Author's Note: multiple chapters are being updated today! You might want to go back to Chapter 24.
Remember Me
Chapter 25
Watching Daniel stalk away, the door slamming back in on the frame and creaking back open as if the scene needed further attention drawn to it, EJ felt cold. The chill washed him from the top of his head down, pooling at his toes; except for his eyes, they felt burning hot. For the first in a very long time... EJ wanted to cry. He didn't though, because he had an audience. The assistant was staring at him with raised eyebrows, and all EJ could do was run a shaking hand through his hair and say, "Where d'you want me?" Back on set, he couldn't meet anyone's eyes. Rune had heard something sounding like a bang from the direction EJ had gone in while pursuing Daniel, but it didn't concern him as much as the change in his best friend when the bassist came wandering back to the set a few minutes after. Rune held up a finger to the antsy photographer (whose intentions Rune was beginning to suspect), getting away with it only because they were waiting on the guy's assistant, and moved over to usher EJ out to a quieter corner for a second, under pretence of fixing the other boy's dress. "God Jay, what's wrong? Is Dan okay?" His first thought was that something had happened to him as EJ hadn't come back with him; he'd never seen his friend so upset. "I don't know," EJ snapped, Daniel's tension having snaked into him, too. He sighed and looked in the direction Dan had taken off in, but he was nowhere to be seen. "He's gone, I don't know what's going on but fuck him. If he wants to act like some fucking prima donna because the world wants to stuff him in some leather pants, then let him. I'm sure as hell not going to save the day anymore. Come on, let's just do this." He stalked back onto set as the photographer called them back, his 'Boys!' coming out far too high-pitched and demeaning for EJ's mood. Rune looked concerned for both of his boys but he didn't want to drag it out into the open under the camera's eye and EJ had manuevered them so that he'd have to wait to talk this out; the photographer had apparently lost patience with the brown haired assistant and had simply promoted another lackey to take his place. He followed EJ onto the set with a worried glance back at the door. "You," Frederic snapped, tugging on Rune's sleeve and positioning him in front of one of the bathroom 'stalls', "against the door there. You," he motioned EJ over with a crook of one manicured finger. "Face him. You are lovers, no? Act like it." He didn't wait for a correction, just started adjusting lighting. EJ made a low growling noise but did as he was told, his body pressing Rune's into the closed stall door, his leg snaking between Rune's mostly out of habit. "I'd be complaining if you weren't so pretty right now," he tried at a compliment, attempting to keep his mind off Daniel. Ha! As if. The frown on his face belied his seeming lack of concern. Something about Frederic reminded Rune of Tarot, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what... He made a face at the assumption but didn't bother correcting the man, putting any attempt to do so down as a waste of breath. He slid an arm around EJ's waist and the other hand against his face, his thumb petting EJ's cheek just before his ear. He could feel that the playfulness had evaporated from EJ and tried to assure him that things would be okay without telling him they would be, giving him a reassuring smile. After all, despite temper tantrums and missing bandmates, the show (as it were) had to go on. Their record label would have thrown a fit it they didn't do such a major photoshoot. While Kaii watched and ate a sandwich from catering, EJ shoved his concern for Daniel down into his gut and went about amping up the Wrist Broken image as best he knew how. He leaned into Rune's touch, the profile of his face framing the face-on shot of Rune's, knowing where in the hierarchy he belonged. Rune came first, EJ second. EJ wasn't bitter about this at all; he'd practically forced it that way himself when the band was just a fledgling thing back in their hometown. Rune was just too pretty for anyone else to be in the limelight-- though EJ made sure he featured in some of it, mostly in the capacity he was filling today. Imaginary lover, real-life best friend, accessory and the darkness to Rune's inherent lightness. There was no room to worry about Daniel in trying to achieve all that. Really. Rune did what he could to put EJ in better spirits, and to keep the photographer from Hell from barking at them lest his bassist go for the throat. He thought about Khema and made generic sexy look Disney; it barely escaped being soft-core porn. At one point, EJ even ran the tip of his tongue along the shell of Rune's ear, for variety. Apparently, that was the wrong thing to do. "Yes, yes!" groaned Frederic, whom EJ was wondering if he was orgasming in his pants right then. "Now, you, Rune. Face him. Kiss." Rune bit back a giggle at EJ's tongue running over his ear. He raised an eyebrow at Fred's fauxgasm (he hoped it was faux anyway...) and shrugged at his next instruction. He grinned playfully at EJ and then did as he'd been told, kissing him easily. Not surprised that Rune went for it, EJ just as easily fell into the kiss, holding his best friend and cradling his jaw. The sound of the camera going off in quick succession as the kiss went on had EJ mentally rolling his eyes. As they broke off, EJ made sure to slant his face partially toward the camera and breathe onto Rune's neck, showing off his kissbruised lips and giving ol' Frederic the most seductive look he could under the circumstances. Rune shivered with the effort of not laughing as EJ's breath tickled his neck. He squeaked quietly and hooked his pinky finger with EJ's in a secret sentence before shifting into the next pose. Honestly, if he'd wanted to do this all day he'd have become an actor. Ten minutes went by. Then twenty. Thirty. Then FINALLY, they were done. After Rune and EJ had been ordered into affection, it had been Kaii's turn. She did her part with a smile, looking for all the world like a jailbait little chan, posing and posing and posing until EJ was starting to think the photographer was taking extra for his 'special' folder at home. God, the guy was a major creeper. Rune sat slumped down by the wall in his expensive clothes, head resting back against the paint and watching Kaii with half his attention (the protective half) while keeping a mindful eye on EJ at the same time. The fact that Daniel never showed back up didn't seem to bother Frederic. "I've got the shots I wanted of him, anyway," he said with a shrug, handing off his camera to some boy and fumbling for a pack of clove cigarettes. "They'll be sufficient enough." Whatever it was that had happened with Daniel had not gone down well with EJ either. Rune was worried and he covertly flicked his mobile out to give his boyfriend a text. 3 just. missing u. xXx Text sent he looked back up with a sigh and waited for Kaii to stop being perved on by the weird photographer. -- Daniel, meanwhile, hadn't managed to go very far in storming out. He'd made his way to the first guy's toilets he could find and had avoided his gaze in the mirror as he washed his face free of the shock that seemed to have made its home there. Of all the coincidences in the world it had to be 'boy meets ex on obscure photoshoot,' didn't it. He didn't have time to feel bad about acting like a jerk to EJ as he tried to fight his way out of thoughts of the brown haired assistant. All he remembered was being newly sixteen, watching the wall of the bedroom he was using sway as the bed rocked under him, as hands held his wrists down and the same brown haired boy pushed into him hard, again, again, again until Dan closed his eyes and prayed for it to stop soon. He remembered that the shaking didn't go away even after the older boy had pulled out and kissed him like it was payment; that it hadn't gone away the next time and the next time that they did it. He remembered that he had to stop this because each time killed him inside, and he remembered the fury, the spitting and the swearing, the punches and the slamming as the door closed behind someone he knew he loved, or had thought he'd loved. He remembered that he'd forgotten more than the meeting had brought back and shook his head in an attempt to let it stay forgotten. He looked back in the mirror into blue eyes which set his heart racing but locked every muscle. He couldn't do anything as the photographer's assistant came up behind him, pushing an arm around his waist and catching him on the other side with a strong thumb running down the hard edge of his jawline. "Daniel, what a pleasant surprise." Daniel closed his eyes hearing his name like poison from that mouth, but snapped them open soon after as those dark moments threw him back into the bed and that dirty act. "Tristan." "Well, you DO remember my name after all. How cute." Daniel made a sound that wouldn't have been erroneously called a whimper. Tristan bent his head and nuzzled the tense line of the blond's neck up from his shoulder to his ear. "It's been so long... you're not so young but still so hot..." He sounded like he was getting off purely from this one-sided conversation. "I've seen the sluts you hang out with now, Daniel... makes sense." Daniel's hands on the sink top curled into fists. 'Leave me alone.' How could words so loud in his head refuse to be audible without? "I miss you, Daniel," Tristan purred, his hand sliding low to sneak into the back of Daniel's jeans like a ferret into a rabbit hole. The action was too much and Daniel bolted from the bathroom much like the long-eared creatures, his sense in just as many tatters. -- With the photoshoot wrapped up, EJ-- in a rare fit of niceness-- decided to take his bandmates out for drinks, on him. That was, all of the bandmates he could find. Daniel was nowhere to be seen. Yes, that worried EJ, and he had to fight against his desire to call the Scotland Yard and post up 'Have You Seen Me?' posters over all of London. Dan was a big boy, he had a room key at the hotel they were staying at, and just because he ran off did not mean he was in any danger. At least, that's what EJ kept telling himself over and over. He ended up drinking himself into oblivion. On the 2 a.m. cab ride to their hotel, The Strand, and on the elevator ride up Rune had tried to convince EJ to stay with him in his room, but EJ refused. He was sharing with Daniel this time around, legitimately for once because they'd reached a comfortable level in their friendship and now EJ couldn't sleep without the blond in his bed. He'd thought Daniel had felt the same, but... he guessed not. Still, he really fucking cared about that kid and wanted to see if he got in okay. Or at all. Fuck, he couldn't stop thinking about him. Sliding the cardkey into the slot-- five attempts before he realized he was putting it in backward-- EJ stumbled into the lush suite. He made a beeline for the toilet and didn't bother turning on any lights as he fumbled with the lid of the toilet and pissed about seven gin and tonics out of him, not to count how many beers he'd drank. He did manage, however, to note that neither bed was touched, as pristine as when they had checked in that morning, Daniel's luggage lying on one just where he'd hauled it. So he wasn't back yet. EJ flushed the toilet and tried to shove back the tears that were inexplicably pricking the corners of his eyes-- he could be a maudlin drunk if he wanted to. He made his way on unsteady legs to the empty bed and found the television remote underneath him, flicking it on to something mindless. He slipped into an alcohol-fueled coma seconds later. Daniel had found solace with Jack Daniels and had taken him back to the hotel room with him, climbing into the bathtub like he had so many times before after that brief and horrifying romance but not turning the water on this time as he fell asleep with his blond head against the tile. He woke up to the sound of the TV turned on, startled up but still disfocused, climbed out without his shoes, leaving them behind to keep the almost drained whisky bottle company. He unbuttoned his jeans and toed them down, leaving them in a heap in the bathroom doorway as he made his way out into the bedroom on silent feet. Stood over the foreign and familiar form of his bandmate as he lay asleep, seeing yet blind to what he saw. He climbed up onto the bed and straddled the bassist's famous hips, his bottom half bare but covered by the overlarge tshirt that he had failed to find protection in. He reached hands down to pick at the fastenings of EJ's pants, pushing questing fingers in to touch and feel and eventually get in enough to stroke EJ's cock, Daniel silent and somehow far away but desperate as he did so. EJ, blind drunk as he was, took forever to wake up. His cock awoke before he did, growing fat and solid in Daniel's questing hand before its owner even stirred. "Fwha?" He woke with a snuffle, his bleary eyes not taking in much of anything except there was someone crouched before him, blocking his view of the TV, and something felt warm and nice down his pants. "Hmm," he moaned, his head falling back a bit, complacent. Dan let out a pant and it suddenly sounded like he was struggling with something. He whimpered and tugged EJ's pants down further so he could get a better grip on his dick. He rocked his hips against his arm as an afterthought, concentrating on EJ more than himself. As coherence filtered back to him slowly, EJ was sort of able to guess who was framed against the TV, the spill of longish hair cutting off just after the chin and before the shoulder a dead giveaway, if not the fact that no one else had access to this room. "Dan?" he tried, his voice rough, having to try it twice before he could say the name. He reached up with one hand toward the person, whether to pull their hand away or urge them onward was unclear. "No!" Dan shook his head and ran his free hand up EJ's arm to push gently back until he was holding said arm down against the pillow, always always careful not to hurt. "Please," he asked and there was real pleading in his voice. He moved so that he was sitting just in front of EJ's cock and ground back into it, his head back but his eyes trained on EJ's face. EJ's breathing went out on him, his heart beating quadruple time in his chest. He lay still and taut as Daniel shifted above him, confused but definitely not wanting this to stop. As Daniel framed his cock between his asscheeks and rocked back into, it was all he could do not to close his eyes because this, for sure, had to be a dream. He knew he was going to dream about Daniel, but he had no one idea it would be so lifelike, so real. So Daniel. Sucking his bottom lip back into his mouth, it was all he could do to not ask Daniel to bend down and kiss him. Daniel bent lower but not low enough to kiss, sliding his other hand down EJ's other arm and holding his wrist just as gently. He looked down to where his tshirt hid his actions and then back up at EJ. "Shall I take it?" he asked, something so delicate about how he spoke. "I-I-I-what?" EJ responded oh-so-coherently, arching his body up into Daniel's weight on top of him, forcing his cockhead further into the cleft of Daniel's ass. Still, even with this stimuli, the back of EJ's brain couldn't help but point out that there had to be something wrong with the scenario. I mean, it argued with all the sex sensors going off around his head, giving it wild glares, this was so far out of character for Daniel that even EJ's fantasies didn't include it whenever they booted up thoughts of the guitarist. Plus, it said smugly inside EJ's head, the alcohol on Daniel's breath was more than telling as he leaned in like that, flirting with EJ, teasing him so. The rest of EJ's mind, caught up in the moment, chose to ignore that part, and EJ finally answered, in a fragile breath, "Yes." Dan unceremoniously spat into his hand and reached back to slick EJ's cock with this, providing pretty poor lube as he eased back onto it, feeding it into his own body and biting hard on his lip, his expression showing more pain than physical. EJ couldn't do it anymore. Whether it was from the pleasure of Dan sinking down on him or the fact tht he just didn't want to see that gaze that looked so at odds with the situation, the flickering of the television highlighting it in flashes... EJ closed his eyes, on sensation overload. This seemed to give Dan more confidence, or something like that. He lifted up and shoved himself back down hard on EJ, splitting himself open too hard, too fast for it to be good for him. The noise he made didn't reveal much of that, unless it was a sound of despair instead of pleasure. It didn't stop him riding EJ's cock like a pony though. The abrupt rutting, the jerking, bouncing motion of Daniel on top of him had EJ's mouth opening, had him panting, had him saying-- blanking out on it, but still saying, "Dan, Dan, fuck... Daniel." The motions enabled him to wrest a hand free and he snaked it up Daniel's side, bunching his fingers in the shirt to slide up and feel his body as Daniel had done to EJ just moments ago. "No, no," Daniel panted back himself, stilling a little to grind himself down as he pushed EJ's arm back. "Don't, don't touch..." he asked and it sounded like him for a second, like this was something he didn't want to do. It was lost in the next moan that spilt out and flooded his previous words as he resumed fucking himself like a cheap slut. And for a brief moment, EJ came back to himself, the tone of Daniel's voice telling him everything his drink-addled brain had denied so carefully. This wasn't right. "Dan," he said again, the fingers of his denied hand curling around the ones on Daniel's hand as it pushed him away. "Dan, don't. Stop." Daniel withdrew his hand like EJ's fingers burnt, shaking his head and sending blond hair into a riot around his damp face. "I won't," he promised back, not hearing the punctuation in his wherever-he-was. EJ threw his head back-- as unenjoyable as this was, it was still sex, and he was getting close, Daniel's ass milking his raw dick for everything it was worth, seemingly. "Dan, Daniel... you've gotta st--" he interrupted himself with a gasp as his cock spasmed once, twice, deep inside of Daniel. Dan squeezed around EJ's cock as he came, draining him out. He rocked gently against the other boy's hips, gone soft himself without having come. He stilled and stared down at EJ, his hands on the other boy's chest, wordless. EJ panted heavily, his chest heaving as his heart tried to catch up to his dick, which was still twitching inside. His hands free again, EJ reached up for Daniel, to cup his face. "Daniel," he began softly. Daniel didn't move, just stared down at EJ blankly for a scant minute before gingerly pulling himself free. He rolled off and to the side and stumbled towards his own bed, sliding in under the sheets slow like someone in shock. He turned his back to EJ and pulled his knees to his chest, falling away somewhere that not even sleep could disturb. EJ watched him go, felt him as he slid off of him, away from his fingertips... there was something so broken about the way Daniel looked. And EJ had done that, somehow. He hadn't stopped him in time, he'd hurt Daniel earlier and just then... God. He wanted to get away, leave, not be in that room anymore. He'd been mugged of his orgasm and he felt like shit for it-- but he was also far too drunk to even get up from the bed and ended up passing out instead, his cock still outside his jeans.
