Chapter Text
Maybe Freppa should have known something was about to go wrong tonight. The air had been tense the moment they had arrived at the venue for today’s gig and both Tommy’s and Määnin’s fuse had been incredibly short.
She had just unloaded all the instruments from Mrs Börns when her two bandmates had decided to get into their first argument of the night. Freppa hadn’t heard how the whole situation started, only caught Tommy getting pissed off at two older men whose smirks looked like trouble from first glance.
“You bunch of girls are supposed to play tonight?”, one of the guys said, a mocking tone layering thick on his tongue.
“We are the best band in all of Österbotten, why wouldn’t we?”, Tommy barked back, deep frown between her brows.
The other man scoffed. “Can you even play real instruments?”
It was easy to rile Tommy up, one wrong word against their musical abilities was enough to get up in another messy argument. Freppa watched her take a step forward, adjusting her cap.
“Määnin is the best fucking bass player in the world”, she said immediately as if on autocue. “And we will tear this place down with our songs.”
With a sigh Freppa made her way over to them before things could escalate.
“Tommy…”, she started. “We have to set up the stage.” It was easier to convince her with gig stuff, Tommy took it too seriously to brush it away.
The man gave Freppa an once-over, the grin on his face only broadening. Automatically, she stepped a bit further away and looked away, uncomfortable at the way he was looking at her.
“This little doll with you?”
She was almost as tall as him, Freppa thought but didn’t say anything, keeping her eyes firmly on her friends. Tommy stood up straighter at the comment and Freppa wished she hadn’t opened her mouth at all. This wasn’t going at all like she hoped.
“What did you just call her?” Määnin glowered at the man, even through the sunglasses Freppa could feel it.
She couldn’t really blame them for getting riled up by his comments but Freppa didn’t want anything happening to either of them. They had dealt with that kind of man before and they didn’t need a repetition of the last time where someone went home with a broken nose.
“Let’s just get ready”, she insisted once more, wanting to go inside and do a sound check. “No need to keep anyone waiting.”
For once Määnin and Tommy followed along, even if it was just because they were on a schedule. Freppa ignored the way Tommy kept glaring at the guys as if she could curse their bloodline that way.
They were quick to set everything up and the venue had filled up quite a lot by the time their performance was about to start. Tommy adjusted her cap one more time, Määnin took a sip from a cup and Freppa tightened her ponytail before their announcement came on.
A wave of adrenaline rushed through her as they stepped on the stage, she had almost forgotten the incident.
“Okay, let’s bring some real music in here”, Tommy started and Freppa knew immediately that the comment from earlier was very much still on her mind. “We are Tommy, Freppa and Määnin and together we are Vörjeans. If you got a problem with that you can take it up with Määnin’s fist later cause she is tougher than any of you combined.”
There was some laughter in the back of the bar and some mocking scoffs from the side but Freppa knew it was too late now. It was time to perform and that’s when Tommy was on top of her game, so the sooner they started to play the better.
The gig went great. She didn’t miss a note and Tommy was fired up. Freppa knew that the argument earlier only fueled each song and lyric and she couldn’t blame Tommy for wanting to prove people different. Määnin seemed adamant on putting on a show, taking a cup of beer from one of the people in the front and drowning it in one go and flirting with Tommy during Marlene. Not that either of them would admit to it as flirting but Freppa wasn’t blind.
It was always a rush to finish up and head off the stage, adrenaline was still rushing through their veins and Tommy always had too much energy that had her pacing around, talking about how good they were. Määnin lit a cigarette and took a look at the bar where guys lingered, waiting for her to choose one of them. Freppa let them be, grateful how the mood had changed and making sure to get all their stuff off the stage.
By the time she was done with most of the things, she searched for the other two. Tommy was nowhere to be seen so she went over to Määnin, who had just ordered a new beer.
Frepp didn’t say anything about how she should drink slower, knowing it was like talking to a wall, so she chose the easier way out. “I will put the last bag in the car and then we can-”
Her voice got stuck in her throat, body tensing up immediately when she felt the hand on her waist. “Didn’t know you could play like that, doll. Almost had me thinking you were there as decoration before.” The rough voice was too close to her ear and the wave of alcohol made her nauseous.
Before Freppa could open her mouth, she saw the fist fly past her face. She heard a crack, a groan and Määnin huffing next to her.
“Come close to her again and your nose won’t be the only thing that’s broken.”
The man that had touched her was holding his bleeding nose, looking down at Määnin with anger. Freppa’s eyes widened in panic, realising what was about to happen. But another man had already taken a leap forward at Määnin before she could grab her friend and pull her back.
Määnin took a punch to her face and immediately swung her fist again as if it barely hurt. Frantically, Freppa searched for Tommy in the room, knowing she couldn’t go between without ending up worse.
“Now what the fuck are you doing”, she heard Tommy call out from behind the man, throwing him off-guard.
“Fuck off, your bassist started this”, he pushed Tommy backwards, having her stumble against a table and knocking over a few bottles. Freppa finally caught a glimpse on her face, the frown between her brows deeper than earlier and her gaze out for more than an argument.
While the man was distracted, Freppa pulled Määnin back before she could leap at him again. She could barely hold her back but wrapped her hand tight around her wrist.
“No”, she called out when Määnin met her with an irritated face. Her nose was bleeding and a bruise was forming around her left brow. Even her lip cut open.
“He touched you”, she spat out and Freppa flinched slightly, very much aware of that.
“I know”, she said sharply, tightening her grip around Määnin’s wrist. “I want to go home.”
Määnin backed away slightly, as she realised it wasn’t a debate. “Toms”, she called out and caught Tommy’s attention immediately while the guy kept arguing. “We are leaving.”
“What?”, the man with the most likely broken nose scoffed. “You are fleeing like some scaredy chickens?”
“As long as I don’t have to see your ugly face anymore”, Määnin commented and readjusted her sunglasses, spitting some blood out of her mouth.
The cool night air wrapped comfortably around her, the wind almost brushing away the ghost of the touch on her waist. She put the remaining bag on the back seat before making a beeline to the driver’s seat. As she opened the door a firm hand landed on the frame keeping it in place.
Määnin looked at her silently, bloody face making her look rougher around the edges than she should. Freppa gulped in guilt, not liking it when she took punches for her.
“Tommy, can you still drive?”, Määnin asked, not looking away from Freppa.
Freppa caught onto her worry immediately and decided it was enough. She knew that Määnin didn’t know how else to show it, that this was some kind of way of making her feel better. She also knew Tommy had at least two beers. “No. I will drive.”
Tommy didn’t get to put a word in as Freppa got into the car.
The ride was awfully quiet apart from a rock ballad coming out of the slightly broken speakers. Usually Tommy would talk about the gig or she and Määnin could make fun of some stupid guys. Freppa wished they would, instead she saw Tommy unable to sit still and Määnin bruised and bloody in the rear mirror.
Freppa drove straight to her mom’s house, knowing they had a first aid kid laying around there. Määnin was about to tell her she was fine but Freppa ignored her as she placed down the guitar case and went to get the small box with bandages.
Tommy was mostly fine, she complained about some bruises on her back but Freppa was aware she was just as worried about Määnin as she was – maybe even more.
“You both need to calm the fuck down”, Määnin only said but stopped trying to protest as Freppa sat down on a chair that she had dragged over to the couch in the corner of the garage and started to clean her face with a cloth.
“The guy deserved it but…” Tommy paused, she wasn’t used to using the word against Määnin. Her gaze was settled on something far away, her fingers tightly wrapped around the frizzled edges of the armchair. “He should have known better than to punch back.”
“You need to stop getting into fights for me”, Freppa finally said, mirroring Määnin’s twitch when she pressed too hard on the open cut against her lips. She didn’t like cleaning her up after a fight, it only reminded her that she was too weak to defend herself. “Both of you.”
“Hey, I just– !” Tommy started to argue but Freppa shot her a glare. It was not often that she did so.
“I mean it”, she said more silently now and fiddled with one of the plasters. “You can’t keep running around punching people.”
“He was bothering you”, Määnin said then as if that was enough of a point.
Freppa put the plaster over the cut on her face and sighed. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Määnin scoffed. “I can take it.”
Until you won’t, Freppa thought silently. Until you find someone who is a number too big, who doesn’t mind putting you into a hospital. Until one day Freppa will lose them for something that she could have stopped.
Tommy kicked the edge of the small coffee table between them, Freppa could see the old anger flaring up inside of her. She always seemed angry at the world. “These guys deserved much worse than a broken nose. And you need to stand up for yourself, Freppa! They will always think they can do whatever they want with us if you don’t.”
Freppa gulped, remembering how even back in school Tommy had picked a fight with any boy that had come too close to them. She was right in a way, Freppa just wished her friends wouldn’t get beat up in the process.
They wanted to protect her, their wild minds not seeing how she wanted the same for them.
“Are you done?” Määnin pulled her out her thoughts and she shook the bad thoughts away.
“Almost.” Freppa took her time with the bruise above her eye that was already swollen. No matter how many fights they would get into, she had to at least make sure to patch them up again. To be there when needed. “You both can sleep here, it’s much too late anyways.”
Määnin glanced over to where the armchair was and showed a small grin, softer than anything that you would see outside these walls. “Someone already took up on that offer.”
When Freppa looked over to where Tommy sat, she found her curled up on the worn out cushion, eyes closed and brows furrowed.
“Tommy was putting it all out today”, she commented as she put the leftover bandages in the box again. “She always does.”
“Yeah.” It was barely above a whisper and the lack of sunglasses betrayed Määnin’s gaze on her sleeping figure. “Get some rest, Freppa.”
She nodded, her limbs and mind feeling heavy from today’s events. “You too.”
They would be fine, they always came around somehow, even if bruised and battered, Freppa couldn’t see any other possibility for them except to keep doing what they loved.