Surrender -Tom kaulitz-

4.

When the community manager came over, we presented to him the best version of the song and he seemed pensive but satisfied with what the band offered him.

"Great." He stood up from the couch when we finished the song. I waited for his comments as my heavy breathings of tiredness resounded around the room. I wiped a tear of sweat off my forehead.

"You okay ?" Tom turned around to meet my gaze. I hummed. He smiled tightly as he turned back to face the community manager.

"Alright. You're worth it." He gave us two thumbs ups with a grin. "I'll make some calls and give you the interview dates and the promotion interventions. Got it, kids ?"

"Yup. Loud and clear." Bill smiled widely. "We're truly grateful for everything you-"

"Yeah yeah, thank you." Tom intervened with an annoyed gaze, cutting off his brother. "Let me walk you out." He dropped his guitar carefully on the ground and walked out, followed by the man.

A few seconds later, he came back, rolling his eyes.

"Why did you cut me off earlier ?" Bill asked angrily.

"Cause that man is a piece of shit and you're out there kissing his balls with your "we're grateful for..." !" Tom mimicked his brother with a high pitched voice and the singer threw a pillow at him.

"Fuck you, I'm just polite, that's all."

"You don't need to deliver a speech just because he agreed to listen to us play."

"Yeah, whatever." Bill crossed his arms. "But, Mars, you were so perfect. I wish you could play with us forever."

I laughed. "Thank you, emo boy. It's really nice to play some drums without thinking of the competition or anything. I'm just happy I could help Gustav out."

"Yeah, where's that bitch at ?" Georg looked at Tom.

"I'll call him." The guitarist pulled out his phone. He left the garage for a few minutes as I sat on the couch with Bill by my side.

The twin grabbed my hand. "Oh my god, I love your nails !" I watched him examine my purple short nails.

"Thank you, you're really sweet. I have like two nail polish colours, black and purple. I just alternate between them, depending on my mood. Your nails are perfect, by the way. They're so... oval. You know what I mean ?"

He let out a small laugh. "Thanks, baby. I love doing my nails. I feel like I have the perfect nail shape to apply it on. I like to keep them a little long too." He wiggled his fingers with a smile and I returned it.

"Yeah, it suits you. Mine are just short, like little purple squares at the tip of my fingers."

Tom penetrated the room and put down his phone on the couch, next to me. "Gustav is on his way."

I nodded carelessly but something grabbed my attention. I looked down at Tom's phone and small, almost invisible, traces of blood seemed to have stained the green case.

I furrowed my eyebrows, holding the device to make sure my brain didn't make it up. When my doubts were confirmed, I suddenly took ahold of Tom's hand. He flinched, taken aback by my sudden action.

"You cut yourself." I showed him the tip of his fingers, where small cuts bore a hole.

He snatched his hand away. "Yeah, it happens." He wiped his fingers on his shirt. "It's nothing."

"The cuts are pretty deep. Do you want bandages ?" I asked with worry readable in my eyes.

"I'm okay, princess. Don't cry me a river." He smirked. I grimaced at the nickname and gave him the finger. "Shouldn't you go home ? It's almost eight. "

"Shouldn't you have a beard ? You're almost twenty." I fake-smiled.

"Touché." He raised his hands in surrender. "But, really tho, if you need to go home, I can drive you."

"Thanks but no. I have my bike anyway." I sat back, looking at him with challenging eyes. "Is this your polite attempt to throw me out of your house ? Cause if you want me out, just say it."

"Why would you want her to go home, Tom ?!" Bill gasped, intervening in our conversation.

"I swear I'm not. It's just me genuinely suggesting her a safe drive home." He defended.

"Right..." I mumbled. He shook his head with a smile, playing with his piercing.

The garage door opened suddenly. "Hi guys !" Gustav entered, a wide grin lighting up his face.

"Gustav !" I shot up from my seat, hugging the blond boy. "How was recordings ?"

"Took longer than expected but doesn't matter. Now tell me about how you guys performed."

"Yaay !" Bill shrieked. "We did so good ! Mars was amazing and the community manager promised to get us into interviews and everything !!"

"That's great !" Gustav clapped excitedly. "Thank you so much, Mars. I know you're as busy as me with the competition. I'm glad you were willing to give this some of your time."

"Of course." I kissed him on the cheek before grabbing my backpack in a swift. "I got to go now. Thank you, guys ! And good luck !"

I didn't even think about bidding them goodbye properly, but I had somewhere to go. One of my DJ friends had organised a rave party in some underground bar and I promised them to come for support.

As I was jogging to my bike, I felt a presence following me. "Where you going ?" A certain guitarist asked.

"To a party." I responded without looking at him.

"Why don't you tell us about it and we'll come too ?" He smirked.

"Cause I won't be staying too long. And plus, it's not your kind of party." I turned to him, my arms crossed.

"My kind of party ? How would you know what my kind of party is ?" He tilted his head to the side.

"Your kind of party has clingy drunk fanatic blondes. Mine has drug addicts and mentally unstable teens looking for some way to escape reality." I roared.

"You're going to Alexis's rave ?" He smirked.

My face dropped. "You know Alexis ?" I asked him in disbelief.

"Yeah. I fucked their sister." He shrugged his shoulder like it was some kind of normal thing to say.

"Good for you." I got on my bike. "If you're planning to come to the party, just act as if we don't know each other. Will you ?" I asked.

He hummed with a smirk. I gave him the finger before rolling away from the twins' house.