Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Looming storm clouds rolled across the horizon, constantly threatening to get closer. The threat was diminished by the fact that those clouds had lingered in the distance throughout the latter weeks of spring, and now, days into summer, they had failed to come any closer at all, the promise of rain empty in the warm months. Not that either of the two men walking down the street minded the lack of rain. They enjoyed the warmth. This warmth in particular. It wasn’t the excessive heat of midsummer noons, or the heavy humidity of crowds — although neither would scoff at the latter. This was the gentle evening heat which enveloped any small town, as the buildings and tarmac roads released all the heat they had absorbed during the day, colouring the lilac evening air with a hazy, dream-like blanket of warmth which pervaded one's mind and soul as they walked through it.

Aax and Caspian could have walked for hours in this warmth, waiting until the moon climbed high above them and the darkness finally leached away the remnants of the heat, leaving a night air which was not cold, but entirely neutral. The perfect temperature to simply exist within, basking in the nature and solitude of the world. It was the perfect climate for song writing, Caspian thought to himself distantly, although no songs came to him now. The unfocused impression of words danced along the canvas of notations in his mind, lacking any true meaning or definition amongst the backdrop of the melody.

No words had come to him of late. It was hard to write a song when he had no impression of what it would be like sung aloud. He could sing, of course, but nothing he ever wrote truly felt right for his own lips. His writing style and his vocal range of late seemed out of sync in a way he was not used to. His partner, walking beside him, squeezed his hand from beneath fingerless gloves.

“I still can’t believe Momboo doesn’t have a photocopier.” Aax smirked. Their leather jacket hung loosely off their shoulders, revealing the pale shoulder beneath, barely covered by the straps of their purple tank top.

Caspian momentarily allowed his eyes to drift up the curve of their partner’s shoulder and neck, before his brain processed what had been said. “Listen, we can’t expect her to do everything, just because she has her shit together. She’s got her own stuff going on.”

“That’s what I mean, I just feel like someone who has their stuff going on would own a photocopier. Or at least a fax machine.”

“Why would she even need…” Caspian sighed, releasing Aax was simply winding him up. He squeezed Aax’s hand back, and the calluses on his fingers caught in the woollen fabric of the smaller man’s gloves. “I love you.”

Aax grinned, the sunlight reflecting in his red sunglasses. “I love you too, dork.”

They leaned up as they walked and kissed Caspian’s cheek, navigating around the large sherpa collar of the man’s jacket. Caspian smirked, running his free hand through the thick head of brown hair which hung around his face.

“C’mon, we’re almost there.”

“Is the library even going to be open?” Aax asked, peering down the street at the front of the large building. “I mean it’s getting late.”

“I hope it’s open, we walked all this way.” Caspian sighed. “Besides, we need to get these fliers up soon if we want to have a band to compete in the Battle of the Bands next month.”

Aax let out a soft hum of agreement, slipping their hands into their pockets. “I know, it’s just… Would it be the end of the world if we can’t find a lead singer, Caspian? I mean you could always sing instead! Maybe we should focus on other instruments, a bass would go great with your vocal range and guitar, and with me on drums, it could really iron out a lot of the kinks in our performance.”

“I know.” Caspian sighed. “Look we can also find a bass player, if we have time but… We need a strong vocalist if we want to perform any of the cover material we have. Maybe if I was writing our own lyrics I could work on something for my range but its not…”

“I know, love.” Aax nodded as the pair walked up the steps to the public library. “There’s no pressure for you to do that.”

“Still, we should look for a vocalist. We’ve got the flyer already made up.”

Aax smirked. “And it looks lovely.”

“Thank you.” Caspian bowed mockingly, “I’m quite proud of it.”

“As you should be.” Aax inclined their head, their mop of white hair falling around their face.

They gestured to the glass doors of the library foyer. The inside looked completely empty, without a trace of life inside. Still, the lights were still on, and there was no apparent sign on the door to signal the building was closed.

Caspian pushed on the door, and it swung open easily. “After you.” He offered, stepping aside to let Aax inside.

“Such a gentleman.” Aax shook their head, getting the next door which led from the foyer into the library proper. “Do you want to just ask around until we find a librarian who knows how to…”

The drummer’s sentence trickled off. The pair had expected silence when they stepped into the building. And yet the sound which graced them now was gentle and soft, a voice carrying over shelves and pages to fill the entire space.

”...know what time it was the lights were low oh, oh…”

Aax and Caspian paused in the doorway, listening to the voice echoing from further within the library. The sound was resonant and smooth, filling the space with gentle, almost infectious joy.

“I leaned back on my radio-o-o. Some cat was layin’ down some rock n roll, lotta soul, he said…”

“Do you hear that?” Caspian whispered, his eyes scanning the tops of the shelves to find the source of the sound.

Then the loud song did seem to fa-a-ade,”

“No, I can’t hear anything at all, of course I can hear it Cas!” Aax hissed. The drummer paused. “It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah…” Caspian breathed as the two moved further into the library.

“Came back like a slow voice on a wave of pha-a-ase…”

Even without the backing of music the voice which filled the library carried with it the ghosts of melodies and beats which filled the space with non-existent music. Aax couldn’t help but tap their fingers against their leg in time with the song as the pair of musicians stepped from row to row, searching for the hidden singer.

“That weren’t no DJ that, that was hazy cosmic jive!”

There was a brief pause as the singer filled the air with a hummed substitute of the song’s riff before launching into the chorus, just in time for the eavesdroppers to step into the right row of shelves to witness the corresponding dancing.

“There’s a Star-Man, waiting in the sky!”

The man at the other end of the shelves had his back to the newcomers, and the shoulder-length dark hair swayed around him in almost hypnotic waves, his thin frame shifting beneath a tight-fitting white button-up.

“He’d like to come and meet us, but he thinks he’d blow our minds!”

The singer spun around in his dancing, his eyes closed tightly as the music, faintly playing through a pair of large headphones, enveloped him entirely, enrapturing him completely. A grin was plastered across his angular face, pale skin spattered with dark freckles.

“There’s a Star-Man, waiting in the sky! He told us not to blow it, ‘cause he know it's all worthwhile!”

Aax and Caspian stared at the man, their mouths gently parted as they watched.

“He’s gorgeous.” Caspian breathed. “His voice, I mean his voice is—”

“No you’re right he’s gorgeous.” Aax confirmed, nodding while keeping his mind locked on the other man.

“He told me, let the children—”

The librarian opened his eyes, and the song was interrupted with a shrill cry of alarm as he jumped back, crashing directly into a cart of books.

“What the fuck!” The man shouted, scrambling to place himself behind the cart of books as he yanked the headphones from his ears and fumbled with a large walkman hanging from his belt. “What the fuck how did you get in here!”

“The um… The door.” The Caspian offered awkwardly, pointing behind him at the library's entrance as he continued to stare slack jawed at the handsome singer in front of them.

The singer frantically tried — and ultimately failed — to compose himself. “W-We’re closed.”

“There wasn’t a sign on the door.” Aax said, almost defensively.

“Yes there—” The singer paused, checking the shelves of the book cart. His blue eyes landed on the sign which he had failed to hang up. “Fuck… Fuck, how much did you two—”

“Y-Your voice is beautiful.” Caspian stammered before the librarian could finish. “I mean… Wow.”

Aax nodded enthusiastically. “No, yeah, like… Wow, dude.”

If it was possible for the librarian’s face to turn redder than it already was, it did. “I… Listen I don’t know what you… God please don’t tell anyone if my bosses found out I was…” His voice trickled into a grunt of embarrassment and frustration as he buried his face in his hands.

He took a long, slow breath, before wiping his eyes and brushing the hair from his face, standing up straight. “I’m… I’m so sorry, this is so unprofessional of me, I um… How can I help you? Are you looking for something?”

“Actually we’re um…” Caspian cleared his throat. “We’re looking for a singer.”

The librarian’s mouth twitched, and the joy to his movements that had been there while dancing stiffened. “Okay I get it, it was probably really funny to walk in on that but you don’t need to be a dick about it I just wanted to help—”

“No he’s telling the truth!” Aax piped in, stepping closer. “We are actually looking for a singer, we came here to print flyers.”

Caspian nodded, fishing the folded paper out of his jacket pocket and holding it out towards the librarian.

The tall, dark haired man stepped forwards, eyeing them both suspiciously. “I… Oh. I’m sorry I um…” He glanced over the flyer before handing it back to Caspian, glancing away sheepishly. “Sorry I guess I thought you were mocking me…”

“Trust me we would not mock anyone with a voice like that about singing.” Caspian smiled.

“Where did you learn to sing like that, Star Man?” Aax asked, tilting their head. “I haven’t seen you around.”

The librarian crouched down to start picking up the books he knocked from his cart. “I’m new in town. Sort of. My step-mom grew up here and she passed away recently and I… I don’t know I needed the job. She was in a band— Both my moms were, I suppose, and… It’s complicated. And it’s nothing, I can’t sing that well.”

“Seriously? That was amazing!” Aax laughed, “Your voice is… Your voice is really pretty.”

The librarian blushed again, turning away slightly. “Thank you.” He said quietly. “Both of you. Um, about printing those flyers, um… It might take a few hours, maybe even overnight, our printer is pretty old.”

“Do we still need to?” Caspian asked.

The singer blinked. “What?”

Caspian went a little red in the face himself. “Well, I just mean… You’re perfect.” He cleared his throat. “I mean for the part. In the band, we’re in a band looking for a singer, and you’re… You’re a singer.”

The librarian laughed. It was a quick, awkward laugh, but both Aax and Caspian couldn’t help but find it endearing. “I can’t sing in a band.”

“Why not?” Caspian asked.

“Because! Because I… Well, I don’t have a band, for one!”

“Well then that’s great, you can join ours!” Aax grinned.

“No!” The librarian shook his head. “I mean I… I would love to, really, but I… No, I can’t perform on a stage like that, with a band, I don’t… I don’t have the right… presence.”

Aax pushed their sunglasses up onto their head, looking the man up and down. “Trust me, Star Man, you… You have a great presence.”

“No, they’re right, you have amazing stage presence.” Caspian nodded. “Come on, what have you got to lose?”

The singer scoffed, cradling a book to his chest. “My dignity?”

“Is that all?” Aax asked.

“Listen, you guys are both really ho— sweet.” The librarian corrected himself, clearing his throat, “You’re really sweet but I’m… I’m a librarian, and a trainee one at that, I’m not some kind of rockstar. Besides, this doesn’t happen. This isn’t what real life is like, two cute guys don’t waltz in and offer you a job.”

“Well, it’s not a job per se, we can’t pay you.” Aax muttered, blushing slightly at the stranger referring to him as cute. It had a different weight to it then when Caspian did, and he definitely wasn’t opposed to it. “I mean there's a cash prize for the competition, but… It’s an experience, at least. A chance to make music. And you said you’d love to.”

“Listen,” Caspian stepped a little closer, holding out the flyer, “What’s your name, Star Man?”

The librarian tucked a strand of dark hair behind his ear. “Rae. Rae Morningstar.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Rae. I’m Caspian, this is my partner Aax.”

Rae blushed slightly. “When you say partner, like… Music wise, or…”

“Yes.” Aax nodded. “To both. I’m a percussionist, and Cas here plays guitar. And he’s a great lyricist.”

“That’s an… They’re flattering me,” Caspian blushed a little.

“I am, and he’s feeling very flattered.” Aax grinned.

“Anyway, what I was saying.” Caspian handed Rae the flyer. “You said printing might take a while. Are you working tomorrow?”

Rae nodded. “Yeah, I um… I work most days.”

“Then, how about you hold onto this for us.” Caspian smiled. “You keep it, and you think about the offer to join the band. And if by tomorrow, you decide you don’t want to, you can make a hundred or so copies for us, and we’ll collect them tomorrow night. You never have to hear from us again.”

Rae looked over the flyer in his hands, taking in the advertisement searching for a singer. “And… And if hypothetically I did want to join?”

Caspian’s cheeks reddened. “Then you give us a call at that number right there, Star Man. Anytime you like.”

The three men were silent for a long time as both Aax and Caspian waited for Rae to mull over the deal. “You’re… You’re serious about this?” Rae asked, looking between the two. “Like you… You actually want me as the singer for your band?”

“I mean… You would be perfect.” Aax admitted. “But only if you want to. You can absolutely say no.”

“Yeah.” Caspian nodded. “You’d fit right in, but… There’s no pressure. You just think it over.”

Rae chewed his lip, nodding. His expression was distant as he thought about the offer. “Yeah… Yeah, alright I think I can… Okay. I’ll think it over.”

“Rad.” Caspian grinned. He held out a hand. “It was nice to meet you, Rae Morningstar.”

Rae shook Caspian’s hand, before shaking Aax’s in turn. “It was nice to meet you too, I think… Both of you.”

“We’ll um… We’ll let you finish packing up. And let you actually put the sign on the door this time.” Aax smirked.

“Oh I will definitely be putting the sign up.” Rae nodded, watching as the two men walked away. “I’ll… I’ll think about the offer though.”

“Glad to hear it.” Caspian smiled.

“We’ll catch you later, Star Man!” Aax winked as the two musicians slipped out of the library into the warm summer night.

Behind them, inside the building, Rae ran his fingers along the paper flyer, reading the words over and over again. Emotions were flying a mile a minute within his mind, and it took every ounce of self control he had to not shut down entirely.

“He’s told us not to blow it.” He muttered under his breath, breaking the silence around him. “Cause he knows it's all worthwhile.” Rae folded up the flyer, and slipped it into his pocket…

Chapter Text

Caspian was dragged unhappily from his sleep by the ringing of the phone by the bed, the high pitched noise hammering against his skull. Aax groaned in the bed beside him, snuggling deeper into the covers to avoid seeing the light peeking in through the curtains. The room smelled of sweat and guitar wax, and Caspian groped blindly at the bedside table, knocking aside empty glasses and cans as he grabbed the receiver.

“Hello?” The musician grunted, pushing himself up slightly against his pillow in an attempt to wake himself up slightly, while still staying within the warm cocoon of the sheets.

“Hello?” The voice on the other end crackled through the line, thin and nervous. “I-I’m so sorry if I woke you! I didn’t know when was too early, or what time to call, or… sorry.”

Caspian blinked the sleep out of his eyes. Beside him, Aax rolled over and wrapped themselves around their partner. The drummer began trailing kisses along the man’s neck and collar bones, and Caspian tried to push past the slight breathiness in his voice at the affection from his partner.

“I’m sorry who… who’s calling?” He asked. The voice on the phone sounded familiar, but his sleepy brain refused to function when it came to connecting the dots. Aax’s hands traced patterns across his torso, fingers cold against his warm skin.

“Oh.” There was a slight pause on the other end of the line, and Caspian took the break in conversation to kiss Aax’s forehead quickly. “This is Caspian, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, yeah this is Caspian.” The man said distractedly, leaning into Aax’s embrace as the drummer continued to try and coax him away from the phone call. 

“It um… It’s Rae? Rae Morningstar? We uh— We met at the library last night, you told me to call if—”

“Rae?” Caspian was suddenly much more awake. “Wait, Star-Man Rae ?”

Aax suddenly seemed much more awake too, pushing themselves up beside Caspian, pausing their flirting. “Cute library Rae?” They asked, their voice heavy and raspy with sleep.

“Uh—”

If it was possible to hear someone blush , the two men were definitely listening to it now as Rae struggled to respond.

“Yeah, yeah Star-Man Rae… You um, you said to call you, if I reconsidered your offer about the band and um… Well, I guess I reconsidered, so I wanted to call, I’m sorry if I was interrupting anything I didn’t realise you two would be—”

“No! No, it's cool!” Caspian, “Sorry we just uh… What time is it?” He blinked blearily around the room.

“Eight thirty.” Rae said awkwardly. “I hoped this was alright to call, I didn’t sleep so I didn’t know what time would— Shit you didn’t need to know that I’m sorry uh—”

“No, no it’s cool!” Aax beamed, grabbing the phone from Caspian’s hand and pulling the chord across the songwriter’s chest to place receiver between the two of them so he could hear the conversation. “Don’t even worry about it.”

“Aax?” Rae asked, surprised at the sudden change in voice.

“The one and only, bab— Rae. I meant Rae.” Aax fumbled, shaking his head.

“Dork.” Caspian smirked, pulling the receiver back towards his own mouth. “So um… About the band?”

Rae was quiet for a moment. “Is the offer still available? To sing with you? I-If that’s okay?”

“Absolutely it's open!” Caspian beamed. “For sure, yeah! We can start rehearsing sometime, um— When are you free? We can meet over coffee to discuss songs or— Or something. Is there sometime you’re free today?”

“Oh, um… No, I work most days this week, I’m so sor—”

Before Rae could continue, another voice crackled through the line from the library, the shouting barely audible

“Rae! You promised to help me clean up the children section, I’ve got reading time with the kids in like twenty minutes!”

“Shit,” Rae mumbled, “I’ll be right with you Ari! Sorry! Listen, I-I’m so sorry, I have to go, um, I don’t get off until eight tonight, so—”

“We’ll be there.” Aax promised.

“You will?” Rae asked.

“We— Yeah, yeah we will.” Caspian agreed. “We can meet you at the library at eight, find somewhere to talk, if you… If you want?”

“Rae!”

“Coming!” Rae shouted to the other person in the library. “I’d love that. Yeah, I… I’d really love that.” Rae said excitedly. “Eight it is, I um… I’ll see you two there.”

Rae hung up the phone before any of them could properly say goodbye. Caspian hung up the receiver.

“We have a singer.” He smiled, falling back into bed beside his partner.

“ We have a singer .” Aax echoed, rolling on top of his boyfriend before leaning down to kiss him.

Chapter Text

Rae did not perform well at work that day. Admittedly, there was not much performance required. Being a public library, there was barely anyone that actually seemed to come in, and those that did were usually regulars without much need for assistance. Still, he managed to trip over at least three toddlers in Arisanna’s scheduled reading time with the local preschool, and hurriedly scrambled to find any Band-Aid’s and lollipops the library still had in stock. Then, of course, he had to clean up the residue left behind by said lollipops.

The saving grace was that it was now time to clock off. The customers had been shooed away, and Arisanna had even volunteered to stay late to help Rae finish putting away any returns. In less than ten minutes Rae would be out of here, and on his way to…

Well, he wasn’t exactly sure to what . An audition, he supposed? Or a practice session?

Or a date? Suggested a small voice in the back of his mind.

Rae ignored the voice. Of course it wasn’t a date. Aax and Caspian were already together, and as much as he might have been down dating one or even both of them, it was unlikely that either of them felt the same way.

Unlikely, the voice in his mind echoed, but not impossible . 

Rae pushed aside the thought. Even if it was that way, Rae didn’t think he was ready for a relationship. He was barely ready to sing in front of people again , becoming involved with anyone, especially more musicians, seemed like a recipe for disaster.

Musicians always seemed to find a way to fuck up Rae’s life.

And yet he still managed to find himself tangled up with them.

His cheeks flushed at the image of being tangled up with Aax and Caspian. They had seemed flirty when they first met, hadn’t they? Rae wasn’t entirely sure. Flirting was never something he’d been great at, even in his last relationship.

Still…

“You can head out if you want, I’ll lock up.”

Rae jumped at the sound of his co-worker's voice. He turned to face the woman across from him at the other end of the counter. “Sorry?”

Arisanna’s blue hair was beginning to fade, turning a strange greyish-teal colours at the ends. Her glasses were smudged, and she had rolled up her sleeves in order to put away the handful of books left out at the end of the day.

“You can go, Rae.” She said, annunciating a little more than was necessary purely for effect. “I’ll close up. We only have a few more…”

Arisanna picked up a sheet of paper from the desk and looked it over.

“Did Addie take out more books? ”

Rae shrugged. “It’s a library, she’s supposed to.”

“She didn’t return any of the last batch, Rae.” Arisanna rubbed her temple with the back of her hand, placing down the page. “Fuck it I don’t want to deal with this right now, we can follow it up tomorrow.”

Rae shrunk into himself slightly. “Yeah. Yeah, of course Ari, I’ll get it fixed up tomorrow, I’m sure she’ll be in here, I’ll have a talk to her about it…” He paused. “Do you still want me to…”

Arisanna forced a smile. “Yeah, go for it, get ready for your date.”

Rae’s cheeks flushed. “It’s not a date .”

“Oh… Sorry, the way you described it…” Arisanna glanced away awkwardly. “Well um, either way, good luck.”

“Thanks.” The singer nodded, grabbing his hoodie from the back of his chair. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Ari.”

“Bye, Rae. Oh, wait!” The other librarian said suddenly.

Rae paused.

“If you um… If you see your uncle, could you tell him my mom says hi? She um… She was worried about him recently, and—”

“Yeah, I’ll let him know.” Rae said quickly. 

Arisanna nodded. It didn’t take much to know that the relationship between Rae and his uncle was complicated, and it made it harder that everyone in town seemed to know exactly why, or was even connected to it in some way.

“And um… My paycheck didn’t come through this week.” Arisanna said quickly. “Or the week before, Rae.”

Rae swore under his breath. “Jesus, Arisanna I’m so… I’ll onto him about that. As soon as I can, I promise.”

The woman smiled, leaning against the desk. “Thanks, Rae. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see you then.” Rae waved, slipping out of the big glass doors and down the steps of the library entrance.

The street was empty and cold, the heat of the day seeping away into the night as it settled over the town. The streetlamps around him blanketed the road in a hazy orange light, and in the near complete silence of it all, the town Rae had spent all his life in somehow seemed once again to be magical and exciting, the night pregnant with possibility considering what was to come.

The magic was quickly broken as the gentle rattling of wheels echoed around a corner. Not the wheels of the car Rae was expecting, but unfortunately wheels he recognised.

The man’s cousin came skittering around the corner at an unnecessary speed, the music in their headphones so loud Rae could hear it as they approached from feet away. Athena’s bright pink hair whipped around them in the wind as their rollerskates came to a grinding halt a few feet away from Rae, the youth catching themselves on the handrail of the staircase before crashing into it.

“Hi Rae!” Athena beamed, trying his best to be casual.

Rae was not buying it. Quietly, he simply muttered, “You’re not wearing a helmet.” In response.

Athena sighed, pushing themselves off the rails to skate in a loose, slow circling in front of Rae. “Yeah, I know…”

“What are you doing here, Athena?” Rae asked, shoving his hands in the pockets of his hoodie.

“Can I not just come to say hi to my cousin?” Athena tried, their façade faltering.

“Not tonight you can’t.” Rae grumbled. “Did Luke put you up to this? That sounds exactly like the kind of thing he’d tell you to say.”

Athena looked offended, their brightly coloured makeup catching vibrantly in the streetlights. Rae could see the goosebumps prickle up on their cousin’s arms in the cold air, visible beneath the fishnet sleeves and tattered band shirt.

“No, he didn’t and you know he didn’t.” Athena grumbled. “I’m just… I don’t know, I’m worried about you. You seemed really nervous when you talked about this last night at dinner, and I wanted to make sure you weren’t…”

“That I wasn’t what?” Rae raised an eyebrow.

Athena kicked at the ground with their rollerskates, once again grabbing hold of the railing. “That you weren’t making a mistake, Rae. Doing something stupid.”

“I’m an adult, Athena.” Rae sighed. “I can do what I want.”

“Now who’s saying exactly the kind of thing Luke would.” Athena mumbled under their breath.

Rae’s heart sank. “You’re right… You’re I’m sorry, I’m just… Nervous, I guess.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Athena asked.

Rae shrugged, “Not right now, they’re gonna be here any minute and… God, I hope they are at least, and I…”

Anxiety began to creep its way up the back of Rae’s neck, choking him slowly at the thought that maybe they weren’t coming. That maybe this had all been some kind of joke at his expense. Maybe Aax and Caspian had just been dragging him along to embarrass him further after finding him singing in the library.

Maybe his voice wasn’t that good after all.

Maybe he had been right all this time…

Maybe both of them had been right…

“Come on Rae, what is this actually about? You haven’t wanted anything to do with music since you broke up with Ven—“

“I don’t want to talk about Ven right now!” Rae chirped, trying to hide the anxiety in his voice. “Or ever, in fact. I don’t think I ever want to talk about him, so you can just shut the fuck up, actually, alright?”

Athena rolled her eyes, the movement making the vibrant tones of her eyeshadow ripple across her skin. “Wow, real mature, Rae.”

“Oh, yeah because it’s so mature to bring up my ex in the first place!”

“It’s been like five years, Rae!” The youth threw their arms out in exasperation.

“It’s only been three years.” Rae mumbled. “We were just together for two years before that.”

Athena sighed standing up from the bottom of the library steps and skating over to her cousin. He leaned against Rae’s shoulder. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt like that again. And I mean… More musicians? Really?”

Rae bit his lip. “I know.” He breathed. “But these guys seem… Nice . They seem really nice . Or…” Rae looked at his watch. It was now five minutes past the time Caspian and Aax were supposed to arrive. “I thought they seemed nice.”

“And cute, you specified, I think.” Athena smirked.

Rae laughed sadly, elbowing his cousin so they slid back on their rollerblades. “Shut up .”

“What! They’re your words, not mine.” Athena laughed, happy to see some of the stress lift from her cousin. “So, which one are you crushing on, Mr Star-Man .”

“Don’t call me that.” Rae’s cheeks went pink beneath his freckles.

Athena stuck his tongue out childishly. “Answer the question then, dork. Which one? I wanna be on the lookout so I know who’s kneecaps to bash in if they turn out like—” They stopped themselves. “Like the last one .”

Rae glanced away down the road, unable to answer. “Well, um…”

Athena watched him for a moment, a smile pulling at their lips as realisation dawned. “No…Really? Both of them? Rae Morningstar you dog, I can’t believe—”

“Oh come on it's not like that.”

“Are you sure?” Athena raised an eyebrow.

Rae shrugged dramatically, sighing. “I— I don’t know, maybe? I mean they were both flirting with me, I think… if it was flirting. God I hope it was, I’m really not great when it comes to that kind of thing, but they both seemed… I don’t know.”

“I see.” Athena hummed, trying to bite back his smile as he slid off the rail and embraced his much taller cousin in a hug “I really hope it goes well, Rae.” He said quietly into Rae’s shoulder. “You deserve to be happy. You deserve to enjoy music again.”

Rae cleared his throat. “I… I enjoy music plenty, Athena it’s just… You know its not just that.”

“I know.” Athena nodded. “But you don’t need to pretend like that's not part of it.”

Rae sucked in a slow breath. “Okay. Now come on, you should head home. If they… If they don’t know up in—”

The librarian was cut off by the sound of an engine at the end of the road. A pair of headlights cut across the two cousins, illuminating the street in crisp white light. Rae squinted at the vehicle, watching as the small van pulled up in front of them at the curb, grumbling to a stop. The window rolled down.

“How’s it going Star-Man?” Aax grinned down at Rae from the passenger side window. “Sorry we’re late.”

“Aax!” Rae laughed, before catching himself. “I— I can call you Aax, right?”

“You can call me whatever you like.” Aax winked.

Rae had only seen the drummer with his glasses on before, and it struck him now how pale Aax’s blue eyes were, the colour fading into the whites of his eyes in the glare of the streetlights. Staring into Aax’s eyes for too long made Rae’s heart flutter slightly in his chest.

“Who’s this, friend of yours?” Aax asked, opening the door and slipping out onto the pavement.

“I— Um—” Rae stammered, stepping towards the van. “Sorry, right, this is my cousin, Athena.”

“What’s up kid!” Caspian waved from the steering wheel on the other side of the car, “I like your shirt.” 

Athena nodded suspiciously, watching the two musicians. “Hi.” They said flatly, trying to express as little as they possibly could.

“He uh, he’s just leaving, actually.” Rae forced a smile, his cheeks burning. His eyes were now locked on Caspian’s, finding himself unable to tear away from the dark eyes which matched his gaze.

“Actually, I thought I might tag along.” Athena suggested.

“What?” Rae tore his eyes away from Caspian. “No! No, you’re not thinking that, actually.”

“Actually, we unfortunately have a tag-a-long too.” Caspian sighed from the drivers seat. “Aax and I got left on babysitting duty tonight, apparently. That’s why we’re late.”

“I resent the term babysitting.” A voice growled from the back of the van between the seats.

“And I resent you being here, Bear Cub, so just deal with it.” Caspian hissed back over his shoulder.

“Don’t call me that in public, Cas!” The voice in the back lost its growl, replaced with an embarrassed whine.

Caspian sighed. “Alright, I’m sorry Jamie, just… God, just stop complaining and open the door for Rae, could you?” Caspian turned back to face the man in question. “We’re genuinely so sorry, we weren’t expecting him to be here tonight, it probably seems really lame—”

“It’s fine!” Rae said quickly, smiling. “It’s no problem with me, I get it for sure.”

“And we definitely get wanting to bring your cousin along.” Aax added. His coloured hair bounced as he nodded, whatever product that was holding it in place giving slightly under the movement. “I get we only met once, it’s smart, wanting to be safe.”

“Exactly!” Athena grinned, elbowing Rae gently. “I was just telling him that. He was worried you wouldn’t think he was cool or something.”

“Um— That’s not…” The words died in Rae’s throat. The emotions churning inside him felt like they were about to burn a hole through the pit of his stomach.

“Us?” Caspian asked, going a little red himself. “Trust me, we think your cousin is really cool .” He smiled at Rae.

Rae couldn’t help but smile back.

“Definitely one of the coolest people I’ve seen.” Aax added.

“Thank you.” Rae mumbled, blushing at the drummer. “You guys are um… You’re both really cool too, actually, and um—”

He was saved from having to continue by the back door of the van rolling open with a heavy rolling sound.

The young person looking out at them from the back space of the van was swamped in a massively oversized green hoodie. Whatever logo had once been on the front was rubbed away by years of use, and parts of the fabric were beginning to fray, revealing the navy shirt underneath. Along the edges of the seams, or in other places where the clothing had started to fray, Rae could see patterns of flowers and leaves embroidered into the fabric, mending it in sprawling, vine-like designs which popped with bright pinks and blues against the faded green of the hoodie.

They stared down at Rae with wide brown eyes, unmoving.

No, Rae realised, the kid — Jamie, Caspian had called him — was staring at Athena .

“Hi.” Jamie quickly, glancing away.

Athena opened their mouth, thought the better of whatever they were about to say, and simply said,“Hi.”

There was a slight lilt to his cousin’s voice that Rae couldn’t quite place.

“Well um… We should get going!” Aax clapped his hands together. “Rae, if you wanted to ride in the front with Caspian—”

“Sure!” Rae nodded, before realising he probably answered too quickly. “I mean um, I’d love to, yeah. If you’re alright to sit in the back?”

Aax shrugged, slipping their hands into the pockets of their dark ripped jeans. “Unless you want me sitting on your lap in the front?” He smirked.

Rae’s mouth hung open for a second as he struggled for a response. He wasn’t sure if it was possible to blush any further than he already was, but his body was attempting it.

Aax’s cheeks flushed an equally noticeable shade of read, all the more vibrant due to the colouring of his hair. “I um— I was kidding, man, sorry, that um… Sorry, dumb joke.” They shrugged.

“No, no I don’t um…” Rae swallowed. “It was funny— Or, not funny , I mean, it was um… It was a good joke, you’re fine.” He smiled, nodding.

“So about that whole getting in the car thing? ” Athena asked quickly, carefully stepping up into the back of the van, gripping the door tightly to avoid slipping on their rollerskates.

Jamie offered Athena a hand, averting their gaze slightly. Athena stared at it hesitantly for a while, before taking it.

“I um… I like necklace.” Jamie muttered under their breath.

Athena smiled, glancing away. “Thanks, it was a gift from my… I like your flowers! Do you do them yourself?”

Jamie nodded, smiling wider. “Yeah, yeah I like doing it, it’s calming to me.”

“At least they’re getting along.” Aax smiled at Rae.

Rae smiled back. “Yeah… I’m really glad you guys came by.”

Caspian smiled at him as Rae pulled himself up into the van, and Aax closed the door for him from outside.

“We’re really glad you called, Rae.”

Chapter Text

“I didn’t realise this place was so popular.” Caspian smirked, watching as more people piled out of the small café, leaving it empty..

“They make good coffee.” Rae smiled nervously, keeping his head down so that his hair hung over his face. His hands were pushed deep into the pockets of his jeans, and the creasing of his sweater as he hunched over made the patterns of woven stars look like they were collapsing into a cosy, knitted black hole.

“Seems like a quaint place.” Aax looked around as Rae nervously led them towards the door, glancing in through the windows.

The moment Rae opened the door, the air was filled with music, thick and melodious, the sound driven by the thrumming of underlying strings. Caspian had spent much of his life listening to folk music — it was what Momboo and her sister had always played, after all — and the alternative tracks playing felt comforting and familiar.

“Did you tell them to meet us here? Cause it seems… empty.” Aax noted, sticking their thumbs in the belt loops of their jeans, which already sat low around their hips, revealing more of their stomach than their crop top already did.

Rae tried to pull his eyes away from the drummer's mid-section, and it took him longer than he would have admitted. 

“Um… not exactly.” Rae swallowed. “He sort of—“

“Hey there!” A low voice called out across the empty cafe, tone bouncy and cheerful. “Welcome in, what can I get for—“

The man’s voice faltered as the three band members turned to face him.

“Rae.”

The barista who stood behind the bar was taller than Caspian had expected, well over six feet at least, with the broad shoulders and muscular build to match. Copious coils of dark hair — marked on one side by a streak of bleached blonde — spilled out of a high bun, framing the man’s chiselled face. His honey gold eyes stared down at Rae, his lips slightly parted in surprise.

“Hi, Wolf…” Rae mumbled, managing a smile at the large man. “Are you um… are you free to talk?” 

Wolf paused. He ran his hand over his mouth, rubbing at the scruff of his unshaven cheeks. Aax noticed that scars traced their way across the back of the man’s hands; jagged lines etched into the deep brown skin.

“Yeah.” Wolf said eventually, looking uncertainly at Aax and Caspian. “Of course, Rae. I’m always free for you.” The large man smiled again, but this time felt less genuine than before. This was a trained, customer service smile. “One jumbo iced Americano, three shots, and um… for your friends?”

“A latte.” Caspian nodded, glancing at Rae. “He… knows your order.”

“Mhm.” Rae squeaked, trying to smile back at Caspian, blush crawling into his cheeks.

“I’ll take a mocha, extra hazelnut syrup, if you can.” Aax added.

“Extra hazelnut.” Wolf nodded. He looked back at Rae. “If you want to take seat, I um… I’ll be right over. Everything’s okay, right?”

“Yeah.” Rae nodded. “Everything is… good, actually. Really good.”

“That’s… good.” Wolf nodded. “Good.”

Rae sunk into a booth by the window, Caspian and Aax sliding in beside him. There was barely enough room for the three of them on the one side, but they elected to keep it that way rather than split themselves up on either side of the table. Rae felt his cheeks redden further as Caspian’s arm pressed into his own, the three of them pressed so close together. He liked it. It was comforting.

“So… That’s the bassist.” Aax noted.

“Yeah.” Rae nodded. “Wolf, Nightingale. He’s really good.”

Caspian nodded in response, avoiding eye contact with Rae. “He seems pretty attractive,” he tried to sound conversational, “The two of you, are you like… You know…”

“No!” Rae said quickly. “No, no, Wolf and I um… he’s dating an old friend of mine. We’re not like… that . Not that I wouldn’t, you know, he is really attractive , and we’re both poly and we kinda flirted a little but we didn’t um… Things came up, we’re not like… No.”

Rae’s voice trickled away slowly as he spoke. He felt like he was saying far too much, and he could feel the weight of his bandmates eyes on him as he talked. He picked at the sleeves of his sweater on the table, wearing away the old strands with his nails. The dark nail polish Athena had leant him was already chipped, and he had to force himself to not bite at his nails.

“I guess I didn’t um…” Caspian cleared his throat. “I didn’t know you were also poly.”

The muscles in Rae’s neck tensed, and he was intensely aware of how dry his lips felt. “Also?”

Aax smiled from behind their glasses, drumming their fingers nervously on the wooden table. “Yeah, you know, me and Cas are also—”

“Iced Americano.” Wolf said above them, startling all three of them and drawing them away from their conversation. “Latte and a mocha heavy on the hazelnut.”

He placed the drinks down in front of them in order, each in takeaway cups despite the three having sat down. He placed a fourth drink, a rather large mug, down on the free side of the booth, sliding his considerably large frame onto the plush seats.

“So…” Wolf looked at the three across from him. “What um… What can I do for you, Rae?”

Rae wrapped his hands around the cold drink, feeling the condensation gather on his skin. The chill was grounding, and he managed to tear his thoughts away from the racing of his heart and the thoughts of the musicians beside him long enough to focus on why they were there.

“Well, um… I know it’s been a while and this is probably a weird thing to ask out of the blue like this especially considering everything the last time we spoke, but I saw that you were back in town and I um…” He took a sip of his drink, letting the cold, bitter coffee slow down his tongue. “Do you still play bass?”

Wolf tilted his head. Aax noted the movement, watching the emotions that subtly flickered across the face of the large man across from them. He was every bit his namesake — if that was his real name. There was an angular harshness to him, yes. Threatening, maybe, in the chisel of his shoulders. But also soft. There was a gentleness to his expression and his demeanour which offset his looming presence.

“On occasion.” Wolf smirked. He had begun undoing the bun in his hair, and the curls spilled out around him as he began to do them up more securely, the motions easy and practised. “I’ve still got it in me, but I’m not playing with anyone or doing gigs at the moment.”

“Would you like to?” Caspian asked.

Wolf shifted his gaze, those golden eyes dragging themselves away from Rae to survey the songwriter as he paused in redoing his hair for a moment. “Pardon?”

“We’re um… We’re a band, actually.” Caspian offered, extending a hand across the table. “And we’re looking for a bassist.”

“Rae suggested you might be the man for the job.” Aax offered.

Wolf reached over the table and shook Caspian’s hand, his own dwarfing the fingers of the smaller man. “I… I see.” He looked from Aax back to Rae. “ You’re in a band.”

Rae made a soft squeaking sound. “Yeah… I’m… I’m the vocalist.”

“You always were really talented, in that department.” Wolf smiled. “I’m glad you’re getting back into it.”

“So, would you be interested?” Aax asked hesitantly, wrapping his hands around his coffee cup and soaking in the warmth.

Wolf considered them for a moment, though for the most part his eyes still lingered on Rae, curious and searching for something else from the singer. 

“I… I’m not sure. It’s been a while since I’ve played with anyone other than just Centross, if I’m honest.”

“Centross?” Caspian asked.

Wolf grinned a little sheepishly. “Yeah, that's my boyfriend. He’s a guitarist, he and Rae go way back.”

Caspian blinked, glancing from Wolf to Rae and back again. “Wait, wait… Ominous Bane Centross? Centross Mistvale?”

Rae let out a small groan at the same time Wolf chuckled. “That’s the one.” The barista nodded.

“Wait, Ominous Bane as in the band?” Aax asked, craning his head to look at Rae. “As in Once a Villain Always a Villain , Ominous Bane? Good Friends Keep Secrets Ominous Bane? Rae you know them?”

“I don’t really wanna talk about Ominous Bane right now.” Rae mumbled into his coffee.

“You guys fans?” Wolf smirked, sipping his own drink.

Caspian nodded. “I mean yeah, they had some good songs, they seemed really cool. I mean I know them mostly cause uh, my best friend, we roomed together while I was in college for a bit, Strawberri, her kid Easton was in that band!”

“Wait, Momboo Strawberri?” Wolf asked, leaning forwards. “Man she’s the sweetest, we used to catch up all the time, Easton’s a great kid, it’s a shame they haven’t done much since the band broke up, I haven’t heard from them much.”

“They’re back at school.” Caspian grinned, nodding. “Law, I think? Or maybe it was real estate. Honestly I have no clue.”

“Sounds like Easton.” Wolf laughed. “Small fucking world, huh?”

“I’ll say.” Caspian smirked. “I didn’t realise you knew other bands, Rae.”

“Just wait until you learn why he doesn’t date musicians.” Wolf muttered over his coffee. There was a touch of bitterness to his voice, blended in with the taste of his coffee.

Neither Caspian or Aax noticed, their hearts sinking as they looked at their singer.

“Wolf!” Rae hissed, his head snapping up.

“Sorry.” Wolf mumbled, hanging his head. “Sorry, Rae I didn’t mean it like—”

“You don’t date musicians?” Aax asked softly. They had stopped drumming on the table. “Like, as a general rule, or…”

“No!” Rae shook his head quickly, the blush having vanished from his cheeks. “Not no I don’t date musicians, I mean, I mean that’s not true, of course I date musicians. Not that I’m actively dating any musicians, obviously, I don’t like, go around looking for musicians to date, but if one asked I wouldn’t say no just because they’re a musician, I would say yes. Wait, that sounded wrong, I wouldn’t say yes because they were a musician obviously, but like that's not a dealbreaker or anything, sometimes it's like, really hot if they’re passionate about music, it would just depend on the person, or… or people, or…”

Rae couldn’t tell if he was on the verge of laughing or crying and he didn’t know which he would prefer. He was trapped in the corner of the booth behind Caspian and Aax, both of whom were staring at him with expressions which for a moment seemed genuinely hurt, but now seemed…

Smitten .

Perhaps he was reading too much into his own desires.

He was definitely reading too much into his own desires of course they weren’t fucking smitten , least of all not with him, he was the loser about to have a panic attack in the corner of a coffee booth surrounded by aggressively hot musicians — why was it always musicians and why were they always so hot that wasn’t fair — and oh god maybe he was going to be sick…

“It’s alright.” Caspian smiled weakly. Beneath the table, his hand reached over and rested on Rae’s knee.

Rae definitely felt as if he was going to throw up.

Only he didn’t.

He kept himself as calm as he could, easing into the guitarist’s touch.

“Y-Yeah?” He asked weakly, his throat tight.

“Yeah.” Caspian nodded, trying to contain a smile as he stared at Rae with dark, adoring eyes. “Yeah, I definitely get what you mean.”

“It’s pretty hot when singers get passionate about music too, you know.” Aax added quietly from the other side of Caspian, blush staining his pale face red.

Rae had to stop himself making another high pitched squeaking sound. He was gripping his cup of coffee so tightly he was afraid the plastic would buckle and lid would burst off. “R-Really.”

“I definitely think so.” Wolf nodded gently, looking between all three men before his eyes settled on Rae. “You’ve got good taste in bandmates , Rae.”

Rae smiled weakly up at him. “T-Thanks, Wolf… So, would you want to join us? Play bass?”

“Do you guys really want me to?” Wolf chuckled. “I’m a little rusty, and hell, you don’t even know if I’m that good.”

“I guess we won’t know for sure until you practise with us.” Caspian admitted, though his eyes were still locked on Rae as he spoke to the barista across the table. “But, like you said… Rae has good taste in bandmates. If he wants you playing, I’m on board too.”

Aax nodded enthusiastically, sending their mess of white and blue hair bouncing. “We’ll definitely give you a shot, with Rae’s vouch.”

Wolf considered them for a moment. Not just Rae this time, but all three. The way they looked at each other, and the ease at which they interacted, despite the tension. And he looked at the way Rae, quite possibly for the first time since he’d met the man all those years ago, seemed happy .

“I guess with that level of confidence how can I turn you down?” Wolf winked at Rae, and the singer melted slightly into the chair, sinking into Caspian’s shoulder.

“Great!” Caspian beamed. “That’s great! Thank you, Wolf, genuinely, it’s an honour to have you on board.”

“Hold on now,” Wolf laughed, “You haven’t even heard me play yet.”

“Well then, to hearing you play with the band?” Aax suggested. The drummer lifted their coffee cup in a toast. Caspian and Wolf mimicked the motion, and finally, with shaking hands, Rae did the same.

“To the — as of yet — unnamed band.” Aax grinned.

“The unnamed band.” Wolf inclined his head, taking a sip of his drink.

Aax, Caspian and Rae mimicked the movement with varying grunts of surprise and appreciation.

“Holy shit,” Caspian stared into his coffee cup, “That is really good .”

Wolf laughed. “I try my best.”

“Is there walnut in this hazelnut mix? It’s great.” Aax nodded, “And the chocolatey consistency…”

“I told you it was good.” Rae smiled sheepishly, taking a sip of his own drink. “You think the coffee is good, you should hear him play the bass…”

Chapter Text

“Luke?” Rae shouted out into the darkened house. The place reeked of unwashed clothes and cigarette smoke, and Rae had to peer into the shadows for any sign of life as he slipped the keys back into his pocket. “Uncle Luke?”

There was no response as he wandered deeper into the house, wrestling the bags of groceries in his arms as he stepped over discarded cans and takeaway food boxes.

“Uncle Luke, it’s Rae!” He pleaded to the silence. “I um… I brought you some groceries? I found some of those ready meals, and um…”

There was shuffling from upstairs, and Rae sighed. “And I’ve got the beer you asked for.” 

The words seemed to hasten the movement, and soon enough the thin, dishevelled figure shambled down the stairs, draped in what was either a bathrobe or a blanket, Rae couldn’t quite tell.

“I didn’t think you were coming by anymore.” Luke muttered, collapsing into an kitchen chair across the counter from Rae.

“I wanted to make sure you were alright.” Rae said uneasily. “And um… Soraza asked Ari to make me check in on you.”

Luke made a face, scrunching up his swollen, puffy eyes as he thought, rolling his dry tongue around his mouth. “Soraza, that’s um…” He held up a trembling hand and wiggled his fingers in vague plucking motions. “Classical one, right? The um… the… the harp girl?”

Rae forced a smile. “Yeah. The harp girl . She’s got her hands too full to stop by and… well Arisanna doesn’t want to come by until you get them the next paycheque.”

“I pay her? Ain’t that the little one, with glasses?” Luke cracked open an eye and looked up at Rae.

“No, Luke, that’s Addie. Arisanna has the blue hair, brown eyes, works at the library in the children’s section? Looks like her mom, Soraza?”

Luke grunted in response, slumping down on the counter.

“Your hair dye is smudged against your forehead.” Rae sighed, pressing his palms against the edge of the counter.

“I don’t use hair dye.” Luke grunted indifferently.

“Right, of course you don’t.” Rae muttered. “Look just rinse it off before it gets oily, you need a shower.”

“I need a drink.”

“Do you? Really?”

Luke grumbled something unintelligible as he folded his arms on the counter and rested his head on them.

Rae drummed his fingers on the counter. “Will sent you tickets. To his next gig. He’s passing through not too far away on their next tour, he was hoping—”

“I don’t go to concerts anymore.” Luke huffed.

The younger man nodded. “Yeah. He just… He misses you.”

“He could have called once and a while instead of trying to—”

“He did call, Uncle Luke. He calls every week . You don’t answer them.” Rae took a deep breath through his nose, gritting his teeth. “You don’t answer any calls. Aphrien and Achrien called the other day. They wanted to talk to you about a potential merger or buyout or something.”

“Well which one is it?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t take notes on whatever they were—”

“Well why not?” Luke snapped.

A coil which had been building for months in Rae’s stomach finally sprang. “Because it’s not my fucking company, Al! ”

The name made the old man’s shoulders tense, and he pulled his face out of his hands to look up at his nephew. “Really? That’s the card you’re pulling?”

Rae shrugged, his hair bouncing around his shoulders with the movement. “I-I don’t know, maybe it is, Uncle Alerion . I’m not the one who runs Aether Records, that’s your job . Fucking do it. ”

“You really want to play the full name game, Raemond Everette Morningstar?” Luke growled. Last I checked you’re the one relying on the income from Aether Records. You think an assistant librarian position is going to pay the bills? The only reason we can keep the lights on in that place is because you convinced me to buy it . That library is haemorrhaging funds.”

“The company is haemorrhaging funds, Al! Do you know when the last time an artist signed? Because I sure as hell don’t! 

Luke glared up at his nephew, his lip twitching in its permanent snarl. He reached into the pocket of his robe and pulled out a cigarette.

Rae watched as his uncle lit the end with a lighter slipped from another pocket, taking a drag before finally letting out a long breath of smoke.

“Do you really have to do that inside?” Rae asked quietly, trying to contain his anger.

“It’s my house.”

“Actually I don’t know if that’s true anymore, Al! I pay the bills! I buy the food!”

“With my money.” Luke grumbled.

Rae deflated, watching as his uncle’s unsteady grey eyes followed the trails of blue smoke towards the ceiling.

He sighed, turning around the lean against the counter. “Athena’s coming by in the morning to collect the last of their things.” He breathed.

There was a long, pregnant pause as Rae felt Luke’s eyes on his back. “Oh.” Was all the older man said.

“They’re moving into my place. They’ll have some more space now, and I’m so busy with work and the band and…”

Rae’s voice trailed off as he realised what he said.

The silence was sharper now.

“A band?” Luke asked slowly. “I uh… I thought you didn’t like musicians anymore.”

“Yeah I wonder why.” Rae huffed.

“So… are you playing for them, or…”

“I… I sing. I’m the lead singer , actually.” Rae stood up, turning back around to face his uncle. “And these guys are… They’re different. They’re great. They’re actually really great , Luke. Better than most of the musicians I’ve had the displeasure of meeting. We’re playing our first competition in a few weeks, it’s even televised. Not that you’d give a shit.”

Luke stared up at his nephew, his swollen and red face portraying barely any of the emotions which seethed behind his eyes. He reached over and tapped the end of his cigarette into an ashtray. “What are you doing here, Rae? Really? Was it just to bring me canned goddamn soup?”

Rae could feel the emotion building in the back of his throat, and he refused to let it spill out any more. 

“I… I don’t know, Al, I thought maybe… I wanted to see if I could borrow something. From the old music stuff, in the basement—”

“You stay the hell away from that stuff you hear me!” Luke snapped, sitting bolt upright. “Don’t you fucking touch it.”

“Or what , Alerion? Are you going to stop me ? You can barely walk in a straight line. You going to cut me off? Fire me? What do you think you’re going to do , Al?”

Luke turned away. He slumped over as he rubbed his eyes with the hand that wasn’t pinching his cigarette. “Whatever.”

“That’s all you’ve got? Whatever? ” Rae scoffed, fishing around in his jacket pocket for his keys.

“Listen I don’t know what you want, Enderian—“ The volume which had suddenly bubbled out of the old man vanished in an instant as his nephew started away.

The two stared at each other, wide eyed, somehow both equally as terrified as the other.

“I— I’m sorry.” Luke breathed unsteadily. “Fuck, Rae I’m sorry, I…” he turned away.

Rae shrunk in on himself, tears pooling in his eyes. “Fuck you, Al.”

He turned on his heel and moved as quickly as he could towards the door, his hand already searching for the keys to lock it behind himself. 

“Rae—” Luke started, standing up unsteadily from his stool in some effort to stop his nephew., 

Rae didn’t stop to look back at him. The singer slammed the door on his way out, finally letting out a sob as he found himself standing alone on the front porch, the setting sun overhead casting the world in purple hues. His tears were hot on his cheeks, and he could feel his entire body trembling with…

Anger? Fear? Shame? He couldn’t tell.

“Fuck you, Al.” Rae breathed, his voice catching in his throat.

His feet were moving beneath him before he fully considered what he was doing. Rae’s hands were shoved deep into the pockets of his hoodie as he moved off the front porch and strode around the side of the house, stopping when he reached the entrance to the basement. He drew out the old, unused key from his pocket, and opened the hatch.

The walls were cracked and crumbling, the concrete room seeming black and claustrophobic in the darkness. Rae used his phone as a flashlight as he manoeuvred through the decades worth of junk stashed down here. Most of it was probably worth a fortune. Or at least, it would have been if it wasn’t coated in a mountain of dust. He stopped at a pile of plastic storage containers.

There were trails in the dust from the last time they were moved. When had that been , he wondered. Two years ago? Three? Early in his relationship with Ven. When he was still desperate to impress the small, mousy musician. Desperate to earn some kind of approval from the man he loved. Or thought he loved, he supposed. He wasn’t sure anymore.

He was definitely sure that the crates hadn’t been moved since then. Rae set his phone on some other boxes, the light of the phone barely illuminating the room as he cracked open the lid of the container.

The jacket stared up at him, still partially crumpled from the last time he had hastily shoved it away after looking at it with Ven. It looked brand new. Kept in mint condition all these years, despite where it was being kept. The light blue denim looked stiff, but he was sure that after some time being worn again it would soften. And Al certainly wasn’t going to miss it…

And the stars embroidered across the shoulders and emblazoned on the collar…

The stars shimmered up at him, the light of his phone catching on the reflective thread woven into the designs.

In the darkness of the basement, those stars shone .

Chapter Text

Wolf had never played in a band before. Sure he had played with other musicians, other groups which had haphazardly called themselves bands… But he had never been in a group that felt like this one. That truly felt like a band , that blended together with such synchronicity and melody in their music. Caspian and Aax made sense, he thought as the group wrapped up the final song of the session. They had been playing together and dating for months, of course they were used to each other’s music and mannerisms.

But even Rae seemed to fall so easily into the music. In all the years Wolf had known the timid librarian, he had never seen him this easy . Not when he had been dating Venear, and certainly not after they had broken up. Of course, he supposed, the times he had been near Rae had always been tainted by the presence of his boyfriend’s old boss, Rae’s mother, Enderian. But still, Rae seemed so at ease, so open with Caspian and Aax, it was…

Beautiful.

Rae Morningstar was beautiful.

Of course Wolf had known that, he wasn’t blind. But he wasn’t sure he had truly considered Rae as such until now, his body swaying gently as his gentle voice rumbled through their speakers, elevated by the bass and the drums and the guitar, carrying Caspian’s written words around the large basement of the suburban house.

Rae finished the song, panting slightly as he caught his breath, and he cast his pale blue eyes around at the group. They seemed to linger on each member with a gentle excitement which all three in the room found attractive and appealing.

None of them were stupid. None of them failed to miss the tension hanging between them. None of them needed or wanted to ignore it. But none of them acted on the feelings. They simply let the music wind to a close, and the basement fall silent.

“That was amazing!” Athena clapped from where she was perched on an amplifier in the corner. “God, the resonance with Wolf’s bass, it’s just…” He made a hand gesture of his mind exploding, with the appropriate accompanying sound. “You guys are amazing!” 

“Thanks, kid.” Caspian smirked, adjusting the way the guitar strap hung around his neck. “Do we want to run through the set again? At least our main song?”

Wolf shifted uncomfortably, pulling his phone out of his pocket to glance at the time. “Actually uh… I don’t know, guys. I’ve got an opening shift tomorrow at the cafe, and I should probably be heading home soon.”

“Oh,” Rae said softly, almost a little disappointed. “We um… We can wrap up, yeah. Maybe, if you all wanted to we could hang out somewhere? Not practice, but… I don’t know, get a drink, or a coffee, or…”

“Like a date?” Aax asked gently from the back of the room, standing up from their drumset. The action of standing up did little to make them seem taller.

Rae’s cheeks turned a deep beetroot red, and he turned away, hiding his face behind his long dark hair.

“Aax…” Caspian whispered, his own cheeks blushed, a little embarrassed.

“W-Would you want it to be a date?” Rae blurted out before he could stop himself. “Because I mean i-if you’re both fine with it than I’m fine with that— it being a date, I mean, w-with both of you, I don’t mind that I think that would be n-nice, I think you’re both really… nice.”

He realised he was talking too much and swallowed, his throat tight.

“I think I need some water.” The librarian squeaked, scrambling away from the microphone and snatching up a waterbottle, chugging it for a long while, if only to stop himself saying anything more embarrassing. Athena gave him a small thumbs up from the corner of the room.

Aax and Caspian smiled at each other, a little nervously. “I think that would be nice.” Aax nodded. “The three of us.”

Rae grinned ear to ear, tucking back a strand of raven hair. “Great! Awesome, yeah, I—” he stopped himself, “Or, I mean, Wolf I didn’t mean to leave you out, I just—”

“It’s alright.” The man held up his hands. “It’s alright. I can’t stay out late anyway, remember? You three have fun on your date.” He winked at Rae, before adding, “And hey, maybe you can make it up to me some other time, Starlight.”

If it was possible for Rae to blush harder than he already was, his face was attempting it.

Caspian raised an eyebrow. “I guess we um… We never really asked what you and your partner’s relationship was like , in that regards.”

Wolf shrugged, smiling, “We’ve talked about it. Both of us, and it’s—”

Before Wolf could finish, the door of the basement was thrown open, and Jamie almost toppled down the stairs, panting as they leaned in. Their embroidered jumper had been traded in for a simple t-shirt and overalls, and sweat glistened on their brow.

“Jamie? What’s up man?” Caspian asked, placing down his guitar and moving towards the stairs. Everyone else in the basement followed suit, moving concerned towards the teen.

Jamie caught their breath. “M-Mom’s pissed there’s… He’s at the door and she wasn’t expecting.” They swallowed, managing to catch their breath. “Centross is at the door. Mistvale. From Easton’s band.”

“Shit.” Wolf mumbled, checking his phone again. “He wasn’t supposed to… I told him to wait in the car, and he wasn’t even supposed to get here until.”

“Centross is here? ” Rae asked uneasily.

There was the sound of raised voices from out in the hall, and Wolf managed to push past Jamie to head out the door, the others following suit.

“Shit, I’m so sorry, I…”

Caspian, Aax and Rae shared looks with one another as they followed out.

Strawberri Pine was not a particularly tall woman, and yet she still managed, somehow, to tower over the large, broad man in the doorway, who’s dark eyes were averted as she continued to shout at him.

“And if your boss thinks you can just show up here to look for them again, after all the legal battles they already had to try and go through—”

“Strawberri, that’s not…” 

“I mean the fact that you would show up to my door , and after what you and Icarus did to Haley , I mean—”

“I’m not with the band anymore, Momboo, I—”

“That’s not what your contract says, you lying scumbag .” Strawberri threw her arms out, her ginger curls bouncing around her shoulders. “You’re lucky I haven’t smacked the shit out of you right now I swear to God —”

“ Hey , Strawberri, Centross…” Wolf said casually, stepping between the two and out onto the front porch where the dark haired man was standing. “I’m sorry, I didn’t expect this to happen, exactly,” He turned to Centross, “Love I thought I asked you to wait in the car.”

Centross’ eyes softened as he looked up slightly at Wolf. “I know, but… I thought I could say hi to your new band, and… Why didn’t you tell me you’re playing with Easton?”

“He is most certainly not, Easton is at college.” Momboo scoffed. “You’d know that if you ever bothered to call or act as a friend to them or me in any way …”

“Momboo…” Caspian said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder as he stepped into the doorway, “It’s alright—”

“No, no she’s right to be mad at me.” Centross shook his head, turning away from Wolf to look Caspian up and down. “We uh… We go a while back and I’ve done a lot I’m not proud of.”

“Trust me, I know.” Caspian mumbled. “Centross Mistvale, right? You played with Easton in Ominous Bane?”

Centross nodded. He smiled, but there was something hurt and distant in the expression at the sound of the band’s name. “Yeah… Yeah, that’s me. You must be part of Wolf’s new band.”

Caspian extended a hand. “Caspian. Solcrest. I’m our guitarist.”

“A man after my own heart.” Centross smiled. His face was broad and sharp, softened slightly by dark stubble.

“Caspian is also our songwriter, I honestly think you’d really enjoy his stuff.” Wolf smirked, glad the situation had deescalated at least somewhat.

Aax appeared, pushing past Caspian and also shaking Centross’ hand. “Aax. Drummer.”

“I’ll have to check you guys out sometime. Maybe I can sit in on one of your practice sessions.” Centross nodded excitedly.

“That’d be awesome!” Aax nodded, “We’d invite you in now—”

“We would?” Momboo raised an eyebrow. Aax didn’t respond, instead continuing. “But we’re actually finishing up for the night, we’ve sort of got—”

“A date.” Rae said quickly, appearing behind Caspian. His white t-shirt was stuck to his shoulders with sweat from being in the stuffy basement, and he bundled his sweater up in his arms, pressing it to his chest. “We’ve got a date, actually. The three of us.”

“Rae.” Centross said softly. He looked from Rae, to Wolf, and back again. “I um… It’s been a while.”

“Yeah. It has.” Rae’s voice lacked any noticeable emotion, but he kept his eyes away from Centross. “I don’t think I’ve seen you since your mom—”

“We don’t talk anymore.” Rae said coldly.

Centross nodded slowly. “Yeah… We don’t either… But it’s really nice to see you’re back in music, I… I’d love to catch up about it sometime, if you’d be willing? I know I did some shitty things, in the OB days, but I—”

“He is trying, Rae.” Wolf nodded. He made eye contact with Momboo, who sighed, nodded, and walked back inside the house.

“Yeah… Yeah I know.” Rae smiled weakly. “I don’t blame you, Centross, I… Catching up would be nice. Some other time.”

His cheeks reddened again ever so slightly. “But um, like I said. We have a date.”

Centross nodded. “I see… I thought you didn’t date musicians anymore?”

“I… Was also under that impression.” Wolf said quietly, trying his best to hide the emotion from his own voice.

Caspian and Aax looked uneasily at Rae. The guitarist was the one to speak up first. “Rae if you… if that’s something you’re not comfortable with, in the band, I—”

“No!” Rae said quickly. “No, it’s not that, just…” He looked at Centross, and then at Wolf. “A shitty rule I gave myself, after a shitty ex. I don’t… I’d love to go on a date.”

“I see.” Aax nodded, smiling softly. “Well, I’m glad to hear it.”

“Well if musicians are fair game again,” Centross smiled, glancing at his boyfriend and nudging Wolf playfully in the shoulder, “I know a bassist who has had his eye on you since—”

“ And that’s enough out of you .” Wolf shoved his boyfriend playfully, grabbing his hand and beginning to pull him away from the doorway. “ We should get going home. I’ll see you guys at next practice, okay?”

“Yeah.” Rae nodded, trying to hide a grin. “Yeah, next practice.”

“It was good seeing you again, Rae.” Centross waved at the group from halfway down the driveway with the hand which wasn’t clasped in Wolf’s. “I’ll catch you guys around.”

“You’re such a dick .” Wolf chuckled.

“That’s why you love me though, isn’t it.” Centross teased, kissing his boyfriend's cheek.

“Yes.” Wolf reciprocated the kiss when they got to their car at the end of the drive. “Among other things.”

Rae cleared his throat, turning away from the complicated past at the end of the driveway to face the complicated future waiting in the doorway.

At least… It should have felt complicated. He sucked at dating, he always had, and yet… Somehow, with Aax and Caspian… things felt easier. This felt easy. And for the first time in years, he was excited to go on a date.

“So… About that coffee?” He asked.

Chapter Text

The presence backstage was palpable, the roars of the crowd after the final announcements still echoing through the venue, and the rage bubbling between the presenter and the winner still flowing between members of the band. The moment they were backstage, Centross slipped the trophy from Rae’s hand, worried the singer might do something rash if he was still holding something heavy when shit hit the fan.

Rae was already way ahead of him, pulling away from Wolf’s attempts to place a hand on his shoulder as he strode towards the exit.

“We need to leave.” He grumbled, fighting to get the words out past the emotion clogging his throat.

Aax tried to step in front of him, slowing him down. “Babe, we need to get out instruments, and besides, we should take some time to try and promote if we—”

“You have some fucking nerve Rae Morningstar!” The voice which cut Aax off was sharp and eerily cold.

All five of the Starkillers turned to watch as Venear Atlan stepped from behind the curtains, ripping the microphone chords from his clothes and throwing them to the side, his nostrils flaring as his gaze bore into Rae.

“Excuse me?” Caspian stepped forwards, holding up his hands defensively. “Who the hell do you think you are? Just because you’re some big artist doesn’t mean you can talk to us like that.”

“Cas…” Rae said quietly, stepping forwards to grab Caspian’s arm. “Cas, it’s not worth it.”

The guitarist looked over his shoulder, watching his boyfriend shrink into himself under the gaze of the artist in front of them.

“Love, you don’t deserve—”

“ Love? ” Venear laughed, throwing out his arms and taking another step towards the pair. “Oh of fucking course , can’t date a musician my ass . I bet he writes his own songs too, doesn’t he?”

“Ven leave him out of this.” Rae snapped. “Cas, c’mon, just drop it.”

Caspian shrugged off Rae’s grip, stepping forward to shove Ven in the chest. “No what’s that supposed to mean, huh?”

“It means he’s got a fucking type, and that you shouldn’t be too surprised when he dumps your ass the moment the pressure gets too much.” Ven growled, shoving Caspian back. “Is this why you fucking competed, huh?” He turned back to Rae. “Saw that I was announcing and needed to rub in my face how much I wasn’t good enough for you?”

Rae seemed more hurt than angry at the accusation. “That was never what this was about, and you know it.”

Centross stepped in between Cas and Ven, placing a hand on Caspian’s shoulder as he wedged the two men apart. “Jesus guys, this isn’t the place, just calm down.”

“Yeah rich of the Violet Reaper to tell me to calm down, piece of shit.” Ven shoved Centross’ arm out of the way as the much larger man tried to rest it on his shoulder.

He brushed a strand of his white-dyed hair out of his face, fighting back tears. “You came out here just to embarrass me. After all these years where I hoped you’d gotten to move on, you—”

“Oh yeah because it’s all about you, isn’t it, Ven?” Rae yelled, stepping around Caspian to get a better view of his ex. “It’s always all about you , god forbid I want to have anything that I’m passionate about! Any goals of my own !”

Ven looked like he’d been struck, his mouth falling open. “You— That was never what it was about and you—”

“That was always what it was about!” Rae threw out his hands. “That was always why we broke up, Ven, because everything was always about you! About your life, your wants, your career !”

“Broke up?” Aax asked behind them. “Hold on the reason you don’t date musicians is because you dated Venear Atlan? ”

Nobody gave them a response. Anyone who might have didn’t get the chance.

“It was supposed to be our career!” Ven screamed, slamming a hand against his chest. “It was supposed to be the two of us! Do you have any idea the bullshit I was put through signing a two person contract as a solo artist? The amount of work I had to kill myself to get done, I—”

“You’re still just talking about you , about how it affected you , did you ever consider it wasn’t the kind of music I wanted to make ?” Rae yelled back. Wolf appeared at his side now, grabbing his forearm to stop him moving any closer to the musician. 

“You told me you didn’t want to make any music! You made it sound like my dreams were torture to you!”

“Because they were your dreams , Ven! Because you chose him!”

Before Venear had the chance to respond, someone came crashing through the curtains to the band’s left, startling all of them. The man pulled a headset off his head, his dark hair falling around his shoulders as he slipped a clipboard under his shoulder. There was some kind of dirt smudged on his white shirt, and he b-lined straight for Ven.

“Ven, sweetheart, what are you doing, we need—”

“Oh sweetheart , huh?” Rae looked at the man who had just appeared. Tall with long dark hair, with wide blue-green eyes.

Rae wasn’t the only one present to notice the similarities between himself and the newcomer.

“Oh don’t you dare—”

“And I’m the one with a fucking type !”

“How dare you he is nothing like you!” Ven screamed, and the newly arrived young man stepped in front of him, placing his hands gently on the musicians shoulders.

“Ven, babe, what the fuck are you doing? He’s going to be here any minute we can’t—”

Ven looked from Rae to his fiance, some of the fight beginning to melt away. “Fengari, I need to—”

“I think you need to apologise ,” Caspian growled, shrugging his shoulder free of Centross’ hand.

“Oh I do, do I?” Ven scoffed. “Fuck it, whatever, I’m sorry your boyfriend is a backstabbing piece of shit.”

“Hey fuck you!” Aax tried to throw himself forward this time, and Centross barely managed to hold the drummer back.

“Okay I think everybody here just needs to calm down!” Fengari shouted at the group. “I’m so sorry about this guys, I swear he’s usually really sweet, I don’t—”

“Yeah I’m sure he acts like it.” Rae choked out, wiping away a tear and smudging some of his purple makeup as he did so.

“I don’t think this is a great time for whatever history has come up to be coming up , so maybe we can catch up another time, talk this out, and—”

“Oh I’d love to catch you another time.” Aax chuckled, struggling against Centross’ grasp.

“Listen to me!” Wolf snapped, all of them jumping. “This guys right, this isn’t helping anyone. You’ve both moved on, we shouldn’t be—”

“This guy is the one who started it!” Caspian snapped, gesturing angrily to Ven.

Ven moved to step around Fengari back towards Caspian, but his fiance held him steady, leaning in closely to whisper in his ear.

“Babe…” Fengari’s voice was low and heavy, and the sound of it directly in his ear made the tension in Ven’s shoulders melt away. “Please. We should leave before…”

Even with his partner present however Ven couldn’t completely force his anger out of the picture. He glared at Rae over Feng’s shoulder. “I don’t… I can’t just leave again without a proper apology from—“

“Oh you want me to fucking apologise!?” Rae snapped, tugging his arm free from Wolf’s grip.

“Actually yeah I fucking would , Rae! Since you’re the one who ended it!”

“God you lying piece of—“

“Ven!” Fengari hissed, his warning coming far too late.

A tall man stepped out from the curtains Fengari had emerged from, striding easily towards the group, the fluorescent backstage lighting making his crisp white shirt glow in the darkness.

“Mr Atlan…” The older man drawled, his smooth voice filling the space between the men entirely, soaking in their attention. “I’m you’re getting the chance to catch up with our winner. It was certainly a… pleasant surprise, wasn’t it?”

Ven froze, forcing his eyes to look up at his employer, rather than at Rae. “Sir, I—“

“Please, its how many times have we been over this, it’s just Fable. We’re all friends here, aren’t we Fengari?”

Feng pursed his lips, not quite meeting Fable’s eyes as he stepped away from Ven quickly. “Yes. Yes, of course, absolutely, friends, sir. Of course.”

“Some of us more than friends, it would seem.” Fable turned his honey-gold eyes on Rae, who cowered back, pressing into his boyfriends in the presence of the man he hadn’t seen in years.

“Rae, my dear boy…” Fable’s voice softened. “It’s been so long. You look so much… like your mother.” There was a twinge of pain around the man’s eyes at the words. A twinge Rae couldn’t help but feel was forced. Fable didn’t elaborate on which of Rae’s mothers he was referring to. “It’s so nice to see you performing. Isn’t it, Mr Atlan?”

“I—“ Ven caught himself, “Yeah… Yeah, it’s real nice to see you applying your talents.” He grumbled.

Rae’s jaw tensed at Ven’s words, but he forced himself to look up at Fable. “It’s… nice to see you, Uncle Fable.”

Fable smiled the charming smile which had made him such a heartthrob thirty years ago. Hell, he was still something of a heartthrob now, for the right demographic. It was a smile that made Rae, Ven and Fengari feel sick to their stomachs. A smile that got whatever it wanted, sooner or later.

When Fable spoke again, however, the hint of the smile was gone.

“Raemond, I’ll cut straight to the chase. We’re family, after all, I wouldn’t want to speak in circles around you, you know how this goes. I know we’ve had some disagreements in the past, after your mother’s passing, but I would… I would simply be honoured to sign you and your friends here—“

“Boyfriends.” Aax cut in, slipping his hand into Rae’s protectively. “We’re boyfriends, actually sir.”

Fable inclined his head. “Of course. It would be an honour to sign you and your boyfriends to Overworld ENT. I know you’ve passed up on the opportunity before, but that’s simply water under the bridge in this industry.”

He glanced coldly at Ven, who flinched.

“And just think! You’d be recording under the same record label as your mother! Imagine how that story could boost your careers! The one owned by your fa— by your uncle.” He included his head at Rae, acknowledging the term he had used. “The publicity of a family coming back together, Rae.” 

Fable smiled again, revealing too many gleaming white teeth. “I would certainly like my family back, after all these years. I’ve missed you, son.”

Rae found himself struggling for words as Fable extended a hand. Behind him, Ven was fuming, eyes still glaring daggers into Rae as Fengari wrapped an arm around the artists shoulders.

“I— Fable, I—“

A multitude of emotions crashed inside his chest, clawing go be let out. The memories of his childhood clashed violently with the kind looking, put-together man before him. Everyone around him was looking at him, staring directly into his soul, as if all of them were witnessing the trainwreck that had been his life play out in his mind.

What was he supposed to say? Obviously it was no, it had always been no, but he couldn’t just make that decision here. It wasn’t just Ven this time, it was the whole band whose future he was rejecting. But if this time he said yes, right in front of Ven, how would that make him look?

“I’m sorry to say that Rae and his partners already have a deal in place.”

The voice which spoke now was dry and gravelly, lacking the charm and silky smoothness of Fable’s speech. And yet there was a resemblance which made itself apparent to everyone present as the speaker approached them from the shadows.

Rae whirled around, as did several of the others.

Alerion brushed some ash off the corner of his jacket’s collar, the wool of the lining stained grey by the remnants of his cigarette. The white shirt underneath was more crumpled than Fables’, but glowed with the name colouration under the backstage lights. His hair had grown longer, sitting in loose waves around his shoulders, and Rae was surprised to see that he hadn’t dyed it this time. The ends were still brown, but the roots shone with the distinct greyness of his age.

He looked… better . Rae realised. Not well exactly. But like he was at the very least trying to pull himself together, and look nice. Trying was something Rae had not seen Alerion do in a very long time.

“Brother.” Fable’s jaw tensed behind his smile. “It is a pleasure to see you, you should really call more. It’s been too long.”

“Yeah, I wonder why I wouldn’t want to call.” Alerion scoffed.

The older man gently slid between Caspian and Rae, positioning himself between the Starkillers and Fable, placing a hand on Rae’s shoulder. Fable’s eye twitched.

“Now, Al, if you’re talking about—”

Alerion waved a hand. “Water under the bridge in this industry.” He smirked. There was a glint in Alerion’s eyes which betrayed the true level of satisfaction he was getting out of this.

“Of course.” Fable nodded. “Well, you’re looking well. Starting to grey, I see. I suppose it comes with being the oldest.”

Alerion shrugged. “Well, we can’t all get by clinging to youth with those box dyes, can we, Fable?” His eyes glanced upwards at Fable’s dark hair, and the man flinched slightly.

The two brothers stared at each other for a long time, near polar opposites despite their similar features. In every way that Fable appeared put together and warm, Alerion was scruffy and cool, with an ease to his posture which Fable’s rigid stance failed to match.

“I wasn’t aware Aether Records was still operating.” The words were barely more than a snarl as Fable tilted his head. “Last I heard you were looking to sell.”

Alerion flinched, and his grip on Rae’s shoulder tightened ever so slightly. “Well, rumours fly.” He forced a smile. “And, well… We’re hoping The Starkillers here might just put us back on the map.”

“I see.” Fable’s lip twitched. “I should have known Rae was working under you, given that he’s wearing your old jacket. Reliving the glory days through him, are we?”

Rae’s cheeks went even more red than they already were, if that was even possible. Everyone in the room had fallen silent to watch the exchange between the two men, each once powerhouses in their industry, and the talk of every media outlet in the country.

“Entirely his choice.” Alerion smiled, his voice rougher as he said it, hiding his emotions. “But not for long, I’ve got a dear friend cooking up some new styles for them real soon. An up and comer in the industry.”

“I see. Well, undiscovered talent can often be undiscovered for a reason, I’d watch out for up and comers.” Fable scoffed, glancing behind him as Fengari tried to shuffle Ven back towards the exit. “Not everyone is as multifaceted as Fengari and Venear here. Between the two of them they handle their own writing, production, performance and style all by themselves. True savants. Anything I’m forgetting?”

Ven tensed. He felt like a prized dog, being held out and shown off and scrutinised by the watchful eyes of those around him. 

“And manage, sir.” Fengari said quietly. “I’m also Ven’s manager.”

Fable clapped his hands together. “Oh, yes, of course, how could I forget. I mean truly they are the ideal partnership, I couldn’t ask for better. Speaking of managing, I’m surprised that, with the power of Aether Records behind them, the Starkillers are starting at such an small scale venue as this? I mean a battle of the bands…”

Caspian looked as though he was about to speak up, but Alerion cut him off.

“Never underestimate the power of the public, Fable.” He smiled. “That was something you always seemed to ignore. Not everyone can be immortalised immediately. You can’t force fame. You need to let it grow naturally, and places like this are where music begins. And don’t worry, their manager is… Quite capable. I hand picked him myself.”

“You did?” Wolf asked, raising an eyebrow as he glanced between the other members of his band. All of them looked between him and Al, equally confused.

As far as they were concerned, they didn’t have a manager, let alone a record deal.

“Yes. Yes, I did. Very experienced young man.” Al shot Wolf a knowing look, and the bassist stayed quiet.

Fable hummed in agreement, still not taking his eyes off his older brother. His hands were still clasped in front of his chest, and he broke them apart, gesturing outwards. “Well, I suppose, if the band is already spoken for, there’s no need for me to continue my pitch in any way.”

“No, I suppose there isn’t.” Al said quickly.

“But, it was… Very nice seeing you again, Rae.” Fable’s gaze softened as he turned back to the singer. “It has truly been far too long. Your brother and I do truly miss you. Please, call me, if you ever want to talk about… anything.”

He glanced back at Alerion, distinctly failing to say goodbye to his brother.

“Fengari, Venear, come with me. I’d like to discuss something on the way out.”

“Of course, sir.” Fengari nodded, glancing at Fable as he walked past.

Ven swallowed, looking back at Rae and the others, now more sadly than anything else. “I’m sorry, Rae.” He said quietly.

Rae swallowed past the lump in his throat. “Yeah. I’m sorry too.”

Fengari looked between the two men, before placing his hands on Ven’s cheeks, pressing his forehead to his fiance’s. “You okay?” He asked softly.

Ven sniffled, nodding slightly against his partner’s forehead. “Yeah… Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Okay.” Feng said softly. He leaned forward, and quickly kissed Ven, ignoring the distant taste of tears on the man’s lips. “Let’s go face the boss, huh?”

“Yeah.” Ven nodded, breathing a little easier as the kiss broke apart. He offered one final glimpse of remorse back at the others, before allowing Feng to pull him away.

“Well that was something.” Centross mumbled as the band was left alone with Alerion. “And you were all worried about me causing trouble when it came to—”

“Love, not the time.” Wolf sighed. Centross stuck his tongue out childishly at his boyfriend. Wolf smirked, shaking his head.

“Everything with that dickhead aside,” Aax grumbled, turning to Alerion and Rae, “We’re not sighed with Aether Records. Or any record company.”

“No,” Alerion nodded, “No, you’re not. And you don’t have to be. I just needed something to say to Fable to get him out of your hair.”

“Thank you.” Rae whispered, his voice having escaped him along with any vitriol he had been fuelled by during the conversation with Ven. “Gods, thank you, Al, I don’t…”

“Hey, it’s alright.” Alerion gently pulled his nephew into a hug, and Rae leaned into it. “I understand.”

“What are you doing here in the first place?” Rae asked as he stepped back, pressing his shoulders comfortingly between Aax and Caspian, who pressed against him in return.

Alerion smiled weakly. “I came to watch you guys play. You were… Really good out there.”

“Thanks, Mr…” Wolf extended a hand.

“Al. Just… Call me Al.” Alerion shook Wolf’s hand. 

Rae swallowed. “You… Look better.” He offered nervously.

Al’s smile flickered, and he nodded, glancing away. He took a long, deep breath through parted lips. A smoker’s breath devoid of a cigarette.

“I feel better,” he said finally, trying to smile, “I’m… Hoping to be better.”

“I’m glad.” Rae smiled back. “I missed you.”

Al’s eyes twinkled. “Yeah… Me too.”

He exhaled again, sticking his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels as he took in the band in front of him. Faces he knew, and faces he didn’t. One of the best bands he’d seen in a long time.

“Well, I should let you boys pack up, huh? You’ve had a long night, I’ll… I’ll get out of your hair.” He nodded, turning to leave.

“Uncle Al, wait,” Rae said hesitantly, looking around at his boyfriends and bandmates, “You… You said we didn’t have to be under Aether Records, but… Could we be? If we wanted?”

“Hold on, you mean an actual record deal ?” Caspian asked, his eyes widening, “Like, with the actual Aether Records ?”

Alerion smirked, running a hand through his hair to brush it out of his face as he turned back around. “I mean… Only if you wanted to. All of you, that is, but…” He looked over at the band, who were all looking at each other excitedly, muttering to themselves about the potential of it. “Yeah… Yeah, I think we could arrange that. Get Aphrien and Achrien to write up some contracts, find you a manager. If you’re on board?”

The members of the Starkillers looked at each other.

“Are you sure?” Rae asked them.

“Not my first rodeo.” Centross shrugged.

Wolf sighed. “Prefer it to any other company, I suppose.”

“Fuck yeah,” Caspian laughed.

“If you’re comfortable with it, of course.” Aax added to Caspian’s statement, and the guitarist nodded in agreement.

Rae nodded. “I think… I think maybe yes? I think for the first time… Yes.” He looked back to Al. “I trust you to… To help us do this right.”

Alerion fought to speak past the lump building in his throat. The pride he felt looking at his nephew, and the gratitude for the chance Rae was giving him.

“Alright then. I’ll make some calls. We… We’ll work things out. Welcome to Aether Records, Starkillers.”

Chapter Text

Ulysses hands trembled as he tried to dial the familiar number, and he cursed himself for skipping his daily physio exercises.

And the exercises for the day before.

And, in fact, most of the exercises over the last few years which he had failed to do.

He waited with baited breath as the phone rang for an agonisingly long time. He didn’t know how late it was in Paris. He hadn’t bothered to look it up, and even though it should have been something he remembered by now his mind was reeling from his earlier phone calls, and he couldn’t focus on anything but the voice which waited for him on the other end of the phone.

“Babe?”

The voice which crackled out of the speakers was muffled by the long distance call, but it still sent a wave of calm through Ulysses jittery body.

“Hi.” They said weakly.

There was a rustling of sheets on the other end of the line as his partner read his tone instinctively.

Vesperae’s voice was a touch softer when they spoke again.

“Hey.” They breathed, their voice gravelly with sleep. “What’s up? What’s a cutie like you doing awake at a time like this?”

Ulysses chuckled, wringing his shaking hands as he leaned back in his office chair.

“I um… I missed you. And I needed to talk, I guess.”

“I miss you too.” Vess purred, grunting a little as they stretched. “I’m sorry you couldn’t come with me, I know… I know it’s been… I’m gonna talk to him, about us, Leese, I promise, it’s just—“

“I know.” Ulysses said quickly. “I know, I promise, I understand, after everything, it’s okay.”

Vess was quiet for a moment. “It’s not like that, it’s just…” they let the topic die with their voice. “Is everything okay?”

“I um… I think so? I think things are, good, actually, I um… I got a job offer, today.” Ulysses mumbled.

“Ulysses, that's great!” Vesperae chuckled. “I’m so proud of you, babe, I didn’t even realise you’d applied anywhere!”

Ulysses was quiet for a moment. “I didn’t apply, actually. They.. they found me, I think?”

Vesperae mimicked their partner’s pause, thinking. “Found you?” They said after a while. “As in… I know Wilkins was looking to start up his own store, did he offer you—“

“No, it’s not like that.” Ulysses shook his head, leaning on the desk with his head in his hands as he searched for the right words. “It’s uh… It’s a music job.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah…”

“ Oh .”

“Yeah.”

“Leese, it’s not… it’s not Telchin again, is it?”

“No!” Ulysses said quickly. “No, it’s actually um… somewhere I applied to before them. A big company, actually, or they were. They found me on file, and they-they said I looked promising, and they knew all about the Telchin issues and they said it didn’t matter and they’d give me a chance, and they have this new band and they need a manager, so I wouldn’t even have to play, I could just work behind the scenes and I could quit whenever I want—“

“Ulysses…” Vesperae said gently as their partner’s voice trailed on, hysteria creeping in further and further as his anxiety took hold. “Love, just breathe.”

“And I know what you’re going to say, after everything that happened with the bands, a-and the Leviathan accident I shouldn’t do this— But the pay is really good , Vess, and I could help with the bills, I can pull my weight more and—“

Tears were pricking in Ulysses' eyes, and his entire body was trembling, not just his damaged hands now.

“Honey, is that what this is about?” Vesperae asked softly. The sleepiness was gone from their tone, and Ulysses could hear them moving to sit up in bed. “Ulysses, you don’t need to worry about that, I’ve got us covered.”

“I— I know.” Ulysses shuddered, trying to breathe. “I know you do, but I want to help with our life, Vess.”

Vesperae was quiet for a moment. “Oh, so you’re not content being my sugar baby anymore?”

“Vess!” Ulysses choked out, taken aback by his partner’s complete shift in tone. “Don’t— Don’t say it like—“

“Aw, what, you’re not in public .” Vesperae giggled, shifting the phone against their ear. “You’re not embarrassed , are you babe? You didn’t seem embarrassed about it when I got us that upgrade on the flight back from London last month. You seemed to quite enjoy the extra privacy , if I remember right…”

“Babe, I’m being serious here!” Ulysses face was beetroot red, buried in his hands.

“So am I.” Vesperae smirked from the other end of the line. “I’m teasing you, my love. You think too much, you need to breathe . Calm down for a second. I was trying to distract you before you hyperventilate.”

Ulysses ran his tongue over his dry lips. “Thank you.” He breathed.

“Of course, sweetheart.” Vess sighed. “So… This managerial job. What did you tell them?”

“That I’d think about it.”

“I see.” Vess nodded. “And what are you going to do?”

Ulysses bit his cheek. “Think about it, I guess.”

Vesperae chuckled. “You're adorable.”

“You’re gonna tell me it’s a bad idea, aren’t you?” Ulysses mumbled. “And you’re right, it’s—“

“That’s not what I was going to say, babe.” Vess cut him off.

Ulysses paused. “W-What?”

Vesperae was quiet for a long time. “Ulysses, you love music. I know you do, you always have. The fact you were so passionate about it when we first met, I… It was part of what drew me to you in the first place, babe, and I know everything that happened fucking sucked since then, but… I want you to be happy. I want to see you smile like that again, Ulysses.”

“I am happy, Vess.” Ulysses said softly, wiping his eyes. “With where I am now. I’m happy with you .”

“You’d better be.” Vesperae teased, and Ulysses couldn’t help but smile.

“So you think I should take it?”

“I think…” Vesperae sighed. “I think you made the right call. That you should think about it. If… if you want this, Leese, I think you should look into it. But that’s your call. I’ll support you either way, whatever you pick.”

Ulysses nodded, pursing his lips. “Thank you.”

“I love you.” Vesperae whispered.

“I love you too. So much.”

“Money aside, do you… Do you want to take the job?”

Ulysses ran a hand through his hair. “I… I think I do. I really think I do. I miss it, Vess. The travelling, and the sound of people playing and just practising, having fun and being in a band. And I can’t have that again, I know that, but… I could help them have it. Make sure that what happened to me doesn’t happen to other people. I know they’re not much younger than I am, but if I protect people from that happening…”

“You want to if you can.” Vess nodded. “I think that’s… really amiable, Leese. Just make sure you’re alright with being in that space again, okay? And I’ll always be there with you, too. I should be home in a few weeks, maybe a month at the most.l

“It’d be nice, to have you there too.” Ulysses smiled.

“It’d be nice to be there with you.” Vess agreed. “So, this band they want you to look after… Any good? Anyone I might have heard of?”

Ulysses picked up the notepad beside him on the desk. His handwriting was borderline illegible, but he managed to decipher the notes he had made earlier in the day.

“I think they’re an indie rock group. Had a few singles online in the last few months, and got connections go the industry. I listened to some of their stuff, it’s… It’s really good.”

“Your kind of music?” Vess asked.

“Definitely.” Ulysses chuckled. “The kind of band I would kill to play with. I'm surprised they’ve gone this long without a proper manager, honestly…”

“Sounds like a good place to get in, without any pressure.” Vesperae suggested. “They got a name?”

“The Starkillers.” Ulysses smiled, looking at his notes. “They’re called The Starkillers .”

Chapter Text

It was difficult to hear anything over the band’s practicing; the music amplified by the walls and trembling the foundations of the home. They kept meaning to find somewhere else to play. Somewhere with better acoustics to really hone in on how they sounded.

Only finding somewhere like that, especially within their budget, before Al’s funding came through, was a lot harder than it sounded.

Despite the volume of the speakers, the knocking somehow seemed louder. It wasn’t slamming, necessarily. No one was pounding on the front door of the home. The knocking was heavy, yes, but cold and measured. Distinct, solid rasps on the wood, intentionally forgoing the doorbell to let the noise sink into the very house itself.

Slowly, the Starkillers came to a stop. Voices trickled off and chords were cut short, as all of them stood, and waited for the knock to come again.

It did. Shorter, and more direct this time, the sound itself running out of the little patience the knocker had afforded it.

Slowly, Rae adjusted the purple jacket hanging around his shoulders, and pressed out into the small hallway beyond the living room. With a glance back over his shoulders at the others, Rae opened the door.

His usual greeting to knockers caught in his throat as his eyes darted upwards to the tall woman looming over him on the porch.

“It’s been a long time, Rae.”

“M-Mom?”

Rae stepped away from the door as the tall woman let herself inside, her strides strong and purposeful, as if fully prepared to barrel over her son if he didn’t move out of her way.

Enderian smiled at him, though the smile failed to reach her eyes.

“I must say, purple looks good on you. I much prefer it to that old blue jacket you were wearing.”

Rae swallowed, forcing himself to say the words he desperately wanted to hold back. “Yeah. The purple really brings out Isla’s eyes, doesn’t it?”

Anger flashed across the tall woman’s face, her green eyes boring into her son. Rae failed to flinch beneath her gaze.

“Al’s not here.”

“I’m not looking for him, dear,” Enderian hummed, “I wanted to talk to you . About your little band. ”

“Listen, ma’am,”

Caspian stepped forward, joining Rae in the door to the living room as the others began to move slowly behind him. He slipped his hand into Rae’s as he positioned himself between the singer and his mother.

“If you’re here about your record label, we’ll tell you the same thing we told Mr. Quakeson. We already have a deal.”

Enderian laughed, revealing rows of perfect white teeth behind her dark lipstick. It was a beautiful, easy laugh, turned cold by years of heartbreak. It was easy to see from the plastered on smile how she’d been so successful in the media industry all these years. She’d been an icon in her youth, and that beauty hadn’t faded with age; only grown sharper, weaponised by decades of careful honing.

“Oh,” she clicked her tongue, “No, I’m well aware I can’t offer you a deal, as much as I would love for my son to work with me.”

Rae didn’t dignify her with a response.

“So why are you here?” Caspian asked.

Enderian tilted her head, her eyes moving across the room, pausing when her gaze reached the man she was looking for. “I'm here as a courtesy, towards my son. I'm here instead of my lawyers.”

“W-What?” Rae stammered.

Enderian pointed a long, slender hand at Centross, who’s eyes were locked firmly on the ground between his feet. 

“You see, Rae, Mr Mistvale here is still under contract with Endstone International. A contract which explicitly prevents him from working with another label until his contract is fulfilled. He and his bandmates owe me two more singles, I believe. Not to mention an obligated live performance.”

“That’s bullshit!” Wolf spoke up, his knuckles tight around the neck of his bass as he stepped in front of Centross. “Ominous Bane’s been broken up for years you know you’re not getting that contract fulfilled, that’s not on Cent—”

“I would watch your tone , Mr Nightingale.”

Wolf froze.

“Yes, I know your name. The same way I know about your sister’s political campaign, and her lack of funding.”

Wolf looked as if he was about to snap the neck of his bass in half. “How do you—”

“It’s surprising what you can find out when you have the proper means. I know all about you. About all of you. ”

Enderian’s green eyes moved around the room, taking in each member of the band.

“I know about your sister, yes, and about Mr Mistvale’s contract.” Her eyes landed on Aax. “I know about your internship with certain… corrupt corporations.”

Aax hunched over his drums, his small frame seeming even smaller.

Caspian tried to step in. “You don’t know what you’re—”

“I even know, Mr Solcrest, about your brief stint in the correctional system.”

The lyricist froze, his eyes going wide. Enderian’s lip twisted into a cruel smile. 

“You haven’t told them about that, have you? Don’t worry. You all have secrets. Things I’m sure you don’t want certain members of the media finding out…”

“Get out.” Rae snapped.

“If I were any of you, I would be very careful about how you treat my son.” Enderian smirked.

“How dare you .” Rae growled. “You’re not my fucking mother, you gave that right away a long time ago.”

“Now, Rae…”

“Get out of my house!” Rae screamed, pushing past Caspian and striding towards his mother.

Enderian stepped back, and for just a moment her demeanour faltered, and she seemed truly scared of her son.

She adjusted the collar of her blazer, stepping back out the door. “Very well… I suggest you find another guitarist, Starkillers. Otherwise, you’ll be hearing from my lawyers.”

Rae slammed the door behind the woman the moment she was over the threshold, bracing himself against it as his body trembled, and he tried desperately to keep himself together before he turned back around to face the band.

“Rae…” Aax had scrambled out from behind his drums and was already there to wrap his arms around the taller man as the singer stumbled.

“I’m… I’m fine,” Rae croaked.

“No, you’re not, Starlight,” Wolf muttered, setting down his guitar and coming to join the pair, wrapping an arm around Rae’s shoulder and leading both him and Aax away from the door.

“I should go,” Centross croaked, taking the guitar off from over his shoulders and making a move to gather up his belongings.

Rae shook his head, “No, you shouldn’t.”

“Okay well even if I shouldn’t, I have to , don’t I, Rae. This is… This isn’t on you. I haven’t signed any contracts yet, the rest of you can’t get in trouble legally if I back out now.”

“Fuck that, Al can figure out something with the legal troubles!” Rae stressed, “Come on, thats entirely what Aphrien and Achrien are for, they’re some of the best lawyers in the industry, there has to be a way out of it.”

“Maybe there is…” Wolf hummed, “You’re not allowed to perform as yourself, right?”

“Not solo. Or as part of a band, Wolf, thats—”

“But what if you weren’t playing as yourself?” The larger man pushed.

The rest of the band looked up at him. Rae’s eyes widened.

“If the contract stipulates that Centross Mistvale can’t perform with the band…” Wolf suggested.

“Then there’s a chance that you could, performing under a different name as a separate anonymous artist,” Rae finished.

Centross laughed.

“That would not hold up in a court of law.”

“We don’t need to make it hold up in a court of law,” Caspian shrugged, “We just need to justify the name change it to Aether Records. They would be the ones trying to find the loop hole, not us.”

“It’s risky.”

“So is trying to find a different guitarist who matches our style this well,” Aax suggested, pulling himself away from Rae but keeping an arm around the singer’s hips.

“And luckily, of all of us… You and I are the only ones with an already existing extra name…” Wolf grinned.

“He’s got a point,” Rae nodded, clearing his throat as the band collectively looked over to their guitarist. 

“So, what do you say, Violet Reaper? Care to rejoin the Starkillers?”

Chapter Text

“You… You said a manager?” Caspian asked, rubbing his hands on his thighs nervously as he glanced across the table of the coffee shop at Alerion.

It was strange for them, sitting so close to a once legend in the music industry. Even stranger, surrounded by these contemporaries who seemed to have so many more links to the industry than he and Aax did. Even Rae, their new partner and seemingly a stranger to the band-scene had so many… connections .

Of course, Aax had connections, once, but… Telchin Records had gone under a long time ago.

“A manager,” Alerion inclined his head, taking a sip of his decaf coffee, “A real one. Not a… Popular one , I suppose, but… His resume is promising, barring certain… missteps .”

“What does that mean, exactly?” Rae asked. He watched his uncles movements carefully.

There were bags under Al’s eyes, and his fingers trembled faintly as he cupped his hands around his coffee. Still, there was a glint to his grey eyes and an upturned twitch to his lips that Rae hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Sometimes… Sometimes companies blacklist an artist or a producer without due cause. Personal grievances which bleed into personal records. Industries don’t take kindly to those who point out their flaws.”

“That sounds… promising.” Fenris hummed, weaving his fingers into Centross’ under the table. The chime of the door sounded behind them all. No one looked up.

Aax returned from the counter, a stir stick in between their teeth and a packet of sugar in each and, shaking out the sachet’s.

“As long as he’s happy to work with us, I couldn’t care less what he’s done before now,” she grinned, peering over their glasses, “What did you say their name was again?”

Someone cleared their throat from behind the drummer.

“Excuse me?” The man asked, adjusting the bag over his shoulder, “I hope I’m in the right place, I’m looking for Alerion Majoris? About the offer from Aether…”

Everyone at the table turned to face him. Including Aax.

“Records. A-Aether records.”

“You.” Aax hissed.

“Mr Themist,” Al began to stand up from his chair, “It’s wonderful to meet you in pers—”

“P-Perseus?” Ulysses croaked, frozen in place.

“You mother fucker!” Aax launched themselves forward, arms swinging before anyone could even think to stop them.

Ulysses reeled backwards as a pale fist slammed into his face, and the manager let out a choked cry of surprise, tripping and crashing back onto the floor.

“Aax!” Rae and Caspian cried out at the same time, lunging forwards to try and hold their partner back.

Al slid immediately past the trio, crouching down to help Ulysses stand up again. “Mr Themist I am so sorry , please forgive my friends, they simply weren’t— He um… Well I don’t really…”

Ulysses’ large blue eyes were still locked on the small drummer, who had collapsed somewhat into his partner’s arms, trembling.

“No, no it’s alright, I…” There were tears in the corners of his eyes, and his lip trembled as he tried to speak. “I understand, I didn’t realise… Percy, I didn’t know—”

“Aax,” they growled, “My name is Aax.”

Ulysses raised his hands, “Of course, I’m sorry, I should have… I’m sorry, Aax, I… You’re so… Grown up.”

“Shut up.” Aax growled. “You don’t get to say that, you don’t get to— to be here , I… I trusted you. ”

This seemed to hit the manager far harder than the punch ever could. “I know,” his voice cracked.

“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t aware there was history, of any kind, if I had known, Mr Themist—” Al tried to begin, but Ulysses quickly shook his head.

“No, no you don’t need to apologise to me sir, this is my fault, I didn’t… They’re the one who’s been put in this position, I… I’m sorry, I entirely understand if this has compromised our offer and you’d like me to step away from the position.”

“Maybe that’d be best, yeah.” Caspian spat over Aax’s shoulder, holding their partner tightly.

For a moment, panic flashed across Al’s face, “I don’t think you understand, Mr Solcrest, Ulysses here is the only manager willing to take on the band. The only one Aether Records can find, certainly. Either Mr Themist acts as manager and producer for the band, or… We don’t have one.”

The older man turned to Ulysses, a hand still firmly placed on their shoulder. “Mr Themist I urge you to please reconsider, your talent is indispensable in this moment.”

Ulysses shook his head, “I… I would, sir, truly. I would love to take the position but… I wouldn’t put P— Aax , in that position. I can’t force them to work with me, sir, I wouldn’t do that to them.”

“Oh, that’s where you draw the line?” Aax spat. “You’ll wreck my career without a second thought, throw me out on the street but you wouldn’t want me to see you again , would you?”

Ulysses’ trembled, “Aax, please, that’s not…”

“Because god forbid someone holds you responsible for your actions , prick. God forbid Ulysses Themist has to look me in the eyes after taking away any chance I had at a better life .”

Rae leaned down to try and look Aax better in the eyes. “Love, what did he…” He turned to look back at Ulysses, his usually kind face twisting into a snarl, “What did you do?”

Ulysses mouth opened and closed, fish-like and noiselessly.

“Perhaps the two of us should step outside for a moment,” Alerion suggested, beginning to lead Ulysses away.

The manager failed to tear his eyes away from Aax as he was lead away. All he could manage was simply:

“I’m sorry.”

“Truly, Mr Themist if I had known—“ Alerion led the man outside onto the street. The evening air was cool as it blew past, catching in manager’s long hair.

“No, you don’t need to apologise, sir, you couldn’t have known, I… I didn’t realise myself.” Ulysses said quietly.

His hand was pressed against his jaw where he had been punched by the drummer, and when he opened his mouth wide it clicked painfully. Alerion winced.

“I know this seems insane to ask after such a confrontation but…”

The older man took a long breath Ulysses recognised as that of a smoker. In though the nose, out through barely parted lips, as if he were silently whistling.

“This band… We have a lot riding on us. I have a lot riding on them. A whole  company, in fact. And they have a lot riding on me too. You heard their tapes, they can make it big, they just… need someone to take them there. Even if they’re a little rough around the edges.”

Ulysses nodded, swallowing. “Mr Majoris… I would want not nothing more than to manage the Starkillers. Truly, I would, you don’t— I don’t think I can express how much I want them to succeed. To be involved with that. But I can’t force Aax to work with me. I don’t want to do that to them.”

“What did you do, Mr Themist?” Al said, rubbing his hands together against the chill of the breeze, “I could talk to them, perhaps…”

Ulysses swallowed, “I managed them, sir. I single handedly ruined their career.”

Alerion pursed his lips. “Ah.”

Before he could say anything more, the door to the cafe flew open.

“You,” Aax pointed at Ulysses as the door slammed shut behind them, “I need to talk to you.”

“Aax, please—“ Alerion started, holding up his hands placatingly.

“No, Al, I… I need to speak with Mr Themist alone .” Aax snarled.

Alerion looked between Aax and Ulysses. Slowly, after a moment, the manager nodded.

“Okay.”

“Okay…” Alerion echoed, making a point to walk between the two of them in his way to the door, separating them a little bit more for just a moment.

The two musicians on the street corner were silent for a long time. A decade worth of words built up in Ulysses throat, threatening to spill out before dying on his tongue.

“P… Aax…”

“Did you know?” Aax spat, glaring up at him over the rims of his glasses. “When you took the interview did you know?”

“That you were part of the band? No, of course not, I… I wouldn’t have dreamed…”

“Yeah I’m sure it would have been a nightmare to have to think of me again at all.”

“Aax please—“

“No don’t act like I can’t be mad at you! You mother fucker I have every right! ”

Ulysses adjusted his bag on his shoulder, hands tightening around the strap across his chest. “Yes, you do, okay, I’m sorry.”

“Oh that’s it? That’s it, you’re sorry?”

“Well what else do you want from me , Aax?” Ulysses pleaded, throwing his arms. “What do you want? Do you want an ‘oh hi how’s it going, long time no see?’ Do you want me to ask about how much better your life was without me?”

“Better? Fucking better? You ruined my life!” Aax screamed. “You took the only thing I had , my only chance at a life, and a home, and a family, and you threw it away! You left me on the street corner for dead , Ulysses!”

“I did what was best for you!”

“How could you know that? Because you’re older? Is that it? Didn’t want some snot nosed kid to get the fame because you missed out on it as a teenger?”

“I know because I lived it , Aax! Because I had that life as a teenager and it did this!” Ulysses held out his trembling hands, the skin a mess of mottled scars. “Because I knew what was going to happen to you if you took that record deal, Aax, because I already took it . I read the contract. I knew what Telchin Records was like.”

“I don’t care about that!” Aax shouted, and despite being the larger man Ulysses stepped back in fear. “I don’t care about why you turned them away, I care about why you turned me away! Why you didn’t want me! ”

Ulysses voice broke as he tried to speak. He blinked past the tears which streamed down his face, tracing the line of his scar down his cheek.

“Aax… I… That’s not what happened… Aax I wanted to care for you, so badly, but I…”

“Then why couldn’t you!” Aax begged, stepping closer, “I loved you ! You were my family and then you threw me away! You didn’t want me anymore once you crashed my career into the ground! Once I wasn’t useful to you anymore!”

“I crashed your career into the ground because I loved you, Aax!” Ulysses sobbed. “I did that for you , I need you to know that, please , I… God, you were a kid . One of the biggest child stars in the industry! You were barely fourteen , and they would have owned you , Aax. For your entire life , you would have been nothing but a number. Someone Telchin Records could control and exploit, I wanted you to have a better life . A life that I couldn’t provide, one that was safe! A real life , Aax, you deserved that .”

“Did it ever occur to you that I wanted that life with you?” Aax’s voice cracked. “That I wanted to live with you , Ulysses, I wanted to… I wanted you to be my dad , I… I thought of you as my dad…”

They were crying now too, and with every step closer their anger dissipated a little more, making them seem smaller, and more fragile. So much more like the little kid Ulysses had looked after years ago…

Ulysses crumpled in on himself, wiping away tears as he tried to force himself to look at Aax.

“I wanted that too. God, fuck , I wanted to be that for you, Aax. I thought of you like that, like my child, But I… I was twenty seven . I had no money, no family, no job, no home . I couldn’t be a father, Aax, I couldn’t adopt a child. I couldn’t keep you safe, I couldn’t… I couldn’t give you the life you deserved.”

“I didn’t need anything else,” Aax shook their head, sniffling, “I just wanted you. I wanted a home.”

Ulysses nodded. “I know… I know.” He took a long, shaky breath. “Aax I have regretted that decision every day of my life. I wanted so badly to take you in, to change things, I truly did .”

Aax’s eyes widened ever so slightly. “I… I can’t trust—“

“I went back, you know? Months later, when I had a job, and somewhere to live, I… I went back to the foster home, to look for you but… You were already gone. And I thought about reaching out, I thought about trying but I couldn’t do that if you were happy , and safe , and I… I couldn’t rob you of that, just because I was selfish about wanting you to be my son.”

“Did you really want that?” Aax asked, turning away to look back at others inside the cafe. All of them were staring at them through the glass. “You really wanted to make things better?”

“Aax I would have traded my life to do things differently. And I know that doesn’t make things better, I know I can’t apologise enough but I would give anything to—“

Aax raced forwards and threw his arms around the taller man’s chest, almost knocking him off balance with the force of the hug as they sobbed into his chest. Ulysses stood there, stunned at the embrace before curling around the younger musician and holding them as tightly as he could possibly manage. Ulysses cried into their white hair, letting years of emotions and regret finally pour over the two of them.

“I missed you so much, Mr Ulysses.” Aax mumbled into his shirt.

Ulysses chest heaved. “God, I missed you too, Per… Aax.”

Aax sniffled. “Perseus is okay. If you wanted, I… I don’t mind—“

“No, no I like Aax,” Ulysses smiled, “It suits you. Like the weapon. Or a guitar,” he smirked.

Aax chuckled. “Yeah. Yeah exactly…”

“Ulysses is okay too,” the manager nodded, “Mr Ulysses makes me feel old.”

Aax squeezed them slightly in the hug, “You are old.”

Ulysses smirked. “Yeah, maybe a little…”

The two were quiet for a minute, before Aax very tentatively spoke up again. “Does um… does dad make you feel old?”

Ulysses’s body tensed as his heart broke. “I… I think it’s an old I could get used to.”

Aax smiled. “We can work our way up to that from Ulysses, maybe.”

The manager nodded against their head. “Yeah. I’d like that. A lot. If you’re okay with me sticking around.”

“I’d better get used to you being around,” Aax breathed, finally pulling away to look up at Ulysses through teary eyes, “Since you’re gonna be managing my band.”

Chapter Text

Ulysses watched as the band stepped out into the hall. There was a long moment of silence as he stepped into the small, underground room. The steps creaked beneath him as he stepped downstairs, dust fluttering up around his feet. It felt so… Humble. Homegrown. Practising their music in a friend’s basement, as if they weren’t on track to produce an album with a major record label.

He was just there for the demos. That was all he really needed: to grab the thumb drive from the desk in the corner, maybe tidy up the place before the band came back from lunch.

Ulysses’ own stomach growled at the thought. He wouldn’t mind getting a bite to eat when he was done. He didn’t exactly know anywhere in town, and he wasn’t going to ask to accompany the other members of the band, but he was sure if he just walked around long enough he’d find somewhere.

He just needed to grab the demos, and then he could eat.

Only…

He paused, standing in the middle of the basement, perhaps ten feet from the desk. 

His blue eyes lingered on the instruments, sitting huddled against the wall, propped up without stands. Their hands trembled, and they curled them into fists, trying to steady the shaking.

How long had it been?

Ulysses took a hesitant step forwards, stepping over cables and chords, and crouched down beside the instruments. Guitars and basses, red and purple and gold, of various makes and styles. He reached out a shaking hand, running a finger across the scuffed body of Centross’ guitar, the purple finish of the wood worn down from years of use. Given how the guitarist played, Ulysses was surprised it wasn’t in worse condition.

Could he even still play?

He knew the answer. Of course he couldn’t. Not since the accident. He had tried, when his hands had finally healed, but it… It wasn’t the same. Besides, he shouldn’t use the band’s instruments while they weren’t here.

Still… It’s not as if anyone would know… Not to mention they were already tuned…

Ulysses took a slow breath, and pulled the electric guitar from against the wall, his scarred hands slipping easily around the neck of the instrument, the weight of it in his grip familiar yet entirely alien. Ulysses glanced back up at the door to the basement. He had closed it behind himself, and there was no sign of anyone there now.

The manager stepped over a few more cables as he slipped the strap around his shoulders and plugged the guitar in, switching on the amp.

The electronic hum of empty noise filled the basement, washing over him like warm, familiar waters. Bathed in that sound, buried beneath its waves, it felt as if for the first time in years Ulysses could finally breathe .

He took a deep breath, adjusting his grip on the guitar and trying to keep his hands steady. Begging for them to stay steady as he tried desperately to align them on the strings. They felt thick and unwieldy beneath his hands.

Tentatively, Ulysses strummed a chord with his thumb.

The sound was choked and muffled by his misplaced fingers as it thrummed through the amp.

The band manager cursed to himself under his breath.

Breathe. He told himself. Just like Vess would say, just breathe.

They closed their eyes, and twisted the angle of their hand, shifting their fingers ever so slightly. At least, as slightly as they could. The back of their hand ached as they pulled the mended tendons into place, muscles threatening to cramp as they strummed again.

The sound came through clear, and Ulysses almost cried.

A single note.

That one beautiful note .

He shifted his hand again, the subsequent chord, and he messed up again, his hands trembling to much to cleanly make the transition.

The hope in his chest crashed into his naval. Now he was going to cry.

“C’mon.” He muttered past the lump in his throat. “Three, two, one…”

Ulysses strummed the first note. Then the second. It wasn’t perfect, but it would do, if he just pushed through it.

The third note fell into place, as did the forth.

A slow smile spread across Ulysses face as for the first time in years he guided is aching hands across the strings, and the song gradually fell into place, note by note, chord by chord.

It was perhaps slower than it should have been, and a little muffled and unsteady. But he didn’t care. He was playing a guitar again .

They wished Vess could see them…

The thought made his heart ache, and the note he played shuddered. The sound threw the manager off and his strumming slipped, making an ugly peaking sound.

He swore again, shaking his head and letting his hair dance around his shoulders.

“I didn’t realise you played.”

Ulysses yelped at the voice from the staircase, spinning around on his heel and flailing to pull the guitar from around his shoulders.

Wolf stood at the top of the stair, looking down at him with those large golden eyes which seemed to bore into the manager.

“Sorry! Sorry, I shouldn’t have— I didn’t mean to mess with anything I was here to get the tapes, I swear I didn’t mean to—”

“How long have you been playing?” Wolf asked, catching him off guard.

Ulysses mouth opened and closed a few times, gulping and fish-like. “I— Uh… I don’t play anymore.” He shook his head, leaning back to switch off the amplifier.

“That’s not what it looks like.” Wolf smirked, taking a few more steps down the stairs. “It sounded good.”

Ulysses laughed. “Yeah. Good, sure… I used to be better.”

He went to hand the guitar to Wolf guiltily, but the bassist simply stepped past him, crouching down into the corner of the room and picking up a large hoodie from the floor. He brushed dust off it as he stood back up, looking Ulysses up and down.

“Really? I guess I can see you as a guitar guy.”

The manager smirked. “Yeah, guitar. I wanted to play guitar, at least, mostly they had me play basses or whatever strings they needed. You heard strings on the radio in any Telchin Recordings song from about five, six years ago? That was probably me.”

“Bass is a good choice.” Wolf smirked back, nodding. “I’m a fan, personally.”

“Clearly.” Ulysses nodded, lowering the guitar once it became clear Wolf wasn’t going to take it. “I um… I liked playing it, a lot. My parents had me learn violin as a kid, but um… God, I loved guitar. I was good at, too, and bass, the richness of it…”

There was a distant, almost dreamy look in Ulysses pale blue eyes as he spoke, staring just slightly past Wolf. a smile tugged at the edge of his lips.

“Sounds like you like strings.”

Ulysses smirked, nodding. “Yeah. Yeah, I liked strings.”

“So why’d you stop? Bands love that kind of versatility, it takes a lot of skill.”

Ulysses' smile vanished. He bit the inside of his cheek as he glanced away. “Yeah… Yeah, companies really love it too. Why hire multiple musicians when you can just underpay one."

“Ah.” Wolf nodded.

The manager shrugged, he held up a hand, showing the bassist the distinct tremor which rocked his fingers.

“There was a tour for one of their artists. Young up and coming rockstar, went by Leviathan . At least once they rebranded him. Really nice guy until we— until they got their hands on him. It was the first time they let me play live, the first time I ever went on tour, and um… There was an accident with the bus.”

Wolf’s gaze softened. “Oh. God, I’m sorry…”

Ulysses shook his head. “It’s nothing, I… It wasn’t fatal, everyone survived, but um… My arms were trapped under part of the vehicle. Hands got fucked up pretty bad, I guess, they… I lost a lot of fine motor control from the nerve damage.” He shrugged. “Kinda hard to play strings when you can’t move your fingers.”

“Christ, Ulysses…” Wolf took a step towards the smaller man, as if he was moving to comfort him in some way, but wasn’t sure how. “I didn’t realise you… I’m sorry.”

The manager stepped over to the wall and set the guitar against it was steadily as he could, slipping his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

“Don’t be. I’m lucky to be as alright as I am.” Ulysses nodded, though there was a stiffness to his nod. “Especially considering everything afterwards with…” His voice fell short. “I don’t know. I’m lucky to have this second chance at helping people make music.”

“We appreciate it.”

Wolf pulled the hoodie over his shoulders as he walked towards Ulysses. The large man extended a hand, and hesitated halfway to Ulysses, unsure whether to aim for a shake or a high five, or… What, exactly. After a moment, he simply rested it on Ulysses shoulder.

“I really appreciate it too.” Ulysses nodded at the much taller musician. “I should uh… Let you get back to lunch.”

“Yeah. And I’ll let you grab those tapes.”

Ulysses nodded. “Yeah, yeah, the tapes, that’s what I was… Yeah.”

Wolf smirked, heading back towards the stares.

“Hey, Wolf?”

He turned around to look back at the manager. “Yeah?”

Ulysses rubbed the back of his neck. “Could you uh… Could you maybe not tell Centross I was messing with his guitar?”

The bassist chuckled. “Sure thing man. He does get a little protective over it.” He opened the door at the top of the stairs, but paused, looking once again down at the band manager. “But, Ulysses?”

Ulysses glanced up as he picked the thumb drive off the desk. “Y-Yeah?”

“If you ever get the urge to try out playing bass again… Mine’s always there.”

A small smile spread across Ulysses face. “Thank you.”

Wolf nodded, slipping back into the hall, and leaving Ulysses alone in the basement.

The man took a deep breath, turning in a slow circle to take in the instruments and recording equipment stashed between old couches, gardening tools, and boxes of old clothes.

Homegrown .

Ulysses rolled the word over in his mind.

Maybe that was good for the band. Maybe that was good for him . Something entirely separate from corporations and big studios and manufactured bands.

A fresh start. A better start. With better people.