[DISCONTINUED] In The Crowd (Muke)

0.8 - Message

Michael was never really happy, nor was he ever completely sad. He was in between the two. It was like a tug of war, constantly pulling him in two different directions, and it was difficult to maintain one simple emotion without feeling like he was suffocating. He likes to feel happy, he loves the feeling. He likes being able to smile without forcing it, it was calming. And things never really made him happy nowadays, except for his fans, who he considers his family, since he was never very close with his parents and never had any siblings. His fans, music, and Calum are what keep Michael going. Calum was more than just his best friend, but less than a lover. He wouldn't say brother, because that's not the right way to word it. He has no ways to word his and Calum's relationship, other than two best friends who've accomplished so much for their age's. And even that is a huge understatement.

"Hey Michael, should I use the red guitar with the black design, or the one with a white over-lay for tonight?" Calum asked, breaking Michael out of his complicated thoughts.

"White." Michael looked at Calum to go over what he was wearing. He wore a white sleeveless muscle shirt and black skinny jeans, a simple outfit that would match a simple guitar. "Yeah, white." Calum nodded and smiled, running out of their dressing room to grab the guitar.

Michael turned his attention to his phone, scrolling through his messages on Twitter. He'll admit, he never really answers people unless the preview of their message sounds interesting or they have an interesting username. It's not that he's picky or doesn't like talking to his fans, he's mentioned that he loved them many times before, but it's just the way he is. He was scrolling through the messages, smiling at the many 'i love you' messages, when one message caught his eye.

Luke - @ mychemicalmichael:
so do you like bread

The main thing that Michael noticed was the username. Clever, he thought and chuckled, then quickly tapped on the conversation and typed back a reply.

'Ew, why would you ask me that', he typed, adding a cute little emoji at the end, and smiled. Just as his thumb tapped the screen on send, Calum walked back into the dressing room, telling Michael that they were to be ready to go on stage in five minutes.

"Who would've thought that after four months of the same thing almost every night would still give me the biggest adrenaline rush ever?" Michael spoke, a grin on his face as the two walked over to the stage area. He grabbed his black electric guitar, hooking the guitar-strap around his shoulders and they both went under the stage to the small little elevator looking thing that would shoot them up onto the main stage in front of the crowd. He plugged his ear-plugs into his ears, crouching into the narrow space, waiting for the pressure building under the small square platform to push them up, in front of his many reasons to be happy. He tilted his guitar up so it wouldn't get wrecked or caught on anything, as he heard Calum's voice ring all over the arena.

"Phoenix, are you ready?!"

Michael grinned at the familiar sound of girls screaming, and before he knew it he was shot up in front of thousands of girls, and several boys, and he felt a smile form onto his lips. This is what he was born to do, this is what made him happy. To be in front of a crowd. And just like that, all his earlier stresses and upsetting thoughts just disappeared and he was happy once again.

• • •

Luke yelled at the television screen, getting more angry at the game Mario Kart for Wii. He was constantly throwing his control down on the soft bedding in front of him and mumbling curse words every ten seconds, making Marisela and Ashton laugh at him.

"Fuck, how did I fall off the side of that damn road?!" He continued yelling, shaking his head aggressively. "No, no, no!" He yelled again as several other characters were flying past his own after he had slipped on a banana peel that someone must've thrown.