If Love Is The Answer, Could You Repeat The Question?

So it’s like this: Things ran smoothly, but only for a while.

Touring was exhausting on its own with having to set up and tear down day after day in between partying and making out. It only got more exhausting when a stomach bug started taking out crew members.

It started a few days after your birthday when Vinny complained of stomach pains. Of course you and everyone else just shrugged it off because Vinny was a dramatic person in general so no one really took him seriously until he couldn’t get out of his bunk the next morning.

That left you to set up and run merch on your own, which you were fine with if it meant Vinny could make a quick recovery. Except the next day Ian felt the same way Vinny had and Vinny wasn’t feeling any better.

By the third day, three crew members were puking their guts out on the bus. The band had been confined to the bus under orders from Matt because if Alex or even Rian got sick, you’d have to start cancelling shows. This had made all four of them extremely irritable and bitchy and Alex’s anxiety had been causing him to have mini panic attacks from being stuck on a small bus for an extended amount of time.

But the main problem was the show was in two hours and you were still out a merch guy, back up guitarist and a guitar tech. You were currently in the dressing room with him, trying to figure out what to do about the three sick people whose jobs back stage and on stage were really important.

“What are we going to do?” He groans, running his hands through his messy hair. You cross the room from where you were standing and sit down next to him, placing a hand lightly on his shoulder. You could see how tense and exhausted he was and you wondered when the last time he slept was.

You rub his back while racking your head on idea of what to do. You both knew very well that you couldn’t run merch because he really needed your help backstage but there was no way you could not sell merch. You had already asked a few of the venue staff to help out with it but they all refused.

“Wait,” You say and he looks up at you. “Doesn’t one of the opening bands have two merch guys? I bet if you explained to them the situation they’d be more than willing to run merch for us tonight.”

“Okay but what about a guitar tech and a backup guitarist?” He asks, and you ignore the snappiness in his voice.

“Well I know that it would be more for you but you could always play and do backup vocals.” You suggest. “I can help Danny backstage will all the technical stuff; I have a pretty good grasp on what to do.”

“I don’t know that’s a lot for you to do.”

It was true. Not only would you have to make sure each guitar was tuned perfectly, hooked up correctly and working, you had to make sure they stayed in tune, organized and ready to go during the switches. That was on top of ordering food for the guys after the show, periodically checking to make sure Vinny, Ian and Colussy were still alive, organizing the after show signing outside the buses and babysitting them during that after taking down.

It was a lot for one person to handle in one night, but you also didn’t want to leave him all to do it. It was bad enough he had to deal with all the stuff he had to on a daily basis, you didn’t want him to burn himself out and get sick too.

“I can handle it.” You assure him, kissing his cheek lightly. “I really don’t mind doing it if it means you’ll be that much less stressed.”

“Alright,” He says, but still sounds unsure of all the responsibilities you just took on, “I’ll go hunt down the other band to see about their merch guy if you’ll set up the tables?”

“No problem,” You pull him to his feet and into a brief kiss before leaving the dressing room and going out to the trailer. You grab the trunks and drag them through the loading dock to inside the back corner of the venue.

Another two trips later and you had the tables set up with the display spread out across the top. You worked quickly to get the back display up but it was a lot harder when there was only one of you to do it. Thankfully it was the only thing left to do for setting up and you finished just as the band entered the floor of the small arena, meaning the meet and greet was starting soon.

“How’re you guys feeling?” You ask as you cross the open space.

“Fine,” Jack shrugs, “I’m glad to be out of that fucking bus though.”

“I’m going to kick your boyfriend to the other side of the state if we have to sit in the bus for another day.” Alex says, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He seemed to be a little more on edge and jumpy today, but you assumed it was from being stuck on the bus.

You start hearing laughter echoing outside the doors and decide that now’s a great time to check on the sickies so you didn’t have to listen to girly screams over the band. Fangirls were definitely not something you want to deal with right now.

-x-

Things went as smoothly as they could with three missing crew members for the first two bands and you were hoping they’d continue to run that way through All Time Low’s set but things started to unravel quickly.

You probably shouldn’t have played off Alex’s weird jumpiness as restlessness. It was half way through the set, during guitar switches and stage banter when you saw it coming before it happened. You watch as Alex turns from facing Rian back to the crowd and his body goes stiff. You could almost see the panic in his eyes as his anxiety hit him full on in the middle of the stage. No one else knew what was going on and Jack just kept cracking dick jokes while Alex looked helplessly out at the crowd, trying to calm himself down before he had to start playing. It was useless though and he finally gathered himself enough to walk quickly towards you and Danny but didn’t stop, going straight into the dressing room.

He was by your side with Danny instantly looking almost as panicked at Alex had seconds later.

“What the fuck are we going to do?” He was yelling and pushing past you but you grabbed his sleeve.

“No, you go out there and sing or strip or something, I don’t care, keep the crowd busy and I’ll go calm Alex down.” You say, directing him towards the stage.

“But—” He protests.

“Don’t argue with me. You’re the only one out of the three of us who can sing so go do a cover.”

“You can sing too.”

“Yeah well they all like you a hell of a lot better than they like me so just do it.” You give him one final shove towards the stage before you turn and head further backstage into the dressing room. Alex was sitting on the floor with his knees pulled to his chest, breathing hard and looking extremely strung out. He was pale and you could see him shaking from the doorway.

“Alex,” You say softly kneeling beside him. “I need you to take really deep breaths and try to calm down.”

He nods once but his breathing just gets harder and harder and more laboured until you were worried he was going to pass out. You take one of his hands and rub small comforting circles with your thumb.

“C’mon, deep breaths,” You reach for a bottle of water on the table next to you for when he’s calm. He finally starts to do as you tell him, taking deeper and slower breaths.

He was close to getting his breathing under control when the door opened and a shock of screaming and drumming cause Alex to jump and start to panic again. You send a glare over your shoulder at whoever opened the door before working on calming down Alex for the second time.

Finally he was composed but still shaking slightly as the door opened again, this time there wasn’t as much noise and Alex didn’t jump. You could tell before he even spoke who had entered the small dressing area.

“How is he?”

“Better,” Alex answer for himself, looking up at him.

“Are you okay to go back on stage?” You ask. He nods but you can see the uncertainty in his eyes. You’ve never seen Alex look this worried or vulnerable. You look over your shoulder and he doesn’t look sure Alex is ready either. “Do one more song.” You tell him and he nods before leaving the room again.

Alex stays silent on the floor, clinging to the water bottle you gave him.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay to go back on stage?” You ask him. “You don’t have to. I’m sure the fans will understand.”

“No, no. I’ll be fine.” And he sounds more confident now.

By the time you hear the second song end he’s stopped shaking and the color had come back to his face. You help him to his feet and led him out of the dressing room and back to the stage where Danny has his guitar ready to go. Alex takes his place in front of the microphone and apologizes for disappearing before they pick up where they left off.

The rest of the night, thankfully went without any more kinks. Taking down took considerably more time since there were less people but you still got it done. It was a long grueling night of taking down, playing Tetris in the trailer to get everything to fit back in properly and screaming fangirls while you following behind Alex as he took pictures and signed various objects.
When it was all over you just wanted to crawl into your bunk and pass out without being disturbed but he had other ideas about that when he wrapped his arms around your waist from behind and led you into his bunk, kissing your neck softly when you came out of the bathroom from changing into pajamas.

You didn’t resist as you crawled in with him trailing you, kissing you deeply once the curtain was closed but you broke away shortly after.

“I’m way too tired for anything extracurricular tonight.” You say quietly, which is weird because you’d almost never turn down sex from him, like ever.

He nods, “I know. I am too; I just really want to thank you for being so amazing and taking on so many things today. I really have no idea what I would have done without you.”

You smile because wow, he’s so cute. “It’s really no problem, I’m happy to help. It’s what I’m here for.”

He smiles back, even in the dark it’s radiant, and kisses you passionately and you really can’t wait for the next off day so that you can lay in his bunk and kiss like this all day.

He pulls away leaving your head spinning and your heart racing, you’ll never get used to him kissing you like that. He rolls onto his back and you immediately put your head on his chest as he wraps his arm around you and you both fall asleep almost instantly.

So it’s like this: Things can’t get much better than they are now.