Work Text:
He was so lost. But the more that he stared at his phone screen, the more he started to realize that this wasn’t a dream. Scrolling up from all of his messages that have been left on read, his eyes land on her last message: “It's over.” So simple, yet so heart wrenching at the same time. Claude and Finana have been dating for a little over three years at this point, and yeah, she’s been a little distant lately, but she had said that work was just getting to her. Later that evening he gets a text from her, but it’s not what he wants to see. It’s a paragraph accusing him of things that he’s never done, how he barely spends time with her anymore, and that she’s found someone new who really cares about her. It’s that last part that pushes him over the edge, and he finally breaks, spending the entire night crying in his bed until the sun starts rising, illuminating his pitiful form. He spends the next week not answering any calls or texts, preferring to spend it wallowing in sadness. It’s the second missed band practice that his bandmates decide that enough is enough and they head to his place, finding his place trashed, and him lying in bed. The pitiful look that he gives them is all they need to know what happened.
The next couple of months were some of the worst for him. He couldn’t look at his guitar, let alone his pen. Thankfully his bandmates were more than understanding, and they posted that the band was going to take a break to “Work on a new album.” They were there for him, and even convinced him to go to therapy, which really helped. Eight months later, he finally picked up his guitar and pen and started writing again. Following the suggestion of his therapist, he wrote about his feelings about Finana, and “Tell Me You’re Sorry” was born. After releasing the single, it quickly rose to become their most loved and well known song, resonating with a lot of their fans. Three months later, the full album dropped, and more people found out about them, their fanbase growing. The first tour since their hiatus saw them garnering even more attention, and they soon became well known across the country. Things were looking good for Claude. With the band’s larger fanbase, his friends, and his therapist, he eventually forgot about Finana, her soon becoming a distant memory.
Years later, he had a boyfriend that truly loved him, his band was touring almost every year, and their fans were growing more and more. So after their 5th album dropped, they announced that they would be doing a world tour, much to the excitement of their fans. It started on the east coast, heading to the west coast, then to Japan, East Asia, all of Europe, then ending back in their hometown where it all started. To say that the tour was a success was an understatement. They sold out almost every show, their fans even flying out to see them multiple times. They recorded parts of their shows to compile them into a special documentary to commemorate the tour, and they planned on recording the entire last show for the end of it. When they came back to their hometown, Claude was more than ready to end the tour with a bang, wanting to give it his all and more. Meanwhile, Finana’s new friends that had no idea that she and Claude had dated invited her to see the band, managing to get some last minute front row tickets for the last show. So she went, having forgotten about him and the band, and she was enjoying the opening band and having a great time. But that all changed when she saw him take the stage.
Taking the stage, Claude was on cloud nine, seeing the packed arena screaming his band’s name. Scanning the crowd, he recognized a bunch of long time fans, which made his heart soar that they were still there. Then he saw her. His blood ran cold as he saw the recognition in her eyes as well, and everything came rushing back to him. But he had a show to do, and years of therapy prepared him for this moment. So he ignored her, and they started playing. The whole arena was louder than any other show that they had played, and he was in his element. After taking a small break, he talked with his bandmates about ending on “Tell Me You’re Sorry”, saying that it would be the perfect way to end the show. They agreed, and once they took the stage again Claude told the crowd that they would be deviating from the setlist a little because it’s the last show of the tour. Stealing a glance, he saw that Finana was still there, though the shock of seeing her had thankfully died off. They played through the rest of the songs, and before their final song, he thanked everyone for coming out to see them. Looking directly at Finana, they go straight into “Tell Me You’re Sorry”, and as he sings, he keeps looking at her, never once breaking eye contact. It’s then that she realizes that the song is about her and Claude. She watches as he becomes more animated and emotional, and the fans think that it’s because it's the final song of the tour, but she knows that it’s because she’s there. She knows how much she hurt him, how much she screwed him over, how she can’t take back what she did, and it starts to break her. When the song ends, there’s tears in his eyes, and she wants nothing more than to run up on stage and hug him, to tell him that she’s sorry and that she’ll do anything to get him back, to repair what they had. But she knows that she can’t, and when the band takes a bow, she sees his boyfriend run from offstage to give Claude a hug and a kiss, much to the joy of the fans. That’s when she breaks, and when the band leaves the stage and the lights come up, her friends ask if she’s okay. It’s then that she realizes that she’s crying, the tears flowing down her face. Rubbing her eyes, she assures them that she’s fine, and they tease her that the concert made her cry, to which she lies and agrees with them, not wanting to tell them the real reason why. When she gets home, she falls onto her bed and lets the tears flow freely into her pillow, finally realizing just how badly that she messed up, how she was jealous and pushed him away. She wishes for nothing more than to be able to turn back time to be with him again. But she knows that nothing can be done to remedy their relationship. So she grabs her phone and goes to text him what he’s been wanting to hear this whole time, “I’m sorry.” But the world is cruel, and she realizes that Claude blocked her, something that he did years ago.
Claude fought for his dream and achieved it. All she did was push him away, and now she’s just lines in a song to him.