"okay!" randy called out as he walked onto the stage of the first venue they'd be performing at, "this is the stage of your very first actual show."
"it's important we make this the best.." he came to a stop, glancing around the stage before turning to jonah, "where's corbyn?"
"uh," jonah paused, "running late i assume."
"there's a lot of traffic today so..." jack shrugged.
"why is he missing so many important things?" he asked, "this is tour we're preparing for? is this not important to him anymore?"
"i don't think he's been feeling the best." jonah said, "he's pushing himself a lot so he's very stressed."
"that kid has got no idea what stress is," randy shook his head with a laugh, receiving confused stares from the four of them, "most carefree person i've met in my life."
"uh, right." jack mumbled.
"we'll just continue without him," randy sighed, "so this first show has got to be the absolute best, you need to put your heart and soul into this."
"we're going to spend the next two and a half weeks rehearing in this space," he continued, "to give you a feel of what it'll be like across the rest of the country."
"have we announced it yet on social media?" randy asked, immediately turning to daniel.
"you said we couldn't yet," daniel replied, "..we don't have the link to add to go buy tickets."
"i'll send that link to one of you," he nodded, the corner of his eye catching on the boy walking onto the stage, fiddling with his earpiece as he grabbed his guitar.
and as he looked up come where his guitar sat, his walk slowed down and a small, awkward smile appeared on his face while he stood beside daniel.
"sorry," he said, "did i miss much?"
"do you have any idea how important these rehearsals are?" randy asked him, folding his arms as corbyn struggled to find the words to say.
"i know, i'm sorry." he shrugged, "i had a family emergency to deal with back home and i-"
"you're not rehearsing today," their manager interrupted the boy, jonah looking up from the floor to corbyn whose mouth had just dropped open partly.
"randy," jack called out.
"but i'm in this band as much as they are i-"
"out," he said, gesturing to the side of the stage while daniel glanced between the two.
"cool." corbyn muttered under his breath, turning back around and walking towards the side of the stage he came out from, throwing his guitar on the floor in the process.
and while the four boys stared at his guitar before glancing to him, corbyn had eventually turned the corner and a few seconds later the door to the back of the venue was slammed shut in the background.
"that was unnecessary." daniel spoke up.
"breaking his guitar wasn't-"
"no, i mean saying he can't rehearse," daniel said, "he's had a rough week, the least you could do is go a little easy on him."
"if people go easy on him he'll never learn."
"he's a good kid randy, he's just got too much going on," jonah argued, "being a few minutes late isn't that big of a deal, he apologised when he walked in."
"this is his career, this should be his life." randy said, "you guys all made it on time."
"we're not dealing with everything he is." zach argued, "he's stressed, he needs a break."
"you don't get breaks in the music industry," he shrugged, "tour is three weeks away, the boy needs to be more serious about this."
with a roll of their eyes from the four band members, they continued the rehearsal without the final member, struggling to tolerate their stressed manager guiding them through the show.
and after the few hours they had spent there, going over the same three songs their manager wasn't so confident on, the four eventually wrapped up the day, placing their instruments down ready to come back in less than twelve hours time.
"hey i'll uh, i'll bring my guitar in for corbyn tomorrow," daniel nodded to the other three, "i think i'll suggest to stay at his place just so he has some company."
"okay," jonah nodded, "unless we all go out for dinner and invite him? i don't know how well he'll look after himself without mollie there."
"well.. he hasn't even left the parking lot." jack sighed, gesturing over to his car still in right beside the entrance with the boy sitting inside of it, staring at the wheel with his hands loosely attached to it.
"maybe he doesn't trust himself," zach suggested, walking towards his car, "where are we eating? i'll meet you there."
"the steakhouse." daniel shrugged.
"cool," zach nodded, getting into his car while the other three looked back to the corbyn.
as jack and jonah eventually wondered off in their own cars and headed towards the direction of the restaurant, daniel walked over to corbyn's car as he glanced to him, instantly turning back to his wheel.
and with a sigh, daniel opened the car door as he leant his arm against it, giving the boy a small smile, "have you eaten?"
"i'm not really hungry," corbyn shrugged.
"why haven't you left the parking lot?"
"i don't know."
"okay, we're going to get some food, do you want to come?" daniel asked him, "or a drink?"
"...yeah i'll come." he nodded.
"do you want me to drive?" he asked, seeing corbyn sigh and slowly nod, getting out of his car, "we'll go in mine, just leave yours here. i can pick you up in the morning and take you to rehearsal."
"mhm."
"unless you wanted to stay at mine the night? i don't mind company." daniel suggested as the two got into his car.
"yeah, cool." corbyn nodded, keeping his head turned towards the window while daniel glanced to him, a frown on his face as he shook his head.
♡
a/n
🤍
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