and the lights, they glow

[notahobby]

Who: Maxxie of Flashstep and YOU! First prompt is open to literally anyone and the second is to CR and CR of CR and people who just like to party.
What: It's moving day!
When: April 19th
Where: Downtown Vista City
Warnings: Drug and alcohol use/mention, general teen awfulness.

THE MOVE

When you're a famous pop star, moving day isn't really that stressful. Maxxie has all the money he could want to hire movers, and the most work he really has to do during the whole affair is deciding where stuff is going to go in his new downtown apartment. He helps move stuff around regardless, and his collection of personal items is actually kind of small, but some stylist comes in from the label and helps him pick out a few new furniture items and it all seems to come together within a matter of hours. It's a huge apartment, open concept, the perfect place to entertain, and it has a pool. Yeah, it's one of those.

During one of his breaks he checks out some of the upscale places within walking distance of his new residence, getting stopped often to sign autographs or answer questions for paparazzi. Maxxie loves it. It's a bright spring day and he's a star on the rise - what's not to love?

Otherwise he invites all his friends to come see the new place, showing off all the features proudly. His favourite is probably the wet bar out by the pool, but he'll happily push the button that raises and lowers the blinds about a thousand times before someone tells him to please stop for the love of god. He's just really excited.

THE PARTY

Everything comes together so quickly that Maxxie has quite enough time to put together an impromptu housewarming party that very night. Of course, for Maxxie, a housewarming party isn't just some cocktail hour for people to bring boring gifts like appliances and interesting throw pillows. No, Maxxie's brand of housewarming party is a complete blowout. He manages to get his hands on enough alcohol to keep an entire houseful of guests blackout drunk all night, and as is his way, there are a number of other mind-altering substances available if you know who to ask. Maxxie himself stays relatively sober, just excited to be playing host for real this time. Even though he has a pleasant buzz going, he's more focused on drifting through the party to make sure everyone's having a good time.

He invites basically everyone he knows, and invites those people to bring a plus one or a plus two or a plus five if they so choose. If you know a guy who knows a guy, you can probably get into this party. There are guards, but Maxxie has convinced them not to worry too much about the guest list that doesn't exist, asking them only to kick out people who start to cause trouble after the fact. He's an inclusive type of guy.

Comments

open!!!

[traumatizing]

Terry turns up when he's called to see Maxxie's new place. He's a little apprehensive about the whole thing, and seeing it fills him with that same sinking feeling he got when he saw Garnet's name on the tour schedule. That feeling of premature loss. But Maxxie's excited about it, so Terry shoves that aside in favour of being happy for him. Looking at all the stuff, standing out to look at the pool for a little while. It's nice, it's a really nice place. It's just hard not to worry about what the label wants from him. What Santiago wants.

But it's fine. It's totally fine. Terry even helps with setting up when Maxxie decides on the housewarming party. He heads out to pick up stuff - they could just send someone for it all, but Terry wants to feel helpful so he may as well do a beer run or something - and comes back with a staffer helping him carry a couple cases of beer and a duffel bag with some clothes and toiletries of his own that he puts away with Maxxie's. He could just run back to his own place when they were in the same building, but he's gonna be here often enough. It's just pragmatism and not a big deal at all.

Come the party, Terry shoves all that anxiety way down in favour of being semi-sociable. Still no chance of getting him to dance, but he floats around, happy to see people he knows in a positive situation for a change. He's easy to catch, stopping in to say hi to people he knows, or stepping out for a cigarette on occasion as the night progresses and he gets less sober. Sky's the limit! You want him? You got him.

[notahobby]

Maxxie checks in with Terry multiple times throughout the evening, but it's always in between other conversations. He and Terry both know that Terry's going to spend a lot of time here once Maxxie's settled in, and it'll be a lot more pleasant and intimate after tonight, so Maxxie feels okay not being attached at the hip for a bit.

That doesn't mean he's not going to flirt given the opportunity though. He finds Terry by the pool as he's taking a break from the socializing, and he saunters up behind him quietly, until he gets close and wraps his free arm around Terry's waist with a grin.

"Can I steal one of those?"

[traumatizing]

Terry sighs softly and leans back against Maxxie, one of his hands resting on his forearm and he rubs his thumb back and forth gently. He fishes a pack out of his pocket (it's starting to become a habit rather than something he does after a few drinks, but there are much worse ones to have,) and offers it back to Maxxie over his shoulder.

He doesn't say anything past that-- it's kinda weird how relaxing having Maxxie nearby is, but he's getting used to it. Just quietly enjoying his presence instead of needing to say anything.

[notahobby]

Maxxie sticks his hand in Terry's pocket to find the lighter and steps back a little as he lights his cigarette. Once he's taken a drag he gets all up in Terry's space, wrapping his arm loosely around Terry's waist with a sigh.

"It's nice, yeah?"

[traumatizing]

"Yeah." Issues aside, it's a great place. And Terry's happy for him, he is he just finds it hard not to worry. He exhales softly and turns his head a little so he can look back at Maxxie, "gonna miss having you just upstairs though."

[notahobby]

Maxxie sighs and gives him a sympathetic smile. "Yeah," he says, "but you can stay here whenever. Just ignore the bodyguards and managers when they come knocking."

[traumatizing]

Terry smiles back and moves his hand over Maxxie's, "some guaranteed privacy though--" Well. Terry glances at the door and the bodyguard standing there, watching the two of them and presumably watching for anyone trying to sneak in. "Mostly privacy," he amends with a small laugh, "that'll be nice."

[notahobby]

Maxxie grins at him.

"No more putting on actual clothes just to go get coffee in the morning. Or to watch TV. Or to do anything. We could just spend all our time completely naked in this apartment," he says, his tone indicating that he's probably not looking to do that but it's a fun thing to suggest anyway.

[traumatizing]

Terry laughs and turns so he can face Maxxie, still holding his hand and lacing their fingers together, "we could."

Needless to say, he is not on board with constant nudity.

The Party (OTA)

[melodiouspacifist]

Demyx had been to a few parties before, with the group and without and he'd always been all smiles, all about moderation and generally dancing to music and having a good time.

He did not have an opinion on Maxxie moving out, after all he didn't really know him, but he had found something out thanks to an apparition and in this world, he could distract himself with something of substance.

The first two drinks went down fast, but he had to nurse the third, lest he be sick. Demyx's eyes were already glassy and he was already buzzed. It probably wasn't going to fix anything, but it would keep him from thinking too hard.

[notahobby]

Maxxie's doing the regular rounds, making sure everyone's having a good time, and Demyx is no exception. Maxxie likes his new bandmate. He's concerned about whatever happened to Yosuke and curious about how quickly Demyx was brought in to replace him, but if there's one thing Maxxie has learned it's not to ask questions of the label. Not openly, at least.

So he's been very welcoming to Demyx and tonight is no different. He lets out a laugh when he sees Demyx's expression - he can spot someone who isn't a regular heavy drinker a mile away at things like these. Max claps him on the back with a grin.

"You having a good time?"

[melodiouspacifist]

"Yeah, sure." Demyx said with a weak little smile, swallowing another mouthful of whatever he was drinking. He actually had no idea what it was, but it didn't really matter.

"As good a time as any!" He wouldn't say no to other things either, he was feeling somewhat reckless.

[notahobby]

"Cool," Maxxie says with a wide grin. There's a moment as he considers whether he should stick around and keep talking or if he should move on, but he and Demyx are working together now and he wants to make an effort.

"Hey," he says, hesitantly, "I know we didn't get a whole lot of time to hang out before I moved out and everything, but I'll still be around a lot for rehearsals and stuff. I'm not trying to get away from you guys or anything."

[melodiouspacifist]

It seemed awkward between them, bandmates really and Demyx wasn't sure how to fix that. At least the alcohol had him feeling somewhat more relaxed.

"I'm sure that's true. I mean unless I did something to chase you out, I don't really worry about that."

[notahobby]

Maxxie dismisses that thought with a wave of his hand, laughing softly. "Course not. If anything I'd like to get to know you better. We are about to go on a world tour together."

The world tour that Maxxie is still too overwhelmed to believe is really real.

[melodiouspacifist]

"You want to know me better?" He looked surprised as if that was an odd request.

"Yeah, but how big is this world anyway?" He murmured under his breath. Some worlds, he remembered, were hardly big enough to count as a tour. He assumed this one was bigger.

"What do you want to know about me?"

[notahobby]

Maxxie shrugs. "I dunno. What do you like to do for fun? Is there anything you wanna do, like, music wise with the band?"

[mildwildchild]

Jamie sort of trails after Maxxie as he's showing off his new apartment, trying to look enthusiastic and, for the most part, managing. It's not that he begrudges his bandmate his swanky new digs, it's more that he dislikes having his band split up in different places where he can't keep an eye on them. There are other worries in there, too, but keeping track of the people he cares about is foremost among them.

"Seems like a pretty nice place," he says as Maxxie pushes the raise-and-lower-the-blinds button. "Think you're gonna be happy here?"

[notahobby]

Maxxie smiles brightly at Jamie, still so excited by all the bright, shiny new things to really consider what's going to happen to the band as a result. He gave it about half a thought before he said yes, and he figures Flashstep can keep going on even if they're a little split up. They're strong enough.

"Yeah, think I will. Don't think you're gonna be rid of me though. I'll still be around enough to kick all your asses at Mario Kart."

[mildwildchild]

"I dunno, you seem to be pretty in love with that button," Jamie observes, watching as the blinds slowly go up (again). "Maybe you're just gonna rush back here after every band-thing we do so you can spend more time with it."

He shakes his head. "Mario Kart's got some pretty stiff competition in that button."

[notahobby]

Well that gets an eye roll as Maxxie hits the button for the blinds to go up one last time and leaves it alone. "Believe me, we're gonna be working so hard for the tour anyway, I'll barely get away."

[mildwildchild]

"Yeah...the world tour." Thinking about it elicits little twinges of apprehension and anxiety; Jamie's been on edge ever since the thing was announced, though he's been trying his hardest not to take it out on his bandmates. "We're practicing like 90 hours a day and pretty soon we're gonna be...I don't even know where. South Americana, Europa, maybe Del...poi?"

He trails off and then pauses for a split second; there's no such place as -

Delpoi, the Central Continent, surrounded by the Daras Ocean to the north, the Sheed Ocean to the east, the Florecio
Ocean to the south and Deldaros Ocean to the west, is Zi's most densely-populated continent due to its temperate clim
Jamie blinks and tries to shake off the sudden but familiar "everything I know is wrong" feeling, focusing on Maxxie again. "So it's - it's like, what's the point of moving out now, right? You'll hardly get to enjoy this place until we get back."

[notahobby]

Maxxie frowns slightly at the pause, but shrugs and forgets about it once Jamie asks him about moving out. "I dunno, they offered and it kinda seemed like I had to make a decision pretty quick. It's fine, it'll still be here once we get back, yeah?"

[mildwildchild]

Jamie carries on like nothing unusual happened, a little grateful that Maxxie's not commenting on his behavior. "Yeah, I guess it's not exactly going anywhere. And it gives you an excuse to have a coming-home party when we get back." Maximum parties. Jamie knows the real reason you jumped at the chance to move out, bro.

"Still, you have all this space to yourself." Even furnished, the rooms of the apartment are huge; Pride doesn't skimp on the rewards it lavishes on its moneymakers. "You're not gonna get lonely, are you?"

[notahobby]

"I dunno," Maxxie says with a shrug. "Terry's already brought stuff over, so I guess he plans on being around a bit."

His enthusiasm about the whole situation is tempered a little bit by how overwhelmed he is. It's a big change, and he is anxious about being so far away from the rest of the band as well as all his friends at Pride, but it's not like he can go back on it now.

"It's not like I'm that far away, if I do get lonely."