The Aviators

“So, Matt. I’ve heard some rumours about you.”

“Rumours?”

“Yeah, I mean asides from the ones about how you can bench press a thousand pounds...and are ten feet tall.”

Matt snorts, shaking his head. “Those are real old...I can bench double that.”

The radio host chuckles then continues. “Anyway, what I hear is that you have some chick chained up in your basement...”

Zacky laughs, chiming in, “What? Shads has a basement? That’s news to me.”

“Yeah, it’s for if we get hurricanes, Zack...you should get one.” Matt rolls his eyes then turns his gaze to the host. “As to that rumour...” He pauses, glancing over to the corner of the studio where I’m sitting quietly, watching and listening.

We’ve been in the studio for over half an hour already and Matt insisted I come into the booth with them, because he didn’t want to leave me waiting outside. The host doesn’t seem too put off my presence, though he hasn’t actually acknowledged me or anything. But, I didn’t think Matt was expecting to deal with any questions about the whole slave thing...or even just having it alluded too.

I tilt my head at him, curious as to how he’ll answer it. Part of me is wondering how that rumour even eventuated, but another is just wondering how Matt will field it. The question, that is.

The host catches Matt’s quick look towards me and raises his eyebrows. “Is that..?”

Matt frowns, and I see thoughts passing across his eyes. “We’re all into honesty here, right?” he finally speaks up.

The host nods. “Of course. I detest liars.” He smirks to soften the statement.

“Me too,” Matt says. Shifting his weight, he leans in to the microphone. “That’s Val...sitting behind us. And she is my...” he hesitates on the word, darting a look at me again. I bite my lip, but try a smile, wanting to support him in any way I can.

“She’s your...?” the host prompts.

Matt grimaces but manages to get out, “She belongs to me.”

“Belongs to you?” the host blinks, an expression of incredulity appearing on his face. “Is that some kind of macho controlling ‘she’smy girl and no one else is allowed to look or touch’ thing...or...?”

My master clears his throat, roughly. “I don’t wanna say the word...”

It dawns on the host, though. I can even imagine the tiny light bulb flashing above his head.

He keeps blinking as he says, “You mean she’s literally your...yourslave?”

I look down at the host’s shocked question, only just catching Matt’s scowl toward the other man.

“Yeah, but I don’t ‘chain her up in the basement’...where’d you hear that?”

The host seems a little taken aback by Matt’s initial response, but manages to gather himself to answer the follow-up question. I lift my eyes again as he speaks. “It was probably just a joke...I’m sure the person who told me, meant nothing by it.”

Matt props his elbows against the table the guys are sitting at across from the host. Johnny, Brian and Jimmy are all there as well, but it seems to be more the Matt and Zacky show, because they’re doing most of the talking. Jimmy is actually spending more time with his back to the table, facing me and pulling faces. I try to ignore him, keeping my focus on Matt.

“Who said that?” There’s a hint of steel to his tone. He’s upset. Not that surprising, really. The whole thing of him owning me is extremely private, and usually personal questions of this nature aren’t asked by interviewers. Guess this one is a little more ballsy...

The host holds up a hand as if to placate Matt. “The caller gave no name. Just said he’d heard it on the grape vine...” He leans forward against the table, looking at him. “Anyway, I don’t know much about this whole...slave thing. Got any comments you want to make on it? I’m sure the listeners would be interested.”

“Abraham Lincoln should’ve outlawed it,” Zacky mutters, fiddling with his piercings.

Matt nods to him. “True. But no one listened to him, obviously.”

The guitarist scoffs, “That’s because they’re fucking idiots.”

“Yeah, there is that,” Matt sighs, looking back at the host. “I think it’s fucking crazy, really. The only reason I even considered getting Val was because her previous...owner,” the word catches at the back his throat; he coughs, shaking his head then continues, “brought her to a gig...and he was...y’know trying to sell her off.” He glances over toward me; I look down at the floor.

He goes on. “She looked so...I don’t know...lost.”

The host smirks slightly, “You decided to be her knight in shining armour?”

“That’s so fucking cliché.” Matt shrugs. “But, yeah. Guess so.”

“That’s admirable. Y’know? That’s what I like about you guys.” The host grins. “You’re all for the good in the world. I mean, your music is a bit twisted...sometimes, but you’re all genuinely great guys. There’s not enough people like you in the world.”

Zacky chuckles, rolling his eyes. “We try.”

“Yeah, we do. And we don’t do bullshit, either,” Matt points out, rather needlessly from my point of view.

I know from experience that Matt absolutely detests people who bullshit all the time. If it’s meant in fun, it’s okay...but those who do it and mean it...Matt can’t, or maybe won’t, hack that. I know I’m always as honest as I possibly can be around him. Perhaps not entirely open, but I try not to ever lie to him. Withholding information is one thing, outright lying is another.

The host settles back in his chair, nodding sagely at Matt’s statement. “Yeah, I hate bullshit as well.”

Jimmy, at that moment, decides to chime in. He’s still facing me, so I can see the mad twinkle in his eyes as he says, “How do you know you hate bullshit? You ever tasted it?” He says all this while waggling his eyebrows at me. I have to look away.

There’s this split second of maddening ‘what the hell’ silence, and then Matt cracks up laughing. Zacky, too, gives a snort before breaking into his characteristic giggle. He doesn’t sound like a girl, mind. It’s a masculine chuckle, but not a full deep-chested belly laugh. Johnny and Brian follow suit until they’re all attempting to hold themselves together, wiping at their eyes, shaking their heads. Meanwhile, I’m still attempting to stifle mine...

“What the fuck, dude...” Matt slaps a hand against his thigh. “Jesus, Rev...”

As the others quieten down, Jimmy swings around and glowers at them. “You two were being too serious.” He points a mock accusing finger at the singer. “You’re all, fucking like... ‘this is such a serious topic I gotta act all sombre and shit...’” He turns the digit to the guitarist. “And you... you’re all ‘yeah...I gotta be serious like Shads... frown, frown, frown...’”

With my hand over my mouth, I fight not to burst into even more fits of giggles. The drummer does this to me every time. Luckily the others are focusing their attention on Jimmy as well, so I’m safe from any questioning looks they might give me.

“Well, it’s a serious subject, Rev,” Matt murmurs. “It’s not something to joke about.”

Jimmy snorts, shaking his head, the top hat falling off his head onto the floor. “Never said that it was. Just...” he throws his hands in the air and yells, “let’s change the subject!”

I jump a little at his outburst; the others groan rolling their eyes at the drummer. I hear Brian mutter under his breath, ‘fuckin’ A...’. Johnny slumps in his seat, smirking at the taller male. Matt and Zacky just sigh. Jimmy pouts at them all. There’s a brief pause where all the guys are just looking at each other.

Then Matt laughs, breaking the tension, as he reaches down and grabs the drummer’s hat, jamming it back on his head.

“Here. Quit losing shit and calm down. We’ll change the topic...’kay?”

Jimmy gets this big grin on his face. I giggle again; he catches my eye and winks at me. Matt notices and smirks faintly. I flush and lower my gaze.

The host chuckles deciding that it’s time to move the segment along. “Well, we’re actually almost done here guys...but, as you may know, we ran a comp a little while ago for fans to come in for a meet and greet.”

“Yay! Let’s meet the people!” The drummer springs up from his seat and dashes, all long legs, to the door.

Matt laughs some more, shaking his head. “Dude, you’ll scare them all away.”

“Oh, but...” Jimmy pouts then his eyes light up as a thought comes to him. “No they won’t! They love me best! You’ll scare them away, you big meanie!”

The others groan. Zacky lifts his eyebrows, leaning forward. “You didn’t just call Shads a ‘meanie’?”

“He did,” Matt says. “He definitely did.”

Jimmy turns to look at me directly, once again, an imploring expression on his face. I glance at him, seeing the look and sensing what he might be just about to ask me, and wondering exactly how I will respond, when he does.

“You agree, don’t you, Val? Matt’s a big meanie. Right?”

I knew it. Why does he have to ask me that? I mean, I know he’s kidding around, but Matt’s my master. Jimmy waggles his eyebrows at me like he was doing before. I can’t help but giggle again, but I don’t dare look over at Matt. Instead I shake my head hard.

“No...he’s not.”

Matt chuckles softly. “She’s got you there, big guy.”

Jimmy glowers back at him. “She’s only saying that ‘cause you own her.”

I catch the tensing of Matt’s shoulders, the narrowing of his eyes. That infamous temper of his is simmering right at the surface. I have a feeling that even though the drummer is half-joking, Matt is right on the verge of losing his cool. Then, I guess me being a slave isn’t a laughing matter as he has already mentioned.

The host picks up on the growing tension and I notice that he’s standing now, making his way to the door, and joining the drummer. Jimmy, though, won’t let it alone.

He moves back toward us and waves a hand at me while looking at Matt. “Fuck, Shads. If you didn’t own her, I’m sure she’d be agreeing with me.”

Matt grits out, “That doesn’t even fucking matter.”

“Of course it does.” Jimmy folds his arms and pouts at him.

“No it doesn’t,” Matt groans. “You want to know why?”

“Why, Shads?”

“Because it’s different with us.”

Jimmy snorts. The others are now glancing between the three of us: me, Jimmy and Matt. I shift forward on my chair, looking toward Matt now. He’s actually glaring at the drummer now; his eyes are intense.

Jimmy’s reaction is to keep laughing. “Different? How? You’re her master. I don’t see what’s different about that.”

There’s a split seconds pause then Matt practically growls, “Because I love her, you douche.”

The look on Jimmy’s face after that is absolutely priceless. His jaw literally drops and he just stares at Matt like he’s grown a second head, or something. I mean, it’s not really a news flash, or anything. I think everyone realises that there are feelings between us. I think he’s more shocked by the fact that Matt is openly admitting it. Because we all know Matt’s usually a closed book when it comes to his emotions. Unless of course something’s made him angry. And then, well, watch out...

“Wow. Just. Fucking, wow.” Jimmy closes his mouth and shakes his head at Matt. Then says, “That’s...weird.”

“Weird?” Matt asks, standing up. “How is that weird?”

Jimmy just shakes his head some more, looking over at me, catching my eye. I look away, biting the inside of my cheek. There’s another pause then I hear footsteps and I recognise Matt’s shoes appearing in my line of vision. He crouches down in front of me and rests his hands lightly against my knees. He says nothing, though, just stays there, close to me.

I peek up at Matt; he smiles then looks over his shoulder at Jimmy who’s staring at us. “You gonna tell me, Rev?”

“No.” Jimmy smirks then dashes for the door. “Lemme out, I want to meet the fans!” The host laughs, opening the door and letting him pass.

Matt rolls his eyes, moving his thumbs in lazy circles against my knees. The others get up to follow Jimmy out the door.

Zacky, pausing in the doorway, looks back at us, and raises his eyebrows. “You two coming?”

Matt shakes his head. “Give us a minute.”

“Right.” He turns and follows the others. The host goes out behind him, meaning that Matt and I are the only ones left in the room.

We’re quiet for a moment, just letting the silence settle us; then Matt speaks. “Val,” his voice is low, “you don’t have to go out there, if you don’t want.”

I shiver a little, looking down at his hands. He keeps stroking his thumbs against my skin. Hunching slightly, I lean into his touch. He lifts his left hand to stroke the back of his finger against my cheek. I turn my face into his hand, craving the tenderness he’s giving me.

Then I murmur, “No...I’ll come with.”

“You sure?” Matt slides his hand to the nape of my neck, playing with the short hairs, causing my skin to tingle; I breathe in deeply then exhale softly. He adds, “You can just stay in here, mind our shit?”

I shake my head. “I’m sure, master...”

The corners of his mouth twitch in a smile, his dimples not quite showing. “Alright then. But if you get uncomfortable, tell me. And we’ll just leave.” He squeezes the back of my neck, gently. “’Kay?”

I give a small nod. He smiles more as he stands, holding his hand out to me. I grip it tightly; he pretends to wince. Giggling, I lean into his side. He wraps his arm around my shoulders, hugging me close. We walk out of the radio studio like that, and somehow I feel that this is just right; nothing bad can happen if we just stick together.

Nothing. Bad. Ever.

But, this isn’t fantasy. Though, it’s nice to hope.

Guess we’ll just have to see.

Notes