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His song was playing on the radio. Something that early on would have had Blue jumping up from the table and shouting “THATS ME! THATS MY BAND!”
Not anymore though. In fact, the grating squeal that came from the corner of the bar reminded Blue that he should have taken an aspirin before leaving the house. Forcing his eyes to stay bright blue stars while he danced and sang always gave him a splitting headache, but they had to stand out. Had to keep pushing harder and harder, because as popular as Blushing Bones was, it was still only the fourth most popular idol group.
Infuriatingly behind RIP, another skeleton idol group with a more horror theme, Killer Machines the second most popular idol group of robots, and Death By Glamour the most popular idol group with the unstoppable Napstaton and Mettaton fronting it.
It really got to him that he went home after every show; exhausted from the intense choreography, voice raw from singing over the crowd, head splitting from keeping his eyes in the shapes of stars for too long, and Blushing Bones still wasn't even the most popular skeleton group.
It was enough to drive him fucking crazy .
“Take that back you dumb bitch!” One of his ‘fans’ suddenly shouted, standing up and whirling on someone in the booth behind them.
“...w-what?” The other person asked nervously.
“Blushing Bones doesn't sound like anything! They’re there own thing and they don't copy anyone!” The fan shouted, making Blue curious. He had never interacted directly with a hater before, it might even be fun to hear something other than constant mindless adoration.
“What-?” The stranger gasped again as Blue stood up and walked over.
“And there my favorite band and I'm not gonna have anyone talking shit about them!” The fan continued.
“HEY- H-hey.” Blue stuttered, forcing his voice an octive deeper and a decibel lower so he didn't blow his cover. “What's going on over here?”
“She accused Blushing Bones of plagerizing this song!” The fan screamed without looking away from the stranger, then Blue turned to get his first look at you, excitement surging through him.
But…you didn't seem like an adamant hater of the music. You just looked, nervous and confused.
“That is absolutely not what I said.” You defended putting your hands up in surrender. The fan grit her teeth ready to go in again when Blue put a hand on her shoulder.
“Maybe this is a misunderstanding.” He suggested, trying to put on a charming smile.
“Oh my God, of course an RIP wannabe Dust stan would say that.” The fan sneered and Blue’s charming smile disappeared. It wasn't like he intended to go out dressed like an edgy fuck who called himself ‘Dust’ on stage.
There were just only so many ways a skeleton could go incognito, and loosing the cream and baby blue outfit he always wore in favor of a dark blue hoodie with the hood pulled up was the best he was gonna get.
“Sans from Blushing Bones wears a dark blue hoodie to.” Blue pointed out, gritting his teeth.
He hated being compared to RIP, even if they were more popular. They were just…so obviously fake.
They all had stage names like; Horror, Killer, Dust, Cross, and Nightmare and their songs were all named sensationalist shit like ‘splintered’ ‘crucified’ or ‘broken pieces’ but the second, (the very second) you got real with any of them it was all,
‘Holy shit, Blue that's dark.’ ‘Stars… Stars man, have you talked to a therapist about that?’ and ‘Maybe being an idol is bad for your mental health.’
Fuckers. If they were going to be fake as shit the least they could do is pretend to be palatable.
“Yeah but his is open in the front and he never where's his hood up, poser.” The fan sneered before rolling her eyes and turning to her friend. “Oh my gaaaaaawd these guys have ruined my night, let's go somewhere else?” She said, much to Blue’s relief because his tolerance for his ‘fans’ was at an all time low, and he was honestly more curious about you.
He waited the polite amount of time for you to sigh in relief and turn back to your drink before scooting closer to your table.
“Soooo…I'm so curious, sorry to barge in, but what did you say?” He asked hopefully, laughing slightly as you threw your hands up in a fairly aggressive ‘no idea’ shrug.
“I was just…talking to the waitress about the song that came on.” You huffed and that didn't really give him anything to go on, so he inclined his head to the booth asking if he could sit as he tried prying a little more.
“Not your taste huh? Sorry about that, I swear the entire fan base isn't that crazy.” He said, lying through his teeth as you gestures for him to join you with his glass. There Fanbase was absolutely rabid. Most U-pop fans were.
“That wasn't it though, I really liked the song, it was just the first time I ever heard it.” You rushed to explained, making his eye sockets widen slightly.
He felt a rush of affection, too quick and too intense to be normal, but…you had just…enjoyed his music (In a way that he didn't find obnoxious or that grated against his pounding head.) and he found himself really wanting you to like all of his songs.
“I'm confused then.” He explained cocking his head to the side playfully.
“Yeah, you and me both.” You agreed, laughing slightly before continuing. “I just said it…felt like Cyclone ya know…like not saying they copied but…I didn't understand a lot of the lyrics.” You explained and Blue nodded, of course you wouldn't, his brother did the rapping portions of the songs in WingDings.
It was another gimmick, but it made them stand out just a little more. A large portion of their fanbase was dedicated to translating the lyrics and holographics lyric videos were incorporated into their more spectacular shows, symbols from the written language coming to life and increasing that star factor when things just happened to line up correctly.
But if that was the first Blushing Bones song you had ever heard then you wouldn't know that.
“Sooo…” You said, pausing to sip your beer, “I just meant that…it felt like…going to a highschool dance and the first time you see all your friends in the gym with the lights out, right before the beat really drops…that's what I meant. I wasn't saying they were copying Cyclone, just that…it felt…I dunno.” You ended huffing with a shrug and if Blue’s head wasn't already splitting his eyes might have changed shape for you.
“Wow…that's pretty cool.” He mused, having been star struck by you, some strange human drinking and listening to U-pop in a bar. “I totally get what you mean.” He replied.
“Really, I feel like that didn't make much sense.” You explained, smiling up at him just a little.
“It makes sense. Music is all about feeling.” He agreed smiling as you brightened up. “So…outside of the crazy fan, what do you think of Blushing Bones?”
“...wait is that who that was?” You asked curiously, pulling out your phone and texting someone, much to his annoyance. “I kinda missed it during all the screaming.”
“Yes. That was ‘worth it's weight’ by Blushing Bones.” Blue explained, gritting his teeth as you looked down at your phone and away from him.
“Dang…I wish I knew that they were good yesterday. My sister-in-law won some tickets off of a radio show yesterday and she asked if I wanted to go…” You mused making his soul jump in his chest for multiple reasons. “I wonder if she still has the second one.” You muttered softly almost to yourself.
“Wow I hope she still has a spare one. I'm going to be there and I think it would be cool to see you again…and your husband's sister?” He hedged, figuring he might as well get it out of the way.
“Hmmm oh no, my sister's wife.” You replied with the same testing quality, like you were checking him to see how he would react to the information that your sister married a woman.
“Soooo, single?” He teased leaning forward before tensing when fucking ‘Suck out the Marrow' by RIP was announced over the radio, the announcer stretching out each letter annoyingly.
“I might be.” You teased, glancing away from him to turn your head more towards the speaker. “This is more U-pop right? I've never really paid much attention to it before.”
“I guess you could say that but they're kinda more hard core. Honestly I wouldn't even call them U-pop.” He tried to brush off, because if you liked them better he might actually pop like a balloon.
“Hardcore is normally more up my alley, buuuut I think my sister-in-law still has that spare ticket.” You teased obviously expecting him to answer back, but…he didn't want to share your attention with RIP so he needed to… he turned on his charming stage ready smile.
“Dang, when people asked how we met I wanted to tell them a cute story about how we had the same favorite U-pop band.” He teased making you laugh.
“Well…Usually my introduction band to a genre gets honorary favorite status so, we can still tell them that.” You said pushing your hair behind your ear.
Blue smiled brightly pulling out his phone, “soooo, exchange numbers? That way we can find each other at the concert.”
“No promises cause they are my In-laws tickets, but we'll see.” You assured him, passing him your phone as he slid his across the table.
He went into his phone and changed your contact to First Sight as soon as he left, because he was sure this was love…in fact…he could write you a love song. People love love songs and you didn't have to know that it was about you right away…but first he had a call to make.
His agent picked up on the third ring sounding enthusiastic. “Baby blues how ya been?”
“WONDERDUL NOW, I HAVE A FAVOR TO ASK.” Blue explained, quickly getting to the point.
“Oh…ummm Blue I don't know.”
“IT ISN'T MUCH…SOMETHING THAT IS DEFINITELY WITHIN YOUR POWER…YOU KNOW THE TICKETS WE GAVE TO THE RADIO STATION FOR THE ADVERTISING…CAN WE UPGRADE THOSE TICKETS TO HAVE A FAN MEET AND GREET?”
“...Blue, you specifically asked me not to do any more fan meet ups.” His manager said skeptically.
“YES, BUT THERE WERE ONLY TWO TICKETS…SURELY IT WOULDN'T BE TO MUCH TROUBLE TO MAKE THE NIGHT SPECIAL FOR THE LUCKY WINNERS.” He explained, purring over the line, knowing the exact tone to take to get what he wanted. His manager caved quickly, making Blue smile. He just had to see you again…and by the time he saw you he would have a song for you.
The next number he called was his brother. “-llo” Orange’s sleepy voice came over the line.
“HELLO, SWEET BROTHER OF MINE…HOW DO YOU FEEL?” He asked first, his excitement never enough to completely overlook his younger brother's feelings.
“Exhausted…so happy to have a day off tomorrow.” He sighed over the line.
“TO OUT OF IT TO GIVE ME A SHORTCUT HOME?” Blue asked, leaving it up to Orange.
“Hmmm? I can-”
“GREAT! BECAUSE I NEED TO GET HOME AND GET STARTED I HAVE AN IDEA FOR SOME LYRICS BUT I WANT TO GET IT WORKSHOPPED BY THE GROUP!” He explained.
“Glad you're excited bro.” His brother's voice laughed tiredly over the line as Blue heard shuffling like he was getting dressed.
“I'M THINKING…SOMETHING CALLED ‘I WANNA BE YOUR FAVORITE’ OR ‘I WANT TO MAKE YOU DANCE?’ MAYBE SOME LYRICS LIKE…ALL EYES TURN TO ME, BUT YOUR THE ONLY ONE FOR ME?” He hedged, cocking his head to the side at the displacement of magic to his left.
“Why not, all eyes turn to me but you're the only one I see?” Orange suggested making Blue smile.
“PERFECT!” Blue agreed thinking about you. “LETS SEE…MAYBE I WANT TO SING THE SONG YOU DANCE TO ALL NIGHT LONG.”
“hmm…the one that's stuck in your head, gets you out of bed, ya never miss a beat, when it's done you hit repeat?” Orange suggested, playing around with tempo as he put a hand on his brother's shoulder and zipped them both home.
“NEVER MISS A BEAT, KEEP IT ON REPEAT?” Blue suggested.
“Yeah that's a good start. We can get the others to workshop it. In the morning Blue I'm tired.” Orange said laughing slightly.
Blue took off his hoodie, feeling brighter despite his headache.
“SURE. OF COURSE BROTHER! I'M EXCITED FOR THIS CONCERT COMING UP.” Blue said excitedly, thinking of you.
He would bet if he could just make your first show good enough then Blushing Bones could be your favorite band.
Probably a red flag that he wanted it that bad. Another sign of his deteriorating mental health, that he was already hooked on you, trying to craft the perfect text so that you wanted to talk to him more.
But…it wasn't like he was one of those psychos that RIP pretended to be. He just got attached to people really quickly…it wasn't like it was a real problem….as long as you looked at him.
As long as he was your favorite.
Stars he didn't know what he would do if he saw you there with a glow stick for any of his band mates…but he probably wouldn't go so far as to push them off the stage…maybe.
He probably wouldn't ever have to find out. He was going to be your favorite. He was going to make sure of it.