Citadel of Stars, chapter 2
As a general disclaimer, I am merely playing with these lovely characters in Disney's sandbox. Nothing from the movie is of my own creation, and I am not seeking to make any profit from this work.
Also, I'd like to point out that the timeline on this is a little abstract. If you have any question about their ages during specific things, just let me know. It tends to jump around.
VI.
Tess Tyler has problems. Everyone sees it; she recognizes it herself. She's got mommy issues, poor self-esteem, and a neurotic need to be in control at all times.
It's obvious, so no one really tries to help her. They figure someone else will clean up the mess.
Nate Black has problems. But no one sees it; at times, he doesn't even see it himself. But they're there – he's got some serious anxiety and borderline OCD tendencies, and he is terrified of making the wrong decision, so he lets other people act for him.
It's discreet, so no one tries to help him. No one even realizes he needs help.
Tess would probably admit that her biggest flaw is that she is too selfish. She has the tendency to put herself first and she's walked over others to get where she wants to be. But Nate's biggest flaw is that he's too selfless. He's always giving his time and attention to things he doesn't even really care about and it leaves him feeling drained and resentful.
Nate isn't afraid to call Tess out when she's not looking at the bigger picture, or when she takes her feelings out on other people (him). And somehow, he always manages to walk away from the confrontations without a scratch.
Tess has no qualms telling Nate he needs to make his own decisions sometimes, because he knows himself better than anyone else. And she lets him know when it's okay to take some time for himself, instead of letting everyone else push him around all the time. Even though Nate would chew out anyone else, her words get through to him.
When Tess calls up and she can't even use words because she's too upset that her mom's taken off again, Nate always goes over to help her, and he kind of likes the feeling that he can actually do something for her, even if it's just being there. When Nate starts freaking out because he's stressing over band stuff or he has no idea what to do with school or even what to get his family for Christmas, Tess makes him sit down and plan out everything he needs to do.
Somehow, everything balances out.
VII.
The first time they have a real, honest-to-God fight, Tess literally runs away from Nate.
He swears angrily, and figures she'll come back eventually, since she's the kind of girl who always wants the last word.
He tries to calm himself down by picking up a magazine and idly thumbing through it, but half an hour passes and she doesn't show, and he starts to get worried. He searches all through the house to no avail, when he hears sobs from the bathroom. He checks in the room, and finds her curled up in the closet.
She's not a pretty cryer, by any means. Her face is blotchy and he's pretty sure snot's running down her face. But that's what makes it all the more heartbreaking. He extends his hand to help her up and she quickly wraps her arms around him.
Considering the fact that she rarely ever clings to him like this, Nate's pretty sure her crying is one of two things: a) she's really hurt by what he's said to her, or b) this is a bigger issue than the fight they had over Nate going on tour for four months without her.
"Tess," he begins calmly, "why are you so upset?"
She mumbles into his chest, something along the lines of "it's not important."
When he asks her for a second and third time what's wrong, she speaks more clearly.
"It's not a big deal, okay? You probably wouldn't even care," she says quietly.
"I want to fix whatever happened, but I can't do that if you don't tell me what's going on," he replies softly.
"I don't know," she wails. "I just, I can't take the yelling!"
He knows more is probably coming at this point, so he sits down on the tile floor with her. She curls up again with her head in her hands. When she looks up again, he can barely see her face from behind her fingers.
"I'm sorry. I don't know why I do this," she says finally.
"There's got to be some reason," he states mildly. Tess sighs and rests her chin on her knees.
"When my mom and dad fought, they were loud. Like, really loud. I can't even explain it to you. And I just can't be around that. So there was no other place to escape to except the closet in my room. I know it doesn't make sense, but it helped, so ..."
He scoots over to her and presses a kiss to her forehead.
"I'm sorry that happened. You shouldn't have had to deal with that."
"Like, you have no idea how bad it was, Nate. You are so lucky to have good parents."
He's pretty sure that any promises he makes to her now won't be taken seriously, but he inwardly resolves to try and make up for whatever the hell happened behind closed doors at the Tyler residence.
He learns later that yelling was the least of the problems at her house, and he doesn't know what to do with himself. It's a long time before Tess is able to confront him the normal way, but once they get through their first fight without any truly serious issues popping up, Nate knows they're going to be okay.
VIII.
Nate Black has the most wonderful family in the world, in Tess' eyes.
She's so excited to meet them, after hearing from Nate about how his mom makes the best cherry pie in the whole town, and about how he and his sister Clara trained their dog to stand up on his hind legs, and about all of the family vacations they took and their misadventures along the way. They seem so incredibly normal, and normalcy is something that Tess has craved for a long time.
Nate sympathizes, but he can't really wrap his head around the kind of family that Tess grew up in. Nate's parents have fought, so he understands that discomfort people feel during an argument, but having parents that really truly hate each other is something so much worse.
Tess' mom wasn't really around a lot after her dad passed away; she figures it was her mom's guilt. For some reason, TJ felt that it was partially her fault that Thomas died, and although their marriage had long since turned sour, they did love each other once. So she kept busy by continuing to make and promote her music, thereby leaving Tess in the dust.
When TJ was around, Tess would try her best to impress her, by both acting and looking perfect. Eventually, she figured she would impress her mom even more if she was perfect all the time, which she'd like to think explains at least some of the way she acted at Camp.
But fast forward a few years, and things are really serious with Nate, and she's going to be spending the weekend with him and his family. And she really, really wants them to like her, because after hearing so much about them it's like she knows them and they've already become something of a family to her in her mind. So she puts on her nicest slacks and a crisp shirt and straightens her hair and applies her makeup so that it's just right, and climbs into Nate's car and they drive off.
Tess feels like her stomach's up in her throat when she approaches the brick house with the blue shutters that Nate affectionately calls home, and for a moment she pictures all of the infinite things that could go wrong but by then it's too late to rethink her wardrobe choice because they're at the door and ohgodohgodohgod what if Maria Black hates Tess?
She needn't have worried. Maria captures Tess in a warm embrace, and welcomes her to the family, and then greets her son, engaging them both in conversation. Maria leads them to the kitchen where Nate's dad and sister are waiting. And Clara's practically bouncing on her heels to show Tess her new outfit. She can tell Nate's embarrassed, but she can also tell how much more at ease he is. He's literally grinning from ear to ear, which is something Tess rarely sees, and he gently places his hand on her lower back as he leads them both to his waiting family.
She hardly knows them, but she loves them. She wants them in her life.
IX.
Tess says she never wants to have children because she'd make a horrible mother, but Nate believes he know better.
Strange as it is to everyone they know, they have talked about whether they wanted kids – it was just them discussing whether they wanted children or not as individuals, although Nate and Tess both know it could weigh on their future as a couple. And while Nate considers it an inevitable blessing, Tess isn't too sure. She is convinced that if she can't even understand Jason, who's one of her best friends, how can she understand a child?
But Nate's seen differently. One day when they're lounging around at the pool in Tess' apartment building, a young woman asked them both if they could keep an eye on her daughter who was swimming while she went to change her baby. Instead of just watching the girl from her chair like Nate half expected her to do, she cautiously approaches the young girl and begin playing in the water with her. By the time the young woman comes back, Tess and the little girl are interacting as if they have known each other all their lives.
And he'll never forget seeing her hold her cousin for the first time. The way she so tenderly held the baby as if he were the most fragile thing in the world, and seeing the look of wonder on her face was more than enough proof that she would be a good mother. She seemed so entranced by the tiny baby that she was lost in her own world.
It made him wonder, fleetingly, what it would be like if they had a family.
X.
The worst fight Nate and Tess ever have is, ironically enough, when they're not even in the same country.
Connect 3 is touring Europe with their opening act being Mitchie and Peggy, who have been collaborating on enough songs to make an album between their own solo albums, and Tess is at home, enrolled part-time in UCLA. The distance is hard, but they've been through it before, and Nate's pretty confident that they'll go out of this even better off than they were before. He makes sure that they keep in touch at the very least every other day. The record label gets annoyed because he's ringing up a huge bill, but he doesn't really care.
Unfortunately, Tess still freaks out. She calls him five times one day, and when he finally calls back she starts screaming into the phone about how he lied to her and what made him think it was okay to see someone else and she thought he cared about her and respected her more than that. When he replies that he has no idea what she's talking about, she replies with read a fucking magazine, Nathaniel.
So going on that oh-so-clear clue, he goes to the corner drugstore and finds a number of tabloids with the covers proclaiming Nate having an affair with some reporter. He met the girl once, so he can't figure out for the life of him why the tabloids would be writing this garbage. He calls Tess later and tries to explain that this isn't true, that he hardly remembers the girl, but Tess tells him there've been two weeks worth of articles describing all the details of their supposedly sordid affair.
He doesn't know what to do. He knows telling Tess to keep calm will make her feel worse, and he can't ask the guys for advice. Shane's too sickeningly cute with Mitchie, and Jason's worrying about dealing with both Caitlyn and Peggy, who are fighting over him and telling him to choose even though he doesn't even want a girlfriend. And he is not going to ask the roadies. They'd just laugh at him and pinch his cheeks. He has no one to go to, no one who can help make this right.
The headlines keep coming, and now that he's aware of the rumors being spread about him, he checks those articles more often. More and more girls that he vaguely recalls meeting at concerts claim he flirted with them and acted inappropriately for a guy with a girlfriend. He never even talked to them for more than a second, but the rags don't bother contacting him for a statement. He hopes that the people who know him will know none of the stories are true.
He knows things are bad, though, when his mom calls him to berate him.
"Tess has been walking around like a ghost, Nate. How could this happen?" she demands angrily. She's gotten close to Tess, becoming something of a mother figure to the girl. Nate should have known she'd have something to say.
"Mom, I can't do anything! I don't even know who these people are. How am I supposed to fix this?"
"You know better than I do, Nate. You need to figure something out soon."
He writes an entire song that night, venting all his frustration and his hopes that Tess will forgive him for the media circus.
He comes clean to the band, and surprisingly they understand what he needs to do. Mitchie promises she'll do what she can to convince Tess of Nate's innocence.
The next night, fans are shocked to hear that Nate has left the tour to go home and focus on his relationship. Shane tells the crowd he respects Nate's decision to put the people in his life before fame, and he sways the public opinion in Nate's favor.
Nate posts a video on youtube describing his outrage at the rumors going around, his frustration at having no say in the matter, and his confusion as to how this story developed in the first place. Within hours the video goes viral and it's had over three million views. News and entertainment programs cover it with interest, noting the anger apparent in his words and demeanor.
He goes back to Tess' apartment a week later, not really sure of what he's going to say to make things up to her. She opens the door the third time he rings it, albeit slowly.
They stand at her door, just looking at each other, for several moments. She holds up a tabloid, the headline screaming "Nate Black victim of libel?"
"Trust me, you're not forgiven yet," she says seriously. "But it's a start."
He takes it happily. Six weeks later they're releasing a joint statement that they are back together, and that Tess will support Nate as he files his libel suit.
Oh, and his mom's proud of him, too.
A special thank-you to Hot Pink Girl, .applepips, valele, and D R O W N – I N – S E Q U I N S for the incredible reviews! Love you all :)