Take the Pain Away

“Fuck.”

A yell echoed through the apartment, shortly before something smashed onto the floor, bursting clanging into thousand pieces.

Andreas looked up from his booking, frowning as he laid it down to the side and stood up.
Eric had behaved strangely lately, tending to be aggressive and stressed the whole day long, dropping things and yelling around because of pure nonsense.

“Eric, what’s the matter?” He asked as he stepped into the kitchen, eyeing his boyfriend standing there, seeming to count down in his head from 10 to 0 in order to stop himself from exploding.

“Nothing” He hissed, bending down to pick up the broken glass that immediately cut into his skin. “Fuck, this cannot be true” He yelled, throwing the pieces into the trash can with so much anger that Andreas thought it would burst into pieces as well. Eric waved with his arms angrily, turning towards the sink and washed the blood off his finger.

“Don’t lie to me, boychild.” The other hummed lowly, wrapping his arms around Eric’s chest and held him close, smiling softly as he felt the boy tense up slightly under his touch. The younger sighed, closing his eyes a little and looked tiredly on the cold water running over his hand.

“Everything’s okay, Andreas. Really!” He said, relaxing under the man’s touch as he started to stroke the skin showing up under his shirt.

“You’re way too strained and aggressive for being okay.” Andreas pointed out, letting his fingers wander over Eric’s pale and soft skin.

Eric stayed quiet for a while, enjoying the silence around them and the company of his boyfriend.

“I’m just stressed.” He replied quietly, turning around to show Andreas a weak smile, before he nuzzled closer and buried his face in the crock of the other’s neck.

Andreas sighed, stroking the younger’s back softly as leaning his face against Eric’s.

The last time had been stressing for the young man in from of him. After they had finished their recording for the latest Deathstars record, Eric had started modeling again. Actually he loved this kind of work, because it was just funny and the results were amazing to him – mostly at least.

But he had been going to the studios for a week now, everyday. To fix certain shorts, decide on the editing and have talks with people who wanted to buy them, because the photographer wanted him to take part in it this time . He had left pretty early in the morning and had come home late, so he and Andreas had met only mere times. In addition to that he had had struggles with his parents again. About nearly everything, his relationship to Andreas – which always was the topic his father could get angry about the most -, his work as guitarist with Deathstars, his life, his behavior. It had ended up with Mr. Bäckman slapping his son again right through the face, yelling at him to fucking leave his house.

Eric had got used to it, at least a little. But it was something he carried around with him all the time, making him sad, when he thought about it. Connected with concerts, recording and also his fans and of course the modeling caused him great stress, making his body ache more and more every day.

He hadn’t told Andreas about the fight with his parents, that his father had beaten him up again or that his mother had cried, nor he had told him that he needed some rest from all this stuff. He didn’t want to bother the older, didn’t want to ask the other to relax only for a short moment. Andreas was happy and that was what meant most to Eric. He had hidden the bruises under tons of make-up. Of course his boyfriend had noticed but the younger had just shrugged it off with a smile.

“No surprise” Andreas sighed, pressing a kiss against Eric’s forehead and hummed slightly. “All that modeling and band stuff breaks you down. As well as that thing with your father.”

Eric froze, blinking before he thought over what Andreas had said. He hadn’t told him about the struggle with his father, he had only told Björn about it.

“How do you...?” Eric started, cutting himself off, and sighed. He should have known that Björn would tell Andreas. The other just knew he had to tell Eric’s boyfriend, and Björn tended to tell everything when Andreas just looked at him with that special, slightly intimidating expression. Not that the older really wanted to intimidate Eric’s best friend, but if it was about his young boychild he took it deadly serious.

The boy tensed up shortly afterwards, keeping back the tears rising up behind his lids and wrapped his arms tightly around his lover to have something to hold on to now. He didn’t like this all too sensitive side of himself but Andreas had the strange ability to bring it out very often.

“Sh… it’s okay, boychild.” The older mumbled, moving his hands over the boy’s clothed back, using more and less pressure on some sport, that made Eric twitch almost immediately.

“See. You’re totally uptight, dear.” He said, smiling down softly on his younger lover, before he stayed quiet a short time to think about something that could Eric make relax again.

He liked it more when the boy was lively, happy and laid-back. That was the Eric he had fallen in love with and that he wanted to be together with forever, though he knew Eric was only human as well, having his good and bad moods as well as emotions. But Andreas just wanted to cheer him up when he was like this, seeing that smile on his face again, his glittering eyes. All in all sorrow and stress didn’t suit him really.

“How about a massage, sweetie?” Andreas murmured, running his hands under the boy’s shirt, touching his soft and tender skin directly and stroking it carefully.

“Good idea…” Eric sighed, cuddling up closer but still leaning into the touch, feeling his body relax slightly by just only Andreas touching him. Sometimes the man really surprised him. No matter how dangerous he could look if he wanted, he was still careful and caring with Eric, always helping him with problems. And he liked that, he had always looked for someone to take care of him, to hold him when he felt bad and to listen to him. Andreas also had the strange power to make his boyfriend calm and happy again with only giving him a look, saying a certain word in a certain way or touching him briefly as he did now.

“This will be the pay-back for neglecting me then?” Eric smirked as Andreas started to push the tight black shirt further up.

“Neglecting you?” The older asked and frowned slightly, but he was still smiling. Of course he should have had more time for Eric, should have talked to him immediately after Björn had told him about the struggle with his father. It wasn’t only Eric having done things wrong lately, also Andreas felt like he should have been looking after his boychild more carefully. But working on a record always made him turn into a kind of work-a-holic and he had spent most of the time with Emil, trying out some riff and listening to the pre-mixed songs.

He had also had some arguments with Eric back then. After the recoding the model agency had asked the boy to have some shootings and that was the main reason for Andreas to get angry about this all, because they had had very little time for each other. But he had always excused for it, because he knew he had over-reacted.

“You were always away during recoding!” Eric pouted, leaning his forehead against Andreas’ and looked at him with his big, blue eyes.

“Poor, love” He hushed, pulling the shirt off the boy and touched the skin directly. Eric sighed again, placing a kiss on Andreas’ lips.

“Sh…” The older laid his forefinger onto his boyfriend’s fully lips, keeping him from kissing him again. Not that he didn’t want it but he had something on his mind.

“Lay down on the bed” He said quietly, a smile playing over his features before he turned to go into the bathroom. Eric was still standing in the kitchen, his gaze following his lover with a wondering expression.

“And what are you doing?” He asked loudly, massaging his temples softly, sighing deeply and turning to the bedroom.

His whole body was aching and it felt like his legs weighted tons. Actually Eric just wanted to hide under the blanket together with Andreas, cuddling up to him closely and feeling his warm and soft skin against his own. But there had been so man things they had to deal with so that this nice, relaxing atmosphere had turned into something really rare. Eric didn’t like that, he wanted to be close to Andreas more often. Not that they separated from each other like they didn’t love the other anymore. It was more a physical separation and that was what Eric hated about his job and life the most. Always on the run.

He put off his trousers, leaving them where they fell down and crawled into the bed, closing his eyes tiredly as he felt how exhausted his body really was out of sudden. Perhaps not really out of sudden, he surely just hadn’t noticed it, or he hadn’t wanted to. He had nearly fallen asleep as he noticed someone sitting down on his wrist. Eric opened one eye, breathing out lowly and turned his head to see that someone. As he realized Andreas he closed his eye again, a small smile playing over his lips.

“Oh, boychild. What did they do to you during the shoots?” He asked quietly and held the bottle of massaging oil he had searched for in the bathroom in his hand to warm it up.

“Nothing special… really.”

It took some time for Eric to react to the question and he only mumbled it into the pillow his head laid on now. He wanted some nice treatment now and less talking.

“Ew… it’s cold” He complained, shivering visibly. The cold liquid on his back created goose bumps all over his body. It wasn’t that bad at all, he just wanted to seem like a poor little boy, needing someone to take care of him. This someone should be Andreas of course.

The older just chuckled deeply, warming up his hand by rubbing them against each other, before he placed them on Eric’s back, starting to massage the tensed up boy under him.

Eric relaxed, just relaxed immediately. Of course it hurt a little and every now and then some curses escaped him as Andreas found a spot that was fucking tens but he liked it. The man’s hands on his back, moving over his skin, spreading the now warm oil on his back and making the movements even smoother than they were. The prickle and the nice feelings spread through him by just these movements. It was all perfect, just fucking perfect. He sighed, enjoying every single touch Andreas gave him with every cell of his whole body. He felt the tension inside of him leave, his arms got heavier and his breath got deeper. But there was still a smile over his lips, showing he was all content about this all.

Andreas smiled as well as he moved his hands over the boy’s slim back, taking away the tightness he could find until all the muscles were relaxed again. Nevertheless he went on, only to see Eric as pleased as this for a little longer. The boy just looked adorable, not moving only one muscle, just laying there and receiving something without the need to give something back. Those moments made life worth living for for Andreas.

The last thing Eric noticed was that, in addition to his hands, Andreas’ lips touched his back, making butterflies in his stomach dance, but he was too far inside of dreamland to react to it. His breath evened, his face relaxed but the smile remained. His slightly opened lips let out a light snore every now and then.

Eric had fallen asleep and for the first time in the last weeks it was a re-creative sleep. No nightmares, no silly dreams, just a fluffy nothing. Just sleeping and resting.

And for the first time in the last weeks he felt completely satisfied and happy again. For the first time again experiencing simple relief again.