Between a Little Piece of Heaven and the Danger Line

The grainy pictures stared back at me, earlier when Brian and I had been texting I hadn't seen them. Now as I sipped on my coffee and picked at the dry bagel beside me there they were glaring at me. The pictures were obviously from a cell phone, and very much not something I wanted in a magazine. My phone started to ring and I groaned recognizing the ringtone, it was Val.

“Hola!” I chimed in a horrible Spanish accent.

“My little Baker's all grown up!” She squealed, I had to pull the phone away from my ear in order to maintain full hearing.

“Whatever do you mean?” I drawled, throwing the magazine in the trash, surprisingly they had gotten a story almost right for once.

“Those pictures were pretty provocative.” She teased with a slight leer in her voice.

“Oh that, yea there's just a few problems with this situation, Brian's family didn't know he was gay, now they do most likely.” I sighed and drained the last of my coffee.

“Fuck, that's bad, Papa Gates is gonna be pissed. Hell I bet the both of you are pissed. I know I am, so's Matt. Who the fuck would take pictures of you too and sell you out?” She was seething, and so was I, but there was nothing I could do now, what's done is done.

“I'm so pissed I could punch puppies, and I would never hit something so cute and innocent. It was probably Gena or your sister.” I growled. She sighed, but I knew she agreed. Michelle and Val were always really close, that is until Val chose to tour with us in the beginning and helping Avenged become what is today. They drifted apart and their relationship was never the same, Michelle was jealous of her sister. We talked for a few more minutes before I had to get ready. We weren't due to the studio until noonish, but I was picking up Brian too.

I pulled into his driveway slowly, and stopped gently. He stumbled slowly to the door and got in numbly. The drive was quiet, I don't think I could find the words so say, and as relaxed looking as he was, I don't think he wasn't tense.

“Did you see the...?” I asked slowly pulling into the studio parking lot, looking at him sideways.

“Yup.” His response was curt, and I could smell something lingering under his mint toothpaste. I just couldn't put my finger on it.

“And...?” I asked slowly.

“My dad hates me now.” He sounded so broken, like he just didn't know what to do with himself anymore.

“I’m sure he doesn’t,” I was trying to sound optimistic, but I was worried, what is if he really didn't accept us? It would break Brian's heart. “Look, we already know that our friends and my family can accept it, so will the fans... I’m sure Papa Gates will accept us too.”

“But he didn’t!” He hissed before opening the door hurriedly. He jumped out and slammed the door. I shut the engine off and lit a cigaret, and got out myself. I walked around the corner just as Brian stumbled into the studio. What was wrong with him? There was a loud crash and a bang from inside the studio, I dropped my smoke and ran inside. Brian was laying across the table, food covering him, and muttering profanity's. I suddenly knew what the undertone was in his breath, he was drunk.

“Are you kidding me? You're fucking drunk?” I hissed, more than slightly pissed. This was un-fucking-believeable. He groaned even more, then finally found the strength to stand up. He stumbled to the back where we kept spare clothes for just in cases. His eyes were hazy and unfocused. I don't know how I didn't know before.

“Gates are you fucking serious right now?” I heard Johnny yell, he must have noticed his drunken manner too.

“Shut the fuck up Johnny, you haven't had the shit morning I have.” He growled back, a slight slur in his voice.

“Boo-fucking who your face was plastered all over a damn magazine, we all know your just an attention whore anyways.” Johnny snapped back, then a door was slammed. I heard something thump against the wall, and sighed, what a great day.

I don't know how we managed it, but we finished writing the parts for Tonight the World Dies, and started recording some vocals before calling it quits for the day. Johnny and I weren't talking to Brian, and Matt was trying to play the mediator. We were almost to Brian house, and the awkward silence was enough to make me want to bash my head into the steering wheel.

“Why are you so damned pissed at me?” He finally snapped at me, glowering.

“Oh I don't know, because you came to the studio trashed maybe. It could be the fact you've been an ass all day too. Or maybe, just maybe it's because you didn't ask me once if I was okay.” I snapped back, pressing harder onto the gas pedal and passing a slower vehicle.

“You sounded pretty damn happy this morning.”

“Why? Because I was trying to be optimistic about this whole situation?” I whined, speeding up even more. “Dammit, my house is plastered all over the front of a magazine, and we're both in a pretty compromising position and our privacy was once again invaded because we chose a job in the limelight, just so we could do the one thing that we loved most.” I was yelling now, and my hands were clinched so tightly on the steering wheel they were locking up. “Fuck.” I yelled, trying to move my sore fingers, but it just wasn't working.

“Shit Zacky,” Brian jumped into action, gently getting them to unlock, and when we got to his house he led me inside and gave me a nice massage to work the soreness out. The way his hands gently worked out the soreness in my hands felt amazing and I couldn't help but remember that this was the Brian I fell in love with, not the drunken one. I was still pissed at him, he'd been a giant ass hole all day, and he what was worse he hadn't even apologized.

Later we were on his couch, sipping at a can of soda and picking at dinner watching MTV so we could see if there was anything up about out recently found relationship. “I'm sorry, I was an ass and I won't drink anymore.” He whispered lowly, picking at his food.

“I hope that's a promise you can keep.” I told him, pecking his cheek. Something was off though, and I knew something was about to go wrong. He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me into his side, we fell asleep like that, cuddled up on the couch.