Dangerous

When they got back to the hotel, Elle finally looked at herself in the mirror for the first time since that morning and was startled when she saw herself. She was surprised Shannon hadn't laughed at her. She looked like a cartoon character. Her entire face was swollen and bruised, and she was covered in some weird dried blood/old makeup combo that made her skin have a slightly sickening tint to it.

She stepped into the shower and stayed in there for what seemed like forever, just standing under the warm water stream and wondering how long she'd be able to hide this whole thing from Jared.

As soon as she stepped out of the bathroom ten minutes later, she had her answer: not long. He was sitting in the fluffy chair in the corner of her hotel room, waiting patiently for her to come out.

"Jesus, Elle," he said, rising and walking over to her.

"Shan told you," she said, not really needing him to confirm it. She knew he had. That was the annoying thing about them being brothers sometimes, they had a really hard time hiding things from each other.

"You obviously didn't want to," he said, and she couldn't even deny it.

"I didn't want you to be disappointed in me," she said, and his eyes instantly got a gentler look to them.

"I'm not disappointed. I'm just glad you're okay, Elle," he said, pulling her into a hug. "Although, I do have to ask what the fuck you were doing in a bar that early in the day," he said, and she rolled her eyes into his shoulder. She knew he wasn't gonna let her off that easy.

"Shannon and I fought. It was stupid. He told me to get out like he always does and I got over-emotional about it," she said, hoping he'd drop it. He didn't.

"He said you went home with some random guy? You know you could've gotten a lot worse than punched, right?"

"I know, Jay. But I didn't," she said, and it was his turn to roll his eyes.

"Why the hell did you call Shannon instead of me if you guys fought?" he asked her, even though she was sure he already knew the answer. While they were brothers and they had a hard time keeping most things from each other, there was one secret of hers that Jared was definitely keeping from Shannon. He'd known for about six months how she felt about his brother and was ecstatic about it, but knew Elle would probably never muster up the courage to actually tell Shannon how she felt. He'd given her a year. He said that after then, he was telling Shannon no matter what Elle said about it.

"I just... needed to see him," she said, and Jared rolled his eyes again.

"You guys have such a weird relationship," he told her, and she could instantly tell he wasn't mad anymore.

"Yeah, well, that's because he won't just admit his everlasting love for me already," she said, knowing it would make him laugh. It did.

"You're delusional," he told her, play-pushing her in the shoulder.

"I've been called worse," she said, laughing as she pushed him back.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Ellie, I need a water por favor!" she heard Shannon call out. It was the next night, and Thirty Seconds to Mars was about halfway through one of the biggest shows they'd ever played. Watching them play was one of Elle's favorite things in the world, especially Shannon. She'd always wanted to be a drummer and was actually pretty good at it, but when they'd started the band and offered the technician position to her, she couldn't pass it up. Watching Shannon play was basically porn to her. He was so passionate. A lot of Mars fans called him 'Shanimal', and it was a very fitting nickname. He was someone else altogether when he was playing. It was like Shannon went away and a much darker, more mysterious and broody version of him came out.

The song that they'd been playing stopped, and while Jared was talking to the crowd, Eleanor moved to Shannon and handed him his water and stuck an extra pair of sticks right near his riser, knowing that he was bound to break one. He winked as he threw his shirt over his head and handed it to her. She threw it over her shoulder and motioned for him to stand up so that she could adjust his in-ear monitors that he always wore attached to his waist. She cocked her head to the side and he nodded and gave her a thumbs-up. Anyone that ever watched them work together always commented about how you could tell that they'd been doing this forever; they usually didn't even have to talk to know what the other was saying. It was an art and they'd perfected it.

"Thanks, Ellie-Belly," he yelled over the crowd, using the nickname that he knew really pissed her off.

"You're welcome, Sharon," she said, using the only nickname that she'd ever called him that really pissed him off too.

"Bitch," he yelled, smiling widely at her.

"Ass," she yelled back, watching as he seamlessly started pounding into the next song. She stood just behind him to watch, closer than she normally would. He obviously noticed, because he kept turning almost his entire body around as he drummed to shoot her giant goofy smiles.

"Fuck, I love you," she whispered to herself as he finished the song, realizing maybe for the first time just how true that was.