It was hot and sweaty on stage, the bright lights boring like bolts of white hot purity through the band members and spinning wildly over the gyrating crowd. God only knew what it was like down there, jumping around next to hundreds of other people, their sweat creasing with your own, their movements provoking yours, their voices raised just as yours was. On stage, Alex worshipped the freedom to move around as he jumped around amongst the guitarists, the microphone held to his lips, his voice singing out to the three thousand strong crowd that were chanting his words right back at him. His green t-shirt was clinging to his back, riding up as he punched the air to reveal firm, pale abs that rippled with the effort of his exertions. His jeans hung low on his hips as he thrummed with this vibrant energy, this life.

The crowd were screaming his name, singing along with him as Alex poured everything he had into the song. He would go home exhausted but he would be happy because he would have given the people that queued for three hours in the cold of Birmingham, the show of a lifetime. His voice was deep and gravelly, incongruous in so lithe a frame but growling from his lips with a sultriness he would not have been afforded otherwise.

He smiled and his face, characterized by its seraphic loveliness, split evenly. The faces before him became a frenzied smudge at his feet. They were all flushed cheeks, bright eyes and teeth as their open mouths chanted along with him. The deceptive lights lanced into him, painting him white as though it was not heat that shot through his veins but ice. They span over the crowd, illuminating faces that Alex could just make out, blinding them.

It became like a hallucination. The noise the blurry lines of colour that danced in front of his eyes as he jumped here and there, the neon flashes of light interspersed with bright spotlights. It was enough to make anyone dizzy but Alex shone with energy, moving to the rhythm of the bassist and spinning about the stage with his microphone. He could almost feel the hearts of the audience beating at the same time, his own thudding against his chest in a heady tattoo, making him light-headed and elated and extremely happy.

“Thank you!” he yelled as the song finished and a buzzing quiet filled the hall. The audience began stamping and cheering again and chants sprang up from all corners, cracking into the ceiling and calling for another song. “Now we’re going to sing something from our new album,” he went on, strolling casually across the stage as all around him people tried to lean over the railings to get closer, jostling and pushing, all wanting a piece of him. There was no more addictive drug than this unconditional adoration, this appreciation and support. It was an English crowd and Alex knew his accent was delighting them, so it became more pronounced as a result. He towelled his face and took a sip of water, all the while just listening to the thud of feet and the blissful cries of the crowd.

“Next song’s for all you out there who’ve got your eye on someone special,” he said, holding out one small, pale hand in a gesture of gratitude. As the band started the next song, Alex moved to the front of the stage and watched as a man near the front of the crowd began jostling madly and screamed Alex’s name from above the shoulders of his friends. Alex flicked him the peace sign, grinning. “Enjoy,” he said, starting to sing.

There was just him and the crowd and it was perfect. He could make it seem like he was singing to any one of them.

“I’ll be there, always waiting, waiting for you, to let me inside.”

The song was driving through his veins now and his eyes were roving the crowd, not seeing the detail, only the mass. They flicked back to the man who had yelled his name only moments ago.

“Whatever you want, whatever you need, whatever it takes, I’ll do anything.”

He was tall and handsome. He was olive skin and high cheekbones painted with a delicate flush.

“I’m watching you dream, well are you dreaming of me?”

He was broad shouldered and lightly muscled, a black t-shirt clinging sinfully tightly to toned arms raised in the air. His hair was dark as well, glossy and messy, falling in his eyes. Alex wondered what it would be like to run his hands through it.

“So why can’t you see, you’re all that matters.”

The man was sharply clear now when all around him was just a blurry whole. He was pointed and firm and jumping in the air, imbued with the same energy that Alex carried on stage, mouth stretched in a smile, eyes gleaming. Realizing he was staring, Alex turned away, feeling a stirring inside him that brought a rush of excitement to his bones. He had never felt moved like that before, staggered as though shaken.

“Whatever it takes, I’ll do anything.”

The man was working his way closer, had slid through the closed ranks at the front and was leaning forwards over the bar. His hands were outstretched along with hundreds of others. Alex leaned over the edge of the stage, crouching and reaching his hand out along the front. It was immediately batted and grabbed by the hundreds of people that would sell their own grandmothers just to touch him. He felt sweaty palm and pounding pulse points and then the firm hard grip of a man who caught him unawares. Looking up, startled, Alex saw a pair of dark blue eyes staring at him from the man he had noticed a minute ago. He had grabbed Alex’s hand and was squeezing it tightly, smiling seductively. Alex was taken aback and found himself clinging as well for a fraction longer than was necessary before standing up again, breaking the fragile moment.

In the spinning blur of movement and song and rasping voices that followed, he refused to lose sight of that man, refused to brush away the insistent eyes and powerful attraction.

“If I have to crawl, get down on my knees, whatever it takes, I’ll do anything.”

If he was still here at the end of the show, maybe Alex would invite him backstage. He would spend one more night in England before going back to States and would have liked some company. He had come for a weekend and breezed his way through three cities, eliciting screams of excitement and turbulent activity, only to be followed, as these people stepped into the cold air, by a silent calm.

Then he’d move on.