invisible string ─ s. rogers

first concert

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CHAPTER TWENTY
FIRST CONCERT

All Too Well [Ten Minute Version] (Taylor's Version)
Taylor Swift

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A few weeks had passed since Daisy had her heart crushed, and with the help of Gray and Jo, she wasn't alone.

She busied herself with writing songs at the library, but she found it hard to write songs about something she couldn't experience anymore.

Her best friends wanted to set her up on a few blind dates to get her mind off of Steve, but Daisy wanted to wait a bit. Whoever she went on a date with didn't deserve to try and finish the night with a girl who was still in love with her ex-boyfriend.

Thankfully, Jo and Gray lived in an animal-friendly apartment, so Daisy was able to stay at their place for moral support and still take Pasta with her.

"Are you ready for this?" Jo asked, pouring a cup of coffee into a travel mug. "You can always postpone the date and refund the tickets." He offered.

Daisy shook her head. "I'd feel bad. Besides, a lot of people have performed minutes after something even more horrible happened, so I think I can deal with it."

"I'll drive you and be watching in the third row." Jo spoke, kissing his wife on the cheek as she sat comfortably on the couch.

"And I have my laptop open to the streaming page." Gray smiled, motioning to her five-month pregnant stomach.

The two best friends embarked on a small road trip towards Barclay Center. It only took around ten minutes for Jo and Daisy to arrive at their destination, and the two parted ways so one could have an early dinner and the other could get ready for her concert.

Luckily, her dressing room provided different delicious foods, and she was able to try a little bit of everything as she worked with her makeup artist and got her face ready for the performance.

Of course, she had a bunch of costume changes to prepare for during the show. Planning out her different looks from head to toe was one of the things that kept her mind off of what had happened only a few weeks ago.

For the first portion of the concert, she was going to perform some of her more badass songs. Ones that made her feel empowered. So, fittingly, she wore a black suit-looking top and a matching skirt for her bottoms.

"Okay, just to let you know, we have the soundcheck in around ten minutes." Daisy's usher warned. The musician nodded and stood up, pushing back the last of her hair into her ponytail.

"Sounds good. Let's get going!"

On the other side of things, Steve was equally, if not even more heartbroken than Daisy was. He had been desperately trying to chase down his string in order to convince himself that he had done the right thing, but the golden tie around his pinkie finger had been showing up less and less over the weeks.

Countless times he had found himself accidentally passing Daisy's library, and wishing he could go in and share one more cup of hot chocolate with the woman he loved.

Sometimes he even saw her through the window. She was usually with Gray and Jo or Pasta, but on the few occasions Daisy had seen Steve walk past, she would always reposition some of the vines to cover up the window.

Steve rubbed his eyes and scanned the room of the Tower he was in. He had been staying with his fellow Avengers to try and distract himself from his worsening moods and emotions.

"Hey, dude." Sam spoke, resting his hand on Steve's shoulder as he got up from the couch. "You good?"

Steve nodded. "I'm just- I'm just going to try and stay back in the apartment for a bit."

Sam smiled in understanding, hugging his friend in the moment of vulnerability. "If you need anything, you know you can call me."

"Thanks, man." Steve replied, grabbing one of his duffel bags normally used for training and left the tower, letting himself make the long trek towards his Brooklyn apartment.

Of course, he rode his motorcycle down the roads of Manhattan and finally made it past the city border into his hometown.

Now, let's move back to Daisy.

She was starting up the concert with one of her favourite songs she had ever written. The amount of people standing in front of her and dancing and singing along to her songs was giving her nervous butterflies in her stomach.

For the first time in a few weeks Daisy felt genuinely good about where she was standing that night. Her stage was her happy place, it was what he realized that night.

The next hour and a half went by faster than a hare for Daisy, and she sat at the beautiful grand piano in a gorgeous ball gown.

Steve watched through his TV screen as the woman he let go performed to a huge stadium, letting his tears free fall down his cheeks.

He knew that he had made the most horrible mistake he ever had.

Nothing compared to losing the love of his life.

He could only hope that the heartbreak would be worth it, and one day he would meet his soulmate. But even if he did, he'd never stop thinking about Daisy Laine Stone.

"Okay, so my best friend, Jo, is in this crowd." The musician spoke, eliciting a line of waves towards the seat she was pointing towards. "And actually, his wife is having a baby!"

Daisy stepped down the stage and walked down the middle walkway in the audience, waving at her friend and hugging him briefly through the horde of fans.

"This envelope-" She stated, holding onto a small little slip of paper that Jo and Gray had given her earlier that night. "Holds the gender of my two best friends' child."

The crowd went wild. Everyone was always a sucker for a concert reveal of anything.

Daisy stepped back on stage and opened the envelope, placing down her black and white checkered microphone for a moment so she could grab the paper with the gender on it.

"Obviously, this doesn't decide the baby's gender, just their sex." She confirmed, reading out directly from the slip of paper. "It's a boy!"

The crowd cheered even though they didn't even know the couple who would soon hold their beautiful baby boy in their arms.

"I won't give away too much information about my friends, but please say a big congratulations to the mother, who is watching at home as we speak." The crowd went crazy and Daisy smiled brightly, waving as her next song kicked up through the loudspeakers.

A little bit broke inside as Steve watched the love of his life laugh, while he could only continue to cry himself to sleep every night because of what he did.

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Maybe we got lost in translation, maybe I asked for too much, maybe this thing was a masterpiece 'til you tore it all up.