#gimme my cocaine back damnit!

[burndownthehousetonight]

((I’m guessing these RPs with @oxidethehedgehog are much stranger when you acually know who these bands are and what these evens were, and you think of it as real people with sonics instead of just vague band names with vague members. But this time, we left some things unresolved, since we’re probably gonna come back to this string anyways :P))

It wasn't that the Amphetamines didn't want to do a US tour. But circumstances kept piling up. Jason's parents not allowing him to go on tour that far away, ticket fares being too high for the band to afford, and trying to set club dates and such was near impossible for them. But most of all, Manic insisted they all stayed around to help Scourge out. And as winter turned to spring, and later to summer, Scourge was finally starting to make progress. Manic, Scourge and Oxide were all sitting around in the van Scourge lived out of, Scourge practicing the same few chords on his guitar over and over again. They'd taken a driving break from one of their mindless, aimless road trips in the parking lot of some gas station on the middle of the highway. "Don't know," Scourge said, fumbling between switching chords as Manic tried to move his fingers for him. "Gives me somethin' to do." "You need to hold the A string tighter," Manic said, pushing his fingers down. "I mean, you said you aren't doing AS much, right? That's good, you're getting somewhere." "Dude, with him, not doing as much is basically him doing enough for 2 people. Then again I shouldn't be talking now, should I?" He laughed, slurping down a drink he got from the gas station. Oxi was thinking about the US tour, Jason was now 18, so he could just tell his parents to fuck off and Napalm is now 17. Oxi himself was 19 at this point. "Fuck it, let's rob a place, take a trip to America, no gigs planned and offer to play when we find gigs," Oxi said. They had had a record out too, some were sold in America while most were sold in Europe. Scourge just grunted. The drugs were a weak point, and his damage with Oxide ran too deep to be cleared up with a road trip. "You know I'm weird with that stuff," Manic admitted. "I wanna be straight when we're paying for the band... I'm still a thief, ain't I?" He smiled and laughed, taking his hands off Scourge's and letting him take control of the chord practice. "I guess I'm down. We probably shouldn't rob from someplace in town if we're jetting, go for somewhere outta the city instead. Somewhere far away..." His attention turned to the gas station... and back again. "Nah, this place can't afford a working sign. Let's go for something more fancy. That sound good, Scourge?" "Sounds good to me," he admitted. "Damnit, how do you play this crap at any speed..." He said vaguely to Oxide, more just expression frustration at himself for fumbling a basic D chord. "You just gotta take alot of it, and when your boyfriend kicks you off that you turn to cocaine and beer" He said, cracking open another can after saying that. Next thing they knew, they were running as fast as they could back to Manic's van. Scourge and Oxi had stolen from a pretty wealthy individual so they made quite the killing. "GOGOGO GOGOGO!!!" Oxide screeched. He threw the bag of money and jewels into the back seat before jumping into the trunk. "We're going, we're going!" Scourge shouted from the driver's seat, already revving the engine. Manic looked behind the three at whoever they'd just robbed. Why was a woman in torn jeans and a cheap jacket just walking around some small with an expensive handbag full of cash and small jewelry? It didn't even look like it was all expensive, some of it looked like cheap metals and glass stones. Even the bills were in wildly different amounts... ... "I think we robbed another thief." Manic took off one of the trio's thieving masks and jumped into the front seat of the van, which was already starting to move. They sped down the street of some small city off the first highway exit they found. And as they went, they noticed police surrounding a jewelry store with both front window displays busted in with what appeared to be large rocks. "Smash and grab?" Scourge scoffed at the sight. "Amateur..." "Yah, Smash, kill, destroy, grab then burn is so much better." Oxi laughed, taking off a pig mask as they ended up slowing down so that way the police didn't start chasing them for speeding. They weren't far out, but they felt the need to drive back home. Their thievery masks were shoved back into the hiding space of the van, for whenever they'd next need them. They got to the practise space and dumped out the jewels, money and everything else the women had. "Yah she was definitely a thief." Oxi said, pulling out a map of Manchester with circles drawn everywhere, some had X's through them. "How much do you think this is worth?" Oxi asked, looking at Scourge then Manic "Yeah, how much is a fifty pound note worth again?" Manic asked, pulling one of the many bills out of the pile. Scourge just chuckled and the three got to sorting. "Alright, about 460 in bills down here," Scourge said. "What's that worth?" "All this crap," Manic said, patting one pile of rings and small bracelets, "is worthless. They're kids jewelry. It's useless. This mess?" Manic patted another pile, visibly shinier and glistening more. "Nothing spectacular in there, but we can probably pawn it off for... 200, 250?" "But this..." Manic reached over and picked up the map from Oxide's hands, marked with various theft locations all helpfully mapped out. "This is priceless..." Oxi smirked. "Well, looks like we could maybe get this tour underway sooner than we thought." Then, Napalm came walking in. "Hey guys, my parents are taking me to America, I'll be gone for a month, I could find us some places to play. We'll be going to New York, Boston, and Washington DC, then we'll go to Texas, then to California." Napalm said. "I'll make sure to go from club to club and get their numbers so we can call 'em up." Napalm continued "That sounds fucking awesome." "Rad!" Manic added. Napalm seemed absolutely unsurprised to see the three handling what was very obviously stolen goods. This was just normal for them. "How about you take some tapes and you play 'em for club owners, see what-" Manic cut himself short as he realized the implications. "Wait, a whole month? Uh... We're gonna need a new bass player." "I'm here, ain't I?" Manic just grinned at Scourge's comment. "Dude, you're learning fast, but we play faster. And you're not learning bass. Though I guess we could stop playing local for a little while... I dunno, what're you thinking, Oxi?" "Dude, even Scourge can play bass, let him play bass, besides, no one can ever hear it anyway." Oxi snickered. "When are you leaving?" Oxi asked, looking at Napalm. "Now. Bye guys, see yah in a month...." He went over, took a couple of tapes with him and left the building. Oxi went over and handed Napalm's bass over to Scourge. Scourge initially seemed smug as he was handed the bass. Then he realized just how many strings there were. He attempted to strum a chord built for guitar, and ended up with some discordant mess of sound. "Shit..." "I didn't mean I don't want him to learn," Manic said. "I mean, he won't be playing fast enough in a month. He just isn't that good." Manic winked at Oxide, to let him in on his little scheme. "Besides, even if we're crappy, we're crappy very fast. I don't know if you could handle playing at those speeds." "Yah man, maybe we should just make him play but with the amp unplugged, or cut off all the strings and have him mime while playing to a backing track." Oxide laughed, this was fun, making Scourge feel pressured into learning. "What, one bad chord means all that?" Scourge growled out, his grip on the guitar neck tightening. "I'll show you 'not that good.'" Scourge stood back, and looked around the room. He was starting to get used to the way to hold a normal guitar, a bass didn't feel too different. Among the various homemade or purchased posters, random clippings, and graffiti Manic and Oxide had plastered on the wall were a few helpful guides, including a page of bass chords Napalm used. Scourge stood back, skipping the steps of learning to hold the guitar correctly and getting accustomed to the strings, and started out with basic chords. "What're you up to?" Manic said as though he didn't already know. "Gimme a month, then tell me I ain't fast enough." Scourge said, intently focused on the chords and his fingers. Manic silently turned to Oxide with a smug glare, as if to say, 'it totally worked, mate.' "Dude, you don't play chords, you play the root note, which is basically just the note that the chord starts with." Oxi said. "If I play a 3 bar power chord, you play the string my index finger is on." He picked up his guitar and showed him how to play to his guitar. "Yeah man, you can't jump in without learning basics." Manic added. Manic just leaned against the wall in the practice space and watched as Scourge and Oxide shot back and forth with basic guitar skills. "Like this?... ...'N what about... ...Lemme retune..." and similar were mumbled by Scourge regularly. Rehabilitation had taught him some patience... if not a lot. "...Yeah, it's pretty much just a normal guitar without the B and E strings," Manic would bring up at one point later in the practice. "I dunno," he smirked at Oxide, making his mischief more obvious. "You think he's actually gonna be able to do this?" "Fuck yeah, I am." Scourge said like it was a flirt. Another attempt at a basic B chord. Nowhere near as crisp as Napalm was, but for a beginner, perfectly acceptable. For hours, both Oxi and Scourge played back an forth. Scourge was slowly getting it and Oxi was surprised. Though he couldn't play nearly as fast as Napalm, and if he did try, it was nowhere near as crisp. Another few hours go by and Scourge and Oxi could finally play a single song at the proper speed with Scourge fucking up. But practice took time. A lot of time. Scourge was determined to prove their jabs wrong, and he was starting to play fast. Even if he absolutely shouldn't have been at his experience level, and even if he was fumbling, he was getting somewhere as all that time passed. "Oh my god, it's eight." Manic realized how late it had gotten far too late in the game. Manic had made several runs to get food or drinks, mostly to make sure the two were eating rather than for himself, but he didn't realize how much time was passing. "Crap... How're you playing as a newbie without messing up your fingers?" "Hm?" Scourge looked at his hand, most of his fingers covered in small cuts and splashing small amounts of blood on the guitar. "Fuck, didn't notice." "Christ oh mighty. Does it hurt?" Oxi asked, looking at the bloodstained strings and fret board, then back to Scourge, who didn't look to worried, just kinda 'oh, that happened.' "Smarts," He said, putting down the guitar and scrubbing up some of the blood with the bottom of his shirt. "I've had worse." He turned around and lifted his shirt. They'd seen him without it before, but this was the first time they'd been allowed to look at the three nasty gashes across his chest. "Got in a fight with a friend. These ones're from him clawing my chest open." He said, pointing to the topmost two. "I was driving when he cut me, bloody psycho... Swerved into a lorry. That's how this third one happened." He pulled the shirt down, and looked at his fingers. "I mean, I know we're teasing you, but you really have to get your fingers to calice before playing like that," Manic added. "Hasn't this orange punk bled on stage?" Scourge added, pointing lazily at Oxide. "Ain't that part of the show?" "Kinda." Oxi said "I would play till my fingers bled when I was playing guitar at age 10. Isn't scourge like 30? I think he'll be alright." Oxi shrugged it off, though those scars made Scourge look pretty hot. He liked the dangerous kind of look that Scourge gave off, plus he wasn't bone thin anymore. "HEY." Scourge barked, almost offended. "Only 21 over here. Do I look like the kinda guy to buy beer underage?" His anger shifted towards humor as he spoke, even laughing as he finished. Few things could cheer up Scourge as much as his own humor. Manic seemed in thought while Scourge made his usual jokes. "Do you think Jason already knows where Napes is going? We should probably tell him we're teaching Scourge." There was a beat, before Manic perked up again. "Right, you gonna camp out behind here again, dude?" "Nah, gonna try to talk to Fiona again." He said simply. He still wasn't over her, it seemed. Manic just looked over at Oxide, and shrugged. Fiona would break up and get together with Scourge time and time again. But Fiona hadn't made any moves to get together with Scourge. Whatever happened between them, it was massive. "Is Sonic still with Fiona, or is he now fucking Amy now? Cause I saw him with her a week ago. No Fiona in sight, and they were holdin' hands." Oxide looked over at Manic. "You kidding me, he was with Sally a few days ago." Manic shrugged. "I think he's open, I dunno. I think he talked about Fiona-" "Fiona ain't with him," Scourge interrupted. "And if she is, I'm crushing Sonic's face in." Scourge stormed out, leaving Manic and Oxide alone with their gossip. "He's delusional," Manic started. "Fiona HATES him now. I don't know what he did to her, but they aren't getting back together." "Scourge needs to let go of the past. And I dunno. I also saw him with Blaze too. They were kissing in an alleyway while I was picking up a pack of beer," he said as he cracked open another can of the sauce. "I think he's turning into a bit of a player, or he's just a bachelor." Oxi shrugged, chugging the beer and cracking open another. "They probably all know," Manic said, reaching for a drink himself. "He's pretty much a good guy, he's not gonna cheat on anyone." The two were sitting against the wall of the practice space now, the purse with the stolen goods and the beer they had in reaching distance. As he drank, he reached over and relaxed one arm around Oxide's shoulder. "Besides, why's he need to date four people?" Manic said, taking a small drink. "Though I guess he's not getting someone as perfect as you~" Oxi chuckled, giving him a kiss. "Thanks babe~" He smiled at him, resting an arm around his shoulder as well as they relaxed. The next day. Scourge came back in. "Hey Scourge, smash Sonic's head in?" Oxi asked, looking at him. Scourge gave an annoyed, almost defeated grunt to match his annoyed glare and defeated stance. A clear no. "So what happened, dude?" Manic said, putting down his sticks. "She hurled a rock at me," Scourge scowled, impatient to talk to Oxide. "You got any kinda uppers? Hangover's killing me..." Oxide passed him a bag of cocaine. "Put your face in and inhale through the nose dude...." He said, grabbing another bag of cocaine and stuffing his nose in it, inhaling before pulling out. Scourge laid out a small amount on one of the back prep tables, and snorted it deftly. He brushed his hand under his nose and seemed to perk up almost immediately. "Thanks, kid." He said, closing the back and chucking it towards Oxide. The effects came into play quickly for him. "Alright, but really, dude." Manic added as Scourge went to pick up Napalm's bass. "What happened? I thought you and Fiona ran away together, what did you do to her?" Scourge said nothing, tuning the guitar and leaving the silence to linger. "That's none of your business," he finally said. "Where're we starting?" Oxi put down the bag of cocaine and picked up his guitar. "Here." He started playing 'Killing (people for fun)' with it's rapid fire downstrokes for the entire song. He could tell Scourge was having trouble constantly downstroking. "Just go up down up down if you find it difficult to go down down down down" Oxide said. "Looks better playing like this," Scourge grunted out, intently focused. Despite how little he was saying, it was clear he was enjoying playing. Something about the energy, the volume, it was exciting to him. Practice didn't feel like practice just yet. "Hey, guys, I'm gonna talk with Sonic for a bit," Manic said, motioning towards the door. "I'll be back eventually." Scourge nodded and Manic was off... but not to Sonic. He drove away from his house, actually, towards a more familiar house a little over a mile away. By the time the door opened, Manic had it all prepared. "Hey, Jason." Manic said, talking to his band mate at his front door. "Uh, can you help me with something? I'm trying to learn some things about Fiona, but she'd probably kill me if she saw me in person. She doesn't hate you, think you can ask some questions for me?" "Fine" He then walked past Manic and down the road. Meanwhile at the practise space. Oxi and Scourge were sitting next to each other, doing blow and drinking. Oxi got on his hands and knee and threw up everywhere. After cleaning his system, he cracked open another and chugged. "You ain't got a limit on you, do you?" Scourge shot back, smiling. "Least it wasn't on my jacket this time." Scourge was amped up enough. He put down his baggie and went back to his drink. There was a tinge of concern- No, they're couldn't have been. Scourge wasn't a soft guy, he wasn't gonna be concerned cause someone threw up. ...Right? Manic, on the other hand, was very open about being concerned. Jason could have seen that from a mile away. They were parked outside of a small brick house Manic knew very well, just out of sight of the front door. "Okay, if it's Sonic, tell him you wanna talk to Fiona, right?" Manic instructed him. "Just tell her you heard Scourge was cheating on her, she'll probably spill. Got it?" "Ok....." Jason said, getting out of the car and walked up to the door, knocking on it as he waited for an answer. Back at the space, Oxide and Scourge had their amps cranked and Scourge was showing signs of improving, that is, until Scourge's bass amp when 'PHOOM!' and that was it. It didn't create any other noise, it was dead. It was turned on, but the speakers were fucked. "Ah shit...." "Did I fuck up?" Scourge said, looking over the guitar. But Oxide's gaze was on the amp. "We've got the money for a new amp," Scourge added, motioning for the bag they'd stolen. He took out some of the bills, and stuffed them in his pocket. "Wanna go for a ride?" Scourge said, pulling out his car key. Scourge lead Oxide towards the van, the two sitting in the front seat. "You know anything else that'll calm me down?" Scourge asked as they pulled out of the alley and started driving towards a cheap music store they weren't banned from. "Staying calm keeps me off crack, and I'm getting bored of drinking all the time." Manic wanted to rip off his face in frustration, not being able to hear a thing Jason and Sonic were talking about. But he couldn't blow his cover. "I need to talk to Fiona." Jason said. "Why?" Sonic asked, leaning against the door frame. Jason just pushed Sonic out of the way and went into Sonic's room, their lied Fiona. Reading in the bed. Oxi pulled out a joint, and a couple of acid blotters. "This should help." He said, giving him the joint while he took 2 hits of acid. "You ain't takin' acid while drivin', I don't want this trip to be my last. Both literally and figuratively." Scourge took a pull from the joint, letting the calm vibes take over. He didn't want to say thank you to Oxide, but they were starting to tolerate each other. Their driving slowed down, and they found themselves comfortable cruising along at legal speeds for once. They were in and out of the store quickly, but Scourge pulled over the van on some back road and re-lit the joint. "Feels good," he said simply, letting them both lay back and relax. Fiona threw down the magazine. "Who are you?" She shot at Jason, clearly not recognizing him. "Sonic didn't say he had any friends with him." "Fiona, Scourge is cheating on you, saw him with some guy, in drag too. They were fucking in Scourge's van." He said to Fiona, that seemed like a truthful enough thing that Scourge would do. "I know right? I can feel the acid taking over dude...." he said, sitting back in the car seat as he stared into the void. Letting the hallucinations take over his vision and put him on a psychedelic rollar coaster from universe to universe. Scourge didn't even use a full blotter, just enough to test the waters. His vision was going hazy, but he could feel the effects taking over. Him and Oxide were relaxing more and more on some path of dirt no one would ever drive down. "Fuck... how'd you find this stuff?" He said with a strangely happy smile. He reclined his seat back and smiled, stretching his arms across the headrests. His arm crossed Oxide's shoulder, but the two were too relaxed to care. It seemed the haze had made them forget about their normal disdain. They were just two guys, doing whatever they wanted and relaxing... ... Fiona just scoffed while Sonic snuck up behind Jason. "You think I'm bothering with Scourge?" She said, laughing off the thought. "I'm not gonna hang out with some asshole addict." Sonic hopped on the chance to insult scourge. "He's a violent narcissist, kid, don't hang out with him. And don't break into my house. "A violent, cheating asshole with drug issues," Fiona added. "Of course he fucked some guy in drag, he fucks whoever he wants, hon. He doesn't care about if they're taken or not..." And that was still true that day. The effects of the drugs were starting to wear off, and Oxide and Scourge realized exactly what they'd done while high. For a little while, a drug-induced stupor made them forget their issues in the backseat of Scourge's van... "I ain't telling Manic," Scourge promised, zipping up his pants and awkwardly looking away. "Come on, let's just forget about this..." Oxi pulled him back towards him, kissing him. Scourge squirmed a little, but it seemed not all of his strength was back as Oxi managed to keep him in the tight hug. He pulled away, a saliva string forming as he did. "I ain't forgettin' about this. To be honest, I wouldn't mind a 3 way relationship. Plus, the benefits of those can be very rewarding~" Scourge looked down at Oxide with surprise. "I don't care if you're cute," Scourge growled. "You saw me suffering from addiction and didn't do shit. I'm worth more than that." It was a blunt, fierce line, but he didn't seem to want to fight Oxide. He crept forward and slowly kissed him again, taking in the moment. He loved physical attention, he couldn't deny it. "Come on, we're jetting." Scourge said, crawling into the front seat of the van, not even waiting for Oxide to move up front before revving the engine. Manic and Jason were hanging out in Manic's place, practicing their instruments. Some cracked old towel had been left over the vomit Oxide had left. "He said their relationship was open!" Manic reiterated while taking a chance to adjust his seat. "Honestly, I don't buy it. Fiona's hiding something." "Idk, and I don't care...." Jason said, tuning his guitar, seeing the E string snap. "Fuck...." Oxide laid in the back of the van, sleeping peacefully as Scourge drove all over the place Scourge was driving mindlessly, thinking about what had just happened. Damnit...! Of everyone he could have- No, he till had to show him up. HE still had to learn Bass guitar in an insane time frame. But he was starting to get the basics, and if he didn't practice, he wasn't gonna get better. So he drove back to the practice space, noting not to mess with those drugs with Oxide around. "Yeah... Yeah, why DO I care?" Manic said, almost laughing it off. "It's her life! Besides, Scourge is a thief, can't get much worse than that already." The sound of the van pulling into the alley alerted Manic. "Oh yeah, uh, since Napalm's on vacation, Scourge wanted to try and learn bass to fill in. He's kinda got a long way to go, but he's getting... somewhere. That cool with you?" "Yah sure, oh by the way we got a show at that burger place, lets get there now. Exploited and the UK subs are waiting. Lets haul ass over there...." Jason said. Just then, Scourge and Oxi came in. But then found themselves back in the van, driving to the club. Scourge knew how to play most of their songs, just not very well. "Woulda been nice to know before," Scourge said, mildly concerned about making a fool of himself. "Alright, here's what we're gonna do." Manic said, as though he had this all planned. "Scourge, you're playing quieter than us. Don't bother with all that down strumming showy stuff, just play. Up, down, like a normal guitarist. We're turning everyone else's amps all the way up. Just pretend you're killing it." Scourge nodded in agreement, quietly thankful no one knew about his little mistake. Flaming Onions had set up a more permanent small stage, and slightly altered appearances. A slightly more rough joint, but with the same food, and nothing that wasn't still family friendly. Simply something to fit the normal punk crowd more. Scourge followed the band members in as though he belonged... though with as many shows of theirs as he saw, he might as well have been a permanent member anyways. "So, what, how's set up work? What's sound check, what's all that crap?" "Just haul your amp onstage, and we'll play through a song. When the soundguy tells you to play something, you play, alright?" Oxide told Scourge as he hauled the guitar amp onto the stage. They played soundcheck and then hung around the restaurant. Eating, drinking, and doing coke in the bathroom. For once, Scourge was staying away from Oxide completely, meaning he wasn't gonna be coked up for the performance. Though with how lucky he was going to need to be to not make a fool of himself, not being high was probably a better idea. "You nervous, dude?" Manic said, sitting around and nibbling on fries as they waited for their set to start. "We'll be fine, don't worry." Scourge was still looking away. "Don't get angry at me." He said, surprisingly humbly for something out of his mouth. "Me an' Oxide went to pick up an amp, and..." "Took acid and smoked alotta pot, too!" Oxi came into the picture, coked outta his lil' punker head. "Come on guys, UK subs are about to go on. Lets go...." Oxi said, going over to the dance area. Scourge took it as a sign. "Kid knows a lot of things about drugs. Knows how to keep things fun, I'll give him that." He added, watching Oxide as he went to the dance area. "Let him tell his side, dude." Manic added. "He's an awesome guy when you get to know him." Scourge grunted in response, impatient to get their set started. Manic just huffed, and followed Oxide's steps. The slam still hadn't been invented yet, a lot of people still pogo'd, though it was a little more chaotic as people would bump into each other. Next were The Exploited, then it was the Amphetamines turn. "We are the amphetamines and we're here to make you think about death and killing yourself you fucking faggots!" Oxide screamed into the mic, beginning to play. Halfway through the first song, 2 strings broke on Oxides guitar, the E and the A. He put down his guitar and just sang The immediate response was confusion, even a little laughter from the audience as they kept playing. The immediate response from the band was terror. Scourge was barely passable enough to play quietly behind the three of them, how was he supposed to play not that anyone could hear them?! They needed to get Oxide a new guitar to play, but they couldn't motion for anyone to grab one in the middle of their set. They just needed Scourge to be competent for long enough to get a new one. And so far, he was dealing. Seemed that the one-man sound crew was already off into the back room to find a guitar. Scourge wasn't playing half as much for show as Manic and Jason were, but he was at least playing the right notes so far. Scourge just needed to be like Sid Vicious, jump around alot and use that to hide the fact that hes playing the bass as well as someone who has no fingers. "Gun drawn, they all run bullets fire, time is up the civs, they're gunned down with the cop standing proud The cops will hunt you down Spot you, in the crowd They'll cuff you, thrown into the cell welcome, to your living hell Police with their batons they then draw their guns They're all having fun Shooting at the civs that run" Oxides vocals were, as usual, growling, no bullshit, and loud. And they were very audible, he didn't mumble through them like alot of early Hardcore punk vocalists, he could ennunciate them quite well. Manic's drumming went more complex out of the blue, Jason's playing following in suit. At least the crowds didn't seem to notice Scourge was sub-par yet. At least. At the very minimum. This 'wall of sound' approach had more perks than they thought. The girl who ran soundcheck returned from the storage area with a borrowed guitar, tuned by some of the other bands hanging around after their sets. She plugged it in and delivered it to Oxide like a guardian angel who was looking after an entire punk band for no good reason. Manic would have breathed a sigh of relief, but he just had to hope it was tuned up proper... and it was going to sound good compared to how his other guitar played. Oxide began playing, that's when the guitar went out. "What the fuck?" He played the guitar for 10 seconds and 'whoops, sorry, i'm dead now'. Like what the shit is going on? Oxi turned off his amp, unplugged and gave it back to the lady. No more guitar for him, it was just singing now. The three other band members looked between themselves. Manic and Jason knew they'd be carrying the sound, and Scourge looked confused about what to say. Manic took the last moment before their song started to shout something at Scourge. "You're a performer! PERFORM! Ham it up!" Their next song started similarly, with Jason and Manic fancying up their playing styles to keep the focus on their playing. Scourge started with his usual playing, but those words stuck with him. So he started closing his eyes a little more, moving around a little more. And that devilish smirk soon came back to him as he realized just how much more fun it was to focus on the performance than his playing. Manic and Jason may have been controlling the instrumentation, but Oxide and Scourge were in charge of the show. "These assholes fuck with my head These assholes I want them dead These assholes they don't care These assholes won't get outta my hair" Oxide was constantly moving, his hair waving about, jacket was off. No shirted and chain used as a belt. The crowd was going all over the place, not slamming, just jumping about. The show ended after 45 minutes of mayhem, 2 guitars not working 13 minutes into the set and Manics cymbals kept falling down. But they managed to pull it off, even if they just barely did so. "That was amateur," Manic said, exhausted physically and mentally. "Like, I know we're amateurs, but that was amateur." Manic wasn't relaxing as much as the rest of the band. He kept looking over his cymbals. They were just as sturdy as before. He couldn't see anything wrong, at least. Maybe he was just unlucky? Scourge wasn't half as exhausted. It seemed midway through the show, he'd found a love for showing off on stage, even if he didn't have many skills to show off. He was grinning widely and putting back on the jacket he through off during his little performance. "Speak for yourself," Scourge said. "That was perfect." "Yah, for someone that sucks at bass." Oxi laughed, he had a can of pepsi, which was hiding the fact that there was beer in it. "But seriously though, I'm surprised you didn't shit yourself there" He said as he chugged the pepsi, before filling another pepsi under the table with beer. Manic didn't notice all of the beer he was drinking. Hell, he was still trying to figure out what was wrong with his cymbals. "I don't suck at bass, I suck with style." Scourge said as though he was proud of that fact. "It's gonna take more than two busted guitars to make me give up." "Yeah, speaking of guitars," Manic said, standing up and looking at the three, "you sure your guitar's alright? I mean, two strings broke thirty seconds in? You sure they weren't, like, messed with or something?" "I don't fuckin' know man. All I know is I'm gonna re string my guitar when we get back home. And Scourge, if you said 'you suck with style'.....I don't think any of us would doubt that~" He burst into laughter, others got in on the joke and laughed as well. Scourge didn't seem shaken. "Like you'd ever know," he shot back without hesitation. "Girls, you're both pretty," Manic said to Oxide and Scourge, not wanting to put up with more of Scourge's bickering. "Come on, that disaster's over, and we're alive. Somehow." He leaned up against Oxide, reaching for his cup of some crappy fountain drink. "We can forget tonight ever happened, and we'll make Scourge a less crappy musician." "I'll make myself less crappy," Scourge said. "I don't need any help with that." "Dude, you need all the help you can get," Manic responded. Scourge just glowered at him, before nodding his head and realizing what he said was entirely true. "We should go down to a liquor store, rob it for as much alcohol as we can get our hands on, and get absolutely wasted~" Oxi said with glee, finishing his 'Pepsi' before getting up to take a leak. They then found themselves running back into the van after breaking into a liquor store at 2AM and driving away back to the practise space. "ALCOHOL!" Oxide screamed as they sped down the road. Scourge was once again behind the wheel, Manic sitting in the backseat with Oxide and laughing as he looked at that map the trio had stolen a few days before. "Oh man, I TOLD you to trust me!" Manic said to Scourge. "We'd be just as good at the store down by the laundry place," Scourge said as he focused on driving as fast as possible. "Eh, it's local. This place was on the other side of the city! And who drives across the city to rob a cheap liquor store?!" Manic said with a slowly growing grin. He leaned over and gave their screaming partner a kiss right on the cheek, sharing his excitement. "You never get sick of doing that crap, do you?" Even scourge was grinning more and more, as he realized just how far they had to go to get home... and what a chance he had to drive at his favorite insane speeds through the city. It didn't take long before all three were energized and happy from the outcome of their sudden theft. Oxi got out of the van. Running into the practice space and putting all the alcohol onto the nearby table. "Holy shit we're gonna get so fuckin' wasted man," Oxi laughed, all energized from all the cocaine he'd had after the show. After all the alcohol was put onto the table, they looked at the table that was covered with bottle and cans. You couldn't even see the table, there was so much alcohol that they had to move some to the ground. "Holy shit......" Oxi said, looking at the sauce. "God damn..." Manic laughed loudly. "We ain't going back there. Cheers, guys!" Manic instinctively reached for a bottle of something fruity and sweet, Scourge more randomly going for the first thing his hands touched. A can of some kind of stout, it ended up being. Manic threw himself towards one of the few folding metal chairs they'd had rusting away in here for only a few weeks, and popped the cap off. "MmmMMPH!" Scourge said, almost spitting out the beer he tried. "Ah man, that's so rough- God damn, that's terrible!" He laughed, taking a smaller sip and not really caring. Manic just smirked at his failure and opened up his own bottle of whatever the hell and leaning up against Oxide again. "Man, you know, we're real good thieves," he said, clearly plotting something. "We could totally pull off a string of thefts if we wanted... we'd just need some locations... maybe some helpfully marked locations on a stolen map... But that can wait for when we aren't getting plastered." Manic was a bit of a lightweight, but he drank slowly enough he wouldn't get drunk TOO quickly. Oxide was not holding back AT ALL! He was slamming bottles and cans back. Shotgunning cans and chugging. He was gonna get fuckin' shit faced. He went to take a leak like 7 times in 2 hours with how much he was drinking. How was his body keeping up with that? He was drunk off his ass yet he was still drinking. That is until he got to the point where he spilt more beer than he did drink, and ended up throwing up everywhere. "MmmmMMM, fuccck," Manic would be grumbling out at this point, holding down the much more inebriated Oxide with a silly smile. "You've gottta stooop, dude, don't think you'd survive anotherrr~" Scourge wasn't the kind of happy, social drunk Manic was. He simply looked more relaxed, leaning back and letting the calm feelings take over. "I'mma go up stairs and get a... get some kinda food." Manic's stumble up the stairs was slow and janky, leaving Oxide alone with a laughing and smiling Scourge. He didn't seem half as abrasive as he usually did in this state. Oxi couldn't help take his eyes off Scourge, he was so damn hot, how could he? Wasn't a crackhead, had actual muscle, and just looked really sexy all together. It would be so hot if the 3 of them stripped down and fu- "HURK! *Splatter*" Oxi threw up again, washing the perverted thoughts out of his mind as he focused more on not falling into his vomit as he bent over to upchuck all the alcohol he was having. "You little... Heh...!" Scourge mumbled out, struggling to his feet at the sight and trying not to step in the vomit. "You're such an ass... you got it all over that stupid shirt." Scourge couldnt'e ven read the shirt, he was too inebriated. "Lemme grab you something from my van." He was struggling to his feet and stumbling towards the door. "Come on, help me pick somethin' out." "S-Sure....." He stumbled his way to the outside, only to end up tripping over a crack and faceplant. "Aw fuck....." He slowly picked himself up and leaned against the wall, upchucking more vomit. "If I don't take a leak now I'm gonna burst, be right back." He then went into the alleyway. He came back out and went to the van. "A....Allllright man.....whaaa.....what do you want.....me to.......to.......pick out?" He asked, looking at Scourge. Jesus christ they were hammered, though Oxi was way drunker due to him drinking so much, and for being smaller in size when compared to Scourge. Scourge had opened the back of his van. Scourge had a much larger pile of clothes in his van than previously, part of his effort to not be as crappy. His t-shirt pile was mostly shirts from small bands that had played around the city, not to mention one for the Amphetamines, of course. But there were a lot of names to sift through, and Oxide had barely heard of most of them, if at all. Seemed the punk subculture had made it so he wasn't listening to different types of rock. But they were too plastered to think about that. Especially Scourge, whose inebriation was starting to take over again. He felt up Oxide in a moment of drunken weakness. "Hey... hey, punk, you wanna... How about you go without a shirt?" Oxi, due to his drunkeness, took off his shirt. He was too wasted to take into consideration what he was doing at the moment. He threw it to the ground and sat on the edge of the van, trying to focus. "Fuuuuuuck i'm sooooooo waaaaaasteeeeeed........" He groaned, holding his head and looked up at Scourge. "You're sooo cuuuute," Scourge fflirted mimicing Oxide's slur as he looked down at him. The alcohol had taken over, and the parts of his brain that normally would have gone into overdrive telling him not to like anything about Oxide were dulled. Besides, he loved someone who knew how to drink and have fun... ... ◇        ◇        ◇        ◇ The doors to the van were closed. Scourge and Oxide were too hungover to want to move much after waking up. And they both knew why their clothes were gone. "Fuck you," Scourge grumbled through his headache as he held his head in his hand. "Stop trying to get with me, punk." "Your the one telling me to take my clothes off......" Oxi grumbled, not letting go of his grip on Scourge though. "I was too drunk to think properly...." Seems he didn't mind the cuddling. He did mind the wicked hangover he had though, which caused him to move a hand up to his head. "Fuuuuuuck why did I drink so muuuuuuch?" he whined. Burying his face into Scourge's chest. "Get offa me, kid." Scourge demanded, but didn't make the move himself. He did like the attention, just not who it was coming from. He didn't want to move and push Oxide off, he just didn't want to move in general. "Fuck, I know... ...Besides, you were doin' coke like crazy again." Scourge and Oxide just laid where they were against Scourge's pile of shirt, and tried to wait off their hangovers. It clearly wasn't working. "I'd call for Manic, but..." Scourge thought for a moment. "You told him we fucked, right?" "No, why do you ask?" Oxi looked at Scourge, still clinging to him. Oxi laid there for a good while, not wanting to let go of his big green teddy bear. "He's your boyfriend- You guy's aren't open, right?" Scourge said, brushing back his quills. "He always said you ain't in an open relationship! Ah fuck, did he change and not tell me?!" "I don't think he would mind to be honest....But....just incase....let's hide it for now, let's try and ask Manic if he's up for an open relationship." Oxi said, giving Scourge a kiss before putting his pants on and stepping out of the van. Only to be met with.... "I heard you guys last night." Manic was standing there, arms crossed and completely pissed off. "Manic, I was plastered, an'-" "I'm not just angry at you, Scourge." Manic said, turning to look at Oxide. "It's one thing if you wanna screw him, but why didn't you tell me?! I promised Scourge, and I still asked you before letting him touch me! What the hell, man?!" "I was just as fucking wasted mate. I could barely fucking speak let alone say 'Hey dear, can I go fuck Scourge in the van?'" Oxi shot back. After that, no one said anything......it was just silence that followed. Manic begrudgingly realized the situation, and sighed loudly, although he was still clearly annoyed. "Fine... Fine, whatever, guys. Look, there's something up with my drums and your guitar and-" He took a long, deep breath. "I'm stressed out, alright? We'll stop talking about it, just grab your clothes and get in here. Napalm's already over, don't flash him." Manic hurried back into the practice space, leaving them both to get dressed. "Dude....are you sure you're not talking about Jason? Cause Napalm's in america...." Oxi looked at Manic funny, chuckling a bit and making a goofy face. "Christ, you still drunk as well?" He asked, walking in wearing a pair of pants and nothing else. "A lot's happening, alright?!" Manic said, huffing again. Sure enough, Jason was there, seemingly concerned. Scourge followed the two in, grabbing his jacket and pants. "Look at this mess," Manic said, running his fingers over Oxide's guitar and the four intact strings. "Right here, there's like- there's a nick in the wire?" Oxide felt over where Manic was touching the guitar. There was some kind of a cut across all four strings in the same place. "And my guitar's missing one of the, uh... The floor things, that gives it stability?" "So what? It's four strings and a piece of rubber." Scourge delivered. "The point is, someone messed with our equipment," Manic said sadly. "Last night wasn't an accident." Oxi was still dealing with a hangover. "We'll get them fixed. Are there any guitar shops we AREN'T banned from?" Oxi asked, looking around the room. "I can take it in and see if it can get fixed....." Jason said, in the corner of the room as he tuned his guitar. "See, that's why it's awesome to have you around, dude." Manic said, patting Jason on the back. "You aren't wanted for breaking every law." Manic was still a little hungover himself, but he'd at least drunk some water. Scourge and Oxide didn't have that luxury yet. "Who the hell'd want to sabotage our instruments? We're just some dumb band no one knows about, right?" "I don't know, maybe it's a bunch of 40 year old assholes wanting to fuck with a bunch of kids. Both literally and figuratively." Oxi shrugged, drinking some water before passing it to Scourge. "Guh," Scourge grunted in response before grabbing the bottle and chugging the water greedily. Manic sighed. "Whatever, we'll worry about that when we aren't hungover. And tired. And-" Manic smiled and looked down at himself. "And being pissy for no reason," he said, only really talking about himself. He could see Jason looking over the many, many bottles still on the back table. Sure, many of the cans were gone, but almost none of the actual bottles were touched. "Look, we're REALLY hungover right now, alright?" "Yah I can see...." He said, opening a bottle of vodka and chugging the entire thing. "............Jesus christ..." Oxi said under his breath, watching Jason down the entire bottle before passing out. "Oh for fucks sakes!" Oxi nearly yelled out. Manic just snorted and smile through his mild headache. Scourge grinned, but didn't dare laugh. He knew it would just make his head hurt even worse than it already did. "Alright, we're dragging him upstairs." Manic said, picking him up by his arms. "Oxide, grab his legs, I ain't doing this alone." He was curled up on top of the mattress Manic usually slept on, left to wake up whenever he wanted after his stupid stunt. "Alright." Manic said simply, bringing back some of his annoyance. "Dude... Dude, if you wanna sleep around, that's cool, but I do wanna know that stuff." He wasn't angry anymore, more annoyed at himself for his outburst. "Just lemme know if you're not already drunk." They were interrupted by some basic chords. By the sounds of it, Scourge was already in the practice space, intent on making himself a better bass guitarist after their mocking. "Alright babe. I'm sorry..." he said, pulling him into a passionate kiss, staying there for a while before they went back downstairs, hand in hand. "Hey Scourge, trying not to suck at bass?" Oxi asked, walking over to him. "Trying to play off this hangover," Scourge said, focusing on some more basic chords. Mostly the same ones he'd been shown the previous days, but with another one or two that were closely related. Now that he was getting the hang of the guitar, he realized just how similar it was to a normal guitar. Almost too simple, but the transition came easier for him than he expected. That wasn't to say he was able to play at a professional level just yet, but he was getting somewhere. "Have you ever played off a hangover before?" Manic was curious to this odd new method of brushing hangovers off. "Nope," Scourge said, "but I ain't got nothing better to do." "Hes got a point." Oxi shrugged, looking over his guitar. "It seems like it's only the strings that got fucked up....the rest should be alright...." He said, looking down the fret board. "Yah....looks like it...." He kept inspecting it though, just in case, cause it could be something else. "I mean, me and Jason didn't see anything." Manic admitted, walking over to his drums. "And my drums are working fine. They're probably just really crappy at screwing with instruments." Manic picked up his sticks and played some simple patterns. Nothing anywhere near as fast as they played in concert, more the music that would be expected from a couple of practicing amateur musicians. Bass parts written to help teach chords and similar, simple drum patterns more about flowing across the drum set. Down tempo, but still challenging in their own ways. And just from how long their practice carried on, well after his hangover cleared up, Scourge made it clear he wasn't taking those mild jabs lightly. He was determined to learn to play perfectly. Even when they cracked dumb jokes during practice, Scourge stayed dead focused on his fingers. Manic was instead focused on the number of times Oxide was leaving to take coke. Even for him, this wasn't normal. Oxi soon just kept a bag of coke with him. Along with a 6 pack. It didn't seem to affect his playing, or affect his looks either. He seemed healthy enough, maybe his body was getting used to taking incredible amounts of drugs. "Fucking facists March through the streets the men in blue, baton in hand they are your rulers, they aren't your friend March through the city, they rule the land! Facist! Facist! Ones in control Facist! Facist! March down the road Facist! Facist! Cave in your head Facist! Facist! All hope is dead!" And it seemed to be helping with Oxi's song writing as well. He always seemed to have new lyrics and guitar parts as well. Of course, these were Oxide's guitar parts for Oxide. The band would sometimes build songs around intentional harmonies, but for the most part, they were being made up as practice went along. Manic made this seem easy. Scourge did no. The lyrics were repeated time and time again, sometimes not even sung as they focused on some kind of a bass line. Eventually, by some chance of fate, Scourge had stumbled something together. It was a strange blend of not wanting to be hackneyed, but not having the talent to do anything complex. Anyone listening would know the chords were simple, but it was... interesting. Not nessecarily good or bad, but certainly an interesting string of notes. "Needs a better beat to it..." Scourge said to himself. "I dunno, I'm kinda digging it." Manic shot back. "Damn, Oxi, you keep pumping out new sets of lyrics. Where's all this coming from?" "LSD, cocaine and pot man." He smirked, putting his nose in the baggie of coke and taking an LSD blotter. "Be right back, gonna write like 10 songs worth of lyrics." He said before running upstairs. Skip ahead 2 hours and he had way more than 10 songs worth of lyrics. "Fuck, I hate the comedown of Cocaine, an hour long high and 2 hours worth of bleh and headache...." He whined. Putting the lyrics onto the table. "LSD was the last thing to keep me up there, but its starting to wear off...." He cracked open a beer and chugged it, crushing it in his hand and tossing it over his shoulder. "Alright, lets practice some more...." "You wanna keep your high, then don't drink a beer!" Manic laughed, picking up the sticks again. "That'll just make you tired, dude! Scourge, you practicing along this time?" Scourge was practicing hitting two simple notes one after the other, more to figure out getting more precise quick motions. The same two notes, again and again, mostly keeping time but faltering slightly. "Can't get these bloody notes right." He said without breaking patterns. How was he paying for all this stuff? Manic had no idea, but he wasn't taking the band's money or getting hurt, so it wasn't his business. Scourge stayed unplugged as Oxide screamed out some of his newer lyrics and Manic wailed along with him. Scourge just stayed to the side at the metaphoric kid's table, trying to get something much more basic correct. There was an anger fueling in his mind forcing him to be better. Even if they weren't master musicians, seeing people this good at their craft was only fueling his anger and need to get better... "Your fingers are bleeding again." Practice stopped as Scourge kept playing through his thin trickles of blood. "Don't care," he growled, only using the comment to fuel his need to play. "Man, good thing you aren't on cocaine, or else you'd be bleedin' twice as fast." He said, looking over to him and seeing the blood hit the floor, realising that he may have been doing cocaine. ".....Oooooook then....." He looked down at the small pools of blood. ".....Uuhhhhh......maybe we should take a break......" Oxi then looked over at Manic, wanting his opinion on this scene. "Yeah, dude." Manic stood up and went for the makeshift first aid kit they kept in the back area of the practice space. He came back with a roll of some old gauze tape. "Seriously, at least cover that up if you wanna keep playing, that's Napalm's guitar." "Don't tell me how to practice!" Scourge snarled out at them, splittle coming out at the initial yell. "Keep your fucking hand offa me!" "Okay, are you trying to piss me off, dude?!" Manic said. "You sleep with my boyfriend and yell at me for NOT wanting your blood everywhere? I live here!" "What're you gonna do?" Manic just stared back for a moment. "You can grab your own bass and come back when you realize you're being a dick." Manic said, leading Oxide out by his arm. "Don't bother showing up to practice." The moment him and Oxide were in the van, he flopped down on the old mattress in the back of the van, and exhaled deeply. "Sorry you saw that," Manic mumbled. "Dude needs to get over himself." "Looks pretty angry over us trying to help him." Oxi said, pulling Manic down with him onto the bed and pulling the covers over the 2 of them. "If he's gonna steal a bass, lets hope he doesn't get caught...." He snuggled up to Manic, kissing his cheek before closing his eyes so he could fall asleep. Daylight was still shining a little, but Manic wasn't too surprised. He was losing a high and drinking booze at the same time, not to talk about their practice. Manic didn't fall asleep, only pretending when Scourge stormed out and silently watching his van pull away from the building. Manic sighed and turned back to Oxide. What an odd guy. What an exciting, odd guy. Oxide would eventually come to in the middle of the night, Manic hurriedly shaking him awake. "Dude, remember saying you hoped Scourge wouldn't get caught?" he said, panicked. "I heard a music store got robbed on the radio, they said cops are in pursuit of a suspect. It's gotta be him, right?" "Oh for fucks sakes....We gotta help him don't we?......Shit....." Oxide grumbled, getting up and putting a shirt on as well as his shoes. "Come on Manic, can't lose our backup bassist, and I am using the term 'Back up bassist' pretty damn loosely." After Manic got in, they sped off to find, and help the ex crackhead they call their back up bassist. "Did it say what street he was going down?" He asked Manic, looking back for for a brief second before looking back at the road. Manic was fiddling with the radio, looking for any new information. "Said the car was rushing down fourteenth towards the-" Manic hushed immediately as he got the news station he'd been searching for. "...anyone in the Blackfriar area should be wary, as the suspect is believed-" "I know where he's headed," Manic said simply. "Let's go, we're saving his ass and chewing him out." Manic criss-crossed through alleyways and strange back roads to ship entire streets, until the areas of the city got grittier and grittier, and the chorus of police sirens was beginning to get louder. Manic quietly parked their van and turned off the lights in front of a nondescript building, a forgettable car in a row of forgettable cars. The two waited at the entrance to an alley... The moment they saw headlights, Manic rushed into the road and furiously pointed the car towards the alley the two were hiding out in. The headlights were off and the swerve was professional as Scourge's van quietly hid in wait for the police cars to pass. Just one problem. This clearly wasn't Scourge's car. The bat woman who stepped out was visibly pissed at them. She was dressed a bit tarty, but Manic didn't dare say anything, as the daggers she shot into them told them they'd somehow wronger her. As though they had... ... "So, boys," the woman said with plenty of sass. "Do you think I'll forget you both stealing my purse? I need that map back, too." "Aren't you Rouge the bat? Since when did you start selling your body~?" Seems like these 2 have a little bit of history behind them. "To answer your question, fuck you, we don't have it." Oxi shot back, flipping her off. "Charming." Rouge said, glowering back at him. "Now where's the map?" She definitely hadn't bought it. "We were just trying to help some guy we thought was- Why were you robbing a MUSIC store? Weren't all those circles jewelry stores, or auction houses, or something?" "So you have the map?" "So you have an answer?" Manic retorted? "For once, I'm not guilty, hun." She said, watching the last of the straggling police vehicles as they sped in pursuit of a car that wasn't out anymore. "A green hedgehog was running from the building. He told me to follow him, and... he lead me into a trap." "Green hedgehog? That's gotta be Scourge, right?" He noticed those sidelong glares Oxide kept giving Rouge. "Okay, wait. What's up with you two? You two know each other?" "She stole my pop tarts when I was 8........." Really Oxi? Jesus christ. Oxi had the most derpy face when he pointed to Rouge. As if he was still 8. Manic and Rouge both looked back at him in disbelief. Rouge shifted her posture, not taking off her sassy glare. "He stole my juice box," she growled back, no more over it than Oxide seemed to be. "You broke off the handle bars off my cousins bike, he ended up beating me up." What were they, 8? Oxi was a total child Oxi and Rouge bickered about past experiences for quite a while. But it seemed like they seen each other since grade school. "Okay, shut your faces!" Manic shouted all of a sudden. They stopped bickering for long enough for him to get a word in. "So Scourge is fine?" "Can't say for certain, but he's not the one in chase." Rouge said. "Now, about my bag-" "We saved you from the cops, ain't that repayment enough?" "No." She said simply. "Am I getting my jewels back or not?" "Come on, we're planning a tour, we need that cash!" Manic pleaded, but Rouge wasn't budging. ".......I got a better idea." Oxi said. He grabbed a baggie of cocaine and a sheet of acid. "This is worth about 100 pounds in total. That enough?" Oxi asked. "Do I look like an addict?" Rouge shot back, seemingly offended at the offer. "LOOK." Manic commanded. "You're dressed fancy, you're driving a fancy car, you clearly don't need the money right now. We do need the money right now. Just treat it like cash, alright? We saved you from the cops and gave you a hundred bucks, just take it and go, lady. Wouldn't want the cops getting tipped off about the thief, eh?" Rouge glared back, and snatched the drugs from Oxide's hands before storming to her car without another word. "Do you just have a pocket for huge amounts of drugs, or something?" MAnic asked on eh walk back to their van. "Like, you always have so much with you." "I have a secret stash in the band van. It was for the tour. But it can work as a pretty good bribe too I guess. And also, a lot of it is bunk coke, meaning it doesn't do shit. I can make money off of selling shit cocaine. I just gave her a bag of the shit cocaine." He said as he closed the door and held Manic's hand, giving him a kiss. "Let's hope she doesn't find out it's bad 'til we're in the US," Manic said, amused at the kiss and responding by giving Oxide one of his own. "Scourge doesn't know crap about guitars. How crappy do you think the one he stole's gonna be?" "He probably bought some Chinese made knock off of a Fender. Now, they aren't bad, but they don't last, and the necks warp really easily." Oxi said, resting his head on Manic's shoulder. "Now off we go, I wanna cuddle with you in bed...." the tired little hedgie ordered. "Maybe he'll just bring back a plank with two pieces of string glued to it?" Manic joked as Oxide leaned on him. "Yeah, sorry about that. Come on, let's get to the practice space... ..." ◇        ◇        ◇        ◇ "I'm sorry." Scourge grumbled at the back entrance to the practice space. Night had come and gone, and early rays of run were shining low in the sky. "And why should I let you in?" Manic said, milking Scourge's sudden apology for his own amusement. "Oxide's still upstairs, and he wants to cuddle." "He always wants to cuddle." "Well, I wanna cuddle him, too!" The bickering carried on and ended up waking up his partner with the sounds of a begrudging yet still slightly genuine apology. "Yeah, I get you were just helping." He could hear Scourge say. "You are you letting me play with you guys or not?!" Oxi walked down stairs, in nothing but his boxer shorts. He walked up to Manic and brought his arms around them. "Let Scourge in. We gotta practice don't we?" Oxi said to Manic, gnawing on his shoulder sleepily. Scourge pretended to act casual, but there was still a relief to his posture. He hadn't screwed up enough that he wouldn't get to see Manic or Oxide again. Yet he was still fine with looking away while the two groggy hedgehogs nuzzled against each other. The two stood comfortably against each other while Scourge's new strings was slowly plucked and tuned. "Didn't know any of the brands, so I grabbed the one with the highest price." Scourge delivered. It was at least a pretty guitar, metallic red with a black pickguard. But the brand was some strange foreign brand that sounded on the better end of okay... but just okay. Hell, it fit the look, at least. "So you're really wearing that to practice?" Manic joked as Oxide kept walking into the practice space. "You're shameless." He sat down at his usual place in front of his drums, clearly not bothered by how little he was wearing. "What, think I'm wearing to much?" He asked, grabbing onto the elastic band of his boxers, about to pull them down as he looked at Manic with a very seductive face on him. Even going as far as to move his eye brows up and down. Manic snorted at the waggling eyebrows. "Surprised you're even wearing that, dude." He chuckled. "Wear what you want, ain't like we haven't seen you... ..." Manic didn't finish the sentence, slightly struck by what he was saying. Yeah, they'd all seen him without clothes. Everyone in that small space had seen each other without clothes. The realization struck Manic with something bizarre, something changing. He actually started to blush a little, but not from Oxide's comment. "Hey, uh- I guess we've all slept with each other, haven't we?" He was laughing nervously now. He wasn't sure if he should have been comfortable with that. Scourge stayed awkwardly quiet. Oxi took his guitar off and walked over to Manic. Giving him a smooch on the cheek. "Stop being so embarrassed about it, we've been doing this since 1978, at this point its normal~." He wanted to comfort Manic, though whether it was or not was a different story. "Come on now, lets practice, then we can be gay later and not feel embarrassed about it." The line did help. Just a little. Just enough for Manic to get back a genuine smirk. "You're practicing in your boxers. Ain't like we ain't already being gay and unashamed." Manic said, twirling his drumsticks in his hand. "Come on, guys, let's get this mess on the road." The sound of the new bass was a bit smoother than they may have preferred, but it didn't mesh poorly with the style. Actually, it added a strange contrast to the rough, raw playing style Oxide was using. That wasn't to say Scourge's playing wasn't rough, it simply came with a strange tinge to the sound that at least didn't take away from their sound. But they were more focused on just embracing the gay. And Jason would realize that when he would show up to practice, and find all three of them getting a laugh out of practicing down to their underwear.

Jason opened the door and saw everyone in their underwear. ".......Why didn't you guys tell me you all wanted to fuck, coulda given you guys some space....." Jason sighed, closing the door and set everything up. "Alright....Oxi?" Everyone turned to Oxi. "Right.... ONETWOTHREEFOUR!!!!" Practicing with the full band and the new bass sound helped them get a better picture of how the new sound was affecting their overall style. It have just a tiny bit more grounding than they usually had. Enough to keep the normal chaos of everyone else's playing more down to earth. Of course, grounded was relative for their style. VERY relative. Most of them still noticed the small change, even through Scourge's sub-par playing that was getting slightly less sub-par by the day. Jason was the only one that didn't notice the changes immediately, still seemingly skeeved by the shamelessness of the three. "Alright, guys, I think princess wants us to get dressed." Manic said, reaching down and grabbing his vest. "I'll put on one clothes, but that's it!" "Nice English Manic, soon you'll be able to pass kindergarten and move up to grade 1~" Oxi teased, putting on a pair of pants before strapping his guitar back on. Once everyone was clothed, it was back to practising. Oxi with his harsh guitar style and his harsher vocals. Scourge with his harsh-on-the-ears-in-the-way-that-hes-worst-than-the-rest-of-the-band bass playing, and the rest of the equally harsh but slightly better than Scourge playing styles. It passed slowly for Manic. Very, very slowly. He wanted the time to just be gone, but practice was always dragging out more and more. Maybe Scourge needed to practice a certain chord progression before getting back into normal speeds, or Oxide wanted to test out some new lyrics, or Jason wanted to beg Oxide to wear more clothes. Either way, there were constant distractions that drew it out for Manic. By the time practice was over, Manic leaned back and let out a drawn out, impatient sigh, happy to get his chance to talk. "I ain't that bad a player," Scourge joked in response. "You're getting somewhat better~" Oxi teased, going over to Manic and whispering something into his ear, that something was Oxide asking if he could kiss Scourge, and maybe cuddle. "Hey, actually, Oxi- Jason, we've gotta talk about something kinda serious. You mind if we get a little space?" When Jason has left, Manic sighed. "Kinda coincidental, man. Uh, I guess I've been thinking. You know, those times I slept with Scourge weren't just for him. And you know we've been through hell together. Maybe we should, uh..." Manic was jolted by feeling Scourge's arm around his waist. "You wanna have to boyfriends. Hell, Oxi had the same idea... and I ain't against it~" "I'm up for that~" Oxi said, wrapping his arms around Manic and Scourge, looking at the 2. Manic looked between the two guys with arms wrapped around him for a moment, slightly in disbelief. "Thanks, babe..." Manic said, leaning over and giving Oxide a kiss on the lips as thanks. "That the best you can do?" Scourge said to Manic when he pulled away. "Here's how you give a real kiss~" In a second, Manic found himself slammed against the wall, and even from a distance, it was clear Scourge's tongue was completely dominating Manic's. "Now come here, Oxi." Scourge said with a grin, motioning for the orange hedgehog. "Lemme see what you're made of~" Oxi smirked, walking over to Scourge. He tried to do what he did to Manic, but Scourge was way bigger than Oxi. So he just settled for letting his tongue dominate Scourge's. "MmmmMMM!" Scourge grunted, pulling away. "Damn, that ain't easy to do... maybe I'm not going hard enough on you." Manic clutched Scourge from his side, leaning his mouth close to Scourge's face. "You said you could dominate any guy... but now you've got two guys to worry about." "Oxi, what was that you wanted to do?" Manic offered, wrapping his right arm around Oxide's side. "Go upstairs and cuddle?" Oxi nodded his head up and down in an almost comical way. "Yep, you wanna join in?" He asked. Wrapping both arms around the 2 again. "Like he'd wanna say no," Scourge added. The three were already on their way up the small back stairwell into Oxide and Manic's living space. They knew just from the walk upstairs it was going to be awkward to find a middle ground for all three in any regard. Manic and Oxide had been dating for so long, and Scourge was now a last minute crush for them both. But Scourge had the personality to pull off being a third wheel. This was apparent even as they sat cuddling against one another on the mattress, where Scourge managed to have both of his lovers cuddling up to him at once. "This is so weird, I kinda love it..." Manic said. One arm was huddling him close to Scourge's chest, the other holding Oxide's waist as they kissed in front of Scourge. "I love it too, I love both of you~" Oxi smiled, after making out with Manic, Oxi turned over and started domming Scourges tongue with his own. And that's how they passed the early afternoon. Someone would leave to change the music on the radio, or grab some food, or other menial things, but they were never leaving their partner waiting. Just three guys, loving each other and enjoying the shamelessness of it all. "Damn, did you really leave just to drink?!" Manic said after Oxide had returned from a brief leave, pulling away and laughing after tasting the alcohol on Oxide's breath. "Yah, why do you ask?" Oxi asked sheepishly, knowing he had beer breath. The cuddling went on till the next day. Practising, playing shows and cuddling, that's what they did till Napalm got back, when they had to ask Scourge to leave the band. Even if they didn't do much, didn't go on many adventures the three were growing close. Music drove their relationship, and when all three played music together, there was a kind of connection they couldn't get anywhere else. But the three were growing too close to their temporary bassist... "What?" Was all Scourge could say when he saw Napalm around Jason's shoulder and heard the news. "But I've learned. I've learned an instrument for you guys and- You're gonna kick me out like none of that happened?!" "Scourge, you knew you were a temp!" Manic said back. "We needed a bassist when he was in the US, you know this! It ain't anything personal, babe-" "I don't- I thought I was your boyfriend. I thought I was your boyfriend, too! Why the fuck are you gettin' me to leave?!" "You agreed to be a temporary member, you can stay here, you just can't stay in the band, unless the time calls for it." Oxi tried to explain, but this hog wasn't getting it through his thick skull that just cause he learned how to play bass didn't mean he could stay in the band. Scourge wanted to fight back, but he couldn't think of the words. Manic had just the right words for him, though. "You're still our boyfriend, dude. We can still practice with you, and we'll still play with you sometimes. But Napalm's been with us since we started. And I mean... he knows the genre a little better than us." The point finally seemed to be getting through to Scourge. "Shit... Shit!" He kicked the leg of one of the metal tables in the back, angry at himself more than anyone else. Napalm just seemed mildly confused at everything. "Me and Oxide are kind of dating him," Manic explained quietly to Napalm as Scourge controlled his emotions. "It's been... complicated." "I see....well....lets get practicing....and then get to America..." He laid down a sheet of paper onto the table. "We gotta leave in like 2 weeks, I've set up gigs in New York, Boston, New Hampshire, Washington DC Florida, Texas, Indianapolis, California and one in Oregon....." He then set down a map, he had marked the roads to take and the circled the places to play. The others looked over the map, Manic visibly surprised. "Woah! ...I mean, America's pretty big, ain't it? So like, a whole bunch on both coasts, a few in this giant place in the middle, and... How're we getting around, anyways? Like, are we leaving on a boat, or renting a van, or something? We can't-" He shrugged. "Plane tickets are expensive." "We're getting on a boat, taking the van, and doing 15 dates in 20 days...." Napalm said, even he knew it was kinda ridiculous, trying to do that. But hey, they had to try right? "Lets practice our asses off and keep playing at the local places too, though I've heard the Roxy is shut down now, the 100 club is still around though..." "Alright, let's figure out when we've gotta leave, and we'll get tickets. We've got the cash to pay for it." Manic started walking towards the drawers in the club, opening up the one that was filled with jewelry and bills they'd gotten from Rouge. Well, was filled. The bills were left in the drawers, but the jewelry was all gone. A single note was left. "Now we're even~" It read, marked with a lipstick kiss in the same color Rouge always wore. Manic seemed almost terrified at this note, and kept digging through the drawer, ignoring all the bills that were still in there. It was all gone. All of it. Oxi walked over to Manic, who seemed to be trembling. "Rouge took the jewels, didn't she?........Fuckin hell mate...." Oxi cussed, kicking a chair over. "Fuck. fine, I'll think of something....." It was 3 AM and Oxi came running into the practise space and up the stairs. "Alright we can do this..." He said out of breath. "Hm...?" Manic and Scourge both seemed equally tired. Scourge stayed asleep as Manic barely woke up to the sound. "Oxi, what's up, where've you been all night..." "Robbed another liquor store, mugged some rich guy and broke into a rich guy's house. We got money, let's do this shit...." Oxi said, placing the bags onto the ground. It was just money. "Since it would be kinda suspicious for punks to have anything over 100 dollars besides their instruments, I just stole money...." Oxi explained, before crashing on top of the 2 sleepy hedgehogs. Scourge barely grumphed in his sleep, subconsciously shifting and giving Oxide space to lay on his chest. "You think it ain't gonna be suspicious... to have a sack of cash?" Manic joked, moving aside so Oxide could lay down more comfortably. "Next time, lemme come along for the fun. But thanks, Oxi." Manic gave him a sleepy kiss, and wrapped both arms around Oxide. "You're welcome...." Skip ahead a couple of weeks, the band was on the boat, their van on the car deck and they were on the upper, looking out into the ocean. "This things fucking huge, it's like the god damn titanic, lets hope it doesn't crash into an iceberg" He laughed, looking at the very blue view. It certainly wasn't a cruise liner by any means. It was meant to take it's passengers across the ocean, not much more. Sub par ships were still nicer surroundings than the band members were used to, and they were certainly fine with the lack of accommodations. But Manic wasn't with Scourge or Oxide enjoying the view. He was in the room Napalm and Jason were staying in, speaking to them both. "...I asked Scourge, he said he was fine with it," Manic said to the two. "But I mean, that was... it was real money. I wanted to buy him an engagement ring honestly, but... I dunno." He sighed loudly. "And I tried talking with Scourge seriously, but him and Oxide are just... they're getting worse again. It's just always coke or booze or whatever with them, and they aren't listening. I kinda feel like you and Jason are the only guys who really listen right now." "As long as he doesn't kill himself, land in jail, or start taking from the band, then I'm fine with it...." Napalm said, Jason nodded. "You shouldn't worry about it, he's been eating normally, he's making sure he doesn't skip a meal just so he can spend money on blow." Napalm continued, in all honesty, he couldn't care less. Maybe he was the stingy one. Maybe he was the only one really concerned about this. He didn't know drugs, maybe these were some of the better ones. Maybe he was just losing it. "Yeah, I know." Manic said, putting on his smile again. "I'm just being crazy, ain't I? Thanks for listening, guys. Really." He started to walk towards the door, but not before asking one more question. "Promise you won't tell Oxi about the ring, alright?" "Don't worry, we won't....." Jason assured him. Oxi and Scourge were on the passenger deck, Oxi hugging the big huggable teddy bear. Scourge seemed a bit bashful about having someone hug him in public, but he wasn't complaining. "This place is shit," Scourge admitted. Not the boat itself, but the passangers all seemed so bland. They were clearly the odd ones out among all manner of ugly fashions and bland people. "Hope the tour's gonna be more exciting than this dump." "Same here. This place is really boring to be honest...." Oxi said tiredly, looking around the boat, before going back to burying his face into Scourge's chest. "Enjoying the view?" Scourge teased as he looked at Oxide buried in his chest. Sure, they'd been dating for a little over a month, but there were still bits of doubt in his mind about dating someone like him. Not a punk, but after everything that had happened when he was still addicted. Could he really trust Oxide if he got into a shitty place again? Not that he wasn't in a shitty place already with their current habits, but he wouldn't admit that to himself. The music over the speakers was some terrible cod reggae. "How bout we go to our room and grab some coke, eh?" He offered. "Make this shitty trip more tolerable." "I'm guessing you don't like reggae?" Oxi asked, holding his hand as they walked back to the room. About 15 minutes later, Oxi and Scourge were on he bed, madly making out. High on coke and LSD. If nothing else, drugs and alcohol put them in such a frenzied state they couldn't help but make out with each other. As soon as their problems were aside, there was nothing stopping the two of them. Odd. They hadn't seen Manic since they'd boarded the boat. There was some banging on the cabin to their side. They didn't bother stopping. If Scourge wasn't gonna enjoy the boat, he was gonna make sure none of the other passengers did, either. "Let's fuck and moan really loudly and piss them off~" Oxi smirked, looking at Scourge who seemed to like that idea. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Oxi walked out, doing up the zipper on his jeans as he went looking for Manic. Manic wasn't anywhere Oxide expected him to be. Not the lounge, the decks, with Napalm or Jason or the van... did he just miss him? Maybe a second look would help find him. But he was one place that he normally wouldn't have searched. In the kitchen of the ship, of all placed, scrubbing dishes. "Nah, but the kitchen head said I could work for the cruise," Manic admitted to one of his temporary co-workers. "Just- every cent counts or something, y'know?" It didn't matter what it took, he was getting a ring for Oxide honestly. Even if he had to get an actual job to buy it. And he worked religiously, day after day. There were entire days where none of the band members would even see him until nighttime. Jason and Napalm and Scourge would find out, but Oxide would just have to wait for whenever Manic would deign to appear. After a week, they finally got to New York. They drove out and into the city, looking for this place called CBGBs. They went into an area known as the Bowery, Oxi saw a poster for their show. "Hey wait guys, slow down!" He said, getting out of the van to check it out. "Alright, it said that 2 bands are opening for us, ones called Bad Brains, the others called Suicide...." Oxi told them, cracking open a pepsi instead of his usual beer. Manic seemed happy with this change for Oxide, even if it was just one moment. "Alright, sweet. This should have an address, right..." He scanned over the sign for a moment, before zoning in on the small print in the corner. They were off just as quickly as they stopped. "And how much did you get?" Scourge asked under his breath, to make sure Oxide wouldn't hear. "About 120," Manic said in a hushed tone. "I don't think that's enough, neither. You talk to Oxi about his drinking for me...?" The real reason he wasn't drinking was cause of the age limit in America, it's 21. Luckily the club owners have all agreed to allow them to play as long as they don't drink. "Hey Oxi....about the amount you've been drinking lately...." Scourge started, even though he really had no say in this since he drank a lot as well. "Dude....shut up, you drink much more than me don't give me the talk." Oxi said, laughing a little, he did seem stoned. "Wasn't saying it like that," Scourge lied. "Ain't a lot for you. What, drinking any different in the US?" "It's not legal here, dude. Not 'til you're twenty one." Manic added. "Like bein' underage stopped us before," Scourge grumbled. The five were already getting close to their destination, now that they finally had an address. "So we've got fifteen sets across the country," Manic said, parking in the lot behind the building. "You guys ready for this?" "Yah...." Oxi grumbled, opening the van doors as he hauled his equipment out the door, bringing it through. "Hello gentlemen, I'm guessing you're the band 'The Amphetamines'?" He asked, he was a yellow hedgehog with a scraggly greying afro and beard. "Yep." Oxi nodded, pushing the equipment to the stage. "Yeah, this is our first tour stop," Manic added as he started work on moving his drums. "Any of the other acts arrived yet?" The sound of some of the others playing their instruments somewhere backstage was enough to give them their answer. Manic waited impatiently through soundcheck for those last few hours before the set started, when they had time to breathe and spend to themselves. He went searching for that yellow hedgehog again, alone. "Hey, dude," Manic started. "I'm really hard up for cash right now. Are there any like, tables that need to be waited or some kinda employees that need a shift picked up? I need money badly." "I can get you to work till 11PM, that's when you guys will be going on." Hilly, the owner said. "I don't have any outfits, though I do have an apron. Throw that on and serve these people drinks behind the counter and I'll pay you 4.44 an hour." He continued before handing Manic an apron. Manic was genuinely surprised to get a gig like this. He had to beg for much longer to get a real job on the ship, and he'd burnt enough bridges back home that finding any kind of a job was nigh on impossible. "Really, thanks, mate." Manic said, instantly tying up the apron and patting the owner on the shoulder. "It helps a hell of a lot." Of course, he didn't know the first thing about bartending, but he could probably bluff his way through this. He knew basic cocktails, and there was another bartender. Hopefully, he wouldn't be too much of a pain. And hopefully, Oxide would keep true on his promise and not bother with the bar. No one, except for crossdressers and gays, ordered fancy shmancy drinks. Just the regular whisky, vodka, alcohol + soda combinations, stuff like that. Suicide were 2 guys, one singing, the other on a keyboard, while there was a drum machine playing in the background. The lead singer had an 8 foot long Bike chain, he would whip it at the crowd and at the walls, scaring the hell outta everyone. Bad brains were an all dark furred punk band, an early predecessor of hardcore. They were insane, the lead singer was doing back flips, jumping onto people and singing ontop of them, going 1000 miles an hour the entire time. Manic was happy to watch the shows from the bar. Sure, it didn't have the same thrill as being right up against the stage, and he was working, but watching from a distance helped him appreciate just how much went into the showmanship. Manic was almost scared when he watched the second act play. Not because he thought they were doing to hurt themselves, but because he was worried Oxide was gonna want to steal some of that showmanship for his own energized play style. 10:56. Manic finally had a chance. He threw off the apron and hopped the counter, careful to get backstage... and surprised to find Scourge standing at the door to the exit. "Oxide was wondering where you were," he said, "Wanted to make sure he didn't see you." "Thanks," he said, running past towards Napalm and Jason lounging near the stage. "Come on, what're we waiting for? Let's show 'em what we're made of." Oxi got onstage, along with the rest of the band. Seemed like Hilly must've copied the tape because people seemed genuinely excited to see them. "We are the amphetamines, we're here to sell out and play 100000 seat stadiums cause we're a bunch of faggots who can't play but HAVE LOTS OF MONEY! ONETWOTHREEFOUR!" Oxi strained himself on what he just said, mainly because he didn't breathe once for that entire sentence he just spoke. Their first American show shouldn't have felt any different from any of their normal shows, but there was nothing familiar here. The accents, the money, the food. Even the tiny details of how people acted seemed different, but if there was one familiar thing, it was the music. Their music was just as loud and exciting across the pond, and the crowds seemed to love it just as much. For once, they were back in familiar territory. And Scourge's jealousy seemed to have died down. He watched from the stage entrance, getting a personal view of every move and motion every band member performed. As though he wasn't in special standing with them already. Oxi didn't steal from the previous acts stage performance, he just made his crazier in his own way. He had a tough time playing with how he just went fucking everywhere onstage. Luckily the only different thing the lead guitarist had to do was solo. Oxi calmed down and let Jason have the spotlight for that, which allowed him to play properly at this point. Just from those two bands, Manic knew that this tour was gonna show him so many new ideas for performances and shows, not to mention new angles to the punk sound, and he was thrilled. New ways to expand on how their band performed... Manic knew he was gonna have some fun exploring how they could change their performances after everything they'd see in the US. The band had gotten their pay and Manic his bartending wages on top of that before meeting up to help the rest of the band with moving their equipment into the van. He was almost to his goal already. Maybe it wasn't a ton, but he wasn't paying bills with it. He just had to get one nice luxury item. And one that would mean the world to Oxide... "...and that chain-! That was such a cool idea, but I ain't trusting any of you with a bike chain. Especially not Scourge." Manic said, quite serious. "God, that was just the first show... I'm pumped!" "Yah, now lets haul ass to Boston!" Oxi cheered, case of beer in his cluches as he shared it with Scourge. Seems like Napalm and Jason wern't all too big on beer, they just liked to smoke pot, and be gay. At the next venue, there was a place called The Rat. They were playing with a band called The Freeze. They had released a single, which Oxi and the band listened to while at the club. It was pretty decent. "Awesome, can't wait to hear the rest of their songs." Oxi smirked, waiting for them to go on. Once again, Manic was nowhere to be seen. This time, pleading with the owner and failing to find any kind of a small job that needed to be filled. So for once, Manic would come around and hang out with Scourge and Oxide before their set. Scourge leaned with one arm around Manic, who didn't even bother coming up with an excuse for where he'd been. In fact, he'd been impossible to find for longer than he'd been with the band in some regard, outside of traveling from place to place. "Alright, so I'm thinking..." Manic started, not sure if it'd be a good thing to say. "But this is an insane tour schedule, right? So what if... we get Scourge to play some of the sets? He's coming along, and I mean, Napalm got all these sets for us. He should get all the breaks he wants, you get me?" "Hey, I still like playing shows, I don't want a break unless I'm dead or passing out, and even then i'm still gonna wanna play." Napalm protested, besides, Scourge would probably fuck something up anyway. "Scourge can play guitar, I'll teach him in the van how to." Oxi said, hanging out behind the venue with the others. The freeze were hanging out there as well. "Alright, just a thought, forget I said it." Manic responded. "I was-" Scourge wasn't sure what to make of Oxide's comment. "I'm supposed to learn guitar in less time?" "You already know the basics, and you learned bass quickly, right?" Manic added. "I mean, you had most of the basics down for bass guitar, too, but still." "You'll be fine, plus guitar strings are easier on the fingers," Oxi said, raising his arm and wiggling his fingers. Then again, he had been playing guitar for quite a while, so his fingers had toughened up. The freeze went on and they were pretty great, a lanky, 19 year old looking kid with curly black hair was onstage. Singing his ass off, they were like the only actual punk band in Boston. Of course, they weren't. Not since the Amphetamines had rolled in, anyways. Punk bands could appreciate punk bands, even if they were high or... gone. Manic was gone yet again, not giving anyone a word of where he was going. Scourge was back at the van probably getting high again, and Napalm and Jason were nowhere to be seen. Seemed like Oxide was left alone again. And like their last show and their boat over, Manic wasn't going to show up until minutes before their set actually began, without explanation or anything. Oxi just danced with the rest of the crowd. The show was awesome. Now it was time for them to play Oxi and the band went on, but where was Manic? Oxi gave him a few minutes before he started calling out for him. "Manic......Manic?.......MANIC WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!?!" He screamed in the mic, hoping that would get his attention. Uh-oh. Manic could hear the screaming from the back of the club. He was still trying to plead his way into some minimum wage temporary position, he didn't even notice how much time was passing. Manic awkwardly flung himself through the employee entrance and dashed through the crowd, most of the club goers stepping aside to make a path. He climbed on stage and jumped behind the drums, putting on his energized playing face. "Let's get this mess GOING!" "Finally! IT'S TIME TO SEARCH AND DESTROY! ONE TWO THREE FOUR!" The band started off. They started off with a cover of 'Search and destroy' by Iggy and the Stooges. "I'm a street walkin cheetah with a heart full of Napalm I'm a runaway sun of the nuclear A-bomb! I am the world's forgotten boy The one who searches to destroy. Baby gotta help me please! Somebody gotta save my soul, Baby detonate for MeeeeeEEEEAAAHHH!!!!" Oxide's scream always resonated through Manic's body with that strange intensity, but he'd grown past being shocked by it. He'd come to embrace it fully, riding those loud vibrations through every screeched note. A few covers and plenty of original songs, their usual set list. And as was going to be normal for them at this point, piling into the van shortly after getting paid and letting someone take the front seat and let the others rest as they drove to their next destination. Only instead of huddling together in the back, Scourge and Oxide were sitting down and fiddlign with the guitar. "I took the time to learn bass, I ain't- This ain't gonna work," Scourge said, not deterred by that fact or his seeming tiredness. He reached for the case of beer in the back and flipped a tab. "Where're we starting?" "He, try playing this." He said, chunking away at 3 chords, moving from one to the other every 4 beats. Strumming at at a rapid speed as he played them over and over again until Scourge got it right and could follow him. It was good for Manic that they were practicing guitar, since he was exhausted but trying not to fall asleep behind the wheel. Not so much for Napalm and Jason, who were cuddling in the backseat and trying to desperately fall asleep somehow. "Yeah, I know that chord... diminished fourth... basic structures..." Scourge and Oxide weren't stopping anytime soon. Scourge was good enough to perform bass on stage, or at least good enough for his band. This wasn't anywhere close for guitar, and he was never going to learn before the tour ended, but that didn't stop him. Hell, if he had two instruments under his belt, he could be much more of an asset. Manic just rode those harsh waves to keep himself moving while the other two grumbled in their half-conscious state to the loud noise. They entered New Hampshire. This show was was a house party. Playing with them was a band called GG Allin and the jabbers, who went on first. They were pretty good, with the lead singer singing his lungs out, very lewd, nihilistic songs were played from the band. "How'd you get us a gig at a HOUSE party?" Manic joked to Napalm, but they were able to drink and have fun, so he wasn't going to mock him. Maybe he'd just known the band? Oxide certainly seemed to be enjoying the band. That kind of language and content was exactly what he would expect from Oxide's lyrics. Manic didn't want to take some kind of drug to keep him high, but he was getting a bit delirious from how long he'd been staying awake. He didn't even touch the beer, it would make him too inebriated to play. All he could do was wait for their set, and hope that he'd get some kind of new energy along the way. Soon, it was their time to lay now. 2 songs into the set, the show was shut down by the cops. Along the way, Oxi was beaten with a billy club and his guitar was stolen from the cops. "You want it back? Come to the police station and pay it off, punk!" The cop said to Oxide before spitting on him and walking off. There were things that Manic would have been angry with. The show being shut down by anyone. Oxide losing his instrument. Things happened. But seeing Oxi beaten and robbed by a cop pushed him to anger he'd almost never felt before. Exhaustion was pushed to the back of Manic's mind. He tried to rush the cops, but they were driving down the street. Scourge knew exactly what was coming at this point, and by the time Manic had rushed back to check on Oxide, the instruments had been moved to their van. "Come on, baby." Manic lifted Oxide in his arms and carried him over to the car, running on adrenaline and pure fury. "We're getting that guitar back." Scourge was in the driver seat, but he wasn't driving in his normal insane style. The van lights were off and they quietly followed the cops from a distance, as Manic checked over Oxide's body. "Looks like you're gonna get all bruised up," Manic growled. "You wait in the car when we get there. I'll make you feel better later, but we've gotta fuck those guys up." "Are you fuckin' kidding me? Fuck that, we can't risk getting arrested! We got shows to play! Let's wait till tomorrow, get the guitar back and haul ass to Washington!" Oxi ordered. he wasn't going to risk getting arrested over this. "They fucked you up, we're fucking THEM up." Manic was clearly engulfed with rage. Even Scourge seemed surprised at this, and he was following them. "I figured we were just waiting for 'em to stop and lifting it," Scourge admitted. "Beating up a cop?!" There was visible anger in Manic's eyes as he wiped off Oxide's face. "Babe, they spat on you, we've gotta do something!" He pleaded with his boyfriend, fear in his voice. "WE AREN'T GETTING ARRESTED OVER SOMETHING SO PETTY!!!" Oxide screamed right in Manic's face, clearly getting pissed off himself. "STOP THIS FUCKING CAR NOW!!!" Oxi ordered, he looked frightening, like he was gonna kill someone. Scourge followed instructions, Manic alone in his sentiments. Manic just stared down at Oxide. It wasn't at all petty in his mind, it was Oxide. But he could do something Oxide didn't want and say he did it for him. Those vocals were one of the first times in a while his screaming had actually shocked Manic. He stared down at his lover through the stew of emotions. "God damn, I love it when you scream," he growled. He took all the energy and adrenaline and forced it into a rough kiss for Oxide for a few long moment. Scourge just grumphed to himself, mildly amused. "You got beat up, I just flipped." Manic apologized. "You sure those bruises ain't gonna hurt?" "They aren't gonna hurt, I'm fine," Oxi said, wiping his mouth with a smirk. They parked in some abandoned lot, not too far from the police station, but it was in an area were they wouldn't bother the sleeping hedgehogs. The sun rose and Oxi was at the police station, trying to get his guitar back. "That'll cost 200 dollars sir...." The lady at the desk said. "You can shove that 200 dollars up your ass, you cunt," Oxi said before flipping her off and walking out. "200 dollars? Are you fucking kidding me?" Jason asked in disbelief. "I know, might as well just get a new guitar!" Oxi shrugged. "Come on, how much have we got for a guitar?" Manic said. "I mean, we've got a lot for band stuff, but that's like for gas and food and... I think we've got like, fifty bucks spare, tops." None of them mentions the money Manic had been earning just yet. Oxide was still in the dark. "So what, you don't wanna rob a store over here, right? Or you got some other way to make money?" "I'll just play without a guitar till I can get a new one, simple as that. Now let's get to Washington, we've been wasting too much time already." Oxi said. They just barely manages to get to the show on time. The opening bands were all playing their first shows. There were 3 bands, Teen idols, The Untouchables and Red C. Teen idles played, they had had to stop and borrow someone's bass since their bassist's string broke, the E string. Untouchables went on, the lead singer was 15 years old, not a single member over 18. Red C went on and they were very different, with unique beats. They didn't play blindly fast the entire time. Of course, the nonsense was shared a bit more this time around. They let the first band borrow their bass, they let the Amphetamines borrow their guitar for their set. Easy, simple, clean. And Manic had thankfully found a job that night. Maybe it was just three or four hours of some kind of janitorial work, but he did his job well enough. And after their last show, he was smart enough to finish up BEFORE two minutes before the set started. Scourge was out at the van, practicing his own bass in private. "You sure you're good to play?" He asked Oxide, half joking. "Even you don't usually take that much~" "I'm alright. Let's fucking do this..." He said as he downed a beer, snorted a line and went on stage to create a huge mess like they always did. But this mess was a bit messier than usual. Oxide was higher than normal. This usually would have hjelped him play fast, and this was no exception, he was certainly wailing away quickly. Too quickly. Napalm and Jason tried to keep up with the unexpected tempo, mostly succeeding. But Manic was struggling behind from how little sleep he'd been getting. He didn't give the show his usual performances or extra flourishes, instead just trying to keep up with an already fast beat that felt even faster than it normally would have. They kept on beat, but it was easy to see from the audience that Oxide was strung out and the others were trying to run with it. The crowd however, loved it, they ended up chanting for more. The band ended up playing 6 extra songs more. Oxi loaded the equipment into the van. And Oxi drove this time, allowing Manic to sleep. He drove 3 days, with very little sleep, to Florida. He was on cocaine the entire time. Hours before the show, he decided to sleep so he could be rested enough to not end up passing out from not sleeping, cocaine could only keep him awake for so long. And again, as soon as the soundcheck was finished, Manic went searching for work again. But Oxide was completely out of it, so he wasn't concerned about waking him up in any way. One fifty. US currency was worth less than pounds, but one fifty was stellar. He just had to get a chance to run off, but given that they had one show that night and two the next, he wasn't gonna get that chance soon. So he gave himself a chance to relax for once. "Hey, mate." Manic woke up Oxide by petting his head and cooing to him in the backseat. "Sorry, your eyes are so nice, I just had to see 'em." He kissed Oxide on the lips gently, smiling down at his lover. "Show's in an hour. Thanks for driving... that last show was a disaster~" "Whaever.....th' seem t' lie it...." Oxide couldn't even seem to be bothered to fully articulate his words properly, he was so tired. He got up, put on a sex pistols shirt and walked out of the van. An hour later, they got onstage, they were the only act playing. Florida hadn't gotten any punk acts yet. The crowd seemed to not like them, judging by the fact that after 2 songs, there were 5 people left. By the end of the set, it was an empty room. Manic just smiled and laughed as they looked over the empty room. "Wow, that was... we aren't THAT bad. I hope." The only people left in the club were the few people on staff that didn't seem too amused, either. They weren't paid much for such a bad show, and the five regrouped back at the van. "That was insane. Like... should we even bother with these next two shows?" Manic was sitting with his legs dangling from the back doors of the van. "We've gotta travel to... Texas, right? We've gotta get to Texas next, and we probably ain't making money on these next shows." "Hey, the Sex Pistols drew pretty large crowds there, even if a lot of them were protesters, there were still a lot of punks there. We'll be alright." Oxi smiled, pushing the gear to the van. This time it was Oxide's turn to sleep for a while, until that is when they pulled into Texas. When they got to the venue, they saw there were protesters at this gig. On the bill was a band called The Stains. They played first, and they were good. Oxi's favourite song they played was called 'John Wayne was a Nazi'. And once more, Manic was gone. But this time, his stops were a little different. "Your girlfriend is going to love it," the clerk told Manic as she put the ring in a tiny velvet box. "What's her name?" "Oxide," Manic said simply. "We play in this band together. I'm drums, he's guitar, and-" "He?" The realization dropped on them both at the same time. ◇        ◇        ◇        ◇ By the time the van trundled up to the club again, they were late for their set. The otehr act was nice enough to perform a few extra songs for the crowd as they waited for Manic to get back. Although when he got out of the van, they weren't expecting a massive bloody gash on his forehead. "Forget about it," Manic said simply, "we've gotta get playing, like, now!" "Manic....tell us what happened." Oxide said, blocking the entrance so Manic couldn't get in. The band then surrounded him, they weren't gonna let him leave without an answer. He was clearly impatient to keep moving. "Look, it slipped I'm dating a dude, and someone just got real pissy at me. It doesn't matter, I'm late for the set, we've gotta start playing!" He calmed down his pleading for a few moments to speak seriously. "Really, don't worry, we're probably just gonna have a few more protesters than this." "Alright Manic, lets do this...." Oxi said as they walked onstage. The crowd was filled with rednecks and punks. Not the best combination. For the entire show, there was fighting going on in the crowd, rednecks vs punks. Oxi ended up throwing a bottle into the crowd, and Jason got dragged into the fights, but he managed to get out. After their set, they got the fuck outta there and hauled ass to Cali. "God, how big IS America, anyways?!" They were expecting driving. They weren't expecting as many days of driving as they had. The vague idea that America was big wasn't enough to prepare Manic for the trip. But he also wasn't prepared for how Oxide's state had degenerated over the trip. And at one of their few rest stops, as soon as Oxide was out of site, Manic sighed heavily and turned to Jason. "You notice he's just constantly high or drunk?" Manic said quietly. "I get that's just how he is, but this is like that to the extreme. He's just drinking so much. Are you sure this isn't hurting him?" "I've stopped caring." Seemed like this was wearing thin on everybody. The long ass road trips, endless problems. But the shows made up for it, which is why Oxide wasn't just walking off into the distance and not stopping. Oxide came into the van, with food. At least he was eating properly. "Come on, lets go, or else we're gonna be late...." Scourge had taken the wheel. The moment Oxide was in the car, they were already off. Scourge's insane driving was pretty much the only thing that could get them to their destination on time. They would kiss or cuddle or lay down sometimes, but couldn't go too far without anyone calling them out. They couldn't practice for too long without driving someone crazy. So it was no wonder the others were staying high for most of their drives. "Okay, that's four shows on the east, two we skipped... We've got eight in California and on in that state above it." Manic said exhausted, cuddling up with Oxide in the back of the van. Crumbs from some sub-par vending machine pastry were scattered over the both of them. "So when we get there, we'll pretty much be done with all this driving garbage... ..." Oxide was drinking heavily, but it didn't seem to be damaging his health. They drove and drove and drove and drove and drove and fucking drove till they were ready to kill one another till they got to Cali. All the shows that they were playing there were with a band called Black Flag. The first step was to get soundcheck finished at their first club location. Their second move was to run away from one another for a few hours and just embrace having time where they weren't all cramped together. It didn't matter where, they were just away from each other for long enough to stay sane. Manic strolled across some local shops, since they were spending the night in the town. They weren't going to get the three hundred dollar minimum for a new guitar any time soon, but Manic was too exhausted to want to steal. Clearly, the punks in the area were influencing the shops, as he was seeing a lot of leather and black clothes on display in the small area. At least they'd have more steady crowds here. Manic would run into Oxide back at the club, after his headache had gone and he'd gotten relaxed. "Oh man, you still don't wanna see anyone, or you good now?" "I'm good, I wonder what Black Flag sounds like." Oxide said, then he heard the first chords to the song 'Nervous breakdown' before the lead singer screamed through the vocals, seems like he was on speed and coke. Soon it was The Amphetamines time to play, Oxi and the band got onstage. The crowd waited to see what this band sounded like, and why they're head lining. They soon saw why. They didn't take their anger as a hindrance to their performance. Instead, they took every shred of anger and annoyance and any bitter feeling they felt and poured it right into their performance. It would have cheered them up anyways to play a show like this. The mix of playing a show like this and venting all of their anger felt like massive weights were being lifted off of their backs. Oxide wailed on his borrowed guitar to the tune of the throbbing anger. And after their last couple of disasters, they managed a good show with a good crowd. "Holy hell, it went perfectly." Manic said to himself while they looked at the crowd after their performance ended. After that show, there were 7 more shows in Cali with the last show at; Pollywog park. A band called the tourists went on, then it was Black flag, who ended up making a lot of families scoop up their kids and nope the fuck outta there Then there were the Amphetamines, and ho boy..... It got violent. Families who stuck it out to see the next band (Who were billed as a top 40s cover act) started screaming and cussing, throwing even more things at the band, full beer cans, sandwiches. Oxide started collecting a lot of the food that was being thrown onto the stage. "Hey assholes, thanks for the free food you fucking cocksuckers!" At the end of the show, while still onstage, Oxide grabbed Manic, brought him to the front of the stage, and passionately kissed him. People went berserk. The chaos was so strong, it was almost tangible. Manic turned to the band with a wicked smile. The band knew what he was planning, but didn't stop him. Manic tapped the mic three times. "Guys, guys, we're REALLY sorry," Manic said, sounding as sincere as he could manage. All a part of his plan. "We'll make up for it, promise. Hope you don't mind if I just ask one little thing..." He faced Oxide while talking into the mike. "I've been skipping out on seeing you 'cause I've been finding jobs everywhere, Oxi. I've been saving up for this whole tour, and I've finally gotta show you something..." Manic was determined to make as much drama as he could. One hand was placed right on Oxide's ass, pulling him closer as he reached into his vest pocket. He pulled out a tiny velvet box, containing a men's engagement ring. A deep black gold with a row of five small, perfectly clear diamonds. "How about we get married? And how about you screw me senseless for the rest of my life?" There was nothing that could have stopped Manic from enjoying the sudden intense burst of chaos he'd caused. Not even the bottle that immediately smacked him straight in the head and sent him hurtling to the floor before he could get his answer. He only came to in the van some time later. It was well into nighttime, and he was nursing a massive headache, but he knew he'd ruined everything in the best possible way to end their tour. So while he sat up and held his head, he kept wearing that massive, smug grin. As Oxide watched as the bottle smacked Manic in the head, he looked down at the ground and smiled. "I do." Back at the van, when Manic woke up, Oxi pulled him in and began to kiss him, passionately making out with him as they began to strip each other of clothes. Manic didn't care about shame anymore, these people were used to them getting close. And besides, he had a husband now! They couldn't get married legally, but they didn't need it to be official. He wanted to just stay with Oxide as long as he lived. The ring was a hard find. The gems pointed up into small spikes, and the black band was a simple minimal design. The most punk rock thing he could find. Manic wasn't concerned about getting him to wear more, he was concerned about padding out Oxide's impatience for just long enough to finish his surprise. "Hey, before we consummate the marriage..." Manic started, motioning for Napalm. He opened up one of the hatches in the bottom of the van. "I wanted you to have a ring I bought with money I really earned, but we also needed this, so I picked something up for you a bit less legally~" That something was a new guitar, and one of those expensive foreign brands Oxide could get passionate about. "Do you like it, babe?" "I fucking love it~!" He cooed happily, his voice becoming a tad higher in pitch. They drove to their last stop, Oregon. They did soundcheck, they were the only band on the bill. "Alright, we're the amphetamines, and we're a bunch of gay faggots who like to suck cock and fuck each other, 1234!" The last show wasn't fueled with the same annoyance or anger, it was fuel with sheer ecstatic joy from the lead and Manic. They were as married as they were gonna get. And for them, being 'married' in spite of it being illegal was even more appropriate than a legal binding. Manic was thrilled to be playing with his husband... and Scourge didn't seem to mind one bit. He wasn't looking for commitment, just a fun time. And if Oxide and Manic were happy, he was happy. Manic didn't perform with his usual dour face, but with a cheeky grin. He couldn't help it, he just loved watching Oxide perform. Oxide was jumping all around the stage, going absolutely ham on his guitar. Seems like he had done some coke again. But then again, he hasn't played a show sober in a long time. After the show. They soon found themselves driving across America, all the way back to New York and on a boat again. But with no rushes on getting to locations or to whatever boat they'd end up sailing back on, this drive was a lot more tolerable. People got chances to sleep, they got to take more frequest rest stops, and they were able to stop and have one or two proper meals that didn't come from a vending machine. And this time, it wasn't Scourge with Oxide on the deck of the ship. The day was gloomy and looked like it was going to rain at any moment, so they had the small deck they stood on all to themselves. Manic's hand was wrenched around Oxide's toying with that new wedding band of his. "I'd say it changes everything, but we already live together pretty much," Manic said with a smile. "So what, was this tour our honeymoon? Or you gonna be up for another adventure after this?" "Another adventure~ I always wanna go on another adventure with you babe," He said, nuzzling his face in Manic's chest. "I just got a question though. Is this still a 3 way thing? Or is Scourge out of the picture now?" Oxi asked, throwing both arms around Manic's body, hugging him. "Do whatever you want with Scourge, mate." Manic happily accepted the hug and let Oxide bury his face in Manic's chest. "I know you love me, you know I love you. He's not gonna change that." The first few raindrops were starting to fall as they got further onto the ocean, but Manic didn't move. "I don't know what I did to deserve to meet you... I don't know what I did to deserve to marry you. Thank you for everything." He held Oxide tighter and smiled as the rain starting dampening the two lovers. "The band and meeting your friends and all that, it's changed me. I'm so much happier and I feel healthier and- and-" There were too many things Manic wanted to say, but he was getting too mushy for his tastes. As the rain poured over the two, Manic pulled in Oxide for another rough kiss and sat down with him on a deck chair, just wanting the moment to last. Oxi returned the kiss, hand going under his shirt as he began to rub his chest. Though he wasn't built like Scourge, he still liked to feel up Manic's body. They felt one another up as the rain grew heavier outside, but Manic couldn't wait another moment. Wordlessly, he grabbed Oxide by the arm, and started dragging him through the ship halls, straight back to their cabin. They were too young and stupid to want to do anything other than get out of their clothes and keep showing each other how much they loved each other. They didn't care about any of the other passengers, the crew, anyone who could have overheard. They didn't care about anything, other than getting to their room. But from next door, three people could hear them. Napalm, Jason, and Scourge, who were cracking some jokes and playing cards to pass the time. Scourge was fine with them marrying. Scourge was alright with being a backup bass player. And this was changing with time. Something was slowly creeping through his veins, telling him to be 'jealous', reminding him he was inferior in their eyes somehow. He was getting worse and worse as every single moment sped by, and he realized just how many mistakes he'd been making. The sound of Manic and Oxide loving one another was only going to feed his rampant jealousy...