Have yourself a merry update! Insert disclaimer stuff here-

Chapter 12: Manic Depression

1986

Bleed panted as he ran towards the purple van, nearly skidding past. He clutched his guitar case to his chest and leaned against the cool surface of the door, trying to catch his breath. The sounds of yelling and crashing were still audible even though the bar was a bit down the block. Bleed moved to open the van only to find it locked. Great, he thought. And he didn't have the keys this time too. He would have to wait until one of the other guys slipped out of the bar.

The wait wasn't long as a tall figure was jogging towards him. Derek stumbled to a stop next to him, breathing hard and doubled over. "Finally! Where's Ash and Burger?" Bleed was punched in the leg and he jumped a bit in response. "What was that for?"

"You ditched us!" Derek looked up at him, scowling. His face was sporting a rather sizable bruise and he looked disheveled. He punched Bleed again. "Jerk!"

"I didn't ditch you lads!" Bleed protested, this time dodging Derek's fist. "I was just going to put away my guitar and was going to go back in!"

"Oh, yeah? What're you doing still hanging around then?" demanded Derek, putting his hands on his hips.

"The door was locked," explained Bleed, in a rather lame manner. When Derek snorted, he crossed his arms. "Well, I didn't want those psycho rednecks to break my guitar!"

"Those psychos were about to break my face!"

"Well, blame Burger! He was the one harassing them!" Bleed argued, not ready to concede fault. "Who's bright idea was it to book a gig at a hick bar anyway?"

"Excuse me! Any exposure is good exposure! Remember? Those were your words!" Derek pouted and glared around, looking aggravated. "Finally, there they come."

Ash and Burger were scampering towards them, the larger man leaning heavily into the skinny drummer. "Man, those guys are mean!"

"And they don't know how to take a joke!" Burger groused, nursing his jaw.

Bleed felt slightly awkward now, realizing he was the only one unscathed. He rocked on his heels trying to avoid Derek's glare. "Well, let's get out of here, lads!"

Burger and Ash only lobbed a few digs about him running out on them, more or less bemused than irritated. Derek, on the other hand, was still wound up and refused to further speak to him on the ride back home. The cold attitude persisted even as they retreated into their room after bidding the other two goodnight. Derek was really blowing the whole thing out of proportion, Bleed thought to himself as he watched the singer scowl into the mirror. Bleed sighed and shuffled over to stand next to Derek. In the light of the room he was able to see a bluish mark on the Brit's face.

"You alright?" Bleed asked, feeling a bit more sheepish now. He reached to inspect the bruise on Derek's cheek only to be swatted away. "I'm just trying to help!"

"Don't bother," said Derek stiffly. He stomped to his own bed (now Bleed knew that the singer was really pissed) and settled on his side. "Good night."

Bleed rolled his eyes and followed Derek, getting in next to him. "Don't be such a baby. I apologized didn't I? Don't tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing if you brought your guitar tonight."

"Get out of my bed." Derek pulled the blankets over his head like a sort of blockade and stubbornly refused to face Bleed.

"Why are you so upset?" Bleed felt rather put out at Derek overreaction to all this.

"It's not the first time you've done this! That other bar, the time with those Metal Wolf guys-" Derek sat up and began ticking off on his fingers. "That party the cops showed up, the time that jockey mugged us, the other bar."

"Okay, six times! And I came back to untie you guys that one time…" Bleed replied weakly. He shrugged helplessly and looked at Derek contritely. "I just wanted to put my guitar somewhere safe-"

"If me and the guitar were about to drop into the ocean, which would you pull up?" Derek interrupted. When Bleed just stared, he huffed and rolled his eyes.

"That's an unfair question. What are you two hanging over the ocean for?"

"Just answer it!"

"But, but…my guitar can't swim…"

That was the wrong thing to say and Derek bodily shoved Bleed from out of his bed. "If you love that guitar so much, why don't you marry it?"

"Fine! I will!" Bleed retorted, rubbing his posterior and scuttling off to his own bed. He later realized as he laid in bed, that that was the lamest response ever.


Bleed inspected his instrument carefully, slowly taking it out of the case. It was the most important thing to him, the one thing that he had consistently at his side since he was sixteen. It was still in great condition after all these years from all the painstaking care and maintenance.

The other guys loved their instruments too, but it wasn't the same. Burger had tons of replacements for his bass that he constantly destroyed at whim, per his MO. Ash had several drum kits for different occasions. And Derek only played his guitar once in awhile, mostly when he was writing music.

The guitar felt too heavy in hands as he played a few chords. He had a couple others, great ones that he was fond of as well. Bleed took a deep breath and shifted his hands to grasp the neck. "Alright, you can do this. It'll be worth it and you can buy a hundred new guitars when this works out."

He squeezed his eyes shut as he raised the instrument above his head(ignoring the tremor in his hands) and hurled it down towards the hard floor. Instinctively, he stopped himself, feeling a bit too panicky. He experimentally tapped the guitar on the surface of the ground, wincing at the sound. How the hell did Burger destroy all those guitars without a second thought, he wondered begrudgingly.

"All right, let's try this again…" muttered Bleed, pacing a bit to clear his head. A small voice in his head persisted, asking if that brat was worth wrecking his guitar. Bleed squashed it and raised the guitar over his head again and brought it down hard. The crunch the impact made rather reminded him of a bone breaking. Several bones, actually. If bones made that twanging sound the strings made.

Bleed stared at the splintered wood, feeling a bit nauseous. Mechanically, he quickly stowed his guitar back into his case, not really wanting to look at it anymore. The nauseating feeling settled in his stomach and stayed there as he made his way back into the house.


"Look. I sent you another smiley face." Bleed's face was furrowed in concentration as he fiddled with his new phone.

Derek glanced down at his own phone and saw the little happy face. "I'm glad you're having fun."

"Nifty little things." Bleed commented, as he sent a face with x's for eyes to Ash. He raised the phone to Derek's face and smirked. "Let's take photos of each others."

"…I don't like the way that sounds when you say it." Derek laughed and scooted away from Bleed. The man seemed a bit tired earlier and somewhat moody. Derek attributed it to last night, but usually nights like that didn't leave Bleed in such a gloom. Thankfully, the guitarist seemed to be in a much better mood and was acting like his usual self. He wanted to ask if Bleed had spoken to Tripp yet but didn't want to push him back to his earlier state. "Have you seen the kid around?"

"Thought I saw him at the garage earlier," replied Bleed, still fiddling with the phone. He looked at Derek in a longsuffering manner. "I'll talk to him, don't worry. I have to anyway. I got us another gig at SuperNova tonight."

"Dude, really?" Burger walked into the room at that moment, a huge grin on his face. "Awesome!"

"You're feeling better now?" asked Derek. The bassist was rather hung-over when he saw him earlier.

"Yeah, after some food I feel great now." Burger nodded. He raised his voice and yelled down the hallway. "Hey, Ash!"

The drummer ambled into the living room frowning and holding his phone. "Which one of you sent me this smiley?"

"Dude, forget about that. Bleed got us another gig at SuperNova!"

"Sweet!" Ash cheered, forgetting the text. His smile faded a little and he visibly chewed the inside of his cheek. "Wait, Tripp can't play that club…"

"It's all-ages night, don't worry," assured Bleed. "I made sure."

Derek smiled, feeling a bit relieved. He almost thought they would have another battle between Tripp and Bleed again. "Brilliant! The kid's going to love this."

"Yeah, I think he's in the garage doing laundry," said Burger as he led the way through the house.

Derek saw Izzy leaving the garage and shifted himself to shield Bleed from sight. He was getting exasperated with the girl attempting to jump his guitarist periodically. There was a fine line between a crush and crazed stalking. When Izzy disappeared around the corner, he relaxed and glanced at Bleed who gave him a smirk. "I like it when you get jealous. It makes me feel loved."

"I think the cell phone is giving you a brain tumor." Derek replied, making a face.

"Cell phones give you brain tumors?" Ash's jaw was a bit slack as he stared incredulously. "I've been using this thing for months!"

"Your whole head is a brain tumor."

Their attention was diverted upon entering the garage and seeing Tripp at the washer. His expression was a bit moody when he turned to face them.

"Great news, kid," started Derek, smiling and hoping this would put Tripp in a better mood. "Bleed booked us another gig at SuperNova tonight!"

"I can't play at twenty-one and over clubs!" Tripp had an accusing note in his voice that made Derek sigh inwardly. "He's trying to squeeze me out-"

"Let your guard down, mate!" Bleed rolled his eyes in an amused fashion as he strolled to the table where his guitar case sat. "Tonight's an all-ages gig, you're good…"

A sound, an odd combination of a cat being strangled and someone getting socked in the stomach, made Derek look up to see Bleed, his body frozen. He would've laughed at the funny exclamation, but Bleed turning and clutching his guitar killed it. The instrument was broken, most likely beyond repair. It was a sorry sight. As was the utterly pained look on Bleed's face.

Ash and Burger's expressions mirrored the same shock he felt as Bleed bawled incoherently into his guitar. It was rare to see Bleed so upset. Dots connected in Derek's head, leading to the most likely and upsetting conclusion. It seemed that Ash and Burger came to the same idea as their eyes shifted over to Tripp.

Derek turned his stare from Bleed to the kid, feeling disbelief. Tripp met his eyes, his expression a mixture of stubbornness and worry. "Kid, you-"

"I didn't touch his guitar!" Tripp immediately insisted, his face turning a bit red.

"Yeah, let's not jump to conclusions…" Bleed's voice was bit horse. "Even if Tripp was with my guitar all morning…"

Tripp's eyes narrowed into near-slits and Derek crossed his arms across his chest. There was no good way to go about this. The kid was…well, a kid. What could he do? He could recall doing some rather brash things in the heat of the moment at that age. But it was Bleed. Had it been anyone else who messed with the man, he would've torn into them. "I can't believe you."

"Derek, I didn't do it!" Tripp exclaimed, sounding a bit desperate. There was a look of hurt on the teen's face that Derek found difficult to completely disregard. "He's trying to frame me!"

"It's alright," mumbled Bleed as he walked past them, a bit stiffly. His posture was hunched over and his eyes were a bit red. "He's just a jealous boy…I'm going to try and salvage my guitar…"

Derek rubbed his temples and tried to think of the most mature way to handle this. He turned and left to follow Bleed. It seemed to be the best course of action. He went into the house and found Bleed moving through the living room.

"Bleed!" Derek caught up with the blond and slowed down to walk beside him. He bit his lip and glanced at the broken instrument. "I…I'm sorry."

Bleed let out a gusty sigh as they entered the bedroom and almost immediately slumped onto the floor. "You didn't do anything."

"I should have spoken to the kid earlier." Derek admitted, feeling guilty that he let Tripp's jealousy fester and implode into this. "I didn't think he'd do something like this. It's not like him…"

"It's fine. Kids do stupid things all the time," grumbled Bleed. He looked positively miserable. "Anyway, I was the one holding off on talking to him."

Derek rubbed Bleed's back gently, trying to comfort him. Bleed loved that guitar more than anything.

"Maybe…maybe it would be best for you to not be here." When Bleed's head shot up to give Derek an incredulous look, he continued hastily. "I mean, you were right. The kid needs his space. We should look into getting our own place."

"W-what? Really? Are you sure?" Bleed seemed rather concerned and he put a hand on Derek's knee. "I don't want to force you to leave on my account…"

"No, no. You were right." Derek sighed, feeling a bit of trepidation at his decision. He had been putting off the topic of moving out of the kid's place since Bleed brought it up. But now it seemed appropriate. "Even if Burger and Ash want to stay here, we can get a place for just us. It's not fair to you to have to squeeze in here and sleep on the floor and…deal with all this…"

"Only if you're sure…" Bleed answered slowly. He rubbed the side of his neck, looking rather embarrassed. "I just want you to…you know, be happy."

Derek smiled, despite the tense situation, and gently kissed Bleed's forehead. "I am. And when we get our own place we can…"

The hand on his thigh, brought a grin to Bleed's face and he reached up to brush the back of his hand against Derek's cheek. "You always know how to cheer me up, love."

"I'll talk to Burger and Ash later. When we find a good place, I'll explain to the kid. I don't want him thinking I'm ditching him or something." Derek petted Bleed's knee and stood. "…I hope you won't stay angry at him. I know how much that guitar means to you…"

"Yeah…don't worry about it. I'll just write some angry poetry in my diary later," joked Bleed, his voice still weak. He gave Derek a half-smile and looked back down at the remains of his guitar. "I just need to be alone for a bit."

"I'll tell the lads then." Derek let his hand linger near Bleed's face before backing out of the room.


Bleed could hear Derek's voice telling the guys to stay out of the room for awhile and he sighed, stretching. Good. He needed a moment to process his thoughts. A slight grin curled on his lips despite the residual gloom from seeing his broken guitar again.

Derek wanted to get a place with him. Things were working along faster than he anticipated. /My guitar's totally destroyed but at least the kid's falling out of favor with them./

They would never believe that he would actually wreck his beloved instrument. All the blame would rest with Tripp. The look he saw Derek give the kid was priceless. The only thing was that they still wouldn't just boot the punk straight out of the band. It was a bit aggravating. Bleed leaned back and tapped his fingers on his knees, thinking hard. He would need something else that would guarantee Tripp's permanent exit.

We're nearing the end! A couple more chapters and we're done.