( is it "hi" or "hey"? )

"Touchdown! Thank fuck," Barrett exclaimed as he and Ruby finally landed in Los Angeles, California. The four-hour, cross-country flight was filled with turbulence and it made Barrett want to puke. He tried his best not to trample and be trampled by the passengers as he grabbed his and Ruby's carry-ons from the overhead compartment.

     "I need coffee," was the first thing that fell out of Ruby's sleep-infected mouth after she woke up from her nap. They both got up at three in the morning to get to the airport at five and to board a flight at seven. Right now, it was eleven o'clock their time but since they were in California, they had to go back three hours so that meant that it was 8 a.m. "Trust me, we both do, Rubes." They both got off the plane to head to the luggage carousel to find a guy wearing a hoodie holding a white board with Barrett's name on it.

"Hey, Bear, look." Ruby nudged him in the direction of the sign. He looked, and felt a small smile on his face.

He made it.

"Hi," he said to the guy as the guy pulled his hood down, his long-ish, curly, blond hair springing free. "Hey, dude." He smiled. It was Luke. "Welcome to Los Angeles."

"Thanks. Luke, this is my best friend, Ruby. She's the one that persuaded me and brought us here so all the credit goes to her." Barrett introduced a sleepy-looking Ruby. "Uh, she hasn't had her coffee yet but she'll be fine once she gets it."

"I hope you don't mind but I already found your guys' luggage." Luke smiled sheepishly as he pointed to their bags that were next to him. "You didn't have to do that." Barrett pulled the handle of his four-wheel suitcase up and Ruby did the same. "But I wanted to." Luke shrugged and Barrett could see a flush starting to creep up his cheeks. He thought it was cute. "So. . ." Luke trailed, hitching his hoodie up to hide his burning neck, "I believe I saw a Philz Coffee around here somewhere."

Barrett and Ruby followed him to the airport Philz and Barrett asked, "Where are the other guys? Didn't they want to tag along?"

"They actually sent me out to get you guys, considering I 'initiated the conversation' and all." Luke chuckled and made air quotes. "They'll meet you at the studio after you two settle in."

When they finally found the Philz Coffee, they all placed an order and waited. "Any chance you know how long I'm gonna be here?" asked Barrett. "I'm not in any rush, I just wanna know if I have the time to look around and whatnot."

     "We'll make time. Don't you worry your pretty little head."

▷

They all got their coffee and started heading towards the SUV that was waiting for Luke out front. "I don't wanna jinx it, but it seems a little quiet." Barrett looked around for any oncoming photographers but there were none to be found.

     "That's because it's eight in the morning, nitwit. No one in the city of angels would even be up at this hour," Ruby scolded lightly as she made herself comfortable to promptly fall back asleep and he flicked her off before getting into the suburban. "You guys always like this?" Luke got into the front seat and turned around. "We're practically siblings," Barrett explained nonchalantly. "All in good times."

     "Good to know. For a second I thought I had to fight for your attention." Luke chuckled before twisting around to face the front.

     "Oh, I don't know. I may not be into her but you still might have to. Ruby's a kicker."

     Luke nodded and grinned to himself. "So, uh, not really into the female type, huh?"

     "Nope. If you consider thinking about banging Chris Hemsworth a 'straight' thing, then we might have a problem. Also, the pride sticker on my suitcase is a dead giveaway."

     "You could've been an ally for all I knew! You can't pin all this on me!" Luke pretended to be shocked. "Yeah and right next to that pride sticker is my 'I Can't Think Straight' sticker." Barrett laughed.

     "Oh, you're a pun guy. Yeah, you're definitely a disaster. We bisexuals don't claim you!"

     "How can you not? You guys have an entire subgroup dedicated to disasters. Peter Parker is a disaster bi for — wait, you're bi?"

    Luke nodded. "Do the guys know?" asked Barrett. Luke nodded again. "It. . .kinda slipped when I mentioned I had a thing for bassists."

     Barrett felt his own cheeks burn at the confession and he didn't even know if it was about him. "But that could've been about anyone."

    "Not to mention it came out when you started playing."

     Barrett's cheeks burned a little more. So that confirmed that. But the surprising thing was that none of this felt awkward. Instead, he felt flattered that a good-looking, well thought-out guy would find Barrett attractive. Not that he wasn't ugly, it was just that he started looking at himself in a whole, different light.

"Aw, thanks, man." Barrett patted Luke's shoulder before giving it a light squeeze and retracting.