Symphonies and Fireflies // OxO // Romance // closed

Rory made a noise and turned to face the rest of the group. "Right, introductions." He started with the smaller boy sitting on the floor, probably the only non-true-blonde of the group. "That's Tobias." He smiled and waved to Aika. Rory then pointed to the redhead in the hospital bed. "The idiot over there is Jordan." He nodded at Harvey, who had gone back to his perch on the windowsill. "Harvey, you probably already know by now. The one next to him is Rowan." The boy smirked, flicking his glasses back down onto his nose. Rory then nodded at the eccentric boy sitting in one of the visiting chairs, legs and arms draped over the armrests. "That's Kasper, our lead."

They all waved to Aika, though Jordan's wave was with a fork as he stuffed his face with his spaghetti. Kasper sat up, head tilted as he looked to Aika, wireframed and practically useless glasses sliding down to the tip of his nose. He then grinned and looked up at Rory. "A perfect addition to our group. Well done, Rory," he said. Rory rolled his eyes.

Jordan happened to be the one within smacking distance of Kasper, and he definitely made use of the close proximity. He leaned over and smacked the back of the other boy's head, effectively knocking off the useless glasses—that may or may not be for aesthetic purposes. Tobias took that moment, which those two bickered, to look up at Aika with an apologetic look. "Ignore him. He's been looking for a girl to join our friend group for a while."

Rowan leaned back in his seat. "So tell us about yourself," he said.

Rory leaned against the door of the room, burrowing into his coat as he let Aika handle his friends on her own. Should she truly need help, he'd step in—but for now, he'd stay quiet. Harvey's eyes lit up at the mention of her musical history. "You're into music? That's awesome!" He gestured widely with his arms, and Rowan had to duck to avoid getting hit. "We're actually a band."

"Aw, man," Harvey continued, sticking his tongue out at an offended-looking Rowan, "You really need to play some piano for us. Or—do you play keyboard as well? It'd be sick if we could get you to do something for our music. Kas and I've gotten a sort've dry spell when it comes to coming up with different sounds."

Harvey's face seemed to light up as he grinned from ear to ear. "Sweet! I don't actually have our stuff with me at the moment, but tomorrow I can definitely show it to you and get your input." Rory rolled his eyes when he realized what Harvey was doing. He just wanted to spend time with a pretty girl and maybe on the off-chance that it'd happen, get her number and so on and so forth. Such a desperate man, that one.

Harvey nodded frantically like a child who was just said 'maybe' to a trip to the candy store. "That works, and I'm sure you'll be a lot of help. It's nice to have a different set of ears when working on this sort of thing." The others all rolled their eyes, catching onto what he was trying to do.

(okay, you two are my favorite people i've rp'd with and reading this has been cool, can i stalk it so i can keep up with your wonderful writing?)

((Oh, hell yeah I'm cool with it. Hey Mezzo!))

"Or it might bring something new to the table that is quite appealing," Rowan said, tilting his head thoughtfully as he stared at Aika. The other boys thought about it as well, and even Jordan set aside his food to think it over. The combination of classical and more modern music…it could either clash horribly or bring something new, as he said, that was so intriguing that people would be more inclined to give it a try. People did tend to publicize and favor new and different things as opposed to the same-old-same-old—bad or good, that was the problem. Many artists said that bad publicity was still publicity, but the boys didn't think like that. Bad publicity wasn't good for their reputation, and it could do more harm than good, such as bring the haters down upon them with more ferocity than usual.

Tobias piped up, still sitting on the floor. "We could do a mini album, sorta like how kpop groups do it," he suggested, looking to Rory. The blonde boy lifted his head to show that he was listening, and Tobias continued. "Release around four songs with this new mashup style, then see what the reaction is from our fanbase, however small." His large light-brown eyes darted around the group for their feedback.

Jordan rubbed at his jaw thoughtfully. "It could work, but I'm still outta commission. Maybe you guys could rig this whole hiatus thing we have going on to our advantage? Use the hospital—and different sets of ears coming in and out—to figure out how people respond to the different style?"

Kasper hummed and tilted his head back to look at Jordan upside-down. "Gains us popularity as well," he added. "I like it."

Kasper looked over towards Aika, flopping his arm out to point at her. "Yes. I like it. So it's settled then? We play with the never-before-done combination of modern and classical?" he asked, looking over his glasses at everyone in the room, even Aika, for feedback. He didn't really care that she was some girl that Rory had brought over. If he could talk music with her and run profitable ideas off of her, he liked her. Rowan tilted his head, tapping his cheekbone in thought, before nodding with a hum of approval, leaning on his elbow. Harvey grinned and gave a thumbs up. Jordan covered his mouth and choked out a noise that they all took as a yes. Rory shrugged, which was a yes to them. Tobias nodded with a smile.

"Sweet, meeting adjured," Kasper said, waving his hand around lazily. Jordan rolled his eyes and went back to eating his spaghetti. Rory looked over and saw Aika with her eyes closed. He wordlessly reached out and lightly gripped her arm, offering silent support for whatever was the cause of the flash of pain that went over her face—there and then hidden.

Rory returned her smile with a small one of his own. Around his friends, he was more reserved and less talkative than when he was alone with Aika. Actually, he was only really talkative when he was with only a single person. The more people around him, the more reserved he got—he sometimes even shrank back into a corner, burrowing into his coat.

The others hadn't heard her, too busy talking about the latest news back in England, but Rory had. He tilted his head but didn't ask about the sudden need for her to go do something. "Um, yeah," he said, nodding and stuffing his hands into his pockets, "See you around." Once again, none of the others heard and continued chatting.

The corner of his lip quirked up at the repeated question, but he didn't comment on it. "Yeah, it was. If you ever want some company, feel free to come and find me." He jerked his chin in the direction of his bandmates. "They'll likely know where I am if I'm not here."