Connections

I use my key to get into the studio. As alluded to by Jake the day I met him, we moved to this studio about two weeks ago and are finally settling in. I can sense Davey’s anxiety returning as we start walking down the quiet halls. I wave to Ricky as we pass him, and he smiles and gives an extra “good morning” to Davey. I squeeze his hand to remind him things are fine, and he returns the greeting in a small voice.

As we get closer to the studio space we’re in, I can hear one of the new songs blaring through the door. I look down at Davey, who’s staring ahead with fear of the unknown. When we get to the door I crouch beside him. “Are you ready?”

“What if they don’t like me, Mina?” he asks again.

“Davey, they’re going to love you,” I tell him. “They’re all very nice. Do you think I’d walk you into a room full of assholes?”

He shakes his head, his eyebrows scrunching together to focus. I laugh and gently press my thumb in between them to smooth them out. “C’mon, lovebug. You’re gonna’ be fine.”

Without letting him psyche himself out, I open the door and hold it for him. He looks up at me before taking a step in, and I sort of shoo him in with my legs as I walk in.

We’re not met with stares, as I’m sure Davey feared. Half the guys didn’t even realize we walked in and remain bobbing their head to the demo. It isn’t until the heavy doors shuts with a thud! that they look at us, and even still Feldy and Jake are still focused on the song.

“Good morning, everyone,” I say, setting my stuff down as I come in. Davey is right on my heels as I walk to the table we leave our random crap on. I turn to look at the room and almost smack him with my hand he’s standing so close. By now, everyone has noticed that I’ve walked in with a child and we now have the attention Davey was fearing.

John is the first to stand up. “Hey, dude!” He walks over to Davey and crouches. “You’re Davey, right? You can call me Feldy.” He sticks out his hand.

I have to nudge Davey with my knee to get him to shake his hand. “He’s a little shy,” I explain, and I squeeze Davey’s free hand.

“That’s totally cool. Not everybody has to be loud and obnoxious like me,” he laughs off. He stands and looks at the rest of the guys in the room, who are all in their heads wondering what the fuck I’m doing with a little boy in the studio.

Jake is the next to pipe up, as he’s met Davey before. “What’s up, little man?” he asks from his chair, and instead of holding his hand out to shake he holds it out for a high five. Davey returns this a little more confidently as he greets Jake by name. The rest of the guys go pretty similarly, CC and Jinxx being the coolest to him, while Ashley seems like he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Andy’s nowhere to be seen, and when I ask where he is Feldy says he’s out smoking and he’ll be in soon.

I start clearing off the random crap table so I can get Davey set up. John asks if Davey wants to sit in one of the chairs we sit in and look at the mixing board, but he timidly declines. After clearing a space big enough, I pull a chair around so Davey can sit and pull my Gameboy and a couple other things I could grab to entertain him on the table. He’s sitting closest to me so he won’t be uncomfortable.

I hear the door open behind me as Davey comes to the table, and I turn to immediately meet the gaze of one Andy Biersack. He looks completely unfazed as his eyes flicker to Davey, who has now turned to face him. Andy smiles immediately and says, “Hey, dude. I’m Andy.”

“Hi, Andy,” Davey mumbles.

Andy stuffs his cigarettes in his pocket as he walks towards us. He gives me a quick “hello” before going underneath the table and grabbing a backpack. Kneeling in front of Davey, he says, “Feldy told me you were gonna’ visit us today, so I brought some stuff to keep you entertained. Is that cool?”

Davey glances at me before looking back at Andy. His shyness has now abandoned him for excited curiosity. “What kind of stuff?”

Andy unzips the back and starts pulling out piece after piece of Batman paraphernalia, including several comic books and action figures. “I’ll admit,” he continues, “it’s all Batman stuff, but he’s the coolest superhero so I figured you wouldn’t mind, being the cool kid you are.” He smiles at him.

I see Davey nervously bite the inside of his cheek. “Batman? Is that like Spiderman?”

Laughing, Andy tells him, “Sort of. They’re both superheroes. You’ve never heard of Batman?”

“No,” he murmurs.

This has taken Andy aback, and I interfere before any specific questions are asked. “He hasn’t really had a lot of TV time to watch superhero stuff,” I explain vaguely.

I see skepticism in Andy’s eyes, but he fortunately lets it go. Sitting on the floor, he grabs a comic book and holds it out to Davey. Tentatively, he grabs it and looks at the cover.

“Batman is my favorite superhero of all time,” Andy tells him, and he starts peeling off his leather jacket. His tattoos immediately distract Davey, and Andy starts pointing out the ones he has for Batman specifically. This has Davey sitting in the chair and basically lost to me as Andy talks about how he doesn’t have any superpowers, but how he’s just a genius billionaire who makes gadgets of all kinds to defeat the bad guys he fights. I consider listening in too, but John grabs my shoulder. “Just let him be. Andy’s about as childish as he is.”

I laugh as John pulls away and starts setting himself up at the mixing board. I turn to do the same, but I shoot one more glance behind me as pull my chair around. Davey’s completely enamored as Andy talks. Andy meets my gaze one more time and smiles before opening a different comic book and pointing at Batman as he’s punching the Joker.

With a newly found ease in my heart, I sit beside Feldy and pull my headphones on.

Notes

Hey I don't have an excuse for being absent but I'm in community college now and I've been imagining how I would write scenes for this story soooooooo...

It's here, isn't it? You can leave your hate comments at my lack of updates below, haha

~Niki X,,,,,,x