***T/W: Some vomit & blood, and few mentions of domestic abuse***

"Oh, you."

"Hello, Elyssa."

~

The eerie serenity that hung in the air was unbelievably tense. It was like time had stopped altogether and everyone was frozen in place, like a twisted game of musical statues where even the clock hands had paused to play with them.

Steven was unsurprisingly the first to move. He took the unbroken silence as his cue to shoot Elyssa a loathing glare, which was merely acknowledged with a deep sniff and the loud ping of the toaster as two pieces of burnt toast popped up. The quiet tweeting of birds seemed louder than normal as the silence persisted. A damp leaf drifted in through the open window and swirled down into the sink, the tip catching and tearing on the drain as the wind blew. The peace was eventually broken by Elyssa's hoarse voice.

"Please tell Joe that he can't go to New York without me," she begged Steven hoarsely, wiping her pleading, glossy eyes that stared into his own. Her small nose twitched as the delicious smell of Steven's breakfast reached her nostrils.

"Err," Steven started, completely caught off guard by this sudden request.

"Please!" Elyssa repeated desperately, lunging forward and grabbing hold of him, nuzzling her face into one of his lean arms. "He can't leave me. It's so selfish of him. Get him to stay." She gripped Steven's arm tightly, making his eyebrows hunch together in pain.

"Look, Elyssa, this is between you and Joe," Steven said softly, determined to not get roped in by the evident blackmail. "But the band and I need him to be able to record the album. Though I could always play every song on mandolin and make us even more of a laughing stock and look like a bunch of shit-faced arseholes," he said snarkily. "Come on, get off." Steven gently but forcefully prised her hands from his arm and sat down opposite Joe, who glared at him.

"What?!" Steven snapped.

Joe took a slurp of his coffee in response. "Nothing," he said nonchalantly, his eyebrows raising slightly, the only feature on his face that was full of expression. But it wasn't nothing. Something was bothering Joe. But he quickly pushed it to the back of his mind and turned his attention back to Elyssa, who was still sniffling. She looked up at him sadly, her face devoid of any colour.

"Please don't go, Joe," she whispered, squeezing his rough hand tightly, her manicured nails scratching his defined knuckles slightly.

Joe winced. He hated making his girl so miserable. "I know, I know, but please don't make another scene here, babe," he whispered, letting out a sad sigh. "It's making everyone here uncomfortable. We'll discuss this later." He gently kissed her soft cheek, some of Elyssa's makeup sticking to his lips. "Don't cry, sweetheart," he said, wiping her fresh, hot tears away with his thumb. "It's only going to be for a while. It'll go by so fast, and before you know it, I'll be back with you." Joe smiled sweetly, affectionately squeezing her thigh.

Steven pulled a face. The amount of affection Joe was showing Elyssa made him want to physically vomit. And he might too if this was kept up - his stomach was churning. God, if only Joe would leave that witch.

Keeping his back turned to the touchy-feely couple, Steven doubled over and screwed up his face, miming being sick all over Elyssa's shoes as he went to fetch a plate for his toast.

"Bleurgh bleurgh bleurgh," he silently mocked, throwing his head forward, clutching his stomach tightly.

The others chuckled. They'd never get bored of Steven's antics.

Straightening up, Steven continued preparing his food, the scratching and scraping of the knife running along the rough, charred surface of the slice he was buttering, sending goosebumps up his arms. He didn't know what it was about it, but it was strangely satisfying hearing the blunt blade brushing against the crispy bread. Like some kind of unique ASMR that made him roll his neck as the satisfying sound coated his ears.

Once he'd finished, he left the thick coat of butter to sink into the bread so he could slide the butter back onto the top shelf of the fridge. His thumb nudged the small box of eggs further to the side. Quietly closing the fridge door, he took his cooling breakfast in his cold hands and hesitantly seated himself back opposite Joe, placing his plate on the island counter.

Steven bit his lip and lowered his face as it caught fire, growing more uncomfortable as Joe kept touching his ring finger whilst gently pressing kisses to Elyssa's cheek and neck. His stomach growled like a threatened dog, making Joe and Elyssa stop and stare at him, to which he ignored and kept his head down. Steven couldn't bear to look up and be faced with Elyssa's face resting on Joe's chest, looking fixedly at him and Joe's hands on her waist. It wasn't worth him being put off his breakfast for that. Tearing off the incredibly burnt crust, he opened his mouth to take a massive bite of his toast, but it was quickly whisked away.

"Oh my god, I'm starving. Thank you, Brad," Elyssa said, snatching the toast from Steven's hands and beginning to eat it. "I haven't even eaten today," she explained, a few crumbs spraying over his hands.

Lovely. Steven pursed his pouting lips and wiped his hands on his trousers. Disgusting woman. She needed to learn table manners- like him. He was a man well-versed in etiquette, after all. He looked around the room in disbelief, eyes roving from person to person, expecting - hoping someone to say something. But no one did. The kitchen just remained silent.

"What?! Is no one going to say something?!" Steven exclaimed angrily, his tummy starting to complain again. "I've just had my breakfast stolen when I haven't eaten for almost a whole day, and you're all just standing here doing nothing! Joe, Elyssa's your girlfriend, what do you think?"

Joe's face paled and his expression twisted into an uncomfortable one as Elyssa raised her thin eyebrows, giving him a dangerous look. He wanted to complain and try to explain how unacceptable it was of her to do something like that, but all that came out was, "It's kind of on you, Steven. You should've just come down and eaten your dinner when I called you," he continued, avoiding his girlfriend's icy gaze.

Steven dug his thumb into the waistband of his trousers and rolled his eyes. "Great, another person not giving a shit about me. Thanks 'friends'." Disgruntled, he stood up and made himself a coffee, oblivious to the hurt in Joe, Tom, Brad and Joey's eyes.

Were they really that bad of friends? They'd supported each other through thick and thin, and yet they were treated like dirt by the person they cared about. Maybe they should just keep their distance from him from now on. But that was quickly undermined when Steven's breathing became uneven and he grasped his stall, his legs wobbling and buckling beneath him. Oh god. He felt dizzy, lightheaded and nauseous all at the same time and - Why was the world tipping sideways?

He let go in an unnatural way and fell backwards, his eyes rolling up. Luckily for him, Tom caught him just in time before his friend's tall, skinny body hit the dirty floor. The bassist almost dropped down with Steven as the frontman's weight suddenly came crashing down into his arms. He hadn't expected to take the mass of a fully grown adult man. Steven groaned, his head lolling from left to right, right to left. He felt like such a piece of shit.

Joe immediately let go of Elyssa's waist and stood up, rushing to go help Tom. Picking Steven up from under his armpits, he helped sit his half-conscious best friend against the cupboards.Kneeling down next to Steven, the guitarist gently swivelled him around and rested his head on his lap. Joe stroked Steven's thick hair and dabbed a cold, damp, cloth on his forehead as he waited for his friend to completely come around. It was a couple of minutes before Steven's vision was no longer swimming and he could finally see straight again. He blinked and stared up at the long-haired man whose concerned face hovered above his own. Joe gave him a tiny smile.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm seeing double so I'm obviously not okay," Steven muttered, patting Joe's anxious face to make sure there weren't two of his best friend. "There's not two of you, right?"

Joe chuckled and took Steven's hand in his own in an attempt to reassure him. "Nope. There's just one of me," he smiled, lips brushing against the edge of Steven's knuckle.

He paused. "You should have something to eat. You'll feel better once you've eaten." Taking Steven's hands, he tried to haul him to his feet, only to have his hands shoved away and get a hard stare.

"I can do it myself," Steven declared firmly, his attitude doing a switcheroo as he picked himself up off the floor.

It took him a minute before he was unsteadily back on his feet, holding onto everything in reach so he wouldn't fall over. His face flushed as Joe put an arm around his waist and grasped his bicep to steady him as he started wobbling back to his seat. Steven hummed a meek 'thank you' as he lowered himself back down in his seat, continuing to avoid eye contact with everyone. He knew he was still red and couldn't help but turn an even deeper shade when he realised he could still feel where Joe had held his arm. Luckily, Elyssa pushed her bag towards him, which hid his embarrassment, though that was not why she had pressed the hideous bag Joe had brought her to his ear.

"Joe, baby?" Elyssa tugged at Joe's hand to get his attention. "Look at this." She waved a catalogue at him.

"'Joe, baby? Look at this,'" Steven mouthed, covering his mouth with his hand as he silently mocked her. "Let me suck your dick, daddy. Please, uugghh-" he continued, shamelessly heckling her as she flicked through the endless pages, pointing out a million different items to Joe, whose eyes raced back and forth as he tried to keep up with processing everything that he was told to look at.

Tom, Joey and Brad snickered, quickly masking their mouths with their hands when Joe looked up.

"Umm..." Tom noisily cleared his throat. "You want me to make you another piece of toast, Steven? Seeing as-" he gestured to the empty plate, on which only crumbs remained.

Seeing as Elyssa had greedily snatched his food away and eaten it? Uh, yes, please. Steven nodded eagerly.

"Okay. I'll do that now." Tom held his ashen face in his hands for a moment, yawning as he kneaded his temple and scrubbed his dark circles with his thumbs. He hadn't slept well at all last night. He'd probably only gotten three hours of sleep, for he'd tossed and turned for hours, listening to Steven and Joe scream at each other in the room next to him, and throwing what sounded like chairs.

That he now knew for certain because he'd heard Steven yelling at Joe, "Don't you dare throw that fucking chair at me!" and then a massive 'thud' as the chair collided with the opposite wall, only missing Steven's ear by an inch before it came crashing down onto the floor like a ton of bricks. Tom had looked up a million times that morning as he walked through the hallway, making sure that there wasn't a massive hole in the ceiling, which there thankfully wasn't. Fuck knows what he'd witness if there was. He continued to remain stalk still, trying to encourage his face and body to wake up a bit more so he had even the tiniest amount of energy to complete the task he'd kindly offered to do. Cause damn, just getting in the shower had been a task.

"I'll do it now," he repeated, lifting his expressionless face up from his hands. Raven eyelashes fluttered as his blue eyes blinked rapidly to ease the unfluctuating tiredness that was overtaking him and his slowly blurring vision.

"No, I'll do it," Joey said, batting Tom's hand away as it reached to reopen the fridge door. "You look exhausted. I could hear you practising different songs from one to five. No, you go catch up on some sleep."

"It's fine, don't worry about it," Tom yawned, his shoulder making a popping sound as he stretched. "I can do it. You go put your feet up and relax." He went to open the fridge again.

"No," Joey repeated in a more aggressive tone, shoving his friend's hand away, surprising everyone (including Joey himself).

It was a rare occurrence that he ever spoke so harshly, but it was always nice to get his response across without the loud voices of the twins shouting over him as they gave their unhelpful - unnecessary opinions.

Tom stared at Joey in shock. He didn't think the drummer would talk to him in such an emphatic way, but he kind of liked it. He liked that the normally soft-spoken curly-haired man had the ability to speak to him in such a demanding manner. It was the type of tone that he expected to hear coming from either Steven or Joe, not Joey Kramer. Tom wondered what that commanding voice would sound like in the bedroom, ordering him around for hours in an attempt to please him. It was exactly how he wished for his type of man to talk to him. His heart beat faster as he thought about being talked to like that again...but now in a new and more intimate setting. 'What a nice surprise,' he thought.

"Go to bed," Joey insisted in a more conciliatory voice. "Please." He rested his hand on Tom's arm and looked up at the tired giant who continued to remain unwilling to go upstairs. "Now," he instructed in that same authoritative voice, pressing the palm of his hand into Tom's shoulder blade and forcing him towards the door. The short man was beginning to lose patience with the other. Why wouldn't he just do as he was told?

It took a few more minutes of convincing and some clear signs of waning equilibrium from Joey before Tom finally gave in and trudged upstairs to his room, yawning as he went. Goodness gracious, who knew that the quiet blonde man could be so insufferable?

Joey stood in the doorway for a bit, listening for anything that would indicate that Tom was getting into bed. But he heard nothing. He sighed and stood back, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. What'd he have to do to gain some authority around here?

"What?" he asked, looking around at everyone when he realised the room was still silent.

"Nothing, nothing," Steven mumbled after a minute, exchanging a look with Brad.

"Hmmm..." Joey was doubtful about this response but chose to remain quiet. He wasn't in the mood to pick a fight nor did he want to, though Steven already seemed to be taking care of that.

He looked over and wasn't at all surprised to see Steven looking lustfully into Joe's eyes, his tongue peeking through his lips; another attempt to piss off Elyssa. Steven seemed to get some kind of pleasure out of making her life as hellish as possible, which even Joey had to admit, was very satisfying to watch. He wondered how many more creative ideas Steven could come up with to annoy her.

"Steven, what're ya doing?" Joe asked, leaning away, mildly uncomfortable, his leg twitching as he felt a hand slide up his thigh. He was used to his best friend's antics by now, but he didn't appreciate the unwanted attention he was receiving.

"Nothing," Steven purred throatily, subconsciously licking his lips. "Mmm..."

Joey and Brad took this purr as their cue to quickly exit the room and reside to the safety of the living room. It was getting a little uncomfortable watching Steven demonstrate how attractive he thought Joe was.

Once the two had left the room, Steven decided that it was time to take things up a notch. It was just him, Joe and Elyssa. Perfect. A little more subtle flirting should do the trick. It'd hopefully be just enough to get under Elyssa's skin.

"Joe."

"What is it, Steven?" Joe said, not even trying to disguise the annoyance in his voice. The flirty black t-shirt sitting in front of him was starting to get on his nerves.

"Joe," Steven repeated. "Come here. I wanna tell you a secret." He smiled like a child, beckoning him forward with a slim index finger.

Joe sighed. Typical Steven. But he hopefully wouldn't have to put up with this much longer. He leant forward till his ear was parallel with Steven's mouth.

"What's the secret?" But there was no secret. Steven just simply nuzzled Joe's shoulder in response. Joe quickly moved away, a slightly disgusted look on his face. "Why'd you do that?"

"Cause I like ya," Steven flirted, glancing at Elyssa who was starting to look equally as pissed off as Joe. As a last hurrah, he took Joe's hand in his own and delicately kissed it.

The look on Joe's face when he yanked his hand back was one that made Steven wish he was living back in their old apartment. But the blush that was now creeping up Joe's face made him giggle.

"Stop fucking around and being a d- " Joe tried, though Steven was quick to interject the short-lived sentence.

"Awe, you like me," Steven teased, playfully shaping his lips into a pout. "Go on Perry, just gimme a kiss. One kiss won't hurt."

"No," Joe told him firmly, crossing his arms, lines forming on his forehead as he frowned.

"Juuuust a little smooch," Steven begged, leaning in till his small nose was pressed against Joe's hooked one. "C'mon, no one has to know - it'll be our little secret," Steven winked, trying to kiss him.

"I said no!" Joe snarled, almost knocking Steven out of his seat. He was seeing red. When would Steven stop hitting on him and interfering in his relationship?! It was getting to a point where he was prepared to cut communication with him completely. Though, he'd still have to talk to him in the studio...

"What is wrong with you?!" Steven shouted, his hair bouncing in anger. "Can you not even take a joke or some affection from someone other than Elyssa?! God, Joe, ever since you've been with Elyssa, you've been such a fucking prick! Acting like you're so cool!"

"I can take affection and a joke thank you very much, but not from you! Ever since day one you've been out to disrupt my relationship!"

"Me? Me?! Ever since you've gotten with Elyssa, you've acted like a complete prick, always telling me to go away or shut up. You don't fucking listen to anyone! It's just you and Elyssa, you and Elyssa, you and Elyssa. I don't fucking care who you're with," Steven huffed, crossing his arms. "Just don't come crying when it doesn't work out."

"It's because you're a big-mouthed fuckface who can't sing and is always fucking around. You're living a sad, failed life! And no one will ever love you like I love Elyssa! And-" Joe quickly stopped himself as he realised what he had said, but it was too late. The hurtful words had already tumbled out.

Right away Steven felt a huge wave of sadness and anger wash over him. He looked down at the floor and scrunched his face up, his bangs hiding his glassy eyes. He fidgeted with his hands and rings, trying to fight back tears.

"Steven-" Joe began.

"Fucking shut up!" Steven screamed, shoving Joe harshly into the wall, using his height advantage to leer over the top of and intimidate him.

"I- "

But Steven wasn't listening anymore. Grabbing Joe by his shirt, he lifted him up by his collar and slammed his back against the cupboards, ignoring Elyssa's shouts and Joe's whimper of pain.

"Listen here, you fucking cheeky little git. When we met, you couldn't even carry a tune, so don't start running that foul mouth of yours that I put up with daily and try to talk about how I can't sing.

And a sad, failed life? Let's talk about your life, shall we?" Steven paused for a second. In one swift movement, still gripping the cotton collar, he swung Joe around and forced him against the fridge. "Anthony Joseph Perry: Wannabe guitarist, awful singer, Kike Catholic and a dickhead with a bitchy girlfriend. Oh, and didn't you work at a restaurant?" he mused smugly. "The Anchor. You were making french fries. Nerdy little fucker with grease stains on his apron." Steven's eyebrows raised a little, surprised at how much he remembered about meeting Joe. "And bad grades too. Mhm. Sounds like a sad, failed life to me."

"Steven, I have ADHD, you know that's why my grades were bad," Joe whispered weakly into his ear, still clutching his skinny wrists.

Steven's face instantly drooped with guilt. He knew it wasn't Joe's fault, and he had promised himself to never talk about Joe's school troubles because he didn't want to remind him of all the shit he'd had to experience. It was the last thing he'd meant to bring up, but he was so angry that he couldn't help what he was saying. But he quickly fueled his anger again with the memory of all the hurtful things that he'd been told minutes ago. His ashamed expression promptly changed back to complete fury.

"You don't ever say that type of shit again. Do you hear me?" Steven hissed. "DO YOU HEAR ME?!" He gave Joe a hard shake, glaring into his scared, innocent brown eyes.

The guitarist gave him a small nod, his eyes wide with fear as well as shock.

"Good." Steven finally released Joe, letting him drop to the floor like he was dropping grocery bags after a long shop.

Steven silently watched Joe's chest rise and fall as he lay sprawled on the cold, wooden floor, trying to recover from being shoved into the wall, cupboards and fridge.

After a few minutes, he began to worry when Joe continued to not move. He hadn't wanted to severely injure him, just enough to scare him. Steven stepped wearily towards Joe, but quickly stepped back when Joe picked himself up off the floor and gave him a death stare.

"Baby, are you okay?" Elyssa cooed, resting her hands on Joe's shoulders and massaging them.

"I'm fine, sweetheart," Joe grumbled, tepidly removing her hands from him. "Let's just go." He took Elyssa's hand and the couple started walking to the door.

"That's it, fucking walk away!" Steven shouted after him, his fists clenched. "Walk away, you pussy! Walk away from the band! WALK AWAY FROM ME!" He yelled, his voice breaking from how much he'd been screaming.

Me? God, his mind was even more dysfunctional than he thought. Had he consumed that many drugs last night? He'd only had a whiff.

Steven's heavy breathing filled the room as Joe stopped dead in his tracks, dropping Elyssa's hand. He had called Joe a lot of things over the years, usually only resorting to run-of-the-mill insults, but in the extremely heated moments, he pulled out the little more offensive words. Steven watched as Joe turned on his heel and stomped back towards him.

"Yes?" Steven asked nonchalantly. But Joe didn't say anything. He was far too angry to even verbally express himself. "You're a dick!" Joe finally spat, pushing Steven roughly so he fell back into the counter. "And don't you ever fucking call Elyssa a bitch again!"

Before Steven had any time to react and pull himself to his feet again, one of Joe's hands had curled into a ball and made contact with his face. The pain that next shot through Steven's face and brain was unbelievable. It was like an electrical current rushing through his entire body. He groaned and clutched his nose, doubling over as he felt himself stiffen up with shock.

To say that his nose was only slightly injured was one of the major understatements of the century. It had turned a dark shade of red, was slowly swelling and made a slight cracking sound when the pads of his fingers accidentally rubbed against his truncated schnozzle. And he was also having a bit of trouble breathing. Joe seemed to have knocked it a bit out of shape - he punched very hard. Slews of blood calmly oozed out his nostrils and dripped through the gaps of his fingers, forming a thick red pool in his hands and on the floor.

"Joe, you fucker. I'll get you for this," Steven groused, his speech muffled from cupping his sore, bleeding nose. But his threat went unheard because Joe had already stormed off with Elyssa, slamming the door loudly shut to unofficially announce his departure. The loud slam of the door immediately sparked Joey and Brad's curiosity, causing them to jump up off the sofa and run down the hallway to the kitchen. What could that possibly be about? Surely Steven would have an idea of what had happened. He'd been arguing with Joe for ten minutes straight, after all.

"Hey Steven, we heard the door slam and was wondering what- what the fuck happened to you?!" Joey exclaimed in shock, holding out his arm for Brad to stop as the two men laid eyes on the blood-covered frontman.

"Man, why are you covered in blood?" Brad quizzed, his eyes wide in alarm.

They'd seen Steven in a lot of nasty and gory states, but they hadn't seen him so bloody in a long time.

Brad squeezed the hem of his denim jacket tightly between his fists as he silently and uncomfortably watched the blood continue to flow from Steven's hands.

"Joe. That's what happened." Steven grumbled, looking up at his friends, briefly lowering his hands so they could see the damage to his face. "Atishoo!" He suddenly violently sneezed, large drops of blood splattering over his wrists and clothes.

Joey and Brad quickly jumped back several feet to avoid getting any of Steven's blood on them. It felt like something out of a horror film.

"Umm." Joey panicked for a second as he realised the blood didn't seem to be stopping just yet. "Umm."

God, what would Tom do? He stared longingly up at the ceiling, hoping to pluck a reasonable solution from thin air that the rational blonde would come up with. Fuck. Why was it so difficult to find a resolution when you were stressed? Seems like he was becoming the new L.G. He racked his brains for several more seconds, trying to salvage an answer. First aid kit!

Now in panic mode, Joey wheeled around and quickly ran upstairs to the bathroom, leaving Brad to sit Steven down and mop up the floor. He felt himself shaking as he kept slipping and tripping on the carpet as he ascended, the thought that he could fall and hurt himself in the back of his mind. Damn wearing socks whilst running up a stairway. It was a curse.

"Woah!" he exclaimed, grabbing onto the bannister for dear life when he slipped backwards.

Finally at the top, (without having sustained any injuries), he dashed into the bathroom at the end of the hall. As he pushed open the door, he stubbed his big toe when it caught on one of the cabinets, making it bleed. Joey bit his lip trying to avoid yelling a swear at the top of his voice, for Tom would be sure to hear him. He was unfortunately a very light sleeper. But his heart was still pumping adrenaline through his body, that he could now barely feel the pain he had felt several seconds ago.

Maybe it was the panic, but he couldn't see straight and couldn't find the cupboard at all. He looked around the room wildly, his eyes rapidly searching. A-ha! Found it. At last.

Reaching out with his shaky hands, he clumsily flung open the cupboard and grabbed the first aid kit from the shelf. But he was trembling so much now that he knocked the little box out onto the floor and watched as the contents scattered over the tiles. Shit. Bending down, he shakily tossed everything back inside the kit, only for it to tip over and all to spill out again. Joey sighed. This was hopeless. You know what, he should just leave it. Friends came first.

Grabbing the bare essentials to clean up an injury, he left the mess in the bathroom and ran back downstairs, his soft curly hair jumping up and down, forming an odd little halo above his head so he looked like an angel. Reaching the ground floor, he zoomed several feet across the hall and through the open kitchen door.

"I'm back!" He panted, stopping to catch his breath. "I got the stuff." The drummer waved the antiseptic bottle and little cloth he'd snatched from the airing cupboard.

Brad and Steven gave him a relieved smile, their faces relaxing when he appeared. Joey quickly mirrored the smile, his eyes softening as the tension in the room died down.

"Jesus, your nose still looks awful, Steven," he said, stepping forward and peering at his friend's nose.

Steven's small nose was as expected: still very bloody, but now covered in dark, dry, crusty blood. Though, the bleeding had now thankfully stopped.

"What's new?" Steven hummed, tilting his head back, allowing Brad to clean his nose. Having his nose nursed wasn't as painful as he expected, but he did wince a couple of times when the antiseptic brushed against the most sensitive areas. "Fuck," he cursed as he felt the liquid tingle uncomfortably against his skin. His neck recoiled for a moment as he breathed in the repulsively clean smell of antiseptic.

"Sorry," the rhythm guitarist softly apologised as he gently cleaned the inside of Steven's nostrils. "I know it smells and feels awful, but I'm almost done. Just hang in there."

"Mhm." Steven agreed, relaxing again and drumming his fingers on his kneecaps, more than thankful that Brad wasn't able to see the discomfort etched across his face.

"Okay, done," Brad declared, stepping back to admire his handiwork. "It looks..." he paused and silently scouted for the most fitting word to describe the result. "Umm...I tried," he offered, nervously fiddling with the antiseptic bottle cap.

"It looks better," Joey encouraged with a tiny smile, gently praising Brad for his effort. He ran a hand uneasily through his hair, showing off a black pen line on his wrist.

Steven looked at him with an unimpressed expression. He hoped with everything in the world that it looked better.

"So…What are you going to do now? Do you think it'd be worth a trip to the hospital so they can make sure everything is okay?" Joey suggested, eyeing the car keys that sat in a little china dish on a tiny wooden table in the corner of the foyer.

"Just for my nose?" Steven scoffed, his eye twitching when his nose scrunched. "I'll go if I break a bone. Or am dying."

Joey sighed and stared at the dripping sink tap, massaging his earlobe between his thumb and index finger. Steven was so stubborn. He wasn't indicating that he was going to spend overnight in the hospital, just a check-up. Then they'd come home.

Joey let out a sigh. "Okay…So, if you're not going to the hospital what are you going to do all day?"

"You gonna wait all day for Joe?" Brad joked, his eyes sparkling as he tried to lighten the mood.

Steven nodded. "Exactly. He'll be back soon."

~

It had just struck one in the morning and Steven was sitting back at the counter, on the same barstool, his chin propped on his knuckles. He'd been sitting there for over twelve hours, only getting up to either get a drink and use the bathroom.

His stomach whined loudly for food. The last time he'd eaten was…he didn't actually know. He felt his bracelets tugging on his hair as Steven ran his hand through his silky, brown mane.

"Shit," he grumbled, struggling to free his hand from his hair. He let out a high shriek as he reeled around the room struggling to free his jewellery from his coarse locks. "FUCKING BRACELET!" He screamed into the darkness.

Big, rosy lips went silent but stayed parted as Steven listened to the stairs creaking, holding his breath. His heart pounded in his ears as he harked to the sound of silence dancing around the house.  The creaks stopped for a moment, but then continued, getting louder as footsteps pattered down the steps and across the hall.

"Steven?" Brad whispered, entering the kitchen in just his boxers and a pair of fluffy socks. "Still waiting for Joe, huh?" he guessed, leaning against the wall when he got no response.

"Yeah," Steven answered bluntly, taking a sip of hot coffee as he stared off into the distance.

"Yeah," Brad echoed, plucking a glass from the draining board and filling it with tap water. "You know, you should get rest," he advised through sips of water. "He's not coming back tonight. Maybe tomorrow?" he suggested, his heartstrings tugging with guilt when Steven continued looking glum.

"Maybe... I doubt it. You know how he is. How ELYSSA is."

Brad hummed in agreement, knowing all too well what he meant.

"Do you think Joe will marry Elyssa?" Steven asked abruptly, remembering how Joe had kept fiddling with his ring finger whilst he was kissing her.

They both went quiet for a moment, Steven puzzled why a question like that would even slip from his mouth and Brad completely perplexed over how to answer such a heavy question.

"Umm… maybe," Brad subsequently answered, still a little caught off-guard by the sudden subject change. "Why?"

"No reason. I was just asking."

Huh. Odd.

"Okay… Well, better go to bed now. Goodnight." He gave his best smile to hide the suspicion that was threatening to contort his face into a frown.

"Mhm. Night," Steven replied, going upstairs and retiring to his room.

~

Elyssa's Apartment:

Joe stared glumly up at the dull, white ceiling as he attempted to make himself cosy on his girlfriend's uncomfortable, squidgy, leather sofa that he unhappily sunk into. His back was bruised, his cheek was stinging, and his hands rested solemnly on his flat stomach. He and Elyssa would usually sleep in the same bed, but tonight she'd kicked him out of the bedroom and into the living room with nothing but a blanket, forcing him to go cold turkey.

"Get out!" Elyssa had shouted at him as he undressed and began to crawl into bed next to her.

"Fuck off, Joe!" She'd screamed, throwing a pillow at his head, which he'd managed to dodge.

Tiny tears pricked his eyes as a soft hand met his cheek as he desperately tried to explain about what had happened at home and how he'd acted. Joe slowly raised his hand to his face, his eyes lowering as he replayed Elyssa's shocking, unprovoked reaction.

His head ached and his stomach turned in disgust as he kept thinking about it. The kiss that he had almost shared with Steven earlier was something he honestly hadn't intended to happen, especially not in front of her. It had all just come from out of the blue. He had tried to explain that he hadn't meant it to happen and it was all just Steven being a big idiot, but she refused to listen, convinced that this was a signal that he was done with her and was moving on with another bitch which just happened to be Steven.

Joe let out a sad sigh and rolled onto his tummy, resting his arms on the sofa arm and rested his sleepy head on his now balled up shirt that he was using as a makeshift pillow. He sniffed softly and turned onto his side, pulling the fleece blanket up to his chin as he attempted to get some shut-eye.

He relaxed as he inhaled the frosty air calmly as his breathing evening out. But he pressed his body firmly into the leather with uneasiness and curled his toes up tightly as he wondered if she'd ever slap him again.