Dag can see Tommy standing in a corner. For such a big guy he’s got a way of making himself look unassuming, shoulders hunched, with his head cocked thoughtfully to the side. He’s looking at the cassette tapes, all lined up neatly in row upon row. The shelves are just barely tall enough for them to fit. Lars and Jan are all the way on the other side of the store. This is Dag’s chance to try and talk without them overhearing. Dag squares his shoulder, shoves his hands into his hoodie pocket, and walks over.
“Looking at uh…” Shit shit what’s the word in English? “Tapes?”
“Hmm?” Tommy glances at Dag distractedly, and then looks back at the shelf. “Oh. Yeah. I like them.”
“Easier to travel with,” Dag says, then feels like an idiot because Tommy probably already knows that. “Jan is going to buy a record and then complain about storing it for the rest of tour.”
Dag’s stomach twists pleasantly as he watches Tommy smile in response.
“You collect them?” Dag asks.
“Yeah,” Tommy nods and his smile becomes smug. “I’ve got an original of Leprosy from ‘88.”
Dag whistles.
“Thank you,” Tommy turns that smile in Dag’s direction, and Dag feels himself smile helplessly back. “It’s not in the best condition though, so I got it cheap.”
“Still cool to have,” Dag says.
“Yeah,” Tommy nods slowly. “How do you say ‘cassette’ in Swedish?”
“Kassettband,” Dag says immediately.
Tommy looks unimpressed, the way he always does when a word is sort of close to English.
“Easy to remember,” Dag points out.
“I guess,” Tommy says, before he continues seriously. “I am gonna get better, it’s just been slow going.”
“You’ve been with us for two weeks,” Dag says, unsure how to respond to Tommy’s earnest eye contact. “And English is fine.”
“I know that,” Tommy says. Dag watches in fascination as Tommy’s face gets a little pink. “But like, long term, I wanna learn it. It’s the professional thing to do.”
“I’m happy to help you,” Dag says, before something like panic hooks into the pit of his stomach. Oh no. Teaching Tommy one on one might kill him. “Or Henrik can. His English is better than mine.”
“Yours is pretty good,” Tommy says. “And thanks, that would be great.”
“It’s Tommy isn’t it?” Lars asks casually one day when they’re both sitting outside enjoying the breeze. “The sound guy.”
“Tommy what?” Dag asks.
He wants a cigarette. He’s not going to have one yet though, because he knows Tommy’s probably going to take a smoke break in another hour. It’s become routine almost, how Dag shows up during those breaks. Yesterday it had gone long because they’d gotten into a whole discussion about Haake. Tommy knows his shit. It makes Dag a little crazy.
“Your crush.”
When Dag glances over Lars isn’t looking at him. Instead Lars is staring at his own hands, carefully peeling off the super glue residue from his fingertips. It happens a lot on tour, where the skin near his calluses start to kind of tear, and then doesn’t have time to heal. It’s really gross. Dag doesn’t understand why, Niklas doesn’t have that problem as much. Probably because Lars can’t stop messing with them.
“You’re gonna open the scab,” Dag asks, instead of answering.
“I’ll put more glue on it,” Lars says, but he stops and looks at Dag. “It is though, isn’t it?”
Fuck.
“Yeah,” Dag grumbles and crosses his arms.
“Hmmm,” Lars goes back to his fingertips with a frown.
“Why?” Dag asks, suspiciously.
If Dag’s honest, he’s waiting for the teasing to start.
“You know you can talk to me about this stuff, right?” Lars mumbles instead. “I don’t care that you’re half gay or whatever.”
Oh.
“I didn’t think you did,” Dag says honestly, leaning over to bump their arms together. “I just—it’s fucking embarrassing dude. It’s just a crush.”
Dag watches as Lars does peel off a scab. He doesn’t hiss, doesn’t jerk, just looks down at the smear of blood on his pointer finger.
“You okay?” Dag asks, a little alarmed.
“I’m fine,” Lars shrugs a shoulder and pulls what looks like a burger king napkin out of his pocket to put pressure against it. “Birgit said you talked to her about having him replace Mika. That sounds like more than just a crush.”
Dag sighs.
“Yeah.” Dag picks up his half drunk water bottle and waves it in Lars’ direction. “Something about him makes me kinda stupid. I just want to be around him, you know?”
“I don’t,” Lars says mulishly. “Because all you said was that you had a crush, and then refused to talk about it, and now he apparently might be on the crew.”
Lars holds his hand out and lets Dag pour water over it.
“Sorry,” Dag says, even though he doesn’t really know why.
“I’m just saying,” Lars says, flicking the water off once his hand is rinsed. “I’m not homophobic. I wanna know if you like someone that much.”
“I don’t think you’re homophobic,” Dag says apologetically. “It’s just weird to talk about. Think about. I never thought I’d like a guy like this.”
“What do you like about him?” Lars asks.
He grabs the napkin again and dries off his finger, and then pulls out the super glue. It’s probably not sanitary, Dag thinks, but Lars has done this for years. Blood and glue.
“He’s hot,” Dag says. “And he’s funny. I donno. I just like him. I like his smile.”
on a Wednesday in a café, I watched it begin again
pairing: Tommy/Charlie (OMC)
rating: G
words: 2k
[read on Ao3]
"You might not believe it, but I swear, I didn't do that on purpose," the man says, his voice warm and pleasant, like honey to Tommy's ears.
"Wha- why wouldn't I believe that?" Tommy asks, confused, his brain feels fogged over. Damn, it's been a while since he lost his head over a hot guy like this.
"Because in about sixty seconds I'll ask you for your number, and I don't want you to think I spilled your coffee on purpose just to get the attention of the hottest guy here," he explains, as if it made perfect sense to him. Tommy's just more confused.
"Who the fuck does that?" he asks, frowning, and the man laughs loudly. He's weird. Tommy digs it. He's intrigued and a little amused by the situation.
"You'd be surprised," the man just says with a shrug.
on a Wednesday in a café, I watched it begin again
pairing: Tommy/Charlie (OMC)
rating: G
words: 2k
[read on Ao3]
"You might not believe it, but I swear, I didn't do that on purpose," the man says, his voice warm and pleasant, like honey to Tommy's ears.
"Wha- why wouldn't I believe that?" Tommy asks, confused, his brain feels fogged over. Damn, it's been a while since he lost his head over a hot guy like this.
"Because in about sixty seconds I'll ask you for your number, and I don't want you to think I did that on purpuse just to get the attention of the hottest guy here," he explains, as if it made perfect sense to him. Tommy's just more confused.
"Who the fuck does that?" he asks, frowning, and the man laughs loudly. He's weird. Tommy digs it. He's intrigued and a little amused by the situation.
"You'd be surprised," the man just says with a shrug.
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