Beautiful Tragedy

There was a little room past the bunk area, full of instruments, a small desk and a laptop. It was so cluttered and small, it reminded me of home.

I had to look twice before properly seeing the man sitting at the desk, crouching over whatever he was doing he faded into the room. His jet-black hair was covering his face, his right hand moving quickly across a piece of paper. Dressed in all-black from what i could see, he must have sensed other people in the room because he looked up and watched us.

Standing in front of him, his eyes searching my body i felt myself being weighed up; judged. As if i was waiting for this mans approval, and took an instant dislike to him.

That was, however, until his eyes met mine. They were an amazing hazel colour, the greens and browns mixing together and creating a colour so perfect that i'd never seen before. It seemed there was no emotion in those outlined eyes as he kept my gaze with that hard stare, but the more i looked, the more i felt i could read him, his emotions.

There was an anger, but behind that there was sadness, a look of helplessness.

I didn't know how i could tell all this from just one look at him, but somehow i knew he could read me too.

His skin was pale, made only lighter by the thick black hair that framed his face, his nose small and cute, i just wanted to walk over and kiss it. His mouth was fixed in a frown, but i had to fight the thoughts of kissing him, stranger or not.

He was just...beautiful. As soppy as that sounds.

I'd never felt this about anyone, and it scared me. I hadn't even spoken to him yet. Hell, I didn't know his name!

"Last but not least, this is Gerard."

Gerard. I liked that name, it suited him. Now that Ray had said it, i couldn't imagine another name on him.

"Who is he?" Gerard asked, he sounded annoyed, as if he wished i wasn't there. But however angry he sounded, his silky voice gave me goosebumps.

"Bert. He's replacing Mike." Ray explained.

"I liked Mike." Gerard looked at me,avoiding my eyes. "Don't even try to take Mike's place. You won't be as good as him, and for future reference...don't interrupt me when i'm drawing."

"Oh," His harshness almost threw me off track, i wasn't expecting it at all. "Um, right...Okay."

"Yeah." He looked at me again, his face a mixture of disgust and another emotion i couldn't quite put my finger on before going back to his drawing, his hair falling back into his face in a fluid motion.

"Oh and Bert?" He spat my name out, as if it was some rancid taste.

"Yes, Gerard?" I tried to keep the hurt out of my voice, and it instead turned into a wicked bitterness that burned my mouth.

"Stop staring at me."

I opted for the jokey path; maybe that was a way to start breaking down that barrier he was hiding behind. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but i needed to get to know him. There was something pulling me towards him. Wanting him; needing him. I was going to break down that barrier; one blow at a time.

"Yes, your highness" I grinned, and turned, walking back out of the tiny studio that reminded me so much of home and went to find Mikey - in desperate need of that coffee.