Brian took home the black and white canvas, and Zacky kept the blue and purple one. He had chosen that one because it held the fond memories of what took place afterwards. He took in inside, going straight to his room where he tore down a Pantera poster, finding a hammer and a nail to hang the painting on the wall.
He stepped back to look at it once he had it up, feeling a smile creep across his face. It was absolutely beautiful.
“Brian?” Brian turned as Suzy entered his room. “What- Why are you covered in paint?”
“Zacky and I painted today.” He said, pointing to the picture. “What do you think?”
Suzy regarded the piece, looking a little skeptical. “Well, it has a certain feel of… adolescence…”
“I think it’s great.” He disagreed, eyes wandering over the canvas. “It’s the best work of art I’ve ever made.”
“Good for you then, Brian.” Suzy sighed as her eyes fell on his shirt. “That’s ruined…”
“All for the sake of art, though.” Brian smiled dreamily as he looked at it. “It’s a masterpiece.”
Suzy shook her head, “Whatever you say…”
~*~
At practice, Val showed up with Matt. Brian smiled warmly at her, looking up from the lick Zacky had written. “Hey, Val. What brings you here?”
“I’ve got something for you guys.” She said, “Come here, all of you.”
So, all the guys crowded around her. She smirked at them, and proceeded to pull a few bills from her pocket. “This is to help you guys towards funding that album.”
Brian gaped at the cash. Five clean, crisp bills, Benjamin Franklin’s face staring at them from each one.
“What? How’d you manage this?” he asked fingering the cash to make sure it was real.
“I’ve been sneaking cash from my parents. A twenty here, a ten there. They never notice. Once I managed to snag a fifty and they just fretted over it for ten minutes before moving on.”
Brian caught Zacky’s eye, and they grinned. It was going to cost them about $2,000 to get this album on the shelves. At the minimum. The money Val provided made them reach a quarter of their goal.
“I was thinking maybe I could manage you guys. You know, for tours and stuff. I could help you sell merch, manage venue dates, help you find a record label. And you wouldn’t even have to pay me.”
“Whoa, wait a minute. Who are you?” Justin asked, frowning at Val. “I don’t even know who you are, why should you manage us?”
“I’m Valary Dibendetto, Matt’s girlfriend. I also went to high school with the rest of the guys.” She reached out a hand for Justin to shake. “Matt’s been telling me all about your band, and I want to do everything I can to help.”
“Well, I don’t really think we need you. Not yet, anyway.” Justin said, “Just because you’re Matt’s girlfriend, and just because you want to manage us, doesn’t mean you ought to.”
She sighed. “Yeah, I get that. But I am putting funds towards your album…”
“Come to our practices, then, and we’ll decide later.” Zacky said, “I won’t mind having you around.”
“Yeah, having a hot chick around might do us good.” Justin chuckled at the warning glance he got from Matt.
“Besides, you can scream, can’t you?” Brian asked, “What if you featured on one of our songs?”
The air fell into silence as everyone considered what Brian had suggested. Eventually, Matt said, “I could see that. I mean, if she’s gonna manage us she’ll be touring with us anyway. And it’d give some… diversity, I guess, to our album.”
“And if we’re going to have to write some more new songs anyway…” Jimmy added, “It wouldn’t be hard at all to separate lyrics for two people.”
“I don’t know…” Justin said, “It’d have to depend on the song. One that we’ve already written or would we do something new?”
“Something new.” Zacky replied, “Like Jimmy said, it’ll be another song that we can take off the track listing if it’s not good enough.”
The guys all slapped each other’s back and delivered hi-fives. “This album is really going to be kick ass.” Jimmy said, “Besides, while we’re all giving good news, I got a job yesterday.”
“Sweet, where at?” Brian asked.
“The Laundromat downtown. I'm gonna be making minimum wage, but I figure any cash is better than no cash. We can put most of what I make towards the album, too.”
“Yeah, we’ll see how long you can keep that up.” Brian sniggered, “Were they stoned when they hired you?”
“Shut up, I’m gonna be a great worker. I can be civilized when I want to be.” Jimmy shoved Brian playfully. “Besides, all I gotta do is sit around and make sure everyone’s doing what they’re supposed to. The customers handle everything themselves.”
“And you’ll still have time for the album?” Zacky asked.
“Fuck yeah, of course. This is my number one priority, and if they can’t get that into their heads, I’m leaving.”
A light and happy mood set over the guys as they decided to run through a song together, show Val how far they were coming along. They let Brian play Zacky’s riffs, and then they dove into Forgotten Faces. This was the one song that was so complete that it would never be subject to change. It was one of the first songs Brian had worked on with Zacky, so he’d pretty much written all the riffs and licks himself.
He couldn’t help some excitement welling up in his chest. This was real, it was actually happening. The band was coming together, and soon they’d be touring with a first album out. He couldn’t wait. Not only that, but he had a beautiful, perfect boyfriend and everything just seemed to be going right at the moment.
Val liked the song. She spent up the rest of the practice time just gushing about them, about Matt’s voice in particular, which made Brian roll his eyes. But it was okay. Life was just great.
What could possibly go wrong?
YOU ARE READING
Social Norms (Synacky)
FanfictionTeach the queer kid to play. That’s all Brian had to do. Show Zacky some riffs, a few licks, then he’d get to solo on Sounding the Seventh Trumpet and Jimmy wouldn’t hate him. Easy enough. Except when he began to lay in bed at night and wonder what...
