Oh my, when did I become such a bitter and disillusioned fan? Lol.

+

The taste on my tongue is Bitter (Sweet)…

Brad watches Chester’s cameo in ‘Crank’ and thinks to himself, “You act what you know.”

He’s trying not to be bitter.

And is failing miserably.

He thought they were supposed to be recording a new album and no one was more surprised than he was when Mike agreed to let the singer go off and play “movie stars” for a few weeks.

Sometimes Brad thinks those two know more than they let on. He doesn’t normally place too much belief in conspiracy theories because that’s all a little too ‘X-Files’ for his liking, but the meaningful stares and knowing looks shared between the two is enough to place a niggling seed of doubt in Brad’s mind that they are sharing a secret. It kills him that they might know something the rest of the band do not. It’s almost as if they are setting themselves up for something, hence all this talk of solo records and now Chester’s acting “career”. Even Mr. Oblivious Joe Hahn seems to have twigged and has started to put plans in motion for a movie and a possible ‘future’ directing career. Maybe Joe has the right idea?

Brad shakes his head in an effort to dispel the thoughts from his mind. He would know if his MC and singer were plotting the band’s demise. Unsurprisingly, that thought does nothing to ease the steadily growing tension headache that is pounding back and forth between his temples.

It’s no secret that Mike has been a little distracted of late, still basking in the afterglow of Fort Minor. Not to mention that stupid ringtone award that did nothing to help. Of course Mike need to fly to LA to attend the awards ceremony seeing as it was, after all, such a prestigious award.

Did Brad mention this was him not being bitter?

Brad wondered that if it hadn’t had been the infamous Mr. Shinoda as the recipient of the award, would they have bothered to give it any airtime at all?

To add insult to injury, Mike, Chester and Joe all rushed off to attend ‘Crank’s’ opening like they weren’t on a schedule. Three blank stares were the only reply to Brad’s questioning. Well, three blank stares and then another one of those damn knowing looks between Mike and Chester. They couldn’t seem to understand Brad’s lack of enthusiasm and after they’d left, Brad was left alone with nothing but the thick blanket of disapproval sucking up all the air and suffocating the room. Brad couldn’t help but think he’d done something wrong.

Brad spent the night in the recording studio with Rob because he never liked to throw away a booking that had been arranged months in advance.

Even through his thick, insulated headphones he could still hear Rob’s rhythmic drumming as he practice, practice, practiced.

Twice Brad almost opened his mouth to talk to the Rob but he just knew he wouldn’t get the answers he wanted out of the ever silent drummer. Instead, Brad tried to look on the bright side. Even if this was the end of Linkin Park, there’s always that law degree to fall back on. If he’d ever bothered to graduate.

Brad went back to strumming random chords on his guitar while Rob beat steady rhythms out of his drum kit with a little extra fervor than was normal for the restrained drummer.

+

Things start to look up when management book Linkin Park to play the SummerSonic Tour in August. Accompanied by Fort Minor and Styles of Beyond, of course, but Brad’s starting to get used to that. What he isn’t used to is Mike hauling all his stuff into the dressing room he shares with Tak and Ryu and whatshisname instead of staying with his band.

It hurts like the proverbial hot knife to the abdomen for Brad and he nearly buckles from the pain. Rob’s hand soothing up and down his back helps for a little while, but then Chester announces that he’s stepping in for Holly Brooks during ‘Where’d You Go’, and as he picks up his things and he walks out the door, he calls over his shoulder that he’d better head off to the other dressing room with Mike and the ‘boys’ to practice before the show starts. That damned knife starts twisting and digging into his side again and Brad shrugs off Rob’s warmth and vomits into the sink in their bathroom.

Brad remembers a time when Linkin Park was what had made up ‘the boys’ and not these strangers. He doesn’t understand why Chester needs to replace Holly when Mike can pull off singing like a girl better than anyone. Couldn’t they have just picked another song? They were in Japan for Christ sakes, Brad would have assumed ‘Kenji’ would have gone down a treat. But he knows from years of experience that Mike never leaves anything to chance and that he isn’t as blasé as he comes across.

Brad wonders if this is what people meant when they told him that Fame can be bitter sweet.

Splashing some water on his face Brad heads back to the Linkin Park dressing room to clarify with Rob the final decision on the chords and words of QWERTY. It was a mad scramble initiated by Brad on the plane to Japan to write QWERTY so they could have some new, albeit unrefined material to placate the fans over the fact that their new album release kept getting pushed back to a later and later date.

Sometimes Brad thinks he’s the only one thinking of the fans and not just himself – and maybe that’s his problem.

That night when Rob knocks quietly on his hotel room door and sinks slowly to his knees before him, Brad stops thinking about Mike and he stops thinking about Chester and he stops thinking about the fans because all he can think about is

warm mouth Rob tongue sex sheets heat hands lust sin him them white hot Rob.

The next day, Brad doesn’t even notice that Mike and Chester are missing from the Linkin Park dressing room before the SummerSonic After show. He no longer notices the knowing looks shared between the two front men of their band, either. He’s too busy sharing his own knowing looks with Rob. Other people’s secrets don’t mean as much when you’ve got one of your own.

Brad’s finally found the sweet amongst the bitter, and he’s never felt this relaxed.

The End

Author’s note:

Oops, I wrote Brob!

I sat down to write supernatural fic and this came out instead. I am so amused, but 70+ unfinished word documents on my hard drive tells me that the transition into a new fandom will not be as easy as I had hoped and trust me when I say, I am not complaining.