“Has anyone seen Laurence?” Kier shouted as he ran around backstage. It was the first night of the Kerrang! Tour and Fearless Vampire Killers were due on stage in ten minutes.
“Nope.” Shane replied, shaking his head towards the red fringed man.
“Me neither.” Luke shook his head along with Shane, twirling his drum sticks between his fingers lazily.
Kier sighed loudly then ran out the room, grumbling to himself. Shane and Luke shared an uneasy glance as they heard faint “Laurence?! Laurence!” fading into the distance.
Kier ran through the hallways calling for his ebony haired band mate. He’d been hoping to speak to him before they went on stage tonight; he knew how nervous Laurence could get before playing a show and knew that as they hadn’t played a show in a while; Laurence would probably be freaking out somewhere.
“Laurence?!” He called as he entered the cafeteria. Sighing loudly as he scanned the room, finding no one who looked even slightly like Laurence.
“Ah ha!” He perked up slightly as he saw the small figure of Drew seated at the far left of the cafeteria, next to CC of Black Veil Brides. Kier hurried over to him and smiled slightly as Drew noticed him approaching. Drew excused himself from his conversation with CC and walked towards him.
“You alright, Kier?” Drew asked eyebrows rising at his panting friend.
“Have you seen Laurence?” Kier asked back, discarding Drew’s question.
Drew shook his head lightly. “Not for about half an hour.”
“Where was he then?”
“Dressing room, he said something about finding the toilets.” Drew informed the younger man.
“Cheers.” Kier replied, patting Drew lightly on the shoulder then running off once more.
Kier weaved through the crowds of staff who surrounded the hallways, stopping ever so often to ask familiar looking members of the staff about Laurence’s whereabouts and asking where the said toilets were. Most were useless; they were as clueless about the venue as he was. A few held little information but there was also a fair few which there was no point in talking to them. Those were the people who replied with; “Who’s Laurence?” to which Kier would roll his eyes and storm off in the opposite direction grumbling, “Just because we are the fucking opening act, no one bothers knowing who we are.”
Kier stormed into another corridor after getting into an argument with the staff saying how he was needed on stage in four minutes and that he didn’t have time to find the toilet, to which Kier would reply “We can’t perform without our frontman so leave me alone!” The member of staff would then reply by giving him a confused look, probably wondering why he’d need to look for the frontman in a toilet, or wondering why who he thought was the frontman was referring to another person as the frontman but at that moment Kier didn’t care, he needed to find Laurence. As he turned another corner he walked straight into something, and fell back slightly only to be caught by someone. Kier looked up ready to shout at this person who he must have walked into when he realised who it was.
“Laurence?” Kier asked eyes wide at the sight of his best friend.
Laurence was holding onto Kier’s back, reflex kicking in after Kier walked into him. His eyeliner seemed messier than usual, and his eyes were bloodshot, giving Kier the impression that he must have messily applied his eyeliner after crying to hide his puffy eyes.
“K-Kier, what are you doing here? We should be on stage right now.” Laurence croaked out, confirming Kier’s pervious suspicions of Laurence crying.
“I was looking for you. How are you feeling?” Kier responded; hand on Laurence’s upper arm. Laurence shrugged him off and ran his fingers through his ebony hair.
“I’m fine, can we go?” Laurence replied, desperate to leave this situation and forget about earlier. He sighed when Kier shook his head in response and led Laurence back into the room he just walked out of, which happened to be the male toilets.
“Kier please-” Kier cut him off by engulfing Laurence into a hug.
“I know what you’re like before we go on stage.” He stated, making Laurence smile slightly and return the gesture, resting his head on top of Kier’s.
“Thanks Kier, but honestly I’m fine.” He said, in attempt to reassure the younger male.
“Bullshit.”
Laurence rolled his eyes. “I-I’m just nervous, that’s all.”
Kier pulled back and reached onto his toes, kissing Laurence lightly on his forehead. “You have no need to be, you’ll be fine.”
Laurence nodded, blushing slightly at Kier’s sign of affection. “I know but-but it’s just-” his voice dropped to a whisper. “I-I’ve lost my jacket.”
Kier looked up at Laurence in confusion. He’s lost his jacket? That’s why he was crying, because of a jacket?
“What’s so bad about losing a jacket, come on, we’ll find it after our set.” Kier shook Laurence’s anxieties away, beginning to pull Laurence out of the toilets when Laurence pulled him back.
“No, Kier. You don’t understand I can’t go out there without a jacket on!”
Kier stood dead in his tracks as he heard Laurence’s pleas. “Why not?” He asked, gently, turning to face the older man once more.
“B-Because people will see this.” He replied, a look of disgust on his face as he pointed down to his body, trying to make Kier understand why he was feeling like this.
Kier exhaled, looking up at the man in front of him. “You’re perfect, Laur.”
Laurence disagreed, shaking his head frantically, tears welling up in his eyes once more.
“I’m not.” He whispered, looking away.
“You are.” Kier confirmed kissing his lightly once on Laurence’s chapped lips. “To me.”
Laurence looked at the red fringed man in front of him bewildered at what his supposedly straight best friend had just done.
“W-Wha-What?” He said, attempting to get his words out correctly, Kier giggled in response.
“Come on, we have a show to play.” He said kissing Laurence once more lightly on the lips then grabbing his hand in his own, slotting their fingers between each other’s perfectly.
“But what about my jacket?” Laurence asked shakily, still feeling uneasy at the thought of having to perform without it.
“You’ll be fine, just look at me.” Kier offered. “I’ll be right there with you.”
Laurence nodded biting his lip apprehensively. They continued their journey to the stage in silence, fingers linked together all the way. Laurence grabbed his guitar then took a deep breath, smiling towards his four band mates who seemed to have been waiting for them.
“It’s time!” Laurence heard Drew’s excited squeak beside him as the small blond grinned at him and ran out onto the stage, soon followed by Shane and Luke. Kier stayed beside Laurence and hugged him quickly from the side.
“Remember, you’re perfect.” He whispered, winked then walked onto the stage leaving him alone.
Laurence smiled slightly, feeling a blush creep across his cheeks and walked out, feeling much more confident than he did before.
