To say Callum had been missing Adam was a bit of an understatement. While with him being on summer holiday from school, Callum's schedule had been rather open. Adam, however, had been more busy than usual. It seemed he was always working or something when Callum rang him up. He hoped it was that he was working anyway and not him still hiding from Callum after all that kidnapping bollocks. Though, miracles of miracles, Adam finally had a night off and Callum was intent to see his boyfriend. Odd as it was for him to actually miss someone's company, he couldn't deny he often felt a little blue when Adam wasn't around.

He'd taken the tube down to Camden after he'd gotten off work and headed to the Holiday Inn that Adam had currently taken up residence in. It had taken forever to get Adam to tell him where he'd been staying and Callum still hadn't been able to convince his boyfriend that it was probably safe to go home now. Nevertheless, Callum was going to go see him at the hotel tonight. He looked around the lobby of the place as he entered, in his mind trying to remember just what room number Adam had told him he was in. He was moderately impressed with the Holiday Inn, even for been more on the cheap side it was certainly rather nice.

Callum made his way to the lift with no problem, heading up to the fourth floor just like Adam had said. Now what in the devil was that room number? 416? 415? He was nearly sure that Adam had said room 416. However, it wouldn't be the first time Callum had gotten something like this wrong. He dialed his boyfriend's phone as he stepped off the lift, figuring he ought to just call and make sure which it was. Adam unfortunately didn't answer his cell and Callum hung up as he heard his voice mail message. Well, guess I ought to try 416 first... He felt a nervous pang in his stomach at the thought of knocking on a random door and stranger answer. But, Adam wasn't picking up so it seemed he had no choice in the matter really.

He stepped off the lift and traversed down the hall carefully, looking at each of the number placards by the doors as he passed them until he reached 416. Callum took a little breath for courage and knocked at the door, feeling confident that this was the right room. He'd find out in a minute otherwise. He took a step back as he heard shuffling from behind the other side of the door, unaware that he was holding his breath as he waited for the door to open.

Contrary to popular belief, Julian did occasionally shower. It wasn’t usually a high priority for him, but earlier in the day he’d found an unintentional dreadlock buried in the hair at the nape of his neck, so he figured it was probably time for a good scrub. Besides, the hotel shower was pretty spiffy—one of those massaging shower heads or whatever—and the pounding water felt good after a long day of sitting with his bony butt on the sidewalk, crouched over a guitar.

… Of course, the shower had been over an hour ago, and Julian was still lounging around with nothing but a towel slung loosely around his waist. He was in no rush to put on clothes—clothes that could probably do with a wash themselves, now that he thought of it. Pants were just the embodiment of humanity’s unjustified sense of shame, and Julian didn’t need that. The world would be better off if more people were cool about just being in their own skins, as far as he was concerned. He only bothered with the towel since he’d learned that Adam got kinda squirrelly if Julian spent too much time in the buff.

Julian was flipping mindlessly through the available channels on the TV when someone knocked on the door.

“You getting that?” he called to Adam without looking up. Then he glanced over and realized that he was sitting no more than three feet from the door. Right, then. Julian bounced to his feet and, without bothering with the peephole, opened the door.

When he saw who was on the other side his face cracked into a big grin.

“Hey man, what’s up? Long time, no see.”

Taking in a deep breath of steam, Adam relaxed his entire body under the hot spray of water. One good thing about moving into a hotel was that they had way cooler shower heads. The first few days he had moved in, he had played with this particular one like a little kid with a new toy, ending up completely soaked. It had been worth it though and now he knew how to set it to max relaxation mode. He let out a content sigh, running a hand through his short hair.

He tried to shut his brain off. He let his worries go down the drain along with the running water. No use thinking about his power, or the kidnapping... It was shower time.

He also tried (and failed) to avoid thinking about a certain street musician just outside the door. Yeah, Julian was a good friend, but sometimes, Adam couldn't help but feel like the guy got a kick out of torturing him. Seriously. Sauntering around the place butt-naked all the time and looking at Adam as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Well, at least he'd caught the hint recently and started adding a towel. That was definitely an improvement. It also helped that the man had not offered to "mess around" since that first time. Even though Adam was pretty sure he would be able to resist temptation (after all, he had lived like a celibate monk ever since he had started going out with Callum; shocking, but true) but why risk it?

As his thoughts drifted off to his boyfriend, a stupid love-struck grin started spreading over Adam's face. his darling had actually started texting him lately! And considering that the man had not even been that fond of phones before he'd met Adam, he personally took that to be quite the feat. Adam hummed to himself, happy to have such a supportive and caring boyfriend.

Adam came out of his long line of thought when he reached for a bar of soap and his fingers wrapped around air. He was so startled, he tried to force open his eyes and ended up getting hot water sprayed straight into them. "What the- Ow!" He rubbed his eyes as he made his way to the bathroom door half-blinded. He thought he heard voices from outside, but it was probably just Julian watching TV. He opened the door just a crack and felt a breeze roll in. He shivered and didn't open the door any farther. "Dude! Quick, 'fore I freeze to death -" He shouted, eyes closed. Adam had never had a habit of calling people 'dude' before he met Julian. He supposed the American sayings were rubbing off a bit, not that he minded. What he did mind was the mysteriously missing soap! "Get your ass back here!" and tell me where the soap is! Julian would probably get what he meant (since they had been room mates for so long, after all). And since there was nobody else here to misunderstand, Adam didn't feel the need to finish the sentence and clarify.

Big mistake.

As the door opened and Callum found himself staring at a mostly nude Julian, he couldn't help but take a step backwards in surprise. Whoa... definitely the wrong room. That was what he assumed anyway, figuring Julian was simply staying at this hotel as well. Swallowing hard was proving difficult as his throat had suddenly gone very dry. Callum sputtered for a moment, "erm, Julian?" He coughed, trying to ease the tightness in his throat.

"Oh uh, yeah... long time," he was flailing to trying an find any sort of coherent thought. There needed to be a stronger word than awkward to describe exactly how he felt right now. Mortified. I am mortified. A hand flew up to clutch at his dark wavy hair nervously for a moment.

"I'm uh, sorry... I guess I got the wrong room number," he told him, his pale skin flushed brightly with embarrassment. "I was just looking for my boyfriend, he's staying here too, sorry about this. You know, for interrupting and all I--"

The moment he heard the voice of the other man in Julian's hotel room, all the color drained from Callum's face. He knew that voice, he'd know that voice anywhere. It was Adam. Oh god... Adam and Julian are... He stood there in utter shock, not even sure what he thought. However, it seemed more than clear that Julian was naked in a hotel room with his significant other. Adam was cheating on him?! He couldn't even begin to believe that, though it was plain as day right in front of him. Callum could feel his eyes start to prickle with the urge to cry and he sucked in a sharp breath.

Realizing he'd just been standing there blank faced in front of Julian he cleared his throat and narrowed his eyes. Just what the fuck was going on here? I told Adam I was coming...I... I told him and he's here with this American idiot!

"I'm sorry... is that Adam in there with you?" he asked loudly and pointedly, his voice colder than ice. He was not going to let anyone make a fool out of him.

“Hang on a sec, man. There’s somebody at the door,” Julian hollered back at Adam, wondering vaguely what Adam needed now. It was hardly a surprise that the comfortably chaotic atmosphere of the flat had followed the two young men to their temporary lodgings in the hotel.

Julian turned his attention back to Callum, a friendly smile still on his face. He didn’t have a clue what Callum was doing here, but he was pleased to see him all the same. Some people you were just fated to run into over and over again, and Julian was totally cool with the fact that Callum was apparently one of those people.

“Adam? Yeah, he’s here. You know him? Oh right, yeah, I’ve seen you at Proud. Cool, man. You want me to get him?”

For some reason the air around Julian suddenly felt a bit... chilly. Maybe it was just the draft in the hall. Surely it didn’t have anything to do with Callum’s frosty tone. What was that about, anyway? Julian’s mind worked slowly backwards, reviewing the available data. Callum was here looking for his boyfriend, Callum had knocked on their door, Callum knew Adam… He tried to remember if Adam had ever said something about a boyfriend, but decided that even if Adam had mentioned it, Julian had tuned it out.

“… Wait a minute, are you Adam’s boyfriend? Huh… that's weird. Small world, dude.”

Julian’s brow furrowed. Boyfriends, huh? That was kinda conventional, but he guessed that explained why he hadn’t been able to get the Brit to loosen up. Well, if it worked for Adam and Callum, then that was good... right? He hitched his towel to keep it from slipping off his hips.

“Anyway… You wanna come in? Adam!” he added, calling over his shoulder. “You got company!”

Adam pouted, wondering who could possibly be at the door. Room service? He hadn't ordered anything. Maybe Julian had - Adam was cool with that, so long as he got a share too. Oh boy, now he was getting excited - imagining what mouth-watering treat could possibly be at the door. He shivered and waited, a miniature puddle of water forming beneath his bare feet. The sound of running water continued behind him. He wondered briefly if he should just forget about the soap, but Callum was coming over later today, so he wanted to look absolutely stunning and irresistible... And he wanted to smell like lavender. (Seriously, he loved the lavender-smelling soap here. Whether or not he moved out, Adam would never forget the soap.)

He gave his now slightly puffy eyes another few blinks and shut the door to the washroom without taking a single peek. No need to give some poor hotel lady a heart attack with his nude state. Julian could knock when he was done with whatever he was doing on the other side. Adam just hoped he didn't take too long.

Leaning back against the cold, marble door, Adam caught snippets of words from the other side. The voices were muffled and he could barely recognize his name, said several times. He shrugged. Room service was probably just checking that he was the one who'd made the order (Adam had given Julian permission to use his name for stuff like this; it saved them from complicated explanations of why they were sharing a room).

He would have poked his head out to check what exactly was going on, except right then he sighted the bar of soap... On the counter. He mentally face-palmed. Forgetting completely about his call-out to Julian, he grabbed the bar of soap and stepped right back into the shower, humming as if that little disruption hadn't happened at all.

Callum stepped into the hotel room with clenched teeth. So Adam hadn't even mentioned him? Why the hell would he mention me to guy he's fucking? Biting his lip hard he glanced around the room. Now where the hell was Adam, and just what the fuck was going on around here? He thought he knew quite well just what was going on here. Adam was cheating on him with the American busker. He couldn't begin to believe this though it was staring him right in the face, and after all Adam certainly wasn't sleeping with him. Callum colored for a moment, not that he hadn't thought about it, but by his nature he was so shy and affection was something he was rather slow to take to. Doesn't fucking matter now does it, clearly Julian's been meeting all his needs...

He tugged on his hair again as he heard noise in the bathroom off to his left and could only imagine inside was his boyfriend. Callum's dark eyes narrowed to slits as he looked at the American, "Yes, I am his boyfriend, you didn't know?" He was so angry and embarrassed by this that he was nearly shaking. "I guess Adam didn't think to mention me." Why let the technicalities get in the way of their fucking I suppose. He swallowed hard, his barely contained rage beating at him so fiercely, how could Adam do this to him? He trusted him, he told him nearly everything and yet he would be so cavalier to invite him over to the very place that he was sleeping with other men. He couldn't even wrap his mind around it.

Callum turned from Julian and stalked up to teh bathroom door. As much as he wanted to flee he was not about to leave without some fucking answers. Rapping his knuckles loudly on the door he called out sharply, "Adam Levitt you better get your ass out here right now."

“Uh…”

When faced with direct confrontation, Julian’s first instinct was to back the hell off. Though he was taller and fairly fit, he retreated in the face of Callum’s obvious smoldering anger, ending up with his back almost pressed to the hotel door. He raised his hands in a pacifying gesture and his towel slipped dangerously low.

“Dude, chill out. It probably just slipped his mind or something. I mean, I’m guessing he didn’t mention me either, huh?”

He assumed it was the lack of recognition that had Callum pissed off. Relationships, man… He’d though Callum was a pretty cool guy, and he knew Adam was cool, but when you got into a relationship you ended up with all kinds of weird baggage and jealousy and everybody ended up narrow-minded and mean. Distinctly un-cool. He trailed after Callum as the younger man made a beeline for the bathroom door.

“I mean, he might have mentioned it. He talks a lot, y’know. I kinda zone out sometimes… “

Julian cast a sort-of-but-not-really-I’m-cool-dude-totally glance towards the closed bathroom door.

“Uh… Adam?” he said, his voice getting a little… squawky. This totally wasn’t awkward though, no way. “Your boyfriend’s here.”

Adam furrowed his brows at the loud banging on the door. Sheesh, couldn't a man have a shower in peace around here? He supposed it was Julian here to ask about what he'd yelled for earlier. Adam opened his mouth, ready to say that everything was fine now when an unexpected voice made the words die in his throat.

Was that Callum? He sounded like he was serious. Adam quickly shut off the shower and hopped out, nearly tripping in his haste to pick up his jeans lying on the floor. He opened the door, dripping wet and half-naked, still trying to force his jammed zipper up. "Uh... Hey darling, I wasn't expecting you so early." Darn it. Callum might have called earlier, Adam really had no way of knowing. He'd left his cell phone in the car and had decided to get it after he got his shower.

His eyes automatically darted towards Julian after he saw Callum's expression, as if to say, what's going on here? My boyfriend looks like he's about to commit murder and I don't remember doing anything. Adam ran a hand quickly through his still-slippery hair and gulped. "Is everything alrigh'? You look a little upset." Understatement of the bloody century. Adam had only seen Callum this angry two times in the entire time he'd known him. And the only other time, the anger had been mixed with worry and not nearly as scary as it was now.

"Um, I'm sorry for making you wait?" He tried. Because Adam really could not think of anything he might have done to offend Callum except maybe spend a little too long in the shower.

Callum's jaw twitched as he stared incredulously at his boyfriend. He was sorry for spending too long in the shower? What the fuck kind of nonsense was that? His dark eyes could have burned holes right through the larger man.

"You think?" his tone seething with his inner anger, not about to let Adam make a fool of him. "Would you like to explain to me, why there is another man in your hotel room, and why are you both naked?" He slid Julian a look that could have killed before looking back at his boyfriend. How could he do this to me? He did have a guess as to why, what grown man would want to mess around with a techy little midget like him who didn't put out? Though even still, he had expected Adam to have the decency to breaking things off to his face, not creep around in hotels like filthy businessman cheating on his wife.

"And don't you even dare tell me it's nothing, he didn't even know you had a boyfriend, let alone that I was coming over here." He pointed an accusatory finger at Julian, his rage swiftly dissolving into sorrow. He should have expected this, things in his life were never rainbows and kittens, there had yet to be a happy ending of any sort in his twenty years of life.

Callum backed away from both men, closing his eyes tight shut as the urge to start crying hit him strongly. How could he have been blind to this shit, and what all had Adam been lying to him about? You should have put out you bleedin' idiot, clearly he's not getting what he wants from you. He quickly choked back a building sob and looked back at Adam, "I really hope you two have a really nice fuckin' time together... you bloody idiot."

Julian slouched back down on the bed when Adam appeared from the bathroom, glad that somebody else had arrived to handle whatever the hell this was about. He shook out his still somewhat damp hair and prepared to space the fuck out until everybody was calm.

Except it appeared he wasn’t going to be left out of this suddenly uncomfortable equation. Not with Callum over there glaring daggers at him.

Julian looked down at himself, having half forgotten that he was wearing nothing but a towel until Callum mentioned it. He frowned slightly. What was wrong with two dudes not wearing much clothes in the privacy of their own home-kinda-thing? It was summertime, man, even if it didn’t get above fucking seventy degrees in London. That was one sorry-ass excuse for a summer, if you asked Julian.

Predictably, no one had. And the weather? Not really relevant at the moment.

“Listen, man,” he said, raising a hand in a hopefully calming gesture. “Maybe he told me about you and I just forgot—I forget a lot of shit, y’know? But hey, it’s pretty cool that we all like, kinda ran into each other. With me not knowing y’all were together and all, and y’all not knowing I knew the both of you… yeah... pretty fucking sweet, if you think about it."

"Um... My apartment isn't safe, Julian is a fan of towels and I just came out of the shower?" Somehow, in the face of Callum's killer glare, Adam's answer turned into a question. He was beginning to feel a little bit like a man on trial. For what crime, he still had no idea, but maybe outright asking in this case would only make his boyfriend more upset. Before he could say anything at all, Callum continued, questioning why Julian hadn't known he was Adam's boyfriend. Adam scratched his head. Julian knew for sure that Adam had a boyfriend. He couldn't quite remember if he had specifically said it was Callum though. Adam had somebody to whine about his love life to (Hwayoung), so it simply had not popped up in conversations with Julian. "Ah, I'm sorry darling. Um, I really should've made proper introductions last time. Julian, this is Callum, my boyfriend." Adam forced a smile, hoping against all odds that with this little introduction, all the tension could disappear into thin air.

As if. Clearly there were bigger problems he was unaware of at hand.

Julian seemed to want to calm Callum down as much as he did. Adam didn't really know what to do after he heard Julian's words. Sweet? Not his choice of wording for this particular situation. Caramel cake? Sweet. Callum's smiles? Sweet. Having Callum look betrayed and close to tears? Adam wanted to punch whoever was causing his darling this pain, but it seemed pretty obvious in this situation that that person was himself.

Adam stood a little off balance, a hurt look crossing his face, taken aback by Callum's uncharacteristic outburst. His hands automatically came up in a I-come-in-peace gesture, though now really wasn't the time for childish antics. If it was anybody else, Adam would probably be frustrated and angry by now, not understanding what was going on. As it was, he just wanted Callum to be... Okay. Because right now, he looked anything but.

He gently touched Callum's arm in what he hoped was a comforting way. He exhaled, "Look darling, I don't understand - It's just, I can't help if I don't know what's wrong. I-If I've done anything to upset you, I promise I didn't mean it. So um, can we just calm down and talk things over?"

Callum was staring at Adam in the most dumbfounded fashion, surely the other man couldn't be serious. What did he mean he didn't know what he'd done to upset him? He didn't know if Adam was trying to play dumb or if he was really an idiot, but either way Callum was far from amused. "What in the bloody hell do you mean you don't know what you've done?!" His dark eyes were lined with unshead tears of both misery and frustration, "So I guess being in a hotel room naked with some other man is perfectly acceptable to you? Is it?!"

He didn't even really know what to say about all of this, what should he say? Were there even words for what it was like walking in on your boyfriend with someone else? If there were Callum certainly didn't know them. This situation was proving that he really didn't know a lot of things, and certainly he didn't know Adam. His voice cold as ice as he spoke again, "If you're going to fuck around with other men, you might've had the decency not to invite me over to witness it."

He shook his head, his heart clenching so painfully in his chest as he looked away from him. You've been such a fool O'Doherty, a goddamn fool. He started to slowly back towards teh door, wanting out of there, he'd had enough. He could only take so much pain and humiliation and he was more than at his limit. He felt sick and pained and the urge to cry was beating at him so fiercely. "Sleep with whoever the fuck you want, Adam, I really don't give a shit anymore."

"Oh man, y'mean that's what this is about?"

Julian was already pretty sure this wasn't a conversation he was going to stick around for. That was kinda his MO, after all: not sticking around, especially when things got sticky. He actually wasn't as surprised as his earlier obtuseness might have suggested. Humanity was kinda predictable that way--always freaking out over something that should have just been totally natural. Making rules and boxes and boundaries and euphemisms and what the fuck ever.

... And there was the whole thing where Callum had made it completely and totally obvious what he was freaking out about. Oh well, hindsight was twenty-twenty or whatever.

"Calm your tits, little man. Can't a couple dudes get naked together without everybody talking shit like it's some big thing? Shiiiit... It's just clothes, man."

His Texas drawl was in full force, and he shook his head wryly.

"Besides, if he'd a' wanted to fuck me, he coulda done it ages ago. But I ain't even in the fuckin' equation, man. Know what I'm saying?"

Julian knew what he was saying and knew that this whole deal was probably very serious to Callum and Julian's good bro, Adam. He didn't want to mess up somebody else's whole happiness or whatever, just because sometimes wearing clothes just wasn't all that comfortable and he totally would have fucked his roommate in a heartbeat if the guy hadn't been half so uptight, boyfriend or no. Julian didn't mean to hurt anybody... It was just kind of hard for him to get upset about it all.

Adam's jaw felt like it had stopped functioning a while ago. It was stuck in an awkward ajar position. All things considered, that was the least of his worries. "Oh." Maybe if he didn't feel like a lightning bolt had struck him mercilessly, he would be more eloquent. As it was, Adam stood, rooted to the spot, reeling from Callum's words and what they meant. Suddenly, he wasn't so confused. It was as if some sort of fog had lifted. He didn't like what he saw behind the fog, but he really shouldn't have been so surprised. In fact, he thought it was ridiculous he had not realized earlier what this was all about.

A few years ago, no perhaps only a few months ago, before he had met Callum, he would have realized right away. Bloody hell, he might have even been guilty.

But not any more. Callum was different. For the first time in years, Adam honestly believed that he could make this work and neither of them would have to be alone again. After all they had gone through, Adam was only growing more and more certain that Callum could be the one. He had changed a lot from before (Hwayoung and Gracie had both noticed, even before he himself acknowledged it) due to Callum's influence. Once it became clear that they were in fact dating, Adam hadn't even considered cheating, honest. This connection was too rare to come by for him to mess it up. The idea of sleeping with somebody else when he had Callum and hurting his boyfriend like that was just so far-fetched it hadn't crossed his mind. Clearly it had crossed Callum's.

"W-wait. We're not - It's not what you think." Damn. That sounded pathetic, almost like he was begging. Try again. "Okay, listen darling. Look me in the eye and listen, please." Once his eyes met wavering brown ones, Adam refused to look anywhere else. He raised a hand, wanting to touch Callum, hold his hand or hug him. Whatever. Anything to comfort him. His last touch hadn't exactly been welcomed though, so Adam just stood still and continued, hoping he didn't trip over words. "I would never do that to you, I swear. Julian's just a friend, okay? He plays at Proud sometimes and I offered him a place to stay since it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time." Still feeling like this was all a little surreal, Adam stepped in front of Callum, putting himself between his boyfriend and the door.

"Please believe me." The words came out almost a whisper, a sharp contrast to his considerably louder explanation (desperate to convince Callum that he was speaking nothing but the truth). His voice even cracked a little. Just because. If Callum left him over this misunderstanding, he'd be completely crushed. It seemed like he simply couldn't get this relationship stuff right. Even when things were going good, going great, something always went wrong.

Still, it was too early to give up.

Julian was trying to help too and while Adam was cringing at his tone (were those half-formed tear drops he saw in Callum's eyes?), he did understand that his room mate was just trying to help. His eyes still didn't leave Callum's. Waiting. Hoping.

---

OOC: Woah, this ended up longer than I expected...