Chapter Text
The studio door burst open, Jumper stumbling her way in.
“Sorry for being late- what are you doing?”
Pentar was slouched over his computer with his guitar on his lap while Derapchu was singing something in the recording booth. Lounging on the couch, Rek was watching the two work.
“They have a bet that whoever makes a decent song first wins,” Rek whispered as Jumper set her backpack down. She inhaled in frustration and sat down next to him.
Jumper sighed, “These idiots always have some sort of bet.”
Rek nodded in agreement, picking up a bag of candy to eat as a snack. Jumper dipped her hand in the bag too, watching Derapchu as he left the recording booth all giddy.
“Ohhh, Pentar..” He grinned mischievously, taunting his friend and bandmate. “I finished recording the lyrics and now I’m gonna work on the melody. I’m so winning this bet and you have to go on that date with me.”
“Heck no . I’m also almost done with the melody and Jumper’s gonna record the lyrics for me.”
Jumper gagged on the candy, “I’m gonna what-? When did I agree to participating in this stupid bet?”
“Mmm.. Right now! Go, the booth now!” Pentar rushed, pushing her into the booth. She scowled, mouthing ‘You owe me’. She reviewed the lyrics he sent her and adjusted the mic. Jumper began singing, watching Pentar as he puts two thumbs up.
-
Putting down the headphones, Jumper left the booth pretty satisfied. Derapchu was frustrated with his melody, near crashing out.
“You’re done already?! I’m fucked.” He banged his head on the table before Rek decided to come over to help. He pulled his chair, plugged in his set of headphones, and assisted with changing the currently-terrible-sounding melody to sound better.
Jumper pulled her own chair next to Pentar’s, quickly sending him the vocals.
“What does Derap have to do if you win?”
“Well, he has to change his Twitter profile picture for starters. Then he owes me a day where he does whatever I want.”
Jumper’s jaw dropped in surprise, “Well, what are you waiting for? Download the song and win.” She coughed and dropped her voice, “Since I helped with the vocals, I get to boss Derap around too.”
Unfortunately, Derapchu heard her, “What the hell? Why does she get to order me around too? This is so unfair.”
“Well, better hurry up. Because I’m about to… win.” He snatched the USB out of the plug and waved it around Derap’s face. “Look what I have here.”
“Oh fuck off.” He leaned back, crossing his arms. “It’s because you had Jumper’s help.”
“You had Rek’s help, shut the freak up.” Pentar shrugged, giggling. “I’ll send you the picture you need to change your Twitter pfp to.”
“Um, first, we need to listen to the song.” Derap rapidly stood up to explain his point. “What if it’s ass and I have a chance to win?”
Pentar plugged the USB back in and increased the volume on his computer. A beautiful melody started playing. Jumper’s eyes widened—she was not aware Pentar could make a nice melody in such a short time.
“So all the times you put off developing our melody, you could’ve just done it in like an hour? Ohh okay I see.” Jumper rolled her eyes, glowering at Pentar accusingly. In response, he started staring at the wall awkwardly. But when Jumper’s vocals started playing, she cringed. She was still not over that ‘I hate how my voice sounds’ phase.
“Uh- okay. Um, maybe my unfinished song sounds better.” Derap nervously pressed play and the most horrendous combination of notes started playing. The vocals weren’t that bad but Derap was their main vocalist so that made sense.
“I tried to make it sound better but man, it sounds so much worse when on speaker.” Rek blushed in embarrassment.
Derapchu inhaled deeply, stumbling to the couch to sulk. He pulled out his phone once he got Pentar’s chosen profile picture.
“You’re trolling. Dawg, I’m not using this. Do you understand I have a reputation to hold up?”
“Your fault for losing. I’m refreshing your Twitter profile right now.” Pentar taunted. Rek and Jumper pulled out their phones too.
“When did you get Twitter, Rek?” Derap furrowed his brow. “I thought you ‘stayed away from that’?”
Rek exhaled, “I do. I just have a private account to keep track of what’s going on with you three and to make sure we don’t get canceled or something like that for whatever Derap does.”
“What the fuc- Yeah that makes sense.” Derap collapsed on the couch.
Jumper’s Twitter feed refreshed and she saw the new Derapchu profile picture and his tweet about it.
‘Don’t ask about the pfp, I lost a bet.’
“Check your replies, Derap. People are going nuts.” Jumper chuckled, turning her phone around to show the replies.
“‘Why did you do this?’, ‘Who did you lose to and why did they pick this profile picture?’. Man, this is the peak of our career.” Pentar chimed as he read the comments under Derap’s post. A pillow was thrown at him as Derap scowled in anger.
“Wait, guys, stop fooling around. Guys. GUYS!” Jumper yelled at the duo. “Check the replies.”
Derap gulped. He opened his phone and saw what Jumper was freaking out about. He slowly stood up, pacing around the room silently. He was quiet for a full minute before breaking the silence by mumbling, “Pangi’s first impression of us is me and my stupid Dreamnotfound profile picture. Pangi replied to my post of me showcasing my terrible horrible new profile picture. The Pangi. The same Pangi who collabed with Olivia Rodrigo. The same Pangi who won that indie award last year. I hate you Pentar.”
“Your post isn’t even that big as you just posted it, which means Pangi must’ve been looking at our stuff beforehand.” Rek explained, trying to calm the three down. He was older than the rest of his bandmates so it’s like he’s basically parenting three idiots.
“What if he’s looking into us to collab? That would be so crazy cool.” Pentar contemplated.
“Don’t- Don’t even try to get my hopes up.” Derapchu grumbled but his eyes twinkled, considering the thought.
-
Derap and Pentar were sat in the studio, playing Minecraft on their laptops as they waited for Rek and Jumper to come back with lunch.
“Stop killing me. DUDE. You’re freaking spawnkilling me, stop.” Derap fumed, eyes stuck to the laptop screen. “My shit is gonna despawn.”
“Okay, jeez. I’ll stop,” Pentar lifted his hands to indicate a ‘caught’ pose. “Do you want me to build our stone farm or do you want to do that?”
Derapchu shrugged, picking up his phone to check Twitter.
“Man, you really are addicted to that ap-” Pentar commented before Derap interrupted him.
“Pentar. Pentar. What the fuck. Oh my goodness. Pentar.”
“Wha- what. What do you want? What happened?” He shuffled to sit beside his friend to check. His eyes read the notification. “There’s no way. Is that real?”
“Dude, I’d hope so.”
The door slowly creaked open as Jumper and Rek struggled with takeout bags.
“We got food! I ordered you guys some ice cream too, if you guys want them.” Rek beamed, setting down the plastic bags on Derap’s desk as it was the closest to the door.
Pentar and Derapchu stumbled to stand up to show their other bandmates the latter’s phone.
“What’s this? Wait, oh my gosh?” Jumper held the phone to inspect the message and began reading it out. “‘Hey Derapchu! I’m Jaron, Pangi’s manager, and I would love to ask for a meeting with you and your band to discuss a potential collaboration. Let me know if you’re good to meet at the Void Hole bar 10pm tonight if you’re free.’ That’s so awesome, oh my goodness.”
“I’m gonna say yes. Should I say yes? I’m gonna say yes.” Derapchu took back his phone and typed out his response. “‘Yes, of course! We’ll meet you there.’ Is that a good- um.. response?”
The other three hastily nodded and Derap covered his eyes as he pressed send. They were all silent, starstruck with what just happened, until Jumper leaped up in joy, “WE’RE COLLABING WITH PANGI!”