Where The Music Goes

by parkeyfinn

An AU, Nick and Finnick are teenagers. I will use some real-life venues/songs to supplement the story, typically in the indie rock genre. I'll list songs at the bottom of each chapter, I keep all of them on my playlist on spotify, which has many more, so don't hesitate to ask about it! Pls comment! Thx! Finnick and Nick have an opportunity to create a real band. Their life's work.

1. Chapter 1

"Just think...just think"...Nick's mind stayed blank.

This wasn't the first time he tried to start a musical project. More like the third time. The first attempt, known as the Busts, was an attempt at harder psychedelic rock that proved futile courtesy of time commitment issues by other members. The second attempt, known as Floraheads, was a mix of hip-hop, psychedelic rock, and hard rock that made good music, but the relationships between everyone else deteriorated to nothingness. This...this was just him. At least, for now.

The beat he made was solid. Actually, all of the instrumentals were. His best friend, the short, light brown fennec fox known simply as Finnick, recorded a simple yet punchy bassline for the song. So, perhaps the solo project was a duet. The instrumentals had a fantastic indie-rock, surfer feel to them. Somewhat characteristic to Zootopia's coast, but who cared, so long as the music had substance?

The intro built up for a few seconds, then stopped. What Nick was trying to figure out was a good opening line to go in this exact place. Yet, no vocals popped in his head. The medium-height orange fox tended to have trouble formulating lyrics, but once they started, they didn't stop.

After the intro, the verse instrumentals were fairly similar. The bass and guitar matched note-to-note, and were complemented by occasional sound effects, used purely as accents. The chorus had a harder drum line and more complex guitar, but nothing overly complex. The focus, as said, was substance over style.

This repeated a couple times before going into a loud, electronic bridge, full of a deep house-esque keyboard riff and near-howling from Nick, before moving back to the chorus as the song ended. All that was left was the damn vocals.

A buzzing became apparent on the table, and Nick looked down, only to see a picture of Finnick's seemingly-permanent scowl on his phone. He picked it up and pressed the "accept" button.

"Hey, man, what's going on ?" Nick asked.

"Nick, you're not gonna believe this". His deep baritone-bass voice always managed to initially startle Nick, or anyone for that matter, potentially expecting something different from a fox his size.

"Believe what ?".

"Okay, so you know how my Uncle's friend is the assistant manager of the Analog Cafe, right ?"

"Of course". Nick already liked where the conversation was going.

"Well, he said he can talk with a couple of the main promoters there and see if he can get you to open up on the mainstage !"

"Holy shit….." sure, that was a maximum of 350 people, but that's still a potentially national touring band, with actual diehard fans, that he could potentially turn into his fans as well.

"Yeah man, I know. But obviously you're gonna need some more songs". Finnick was right, he had maybe 3 songs that he can use left over from his previous projects without controversy from the other former members, and this one in progress still had no lyrics to it. He also needed another musician.

"Finnick, you think you'd be willing to join me ?"

"Fuck, Nick, of course ! I would've killed you if you did it any other way ! I'm assuming you need a bassist, anything else ?"

"Nah, I can run a lot of it from the loops on my macbook. Just keyboards, bass, and maybe some light percussion, like accents 'n shit".

"Alright, dude, but if you want me to help out, we gotta start pumping something out. A series of alt rock artists are gonna be coming through in around 3 months, so we gotta have a good 8 songs within 2 months".

"Fair enough, bro, I can't love ya enough for this ".

"Nick, don't worry about it, you'd do the same for me".

"Alright, well take it easy, and hit me up whenever you're ready to come over and work on something.

"Yeah man, no problem, see you around ".

"See ya".

Nick shut off his phone, and immediately something came to his mind out of nowhere. "You're my cannibal lover". Those were the lyrics. That was the opening line. Quickly, he wrote a set of lyrics in his notebook, and recorded immediately as he was done.

You're my cannibal lover
I feel it when you're underneath the skin
creepin' in again

well I know this chemical feeling
is making me forget about the drugs
you poison with your love
and when I think I'm out of the dark
You're pulling me away from the light
take me where you want me tonight
and let me swoon over you

let me swoon over you
and there's nothing I can do
so let me swoon over you
don't you know you're just another heart breaker
don't you know you're just another heartbreaker?
just another, just another heartbreaker
don't you know you're just another heartbreaker?
a heartbreaker
a heartbreaker.

This sensational high
This sensational low
I can't control for reasons I don't know
who you are
and it's a possibility
a psychedelic symphony
you are, you are to me
and when I think I'm out of the dark
You're pulling me away from the light
take me where you want me tonight
and let me swoon over you

let me swoon over you
and there's nothing I can do
so let me swoon over you
don't you know you're just another heartbreaker
don't you know you're just another heartbreaker
just another, just another heartbreaker
don't you know you're just another heartbreaker
a heartbreaker, a heartbreaker
don't you know you're just another heartbreaker
don't you know you're just another heartbreaker
just another, just another heartbreaker
a heartbreaker, a heartbreaker
got lost losing sleep
you're my fever dream
I know...
you're just another heartbreaker
heartbreaker
and let me swoon over you
and let me swoon over you
and there's nothing I can do
so let me swoon over you
don't you know you're just another heartbreaker
don't you know you're just another heartbreaker
just another, just another heartbreaker
don't you know you're just another heartbreaker
a heartbreaker, a heartbreaker
don't you know you're just another heartbreaker
don't you know you're just another heartbreaker
just another, just another heartbreaker
heartbreaker
heartbreaker

Was that overkill, with all of those lyrics? He hoped not. He did a single take, sent it to Finnick, and when he sent back a text that simply read "nice", he knew the tiny fox approved.

Songs used:

Swoon-Beach Weather