The stench of cigarette smoke lingered in the air, visible clouds of it hovering around the cluttered room like the remains of some sort of fog. Magazines were scattered across the floor like some sort of messy collage, a piece of artwork that Krist really didn’t have the time to fully appreciate. He carefully stepped around an empty beer bottle and peered around, eyes glimmering with hope, despite the pity he felt for the unmoving figure slumped across of the sofa. The figure hadn’t moved since he had quietly walked in, and Krist was thankful for the key he had been given a few days prior by the pair. At least this way he didn’t need to disturb them too much.
The figure on the sofa shifted a little in discomfort, the grey blanket strewn across of them getting kicked off slightly, just enough so that Krist could spot their clothes. He chewed on his lip. Dave had obviously had a fucking fantastic night last night. Sleeping in until four in the afternoon was generally something that Krist aimed not to do himself. But then again, this was Dave. Maybe Kurt had been rubbing off on the darker-haired drummer a little too much recently.
A soft sigh, emitted from Dave’s wide-open mouth, brought Krist back to his senses. Right. Kurt, the person who he had came here looking for originally. Where was he? Blinking, Krist regained his senses and tentatively nudged a can away from his foot, taking a few steps forward, towards the nearest bedroom. He would have seen it as more likely that Kurt would have been the person kipping on the couch, with Dave taking the more sensible option. But things seemed different today. The smoke lingering around also meant that it hadn’t been that long since someone had been smoking. Krist didn’t need to guess who.
A guitar was propped up in the doorway, looking a little off-balanced, and for a moment, Krist was afraid it would fall. Acoustic guitars tended to make a lot of noise when they were dropped or knocked against, and the eerie silence in the apartment would just make the sound seem more ear-shatteringly loud. Krist gently moved it away.
Why was he here again? And why was he seeking out his best friend? He paused for a moment, mind rewinding a little. Ah, yeah. The bass line. The bass line and the gig placement. He came bearing good news. He just wasn’t sure if it was the right kind of good news that Kurt would want to hear if he was stoned out of his head.
There weren’t any signs of a body beneath the covers of the messy bed, the covers thrown back in the corners to reveal untidy sheets that were most probably rarely slept in. Kurt spent a lot of nights in other places, moving from friend to friends’ houses. Krist could remember the times when the blonde had sometimes slept out on the street due to his mother kicking him out of the house. That hadn’t been a pleasant experience for either of them. Krist didn’t like to think about it too much. He’d much rather focus on the present.
With a small sigh, he scratched the back of his head idly, half-wondering where the fuck Kurt was likely to be. He hated himself for thinking his friend would actually be here today, but he hated himself even more for feeling twinges of disappointment tug at his insides. Being around the blonde was addictive; the creativity and imagination the man shared were just a small part of personality. Krist had known him for years, and could sit with him for hours, neither of them talking much, and still find that they’d gotten closer and just merely enjoyed each others presence.
Because that was the way Kurt was. He didn’t think along the lines of everyone else; he read between them, analysed and interpreted them, rolled his eyes at their shittiness, and then headed in a completely opposite direction to others. It wasn’t so much that he thought he knew best, but more that he knew his ways were much simpler…
Krist’s mind was buzzing with thoughts, once again. With a quick mental curse, he collected himself, fingers lingering a little too long on the covers before he shamefully ducked his head down and averted his gaze away. Time to go.
--x--
Krist tried not to let his mind stray from practising, but it was becoming harder and harder to concentrate on the strings beneath his fingers whilst images of a wasted Kurt flashed across his mind. He was trying not be worried – honestly. It had just become increasingly irritating. Kurt could look after himself. And on many occasions, he’d told the bassist he worried too much. So why couldn’t Krist just take the frontman’s advice and relax a little? He closed his eyes briefly, finger plucking the E string pathetically, the low hum of the sound vibrating around the room. The echoing sound wasn’t comforting; not to Krist. Giving up on the guitar, he set it aside and leant back into the worn cushions of the sofa, head tilted back so he could stare at a rather interesting stain on the ceiling.
It had only been about four hours since he’d visited Kurt and Dave’s apartment, only to find no Kurt, and a very tired Dave. He vaguely wondered if Kurt had returned yet. The news about the new concert placement was a big deal, especially since they’d been lining up to play at this place on so many different occasions before. Krist had only passed by on his way to the nearby record store, and he’d seen the sign and immediately walked in. They’d accepted. Which meant Nirvana was going to be playing there next Friday night. They had less than a week to practice.
Rubbing his eyes tiredly, Krist couldn’t be asked to take a glance out of the window, knowing it was getting dark already. With any luck, Kurt would have returned home now.
A loud ringing noise startled Krist out of his thoughts, and he rolled off of the sofa, casually landing on the floor before half-crawling towards the phone. He picked it up quickly.
“Hey.”
“…Hey?” Krist paused before speaking, and leant heavily against the arm on the couch.
“It’s Dave, man! Don’t you even recognise my voice on the phone these days?”
Dave made a humph sound, that sounded like a suspiciously disguised chuckle, and Krist rolled his eyes. “Sorry dude. I’ve been kind of out of it…”
“Awesome. I’d like to join you.” There was a hint of tiredness in Dave’s tone. Maybe he’d just woken up? Krist could understand.
“Not that kind of out of it, dumbass.” Krist replied with a small smile, still kind of surprised Dave had rung him. He half-wondered what the occasion was. Maybe Kurt was back and wanted to talk to him. Hope surged in his chest.
“Still want to join you. Things are kind of boring round here.” There was something weird underlining Dave’s tone of voice, and Krist brushed it off as something to do with his tiredness, before speaking again.
“Kurt still not back then?”
“Nah. But I guess he’s ba– wait. How’d you know he wasn’t here in the first place?”
Krist smacked his head against the couch in irritation with himself, before replying a little reluctantly.
“I came round to your place earlier.”
There was a brief moment of silence, where Dave seemed to be moving around or something, before the line went silent again and he started talking.
“You came round here?” He sounded more surprised than anything else. “How come I didn’t see you?”
“Dude, you were asleep.” Krist laughed, fingers playing with a corner of the sofa’s material, twisting it around restlessly. “I didn’t have the heart to wake you. I mean – come on. We all know how stressed you get without your beauty sleep.”
Dave dismissed Krist’s comment with a chuckle. “You wish dude… But yeah, next time, wake me, all right?”
Krist frowned slightly. “Why?”
“Because hanging around you is far more entertaining than sleeping. I’ve missed most of my fucking day because of the party last night.”
Krist wasn’t sure if he should feel happy that Dave wanted to hang around with him more, or slightly worried. He settled for the first option. “Why’d you go to it? I mean, it sounded more like Kurt’s thing, y’know…” He tried not to feel too jealous that he’d missed out on time to spend with his best friend.
“Yeah.” Came Dave’s resigned reply after a moment. “It was. Most people were getting wasted. I thought it was gonna be more about the music than the booze and drugs.”
“It’s mostly like that.” Krist sighed. “I’ve gone to some of those places as well with Kurt. Fucking weird.”
“Yeah. Some totally weird shit was happening there. I left earlier than Kurt.”
Krist ignored the jolt he felt at Kurt’s name, and shifted around uncomfortably as silence occupied the other end of the line, making him think that Dave was doing something, busy moving around…
A short chuckle made him perk up.
“So, that explains how the guitar moved…”
Krist grinned slightly, memories catching up with him. “Yeah. Sorry if that freaked you out or anything…”
“…’s all right.” Murmured Dave and Krist could hear the smile in his voice, making his insides warm for some reason. He brushed off the questioning voice in his head, and focused on Dave speaking. “So, you gonna be round soon?”
Krist blinked, twice, pressing the phone closer to his ear in case he’d misheard. “Erm…what?”
“You. Coming round.”
Krist’s mind was whirring with thoughts, most revolving around Kurt not being there, and he didn’t really spend too much time with Dave in general…so things could get awkward…
“I…er…didn’t know I was coming round…?” he attempted to brush off Dave as gently as possible, biting his lip.
Dave’s small laugh was enough to make his hopes plummet. “You are. You seriously can’t expect me to hang around in this place, drowning in my boredom?”
It was a rhetorical question; one that only needed one answer. Krist closed his eyes, tilting his head backwards as he tried to tell himself he could easily hang around with Dave without Kurt being there. It wasn’t a problem. They all got along anyway. Nothing to worry about, surely? The twinge of regret that he got from knowing that the blonde vocalist wouldn’t be there was pushed down carefully.
“Yeah…all right. I’ll…be over soon if you want.” He replied slowly, injecting small amounts of enthusiasm into his voice. “Want me to bring anything?”
Dave’s reply was quick; tone sounding kind of excited which made Krist raise an eyebrow in surprise. “Nah, we have some beers and stuff here. We can just hang out.”
“Oh. Yeah, all right, sounds…awesome.”
“Yeah. Guess I’ll see you soon then.”
Dave’s voice was hopeful, and Krist had to smile at it. Questions popped up in his head; why wasn’t Dave inviting some of his other mates over? Or waiting for Kurt to hang out with? With a small shrug, he realised he had yet to reply, and smiled slightly.
“Sure. I’ll head off now.”
He didn’t wait for Dave to speak again, instead, putting down the phone and sighing softly into the silence of the room.
Knocking softly on the door, Krist pasted a small smile on his face and waited patiently for the familiar sound of clicking that meant it was about to open. The key was still nestling comfortably in his jacket pocket, but he didn’t want to touch it. He felt like an intruder whenever he let himself into the apartment; it felt a lot safer and a lot friendlier when Kurt or Dave allowed him in. Shuffling his feet around restlessly, his thoughts wondered onto how long he was probably going to be around here…and whether or not he should talk to Dave about the venue.
A light switched on from inside, beams of it travelling over Krist’s feet as it spread from the gap under the door. He blinked, watching the warm honey colour cast shadows all around him, before he was snapped out of his thoughts by a hand - a hand waving itself in front of his eyes.
Stumbling back a step in surprise, he would have almost tripped over if a hand hadn’t reached out and caught his wrist, yanking him forwards with a small chuckle. Krist stared into warm hazel eyes, smiling weakly when he realised who it was. Dave grinned back.
“I, er…yeah. Hey.” He managed, regaining his balance and standing a little straighter, feeling embarrassed. “Thanks, man.”
Dave watched him – bemused, his long dark hair hanging around his face in a messy sort of way. He tilted his head, and Krist realised the hand around his wrist was still there as he found himself being dragged into the apartment.
Dave let go of him before he could protest, shutting the door behind him quickly as Krist gave an uncomfortable look around, noting that the place looked slightly cleaner than it had been before. The living room was uncluttered now. Had Dave – dare he think it – cleaned while Krist had headed over? He chewed on his lip, worried for his friend. Dave cleaning was just a bad image. And Kurt certainly didn’t clean, too caught up in music to worry about anything else. Krist could definitely relate. His place wasn’t exactly a healthy haven either.
Dave shuffled around behind him, and Krist vaguely listened in as he spoke.
“So, I’m guessing everything’s all right?” the young drummer piped up, and the bassist heard the fridge door open. “Thanks for coming over, by the way.”
Krist shrugged and nodded, feet glued to the floor as his eyes roamed over the contents of the now-tidy room, and barely noticed Dave was right beside him until a small poke in his side made him swivel around.
“Krist – seriously, are you okay?” There was something intense lurking in those dark hazel orbs. Krist smiled a little, turning away to head towards the sofa as he called over his shoulder in what he hoped was a convincingly happy manner…
“Yeah, it’s all good. I just feel tired.”
Hey – it was partially true. The insane urge to grab a pillow and sink his head into it was off-limits. Maybe he should have taken something to wake himself up a little. Kurt had done so once or twice, but every other normal person seemed to head straight for coffee. Krist tried not to pull a face, remembering his first taste of the bitter liquid as a child.
Sitting back into the sofa, he watched as a grinning Dave followed him closely, not far behind him in flopping next to him – the two bottles in his hands clinked together as he did so. Shifting around, the longer-haired man casually passed a bottle to Krist, who eagerly accepted. They simultaneously raised the bottle in their hands to their lips, taking a drink – Dave taking longer than Krist.
Silence followed, and Krist tried hard not to think about small talk.
They’d had a load of drummers before. But Dave was much more relaxed and qualified than the others. He fit in with them so well. Why did Krist still feel a little awkward in his presence? Querying this in his head, he secretly knew that he hadn’t spent enough time with Dave. Maybe he’d classed him as just another drummer – just like the rest of them – too soon. The guilt that followed definitely wasn’t comfortable.
“Hey, you know Dean, right?”
The question made him blink, and turn round to face Dave, who was watching him with a curious gaze. He managed to give a small nod in response. The curious expression on Dave’s face flickered.
“Seriously? You know who I mean? The one living down that weird…street place. Near that Allen’s music shop?”
Dave looked a little more curious as he spoke, but Krist could sense the excitement underlining his tone. He half-wondered where this was going as he replied a little slowly.
“Yeah. Dean Stroud. He’s an awesome guy. He’s been mates with me and Kurt since forever.”
Dave grinned. “He works at that music store. He gave me a load of free tapes and shit to show you guys sometime.”
Krist blinked, smiling at little at Dave’s enthusiasm for a moment, before tilting his head in puzzlement. “Wait – I had no idea you were friends with him. Or knew who he was...” Dean was a pretty big guy around their neighbourhood, but Dave had never mentioned him before.
Dave rolled his eyes, a satisfied smile on his face as he shrugged. “Small world. Just think – we could have been introduced a lot sooner. Then maybe we’d have worked out more songs and practised a load more.”
The knife inside Krist’s gut twisted violently, a reminder that he should talk about the venue sooner rather than later before he forgot and doomed Nirvana.
Dave stumbling off of the sofa broke him out of his thoughts. His lanky figure knelt down to place the bottle carefully on the floor, before he stood straighter and met the bassist’s confused expression.
“I’m gonna go get those tapes. You have to fucking hear them. They’re kinda fuzzy, but the drums…” he trailed off, content expression wavering slightly as he moved away to look through the clutter in the next room. “…the fucking drums are awesome…”
He turned back, face peering over his own shoulder to shoot a coy smile in Krist’s direction. “They’re not really gonna be Kurt’s thing, but I think you’ll like them….I mean, I did, so yeah…”
Krist already knew that the drums were going to be steady beats, loud with a sturdy rhythm. Dave’s inspiration was Bonham, so of course that was why he was going to like them. Krist liked the style of playing as well, and listened to the decent bands out there, trying to keep himself away from mainstream music. Kurt would kill him if he got too sucked in by some of that shit, so he made a point of not getting too curious over popular bands. Plus – it wasn’t like he favoured mainstream stuff anyway. Underground music had meaning; it stood for something. Some people liked to call it rebellious. Krist preferred to think of it as putting across your point – showing others what you believed in. Fuck the government and politics and all that crap. They weren’t exactly making things better. Some of the stuff Krist would see in the papers made him pity the entire system. There were some aspects that really needed to be changed.
He chewed on his lip thoughtfully, hand feeling slightly cold because of the bottle. Switching it to his other hand, he looked up as Dave re-entered the room, holding a tape in the air successfully. He chuckled, glancing at Krist with a smile before dropping to an over-dramatic bow.
“I totally thought I’d lost this. Thank fuck it wasn’t mixed up with Kurt’s stuff.”
He straightened again, flinging himself towards the cassette player in the corner.
“You would have been there a while.” Krist agreed with a small grin, watching him go.
A second later, a crackling noise began before music started blaring out, causing Krist to blink in surprise at the heaviness of it. This wasn’t punk like he’d expected – it was something a lot more heavier. Dave was fiddling with the cassette player, and eventually settled with twisting some sort of knob around before swivelling around to study Krist’s reaction.
The drums were pretty awesome, like Dave had said. Krist listened to the bass line, ears picking up the sound of a tambourine in the background. Whatever this was, it was pretty heavy stuff, and having a tambourine mingled in with it made it sound…more energetic. Unusual. Krist was nodding his head to the beat without even realising it. There was definitely a buzz.
Dave had resorted to sitting beside him again, leaning back comfortably in the sofa, letting the music wash over him. But Krist could feel those dark eyes settling on him quite a few times. As they sat there, Krist felt himself relaxing more and more. When the song reached a small guitar solo, the smile on his face must have been some clue to Dave about his opinion.
“You like it?” Dave was grinning at him, shifting closer, and Krist snorted in reply, shaking his head falsely.
“No. This is complete shit.” He replied sarcastically, the grin on his face giving it away as Dave poked him in the ribs.
“Liar.” The long-haired man accused, and Krist took the chance at poking him back as revenge. “I told you you’d like it. I rule.”
“You wish.” Krist said, watching Dave raise a triumphant fist into the air. He blinked, trying to remember what he’d planned to ask. “So – who were those guys then?”
At this question, Dave dropped his hand, and turned back to Krist, childish excitement turning to something more serious and intense in a second. Krist wondered how his personality could change so suddenly. He waited, watching Dave shrug.
“To be honest – I can’t remember. I think Dean gave me some name of some rock group, but if it was them on those tapes he handed me – then I don’t know.” Dave smiled. “I’ll ask him when I next see him. I need more of their music; it’s awesome. Reminded me of the Sex Pistols gone insane.”
Krist smiled at the choice of band, knowing he hadn’t been far off from that same line of thought himself. Turned out Dave liked quite a lot of music he was into already.
“Aren’t they already insane?” he questioned lightly, before taking a long gulp of his beer.
Dave’s eyes followed his movement, unbeknownst to Krist who was setting the bottle down. The small smirk playing lightly on his lips informed Krist something was up as he turned around to face Dave again, but Dave’s expression changed to something mockingly cynical when they caught each others gazes.
“No. They’re simply misunderstood.” Dave replied, smiling. “They have a lot going for them.”
Krist nodded in silent agreement, partially wishing he was listening to some of their music now.
“I could dig out some of my music, if you want. I’ve got this massive collection of records and tapes back with my family, but I brought some stuff over here as well. Pistols are probably in there somewhere.” Dave’s voice broke through Krist’s longing thoughts.
He blinked in surprise. Whoa. Dave could read minds now? Dave smiled at his caught-out expression, looking pleased that he’d suggested the right kind of thing to do, because all of a sudden, Krist was being pulled up off the sofa and over into the other room.
And then he was being guided towards a box full of music. Standing over it, Dave looked like a proud parent. Krist would have laughed at it, if he hadn’t been too busy practically worshipping the fact that nearly all of the music in there was fucking amazing. Now would so not be a good time to drool. He tore his gaze away from the records to peer up at Dave.
“Fuck.” He managed out. “You…just – wow. I bet I don’t have even half of these yet.”
Dave wasn’t smiling at the music now, he was smiling openly at Krist – and Krist could see Dave watching him out the corner of his eye as he flicked through records, mouth opening in wonder at the name of every artist he saw.
The dark figure moved up beside him, sitting close and helping him empty the box with a grin.
“Well, where I used to live – there was this record store. It kicked ass. And there’s this one near that mall; it’s near us. I’ll have to take you there sometime.”
Krist half-knew that a lot of time and effort had gone into obtaining some of this stuff. He smiled, not noticing Dave’s eyes fixated on him as he flipped over a record cover to read through the tracks.
“I’d like that.” He murmured, vaguely aware that maybe this evening wasn’t going to suck as much as he thought it was.
“Have it.”
“No.”
“I said – have it!”
“And I said no.”
Krist shook his head, attempting to swivel away from the outstretched arms of Dave, who was currently trying to push a record into his hands. Dave’s amused expression was growing irritated, as he concentrated on getting the bassist to take the creased cover of the record from his hands. Krist sighed softly through his nose. Fuck it – the record was Dave’s. All of these were. It wasn’t fair on him if he took one away. He secretly knew that Dave must have spent a good year or so, tracking down music stores every weekend to get these. He didn’t want to ruin that for him.
“Jesus – Krist, will you just take it? Please?” Krist raised his eyes to meet Dave’s dark pleading gaze, and unable to decide on how to brush him off, he was obviously too slow in replying. Dave carried on, with a small smirk. “For me? Do it for me.”
A flutter of his eyelashes left Krist staring at him in surprise, and Dave chuckled lightly, moving to sit opposite him.
“Look, I get why you don’t want to take any of these away from me, but I’m offering. So it’s yours now, not mine. Stop being so goddamn careful about everyone else’s feelings. I don’t give a fuck.” Dave said, grinning as he watched Krist glance at the record and then up at him. They held gazes, and Dave tilted his head. “Think of it as a gift.”
“Not my birthday, y’know…” the bassist half-joked, amazed at why Dave was being so nice. They’d only been flicking through the records for about an hour now, discussing each band they liked, and finding they held similar interests. Krist didn’t know what to think anymore. Dave had turned out to be a really awesome person. He hated himself for thinking the dark-haired man would be any different.
“Yeah, well…” murmured Dave, trailing off as his grin fell a little, something glinting in the dark hazel of his eyes before he dropped the record in Krist’s lap. “Consider it an early birthday present. Or late. Whatever.”
Krist looked down at the record, mentally scolding himself for practically worshipping it as soon as he found it amidst the other music. When he looked up again, he was smiling sheepishly. Trust Dave to make him feel like some sort of nervous girl. “Thanks man… I don’t know what to say…I’ll make it up to you somehow.”
Dave’s face lit up at that, and straight away, Krist was beginning to curse himself for saying that. Great – now he was going to owe Dave endless amounts of alcohol, right? Or maybe he was going to have to do something embarrassing. Who knew what schemes were going on in the drummer’s head? He repressed the sudden urge to hang his head in shame. He’d gone to enough parties and shit before to know the sort of things they’d get up to.
“Well, you could always-“ Dave began slowly, a devious grin working its way up on his features.
A loud knock interrupted him, making Krist jump and glance at Dave confusedly, who frowned in reply and turned towards the door. What the fuck was that? Low murmuring and a stumble outside made Krist’s eyes widen ever so slightly. He could easily recognise who it was. He stood up, trying not to appear too enthusiastic as he headed into the other room, towards the front door. He could feel Dave trailing slowly behind, watching him.
“Krist – what’re you-?” he began uncertainly, voice dropping to a lower level as the bassist pulled open the door.
Kurt fell through the doorway, and Krist felt the blonde’s arms latch themselves around his neck as he stumbled for balance. The vocalist was slurring together a sentence, eyes focusing on Krist for a second, who in turn, couldn’t help but stare back into the blue depths, surprised at how drunk his friend appeared to be. What the fuck? Had he been drinking all night and day or something? Krist’s earlier worries that had been previously pushed away, now returned, full blast.
“Kurt, what the fuck!?” he started worriedly, the blonde dragging him down to the floor, leaving the door swung wide open. He briefly caught a glimpse of Dave watching them, looking as shocked as Krist felt, before he was rushing over, and shutting the door before quickly dropping down to Krist’s level. Krist felt Dave’s arms slipping between him and the blonde, tugging Kurt away from Krist as soon as possible. Krist vaguely heard himself muttering at Dave, telling him to be careful.
A few hours later, and he was sat beside Kurt, hand resting on his arm as the blonde slowly turned to look at him. A lazy smile spread across the smaller man’s face as he realised who Krist was, and the bassist half-noticed Dave’s eyes fall to the floor, his face holding a carefully guarded expression. His mouth was drawn into a tight line. Before Krist could question it, Kurt was mumbling something.
“Sorry. Got trashed last night…” the blonde yawned loudly, leaning back into the sofa. Krist felt like he should thank Dave for whatever he’d given Kurt; it had certainly woken him up. At least now they could understand half of what he was saying.
“It’s all right.” He muttered, glancing over Kurt before retracting his hand so he could sit back into his corner of the sofa. He was lying of course; it wasn’t all right. It wasn’t all right that Kurt could just disappear and turn up like he had. But Krist didn’t exactly have the power to stop him. It was Kurt’s decision, not his. And it hurt that it was like that.
Blue eyes fixed themselves on him, looking slightly puzzled, and Krist slowly looked up to meet the gaze, only half-noticing Dave turning away to pick up his beer. The blonde’s gaze didn’t waver on him.
“You were hanging out with Dave then?” Kurt asked softly, and Dave turned around to shoot a smile at Krist before beating him to it, and answering for him.
He nodded at Kurt, before speaking. “Yeah. I was bored out of my mind. Krist is pretty entertaining, y’know.”
There was something underlining Dave’s tone, making Krist peer at him curiously, but Dave and Kurt were too busy looking at each other, expressions unreadable.
“Cool.” Spat out Kurt eventually, voice catching slightly; he broke their shared gaze to turn and look at Krist. The bassist smiled weakly in response. He’d known Kurt long enough to know when something was up, and there was something in his eyes that gave it away. “He is pretty awesome.”
Krist smirked at his two band mates jokingly. “Enough with the compliments. You’ll make me blush.”
Dave snorted and then grinned, winking at Krist suggestively. “Maybe I want to see you blush.”
Krist rolled his eyes, unable to stop the smile on his face from widening. Kurt looked between him and Dave, and then the blonde wordlessly stood up, swaying on his feet. Krist was up, beside him in a second.
“You all right?” he asked worriedly.
The blonde’s eyes travelled up and down over him, analysing him, before casually meeting his gaze. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
He didn’t bother continuing to talk, and Krist’s shoulders sagged a little under the scrutiny of his gaze. “….okay.” he mumbled.
Dave sat quietly on the sofa, but the bassist couldn’t focus on him – too caught up in the way Kurt was glaring at him openly now. Had he done something wrong? Shit. Feeling a little too over-paranoid, he waited until Kurt broke the gaze to face his bedroom door. The blonde stalked off into it, leaving Krist behind to stare after him. Just as the singer reached the door, he turned to peer at Krist over his shoulder. Krist blinked, barely catching the way Kurt was nodding at him as if to follow, eyes glimmering brightly at him.
Kurt disappeared into his room, leaving the door open as an obvious invitation. Did he want to talk to him? Krist swallowed, half-confused over what had just happened between them all. Dave shifting around on the sofa captured his attention. The drummer shrugged, moving aside eagerly to let Krist sit down, but the bassist didn’t. This didn’t feel right.
“I…er…I’m gonna go and – yeah…” he began uncertainly, making a move forward. Dave’s expression fell, and Krist paused, glancing at him. “…if it’s okay…”
The drummer looked up, a tight smile on his features. “Yeah.” He stated bluntly, and Krist watched him. “Why wouldn’t it be? Go – you….go…check up on him.”
He lifted a bottle to his lips, tipping it back and taking a long sip of his beer – Krist noticed his expression was irritated. His stomach plummeted, insides squirming with guilt, even though he had no reason to feel that way. Dave’s eyes were averted from his as he stretched across the sofa, and when he didn’t speak for the next moment or so, the bassist knew he should move. Kurt wanted to see him. And…Dave wasn’t going anywhere. The awkwardness he’d felt earlier between the two was probably just something he’d imagined.
His footsteps sounded eerily loud as he walked over and into Kurt’s room.