Chapter Text
The front of the sign up queue for this years Battle of the Bands was full of shouting, people cutting in line, and more importantly, cameras. Quaver didn’t mind, she was more than happy to let people push their way to the front. She wasn’t really sure why, but it worked. Maybe people just liked watching arguments.
No solos or duos this year.
Oh.
This was Quaver’s first BOTB, and of course she couldn’t participate. No duos would surely mean no solos. She didn’t even have her own instrument, she’d been getting lessons from Rest. But it wouldn’t be enough now anyways. Rest hadn’t told her the rules had changed this year. Which was probably a good idea, or half of the City would have been annoyed by a freshly 12 year old probably fucking up her chords anyways. Quaver didn't even have a proper guitar, just a battered one that had been her mothers.
Dejected, the girl quit the queue, only to blink, and walk back. The back of the queue featured someone Quaver had never seen before, and their guitar case was nice. But they were alone. And Quaver was a nice kid, so she tugged on their jacket sleeve.
Beat had no goddamn idea why she was here.
Seriously! The past few weeks had been a mental blur, it's a miracle she hadn't been hit by a car or a truck on her way to the City. She’d moved back here, to an apartment her sister practically begged to cover the first two months of rent for, but Beat put her foot down after that. Her sister, some big shot company manager, wasn’t someone that Beat wanted to be in debt to right now. Plus, she had a kid to take care of, so the money should really be going towards that.
Something, well. Someone tugged on her sleeve, and Beat looks down, pulling one of her earbuds out.
A small kid, probably not the size of Beat's hand (but she'd make the comparison anyways), was standing there. Blue hair, school uniform, and a hair bow that would probably push her past the height limits on rollercoasters sometimes.
"Hi!"
The kid chirps like it wasn't freshly 7:05 in the morning. She smiled wider than the sun and stared at the guitar case that Beat was lugging around on her back. Oh no.
"Sooo! Uhm... we're not really allowed solos if you were wondering... or duos... so maybe! We could.. team up?"
"You just said there's no duos."
Beat was very very confused. This kid just confirmed that neither Beat nor the child could compete on their own, or together, so unless she meant finding one more person, then this was over. Unfortunate, but that's how it went. Beat didn't need the money anyways, so way. She was fine in her small tiny apartment, with the leaking faucet and squeaking shower. She didn't really want the boost to fame that the flyer her sister had gave her promised. The ticket out, she'd said, before Beat had stormed out the house.
The kid grins, pointing to the front of the queue.
"There's people!"
“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN NO DUOS.”
The front of the queue to sign ups held fans, cameras, and two people in the centre. Purple hair, yellow jackets, very recognisable silhouettes. And one of them was not happy.
“NO REALLY, WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO DUOS. This has NEVER been a rule. EVER.”
“she’s right. you could at least keep it down, cee.”
“NO.”
‘Cee’ was gesturing wildly at the poor woman at the table, who was stern faced and refusing to write their names down. The boy next to Cee was the definition of calm by example, hand in his pocket. But both of them were confused.
“I’m sorry you two. But we’ve decided to implement this rule. More and more duos are signing up, and it’s becoming more of a Battle of the Duos than anything, hah!”
The woman, whose name tag read Vivace, laughs at her own joke, before trailing off when she noticed neither person was laughing.
“… that.. was really bad.”
“Uh huh.”
“please don’t go into comedy.”
“He’s right. Whatever. We’re going, come on Treb.”
Cee nudged the boy, Treb’s, side, and pushes two fans out the way, glaring at the camera following them. Treb sighs as he follows, mouthing a ‘sorry’ at Vivace before leaving.
Beat blinks at the kid, turning to face her.
"Them??"
"Yup."
They looked famous. Almost too famous, like they wouldn't even glance at the two. But they couldn't be, could they? The competition was a chance at fame, what would the point be if they joined? They couldn't, anyways. Didn't look like the type to join two randoms. Beat wasn't even the type, really. She didn't even know who the kid was-
"Quaver."
"What?"
"I could see the question on your face, and it was bound to be asked. I'm Quaver."
"B..eat. I'm Beat."
Ohhh. Beat gets it. Everyone in this city had music names. And Beat had a music nickname, so it technically counted, right? In any case, Quaver hadn't mentioned the hesitation, so she'd be fine. Probably.
The twins had stopped for ice cream, mainly so Treble could keep Clef from losing her shit, but Clef refused to let him pay. The two sat in the sun, on a broken wall. Treble's head was leaning on his sister's shoulder, and Clef's jacket was bundled on a brick. It was hard to tell where one twin ended and the other began. Clef kept sighing every three minutes, upset. She never liked rules anyways, but the new imposing ones just felt off to her. They'd came out of nowhere, and no one was warned. She could see the other solos and duos, all who wanted a shot at escape, walking out of the hall dejected.
"we can go home if you want, moms baking isnt she?"
Clef hums. Her brother was right. Waltz, their adopted mother, would be baking today. She seemed to do that whenever a child of hers had a big event, Clef had realised a few years ago. But still, she'd rather avoid the house today. Just for a few hours, maybe. For no reason other than she was upset, and Clef didn't like being upset in that house anymore. Not since they won the competition a few years ago. Not since the scraping asphalt, the blood.
Treble knew why his sister wasn't responding to him. She'd always known something that he didn't. Because neither twin was an idiot, and Treble knew that Clef remembered the accident.
"clef."
He lifted his only arm and clicks in front of her face, watching in worry as his sister snapped back to the present, and he laughs. One only reserved for her.
"c'mon. we can go somewhere else, if you wanna drop back and grab.."
He trails off, the sound of sneakers on the grass near them, and the twins look up in sync.
".. Hey. Uh-"
"Will you join our band?"