Brutal
Regulus band is well known, they are not super famous of course but the band that started as a joke is winning fame, at first they played just in some bars but thanks to Dorcas help they have their first important concert in a week, they will play in a festival and Pandora, Evan’s sister will also be playing there.
The band, green lies, started when they were in highschool, Barty proposed the idea, Evan of course found Barty’s idea perfect and Regulus thought it was a way for them to be free. They played in a bar where Remus worked and works, he was the one that helped them to start and people actually liked them. Dorcas also helped a lot, she was their friend and she wanted to take the role of ‘manager’ , one day she said “without me you’ll be lost” and that’s true, he doesn't know how they could live without her. Pandora was helpful, her fame made them be more known, Pandora is an important singer, she has a beautiful voice and a lot of fans, they are friends with her and not only because she is Evan’s twin, because she is a very kind girl, a bit weird like them, all her fame helped them to start. They have to be grateful to Dorcas Pandora and Remus because now their band is all for them.
Since Regulus ran from his house he only had the band, a dream and no money. But he was lucky, Barty and Evan, who also had shitty families decided to run away with him, they work and play, their dream is one day not having to work, just the band, being famous enough to dedicate just to music.
“Okay boys, your first festival, this is important, a lot of people will be there to see a famous band, the marauders I think they are called so you need to make a good first impression” Dorcas is ‘preparing them’ even though she doesn’t have an idea neither of how this goes.
“Us making a good impression? Cas you are hallucinating” Barty laughs
“Can we for a moment address the real problem? We don’t have a bassist” Evan comments
“I thought Remus was your bassist?” Dorcas asks confused looking at Remus
“He made it clear, play for fun in bars okay, but no more than that” Regulus shrugs, Remus was the bassist of their band but he was too anxious about his scars and didn't want to bring too much attention to him
“I want to be able to make life normally without having to worry about being recognised”
“And what if you play with them but nobody sees your face?” The girl proposes
“I don’t know” Remus looks at them thoughtful
“Come on we don’t have time to find someone else and you are very good, you can put on a mask if you want, nobody has to know who you are, and that will intrigue people” Dorcas tries to convince him
“Please Rem” Barty tries
“Okay yea, why not” Remus is too easy to break, but that’s perfect Regulus doesn’t want another bassist, Remus is very good and knows already all the songs.
“You have time for two songs, which ones do you like the most?” Dorcas asks
“I don’t know this feels too important” Evan laughs a bit, he is a nervous person, he only was convinced about the band in first place because Barty was the one who proposed it.
“We need to start strong. I would propose Stressed out or something like that because I think it’s just us” Barty is the more excited one, he wants to be famous and piss his father, prove that he can be liked, this is important for him.
Regulus is nervous because he doesn’t want his family to find out and he is a bit scared that his brother will find him. He hasn’t known a single thing about Sirius in years, since his brother ran away first they broke all the contact they had and maybe if Sirius sees about the band he decides to contact him, it’s not that Regulus doesn’t want his brother to contact him, is just he doesn’t want to see his brother is better without him and it’s probably that if he sees Sirius now he will see how good his life has been while Regulus's life had being a fucking hell.
“Earth to Rex are you still with us?” Barty interrupts his thoughts.
“Sorry, were you saying?”
“Remus said we should propose one song everyone and then chose between those four” Evan explains
“Okay that’s fair”
Barty wanted Acting like that, Remus voted for Stressed out, Evan and Regulus Oh no!
They decided to eliminate Barty’s choice because it was confusing, see Green lies had Regulus singing, Evan at the drums, Barty with the guitar and Remus in the bass, but some songs were singed by Barty like Acting like that, Dorcas said that it was confusing see how the singer changed in a new band so they’ll for now just let Regulus sing all the songs.
“We have just one week and we are going to practice everyday okay? See you tomorrow boys” Dorcas goes to her room, they all share a flat, Dorcas, Remus, Barty Regulus and Evan, yes they are too much to share a little flat but they don’t have money for more so they are good right now, they all have different works so the only moments they are in their ‘home’ together is when they are practicing for the band. Cas has her individual room, Barty and Evan share a room and Regulus shares with Remus, is not so bad a flat with three rooms and not very expensive is difficult to find.
“You heard her, let's get some sleep because she is probably not going to let us rest much” Remus gets up off the couch (if you can call it couch) and goes to their room.
That week is tiring, Regulus works and when he is not working he is practicing with the band.
“Okay boys, I think you got this, tomorrow is the big day” She seems more excited than them but that’s because she isn’t as exhausted as them.
“What are we wearing?” Evan asks
“Black and green outfits of course” Barty replies as if it was the more obvious thing in the world
“And Remus will wear also a mask or something”
“I can’t wait tomorrow our history changes boys”
“Don't be dramatic bats”
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They are already there, with their outfits on, they look pretty hot, with eyeliner black cargos and Regulus wearing a tank top. Right now Dora is playing and they are the next ones. Evan sees his sister and admires her, she is singing Under the water one song that she told Regulus it was his song, at first he didn’t understand it but now it feels like he has some sort of connection with that song.
The girl sings
Under the water we die
Then why do we jump in?
Why do we jump in?
Under the water we die
The song ends and they prepare themselves to go out there.
“Nervous?” Lupin asks
“Maybe”
“That’s okay, this is fucking terrifying”
“Come on time to go” Barty tells them.
Regulus comes to the stage, there are a lot of people watching, it’s not what they are used to, this is huge.
“Good evening, we are Green lies, my name is Regulus, our guitarist over there is Barty Crouch Jr, the drummer is Evan Rosier and our bassist here is John (Remus wanted privacy so they decided to call him John, his middle name). I'm not going to talk more because you are not even here to see us so, let’s start” Regulus introduces them and they start with brutal.
He starts to sing, when he is singing the chorus, he sees everyone is liking the song
All I did was try my best
This is the kind of thanks I get?
They say these are the golden years
But I wish I could disappear
Ego crush is so severe
God, it’s brutal out here
He wrote this song when he was 17 years old. Everything was a mess, he realised he liked boys and had a very hard time with that, his brother had left the house and he felt alone.
I feel like no ones wants me
And I hate the way I’m perceived
I only have two real friends
And lately I’m a nervous wreck
‘Cause I love people I don’t like
And I hate every song I write
And I’m not cool and I’m not smart
And I can’t even parallel park
The worst thing is that Regulus loved his family, they were the abusive, the worst, but he wanted to be loved he wanted to be liked by them so he did what he could, everything to feel accepted, when he realised he liked boys he knew there was no way his family would accept it, he only had Barty and Evan but they were his real family, they convinced him to leave his toxic family, they taught him what unconditional love looked like and now Regulus is happy, he has a group of people who like him for who he is, he is still hurt but the music helps not only him but all of them to scream and let it all out.
The first song ends and the public is screaming, they are excited, he looks at Barty and sees the joy in the boy's eyes’.
They only have one song more and Regulus wants to make a good show of it. Stressed out is a good one because they wrote it together, the four of them made this song mixing all of their experiences, Regulus likes the one part he wrote, it talks about his brother. He usually doesn’t talk about Sirius but in that song it was one way to remember the little part of their childhood that had a bit of happiness.
Regulus moves around the stage, sings with Barty at some point, Remus is also there playing and moving. Evan sings ‘wake up you need to make money’ with Barty, they have very good voices.
Regulus sings the part about Sirius, hopping he is somewhere listening to it
Sometimes a certain smell will take me back to when I was young
How come I’m never able to identify where it’s coming from?
I’d make a candle out of it if I ever found it
Try to sell out of it, I’d probably only sell one
It’s be to my brother, ‘cause we have the same nose
Same clothes, homegrown, a stone’s throw from a creek we used to roam
But it would remind us of when nothing really mattered.
Out of student loans and treehouse homes we all would take the latter.
Sirius made his childhood more bearable, he played with him and they imagined how their lives could be. Dreaming of a future out there. Living together in Paris.
The song ends, everyone is cheering and Regulus is so proud, they did well and he had a great time.
“We are Green lies and if you want to see more you can follow us on instagram, thank you”
They exit the stage, the next ones are the famous ‘marauders’ he doesn’t know a single thing about them but he knows a lot of people like them, maybe they can stay a bit and see.
“Congratulations boys, you did amazing!”
“Thank you Cas, I think we were fucking fire”
“Honestly that was amazing, I had so much fun” Evan says
“I think they liked us” Remus mentions
“We should do something to celebrate” Barty suggests, he is buzzing with excitement.
“Okay but I want to see the marauders, if they are so popular it must be for something right?”
“Yes we can stay just to see them” Remus answers.
“Hello hello, you probably know who we are, you were waiting for us, we are The marauders, we will start with a new song here written by our lovely Prongsie boy. Forever Young” A voice talks from the stage and Regulus knows that voice very well, it can’t be can it?.
A song starts, Forever Young, it’s beautiful and a part of it is sad, ‘I want to live forever young’. Regulus knows that voice but he needs to see it to believe it, he moves through the crowd trying to find a spot. Suddenly everything freezes. In that stage Sirius Black sings back to back with James Potter who plays the guitar, one blonde girl is the bassist and the drummer is a redhead Regulus knows very well, Lily Jolene Evans. Okay now he is panicking, what is he supposed to do now? What do you do when you discover one of the most famous bands right now is formed by your brother with whom you haven't talked to for years, your first crush and the girl you envied the most?
Sirius looks the same, more happy and his hair is a bit longer but his clothes and all is just the same as he left. James is just brilliant, he looks so good, he can’t stop staring at the boy it’s becoming a problem. The marauders are the last ones, once their songs end the concert is over. Everyone starts to go home but Regulus can’t move.
“Rex hey, we need to go” Evan shakes him by the shoulders. He looks at him with a bit of pity. Regulus sees everyone, Remus is a bit confused, he met him when his brother wasn’t around anymore so Remus doesn’t know a lot about Sirius. Barty whispers at Remus something and now Remus also looks at him with pity.
Regulus hates pity
“Let’s go, it’s over” he says. Is better if they now go home, before his brother notices him, he probably doesn’t know Regulus was here, there’s an opportunity to disappear.
“Reggie?” They are already at the exit when a voice makes him turn around.
“I knew it was you” Sirius.
“Hello brother” He greets him.
“You changed a lot”
“You are still the same”
“Well well well, if it’s Sirius Black, who was gonna tell me you would have a famous band” Barty interfere.
“Hello Crouch, I could say the same didn’t know you can play the guitar”
“Hey Pads we are going to the leaky, are you in? oh” Potter is now there also.
“We are leaving I don’t want to have to deal with this right now” Regulus says and starts walking away, the band follows
“But Reggie please I just want to talk” His brother grabs his arm and Regulus glares at him.
“You are insufferable, didn’t you hear him? He doesn’t want to talk with you right now so don’t touch him” Evan snaps.
“What are you his fucking bodyguard or something?”
“Can you just leave me alone?” Regulus asks
“Okay, but I still want us to talk someday” Sirius goes inside.
Dorcas proposes to go to their flat and they start walking, Regulus stays in front of the door for a minute.
“Please give him an opportunity” Potter pleads
“Why should I?”
“Because he is still your brother?” The boy doesn’t look convinced by his answer
“Try again”
“Okay so look at it like this, if you talk with him again the fame The marauders has will also be fame to your group, it’s not a bad option, you win fame and your brother back”
“We have Pandora for that”
“Oh I know her, she is so nice. But anyways think about it, Pandora is famous but I’m sure you know our group is important it could be a good way to start your career”
“We will see each other Potter”
“Are you okay Rex?” Dorcas asks him when he returns to the group.
“Yes, I wasn’t expecting that but it’s fine”
Potter was right, maybe it was worthy.
“Changing the subject, we were brilliant, I think we winned fans today” Evan cheers the mood
“Yea, our Rexie here did amazing, jumping around the stage like he really belonged there” Barty jokes.
“I’m sure that if we win fame is for Barty, I don’t know if it’s his psycho vibe but a lot of people seemed to like him” Remus comments
“What can I say, I’m just too hot”
“Whatever you say Bats” Evan laughs, he doesn’t deny it though.