He doesn't know where his heart is, but he could feel it beat from every inch of his body. His ribs felt as if they were about to burst, his cheeks stretched out to an excited smile, his fingers clumped to a happy fist. The rhythmic 'thump thump' of his chest is so loud, it's as if it's on loudspeaker inside his body. He glanced over at his phone where it read;

Drunk Grace

Hi! Is this Adam? It's Grace. Text me when you can! :>

"You should seriously see a therapist," A certain blonde girl spoke as she sat horizontal from the about-to-fucking-burst Adam. "Or a priest. Or a fucking cooper to make your coffin while you're still physically able to speak."

"Chill, Dollface. He's been damaged ever since that girl passed out shit-faced drunk in his office. He got worse when they exchanged numbers. That's some Shakespeare Sonnet 18 right there." Merlin spoke, lying down on a tattered couch by the window, restrained by the many blankets and pillows piled up on the falling-apart couch. His left hand remained free to throw a bouncy ball on the roof and catching it again before he repeats the exact same thing.

The girl scoffed, reaching for the phone but ultimately backing away when Adam gave her a feral hiss. "Shit, Adam- What drugs are you on?"

"Probably abusing the recommended dosage for shrooms." Jiminy chimed in before returning his attention to page 89 of Global Governance, Labor Market Dynamics and Social Change; his head comfortably resting on the cushion of blankets and Merlin's thigh.

The older male threw the bouncy ball at Jiminy's blonde head, catching it again as it curved back. "Like you aint abusin' Aderall." Merlin's Mohawk isn't gelled to spike up for the first time in many months, his naturally wavy hair pushed back and away from his face with both sides cleanly shaved. The blonde stuck out his tongue.

"I'm gonna call her." Adam finally spoke, hands readied on his phone and his fingers prepared on their respective position.

The girl groaned, taking off her shoe and throwing it at Adam though intentionally missing his head so it flew and hit the wall behind him. "Man up! You've been saying that for the past two hours while acting like Kyle from American Horror Story : Coven. Like, not when he's all hot- when he's fucked up and shit."

"Andy Dollface sure is hostile for a thirteen year old girl-" The ginger previously busy fishtail-braiding her long, blonde hair finally joined in the discussion. "And Tate is way hotter. He's the original."

The girl grabbed her own hair and yanked it away from the boy's hands, undoing at least ten minutes worth of braiding. "Fuck off, Ale. We liked it better when you weren't talking."

"Wow- too fucking real, Dollie. You don't just say that to someone with selective mutism. " Cricket piped in, folding the one small corner of his page and closing the book. "And one vote for Jimmy Darling."

"Ew, what-" Merlin caught the ball in his hand and didn't let go. "You just chose him because of the name. Everyone knows Kit Walker is where its at."

"Not a hundred percent against you on that." Andy shrugged, now sitting still for Ginger Ale to re-braid the mess she made. "But what in the almighty divine carnation is James March-" She groaned in disgust, blue eyes rolling.

Merlin's green ones grew wide, sharing the same disgusted look. "Yeah, and that accent. I had the hots for him until he talked."

"Yeah, though I'd totally go gay for Tristan." Jimmy sounded, shrugging.

"I like men, but if I wasn't gay already, I'd go gay for Donovan." Ginger Ale spoke, brown eyes still focused on his braided masterpiece.

"Oh, please-" Dollie jeered. "Why? So your social anxiety will sky-rocket and you won't talk to him?"

Ale tugged on her hair.

Adam frowned, just listening to the only friends he have talking (very invested, might he add) when it comes to American Horror Story's astounding choices of men- or more like choices of men Evan Peters could play. "Wow, yeah, I mean I'm here with the actual news of yall's probable future baby mama, but do continue to dwell on the fruitless debate." And with that, he excused himself to the master bedroom.

------x

'Deep breaths, Adam', he told himself as he stared at the number on his screen.

'Come on, just one click-' he reminded before tapping on the button that turned 'call' to 'dialing' within milliseconds.

'Answered' he was hyperventilating.

'0:01'

"Hello?" SHIT.
R.I.P ADAM ROUX.

"Hi- Hey. Hey." He spoke, trying not to sound nervous and then miserably failing.

"Adam! Oh my god, you didn't reply to my text for hours- I thought you gave me a fake number or something."

Ha. As if he'd do that- if anything he should be scared Grace gave him her ex's number which could totally happen.

"Sorry- I was designing tattoos. You know, for... Down Syndrome Awareness". 'Adam, you are literally an incompetent asswipe'.

"Whoa, there, Mr.Charity." He could hear giggles from the other line; and it's not only her's.

"Grace? Who are you with?" He inquired, just slightly worried that she's mouthing 'look at this idiot, thinking he has a chance with me' to whoever she may be with.

"Some friends. We're planning a fund raising event for kids in the hospital. It's in sixteen days; Union-Primary Medical Center. You must've seen it, the ad is everywhere. It's a pretty big event."

"Really?" He spoke. Fuck yes, date opportunity. "Why didn't you tell me?I'd be more than happy to support it if its for a good cause." 'Hey, look at you, lying like a pro.'

"Adam, that's great-!" Chatter is audible from the other line, but Adam didn't know what to feel about interrupting. Grace finally continued, though the chattering didn't exactly die down. "Hey, you like kids don't you? Why not help out the event- it's a good cause and we're helping children so this is totally up your alley."

Well, fuck.

"Sure. I'd love to help; what can I do?" 'YOU NEVER SHOULD'VE SAID THAT, YOU SHITTARD.'

"We need a band to play as an opening act. Maybe you could motivate your little minions to play? Come on, tell them it'll be fun! They'll just be playing in front of other kids, so it's totally fine." Well, let's see what Ginger Ale and his selective mutism has to say about that. "And you know, if you don't mind and stuff- you could help paint the background for the stage. I have the blank back drop, so if you're okay with coming over to my place to paint, I'll text you the address."

Wait. Grace Lindale is about to text him where she lives? After only meeting him (as far as she's aware) twice? Has he played his cards right or what.

"I could tell they'll be all for it." Not. "I'm in, Grace, I'm totally in."

"You are? Shit, Adam, I can't thank you enough! You're the ultimate best!"

'Call Ended'

'4 : 12'

Well, no way out of this now.

------x

"ADAM, YOU DID WHAT-" Andy yelled, about to take off her other shoe for obvious reasons.

"Don't go apeshit on me yet-" He begged, currently cornered by four confused tweens and one atomic bomb known as Andy Dollface. They leaned in, expecting a good excuse. "I-Its for a good cause?" He spoke nervously, causing the four kids to stare in disinterest.

He huffed.

"OHMYGOD- What kind of horrible excuse are you shitmouthing?! Since when do we care about 'a good cause'?!" Dollface yelled louder that her voice started to go raspy.

"That escort website you bookmarked seems like less effort, Adam-" Merlin shrugged, no more interested than everyone else- Ginger honestly just looked petrified.

"Okay- Could you please just do it for me? Just this once?" He sighed. "I felt kind of pressured when I heard her friends. They'll shit talk about how I'm some cold-hearted bastard who eats babies if I don't agree to join. Besides, this is my chance to truly impress her. Grace also asked if I could paint the background- IN HER FUCKING HOME- so, how the hell am I supposed to pass that up? Come on, Andy, please." He begged, doing a half-assed attempt at Flynn Rider's smolder.

The blonde girl sighed, backing away with her arms folded. "Fine. We all kind of owe you our life, anyway-" She mumbled, blue eyes darting the ground. "So, what's the strategy here, Capitan?" Doll cracked a smiled.

Adam walked across the room, standing on top of the couch- his blue hair just inches away from the ceiling. "Aright. Listen up, Boys. And Doll."

"So just boys?" Jimmy snickered, followed by a faint laugh of Ale's. And then Dollface's death glare.

"I appoint Merlin as lead singer and bassist." He exclaimed.

"Wait, what?" The boy complained. "I cant fuck with a bass."

Adam stepped down; Guy Merlin taking his newly acclaimed position and stepping up on the sofa. "Seriously, what made you think I can play?"

"I don't know- You do 'magic' and sleight-of-hand tricks, so I figured you could play the bass." Adam shrugged.

"I do shit card tricks and steal wallets. What kind of logic are you fu- I don't even. Jimmy plays the piano because he has freakish memory skill thing and long fingers. Ale's on drums because it's the furthest back and hopefully that way we wouldn't need to chain him to the drum set to keep him from running away. And She-Hulk could help me with strings." He announced, actually showing decent leadership skills.

"And I can play bass because-?" She stared skeptically.

"Oh come on. Even I know you're good with your fingers," Merlin winked; doing scissors with his fingers. And yes, the vulgar one.

"Do die a slow, agonizing and painful death." Andy joked coldly.

-------x

Look at all these weird names. I couldn't come up with of all of them myself, so I asked tumblrcactus to name the girl and she chose 'Andy'. It's unisex and I liked it- so, cookie for her.

Anyway, I hope you guys like story so far. I might be adding some kind of character back story between chapters, and I already have most of them sorted. :">

Thanks for the overwhelming support so far, and I hope you guys like what I'm doing~! *^*