To The Stage [Brustoff]

Twenty

Ben hadn't seen Denis, or anyone really, for a while. Cameron, James, and Sam hadn't come back to the bus until way into the morning, and had gone straight to their own bunk. Danny had gone out a few hours after the others had left, god knows where he went. Ben didn't care, Danny always ends back in one piece, and currently, that's all Ben cares about the most.

But now it was 5 in the afternoon, and Danny still hadn't turned up. And they had to be at soundcheck in 30 minutes. Ben was starting to get worried, along with the rest of the guys.

"Ben, where the fuck is Danny?" James asked.

"How the fuck am I supposed to know?" Ben retorted.

"Oh, I don't know," James began. "Maybe because he's your fucking boyfriend?"

"Jesus christ, calm down, all of you, I swear to God, my head still hurts," Cameron muttered.

And with that, Danny showed up.

"Where the hell have you been?" Ben asked, walking up to Danny. He seemed to be okay, apart from the back lines under his eyes and bloodshot eyes.

And Ben didn't know how to feel. He was relieved, but angry at the same time.

"Calm down, fucking hell," was all Danny said, creasing his eyebrows in pain. And all Ben realised with that was that he was hungover. Perhaps lacking in sleep too.

"We have under 30 minutes till soundcheck and you're complaining that I'm too loud? Fuck off."

"You always complaining about me doing what I want-"

"Look," Sam cut off Danny, "We need to get going so you both need to shut up and get moving."

Danny shut up, pushing past all four of them on the way towards the bus to get ready, without a single word said to the rest.

"Fucking hell," James muttered, before turning around and walking away.

And all Ben could think of was how he fucked up even more. That's all he seems to be doing lately. He's been doing that so much lately, he just kept making Danny mad, and he honestly didn't mean to.

A few moments later, Danny walked back out.

"Good of you to finally come. We got 15 minutes, thanks to you. Now lets go," Cameron said, not even giving anyone the chance to argue.

Luckily, they got there with a few moments to spare. The others were already there, Denis looking up to smile at Ben, which Ben looked away at.

Ben turned to look at Danny, "Look, I'm sorry for what I said just now, it was rude, and I'm sorry."

"Ben, save it. I can't be asked right now," Danny said firmly, walking away without even sparing a glance in Ben's direction.

All Ben could think was that he's really fucked up now, and he felt awful. He was trying to apologise but that wasn't even enough to make up for what he did.

Ben didn't want to go to soundcheck, didn't want to see anyone, didn't want to do anything. So he didn't. He turned around quickly on his heels and walked straight out the building. He wasn't thinking straight, all he wanted was to just leave. He fucked up big time and he had no idea what to do.

"Ben," A voice called just from behind him. "Where are you going?"

Ben turned around only to see Denis standing just behind him, a small frown resting on his face. Ben wanted to argue that  he didn't want to see anyone right now, but he couldn't. Strangely enough, he was glad Denis was here. It was as though someone actually did care about his wellbeing. That was just his selfish thoughts talking, but it was nice to know that someone was there for him. And, even though him and Denis had left on an awkward and bad note, he was glad Denis was here, and still caring for him.

"What happened?" Denis asked after Ben didn't reply.

"An argument is all," Ben said, turning around and walking away.

It wasn't that he wanted to leave Denis or for him to go away. For a second he thought Denis might think that and leave him. But then he remembered this was Denis, and he didn't have to worry about that. He remembered what Denis was like, like the back of his hand. He just had useless, random facts about him stuck into his brain as though they had been stapled into his head. And one of the thing he remembered was Denis really didn't give up on anyone that quickly.

"You can talk to me, if you want to, that is," Denis smiled, falling into the same pace as each other as quickly as anything.

Ben shrugged, "I said something rude to Danny and he's mad. I don't blame him. I fuck up everything."

Denis stopped them walking, grabbing Ben by the arm to turn him to face Denis, and looked him straight in the eye, "you aren't a fuck up, you're amazing. Don't blame this all on yourself, okay?"

That's when Ben started crying, because no one has said that to him in a long time. Denis pulled Ben in and hugged him tightly, muttering anything he could think of to help him calm down.

Ben honestly didn't really know why he was crying after a while, but he felt safe, so he didn't move. Instead, he stayed there with his head buried in the crook of Denis' neck. He knew he probably shouldn't, Danny would be even more pissed with him, but right then, nothing mattered.

After a while, Ben pulled away looking straight at Denis. And they stayed there for a moment before Denis began to frown. And that was what worried Ben. He was scared that he had done something, that he had pissed Denis off as well somehow. And he was prepared for Denis to start yelling at him, and he really didn't want to, he couldn't deal with anything like that again today.

"Is that a bruise?"

A/N: WHOOPS I AINT UPDATED FOR AGES. thats prolly bc of friendship shit and ugh but sTILL SORRY!

also ty for reading ily all