Like Normal People Do

Far

"Vin, you could have warned us it would be this cold, jeez man." Clay complained, pulling on a dark green hoodie with a white smiley on. The tour bus had little to nothing in the means of heating, meaning that the boys simply had to brave the chilly November air that surrounded London.

Vincent rolled his eyes, having given up on trying to tell Clay that he is from France not the entirety of Europe and therefore doesn't know the climate of London.

Zak was happy in his signature blue hoodie while Darryl was bundled in a blanket, scrolling through and retweeting fanart, happily warm. Really, it was only Clay complaining.

"How many people did you say this place could hold again?" Clay called out to the crew up front. It may have been his job to do this sort of thing but that didn't mean he didn't need to mentally prepare first.

"Like twenty-thousand ish," came the reply. Clay nodded absently as he dropped himself into the booth opposite Darryl and Zak. He could do twenty-thousand ish.

"You nervous? I thought you loved all the attention," Zak smirked, slouching lower into the booth. His shoulder was pressed against what he could only imagine was Darryl's arm, but no one could be sure with all that blanket on him. Neither boy seemed to acknowledge the contact.

Clay laughed out a loud 'ha!', throwing his head back. "I do! Just thinking about how many people are gonna be watching my bad side all night," he replied easily, running a hand through sandy blonde hair. Darryl rolled his eyes.

"As if you have a bad side," He quipped before letting out a soft 'aww' at his phone. "Look how cool they've drawn us!" He passed his phone to Clay, screen displaying a drawing of one of their album covers, tweaked to have them all smiling or laughing. Clay smiled, they had some really talented fans. After a moments thought to messing with Darryl's phone, Clay passed it back.

Darryl leant impossibly closer to Zak to show him the small screen and Zak zoomed into the drawing. "It's good but they forgot something," he said casually. Darryl looked confused for a second before zooming in on the image again. He couldn't see anything wrong? "They drew you with hair," Zak quipped, pushing his hand through Darryl's hair.

"Hey! I have hair! It's you that went bald!" Darryl said and Zak was silently grateful that Darryl's hands were both occupied - one holding his phone and the other tangled somewhere beneath the blanket.

Clay and Vincent shared a long suffering look. Vincent mouthed the word 'children' to which Clay agreed with a chuckle. He opened his own phone in order to browse twitter, figuring there was nothing better to do. There wasn't a lot in terms of entertainment while on the road but at least it gave him some time to check on their fans.

Clay tended not to think too deeply into the fact that he had fans - hundreds upon thousands of them - for fear of spiralling into insanity. If he could go back and tell sixteen year old Dream that thousands of people - thousands of strangers - are going to hear him and his friends and enjoy hearing them... well, sixteen year old Dream wouldn't believe him.
He'd come so far from the boy that stayed holed up in his room, singing to his reflection. But, then again, hadn't they all?

Zak had been nothing but a loud-mouthed kid with a knack for hitting things fast before they'd met. He was still loud-mouthed but he'd also come into his own in a way. He didn't need to be loud just to be heard anymore.

Vincent had been more organised than the other two, but not by much. He had a channel where he posted videos of him playing his guitar, sat on his bathroom floor. He'd had a decent following when Clay reached out, asking whether he'd be willing to play something Clay himself had written.

And Darryl... well, Darryl was probably the best off out of them all, but he certainly wasn't where he belonged. Darryl sung in a pub band before it all. The crowd adored him, but you could only expect so much kindness from a group that were, at the least, buzzed or, at the most, wasted. Darryl's unconditional kindness had been taken for weakness and the boys were endlessly grateful to have been in the right place at the right time.

"I love you guys," Clay announced softly. Three pairs of eyes turned to him in surprise.

"That's gay," Vincent quipped and Zak laughed. Darryl glared at Vincent and bumped Zak with what Zak assumed was his shoulder.

"We love you too, Clay." Darryl replied with a warm smile. Vincent mumbled a 'but do we?' only to be shot another glare. Clay laughed. Yeah, they'd all come quite a ways and Clay couldn't be more proud.

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820 words

Switching it up to show how our boys are doing! A reminder that I'm new to the fandom so they may be out of character while I get a feel for who they all are and how they interact. George is very out of character for the moment but he will grow to be the George we know and love soon enough!

Feedback is always welcome and appreciated!

~Dandelion