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beren_writesTitle: An Angel Walking
Author: Beren
Fandom: Tokio Hotel/ Panik RPS
Pairing: Franky/Bill
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, the real people in it are used without their permission and I definitely don't own them or have any copyright to any part of any of them. I do not believe any of this happened, is likely to happen or should happen it is simply a story created around known facts about those involved.
Warnings: none
Summary: Franky is a closet Tokio Hotel fanboy and he manages to get stuck in a lift with Bill.
Author's Notes: Okay, so first Panik fic ever :). This all came from one comment Laura made about Franky knowing all the words to Tokio Hotel's songs (and Franky isn't even my favourite band member); I blame her, come to think of it, I blame her for my Panik problem in the first place. Thanks to Soph for the beta.
Word count: ~5,000
Long Fics | HP Short fics | All Other Short Fics | Series Fics
Another awards ceremony, another hotel, at least that's what Franky was thinking when he stepped into the lift. This time they were well known enough to be in the main hotel, which was nice, even if they were on one of the middle floors unlike the really big names, who had the suites at the top of the hotel. He pushed his floor number and waited for the doors to close and just before they did a slim figure darted in. The whole hotel was swarming with security, so much so that Franky had to carry his pass with him everywhere, because his face wasn't quite well known enough not to be stopped every now and then, and hence he knew it was not a fan of some kind.
The person was busily texting on his or her phone; with the long hair, hat and glasses it was difficult to tell gender and it wasn't until one manicured finger reached out and pressed the button for the top floor that Franky mentally gave himself a slap and he realised who he was standing next to. He almost died.
White on black nail varnish; long black hair; designer sunglasses; little, woolly hat with a brim: he was in lift with Bill 'an-angel-walking' Kaulitz.
The others would have ribbed him horribly for his reaction as he almost forgot to breathe. Oh they'd passed Tokio Hotel at industry parties, but he'd never been this close, or this alone with any of them. He would never admit it in public, but he was such a Bill fanboy; he couldn't help it. He loved melodic vocals and he adored Bill's voice and he admired the song writer's talent, not to mention the fact that the androgynous line Bill's style took had him going weak at the knees.
The whole band knew he was bi-sexual and they teased him mercilessly about his crush on Bill Kaulitz, but since David and Timo had been banging each other since they were thirteen, Jan and Juri had a friend's with benefits type relationship when they weren't after girls and Linke was the biggest voyeur in the whole world, he usually had lots of ammunition to throw back. However, the fact that he was in a lift with Bill 'an-angel-walking' Kaulitz was doing terrible things to his equilibrium.
All he had to be thankful for was that his companion seemed so busy with his phone that Bill hadn't even noticed him. Franky tried to make himself as inconspicuous in the corner as he could, because the last thing he wanted to do was make a blithering idiot out of himself. 'Hello, I'm Frank and I love you' probably wouldn't be a very professional way to start a conversation. If he found himself turfed onto the pavement because Tokio Hotel's big security guys found him wibbling at their front man, he would never live it down.
He just stood there looking at Bill's back as his mind flailed around and waited for his floor. As he contemplated this seemingly no-win situation: if he opened his mouth he was sure he would put his foot right in it; if he didn't he knew he would regret it forever, there was a nasty kind of whining noise. He looked up on instinct and the lights flickered and then the lift just stopped.
For a few seconds he just stood there, looking up and waiting for the lift to start again and he could see his companion out of the corner of his eye doing the same. After a little while it dawned on him that maybe the lift wasn't going to move again any time soon.
"You have to be joking," Bill said loudly and in an annoyed voice, "well fuck."
It was only then that Bill appeared to notice he was not alone and turned to look at Franky. For his part Franky gave an awkward smile and a small shrug.
"I'm sure it's just a glitch, they'll get us going in a minute," he hoped he sounded reassuring rather than adoring.
"I hope so," Bill agreed, still seemingly annoyed, but more at the situation than Franky, at least, that's what Franky hoped, "I've got an interview in ten minutes."
Sometimes Franky wondered what it must be like to be Tokio Hotel. Panik's schedule was often crazy, but it had to be mental for a band as big as Bill's.
Bill reached out and pushed the alarm button and Franky heard a distant bell ring; he only hoped they wouldn't be stuck long. The longer he was in the presence of Bill Kaulitz, the more likely he was to make a complete tit of himself. Normally he didn't really care about things like that, but, in the presence of a Kaulitz, he so did.
"This is ridiculous," Bill said after they had fallen into silence for a good minute or so.
Bill yanked off his glasses and pulled out the phone that had been swiftly stowed away and hit what Franky thought was a speed dial button. He tried to pretend he wasn't overly interested, after all it was the polite thing to do when someone else was on the phone, but he eyes kept straying.
"Tom," Bill said after a few moments; "yes I .. I know that ... Tom, shut up, I'm stuck in the lift."
Franky pretended to be looking at the wall when Bill glanced at him, which didn't really help, since it was a mirror.
"Yes, I'm okay," Bill continued speaking and Franky continued to pretend he wasn't listening. "No, I'm not alone, I'm with Franky from Panik; we're stuck together."
That was the point where Franky totally gave up pretending anything as he did an impression of a dying fish: Bill Kaulitz knew his name. Bill 'an-angel-walking' Kaulitz was aware he existed.
"Tom, stop laughing," Franky had to wonder what Tom found so funny and managed to form some sort of coherent expression rather than the slack jawed one.
Bill looked at him and smiled in the way people did when stuck with a virtual stranger in a time of crisis.
"Tom seems to think we'll talk each other to death," Bill said as if he felt the need to explain his previous comment, then went back to his phone conversation. "Tom, if you don't stop laughing this second I'm going to take every one of your caps and draw lude pictures on them in black nail varnish."
Franky couldn't help himself, he sniggered at that and Bill gave him a conspiratorial grin; at least both of their sense of humours were intact. It must have worked, because the distant sound of laughing disappeared from the other end of the phone; Franky couldn't hear Tom speaking, but he had heard that.
"Just get David to get someone down here to get us out," Bill said with a whip of command in his voice. "I do not want to spend the entire day in a lift."
There was another pause.
"Yes, now!" Bill said.
Silence.
"Nail varnish," Bill said in a very final voice and then hung up.
Franky found himself with Bill's attention firmly on him.
"Tom will get David to find someone and he'll ring me back when they know what's wrong," Bill said with a rather unsure smile. "Hi, by the way, sorry I ignored you earlier, I was texting my best friend and we have interviews solid this afternoon, so it was my last chance."
"No problem," Franky replied, very glad to find that his voice did in fact work correctly, even after having found out that Bill Kaulitz knew his name, "Linke's always glued to something technological, so the rest of us are used to it."
He had been doing a mental check to see where his phone was, since telling the others where he was might have been a good idea, but then he remembered it was sitting on his bedside table. After all he had only been going out to ask reception something; no one had been answering the desk phone.
"Ready for the awards?" Bill asked in a conversational tone. "You're up for two aren't you?"
"Yeah," Franky replied with a grin, "but with one of them we're up against you, so we have no chance."
"Oh I don't know," Bill replied with a genuine smile, "it's all about who's fans are the craziest a lot of the time."
What floored Franky was that, as far as he could tell, Bill meant every word. He knew that up against Tokio Hotel, Panik just didn't have a shot; hell no one in Germany did, but Bill seemed to honestly not realise this. That made him smile broadly; he was beginning to like the reality that was Bill Kaulitz even more than the version that lived in his head.
"Well, we'll see tonight," he said cheerfully, "well, that's if we're not still stuck in here."
Bill shuddered and grinned.
"Don't say that," Bill told him and leant against the wall.
All things considered, Franky decided that it wasn't turning out to be too bad an adventure after all.
"Get stuck in lifts often?" he blurted out when an awkward silence was beginning to fall and he had no idea what to say.
Bill just burst out laughing.
"Not before now," Bill told him, still giggling; "don't tell me, you're actually a crazy stalker who rigged the lift to breakdown and you just happen to look like the lead singer of Panik."
That made him laugh as well, but he couldn't help blushing a little; even though he wasn't a stalker, he was a fan.
"I have a carefully engineered switch in my pocket, like from Mission Impossible," he decided to play along, "and I'm going to hold the lead singer of the most famous band in Germany to ransom."
One thing he was good at was babbling and they might have continued if Bill's phone hadn't started playing a tune. Bill had the phone out and to his ear before Franky could blink.
"Tom," Bill greeted and then Tom was obviously saying something since Bill went silent. "Fuck," Bill said after a few moments, "and there's nothing they can do? If you laugh, Tom..."
Franky decided that they probably weren't getting out anytime soon. Bill was listening again so Franky just waited.
"Well make sure everything's ready for when they do get us out," Bill said, sounding like the professional he was, "and tell David to reschedule for the interviews that don't need me first."
Another little pause.
"Yeah, okay, I'll talk to you later."
The Bill hung up again.
"According to Tom the hotel says it's a blown servo and they can't do anything until the engineer gets here," Bill explained straight away, "and we're between floors so they can't force the doors and let us out that way, so we're stuck."
"Great," Franky said and decided to sit down; "at least the carpet's a thick one."
The awe at meeting Bill 'an-angel-walking' Kaulitz was slowly beginning to wear off and the fact that they were stuck in a small box was beginning to make itself known. He could think of better ways of spending the afternoon.
Bill sat down next to him and things seemed better again for a few moments.
"Do you need to call anyone?" Bill asked, obviously finding it strange that he wasn't on his mobile already.
"I was only supposed to be gone five minutes," Franky said with a little shrug, "I left my mobile on the table. They'll probably miss me in about an hour and come looking."
"Oh," Bill said, fishing in his pocket again, "I didn't realise, here, borrow mine."
Franky found a state of the art phone shoved into his hands.
"Um, thanks," he said as he desperately tried to remember one of the other's numbers.
It took him a moment, since he was used to using his phone book on his phone, but he did finally remember David's number. It rang for so long that he almost gave up and then someone answered.
"Hello, who is this please?"
It was Timo's voice and sounded serious and gruff; they weren't Tokio Hotel yet, but they still had to be wary of unknown numbers.
"It's Franky," he said and heard Timo breathe a sigh or relief; it was always a pain when they had to change their numbers because someone had managed to get hold of them.
"Aren't you supposed to be back here by now?" Timo stated the obvious in his usual sarcastic tone.
Franky just rolled his eyes and realised he was mirroring just what Bill had done when ringing Tom.
"Yeah, yeah," he said, "I'm stuck in a lift."
"And you didn't use your phone because?" David asked the question this time and Franky assumed that David had repossessed the phone.
"Because it's on the table next to the bed," he admitted and waited for David to look, because he just knew David would have to see for himself.
It took a moment.
"That was dumb," David pointed out and Franky actually laughed; it was one of those days where David and Timo were sharing a brain cell and both stating the obvious. "Whose phone are you using, some nice young thing you've chatted up?"
"It's Bill's phone," he said and looked over to his companion apologetically for taking so long.
"Ah, a him not a her, worth the effort of chatting up I hope," Timo had the phone again.
"I am not chatting him up."
Franky realised he had said this out loud in the earshot of Bill about a second after it came out of his mouth and he felt his face heating up like it was one fire. Luckily for him, Bill seemed to find this amusing.
"So is this any Bill we might know?" David again and he wondered if he was on speaker phone.
"Look, I only rang to let you know I'm not dead," Franky tried to head off that line of questioning, "and I'm using Bill's minutes so I should go."
"What Bill's do we know?" Timo sounded like he was asking the rest of the band and Franky decided that yes, someone had decided to use the speaker function of David's new phone.
"Bill Kaulitz," Linke piped up in the background.
Franky felt the situation slipping out of his grip.
"Yeah, but he wouldn't be able to speak if he'd lucked out and been stuck in a lift with his boy love," Juri said with a laugh from somewhere in the room.
"It's not the 'angel-walking' himself then, Franky?" Timo said closer to the phone.
He was never, playing truth or dare again; they were never going to let him forget that he had let that slip.
"Um," he said, since he wasn't a very good liar.
"Oh my god," that was David.
"It fucking is," that was Timo; "he's stuck in a lift with Bill Kaulitz."
He knew that Bill couldn't hear what the others were saying, but his face still felt like he could cook an egg on it.
"Look, I'm going now," he said hurriedly before it got any worse, "the hotel have an engineer coming, so I'll see you all later. Bye."
"Franky, wait..."
He shut the phone and handed it back.
"Thanks," he just about managed to say.
"Stuck in the lift jokes?" Bill asked with a small smile.
Franky just nodded, it wasn't like he knew what else to say. His mind was beginning to fill with all sorts of images of when they finally got out. There was no way the others were going to let him get away with this without embarrassing the hell out of him.
"Oh god," he said and buried his face in his hands, "I might as well confess."
At least if he got the embarrassment over now he could just give the others the finger when he and Bill finally got out of this. When he peered through his fingers Bill was looking curious.
"I'm kinda a bit of a fan," he just said it, blurting it out as fast as he could, "and when the guys realised I was in a lift with you they began to take the piss and, well, when we get out of here they're going to embarrass the hell out of me so I thought I'd get it over with now."
For a moment Bill looked surprised, then Bill grinned.
"I think that's what band mates are for," Bill said with a little laugh; "maximum embarrassment."
Franky breathed a sigh of relief and gave a sheepish grin.
"It's in the small print," he agreed, even as his face felt so hot he wasn't sure it wasn't about to melt off.
There was a slightly awkward few moments when they fell into silence.
"You're really a fan of ours?" Bill finally asked, sounding a little surprised.
It wasn't as if Franky could blame Bill, most of Tokio Hotel's fan base, in Germany at least, was female and aged between eight and seventeen. He nodded, hoping that his embarrassment would lessen before he blew a blood vessel.
"I have all your albums," he admitted, since he decided he might as well dig his grave as deep as possible, "I really like your lyrics."
Now Bill really did look surprised.
"Honestly?" Bill seemed shocked.
"Yeah," Franky told his companion; "I like songs that actually mean something."
"I always thought some of our songs were a bit shallow compared to what you sing about," Bill replied and it was Franky's turn to be shocked.
He might have to do a photo shoot with the dead fish expression, because he seemed to be using it a lot lately.
"You've heard our songs?" he asked incredulously.
Bill nodded.
"I have your album on my iPod," Bill said with a grin; "it in my 'I am pissed off and need to listen to something harder than Nena' playlist."
That made Franky laugh.
"Are you really a Nena fanboy?" he had to ask; the way Nena came up in interviews whenever anyone asked Bill about music was something that he had always wondered about.
"Totally," Bill admitted and his grin broadened; "and I make no excuses."
Sitting on a floor with Bill Kaulitz, discussing musical preferences was not something Franky had ever through he would find himself doing, but he couldn't help thinking that maybe the lift breaking down had been a good thing. Even though he was more embarrassed than he had ever been in his life, he was actually having fun.
====
Tom eyed the five young men across the hallway suspiciously, mainly because they kept looking at the lift doors and laughing quietly amongst themselves. Bill had been trapped in the lift with their band mate for two hours and Tom really didn't want to see what kind of foul mood Bill was in by now. The engineer had just rigged the faulty part so they could get the lift to the nearest floor before the whole thing would be closed for a complete overhaul and Tom just wanted Bill back.
He had spoken to Bill once, briefly, but Bill's phone battery was dying and they had decided to save it for emergencies; that had been an hour and a half previously. Tom was now praying that Bill would not have pitched a fit in the interim or taken a dislike to Frank Ziegler, because the last thing they needed was a feud between Tokio Hotel and Panik.
It was as the lift slowly rose to where they were all waiting that Tom heard the squeal of Bill's laughter. By the way the members of Panik were looking at him when he glanced at them, he had to assume they had heard it too. That wasn't Bill's polite laugh, that was Bill's finding something hilariously funny laugh; maybe things were looking up.
They were all poised as the doors opened, Tom could feel a slight tension in the air, and he really didn't expect what he saw. He was looking at about head height and he had to drop his eyes to where Bill and his companion was sitting cross-legged on the floor, amongst what looked like the contents of Bill's bag, giggling like a couple of school girls.
"Oh, thank god," Bill said the moment the doors were fully open, "we were almost out of rations."
Bill's emergency packet of gummi sweets was sitting on the floor, almost gone.
With that, Bill began throwing things back in his bag with Frank's help and then they both stood up; they were both still grinning. Tom was having great trouble with the whole scenario and if the silence from Panik were anything to go by, it wasn't what they had been expecting either.
Frank had what Tom recognised instantly as Bill's signature on his cheek in what looked like eyeliner for a start and Bill had what he could only assume was Frank's on his arm, but that looked like marker pen rather than eyeliner. Tom couldn't help wondering what the hell the pair had been up to.
"Hey, Tomi," Bill said, grinning broadly, "finally come to rescue me?"
"Um," was all Tom could say, since he had just spotted another signature on the side of Frank's neck. "We've got interviews," he finished lamely, since he had no idea what else to say.
"Oh hell," Bill said, swapping back to professional, "I'd almost forgotten. Thanks for killing two hours, Franky, it's been fun, but gotta run."
Frank was still smiling after Bill said that, but Tom could tell the other singer was a little deflated. Bill had that effect on people; pump them up with his presence and let them down when he had to go, it was like the natural course of things. Bill gave his new friend a quick pat on the back and then scooted out of the lift.
"Oh," Bill said, turning back just as Tom thought they were on their way, "what's your number?"
Bill's phone was in his hand and Frank looked surprised, but rattled off a phone number anyway.
"I'll give you a call," Bill promised with a grin and then Tom found himself the centre of his brother's attention again.
He so wanted to know what Bill had been doing in that lift; this had to be a story and a half.
====
Franky watched Bill and his twin vanish up the corridor and had to pinch himself to remind him that the last two hours had actually happened. He didn't really think Bill would remember to call, but it had been fun while it lasted and he watched Bill go with a small smile on his face. Then he remembered he was not alone and turned to see the rest of the band staring at him.
"Care to explain why you have Bill Kaulitz's signature on your face?" Timo asked in a rather incredulous tone.
"Oh I have it more places than that," Franky decided that there was no point in playing dumb about this one and lifted his t-shirt to show the signature just above his hip.
To a man the others appeared dumbfounded and he awarded himself a point in the perpetual game of one-upmanship they all played.
"What the hell?" David seemed to express all of the other's opinions as well.
Franky just grinned; he was going to make this one last.
====
They were at the after awards party and Franky was watching Timo and David fight over the award that they had won. It had been the most incredible day and he was sitting in a corner, beer in hand, just feeling mellow. Not only had he met and made friends with one of his idols, but they had actually won one of the awards they had been up for; it was amazing. This day would definitely go down as one of the best of his life so far.
The others had finally made him explain the game he and Bill had been playing in the lift that had resulted in the signatures. It had been a simple game of who's the hardest and the loser of each round had lost a part of their body to the other, indicated by a signature. Franky had had no idea that a pretty boy like Bill could have had so many adventures that beat most of his hands down, but then being a mega star seemed to have its excitements. Looking back he was sure they had both been on a sugar high when they had decided that was a good game.
He was musing over the fun they had had when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He had been getting phone calls all night, ever since he had turned his phone back on after the ceremony, so he pulled it out and flicked it open without thinking about it.
"Hey," he greeted as he realised he hadn't bothered to check the number.
"Hi, Franky," a cheerful voice greeted on the other, "it's Bill, congratulations on the win."
Franky nearly fell out of his chair; he had never, in a million years, expected Bill to actually call him.
"Hi," he said, sitting up a little straighter in his seat, "you too."
Of course Tokio Hotel had walked away with all the awards they had been up for; it had been a very good night for them.
"We were going to take the party back to our hotel suite with some friends," Bill said, clearly talking over the noise of the party, "do you and your lot want to come?"
Invited to a private, after show party by Tokio Hotel, Franky all but died of happiness.
"One sec," he said and pulled the phone away from his ear; he had to check even if he knew the answer. "Guys," he called over the music playing.
David was almost in Timo's lap on the other side of the table, so they looked up together, Linke had been trying to steel Jan's cap, but they both turned as well and Juri began paying attention when Jan thumped him on the arm.
"Party, Tokio Hotel's suite, interested?" Franky summed it up as tersely as possible.
It took all of about a second to decide.
"Hell yes," Timo announced for all of them.
"We'd love to," Franky said, talking into the phone again.
"Great," Bill actually sounded genuinely pleased, but that could just have been the whole evening, so Franky didn't read too much into it, "we'll see you there. I'll make sure security know to let you guys in."
"See you then, then," Franky replied and closed his phone.
He looked up at the others and grinned.
"Let's go," he said, more excited than he cared to admit.
====
'A few friends' turned out to be about twenty or so and Franky couldn't help feeling a little disappointed when, when they had arrived at the party there had been no Bill. He had spotted Bill across the room, but Bill was occupied talking to someone and all he'd got was a wave. They were half an hour into the party and the other guys seemed to really be enjoying themselves, but Franky could barely keep up the act of having fun. The fact that Bill hadn't even spoken to him was kind of a let down.
He was standing off to one side, pretending to watch Juri playing some sort of drinking game with Georg and Bushido when he felt slim fingers slip around his arm and give a little tug. He turned and found Bill standing there, hair now down from the lion mane it had been in at the awards and outfit changed into something that made Franky's mouth go dry. Bill didn't say anything, just urged him to follow and he found himself being led into the bathroom.
"Sorry," Bill apologised, closing the door and shutting out the rest of the party, "this is the only place to get any peace at the moment; I think I preferred the lift."
Franky found himself smiling anyway; Bill was here, Bill was talking to just him and he was as happy as Larry.
"I've been wanting to do this since about half an hour after that damn lift stopped," Bill said, stepping up to him.
Then to his complete amazement, Franky found lips covering his own. It took him a second or two to get over his shock, but which point Bill had pulled back.
"Sorry," Bill was already apologising, sounding very unsure and much younger than his years and clearly having taken Franky's stiffness as rejection, "I must have read the signs wrong."
Franky just reached out, grabbed the younger singer and pulled him back, kissing with everything he had. He figured that would be explanation enough.
Bill lips were soft, so heavenly soft, almost like a girl's and Bill tasted of champagne and strawberries and Franky was in heaven. Part of his brain was screaming 'I'm kissing Bill 'an-angel-walking' Kaulitz' and melting down into a pile of goo and the rest was just thinking what a wonderful kisser Bill was. He had no thoughts left for anything else and he didn't want to let Bill go, even when they had to break for air. It was funny how he could forget how to breathe in such a situation.
Bill smiled at him as they stood there for a second or so and then Bill reached past him and turned the lock on the door. The look in Bill's eyes then was more devil than angel, but then they were kissing again and Franky didn't care. Heaven or hell, he didn't care, as long as Bill didn't stop doing that with his tongue.
The End
Author: Beren
Fandom: Tokio Hotel/ Panik RPS
Pairing: Franky/Bill
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, the real people in it are used without their permission and I definitely don't own them or have any copyright to any part of any of them. I do not believe any of this happened, is likely to happen or should happen it is simply a story created around known facts about those involved.
Warnings: none
Summary: Franky is a closet Tokio Hotel fanboy and he manages to get stuck in a lift with Bill.
Author's Notes: Okay, so first Panik fic ever :). This all came from one comment Laura made about Franky knowing all the words to Tokio Hotel's songs (and Franky isn't even my favourite band member); I blame her, come to think of it, I blame her for my Panik problem in the first place. Thanks to Soph for the beta.
Word count: ~5,000
Long Fics | HP Short fics | All Other Short Fics | Series Fics
Another awards ceremony, another hotel, at least that's what Franky was thinking when he stepped into the lift. This time they were well known enough to be in the main hotel, which was nice, even if they were on one of the middle floors unlike the really big names, who had the suites at the top of the hotel. He pushed his floor number and waited for the doors to close and just before they did a slim figure darted in. The whole hotel was swarming with security, so much so that Franky had to carry his pass with him everywhere, because his face wasn't quite well known enough not to be stopped every now and then, and hence he knew it was not a fan of some kind.
The person was busily texting on his or her phone; with the long hair, hat and glasses it was difficult to tell gender and it wasn't until one manicured finger reached out and pressed the button for the top floor that Franky mentally gave himself a slap and he realised who he was standing next to. He almost died.
White on black nail varnish; long black hair; designer sunglasses; little, woolly hat with a brim: he was in lift with Bill 'an-angel-walking' Kaulitz.
The others would have ribbed him horribly for his reaction as he almost forgot to breathe. Oh they'd passed Tokio Hotel at industry parties, but he'd never been this close, or this alone with any of them. He would never admit it in public, but he was such a Bill fanboy; he couldn't help it. He loved melodic vocals and he adored Bill's voice and he admired the song writer's talent, not to mention the fact that the androgynous line Bill's style took had him going weak at the knees.
The whole band knew he was bi-sexual and they teased him mercilessly about his crush on Bill Kaulitz, but since David and Timo had been banging each other since they were thirteen, Jan and Juri had a friend's with benefits type relationship when they weren't after girls and Linke was the biggest voyeur in the whole world, he usually had lots of ammunition to throw back. However, the fact that he was in a lift with Bill 'an-angel-walking' Kaulitz was doing terrible things to his equilibrium.
All he had to be thankful for was that his companion seemed so busy with his phone that Bill hadn't even noticed him. Franky tried to make himself as inconspicuous in the corner as he could, because the last thing he wanted to do was make a blithering idiot out of himself. 'Hello, I'm Frank and I love you' probably wouldn't be a very professional way to start a conversation. If he found himself turfed onto the pavement because Tokio Hotel's big security guys found him wibbling at their front man, he would never live it down.
He just stood there looking at Bill's back as his mind flailed around and waited for his floor. As he contemplated this seemingly no-win situation: if he opened his mouth he was sure he would put his foot right in it; if he didn't he knew he would regret it forever, there was a nasty kind of whining noise. He looked up on instinct and the lights flickered and then the lift just stopped.
For a few seconds he just stood there, looking up and waiting for the lift to start again and he could see his companion out of the corner of his eye doing the same. After a little while it dawned on him that maybe the lift wasn't going to move again any time soon.
"You have to be joking," Bill said loudly and in an annoyed voice, "well fuck."
It was only then that Bill appeared to notice he was not alone and turned to look at Franky. For his part Franky gave an awkward smile and a small shrug.
"I'm sure it's just a glitch, they'll get us going in a minute," he hoped he sounded reassuring rather than adoring.
"I hope so," Bill agreed, still seemingly annoyed, but more at the situation than Franky, at least, that's what Franky hoped, "I've got an interview in ten minutes."
Sometimes Franky wondered what it must be like to be Tokio Hotel. Panik's schedule was often crazy, but it had to be mental for a band as big as Bill's.
Bill reached out and pushed the alarm button and Franky heard a distant bell ring; he only hoped they wouldn't be stuck long. The longer he was in the presence of Bill Kaulitz, the more likely he was to make a complete tit of himself. Normally he didn't really care about things like that, but, in the presence of a Kaulitz, he so did.
"This is ridiculous," Bill said after they had fallen into silence for a good minute or so.
Bill yanked off his glasses and pulled out the phone that had been swiftly stowed away and hit what Franky thought was a speed dial button. He tried to pretend he wasn't overly interested, after all it was the polite thing to do when someone else was on the phone, but he eyes kept straying.
"Tom," Bill said after a few moments; "yes I .. I know that ... Tom, shut up, I'm stuck in the lift."
Franky pretended to be looking at the wall when Bill glanced at him, which didn't really help, since it was a mirror.
"Yes, I'm okay," Bill continued speaking and Franky continued to pretend he wasn't listening. "No, I'm not alone, I'm with Franky from Panik; we're stuck together."
That was the point where Franky totally gave up pretending anything as he did an impression of a dying fish: Bill Kaulitz knew his name. Bill 'an-angel-walking' Kaulitz was aware he existed.
"Tom, stop laughing," Franky had to wonder what Tom found so funny and managed to form some sort of coherent expression rather than the slack jawed one.
Bill looked at him and smiled in the way people did when stuck with a virtual stranger in a time of crisis.
"Tom seems to think we'll talk each other to death," Bill said as if he felt the need to explain his previous comment, then went back to his phone conversation. "Tom, if you don't stop laughing this second I'm going to take every one of your caps and draw lude pictures on them in black nail varnish."
Franky couldn't help himself, he sniggered at that and Bill gave him a conspiratorial grin; at least both of their sense of humours were intact. It must have worked, because the distant sound of laughing disappeared from the other end of the phone; Franky couldn't hear Tom speaking, but he had heard that.
"Just get David to get someone down here to get us out," Bill said with a whip of command in his voice. "I do not want to spend the entire day in a lift."
There was another pause.
"Yes, now!" Bill said.
Silence.
"Nail varnish," Bill said in a very final voice and then hung up.
Franky found himself with Bill's attention firmly on him.
"Tom will get David to find someone and he'll ring me back when they know what's wrong," Bill said with a rather unsure smile. "Hi, by the way, sorry I ignored you earlier, I was texting my best friend and we have interviews solid this afternoon, so it was my last chance."
"No problem," Franky replied, very glad to find that his voice did in fact work correctly, even after having found out that Bill Kaulitz knew his name, "Linke's always glued to something technological, so the rest of us are used to it."
He had been doing a mental check to see where his phone was, since telling the others where he was might have been a good idea, but then he remembered it was sitting on his bedside table. After all he had only been going out to ask reception something; no one had been answering the desk phone.
"Ready for the awards?" Bill asked in a conversational tone. "You're up for two aren't you?"
"Yeah," Franky replied with a grin, "but with one of them we're up against you, so we have no chance."
"Oh I don't know," Bill replied with a genuine smile, "it's all about who's fans are the craziest a lot of the time."
What floored Franky was that, as far as he could tell, Bill meant every word. He knew that up against Tokio Hotel, Panik just didn't have a shot; hell no one in Germany did, but Bill seemed to honestly not realise this. That made him smile broadly; he was beginning to like the reality that was Bill Kaulitz even more than the version that lived in his head.
"Well, we'll see tonight," he said cheerfully, "well, that's if we're not still stuck in here."
Bill shuddered and grinned.
"Don't say that," Bill told him and leant against the wall.
All things considered, Franky decided that it wasn't turning out to be too bad an adventure after all.
"Get stuck in lifts often?" he blurted out when an awkward silence was beginning to fall and he had no idea what to say.
Bill just burst out laughing.
"Not before now," Bill told him, still giggling; "don't tell me, you're actually a crazy stalker who rigged the lift to breakdown and you just happen to look like the lead singer of Panik."
That made him laugh as well, but he couldn't help blushing a little; even though he wasn't a stalker, he was a fan.
"I have a carefully engineered switch in my pocket, like from Mission Impossible," he decided to play along, "and I'm going to hold the lead singer of the most famous band in Germany to ransom."
One thing he was good at was babbling and they might have continued if Bill's phone hadn't started playing a tune. Bill had the phone out and to his ear before Franky could blink.
"Tom," Bill greeted and then Tom was obviously saying something since Bill went silent. "Fuck," Bill said after a few moments, "and there's nothing they can do? If you laugh, Tom..."
Franky decided that they probably weren't getting out anytime soon. Bill was listening again so Franky just waited.
"Well make sure everything's ready for when they do get us out," Bill said, sounding like the professional he was, "and tell David to reschedule for the interviews that don't need me first."
Another little pause.
"Yeah, okay, I'll talk to you later."
The Bill hung up again.
"According to Tom the hotel says it's a blown servo and they can't do anything until the engineer gets here," Bill explained straight away, "and we're between floors so they can't force the doors and let us out that way, so we're stuck."
"Great," Franky said and decided to sit down; "at least the carpet's a thick one."
The awe at meeting Bill 'an-angel-walking' Kaulitz was slowly beginning to wear off and the fact that they were stuck in a small box was beginning to make itself known. He could think of better ways of spending the afternoon.
Bill sat down next to him and things seemed better again for a few moments.
"Do you need to call anyone?" Bill asked, obviously finding it strange that he wasn't on his mobile already.
"I was only supposed to be gone five minutes," Franky said with a little shrug, "I left my mobile on the table. They'll probably miss me in about an hour and come looking."
"Oh," Bill said, fishing in his pocket again, "I didn't realise, here, borrow mine."
Franky found a state of the art phone shoved into his hands.
"Um, thanks," he said as he desperately tried to remember one of the other's numbers.
It took him a moment, since he was used to using his phone book on his phone, but he did finally remember David's number. It rang for so long that he almost gave up and then someone answered.
"Hello, who is this please?"
It was Timo's voice and sounded serious and gruff; they weren't Tokio Hotel yet, but they still had to be wary of unknown numbers.
"It's Franky," he said and heard Timo breathe a sigh or relief; it was always a pain when they had to change their numbers because someone had managed to get hold of them.
"Aren't you supposed to be back here by now?" Timo stated the obvious in his usual sarcastic tone.
Franky just rolled his eyes and realised he was mirroring just what Bill had done when ringing Tom.
"Yeah, yeah," he said, "I'm stuck in a lift."
"And you didn't use your phone because?" David asked the question this time and Franky assumed that David had repossessed the phone.
"Because it's on the table next to the bed," he admitted and waited for David to look, because he just knew David would have to see for himself.
It took a moment.
"That was dumb," David pointed out and Franky actually laughed; it was one of those days where David and Timo were sharing a brain cell and both stating the obvious. "Whose phone are you using, some nice young thing you've chatted up?"
"It's Bill's phone," he said and looked over to his companion apologetically for taking so long.
"Ah, a him not a her, worth the effort of chatting up I hope," Timo had the phone again.
"I am not chatting him up."
Franky realised he had said this out loud in the earshot of Bill about a second after it came out of his mouth and he felt his face heating up like it was one fire. Luckily for him, Bill seemed to find this amusing.
"So is this any Bill we might know?" David again and he wondered if he was on speaker phone.
"Look, I only rang to let you know I'm not dead," Franky tried to head off that line of questioning, "and I'm using Bill's minutes so I should go."
"What Bill's do we know?" Timo sounded like he was asking the rest of the band and Franky decided that yes, someone had decided to use the speaker function of David's new phone.
"Bill Kaulitz," Linke piped up in the background.
Franky felt the situation slipping out of his grip.
"Yeah, but he wouldn't be able to speak if he'd lucked out and been stuck in a lift with his boy love," Juri said with a laugh from somewhere in the room.
"It's not the 'angel-walking' himself then, Franky?" Timo said closer to the phone.
He was never, playing truth or dare again; they were never going to let him forget that he had let that slip.
"Um," he said, since he wasn't a very good liar.
"Oh my god," that was David.
"It fucking is," that was Timo; "he's stuck in a lift with Bill Kaulitz."
He knew that Bill couldn't hear what the others were saying, but his face still felt like he could cook an egg on it.
"Look, I'm going now," he said hurriedly before it got any worse, "the hotel have an engineer coming, so I'll see you all later. Bye."
"Franky, wait..."
He shut the phone and handed it back.
"Thanks," he just about managed to say.
"Stuck in the lift jokes?" Bill asked with a small smile.
Franky just nodded, it wasn't like he knew what else to say. His mind was beginning to fill with all sorts of images of when they finally got out. There was no way the others were going to let him get away with this without embarrassing the hell out of him.
"Oh god," he said and buried his face in his hands, "I might as well confess."
At least if he got the embarrassment over now he could just give the others the finger when he and Bill finally got out of this. When he peered through his fingers Bill was looking curious.
"I'm kinda a bit of a fan," he just said it, blurting it out as fast as he could, "and when the guys realised I was in a lift with you they began to take the piss and, well, when we get out of here they're going to embarrass the hell out of me so I thought I'd get it over with now."
For a moment Bill looked surprised, then Bill grinned.
"I think that's what band mates are for," Bill said with a little laugh; "maximum embarrassment."
Franky breathed a sigh of relief and gave a sheepish grin.
"It's in the small print," he agreed, even as his face felt so hot he wasn't sure it wasn't about to melt off.
There was a slightly awkward few moments when they fell into silence.
"You're really a fan of ours?" Bill finally asked, sounding a little surprised.
It wasn't as if Franky could blame Bill, most of Tokio Hotel's fan base, in Germany at least, was female and aged between eight and seventeen. He nodded, hoping that his embarrassment would lessen before he blew a blood vessel.
"I have all your albums," he admitted, since he decided he might as well dig his grave as deep as possible, "I really like your lyrics."
Now Bill really did look surprised.
"Honestly?" Bill seemed shocked.
"Yeah," Franky told his companion; "I like songs that actually mean something."
"I always thought some of our songs were a bit shallow compared to what you sing about," Bill replied and it was Franky's turn to be shocked.
He might have to do a photo shoot with the dead fish expression, because he seemed to be using it a lot lately.
"You've heard our songs?" he asked incredulously.
Bill nodded.
"I have your album on my iPod," Bill said with a grin; "it in my 'I am pissed off and need to listen to something harder than Nena' playlist."
That made Franky laugh.
"Are you really a Nena fanboy?" he had to ask; the way Nena came up in interviews whenever anyone asked Bill about music was something that he had always wondered about.
"Totally," Bill admitted and his grin broadened; "and I make no excuses."
Sitting on a floor with Bill Kaulitz, discussing musical preferences was not something Franky had ever through he would find himself doing, but he couldn't help thinking that maybe the lift breaking down had been a good thing. Even though he was more embarrassed than he had ever been in his life, he was actually having fun.
====
Tom eyed the five young men across the hallway suspiciously, mainly because they kept looking at the lift doors and laughing quietly amongst themselves. Bill had been trapped in the lift with their band mate for two hours and Tom really didn't want to see what kind of foul mood Bill was in by now. The engineer had just rigged the faulty part so they could get the lift to the nearest floor before the whole thing would be closed for a complete overhaul and Tom just wanted Bill back.
He had spoken to Bill once, briefly, but Bill's phone battery was dying and they had decided to save it for emergencies; that had been an hour and a half previously. Tom was now praying that Bill would not have pitched a fit in the interim or taken a dislike to Frank Ziegler, because the last thing they needed was a feud between Tokio Hotel and Panik.
It was as the lift slowly rose to where they were all waiting that Tom heard the squeal of Bill's laughter. By the way the members of Panik were looking at him when he glanced at them, he had to assume they had heard it too. That wasn't Bill's polite laugh, that was Bill's finding something hilariously funny laugh; maybe things were looking up.
They were all poised as the doors opened, Tom could feel a slight tension in the air, and he really didn't expect what he saw. He was looking at about head height and he had to drop his eyes to where Bill and his companion was sitting cross-legged on the floor, amongst what looked like the contents of Bill's bag, giggling like a couple of school girls.
"Oh, thank god," Bill said the moment the doors were fully open, "we were almost out of rations."
Bill's emergency packet of gummi sweets was sitting on the floor, almost gone.
With that, Bill began throwing things back in his bag with Frank's help and then they both stood up; they were both still grinning. Tom was having great trouble with the whole scenario and if the silence from Panik were anything to go by, it wasn't what they had been expecting either.
Frank had what Tom recognised instantly as Bill's signature on his cheek in what looked like eyeliner for a start and Bill had what he could only assume was Frank's on his arm, but that looked like marker pen rather than eyeliner. Tom couldn't help wondering what the hell the pair had been up to.
"Hey, Tomi," Bill said, grinning broadly, "finally come to rescue me?"
"Um," was all Tom could say, since he had just spotted another signature on the side of Frank's neck. "We've got interviews," he finished lamely, since he had no idea what else to say.
"Oh hell," Bill said, swapping back to professional, "I'd almost forgotten. Thanks for killing two hours, Franky, it's been fun, but gotta run."
Frank was still smiling after Bill said that, but Tom could tell the other singer was a little deflated. Bill had that effect on people; pump them up with his presence and let them down when he had to go, it was like the natural course of things. Bill gave his new friend a quick pat on the back and then scooted out of the lift.
"Oh," Bill said, turning back just as Tom thought they were on their way, "what's your number?"
Bill's phone was in his hand and Frank looked surprised, but rattled off a phone number anyway.
"I'll give you a call," Bill promised with a grin and then Tom found himself the centre of his brother's attention again.
He so wanted to know what Bill had been doing in that lift; this had to be a story and a half.
====
Franky watched Bill and his twin vanish up the corridor and had to pinch himself to remind him that the last two hours had actually happened. He didn't really think Bill would remember to call, but it had been fun while it lasted and he watched Bill go with a small smile on his face. Then he remembered he was not alone and turned to see the rest of the band staring at him.
"Care to explain why you have Bill Kaulitz's signature on your face?" Timo asked in a rather incredulous tone.
"Oh I have it more places than that," Franky decided that there was no point in playing dumb about this one and lifted his t-shirt to show the signature just above his hip.
To a man the others appeared dumbfounded and he awarded himself a point in the perpetual game of one-upmanship they all played.
"What the hell?" David seemed to express all of the other's opinions as well.
Franky just grinned; he was going to make this one last.
====
They were at the after awards party and Franky was watching Timo and David fight over the award that they had won. It had been the most incredible day and he was sitting in a corner, beer in hand, just feeling mellow. Not only had he met and made friends with one of his idols, but they had actually won one of the awards they had been up for; it was amazing. This day would definitely go down as one of the best of his life so far.
The others had finally made him explain the game he and Bill had been playing in the lift that had resulted in the signatures. It had been a simple game of who's the hardest and the loser of each round had lost a part of their body to the other, indicated by a signature. Franky had had no idea that a pretty boy like Bill could have had so many adventures that beat most of his hands down, but then being a mega star seemed to have its excitements. Looking back he was sure they had both been on a sugar high when they had decided that was a good game.
He was musing over the fun they had had when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He had been getting phone calls all night, ever since he had turned his phone back on after the ceremony, so he pulled it out and flicked it open without thinking about it.
"Hey," he greeted as he realised he hadn't bothered to check the number.
"Hi, Franky," a cheerful voice greeted on the other, "it's Bill, congratulations on the win."
Franky nearly fell out of his chair; he had never, in a million years, expected Bill to actually call him.
"Hi," he said, sitting up a little straighter in his seat, "you too."
Of course Tokio Hotel had walked away with all the awards they had been up for; it had been a very good night for them.
"We were going to take the party back to our hotel suite with some friends," Bill said, clearly talking over the noise of the party, "do you and your lot want to come?"
Invited to a private, after show party by Tokio Hotel, Franky all but died of happiness.
"One sec," he said and pulled the phone away from his ear; he had to check even if he knew the answer. "Guys," he called over the music playing.
David was almost in Timo's lap on the other side of the table, so they looked up together, Linke had been trying to steel Jan's cap, but they both turned as well and Juri began paying attention when Jan thumped him on the arm.
"Party, Tokio Hotel's suite, interested?" Franky summed it up as tersely as possible.
It took all of about a second to decide.
"Hell yes," Timo announced for all of them.
"We'd love to," Franky said, talking into the phone again.
"Great," Bill actually sounded genuinely pleased, but that could just have been the whole evening, so Franky didn't read too much into it, "we'll see you there. I'll make sure security know to let you guys in."
"See you then, then," Franky replied and closed his phone.
He looked up at the others and grinned.
"Let's go," he said, more excited than he cared to admit.
====
'A few friends' turned out to be about twenty or so and Franky couldn't help feeling a little disappointed when, when they had arrived at the party there had been no Bill. He had spotted Bill across the room, but Bill was occupied talking to someone and all he'd got was a wave. They were half an hour into the party and the other guys seemed to really be enjoying themselves, but Franky could barely keep up the act of having fun. The fact that Bill hadn't even spoken to him was kind of a let down.
He was standing off to one side, pretending to watch Juri playing some sort of drinking game with Georg and Bushido when he felt slim fingers slip around his arm and give a little tug. He turned and found Bill standing there, hair now down from the lion mane it had been in at the awards and outfit changed into something that made Franky's mouth go dry. Bill didn't say anything, just urged him to follow and he found himself being led into the bathroom.
"Sorry," Bill apologised, closing the door and shutting out the rest of the party, "this is the only place to get any peace at the moment; I think I preferred the lift."
Franky found himself smiling anyway; Bill was here, Bill was talking to just him and he was as happy as Larry.
"I've been wanting to do this since about half an hour after that damn lift stopped," Bill said, stepping up to him.
Then to his complete amazement, Franky found lips covering his own. It took him a second or two to get over his shock, but which point Bill had pulled back.
"Sorry," Bill was already apologising, sounding very unsure and much younger than his years and clearly having taken Franky's stiffness as rejection, "I must have read the signs wrong."
Franky just reached out, grabbed the younger singer and pulled him back, kissing with everything he had. He figured that would be explanation enough.
Bill lips were soft, so heavenly soft, almost like a girl's and Bill tasted of champagne and strawberries and Franky was in heaven. Part of his brain was screaming 'I'm kissing Bill 'an-angel-walking' Kaulitz' and melting down into a pile of goo and the rest was just thinking what a wonderful kisser Bill was. He had no thoughts left for anything else and he didn't want to let Bill go, even when they had to break for air. It was funny how he could forget how to breathe in such a situation.
Bill smiled at him as they stood there for a second or so and then Bill reached past him and turned the lock on the door. The look in Bill's eyes then was more devil than angel, but then they were kissing again and Franky didn't care. Heaven or hell, he didn't care, as long as Bill didn't stop doing that with his tongue.
The End
