It went surprisingly well. 

There was something about performing live that just clicked with Austin. It had always been the case. Ever since he started performing he’d always been sick with nerves beforehand, but the moment his feet hit a stage, everything changed. You could not be meek as a frontman. Be shy, be unsure. Even the kookiest vocalists, the ones that never seemed to take anything too seriously, the Devin Townsends and gimmicky theme bands, still had to command.  

It was easy to be that person onstage, even if the same could not be said of how he acted offstage. Still, it was harder than usual to focus once his eyes found them in the audience. Dai’s broad shoulders stuck out, he was a beast of a man, the sort of fellow you’d avoid jostling in a crowd. But more than that, it was the calmness. It was almost as if there was a little invisible bubble that separated the two of them, Dai and Noct, from the people around them. They clung to the fence like the rest of the crowd, shoulder to shoulder with the people next to them. But they were never bumped or bothered. No one even seemed to recognise them, even in the midst of a crowd of metalheads. 

Austin’s eyes betrayed him, because once he found them it was impossible to lose them again. Something about having them there though bolstered him, bringing out the most extravagant parts of his on-stage persona. He felt a thousand feet tall and bulletproof. 

I want to show her it was worth it coming to meet me.

It was a tiny, selfish thought, but one that proved impossible to shake as they thundered through their setlist. The time seemed to pass in a moment. Before he even knew it, it was all over. 

The toll it took was instantaneous. Austin felt physically drained, chest heaving as he slumped backstage in the relative peace away from the bright overhead floodlights. There was a tickle in his throat, not enough to concern him that he’d damaged himself, just enough that he knew he’d worked, and worked hard. He’d once streamed for eight hours, alternating chatting and singing. This felt like that, even though they couldn’t have been on stage for more than an hour. Performing for a crowd of this size was a million miles away from the tiny pub venues they’d frequented in the past. 

They found him surprisingly quickly afterward. He was perplexed for a moment with how they’d managed to sneak backstage, but looking at the pair of them, grinning like absolute fools, Austin knew. She was Noct. Practically a tiny deity in this self-contained little world of metal and music. Security would have been mad to not let her pass. And here she was, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement, tiny hands fluttering like birds around her face. To see him. 

Dai bumped a fist into his shoulder with a smile. 

“You did good, Red. Real good. I made Andy and Trevor watch your set, and I’m gonna grill them on it when they get back. I think they’re already terrified of what I’m gonna make them try on that back of that performance,”

Austin smiled, suddenly shy now he was stripped of all the confidence that always came hand in hand with performing. They didn’t give him long to stew on it though. Noct reached forward, and snagged his hand in hers, like it was the most natural thing in the world to do. Almost like they’d always been as close physically as they were online. Proper friends, relaxed and casual. He hoped he wasn’t blushing, hoped that the flush of singing covered any change in his complexion. 

“Let’s go get a beer, and watch some acts.”