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“Oh shut up” Peter snickered as he held the eyeliner pen to his face. Paul was already quite drunk, holding his sixth drink of the night in his hand, laughing as he gazed over at his guitarist friend. The two have had a friendly rivalry of sorts between their two bands, but nothing more than that. At least not yet. All their teasing was for laughs, and boy did they laugh.
“If you’re not careful, you’ll fall off that chair!” Peter yelled out as Paul was having yet another drunken laughing fit. “Now c’mere” he instructed Paul to come closer.
“What, y’a gonna kiss me or somethin~?” Paul joked, voice low and husky. Peter blushed slightly at this which was odd. “It’s just the alcohol” he repeated in his head until it was practically etched into his cranium. He took the eyeliner pen and gently started to colour in on Paul’s eyelids.
“Hehe.. that tickles” Paul giggled as he let Peter continue doing his makeup. It wasn’t very often he was not only this close to a man (their bodies almost touching), but was also getting dolled up by one. It felt really gay. He liked it, but he wasn’t gay. Despite this, he knew Peter was an attractive guy. He could never tell if what he was attracted to was his stage presence or his looks.
But either way, Paul wasn’t gay. He just admired the guy.
As much as he repeated these things in his head, the things in his system made it hard for him to think rationally. So when Peter was done, he did something neither of them would’ve expected
“You look real sexy right now, Buck~” Paul cooed with a sly smirk on his face. His breath hit Peter’s ear gently and sensually. He didn’t truly realise what he had said until he saw Peter freeze up, pupils dilated and mouth agape.
“I- …thanks” Peter managed to stutter out with a small, nervous smile. He just turned away in his chair and continued doing his own makeup. Paul frowned but he understood.
“I didn’t mean that in a-“ Paul’s attempted apology was interrupted by a camera flashing in front of them. Great. Now he’d never forget this.
“No I know…” Peter replied understandingly. Although a part of him. A deep, undiscovered part of him yearned for it to be true. That maybe Paul did want him that way.
Peter’s thoughts were soon interrupted by a small, messy-haired boy barging into the room. It was of course, Tommy.
“Can you be patient, twerp?” Paul snapped as he took a drag from his cigarette.
Surprisingly, Tommy did. Running out to where the others were.
“Welp… that’s your queue” Peter looked over at Paul who was getting off his chair. He groaned.
“Yeah, hopefully I’m not too much of a fuck-up”
“Being a fuck-up is kinda your whole thing” Peter teased, meeting Paul’s tired eyes. Tired yet beautiful.
“Oh you little-“ Paul snarled as he ruffled Peter's short dark hair. Peter wasn’t as much annoyed as he was amused. Paul caught Peter's laugh for a little before he walked out. Hearing that was enough to get him through the show.
The next day, Paul wrote in his journal about the altercation while laying on his messy bed. Kicking his feet, he wrote:
“I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. I’m not gay, but Buck has got one cute laugh”.