Soulmate Symphony

TREVOR

He’s wearing a pair of shiny purple bellbottoms that flare out extra widely on the ends.

The satin material hugs his ass like a glove, making obvious every muscle he’s earned from his daily yoga routines.

On top, he’s got only an open silver vest, showing off his chest, his perfectly defined abs, and all those tattoos.

Across his sternum, he’s painted a glittery half-rainbow. Just in case there’s somebody left on the planet who hasn’t heard that Skyler James is very, very gay.

“I think you’re drooling, bro!”

“During the first song,” Oli tells him, shouting to be heard. “You were too busy being enthralled by Skyler to notice. Glad to see marriage hasn’t made you two any less obsessed with each other.”

No, it certainly hasn’t.

As Trevor turns back to watch Skyler’s performance, his mind flashes through everything that’s happened since he came out publicly—both as queer and as being married to Skyler. Some of it has been a circus, but he hasn’t regretted the decision. Not for a single day.

And he’d better not. Not after how damn long it took him to get there.

He should have done it sooner.

For so many years, he let all those negative voices in his head tell him how he should live his life. Voices of label executives, management, gossip reporters, talk show hosts, even random assholes in the comments sections hiding behind the anonymity of their faceless profiles.

All that time, the only voice he should have listened to was his own.

If he had done that, things would have gone differently. He and Skyler wouldn’t have argued so much, wouldn’t have unintentionally hurt each other. They wouldn’t have imploded the way they did.

Those are wasted years he could have spent simply being happy with Skyler. It hurts that he can’t get them back. But what he can do is ensure that he and Skyler make the most of every moment they have together from here on out. For the rest of their lives.

Although their lives will always be at least somewhat chaotic, won’t they?

Because they can’t erase their past fame, and Skyler’s current fame is only growing larger by the day.

And on top of that, Trevor’s now thrown himself back into the industry with launching his new record label.

It doesn’t put him under the spotlight in quite the same way as when he was an artist, but because of who he is, he can never be merely a faceless exec.

The ravenous media will always be there to provide commentary on what he’s doing, whether he succeeds or fails.

So he’d much rather succeed.

Getting the label off the ground has been a huge undertaking, but Trevor loves the work he’s doing.

All the time he spends at the office, though, is time he’s not spending with Skyler, which he doesn’t love so much.

And Skyler’s obviously got a busy schedule of his own keeping him away from home, even with his tour finished.

But their relationship will always be a priority.

Trevor can’t say it’s a hardship taking time off to come watch his husband headline Coachella.

Skyler’s been playing huge venues all over the world for years, both with Boys Will Be Boys and solo, but this is his first time performing at the festival.

It seems that—despite all the “concerns” their old management had—Skyler coming out as gay has actually boosted his career, if that was even possible.

It’s led to so many people viewing him as an even cooler artist. His boy band roots seem all but forgotten to everyone except the band’s hardcore fans.

And right now, he’s certainly proving to any remaining critics exactly how cool he is.

Looking around at the crowd past the VIP section, Trevor can tell that everyone is having a great time.

He knows not to judge anyone based on appearance, but even the people who don’t look like they’d necessarily be fans of Skyler’s music are grinning and dancing like this is the best moment of their lives.

That’s the Skyler James effect.

The insane screaming has finally calmed down enough so that Trevor can actually hear Skyler now, though the crowd is still loudly singing along.

Trevor can’t help but sing along too. He’s vaguely aware of the cell phones occasionally pointing his way, recording him instead of Skyler. But he’s used to it by now.

He doesn’t always watch Skyler’s shows from such a visible spot. Sometimes he’s up in a private box, or sometimes he simply watches from the side of the stage where no one can see him. It just depends on the venue, the circumstances, his mood.

The first day Trevor walked out onto that stage with Skyler and declared Skyler his husband, he made the decision to stop hiding.

When he watches Skyler’s shows from a spot on the floor like this, totally out in the open, he knows it’s inevitable that people will notice him, and a lot will make a big deal about it.

Since he joined Skyler for his entire last tour, though, it seems the novelty of spotting him has at least somewhat worn off.

But this time, he’s not the only one people are excited to see.

Oli, Noah, and Jermaine are here with him to support Skyler too. And seeing all of them together in public like this is extremely rare, so the Boys Will Be Boys fans are clearly eating it up.

Their little roped-off area needed extra security today. They’ve got three of the festival’s staff with them, plus Skyler wanted Mike to stay with Trevor, and Jermaine’s got one of his own security guys with him too.

Trevor didn’t mind signing some autographs for the people who could get close enough before Skyler went on, but now he’s glad he can enjoy the show without worrying about getting mobbed.

During the short transition between “The Sun and Everything” and “Soft Sunday Daydreams,” however, he glances behind him and notices that Noah isn’t focused on the show. He’s frowning as he furiously types away on his phone.

Stepping backward, Trevor nudges him. “Hey. No work stuff. We’re supposed to be having fun.”

When Noah looks up, he glances around with a curious expression—as if he didn’t realize he was standing in the middle of a giant, loud music festival—before his eyes land back on Trevor. “I am having fun. I just need to answer these emails.”

“No, you don’t. They can wait ‘til Monday.”

Noah looks like he’s going to argue, and Trevor’s prepared to use the “technically, I’m your boss” card. But then Noah sighs and slides his phone into his pocket. “There’s always work to do,” he says a bit begrudgingly.

If Trevor had to guess, he would say Noah’s not begrudging the fact that their job is a lot of work, but rather the fact that Trevor is keeping him from doing it. Honestly, Trevor’s so grateful Noah came on board to run the label with him. He has no idea how he would have done everything himself.

If anything, lately, it seems like Noah’s been working even harder and longer hours than Trevor has.

It’s starting to get a bit concerning, actually.

He seems hyper-focused on work and doesn’t really talk about anything else.

Trevor knows there’s a lot to get done with their new artists, and they’re still searching for more, but at some point, they need to find a balance.

He doesn’t want Noah getting burnt out so quickly.

The crowd suddenly cheers, and Trevor and Noah both look to the stage, where Skyler is bent over at the waist, shaking his purple ass at the crowd. Of course.

Noah slaps a hand on Trevor’s shoulder as Trevor laughs at his husband’s antics. “Yeah, so glad I’m not missing this,” he says sarcastically.

Trevor elbows him. “Shut up.”

“No, really,” Noah says in his ear with more sincerity. “I’m glad to have you guys back in my life. I shut you both out for so long because I couldn’t get over my anger, but I love you two like brothers.”

Turning to eye him suspiciously, Trevor asks, “You’re not dying, are you?”

Noah laughs. “No, I just... I guess I’ve done a lot of thinking over the last year. Haven’t had much else to do until I started working with you.”

When the crowd cheers again, Trevor whips his head back toward the stage, not wanting to miss whatever Skyler’s doing now.

He reaches backward to tug Noah up beside him.

“All right, I love you too, man. But we should save the heart to heart for later.” At a time when they can actually hear each other without losing their voices from shouting.

Something really is off with Noah. Trevor can feel it. He just doesn’t know what it is.

Noah gives him a one-armed side hug, and before Trevor can return it, Oli tackles them both from behind, yelling, “Let me in on this action!” Then he’s waving Jermaine over. “Come on! You too!”

Jermaine rolls his eyes, but he does move in closer until the four of them are huddled together, singing and dancing and cheering for Skyler. They’ve only been able to get everyone all in the same place one other time since Trevor and Skyler’s wedding, so this is nice.

As much as Trevor’s enjoying being with the guys, though, most of his focus remains on his husband.

Skyler was definitely born for this. Trevor already knows someone is going to take a photo of this performance tonight that will be considered iconic someday.

An image that illustrates the cultural phenomenon, that perfectly captures this specific, wild moment in time.

He can imagine people telling their future grandchildren the story of how they were here tonight.

How they were lucky enough to witness Skyler James in his musical prime.

And he wonders if maybe someday he’ll get to tell his grandchildren about this evening.

Tell them how he stood in this open field after the sun went down, the desert breeze cooling his overheated skin, as he watched their grandfather dance on stage with a rainbow painted across his chest, entirely captivating the massive crowd.

He’ll tell them how he watched Skyler and thought about how damn lucky he is to have the privilege of loving and being loved by this incredible man. To experience life by his side.

During “Soulmate Symphony,” the final song, Skyler struts along the stage, coming closer to where Trevor and the rest of the guys are standing. When they make eye contact, Trevor mouths I love you, and Skyler blows him a very exaggerated kiss.

The crowd absolutely loses it again.

Trevor can sense all the heads whipping his way to confirm who the kiss was blown to, and all he can do is grin like a lovesick fool, not taking his eyes off Skyler.

Because yeah. That’s his fucking baby up there.