KISS One-Shots

Eric C and Paul

Requested by Kitkat453 !

I let out a sigh, looking at the clock. Thirty minutes until practice. In theory, I'd be thrilled to go to practice. I loved being a drummer, and I was finally making it big by being a part of Kiss. And yet I secretly dreaded going to practice, because that meant I had to see Paul. And Paul really didn't seem to like me. Heaving another sigh, I pulled on my sneakers, lacing up my shoes before grabbing my drumsticks and heading for the door.

"Get to go to practice and get bitched at by Paul for three hours, can't wait," I muttered under my breath, walking toward the door of the practice room. "Gonna get to listen to him critiquing me on every single thing I do for like 180 minutes. So much fun." Scowling, I shoved open the door, already in a bad mood even though Paul hadn't even said anything to me yet. I threw myself behind my drum kit, leaning against it with a sigh. "Straighten up. Drums are expensive," Paul snapped. I glared at him. "It's my kit, I can lean on it all I want," I snapped back, leaning even more against it.

Paul opened his mouth to reply but Gene cut him off. "Alright let's just get going," he said in a tired voice. I stuck my tongue out at Paul and he flipped me off in response as we started to play. It was really irritating having him constantly breathing down my neck, always seeming to be searching for anything that I was doing wrong so he could immediately call me on it. And it hurt all the more because I was head over heels in love with him and wanted nothing more than to tell him that I loved him and have him say the same.

"Eric! Focus!" Paul snapped. "We seriously can't have you zoning out when we're in the middle of a show!" "I'm not zoning out! I'm just waiting for you to get back into the right key!" I shouted back. "I am in the right key! You're the one who's off!" "No I'm not!" "Yes you--" "Alright enough!" Gene roared. We fell silent, looking at him. "Can the two of you knock it off?! Paul, ease up on him. He's fine. He's a good drummer." "I'm just trying to give him some helpful advice," Paul muttered under his breath, and I rolled my eyes. "You're nitpicking every single thing he does. And you are in the wrong key. Let's just focus on practice, alright?"

The rest of practice went surprisingly well, since Paul was finally keeping his mouth shut and I was finally able to focus on playing without having to worry about him jumping down my throat about any little thing I might've done wrong. Finally, Gene called it for the day, dismissing us, and I watched with a faint scowl as Paul walked out of the room before letting out a sigh. Ace walked over to me, giving me a faint smile and ruffling my hair. "You've got yourself a crush on Paulie, don't you?" he teased.

Face burning, I let out a sigh before nodding. "Yeah. But he hates me, so I mean it's not like there's any reason for me to tell him I like him," I mumbled. "Nah, he doesn't hate you!" I looked at him in surprise. "What? What do you mean, yes he does! He's always criticizing me about every little thing I do, even if I'm not even wrong!" Ace giggled, nodding. "Yep, he does that because he cares about you! He's nervous around you, that's why he's taking it out on you like that. I think he likes you too!" "No, there's no way. He's just a petty asshole," I grumbled.

"Trust me on this one curly, I really think he likes you! Look, all you gotta do is let him see that he's being a total ass. I mean I know he's getting to you, I know the stuff that he's saying hurts, and I can't blame you, he is being a total bitch. Just be honest with him! You're giving it as good as you're taking it, and he's so caught up in you he doesn't really realize what he's saying hurts you. Next time he calls you on something petty just look him in the eye and go 'Paul that hurts my feelings, can you not be so hard on me?' or something like that."

I heaved a sigh, running a hand through my hair. "But it's so hard to do that without crying," I mumbled. "Aw curly," Ace said, putting a hand on my shoulder and giving it a squeeze. "It'll be okay, I promise! Even if you do cry, believe me, I've cried in front of the band too many times to count," he said with a grin. I gave him a look. "Well yeah, you're drunk like every weekend." "Mm that's irrelevant," he said, before giving me another smile and kissing me on the forehead. "It'll be fine, I promise!" he said, waving goodbye as he headed out of the room.

Heaving a sigh, I gathered up my stuff, heading home and hoping Ace knew what he was talking about it.

The next day, I was even more anxious for practice than I usually was. I took a seat behind my drumkit, running a shaking hand through my hair. We got started on playing and I focused intently on playing right, desperate to not get any comments from Paul. We finished the first song and Paul turned to look at me. I felt my heart sink and braced myself from the inevitable. "Look, when we hired you we wanted someone who wasn't Peter. Stop fucking playing exactly like him," he snapped. Ace gave me a pointed look and I took a deep breath. "Um...Paul, can you stop attacking me all the time? It's kinda...kinda hurtful. I'm trying my best, and-and I know I make some mistakes but you just always go off on me for every little thing and it hurts my feelings," I said in a thick voice, blinking back tears.

There was a pause as Paul stared at me in horror. "Oh...I-I didn't...I'm sorry. I didn't realize," he mumbled, before turning back to his guitar, face red. The rest of practice was awkward and thankfully over quickly. I rose to my feet, about to leave, before Paul called my name. "Hey, Eric? Can we talk?" he asked quietly. I nodded, walking over to him as Gene and Ace left quickly. Paul's face was still red and he refused to look me in the eye. "I'm really sorry. I didn't know that I was hurting your feelings. You always kept like...I dunno, snapping right back at me so I just assumed that...that you didn't care. And I'm sorry I've been so hard on you, I just really care about you and I want you to do well," he said quietly.

"Yeah I know. Probably wouldn't have hurt so much if I didn't have a crush on you," I blurted out. He blinked, staring at me in surprise. "What?" "I-I really like you. Like I love you and stuff," I said. He nodded, smiling faintly, before putting a hand on my cheek, lifting my face toward his, and leaning forward and kissing me.

Smiling, I slipped my arms around his shoulders, returning the kiss happily.