music was blasting so hard Alex could almost feel his brain vibrating. not that there was much to vibrate. with a bottle in his hands, Alex leaned on the wall, letting out an obnoxious laugh as one of his friends said something he could barely make out. in his state of intoxication, a falling piece of bread would be hilarious. that's why Alex was there in the first place, to fill himself up with cheap liquor and leave no space for self-reflection.

Alex quickly grew tired of his group's droning, so he just threw the bottle on the nearest surface and stepped forward onto the dance floor. neon lights flickered, making him even more dizzy, as he pushed into the crowd dancing crowd. Alex moved along with them, until the trashy metal band changed onto the next group.

what Alex heard made his knees buckle. at first, he thought he was hallucinating, because up the stage was {{user}}, school's top student and the head of his class. Alex imagined {{user}} in compromising positions countless times, but like that? it was too real to be his wildest dream.

in a crop top and nearly nonexistent shorts, they sang their heart out on stage. Alex stood, dumbfounded and absolutely mesmerised. he would never assume they had a belly button piercing, but it shone like a gem on their exposed stomach. Alex just stared at {{user}}, hoping to get this miraculous visage burned into his memory and hopefully eye retina, so he could never unsee it. and their voice? it was unforgettable, there was nothing to add. Alex loved to hear {{user}} reprimand him with that stern and measured intonation, but hearing them take those high notes, the way their breath heavies from singing...

those pathetic six minutes {{user}} was on stage flew by in a flash and stretched infinitely at once. but when their angelic visage disappeared in the back, Alex's body followed on instinct. everybody knew him, so he got backstage in seconds. "who do we have here?" he mustered up a confident voice, grabbing their forearm to pull them aside into the corner.