Chapter Text
It was October 2nd, Nate was playing his first show with his band, Wanted Guilt. Excitement filled him, this was what he’d waited so long for. They were playing for free at bar, having pooled their money, they rented the space to play at.
Once they got there, Nate was practically exploding with excitement, he was bouncing around backstage, yelling and being his normal, weird self.
That was until he peeked out to see the crowd and his smile fell.
"Wow... This is worse than expected." Grunted Nate, "Free tickets and yet nobody comes still. Can't even give our tickets away." He complained, "Are we really that bad?”
“Hey, don’t feel bad, I mean, it’s our first show, and it is early, maybe people aren’t being let in yet. Who knows?” Shrugged the guitarist, Spencer.
“I’ve failed at everything I’ve ever wanted to do.” Nate whined dramatically as he dropped to lay on the floor.
“Get off the floor you spork.” Zach, the drummer, rolled his eyes at the younger.
“No.” Pouted the boy.
“That floor is dirty, we’re in a fucking bar, get up.” Spencer groaned.
“You’re not my mom.” Retorted Nate, getting a sigh from all of his band members, “I’ve failed. This is my life, just toss me into the garbage can.” He continued to whine.
“You are a child, get up, we’ve got to perform soon.” Alice, their bassist grumbled as she grabbed his hand, tugging him upwards.
“Fine.” Nate muttered as he stood, going to get ready.
|-/
The band all jogged out on stage, Nate - still dejected - going to the front of the stage and grabbing the mic. There were a few people at the bar, drinking and chatting to themselves and there were a couple of people strewn about, seated at the tables and booths in the room, seeming to not even notice the four on the stage.
“Hello everybody!” Nate tried his best to sound excited, “We are, Wanted Guilt, your entertainment for tonight!” He stood silent for a moment, not even a single person giving them a glance. Nate was suddenly overcome by a feeling of unwantedness, unable to get himself to speak any further.
“Okay… So, for our first song, we’ll be doing a cover of ‘Thanks For The Memories’ by Fall Out Boy.” Alice called out and still nothing.
Though, the band kicked in nonetheless. Nate sang every word perfectly, and yet, nobody seemed to care.
They played through a few songs, Nate trying less and less each song that he sang that brought nobody to listen.
As they we’re telling the audience of nobody what song they were going to play next, a fairly average sized man entered the bar, his hair was a nice dirty blonde and he was wearing a deep-blue jacket.
He breathed into his hands, rubbing them together from the cold outside air before stuffing them into the pockets of his jacket.
The blonde stepped up to the stage, seeing Nate’s eyes light up excitedly as they finally had somebody listening to them. Nate studied the male, he was very good looking with gorgeous honey-colored eyes.
Nate was so caught up in studying the handsome man before him that he hadn’t realized the band had begun playing until Spencer stepped up besides him, muttering softly to him, “Dude, let’s go.”
“Uh-o-oh!” Stammered Nate before catching up and beginning to sing, this time he was actually trying, unknowingly attempting to impress Mr. Handsome.
|-/
They played for about an hour more before finishing their set. A few people during that time had passed by, stopping for a moment or two, to listen to the music they were playing but the mysterious blond boy stayed the entire time, occasionally stopping to get a drink or something but always returning soon after.
“Thank you so much for listening to us tonight! Drive safely and have a great evening!” Nate called out, seeing the handsome stranger start towards the door, “Fuck.” Nate cussed beneath his breath, wanting to meet the male, “Uh.. Hey! Alice!”
She spun on her heel, just before she made it backstage, “Yeah, Nate?”
“Take my guitar backstage for me, I-I gotta get some fresh air?” He stammered as he place his instrument onto the floor and hopped off of the stage, dashing towards the exit.
Once outside he looked both ways of the sidewalk, his eye catching the blue hoodie of the stranger, just as he turned the corner. Nate took of running down the sidewalk, all he could hear was the heavy pounding of his footsteps against the concrete and his labored breathing.
Thankfully Nate caught up with him quite quickly.
“H-Hey, wait, dude.” Panted Nate, unable to run any longer. The male turned to find Nate hunched over, heavily breathing and coughing.
“Hey, you alright?” The man’s soft voice asked as he approached Nate.
“Yep, I’m… Great.” Wheezed the shorter.
“Hey, you’re the guy from the club, right?” Smiled blonde boy.
“Yeah.” Chuckled Nate, “I wanted to thank you for watching us tonight. I was ready to give up.” Nate half smiled.
“Ah, no problem dude. You guys are really good.” The stranger complimented, “I’m Matthew, well, most people just call me Matt.” He stuck his hand out towards Nate.
“I-I’m Nathan… Nate for short.” He stuttered as his eyes met Matt’s.
“So, uh, I noticed that you were checking me out before. Seemed kinda like you were trying to impress me.” Matt somewhat flirted with Nate, seductively running his numb fingers through his hair and smirking slightly.
“Uh…” Chuckled Nate awkwardly as he rubbed at the back of his neck.
“You’re cute.” Smiled Matt to which Nate’s eyes widened in awe, a bright blush washing over his pale face.
“I-It’s really cold out here, would you maybe want to, like, maybe get uh… Coffee or like, something?” Stammered Nate in complete shock at how well this was all going.
“Definitely. Is your band alright with you abandoning them?” Matt smirked.
“Yeah, I think they’ll be fine.”
Matt reached down hesitantly, sliding his ice cold hand into Nate’s blisteringly warm one. At first Nate tensed but he soon relaxed, glancing over at the taller male and smiling up at him.
“I feel like this is going to be the beginning of something great.” Matt mumbled into the darkness. The two walking hand-in-hand down the street to get their coffee.