Cigarette Burns

Things got ridiculously busy very soon after that. Corey had been right when he'd said that they should get to know each other before everything got too hectic. Slipknot left on tour with Shay in tow, and she instantly remembered how much she loved being on tour. A lot of people she'd met over the years bitched about it like it was the hardest thing in the world, but to her it felt like second nature.

Something else she realized very quickly was that she was ridiculously attracted to Corey when he performed. She'd known that before; she'd seen him in both of his bands multiple times over the years, but somehow sitting side-stage and being able to see it up close and personal was a whole different thing.

"Shay!" Corey's voice ripped though the earpiece she wore and her head snapped sideways to the stage, breaking her out of her thoughts. Corey was standing a few feet away from her, his mask lifted off of his face as blood poured from his nose.

"Corey, what the fuck?" she asked, taking note of the fact that the band seemed to be playing a drum solo to make up for whatever was happening with Corey.

"I smacked my face into Clown's fucking kit rails because my eye holes aren't cut right and I can't fucking see," Corey growled, looking at her like he wanted to rip her apart.

"What do I do?" she asked, never having dealt with such a situation before. Sure, people got hurt on tour all the time, but Shay had always steered clear mostly due to the fact that blood made her ridiculously squeamish.

"Snap my fucking nose back into place," he instructed her, and she immediately started shaking her head.

"I can't... I can't do that, Corey," she told him, and he let out a growl from the back of his throat.

"Well, I can't fucking see it right now and I'm a little too busy to run backstage and find a mirror, so do it!" he yelled, and she shook her head again. Corey sighed, rolling his eyes and taking her by the shoulders.

"I need you to do this. Please," he said, his voice much calmer and sweeter. She stared at him in wonderment a moment, trying to figure out how it was so easy for him to switch between the biggest ass on the planet to the sweetest guy she'd ever met. "Just put your hands on either side and snap it back where it's supposed to be. It's gonna hurt and you're gonna be able to feel it move, but as long as you do that for me, it'll heal fine," he said, leaning closer to her and shutting his eyes.

Taking a deep breath, she leaned in and placed her hands on either side of his nose. He winced just slightly, but opened his eyes and studied her in a way that told her she'd better not back down.

"Come on!" he yelled, glancing out at the stage and then closing his eyes again. She pushed his nose, causing him to growl loudly. Finally, she felt it settle back into place and he opened his eyes slowly, mopping the blood and sweat off of his face with the arm of his jumpsuit.

"Thanks, you little baby," he said, winking and smiling at her before picking his mask up from where it had fallen on the floor and shoving it back on his face. She watched as he winced as it touched his still-tender nose; she could almost see the deep breath rising inside of him as he stood there. Finally, his shoulders relaxed and he walked back out on stage quickly, laughing into his microphone and causing the entire arena of people to erupt into screams.

"Seems I've broken my fucking nose!" he screamed to the crowd. Shay replaced her earpiece so that she could actually understand what he was saying. "Smacked my face right into Clown's kit rails, can ya believe it? Well, thankfully I'm good as fucking new and ready to get this thing going!"

Shay listened to the rest of the show, smiling as Corey explained to the crowd later that his nose had been "knocked back into place by some weirdo".

Eventually when they were done playing, Corey found her backstage. Sweat dripped from his forehead as he plopped down on the couch in the green room they were in. He peeled his mask off like it was a second skin and Shay winced at all of the caked-on blood and sweat that came with it.

"Fuckin' gross," she said, and Corey glanced at her and laughed heartily.

"It's not even close to the worst thing that's fallen out of one of my masks," he said, winking before getting up and moving to the small sink across the room to clean himself up.

"I don't even want to know," Shay said quietly, and Corey laughed again.

"You definitely don't," he agreed, plunging his face into the running water.