Collaboration 9
*NOTE* I do not claim to know the celebrities mentioned below or their sexual preferences. This fictional story was written solely for entertainment purposes only and does NOT imply the sexual preferences of said celebrities or anything about their personal lives. Enjoy!
The tour left Texas and moved on. Nelly thought he'd have time to record some tracks while on the road but that was proving to be easier said than done. Between the shows and hanging out with the crew, he barely had any time left. The tour manager informed them that they wouldn't be staying overnight at any stops until they got to Miami, where they would do two shows and have three days off because of New Years. The crew was excited about their vacation, especially Nelly. As much as he didn't want it to be so, things went back to being awkward with T.I. He almost never looked Nelly directly in the eyes and barely said anything to him. They did, however, keep up a front so the others wouldn't get suspicious of them but it was harder than T.I. initially thought it would be. The shows were mapped out to perfection now and everyone knew their parts. It ran smoothly every time as Nelly grew weary of it but he knew that although the shows were the same, the fans weren't, so he kept telling himself that.
The concert went great and the men knew they had an hour to shower and get ready to board the bus as Nelly was in the shower. He needed a cold one because he was drenched in sweat when he stepped off the stage. He let the cold water hit his shivering body as he began to lather his skin with soap. He wanted to relax and never wanted the shower to end. Nelly loved taking showers because that's where he got most his thinking done. He also loved how the crashing water felt against his skin but as of late, he has been dreading where his mind would lead him when he was thinking. Sure he had the privacy to think about T.I., but he didn't want too. It was too painful and he felt weak every time he thought about him. He kept saying to himself and T.I. that what they were doing was wrong but whenever they were alone together, he breaks all the promises he made to himself.
The stage manager came around and warned everyone that the bus was leaving in fifteen minutes as Nelly was flicking through channels on the TV in his room. He had on a black tank top, some shorts, and some sneakers as he got up from the couch and got his stuff ready to board the bus. A couple minutes later, there was a knock on his door and he went to get it. It was a young guy that was to take his luggage to the bus so he let him in as he walked around the room to see if he missed anything. The entire crew boarded the bus one by one and then all went their separate ways. Nelly was a bit relieved when he saw T.I. falling asleep on his bed. He felt the bus pull off as he went and laid down in his bed. He wasn't tired and wasn't sure what time it was when he got up from his bed and went to get a bottle of water. He noticed that he was the only one up as he made his way to the lounge area in the back of the bus and sat on the huge couch that was there. He sat in the dark as he drank the water. He surprisingly wasn't exhausted from the show but he had nothing to do. He laid down in the couch and closed his eyes as he heard someone moving around close to him. He didn't even bother to open his eyes as he heard someone come into the lounge area.
"Oh I didn't think anyone was back here," T.I. said in his strong southern accent. "Do you mind if I chill out for a minute?"
"Of course not. This is your bus too."
"I know I just thought you wanted to be alone."
"Nah! I don't care. I can't sleep."
"So I see you're doing it again."
"Doing what?"
"Thinking."
"Yea. There isn't much else to do at one in the morning."
"You aight?"
"Yea. I'm just drained. But it's weird because that's how I feel but I'm really not that tired."
"Maybe you're not physically drained. You could be emotionally drained you know."
Nelly remained quiet for a second. T.I. hit the nail on the head. "I am."
"Why? You having conflicting feelings about the tour?"
"Naw not the tour."
"Then what?"
Nelly was hesitant about answering at first but the words just tumbled out of his mouth. "It's about us. It's always been about you and me."
"Oh," was all T.I. could say.
"I mean it's so confusing. One day we decide that its best if we don't do anything but then on others, we just can't help ourselves. I hate this shit."
"I'm sorry."
"No it's not you, it's me. I should have never kissed you in L.A. I don't know what's wrong with me."
"Why do you assume that something is wrong with you?"
"Because I have feelings for a guy and I can't shake them. That's not normal."
"I dunno what to say," T.I. sincerely said but on the inside, he was glowing because Nelly finally admitted that he had feelings for him. It was bittersweet.
"I know what you're doing. You're happy now aren't you?"
"Happy? About what?"
"Because I just basically admitted that I'm stuck on you."
"You're accusing me of being happy when you're obviously in a state of mental anguish?"
"Oh don't try to analyze me durrty."
"Me analyze you? Who's being assumptions now?"
"It's just too much for me. I don't think I can handle it. How are you dealing with it? I know you feel the connection we share."
"Assuming again I see."
"So what you don't have feelings for me?"
"Do you even have to ask me that? Don't I act like I have feelings for you? Well when we're alone at least."
"Then that's it. We can't be alone anymore."
"I can't resist you. Something takes over when I'm around you and I can`t seem to control it. You don't know how hard I'm fighting the urge to kiss you right now!"
"And what's stopping you?"
"My career."
"Exactly. I've said the word career so many times over the past months that it has lost all meaning to me. But the general idea is still there. We can't do anything again."
"Well in our defense, what happened the other night between us happened because we both were drunk."
"Is that your excuse?"
"My excuse?"
"So you're just going to sit there and tell me that you were so drunk that you didn't realize what was going on?"
"I knew what was going on. I always did."
"So why did you let it go as far as it did?"
"I was lost. I was lost in you and all the passion I felt at that moment. Nothing else mattered. Not even my career."
"Being with you is like nothing else I've ever felt before. I have to admit that the alcohol did help me along the path but what happened was purely by choice. My choice."
"So what do we do now?"
"I don't know."
"Well I'm gonna go to bed. I can't stand to be so close to you and not being able to touch you."
Nelly sat up on the couch as he heard T.I. say this and looked at him. The passing streetlights illuminated the room enough for T.I. to catch him looking. It was still there in his eyes. The lust and all of his feelings that he tried so hard to hide from the world. T.I. slowly walked closer to Nelly and kneeled in front of him. They stared at each other for a long while until T.I.'s urges overcame him once again. He leaned in and placed the softest, sweetest, and most innocent kiss on Nelly's lips. He held himself there for a short while until he finally broke away and slowly got up. Nelly looked at him with a confused look on his face as T.I. smiled and walked out of the common area. Nelly stayed transfixed in his position as he watched T.I. leave the room. He didn't know what to think or do. There was something different about his kiss again. He then wondered how T.I. was able to make his kisses different like that. He slowly got up from the couch and made his way to his bed. He quietly slipped under his covers and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Both men firmly agreed to keep their word this time as the tour went on. Nelly began spending more time with Murphy Lee in the hopes that he might forget about T.I. They, of course, remained friends so as not to seem suspicious but they were never alone together. It had to be this way. The tour slowly kept moving as the men played to more and more sold out crowds. Their big vacation was only a couple of weeks away and each man was excited. The had the whole top floor of the Delano hotel on South Beach rented out and would spend five days there. They would only be working two days and the rest was free time to hit the beach and soak up the Miami lifestyle. The weeks were made even longer by the fact that Nelly felt limited. If he saw T.I. in the common area alone, he wouldn't go and if he somehow ended up in Nelly's dressing room alone, it would be awkward and he'd leave. He didn't want things to be this way but he had little choice in the matter. He needed to think about his career. On certain days T.I. wouldn't even look at him and that really hurt. But that is what they both agreed to and he wasn't going to go back on his word no matter how much it hurt him.
The last couple of shows leading up to the Miami went perfectly as each man was visibly excited about their down time. They would be in sunny Miami to relax. Their shows were on the first two nights and then they had the rest of the time to themselves. Nelly laid awake in his bed as he let his mind wander away from him. He wanted to go to the common area but felt too lazy to get up. He didn't want to end up thinking about T.I., but lately, that's all his mind seemed to run on. He still felt the soft kiss T.I. planted on his lips not so long ago and secretly wanted more. He wanted to touch every part of the younger rappers' body. He wanted to taste every inch of him, but something was stopping him, himself. He made a promise to himself to not let things get out of hand but deep down, he knew that anything was possible when it came to his feelings for the caramel-colored rapper. He then made another promise to himself that he'd try to not let things get out of hand, no matter how much he wanted them to. His mind came back to him and a short while after and he fell asleep.
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