Krist doesn’t want to believe that Kurt’s in one of those moods again, but the fact that the whole apartment is trashed and very much silent, leads him to believe that his friend hasn’t had a very good night.
He sighs, running a hand through his dark hair, before carefully stepping over a beer can; his destination being the bedroom. If Kurt wasn’t there then who knew where the fuck he was? Krist sometimes wonders if he’s the only one that actually goes looking for Kurt at times like these.
He nears the room, not that it’s that far away anyway, and instantly perks up. He can hear something. Guitar? Yeah, that’s it. Kurt’s playing guitar. The idle strumming from inside the room causes Krist to relax a little; he knows song writing is sometimes a stress relief for Kurt and calms him. He pauses in his tracks, unsure of whether or not to disturb his friend. Sometimes it was better just to leave Kurt be. He liked figuring out stuff on his own.
The casual string-plucking continues for a minute or so, the faint sounds of Kurt’s humming accompanying it, before it all goes silent. Krist doesn’t dare move, just longing to hear Kurt carry on playing. It was easier to get inside Kurt’s head through listening to his music. But Krist had known him long enough to get past this barrier and understand him anyway. It was why Kurt referred to him as a friend.
There’s a hollow plunking noise as Kurt sets down the guitar and shifts around in the room, causing Krist to chew on his lip and slowly back out of the room. Yeah. Maybe he should leave; let Kurt settle down from whatever he’d been doing earlier. Krist can’t help but eye the mess all over the floor with distaste, even though part of him knew he wasn’t much better at keeping things tidy.
“Krist?”
His name makes him freeze and silently curse, half-wondering how his friend knew he was here. With a soft sigh, he nods to himself and turns to the doorway again, seeing Kurt casually leaning against the frame whilst gazing at him.
“Why were you going? You just got here.”
It seems more of an accusation than a question, but nevertheless, the guilt hits Krist in the stomach with a burning shame. He scratches the back of his head awkwardly.
“Yeah…’m sorry. I kind of thought…that maybe…” he trails off, shrugging a little despite himself and attempting to ignore the look in Kurt’s eyes.
“You can stay.” Says Kurt, a small smile working its way on his features as he pushes a strand of dirty blonde hair back from his face. “It’s not like I was busy or anything.”
Krist begs to differ, but knows he can’t just walk away from Kurt while he’s giving him that look, so he gives a small nod and smiles.
“Where’s Dave?” he asks, attempting to break the silence that follows whilst Kurt moves over to the worn-out sofa. Kurt throws himself down on it, shrugging half-heartedly as he stretches and leans back into the cushions.
“He vanished on me last night.” Was the response.
Krist knows he shouldn’t feel too surprised, but he is. Usually Dave is the one who hangs around here, whilst Kurt’s out. It’s almost like Kurt can sense his confusion, his bright eyes probing into his as he smirks up at the darker haired man.
“Yeah, I know. Me and him swapped places last night, right?” Kurt’s tone is underlined with something Krist can’t quite decipher.
Krist smiles a little and nods, before noticing that Kurt is softly patting the space beside him, urging Krist to sit down.
“You’re making me nervous, man. Is something wrong?”
Krist sets himself down, shaking his head. “Nah, I’m just a little spaced out today.”
He turns to face Kurt, who was watching him with interest until their gazes met. The blonde nodded understandingly.
“I know what you mean.” He says carefully, and Krist watches him, thinking ‘yeah, you really do, don’t you Kurt?’ before the smaller man is shifting closer with a frown.
“What the fuck?”
Krist blinks in surprise, not fully registering the sharp question until a pair of hands are firmly tugging him closer, pulling his shirt up as blue eyes scan his stomach angrily.
Well, fuck.
Krist’s shirt must have ridden up a little when he sat down. He tenses and attempts to pull away from Kurt’s grip, but the man is wiry and pretty strong when he wants to be. This can’t be good. He mentally prepares himself for questions.
“Jesus! Krist – what the hell?” Kurt’s eyes are scanning the three large bruises over his stomach and sides with frantic concern and anger, his gaze flashing darker as Krist sighs and leans away.
“It’s nothing.”
“Like fuck it’s nothing!” Spat the blonde, and Krist is convinced he can feel fumes of heat radiating off of his friend. Well, this is new.
“Kurt,” he tries to reassure, “Seriously, I’m fine, all right. I just got a little messed up the other day, that’s all.”
Kurt isn’t giving up apparently, and the hold on the bassist’s shirt is just constricting as he continues to scan the bruises with narrowed eyes.
“A little messed up, huh?” Krist knows that’s definite sarcasm in his voice, right there. Kurt’s mouth is pressed together in a thin line before he talks again. “What the fuck happened?”
Krist really can’t be asked to tell him, and he knows that if he does, he risks himself and Kurt getting hurt. Because an angry Kurt would always seek out people like that, and Krist isn’t exactly in the best shape for any more fights.
He shrugs instead before talking. “I had a run-in with some dude.”
Kurt’s watching him, eyes daring him to lie, and Krist knows before his friend next talks that he’s seen through his tale, especially by the way that Kurt’s frown is deepening.
“Tell me the truth this time, yeah?”
Krist is telling the truth; sort of. His dark eyes slowly trail up the disapproving face of the man beside him, and he slumps back a little in defeat. There’s only so long he can last under Kurt’s hard stare.
“The gig we did a few days back. The one in that club?”
Kurt nods, slowly, as something dark creeps over his face.
“I stayed behind a little while after you guys had gone…and this guy was having a go at me about our music and stuff.”
The hand on his shirt has loosened a little, but still remains there.
“Well, yeah. I didn’t want to put up with that shit, so I told him to get lost. And him and some mate of his kind of…”
Kurt’s eyes force him to go on.
“…they kind of ambushed me when I finally left.”
Krist shrugs again, and then drops his head, signalling the story is over. He was just a pathetic dweeb of a musician, right?
It takes a while for Kurt to form a response, but when he does start to talk, Krist can definitely sense a very pissed-off air about him. The hand on his shirt drops, hovers uncertainly, then gently lifts Krist’s chin to force him to look at him. Krist sighs inwardly.
“Two against one?” the blonde asks angrily.
Krist’s small nod is enough to make him swear loudly.
“The fuckers.”
And then a pair of lips are on his, causing Krist to freeze up in shock. What the fuck was Kurt doing? His eyes widening, he could feel the hand on his chin from before edging around his shoulders to bring him closer to the lean body of his friend.
Kurt pulls away, eyes glinting a little.
“That…is for sticking up for our music.”
Krist manages to blink twice in confusion, before he was being pulled back into the warm embrace of the blonde, whose lips were on his again, tongue sliding across his bottom lip and entering his mouth quickly and feverishly.
When Kurt pulls away next time, he’s smiling a little.
“And that…was because I felt like it.”
Krist, unsure of how to react, just stares in silence as Kurt watches him and speaks again.
“Those two bastards, if we ever see them again, tell me, all right?” The question is more of a demand, but after what just happened, Krist can only nod dumbly in response. Kurt nods and his smile widens.
“Take off your shirt.”
Krist’s jaw drops, or at least, it sure feels like it has. Maybe Kurt’s high. Kurt’s childish laugh afterwards isn’t enough to reassure him. “What?” he chokes out.
“I think I have some antiseptic stuff or whatever.”
Kurt moves away, but the secretive smile on his face still lingers. Krist briefly touches his lips when the blonde’s rummaging around in the other room. And he can’t help but grow excited at the prospect of Kurt coming back.
--xx--
The End