The first thing Alex would remember thinking when the band started playing was a pleasant holy fucking shit! The guitarist started out by playing a catchy intro followed by a heavy riff that Alex considered a complete headbanger.

"That's something I'd like to break my neck to," Charlie said, voicing Alex's thoughts.

"Me too. Come on, let's get closer."

They jumped off their stools and moved to stand with the crowd enjoying the music up close and personal. They now had an even better view of the band, and the girls found themselves trying to get glimpses of their faces. That proved to be harder than either of them would've thought, although they should've expected the difficulty given the long hair covering the men's faces.

"I like that one!" Charlie said, pointing up at the singer. Seeing as he was standing fairly still, it was a little easier to note what he looked like, and Alex could see why her friend had said what she said. He was a good-looking fellow with long half-curly mostly blond hair, dressed in a leather jacket, ripped jeans, and big black boots. He wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Quit pointing at 'im!" Alex yelled, reaching out to lower Charlie's arm. But it was too late; she'd caught his attention. The left side of his mouth turned up before he grabbed the mic and opened his mouth to deliver the first line.

"There I was, laid out on the table..."

"Oh." Charlie blinked as she stared at him. "Alex, this is no ordinary rock band."

And Alex knew that. She'd always heard good things about the band, but never actually heard any of their songs. She sincerely regretted not going to one of their shows sooner.

The song went on and the girls found themselves fully rocking out, having a great time listening to the music. As the show went on she managed to get better looks at the band members. The guitarist had straight blond hair that was longer than the singer's and was wearing a black shirt and white-and-blue shorts. Covering his feet were, of course, black boots.

The bassist seemed to be the odd man out, because he was wearing brown boots. He also had long curly hair that was either dark brown or black; it was hard to see in the dim light of the club. Then there was good old Sean; he had the same long, dark, curly hair as the last time Alex had seen him.

The show ended sooner than probably anyone would've liked, and Charlie was sad when she realized it was over. But Alex wasn't ready to leave just yet.

"SEAN! HEY, DRUMMER BOY! LOOK OVER HERE--SEAN!"

"Alex, what the hell are you doing?" Charlie hissed at her friend, nervously looking back up at the stage. The band had been getting ready to head backstage but were now curiously looking down at the loud girl about to fight the crowd in an effort to get closer.

"SEAN KINNEY!"

The singer turned back to face Sean and yelled something out, getting his attetion and pointing to Alex. Alex waved and Sean finally noticed her. His eyes widened and he ducked behind the drum kit for a moment before realizing it was too late. He sighed and stood up, motioning for Alex to go around the side of the stage. She did, making sure to grab Charlie and bring her as well.

"Hey, Alex!" Sean said in a rather upbeat voice, his nerves obvious. "How have you been?"

"I've been great, dear cousin! And I see you are having a swell time!"

The rest of the band departed, leaving Sean by himself with the girls. He didn't seem to appreciate that but kept his mostly calm demeanor as he carried on. "Yeah, I am. Look, I'm sorry I--"

"I don't wanna talk about any of that," Alex said. "I mean, I did not care for the way you totally abandoned me even though we were supposed to stick together, but I'm over it. Can we just be friends again?"

Sean didn't know what to say. Alex was never one to forgive so easily, but he had no idea why she would even talk to him if she was still mad at him. "Uh, yeah...if you're really not mad or anything..."

"Naw, come on. We're family, aren't we?" the slight edge in Alex's voice wasn't lost on him.

"I mean, yeah..." He looked at Charlie. She did her best to look casual, given that she didn't actually know what was going on.

"Alright, seriously. I'm over it. I just miss how things used to be, you know? Now that it's all over..." she trailed off and lowered her eyes for a moment before blinking and regaining her composure, "we can have fun again, right?"

Sean noticed the dip in his cousin's mood and stood up to give her a hug. "Yeah. I really am sorry, Alex. I shouldn't have tried to tell you what to do or acted like I knew what was best for you. Can you forgive me?"

"I already have." She hugged him back before pulling away and motioning to her companion. "Hey, you remember Charlie, right?"

"Yeah, of course." He smiled and gave her a little wave. She did the same, making a mental note to ask Alex what all that had been about. She had a hunch, but she could never be too sure with her rather guarded friend.

"So, who are your new friends? That's a damn good band you've gone and joined."

"You really think so?" Sean beamed. "You wanna meet them?"

Alex felt Charlie lightly pulling at her sleeve and turned to her with her eyebrows raised. She immediately got the message from the look on Charlie's face. "Hell yeah."

"Alright, come on. They're nice guys." He motioned for them to follow and turned around to go backstage, making small-talk as they went.

"Hey Sean, wasn't that a great show? I'm telling you, we're ready to take over the world," a guy Alex recognized as the bass player said when he saw the drummer.

"Yeah, absolutely," Sean replied with a laugh. "Guys, I got some people I want you all to meet. This is my cousin Alex and her friend Charlie. You two, that's Mike Starr, there's Jerry Cantrell, and over here's Layne Staley."

A chorus of hellos went around the room along with some waving. Alex noticed Charlie blushing when she saw the way Layne was looking at her, probably remembering the way she'd pointed at him at the start of the show.

"What did you all think of the show?" Mike asked almost immediately after the introduction.

Alex thought for a moment. "Mind-blowing. Your music is really heavy. I was almost surprised Joey had you guys here, he's more into Frank Sinatra and all..."

"Yeah, he's cool. He let us use his amps and drums. But you liked the show?"

"No doubt," Charlie chimed in. "You guys are my new favorite band."

"Aw, that's...you're...we..." Layne tried to say, but words failed him.

Jerry quickly spoke up, trying to help. "That's too nice of you, really." He looked around at his band mates. "So what are we doing now? Anything special?"

"Nah, just the usual," Layne replied, finally taking his eyes off Charlie. She was a little relieved given how shy she actually was, but that didn't last long because he turned right back and looked at her again. "Would you guys wanna join?"

"That depends," the over-protective Alex spoke. "What's 'the usual?'"

Layne shrugged, looking up for a moment as if he himself was wondering what he'd meant by that. "Just hanging out. Watching TV..."

Alex and Charlie couldn't help their tiny snickering. "Wow, you rockstars are out of control," Charlie joked.

"Hey, we're just a humble group of boys trying to make an honest living. We rock for Jesus," Mike said with a straight face that was dropped when Jerry snorted, causing him to laugh as well.

"Wow, Mike, you had me for a second there," Sean said, pretending to wipe away a tear. "I thought you'd finally found a path of righteousness."

"Not just yet," Mike said with a funny little half-smile. "First I have to break it to my current church that I don't actually believe in aliens..."

"I don't think we have time to hear the backstory to that and I'm not sure I want to." Sean patted Mike's shoulder and turned to look at the girls. "So are you in? We got a nice-ish TV and cheap beer."

"Done deal," Alex chirped, hoping Charlie wouldn't object. She didn't.

"Great. Did you guys bring a car or something?"

"Nah, we walked here."

"Alright, come on. It might be a little cramped in Layne's car but it'll be okay. It's not a long drive anyway."

It wasn't like the girls minded anyway. They left through the back after a small freak-out over the band thinking they'd forgotten their equipment and then realizing they hadn't brought anything besides the guitars.

"Okay, there are five seats and six people. How are we gonna do this?"

"I call shotgun for Charlie!" Alex yelled, knowing Charlie would never call it for herself.

"Does that work? Is that allowed?" Sean asked.

"I...guess? Come on Charlie, sit here," Layne said once he'd gotten in, patting the seat next to him.

Charlie was confused as to what was going on seeing as she hadn't actually called the seat herself, but upon Layne's insistence went up and sat in the passenger's seat. Then came the matter of the backseat.

"Mike's the smallest. He should be the one that has to sit on the floor."

"Wait, but Alex is the smallest!"

"But I'm a lady," she argued.

Sean looked his cousin up and down. "But are you really?"

"Shut up. I vote Sean gets the middle seat."

"I vote in favor of that," Mike said.

"You still have to sit on the floor though," Jerry pointed out.

"Just sit, you guys, it's only five minutes!"

"It's actually nine--"

"MIKE!"

And so they sat with Jerry and Alex at the windows, Sean in the middle, and Mike on the floor. The drive turned out to last eleven minutes because of traffic and Mike swore his legs had fallen asleep permanently and that he'd never stand again, but it was pleasant enough for Alex and Charlie. Well, it could be a completely awful ride and they'd still enjoy it because anything was better than a freezing Seattle night without a coat, so it's more fitting to say they enjoyed it more than they'd enjoy the average car ride with three strangers and a recently reacquainted relative.

"Alright," Layne chirped as they pulled into a small parking lot behind what looked like an abandoned building. "Home sweet home." He parked the car and practically jumped out, hurrying to open Charlie's door for her.

"'Sweet' is kind of an exaggeration," Jerry said as he opened the car door and stepped out, "but it's home and that's what matters, right?"

"That's the spirit." Sean followed him. "Kind of."

Alex opened her door, exited the car, and promptly turned to help Mike get out. He made a big deal of stretching his legs and was sure to make it known that the ride had not been a pleasant ordeal.

"I'm still sore," he complained as they walked up the stairs to the guys' apartment. "My legs are still sore. I'm about to fall backwards and die."

"Mike, you can have my share of the beer if you stop whining," Sean eventually interrupted.

"Of course I can. It's the least I deserve after that--"

"Mike."

He stopped and leaned closer to Alex. "It barely even hurt, I just knew he'd offer me the beer if I kept being annoying."

Alex sputtered and put a hand over her mouth, hoping the others wouldn't notice. Luckily, no one did. "Wow, I'm glad you're around. Someone had to mess with my cousin while I was away."

"Oh yeah, don't even worry about it. I've been keeping him at least a little bothered at all times."

They laughed and realized they'd arrived. Layne opened the door and switched the light on, revealing a pretty dingy but homey apartment, much like Jerry had described. It was a lot like Alex and Charlie's, actually. Facing a good-sized TV was a black leather couch, the material of which was faded and loose. Parts of it were ripped up, reminding Charlie of the couch at her own apartment and Alex's need to constantly pull at the hanging threads.

Covering the floor was what was probably a nice white carpet at some point, but it was stained and yellowed in places and covered in dried muddy footprints. Empty pizza and Chinese takeout boxes littered the floor, and the tiny coffee table was full of beer cans and bottles. Jerry switched the heater on as they walked in and it started up with an ugly rattle that made Alex think it was going to explode. But she was more worried about the very dry tree in the corner and the possibility of it catching fire.

"What's with the tree?" Charlie asked.

"It's our Christmas tree from last year," Layne responded. Charlie didn't verbally reply, instead giving him such a questioning look that it made Layne doubt his own name. "Uh, it's...we just haven't gotten around to taking it down."

"It looks nice," Jerry said as he sat down on the carpet facing the TV, leaning against the coffee table.

"Jerry, that tree is dead and dry. You should--" Mike began, but a wide-eyed look from Jerry stopped him. "Never mind."

"Well, like Jerry said, it ain't much. But you guys make yourselves at home and I'll get the beer," Layne said, patting Charlie's shoulder before walking the ten steps into the tiny kitchen and opening the fridge. Alex sat on the floor next to Jerry, wanting a good view of the TV. Sean sat in a random wooden chair that had once been part of a dining table set while Mike and Charlie took up seats on opposite ends of the couch. Layne came back and placed a six-pack of beers onto an empty spot on the coffee table before sitting between Mike and Charlie.

"What's on?" Mike asked as he reached for a beer.

"I'm looking," Jerry said as he turned and grabbed one. He handed it to Alex before grabbing one for himself, then went back to flipping through the channels.

"So how long have you guys been a band?" Charlie asked.

"A couple years, maybe three," Layne replied.

"All that time of you guys dealing with Sean? Wow, I'm impressed. That must've been a long three years." That comment earned Alex a mock sneer from her cousin. "Aw, I'm kidding."

"Actually, you're not wrong..." Mike started to say, quieting down when Sean sprang up and took his beer. "Hey!"

"You snooze, you lose, Mike."

"That's not--"

"Hey you guys, we're on TV!"

Everyone immediately stopped talking and turned their attention to the television. There were the guys in full concert mode, rocking out on a stage the girls didn't recognize.

"Is that MTV?" Charlie asked.

"I think so...hold on." Jerry switched the channel and then went back to see what number it was. "Yeah, this is the channel they give MTV on, I think."

"I've heard they're putting out an album..."

"You are?" Alex put her beer down and turned to look at Sean.

"I don't know. Maybe we are, maybe we aren't."

"Sean."

"Yeah, we are."

"That's so cool! I'm gonna buy the first copy Jack's record shop puts out," Charlie decided, though she knew that would be hard since Jack opened his shop at 5 in the morning and there was a good chance she would oversleep. She found herself wishing she could save up enough to buy an alarm clock.

"Jack's opens too early," Layne said. "You'll freeze. If you want the album I can just get you one."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Wow, you rockstars sure are nice." She raised her eyebrows.

"Hey, we're not rockstars," Layne replied with a chuckle.

"Not yet," Mike sang.

They kept talking about the album until they got tired, and one by one they drifted off to sleep until it was just Jerry finishing off his beer before letting his head down on the coffee table and finally shutting his eyes.

✩✩✩

this was kind of long but there we are, the AIC boys. yeah, we'll get to the family drama involving the Kinney cousins later on. until then, always remember to stay hydrated, have fun but be safe, listen to cool music, be what you wanna be, and stay sober for Layne. thanks for reading and until next time<3!