Chapter Text
“One vanilla latte with two pumps of toffee nut, hold the foam, for the reigning stage manager. Huzzah, Huzzah,” Roxas dipped into an exaggerated bow and offered the medium-sized cup he was holding with equal reverence.
“Why thank you, kind stagehand,” Olette took the cup from Roxas as he rose. She raised it to her lips and took a cautious sip before letting out a soft sigh, “Perfect.”
“Well, that’s great to hear. Maybe next time, you’ll hire yourself an intern to go run and get your coffee,” the blonde put his hands on his hips, “Having me do it is just plain demeaning. I have shit I need to do to you know”
“Oh shush. After a while, you get this look in your eyes that just screams, ‘I need some fresh air. The dust in the catwalk is taking years off my life.’ And then I assume you are thinking, ‘If only my beautiful, merciful boss would let me have a break and a chance to get out of this place,’” Olette smiled sweetly at her friend as she clasped the cup in both of her hands.
“One, you aren’t my boss Olette. You’re just stage managing for this next show. Two, if I wanted fresh air, I wouldn’t go to a crowded coffee shop and wait in line for THIRTY MINUTES. Finally, I happen to like it here, especially up in the catwalk,” Roxas countered her argument as he counted off on his fingers.
“I know, I know,” Olette laughed and waved a hand, “I just think you spend a little too much time in this dark place, void of that sweet, sweet sunlight. Not saying that’s a bad thing, but you are kinda a workaholic.”
Roxas let out a soft sigh and ran his fingers through his hair, “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It’s not,” Olette cooed and turned on her heel. She began to walk down the auditorium towards the stage, scooping up a clipboard from the armrest of a seat as she walked.
Olette had been a close friend of Roxas’s for a very long time. They had met in middle school, seeing as they were of the same age and therefore in the same grade. They had truly become close their freshman year when the two of them, along with two other students, Hayner and Pence, began to spend more and more time together. They all were the same age and all kids of the arts, more specifically choir. Slowly, the four of them became the best of friends and nearly inseparable. Even now, three years after graduating high school, the four of them made time to hang out regularly. Luckily, none of them had left Twilight Town yet. Hell, Olette and Roxas even worked to get hired at the same place, The Twilight Town Theater. And Hayner was his college roommate.
“Hold on, wait a minute!” Roxas quickly made way after her, following close on her heels, “I was wondering if you heard anything else from the big boss about this band that’s coming. What was their really stupid name again?”
“‘For Naught Baptiste’,” Olette spoke definitively, “And even if the name is a little dumb, they are an alternative rock band. Of course, they want a name that’s so outlandish it sticks.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Roxas muttered as he hopped up on to the stage, whereas Olette opted for the stairs.
“So, any updates on this rock band,” Roxas continued as he followed a strutting Olette across the stage towards the right-wing.
“Actually, they’re apparently coming today. The big boss talked to their manager, I think his name was Figbar or something.”
Roxas couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter, which Olette pinched her mouth shut tightly in order to not follow suit.
“ANYWAY...The concert is next week Saturday. Set up starts tomorrow, but the band arrives today. Apparently, some of the band members are locals, so they wanted to pay homage to their roots,” Olette explained what she knew as she handed the clipboard over to another worker, “You seem a little grumpy Rox. I thought you would be really excited about this one. Isn’t alternative rock something you listen to a lot?”
“No. I mean yeah. Well, sort of. Anyway, I’m not grumpy. I just don’t like flying blind, especially when it comes to bands. Not to mention that they are only giving us about a week to get ready AND test everything. If they get pissy about not having a good set up, I’ll jump from the balcony,” Roxas spoke curtly as he gave a wave to the stagehand who walked off with the clipboard.
“It’ll be fine! This is my first shot at being the stage manager, and I will NOT fuck this up,” Olette suddenly turned and poked her friend in the stomach, speaking lowly as she did so, “And you won’t either. Work as hard as you usually do, and be nice to them. Or better yet, just avoid them if you don’t vibe with them.”
Roxas recoiled back slightly from the poke and grumbled, “As you wish your majesty.”
Suddenly, from both of their walkie talkies, a crackly voice rung out, “They’re here gang. The trailer just pulled up.”
“Showtime!” Olette sang out as she jumped up and swung an arm around Roxas’s neck, “Come on blondie, let’s go greet them.”
Roxas would be scoff came out as a slight laugh. He shook his head and put an arm around her waist, giving her a side hug, “Let’s go make sure you make a great first impression, aye?”
“What would I do without you?” Olette hummed and quickly grabbed Roxas’s wrist after releasing his neck.
Before Roxas could respond, he was whipped off after Olette, stumbling as he went.
Olette and Roxas, along with the rest of the stage workers on hand, made their way to the back of the theater where trailers can pull right up and connect to a large loading area. The loading area was just beyond the backstage.
By the time Roxas and Olette got there, the trailer was already hooked up to one of the loading bays and people were looking antsy to get to work. It had been two weeks since they had a performance at the theater. But it was two weeks too long.
From a side door, the first person to enter from outside the theater was a tall man with a long, graying black hair tied into a ponytail. He looked rather easy-going, his face donning a laidback smile, but the eyepatch he wore made him look immediately more shifty than he probably really was. Judging by the earpiece with an attached microphone, Roxas assumed this was the manager the big boss has talked to.
“Shit. I really should have remembered the name Marluxia gave me,” Olette hissed under her breath, causing Roxas to look at her with concern. She seemed to already be embarrassed and frustrated with herself.
“Calm down. Be personable and friendly. He’ll introduce himself if you introduce yourself,” Roxas tried to give his friend a little air under her wings, sounding as encouraging as he could, “You got this Olette. This is what your infectious, relatable attitude was made for.”
Olette looked to her friend and gave him a weary smile, “Thanks, Roxas.”
“Of course, now go get ‘em, tiger,” Roxas gave one last encouraging hoot before gently pushing her back, causing her to start making her way towards the band’s manager.
From Roxas’s vantage point, it looked like things were going smoothly. From their body language, Roxas suspected that Olette had introduced herself successfully and the two of them were already discussing things about the coming concert in a friendly, workplace manner. Long story short, his friend had nothing to worry about, as Roxas had expected.
Olette seemed to have turned and instructed some of their colleagues to help unload the trailer, so Roxas moved to join them. He never liked standing around when he could be useful.
Roxas followed his colleagues into the trailer and looked around the dimly lit holding container. It looked as if things were haphazardly put into place from their last venue. Must have not had a lot of time between this concert and the last. Either that or they were just lazy.
The blonde shrugged inwardly and moved to grab ahold of the handles on an amplifier. There were some very cheesy decals slapped on to the free space that wasn’t dials or mesh, to which Roxas promptly ignored since he decided it was best to not judge the taste of the band until he heard them, no matter how hard it was to stop himself from grimacing at the terrible music-related puns the stickers displayed.
He lifted the amp and turned to begin hauling it out of the trailer and into the loading bay, following a trail of other workers hauling other various musical equipment down the trailer’s ramp.
“Hey! Hey, be careful with that amp!” A voice shouted from the left of Roxas, causing him to jump. Here we go again. It was always band members who rubbed him the wrong way.
But hey, that voice was almost familiar.
Roxas grumpily turned his head just in time to see a taller man with a distinctly punk, shaved hairstyle approach him at a fast clip. He had a guitar case swung over one of his shoulders.
“That amp took me FOREVER to save up for. You’re gonna ding her up. Give ‘er here...wait a minute. No way! Roxas?!” The man stopped and stared at Roxas with a slight gape to his maw.
“Demyx?” Roxas scoffed out in disbelief, “Holy shit I haven’t seen you since high school! You’re part of this band?”
“Hell yeah I am, dude. What are you doing here?” Demyx asked in disbelief before looking at the amplifier, “Actually, hold up. You should set that down. It really did cost me an arm and a leg.”
“Right, sorry,” Roxas gently set the amp down, treating it with the utmost respect, “love the decals...”
“Right!? They give her so much character,” Demyx laughed. It didn’t seem like he noticed the sarcasm in Roxas’s voice, “So anyway, back to what you are doing here. I assumed you we be off in your own band. You were a little musical god back in high school.”
“Not all of us can afford to hit the road right after school,” Roxas chuckled, “I’m juggling between college and this job now. I’m, in layman’s terms, a stagehand.”
“No way...Come on Rox you can do better than that. You used to blow minds with your bass playing. You should be up on stage, not behind it,” Demyx threw an arm around Roxas’s shoulder and looked off into the distance as he said these words.
“I actually happen to like my job. I’m studying performance tech so working at this theater gives me tons of experience,” Roxas grumbled as he ducked out from Demyx’s arm.
“Suit yourself,” the taller guy shrugged, dropping the argument quickly, “It’s good to see you man. I kinda miss the high school music family we had going on back then. We were all pretty crazy talented huh?”
Roxas laughed softly. He often thought back on his high school life. His free time was always swallowed up with practices, concerts, and jam sessions back then. But he wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“You saw Olette right? She’s stage managing for you guys,” Roxas pointed over to Olette, who was still discussing something with the band’s manager.
“Yeah, I saw her talking to Xigbar and I said hi briefly, but she seemed REALLY busy and wrapped up in all that funky technical stuff, so I didn’t pester her further,” Demyx shrugged, “Shame, she’s really grown into herself.”
Demyx bounced his eyebrows at Roxas, to which he rolled his own in return. He had never thought of his friend in that way.
The ‘rockstar’ suddenly smacked his forehead, realizing something, “Hold on wait! You gotta go see Axel! He’s in the band too!”
Roxas felt like he had been smacked across the face.
“...seriously?” Roxas’s voice cracked.
“Yeah! We both joined Baptiste right after high school and we’ve been living it up ever since. But man he’ll fucking flip if he sees you. He always thought you were the coolest underclassman,” Demyx laughed and slapped Roxas’s back, causing him to stumble slightly.
“He said that...? N-nevermind. Demyx I gotta get back to work. We can all catch up when I’m off the clock,” Roxas explained as he looked at the trailer, which was quickly clearing out without his help.
“Aw come on dude. He’s just out having a quick smoke. You gotta go say hi,” Demyx whined, “It’s like we’re getting our old Spring Arts Festival rock band back together.”
“No. It’s like you guys are in a band and I’m a stagehand. You’ll be here for a week and a half and then you’ll shove off while I get ready for the next performers coming this way,” Roxas murmured, starting to really get irritated with how he’s being held up.
“Ouch. That’s cold man...” Demyx sighed, then his eyes trailed off behind Roxas. He suddenly lit up and began pointing furiously at Roxas, bouncing up and down on his heels.
“What are you...fuck it I don’t have time for this,” Roxas turned around to head back towards the trailer but immediately froze in his tracks.
“No. Way. You’re joking me.”
A tall, lanky redhead spoke as he made his way towards the two of them. He was wearing shades and a leather jacket, the look really driving home the rockstar aesthetic.
“Roxas, holy shit is that really you little man?” the man stopped right before Roxas and bent down slightly, taking off the shades, “It’s me. Axel. Do you remember me?”
Roxas instinctively took a step back and scowled internally. Even now they still have a crazy height difference.
“I don’t think anyone could forget you, even if they hoped and prayed they could,” Roxas gave the man a wry smile.
Axel let out a hearty laugh and suddenly pulled Roxas into a tight, friendly hug.
Roxas got a strong wif of cologne and hair gel as his face crashed into the taller man’s shoulder.
“Oh shit, I can’t believe you’re still in town. This gig just got way better,” Axel pushed Roxas back gently by his shoulders to get a good look at him, “How have you been man? Do you work here?”
“Yeah, Olette and I both work here,” Roxas gestured over to where she was, not realizing she was gone at his point.
“No way. I expected you’d be off on your own adventure,” Axel laughed again, his green eyes twinkling.
“Funny. I’ve heard that twice today now...” Roxas murmured, “I’m in college right now, and I’m working here for job experience in my major.”
“Ah. Well shit, I’m proud of you for going to college. Aiming to get a stable job I see. But hey, do you still sing and play that bass of yours?” Axel cocked an eyebrow, finally letting go of the blonde.
“Sometimes. Listen, I am still on the clock. I really gotta get back to work. We don’t have much time between now and the concert. There’s a lot of work to do,” Roxas took another step back, making sure not to bump into Demyx.
Axel looked to Demyx, and then back to Roxas, “Shit. Sorry for distracting you, Roxy. We’ll get a chance to catch up right?” His voice seemed genuine enough and he kept that trademark charming smile on. It was the same as it was years ago.
“Yeah, sure,” Roxas gave a sheepish smile back. Hearing Axel call him Roxy again shot his mind back into his Junior year. He could almost hear ‘Don’t Lose my Number’ reverberating through Demyx’s tiny basement., “I uh, we’ll talk later. Good luck you guys. Congrats on living the dream,” he talked to them as he started to walk off.
“Roxas wait!” Axel shouted, which caused Roxas to freeze with a wince. He’s gonna hear it for not helping out at all.
Axel jogged up and thrust a phone towards Roxas. A phone charm of Calcifer from Howl’s Moving Castle dangled off of it.
“Hey, I always regretted deleting all the underclassman’s phone numbers from my phone after I graduated. You mind giving me yours again?” Axel ran a hand through his spiked hair as he looked at Roxas hopefully.
“...yeah, no problem,” Roxas murmured. This situation would have been a gift from God, had he still been a nervous teen. He took the phone and quickly punched his phone number in the contacts. He caught a glimpse of Axel’s phone background as he handed it back, “nice...dragon background.”
Axel let out a dry laugh, “Oh you saw that?...”
Roxas could feel the awkwardness electrifying the air, “...it suits you. You’ve always been sort of a...‘fiery’ person.”
Axel seemed to recover a little at that comment, “Yeah. I also enjoy hoarding gold now.”
“Seriously?” Roxas laughed, his eyes widening a little.
“No, but wouldn’t that be sick?” Axel joked as he gave Roxas a lopsided grin.
Roxas’s walkie talkie suddenly crackled to life.
“Roxas. We need you in the light booth ASAP. We want to discuss the lighting rig. Shake a leg.”
Roxas unhooked his walkie talkie and brought it up to his lips, “10/4, I’m on my way.”
Axel gently punched Roxas’s shoulder, getting the smaller man’s attention, “Look who’s all-important now...Talk to you later?”
“Yeah. Sounds good. I’ll see you around Axel,” Roxas spoke softer than he meant to and began to walk off, then quickly turned, “Oh, and see you Demyx! Can’t wait to hear how you’ve improved!”
“I’ll blow your fucking toolbelt off man!” Demyx responded and waved a hand furiously as Roxas ran off.