tamingthemuse | Prompt #118 - Mortal Coil - Waiting in the Dark - originalharmony

Title: Waiting in the Dark
Fandom: Backstreet Boys (Music RPS)
Prompt: #118 - Mortal Coil
Warnings: AU, slash
Rating: PG
Summary: One moment, and then another, and then the man was singing again. His voice caught fire as the music lent him blackness, blindness, to drive away. Strength echoed from his words, and he turned around, wholly captured by the song that had seduced him.

The tall, dark-haired man stood centerstage in the music. Looking at his feet, he moved the tiniest bit in time to the beat, letting the heavy guitar course through him as he waited for his cue. He was beautiful, caught up in his passion. He wore only black pants, no shoes. His long hair brushed wide, bare shoulders, and he had a silver piercing through one eyebrow, Nick could see. Standing in the crowd, green eyes caught his as they looked up.

“When it all falls down
I am here, waiting in the dark
For you, for you, all alone
A thousand years pass by
And, still, I am here
Waiting in the dark,” he sang, and Nick could barely breathe.

“Where are you
When I need you?
Have you left me alone,
Waiting in the dark?
Don't take the light away!”

One moment, and then another, and then the man was singing again. His voice caught fire as the music lent him blackness, blindness, to drive away. Strength echoed from his words, and he turned around, wholly captured by the song that had seduced him. He spun around as he pushed all his power into the chorus.

“Trapped inside your burning heart
But I can't see your love
You hold me here
Waiting in the dark for you!
These chains are all I have
Brand my flesh, never let me go,” he cried.

Nick watched him, unable to look away as the man moved. He could see a tattoo on the man's back, beautiful as he was. A black tree of thorns grew at the base of his spine, its branches spreading across his shoulderblades. A thick, blue and purple serpent was twined within them, the tip of its tail just flicking out to touch the ribs of his right side. Its twisted body was lined with the dark scars of the stars at night. It curled twice around his neck before slithering into the tree. Climbing down his back, it contorted up his ribs on the left side and rested its magnificent head on his heart. Its teeth, dripping violet poison, threatened the nipple its forked tongue curled around.

“I linger in the haunted places in your soul,” sang the man, and Nick was sure he did.

As the set carried on, Kevin could feel the young man's eyes on him. Lean and blonde, he couldn't have been more than nineteen. Kevin's body heated under his gaze anyway. The young man's eyes were blue, intense, like he wanted Kevin.

People didn't want Kevin very often.

AJ, his bassist, said they wanted him all the time, but that Kevin never noticed it.

Coming off the stage at the end, he found the young man waiting in the dark for him. Kevin was shy, and, when he was feeling shy, he became impersonal. AJ pushed him forward with a well-placed hand at the base of his back, just hard enough to make Kevin stumble. The young man caught him, and gave a nervous smile like sunshine.

“Nick Carter,” the young man said, after he had set the taller man back on his feet.

“Kevin Richardson,” Kevin replied, returning the smile shyly.