Kirley Duke (dukeofweird) wrote in fiftyfourdiagon, @ 2016-06-11 19:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | char: kirley duke, char: melinda bobbin |
Who: Kirley Duke and Melinda Bobbin
Where: Barcelona
When: Saturday, June 11, 2016
What: Kirley has something to say
Rating: verrrrrrry high
Barcelona. He'd been waiting for this day, planning for this day. He'd had to stop himself from telling Melinda how he felt so many times, it was getting painful. Just being around her made him want to explode lately, the confines of the tour bus making it all that much worse. He loved having her with them, though. The shows they'd played thus far has been perfect, and crawling into bed with her on the bus after was soothing in a way he didn't know it could be. It was only the beginning of the tour, but things were going well, and he could only hope they got better.
The day in Barcelona had been lovely, and he'd tried to make it as special for her as possible. They took in some sites, and had a quiet little lunch in a small local restaurant, one well off the beaten path. It was in the Muggle section of the city, and his Spanish wasn't great, but that just made it all the more interesting, he thought. A good local experience.
Then it came time for the concert. He'd almost not gone through with it. After all the planning, and all the practice, standing in the green room with the lads, he'd almost backed out. His feelings for Melinda were deep and true, and he wanted her to know, but for the first time in his life, he'd felt stage fright. What if the audience didn't like the song? What if Melinda didn't? He didn't think he could take it if she didn't like it. But with a bit of convincing and a good kick in the arse, he agreed. It was going to go fine. They had it all planned out. It was going to work.
When it was time for them to go on stage, Kirley was pleased to see Bea had Melinda standing right where he wanted her, just off to the side of the stage. Everything was in place, now they just had o put on a show.
The concert went great. Perfect even. The music was loud, the crowd was feeling it, and by now, they even knew the words to all of the new stuff that had just been released. Then it was time. The rest of the band took their places, standing near the back of the stage, and the lights dimmed. When they came back up, a spotlight was trained on center stage, where a stool and microphone had appeared. Taking his acoustic guitar from one of the stage hands, Kirley made his way to the stool, propping himself up with one foot still on the floor.
"So," he started, speaking into the microphone. "You lot are such a lovely bloody crowd, we thought we'd give you a little something special. Are you ready for something special!" The crowd roared, and he grinned broadly. "Fantastic!"
He adjusted the grip on his guitar before he continued speaking. "As many of you know, someone very important has recently come into my life. Someone I thought I'd never find, though to be honest, I wasn't really looking. It's funny how that happens sometimes."
Casting his gaze off stage, he could barely make Melinda's figure out, with the lights shining on his face, but he flashed a smile her way anyway. "A few months ago, I wrote a song for this very special lady, and I wanted to share it all with you tonight." Another roar from the crowd, and he laughed.
"It's a bit different than what you're used to, but I think you'll like it. It's called 'Love Potion.'"
Kirley took a moment to compose himself, and then he began. The words and music flowed through him easily, and for the few minutes he sat there on that stool, he didn't think about what the reaction from the audience might be. He didn't think about the stage, or the lights, or all the people watching him. He only thought of her.
It was a powerful song, full of emotion, and as he neared the end, he could have sworn he heard people singing along with him. Whether it was the band behind him, or the crowd before him he couldn't be sure, but it made him happy all the same. The song was good, and it was going to be a good foundation for their next album.
"You don't need a love potion for me," he sang, his voice getting soft in the last line of the song. "Cause I fell for you all on my own."
He strummed the last chord and pushed off the stool. The crowd was going wild. His ears were filled with the sounds of cheering and whistling, screaming and celebration and he took a few moments to drink it in. It felt amazing. Kirley thrived on attention and the approval from others, especially where his music was concerned, and this song was 100% his music. He had written every word, every note, and to hear the reception it got was an amazing feeling. But there was one more reaction he needed.
So as the band moved back to their places, he ran off to the side of the stage, and passed his guitar off before coming straight to Melinda. "I've got to go back out," he said, a bit breathless. He was shining with sweat from the lights and their performance, and he grinned as he stood before her, his eyes searching her face. "But… What did you think?"
---
Barcelona had been something of a romantic fascination for Melinda for many years. She had been no stranger to Spain - her mother’s family having been largely from Portugal made it easy to skip over to the small coastal towns along the west shore. She’d even been to Madrid on family holidays. Spain was something a little special to Melinda and had been for so much of her life. Barcelona? It seemed a bit like a fantasy village. It was so bright and vibrant. Like a village you’d expect to see in some fairy story.
Actually being in the city? Brilliant.
She had milked Kirley’s acceptance of her excitement for everything it was worth -- dragging him around all morning to all of the neighborhoods she had been told to visit in particular, and lunch in a cafe on the sunny, colorful streets. Of course, Kirley trying to speak Spanish was a particular treat for her. Not that her’s was all that great either, but her knowledge of Portuguese made it just a little more passable. After lunch, she’d begun their shopping excursion (which Kirley had been very much right about, though she loathe to admit it) when he had to head back to the venue. She’d wanted to stay out and continue exploring, but there was a look on Kirley’s face that brought her to agree to go back to the venue with him.
Keeping Melinda in the venue wasn’t particularly an easy task. Gibson and the litter of puppies the Sisters had managed to amass only kept her occupied for so long, even though they did end up going for a bit of a walk (something that wasn’t particularly the best of ideas, as she wasn’t exactly an unknown face to the Sister’s fans any longer). Corralling her to the side of the stage as the show began had been bit of a task. Not that she didn’t love watching Kirley perform - she did so very much - but there was just so much she wanted to do in the city in the short time they were afforded.
Melinda had managed to strike up a conversation with the guitarist of the opening band on that particular leg of the tour when the lights going out caught her attention. She continued her discussion with the guitarist, though half-heartedly as her eyes kept darting back to the stage to try and discern what the sudden change in their concert was about. And there was Kirley, in the middle of the stage with just his guitar and a microphone. When he started talking about her, specifically, she excused herself from the conversation, curiously walking towards the edge of the stage to join Bea, just far enough back that they weren’t easily seen off stage.
And then he started singing. She had thought at first that it would be a funny song, based on the title of it alone. Yet the way he was singing it, the words he had written, caused her breath to catch in her throat as she realized what it was he was really singing about. The feeling that was in his song. She’d barely made it through the first chorus by the time she felt tears slip from her eyes. Her hand rose to cover her mouth, trying to hide the fact that she was crying maybe. From whom, she wasn’t particularly certain. But she knew the tears wouldn’t stop, and no amount of smudged eyeliner or mascara could pull her mind away from him and that song.
By the time the song ended, it took nearly everything in her to not run out on stage and meet him. If she hadn’t seen him already doing that very thing, she just might have. As he approached her, she reached out to rest her hands against his chest. “Kirley, I--” she started, but didn’t know quite how to finish her thought. She simply looked up at him, tears still in her eyes. She didn’t think she needed to tell him that it was beautiful; it was written on her face.
----
He smiled widely at her, his hands finding her hips and bringing her in close. "I love you," he breathed, bringing her in for a quick, but deep kiss.
The crowd was still cheering, so he had some time, but not much. He knew it wouldn't be long before Myron was dragging him back out on stage for the last few songs. "I've wanted to tell you for weeks."
---
Those words - those simple, wonderful words - brought a soft laugh to her. She could feel the tears still streaming down her cheeks, and didn’t care to stop them. Each one was borne of happiness and those words bounced around in her head, even as he kissed her. For a moment, it didn’t feel real at all.
“I didn’t think you’d ever want to say something like that,” she confessed as her fingers gripped his shirt. She stood on her toes to steal another kiss from his lips before whispering against them, “I love you.”
---
He laughed and shook his head. "I didn't think I would either," he said before returning her kiss.
When she spoke again, when she returned his feelings, he felt a giant weight lifted from his chest. A lightness filled his body, and for a moment he could have sworn he could fly if he tried. She loved him. And he loved her. It was a change in their relationship, but the best kind of change.
He could hear the band calling his name then, but he pulled Mel in for another kiss. "We are going to finish this," he grinned, giving her a wink as he pulled back and ran back onto the stage.
---
Melinda’s fingers tightened in his shirt as he pulled her in for another kiss. She felt so very fragile and vulnerable in that moment, and yet… like she could conquer the world. It was exhilarating and wonderful. She could hear Kirley’s name being shouted by the boys, but she was loathe to let him go. She wanted to live in that moment for a little while longer.
But she let him go, smoothing his shirt out for him before nodding. “Go on,” she murmured, pushing him at his chest towards the stage. “Before the fans start chanting.”
---
Kirley ran back out on stage and grabbed his guitar. There were only a few songs left, and they passed in a flash for him. He was over the moon, and they ended the concert with a bang, just like all the rest. It had been a great show, but for once Kirley had no desire to attend the after party.
They said their thank you's and goodnights to the crowd and ran off the stage when the lights went down. He had no idea where the rest of the lads went, but Kirley ran right to Melinda.
He didn't say a word at first. Instead, he reached for her, holding her head in his hands, and pulled her in for a long, slow kiss. He could have stayed like that forever, but the bustle of stage breakdown had already begun. The band was going to be in Paris the next day, so they really didn't have that much time.
"Hey," he said against her lips when the kiss ended.
---
Melinda spent the rest of the concert with her eyes immediately on Kirley. Of course she knew the rest of the boys were there, she saw Kirley interact with them. But nobody really existed. Not even Bea standing next to her was really even there. At some point she’d even tried to wipe the tears from her cheeks and correct her makeup, but how useful that gesture was, she had no idea. She couldn’t take her eyes off Kirley.
As soon as the show was over, she straightened from where she’d been leaning. As soon as he found her, his hands cupping her face, her arms wrapped tightly around him. There had been a few times in which she’d complained about him hugging her immediately after a show - Kirley, you’re absolutely soaking! - but she couldn’t seemed to be bothered by it now. The heat from his body, and the complete dampness of everything about him was ignored in favor of that kiss.
“Hi,” she murmured, stealing a quick kiss from his lips. “I love you.”
---
"I love you too," he said into her kiss, moving his arms down to wrap around her waist.
With a quick squeeze, he lifted her up off the floor for a moment. "We should go," he said as he set her down. "I've got us a hotel for the night. Don't want to waste it, do we? Paris tomorrow you know."
---
A happy squeal escaped her as she was lifted from the floor. “A hotel?” She asked curiously. A smile spread widely across her features. “You really did plan this all out, didn’t you?”
---
"Well," he began, grinning down at her. "I couldn't very well half arse telling you I love you, could I?" Bending down, he kissed her once more, then took her hand. "Come on, you. Wren's already got us checked in and set up, so we can apparate straight there."
Giving her hand a squeeze, he closed his eyes and concentrated. A few moments later, he opened his eyes to find himself standing in the middle of their penthouse. "It's a muggle hotel," he said, pulling Melinda in again. "So we'll have to do things the slow way, but it's one of the best in the city, and it has a killer