"So, about this difficult decision... Are you going to come out of the closet?" Draco asked while reaching across and under the bar, grabbing a bottle of tequila, already drenched in sweat from filming his part on the bar.
"Does it count as coming out of the closet if you're bisexual? I've always had that doubt and... Wait, no." Finn frowned when he saw Draco pouring himself some tequila with his mouth wide open and his tongue out, "Hey! Draco, we agreed you would not drink, not after the Global Awards," Finn took the bottle and the drink from him. "You are already chaos incarnate, and if you drink you will be a disaster waiting to happen."
"But it's a special night!" The vampire pouted, "Fine. MulÈumesc for worrying, I guess. Anyway, are you going to come out of the closet then?"
"Yeah, I'm coming out, but from the band," Finn said.
"Are you nuts?!" Draco asked, way too loud as always, "Finn! You almost killed yourself just to audition a third time! You sold your scooter and spent all your savings to pay for a ticket and fly all the way from Hawaii, alone, to be a part of the band, you've worked so hard and you're going to let it all go?"
"I think it's about time," Finn put his pitcher full of water on the bar and leaned against it, "I've been thinking about it for a long time already. People don't love me now, they'll love me less if I come out of the closet, and I don't have a ship that girls love like you and Alex."
"Alex and I are just friends," Draco shrugged, watching as his Lycan friend carried Jade in his arms while Zeth and some girls cheered around him.
"You sure?" Finn asked, "Alex cares a lot about you all the time even though he knows nothing can hurt you."
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Don't change the subject, sushi roll," Draco grabbed his friend by the shoulders and shook him so hard Finn almost thought his eyes would pop out, "You bent backwards to be in this band! You can't just walk away!"
"You're making me dizzy! Stop it!" Finn said, and Draco stopped shaking him.
"Ãmi pare rÄu, I got carried away."
"God! I just can't handle this anymore!" Finn put his hands on his face, and rubbed his forehead afterwards, "No one takes me seriously, everyone interrupts me all the time, fans ignore me all the time! And now this?! This thing between Jade and Zeth has me furious! I mean, I should be happy for Zeth but I just can't!"
"Hey, it was just a kiss, they're not getting married," Draco said. "And she kissed him and it was just a peck!"
"That doesn't make me feel any less disposable."
"You are not! You are our friend, family even!" Draco said and put his arm around Finn, "You can't give up now. Plus, you're my best friend! After Alex... And Frank..." He put his finger on his chin, stepping back, "And Zeth but he and I have known each other for thousands of years and grew up together in The Titan... The thing is! You and I are very close, and I don't know what I would do without you! You know almost everything about me and I know everything about you!"
"Tell me when my birthday is," Finn lowered his eyebrows and Draco gulped with his eyes wide open, blinking slowly, turning left, then back at Finn.
"I'm bad with dates and, you know... Nobody remembers their friends' birthdays!" Draco laughed nervously.
"Your birthday is on March the 3rd, according to your accounts because January and February did not exist in your time." Finn frowned.
"That doesn't count because you, Zeth and I visited Baphelise to ask her about constellations and she gave us the answer," Draco rolled his eyes, "I don't even remember that Baphelise said that Zeth's birthday is technically on August the 22nd!" Draco then turned red and swallowed hard, "Well, but that doesn't count because maybe the witch used a spell and tattooed it in my brain! Besides, I doubt you know when everyone's birthdays are!"
"Frank: October the 7th, Alex: July the 22nd, Everett: May the 30th," Finn looked at Draco with fury in his eyes, "When is my birthday, Draco Von Stroker?"
The vampire looked to the right and then to the left with his lips pursed, his arms swinging.
"You're a self-righteous, workaholic Virgo so... Someday in August?" Draco poked a very serious Finn on the cheek.
"Fuck, Draco! My birthday is the first fucking day of September!" Finn covered his face with his hands, "They say that we Virgos always come to this world to suffer indifference, but the stars crossed the line with me!"
"Hey! Who cares if you were born under the constellation of the virgin, the crab, the fishes or the drunken walrus? What matters is forging your own destiny!" Draco patted him on the back, "You can't give up just because you think horoscopes influence your life."
"I don't want to give up, but people don't want me in the band and I don't want to stay just to watch Zeth being Zeth ignoring everything I do." Finn replied, "I have never felt like I am good enough to be in the band either. Have you heard Everett sing? Have you heard Zeth?!"
"Well, Zeth is on a whole other level," Draco shrugged, "Do you remember the concert in Brazil? When Zeth got stuck in the tour bus because a truck parked next to the door? I had to sing his parts for the first three songs! It was the worst concert of my life!"
"It was your best concert, shut up," Finn grunted, "It was your time to shine. You sang all of Zeth's verses perfectly! Even the new song!"
"Oh I'm never singing Zeth's part on 'I've Seen The Darkness' ever again," Draco shivered.
"Oh, shut your mouth," Finn dismissed. "You sang it perfectly. I don't understand what you're complaining about. You hit that D5 just fine."
"Yeah, but I don't have Zeth's rock power! And for him a D5 is nothing because he can sing all the way to a C6! He doesn't even try, and I even had to bend backwards to sing his part without running out of breath! I sang the highest I had ever sung in my life that night! Plus, Zeth's voice is raspy and mine isn't, so I ended up with a sore throat!" Draco shook his head. "That sounded awful. It was like 'I'vE sEeN thE dARKnEss! I hAvE bEen bEtrAyEeEEeeed!' all shaky, and I hated it! And we told you to sing it yourself but you didn't want to!"
"Yes, just like Alex and Frank and even Everett could have sung it. But they all chickened out for the same reason I did."
"Yeah right, and let the chaotic and risk-taking Draco do the dirty work even if he loses his voice, right? You guys didn't even give me a little propolis! You let me die!" Draco rolled his eyes, "Their reason was that they all already had an identical part to Zeth's in the same song, okay? What was your excuse if you yourself sing much higher than everyone else in that same fucking song? You go like... Mo-oh-Oh-OH-ONSTE-EH-Eh-eh... Argh!" Draco coughed miserably, holding his throat, "You understand what I'm talking about! God! I need some propolis."
"I'm concerned that, although my vocal range is wider than Zeth's, I don't have his power and my voice is 'raspy shrill' and not 'raspy rockstar' like his."
"Raspy-shrill my immortal ass!" Draco exclaimed, "For fucks sake, Finn! You're the only person holding yourself back! Have you heard your whistle notes?! Your Eb7 in 'Haunted Forest' is insane! There are bats in Lyonfort's attic and I'm sure you can communicate with them better than I can with your 'marker squeak' notes! You're a freaking Sharpie!"
"Wait. You can talk to bats?!" Finn jaw-dropped.
"Well, not talk, talk, as such. Buuuuuut... Let's just say I can sing your whistle notes, and higher, when I turn into a giant bat only." Draco let out a long, somewhat mocking groan, "Buuuut it is not quite 'human-friendly' to transform mid-concert to sing those. So! The seventh octave? That one is aaaaaall yours, sushi roll."
"It must be cool to turn into a bat and fly."
"Shut up, you can probably move the seas and talk to fish like Aquaman."
"I can talk to fish?"
"Maaaaaybe? But back on topic! You should have sung Zeth's part and that's it."
"Yes, it's true. Only I am stopping myself," Finn said, putting a hand towards the pitcher, squinting, trying to do some hydrokinetic magic trick but failing again. "I hate playing the victim, but I'm really sick of everything tonight and it's all because of a kiss. I'm sick of being a shadow. And I'm sick of not having any fans!"
"You have a lot of followers on Instagram," Draco said, "A little, little more than me."
"And where are they, Draco?" Finn grumbled, "They're bots Zeth paid for, I'm sure. Why would he do that, huh?"
"Because you're our friend," Draco said, turning Finn by the cheeks to meet his lime-green eyes, "We're all irreplaceable in the band, Finn. If one of us is missing, any song would be ruined, and I'm not talking about our music, I'm talking about our harmony."
"If we're all friends, tell me why you and Evie are the only ones who know that I like boys and girls? Shouldn't everyone else know?" Finn evaded eye contact again. "Aren't you supposed to tell your friends everything?"
Draco lowered his eyebrows and slapped Finn on the back of the neck.
"Ouch! What the Hell?!"
"If no one knows you like kitties and roosters it's because you don't want to tell. I only found out because you were drunk and told me in Shanghai!"
"Yes, of course, it's all my fault for not having the courage to tell the boy I love how I feel," Finn turned over his shoulder to see Frank. A camera was filming him lip-syncing.
"I'm a limestone solar deity. Human and a lion, I'm a sphinx, a masterpiece. And I'm gold." Frank was surrounded by girls who danced to his beat while a cameraman moved around them, and another filmed Everett carrying a girl bridal style behind him. Finn clenched his fists when he saw girls laughing, with some trying to undo the Velcro on Frank's stripper outfit to leave him only in his bowtie and hammock briefs.
"Do you also like Frank?" Draco asked, and Finn grunted.
"No. I just avoided looking at Zeth. He is over there."
"Where?" Draco asked with a low voice, turning right, "Zeth, Zeth, where is he? Zeth... Evie and Alex talking over there... Egor calling someone on the phone... An inflatable sex doll that only God knows where it came from... Elord Darke... Oh! There you are, Zeth, just casually dancing with Jade while an angry blonde in heels who is obviously not a Hunter keeps looking at you spitefully." Draco widened his eyes and slowly turned to look at Finn again. "Oh. My. God. Finn, I just realised something."
"What?" Finn lowered his head, whispering.
"The blonde girl over there?" Draco pointed discreetly and Finn glanced over.
"What about her?"
"I think she is a..." Draco gulped, "I think she is a famous actress. I think I've seen her in a superhero series or something."
"She looks like Virginia Gardener," Finn said.
"Yes, I think it's her."
"Whatever! I need some air," Finn said, standing up and stretching, "It's probably best if I go alone, don't you think?"
"But..."
"Just give me a moment." Finn insisted.
Draco watched him walk up the stage and slide through the curtains. Evie watched him too while Alex talked and talked by her side about God-Knows-What.
"Evie, are you listening to me?" Alex grumbled.
"What?"
"I was asking you if you wanted to come up on stage for the grand finale," Alex said, "You'd be the Dragon Bride's enemy and get a free lap dance and... Evie! You are not listening!"
"I'm sorry, Alex. I think Draco saw something that made Finn leave," Evie tried to follow Draco's gaze...
Her eyes first landed on Egor calling someone on the phone and then... A blonde girl in heels who was giving Jade an ugly look.
Evie's body turned cold and her heart started beating a thousand miles an hour.
"It's impossible... That's Kasey." Evie whispered, and Alex lowered his eyebrows.
"Who?" he saw her then, "That blonde over there who looks like Virginia Gardener?"
"I'm sure it's Kasey," Evie said.
"Who's Kasey? Oh! The girl who flirted with me in Las Vegas when you and I went to the gym? The girl who got so crazy with my pheromones that you had to kick her out?"
"What? No!" Evie frowned. She was sure this blonde right here was Kasey, but her face looked different. "Wait... Nose job?"
"Hey! I thought what happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas!"
"I said nose job, Alex!" Evie grunted. "That blonde over there is a hunter, I'm sure."
"Fine, I'll take care of her," Alex said and pushed his way through the crowd.
"Alex! Wait!"
The blonde girl turned to see Alex and immediately fled, pushing people to get to the exit.
"Fuck!" Evie pushed past a couple of girls and approached the door, "YE-71! You're in charge!" She said, pressing her earpiece, and pushed the double doors open with her shoulder.
Inside the club, some people began to whisper about what had just happened.
"Where is Evie going?" Draco asked Alex, who was helping a girl to her feet, a cheerleader that Evie had pushed on her way out.
"Let's just say she had a hunch," Alex replied, "Nothing to worry about."
"Hey, Draco," Frank said, with a tall girl with fluffy yellow hair by his side. She was wearing impossibly high aqua blue heels, and a dress with a sea wave print, very pompous and bombastic. "Have you seen Finn?"
Draco looked the girl up and down, cocking his head.
She looked quite familiar.
"I know you, don't I?" Draco pointed to the girl's yellow-painted lips, "One just doesn't forget that smile so easily."
"We met last night at the Meet-and-Freak, but I was not in drag," the girl said, blinking a lot with long, voluminous lashes.
She was a Drag Queen.
Oh! Draco felt stupid for not noticing.
"Nice boots, very diamond-studded," Alex said.
"Thank you. You can call me Doll-Finna," she said, curtsying, "Now, where's Finn? I am a huge fan!"
"Hold your horses!" Draco waved his hands like a castaway asking for help. "You're saying Finn actually has fans?"
"Obviously," Doll-Finna flipped her hair dramatically behind her shoulders, "Don't you know that Finn is the second most popular member of the band after Zeth?"
"Really?" Alex asked.
"Yep." Draco nodded. "I know he's the second most followed member in the band, but we've never seen where those followers are during our shows."
"Everywhere maybe?" Doll-Finna said as if it were obvious, "I mean, when I'm not in drag, I'm the most introverted, socially awkward person in the world! I am the type of guy who remains silent at concerts for fear of what people will say, who doesn't sing or dance in public and who never goes to parties. The Meet-and-Freak with you had me in a cold sweat! But I wanted Finn to know me, not my drag self but the real me! He was so kind and helped me calm down and God! I can't wait to have his arm around me again!"
Draco was too happy, and surprised, to hear this.
It was so shocking.
"Wait, that means Finn has likes but no comments because..."
"I'm the type of person who likes every post but never comments." Doll-Finna told Draco, "Surely I'm not the only one."
"Oh! OH! Maybe that explains what's going on with this story too?" Draco said. "People vote but almost never comment and I don't know why. I thought it was because Wattpad had become a quiet place or because the author is too socially awkward to ask our readers to leave comments but..."
"What are you talking about?" Alex asked.
"Wait," Frank covered his mouth in shock, "So people at concerts don't scream for Finn because..."
"Because they're probably ashamed to do it, like I am," said Doll-Finna, "That or they stay quiet to hear him sing, because oh! That voice! He sounds like a divine and beautiful angel!"
"No way!" Alex was also shocked. "So that means people don't approach him on the street to ask for photos or autographs because..."
"They're probably afraid to do it," Doll-Finna said, "Trust me, honey. If I wasn't in Drag, I would never have approached any of you. I wouldn't have even come here."
"All his fans are either introverts or have social anxiety," Frank whispered, "Now it all makes sense!"
"I mean, Finn is quite relatable," Doll-Finna said, "He's a socially awkward soul in a group of loud, outgoing people. He prefers his work to speak for him rather than his words, he is not very good at socializing, he does not understand normal people, I mean, he's just like most of us. And he is so hot! And he is the only one who acts like a remotely normal person in the band, no offense."
"No problem. But do you think there are any other Finn fans around here?" Draco asked, looking around. "Because we need all of them or else I'm sure Finn will leave!"
"Oh no! That can't happen!" Doll-Finna said, "No-oh. Not on my watch! But I don't think there are any Finn fans here, this isn't our environment. Although I do know a lot of them, from the book club and the chess club, and I have a page with a million followers full of edits of Finn 'Hottie' Seamons, babe."
"I think I have an idea," Draco put his finger to his chin, looking at Frank and Alex, who were nodding as if they were all thinking the same thing. "Do you think there are enough paychecks to bring a few more guests to the club?"
"Fuck the paychecks!" Alex shouted, way too excitedly, "I'd give a lifetime's salary to keep Finn from leaving!"
"Can you tell your followers to come over?" Frank looked at Doll-Finna with hopeful eyes, and she immediately pulled her phone out of her purse and typed fast. "Do you think they can fight their fears and anxieties just for Finn?"
"Finn has saved many of our lives, even if it sounds cheesy. I'm sure they'll come if I tell them it's an emergency. But I want to go on stage and have Finn dance for me in front of everyone."
"Deal," Draco rubbed his palms together. "You're an angel, and you're going to save this group from breaking up." But Draco then saw Zeth dancing with Jade, "Or at least I hope it's enough to keep him in the band."
"There, posted," said Doll-Finna, "Fingers crossed. In the meantime, I'll text the guys from the book club." But then she looked at Frank, "By the way, handsome... What do you think of Frinn?"
"Who that?"
"Oh, it's a ship, you and Finn?"
"I didn't know that existed," Frank blushed, rubbing the back of his neck, "I mean, it sounds cute, I guess."
"Yeah, it's so lovely to imagine you with my angel," Doll-Finna laughed, texting at the speed of light, "You should read the fanfic that I wrote, Frank."
"Oh. And what's it about?" Frank sounded very interested.
"It's about Finn having the flu and you making some chicken soup for him, it is very romantic," Doll-Finna said, looking him in the eyes, "And then you suck each other's..."
"Ooooooookay! Okay! Fine! Let's keep this family friendly please!" Frank was blushing scarlet.
"You are such a prude, Rubinstein," Alex laughed, with an arm around Frank, "Bro, if you read Dralycandro fanfics, believe me, you'd have nightmares, wouldn't he, Draquito... Draco?"
But Draco was distracted watching Everett doing a Russian dance.