FanFiction: Our Sweet Sound

[redBoobergurl]

Another fan here! Loving this so much! It's so fun to see characters normally in the background up front and central!

 

[Boppity]

Oops, I guess it's too late for "chapter five later tonight"...but it's still later tonight somewhere! I'll see you all next week or so ^_^




Something creaked. Something opened. Something tripped.
Dr. Teeth opened his eyes just as Wanda left the apartment.


The pianist sat up, stretched, and looked about the room. Animal and Zoot were laid out on the floor, Floyd in the easy chair opposite his own, and Janice had taken the couch. He couldn’t quite remember when he fell asleep, but it was sometime after he and Floyd debated if he really did see Dave Brubek or if he just dreamed it.

Yeah. This was going to work.


“…and that’s how I almost died the fifteenth time.” Floyd finished just as Zoot finally came out of his room, now dressed in different clothes which looked exactly like the ones he wore the day before.

“Man, good thing you chose the red wire…” Dr. Teeth shook his head.

“I met some dude in Hartford and he taught me all about it.” Floyd told him.

“Hey, do we have any food?” Zoot asked after opening the refrigerator.

“Why would we?” The pianist questioned.

“Because. People live here.” Zoot said plainly. The two stared at him blankly.

“I have no idea where you’re going with this.” Dr. Teeth blinked. Zoot sighed and shuffled back towards his room, reemerging seconds later with his hat.

“You still work at the place with the stuff, man?” Floyd asked.

“Yeah…guess I’ll get some food there.”

Janice suddenly rushed out from her room.

“Like, I forgot I took the early shift today--” She explained while searching the fridge. “There’s no food.” She said pointedly.

“What is it with you two and food?” The pianist wondered. Janice suddenly noticed that Zoot was standing near the door, his leaving suddenly stopped.

“Oh. Hi!” She said, smiling widely and, if one looked carefully, a bit nervously.

“Hi.” The sax player said in equal enthusiasm.

“Hi.” Floyd added.

“Hi.” Janice returned. “Like, I gotta get going-”

“I’ll walk you halfway.” Zoot offered.

“Rully? Great!” The two left together, smiling so brightly they could have lit up the room.

“So…Zoot and Janice?” The bassist wondered out loud. “Don’t really seem like each other’s type, but if they’re happy…”

“I believe so.” Dr. Teeth nodded. Suddenly his eyes widened and he too looked into the empty fridge. “I think I get what they were talking about now…”

“Good, ‘cause I have no clue.” Floyd nodded. “Hey man, so…I should have said it earlier, but I’m sorry about your dad.”

“Thanks.” The pianist said shortly, but giving Floyd a genuine smile.

“So what are you gonna do now that you sold the pub?”

“We’re doing the band full time.” Dr. Teeth said, now more excited. “If we’re gonna do it, we’re gonna do it.”

“We have a name?” Floyd asked.

“Not really…usually we just kind of mumble random sounds.” He explained. “But that is not at all important. What is important is that you haven’t lost your groove.”

“The only thing I lost is my ability to defenestrate.” Floyd said with a crooked grin.

“That…made no sense.” Dr. Teeth said.

“After I tell you the story of what happened a few days after I met Animal, it will.” He shook his head grimly.

“Can you even play bass?” The pianist joked.

“’Course I can, man! And Animal’s one of the best drummers there ever was!”

“If you say so.” Dr. Teeth laughed.

-----

Her shift was over, but Janice was still in the break room of Hunt. The blonde paced back and forth, mind somewhere else, removing her apron at a snail’s pace. The silence of the small room was broken when Scooter threw open the door and came in.

“Hey, Janice!” He greeted her happily. “Didn’t you get off ten minutes ago?”

“Oh, yeah, like, I was just thinking…”She started. “I haven’t been able to get many hours in lately.”

“Oh, yeah.” Scooter said bleakly. “They’ve been hiring a lot of new people and for some reason, they give the hours to them rather than the people who have experience.”

“Like, now that we’re doing the band thing more, we need as much money as we can.” She said.

“So how are those guys you were telling me about?” Scooter asked, getting himself a cup of water from the sink.

“Well, like, we haven’t all played together yet, but I bet we’re gonna be great!” She said optimistically.

“Is that why you’re so happy today?”

“Ooh, well…”Janice smiled. “Actually, me and Zoot are going out now!”

“That’s good.” Scooter said shortly.

“I think.” She added.

“You think?” He repeated.

“Do you have to actually ask to be going out with someone?” Janice asked him.

“I wouldn’t know!” He laughed. “The only girlfriend I had was in second grade.”

“Like, was it serious?” She joked.

“We were engaged.” He nodded. “But then I stopped sitting at her table and she wouldn’t talk to me for a few days.”

“Your first heartbreak.” Janice mused.

“Something.” Scooter agreed.


Janice left Hunt minutes later, and almost jumped when she saw Zoot leaning against the wall.

“Like, what are you doing here?” She asked cheerfully.

“I thought you would be off soon, so I thought we could walk back together.” He said.

“Fer sure!”

The two set off, side by side.

“So where do you think Wanda went?” Janice asked him.

“Animal ate her.” The sax player suggested. “I was only half joking.”

“So you were half serious?”

“Only halfway.”

Some time during their short journey, their hands met and fingers laced together.

-----

There were cords everywhere; it was some sort of miracle no one had tripped yet. Two big amps sat on either side of the room, and Animal’s drums farther back in the room formed a balanced triangle.

“All we’re missing now is Lips.” Floyd commented. “Not that he really played with us that much anyways.”

“Six is too much, man.” Zoot said.

“FIVE!”

“Alright, we ready?” Dr. Teeth asked, taking his place behind his keyboards.

“Like, this is so awesome!” Janice said, nearly jumping with excitement. “What should we play?”

“Man, I haven’t played a real song in months.” Floyd said.

“Then let’s just jam!”

“JAM JAM!” Animal exclaimed.


Like magic, they all began to play something that sounded amazing. It didn’t really have a set rhythm and one of Floyd’s strings was obviously not tuned, but the sound - that sweet sound - fueled their bodies. It was just like the first time Janice joined the group, a turning point, but this was so sweet, so much better and louder and--

“Hey, woah, hold it guys!” Dr. Teeth suddenly called out. Once the music came to a crashing halt, they were able to hear a very persistent knocking at the door. The pianist got up and answered it, and after three minutes retuned to the group.

“That was the landlord, Shimmelfinney.” He sighed. “He doesn’t like our music.”

“What music does he like?” Janice asked.

“What if we turn the amps down real low?” Floyd asked. “Just not play as loud.”

“I don’t think I can do that.” Zoot spoke up. He tried playing his sax by barely blowing, but the only noise that came out was some sort of a whispered whimper.

“Sounds fine to me.” Floyd nodded.

“It’s-” Zoot started.

“Alright, everybody!” Dr. Teeth said, turning down the volume on his keyboards.

At once, they played what might have been considered the single greatest collaboration of sounds to form the most perfect note in the history of rock. Or it would have been if they were playing at full volume. Dr. Teeth could barely hear his keyboard over the quiet hum from Floyd’s bass and Janice’s guitar. Animal was going to hit the drums with all his might, but opted instead to just hit one cymbal. Zoot didn’t even bother to play.

The five had only played a few of these sub-par notes before there was an angry knock at the door yet again.

“Alright, alright!” Dr. Teeth called.

“This isn’t working.” Janice stated.

“We could go somewhere else.” Zoot suggested.

“We could go back to me and Animal’s place.” Floyd suggested. “I guarantee no one would care how much noise we made…except, you know, I don’t know if you want to take all this expensive stuff down to that part of town.”

“Like, where do you live?” Janice asked.

“I don’t wanna talk about it.” The bassist said, shuffling his feet.

“Could go back to Zoot’s old place.” Dr. Teeth said.

“I don’t think so, man.” Zoot said. “Those threats we got from the layout people were real.”

“Oh, wow…” Janice tilted her head. “Hey, like, why don’t we go to the church?”

“The churches around here don’t really dig me.” Dr. Teeth admitted.

“My church?” Floyd asked, raising a bushy eyebrow.

“The Church of Floyd?” Zoot asked.

“Oh, I’d definitely go there!” Dr. Teeth said. “Just as long as I don’t have to give you anything.”

“I found this old church in the woods a little while away from here.” Floyd told them. “Me and Animal’ve been hangin’ out there for a while.”

“RAH!” Suddenly Animal crashed though his drum set, making everyone else jump.

“Like, what happened?” Janice asked.

“They were just sitting there.” Floyd rationalized. Then, again, there was a knocking at the door.

“I’ll throw you kids out if you don't stop that racket!” A voice from the other side threatened.

“Let’s go to the church.” Dr. Teeth nodded.


The church looked the same on the outside in the day as it did in the night, Janice noted. But now that she could actually see the inside, she wondered if practicing would even be possible. There was a few years of random debris on the floor. There was a small hole in the roof that looked to have a few bird nests in its crevices. She couldn’t even find any electric sockets in the wall.

“It’s perfect!” Dr. Teeth assessed. Janice wondered if they were seeing the same building.

“Like, do we have enough money to fix it up?” She asked.

“We have what’s left from shows…Zoot’s got his pay, you’ve got yours-”

“I don’t know how much I’m gonna have.” She said carefully. “Like, they haven’t been giving me as many hours as before…”

“Yeah, and we still gotta pay for rent and all that.” Zoot thought.

“You gotta make money to spend money.” Dr. Teeth said sagely. “And you gotta spend money to make money. That is what we call the business cycle.”

“Oh yeah, I learned that in school.” Floyd said with a grin.

“How are we going to make the money?” Janice asked.

“By…working.” The pianist said for lack of a better idea.

“I stopped that nonsense two years ago, man.” Interjected Floyd.

“Like, we should make our own business.” Janice asked. “Something more reliable then playing gigs.”

“Reliable, like your job?” Dr. Teeth thought. “But better. Hipper. Cosmic. Got it!”

“I’ve always wondered…” Zoot said to no one.

“As well as jamming and attracting the general masses here, we also turn this place into a coffee house of our own. But better…so fine and laid-back and mellow and profitable.”


For the next few days, the band barely even thought of playing their instruments as they sat together and discuss what they would do with their church. Their conversations always would later veer into something completely random, then back to some big dream about their future where they would all be rich and famous and have two houses each.

 

[The Count]

*Laughs and loves the addition. Scooter, Shimmelfinney, shifts, setting up at the church... All so great... More please! Or when you can get back to it.

 

[Redsonga]

*hee* I'm only on the 3rd chapter but it is good so far...
Is Dr. Teeth's pub canon or is it something just made for the story?
I did not understand some of the slang, but then I never have with them *lol* Janice is easier because, like, we both come for, you know, that part of the US:3...
I loved seeing Wayne and Wanda . You know, I never thought of their acts as being that bad, Wayne was a good singer at least, they just had bad luck...

 

[The Count]

Hmm... Could be wrong, but I think Dr. Teeth's pub was just made up for this story, which is great BTW, and in need of some updating.

 

[ryhoyarbie]

You know, I just though of something. You got the name of places like "Hunt" and "Juhl" in there. I wonder what those could relate to?......

 

[Boppity]

I'm baaaack! ^_^ I got absolutely no writing done, though >.> But I'll have the next chapter up later tonight!

Nah, the pub's not canon, but I thought it fit him.

 

[Boppity]

I should probably update this, yes? A not-so-Mayhem-centered chapter for once! I'm not too happy with it though XD


To be quite honest, Scooter didn’t really enjoy working at Hunt as much as people thought he did. It was good for the first few months, but after his uncle kept telling the manager to leave more hours open to him then anyone else, it became kind of dull. It was Scooter’s first real job, and he thought he had gotten away from his uncle.

Of course, there were benefits to staying there. Money, for one. There was always free food, and sometimes his friends from school would come in to get some free food as well. And then, there was Janice.

From the moment she started working there, he liked her. The two always talked about the most random of things when they were working together (which was more often then not). She was just so nice and caring and…taken.

“Hey, Scooter!”

Scooter turned around from his latest attempt to create a new sandwich to see two of his friends, Leruc and Inasa.

“Oh, hey!” He went over to them. “What do you guys want?”

“I’ll just have a latte.” Leruc said, tugging at some of his shaggy black hair.

“Just gimme some sorta sandwich, and I’ll be flying.” Inasa said blankly.

“I’ll take my break now so we can hang out.” Scooter told them.

“’Kay, man.” Inasa said, leading Leruc to a table. Scooter went over to the counter to make the sandwich.

“Like, are those your friends?” Janice asked from her place at the cappuccino machine.

“Yeah, the shy one is Leruc and the zoned out one is Inasa…he lives under what he calls the philosophy of the Beatles.” He told her. Janice laughed and started steaming the milk for the latte. “Say, why do none of the people in the band come here?”

“Well, like, I never told them that if they did, they could get free food…” She admitted.


“So are you guys hiring?” Inasa asked when Scooter had brought their order.

“I wouldn’t ask.” Scooter said, sitting down across from the two. “We’ve got enough help as it is.”

“Must be nice working here.” Inasa said. “I mean, free food, free money-”

“The money’s not free.” Leruc interjected quietly.

“So who is that?” The blonde nodded his head towards Janice.

“Oh, that’s Janice.”

“She’s hot.” Inasa said shortly.

“Don’t talk about his sister like that!” Blurted Leruc.

“Um, she’s not my sister.” Scooter told him with a slight frown. Leruc blinked.
“She looks just like you.” He said. “I bet she sounds like you, too.”

“Everyone looks alike.” Inasa said in philosophical tone. “But now that I think about it, don’t you have-”

“Hey, Scooter, can you get me some more of this?” Leruc interrupted, holding out his cup.

“Yeah, sure.” Scooter said, walking back to the counter. Leruc kicked his friend under the table.

“What?”

“I just remembered, Scooter did have a sister…” Leruc said quietly.

“Yeah, that’s what I was gonna ask, what’s the problem?” Inasa asked, watching people out of the corner of his eye.

“I remember her, back in first grade, but…” Leruc glanced quickly to where Scooter was, “I don’t remember ever seeing her again, or Scooter even mentioning her.”

“Maybe she lives with another relative.” Inasa said, finishing off his sandwich.

“I don’t think we should talk about it.”

“Do you think something happened to her?”

“Maybe.”

Scooter returned shortly, but the three really didn’t have much more to say.


“…and, like, he wasn’t rully fair about it.” Janice prattled on, unaware that Scooter wasn’t really listening.

“Uh-huh.” He replied vaguely. The blonde turned around to see her friend taking an unusually long time to get his things together.

“Are you alright?” She asked.

“Huh?” Scooter blinked and looked around the room as if he didn’t remember how he got there. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine! Just have something on my mind.” He noticed that she was staring at his face, looking for something to support her doubt. Scooter smiled reassuringly. “So what are you going to do about it?”

“Well, quit I guess.” Janice nodded. “We’re gonna turn the church into a coffeehouse!”

“But if you quit, where are you going to get the money to buy all the stuff for that?” Scooter asked.

“Dr. Teeth said…the business cycle will take care of it.” The blonde said loosely.

“Most new businesses go under in the first year.” Scooter said, thinking off the top of his head. “You usually don’t start earning money until the second or third year…and on top of that you have…” The boy stopped when he looked at Janice’s face, which was now full of doubt and worry. “But if Dr. Teeth said it, it must be true!”

“Like, I don’t know anymore…”

“Hey, you guys are gonna make it!”

“…Yeah.” Janice nodded to herself, her expression slowly changing from thought to realization. “You should come with us.”

“What, to work there?” Scooter asked. “I guess I could always help you guys out, yeah.”

“Ooh, no, like,” Janice’s smile grew, “I mean that you should come with us…on tour, playing, wherever we go.”

“I don’t really play anything!” Scooter laughed.

“As our manager!” Janice said brightly. “You’re good with money and arranging things-”

“And I have a van!” He said proudly. He began really thinking about it: traveling who knows where with an amazing, glittering, loud band, not having a real meal for months, being able to say, “hey, I’m with the band, too, so I deserve something free for equal or lesser value then what I already purchased!”

“It’ll be so great,” Janice continued, “Sharing our sound and not having a real address and all that.”

“Yeah.” Scooter said. Though he sounded the same as always, something in the back of Janice’s mind told her otherwise.

“What’s wrong?” She asked plainly.

“It’s nothing.” Scooter shrugged, knowing that he wasn’t convincing anyone. The two stared at each other for a minute before Scooter broke the silence with, “Um.”

It was…hard. It was something so simple, yet so hard to actually say, to put it into words…nothing did it justice. His eyes slowly wandered to the floor as he no longer looked at what was in front of him but what was inside his head.

“Hey.” She smiled gently. “Like, do you want to come over and have dinner with us? You can tell me whatever’s bothering you there if you want.”

Scooter’s eyes jumped back to look at her face. He didn’t have to hesitate before nodding.

“That’s…like you.” Scooter said, nodding again. “Wait, that came out weird. Yeah, thanks.”

“No, I think I get it.” She smiled warmly. “Can you be there at, like, five thirty?”

“Yeah!” Scooter said. There was some weird exhilaration inside him now placing a thin bandage over his thoughts. He had never told anyone before, and now he was finally going to (maybe). And, with some sort of quiet laugh that he had never heard himself make, there was the idea that he would be going over to her place.

--------

Scooter arrived at the apartment as promptly as possible. He was expecting to hear loud music - or at least loud voices - from the other side of the door, but the whole hallway was silent. So silent that he barely had to knock before the door opened to Janice’s beaming face.

“Hey!” She greeting him brightly, opening the door wider. Scooter realized he hadn’t seen the apartment since the band moved in. He was surprised at how normal the place looked. Their instruments and cords were scattered everywhere and the furniture was clashing, but other than that the place looked a bit ordinary. But, still, it worked.

“Like, we have the place to ourselves tonight.” Janice told him.

“Why’s that?” Scooter asked, following her into the kitchen area.

“Oh…” Janice picked up a scrap of paper from the counter which was covered in what must have been the world’s messiest handwriting. “…Something about Animal did something and Floyd didn’t help, so Zoot and Dr. Teeth went to bail them out or something.”

“Are they going to be okay?”

“Well, probably, maybe.” Janice nodded to herself. “Like, have you ever eaten at Juhl’s?”

“Oh, I thought we were going to eat here.” Scooter stated.

“We are, but we usually don’t ever have any food in here that would be dinner…” Janice said, looking though a drawer for the number.

“But isn’t it more trouble to order food every day?” Asked Scooter.

“I live with two guys.” Janice replied simply.

“Well--okay.”

Janice headed back into the main room and plopped herself down on one of the huge chairs, Scooter following after and settling on the couch. The blonde picked up the old phone’s receiver and placed an order for an obscenely large amount of food.

"So, um, were you serious?" Scooter asked after Janice hung up the phone.

"Well, I figured I should get the guys some food-"

"No, I mean about being the band's manager."

"Like, of course I was!" Janice beamed. "I mean, I have to talk it over with the guys first, but since we're always looking and Dr. Teeth likes you and all..."

"How hard could it be?" Scooter asked himself, nodding slightly.

"Yeah." The blonde agreed. The two sat in silence for a minute. While he couldn't speak for Janice, Scooter now felt a bit nervous. In his mind, he had pictured that as soon as he walked in the door he would tell her everything, all the things he kept inside would just spill out, but now that he was here, the reality wasn't as easy.

"You can tell me what was bothering you earlier," Janice prompted, "Or you don't have to. Like, that's alright, too."

"It's just..." He started. Why couldn't he just say it? "...Hard. Well. Actually, in reality it's not that hard but I was made to believe it was that hard and now it is that hard."

"That's confusing." Janice replied.

"Um...I..." Scooter inhaled. It was just Janice. "I have a twin sister. Her name is Skeeter."

"Oh, wow!" Janice smiled. "Does she look like you?"

"Well, um..." Scooter shrugged and went on. "We were always really close...went to school and daycare and stuff together, always were with each other...I mean, we would get on each other's nerves a lot, but we always worked it out. We always had our best friend with us..." Sigh, rethink, restart. "But we were actually pretty different. She was always...well, she's more daring and adventurous then I'll ever be. Anyway, before second grade, Skeeter wanted to go to one of those special summer camps for advanced kids where you go somewhere exotic. So, she went to the Amazon."

"Summer camp in the Amazon?" Janice repeated. "Like, with a bunch of kids?"

"Yeah. They don't do that anymore." The boy nodded. "Skeeter really wanted to go...and it was supposed to be safe and controlled, but..."

"But?"

"It wasn't completely safe, it can't be. It's the Amazon. There's animals and weather and anything can happen!"

"Like...is she...?" Janice started.

"Something happened one night, I think the first night they were there. And the next thing she knew, Skeeter was all alone." Scooter continued. "I didn't know she was alive until a year after the fact. All my family got was a phone call saying that there was an accident and a check…”

“Oh…” Janice breathed, her eyes growing wide.

“But a year after the accident, someone called my house…all I could hear was interference, but I knew it was Skeeter! The twins sixth sense, I guess. I told her that if she could hear me to come home…that everyone missed her so much…” Scooter watched Janice out of the corner of his eye. “I got a letter about a month later from her...she told me that she was okay. Some family in a somewhat modernized town somewhere by wherever she was took her in. She wrote about how wonderful it was there and how it took six months just to get to where she was and every day is a great expedition...We kept writing back and forth, and I keep asking her why won’t she come back, not even for a visit…she never answers that. She keeps saying she’ll come, but she never does.”

Janice left the edge of her seat to join Scooter on the couch, giving her friend a tight hug.

“And, like you haven’t seen her since…” The blonde said to herself. “Okay, then, I’ll help!”

“Help?” Scooter asked.

“Help you and Skeeter see each other!” She beamed. “You two will see each other soon, and I’ll help!…Maybe not much, but I’ll help!”

“Thanks,” Scooter smiled. “What are you gonna do?”

“Like, I’ll…do something.” Janice nodded. “Something…great.”

“Something big?” Scooter joked.

“Something…red…?” Janice started to laugh.

“As long as it’s something economically approved!”

“Something named Hoover?”

“Something?”

“Something.”


Whatever feelings Scooter had felt towards Janice now made sense to him, evolved even. He loved her, loved her like a sister. When she said that he and Skeeter would see each other soon, he believed her completely.

 

[AnimatedC9000]

"Not too happy with it"? Like, this was a rully great chapter, Boppity! I loved it! (And the whole story, but that's besides the point. XD) I can't wait for the next one! The next chapter, I mean. Not the next... *sighs* You know what? Just forget it, man.

Musically yours,
~ AnimatedC

 

[Boppity]

Ee...I'm too critical of myself XD Plus I haven't been so inspired lately (hence the lack of updates)