Hidden Within the Shadows

singing along to age old songs

The summer had been good. But now the fall was closing in and so were the winter months. The wind had turned chilly, and they were having to layer up a little bit at night more often than not.

"Your hair's getting long," Eddie told him sometime in September. "You want me to shave it?"

Nin looked at Eddie. "Hm. Maybe," he said, pushing a hand through his hair. He grimaced. "Yeah, probably."

"Want me to do it before my band plays tonight?" Eddie asked, a hint of nervousness on his face. "Wanna come watch?"

"Be your groupie?"

Eddie grinned. "You're my personal groupie anyway,"

"Fuck off," he said, rolling his eyes. "Help me shave my hair, and I'll come,"

Eddie's grin grew, and he went into Wayne's room to get his electric shaver. He got the 6mm head. "All this just so you'll come and support my band,"

"Corroded Coffin. Very metal. Suits since you're going to be playing at The Hideout,"

Eddie snorted, and then the buzz of the clippers started. The hair seemed to just fall away, and Eddie did his best to style it and left a bit more on the top of Nin's head. Once he was done, Eddie grasped the hair on top of Nin's head and pulled. Nin ended up looking at Eddie, who smiled, looking upside down before he kissed Nin.

"Thanks,"

"Let's go, we need to set up the stage," Eddie said. Nin nodded, a crooked smile on his face before Eddie leaned down and kissed him again. "OK, we need to go,"

"You're the one who keeps looking at me like that," he said and laughed into the kiss Eddie pressed against his mouth. "We can fuck later."

Eddie snorted. The two grabbed Eddie's guitar, amp and leads, amongst many other items and lugged them into Eddie's van. Heavy metal blared through the speakers when Eddie started the van. The two winced at the volume before their ears adjusted. Eddie grinned at Nin and put his hand on his thigh, fingers splayed over his jeans, catching at the rips there.

"Easy, tiger," Nin said over the music. Eddie laughed, and then he was driving.

After several bumpy roads, and a few risky corners, several miles over the speed limit, they got to the venue.

"I hate how you drive," Nin said. It was awful. Nin knew he was bad at driving when he'd tried learning, but how Eddie managed to get his licence was beyond him.

Together, they unloaded the van, going backstage. The other band members were already in there, setting up. They gave Nin a weird look, muttering to themselves. Nin recognised Jeff and Gareth, and they shot Nin a confused look.

"This is Nin," Eddie said, his usual odd charm at work. He had his arm around Nin's shoulders and a bright smile on his face. "My boyfriend," he added, shooting Jeff and Gareth a stern look.

Boyfriend. Yeah.

Nin had to look away when the smile spread over his face. God, he fucking loved Eddie. Setting up took a fair bit of time, and Nin mostly gave them the leads, the stands and microphones. Music wasn't his forte, so he mainly got what was asked of him.

Once everything was set up, Nin went into the crowd, a blur amongst the throngs of people, who had all come from what looked like a bar crawl. They were mostly metalheads too, people with mohawks in striking colours. Ripped jeans, big boots, jean jackets full of patches, pins and chains. Nin managed to settle in amongst the crowd as Eddie and the Corroded Coffin band began to play. People cheered and sang along to the songs they covered. There was a fair bit of Iron Maiden - Nin knew that was Eddie's favourite band - alongside some Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Motörhead.