The blood curdling scream was loud enough to strike terror into the band mid-sentence.

Steven was on his feet and running to the source in an actual flash with the rest trailing behind him.

"Oh my god..." She was on her knees on the bathroom floor in a position that made them think she must have fallen.

"Connie." Steven crouched down to hold her to his chest. "What happened?"

Anna stepped forward to gesture for the phone in her hand. "Oh... Connie." She wrapped her arms around her. "It's her parents."

Stevens face went ashen. "P-Priyanka and Doug?"

Connie sniffled. "They got in an accident." It was all she said for the rest of the day.

The only other person in the group who'd become strangely close to The Maheswarens was Jacob. Priyanka had kind of stepped in as his mother. "Are they okay?" She looked up at him and reached out a hand. He kneeled and grabbed it. "Connie, are they okay?"

She could only shake her head miserably as she started sobbing into Steven's shoulder.

The next few months were blurry and stressful for all of them. The Maheswaren funeral was one of the hardest times the band had together to date. Connie stepped down as a vocalist for the moment, opting to help write songs instead. They filed them away and took a break as a band altogether, stating in one article that it's not TiBNAALD without all of the members present and happy.

"It's not that she's our best friend,"

"And life partner,"

"It's that we made this band together, so we do everything else together too."

It was a welcome break honestly, they got more time to screw around and just relax without something pushing for them to keep making more. Connie was quiet for a long while, sparking a fight between the power couple and unsettled bandmates. Steven and Connie were definitely, for all jokes aside, the Mom and Dad with their constant encouragement and kind natured spirits and insistence that everyone eat regularly. So when they were tense, everyone was, even though they tried to play nice in front of everyone.

Steven hated being shut out, especially when he was hurting about it too. It wasn't the fact that their sex life stopped in its tracks (in fact it hadn't even crossed his mind), it was the fact that she refused to be comforted. Sometimes she was blank in every movement she made, and others she'd sit in the shower and cry so hard she would gag. She rarely acknowledged his touch anymore, and after crying she'd go back to being empty.

Connie Maheswaren had gone numb, and from the personal experience every band member possessed, that was not something they could just let happen.

Various attempts to show her they were there carried out poorly. Sometimes they could break through the blankness to find confusion or irritation, but that was about as far as it reached.

The way they cracked her was completely out of pocket and unintentional.

On the first day of October, Steven had coaxed her out to sit on the ginormous couch in the commons with the band while they goofed off and drank wine.

Connie, being a woman of refined taste (believe it or not) had finally nodded and tried for a smile which put her husband in a cheerful mood that had spread to the rest of them. She was conversing more with them now and had even cracked a few more genuine smiles here and there.

"You guys remember how we said we were going to make an all explicit album with an actual name?" Steven asked as he finished his can of beer. He peered inside for a moment. "Rated E For Everyone."

Hazel snorted and slouched further, high as a kite. "This dick is rated E for everyone."

Jacob took a long drag of a blunt and passed it to Jasmin. "Noted, I guess."

They giggled and Connie took a deep breath. "Okay. I feel better now. Let's do it."

"Wait, no... No offense Ni, but I don't wanna jump into things too quickly." Hazel put a hand on her shoulder and frowned. "Ease into it."

"I'm serious. I'm tired of moping. Plus... now I don't have to face my parents' humiliation and disappointment when we release it."

Adam grimaced. "Jesus that's a good point. My folks would probably be mostly chill but Thanksgiving is gonna suck."

"Thank the stars I don't have that problem. I'm already a disappointment, may as well hit a home run with it." Anna was braiding portions of Alex' hair idly since he was cutting it down again soon.

Connie sighed and grabbed Steven's hand.

He was quiet, looking at her with his brows knit together as he tried to hope she meant it but failed. If she could only know that he stayed awake every night with her, pretending to sleep because it was the only way she'd cry and crying was good for you. He'd lay there, most of the time on his back with a hand tucked behind his head clenching his fist into his hair as hard as he could without tearing it out. He burned for this woman, and when she ached he did too. He leaned forward to hug her, murmuring into her ear, "Just this once, don't lie to me."

"Steven," She mumbled and pressed a dozen kisses to him. "I appreciate your guys' concern but I don't want to be sad anymore. Next step up is bad, so now..." She pulled away and grinned a full grin. She almost looked just like she had before the accident. "I wanna be disobedient."

It gave them enough hope to jump on it.

"If you're sure. I just feel like us guys are going to have an easier time," Jacob said.

Jasmin snorted. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

He shrugged and looked to Steven. "Well, that's just kinda how we are. Not to stereotype but our minds pretty much in the gutter on a consistent basis."

"And you think ours aren't capable of that?" Connie scoffed. "We could beat you guys into the dirt."

Hazel poked her cheek. "You commented on the dryness of the wine earlier, and taught us how to swirl the glass for maximum enjoyment. You're pretty proper."

"You guys have seen us fool around a million times, drunk, high and sober. We went to Nova together. How could you possibly think that?" Steven hooked an arm around her waist like he was going to pull her onto his lap and she nodded.

"True, but you've also seen us fuck and you know damn well our baseline is on another level," Adam reminded him with a tug of a curl.

Connie considered it, glancing to the girls for silent agreement before she spoke. "Then I guess it's boys against girls."

"The last time we did that I creamed you guys." Jacob pumped his fist at the sweet memory but Alex grunted in disagreement.

"As your referee I am obligated to tell you it was a really, really, really close call between Cater 2 U and Honeybee. Really close."

"Whatever," Jasmin grumbled. "I don't remember being creamed by Jacob that night. Do you guys?" She asked deadpan.

"Not that night in particular," Anna laughed.

Jasmin patted his thigh proudly. "Feel free." She grabbed the blunt back and sucked down so much their air purifier struggled to contain the resulting cloud.

Jacob choked on his hit humorously. "Did you just pimp me out to the entire band?"

"You'd look so cute in a skirt," Connie pleaded.

"For fucks sake, you and your feminine men." Jacob had heard that line a trillion times.

Steven snickered and stuck out a finger to Jacob. "The proper description is 'Pretty Boy'."

"More like 'baby boy'." The two men exchanged various gestures to the effect of "fuck you".

"I say we make a bet. Whichever team wins gets to dress the other side however they want. No hard limits," Jacob declared with a final challenging puff toward the girls.

"So be it. Come on ladies," Anna stood with her arms folded and smirked. "Time to put these bitches in their place."

"Hold it!" Steven held up both hands to quiet them. "Rules, rules... uh... You can say or do anything you like for the songs. It's time to conjure your freakiest natures and absolutely destroy people's innocence. No collabs between boys and girls, until the last one. And you can write solos all the way up to quartets. If we do good, I may reconsider the publicity stunt."

He looked up with a wicked glint and beamed. "Whichever side comes up with the dirtiest and sexiest song, that's two first places, wins. And we have our non-biased decider, Alex." He slid a hand up Alex' shirt and the man dropped his phone irritatedly.

"You have my attention, but barely."

Anna raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't he hate all of us though?"

"Yeah, non-biased."

Alex leaned up a bit to adjust an imaginary crown. "Which ever side makes the song that disgusts me the most, wins a bucket of vomit and–,"

Steven gave him his best Hollywood smile as he got up to get another beer. "The rare opportunity of you joining in the fun?"

Alex' eyes flashed and he sighed. "Sure."

"You guys ever wonder how often Steven charms us without even trying? Man's doesn't even need magic. What a fucking weirdo," Hazel stage whispered.

Adam stared at Stevens ass for a moment as he walked around in the kitchen and shrugged. "Someone needs to write a song about that ass."

"Agreed." They chorused.

"I think I'm starting to get some ideas," Connie said while running her gaze over his shoulders. "But honestly the boys do it more often than I do. I've written a million and one love songs to and about him. He'll expect it from me," She turned to him with a smirk. "But he won't expect it from you guys. It'll be shocking. And very misleading."

"Bet."

They re-entered the public eye again by heading out to Hollywood for a weekend on the beach. When Connie was seen laughing and enjoying herself again, there was a collective sigh among their fans that the band could feel.

The girls were tireless in their endeavor of writing while the guys took their sweet time. It was easy to write tens of thousands of songs about wanting to rail their girlfriends. All of them were gorgeous, and every surface they saw could be a playground in the right moment. They were young with zest and testosterone still in high volumes, so more often than not they were affectionate in their own ways and always happy to enjoy their partners' bodies as much as their minds. And each others.

And each other.

"We're done," Connie stated as she slammed her hand on the coffee table, standing in front of them boldly. "We finished it a couple of weeks ago but we've performed it a few times now in practice. I think we're ready."

Hazel barely acknowledged Connie past a sip of his whiskey at first. The boys had been finished with their songs for a while and were taking a moment to snuggle puddle in front of the fireplace in quiet drunkness. "Welp," He tapped Adam's hip and they all stood. "You wanna perform yours first? You'll have a better chance."

Connie sneered at them as she lead them downstairs where Jasmin and Anna were sipping warm water.

"Are you guys ready?" Jasmin cooed. "I hope you brought duct tape."

Jacob blushed. "Wait we're not going too insane with this though, right?"

The girls giggled and shrugged.

"I mean, we did quite a few good ones that'll stick." Steven patted his chest proudly. "I think we have it in the bag thanks to my years of finding creative ways to say I wanna rail you like a train." He dropped his eyes to Connie's boobs and sighed wistfully for a second before clapping his hands in a jarring way they recognized from their old teacher Mr. Hylander. "Get on in there and bore us."

"As you wish, My Liege."

He should've kept his mouth shut.