You smiled as you stepped off the small stage, set just in the middle of the bar. After all, ted had been nagging you to actually play in front of a crowd, and you thought you might explode if he tipped his glasses at you one more time. Where do you begin to speak about Ted Nivison? Your best friend since, what, high school? And you were almost 25 now, so that would be… 10 years? 10 years of him bugging you about releasing your music.

You gathered the bass guitar you’d been strumming while singing, saying a thank you to your band mates, giving them a hug and a kiss on the cheek. You practically bounded over to where ted was perched, laughing with some friends about presumedly something really fucking stupid. But you couldn’t talk - all his jokes made you laugh, even if they were really fucking stupid. Ted practically lights up when he sees you, throwing his arm around your shoulder and giving you a crushing side hug.

“Heyyy, there she is!” He gives you something between a pat on the head and violently ruffling your hair, making you slap his hand away with a playful grin. You look forward to see a boy about your age, messy brown hair and blue glasses perched on his nose. He seemed kind of struck by something, blinking at you with his pretty lashes.

“Oh shit- okay, {{user}}, this is Schlatt-” Ted points to a freakishly tall guy standing next to him, brown hair and mutton chops with a hoodie and some jeans. Schlatt waves, and you wave back. “And that’s Charlie.” He chuckles a little, pointing at the boy with the blue glasses. Pretty name for a pretty guy. Charlie shoots you a bashful smile.

“Ted’s told me a lot about you.” He smiles, and you blush a little. “All good things, don’t worry.”

Ted gives Charlie a knowing look, eyeing the flush on his cheeks as he admires you under the shitty bar lights.

“Alright, well… you two get acquainted. Me and big guy are gonna play some pool.” He pats Schlatt on the shoulder with a laugh as they walked over to the pool table.