That Wasn't Funny but He Laughed so Hard He Almost Cried

Phil was an old man. Well, not that old, but he felt like he'd aged decades in the past year. There was a lot of stress on him already, working as a producer in the music industry. He'd gotten The Feral Boys started and earned a lot of money as their manager, a self-starter. He'd been lucky to find Nick and his friends at their lowest point, only to help them be discovered. Funnily enough, the old man had a handle of technology and was very much in the present.

But when his wife left him in this life alone, his band decided to let him take an extended break from work to mourn. Mental health was important. Phil became miserable, lonely without his friends, without his wife.

Until he met another, riotous, upcoming sensation. The Slumbering Syndicate, a band of differing styles. They did covers of all kinds, and their original songs were various designs: indie, pop, alternative rock, soulful music. All of it could be find on a singular shared channel, where they slowly accumulated an ever-growing fanbase. Finding himself in an opportunity he can't pass up, he gladly becomes their producer and manager. But they're rather cautious of him, for some reason.

TW // Yes. I'm not hiding anything here, you read all the tags, you read the summary, you know the main theme here. Grief and loss and mourning.

You have been warned.

Title is a line from "People Watching" by Conan Gray, and I do know the song is meant to be romantic. But this is more of a melancholic touch to it, and it's completely platonic.