Archive of Our Own ^beta

“That's the last time I fly for that long, I can promise you that.”

“You realise we have to fly back, right?”

Tom groaned quietly, his shoulder slumping in childlike defiance.

“Don't remind me. My knees already hurt just from thinking about it.”

It had been a long journey. Early morning traffic congesting the roads, Sam couldn't find a parking spot to save his life and their flight ended up being delayed by about 5 hours. The plan to drive for the first hour or so to kick-start the road-trip had been turned into an involuntary stay at the nearest hotel with two to a bed.

“Look,” Sam had turned around, legs going backwards as he faced Luke and Tom, “we're here! Just enjoy the fact that we’re here and save the doom thinking for when we leave.”

“The only thing I'm thinking is how much I'm gonna piss myself if you fall over.”

AJ cackled from beside Sam as Luke chuckled, the other man flipping Tom off as he turned back around, feet stumbling slightly as he led the way to the caravan. 

###

“Alright, I reckon I can make it to the first couple stops before I need a break but, I'll let you know. Get comfy lads, we're in for a long drive!”

Sam was sat in the drivers seat, the first of many driving shifts between three of them to begin, after Luke had sheepishly admitted he couldn't drive. 

AJ had sat himself on one side of the in-built table, his laptop already open and running with an editing software he was desperately trying to hide from the rest of them, a mantra in his mind of just finishing some final editing notes which he could send to their editor so that some videos could still be uploaded during their time off.

Tom and Luke were sat on the other side, their eyes welcoming the passing sights of American cities as Tom placed a pack of cards on the table.

“Right, let's play golf.”

So they did. A tally chart had been made on Luke's phone after the 4th round and eventually AJ closed his laptop and asked to be dealt in, their shouts of frustration and laughter drawing Sams’ attention as he tried - and failed - to commandeer one of them to play for him through his yelled instructions.

“Just admit you can't drive and play at the same time! You're gonna crash the fucking van in a minute!”

“It's called multitasking. Now pick a card from the deck and tell me what it is!”

₵Ⱨ₳₦₲Ɇ

“Well, we'll see how you feel when you're driving and I'm the one playing cards and having fun!”

₵Ⱨ₳₦₲Ɇ

“Well, excuse me for wanting some entertainment!”

₵Ⱨ₳₦₲Ɇ

“Fuck you!”

It was accompanied with a solo laugh, the feeling of three pairs on the back of his head made Sam feel slightly anxious. He wanted to turn around and see if everything was alright but knew he couldn't take his eyes off the road.

“Guys?”

“Sam… you alright?”

There was a moment of silence, a concentration of turning onto a new road and merging with the speeding traffic before Sam could answer.

“Yeah? I'm fine. I was just playing along.”

“Playing along with what?”

“Y'know… change? One of you-”

“I think you should pull over, switch with one of us.”

There was an uncertainty in Tom's voice, a slight shakiness he could sense within the other two.

So Sam found a safe place, indicated and pulled over.

###

They blamed it on exhaustion, on still lingering jet-lag, on stress from having to operate a vehicle in a different country. 

Sam wasn’t entirely sure what had happened but he was secretly grateful for the break and for the opportunity to contact Jay and ask about Scarlett, to catch-up with his wonderful wife until he could excuse himself to one of the small beds built into the caravan for a nap.

Tom had taken the first shift change, an unease to his movements at first that resulted in many passing cars paired with frustrated honks and not-so-friendly hand gestures that had him jokingly narrating everything to Luke and AJ still sat at the built-in table.

2 DAYS LATER

“Oh, just had another middle finger. I’m sorry, I’m BRITISH!”

Everyone settled into a more quiet ease after that, more comments from Tom, a snore from Sam every now and then, and the hushed voices of AJ and Luke simply catching up after time spent apart from the shorter still living in Spain. Tom was now content with weaving and turning and travelling across the expanse of roads set out before him, the robotic voice of his GPS directing him with ease; Luke had then asked him a question and the turn he needed to take whizzed right past him.

₣ⱤɆɆⱫɆ

Time.

Stopped.

But not just time; everything.

There was an unnerving sensation in the way Tom could feel his lungs stop working, the blood in his veins stop flowing, the synapses in his brain holding their fire as things not just stopped but halted. As if in a limbo state between being alive and losing their mortality all in one.

𝟯𝟬 ₴Ɇ₵Ø₦Đ₴ ₳₲Ø

He could feel the way the tires began to reverse, but it wasn’t in the normal way, it was as if they were being forced in the wrong direction. He watched as the traffic around him was pulled back by some type of invisible force, his mouth moving involuntarily with the words he had just spoken, he could feel them being pulled back into his mouth, into the thoughts that had formed them as the voice of Luke from behind him did the same thing; his GPS had seemingly followed the same fate, the robotic female voice glitching slightly.

₣Ø₩₳ⱤĐ ł₦ ₦ØⱤ₥₳Ⱡ ₴₱ɆɆĐ

“ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴇxᴛ ɪɴᴛᴇʀsᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ, ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰɪʀsᴛ ʟᴇꜰᴛ.”

A sense of himself but yet not. His hand moving to flick the indicator as Luke asked the same question. In the same tone. With the same cheekiness he had heard - exactly 30 seconds ago when it had distracted Tom enough to miss his turn.

“Tom?”

He must have made some sort of attentive noise, eyes glazed over enough to make him know he needed to focus better.

“You alright, bud?”

“What's happening?”

“Oh, hey Sam. Not sure, he seems a little… I don't know, freaked?”

“Tom, you wanna swap?”

The nod was swift but unnoticeable.

“Yeah, please. I'll pull over at the next petrol station.”

“Cool, we grab some snacks and a drink and then I'll take over driving, sound good?”

“Sounds good, AJ.”

AJ was the most attentive when driving. He had a bit more knowledge than the others when driving on the opposite side of the road, the driving lessons in France and travelling to visit his parents helping him more than the other two.

3 DAYS LATER

The vibe from first starting their journey was more subdued, a confusion washing over all four of them at the strangeness seemingly related to the driver; it was making AJ anxious. Would it happen to him? Was he going to cause a crash? Is he going to be the reason 4 sets of families would have to come together to grieve?

No. No, what was he thinking? He just needed to focus on the road and follow the SatNav and everything will be fine; besides, he could hear the other three talking, their voices taking on a more positive tone with recognisable laughter that fueled him like no other energy drink could.

“Tom…did you seriously bring a book? On a road trip? With us?”

“Yeah?”

“Why?”

“Well it's not like we're going to be talking all the time, is it? There's only so much conversation I have in me before I need a break.”

“But it's almost done!”

“Your point?”

“Wow. Alright then, what book are you reading that's so much more interesting than talking with your best friends?”

Even over the traffic and low volume of the radio, AJ could hear the sigh and rustle of pages as Tom seemingly flips the front of the book around.

“The Minotaur takes a cigarette break.”

###

“Hey AJ, how long you think it'll take until the first stop for the night?”

ɎØɄ ₵₳₦ Ø₦ⱠɎ ₴₱Ɇ₳₭ ł₦ Ⱡł₦Ɇ₴ ₣ⱤØ₥ '₮ⱧɆ ₥ł₦Ø₮₳ɄⱤ ₮₳₭Ɇ₴ ₳ ₵ł₲₳ⱤɆ₮₮Ɇ ฿ⱤɆ₳₭’. ₱₳₲Ɇ 𝟮𝟵𝟭.

“Opposite the convenience store, across Independence Boulevard, is a gas station.”

“What?”

“Above is a childlike drawing of three crosses on a hill; below is the devil himself.”

AJ can see Sam appear in his peripheral, the other man's face overtaken with worry as he glances back at the other two.

“AJ?”

“Driving back to Kelly's house is out of the question - for now, anyway.”

“Sam?”

“What?”

“Look.”

“Not right now Tom. AJ.”

“I need a name, please. The operator says.”

“Sam.”

“What?”

Then he disappears. Hushed words behind the driver's seat before Sam is back again with Tom beside him, book in hand. Their eyes weren't on him, the feeling of being watched invalid in the moment.

“AJ, how you feeling buddy?”

“The Minotaur is annoyed that the fan belt he wants is out of stock.” 

“What… what the fuck.”

₳₦Đ ₴₵Ɇ₦Ɇ

“Pull over mate.”

His voice comes back to him, thoughts now his own once again as he nods and drives a little further, a clearing ahead of them with no signs saying they couldn't park there; he pulls over, takes the key out the ignition and looks at the others.

“I… I have no idea what just happened.”

Once was weird.

Two times a coincidence.

Three times and a pattern had formed.

Four British comedians sat at the caravan table, heads in hands and a silence that couldn't get them to stop thinking, wondering, contemplating.

What the hell was happening to them?

The only thing that seemed to make the pattern was a mental connection between each man and their shows; specifically, the games in their shows. They had spent a few moments simply sitting and thinking before AJ pulled up a word document on his laptop, a note being added from each man about the similarities they felt when, what they had dubbed ‘The Moment’ happened.

Sam had been the first, his disoriented thoughts pulling together just enough to mention how he had heard a voice in his head - a combination of the other three yet completely different at the same time - yell ‘Change’ at him.

AJ had mentioned how he had heard the same voice after hearing the title of Toms’ book, a knowledge of literature he had never read filling the space of his mind, taking over every personal thought of speech he could usually produce until he was ‘freed’ from the invisible chains and brought back to his own voice.

Tom took a little longer to respond. Eyes darting over anything he could see before settling back on Sam and AJ sat opposite him, a more horrified expression taking over all their features as he described feeling stuck - frozen both in place and in mortality - as the same voice commanded him as if he was in a game of time warp, some type of force unbeknownst to any of them controlling not just him solely, but seemingly the whole world for just 30 seconds before releasing him and letting the earth turn correct once more.

THE NEXT DAY

“So. It only seems to affect the person in the driver's seat which, by the crazy fucking logic throughout this crazy fucking conversation means, I won't be affected.”

“We don't know that.”

“It makes the most sense though. Only you three have been affected by… whatever this phenomenon is. And it's only happened when you've been driving. I can't drive. Which means I-”

₣ⱤɆɆⱫɆ. ₦Ɇ₩ ₲Ɇ₦ⱤɆ

Stopped.

Frozen.

Unable to move but able to see the other three react.

A hand lands gently on his shoulder but he couldn't move his mouth to reassure Tom. Couldn't move his mouth to ask if something was happening. Couldn't move his mouth to say ‘I heard the voice too.’.

ⱤØ₥₳₦₵Ɇ

“-I won't be affected by it because you,” He turns to face Tom, hand moving by itself to gently grasp and caress the other man's cheek, “are the only one who makes anything in this world worth seeing.”

“Luke?”

He didn't respond, hand continuing the caressing motion as Tom looked at him in confusion, eyes darting to the other two in an obvious plea of help. Not from discomfort though, but from concern.

“Don't look at me like that, darling. Is it too much to ask that you look at me like how I feel about you? You remind me of the stars I used to stick on my ceiling. Glowing. Shining. You're more beautiful than any universe so please, tell me. Why are you looking at me like that?”

There was sputtering around him as Tom's eyes widened, the temperature of his skin heating up under Luke's hand in real time, his mouth twitching in the beginnings of a response only to settle as Luke shuffled to move closer to him.

“Luke, seriously, what's going on? Because I'm pretty sure the last time I checked you were straight and still going out with Paloma.”

“Feelings know no bounds, Sam. Besides, we've been friends long enough. Surely there's some statistic out there to back me up in a friend wanting a friend in more than one way.” Leaning even closer, Luke and Tom were barely a breath away, the taller man having leant as far away into the caravan wall as he could; Luke was practically in his lap and there was no way out without pushing him away and hurting him and Tom never wanted to hurt anyone.

Just as Luke began to lean in, mind overwhelmed with thoughts of kissing Tom that weren't entirely his own, he heard the voice again.

₣ⱤɆɆⱫɆ. ₦Ɇ₩ ₲Ɇ₦ⱤɆ

Body stuck again. Hand frozen on Tom's cheek and adoration left on his face as he could only sit and wait for the voice to make its next move; to let him move and say something that was from his own thoughts.

₩Ɇ₴₮ɆⱤ₦

Holster. That's the first thing his hands went to as he uncurled himself from around Tom's lanky frame, shifting himself to sit on business at the table as he looked around for a hat that never existed.

“I gotta say fellas. Tom would be my first choice but, y'all know I ain't no shirtlifter around these parts. And you spilled some truthin’ there Sam, I got me a pretty lady back in Spain - a pretty lady enough for me to be wantin’ to keep her for the rest o’ my life.”

“Okay, first. What's going on? Second? I think an actual Texan would kill him for that accent. Third? You want to marry Paloma?”

“Ain't not'ing wrong with ma accent dear fella, I done been speakin’ this ma whole life and to answer yo’ confusion. I believe our theory of this tailoring bizarre ain't purely for the man kicking this metal horse inta gear but if you thinkin’ I got any blubberin’ o’ sorts that'd make sense then you better get yo'self off to one o’ them magic folk.”

“You know, I think he might be right.”

“What? Magic? Seriously, AJ you ca-”

“-Think about, Sam. You heard a voice, I heard a voice, Tom heard a voice and, unless Luke's going through some sort of mental breakdown then, he heard a voice as well - is still hearing a voice right now.”

“But magic isn't real.”

“Then how does this have any of sort of logical explanation?? Look, we all heard a voice and as we all pointed out, each time was sort of… tailored to us and our jobs. Sam with change, me with the book game, Tom with time warp and… and now Luke with what can only be genre.”

“I believe he could be right. Ain't not'ing our friend here has said that ain't a lie. There's clearly some type'a for-”

₣ⱤɆɆⱫɆ. ₦Ɇ₩ ₲Ɇ₦ⱤɆ

Frozen again.

Voice cut off without any pre-warning as his whole body seizes up like a statue as Luke waits for the next thing to happen.

₲₵₴Ɇ ĐⱤ₳₥₳

‘You've got to be kidding me.’

It was his first and only conscious thought since the beginning of the commands and the voice in his head, a hint that he could be released from whatever this was at any moment before his mind is clouded in a strange fog and his own thoughts are blanked out.

“There must be some type of force that uh… that-that-”

Trailing off, Luke looked around the three of them as if waiting for them to help him articulate, hands once again looking for something that didn't exist before pushing himself up and away from the table, a franticness to his movements; desperate, needy, a light sheen of sweat already forming on his forehead.

“Luke?”

“I…I need to find it.”

“Find what?”

No answer. Just zips opening, items ruffling in the rucksack as Luke turned to the three of them looking genuinely panicked.

“My script. I need my script otherwise I'm not gonna know what to say!”

“You're script? Luke what the fuck are you talking about?”

“I just-” he carded a hand through his hair and then down his face as he darted his eyes around, “- I know the words, I remember them- I do! There must be some type of force here, maybe something in the caravan - no, wait - something to do with the caravan that's… that's mucking up… that's messing with us!”

₳₦Đ ₴₵Ɇ₦Ɇ

Luke blinked and could physically and mentally feel his control come back, as if blinking away the sleep from his eyes, fully waking up to see Tom, Sam and, AJ looking at him with the same concern he had demonstrated before.

“So… I heard the voice as well.”

It had been 2 hours since Luke had also experienced the voice and no-one in the group had any sort of rational explanation; they were none the wiser in what to do.

“What if we tried driving again? Maybe it was a weird part of the road.”

“‘A weird part of the road’. Yeah, cause that makes sense.”

“Well what else do you want me to say? The four of us heard and were controlled by a voice, we have no idea why or where or how or what or fucking who it is and we've been sat here on the side of the road since yesterday with no answer!”

Then they were back to silence, a question or grumble every now and then before Tom sat up, a face of determination set on his features as he looked towards the drivers seat.

“I physically can't stand this anymore. I'm getting us back on the road and if anything happens I'll let you know but, we cannot just sit here any longer. I can't just sit here any longer, so we can either try and finish the trip or I can just turn us around and we deal with staying in a hotel or paying for a new flight.”

“What about getting a different caravan?”

“Is that a risk we want to take? I'm all for it but I'd rather fly home if the same thing is gonna happen with a different caravan.”

“Guys, let's just take a vote. Go home or keep driving. I vote to go home, AJ?”

“Home. Tom?”

“Home, definitely home. I already miss Pip and I don't want to deal with whatever this is anymore. Luke? You gonna be a different vote or is this going to be unanimous?”

Luke looked slightly shocked, eyes widened and lips slightly parted as he darted his gaze between the three of them before huffing and throwing his hands up in disbelief.

“Well, home. Obviously. Why would you think I want to travel with this madness happening to us?”

“Alright,” Tom nodded, hands on his hips as he looked between his three friends, “home it is folks. I'll take first shift, see if I can find somewhere safe to turn us around. One of you are going to have to sort the tickets, try and see if you can get them changed for an earlier flight, then I-”

“Tom mate. I'll drive, you do the admin.”

It would be easy to say they got back to the airport, Caravan returned, flights changed and no other weird occurrences with the voice in their heads; but it's never that easy.

Instead, Sam had to deal with 5 different sets of change, the second oldest eventually finding a hilarity for the situation that had him chuckling every answer he gave, an animal noise being brought out into the open on the last set as if an act of defiance.

AJ wished he never heard the word ‘Minotaur’ ever again after reciting what felt like the entire book whenever he was behind the wheel, the background noise of Luke and Sam giggling to each other after the first few instances whenever they found the page AJ was seemingly “reading” from made him grip the wheel; from concentration or frustration he wasn't 100% sure.

Tom - who was slow to anger - almost threw the laptop out the window whenever he wasn't ready to slam the caravan into other drivers. Every time he had managed to finish the meticulousl task of emailing the airplane company and getting a spout of generosity sent his way with their return flight being moved to a closer date, the voice would crackle in his mind, sending the world back until he had to start the whole process over again.

Luke also found some hilarity to his situation. He never really figured out if it was him or the voice controlling who he went towards and acted a “scene” with but, whenever it was a romance or something similar he always ended up near Tom in one-way or another. With genres like Western, he always ended up tilting his imaginary hat towards Sam and playing out a “scene” with him. Finally, with AJ, it was always the musicals or sing-alongs or anything to do with music, the two of them falling into made up songs together.

Eventually however, Sam pulled into the rental car section of the airport, AJ and Luke grabbed their bags out the caravan and Tom finally got the tickets to stay changed to let them all - thankfully - fly home the next morning. There was an extra expense of needing a hotel but all 4 agreed they didn't care, just as long as they could leave whatever had happened in the USA or, better yet, the specific caravan they had used.

Things changed though, when they got back to British soil. Their shows always had an underlying feeling of uncertainty whenever those four specific games came up - their fans none the wiser thankfully - which had their families asking what had happened.

“You wouldn't believe us.” the boys would say.

“But, something happened between you all. What was it? Don't you trust your family?” they would ask.

No matter who asked. No matter what happened in the shows. No matter if the uncertainties would fade away or become something they dealt with. The boys knew there was something out there.

Something that could control them, the world around them, something that could control time.

But it was all fine, because it had been almost a year since their failed roadtrip and they had all decided to instead visit Luke in Barcelona for a week holiday mixed hiatus.

“I thought some of you would prefer it if there was a car everyone could use so, we can go grab that now and then figure out how to get everyone to hotels and then to my place.”

So they collected the hire car with Sam, Jay, AJ, AJ's girlfriend and Pip taking up all the seats after a conversation with Tom and Luke agreeing to use other transport modes to get to Lukes flat.

The tallest and shortest were on their way, the other 5 squeezing in with each other as the AC blew throughout the car, their voices carrying around inside the vehicle as Sam started the engine, hand on the back of the passenger seat and eyes looking through the boot window to reverse out the parking lot and make his way to Lukes place.

₣ⱤɆɆⱫɆ

It was one thing hearing the voice again, it was another realising that everyone in the car had heard it too as him and AJ made eye contact, faces blank and emotionless as they sighed deeply at the same time once they were freed from the mystical hold.

₣ⱤɆɆⱫɆ ₮₳₲

“You've got to be fucking kidding me.”

-END-