a reason for waking {lynn gunn au}

l e a r n i n g

"You really like that one, don't you?"

"I think all of the guys do."

That makes her smile. "So do I. I guess we have one unanimous favorite to play." His grin grows wider as he opens the door for her again, uttering a joking "m'lady" and doing a small bow as Lynn enters the basement.

"Hey, guys!" she calls out upon entrance, waving to Brian and Justin across the room. They smile and wave back enthusiastically.

"We're working on Untitled Four!" Brian calls in the middle of his riff, playing happily. Justin nods, keeping his focus on the drums and bouncing a little to the beat excitedly. Alex picks his guitar up and joins where they left off, Lynn doing the same.

They play it through a time or two more, the exhilaration and heat filling the room. This is something that makes them all happy, regardless of where they make it, and Lynn is grateful every single day for this bonding time.

After the second full playthrough, Justin wipes a bead of sweat from his forehead and looks to Lynn hopefully. "Didn't you say that you felt like the beat of this song pretty much matched some of your lyrics perfectly?" Alex and Brian, seeming to have just remembered this, turn to Lynn with a quizzical, hopeful expression. She looks at their raised eyebrows and quirked-up lips and sighs a little.

"I did," she murmurs shyly, looking at the ground. "I could work on singing it with the music, if you want." Her heart races a little faster, with both excitement and fear. Of course she still wants to sing and play, but the words are just so heavy on her chest. All of them. She's scared of being judged. Not exactly by her greatest friends in the world, but in case this has a chance of going further. She wants to help others, but the war in her head never seems to end, no matter how much time she's given it.

Plus, the excitement on the boys' faces are worth it. Slowly, she bites her lip and listens as they begin again, playing along. At the right part, the one that she's imagined in her mind for so long, she frees her voice. "Yeah, you've got it all, but you've got it all wrong."

Her soul is lighter.

Her mind aches less.

There is power running through her now.

A smile forms on her face.

She can finally feel something that's not the touch of dark thoughts on her neck.

The weight of the world in her head is almost non-existent now.

For five minutes, Lyndsey Gunnulfsen feels free.

As the last notes fade into nothing, the boys clap, cheering for her, and Lynn can feel a tiny blush rising in her cheeks. "Thank you," she laughs nervously, her nose twitching slightly. There's a rush of her hand through her hair, and then her hands are back on the guitar. For some reason, she wants to do it all again. "Would you guys like to do another one?"

"Are you kidding? Of course we would!" Brian exclaims, pumping his fist in the air excitedly. A giggle escapes the mouths of everyone, and Lynn hands him the journal.

"You guys pick from all of these, and we can play whichever one it is." Alex and Justin move from their respective positions, reading over Brian's shoulder and exchanging quiet murmurs with each other. Lynn stands a few feet away from them nervously, not able to stop her fingers from gliding through her hair. What if they didn't like any of them?

Finally, they all take a step back and Brian hands the journal back to her. "Whoa, Lyndsey. These are all incredible. I don't know how we're supposed to pick one." They all exchange glances, and Brian continues, "But we guess we'll go with 'White Noise.'"