30. Total Eclipse of the Heart
Total Eclipse of the Heart
Dustin really wanted to spend his Saturday doing absolutely nothing. With everything going on in his life though, he should’ve known better than to even expect such a thing.
“I’m in a crisis and I need your help! I’ve already talked to Bailey and she’s down, but you’re the clincher here so don’t disappoint me!”
“Woah okay, slow down,” Dustin replied, his voice raspy and his lip still sore even though the swelling had gone down considerably, “what’s going on?”
“Pink Punks, the band from Seattle I got to play the Winter Formal? They can’t make it. Apparently, there’s a huge storm brewing over the city, like hurricane level shit, and they don’t wanna risk traveling,”
Dustin’s stomach immediately sank; not because of the dance drama, but because he knew that storm had to somehow be linked to Chris and the emperor.
“DUSTIN! This isn’t the time for you to start overthinking, I need you!”
“Okay, yeah sorry. What do you need me to do?”
“I know it’s a big ask, but I need you guys to bring Colorful Trauma back. Just for tonight so this whole thing doesn’t fall apart,”
Dustin felt like his brain was reduced to rubble in less than five milliseconds.
“Y-you WHAT?!”
“I know, I know! Trust me, if I had another choice I’d take it,”
“It’s been so long! And there’s barely any time to rehearse and…
” Dustin caught himself before he could spiral further.
He knew how much this meant to Chloe, and he couldn’t let all her hard work go down the drain because of his own hesitation.
What kind of friend would he be if he refused to support her after all she’d done to help him? “You know what, okay. I’ll do it,”
Chloe squealed so loud that he had to move the phone away from his ear for a second.
“Thanks a million fish boy, I owe you big time. Get to the gym around 3pm so you guys have enough time to get everything set up and do soundcheck,”
With that, Dustin was met with the sound of Chloe’s phone flipping closed.
He pulled himself out of bed, drug his feet across the room, and opened the closet where he kept all his old clothing.
He was met by a gentle stirring of dust as his eyes scanned all the band tees, crop tops, black mesh, and skintight leather.
It was hard to believe that just a couple of months ago, he’d been braving this closet to find a pair of pants for the bonfire, and now he was coming back to actually revive Colorful Trauma.
If someone would’ve told him at the start of Senior Year that this would be his life, he might’ve died of laughter on the spot.
At the back of the closet lay his old bass guitar; still entombed in its sticker-covered case.
Dustin got down on his knees and slowly opened it up, unable to fight the smile that crept across his face at the sight of its glossy black frame.
He ran his fingers across it and memories flooded back instantly.
All the late nights practicing in Lola and Logan’s garage, the band’s Homecoming debut, him screaming “ARE YOU FUCKIN’ READY?!” at the top of his lungs in front of the hyped-up crowd, in his best impression of Hyde from L’Arc-en-Ciel.
He honestly didn’t know if he could be that Dustin again.
Or if he even needed to be.
“Dustin? You in there?”
Charlotte’s muffled voice on the other side of his bedroom door finally got him out of his own head. He lugged his bass out of the closet and opened the door, allowing her to step inside.
“I figured I’d check in with you before I head out.
You remember Mrs. Huang from church? She’s agreed to oversee the search for Chris today.
I’m needed in Seattle today; apparently there was a break-in at another warehouse where the artifacts for my exhibit are being stored.
I thought what happened at the other location was just a fluke; some lunatic hitting places at random, but clearly someone’s looking for something,” Charlotte shook her head in frustration, the combined stress of her personal and professional lives clearly taking its toll.
She was obviously going to continue her rant, but when she saw the bass on the floor, she stopped in her tracks, “oh wow… I haven’t seen that since,”
“Since you made me give it up?” Dustin raised his eyebrow, partially teasing, but also just stating the truth. Charlotte’s gaze dropped to the floor.
“Yes. I suppose you’re right. What’s the occasion?”
“Chloe needs us to play the Winter Formal tonight. Last minute cancellation. My brother’s missing, and yet the show must go on,” Dustin deadpanned, his eyes flickering to the picture of him and Chris he had pinned up on the corkboard across the room.
Right next to his meet schedule with all the dates after regionals crossed out since they’d been cancelled following Leo’s death.
That photo of the two of them, high out of their minds, making devil hand signs outside of a concert.
“Mustn’t it always,” Charlotte said, pain weighing down her voice, “well, I think it’ll be good for you to do something fun with your friends tonight. I’m sure Chris will forgive us for taking a single day off, right?”
“He’d probably be angrier if we didn’t,” Dustin replied with a giggle.
“Good luck tonight. Or should I say, ‘break a leg’? Do people say that in real life or is that just a TV thing?”
“Who cares, the thought’s what counts. Drive safe, okay? Apparently, there’s a big storm brewing,”
“Don’t worry. Haven’t died behind the wheel yet,” Charlotte replied with a wink, jingling her keys as she turned to leave.
“Pretty sure it only has to happen once for it to stick…” Dustin mumbled to himself as she made her way out of the house.
Once he was alone, Dustin took a deep breath.
No more time to wait. He was locked on course now.
Dustin was definitely feeling a bit… exposed.
He’d pulled out a black tank top with a goat skull and pentagram scrawled on it in what looked like white paint, a pair of charcoal skinny jeans that hugged his ass like a second skin, and his favorite pair of old converse— the ones with stars and hearts drawn all over the white bits by Bailey.
Normally he would’ve been anxiously covering his midriff or allowing his curvy frame to be consumed by one of his oversized hoodies; but despite the revealing nature of the outfit… he felt good. Damn good.
He sauntered into the gym, for once not consciously fighting the natural sway of his hips as he went, and took stock of the decorations.
Chloe had truly outdone herself; a silver, white, and blue balloon arch welcomed him inside, massive snowflakes coated with sparkling glitter lined the walls, and at least a hundred icicle shaped lights dangled from the ceiling.
It was like he’d just walked into an honest to God Winter Wonderland, clearly funded by a generous donation from Alicia Moore and not the school’s flimsy activities budget.
The stage had already been set up with mics and instruments, and Dustin was so preoccupied going through the mental logistics of having to perform their old songs without a keyboardist, that he didn’t even notice James and Bailey walking up behind him.
“Holy shit… there he is,” Bailey said softly, beaming with pride as Dustin turned to face her. James’s jaw had dropped so far it had burrowed through the floor and ended up with Dante and Vergil in the first layer of Hell.
“Sweet mother of molasses,” he mumbled when his neurons finally started firing again, “I feel like I’m seeing you for the first time all over again,”
“What can I say? I couldn’t bring back Colorful Trauma without the look to match,” Dustin replied, his cheeks reddening despite his flippant tone.
“Well, welcome back Dusty,” Bailey blew him a kiss, “now, I hate to get straight to business, but we need to pick a song and rehearse it at least twice if we don’t want this to be a complete disaster,”
“I was just thinking that it’s gonna be hard to pull off without a keyboardist. We could probably get by without a drummer if we had someone on a synth drum kit,” Dustin tapped his chin in thought for a moment, before James interjected like an excited kindergartener.
“Oh, I can help! I was in a garage band with my cousins last summer for shits and giggles and I was on synths! Gimme a sec to run home and grab my stuff, be back in a flash!”
It didn’t take too long for James to return, and before Dustin knew it they were on stage; him and Bailey looking through their notebooks of old songs trying to settle on one that wouldn’t be too difficult for James to pick up on such short notice.
As they were focused on that, James started absentmindedly playing the opening notes of Total Eclipse of the Heart on his keyboard. He was really just dicking around and channeling his nervous energy, but the moment Dustin heard it, his eyes widened.
“Sorry, it was just stuck in my head,” James sheepishly spoke up, noticing the sudden shift in Dustin’s demeanor, “I was just thinking about that time we did karaoke at my place, when you and Chris sang that song,”
“No baby, it’s fine,” Dustin assured him. He glanced down at the Fire Ring on his finger, Chris’s ring, “I think we should perform it. It’s something we all know, and it just feels… right,”
“Agreed,” the sound of Chloe’s voice directed everyone’s attention to the far end of the stage, where she was standing with a clipboard in hand, her hair obscured by a large silk bonnet and her makeup still a work in progress, “don’t judge, I’m multitasking.
Anyway, I was just about to ask what song you guys were doing so I could let the AV nerds know.
They wanted to handle the lights for the performance…
but if you’re doing that song, it only makes sense for me to take care of that part myself,”
“You’re good with lighting effects?” Dustin wondered aloud, more shocked at the fact that he was doubting Chloe than anything else.
“You think my mom left me with a babysitter growing up? I spent my whole childhood in fashion show tech booths. Trust me, I’ll make it special,” she said with a wink, “now get to rehearsing! I won’t have you sounding like shit and ruining my event!”
Dustin smiled and nodded as he took his spot at the main mic. Wherever Qin Shi Huang had taken Chris, whatever he was forcing him to do, Dustin could only hope that he’d somehow know that they were doing this for him, and that it wouldn’t be much longer until they broke him free.
The Winter Formal was shaping up to be a resounding success, thanks to the immeasurable efforts of Chloe Li.
Everyone was dressed in either traditional formal wear, or unbearably tacky Christmas themed outfits.
Some students had clearly snuck in airplane bottles of liquor and were drunkenly flailing off beat to the music, others were too busy making out to even pay attention to what songs were playing, and some were even sneaking off to fuck in less conspicuous locations.
It wasn’t the kind of audience Dustin would normally be excited about performing for, but honestly? In this moment, he couldn’t care less.
This wasn’t for them.
He was peeking from backstage, waiting for Colorful Trauma to be announced, while Bailey obsessively tuned and re-tuned her guitar and James wiggled rhythmically to the bass thumping through the speakers.
After what felt like an eternity, the only other twins at Kochiyama High took the stage; Chloe’s popular “friends”, Krissy and Kristen.
“Hiii everyone,” Krissy… or possibly Kristen, drawled. Her vocal fry was so exaggerated that Dustin could feel it rattling his bones, and she was smiling wide enough for him to see the whitening strips on her molars, “welcome to the 2006 Kochiyama High Winter Formaaaal,”
Dustin was still reeling from her butchering of that pronunciation when her sister Kristen… or possibly Krissy, took the baton, reading from a cue card that Chloe likely wrote.
“It is like, our pleasure, to introduce tonight’s performers. Some of you may remember them from their electric performance at last year’s Junior Prom. Ladies and gentlemen, Colorful Trauma!”
Dustin rushed to the mic as the curtains drew back. He was in place just as the lights came up; dramatic reds and blues illuminating the stage as the audience clapped. As soon as the applause died down, James started playing, and Dustin’s voice came out smooth and strong.
“Every now and then I get a little bit lonely and you’re never coming ‘round,”
The moment he started singing, the restless, disinterested audience locked in. It was like he was having a siren effect on them or something; most of the students were speechless, and the ones who weren’t were reduced to stunned whispers.
As he belted out the chorus, his focus transcended the crowd entirely.
All he could think about was him and Chris’s childhood pajama concerts, the way they’d sing this song at the top of their lungs in the back seat of their mom’s car, or that one time when they sang it in church under the guise that they’d be performing a hymn together.
Dustin was carrying that flame for both of them now… but not forever. He and Chris completed each other.
Fire and water. Yin and Yang. Same same but different.
The song reached its climax, with Bailey absolutely shredding alongside Dustin’s soaring high notes. The crowd whooped, cheered, and clapped as the trio took a bow. Dustin was grinning ear to ear…
But of course, the moment couldn’t quite last.
“Masters, I have completed preparations and fortified the Palace of Radiant Clouds. We must act swiftly and decisively if we are to save Master Ying before it is too late,”
Dustin locked eyes with Bailey and James, and Chloe flashed lights from the AV booth, signaling that she’d got the message loud and clear as well.
“That was like, totally amaaaazing,” Krissy/Kristen (Dustin seriously needed to learn to tell them apart at some point) said, taking the stage again and patting Dustin on the back, “who else thinks we need an encore?”
The crowd applauded in agreement.
“Unfortunately, we gotta split,” Dustin said into the mic, prompting a chorus of boos, “so sorry everyone! But trust me, the next time we perform it’ll be even better!”
He vacated the stage before anyone else could try to coerce him into staying, with Bailey and James hot on his heels. Chloe met them in the hallway outside of the gym, the harsh fluorescent lights nearly blinding them after spending so long under muted party lighting.
“Our friendly neighborhood ghost boy has killer timing,” Chloe rolled her eyes, gesturing at her stunning silver dress and matching pumps, “I’ve seriously gotta fight in this outfit now,”
“No worries, I brought a change of clothes and an extra pair of sneakers for you. They’re in the back of my truck,” Bailey reassured her, “now let’s move. We can’t miss this chance,”
The four of them bolted out of the school, and Dustin did his best to make his determination ironclad.
There weren’t gonna be any second chances. No margin for error.
It was time to bring Chris home.