! VANILLA BABY ! VANILLA BABY !

( drip sweat )
( a cooper koch fic )

STREETS OF LA
los angeles, california
october 15, 2024
tuesday
4:15pm

alexander rolled his eyes from the backseat of the drivers car as they sat in standstill traffic headed for the concert. late.

"is there any way to go around this shit?" he asked from the back.

the driver huffed, shaking his head. "i've tried every detour i could think of. but nothing has gotten us out of this standstill traffic yet. i'm sorry." he answered.

alexander groaned in annoyance, he could feel his anxiety rising and stress building up. "i have to be at that venue. i needed to be at that venue thirty minutes ago!" he complained.

the driver glanced in the rearview mirror and caught a glance of him. alex was sitting there, tapping his leg in a frustrated manner and biting his thumbnail anxiously as traffic didn't move an inch.

"listen, it's LA. i know you're frustrated and upset about this but you've got to be patient." the driver tried to reason.

alex nodded and apologized to the driver before his phone started to ring. he quickly answered it. "hello?" he said, his voice having a hint of annoyance.

"where are you? you need to be here to set up! you said you'd be here thirty minutes ago!" charli went on.

he massaged his temple. "i'd be there by now but i'm stuck in this god awful traffic!" he said frustrated, he was clearly not liking how long this was taking. traffic was not one of his favourite things on this planet.

charli muttered some curses on the other end before speaking. "just...hurry up please! you know how stressed i am about these shows being perfect! and not to mention you're the first set of the night-"

"yes, yes and the opening set cannot be late. i understand, charli," alexander breathed out. "i'm trying to hurry. i cannot control the fact that i'm stuck in traffic." alexander groaned, he started to notice that the traffic wasn't really moving at all. he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"why not just get out of the car and walk the rest of the way? you'd be at the venue way quicker." the driver suggested.

alexander rolled his eyes, he should be thinking of that.

he turned his attention back to the phone, "hey charli, the driver just suggested i should get out the car and walk the rest of the way."

"what? are you stupid? i know LA traffic is long and painful, but you're not seriously thinking of doing that, right?" charli exclaimed on the other end.

alex had to resist the urge to scoff from her tone. "no, i'm not stupid. but right now, that seems like a good idea to get me to the venue quicker." he said.

charli groaned, "you're going to look ridiculous walking past all the cars on the street walking to the venue."

"fuck it." he said as he hung up from charli. he slid cash to the driver and hopped out of the taxi. he placed the hood from his hoodie over his head to avoid being recognized before making his way past all of the stopped cars.

he pushed past each car, hearing some of the drivers yell at him. he flipped some of them off as he pushed past.

walking past them and seeing them all stuck in the traffic made him feel superior as he continued to walk through the streets.

he pulled out his phone and saw that he was starting to get close to the venue. thankfully the traffic didn't add too many minutes to his journey as he made it to the venue in five minutes.

KIA FORUM ARENA
los angeles, california
5:10pm

alex was forced to walk into the arena through the back entrance to ensure that no fans would recognize him and risk the surprise.

once he made it backstage, charli and troye rushed over to him. "jesus, you've got to get through hair and makeup," charli exclaimed as she took note of alexander's disheveled appearance.

"i know, i know. jesus, do i look that bad?" he asked, trying to pat down his tangled hair.

troye shrugged, he had this cheeky little smirk on his face. "you look like you've just gone ten rounds in a boxing ring." he teased.

alex rolled his eyes. "lead the way to hair and makeup."

charli immediately grabbed alex's arm and dragged him along. she didn't want him to be any later than he already is.

"we need to get you ready and prepared to be out on that stage asap. since you missed the gate for setup time and all." charli began to say as they walked through the corridors. troye followed behind the pair with a smirk on his face.

"yeah, i'm well aware of that fact. thanks for that information, charli. i would've never known i was late if you hadn't of told me." alex said sarcastically.

troye chuckled. "someone's a little grumpy." he teased.

alex sent troye a glare as he kept walking with charli gripping onto his arm. "i'm very grumpy right now, thank you for noticing that too because i also didn't know that i was irritated." he retorted, rolling his eyes again.

charli snickered at his response, she had to admit he was being a lot more cheeky than usual today.

they soon reached the room labelled 'hair and makeup', she gave alex a push towards the room. "get in there and get yourself looking like you haven't been in a fight." she said jokingly.

alex rolled his eyes and headed into the room. he noticed a chair in front of a full length mirror being surrounded by women waiting to fix his appearance.

he huffed and sat in the seat. "are all of you fixing me up right now? what are you going to do, style my hair to perfection in like five minutes?" he asked.

"please sit still." one of the ladies ordered, clearly annoyed.

"yes ma'am." alex muttered as he leaned back in the chair.

after he finally finished getting dolled up, he examined his appearance in the mirror. he had to admit. he looked damn good. they did a good job at hiding the fact that he walked through the roads of la with the hood over his head.

he pushed open the door and saw charli and troye waiting for him. "it's your time to shine, baby." charli said.

he smirked, "it's always time for me to shine, baby." he shot back, adjusting his fur coat.

troye chuckled, rolling his eyes from the remark. "you're so full of yourself, you know that?"

"yes i do know that, i'm very well aware that i'm very full of myself. don't you know i'm perfect?" alex retorted.

"please don't give your ego anymore fuel or it'll explode." charli teased. "now, go knock em' dead!" she said as she pushed alexander towards the stage entrance.

he took a deep breath before walking out, the lights immediately dimmed and the fog was so intense that the stage wasn't visible to the crowd. though, alexander could see the completely full crowd.

"how we doing los angeles?" he said into the mic.

the crowd started to go wild from the second he spoke. he smirked at their reaction. he could feel all eyes on him from the audience, he loved it.

"i bet you can guess who i am." alex said into the mic, he chuckled to himself at his comment.

the crowd had started to guess who was on stage, a few girls began to squeal when they had realised that it was alexander on stage.

"isn't the tour called the sweat tour?" he asked the crowd.

the answer he got back was a deafening scream.

he chuckled and shook his head, "well then let's break a fucking sweat!" he yelled out before the lights went a green, allowing for the crowd to see alexander at his dj turntable mixing a beat.

he loved how eager the crowd was, he could practically get anyone in this arena to do whatever he wanted. he loved it, all the power and control he has on thousands of people with just his words and music.

the beat dropped and the bass was high, the arena was now a huge rave party thanks to him. there was a clear visual of hundreds of people jumping up and down, screaming every word of his music.

alexander loved feeding off the crowds energy, he was so invested in playing a set for charli's tour. he was really enjoying himself and the music, he was thriving off of the energy.

alexander continued to play his set, his fingers moved so fast on the equipment to mix the music, it was incredible. the crowd was going insane, the whole arena was dancing and jumping nonstop.

the energy was so alive in the arena, people screaming his lyrics, jumping off their feet and dancing carelessly. alex's adrenaline was pumping.

while he was messing with the turntable, he spoke into the mic, "how much you guys love this next song?"

the crowd went even crazier than before. some girls were screaming their lungs out while others were just jumping up and down.

alexander smirked with satisfaction as he saw how excited the audience was from the small tease alone, "are you ready?" he asked.

the crowd once again yelled back at him.

"if you say so." he muttered to himself.

alex began to mix a new song with kali uchis' vocals. this duo song was one of his biggest hits, the jumbotron then started showing people closeup dancing and singing along to the song.

as he played the song, he took a glance at the jumbotron screen. he couldn't help but notice how a guy from the front row was just scrolling on instagram on his phone.

alex scowled slightly, it bothered him that one person wasn't enjoying the performance and would rather scroll on their phone.

he tried to shake off the annoyance, but he couldn't help but keep watching the jumbotron.

but then, he saw a flash of blonde hair appear on the screen, he looked and realised it was chloe sevigny. he smiled when he saw her.

her and a man were dancing and singing along. alex felt a sense of relief from watching the two of them actually enjoying the show and not looking at their phone.

"alright, i've got one more song for you guys..." alex said into his mic. "but i'm gonna need help with this one, shall we bring out my good friends troye and charli?" he asked the crowd.

the crowd was a mix between yelling, screaming and cheering at his words.

"god, you guys are loud." he said into the mic with a smirk, he loved how the crowd was so hyped. "i'm gonna need charli and troye to come on stage!" alex yelled out.

just then, charli made an appearance on the stage. "talk to me in french, talk to me in spanish....talk right in my ear tell me your secrets and fears." she sang into the mic.

from the other side of the stage, troye made an appearance singing right along. "kay here's the plan, i wanna fly you out to amsterdam..." he sang back as alexander played around on the turntable. alexander had made the entire beat for charli and troye's new song 'talk talk' making it a song with the usage of all three of their hard works.

the trio's harmony together mixed with the beats was incredible and sounded good together. the words and beats were perfectly mixed together and it sounded great.

the three of them continued to sing, the audience was completely hooked on the music and the beautiful singing while alex continued to spin the record on his turntable.

he couldn't help but enjoy himself as he began to dance along as they all sang. he felt the music and the vibe.

the crowd was jumping and dancing all around as the trio continued to sing with the music, it was such a beautiful moment.

alex was having so much fun and enjoying himself, the mix of house and singing. the trio really knew how to put on a performance and get the crowd hyped.

the song came to an end, the trio finished singing and the crowd started to applaud and cheer with excitement.

alexander smirked and chuckled as charli and troye came up to him. "damn guys, we sound amazing together." he said before speaking into the mic, "la...you really are something. i thank you all for coming out tonight! much love!" he said as he waved at all different sides of the room before making his way offstage.

alex was still riding the adrenaline wave after putting on a show for the audience, he was breathing heavily and his hair was falling into his eyes from all the movement. he was absolutely exhausted now.

10pm

given that charli and troye asked alexander to stay until the end of the concert, he watched the rest of it from a tv in the back room.

finally troye and charli trickled in, both tired and out of breath. "that was amazing..." charli said as she sat next to alexander on the couch.

"and we do it again tomorrow," the australian boy said.

"except tomorrow is more of a surprise surprise day." charli said.

"what the hell is a "surprise surprise" day?" alexander asked.

charli spoke, "it's a day where we bring out so many people. it's the last day of the entire tour so we have to do something very special." she explained.

"oh so i wasn't special enough?" alexander said jokingly.

she rolled her eyes, "obviously. that's why you're performing for two days."

"except tomorrow you won't do an entire set, you'll perform with one other artist of your choice for two songs," troye said.

he sat there on the couch, charli was sitting next to him while troye was standing in front of them.

alexander couldn't help but feel slightly bothered by being told last minute that he has to perform with someone else.

he raised an eyebrow, "you're telling me this now?" he asked, "what artist do i get to choose?"

troye smirked, he folded his arms across his chest as he chuckled. he knew that alex wouldn't be happy about this new information that they had to break to him last minute. "well, you have to pick someone. they can be anyone you desire. we need to get a new performance ready for tomorrow." troye said.

"who will already be performing with you guys tomorrow?" alex asked.

"lorde, emma lee, ke$ha, billie eilish, tate mcrae, and shy girl." troye said.

charli added, "and they'll be an after party to celebrate the ending of the tour."

alexander was shocked to hear all the major artists performing that had been mentioned already. but he couldn't deny the after party was intriguing.

he took a moment to think, who the hell was he going to perform with on stage for two songs? he truly didn't know.

housekeeping notes!

the man we're all waiting for will be here veryyyy soon!!!