Chapter Text
[ –And Espresso Hunters return to the top of the charts with the release of their first FULL album, “PENACONY”. Vocalist, Miss Robin says it’s all about dreaming of living on a planet full of festivities, partying your life away, full of laughter and joy, but also, dreading waking up from the illusion that life isn’t all just fun and games.
She says that if you really want to get into the very soul of the album, listen to her personally favorite track, ‘If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking’ which showcases an acoustic sound rarely heard from this rising-star band.
And that’s all for our Music Recap this week. Do tune in next time for the weekly charts, new releases, and musical discoveries to be had!
This is DJ Owlbert, over and out–]
The TV’s life goes out, a single beep putting it out of its droning, overheating misery as a groan is heard on the couch.
“Tell me why we ended up going with ‘Espresso Hunters’ again? This ridiculous name managed to stick all the way to our signed label.” Firefly groans, rubbing a soft cushion down her face as a smooth hand pats her knees that are sprawled across one ‘Miss Robin’s lap.
“Well, little bug, wasn’t it because of our dear babygirl and your equally adorable first love running on only fumes and Miss Himeko’s coffee throughout the last semester of junior year?”
Firefly’s groans became louder as she got up, only to adjust her position and plop her head on Robin’s lap instead as the singer’s initial giggles transformed into full-blown, sweet laughter. It was laughter that Firefly knew would soon melt her exasperation, turning her complaints into relenting sighs.
“But didn’t we also have a meeting for other options?” Firefly tried to recall. “I’m sure you would have vetoed any ridiculous names as well.”
“Well…”
“Robin…” Firefly whines. She regrets being absent on the day their official name was decided because of a doctor’s appointment. Back when they were still indie, and had just begun talks of signing with a label, they usually went with random names that never quite stuck such as, “Miss Robin and the three stooges” (Stelle’s stupid suggestion), “girlypop-rock” (their gap-moe drummer, March), and occasionally Astral Express Band, named after the coffee shop of their number-one patron and one of their biggest supporters, Miss Himeko.
“Love, it’s not that bad, is it?” Robin coos, brushing a stray bang from Firefly’s face.
“What happened to Stellaron Hunters? I thought it was a sick-ass name!” Firefly moans in sorrow. “Even Wolfie thought it sounded good… even if it is part-Stelle’s name.”
“Well, seeing as we couldn’t actually bring the University’s name with us for many reasons…” Robin laughs some more, reminding Firefly of their freshly-graduated status at the Stellaron University of Arts. Their professor, Kafka, had pulled a few strings back then, and the University had been more-than-happy to let them use the name as a goodwill gesture in nurturing their young talents. Well… up until the school webpage exploded from the “StArch in Sparkle’s cake” incident. Firefly did not want to recall the… less-than-appropriate details.
“We really do owe Silver Wolf for all the site wiping she had to do back then.” Firefly sighs her dozenth sigh of the day. “I’m so glad we can actually properly hire her this time, because she could have been doing things that paid better than saving our asses for five years straight now.”
“Or gay.” Robin helpfully supplies.
“Not now, songbird. I’m trying to wallow in my pain.” Firefly remarks, half exasperated, half teasing now.
“Hey, at least we kept part of both of the most important names! I’m sure Miss Himeko and Miss Kafka appreciated the thought, and because they were the first ones to believe in us, I’m happy we’re doing so well, enough to repay them. Right?”
Firefly looks into Robin’s eyes, returns the small smile that is shining down on her. “Yeah, okay. Sure.”
Robin leans down with a grinning peck onto Firefly’s forehead. “Attagirl. Now, should we maybe start making dinner?”
Firefly rises off of Robin’s comfortable warmth with a stretch and a pop of her shoulder. “I suppose. Before those idiots come home.”
“Our idiots.” Robin reminds.
“Right.” Firefly giggles, lighter this time, no more complaints to be found as she walks over to their kitchen island to begin pulling out their materials for cooking…
“But why didn’t we go with ‘Astral Hunters–’”
“Firefly.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
///////
“Ughh, I’m beat.” The band’s pink bundle of joy crashes onto their plush sofa, sighing in relief. “Hehe… get it? Beat? Cause I’m a-”
“Stelle sure is rubbing off on you, March.” Firefly rolls her eyes, walking over to their other girlfriend, kissing her on the forehead before placing a mug in her hands. “Careful, it’s hot.”
“Thank youuuu, muah muah.” March makes a kissy face at Firefly before sitting up properly, cradling the warm cup between her palms. She takes a sip, relishing the warm flavors of ginger, honey, and lemon. “You make such good tea, babe. I feel better already.”
“Yeah, yeah, save your flattery for when you actually think that.” Firefly scoffs playfully, which earns her a pout from March.
“Hey! I mean it! You always make such great teas. I don’t know if it’s just because you’re always uber health conscio- oop.” March smacks a hand against her lips, not wanting to go into that territory lest she bring up bad memories to surface.
“March… It’s fi–”
“I’m sorry, baby! I didn’t mean it like that!” The usually cheery girl catches Robin’s eyes across the open room, reading worry off emerald green orbs. “I really am.”
“March, really, it’s okay.” Firefly assures, taking the mug from a March she’s sure is just one small comment away from whimpering and sobbing in her arms. “Sweetie, really. It doesn’t bother me one bit.” She places the cup down on the living room table before scooping her girlfriend into her arms, trying to muster as much reassurance as she could.
The way March looks up at her with teary, puppy-dog eyes almost makes Firefly laugh, but she knows the moment doesn’t call for it, and if she did accidentally slip, she might have a harder time comforting the very guilt-ridden-looking March.
“Really?” March’s pout is downright criminal in Firefly’s eyes, and she wonders why it took her the longest to admit how much she actually loved her too.
“Real–”
“HALT! VILE FIEND!” Firefly suppresses her mild irritation at the antics of her final, well first love, the ever-loveable idiot, Stelle Hunt. “How dare you bully my one true love, my life, my wife, March the 7th!”
Firefly rolls her eyes. “One, I’m not bullying her. Two, what does that make me and Robin?” She barely registers the adorable giggles of the latter in the background, focused on her troublesome lover for the time being.
“My two and three true love?”
“...I can’t believe you actually graduated uni. I really can’t.”
“Babyyyy, how could you be so meeaannnn!” Stelle whines, dramatically pretending to fall over, forcing Firefly to move as fast as she can, barely catching Stelle in her free arm, March still in the other.
However, with her sudden thoughtless movements, coupled with the fact that she was still practically glued to March only seconds prior in a position not optimal for catching a falling fool, the three found themselves toppling over all over Robin’s newly carpeted floor. March accidentally bumps into the table on the way down, spilling hot tea onto the material, but luckily missing everyone’s skins by mere inches.
After a long pause, brains rattled and and trying to calibrate the quick domino-topple of events, Robin breaks the quiet with a snort. The picture they paint is so silly and she imagines if she had walked into this scene instead, she couldn’t have possibly understood how the trio got into this position.
Firefly is sprawled on her back, March’s head conveniently tucked into her neck– the safest of the three. Stelle somehow ended up twisting during the fall, and had a spectacular faceplant into Robin’s carpet, Firefly’s other arm under her stomach. She notes that she’ll check her nose for any bleeding, and see if Stelle got a concussion. She’s sturdier than that, Robin knows from experience, but better safe than sorry.
The shell-shocked triplets slowly register the pleasant sound of one of their favorite music in the world = Robin’s laughter, and soon follow.
It starts with Firefly’s soft chuckles, leads into Stelle’s belly-aching laughter, then March’s delightful squeals of joy. All this until the room descends into warm laughter; cozy, like home. Their home.
And it’s just so beautiful, a moment they would want etched onto stone, sealed in a photo album–
“Aghk-!”
Until it shatters like a broken picture frame, and March and Stelle jump up as if electrocuted, eyes whipping to see their beloved cradling her elbows.
Oh.
Oh no.
‘Shit.’ Robin thinks, sprinting to the side of her other lovers, falling to her knees as she tries to take Firefly’s arms that she is pressing too closely to herself away from her to cradle them instead, gently rubbing at the elbows she had been squeezing subconsciously.
She can hear March whimper next to her, likely on the way to a panic attack that Robin knows can’t happen now. She couldn’t simultaneously handle that.
“Stelle! Get me some hot and cold packs please.” Robin is clear in her instructions, and it snaps their gray-haired girlfriend out of her stupor.
She scrambles to her feet and runs to where they store those items, remembering to also make a dash to the bedroom to look for Firefly’s meds.
Relief is steadily returning to Robin as she knows this can be handled. They’ve done it many times before, they can do it again. It’s no big deal. It just… it’s been awhile.
Since Firefly’s last EDS flare up.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry, Firefly.” March is barely holding back sobs, wanting to reach for her lover, but also so, so afraid. Robin can’t blame her.
It had been in their second year of dating as a quartet, just a little before their fourth band anniversary when Robin and March had been made privy to the fact that Firefly had been diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. This caused her to live experiencing chronic pain in her joints and muscles primarily, bruising easily, and dealing with being easily fatigued.
It had never occurred to them before that maybe, just maybe, Stelle’s occasional over-protectiveness of Firefly wasn’t as simple as her being down-bad and devoted to them as a lover. It came from a place of her knowing Firefly since childhood– and possibly, from the woman’s own wishes, made their usual silly lover keep a secret they knew she’d otherwise be more quick to spill.
And it was March who was there at the height of that discovery.
A day like any other had started. Stelle had been sent on an errand with their manager to gather materials for their anniversary concert and event. Robin was coming home from a promo shoot and voice recording, and there she opened the door to a March crying as she rambled into her phone, talking to what seemed like a hospital hotline. Firefly was slumped against the wall in front of the distraught girl, hissing in pain, tears also rolling down her cheeks for different reasons.
Robin would never forget that day, the trip to the hospital, the lengthy doctor’s explanation, and the way Stelle almost broke the hospital room’s door as she ran in, eyes bulging and out of breath. She couldn’t forget the day she almost slapped their sole-knowing lover when anger and anxiety almost bubbled over.
In hindsight, when Robin thinks back to it, she realizes Stelle had done nothing wrong. But back then, it was like she just needed someone to vent her restrained panic onto. Not being able to understand anything, discovering this secret that made her question if she was trustworthy as a lover, fueling her already sky-high insecurities of inadequacy…
Robin shakes her head to clever her thoughts. That was the past. This is now. Whatever happened then, they had talked through it, gotten through as a band, as a couple.
With that resolve, she turns to March and quietly instructs, “Sweetie, can you please get our little bug a glass of water?”
March finally seems to snap out of it as she more-carefully-than-Stelle rises to her feet to do her task.
Robin sighs in relief. She hugs Firefly to her chest slowly, brushing her hair carefully.
“Robin.”
“Mm.”
“I’m okay now.”
“Mm?”
“It’s just a small scratch. It was probably just the impact.”
“...”
“I swear. So you can stop pretending you’re not as panicked as the other two and actually check for yourself, and even treat me if you think the damage is that bad. Which I can assure you, is not.”
Ever the observant and emotionally sensitive one, Firefly.
“Okay. I trust you.” Robin pulls away, turning over Firefly’s arms and looking all-over for any signs of bruising, breaks, anything.
She’s almost too deep in her search when she hears the response, “I trust you too”.
It’s not fair really,
How easily her lovers can move her heart to tears.
“...okay.”
//
Firefly wakes up in a carefully-crafted cuddle pile; one where she is cradled so gently, but surrounded by everyone all the same.
She sighs in the early morning light, recalling the events of the night prior.
She definitely owes them all a date and an apology.
She knows how badly her choice to keep things a secret back then had hurt everyone, nearly causing her to not only lose the relationship, but never start it all.
She doesn’t want to wallow in those thoughts for longer though. Lingering in the past when it has already been mended would bring them no good. Instead, she can continue hand-in-hand with all of them to work toward making this relationship more beautiful each day.
She nods to herself with her daily-renewed resolve, leaning down to give each head a peck before trying to shimmy out of this protective barrier of three.
She almost makes it to the edge of the bed before a powerful arm circles her waist, nose nuzzling into the back of her neck.
“Where do you think you’re going?” The voice softly husks.
“To make ‘I’m sorry’ breakfast. Care to join me?” Firefly whispers back.
Stelle’s voice is groggy and deep, and Firefly feels the few churning butterflies in her stomach grow wilder when a kiss to her nape adds fuel to the warmth in her chest. “Okay, babe. Let me just get March and Robin to cuddle.”
Firefly suppresses her giggles as she is allowed to hop off the bed, watching Stelle do her constant ritual of making the two hug each other whenever they get up first.
Ever since Stelle (had been forced to) changed her sleeping habits, she no longer stayed in bed until half-past noon on late mornings. Firefly thinks the best part of that change however is how it allows them both to admire their pretty girlfriends, who in her opinion are the clingiest of the bunch, live out their calm mornings treated like princesses, fulfilling their insatiable need for skinship, even in their sleep.
With part one of their spoiling ritual accomplished, the pair sneak into the kitchen to prepare for the day with a few hums of their songs, a few back-and-forth kisses, Stelle spilling milk all over the counter, and Firefly being reassured that it would all be okay again today.
//
“Do you have the keys to the car?”
“No?”
“What? It’s in Galactic BASSballer’s case!” March exclaims. “I saw you toss it in when we came home yesterday!”
“Why would I do that?” Stelle defends.
“Exactly my question. Why would you do that? Robin already made sure to buy such pretty keyholders too. And they’re at the door!” March stomps indignantly cute.
“It’s okay, March. At least I know one of you likes my taste in decor.”
“Hey, now. I do too!” Firefly cuts in with a pout, as she walks straight over to Stelle, opening the zipper of her instrument case, and finding the keys right where March said they would be.
“See?”
“Thanks for keeping track, March.” Firefly gives the pinkette a kiss, opening the door for her princesses to get in.
“Charmer.” Robin rolls her eyes as she steps right into the back.
“Only for you three.”
“Oh, I’m shotgun today?” Stelle hops in the front all excited.
“Yes, because the venue for today’s concert is further than usual and I’ll need you to remember the way home for me.” Firefly chuckles. “I’ll take the drive there.”
“Yes, Cap’n.” Stelle salutes cheerily.
“You know we could always learn to drive too. We don’t want to make you exert more than you already do for us, Firefly.” Robin’s worry is audible in her voice, and it makes Firefly smile.
“Thank you for the offer, princess.” She reaches to the back to press a kiss to her singer’s palm. “...But I’d genuinely let Silver Wolf drive sooner than you two.”
“Hey!”
“Just saying.” Firefly holds up her hands in defense. “There’s a reason why Sunday and Dan Heng always drove you around in uni.”
“Firefly!”
“I love you too!”
//
“Sound check down, insta-worthy stage clothes a-check! Hmmm… what else… Oh, you’re hairpiece is crooked, babe.” March makes her final adjustments on her bandmate’s visuals before stepping back, huffing in pride. “Gorgeous, show-stopping, perfect.”
“Only because of our amazing stylist.” Robin winks at March, earning her a blush.
“Don’t make me kiss you before a show!”
“And don’t threaten us with a good time.” Stelle quips, with a flourish on her bass, before flashing a grin. “I wouldn’t mind at all.”
“I wouldn’t if it weren’t for the fact that Silver Wolf is genuinely this close to snapping.” Firefly walks over to them, brushing a hair behind March’s ear. “But if the offer is still on–”
March gasps in faux offense. “Firefly! And here I thought you were the sensible one!”
Firefly only shrugs.
Robin loves this sight, loves to hear the banters of those she holds most dear, pre-show backstage jitters washed away by waves of familiar comfort.
“You okay just watching, songbird?” Stelle beckons. “Or do you wanna get in on the pre-show cuddle?”
She laughs as she walks over, takes March’s outstretched hand, wraps a hand around Firefly’s waist, and kisses Stelle on the cheek as they listen to the countdown of their audience below the stage.
“Ready?” Firefly asks.
“Almost.” Robin replies, and a raise of eyebrows is collected.
“Then a few words, our beautiful frontwoman.”
“Well, one. It’s pre-show huddle, Stelle–” Mentally she notes that she doesn’t mind doing the other suggestion though, “and two…”
“Hmm?”
“Please stop forgetting your bass is supposed to already be on stage, connected in amp…”
“...”
“STELLE!!!”