Chapter Text
It was a rainy Friday evening after a long day at school had just let out. A long day for Scar, going from class to class, having to socialize with people who wouldn't remember his name the next time they'd interact. The groggy environment made Scar sluggish and looking for a place of comfort.
He found himself walking down the street to the small cafe shop around the corner, which had recently opened. A small pep in his step as the place came into view. With no umbrella in hand, as the soft mist of the rain falls onto him. Just dressed in his sunflower hoodie, which found itself on top of his head, and his school bag dangling on his back, where one strap was hanging, the other tightly around his shoulder, his hand grasping onto it.
As the rain began to pour down hard, he found himself walking faster, trying to get out of the rain.
He finally made it. He stopped to take a breath under the overhang that kept the rain from falling down onto him, shaking his hair to dry it off a bit. His breath was heavy as he opened the door to the cafe.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
A little bell went off to signal that he walked in with a cute jingle. The place was gorgeous. Scar had thought to himself, as he continued walking to the front counter.
An avian bird, with brown wings, ran over to the counter with a smile brighter than the day.
"Welcome!" Her voice was bouncy, very welcoming, and filled with joy as she spoke with a huge smile plastered across her face. Scar found himself looking down at the name tag across her chest, running a hand through his damp hair.
Pearl. Her name is Pearl.
Scar bit down on his lip, a nervous habit he swore he would break ages ago, but gave up on it eventually, turned his head up to the menu above his head. He wasn't big on coffee, but since he heard only good reviews about this place, he thought he should at least give it a try, especially now since it was sheltering him from the pouring rain outside.
After a few minutes of silence, not awkward as Scar was deep into thought, not sure of what the best coffee would be. Thinking about whether to just get a sweet treat instead or get what he originally intended, he heard a voice say, "I personally recommend the white mocha, it's my favorite." Scar nodded and looked back at the avian girl, her eyes already met with his.
A soft smile fell onto Scar's face, "That's what I'd like then, please." The girl nodded her head and gave a soft hum, typing something on the mini screen in her hands.
"Medium white mocha.." she mutters to herself more than to Scar. "Your total will be $7.25, what's a good name for ya?" She said as she turned her head back up to Scar.
"Just put down H.G.," Scar said, then handed the girl a 10-dollar bill before taking a step away from the counter to take a better look at the interior of the cafe.
"Wait! Your change, sir," she calls out in a panicked voice, trying to write down something on the paper quickly before trying to pull out the correct amount of change that she owed.
"No worries," Scar said as he turned back around, "keep it as a tip." The girl looked quite shocked for a moment, and the money he gave her found itself now in the tip jar that sat on the counter. It was decorated with little bird– parrot even stickers and stars scattered around, and in the middle it said 'TIPS' in all caps. It was quite cute.
The brunette found himself looking around the cafe in awe at how aesthetically pleasing the place was. It had a nature, forest vibe, considering the name of the cafe being 'Forest Moon Cafe'. There is a collected bunch of potted plants growing across the windowsill, on top of the front counter, and even in the middle of the small tables that sat across the cafe. The floor was a dark wood color that matched perfectly with the chairs that sat at each of the tables. The smell then finally hit him, the natural smell of a cafe. The grounded coffee beans, the baked pastries, the smell of just pure joy. For some reason, it smelt so much better than other cafes he'd been to; he didn't know why, he couldn't put his finger on it.
Then his eyes landed on the high, long island table top that sat a few bar chairs. It sat perfectly in front of the window so people sitting there could sit and watch outside. Sitting on the farthest side, an avian boy sat there. Scar found himself staring a bit longer than he should've. He was a dirty blond with large wings coming out from his back and behind his ears. The wings had colors he'd never seen on an avian before, fading from black to a really bright pink nearing the tips, looking natural, like he was born with them. He is wearing a pink hoodie that honestly looked too big for the boy to wear, with bright blue ripped jeans that didn't go too far off his legs. Accompanying him, there are chains of jewelry dangling from the side. His shoes are a pair of dirty Converse, but still wearable, to say the least.
"Drink for H.G!" A voice called, snapping Scar back into reality. He quickly walked over to the counter to meet the girl again.
He hadn't meant to be staring at the avian for as long as he did, but he did. Trying to take in the sight, he found that fell upon him. He is quite amused by the boy, to say the least.
"Sorry, this place is just so pleasing to be in. I got distracted by taking everything in." Pearl watched as he spoke the words, nodding her head along.
"Yeahhh." Pearl held out longer than needed. She sounds like she knows Scar wasn't just looking at the decorations, but how could she know? She should've been making his coffee. "Here's your coffee, sir," she said, placing it in the hands of Scar's before her eyes looked towards the boy that sat on the bar stool, then back at Scar.
He walked over towards the barstools, farthest away from the boy who had already sat on the other end. Placing his bag down on the table before he finally sat down, taking a sip of the coffee. The flavor hit instantly. The burst hit sensationally in such a pleasing way as he swallowed it. His eyes shot wide. "Mhm.." he hums to himself.
Scar pulls out his camera from his backpack, setting it down, then takes out his laptop. The sudden movement made the other boy turn around, looking at Scar.
Scar had turned his head as well, eyes meeting the boy. He noticed the boy was wearing round black glasses that sat on his nose perfectly. Scar gave the boy a smile and a slight wave.
The avian gave a wave back, shooting a soft smile before going back into the book. Scar was guessing it was a sketch book as the pencil lines couldn't have been anything else.
Scar watches as Pearl walks over to the dirty blond, drink in hand, hearing her speak, "Coffee from your favorite sister." A smile tugging from her cheeks as she leans back on the high top.
"You're my only sister, Pearl." The boy said dryly, placing the drink on the other side of him, and the girl huffed out.
Scar didn't think they could have been siblings. Yeah, they were both avians, but their wings are both different shapes, colors, and sizes. But what could he know? He was just a sixteen-year-old Vex who didn't know right from wrong yet. Especially when it came to hybrids who weren't his own.
The dirty blond boy puffs out his wings at Pearl as she puffed hers at him, the pink in his feathers showing more. To Scar's guess, this is what avians tend to do when they are trying to show their dominance to one another. Or it could be seen as a teasing banter between the pair.
Then another customer walked into the cafe.
"Gemm!!" Pearl quickly ran over to the counter before the orange-haired girl could get there first, as she was stuck closing her umbrella up.
Scar found himself, again, looking at the dirty blond longer than needed. Noticing every slight movement. Only realizing that he was when the other turned facing towards him as well. Scar felt the heat against his cheeks burning as he quickly put his head on the table to avoid the embarrassment.
A few moments had passed, Scar's head still glued to the table waiting for the embarrassment to flush his body, but then suddenly felt a light tap on his shoulder. He looked up, trying to find whatever had disturbed him.
Nothing?
The dirty blond boy was sitting still, silently in his sketch book, Pearl at the counter helping the orange-haired customer, who was surprisingly a deer hybrid; she was chatting up a storm with Pearl. He then looks down at the table to see a piece of paper folded in half.
That wasn't there before.
He thought to himself as he opened it. It was a very small, but very detailed drawing of Scar with his coffee. The drawing even got the scar that sat across his nose right. The drawing is just in black and white, but it amazes Scar. His hand starts tracing down the lines on the page, then his eyes meet the avian's, who was already eyeing him down.
Scar flips the paper around, showing the boy who was staring at him. "You did this?" he sounded amazed as he spoke, but he really was, especially with the short amount of time it took the small drawing to be finished.
The boy gave a slight nod, a soft smile emerging from his lips.
"I need to know the name of the artist. This is incredible. Especially with the time you had? You must be going to art school in the future." Scar rambles on with a big smile on his face, the boy was just watching him and giving a soft chuckle.
"Xelque," He hears the boy say after his rambling, the words as soft as ever, hardly even audible.
Scar tilts his head to one side, not able to hear what the boy said in a hushed voice.
"My name." A bit louder now, but Scar is blinking confusedly as he watches the boy write something on a different paper before walking over with it, placing it in front of Scar so he could read. The handwriting was sloppy, but at least it was legible, something not expected from whatever art he had.
'My name is xelque :)'
Scar squints his eyes at the page, then back up at the boy, who is now standing by his side. He noticed that the boy in front of him had the softest freckles crossing his cheeks and nose, his hair shining bright from the fairy lights coating the top of the cafe. Scar stared into his hazel blue eyes as he spoke out, "Xel–Q..ue?? Xxxell?" Words rolled off his tongue as he tried to figure out how the name was pronounced.
"Xelque," Xelque said, voice still barely audible, but Scar caught onto it luckily.
"Well, thank you so much, Xelque," Scar said, the name correctly now, "your art is amazing, I hope you know." Scar's smile was bright and welcoming. "Guess you should know my name, My name is—"
"Scar!" A high-pitched voice spoke, as they spoke towards Scar, with big pleading puppy dog eyes, "Scar, please!" Their voice extended the words, their hands on his shoulders shaking him as he sat on the living room couch. "Come to the Bad Boy's concert with me; no one else wants to go." A pout came across their face, pleading even more for Scar to agree.
Scar looked down at the person, who was sitting on the floor, criss-cross apple sauce in front of him in his little dorm living room, sucking in his lips before speaking, "Liz.. You know I know absolutely nothing about those.. What are they called?" He asks, more like asking himself, he spoke again, "Those 'Bad Boys'" he put quotes on the name.
The pink-haired girl sighed and crossed her arms. "That's why I can teach you about them." She said quickly, barely understandable, but Scar understood. He always understood whenever she talked fast. Lizzie then took out her phone. Scar examined the cat hybrid in front of him, her face twitching as she focused on whatever she was currently searching for.
Scar was lost in thought, trying to think of an excuse to get out of having to go, not that he doesn't like Lizzie talking about the group or going out with her, but he just doesn't have the time to go to concerts, especially when he's supposed to be focusing on studying right about now.
Then a bright screen shined in his face. "This one," Lizzie zoomed in on the picture, "his name is Jimmy, he's a canary, he's the guitarist and also a singer." Scar nods his head slowly, taking in the features of the boy on screen. His hair was blond, with a streak of blue dangling in his bangs, with a small pair of yellow wings coming out beside his ears that also seemed to be dyed the same blue at the bottom tips, the wings on his back being natural in color.
Lizzie starts giggling to herself before showing the next picture. It showed a brunette with a streak of green swooping the front, the same green as the ogre ears popping out of his head. Scar glanced up at the giddy girl. "He's an ogre..?" He's not really surprised she's into the guy; he looks very handsome.
The feline's ears flattened back, the tip of her tail swishing around as a blush flushed her cheeks, "Yeah.." her words extended long, "his name is Joel."
"Right, Joel and Jimmy, there are three of these boys, aren't there?" Scar didn't know why he remembered the features of the group, but it was probably because his best friend always seemed to be talking to him about them.
"Yes, yes!" Lizzie's tail swished around before scrummaging her camera roll for a picture. Scar's eyes landed back on the phone, staring at the new picture that had shown. He licks his lips as he examines it. The boy was this dirty blond, with.. colorful wings that poked through his back and beside his ears. Red at the base, yellow in the middle, and blue at the tips of his wings. He assumed the guy he was looking at on the phone was a parrot. The wings looked a lot bigger than Jimmy's did, but he really couldn't assume because he couldn't really trust the pictures like that.
He heard Lizzie saying something as Scar stared at the picture, but his brain was filtering out everything that was spewing out of the girl's lips, his eyes glued on the image still.
"Now I'm gonna test your knowledge!" Lizzie's hands clapped together, causing Scar to snap back into focus. His eyes quickly darted to the feline that scared him back into reality.
"Test my.. Knowledge?" His head tilted as he spoke, and the girl slightly frowned at him, putting her phone down on the coffee table beside her. "I'm gonna be honest, Liz, did not hear a single thing you said about that parrot."
A sigh let out the girl's mouth, "At least you paid attention to his looks and remembered he's a parrot.." she said before turning her phone on, showing the picture again. "This is Grian. He, as you said, is a parrot and the lead singer. His voice is so totally amazing, I can't imagine hearing someone else with it." She rambled on for a moment.
Lizzie then proceeded to ask Scar some questions about what she just told him. He answered them almost to a 100%, only missing the question about what colored back wings Jimmy had. Scar had answered yellow and blue, which had been wrong.
"Now you are a true Villi!" A loud cheer escaped Lizzie's mouth as she slightly pushes on Scar, who seemed to roll his eyes at her. "Now will you come with me to the concert?"
Scar actually thought for a moment. The boys seemed really interesting to say the least, if she didn't tell him a bit about them, he wouldn't have even been thinking of possibly going.
"Come on..! I have floor tickets; no one would miss this opportunity, plus you can take pictures for me." Scar's head quickly looks back down at the feline and sighs deeply. She obviously knew his weakness because a slight grin came across her face.
"Alright-" Before Scar could even let out his words, an excited scream came from beside him as Lizzie started bouncing up and down before latching her arms around the brunette's neck.
Scar then feels his wings shift and twitch.
"Sorry!" Lizzie let out a small screech as she pulled away from him. "Forget your little vex wings are sensitive." A slight laugh came out of Scar.
"Liz, first of all, my wings are normal-sized for a vex," he laughed through his words, "second of all, my vex magic is sensing Cub is coming into radius." He pauses for a second, sending a quick signal back to Cub, before speaking again, "Also, may I add that my wings are bigger than his?"
The feline slumped back on the floor, sorrow on her face. "I didn't mean that your wings are small.. I just meant they're smaller than avians." Scar then huffed.
"We aren't avians, though, Lizzie." A new voice came into the room, gliding in from the window. "We're not birds." Cub settles his feet down on the floor, stretching his wings as the glow from them goes from a blinding color to the normal, non-glowing white.
The brunette's vex wings twitched some more as he felt signals from his brother, glaring him down with a smirk. "Come on, Cub! I've told you a million bajillion times already!" Already knowing what the smirk meant, comparing it with the signal waves that were being sent.
Laughter. Laughter. The waves sent.
The number of times Cub sent the signal meant he was thinking of something Scar had told him countless times, that it wasn't what he thought. He sent back signals.
Irritated. Irritated.
"Stop it with this vex communication thing, I don't know what you guys are saying about me." Lizzie huffed loudly as she stood up, staring at the two of the boys. Scar glares at his brother, then turns his attention back to Lizzie.
Every Vex has this type of.. communication? with one another, sending their emotions, or small phrases, back and forth through wave signals in their brains. Of course, it all depended on each of the Vex's bonds with one another on how fast and how strongly the wave would hit the other. Since Scar and Cub are related to one another, their signals are probably among the strongest you can imagine, sometimes even sending signals without wanting them to be sent, when emotions get too intense. So basically, Scar knew about every emotion Cub had in a certain radius of him, and vice versa.
For Vex, they didn't really know; they would have to be standing face to face with each other to send some signal waves to the other. On the other hand, if the vex were related to each other, they would be able to send signals to each other from miles away.
Of course, signals were at a minimum of one to two words for each signal, but most of the time, Vex had secret codes in the signal waves. Scar had been sent the signal for teasing from Cub. Sending the wave of laughter twice in a row.
"Sorry, Liz," Scar began, his voice low, "forgive my brother for thinking the worst!" he finished, his voice rising at each word. Lizzie took a look at Scar, then back at his brother.
The feline hissed, her eyes dialing. "Don't tell me.. You're thinking that he likes me, again?" she gasped as she covered her mouth. Lizzie knew it was just a small inside joke between the three of them, but she still goes along with the bit that they hate this.
Cub rolled his eyes, wings flashing a glow, a telltale sign that he had been caught.
"Can't a man just have a girl best friend?" Scar adds on, trying to hold back his laughter at Lizzie getting mad at his brother, watching her throw a pillow at Cub. This was normal for the three of them, ever since he and Lizzie became best friends back in his 3rd year of high school, they've been inseparable.
Now in their 2nd year of university, nothing has changed between them. Cub and Scar are the best brothers they could be for each other, and Lizzie is there to help Scar when his brother can't help in situations, like Scar's love life.
Every time Scar had Lizzie over, Cub had just assumed they were in a relationship, but that was far from the truth. They are just best friends who never left each other's sides. The only reason why his brother thinks this is that neither of them currently has a partner of their own. Scar concluded that Cub was only teasing them for being single after he told his brother countless times that they were best friends. Even after watching everything that happened with Scar’s recent ex, Cub nevertheless always found a way to tease him for being single whenever he was.
"Alright, alright, I'll stop now." Cub raised his hands up in the air in defeat, then, walking past Lizzie, he was heading straight for Scar. "That’s not why I’m here.. Special request for Mr. HotGuy." A letter popped up in his hands, giving it to Scar.
The brunette looked confused at first, but then it dawned on him. "Really?" his vex wings flashed, glowing, for a moment showing his excitement as he opened the letter to read it.
"Dear HG Photography,
We would like to hire you, Scar Goodtimes (Otherwise known as HotGuy), to be the new cameraman for our group, 'Bad Boys,' who will be starting their new album soon, and on top of that, going on tour for a few months. We will need you to help record their music videos that will come out with the album, as well as take pictures and videos of them at the concerts. We will be willing to pay you whatever you need: tickets for the concerts, food, and transportation. We'd really hope you take up on our offer. Their first big concert is tomorrow, at your university's arena.
Thanks, Manager TangoTek"
Scar could feel himself being lifted into the air from his wings flapping so much, and he soared across the room. "Woah buddy, sit down, don't want to tire yourself for tomorrow." He hears Cub speak with a chuckle. Scar then landed himself back on the floor, taking a look at Lizzie.
"I'm going to that damn concert. You didn't tell me it was tomorrow." He smiled brightly, as bright as his wings flashed, turning the paper in his hands to face the feline who stood there, confused.
Her face brightened as well when she saw the request. "Does that mean.. You get to talk to them?!" Scar just nodded aggressively and turned back to Cub.
Lizzie is obviously so excited for Scar, being able to be the camera person of her favorite musical group, which she has been following for a few years now. Watching their debut come out and immediately falling in love with Joel. Well, she is his biggest supporter online with almost a hundred thousand followers.
"Tango sent the letter because you needed the SD card, so it's in the envelope. I've known for a few days." Cub explained, Scar just kept getting even more excited about him being hired to do what he loved most, photography. "I knew Liz would probably convince you to go, since she's always talking about them."
Even though Scar knows absolutely nothing about 'Bad Boys' besides being able to put their names to faces thanks to his best friend, he is very excited to take up this offer as he has been waiting for job opportunities for ages now. Companies seem to normally throw him out after a few days without explaining why. He always showed up on time for shoots, gave the best reports out, and recorded the best he could.
He eventually figured out it was because he was openly gay. No company wanted someone who considered themselves LGBTQ+ in, so they fired Scar after they found out. It definitely hurt Scar at first, but after a while, he got back on his feet and started doing side gigs under 'HotGuy Photography', including weddings, graduation pictures, and other private events.
But now.. Oh wow, he is being sought out for a job? This was his chance to make it big, especially since he knew that Bad Boys are currently one of the biggest boy bands out there.
Scar was definitely scared to take this step in his future, but the emotion was pushed to the side as he thought he was sought out for. He could not pass this opportunity that quickly; even if he eventually does get fired, he will still be able to do his side gigs.
A smirk came across the pink-haired feline, "Oh my gosh, I need to go buy you an outfit right now." She said and was already rushing towards the door. "Trust my fashion sense, Scar, you're going to be the best looking there." She spoke quickly, before leaving his apartment.
Cub's jaw dropped slightly before fixing his face and turning to his brother. "Are you sure she doesn't?" A shoe then came flying towards Cub's face, hitting right on his nose. "Sorry, I'll stop joking!"
"Take your leave." Scar glared at his brother, who was walking to the kitchen. "Aye! My house isn't free to rummage through for food, Cub!" Scar said, running towards the kitchen, pulling his brother out by the hood that sat on his back.
The brothers went at it back and forth for a moment before Scar convinced Cub to finally leave his apartment and go home, as it was already getting pretty late in the evening.
Scar did all of his nightly routine and is finally in bed, with his cat, Jellie, at his side. He has his phone open on Instagram.
He found himself searching for 'Bad Boys, ' which didn't take long for their official account to pop up, as they were pretty popular. He scrolled through the profile for a while, looking at all the pictures of the group, videos of their rehearsals, and posts for their concerts. Eventually, he ended up looking at the members' individual accounts. He thought he might as well try to learn a bit about the guys before he had to meet them.
@gri.the.cuteguy
The first link he ends on. Scar scoffs at the name in disbelief. "Cuteguy, really?" A chuckle came from him as he opened the profile. The account didn't have many posts, mostly consisting of pictures with his friends, Pokémon card openings, and a few other miscellaneous posts.
The brunette sat in awe at one of the reel videos that he found from a year ago. It is of Grian singing a cover of this song, which Scar had no clue the name of. He opens the comments to try to figure out for himself, rather than the song going unknown. Because he really enjoyed listening to the avian sing the song. Well, actually, he loved the voice that was singing a lot; the passion that radiates from Grian makes Scar want to see it even more now.
The song is called 'My Love Mine All Mine'. Scar figures out from his search in the comments.
Scar then pauses his search, his eyes suddenly going wide. What the fuck was he doing stalking them?! He is supposed to be their new cameraman, not a new fan of the band. His hand lets his phone drop on his face, only letting out a slight wince at the pain of it slapping the middle of his forehead.
He lets out a sigh, concluding to himself that he was only doing a bit of research on the group to know more about them since he will be spending more time with them. But these thoughts only last a bit before he starts thinking he's such a weirdo again.
Standing in the outfit his friend bought him, a plain black shirt that said 'I <3 Bad Boys' on the front with their logo on the back, as well as baggy black ripped jeans. Scar stared at himself in the mirror for a moment, hand in hair, brushing it. A knock then came at the door. "Hurry up! Your hair is fine, Scar!" A yell came from behind the door, before it opened to show Lizzie, who is ready to go in and is in the same shirt as him, but it said 'I <3 Joel,' with a picture of his face on the back, as well as a pink skirt that matched. The feline's tail swished around to show her annoyance at Scar taking too long in the bathroom.
The boy was still trying to fix his hair, staring at the annoyed feline in the mirror. "Liz, it looks bad," he said, trying to flatten a strand of hair sticking up. Lizzie started walking over towards Scar, taking her hand in the running water and going to help the struggling boy.
She made a super focused face as she tried to help him. "There, now look at yourself and come on." Lizzie groans before walking back out of the bathroom. "And don't forget your camera!" she yelled.
Scar sighs as he follows after the girl, quickly grabbing his stuff as he sees her walking out the door. "Liz, wait-" he said, almost tripping over himself.
While he was trying to steady himself, Lizzie turned back around, already halfway to the elevator. "Gosh, Scar, are you okay?" Lizzie calls out from where she was standing, waiting for the vex to catch up.
Once Scar caught up to Lizzie, he smiled before holding out his camera. "We need a picture," he said, almost out of breath. "You got us matching outfits, so it's fitting to take a picture together."
Lizzie smiled and laughed. "Sure, bud," she said, patting his back before getting ready to take a picture with her friend. Scar held out the camera in front of them, making a peace sign while Lizzie did a heart with her hands. They both gave a big smile as the camera flashed, signaling the picture had been taken.
They took a few more pictures, alternating poses, and even asked someone who was leaving their dorm room to take a picture for them to show off their full outfits. Luckily enough, the person was another photography student who was a grade above Scar.
"Now we can go."
Both of them then continued to the elevator in a comfortable silence. Their pace is quick but not that fast. Once in the elevator, Lizzie presses the button for the main floor. The elevator dings as it stops, signaling that they made it to the main floor. They continued the short walk to the school campus to see that it was packed with a bunch of students from their university, and some from other nearby universities.
"Holy shit, they are popular," Scar said in awe as Lizzie gave a chuckle, walking towards the long, long line.
Once they got to the front, Lizzie was fidgety as hell. She couldn't stand still; her whole body looked like she was gonna explode everywhere. He guessed it was from the nerves she had built up inside her; this is her favorite group after all. She's been talking nonstop about them for a few months.
The security checked 2 clear bags they had brought with them and then pointed down towards the big bag Scar was carrying that contained his camera equipment. "Excuse me? You're not allowed to have a camera that big in the venue, sir." Scar quickly pulled out the letter that was sent to him.
"Actually, I'm the cameraman for the concert, Mr. Tek wrote this to me.. You should've been informed." The security guard looked him up and down.
"HotGuy?" She looked confused for a moment. "Gosh, your names couldn't get any better, first Grian with this whole CuteGuy persona and now this." She mutters under her breath, pulling out a sheet of paper. "You're Mr. Scar Goodtimes, correct?" Scar gave a bashful nod before pulling out his ID to confirm his identity.
In reality, HotGuy had been some superhero persona he made when he was younger with his brother. He wanted the name of his hero form to be 'HawkEye' because of his super good aim with the Nerf gun that was shaped like a bow, but misspelled the name when writing it out as 'HotGuy'. Cub had made so much fun of him ever since, so it just stuck as a nickname for him. He grew to love the silly little mistake he made all those years ago.
The security guard looks content as she looks at the ID. Making sure it's real and stuff. She gives an approving nod at him. "I've been informed that you, Mr. Goodtimes, need to be escorted to the back before the concert can begin, then you can return with your.. Friend here," she says, and then, taking out her radio, speaking something into it that's inaudible to Scar's ears.
After around 5 minutes pass, Scar and Lizzie are to the side of the line, waiting for Scar's escort to arrive. Then a tall, brown-haired man with wolf-dog features comes heading straight towards them.
"Mr. Goodtimes," A smile crossed his face as he spoke towards Scar, "I'm Security RenDog. Just call me Ren." A hand extended out, waiting for Scar to accept the shake.
"You can call me Scar, sir," Scar said politely, taking Ren's hand, giving it a firm shake as Ren did the same back.
"No need to call me, sir boy, we will be seeing a lot of each other." Ren pats Scar on the back, then his eyes shift over towards Lizzie, her ears pinning back as he speaks. "Joel fan, I see," he croaked a laugh.
Lizzie nods, pointing towards Scar, "He's not a fan, but I was dragging him either way if he wasn't hired." She laughs along with Ren.
They talk for a little before Ren interrupts the conversation, "Alright, enough chitter-chatter, I need to get the HotGuy to the back before the concert begins." He points his finger towards Scar, "Prommy to have him back to you, Lizzie."
They bid their farewells and promises to come back to each other before the concert. Ren escorted Scar through the huge crowd of people, some of whose eyes were on him, but he didn't care about that if he was being honest.
The two eventually make their way through everyone, now inside the empty building, as everyone is being kept outside for now. Now able to make a true conversation from the new quietness built around them.
Honestly, Scar thought Ren would be a very cold and nonchalant guy because he is a wolfdog hybrid, but came to find out he's really funny and silly. He can get used to him.
At one point on the walk there, Ren tells Scar to get his camera out so that he can look the part of being the new cameraman there, and explains to him that he will be meeting the boys face-to-face with each other, so they can know where to look in the crowd to look good on camera. And honestly, it's better for Scar to meet them as well before the band thinks he's some sort of stalker sneaking in a big camera to record them.
Sounds eventually hit his ears as they reach closer to the back; some people are talking loudly about outfits, others are talking about the audio tracks being played that night.
Ren turns to Scar as they come up to a door with a panel in the middle with the wording 'Bad Boys' Studio special entrance only.' Ren gave it a slight knock before speaking, "Security Ren, coming in."
The door creeks open slowly, and Scar can suddenly feel the heart beating in his chest. He is not particularly scared of meeting the band; he's more anxious than anything. What if they don't like him? What if they figure out that he's gay and don't want him to be their cameraman, like the past several times?
"Oii Ren!" A voice catches him out of thought as he looks at the now-opened door, Ren being greeted by someone he can only assume is Jimmy. "Who is this?" The blonde man is now pointing Scar up and down as he and Ren both step into the room, shutting the door behind them. Scar now has a full view of the room; it wasn't just the band but a few others as well, sitting around helping get ready.
Scar scans the room to see if he can figure out who is who based on the test his best friend gave him just the day before. His eyes landed on an ogre who was sitting on top of one of the many vanity mirrors that were lined up. Ah, Joel. He was handsome in person, so he could understand why Lizzie was kind of obsessed with him. Another tall blond man stood in front of Joel, fixing the hair that fell flat onto his face.
Next, his eyes landed on who he can only assume is Grian. The boy was sitting in a chair in front of a mirror as a mustache man stood behind him, pulling out the feathers that were hanging on for dear life, apparently. Scar knew this was what avian's called preening, and that avians only allow people whom they trust the most to preen their feathers.
"Ah, right! Boys," Ren calls out, clapping his hands together before making Scar gaze back on him. Everyone's eyes are now on Ren, actually, but a teal blue-haired guy interrupts him, coming up behind Jimmy.
"Jimmy, don't run off like that when I'm fixing your hair!" The boy pulls the avian bird by his shoulder as he shouts out, his eyes then meeting Ren, then now Scar's before stopping in his tracks, Jimmy taking a seat in the chair they were beside, legs wrapping around the backside of the chair.
"Anyways.. Before getting interrupted by Scott.." The wolfdog’s eyes glared towards the person who is now known as Scott, then back to the majority of the group. "This is Scar," He does pizzazz hands beside Scar before he continues speaking, "he is your new cameraman.." Ren goes on a long ramble about why and what Scar will be doing for them.
Scar suddenly feels intense stares at him from one particular person, it sends chills up his spine, he doesn't normally care about if people stare at him, he's used to getting whispers, but this felt different.. Like his every move was being watched. Like whoever was watching him knew his every thought.
His eyes meet the person's eyes. It was Grian. Once Grian's eyes meet Scar’s, his eyes quickly dart away, so he only assumes Ren is still talking.
"Hi everyone," Scar said, finally being able to speak up after Ren's long spiel, giving everyone a wave. The tall blond man who was beside Joel came over, giving a smile.
"It's nice to meet ya, Scar. I'm Martyn, one of the stylists, along with Scott." The boy standing in front of him tilted his head towards Scott, before reaching a hand out to Scar. He takes the grasp, giving Martyn a firm handshake. He notices that his eyes weren't meeting Scar's at one point, but they were turned towards Ren, and he decided to ignore that fact.
The others came up to introduce themselves one by one, even though they already knew the names of the three band boys prior to being there. He learned the mustache man's name was Mumbo, he's Grian's best friend, so he had special privileges being back here with the group. Mumbo seemed very nice and polite, so that was good at least.
The last person to come up to Scar was Grian.
Scar was caught up in a conversation he was having with Joel, who, to Scar’s surprise, was really into Star Wars as well and knew quite a bit about the movies long enough to hold a conversation with him.
A soft tap came on Scar’s shoulders, stopping him mid-sentence with Joel, and he turned to meet Grian. He was only just a few inches shorter than he was, “Hey, I’m Grian, Scar, right?” his eyes darted to Grian, his eyes already staring back at him.
Not realizing it, Scar was staring into them intently. The hazel blue eyes trapped Scar’s every thought he was currently having. Only then did he realize that Grian tilted his head a little, still waiting for a response from him.
Scar goes wide-eyed before reaching out a hand towards Grian, like how every other introduction went, they would give him a handshake. He tried to remember what Grian’s question was, “Uh, yeah, nice to meet you.” Pink flushed his cheeks with embarrassment at not paying attention, as he couldn’t remember the boy even saying anything to him earlier.
Grian let out a soft chuckle under his breath, not even looking down at Scar’s hand. Scar noticed that their hands weren’t making contact, and as fast as he extended his hand, ran his hands through the strands of hair that sat on his forehead, pretending like he was fixing his hair.
A knock then came on the door, thank goodness Scar wanted out of this awkward situation as fast as he could. The door flung open to see two tall men standing side by side. One with white hair that fell on top of a bandana that managed to keep it from hitting his eyes, Scar also noticed he’s a wolfdog(?), but he couldn’t come to a conclusion. The other has bright yellow hair. “Ah, Scar, there you are!” The man with the yellow hair spoke.
Scar nods his head, a bit confused at first, before the guy continues speaking. “I’m TangoTek. Tango. The manager of Bad Boys.” Scar quickly remembers that Tango was the one who sent him the letter, wanting him to become the cameraman of Bad Boys.
“Ah, it's nice to meet you, Tango! I’ve been wondering when I would.” Scar let out a laugh as he walked away from where he was standing in between Grian and Joel to meet Tango.
“The concert starts in thirty minutes. We are starting to let the fans in now. We’ve upgraded you and your friend’s seating to be where we want the pictures n’ stuff to be taken,” Tango continues speaking to him and walking out of the room, the white-haired guy following quietly behind them.
Tango then suddenly pauses in the middle of his sentence, turning to the one behind them. “Etho, where are your manners?” His voice was full of, not anger, but it was more like irritation at who was known as Etho.
Etho let a scoff out as he caught up to the two of them, giving a forced smile, “Name's Etho, security of Bad Boys. Wolf hybrid.” He watched Etho’s ears flatten back, and his eyes narrowed on Scar. He was guessing it was out of irritation. But hey, at least Scar got something 50% right, and that Etho was a wolf. Scar smiles to himself, giving a nod to the boy before they go back to their walk.
The sounds of the arena flowed through Scar’s ears as they became closer and closer to where the concert room was. Tango told him where his new seat was, learning that the upgrade was right in front of the stage. Lizzie must be super excited about it.
He is finally reunited with her after following Tango’s instructions on how to get there. It was very hard to hear him over the loudness of everyone they had compacted in the arena, but he managed to find his way here, luckily.
Lizzie is practically shaking with so much joy as she spots Scar pushing through the crowd to get to her. “Did you meet them? Did you meet Joel? Was he nice? Oh my gosh!! Oh my!” He heard the feline speaking quickly, her voice barely audible from the speed at which she was speaking. Scar just placed his pointer finger on her lips, silently telling her to shush, not wanting everyone to know he was now working for the Bad Boys’ company.
The girl quietened at the finger with a knowing look. Scar waited for her to know before slowly nodding his head with excitement as well, his vex wings flashed a quick white color showing just how excited he was.
“He likes Star Wars, too.” Scar's voice is low, not whisper low but just low enough that hopefully only Lizzie can hear him speaking, moving his finger away. His friend gave a fake dramatic gasp, her hands coming to her face in shock.
“I totally didn’t know that.” She let out a laugh, pointing down at her shirt, “I’m quite literally his number one fan, Scar. Of course I know that!” Lizzie said teasingly as she pushed his shoulder.
Scar scrunched up his nose, annoyed by the feline. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She just shrugged at the question, not giving much of a response. The lights then dimmed down, Lizzie’s head quickly shot over to the stage, her body consuming her with the excited shaking joy again.
A girl on the other side of Scar also started screaming at the top of her lungs, pointing upwards. There were two avians flying down from the top of the stage, making his jaw drop a little in shock, before he pulled his camera up to his face so he could start using it and started to record everything that was happening in front of him.
Now, he was also informed they had another camera that was flying around, but Scar was there to make sure the pictures looked the best, as the drone camera was not always 100% the best looking when taking pictures.
The two birds that flew down were obviously Grian and Jimmy when they finally came into view, fluttering their way down to the bottom, then just before the two of them hit the stage, underneath the stage, Joel jumps up, making everyone surprised, his drumsticks already in hand as smoke comes out as all of them land onto the ground gracefully.
Now the three of the boys were in their intended positions, Joel at the drums on the far right of the stage, Jimmy with his bass guitar on the left, and, standing the farthest up on the stage, Grian found himself at the microphone stand in the very middle.
Joel then took the drumsticks that were already in his hand, tapping them together with a beat before speaking into the mic that was placed towards his side, “Are you ready?” He screamed out.
The fans went crazy, screaming as loud as they could; even Lizzie was screaming loudly beside Scar, “Joel, I love you!!” he heard her say at one point through the countless other screams.
Jimmy, now with his guitar in hand, is strumming a few cords as Joel matched it with the drum pedal, spinning the drumsticks in an impressive way before going to play the drumming part of the song.
With his camera still in hand, his eyes met over to Grian to wait for him to start singing, realizing that his eyes were already on him. Scar didn’t want to think that Grian had been looking at him again, even though he had been told to, so they could get better pictures, but there are countless other fans in the crowd, too; shouldn’t he be focusing on them as well?
Grian then flashed a smirk, then a wink towards wherever he was looking before the beat dropped and he started singing into the microphone.
The Bad Boys’ concert had begun.