↬five
❛ alright, we are riff wood ❜

"Good luck," Lucy smiled at the three boys before her.

They were heading into their gig, and Lucy couldn't go in until they let the audience members in.

"Thanks, Luce," Hyrum replied, though Lucy could tell he was nervous.

Lucy gave him a hug, which startled the brunet. He could feel his face go warm, and unbeknownst to him, Lucy had also flushed a spectacular shade of pink.

"You're gonna do great, Hy," she whispered as Carson and Shredder snickered from behind Hyrum. She made a face at them.

"Thanks," Hyrum said quietly, smiling like an idiot at the nickname.

She broke the hug, waving at the three boys before she turned the corner.

"You're gonna do great, Hy," Shredder teased in a falsetto voice, and Hyrum sighed.

"She was pink," Carson pointed out. "I bet she likes you."

"Shut up," Hyrum muttered as they walked into the building.

Meanwhile, Lucy was hanging out at the Russon's since both her and Mary were going to the gig. The two older girls were playing tea party with Livi, Hyrum's little sister, while Tayson, Hyrum's little brother, was playing the waiter. Livi had tried to tell him waiters weren't a thing in tea parties, but he wanted to play since Lucy and Mary were, so finally she relented.

Tayson gave Livi, Mary, and Lucy bowls of Lego bricks, calling it 'rainbow soup'. Mary and Lucy accepted their dishes and pretended to eat them, but Livi frowned. "I don't want rainbow soup, I want pink soup," she complained.

"Pink soup is out of stock," Tayson replied from the play kitchen, where he was just building with Legos.

"No it's not," Livi argued, and Mary spoke up.

"What if Lucy and I gave you all our pink and you gave us all the other colors?" she suggested, and Livi brightened.

"Okay," she agreed happily, and the swap occured. After a few moments, Lucy glanced at her watch.

"We should get going," she said to Mary.

"Lucy and I have to go see Hyrum and his friends play," Mary announced, and immediately both younger children began to pout.

"I wanna go see Hyrum," Tayson frowned as Livi took off the plastic crown on her head.

"Why can't we go?" Livi added.

"Sorry, darlings," Mrs. Russon said as she passed through the playroom. "It's for big kids only. Besides, it's almost your bedtimes."

"That's stupid," Tayson declared, and Mrs. Russon smiled softly.

"Well, I'm sure Hyrum can tell you all about it tomorrow. And they're making a video of it so you can watch."

Both kids seemed to like this idea, and gave Lucy and Mary hugs.

"See you later, alligator," Livi grinned, and Mary and Lucy exchanged a glance.

"After a while, crocodile," they replied at the same time, all four kids and Mrs. Russon bursting into laughter.

"Okay, we really should go," Mary said after a moment, and Lucy nodded.

"Have fun, girls," Mrs. Russon said, and Mary and Lucy both smiled.

"We will, Mom," Mary promised as they left the playroom.

"Bye-bye!" Tayson and Livi called after them.

"So," Mary said nonchalantly as they walked to the venue. "I've been talking to Carson a little - you know, scheming-"

"Scheming?" Lucy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, it's great. I've noticed something about you. It's not bad," Mary said.

"What?" Lucy asked, wondering what on Earth Mary meant.

"Well, around Hyrum, you see," Mary began with a teasing smile.

Lucy's eyes widened slightly, though she quickly fixed her face. "What are you talking about?"

"You like him, don't you?"

Lucy froze. She didn't know what to say at first, but she figured that since Mary was one of her closest friends, she could tell her anything.

"I, um, I guess I do..." she mumbled lamely, and Mary snickered.

"I knew it! You should tell him."

"Why would I tell him?" Lucy cried.

Mary shrugged mysteriously. "It might be in your best interests."

"I do not like the way you said that," Lucy frowned. By this point, they were outside of the building, waiting for McKenna and Mia, who was being unwillingly dragged along.

Mary opened her mouth to reply, but McKenna and Mia walked up, and so their unfinished conversation hung in the air as McKenna offered a cheerful greeting. Mia's was much less so.

The four girls walked into the building, wading through the sea of people to find a decent spot.

It didn't take long for the boys to appear on stage, and there were resounding screams from the entire crowd.

All four girls winced, then laughed upon seeing the others do the same thing.

They were interrupted, though, when Carson said into his mic, "Alright, we are Riff Wood."

They focused their attention on him, even Mia, who seemed the slightest bit intrigued.

"This song is called Fall of the Compliant," Carson added, and the cheers started up again.

Lucy couldn't help but feel so much pride for her brother. Having a crowd like this was huge for the band, and she didn't even know this many Riff Wood fans lived in Utah.

The song was a euphoric blur. Lucy, though she hated how loud it was, couldn't think of a time where she'd had more fun.

"This next song," said Hyrum, and Lucy snapped towards him, "is gonna release soon, it's called One Thing's On My Mind."

Lucy had only heard bits and pieces of this song, but she loved what she had heard.

"Get down," Carson told the crowd, and everyone did, even Mia, who rolled her eyes while doing so.

Lucy could tell Mia was enjoying it, though, at least a little, because when everyone gradually rose and began shouting along with Hyrum, Mia let a smile slip.

Hyrum began singing, and Lucy wanted to keel over right then and there. His voice, in her opinion, had never sounded so good.

They even played Chaos Girl, and though Lucy was probably seeing things, she could have sworn Hyrum looked at her while introducting the song.

When the gig was over, the four girls spilled out of the venue.

"Gosh, I am exhausted," Mary complained, sitting down on the nearest bench.

"Me too," Lucy agreed.

"So, what did you think?" McKenna asked Mia, who tried to pretend she hadn't enjoyed it.

"It was alright," she shrugged.

"Well, that's better than horrible," Mary reasoned.

"Shredder's a good drummer," McKenna said, and Mary nodded.

They fell into silence, and just sat in the cool night air.

"I have to get home," McKenna said after a few minutes. "Curfew."

"Me too," Mia agreed, and so Mary and Lucy said goodbye to the two girls before walking towards their houses.

"That was so fun," Lucy said as they walked. "Though I might have a hard time hearing for a while."

"Me too," Mary laughed. "But that's the price you pay when your brother's in a band."

"Don't remind me," Lucy joked. "I'll have permanent hearing loss if they keep this up."

"Okay, granny."

"Shut up."