Guess I should explain this AU a bit more while I'm getting ready. For people on my X knew a bit, but people here might not know. It's supposed to contain mature themes such as drug and alcohol abuse. As well as workplace harassment, withheld wages, stealing credit, etc.
Wade is the main focus of the story, unlike Ember in the original. It also takes place four to five years before the movie. For example, the movie came out in June 2023, and Wade is 26, according to the Unlikely Friends book. His unofficial birthday is February 20, so he was born on February 20, 1997. So this fanfic AU is set in 2019, when Wade is about to turn 22 on the day his band, Mainstream, has their return concert after their first world tour. The return concert is actually set to be on Wade's birthday. It's ironic because they are releasing the album inspired by him and his life, "Wade to my Heart" but his manager, Ty Phuong, scheduled it on his birthday on purpose to fuck with him.
There are four members; Creek Mill, Angel Falls, Font Sailor, and Wade Ripple.
Creek is non-binary but their manager, Ty Phuong, is an asshole and refers to Creek as male often in the story and in media so he can call the band a boy band. Creek is the shortest and a drummer, they are always put next to Angel who is self-conscious about his height.
Angel is the oldest member. He can't play any instrument at all. He worked with Mr. Phuong the longest but failed because he had no musical talent besides singing. Angel is a jerk and steals credit for the band's work.
Font is the tallest and strongest, he plays bass guitar. He played Waveball to get into university to be a music major. Talks to Wade about his dad. He met Creek there but they didn't get close until they joined the band. They started dating a little after talking about how Phuong mistreated Creek. In photos, he is never allowed to be next to Creek to hide their chemistry.
Wade is the lead guitarist and writes almost all the band's songs. He is the fans' (Streamies) least favorite member.
Ty Phuong is their manager, he is an air man from Chinook. He's an asshole who purposely manipulates Wade, Creek and Font in a way where they are trapped to work with him. Creek and Font have no family to return being NB and gay as well as following music careers instead of something more 'substantial.' Lastly, Wade is purposely alienated from his parents and it only gets worse after his dad dies
Some information about their world tour is here on a shirt. They visited a different country every month, but in October they went to two different countries (more in image description) I spent a long time trying to come up with element-related puns for the places they had their concerts.
Wade has a very strenuous relationship with Angel, but the other members tend to stick to themselves. Wade admits his relationship with Angel is like a toxic co-dependency, Angel would be nothing without Wade and vice versa. Or that's what he is manipulated to believe.
Dewey in this AU doesn't die until Wade turns 18, he dies from a degenerative heart disease. His backstory is about he same, but slightly different since his health deteriorates and he is forced to quit Waveball early on. This allows for Dewey to be a much softer father than the original because he knows he's dying and unable to hide it from his kids early on unlike how it is depicted in the book where he hides it until it's too late causing him to have much harsher mood swings. All the kids work hard to fulfill their dreams before Dewey passes away, graduating school early, playing Waveball, and Wade starts in the band at age 16.
Ember is actually a huge fan of the band. She owns a limited edition chainmail band shirt from the band's tour in Fireland. However, it's a size too big since the one in her size was too much. She also made a custom chainmail hoodie that she wears only every once and awhile. These are red flags for Wade originally when they first meet, but he can't seem to pull himself away from talking to her since she doesn't recognize him as a member of the band. This is how Wade is able to talk to her freely without the fear of her judging him as others have in the past.
"It was the first genuine smile I've gotten in a long time. She saw me for who I am and not what I was, it made me want to cry. At that moment I wanted to tell her the truth, but then would her smile change?"
(not an actual quote but it's the idea I'm going for lol)
This next part you'll have to suspend your belief for, I realized based on my sibling's criticism that Ember not recognizing Wade despite being a fan of his band strange. I admit it's a little far fetched but let me have my fantasies ok ｡ﾟ･（>﹏<）･ﾟ｡
Anyway, more info on each image above in their descriptions
You probably already noticed throughout, Wade and Ember are smoking. Wade unlike the other members avoids taking narcotics, bu he ends up addicted to smoking. This is the whole reason Ember takes interest in him in the first place. She's never seen a water person smoke before. This makes her chase after him and that's how they start talking.
Anyway, that's all I should say without fully spoiling the story. To be honest it's strangely my comfort story. Writing Wade's backstory and how he finds solace in talking to Ember despite manipulating the truth to avoid her knowing who he really is, is sweet to me?? I read too much manwha stories ngl lmao
