moonlight | c.r [2]

09.

Concerts were Sydney's favorite thing. Performing on stage, feeling the lights beating down on her, letting her voice run free as she shared her music with others. Over the course of the previous year, she'd come to find out that hearing crowds of strangers singing back her own lyrics at her gave her a sense of joy that nothing else ever could.

She'd spend the whole performance dancing, hair flipping behind her as her voice rang through the venue, lips locked permanently in a smile. On stage, she'd be no longer Sydney- a complicated, emotional mess of a girl with too many issues and problems to deal with. On stage, she'd become love- love and happiness and pride, the girl would be nothing short of a beam of energy.

So, maybe having to spend her 17th birthday performing for a crowd in her hell away from home wouldn't be that bad. She let herself forget; about her parents' divorce, about her brother's new feud with their mother, about the legal madness that would happen the next day, about everything. She let herself, close her eyes, sway her hips to her own music, and breathe.

Sydney spent her evening surrounded by strangers who just so happened to love her- and she most definitely loved them back.

And she thought that'd be it. That is, until right after she finished singing "Beside You". That'd marked the halfway point of her concert and at that point, her cheeks hurt from smiling. She was taking a swig of water, preparing to start the small intro for "Don't Want It Back" when the crowd erupted into cheers.

Now, obviously that wasn't unusual, but the excitement they seemed to evoke made her turn around. She assumed someone had walked on stage- probably her brother- and her first immediate thought was: Cake?

Instead, her brother showed up empty handed, but she didn't mind. He was smiling wider and brighter than he had in weeks, and just that sight alone made Sydney's heart swell. she turns around to face Axl, confusion still dotted on her face as he grins. He was apparently handed a microphone but he still makes sure to stand next to his little sister, arm wrapped around her shoulders as the crowd finally dies down a little.

"Hey there!" Axl said, a slight uncomfortableness to his tone. Stages had never been his thing- he was okay with filming himself, preparing exactly what to say and having total control over what goes on. On a stage, or during any type of public speaking, though, the boy couldn't edit out the mistakes or re-record whenever he tripped over his words. He managed not to stutter, letting himself relax as he looked back at the hundreds of people in the room.

"Sorry to interrupt, you guys-" He's momentarily paused by cheers, and Sydney's laugh is almost inaudible as she giggles. "It's just that, today is Sydney's 17th birthday, y'know?" Once again, the boy couldn't finish his sentence without the crowd going off, though this time, that was exactly what he intended. "So, I wanted to know if we could all sing her 'Happy Birthday'."

Sydney felt her cheeks burn as she leaned back into herself, smile still etched on her face. She couldn't keep herself from throwing her arms around her brother, knowing that the gesture meant far more than it appeared to. In a time of so much family drama, having Axl willingly by her side was one of the things that kept her from breaking. Knowing that he wanted to take her in, fully live with and take care of her made something in her chest twitch. Because that was the first time she genuinely thought that he didn't let her stay with him because he had to- Axl wanted her to stay with him. Not from obligation, but because he was her older brother and he loved her.