Jonny and never seen before, either. It was almost as if his dreams were finally coming true.

“Oi, get a room already!” one of the passing crew shouted.

A few people laughed, and another crew member continued, “Yeah, and while you're at it, why don't you two just get married, eh?”

“In a heartbeat,” Jonny thought he heard Chris quietly say. But he wasn't sure that Chris had actually said it, and he didn't want to do anything stupid and risk the chance that he'd heard wrong. “You know what? I'm tired of this,” he said in a much clearer voice as he spun around to face Miller. “Is your camera still on?”

“Yeah,” Miller lamely replied.

“Good.” Chris turned again, but this time he repositioned his entire body so it was facing Jonny. “Jonny, everyone's always joking about this, even me sometimes, but it's really not something I find all that funny. For a very long time- since we met, probably- I've been... keeping it a secret. From you, from everyone... even from myself at first.”

The room was silent now, the people all listening intently to what Chris had to say. Of course, they all knew what he was going to say, but the sheer anticipation of it was enthralling. If Chris had been paying attention to them, he might have become rather nervous, but his focus was solely on Jonny.

“Jonny... Jonathan Mark Buckland... I wholeheartedly believe that you and I were meant to be together. You can think otherwise, that's fine. I mean, I'll be crushed, but I just wanted you to know that that's how I feel.”

Jonny glanced around the room; everyone was waiting for him to respond. He thought about using words, but thought of a better use for his mouth. He gracefully placed a soft kiss on Chris's lips, and it seemed almost unreal to the witnesses that it was actually happening. Finally, after all the years of painfully obvious flirting between the two, finally it led somewhere.

When they pulled apart, they smiled at each other and were accompanied by a chorus of “aww!”

“Now you've got to go and make some BuMabies,” Miller said. Chris turned to him with a look of confusion.

“Bu-what?” he asked.

“BuMabies... I shouldn't spend so much time looking at the fan forums.”

“What the fuck are BuMabies?”

“Buckland-Martin babies,” Miller innocently replied.

“I don't think we can actually make those by ourselves,” Jonny chimed in.

“You could try,” Miller said, “though I'm sure it'd be very hard.”

“Hey, that's the first step!” Chris cleverly retorted. It took Miller a few seconds to realize what Chris meant, but when he did he burst into a fit of laughter. Then he pointed to the camera and said, “Yeah, don't put that in. I already talk about porn enough, people are gonna think I'm some sort of sex fiend or something.”