Avery

Avery

Male ||  22 || INFP || Pansexual 

✦ Was fired from his job as a barista.  Poor guy tried so hard that he ended
up slowing himself down and they replaced him.
 ✦  Roommates with Theo
 ✦ Theo suggests he finally takes up a career in music
 ✦ Avery constantly is singing, he loves to sing
 ✦  He has social anxiety and has trouble being in front of one new person, let alone a crowd.
 ✦ Theo pumps him up enough to sing his favorite song at an open mic contest at their local bar
 ✦ The crowd LOVES him. Poor guy is a blushing MESS.
 ✦ He wins the contest and the bar owner is so impressed, he ends up asking him to come back to sing.
 ✦ After singing with the crowds for awhile he begins to feel more comfortable being in front of the crowd
 ✦ Gets discovered by a record label a couple years later and have him become signed on.
 ✦ His name is now out there and he's so happy with his life
 ✦ Takes Theo to all of his concerts
 ✦ Theo is literally his number one fan 

✦ Backstory on how he became a singer ✦

Avery was a hardworking Kalon, that’s why when he was fired from his job at the local coffee shop, he was devastated. 

He was completely caught off guard at the sudden termination, but he soon was told that it was because they had found someone else who was faster at preparing the drinks and other things that they sold there at the little shop. Coming home that day was rough, he didn’t know how to start the conversation with his roommate and began to felt his anxiety creep up on him. Avery slowly walked up to the door of their apartment and stopped for a moment. He sighed in defeat and rested his forehead on the door. He didn’t want to open it. He knew that Theo wouldn’t be upset with him, it was something that was out of his control. He worked so hard that he slowed himself down, but now he has to learn from this mistake and keep on going. 

Avery slowly opened the door and saw his roommate jump at the unexpected entrance. 

“Avery? What on earth are you doing back here? Did you get your schedule wrong?” Theo set down the cup in his paws and walked over to him. Avery avoided his eyes while his own had tears welling up in them. 

“I...” His lip quivered “I was fired.” Still not daring to meet Theo’s eyes out of a mix of embarrassment and anxiety. He heard him gasp and Avery cringed at the sound.

“Wha- but how? You’re an amazing employee!” Avery sighed and finally looked at Theo. 

“They found someone how was better at what I did. I was too slow because I wanted everything to be more than perfect.” He knew his emotions were getting the best of him and that his anxiety was the one winning this battle.  

“I was trying so hard to do my job right, that I did it wrong.” Avery’s tone dropped to almost a whisper. Theo’s ears drooped and he hugged him.

“Come on, there’s a million other places that would be more than happy to have such a hard worker like you.” Theo pulled away from Avery and gave him an encouraging smile. “You just haven’t found the perfect fit for you yet.” 

Avery gave him a weak, but genuine smile and hugged him again. Reality sunk back in on him quickly and realized that he needed to start looking for another job as soon as possible. He slumped into Theo’s arms with a groan.

“That means I have to go through the whole process of searching, interviews, and all of that other stressful stuff.” Avery whined which made Theo sigh. 

“You know, you could try to go to college, but that is a whole other type of stressful there.” Avery stiffened and pushed away from Theo. 

“Nononono.” He shook his head while talking then looked Theo in the eyes again. “There’s no way. I wouldn’t survive college.” 

Theo rolled his eyes and looked at him unamused. 

“Look there’s not much to do here in this town unless you feel like working fast food your whole life. The place you worked at paid double what most do around here.” Avery groaned again, but knew his friend had a point. 

“Or...” Theo started.

“Or...?” Avery questioned where he was going with this.

“Or you can finally try to sing in front of others and make it your job.”  Theo beamed and had a hopeful smile on his face.

Avery’s felt his heart race and he again looked away from his friend. Yes, he did sing and he wouldn’t exactly call himself bad at it, but did he think he was gonna be able to make money off of it? No, absolutely not. Not to mention singing in front of others was a whole other ball park and was practically the stress of an interview  doubled. 

“Come ooonnnn Avery.” Theo pushes him a bit to get him to focus. “Try it once and see how it’ll go. You sound amazing when you sing to yourself.” 

Avery blushed and his ears fluttered back. 

“A-Ah... Thanks” He still avoided Theo’s eyes “I’ll try it out, but I need somewhere to play at.”

They both thought for a second before Theo shot up again. 

“There’s a bar about half an hour from here that does open mic on Friday nights . Here’s the kicker though, they vote at the end on who was the best and the winner gets some money! Today’s Saturday so you practically have a week to prepare yourself and find a song.” 

Avery sat in shock, he didn’t actually think he’d know any place close to where they were, but he’s gotta try. 

Sighing in defeat he finally met Theo’s eyes again. 

“Let’s find ourselves a song.” 

~~~~

Two days passed and Avery still had no song. Theo was on his case and wouldn’t stop asking on the hour every hour what song he picked and lectured him every time. 

“Avery just... PICK IT.” Avery pulled out his one earbud and paused the song. 

“You- You want me to sing Bad Romance?” He cocked his eyebrow at him and scoffed. 

“Avery! Yes! That’s your favorite song! You literally sing it all the time and you can hit all the notes!” 

He put down his phone and sighed. He had a point. 

“You know what? ‘Aight, I’m gonna do it.” Theo perked up and clapped his paws together. 

“Good! Now as much as I know that you’re gonna do great, practice.” Avery flung his head back and groaned. Theo smacked his leg and looked at him, unamused.

“Okay okay.” He sat up and grabbed his guitar. He strummed the melody and hummed along at first before finding a place to join in. 

~~~~

Time flew by quickly and soon it was Friday. Avery stepped out of the car and looked at the building. It wasn't too shabby at all, but the lights outside blinded him. His anxiety was already starting to get the best of him and he could feel his heartbeat start to quicken. Theo placed a paw on his shoulder and knew that he was already questioning if this was a good idea.

"Come on, lets go inside. You're gonna do great."

~~~~

Everything seemed to blur as the other singers took to the small stage. They all sounded good to him and he felt like he couldn't compare to them. Theo kept trying to encourage him and ordered his favorite snack, some soft pretzels. Avery stress ate for the next half an hour before it was his turn. He almost didn't hear his name, but Theo snapped him back into reality and pushed him up. A final thumbs up and an encouraging smile from him and Avery took to the stage.

He walked up to the mic and fiddled with it to adjust it to his size.

"Heya..." He awkwardly laughed in the mic, "Ready whenever you guys are." He said back to the guitarist and the other kalon nodded to him. He wasn't singing any version of Bad Romance, he was going to sing the rock cover. Though not looking like the type to enjoy the rock genre, it was his kryptonite.

He began the song normally and scanned his eyes through the crowd trying to pick up on their reactions. He saw some of their eyes widen and others watching emotionless.

With the first chorus he saw the crowds true reaction, they loved him. Some kalons whistled, others clapped to encourage him. Avery felt tears well up in his eyes. They loved him. They actually loved him. He sung his heart out and heard Theo cheer him on.

He finished strong and felt his hair flop into his face, covering his eye. Avery breathed heavily and looked out at the crowd and everything became a blur again. Kalons were standing, screaming, and cheering. He let out a small laugh before bowing a bit and running off the stage and back to his seat. Theo smacked his paws down on the table excitedly.

"Avery! You were absolutely amazing! I knew that song would be perfect for you."  He laughed. Avery gave a soft smile and blushed.

"I can't believe I did that."

The other acts went on and they sung out their hearts as well. Soon it was over and the owner jumped up onto the stage and grabbed the mic.

"Alright, Alright everyone settle down. I'm here to announce the winner of this week's winner of open mic." The owner looked back to the kalon on the drums, "Drumroll please."

"The winner is..." Avery could hear his heartbeat and barely understood a word anyone was saying. He knew Theo said something to him, but he couldn't tell what.

"Avery!" The room erupted in cheers again and everyone was looking at him. His face heated up and he covered his mouth with his paw.

"Come talk to me before you go alright?" The owner said before walking off the stage. A couple kalons near them said congrats to him and a few others walked by and said it too. Avery put his head down.

"Theo...? Can you order more pretzels please?" He whined into the table. Theo laughed, why don't you go over and talk to the owner and then when you come back you will have them when you get back."

Avery looked up at his friend and squinted his eyes.

"You're evil." He stood up anyways and made his way over to the corner the owner was standing in.

"Uh, heya." The owner looked up from the paper he was looking at.

"Ah! First off let me say, I've never had a crowd in here cheer that loudly for anyone on the stage, even the ones I've hired." The owner beamed at him with a large smile on his face. The larger kalon smacked Avery's back. "You were amazing out there kid. Here's the prize money, but before you go I have an offer for you." Avery blinked and tilted his head to the side.

"I'd like to offer you a job, I really need your energy here." Avery's jaw dropped and his eyes widened.

"R-Really? You want me here?"

"Yeah, I'd offer you 10 bucks an hour." The owner smiled at him.

"Deal." Avery said a bit too quickly.

The owner laughed and slapped his back again, making Avery lose his balance and stumble forward. They both shared a laugh and he learned his hours and when he wanted him to start. Avery went back to the table and only to see Theo with half as many pretzels that came with the platter.

"What took so long?" He said popping another into his mouth. Avery faked a gasp and looked at him.

"You ate half of them! How dare you!" He wiped away a fake tear. Theo wasn't impressed and chewed on the pretzel.

"Tell me what took so long or I'll eat them all."

"Alright, Alright. He offered me a job Theo. A JOB!" A smile spread across Avery's face and Theo dropped the other pretzel in his paw back into the platter.

"Oh my god."

"I know!" Avery kept on beaming and slid back down in his chair.

~~~~
 
After singing for awhile, his anxiety of being in front of others began to settle a bit. Theo came to the first couple days of his new job and helped him look for other gigs. For the time being, they both were happy and he was enjoying his new career as a singer. Now he was teaching himself how to play the guitar, so he wasn't so dependent on others. He wanted to keep going, he wanted to go farther than the bar he was at.

All he had to do now was keep on singing and improving so he can do just that and get his name out there.

3/3 breeding spots remain