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“Thank you all for coming, have a great rest of your night!” Kellin hears Vic say to the crowd after finishing their last song of the night, King For A Day. “We love you!” Kellin adds on, yelling it into the microphone. As he says it, he glances around from the crowd to the others on stage with him, making sure to look at Vic, before looking over to Tony, Jaime, and Loniel, then back to Vic once again.
Now making eye contact with Vic, Kellin walks over to the other man, making his way across the stage to meet Vic, wrapping his arm around him and bringing him into a side hug as soon as he's close enough. Looking closely at Vic's face and giving him a wide smile as he does.
They stay on the side of the stage, waiting until the other band members are starting to leave stage, the two men following close behind the other four, Kellin's arm still wrapped around Vic the entire time they walk, the two accidentally stumbling over the others steps a couple times as they do.
As soon as the two get off stage, Kellin releases Vic from his hold as they make their way to the rest to Pierce The Veil, the rest of Sleeping With Sirens already being back on the bus, most likely asleep.
“Awesome job tonight, all of you.” Loni is the first to speak up, a big, accomplished smile on his face as he talks.
“Thank you! You did amazing too, Loni!” Vic says back to Loni.
Kellin felt a small sting in his chest, a part of him wished those words were directed at him instead of Loni, but he quickly brushes it off, opting to join in on giving compliments to the band.
“Yes you all did amazing tonight!” Kellin starts, “Playing with you all really reminded me of the past, when we were just starting, it was nice.” He adds on. Though it wasn't just the early performances Kellin was reminded of, but also the nice, quiet nights he and Vic spent alone in secret. Just the two of them, somewhere away from the tour buses, and out of sight.
Kellin shakes those thoughts from his head subtly. Those days are long over. The short moments and the small kisses they shared together have long since disappeared, just like the stars they sat under.
Tony brought his attention to Kellin. “Yes, it was fun performing with you again Kellin, we should really do it more often. You and Vic sound great together.” he tells the other simply.
At this, Kellin blushes the faintest bit. “Thank you Tony, that's kind of you to say.” he responds quietly, becoming a little more bashful.
When the two finish their short interaction, and Kellin is finally fully brought out of his thoughts, he notices that Jaime, Loni, and Vic are no longer backstage. Probably all deciding to have gone back to their tour bus.
“We should probably go join our bands.” Tony suggests, already starting to walk to the door. “We need to sleep, just like they are, can't get tired midway through a tour.” he adds.
“Oh yes! You're so right!” Kellin agrees with a nod, quickly walking over to join Tony at the door.
The two make their way through the building and outside together. Once they've left, they wave each other a short goodbye and split off to walk their own ways. Tony going to the Pierce The Veil tour bus and Kellin to Sleeping With Sirens.
About two hours have passed since Kellin went to his tour bus, and for those two hours Kellin hasn't been able to sleep. The man has been too caught up in his thoughts to sleep for even a second.
His head overflowing with memories of years prior. Memories from a decade ago. Memories of a younger version of himself, memories of a younger version of Vic. When the two of them were still young, 20 somethings, free to do whatever they wanted, without a care in the world.
Now the two of them are older, with their own responsibilities and own lives. Unable to be together the way they were before.
Kellin sits up in his bunk on the tour bus, reaching a hand up and running it through his long black hair. “Get ahold of yourself.” he mumbles to himself under his breath. “It's over, it's been over, stop thinking about it.” he adds on.
He flops back onto his bed with a sigh, staring up towards the ceiling of the tour bus, trying to force himself to sleep.
But it's no use.
He isn't sure how much time has passed, but it's at least been another half an hour by the time Kellin finally gives up on sleep.
Getting up from his bed and, as quietly as he can, dropping from the top bunk down to the floor of the tour bus, Kellin goes over to slip on his shoes and throw a black zip up hoodie around himself, deciding to take a walk outside in hopes that it'll make him tired enough to finally fall asleep.
The man starts walking away from the tour buses and towards the music venue he played at just a few hours before. Kellin makes his way past the venue and onto the sidewalk, deciding to follow it and go wherever it takes him.
Kellin walks a few blocks away from the venue and buses, taking a few random turns along the way, and soon ends up at a field. Most of the field is empty, save for a park at the opposite side from where Kellin is standing. The only thing lighting it in the dark is one, yellow streetlamp.
He decides to start making his way over to the dimly lit park. Sitting down on the steps at the end of the playground, taking a break from his walk, deciding to instead stargaze.
Only a few seconds after sitting down, Kellin hears the sound of someone shifting coming from the playground platform above him.
Confused, he looks up towards the noise, and is greeted with the sight of Vic, awkwardly staring down at him.
“Oh.. hey.” Vic greets with an awkward wave.
“Hey..” Kellin says back quietly.
“Couldn’t sleep either?” Vic asks him, seeming genuine in his question.
“Yeah.” Kellin nods back simply. “Too many thoughts.” he admits to Vic, immediately regretting it, having no idea why he decided to answer Vic honestly. “You idiot, now he's going to ask what you were thinking about.” he thinks, a bit irritated at himself and how weak he is under his friends gaze.
“Oh really? What about? Vic asks, seeming to genuinely want to know and understand.
“Great.” Kellin thinks as soon as he hears Vic.
“Uhm… you know nothing really. Like nothing specific, just… thoughts.” he answers, finally deciding to not be fully honest. He hears Vic hum in response, thankfully seeming to take that answer.
“What about you? Why couldn't you sleep?” Kellin decides to ask back.
“Same as you… just thoughts.” Vic answers back, staring up into the night sky,
Kellin soon joining in.
The two boys sit like that, just staring up into the sky. A calm silence, and a bit of tension, between the two as they sit there quietly.
A few minutes pass by before Kellin suddenly hears Vic clear his voice.
“You know, my thoughts actually kept coming back… to you.” Vic admits quietly.
Kellin freezes at those words. Did he really just say that? Did Vic really just tell him that?
“O-oh.. yeah.?” Kellin takes a deep breath. “Why..?” he asks back.
“Yeah..” Vic confirms with a subtle nod. “I.. I don't know exactly why. I guess just performing with you again reminded me of the old days.” Vic admits to the other.
Kellin lets out a small hum in response, still a bit stunned by Vic admitting he couldn't sleep because he was thinking about him.
“Yeah… honestly I couldn't sleep because of the same reason.” Kellin finally admits, telling Vic what he was really thinking about.
“Yeah? Vic asks, glancing over to Kellin.
“Yeah.” Kellin nods, glancing back at Vic, making eye contact with the other.
“I um… also kept thinking about the old days.” Kelling tells Vic. “But probably for… different reasons than you.” he adds on with a small, awkward laugh.
“Really? Like what?” Vic asks, moving down from his top platform and to the same one Kellin is on.
A faint pink blush covers Kellin's cheeks, the man blushing both from Vic getting closer to him, and from the question itself.
“Well like… us.. outside of the performing.” Kellin mumbles in admittance.
“Ah…” Vic lets out in understanding.
“Yeah..” Kellin mumbles, barely audible, as he goes back to stargazing. The tension between the two men growing.
A few minutes pass and Vic speaks up once again.
“I miss it.” He says, with no other context.
“Huh? What do you mean.?” Kellin asks back, looking from the stars and over to Vic, who's already staring at Kellin, the reflection of the stars shining in his eyes.
“I miss it.” Vic repeats simply. “I miss us, when we were… together.” he admits, whispering towards the end.
Kellin's blush immediately comes back, a much brighter pink than before. As he continues looking at Vic, he can see the faintest blush coming through his tan skin.
“I.. yeah…” Kellin starts. “I miss us too.” he admits back to Vic, earning an adorable smile from him.
The two sit together in silence, still staring at each other and blushing. Neither one of them making any moves.
A minute passes before Kellin shyly speaks up.
“You know..” he starts, the man basically mumbling. “We could always be like that again.” he states, but it's more of a suggestion. An invitation made out for Vic to either accept or deny.
“I think… I would like that.” Vic finally responds after a few seconds of thought.
“Did he really just say that?” Kellin asks himself, suddenly feeling 100 pounds lighter. His entire face lights up, a bright smile on full display.
“Really? You would?” Kellin asks in confirmation, a bit too excitedly, earning a nod of confirmation from Vic.
“Oh this is great!” Kellin says back, a bit too loudly for the quiet park, not caring to contain any excitement at the moment.
Vic smiles back at him, finding Kellin's reaction to be cute. The man leans closer and sets his hand on Kellin's cheek, turning the other to face him. Getting met with Kellin's expression of pure happiness and delight.
“Youre adorable.” Vic tells him with a small giggle, before leaning in and kissing Kellin, to which the other immediately returns. Despite all the years since their last kiss, they still fit perfectly together, immediately melting into each other, not wanting to tear apart.
They soon pull apart, and Vic shifts to sit right up against Kellin, putting his hand on top of the others and laying his head on his shoulder as they both go back to staring out into the night sky, watching the beautiful, twinkling stars.
“Youre prettier than any of those stars up there.” Vic tells Kellin in a mumble, earning a giggle from him.
“Oh shut up..” Kellin says abc through his giggles, but still clearly enjoying the compliment.
“It's true and you know it.” Vic says back simply, as he reaches his hand from Kellin’s and up into the others hair.
The two stay like that, no stress about the tour, no worrying over their bands. Just the two of them, cuddled up under the quiet stars.
“I like us.” Vic tells Kellin.
“I do too.” Kellin mumbles back.