Prepare for lore

•°•

"I though you had band practice," Etho said, pulling up to the curb in his truck.

Bdubs huffed. "I quit," he answered, then loaded his instrument into the back seat before hopping in the front.

Etho's eyes widened. "What? Why?"

Bdubs opened his mouth to answer, but paused. He didn't have an answer. There wasn't a single reason he could recall to why he quit the band. "I... I don't know..."

"You don't have a reason?" Etho asked, obviously trying not to laugh.

Bdubs shook his head, scowling at the dashboard. "I did have one," he said. "But I can't remember what it was..."

•°•

Scar threw the front door to his appartment open and dropped his backpack on the floor. He was furious. Why? He didn't exactly know. He was just angry.

He sat down on the sofa and sighed, thinking about what had happened. He gasped. "Did I seriously quit?" he muttered to himself.

"Quit what?"

Scar jumped, looking over to see Pearl standing in the doorway to the kitchen and eating a bowl of ice cream. "You scared me," he huffed, crossing his arms.

Pearl giggled. "Oops." She was the landlord's daughter. Ever since she met Scar and became friends with him, she just... showed up whenever. "You didn't quit that cute little boy band, did you?"

"I- Cute little boy band?" He scoffed. "It's a very note-cute big man band, thank you very much," he said, making her laugh. "What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing, nothing."
He gave her a judging glance before shrugging. "You didn't answer my question, Scar."

Scar pursed his lips and looked away. "I did," he mumbled.

"Aww, why?" she asked, then shoved a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. "You loved those guys."

"I don't know why."

Pearl blinked. "You don't know why you quit?"

He shook his head. "I was angry, I think," he said. "But I can't remember why."

Pearl shrugged, snorting in amusement. "You're strange, Scar."

•°•

"Hey, guys," Shelby said as she entered the room. "Sorry, I'm a little late. Katherine wanted to show me-" She paused, suddenly sensing the thick atmosphere. "-something..." She looked at Xisuma, who sat a seat away from Keralis at the table, which in itself was crazy because they were constantly just inches from each other. Then she looked at Zedaph as he mumbled quietly to Tango as he looked like he was checking the taller boy for injuries. Fwhip and Impulse were over on the little stage having a quiet conversation, Joel was on his phone behind the drumset, and False was at the other side of the room. "Is everything okay?"

Xisuma looked up at her and stole a glance at Keralis for a split second before sighing. "Tango's hair caught on fire again, Keralis knows something but won't tell us" - he shot a quick glare at his friend when he said this - "and it turns out Scar and Bdubs were both serious about quitting yesterday, right after we just got a gig at the Swaggon Café."

Shelby blinked. "Oh. Wow..."

"Yeah." Xisuma glanced back at Keralis. "And it would just be so helpful to know why Tango keeps catching on fire," he said. "But, noooo, Keralis wants to be a douche about it."

Keralis rolled his eyes. "I asked you to stop pushing about it," he sighed.

"And I asked you to not keep secrets from me, but here we are," Xisuma huffed with his arms crossed. "No, you promised you wouldn't keep secrets from me."

"This isn't a secret-"

"Then why aren't you telling me?"

"Because."

Xisuma quirked a brow at him. "That's not an answer," he said, choosing to ignore the face Keralis made. "Why won't you tell me?"

Keralis turned away, very obviously trying to hide that he was angry. "There's a time and place for it," he said decisively, "and this is not it. Besides, the whole band needs to be together for the conversation anyway."

"The whole band is here."

"Scar and Bdubs aren't."

Xisuma let out a loud and overdramatic groan. "They aren't in the band anymore!" he shouted as he stood up. "Just tell us!"

"I said, no."

"Are you serious?" X took a shaky breath. "You know why Tango was on fire and why it went out when he calmed down, and you promised not to keep things from me, so why won't you tell me?"

Keralis looked over his shoulder, glaring coldly. "Your pestering is annoying," he grumbled, surprising everyone. "Sit down and be quiet."

Xisuma froze, his eyes wide, then nodded and sat back down without saying another word.

•°•

"Shashwammy, wait," Keralis said as Xisuma was walking out the door after practice. The latter sighed and stopped.

"What?"

"I want to apologize," Keralis said quietly. "I didn't mean to snap at you earlier."

Xisuma looked away, shrugging. "It's fine," he murmured. "I shouldn't have pushed about it, so it's really my fault."

Keralis frowned. "It's not your fault," he said sternly. "It's mine, I should know better."

X shrugged again and stuck his hands in his pockets. "It's not like I'm not used to being snapped at by now," he said with a small laugh. "But seriously, it's fine."

"...You're sure?"

"No, I'm Xisuma."

Keralis blinked, then snickered, returning Xisuma's bright smile.

"We're going to get frozen custard," X said, "if you wanted to come. I mean, it's technically a band thing, but, uh..."

"Yes, I'll pay for your frozen custard," Keralis teased with a sly smile, walking past Xisuma and out the door.

Xisuma's face flushed. "Wha- I wasn't asking you to pay for me!" he said, embarrassed. "I just wanted you to come with." He went quiet for a moment as he walked down the hallway with Keralis. "You don't think that's the only reason I invite you to things, do you...?"

Keralis looked at X, but he didn't look back at him. "Of course not," he answered. "And I'm happy to pay for you if you need me to."

Xisuma smiled fondly at him. "Thank you." He sighed happily. "I really do love you." His cheeks turned bright red when Keralis gave him a slightly puzzled look, and he shook his head frantically. "No, uh, I meant- I love, er, hanging out with you!" He let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah, hanging out... with you... I love hanging out. With you. Because we're friends, and friends hang out with each other. Not, like, romantically or anything. Just- just friends. Because we're friends! And I love being your friend because I love you. But- but as a friend! Not, like, in a weird... way..." He trailed off, ducking his head in embarrassment to avoid meeting Keralis' gaze. Dear god...

Keralis snickered, then burst out laughing, drawing the attention of the rest of the band down the hall. Man, did X love that sound. "Yeah, I get it," he said. "I love you, too. As a friend."

Xisuma couldn't explain the turns his stomach did when Keralis spoke, but it was weird. And he thought about it the whole walk to the parlor. He never thought before that he actually liked Keralis like that, but maybe he did. It would explain the nervousness he felt whenever he was around him, and also how flustered he got when Keralis got close to him.

But that what would mean he was gay. He'd be disowned for sure if his father found out. X looked up at Keralis, who was laughing with Tango, and smiled softly. Then again, he doesn't have to know...

"You alright, 'Zuma?" Zedaph asked, holding the door to the parlor open.

Xisuma blinked and looked over at Zed, not having realized that they were already there. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine," he said with a smile. "Just lost in thought."

Zedaph nodded. "Just making sure."

They sat down and ordered their desserts, then Xisuma pulled out the head charts of all the songs they were currently working on.

"Alright, False," he said, "which songs are we playing for the gig?"

False looked up from her phone, blinking in confusion. "Huh? Me?" She blinked again. "Why am I choosing?"

X glanced away for a moment. "I, uh... I just thought since this was kinda Scar's job, that maybe it was yours now because you're our lead singer now," he explained nervously. "But you don't have to pick."

"I think you should be the one to pick, X," Impulse said, shoving a spoonful of his heavily topped frozen custard into his mouth. Honestly, it was like he got every topping with a small side of custard.

"Why me?"

Impulse shrugged. "I mean, you take the most initiative in the band," he said. "And you do have every part for all of the songs. Not to mention you're lead guitarist and a singer."

Xisuma rolled his eyes. "Back-up, actually."

"Still!" Impulse set his bowl down on the table. "What do you get when you put lead and guitar together? Leadar. Which... sounds pretty weird, but you get what I mean. You should be the new leader of the band."

Xisuma sighed. "Fine, then we'll take a vote on which songs we'll play," he said. "Who wants to play A Match Into Water?" He looked up at the rest of the band members, who all gave him confused and upset looks. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Are you serious?" Joel deadpanned. "Why can't you just accept that we want you to choose the songs?"

X shifted in his seat. "I just... I mean... Well-" He sighed. "Fine. We'll do..." He frowned. I shouldn't pick A Match Into Water, he thought. Fwhip was saying that the strumming pattern was too difficult. I don't want him to struggle with it. He sighed. But I really want to pick that one...

"What about Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea?" False suggested. "That one's fun."

Xisuma nodded. "Okay. That sounds good. What else?"

"I like that one song we played once by Mother Mother, I think it was," Shelby said. "Burning Pile maybe?"

"Okay." X wrote down both songs and looked back up at them. "What other songs do you guys want to play?"

Joel sighed. "Since we're doing the voting thing anyway," he drawled, "I guess A Match Into Water." Fwhip sighed when he said that.

Xisuma nodded as he scribbled down the song title. "One more song."

Zedaph, Tango, and Impulse looked at each other before saying in perfect unison, "I Miss Having Sex But At Least I Don't Want To Die." The three of them burst into laughter, making Xisuma smile.

"And that's our fourth song, then."

•°•

"Goodnight, Shashwammy," Keralis called as Xisuma walked up to his porch. "Get some sleep!"

X rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I will," he said. "Goodnight!"

Keralis waited until Xisuma was inside the house with the door closed, then closed his eyes to see Xisuma sneaking up the stairs to his bedroom. Once he was safe inside, Keralis opened his eyes and walked away.

•°•

"Xelqua, the spirit of the heavens. An all-knowing being created by the Watchers that's capable of virtually anything."

Underneath the short paragraph was a picture of a very feminine and faceless person dressed in white robes and a halo with hundreds of eyes surrounding them.

"Aemor, the spirit of the stag. A twisted representation of fertility, sensitivity, and wisdom that is capable of using these aspects to manipulate and brainwash mortals."

There was a picture of a translucent, ghost-like person with stag horns also dressed in white robes with tons of gold jewelry.

"Posedius, the spirit of the siren. An alluring and powerful being known to have an endless amount of appearances, each one formed from the idea of beauty in the minds of whoever looks their way, that is capable possessing and luring victims with their charm."

The picture beneath the paragraph was of a rather scary looking mermaid perched on a rock, looking like they were singing.

Keralis sighed and closed the book. "I don't think they'll ever believe me," he sighed.

•°•

You can probably tell which spirit is who lmao

But!! I want to explain Grian's, Scott's, and Jimmy'a pronouns because I've been wanting to explain it for forever now but I couldn't because I'd spoil everything. Grian uses he/they because I headcanon that Watchers have no gender but he's also transmasc, Scott uses they/them because I headcanon that Aeor was nonbinary and Scott's basically Aeor but evil in this story, and Jimmy uses all pronouns because everybody sees him differently. I'm fanboying over this and I don't know why, but it makes me really happy for some reason lmao

Anyway!! I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter :D Have a wonderful rest of your day/evening wherever you are <33 /gen/p