A/N: Hello again. Here's another Loud House story! This one will center around Luna, which means the rest of the Louds will most likely not be featured too frequently here. Just thought I'd let you all know. Also, when I started coming up with this story, I thought of it more as a movie than a written fanfic. I even went so far as to imagine the first little bit as a background audio for its opening logos (i.e.: the lead singer talking to the crowd as the Paramount, Nickelodeon, and MTV Films logos are being displayed, then fading open to the crowd). I figured I should write a story like this because while I'm not too big of a Loud House fan, that doesn't mean I can't exactly have a favorite character: Luna! Her fandom of Mick Jagger (you know who I'm talking about!) is pretty unique. I have a lot of friends who like rock, but don't really idolize rockstars as much as Luna idolizes Mick. I figured even if that was the case, Luna would also have other favorite bands! Other than Mick Swagger and SMOOCH, there are no other fictional/parody bands featured in the series, so might as well include actual bands.
I am sort of modeling this story after a movie, so there will be a soundtrack to this, kind of like how actual movies feature actual songs. Throughout the story, I will include songs (titles + artists) in bold so you can open up another tab and listen to them on YouTube/SoundCloud/wherever as you continue reading the story. I like to call it more of an "interactive experience."
Also, this first chapter will have no introductions/exposition whatsoever. If you want to know more about this band, go on to the next one, where I introduce them. Other than that, enjoy!
SUMMER 2015
We open with guitar sounds ringing, hanging over from the previous song, whatever it was. A sold out 50,000 at the Royal Woods Coliseum was having an absolute ruckus. The sustained cheers for more continued as the performing band's lead singer took to the mic after a good 30 seconds.
"Are you guys tired yet?" he asked. Considering their show was a good amount of the way through, the crowd gave out a slight "No!"
"Hmm, I think I'm gonna need everyone to answer that question. I said are we tired yet?!"
"NO!"
"Huh? Did I just hear someone say 'yes?'" Sam, the lead singer, asked teasingly. A few members of the crowd booed in response as the band members smirked at each other. "Did someone say 'yes?' Who said 'yes?'" The boos grew a bit louder.
"No, no, no, no," Sam continued, temporarily hushing the crowd. "See, there is a correct answer to that question, and, to be quite fair, 'yes' is not the right answer. So let me ask this one more time! ARE WE TIRED YET?!"
"NOOOOO!"
"ARE WE TIRED YET?!"
"NOOO!"
"CAN WE KEEP GOING?!"
"YES!"
"WE'RE GONNA KEEP GOING?!"
"YES!" Royal Woods yelled. Each crowd response grew louder, ultimately culminating in the massive "YES."
"Ok, that's great!" Sam added. "That's great, but you know what? I think we're gonna need just a bit more…spirit in here! As a matter of fact, how 'bout we spell that word out together, maybe hype up Royal Ass Woods, shall we?" Some cheers were let out in response, most of those who cheered knew what song was next.
"Alright, you all know how to spell 'spirit' I presume! Can I get an 'S?'"
"S!"
"P!" "P!" "I! I! R! R! I! I! T! T!" (Letters in italics come from the crowd.)
"Ok, great, enough cheerleading!" Sam added. Some faint laughs could be heard. "Hmm. Why don't we put that together a little more rhythmically? Follow me!" (Any BMTH fans?) They chanted again to the following rhythm:
"S! T! Spirit! Let's hear it! S! T! Spirit! Let's hear it!" the crowd roared, getting louder after each chant. Sam pumped his fist into the air for each beat of the chant, then he stopped. "That's right! Great job! Keep it going!" The coliseum crowd kept up the chant as Sam went to recover his instrument, which gave a little feedback as the drummer tapped his hi-hat on every two and four of the cadence, signaling for the next song.
"S! P-I-R-I-T! Spirit! Let's hear it! S! P-I-R-I-T! Spirit! Let's hear it!" Sam held up his index finger and rolled it, telling the crowd to keep going. The chants and the feedback from Sam's guitar grew louder. The lead guitarist, Tom, soon retrieved his own guitar, causing a little feedback from a different pitch to emit from his amp. They looked at each other, waiting for the right moment to start playing. Then…
Bring Me The Horizon – Happy Song
They started perfectly in time with the beginning of the next chant. Once the band found their groove again, the lights changed colors to match the thematic elements of the song. The crowd began singing along with Sam:
I've had enough
There's a voice in my head says I'm better off dead
But if I SING ALONG a little fucking louder to a HAPPY SONG I'll be alright. (This line is the chorus)
We want to give up
Give it all that we've got, but it still doesn't cut—"Sing it!" Sam shouted before backing from his mic and moving around, letting the crowd finish the chorus. Tom backed up as Sam and their bass guitarist, Jason, approached the edge of the stage to get close to the vocal, raucous crowd. They enjoyed it for a little but as the crowd finished the chorus, Sam got back to his mic to continue singing.
Every now and again we get that feeling
And the great big void inside us opens up
And I really wish that you could help, but my head is like a carousel
And I'm going around in circles, going around in circles
"Come on!" Sam shouted. The crowd knew what to do next. "S! T! Spirit! Let's hear it! S! T! Spirit! Let's hear it!"
We are possessed
We're all fucked in the head, alone and depressed
But if we SING ALONG a little fucking louder to a HAPPY SONG maybe we'll forget cause
CROWD: Every now and again we get that feeling
And the great big void inside us opens up
And I really wish that you could help, but my head is like a carousel
And I'm going around in circles, going around in circles
Sam then rejoined the crowd.
Don't wake us up, we'd rather just keep dreaming
Cause the nightmares in our heads are bad enough
And I really wish that you could help, but my head is like a carousel
And I'm going around in circles, going around in circles
Once they reached the bridge, they all began to relish in the cheers of the crowd, except for one: Tom. As of late, he'd been beginning to feel a bit left out. Instead of trying to suppress that feeling by enjoying the crowd, he had let the sentiment grow worse. Now, he just stood in his place on the stage staring rather sternly at everyone around him, even looking back at their drummer, Danny, who returned him a questioning look. Tom did nothing but turn his head forward again. Danny sat confused contemplating why Tom was in such a weird mood. Sam's voice snapped him out of it.
The world has coalesced
Into one giant mess of hate and unrest
So let's all SING ALONG a little goddamn louder to a HAPPY SONG and pretend it's all okay. Let's go!
Tom did begin playing again, but this time a little more aggressively, somehow trying to make his guitar sound louder than Sam's guitar. "So, let's sing along," Sam said through the mic (part of the song) before he temporarily lost focus as a result of Tom's sudden impulsiveness. "A little FUCKING—" Sam stopped to look at Tom who gave him a face that implied jealousy. Sam looked at him confused, but Tom kept staring madly at him. What was going on? What the hell was Tom thinking about that had caused him to suddenly resent Sam? The crowd can't answer those questions, as they were too busy screaming and singing along, arms around each other, drinks in the air, in a full state of enjoyment. Still, Sam couldn't help but continue thinking, as he attributed the fact that Tom had been almost unnoticeably acting up a little bit in past shows to his sudden attitude change.
"NOW DON'T YOU FEEL SO MUCH BETTERRRRRR?" The crowd chanted before going back to the "spirit" chant. Sam hastily continued, eventually regaining his confidence. "Yeah, that's the spirit!" he shouted before they finished the song to let the crowd deliberately lose their own voices. Tom stared Sam down for another few seconds then discreetly walked backstage, leaving his guitar on the floor, without absolutely anybody noticing. Sam had already regained his confidence, then addressed the crowd.
"Hey, thank you all so much!" he began. "Unfortunately, this next song will conclude our Déjà Vu Summer Tour of 2015," Sam paused to boos from the crowd, "so we all decided very carefully on this last song. We're gonna end this tour with a bang! But first, I'd like to thank all of you for making this last concert of the year as un-fucking-forgettable as possible! You guys don't have any idea how much it means to us that we see you all here enjoying yourselves," the boos quickly turned into cheers, which slowly grew louder, "and enjoying the music from the biggest cover band in the world! We all wanna say thank you to those who have been to all our shows this past summer, to all of the crew and the techs who been working so hard on all this equipment and the stage, the ones who are really bringing this show to life, and more importantly, we wanna thank all of you gathered here in the Coliseum of Royal Woods." The 50,000-plus ultimately reached a high point where the only thing that could be heard over them was Sam's voice. "It's only fitting that we end where we got our start, and you've all been a spectacular crowd to us. So one more time! Let's hear it for everyone in Déjà Vu. On bass guitar: Jason Bryant!" He pointed to Jason, who played one final short bass groove solo for the crowd. "On drums: Danny Martin!" He then pointed to Danny, who also played on final short drum solo. "One of the most important members of our band, now lately he's been a little down, but maybe some support from the crowd will cheer him up! Give it up for our lead guitarist: Tom Garrett!" He was a bit surprised to notice that Tom wasn't there, but after a quick scanning of the stage floor, he only found Tom's guitar. The surprise instantly grew into shock. The cheers died down as everyone was confused as to where the lead guitarist was. Sam gave a confused look to the crowd, then to Danny and Jason, who then exchanged confused looks with each other. "Uhh, Tom?" he asked through his mic again. The crowd began a chant.
"We want Tommy! (clap, clap, clap, clap, clap) We want Tommy! (clap, clap, clap, clap, clap)" they repeated. This chant grew louder until a certain point. Sam, Danny, and Jason had begun to grow legitimately worried. Sam was the closest to Tom, and now he was shooting him weird looks? Something was definitely up. Jason walked up to him.
"Dude, what's going on?" he asked, concerned.
"No clue, man." Sam answered. He began to notice the crowd's desperation slowly turn into disappointment. The chant for Tommy hadn't died down fully, though. Sam turned back to the mic to address Royal Woods.
"Guys, I'm sure you all understand how important a lead guitarist is to any rock band," Sam remarked somewhat solemnly. "To be honest, I'm not too sure we can go on without one…" Some boos could be heard. Sam paused, looking nervously at the crowd. Jason got up from his seat and began to walk forward, stopping in the middle of the stage. Some of the crew members could be seen questioning Sam, Danny, Jason and each other. Sam sighed before going back on the mic. "We're gonna need a minute." The boos grew slightly louder as the three walked backstage to look for Tom.
Tom was sitting on the floor against some equipment cases that were left near the walkway that led to the stage. Sam, Danny, and Jason came through and immediately spotted him.
"Hey, what the fuck, man?!" Sam shouted in a mix of frustration and contempt. "You can't just walk out on our show like that!"
"Well, I did!" Tom retorted. "Heh. I'm surprised you even care!"
"Wha—a? Dude, what are you talking about?" asked Danny rather bitterly.
"I'm talking about you," Tom answered, pointing to Sam, "constantly hogging the spotlight and making the damn show all about yourself!"
"What?!" Sam replied. Danny and Jason clamored for a bit with "Hey!" and "Come on!" etc. Then Sam continued. "Where in the fuck did you pull that assumption out of?"
"Do you not see it every show?! Your name is the only one they ever chant for! And you fucking—"
"What are you talking about?!" Jason butted in. "I'm pretty sure I heard them chanting your name just now!"
"That's only because I fucking left, okay?"
"Ah, then don't go around calling me an attention whore!" Sam returned.
"Will you people listen to me?!" Tom shouted as the boos grew louder. "The show is always about Sam, Sam, Sam, and Sam! ALWAYS! Danny, Jason, how do you not see this?! Anytime we've tried anything unique, the people just want more of Sam! Why?" Tom was interrupted.
"Hey, I don't know what the hell's gotten into you, but you better think about what you just said before you go on saying dumb shit," Sam retorted. "We've known each other for way too long for you to be saying bullshit like that about me, or to my face for that matter."
"No, actually, apparently I can't say 'bullshit' like that about you because I've been under your shadow for way too long. And you know what? I have!"
"Wha—Oh, I see. My best friend's jealous!"
"YES! That's the word! Jealous! So jealous that I can't even call you my best friend anymore!"
"Hey! What the fuck? Are you kidding me?!" Jason and Danny clamored among Sam as he gave his response.
"Can't call me your best friend? DUDE! Fucking listen to yourself right now!"
"I TRY THAT EACH AND EVERY SINGLE DAMN TIME WE GO OUT ON FUCKING STAGE, BUT I CAN'T! I CAN NEVER HEAR MYSELF BECAUSE THE MAN I'M CLOSEST TO IS AN ATTENTION-SEEKING BACK-STABBING BASTARD!" The band members all grew silent. Panting, Sam just stared coldly at his now-former best friend. The boos began to die out.
"Is that so?" Sam asked quietly.
"Yes!" Tom shouted, pausing. "That is so!" Sam pointed his finger at Tom, but before he could speak, Tom began shouting again. "And if you're gonna fucking kick me out of this fucking band…then please don't hold back!" he finished a bit more quietly, spreading his arms open, dryly waiting for a response.
"I can't kick you out because you're every bit as important as I told them you were out there," Sam replied coldly. "I won't kick you out because you're our lead guitarist. But if you're gonna be this way about me, then you might as well leave. Because I don't want anyone in this band if they're gonna be a jealous, volatile uncooperative little bitch like you. So go ahead and fucking walk out on us. Just remember that Déjà Vu lost its lead guitarist because he was being an asshole." Each of the three remaining band members took a step back and waited nearly ten seconds before Tom lowered his arms and walked away. The boos had fully died down as everyone had left the Royal Woods Coliseum in a scene of controversy. For nearly half a year from this point, everyone from, social media to radio and news shows, was buzzing about the fiasco in Royal Woods, MI, one that nearly left a stain in Déjà Vu's reputation. It would also leave the future of the biggest cover band in the world in doubt. Would they go on with the release of their next album? Will they even tour next summer? Only time will tell. Hell, the answer may very well lie within a nearby house of 10 distinct children and their parents.
Dammit! I used the ending I've been trying to avoid for about a while: a cliché ending! Oh well. I guess I'm not too sure this chapter went the way I expected it to be. I'm gonna try to include song lyrics here without damaging the visual flow of this story. If not, I may just omit them and have you listen to the certain songs throughout the story. Don't forget to review and comment!