Adult-FanFiction.org : Celebrity

Without You I'm Nothing (Chapter 39 up now!)	By : urbanephoenix Category: Singers/Bands/Musicians > Placebo Views: 5829 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This is purely a work of fiction! I do not know any members of Placebo or their families, and I do not profit from these writings.

Chapter List
- 30
- 31
- 32
A/N: I must admit I’m a little concerned but very happy that chapter 30 received the most positive reviews and ratings of all the chapters. Good to know I’m not the only one who is a little bit twisted =p

Also, over 1500 views, wow, thanks guys =)
---------------------------

STEFAN.

By the time he made it back to his own room, Stef could hear Courtney moving around inside. Reluctantly, he went in and continued packing.

“You know,” the redhead said. “you guys should yell louder. The couple downstairs in room 6 didn’t quite catch that last part.”

Stef couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah um. Sorry.” He muttered.

“What’s wrong with Brian?”

“Oh you’ll see.” Throwing the rest of his books into his suitcase, Stef turned to face the older boy. “I really am sorry. About everything, about what I said last night.”

“I know.” Courtney smiled, not looking up from his own packing. “It’ll be ok.”

The next three hours flew by, dwindled away by monotonous packing and ensuring the trio had all their gear safely packed away in the van.

“You guys aren’t going to be fighting, are you?” Brian asked, putting his last bag away.

“Jesus, Brian!” Courtney gasped. “What happened to your face?”

Brian rolled his eyes and clambered in the van.

“Beats me.” Stef shrugged in response to the redhead’s vacant look. “Come on, we have to check in before two!”

As it turned out, they didn’t have far to go at all and half an hour later, the trio were unpacking everything they’d spent the morning storing away.

“We’ll be staying here until Monday,” Courtney announced, tugging at one of the larger suitcases. “make yourselves at home.”

“If we have two rooms again, I’ll share with Brian.” Stef called out as the other two made their way up the stone steps of the motel. Why had he brought so much junk with him?

Following his friends up stairs, Stefan couldn’t help but notice that, once again, they would be staying in a hotel barely standing. He couldn’t complain though, they owed Courtney a lot.

“So... you don’t want to share?” the redhead asked, coming to the first door.

Stef blushed. “No, it’s not that. I’m just worried about Brian.”

“Don’t worry about me!” the smaller boy called out cheerfully, spinning to face them. “I’m fanfuckingtastic!” he slammed the door behind him, leaving the remainder of the bags behind.

Courtney shrugged. “Guess we’re sharing after all?”

BRIAN.

Brian knew he was being obnoxious, but he didn’t care. For the first time in a long time he was carefree and wanted it to last. They still had several hours before leaving for the venue and as tired as he felt, Brian didn’t want to waste a second. He showered quickly and covered his bruises up with all the foundation he had left. He’d have to go into town and get more.

“Hey.” A soft voice called from the doorway. Brian hadn’t even heard it open but he instantly knew who it was.

“What do you want, Ianto?”

The Welshmen let himself in. “I was kinda worried about you, after last night, I mean.”

“No need to worry.” Brian smiled, pulling on his coat. “I was just heading out, want to come along?”

***

They hadn’t gone far, but this new town was in such a stark contrast to Manchester. Brian had no idea where they were, but it reminded him of home a little too much. Cold, gloomy and far too many people who looked his parents’ age. “What a shithole.” He mumbled, hugging himself tightly to stay warm.

Ianto smiled. “Don’t let the locals hear you say that, we sold out tonight’s show here.”

“Where are we playing, a retirement village?” The smaller boy scoffed.

“Oh come on, Brian. You can do better than that.”

“Shove it, I’m tired.”

They walked in silence around more gloomy corners before finally reaching what Brian could only assume was supposed to be the city centre.

“You know,” The Welshman interrupted his train of thought. “I heard you got in a bit of a fight last night.”

Brian rolled his eyes. “It’s nobody’s business but my own what I do for recreation. Besides, you can hardly tell thanks to all the foundation I had to use. That reminds me, must find a chemist or something, somewhere I can get some more.”

Ianto frowned, looking confused. “No... I meant with Stef. I didn’t know it got physical though.”

“Oh... well no it didn’t. Never mind what I said, what did you hear?”

“Oh no you don’t! I want to hear about this other fight!”

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?” Brian smiled.

“I don’t know, before I went to your room I ran into Stefan and he just mentioned you were in a bad mood over some fight you’d had. That’s it, now, tell me.”

Brian sighed as they passed yet another closed coffee shop. He’d give anything to get out of the blistering cold but everywhere seemed to be closed. Why would everything be closed in the middle of the week at lunch time? Damn backwards towns with their-

“Brian?”

“Sorry um... nothing I just ran into a friend and we got... reacquainted.” He didn’t feel much like sharing.

“Reacquainted? What, his fist with your face?” Ianto squinted a little, looking down at the smaller boy. “You know, I see it now, your jaw is really swollen!”

“Thanks, doctor. Look, it’s fine really. Everyone needs to stop worrying about me. I’m not a child.”

“Ok, if you say so. What was your fight with Stef about then?”

“Why so interested?” Brian asked, opening the door to a small cafe, the first they’d come across that appeared to be open for business. The heavy door slammed behind them, shaking the foundations of the dark room. The pair ordered coffee and took a small booth at the back by the fire.

“Because I’m nosey?” Ianto shrugged.

Brian laughed. “Stefan seems to think I’m responsible for Courtney breaking up with him.”

“Do you guys ever think you’re living in a real-life soap opera?” The Welshman chucked. “Well, are you?”

“Living in a soap opera or responsible?” Brian smiled. “Neither. I have enough drama for one person, thanks very much, and while I like to think I control the minds of man and woman alike, I hardly have that kind of sway over someone as intelligent and grounded as Courtney.” Brian couldn’t explain it, but he felt strangely comfortable sharing these thoughts with Ianto, it was the watching that made him uncomfortable. He could feel the older boy’s deep blue eyes staring at him from over his coffee cup. It was unsettling. “What?”

“Nothing.” Ianto smiled into his coffee. “I just think you have far more sway over people than you realise. You know, if you and Stefan stopped fighting for a change you two could really be something special. Musically, I mean.”

Brian laughed. “Ianto, we’re in high school remember, we still have almost a year left! This is just... a bit of fun. This time next year we’ll both be at different universities, whittling our lives away and incurring unimaginable debt learning things that will never be practical in real life.”

“But you both love it so much! It would be such a waste not to harness that love you share.”

“You sound like a gift card.” Brian smiled. “’harness that love you share’?”

Ianto grinned. “Fuck off, I’m trying to be supportive. Look, just think about it. Come tour with us again over Christmas, it’ll blow your mind.”

Brian took a sip from his coffee, the hot liquid instantly warming up his body. “I’m sorry for what I said last night.” He said finally, not looking up from his mug. “I tend to say a lot of stupid things when I’m stressed out. Lots of things I don’t mean.”

“We all do.”

“Did you mean what you said?”

“About being interested in you?” Brian nodded. “Yeah, I did.”

“So what’s wrong with you?”

“Huh?” Ianto laughed.

“Oh trust me, if you knew the kind of people I attract, you’d understand.” Brian smiled.

“There’s plenty wrong with me, but you’ll have to wait and find out what exactly. I’m not one for doing things half-heartedly. It’s properly or not at all.”

“So how come you’re single?” The smaller boy teased.

“Oh my ex thought I was cheating on her because I wanted to take things slowly. She couldn’t understand that she was the only one I wanted, but I wanted to get to know her first... all of her. But I don’t just mean in relationships, I mean in every part of my life.”

“That sounds very sensible.”

“No, accountants are sensible, grandmothers are sensible, I’m a musician, I’m realistic. I like getting what I want, but the old fashioned way.”

Brian frowned. “Which is?”

“Hard work.”

“You think I’m hard work.”

“Oh definitely.” The older boy smiled. “But worth it, I suspect.”

“So... by ‘old fashioned’ you mean?”

“Oh you know, the whole three date rule, parental approval, complete devotion, you know, the whole shebang.”

“Wow you drive a hard bargain.” Brian took another sip from his coffee. Maybe he needed to start hanging out with Stef and others his own age more often, because Ianto’s words scared him a little. Is this how everyone started thinking once they hit their 20s?

“Is that a ‘no’?”

“Well technically we’ve already slept together so-“

“Nope.” The Welshman interrupted. “Fresh slate.”

“So you want to just forget about it?” Brian asked.

“Oh I couldn’t possibly forget.” Ianto grinned wickedly, flicking his long hair from his eyes. “But in terms of us, it never happened.”

“I’ll think about it.”

STEFAN.

The day and gone by so quickly Stef almost forgot they had a show to play that night. “This is crazy,” he grumbled, squeezing into his jeans awkwardly. “how do people play shows every night, don’t they need sleep?”

Courtney laughed. “Get used to it. There’s still over a week to go.”

“Oh don’t remind me.” The blonde groaned. “I am so sick of playing bass.”

“Play guitar then.”

“Brian plays guitar.” Stef sighed. “It’s not even that, I’m just sick of playing full stop. It’s becoming a job.”

“A job? That’s the point! Stefan, you have a great opportunity here. You get to do something you love, entertain so many people, plus you get paid for it. Most people never get a job they’re so passionate about.”

The blonde smiled. “You’re right, as usual. It’s just hard making an impact with someone as charismatic as Brian to compete with.”

“Why compete?”

“We should get going.” Stef said, grabbing his coat. “I don’t know what happens when you’re late for your own gig.”

***

“You’re in a good mood.” Brian smiled as Stef and Courtney joined him back stage. “No uh tension then?”

“Not at all, in fact, I’ve never felt better.”

“Oh god,” the smaller boy frowned. “you didn’t shag before coming here did you?”

Stefan laughed. “Give it a rest.”

“You know, I was thinking. Maybe we should camp it up a bit tonight, be a little more dramatic and... theatrical.”

Brian had a wicked grin on his face Stef knew meant trouble.

“’Camp it up’? I’m not sure what you mean, do I want to know?”

“You know, just a bit more rock ‘n’ roll. No acoustic tonight, let’s just have fun.”

“That,” Stef smiled. “sounds like a great idea.”

Grabbing their guitars, the pair made their way on stage, greeted by hundreds of cheering teenagers looking up at them adoringly.

“How do they even know who we are?” Stefan muttered quietly to himself.

Brian grinned. “Good evening all you beautiful, beautiful people.” He crooned into the microphone. The crowd cheered louder. “I have no idea where we are, but I’m sorry to say your town is a total shit hole.”

Stef was relieved to hear laughter in the audience. Brian sure liked to push peoples’ buttons. “But,” he added quickly. “we are so happy to see you all here to support us. There’s nowhere we’d rather be.” The blonde wasn’t used to speaking to this many people but all his nerves had disappeared, instead he felt adrenalin pulsing through his body. “I’m Stefan and this charming young man is Brian, we are Cygnet Committee, and this song is called ‘Bionic’.”

The show was their best one yet, Stef thought to himself. Despite living in a gloomy, grey little town, these kids loved them, almost as much as they seemed to love Hanlon Riots. It was the first time the bassist had made the effort to watch Ianto’s band properly, but standing at the back of the venue, he couldn’t help but admire them. The Welshman had such a way of connecting with his audience, it was almost like seducing them. He made a mental note to point this out to Brian. Or... no that was probably a bad idea.

“Hi!” a voice squeaked from behind him. Stef frowned and looked over his shoulder. Standing there was a small group of teenage girls, probably the same age he was.

“Uh, hi.” He replied, feeling very uncomfortable. He wasn’t usually keen on talking to people he didn’t know.

“Can um, we have your autograph?” the first girl giggled nervously. Her friends looked just as giddy, all looking at each other with cheeky smiles plastered across their faces.

“My... my what?”

The girl blushed. “S-sorry.”

“No, no wait!” Stef called out as they started to scurry off. “Of course you can! I just... nobody has asked me before.” He confessed.

The girls looked as though all their Christmases had come at once. Picking up a thick black texta Stef started carefully scribbling his name across the ticket stubs they held out. It was crazy, somebody was asking for his autograph, something he never even contemplated could ever happen.

“Do you guys have CDs?” another girl asked quietly, Stef almost didn’t hear her over the band in the background.

“Uh CDs?”

“Or demo tapes, or anything?” another asked.

“Or t-shirts?”

“Or-“

“No, no, no.” Stefan interrupted. “We’re uh... we haven’t been playing very long so we don’t have anything like that.” He explained.

“Oh.” The first girl looked extremely disappointed, making the blonde feel somewhat guilty.

“But, we might be coming back around Christmas, so hopefully we will then!” he added hastily. It wasn’t a total lie...

“Really?”

“Uh, sure...”

“Well, thanks for signing our tickets, we should go.” One of the girls, Stef wasn’t sure which anymore- they were so quiet and Ianto’s voice was near deafening, giggled.

“You look happy.” Brian yelled over the music, joining him only a minute later.

“Huh?”

“I said, ‘you look happy!’” the smaller boy repeated.

“I’ll tell you later.”

***

An hour later, Hanlon Riots were coming off stage from a second encore, drenched in sweat, hair all over the place, looking exhausted. Following Brian into their dressing room, Stef couldn’t hold it in a second longer. “Someone asked me for my autograph!” he blurted out excitedly.

Brian looked at him, dumbfounded for a second before breaking out into a smile. “Really? Wow, that’s mental!” he cried, wrapping his small arms around the taller boy’s waist. “

“Yeah! They wanted to get CDs and t-shirts and everything!”

“We should get Courtney to start up our merchandising department.” The black haired boy joked.

“Did I hear correctly, blondie?” Ianto asked. “You signed your first autograph this evening?”

Stefan didn’t need to answer, the grin permanently plastered across his face said more than he could at the moment. A month ago he and Brian had half a dozen half-written songs... on a broken acoustic guitar... that they’d written for school. Now, hundreds of miles away, girls his own age were asking for his autograph.

“Good man.” The Welshman pulled him in for a hug, squashing Brian between them. “This calls for a celebration. You two come back to our hotel tonight for drinks, no arguing, you’re coming. Bring whatshisname with the glasses if you want.”

“I heard that!” Courtney laughed from the doorway. “I’m so proud of you!” he smiled at Stef.

The blonde could feel the awkwardness hanging between them. He could tell Courtney wanted to hug him like the others, but he was holding back. “Thanks. You should come back to their hotel with us.”

“Na, I don’t want to crash the party. I owe myself an early night anyway.”

Again, he was holding back, but Stef didn’t press the matter.

BRIAN.

Just like in Manchester, Hanlon Riots’ hotel was much nicer than their own, mini-bar, ensuite and all.

“Kudos to you two!” Ianto smiled, throwing a beer across the room to each Brian and Stef. The rest of the band were scattered around the room, lounging in the furniture, drinks in hand.

“Y-you know what we need?” The bassist, whose name Brian could never remember, slurred from behind the bed. He’d obviously had a few already.

“Hookers and ice cream!” Another called out.

Brian laughed. He felt so grown up hanging out with these guys. They made him completely forget that in just over a week he’d be pulling his itchy grey pants back on and be sitting in a dusty classroom again.

“I don’t know,” Ianto laughed. “where do you suggest getting ice cream at this hour?”

“God, Ianto, stop being such a pussy!” the bassist (Darren, Brian remembered) scowled, throwing an empty beer can, almost hitting the Welshman.

“Oi, found a phonebook!” Max, the drummer, grinned, flipping the thin pages through to ‘E’.

“You guys have no class.” Ianto rolled his eyes, “Let’s just go out instead.”

“They actually have clubs in... where the fuck are we?” Brian still didn’t know.

“Who knows?” The other singer shrugged, looking through his suitcase, eventually pulling out a shirt. “But it’s Thursday night, something will be open.”

“That’s more like it!” Darren exclaimed, jumping up. “Meet you kids down stairs in five.”

“You guys alright to go as you are?” Ianto asked, nodding at Brian and Stef.

It had been long enough since the show that Brian’s hair was no longer wet with sweat. He probably didn’t look his best (something he was hardly happy about) but his make-up looked fine. “Yeah we’re good, aren’t we Stef?”

Stefan was looking a little nervous, but nodded.

“Good! Let’s go.” Ianto headed for the door, having quickly changed his outfit.

“Brian,” Stef whispered. “I don’t know about this.”

“Huh?” Brian was confused. Not long ago Stefan had been the life of the party.

“Come on, it’ll be fun. I promise.” He smiled.

“You guys coming?” a voice called out from the hallway.

Brian linked his fingers through Stef’s and pulled him out the door.

---------------------------------
A/N: That's right, another bridging chapter. This was getting too long to include all the action of the next part in. Not giving anything away but for Molsdal people, don't worry, OTP is still at the front of my writing mind =)

As usual comments are appreciated. Let me know what you think, ideas etc. I'm on holidays as of next week so hopefully that means I can get some more stuff written (if you want it, if not I'll just sleep in and eat ice cream).
- 30
- 31
- 32
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Without You I'm Nothing (Chapter 39 up now!)