"It's Not Love If It Hurts" //5sos

/123/

   The dressing room was small, in comparison to some that they'd been in before. It had a small, ratty couch, and an attached bathroom for the stylists to clean them up in. It seemed a bit extreme, but they were there at 10 that morning- the concert started at 6.

  "What do you even do for so long?" Annie asked, draped over the couch so her feet were where her head should be.

  Michael walked behind the couch, shoving Annie's feet. With a squeak, she rolled backwards, landing on her back.

  "That," he replied snarkily.

  "Careful, it might be difficult to run around on stage with that limp," she warned.

  "What limp-" he stopped talking, giving Annie a look. "Touché."

  Luke plopped on the couch, now that Annie wasn't taking it up anymore. "We've already written the set list. We have another hour until practice on stage." He looked on the floor, where Annie still lay, not bothering getting up. "You want to explore the arena with me?"

  "Sure."

  Luke groaned, rolling off the couch onto his feet. He smoothly pulled Annie up off the floor, tossing her over his shoulder.

  "This isn't what I meant. I know how to walk, you know."

  "I know."

   Luke kept carrying her, security and people with headsets passing them, giving them a look. Annie wondered if it was because Luke was carrying her, or just because it was Luke. Then again, this crew was their usual group, that went with them on tour. They'd probably seen Luke before- heck, they'd probably seen Luke naked before.

  The boys really needed to learn how to keep their pants on.

  "Where we headed?" Annie asked. To her knowledge, Luke had never been here before. They'd never performed in that arena, at least. But Luke kept walking, like he knew where he was going.

  "I don't know. I want to find some stairs."

  "Why?"

  They walked on stage, people pushing carts past them and walking while talking into waking talkies. It was a pretty incredible to see, but Luke was unfazed. He walked to the edge of the stage, setting Annie back on her feet before jumping off the platform, onto the ground.

  Annie's eyes widened. "I'm not doing that. How did you not break your leg?"

  "Practice," he reassured. "Come on."

  Hesitantly, Annie sat on the edge of the stage, jumping onto the floor. Luke grabbed her hand, pulling her along behind him.

"My legs aren't as long as yours," she reminded him.

"You should grow longer legs then," he grumbled plainly, holding Annie's hand tighter.

  "Seriously though, why do you want to find some stairs?"

  "So we can have a quickie before the show," he rolled his eyes. "There's a control booth up there. As good a place as any to start. Exploring, I mean. Not having a quickie."

  "That's for clarifying." Annie started jogging to keep up with Luke's stride. "Fuck it, I give up." She sped up and jumped on his back, wrpaping her legs around his waist. Luke instantly grabbed around the undersides of her thighs, and began running, no longer having to keep up with Annie- not that he was trying much before.

  He sped up the stairs, rows and rows of chairs passing, Annie shaking on his back, thumping against him as he ran. She squealed, tightening his grip on his shoulders. "I swear, if you drop me-"

  "If I drop you you'll be dead anyways!" He declared, getting to the back of the first level, turning sharply to the left. Annie yelped, her shoulder hitting the wall briefly from the momentum.

  He turned another corner, speeding up without the stairs to slow him down. His grip around Annie's thighs tightened. She clung to his back, and as they ran Annie was thankful no fans were around. The last thing they needed was for more evidence of Lunnie.

  Luke barreled past a group of people pushing carts with equipment on them, a few shouting in surprise. Luke's laughter filled the hallways, and soon Annie's joined it.

  "Stairs! Over there!" Annie pointed with her arm, before Luke stumbled causing her to grab his ahoulder again to avoid falling off his back. Her thighs and arms ached from the position they were in, but she wasn't about to fall.

  Luke panted, leaning forwards to sprint faster to the stairs. Annie's body thumped against his roughly. He leaped onto the stairs, bounding up them with surprising agility. It was a relatively small stairwell, and Luke was full on sprinting up them, weighed down by Annie. It would be a miracle if he made it to the top.

  But the end was in sight. Luke pushed off the fourth to last step, jumping with impressive force to the last step. His feet landed on the angle of the step, and both Luke's and Annie's eyes widened as he slipped. They fell backwards in slow motion. Annie reached out, grabbing the railing and tightening her legs painfully around Luke's midsection, wrpaping her free arm around his neck. Instead of falling backwards down the stairs, they swung into the railing.

  Annie's hand was ripped away from it at the force, her side screaming in pain, but they weren't balanced yet. But this time, Luke grabbed onto the railing with his hand furthest from it. Annie slipped, and he reached out and grabbed her arm before she tumbled down the stairs.

  They stood frozen, breathing so hard their chests ached. They felt like they'd been hit on the side by a truck, gasping out for breath. Luke's hands were shaking horribly, gripping Annie's arm painfully tight, as if she'd start falling again. She swallow dryly, her chest still heaving.

  Finally, Annie cleared her scraghy throat, glaring up at Luke in fear. "We-" gasp "-are never-" cough "-ever-" voice break "doing that again."

  "Solid plan." Luke agreed, managing a small smile despite the trauma that just happened. "You okay?" He pulled her to her feet, a bit too forcefully, ended up with her bumping into his chest.

  "Just dandy." she murmered, backing up slightly. "You?"

  "Peachy," he agreed. "Come on, let's take a look around."