Chapter Text
Kin and Kon lay sprawled out on the stage in Corey’s garage. Soda cans littered the area surrounding them, remnants of their impromptu belching contest. The contest had been a battle of wills but like all times in the past Kon had been the victor. The two were now recovering from their carbonated sugar coma while Corey went out to replenish his depleted pop stash, having charged each brother five bucks for drinking every last can of his favorite soft drink.
The brothers were suddenly jerked out of their peaceful stupor by a loud bang, the sound of something, or someone, colliding with the garage door. They heard a muffled shout of pain before the garage door flew open and Corey ran in panting, a red mark forming on his forehead.
"Did you just run into the door?" Kin asked with a chuckle, rolling over on to his side and sitting up.
Corey took a minute to catch his breath before replying, “No. Yes. Maybe, look it doesn’t matter, something terrible has happened!”
His eyes were wild and he was speaking so fast Kin and Kon could barely keep up. They shared a worried glance before turning their attention back on their frantic vocalist.
He seemed to be waiting for a signal to continue so Kon prompted, “What happened Corey?”
At that he began his tirade making wild gestures as he did, “I was walking through the park on the way to the corner store because I remembered that they had a two for one deal on pop if you bought a bag of jerky with it and-” he took a deep breath, “-as I was walking I saw, get this, Laney talking and smiling and laughing with a Newman!”
The twins gasped and Corey continued panicked, “Do you know what this means?”
They paused brows furrowed as they thought. “Uh no.” Kon finally said.
"It means- uh well, actually I’m not sure what it means either." Corey paused for a moment in thought, "But it can’t be anything good! Why would Lanes be hanging out with a Newman?" He said gripping the nearest twin’s shirt and pulling them toward him, his eye’s frantically searching their face for answers.
Kon blinked as Corey’s face suddenly filled his vision. Confused and overwhelmed by the situation Kon tried looking to Kin to calm their riled frontman, wishing Laney was there to diffuse the tumultuous situation.
"Hey wait a minute Corey," kin spoke up, tugging on the blue haired boy’s sleeve to loosen his hold on his brother, "are you sure it was Laney and not, uh, that one guy that kind of looks like her? I think his name was Lenny?"
"I thought it was Ricky."
"What! Ricky? Kon his name sounds nothing like Ricky!"
"No no Kin, I think Kon was onto something his name definitely has an r in it some-" Corey caught himself getting derailed "Wait wait ok it doesn’t matter because it wasn’t him!"
"It was definitely Lane’s I saw she had that yellow hair thingy!"
"Her hairclip?" Kin suggested.
"I think it’s a barrette actually." Corey said.
"Uh aren’t those the same thing?" Kon asked.
Catching them getting off topic once again Corey forced himself to stay focused, “Guys! What matters is that Lanes was hanging out with Carrie. We need to find out why, what if she’s in trouble?”
"I don’t know Corey I think Laney could probably beat up Carrie if she was giving her any trouble." Kon said, well aware of what the small bassist was capable of in a pinch.
"Besides you said she was smiling and laughing, it doesn’t sound like she was in trouble." Kin added.
They all stood quietly thinking. Why would Laney be with Carrie at the park? They couldn’t seem to think of any possible reason why she would ever willingly associate with a Newman.
Suddenly Kin let out a horrified gasp. “Guys! I just realized something!”
They looked at him in anticipation.
"Laney is… A girl!”
Corey blinked, “Uh yeah?” Of course they knew she was a girl it didn’t mean she couldn’t be a total bro.
Kin shook his head, “No I mean a girl.” he said drawing the word out. “What if she’s leaving us to be in an all girl band?”
Kon and Corey gasped sharing a distraught look. That was impossible Laney would never leave them for the Newmans. At least they thought she wouldn’t. But then they thought she would never be seen in public with a Newman either.
"Oh no that’s gotta be it!" Corey wailed, "But why would she leave us for the Newmans? Where did we go wrong?"
Kon wrapped his arms around Corey and Kin squeezing them in his distress. The three stayed like that for a long moment yelling their sorrows at the imagined loss of their smallest band member. Finally Corey slipped out of his friend’s grasp a determined look on his face.
"No! I can’t stand for this. We have to do something, Lanes is my best- uh, one of, my best friends, there’s got to be something we can do to convince her to stay!”
Kon sniffled, “Yeah, you’re right Corey!” He straightened with resolve, “We need to make her feel appreciated. Let’s shower her with love and affection until she never wants to leave again!”
"Yeah!" Corey cheered, but then he paused, frowning in thought, "But how do you make someone feel appreciated?"
"It’s easy." Kin said turning to face his brother, "Observe. Ahem, gee Kon your drumming sure was awesome today, is that a new headband?"
Kon smiled playing along, “Why thank you Kin, yes it is. I feel so appreciated because of your words.”
They turned to Corey expectantly, proud smiles on their faces despite their terrible acting. Corey stared at them a blank expression on his face. There was a long moment of silence and they frowned.
"Guys, this is a crazy plan…" suddenly he grinned, "That just might work!"