A/N: does this really quick update, justify such a small chapter? Probably not….

Thanks for the reviews on chapter 13 guys.

Hell's bells

He let himself be dragged into the small dressing room labeled Trip. Justin let down his guitar and started clearing space, throwing away scattered music sheets and newspapers, and offered him a place to sit. Brian complied, and was left staring at the other teen. He didn't have time to feel out of place, cause Justin was doing a pretty good job at that himself. He was looking around the room worriedly, passing fingers through his hair, fidgeting, not able to sit down.

"You want something to drink?"

"I dunno" Brian shrugged. "What do you have?"

"Whisky and… um…" he let his gaze search the room once more "vodka" he said, showing him a bottle of clear liquid.

"That cheap-ass vodka is only suitable for preserving dead bugs in a museum."

"For a man on the road, you sure drink like a prince." Justin told him, swallowing a big swing from the bottle.

"After all those greasy fries and hamburgers, compromising on drinks too seems a bit extreme."

"I guess…" Justin drank a bit more, as if to gather courage, and wiped his mouth with the back of his palm.

Brian looked around the room, taking in the scattered clothes, the makeup in front of the cracked mirror, and the general mayhem of the dressing room. It seemed too small for 5 people.

"It's not much" Justin commented.

"It's fine" Brian lied easily. "Nice show out there by the way."

Justin snorted dismissively. "You don't have to be all kind and sympathetic. It was awful."

You don't have to be all kind and sympathetic. Jesus, how much of a prick did Justin consider him to be?

"You weren't awful."

Justin let out a sound that could be considered a thank you, and pulled out a cigarette from a pack lying conveniently close to him. "Do you mind?"

"No... go ahead."

"Shit…" the boy looked around for a lighter, but none was to be found.

"Here" Brian extended his hand, offering a box of matches he had bought that morning at the gas station. Justin moved closer to take it, briefly touching his palm, and lighted the match. It illuminated his features briefly, before he put it out.

"So, I take it you found my message." Justin asked, not moving away this time.

"Yeah. About three weeks ago."

Justin continued looking at him expectantly. Great Kinney. Now what? You got what you wanted. You have him right here. "Things got a little… complicated back home. I thought I'd travel around for a while… clear my head."

Justin nodded "So, why here of all places?"

Brian took the cigarette between his fingers without asking, and inhaled the heavy smoke. Really what was he supposed to do? What did Justin expect him to do? Get on his knees and ask for forgiveness? Couldn't he just, somehow, magically… get the point?

"It's as good a place as any. Besides, I told you, I wanted to…"

"You wanted to listen to good music?" Justin interrupted him, taking the cigarette back.

"Something like that."

"There are other places to listen to music." Justin commented, staring at him, as if wanting to crawl into his head and read every little thing written in there. "Probably better and certainly closer to where you were. What's the real reason?"

"Yeah but I…" fuck why was his throat closed up like that all of a sudden? Maybe it had something to do with the other boy's proximity, his spicy smell clouding Brian's thoughts. He coughed a bit, and tried again. "I wanted… I wanted to tell you…"

"Yes?" Justin urged him on, leaning closer still, Brian sitting down allowing him to be on the exact same eye level as him.

Brian registered the door opening, but all he could focus on was Justin moving away abruptly, leaving a cold empty space where his body used to be. He mentally cursed himself. He had his chance, again, and he blew it.

"Justin, you have to come talk with Steve. He's pretty pissed." Adam stopped dead on his tracks. "Kinney? What are you doing here?"

"That's what I'd like to know too. As for Steve, I don't give a rat's ass. I'm way more pissed at him, than he could be at me. Did you see his little stunt out there?" Justin said, before Brian had the time to reply.

"I don't see a way I could have missed it." Adam commented. "Still, storming off like that… You should have stayed and talked to him."

"Like he would have listened? You saw how high he was."

They heard loud approaching footsteps. Adam seemed to brace himself for an attack. It proved a wise move, since a man crushed through the doors. "Where is he?" he yelled furiously to no one in particular, followed by two other long haired men.

"I'm right here. Anything you want to tell me?" Justin told him sarcastically.

"You fucking piece of shit!" the man caught Justin from the hem of his shirt. Brian made a move to break them up, a guttural instinct he didn't know he possessed kicking in, but one of the other men got there first.

"Back off Steve! Don't touch him!"

Steve looked at the man, his eyes glazed over with hurt and anger. "Why are you always defending him Jake?"

"You are not thinking clearly, neither of you" Jake said looking between them both, trying to keep his tone level and calm. "We need to talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about. At least not till he's sober…" Justin told the man, sidetracking him, and stepping in front of Steve again, looking up at him, obviously just as willing to use his fists as the other man. Brian would be more than happy to do it for him.

"Fuck you! You've been in this band for less than a month and suddenly you're entitled to criticize me? What I do is my business."

"It stops being your business the moment you let it interfere with the band!" Justin shot back at him, pouring gasoline over an already flaming fire.

"Justin's right. You're not alone in this group. When you fuck up, we all look like fools." Adam concurred.

"Jake?" he asked, placing all his hopes on the brunette.

"You've let it get out of hand…" Jake sighed, still trying to sound compromising. "You have to admit that."

"You fucking hypocrites! All of you!" Steve exclaimed heatedly. "You think I haven't seen Liam drinking like a fish? And these two…" he pointed at Justin and Adam "don't you think I've seen both of you with weed? That I fucking give you Adam! You didn't seem so against drugs when you begged me for a free joint! And you" he took a step back, seemingly in utter sock and pointed an accusing finger at Jake "You pop uppers like they're tick tacks!"

"Never before a gig" Jake said.

Brian tried to catch Justin's attention, but the other teen's eyes were glued on Jake, looking at him surprised and worried.

"Oh, so now you're a proper saint! Or am I expected to forget who was sharing my needles?"

"I got over that a long time ago." Jake moved forward, trying to catch Steve's hand but the other man stepped out of reach. "And so can you Steve! I know it is hard, I know you don't think it is possible right now, but we can try together."

"Fuck off…" he let out a small paranoid laugh. "Fuck you… I'm sick of this crap." He took a duffle bag that was close to the door.

"Steve…"

"I'm leaving. You can have your precious band. You're shit without me anyway. You'll be lucky getting a deal to sing in a bathroom."

Jake made a move to follow him out the door, but the other man, the one that hadn't talked at all this far, held him back. "Let him go. Just let him go…"

Jake took the bottle of vodka from the place next to Justin and threw it against the wall with a strangled moan.

"Fuck… fuck…" Adam cursed, repeating the word like a mantra.

Justin sat down next to Brian, trembling a little at a nonexistent chill. He put his head between his hands and it was not lost on Brian that he was leaning onto his side for comfort.

"Ok… ok… we need to regroup… we'll find someone else and…"

"How the hell are we going to find a new drummer for the gig tomorrow Liam?" Jake interrupted him. "Do you think they grow on trees?"

The silence that followed was only broken by the sound of Jake's feet walking on the broken shards, crushing them under his shoes.

"I'm a drummer."

A/N: So master plan revealed finally lol. I was wondering how come no one had picked it up before, but then on the reviews for the previous chapter everyone seemed to catch on. Bugger. So, I figured, there was no reason to wait another week for another update- of a proper chapter- and thought I should just put it out there…

Title is an ACDC song.

Thanks for reading and/or reviewing ;)