Superstar | | ACOTAR AU

3

Rhys was tense the next day, but Azriel didn't behave differently in the slightest. It was almost unnerving to see how he was handling this.

Rhys had hardly slept last night, wrapped up in guilt and the question he didn't get an answer to. There was clearly something with Azriel's father, but Rhys couldn't even begin to guess at what it might be. Azriel hadn't ever mentioned any family besides his mother, so Rhys had assumed his mother was all he had.

He doubted Azriel would ever tell him anything, especially not after he had gone behind his back and tried to get answers from Amren instead. He was scared to even ask at this point, but there was some part of him that was desperate to know. Azriel had always been the quietest in the group, it shouldn't be so surprising that he had secrets. Even when they were children, Azriel hardly ever offered up any information about himself. So, none of this should have come as a surprise.

Rhys caught himself staring at Azriel again and tore his eyes away, internally chastising himself. It's not like he wouldn't get answers by staring a hole through Azriel.

"You're being weird today," Cassian commented, nudging Rhys slightly. "What's up?"

Rhys briefly considered telling the truth, but he knew Cassian would have a far worse reaction than Azriel did to learning that he called Amren for answers.

"Nothing," Rhys replied, "just still worried about him."

"He'll be fine," Cassian tried to assure Rhys despite the lack of certainty in his own voice as he said it.

They stared at Azriel for a moment before finally heading over to him. They sat on either side of him, legs dangling over the edge of the stage as they looked at the stadium that would be full of people in just a few hours.

"Kind of crazy, isn't it?" Cassian remarked, eyes trailing over all of the seats that would all be occupied later.

"Doesn't get much bigger than this," Azriel muttered, something assessing in his gaze as he stared at the empty space.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Rhys said, making a conscious effort to not turn and look at him.

Azriel only shrugged in response. Cassian tried to ease the tension with a fake laugh that almost sounded real.

"Maybe they'll start building bigger stadiums just for us," he mused with a smile, trying to ease the unsettling energy that fell over them. "We haven't peaked yet, man. Still got a long way to go."

That was something that was a little unnerving because, in truth, they weren't quite sure what they still had left to conquer. They were selling out stadiums already. They'd been on TV and been the subject of countless headlines and met their idols and won awards and broke records with sales and streaming. What more did they have left to do? The idea that they could have peaked this early wasn't a comforting thought to any of them, because if this was all there was, the rest of their lives would either be a game of maintaining or just rolling back down to nothing.

"There are always bigger things to do," Rhys spoke the words like he believed them to be an undeniable truth. As far as he was concerned, there was always a new mountain to climb. He had his moments of doubt where he worried they did too much too fast. He never quite knew what would be next for them, and that was terrifying, but there had to be something next. He had the same worries and fears as Cassian and Azriel, but he chose to believe there was always something bigger they could do next.

Silence fell over them for a few moments as they all stared out at the stadium and wondered what the others saw. Cassian was the one to end the quiet, letting out a breathy laugh—this one more real than the last one.