Chapter Text
It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence for Alec to find himself on this particular bus. He’d spent the afternoon busking around Manhattan with his trusty ukulele and was now on his way home to Brooklyn.
In actuality, home was Los Angeles. His parents and siblings were all there and he was all the way across the country for an audition. There was a book series that was in the process of becoming a movie franchise and they were looking for musicians, and Alec? He wanted in.
He’d spent years training, practicing and writing songs and this was finally his first chance to make a name out of himself.
But of course, he’d needed something on the side to do whilst he was in New York and so while he was living with his friend Lydia, he spent afternoons busking during auditions and call-backs just to get out and still perform.
It wasn’t the best thing to do, not everyone appreciated random street musicians but the majority were very welcoming and Alec loved making people smile with his music, whether it be by covers or originals.
And so, it was on one of those fateful afternoons that he was sat in his usual seat on his usual bus and a literal God walked in, taking the seat right beside him. That might have been because there were no other ones available, but Alec was too busy admiring the man’s beauty to notice that.
He breathed confidence, from the way he walked and the way he dressed. It was colourful and sparkly and on anyone else, it would look ridiculous but this man pulled it off. His nails were painted too, a sparkly midnight blue that matched his eye shadow. There was glitter dusting his skin, even his partly visible chiselled chest that was on display due to the lose shirt that was halfway unbuttoned.
Alec didn’t even realise he was staring until his phone vibrated in his pocket and he jumped, barely containing his flush at how pathetic he was. Thankfully, the man didn’t notice his ogling.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and accepted the call after seeing Lydia’s smiling face.
She squealed down the phone and Alec had to hold it away from his ear, flashing an apologetic smile at his beautiful companion when the other looked in confusion at his phone.
“Jesus woman, calm down would you?” Alec scoffed once she’d stopped her attempt of busting his ear drums.
“Alec! Oh my gosh Alec you’ll never guess what?”
“Can this wait until I get home? I’m on the bus,” Alec asked, eyeing his surroundings and trying to talk as quietly as possible.
“No! I just got in and I checked the messages and you got it! You got in! They want your songs Alec, your songs!” she squealed again but Alec didn’t bother moving the phone away, too dumbfounded at her words.
They liked his songs?
They liked his songs!
“Alec? You still there?”
“Wha-yes? Uhm, holy shit...fuck, god I gotta stop swearing oh my gosh they said yes?” Alec blabbered and shot another apologetic smile at the glittery man who just looked amused at his point however the old lady in front was glaring at him.
“Yes you dummy! And I knew it. I knew they’d love your songs. Okay, we’ll celebrate when you get home! I gotta call Izzy!”
“No!” Alec said a little too loudly and lowered his head when some other people starting looking at him pointedly. “I wanna tell her,” he added quietly and looked out the window, noticing this was where he had to get off. “I gotta go, be there soon.”
He hung up before she could say anything that would make him annoy the other people on the bus and pocketed his phone, a humongous smile on his face.
“Good news?” The man asked and Alec’s smile dropped in a second once he heard his silky voice.
Was there seriously nothing unattractive about this guy?
“Uh...yeah,” Alec nodded and licked his suddenly dry lips. “Great news.”
“Congratulations,” the man smiled at him and it did things to Alec’s insides.
“Thanks,” Alec was about to say more, not that he knew what exactly, but the driver reading out the stop name got his attention. “Shit, fuck,” he slapped a hand over his mouth to prevent any more curses escaping and stood up. “Sorry, I...uh, gotta go. My stop.” And with that, Alec pushed past him rather hurriedly and rushed off the bus, hitting himself inwardly the whole way at his stupid self for being so damn clumsy and rude.
***
“Lyds,” Alec groaned, shutting the door behind himself and slowly sliding down it, on to the floor. “I’m such a fuck up.”
Lydia walked out of the kitchen with champagne in her hand and eyed him dubiously. “You just got a deal with a New York Best Seller being turned into a movie and you’re a fuck up?”
“I made a dick out of myself on the bus and there was this really hot guy and I swore so much and this little old lady was giving me the evils I think she wants to kill me and then I ran off and fuck! He was so cute and holy double fuck I did it!” Alec’s eyes widened mid rambling and he jumped to his feet, startling even himself at the sudden movement. “I fucking did it! They’re gonna use my songs...my songs!”
Alec rushed to Lydia and literally swept her off her feet, hugging her so hard and spinning them around. She giggled as she clung to him and he couldn’t help the happy laugh bubble out of him.
“Yes you did! I’m so proud of you Alec!”
He gently placed her back on the ground and pressed a lingering kiss on her forehead. “Thank you, so much. For everything.”
“You’re welcome, you goofball. Now drink up. We’re going out tonight.” She forcefully shoved the bottle of champagne to his chest and he took it from her grip, taking a big gulp and grimacing instantly at the horrible taste.
“I still fucking hate champage.”
***
The next time Alec saw his glittery crush, who Lydia and Izzy now dubbed as Sparkles, he almost had a heart attack.
His attire was a lot more casual but he looked so sexy. It was the yoga pants that gave Alec his mini heart attack. They fit him so well and his ass looked incredible. Maybe he just got back from the gym or something but either way; Alec couldn’t tear his eyes away.
This time, there definitely were spare seats but the man came right to the one next to Alec again, a dazzling smile on his face.
“What are you listening to?” he asked and Alec frowned, wondering what he was talking about and then his eyes widened as he realised he was in fact listening to music.
“Uh, Fleetwood Mac,” Alec answered and watched as the guys hand, black nail polish with no rings, reached over Alec to his right side for the ear bud. His movement was hesitant and cautious as if asking for permission and Alec didn’t even have to think twice before he nodded and watched as the beauty pulled it out and got comfortable in his seat, letting the bud fit into his right ear.
“‘The Chain’,” the guy murmured, “brilliant song.”
Alec nodded, dumbfounded at the turn of events and then shifted his gaze to the front, enjoying the music and gorgeous guy’s presence.
They sat in silence until Alec’s stop came again and with an apologetic smile, Alec got up.
The guy smiled at him and pulled his legs to the side to give Alec room to pass. He wiggled his fingers in a wave that was far too elegant for what would otherwise be a silly gesture. Alec thought he’d make a good hand model.
Alec waved back a little awkwardly and got off the bus, walking the way to Lydia’s apartment with a skip in his step.
***
From then onwards, every Friday, without fail, this handsome stranger would sit next to Alec and listen to his music.
They never exchanged many words, mostly because Alec was too mesmerised by his beauty that whenever he was in close vicinity, all of Alec’s rational thinking would just fly out the window.
He was pretty sure he’d even mess up telling the stranger his name.
All the while, Alec was writing more and more songs, recording in the studio for the first time and still busking on the streets every Friday. It became a routine by the first month and Alec loved every bit of it.
He even loved seeing the man’s outfits every time. To this date, he’d never worn the same thing twice and they switched between gym style clothing and his usual flamboyant, glittery clothing.
Izzy and Lydia thought he was being stupid by not actually talking to the guy but Alec knew he’d fuck up their little thing if he did. And he didn’t want to lose the attention of this stranger so he stayed quiet.
Maybe it was the whole air of mystery that made it all the more enticing but Alec wasn’t prepared to break it, so if that meant they were only two strangers who shared Alec’s earphones ever Friday then so be it.
***
Time flew by and before Alec knew it, almost three months had passed.
It was Friday.
When he woke up that morning, the smile on his face was the biggest it had ever been because this time, not only was he going to see the beautiful stranger, his Album for the film would be finished, fully edited and ready to be used.
It wasn’t allowed to be sold just yet but Alec was okay with that because at least he’d get a copy of it for himself. He had to sign a big contract that said he wasn’t allowed to show it to anybody until after the producers and record company release it. No one even knew that the music was done by him except his friends and family and Simon, the music producer that worked with him, told him to enjoy his final few months of privacy before everyone went crazy about his music.
It was safe to say he blushed like an idiot at that.
So he rode the subway to Manhattan early morning and skateboarded the rest of the way to the record company, Jade Wolf, with his ukulele strapped to his back for his afternoon busking.
It was weird to walk in and not be pulled aside for ID or anything, everyone in the building knew him and the receptionist, Lily, always gave him a warm smile and little wave.
He made his way up to Simon’s studio on the 17th floor and knocked on the door before walking in.
“Hey Sim...on oh shit is that Luke? I mean Mr Garroway? I mean Sir Garroway. Fuck. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to swear...Mr Garroway Sir.” Alec rambled seeing the head of the record label sipping on his coffee.
If he could magic himself away, he would have done it in that moment.
Could they fire him after signing the contract? He hoped not.
Lucky for him, Mr Garroway looked highly amused rather than angry.
“Relax Alec, I don’t bite,” he said and stood up, extending his hand out in greeting. “It’s great to finally meet you after all this time.”
“You too, uh, Sir...I’m so sorry about, uhm, before.” Alec stuttered and tried to block out Simon’s giggling in the corner.
“It’s no problem. I practically raised this idiot in the corner,” Luke said nodding to Simon and ignored the indignant ‘hey!’, “and he never stops talking. Between him and my adopted kiddo Magnus, I’m surprised I haven’t yet taken them to Church to see if there’s some demon inside them for all the cussing.”
Alec smiled a little unnervingly, unsure of what to say to that. Luke patted his back and ushered him to the sofa where Simon was sat glaring at Luke.
“Speaking of Magnus, I’m gonna go call him and see how his audition went,” Luke said to Simon and then turned back to Alec. “It was great to meet you son and I look forward to hearing your music on the film. Simon said you did most of the instrumentals too. You’re a talented one,” he winked and left before Alec could even stutter out a response.
“Man you look like you’re low on fibre, I know he’s like super tall and stuff but chill, he’s a big softie. Kinda like you,” said Simon and Alec instantly turned to glare at him. “You’re freakishly tall dude, it was just an observation.”
Alec sighed and flopped down on the sofa, more than comfortable around Simon after all the time they’d spent together.
It was no less than thirty seconds before Simon pulled him up again and starting jumping around, unable to contain his excitement any longer. Alec couldn’t help it either so he wasn’t about to blame him.
“It’s seriously amazing man, I’ve never heard so much amazing shit packed into one tiny CD, I felt like I was going to explode after I listened to it like 15 time over and over last night.” Simon declared and Alec laughed joyfully, ignoring the tears welling up in his eyes.
“Thank you...I can’t believe this is happening. In like less than half a year of being in New York I got this deal and now I have an album.”
“Actually,” Simon grinned, “you have two.”
Alec frowned and tilted his head to the side, wondering what the hell Simon was talking about.
“Okay hear me out,” he began, moving to a set of drawers to the left of the soundboard. He pulled out a little package that was wrapped in paper with pictures of grumpy cats on it and Alec rolled his eyes fondly.
Simon had taken to calling him grumpy cat over their sessions and unfortunately, the name had stuck. It wasn’t Alec’s fault that he didn’t warm up to strangers that easily. Of course except for the beautiful stranger on the bus. But that was beside the point right now.
Alec gently tore the paper away to reveal a plain CD case with two discs in it, both with a simple ‘A.G.L’ marked in Sharpie on the front. His heart beat sped up to an alarming rate because there was only meant to be one disc, but here Alec was staring at two.
He lifted his head to look back at Simon who was grinning again and just stared, hoping that would make Simon explain.
“I made you a demo.” He announced.
“You what?”
“Those other songs of yours, the ones that you used as warm ups, I recorded them. I know, I know, I should have told you and stuff but dude everything your write is like fucking Shakespeare or something and I figured you wouldn’t have a demo so I wanted to make one for you to use after you blow up when this movie comes out ‘cause bro you’re definitely going to blow up big time. It’s not much, just the four songs that you used and I think it’ll work great because it’s raw, you know? Like it’s just your voice and your uke and there’s not much editing I did. You were in the zone and it’s all natural so I hope I didn’t step out of line by doing this, but I hope you like it.”
Alec stared in wonder and disbelief at Simon, who was breathing a little heavily after his explanation, and then lunged forward to wrap his arms around him.
Alec wasn’t a big hugger. Only his family and friends he’s known for years have been on the receiving end of his hug but he couldn’t help it.
Simon had become a friend, and a close one too. They bickered and bantered but it was all out of love and Alec’s heart filled with affection at what Simon had done for him.
“Thank you, thank you so much.” Alec breathed out and Simon hugged him harder, patting his back.
“You’re so welcome buddy.”
***
After listening through multiple songs with Simon and holding back almost five breakdowns at the fact that he had a professionally recorded demo and album, Alec left to go to his usual spot to busk.
He stayed for about two hours and gave his earnings to a homeless man that had been sitting by a tree, smiling and listening to his songs, and when he got on the usual bus, he was pumped for seeing the stranger again.
Of course, all good things must come to an end and this time, when the beautiful stranger entered the bus, he wasn’t alone.
A woman with very long brunette hair was practically draped over him, all in his face. She was wearing a red dress that was barely covering anything and her lips were a blood red, pulled into a devious smirk.
Alec didn’t need to look twice to figure out that they were a thing and he felt sick and foolish for getting so hung up on someone he knew he could never have, let alone even talk to.
The beautiful man was looking right at him with longing and sadness, not even sparing a glance at his companion but Alec was too busy looking out the window, unable to face him with the tears that were burning in his eyes.
He vaguely noticed that they took the two spare seats on the opposite side of the aisle to him and Alec averted his attention to his lap so he wouldn’t have to see him through the window’s reflection.
He heard the giggling from the girl and briefly saw from the corner of his eye how she kept touching him, his face and hands and once the bus stopped at the next stop, Alec had had enough.
He didn’t want to endure it.
The day had started out so fucking good as well.
Alec abruptly stood from his seat and swung his ukulele using the strap so it rested on his back again. He picked up his skateboard and without a second glance back, walked right out the doors and skated off, not noticing the man getting up to go after him or picking up what dropped out of his uke bag when he swung it around...
His CD’s.