Love Is A Battlefield (Alan Wilder x Martin Gore)

10: Decency Look Down Upon

Four months later, October 17th, Canada, United States, 10:01pm, the backstage area:

"Well done, you guys, well done!" Juli praised the band members as they individually came offstage.

"Papa, Daddy!" Poppi ran over to see her parents, her younger sister just behind her.

Martin and Alan immediately embraced their children, holding one girl each.

"You've got lots of energy for it being ten o'clock at night." Alan remarked with a chuckle, brushing Poppi's tangled hair out of the way of her face.

"Auntie Juli taught me a fancy word for it! It's something like adrin- um, aldrun-"

"Adrenaline?" Martin corrected her, bouncing Esme on his hip.

"Yes! That's the one!" The soon to be seven year old squealed.

Meanwhile, close to the fire exits, Dave and Andy stood together. Andy felt concerned for his bandmate, as his face lacked an alarming amount of colour.

"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked, though he knew it likely didn't help matters.

"I'm... I'm fine." Dave was close to swaying. "I just need to go and cool down." He tucked invasive strands of hair behind his ears and started to walk away.

"But, Dav-"

"Leave me alone." He started to walk faster in the direction of his dressing room, slamming the door behind him when he got there.

Alan took notice of Dave's stance in the midst of conversing with his husband and his daughters. He turned his head around the corner to attempt to see where he had gone, but he could see nothing.

"Hm. Wonder what's gotten into Dave all of a sudden." He said, turning back to his family.

"I'm not sure, he did hit a couple of false notes tonight so perhaps that's put him out a bit." Martin responded.

His husband merely shrugged, quick to begin forgetting about the ordeal.

~~~~~
Half an hour later, 10:34pm, the bathroom:

Dave had never felt so dreadful. His bones ached from the aggression of the heaving and his insides felt twisted. But no one could know he was sick. With as much strength as were possible to muster, he stood up and balanced himself. Their bus would be leaving any minute and he had to pull himself together.

"Has anyone seen Dave?" Juli had paced around the arena what seemed like hundreds of times looking for him.

At that exact moment, he exited his dressing room bathroom and gathered his bags, using an elastic band to tie his hair with. He then opened the door and stumbled out of it.

"Dave, finally! Where on Earth have you been?" His touring agent felt immense relief to see him.

"Not anywhere important," He forced himself to smile. "Let's just get back to the hotel. I need to sleep."

"I think you all do." She laughed and patted his back as they began walking outside, where the others waited.

For the two young sisters, it wasn't long before the adrenaline wore off and they had fallen asleep on each of their parents' shoulders. Without making a sound, they carefully strapped them into their seats and got themselves situated in the seats in front.

~~~~~
Eight hours later, 6:45am, the hotel:

Just like the previous night, Dave woke up in a cold sweat and his stomach turned inside out. Knowing what he needed to do, he hurried out of bed and into the bathroom, hoping that no one would wake up as a result.

But someone had. Martin. He had heard the scarce rustle of the duvet and the harsh closing of the bathroom door. Too intrigued and worried to go back to sleep, he got up and waited by the door.

When he felt well enough again, Dave turned the handle and pulled the door open, startled by the sight of his bandmate.

"Where'd you come from?!" He whispered.

Martin scoffed back. "I just wanted to check if you're okay, which, right now, doesn't seem to be the case."

"What do you mean? I'm fi-"

Martin stared him down in a way only a parent of two children like him could.

"Alright, alright. My stomach's been feeling a little off for a few days. I think I probably ate something bad."

Before Martin could respond, his stomach turned again and he exhaled sharply, clenching a hand onto it and the other on the wall. "Oh no."

"You alright?"

"Give me a minute."

And the door was slammed in his face. Waiting a few moments more, he walked up to the door and knocked gently. Dave simply whimpered in response and he began whispering.

"Trust you to get food poisoning on tour. I'll leave a bucket at your bedside, so you don't have to keep rushing to the bathroom."

"Th-Thanks." Came the response from inside of the bathroom.

"No problem."

As he headed back to bed, Poppi began to wake up, having too heard what was happening.

"Papa," She said sleepily, rubbing her eyes. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, sweetheart. Uncle Dave just has a little bit of a bad tummy." Her father replied, kissing her head.

She was too tired to question him any further. "Oh, okay..." She started dozing off again.

To bed and Alan's side he returned. He felt troubled about Dave's behaviour; he never normally became sick to the level he now was. However, he could think about it for just a short while, falling deep into slumber again.