Not gonna lie, I did struggle a bit with this chapter. I was hoping for it to be the next round of performances, but instead it became filler and backstory, sort of, for a couple of my own ocs. I think what I'm subconsciously doing is trying to get into some of the characters' heads, before diving into more performances.

Just sorta wish I could have done other people's ocs, too, for this chapter, but i was getting close to five pages with this chapter as it was.

"… I want to go to go the acoustic route with this theme,"

"Mm? Why's that?"

Chris and Christina were currently in their shared history class, though only one of them was really paying attention to the lecture. Years of school together meant they had perfected their system—one of them would pay attention to the teacher and take notes (and record the lecture, because Christina was an audio learner as well as a reader)—while the other either caught up on homework or slept in the middle of the class. At first, teachers had been skeptical of them, but had learned quick to either accept it or face one or both twins' pettiness.

College was at least better, because professors normally didn't call students out in class, not like middle school or high school teachers did. And college level professors seemed to understand more that their students had different learning abilities, and were more than happy to help their students, as opposed to most high school teachers in small towns.

… Not that their hometown of Birmingham, Alabama was small by any means, but when faced with teachers who taught in private schools for the rich or elite, well.

Yeah, the twins preferred college.

And while they didn't have all classes together, they found they either had some of the same teachers for the same course, just at different times, and managed to work with that. The classes they didn't share, they powered through on their own.

… Or, more accurately, Christina powered through on her own. She'd never been the best with school (high school especially brought back bad memories) and the more science and math-oriented classes, even when she used every trick she could to help boost her grades. On the other hand, though, she could breeze through English, History, and Literature like she was made for it. Throw her in Music and Creative Writing, and she was getting top marks all across the board, and Chris was more than willing to let her handle the more creative classes.

Christina was pulled from her thoughts as Chris poked her shoulder, and she glanced up to see him staring down worriedly at her, as the other students around them were packing their bags. She hadn't even realized the class was over.

"… Coffee?" She asked, even though it was nine at night. She hated late classes, but when she'd registered for this semester, she hadn't had much choice in time slots. At least Chris was suffering with her.

"Considering we still got to go over notes for tomorrow's English final, I don't see how we're going to get it done without coffee," Chris rolled his eyes.

The on-campus coffee shop was thankfully open twenty-four hours, mostly managed and staffed by college students themselves. The twins paid for their orders and grabbed a corner booth by the window that was unofficially theirs every time they decided to study there.

"So, what's the deal on the music?" Chris asked, pulling Christina from her thoughts. Again. "You've been spacing out a lot the last couple of days."

She had, and Christina fucking knew it too.

"It's this fucking theme," Christina muttered. "I've had inkling from day one what I wanted to write about, but now that the lyrics are finalized and on paper…"

She trailed off, gazing out the window.

"Let me see," Chris requested, and Christina dug her green journal out of her bag and shoved it at him.

"Pink sticky note," She said, so Chris knew where to go, and pointedly not looking at her brother as he flipped to the marked page.

Silence fell over the duo, and Christina fought hard not to squirm. She fiddled with her braided leather bracelet, tracing the gold detailing with her eyes as she waited for her brother's reaction. It took longer than expected, her eyes flicking up as Chris carefully shut the journal and laid it on the table between them. He held her gaze.

"You sure about this?" He asked, quietly, "It's a heavy topic, for you."

"… Yes and no," Christina whispered. "Plenty of people have sung about such things, before. Why can't I?"

"Not saying you can't," Chris took a drink of his coffee, elbow perched on the table as he eyed Christina over the rip of his cup. "I'm asking if you think you're ready for the rest of the world to know about yours, yet."

Christina bit her lower lip, but she nodded determinedly, "If the song means something… it makes a bigger impact."

Chris eyed her for another moment, his eyes swimming with emotions that Christina didn't want to name because she did not to feel like having that conversation right now, before he nodded once and set his coffee cup back down, "Alright then." He dug into his own bag, and pulled his notes and books out, "So, about that English test…"

And just like that, the anxiety Christina had been feeling, the spaciness she'd been fatigued with nearly all week, dropped away. It wasn't gone, not by any means, but her brother's acceptance of what Christina had thrown together for their song was…

It was a welcome relief.

Lucas walked into the music building, rubbing his forehead in an attempt to fight off his headache, and wishing desperately he had accepted Nero's offer of a night in, just the two of them, instead of deciding to work on the song.

Kakeru had finalized the lyrics before, and simply told Lucas it was only going to be a drumbeat and the rest of the boys' vocals. The thought scared Lucas, he wouldn't lie, because that would mean his voice would be heard easier, than it had been over the beat of drums or strumming of guitars or velvet way the bass had of lancing up someone's spine. It meant Lucas would be heard, even if Ryuto and Nero backed him up on the singing.

Kuro's criticism still rang in Luke's ears, and he flinched at the thought of them. She was right though. He needed to find his footing, and Kakeru had said it, too, that Lucas just needed to get used to being in front of crowds.

But he hated crowds. He hated how they made his skin crawl on good days, how they made him feel short of breath on bad days.

It didn't matter what kind of day he had, every one of them ended with Lucas cursing his father's existence and hoping one day the man would drop dead and rot in hell for what he'd done to him. Though he wasn't nearly as vocal about it as Wales or, hell, Nero. Hell, even his own mother and Julian fucking Konzern had publicly ripped into Caspian McKandless for the abuse Lucas had suffered under his hand. And while the man was finally, fucking finally, in prison, but even after nearly ten years, the bastard still sent letters and the media loved to spin stories about the scandal.

Lucas shuddered and took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he came to a halt in the middle of the hallway for a moment.

Control your anger. Don't let it show. Find a better outlet.

Lucas took another deep breath, opened his eyes, and stepped into the control room of one of the recording studios.

Huh. It was already occupied. Or, the sound stage was, at least.

Christina's voice, the emotion in it, hit Lucas like a punch to the gut.

"This ain't a game… nobody wins… Nobody gets lucky, when that bottle spins… again and again… again and again… again and again…"

Lucas let the door shut behind him, gliding into the room and dropping into the chair behind the soundboard, watching and listening to Christina sing. Why the hell was Chris taking point in their band if Christina could sing like this? Her voice cracked, passion and pain audible as Christina finished her song. Lucas found himself nearly tearing up at the emotion in Christina's voice.

This wasn't a song to be sung in front of a crowd and panel and judges. No, this was a song about one's own hardships, something that only someone who had lived through could understand, and Lucas… understood.

God, he understood.

Memories of his father's temper, made worse by his drinking, flashed through Luke's mind, and he recoiled from them, pushing them back down.

"Oh… Luke," Lucas' eyes snapped up to meet Christina's through the glass. She looked tired, and surprised, "I didn't… what are you doing here?"

Lucas cleared his throat and leaned forward to click the microphone on, "Same as you, I reckon. Vocal practice. I just…" He faltered, "… Are you singing in the next round?"

"No," Christina swallowed, audibly. She adjusted her headphones, "I… I don't think I could. I mean, by no means am I shy about singing in front of a crowd or anything, I just…" She sighed, "We all got our issues, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it," Lucas nodded. He frowned, "You want my honest opinion?"

"Sure?"

"I think you should take lead on this round," A small part of Luke's mind—scratch that, a large part—was screaming at him, demanding to know why he was giving advice to his fellow competitor, when doing so could mean that he and his friends could lose, "You've got the raw emotion for the song that Chris won't have. Especially seeing as it seems that you've got personal experience with… whatever topic you decided on."

"You think that'll help us?" Christina asked, dubiously, before her expression clouded over with suspicion, "Wait, why are you telling me this? We're your competition."

"Yeah, but there's no rule against helping our peers," Lucas smirked. "Besides, I like you Christina. I think if anyone has a chance of making it to the top three, its you and your band, given what genres you guys will be playing with."

"… Thanks," Christina twirled a lock of her blonde hair around her finger, still looking a bit cautious. "What about you guys? What's your idea for this round?"

Luke's smirk dropped, and he sighed, running a hand through his hair, "I'm not gonna lie. I'm pretty annoyed with the guys. I didn't ask to be lead singer, they just kinda… shoved me into it."

"Kuro was right; you were shaky in the intro," Christina commented. "But once you found your footing, you rocked the crowd. Not to mention, what you guys are doing. Not a lot of people listen to the old rock anymore, given all this modern pop stuff on the airwaves."

"Can't account for a person's debatable music tastes," Lucas scoffed.

"You guys would be like a fresh burst of air," Christina finished, with a small smile.

"If we win. Like I said, there's a lot of great acts in the competition this year, and the judges aren't making it easier," Lucas sighed again. He stood up.

"Where are you going?" Christina asked.

"Well, I can hardly practice here, considering you've set up shop," Lucas grinned. "I'm gonna find an empty studio and go through my own vocals. Good luck, Crissie."

welp, that's that. i have the next chapter bullet pointed out, but nothing concrete written yet. i do hope ya'll enjoyed this chapter though, and will be kind enough to leave a review! until next time, ciao