And then Finn said so what?
Finn fingered the instrument. He grunted.
"How many strings is a guitar supposed to have again?"
There wasn't an audience to annoy in his room though, so he just answered the question himself. Strings didn't really matter just as long as he could get a sound, really. It was something of a backwards way of thinking.
He knew it, big deal.
He aligned his fingers and leaned further back on his bed. Gently he ran his thumbs over the strings…and the chord was terrible.
Finn shivered. There was no crowd to boo at him here, he reminded himself. He could play however he liked. He could play—maybe not as fantastic as those records he kept in his stash—but he did know what music was. He just didn't have the patience for it.
At other times he didn't have the time.
He knew that Aerrow—his next best bud, his almost big brother, his more than often surrogate dad—was a Sky Knight. He was bred to be at the centre of it all. But for the love of Atmos, was that a reason for his obsession with Cyclonians? He literally looked for trouble.
It was so easy now to tell when they were or weren't going on a life-threatening mission. He didn't even need to read Aerrow's expression anymore. The radio said it all.
Not this time though. Ha! They were finally travelling along a rarely used route to nowhere popular that was bound to be free of any Sky Knight duties for the next few hours. And with Piper locked up in her room musing over some fancy crystal they'd found on Terra Ray, there was no-one to hassle him to get up and scrub the hangar or wash the dishes or mop the corridor or…
How did she find a list of things to do like that?
But Finn was a teenager, an aged kid. He only concentrated on the present and had no business for the future until it shouted at him, "Finn! We're under attack!"
Was there anyone on the Condor who just liked to take it easy? Even the effort to try to act lazy and influence everyone else to take a break was in itself exhausting.
But right now, it was just him at the guitar strings. Yep, just him and five strings.
He repositioned his fingers, picked at the second string, closed his eyes and pulled.
Aw, man.
That's the one.
And if anyone could hear him now they'd probably ask, "Why don't you play like that more often?"
He snorted. Because it was boring. He hated to play slowly, even if it sounded better. He liked nice chords, but those high joy ride rockin' screamers just…
He pulled another chord. Hmm. Fantastic.
…where was he? Oh yeah. They just reacted to him. Made him want to do what they do. They had fun. It was wild!
Not reckless. He wasn't reckless. Finn knew he was mortal. He knew he could do certain stuff. He knew he couldn't take certain hits. He knew he couldn't fight as well as even Ravess.
Damn. That burned.
Another chord. Excellent harmony, dude!
He played again, this time finding a beat. His head bobbed with it. He could feel the resistance in his hair. The chords kept coming and his fingers kept moving, but it was way too slow. The instant he was ready to jump on his desk and shred…!
"Why can't you play like that more often?"
He looked at the doorway, his breath hitched in his throat. Junko smiled at him, gray eyes friendly, on even level. Not a 'go to your room' or a 'Finn, cut that out' or 'you've got to be kiddin' me'. It was just a 'hi, how're you doin?' sort of face, and Finn welcomed it.
He lowered his hand. "Oh, Junko. It's you."
Junko grinned and folded his arms. "You'd break fewer guitars that way," he offered gently, glancing between the instrument and Finn's strangely calm countenance.
"Yeah well," Finn looked down at the acoustic guitar. "It's not really my taste."
"You're really good at it though."
He almost replied like a normal human being would. But then his personality, recharged, sent a cocky look at the Wallop. "Well sure—this is the Finnster we're talkin' about!"
And then Junko would just smile at him. Not roll his eyes, or shake his head, or just continue down the hallway, or even all of the above. He'd just smile.
And then the moment broke.
"We're under attack!"
Author's note: I've had this thing lying around for a while. I finally got around to publishing it. Finn lovers, please enjoy.