All My Cards are Here - Marauders+Wolfstar+Jily

Chapter 8: i'm alright if you're alright

Songs in this chapter:
This December by Ricky Montgomery

Remus didn't check his bank account until Sunday afternoon. As a rule, he avoided looking at it until absolutely necessary. Watching the number slowly dwindle down and down gave him such anxiety that even when he just got paid, he didn't look.

The only reason he was checking now was because he had to go to the grocery store and he needed to budget how much food he could afford after he paid his rent and utilities. He had no clue that if the song revenue would cover missing his shifts from work, but he was hopeful he might be able to afford some fresh fruit this week.

When he first saw his balance, he thought there was something wrong with the system. He refreshed the webpage but it still said the same thing, "£8,145.25."

He had half the mind to call the bank, but he checked through his history and there it was - a deposit of £8,014.10 from Phoenix Records.

Logically, Remus knew he was being paid for this, but it was hard to believe. For so long, music was just some hobby that he would work all day so he could play on the weekends. Between all the drama with Christopher and Sirius, Remus had completely forgotten that this was a job and people were paying him to play music.

Once he finally accepted the number, he sat down on his bed and thought of all the things he could buy with that. Not just groceries but new pants to replace the ones with holes, a shelf for his books, maybe even a backboard for his bed.

Or even better, he could move out. Find someplace with working heat and thicker walls. He could get an apartment with his own bedroom. He wouldn't ever have to work a late-night again or have drunk strangers yell his way.

The possibilities came over Remus like a wave and for the first time in so long, he let himself cry. Something deep within him shifted as he realized that he was going to be okay.

-

The boys spent the next month in the studio. Monday and Tuesday were all about planning and meetings. Most of it was Marlene running down with them everything about the tour and asking them questions about locations, buses, designers. Sometimes they might even have those days off if there were things happening behind the scenes that they didn't have to worry about.

Wednesday through Friday was studio time and this was by far Remus' favorite. Not just playing with the band, but talking through his songs with someone as talented as the Longbottoms. They both understood him and knew how to make all his songs better. They knew where to layer voices or have just the right idea for a percussion shift.

The tour was going to be intense. It was all over the UK with a new town practically every night. There were few rest days and Marlene tried to explain in explicit detail all the ways it would be terrible, but Remus did not care. They were getting their very own tour. He would make it an incredible experience no matter what.

While they were touring, the album would be mastered and come out halfway through, which meant that they really needed to finish it before the tour. There was a lot of pressure from the general Phoenix Records, but thankfully the Longbottoms protected them from most of it.

"It's a process," Alice said. "I don't give a fuck what they think. It will get done and it will sound amazing." Alice never failed to make Remus smile.

But this process often meant repeating just one thing a thousand times until it was perfect and Remus could only listen to James sing the same line fifteen times before he wanted his head to explode.