Eric bit his lip as he walked in, feeling tense. It's been a few weeks, and he had been uncharacteristically quiet. He had thrown himself into writing to avoid thinking about what happened. On the bright side, they had a lot of new material for that night.
"Dude, I could give you his number."
"Jack, please shut the fuck up."
Damien knew This Riot was playing that night, so he knew Eric would have to be there. He didn’t know what he’d saw if he actually saw Eric, but he just… wanted to know if he’d completely ruined whatever it was they’d started to have.
“Dami, I see them. Jack and Eric just walked in!”
Oh shit. He’s here. C’mon, Faust, go talk to him. But what if he does hate me?
"He's over there!" Jack whispered, grinning.
"Jack, you're my best friend, I love you, but please shut the fuck up. Whatever we had going, I fucked it up.
“Kar, I don’t know what to say! How the fuck do I even approach him?”
“Come with me like I’m just going to say hi to Jack, you can test the waters.”
“Okay…”
Damien nervously followed Kari over to where she had spotted the others.
Oh god oh god oh god
Jack looked over at them, grinning as he waved.
Eric looked up, freezing like a deer in headlights. Fuck-
“Hey, Jackie!” Kari called cheerfully, dragging Damien over with her. “You ready for your set?”
While Kari chatted with Jack, Damien looked over at Eric. His heart felt like it was in a straight jacket, aching and trapped.
“H-hey, man”
"Hell yeah we are! Got your bassist back?"
Eric looked up, shoving his hands back in his pockets. "Hey… what's up?"
“Yes, thank God! The stand-in wasn’t bad, but they messed with our sound.”
Damien bit his lip anxiously and shrugged. “Not much, just band stuff” and constantly thinking about you and that kiss and how I fucked up “How ‘bout you?”
"I could tell-"
"Not much, just, you know, lying low…" and thinking about how I ruin everything-
“Yeah…” C’mon, Faust. You know this has to happen sometime- “After our sets, could we- I mean, um- could we talk?” I need to understand…
"Sure…" He said, fidgeting nervously. AAAAAAAAAA-
“Great! Um… anyways, break a leg, Eric,” Damien said with a lopsided grin.
Eric smiled slightly. "Thanks. You too."
“Thanks, man,” Damien’s grin softened. Okay, that wasn’t too bad…
After warming up for their set, Damien and the rest of The Spades greeted the audience and started their first song. He had written part of it the night Eric had helped him home.
“I’m going going going going gooone”
Eric sat with his band while he waited, watching them intently-or, really, watching Damien.
Damien searched the audience as he sang, hoping to spot Eric.
“’Cause it hurts everywhere, but there’s nothing wrong
It’s like I’m a broken record, stuck on the same damn song…”
Eric bit his lip, eyes locked on the other man. …oh-
When he finally spotted Eric, he looked him in the eye, now singing the song to him.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, I’m fine.
Does it even really matter if I’m out of my mind?
Every time I see you, I think I might die,
Could I ever call you mine?”
He flushed, realizing what the song was about. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-
They finished the song, and continued into the next, Damien never taking his eyes off Eric.
Please understand, please…
“I’m bleeding out,
so if the last thing that I do
is bring you down
I’ll bleed out for you”
(^ “bleeding out” by imagine dragons)
Eric broke the eye contact, looking down as his face flushed, ignoring Jack's playful jab in his side. And I fucked it up…
“So I bare my skin, And I count my sins
And I close my eyes, And I take it in
I'm bleeding out, I'm bleeding out for you, for you”
Damien’s heart constricted when Eric looked away, and he pushed everything he could into singing.
Look at me look at me please I need you to see
Eric glanced up a tiny bit, more looking at him through his lashes. I fucked up, I fucked up bad-
They moved on to the next song in the set, this one a cover that Damien had insisted on. Kari saw right through him and convinced the others, even though it was different from their usual sound.
“I like that you're broken, Broken like me
Maybe that makes me a fool
I like that you're lonely, Lonely like me
I could be lonely with you…”
He was still watching Eric, eyes begging the other to look up