Gig by Bexless
"Fucking trendies and their fucking neckties," said Ethan, glaring at a couple of kids in neckties and wristbands. "They don't have a fucking clue. They see one Avril Lavigne song on TRL and think they know music."
Clark turned back from the bar and handed Ethan a beer. "Ethan, you wear neckties all the time."
"Yes," said Ethan, "but I look *cool*."
"Well, we can't all have your innate sense of style."
"So I see." Ethan teased, bumping one of his prized custom-aged Gola trainers against Clark's shoe. He glared again, this time at the plastic cup in his hand. "They don't sell beer in bottles anymore?"
"Not when it could be used by bitching egomaniac fans to hurl piss at the support bands, no." Clark took a sip of his own beer.
"I did that *one* time. One," said Ethan, and a little smile curved his mouth over the top of his drink. "And I was drunk."
"Lightweight. Only you could get drunk on the beer at the Civic," said Clark, grimacing. "This stuff's so watered down."
"Oooh, sorry, Mr. Cosmopolitan," said Ethan, pursing his lips and fluttering his eyelashes. "Not the quality your sugar daddy keeps you accustomed to?"
Clark rolled his eyes and took another swallow. "What is it about Lex that brings out the annoying dickhead in you, huh?"
"I don't know," said Ethan, grinning openly now, biting his lower lip and tilting his head the way he always did when he was trying to get Clark to... well. Clark wasn't exactly sure what he was trying to do, but it always worked and Clark always found himself grinning back. "Maybe I'm jealous that he's ancient enough to remember The Beatles the first time they were popular."
"Ethan, he's twenty-four." It was times like this that Clark wished he could smack the back of Ethan's head without the worry of an impromptu decapitation. He shook his head and pushed off the bar.
"Speaking of Lex, he looks hot tonight," commented Ethan, following Clark. "Guy's weird, but he can dress. If you two weren't so old married couple, I might be tempted to-"
"Try it," said Clark, holding the door open for two very short girls in black eyeliner and mesh vests, "and you'll be writing lyrics with voice recognition for six months."
Ethan laughed, and slipped underneath Clark's arm. "Stand down, soldier," he said, turning to walk backwards into the main room. "Your boyfriend's safe with me."
"You're not going in?" Lex shouted over the music, nodding to the mass of flailing bodies in front of the stage.
Clark shook his head, watching the dance floor. "Too risky," he yelled back. Every so often he'd see Ethan's mop of hair flinging itself around, or catch sight of his shoes going up in the air as he tumbled from yet another crowd-surfing attempt.
"Ah yes," said Lex, sliding his hand from Clark's waist to his neck. "Invulnerable elbows and all that."
Clark turned, Lex's fingers pushing into his hair, thumb stroking firmly across his cheekbone.
"Yeah."
"Your friends don't think it's strange?"
Clark shrugged, glancing over his shoulder to see Ethan making his way back to them, walking backwards again, arms raised above his head to applaud the band as they finished their song.
"Astrid thinks it's cool that I like to stay back here and appreciate the music." Clark caught Lex's hand as it slid out of his hair and held it, pressing a kiss to his palm.
Lex smiled, low and sharp. Clark tugged his hand down to his side, fingers still tight in his grip.
"And Ethan?"
"Ethan knows you're just a wuss," said Ethan, arriving in a billow of smoky air. He pulled Clark's beer out of his free hand and drained it in one long gulp. "Man," he said, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. "It's amazing in there."
"As good as The Bellians?" said Clark. Ethan had raved about that gig for days. 'When I get my band, Clark, when I make it, that's what the crowd will be like at my gigs. Just frenzied, focused, intense. Pure music. Energy. You know?'
"Better," breathed Ethan, tossing the now-empty cup over his shoulder. "C'mon, Clark, you gotta come in with me."
Clark shook his head. Ethan rolled his eyes and pulled his cigarettes out of his pocket. He tapped one out and caught it between his lips with that one-handed movie-star trick that looked so easy but took, Clark happened to know, hours and hours of practice.
"Man, don't be a baby," he muttered around it, flicking open his lighter. "It's not exactly World War III."
"I came to listen to the music, not frappe my brain." Or anybody else's, he didn't say.
Ethan looked up at him, exhaling smoke sideways. "One song."
"No."
Ethan cocked his head to the side, and Clark just knew that if he didn't have a cigarette in his mouth he'd be biting his lip right about now. "Please?"
"Ethan," said Clark. It was a warning that Ethan ignored.
"Lex won't mind." Ethan shifted forward, bouncing on his toes a little, reaching out to slip one long finger through a belt loop on Clark's jeans. He peeked around Clark's arm at Lex, one eyebrow raised. "Right, Lex?"
"Whatever you want, Clark," said Lex from behind him, in that smug voice that meant he knew exactly what Clark wanted and it was all wrapped up inside his own clothes.
Clark let them eyeball each other over his shoulder for a minute. Then, before someone actually suggested a pissing contest or started comparing girth, he said, "I'm just going to listen, Ethan. I can see better from here, anyway."
Ethan looked at Lex for a minute longer, and then smiled, easy and bright. "That's cool, man, that's cool," he said, pulling the cigarette out of his mouth and flicking it across the room. "But don't leave without me, k?"
"Okay," said Clark loudly, to cover any remark Lex might chose that moment to make.
Ethan gave him another look, and then nodded, turning on his heel to jog back into the crowd.
"Don't say it," said Clark, without turning around.
"Say what?" Lex murmured against his ear, pressing up against Clark's back and wrapping his arms around his waist.
"That you told me so."
"Well, I did." Lex bit softly on Clark's earlobe. "But I won't."
"He's just drunk."
"He wants you."
"I want you."
"Oh, I know."
Clark laughed, and felt Lex smile against the back of his neck. "I love this song," he said, when the lead guitarist started picking out a familiar introduction.
"Mmm," said Lex. Clark heard it even under the roar of the crowd.
04/29/03