It was around mid-morning when Austin walked onto Pierce The Veil bus, pausing momentarily at the sight of Taylah and Horizon sitting on the couch in their Drop Dead muscle tees and denim shorts, watching Jurassic Park while Vic and Tony sat between their tattooed legs respectively having their hair braided. Everyone froze when they saw him, expressions that of shock and surprise.

“It’s not what it looks like,” Mike stated from his leaning position against Taylah’s left leg, long hair pulled back in two neat Mermaid braids.

“I’m not saying anything, man,” Austin said holding up his hands before turning to the only girls on the bus. “Do you two just move from bus to bus, plaiting hair? Because I swear Phil’s hair was mirroring Mike’s.”

“I may or may not have been at your bus earlier, but you have no proof. Besides, it’s our way of bonding, Austin. Shut up. If you actually had hair, I would plait it for you, but no. You just shave the sides like a reverse balding man, face it, you’re jealous. You wish you had hair this magnificent.” Taylah didn’t even bother looking up from Vic’s hair as she called Austin out, simply taking pleasure in having someone who lets her play with their hair.

“You hear that, my hair’s magnificent,” Vic grinned up at Austin and Jaime who was sitting across from him, multiple little plaits sticking up amongst his spiked hair courtesy of Horizon.

“’A balding man’? Seriously, Tay, that’s harsh,” Austin said as he moved to sit on one of the other couches.

“Hey, she’s a cunt, what do you expect?” Horizon asked as she carefully pulled Tony’s hair from his neck, making sure to leave his padawan loose before finishing the plait quickly, holding her hand over his shoulder for the hair tie he was holding for her. “There you go, Tone, a very nice five part braid. I’m quite proud of myself.”

Taylah turned to look at Tony’s head and nodded appreciatively as she tied off the eighth braid on Vic’s head. “Damn, that’s putting Vic’s cornrows to shame. It looks great, the girls are gonna be all over you, Turtle.”

“What? But I want girls hanging all over me too. Why aren’t you making my hair that awesome?” Vic asked tilting his head back until it rested in Taylah’s lap, pouting up at her. “You promised my hair would look awesome.”

“And it will, sweetie. Awesome just takes time, and I’m almost finished, then we can go out and you guys can flaunt your amazing hair,” Taylah said, looking down at the Mexican in her lap, cupping his cheeks gently.

“Promise?” Vic asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

“Promise,” she agreed and he lifted his head up once more.

“Continue then, hair bitch.” Taylah tugged harshly on the pieces of hair she’d just separated causing Vic to shout in pain before turning back to the movie, focusing back into it.

“If you want your hair to be a babe magnet, big bro, I suggest you stay quiet,” Mike said as he rested his cheek on Taylah’s tattooed thigh, eyes glued to the television, an opportunity at which Jaime seized and pulled out his phone, snapping a picture of the three, uploading it to instagram with the caption ‘Loved up and bonding over Jurassic Park with this talented hair bitch @ptvmike @fancypants_taylah @piercethevic’

“You guys seen Lily anywhere?” Austin asked as he watched Taylah’s hands move quickly down Vic’s scalp.

“Last I saw, she was taking a Nana nap in your bunk,” Horizon responded from her place on the ground, where she’d switched with Tony who was now braiding the blue sections of her hair.

“Cool, thanks guys,” he called as he stood and stepped off the bus, the last thing he heard before closing the door was Taylah’s exclamation of ‘FINISHED BITCH!’ and Vic’s cry of ‘I look fabulous!’ Laughing to himself, Austin made his way to his bus, grinning at the sight of Phil and Tino’s hair before heading back to the bunks to find his girlfriend was indeed asleep in his bed.

Austin kicked off his shoes and hoody before climbing into his bunk beside Lily, who rolled over onto him as soon as he settled down, resting her head on his shoulder while she threw an around across his ribs. “Hey,” she murmured thickly, sleep still clouding her mind as Austin wrapped his arms around her, drawing her closer.

“Hey,” he whispered back. “You okay, you don’t normally sleep during the day.”

“Mhmm,” she hummed, nodded her head against his shoulder, eyes still closed. “Headache earlier, this bus is quieter,” she whispered into his Inspire & Create singlet.

“Poor baby,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head, “is it better now?”

“Yeah, it’s not as bad now, going away. What’s everyone doing?” Lily asked, waking up slightly, tilting her head up to look at him.

“Your friends have successfully made the Mexican’s look like a gang,” Austin replied, absently rubbing his hand up and down Lily’s soft, tattooed arm.

“They did their hair? How bad is it?”

Austin shook his head as he chuckled. “It’s pretty bad,” he answered as a knock echoed from the front of the bus, the sound of the door opening reaching their ears.

“Get yo’ shit, we’re showing off our amazing hair to the public so we can pull some honeys,” Vic’s voice resonated before the sounds of Phil and Tino leaving met their ears.

“I want to get a picture of all of you with your hair!” Taylah called just as the door closed.

Lily laughed as she snuggled closer to her boyfriend, counting down the moments until Taylah uploaded the picture of all the guys on instagram, knowing that it wouldn’t take long, she practically lived on the site.

“What are we gonna do for the rest of the day?” Lily asked after a moment of content silence.

“I thought we were doing it?” Austin looked down at the girl on his chest and raised an eyebrow. “Why, what did you feel like doing?”

Lily shot him a saucy grin as she slid on top of him completely, straddling his waist. “Gee, I don’t know. We have an empty bus and friends who won’t be back for at least a couple of hours. What could we possibly do?” She slid down lower slightly and ground down hard against him.

“I like your plan,” Austin, growled before pulling her shirt over her head and dragging her down to him for a rough, passion filled kiss.

“I thought you might,” Lily moaned as he pulled back so she could pull off his shirt while he unbuttoned her jeans, sliding them down her waist as she unclipped her bra. Their clothes were gone within record time and the two were joined even faster, foreplay taking the backseat for the time being, simply focusing on the feeling of being together after so long apart.

---

Taylah grinned at the six boys who were lined up in a row so she could take a picture of their hair; they stood patiently as she took a clear shot on her phone and with her camera before asking them to turn around.

“Give me sexy!” she cried, laughing as all the boys simultaneously pulled duck faces; well all of the boys but Mike and Phil who blew kisses to the camera and Tony who lowered his sunglasses sexily. Taking two shots once more she grinned at them.

“You boys are such slayers, I’m so proud,” Taylah said before turning back to her phone and diptiching the pictures together, one underneath each other before uploading it to instagram and selecting a filter before posting it with everyone tagged along with the caption ‘Look out ladies, these slayers mean business.’

“I feel like I should be wearing one of those red folded bandanas,” Vic said as they walked out of the venue, prowling the streets for somewhere to eat lunch.

“We can always stop somewhere so you can get one, then you can truly be a Mexican badass,” Taylah said as she walked behind Mike before bracing her hands on his shoulders and jumping up, his arms linking beneath her thighs as he carried her.

“I want a bandana too,” Tino called over.

“We’ll all get bandanas and make a gang that no one else can be a part of,” Horizon said from Tony’s back, where she’d jumped as soon as they left the Booger.

“Yes! What should we call our gang?” Jaime asked, bouncing up and down looking at the guys as they walked.

“Fists Of Fury,” Taylah said as she rested her cheek on Mike’s head.

“That. Is. A. Great. Name,” Jaime cheered. “We should make jackets.”

“Can I make the patches?” Horizon asked turning to Jaime who was walking beside Tony.

“Of course you can, Rise,” Tony answered, turning to look up at the girl in question, smiling at her happy expression.

“Yesssss,” she cried, mimicking Napoleon Dynamite.

“I vote we buy denim jackets specifically for our gang,” Mike added, bouncing Taylah slightly causing her to laugh as she gently bobbed her feet as if she was playing bass drums, hands tapping out the beat to I’m Low On Gas against his chest where they were hanging.

“We are so cool,” Phil grinned as they turned the corner; a clothing store straight ahead of them having a discount sale going, with much to everyone’s pleasure, denim jackets of various colours displayed on the outside rack.

“It’s a sign,” Vic sighed happily, “we were meant to start our awesome gang.”

“Austin and Lily are totally missing out,” Horizon said she slid off of Tony’s back to browse through the racks for a jacket she liked.

“To be honest, I don’t think they are. Knowing them, they’re probably taking advantage of an empty bus and are shagging like bunnies. Sex wise, I think we're the ones missing out,” Taylah replied as she pulled out a light blue jacket and looked at it in consideration. “Should we have jackets or denim vests?”

“Vests,” the guys chorused unanimously.

“Cool, well I want this one. And I’ll just get that red denim jacket because I like it,” she said pulling it off the rack while the others gathered their own jackets. Horizon handed Taylah her jacket, asking her to hold on to it for her because she was going to two stores over to the arts and crafts store for the patches stuff.

An hour and a half later, everyone was sitting at the outside tables which they pulled together of a McDonald’s they’d come across while idly walking. Each had had their meals and were now just talking over the multiple drinks they’d bought while Horizon put the patches together.

“Do you think it’s safe to go back to the bus yet?” Phil asked in between sips of his Coke.

“I’d probably give the love birds another hour or so, I think Austin had something important he had to do,” Tino replied, absently picking at the spare fries that were left on one of the various trays.

“DONE!” Horizon cried triumphantly, holding up one of the eight circular patches to show the guys. The base was leopard print with a red circle with the points sitting in the middle and the words Fists Of Fury done in black lettering, with she had found in a bin at the arts and crafts shop meaning she didn’t need to cut them out, sat in the middle of the red pointy circle. “What do you think guys?”

“That is so fucking awesome, I can’t wait till we can put them on our jackets,” Mike said reaching over to high five Horizon. “Reckon you can have them done by tonight’s show?”

Horizon raised an eyebrow and shot his an easy smile. “It’s like you don’t know me at all mate.”

---

“We should do that more often,” Lily said breathlessly as she curled up against Austin’s chest, ignoring the fact that they were both out of breath and sweaty.

“Oh yeah, we definitely should, it’s totally something we should do more often. We’re both so good at it,” Austin agreed, brushing Lily’s slightly damp hair off her shoulder and down her back.

“We could make this a sport, but I don’t like watchers,” Lily murmured as she rested her chin on Austin’s tattooed chest, smiling happily at him, “I missed you when we were in Australia.”

“I missed you too, but at least we had those two weeks together.”

“Mmm and didn’t we use them wisely?” Lily purred as she leaned up to give him a leisurely kiss, smiling when she felt Austin move his arms around her, holding her tightly to his chest.

“I love you, Lily,” he murmured against her lips, his hand sliding up her left arm and hand before they laced their fingers together.

“I love you too, Austin,” she murmured back as she pecked a kisses softly on his lips, pausing for a moment when Austin tightened his grip on her hand. She pulled back, unfamiliar with the tightness around her finger. Gazing down at the hand he was holding she gasped at the sight of a diamond ring resting on her finger.

“Marry me?” Austin whispered.

“Yeah,” Lily whispered back with a smile before pressing strong kiss to his lips, fighting him for dominance as she slipped her tongue in his mouth.

Notes

BAM! Fluff and braids. I'm incredible.

Chapter title: Utopia by The Stratagem.

They really are a band, and I really am friends with them, that part was true. The only difference is they're just starting out, doing little tours around Queensland and shit like that, so if you could check them out they'd really appreciate it.