March: 1 year later…

Yuuri's phone beeped, startling him from a dream he'd had. He sat up, groaning. The bed he lay on he had had for almost 6 years now, but he hadn't the money to afford a new one. Buying a bed was a huge investment, and Yuuri had just gotten out of college. He wouldn't even have had the money to afford his apartment if he weren't sharing it with Phichit Chulanont, his best friend and band-mate. He tapped Phichit on the shoulder, earning him a jab in the ribs in response. Yuuri rubbed his side, shaking his friend awake.

"Phichit, we have a gig!" The band hadn't had a gig in almost four months now, Viktor Nikiforov's band taking all the ones they tried to get. It seemed that Viktor's band, the singer himself specifically, had something against History Makers. He was always trying to put his band out there more, but Yuuri had a hunch that Viktor just didn't want the History Makers to be able to perform. Thanks to this, they were now severely out of practice.

Phichit opened his eyes, wiping them casually with his wrist. He turned, facing Yuuri, his eyes lighting up in excitement.

"Really?" He sat up, hopping out of bed and grabbing his clothes from the dresser. He rushed to the bathroom to get dressed.

"I'll let Guang-Hong and Leo know!" Yuuri yelled, clicking on his messenger app. He smiled, noting how little time it took for Leo and Guang-Hong to answer.

-Great! Leo and I'll be there by around noon to practice!- Guang-Hong

-HEY! Don't speak for me!- Leo

-I'll be there at noon. *glares at Guang Hong*- Leo

-Okay. Phichit and I will see you there!-

Yuuri closed out of his phone, placing it in his pocket as he got dressed. As soon as Phichit was out of the bathroom, he and Yuuri gathered their band belongings and they ventured to their practice place on foot. It was a short walk; it was only a few blocks away. Leo and Guang-Hong stood outside the door, waiting for Yuuri and Phichit (Yuuri had the keys). They were laughing about something, smiling brightly, and Yuuri was almost reluctant to speak.

"Hey, guys!" Phichit yelled for Yuuri, understanding his reluctance to barge into the conversation. He turned, taking the key from Yuuri and entering the building. He looked to the others, saying,

"Ready to go?" They all cheered, sharing a group hug before rushing in a picking their instruments. Leo's guitar needed tuning, Guang-Hong's drumsticks needed to be organized, and Phichit's bass needed to be dusted. Yuuri had been using his mics during the entire period that they weren't playing shows, so they didn't need anything.

"Alright, guys, let's do 'Thoughts'." Everybody cheered, smiling. Guang-Hong counted in the song, and they began.

It was a disaster.

Yuuri's voice was fine, but Guang-Hong was dragging, Phichit missed some notes, and Leo was just flat out playing the wrong song. Yuuri stopped them about a third of the way through the song, yelling to stop. He helped Guang-Hong with the timing while Phichit went through and remembered the notes. Leo looked in his song-book from early on, refreshing his mind on what riffs went to what title. They started again, the result being much better, in Yuuri's eyes. Everyone else agreed that it was perfect, but Yuuri steadily lost his confidence, claiming that he was out of tune, Guang-Hong was still dragging, etc. The others eventually got aggravated by Yuuri's insistence that they were failing, deciding to leave. Yuuri protested, reminding them that their performance was in less than a week.

"What even IS this performance?" asked Guang-Hong. Yuuri was confused.

"I mean, WHERE? Who ELSE is playing?" Yuuri looked at his phone, suddenly curious. He cursed himself for not checking this before. He'd just readily agreed to play; they hadn't had a performance in months, and whatever it was, it should have been okay.

"HAAAAAAH?!" Yuuri gasped. He scrolled through again, doing a double take.

"What?!" asked the others, worried. They clustered around Yuuri, looking over his shoulder.

"A BAND COMPETITION?! YOU SIGNED US UP FOR A BAND COMPETITION?! Next FRIDAY?!" screeched Phichit, grabbing Yuuri's shoulders, who had thankfully remained silent. Yuuri continued scrolling, but soon regretting it.

"AGAINST STAY CLOSE TO ME?!"

"I-I-I didn't know! I just figured that any performance would be good!"

"Dude, we aren't prepared for this!" cried Guang-Hong.

"Yeah! We haven't practiced in months, and suddenly we've only got, like, FOUR days to practice for this competition!" yelled Leo, muttering god under his breath.

"What are they playing?" asked Phichit, his eyes the size of watermelons. He looked at the setlist, his heart beating faster against Yuuri's arm as he leaned against his shoulder.

"They're playing 'Everybody Loves Me'? Why am I not surprised?" he said, attempting to lighten the conversation. Leo ignored this, saying,

"Is there any way to get us uninvited from this thing?"

"No. Not without it showing up that we were on the roster. If we left, it would look like we chickened out. We would lose popularity. Quickly," he said, shaking his head as though trying to dislodge a bad thought. The others stood back, their shoulders slumping.

"Okay, let's have a vote. Pros and Cons. If we did this, we could embarrass ourselves out there, which none of us want." He took a deep breath.

"If we didn't so this, we would look like failures; like we chickened out of a competition. What do you guys think? Raise your hand if you think we should do this. Keep in mind, we'd be going up against Stay Close to Me."

Yuuri took in a deep breath, watching the others. He thought that everyone would say no, but then Guang-Hong broke in.

"If you want to, we'll stand by you, Yuuri. We'll do it. What do you think?" He looked at the others, who immediately nodded their assent. Yuuri thought for a moment. He debated saying no. That would ease his conscience. But then he saw Viktor, making fun of their band and laughing at them. He saw Viktor's asinine acts to his band mates.

Then he had another thought.

He remembered the look Viktor had given him nearly a year ago, when History Makers opened for his band.

The smile.

Yuuri smirked.

"Okay, then. Let's do this."