Alright, that was a long break, sorry about that, I got a mixture of writer's block and schoolwork, so
I had to do that first really. I still actually have schoolwork, but recently I stopped having writer's block and I planned
out the rest of the story, and I just completed an exam this morning so I felt like I had a little time to finish where I
left off before and get a chapter out before I go back into exam mode
Enjoy?
BTW Their debut single is 'Living in the Sky with Diamonds' by Cobra Starship so listen to that while reading, kay?
May
The first teaser trailer to air was a 5 second ad spot that began with just the words 'Get Ready' in white on a black background, then the first 3 seconds of the song play as the silhouettes of the band's solo shots side by side slowly fade in, dimly backlit enough to make out the outlines of each of them, then suddenly clipped back to black with the first snap-snap of the drums- then it was gone. Just a 5 second slot, on the most popular national channels (that have commercials/ads) of the 5 countries of the band's origin and many others around the world.
Just a 5 second commercial with no explanation, shown at peak viewing times. What kind of hype could possibly arise because of that?
Well, a lot.
Within hours of the American TV spot airing (because time zones, man. Time. Zones.), innumerable crazy theories and reactions surfaced online, from terrorist threats to alien contact, some even coming up with the wild assumption that it could be something to do with music. The interest was garnered.
Over the course of the next week, all of their promo shots are revealed one by one in a crazy hype-building strategy, and so the boyband had begun officially
Saturday night, at 8pm GMT, the music video premiered on youtube.
(This would be a good time to listen to the song while reading!)
-all white background, blurry figures come into focus- guess what it's the band- they're all facing away from the camera-
The shot changes to focus on Alfred, who turns around and begins the song
'Her heart, is racing…and the room is heating up…'
Alfred looks down the camera and a smile tugs at the corners of his mouth when he hears Arthur and Francis join in with the low vocals
'The beat is pumping now she's blowing up- blowing up'
'The last thing on her mind is growing up- growing up'
'She'll kiss the sky before she's giving up'
'And oh-oh here she comes..'
-As the chorus begins the background drops to black with the bass and seemingly thousands of computer generated sparks of light (or 'diamonds' if you like) appear to fly up and suspend in mid-air around the band, who are singing and dancing and whatever, and look like they're having the time of their lives-
(I'm pretty much just going to leave it to you to imagine the rest as you listen to the song because I'm one of those people who can visualise exactly what they're talking about but lacks the words and/or artistic prowess to show you what I mean. Time jump in 3, 2, 1…)
A week later, and the debut's release was a huge success, the song was well on its way to number one in several countries, which is handy when you're intended demographic is, well, global. The quintet were sitting around Alfred and Kiku's apartment after an over-enthusiastically organised party invitation to celebrate the crazy success they were having. Of course there had been numerous press conferences, launch parties and interviews, but this was the first time they had managed to really celebrate after the whirlwind experience. Unfortunately, it would only be counted as 'celebrating' if they actually enjoyed each other's company.
Currently, Francis was sprawled on one of the sofas with a glass of wine, Yao was slumped in an armchair avoiding eye-contact, Ivan was in the opposite armchair trying to get some eye-contact, and Arthur and Kiku were talking animatedly, cross-legged on the floor. It turns out that they got on like a house on fire.
Kiku Honda was actually a journalist, and coincidentally wrote for a music magazine, so he went to a lot of gigs and interviewed a lot of artists, albeit only locally so far. Luckily Alfred was relatively new to the music world and so the paparazzi hadn't found out where he lived, so for now Kiku could get away with pretending that he didn't live with one of the most in-demand artists for interviews. It was all very hush-hush. As it turns out, The Kirklands was one of Kiku's favourite bands at the time, and they had strikingly similar music tastes so they were becoming fast friends.
Francis found this disgusting.
Just as Francis had that epiphany, Alfred burst through the door behind a stack of 5 pizzas and 3 over-filled bags containing too many snacks and too little anything else.
"EYOOO! Guess whose back! I have got SO MUCH pizza it's unreal."
The sharp tones of Alfred's voice snapped Francis out of his temporary bubble of bitterness and pushed him into a new bubble of vague annoyance.
"Alfred, cher, we don't want to die of heart attacks before we get a number 1, do we? Did you at least buy a healthier option?"
"If by 'healthy' you mean pop-tarts then yes, yes I did"
Alfred put the bags down onto the coffee table in the middle of the living room and dropped down onto the sofa with as much force it would take to make Francis move his legs out of the way. Arthur turned to address Alfred
"I suppose you didn't get any alcohol because you're a child, yes?"
"You're only like 4 years older than me, dude"
Arthur put his hand to his chest in a mock-sentimental manner, "And yet, I am so much wiser" pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. And then reached for the bottle of wine Francis had smuggled in with him.
It took precisely 3 minutes and 33 seconds before Ivan suggested suddenly: "We should play Truth or Dare."
Now, dear reader, we all know that in fictions of these sorts, a well-used go-to plot device is the classic Truth or Dare. But what would this cheesy boyband AU be without cliché's? If anything, I am obliged to include every cliché under the sun. And anyway, they might just happen to want to play Truth or Dare, is that a crime? Can you allow these characters to forget the surrealism of the situation and genuinely believe they want to play the games of high school girls of the late 90s? It's not that much to ask, surely. Go on, suspend belief, hang up your cynicism hat and let them get on with it. Also forgive me for distracting you while I jump ahead in the narrative to when they are well into the game, so I didn't need to describe the way they began the game. But be honest, that would have been awfully boring, wouldn't it?
Using the now empty wine bottle propped up on an also empty pizza box, the game had reached full swing. In the previous turn, Ivan was dared to belly-dance to whatever song was on the radio, which happened to be their song, as a nice surprise. Ivan reached over spin the bottle, which landed on Alfred.
"Tru-"
"DARE" Alfred cut him off in excitement. Alfred had turned out to be one of those annoying kids who always picks dare no matter what.
"…Ok I dare you toooo….." Ivan looked around in thought. His eyes eventually landed on Arthur whose expression duly turned sour.
"I've got it! I dare you to do a British accent, go!"
Arthur raised his eyebrows "What the f-"
"I SAY, OLD CHAP ISN'T THIS THE PUR-FECT DAY TO GO FOR A SPOT OF TEA-AND-CRICKET?" Alfred beamed in a mixture of American and English vowel sounds.
Arthur's expression changed from surprised and worried to surprised and amusedly astounded.
"Holy shit that was terrible but hilarious"
Francis tsk-ed and said "Oh come on, a posh accent, c'est très ennuyeux" He put his wine glass down and cleared his throat. "CORR BLOIMEE GUVNAA, APPLES N PEARS, APPLES N PEARS, FANNY IS YOUR UNCLE AND BOB IS YOUR AUNT" He practically sang in an awful combination of French guttural r's and mistaken cockney slang, swinging his arms like a Mary Poppins chimney sweep
Arthur at this point had bowled over laughing at the pair of them. He'd heard Americans try a British accent before, but never really a Frenchman. This was all so surreal.
"It always astounds me how no matter how much time a foreigner spends around me, they always either come out with a posh or a cockney accent for their British impressions. Well, that or a weak Hugh Grant voice" Arthur managed, through his laughter.
"Well I bet you can't name any different French accents" Francis challenged.
Arthur pondered for a moment. "Well, obviously, there's a difference between Canadian French and French French, and I'm pretty sure there's a Parisien accent, and of course, the other regions have their own also, like-"
"OK we get it now can I please spin the bottle?!" Alfred interjected, already spinning the bottle.
It landed on Kiku, who instantly ducked his head in worry.
"Dare please, Alfred" he said quietly
"Don't sound so worried, Kiku, my dare is… take us all out to karaoke some time! Obviously after we've done the next song, otherwise nothing'll get done"
"That was such a boring dare Alfred, there was so much potential" Yao commented "I expected better of you, you're so young and 'hip'"
"For the last time, you guys are only a few years older than me, stop acting so overly mature!"
Just to let you know, I have no idea what a French person mocking a cockney accent badly sounds like, but in my head it sounds like the best possible thing ever, so I put it in. And that out-of-narrative paragraph was genuinely just because I didn't want to have to explain their initial reactions or how they began because I don't really care- also I really wanted to make it clear that the cliches are always intended in this fic. ALWAYS.
I'm thinking for every chapter there will be a song linked with it, either because thats the song the boyband did in the chapter, or because it suits the chapter's atmosphere. Maybe once it's done I'll make a playlist on 8tracks or something. That would be the weirdest playlist ever.