Chapter Text
Ingrid would have never imagined her evening to be spent like this as she stood among a screaming crowd. Typically, when she wasn’t working, her nights were well spent either catching up with homework or studying.
Yet, here she stood beside Sylvain alongside the crowd. Everyone, including Ingrid, was facing the stage in front of them. The performer wasn’t even on stage, yet everyone was ecstatic and hollering at the top of their lungs.
Oh, how she wished she could be back at her cozy dorm, finishing up her final project that was due by the end of the week.
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Ingrid’s evening routine was interrupted when her childhood (and annoying) friend called through her phone with a beggarly voice.
“My dearest friend, Ingrid! Would you care to join me to a concert tonight?”
Ingrid could only respond to his invitation with a tiring sigh. “Sylvain, I’m busy.”
With that, she presses on the bright red button on her smartphone, ending the phone call immediately. However, before Ingrid could even place her phone down, it rings once again.
“Come on, Ingrid!” Sylvain cried from his end of the phone call. “It’s the Black Siren we’re talking about now! Even Felix thinks she sings well! You have to come!”
Recently the Black Siren was quite the topic whenever Ingrid was among her colleagues. It was quite known that the Black Siren was a talented performer with a stellar voice. Her popularity was not only due to her latest album, Meteor! ★ , but also her secret identity was attractive to the common eye. She was known for wearing an iconic black masquerade mask wherever she went. This mysterious aspect of hers is what drives gossip within the media and news outlets.
Ingrid groans, then responds with a stern voice with her phone to her ear, “Sylvain, for the last time, I have a project due in two days!”
Being life long friends – Ingrid and Sylvain were transparent to one another. They knew each other inside and out. Yet, Ingrid never understood why Sylvain always insisted on taking her out to such lackluster places. He knew she wasn’t the type of person to go out as their definitions of fun were significantly different.
Her redheaded friend kept her on the phone for what felt like hours to sway her to change her mind. He begged her to come along with him since neither Felix nor Dimitri could make it to the concert. Ingrid disregarded his requests and hung up on him many more times.
Ingrid finally gave in and agreed to his invitation upon his tenth phone call, much to Ingrid’s annoyance. He eventually pulled her strings when he mentioned it would be a waste of a front-row ticket if he couldn’t find anyone else to come along.
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She then realized that it was all a big mistake as she bumped helplessly against the crowd. Her time could have been well spent elsewhere instead of attending this measly concert.
With her arms crossed, Ingrid took the time to organize her thoughts on how she planned to finish her class project rather than paying attention to her surroundings.
Ingrid then takes the time to sigh as she realizes she did nearly all the work in her project that was supposed to be split with her partner. Even with Ingrid being the initiative one, her partner practically ghosted her countless messages and never responded to her words of collaboration.
Ingrid understood that people could be busy, especially during college. However, her partner had put no effort into communicating with her, leaving Ingrid frustrated with a project that was only three quarters done. At least pretend to care!
She cursed her partner, Dorothea, in her head. Her Name (and phone number) was quite literally the only thing she knew of the woman. She couldn't even remember what she looked like since they never met up!
“Come on, Ingrid, it’s a concert! Relax!” Sylvain exclaimed as he noticed her face twisted unhappily in thought.
She turned to face him. Ingrid’s response was drowned amid all the cheering as it grew even louder than before. She didn’t realize a crowd of people could make this much noise.
The opening riff of one of the Black Siren’s infamous songs played through the rumbling speakers. Ingrid uncrossed her arms and took notice of the songstress walking onto the stage.
Ingrid had to admit; the songstress was undeniably gorgeous in person. She had only seen fleeting photos of the idol while scrolling social media, but seeing her with her own eyes was another story. The Black Siren’s dress compiled a color palette of stylish reds and blacks. The outfit perfectly matched her brunette hair that was tied into a high ponytail held together by a charming ribbon bow. Last but not least, she adorned her signature black mask that delicately concealed her true face. The gleam of her eyes was barely visible, but to Ingrid, just a glimpse of her scarlet eyes lured her in. Her intense gaze contrasted so elegantly with her mask that Ingrid thought she was staring into a black cat’s eyes. With her headpiece resting near her lips, the idol then greeted her massive audience.
The Black Siren struts across the stage as the melody of her song is met with her voice. Her background dancers dressed in full black complimented her every move. As she sang her notes, she gracefully walked to the front of the stage to acknowledge the fans in the front row. She crouched and met their open hands with high fives and gentle touches.
If Ingrid had a dollar for every time she heard this song through the radio, she would make some serious profit. The tune was played countless times to the point where it became deafening to Ingrid’s ears. However, she had to admit that being able to witness the song being performed right before her eyes was remarkable.
Ingrid finally understands why even Felix, grumpiest of all grumps, admits to liking the Black Siren’s singing. She couldn’t help but become excited by the woman behind the mask.
Continuing her performance, the singer slowly tours closer to where Ingrid and Sylvain were standing. Ingrid couldn’t imagine how many people would kill to be in her position, literally. All she had to do was glance upwards to meet the eyes of the songstress.
At first, Ingrid thought she was seeing things, but she noticed the idol’s hand covering a gasp as their eyes met. It was as if the songstress was surprised to see Ingrid at her concert. It was such a quick interaction, Ingrid swore she just imagined it.
She blinked, confused, but didn’t think much of it as the performer wandered elsewhere to interact with her audience.
Much to Ingrid’s surprise, she swears this time she didn’t imagine it, her eyes meet with the Black Siren’s once again and is followed by an inviting wink by the performer. Had she really turned back around to act flirty with her? Out of all of the fans in the audience?
Yet again, Ingrid blinked. The heat crept up to her face, and her ears burned as she struggled to comprehend the interaction. An idol? Winking at her in the middle of a performance?
Alas, Ingrid never imagined she would be spending her evening like this.
Dorothea wished she could scream at the top of her lungs, much like her many fans at the performance she just finished. Instead, she dropped herself on her bed and buried her face in a pillow, a muffled yell spilling from her lips.
Oh, how could she be so forgetful! Dorothea was assigned a partner project for her film history class as her final grade of the semester! If it weren’t for seeing her partner at Dorothea’s own concert, Dorothea would've never remembered!
Sitting up from her bed, Dorothea hugs the pillow to her chest. She gives it a quick and tight squeeze to ease herself if only a little.
Cleary, Dorothea, was a busy person. She was the Black Siren herself! It wasn’t as transparent for her classmates to know, of course. As Dorothea’s popularity skyrocketed, Dorothea’s time for schoolwork yielded, and she found it even harder to balance both of her identities. Finding time to study for her upcoming finals was already stressful enough, all while being a famous idol.
Nonetheless, Dorothea never meant to leave her partner hanging with her own lack of communication. Dorothea remembers receiving Ingrid’s initiative messages, but she never had the chance to reply.
When Dorothea didn’t think things could get any worse, she recalled that the project was due by the end of the week! Her heart aches, trying to imagine all of the work her partner had to do all by herself; it was meant for two people for a reason!
A groan escaped Dorothea as she flopped herself on her bed with remorse and regret. Ingrid must be so furious that she could even hate Dorothea without even knowing who she was.
As a growing public figure, Dorothea has received harsh criticism before, and she has learned to accept the many perspectives of others. Hell, she even learned to withstand the circulating hate that came along with her popularity and success. However, the thought of someone hating her due to her forgetfulness on a school assignment made Dorothea anxious.
Her only option now was for her to merely text her partner back.
Swiping at her phone, Dorothea dug through her device to find the one-sided conversation Ingrid had texted her.
And so, she begins typing her apology.
hi ingrid! i’m really, like, REALLY sorry about getting to you so late about the project! (but i can make it up to you! how about we meet up somewhere to eat and work together? lunch can be on me too! ☕
After clicking on send, Dorothea threw her phone across her bed. She let out a sigh of relief and let her body relax. At least she acknowledged the poor girl’s messages, Dorothea could rest comfortably.
Thinking to herself, Dorothea hoped that this Ingrid girl doesn’t connect the dots with her being an idol, especially since she decided to text her partner this late at night. As the Black Siren herself, Dorothea has learned that her fans can be either very annoyingly observant or amusingly dense.
Dorothea hummed, as another thought came to mind. Does this mean that Ingrid was a fan of her work? She did have a front-row seat, after all. She couldn’t help but smile at the thought, especially when she remembered Ingrid’s cute flustered face.
A little notification chime brought Dorothea back to reality. She reaches for her phone from the other end of her bed and eyes the glowing message from Ingrid Of course, she still had to be awake since the concert didn’t end long ago. Unlocking her phone, Dorothea read the text message:
No worries! I’ve been awake for quite a while now... I’m like 3/4 done with the project. Do you think we can meet up at the Silver Snow Cafe around 2 PM, then? I’m just glad you got back to me.
When Dorothea finished reading the response, she couldn’t help but feel on edge. Hopefully, Ingrid’s words weren’t meant to be taken as passive-aggressive? Even so, the girl put an ellipsis in her text!
She typed a lighthearted reply to Ingrid, agreeing with the plans with a polite “see you then!”. After doing so, Dorothea threw her phone across her bed once more.
Well, there was nothing she could do now but do her part of the project. Dorothea hopped off her bed and to her desk. With this, she began researching for her project’s topic for another night up late