A/N: This is one of my favorite filler chapters in this whole fic. It's the accumulation of all the band practice, concert references, and general music gag I've used this whole time between Gajeel and Macbeth. Finally, the band has its first real concert! xD On the scale of ridiculousness, this is right up there with "Everyone Needs a Kitty Cat."
I also threw in one of my favorite crack ships: Bixanna.
And finally, the song I used in this chapter is a real song, one that's on my "OSD Playlist" that I listen to while trying to get in the mood to write the story. It's called Sleepwalking, by Bring Me The Horizon (warning before you look it up, it *is* metal). The song, and the singer, really remind me of Macbeth. 3 (Can you tell how much time and care I put into this 75 chapter monster? :D)
Chapter 73: MEG
A poster had appeared in the center of the guild hall job board overnight. A group of Fairy Tail members were gathered around it, stroking their chins in thought.
"Who the hell is Meg?"
"And why is she coming to the guild tonight?"
The poster depicted a metallic skull and crossbones, with a red snake coming out of one of the eye sockets, and a pink rose adorned on the top of the skull. Above it, in some horrific, bleeding script was the word "MEG." Below the skull was today's date and a time. "8:00 PM Main Stage Guild Hall." And then in fine print, scribbled as if last minute by someone with awful penmanship were the words, "free admission for Kina, Dream, Levy, oh and Lisanna I guess."
Speaking of Kinana, Dreamer, and Levy, the three of them were sitting at a table near the bar, drinking pink lemonade.
"Does he do anything romantic for you?" Levy was asking, leaning over the table close to Dreamer, who was about as pink as her lemonade.
"Macbeth? Romantic?" she scoffed and rolled her eyes. "No. Not even in my dreams."
"Oh, I feel you, girl," Levy nodded her head in understanding. "Some boys are just… rough around the edges, you know?"
"Arrogant," Kinana added in agreement.
"Yeah, some of them are as hard-headed as iron," Levy sighed.
"Or sadists," Dreamer sipped her lemonade.
"Selfish, in general," Kina said.
"Obnoxious," Levy.
"They hear but they never listen," Kina.
"Or they listen but they don't care," Dreamer.
"Or they act like they don't care when they obviously do, right?" Levy.
The three girls all stared at their lemonades and gave a deep sigh, in unison.
"Hey!" a high-pitched voice called out to their table. Lisanna slid onto the bench next to Dreamer and beamed at the three of them. "Are you guys going tonight?!"
Dreamer blinked at her. It always took her a good ten seconds to adjust to Lisanna's presence in the room. "Going where?"
"To the concert of course!" Lisanna slapped a poster onto the table. They all gazed down at it and read the strange contents (along with the invitation to them specifically).
"What's… Meg?" Kinana narrowed her eyes at the poster.
"Oh come on!" Lisanna bounced up and down like an overexcited kitten. "You can't figure it out?! It's the name of Macbeth's band!"
"Oh!" They said, simultaneously.
"Wait," Levy touched their names on the bottom of the poster. "Were we invited specifically because Erik, Macbeth, and…" she blushed slightly, "Gajeel are in the band?"
"And Bixlow!" Lisanna cheered.
They all stared at her as crickets chirped in the background.
"What?" her cheeks took some color and she glanced away.
"We can't say no to a free concert…" Kinana said quietly, as she nervously combed her hand through her purple hair.
"We might need to bring earplugs though," Levy pointed out, then sent Dreamer an apologetic look. "No offense."
"None taken!" She sweat-dropped. She didn't blame them for not being able to handle Macbeth's, uh… singing.
"Well?!" Lisanna slapped her hands on the table. "Are you going or not?!"
"Um, yeah! Y-yeah, why not?" Levy shrugged, trying to look far less excited than she was.
"Then let's go shopping!"
"Shopping?" Kinana blinked.
"We need cute concert clothes, don't we?!" She sprouted cat ears, one of which twitched in excitement. "What if we get a special backstage meeting with the band?" She smirked suggestively.
The other three faces were now bright red and steaming.
"W-Well…" Levy stood up and stretched her arms in faux casualness. "I could always use some new clothes, haha…"
"Um. Me too." Kinana stood up as well.
Dreamer did not need new clothes in the slightest. She lived with Mirajane after all. But… "Sure, I can go with you guys."
Fairy Tail Guild Hall: Main Hall Backstage Dressing Room
7:08 PM
Bright bulbs of burning light lit up the mirror lined room as four men got dressed and prepped for their first official appearance.
Gajeel was trying to wiggle into a pair of overly-tight black-leather pants, lined with metal studs.
"Damn, how the hell do you get into shit like this, Beth?" He couldn't seem to get them over his butt.
Macbeth was applying black lipstick, carefully as he leaned across a make-up strewn counter and looked in the mirror. "Don't wear boxers," he said, without glancing over.
"The hell am I supposed to wear then?!" Gajeel accidentally popped the button off the pants and cursed.
"Go commando, big guy," Erik suggested. He was pulling on black wrist-warmers.
"In leather?!" Gajeel gave an affronted expression.
"You're the one who wanted to wear leather," Bixlow commented as he pulled a beanie over his wild haircut.
Gajeel mumbled something unintelligible under his breath, and stared down at the pants for a long moment. With an exasperated sigh, he turned his back on the other men and stripped out of the leather pants and his boxers.
Macbeth saw him out of the corner of his eye as he was applying eyeliner. He smirked. "Oh, Gajeel…"
"Shut the hell up and stop starin' at my ass, Beth!" Gajeel snapped in immediate response.
"Don't play coy, Gajeel," Erik said as he began to slather gel in his maroon hair. "You know you like it."
Gajeel zipped the pants and proceeded to chuck a tennis shoe at Erik's head, which missed and smacked the mirror instead.
"Midnight, you should hear the kinds of things Gajeel thinks about," Erik continued with a wicked smirk. "The things he wishes you'd do to him."
"THAT'S NOT EVEN REMOTELY TRUE!" Gajeel's face went red with fury.
"I'm not surprised," Macbeth said with a casual shrug. "What we have is special, isn't it Gajeel?"
"It sure as hell is, but it ain't gay!"
"Simmer down, metal-head," Erik laughed out loud. "You're too easy to screw with."
"Both of you shut up," Macbeth snapped. "If one of you makes me mess up my mascara, I swear on the name of Zeref, I will murder you."
"We don't swear by Zeref anymore," Erik touched the Fairy Tail mark on his neck. "Good guys, remember?"
Macbeth's eyes flashed red in the mirror. "If you ruin my makeup, I assure you, I will not be 'good' in the slightest."
Erik and Gajeel took this threat very seriously. Their lips clamped shut. The four of them continued to fix their appearances in relative silence. Until, at last, they were dressed to perform.
Bixlow was in beanie, white jacket, black jeans, spiked belt.
Erik: blood red shirt, black wrist-warmers with painted claws, white baggy pants, and a pair of noise-canceling headphones.
Gajeel: Shirtless but for an open, black fur jacket, bandana, choker collar, studded belt and black leather pants.
And Macbeth, lead singer dressed to the max: Tall black combat boots, black leather pants, buckles everywhere—buckles and chains and studs. Black leather jacket with a purple underside that hung past his knees, complete with a hood. Gray shirt, black choker, and his dream catcher necklace, of course.
"Ten minutes to showtime, dear me!" Jezran's voice called from beyond the door.
"Thanks manager!"
"That's enough time," Macbeth said, as he opened his makeup case back up. "Gajeel. Come."
"What? Oh, hell no. I'm not putting on makeup, Beth."
Macbeth turned around so fast that his leather jacket swung like a cape in the air. His swirling blood eyes burned with the fires of hell.
"You will let me apply makeup unless you would like to look like a washed-out sheet of metal in the stage-lights."
"I don't give a damn if I look like—"
Macbeth began to approach, a dark cloud seeming to hang in the air around him. Black energy made his hair sway, and the dark circles of eyeliner around his eyes look like bottomless voids.
"Gajeel Redfox, you will let me do your makeup, or I will cast you into an eternal nightmare where the only music you'll ever hear is waterlogged saxophones, and every piece of metal you'll eat will taste of rotting skunk carcass, and everywhere you look you will find newspaper articles all filled with the same headline article about the day Salamander beat you in a hotdog eating contest—"
"ALRIGHT I GET IT!" Gajeel's face was white as a sheet. "Just… Don't overdo it, alright?" He sat obediently in front of Macbeth.
"He doesn't want you to make him look like a fool in front of Levy," Erik helpfully said.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you when to keep your mouth shut, poison-breath?"
"Nah. Raised in the tower of heaven by slave-drivers, remember? Didn't your mother ever teach you not to make tasteless 'mother' jokes?"
"The joke's on you, scaly," Gajeel snapped back. "I didn't have an old lady, either."
"Shut. Up." Macbeth yanked Gajeel by the hair to make him hold still. "We have less than seven minutes before we put on this performance and if it fails because you two can't get along, you will regret it for the rest of your miserable existences."
"Ooooh, Mac's scary!" Bixlow laughed out loud, showing his tongue.
"He always gets like this before he performs," Erik said. "Especially when he's got someone to impress."
Macbeth narrowed his eyes and tried to focus on putting eyeliner on Gajeel, who was blinking as if he were being pepper-sprayed.
"Can you blame him?" Bixlow stretched out. "Babes dig a Rockstar," he smirked lewdly at the mirror. "I'm hoping to be more popular after this is over. If I'm real lucky, I might get a kiss from Lis." He ran his tongue around his lips.
"Yeah right," Gajeel scoffed. "No one cares about the bassist."
Macbeth smacked him for turning his head.
Gajeel pouted. He could keep his mouth shut for a good sixty seconds before he had to talk again.
"I still think we should've been called GEM and not MEG…"
"Shut up, Gajeel," Bixlow and Erik said together.
"Yeah, my name's not even in the acronym!" Bixlow pointed out as he finished tying his shoes.
"I already told ya, it's because nobody cares about the bassist!"
"Done." Macbeth sat back and looked at his masterpiece. He smirked proudly.
"Look at that," Erik commented. "And here I thought nothing could fix that level of ugly."
"Say that again, you pointy-eared, beady-eyed freak!"
"Dear me!" Jezran's head popped in the door. "It's show time!" He waved his top hat, indicating for them to hurry up.
"Whoa, whoa, what about Erik's makeup?!" Gajeel protested as Macbeth yanked by the wrist toward the door.
"No time."
"Wha—that's bullshit, Beth!"
The Fairy Tail guild hall was jam-packed. The lights were dimmed. The chairs and tables had all been moved out to make room for the massive crowd. Half of the people present weren't even members of the guild. It seemed like citizens from all over Magnolia were there to see the premiere of MEG. The big debut they'd been waiting for—since about 10:00 that morning anyway.
Dreamer, Levy, Kinana, and Lisanna were all crowded together in front of the stage. Not because they'd purposely shown up three hours early to make sure they had the best spots or anything…
They'd worked very hard on their goth-chic looking tights, boots and heels, midriff showing tanks, and messy down-dos, because Mira said that's what you wear to a rock concert. She was also the one who suggested Dreamer wear the cat collar with the "Middream" tag hanging on it. Dreamer wasn't wearing it, obviously, because that would have just been ridiculous, but… well, she might have had it in the back pocket of her jean shorts…
"Why is my heart beating so hard?" she asked, as she stared anxiously at the stage curtain.
"Can it do that?" Kinana asked.
"Do what?"
"Does the lacrima really pound in your chest, or is that just a figure of speech?" Levy clarified.
"Can we just forget about the lacrima-for-a-heart thing?!" Dreamer groaned. "The point is—"
"It's starting!" Lisanna hopped up and down, waving a cat-tail in the process.
The crowd suddenly got very quiet. Smoke billowed up from somewhere. Laser lights began to reflect off the ethereal fog. The lights dimmed even further, and the stage curtains began to open…
Suddenly, the room went pitch black. There was the sound of small gasps, and the echoing thump of boots onstage, coming closer to where the four girls were now clutching onto one another for dear life.
An electric bass gave a deep thrum, which made Lisanna quiver with excitement. A few beats of a drum, which made Kinana inhale sharply, then a long pause before an electric guitar began to play a lone, wildly fast tune.
At long last, when the tension had reached a breaking point… When everyone in the room was holding their breath… When Dreamer was overwhelmed with the sense of everyone in the room feeling skyrocketing anticipation..
The lights flashed on, revealing the band—and revealing Macbeth, close enough to reach out and touch, with a hood drawn over his eyes and the mic clutched in both hands.
He started to scream.
The room immediately burst with life! Jumping, dancing, screaming, fist pumping. The first song wasn't even over before Erza started the moshpit. Beer sloshing, blood spilling, people trying to imitate Macbeth's guttural roars. When things got too out of hand in the room, Elfman would shoulder his way through (dressed in guard uniform) and put people in their place.
"Woohoo! Go Bixlow!" Lisanna waved her hand frantically toward the right side of the stage. He saw her and responded with a wink and a lolling tongue.
"This is awesome!" Levy shouted.
"What about a possum?!" Dreamer yelled back.
"I think she said this is awful!" Kinana yelled.
"Pawful? That's punny!" Lisanna flashed a paw.
At one point, Macbeth and Gajeel parted to the sides of the stage and the spotlight landed on Erik as he performed a wild drum solo. When he was finished, he kissed one of his drumsticks and tossed it into the crowd—right into Kinana's open hands. There were hearts pulsing in her eyes as she clutched the drumstick against her bosom.
"H-He's so COOL!"
Something of similar caliber happened during the next song, when Gajeel gave a guitar solo. He strutted up to the front of the stage, past Macbeth. He tossed his hair back, and his fingers began to race across the frets. Sweat dripped down his neck, veins stuck out on his muscles as he focused all his energy into the solo. Dreamer grabbed Levy's shoulders and switched places with her so she could stand closer to the stage. The bluenette was starstruck, her wide eyes scanning up and down Gajeel from his bare chest to his leather pants. After he was done strumming, he parted his lips and panted for breath, before he glanced down and saw Levy staring up at him. It was obvious, even in the lighting and with the layer of powder on his face, that he blushed—but to play it off, he ran a hand through his sweaty hair and then tossed his guitar pick to Levy, who was too paralyzed with awe to even catch it (so Dreamer had to do it for her and then slip the pick in her pocket). Gajeel then turned and strutted back to his spot left-stage.
"Whoa, stay with me, Levy!" Dreamer caught the other girl as she started to faint.
Kinana, Levy, and Lisanna were now officially fangirling. Dreamer was a bit more reserved about her excitement, but that might have been because she hadn't gotten any special attention from her personal star yet. Not that she was jealous or anything… She just… sort of wished those swirling pools of blood would glance down, just once.
The concert rolled on. Several songs in, the band transitioned into something new. For this song, Macbeth took centerstage, walking all the way forward. The pace was different, the song starting off gentler than any of the others so far. And there was significantly less roaring and screeching, and a bit more of Macbeth actually singing, not screaming.
Something about this song grabbed her attention. She might have been imagining it, but she thought that she could feel something in Macbeth as he sang this one—a deeper passion than in the others. So, she tried to focus on the lyrics as she watched him sing.
"Take my hand and give me a reason to start again"
Dreamer gasped when he opened his eyes and looked directly at her for the first time all night. There, his gaze lingered, as he sang the next verses.
"Time stands still,
Time stands still...
Your eyes are swallowing me
Mirrors start to whisper
Shadows start to sing
My skin's smothering me
Help me find a way to breathe
It's like I'm sleepwalking."
She had to look away from the intensity of that gaze, but her cheeks were on fire now. She had a very strong feeling that this song might have been written for her…
By the time the concert was over, the guild hall was in shambles. More than half of the Fairy Tail members were strewn in unconscious piles on the floor. Chairs were broken, glass was shattered, the hardwood was sticky with beer. Erza stood in the center of what had been the moshpit, where she was breathing heavily with her hands on her hips, and a victorious grin on her face. Clearly, she had been the only one to survive the pit…
Gray and Natsu had apparently punched each other unconscious, because their arms were locked together and they were snoring on top of one another while Happy drew mustaches on their faces in sharpie.
Piper was hoisting a red-faced Cana over his shoulder to take her to a bed or couch to sleep off the alcohol.
Elfman was still escorting drunk people out the door and to safe means of transportation back home. It sounded like he'd memorized an entire "don't drink and operate a magi-vehicle" speech.
The four VIP girls lingered by the stage, even though the band had already given their final bow and disappeared behind the curtain. They were glancing back and forth from one another, as if debating whether to go hunt down the members of MEG.
"Come get your MEG merchandise outside!" Mira's cheerful voice echoed. "Signed T-shirts and photos!"
Every single person who had been unconscious a moment ago was suddenly rushing out the door.
"Whoa! They have a demo CD?"
"Look at the t-shirt design!"
"I like that, it's very… abstract!"
Macao was holding up a white t-shirt with uninterpretable scribbles on it.
"It looks like… a hot air balloon playing with drumsticks," Wakaba said, as he leaned forward to inspect the shirt, and puffed on his pipe.
"No way, ya blind old geezer!" Macao scoffed. "It's an apple with a worm wrapping around it."
"Oh yeah, smart guy? If that's a worm than what the hell is that on top of the apple?"
Behind them, Mirajane was standing with a painted-on smile and twitching eyebrow, tears beginning to well in her eyes.
"It's abstract art! How the hell should I know?!"
"Did you draw these designs, Mirajane?" Evergreen asked, as she held up a woman's version of the same shirt.
Mirajane simply continued to smile, though tears were now streaming down her cheeks.
"UH!" Macao and Wakaba gulped.
"Look what you did, idiot!"
"You're the one who insulted the design!"
"It's supposed to be the band symbol…" Mira looked sadly at the poster in her hands, which depicted the metal skull, snake, and rose—and looked absolutely nothing like the design on the shirts.
"Yeah, of course it is!" Macao laughed nervously.
"We were just messin' with you, Mira!"
Nearby, Jezran was sitting at a desk counting jule with a mustached smile. "Oh, dear me, dear me. I shall be able to buy a new hat!" He paused and scratched his chin. "Wait, I was already a billionaire, dear me. Hah, oh well!" He shrugged and continued to count, all while humming a happy tune.
While lines of people were buying band merchandise, the side doors opened, and out walked Gajeel, Erik, and Bixlow.
"AAAAH! ITS MEG!"
"Take it easy, kids!" Gajeel popped on some sunglasses despite the fact it was the middle of the night. "We'll start signing stuff at that table over there."
"GAJEEL PLEASE SIGN MY SHIRT!"
"ERIK CAN YOU DRAW A SNAKE ON MY CHEST?!"
"BIXLOW! BASSISTS ARE THE BEST!"
"We couldn't have made it this far without you," Gajeel shouted.
"Gajeel, c-can I have y-your bandana?" A twitterpated fangirl asked, with two of her friends on either side, all giggling like hyenas.
"Sorry, ladies," he adjusted his sunglasses and passed them a shining white grin. "I ain't giving this bandana to no one."
The girls ran off sobbing, nearly toppling over Levy as she shoved through the crowd.
"Gajeel!" she smiled brightly at him. "That was so—"
"Ah, there you are, shrimp. Take this, will ya?" He tossed her his bandana. For a moment, her eyes were the size of plates, her cheeks turned cherry pink, and her lips quivered as she held the sweaty scrap of fame in her hands. "Would you throw that in the laundry for me?"
The illusion shattered.
"Gajeel…" She clenched her fists and fumed. "Why do I have to do your laundry?! Don't you know how to run a wash machine? Don't think because you get one night of fame you can suddenly start telling other people what to do! Where's Pantherlily, anyway? Are you making him carry the band equipment? That's just wrong, you know? You shouldn't use the people who care about you like that, or you'd better at least show him some appreciation for all the—"
Erik elbowed Gajeel hard in the side while he was getting his lecture. "I'd run. She's not planning on stopping any time soon." He whispered to the other dragon-slayer.
"Later, kid!" Gajeel turned on his heel and ran for the door.
"Gajeel? GAJEEL WAIT!" Levy charged after him.
"Hi, Erik…" Kinana was next up in Erik's line, holding a CD for him to sign.
"Hey, Kinana," he grinned. His eyes scanned her over, unashamedly. She blushed and covered her chest instinctively at his gaze. "I like your outfit."
"R-Really?" she blushed harder, before tugging on a strand of purple hair. "I wasn't sure if I should wear tights or not, b-but… Well, I lost a few pounds and I thought—"
Erik jumped over the table and grabbed her wrist. She gasped in surprise as he began to tug her away from the table.
"Hey! What about the rest of us in line?!" Max yelled in protest.
"Screw you!" Erik shouted back.
"E-Erik, where are we going?"
"Out to get you some ice cream." He didn't look at her, just tugged her along, almost like an excited little boy.
"No, Erik! I can't! My—"
"Kinana." He slipped his hand down and interlaced his fingers with hers. "I could hear your stomach growling from a mile away, don't act tough."
"But I—"
"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't care about what you look like?" He cut her off, sharply. "Just forget about that and have some fun with me like good old times, eh Cubellios?" He squeezed her hand and turned his amethyst gaze on her.
She beamed brightly back at him, and gave his hand a light squeeze in response.
Bixlow was the only one left at the table, and he was making no effort to hide his attempts at flirting with Lisanna. In fairness, she was making no attempts at hiding her attempts either. At least, not until demon talons grasped Bixlow by the shoulders and lifted him into the air.
"TOUCH MY SISTER AND I WILL RIP YOU TO SHREDS," demon-form Mira roared.
"Big sis, we're just talking!"
Meanwhile…
Dreamer peered around one of the doors backstage. It was eerily quiet back here. Everyone was out at the merchandise tables, it seemed. Everyone except…
"Macbeth?"
Where could he be?
She tiptoed along the halls, glancing into rooms she passed.
"I just wanted to congratulate you on your concert!" she called. "You did really well!"
There was no response.
"Macbeth?"
"You called?" His taunting voice crept over her shoulder. She squeaked and jerked around. He was so close that their noses were almost touching after she'd done this. Of course, he was smirking darkly at her reaction.
"Oh! You scared me!"
"Did I really?" His eyes lit up at this.
She opened her mouth to respond, but found herself staring silently at him instead. The dark leather jacket and pants, buckles… The extra black lipstick and eyeliner that made his red eyes pop even more than usual. His hair hanging over his face… She noted to herself that the black portion had grown quite a bit since she first brought him to the guild.
"Y-You did really well out there," she said, as she tried to regain composure. "I'm proud of you."
"I didn't do it to impress you," he said, a bit too forcefully.
"I didn't say that you did?" She swallowed nervously. Look away from his mouth, Dreamer! Come on, you're being so obvious right now!
She didn't even realize he'd been walking her back into a wall until it brushed her spine. She hadn't even consciously been back-stepping, but it was a natural reaction to someone leaning in toward your face with a sinister expression.
"Sweet Dream…" He cocked his head to the side and looked her over. One hand went up to her already messy hair and ruffled it.
"Why did you call yourselves MEG?" she said quickly, as she flushed herself further against the wall.
"It's an acronym," he said, with a heavy yawn, betraying how tired he must have been. "Macbeth, Erik, Gajeel."
"Oh." Of course it was.
"Any other questions?" His voice dropped a bit lower. He was continuing to advance even though she couldn't back up any further.
"Actually…" she thought back to him singing. "There was one song…" Your eyes are swallowing me… "Did you… Was that song about…" She flushed and wiggled uncomfortably, suddenly embarrassed to ask because, well what if he didn't write it about her?
"Was it about you?" he offered the question instead.
She gave a wordless nod.
He shook his head and stared at her dead-on.
"No."
"Oh…" Disappointment dropped in her stomach. She had the instinct to run and hide under her covers now.
"Dream." He lifted her chin with his fingertips and cupped her face. "What do you think?" There was meaning swirling in his eyes, unspoken words on his lips.
Of course, the song is about you, idiot.
"Macbeth…" Her heart was—okay, her lacrima was—pounding against her ribs. She reached forward, hands under his jacket, falling to his waist, tugging his hips a little closer. She breathed in his thick chamomile scent, that was carrying with it a musk from the sweat of performing. She tipped her head back slightly, parting her lips.
His response was to slip his own hands to the small of her back. He leaned his head forward and breathed in her scent, while also exhaling softly on the skin of her ear. His hands slid further down, which might have warranted a smack, since it was clearly his intention to grab her butt, but instead, he tugged something out of her back pocket and took a step back from her.
"What's this?" He held the cat collar up to the light.
"AH! That's nothing!" She tried to snatch it back but he held it out of reach.
"This is that collar with the bell that you wore that one day when you called me a kitty," he smirked. "Why on earthland do you have it in your pocket right now, Dream?"
"I-It was Mira, okay?!" She pouted in frustration.
He reached up and pushed her hair back so that he could snap the collar around her neck.
"Macbeth, don't! This is embarrassing!"
He smirked in obvious delight, then flicked the bell.
"I think you should wear this all the time," he said, in a low voice.
"It's silly…" she blushed deeply.
"Sh." He hushed her by pressing his finger to her lips. His eyes twinkled in malicious entertainment. "Good kitten."
Before she could complain about how degrading he was, or how his endless teasing made her feel like there was a moshpit happening in her chest and stomach, he was kissing her. He'd cupped her face with both hands and tipped her head back against the wall, granting himself more access. He was pressing himself flush against her, pinning her to the wall with his hips and hands. He was sliding his tongue along her bottom lip, requesting further access to her mouth, and she was instinctively granting it to him.
Stars danced in the darkness behind her closed eyelids. She felt like an obsessed groupie kissing her idol. It was any fangirl's dream come true. Then, to make it even worse (better?), he made a sound from the base of his throat that was all too like the roars he made onstage, and which made her claw at his shirt in response.
They paused for breath and were about to dive into kiss number two, when someone cleared his throat nearby.
Macbeth stepped back, much to Dreamer's chagrin. She might have literally whined when he broke contact with her.
A group of five little teenage boys were staring buggy eyed at him.
"M-Midnight," the lead boy whispered. He shakily held up a hat. "C-Can you sign this for me?"
Macbeth looked at the hat with complete distaste. It was no wonder he hadn't been out signing things with the other members. This was totally not his style. But he looked at the teen, a boy with his black hair pulled in a bun, wearing earrings, and with eyes as red as his (albeit much beadier).
Dreamer giggled to herself as Macbeth reached for the hat. She knew him well enough to know he could not turn down the request of a child.
He signed it and silently plopped it on the boy's head.
The other four of them instantly lifted their fists into the air and shouted, "WILD!"
"I want to be in a band one day, too!" One of them yelled as they scampered away.
"What should our band name be?"
"How about… Cinco Dog?"
"What kind of weird name is that?!"
"Well, what kind of name is MEG?!"
Their voices drifted down the hall. Dreamer giggled again at the lingering smile on Macbeth's face, which gave away his happiness at seeing the boys' excitement.
The innocent moment lasted only a second, however, because he was quickly looking back at her with hungry intent.
"Where were we, my sweet Dream?"
"A-Ah, we were…" she blushed. "You know…"
"Ah yes, I remember…" He closed the space between them again, pressing her into the wall once more. He leaned forward, lips brushing against hers… then he flipped the light switch on the wall and stepped away. "I was closing up backstage."
He left her breathing heavily against the wall, alone and all kinds of frustrated.
"Macbeth! You're EVIL!"
"You knew that already." His tone was unremorseful as he walked down the hall, hitting light switches as he went.
"Wait! Don't leave me back here!"
"If you get lost, don't take your collar off. I'll be able to find you using the bell."
"Very funny, Macbeth..."