After the show, while the venue staff and other band members were packing up their equipment and other concertgoers were on their way out, Ronnie descended to get me and lead me backstage, where unsold merch, audio equipment, and other such things were piled up. They were joined by a surprisingly large quantity of empty energy drink bottles and chip bags of varying sorts. I was honestly still vibrating from the kiss, so didn't really pay attention as the band members returned backstage once they'd finished packing up their instruments. Ronnie introduced each of them in turn, presumably offering more details than he had when they'd been introduced at the concert, but again, I found it difficult to pay attention. Not only was I still processing the entire experience, and the utter surreality of this, through some freak accident of physics or divine intervention or who knows what, being a thing that it was possible for me to have done, I was absolutely starving, and much of my body really hurt. I hadn't eaten since lunch, given that I had to arrive with Ronnie early for setup.

There wasn't a unified tour bus or van, since this was a one-off show, so most of the band members just walked off towards bus or train stations, or those who had personal cars or friends / family picking them up from the show walked out to the parking lot, sometimes with active phone calls to let their rides know where they were. Other than myself and Ronnie, the only person who remained backstage once the setup had rapidly concluded was Mike, who'd been on lead guitar during the show. He approached Ronnie with a warm smile, laying a hand on his shoulder. Ronnie looked a bit taken aback at the physical contact (it seemed he was paying about as much attention to the goings-on as I was, amounting to him being completely unhelpful in the cleanup), but didn't object.

"Hey, great job out there. Really looking forward to getting the second album out; I think that'll really help cement that we're back and that even without the original lineup, we've still got what fans are looking for. So, I take it this guy's the one you've been talking about all the time?"

Mike looked over to me, eyes scanning me up and down, pausing briefly on the slightly askew printing on my test-design shirt featuring what looked to be Escape the Fate's initials in edited Copperplate Gothic. Evidently, that was a font Ronnie was just fond of, and had opted to implement earlier since this timeline's version of Escape the Fate actually got to produce merch while he was active. I was jarred out of my daydreaming by his directly addressing me, and in how he referred to me, and turned towards Ronnie.

"Wait, you talk about me?"
"Of course I do. You're my best friend." Ronnie's tone was that of brushing off a stupid question, but his expression was one of evident affection. Mike smiled at the display.
"Aww, you're so cute. So, I'm sure you've told me this, but remind me again how you met? Evidently you've really hit it off, seeing as this guy as far as I'm aware didn't exist until May."
I decided to interject while Ronnie's eyes rolled up into his head a bit, him making awkward noises, probably trying to figure out how to avoid bringing up the whole time travel thing.
"I found him on the ground and nursed him back to health."
"Dude!"
"What? It's correct."
"You make me sound like a stray dog you adopted or something!"
"I mean, you do kind of have the whole werewolf motif going on. We all heard that new draft song. So, one could argue that's kind of what you are?"

Ronnie's face exaggeratedly scrunched up and he aimed a lighthearted glare in my direction, then redirected it towards Mike, who had openly started laughing. Mike quickly stopped, but this didn't change the atmosphere of levity all that much.

"So, would you two be interested in getting dinner with me and Steve? After we all go home and shower, of course -- I promised him that we'd go out and do something after the show, since I've been spending a lot of time with the band doing setup and we haven't gotten to hang out, and he's got a coupon for this nice fondue place downtown I've never been to. Seems like it might be a good way to celebrate."
"Who's paying?"
"Oh, Steve helped them with their computer systems a while back, so the manager gave him a coupon for a free meal."
"I'm down. How about it, Arlo? You like fondue? ...uh, what is fondue?"
Mike rolled his eyes. "It's things dipped in hot cheese. You'll like it."
"Okay, that's all I needed to know. So, are you down to go get dinner with Mike and his roommate after we go home and shower?"
I shrugged and briskly nodded, unable to think of anything to say.
"All right, that's all I needed. What time does the place close? It's, like..." Ronnie rummaged in one of his pant pockets to produce and flip open his phone. "Huh, I guess that whole thing with Max didn't take as long as I thought. We actually got out ahead of schedule, given that Blessthefall started at 6:30. Why did we book for the full time, again?"
"So we could both bring merch tables. Sylvester said it was cheaper if we did the specialty package, even though only having two bands, we didn't need to."
"Right. So, what time does the fondue place close?"
"...I think, like, 11, so we should be okay. How about we meet there at 9:00? Shouldn't take you that long to shower, right? Just make sure you actually do it. I promised Steve that you wouldn't show up smelling like a mosh pit full of rabid raccoons again."
"You don't know what that smells like!"
"Just make sure you bathe, and be reasonable with the cologne, okay?"

I'd been watching the whole exchange with fascination -- after all, my Ronnie would have reeled on anyone who dared insult him, even in jest, so seeing this one casually engaging in the kind of derogatory banter typical of 20-something guys (at least as far as I'd heard; I'd never been good at it, but I'd also never been good at socializing with straight guys) was distinctly incongruous, yet none of it felt like an act. Apparently Ronnie caught on.

"Uh, what are you looking at? My bathing habits are none of your business.""It's just...nice to see you talking with one of the guys in your band like friends. I'm not...I wasn't expecting that, let's put it that way."
Ronnie looked over his shoulder to make sure Mike was gone.
"Yeah, I know. Other me. Whatever. Look, I haven't eaten since lunch and I'm covered in sweat and eyeliner. Talk about my personal growth and how I'm reimagining the band dynamic after we've both showered, kay? You're not much better yourself."

We both walked back across the nearly empty parking lot to Ronnie's car, my being unable to stop myself from looking up at his sweaty, smudged-eyeliner-bearing form with awe and admiration. This was real. This was a thing that was happening, and none other than the illustrious Ronnie Radke had identified me as his best friend. I pulled out my phone to check the clock and make sure I wasn't dreaming. Sure enough, the clock and notification that it was unable to find valid towers were both fully readable and didn't change when I looked away and back at it. So this was probably happening.

Edit

Pub: 04 Oct 2025 01:18 UTC

Edit: 04 Oct 2025 01:19 UTC

Views: 10