Boy Band Status
Chapter 6: "First Performance"
At the pub, 4:00pm
After rehearsing the songs the ALLIED FORCES chose to sing for the night, they took the time to eat in the pub at least before the show starts. It was a mellow scene, where only a few people who worked at the club were cleaning up tables before it opens. The radio was playing softly, "Save Room", by John Legend. The Allies were at the bar; Alfred was eating a cheese pizza, since they did not serve hamburgers apparently. Arthur ate crispy French fries with ketchup, Francis was eating spaghetti, and Yao was eating a sweet potato he brought.
"How come everything served here is more Italian than British?" Francis slurped his food.
"I am not sure", Yao continued eating his potato, "Though, it is different than I expected, aru"
"Tastes pretty good though", Alfred munched one his pizza happily. Arthur silently ate his French fries and then looked towards the kitchen and then the waiter who served them. His curl was bouncing as he was cleaning the dishes. "Italy?"
"Yes~?" The Italian turned with a smile on his face.
Everyone stopped eating their meal, and continued staring at Feliciano. Ludwig came out of the kitchen door dressed in a white cooking uniform, "ITALY! I'm telling you, there are no more tomatoes! Your brother and Spain took all of-". He stopped to stare back at the Allies. To make things more awkward, Kiku came through the door that was the entrance to the pub. He noticed everyone's silence as they changed their view looking towards Japan.
There was a long pause between the Axis Powers and Allied Forces.
"Excuse me", Kiku bowed and began walking out the door.
"YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE-ARU!" Yao appeared, taking grasp of Kiku's collar from behind and pulling him towards the seats near the bar. Japan sighed taking a seat next to China, feeling strange since he was between France as well.
"So, why are you all here in Liverpool?" UK asked. Germany took a deep breath, and exhaled, "Feliciano is taking over this bar's kitchen for now since the chef is out sick…I did not permit it, but the manager was persistent."
"Mm! And I was able to cook a lot of pasta and pizza since they were short on ingredients!" Italy added on to the story, "Even Germany was able to make some of his food!"
"So that explains why the menu was so limited…" Francis chuckled, now noticing at the end of the menu it had the signatures of Germany and Italy.
"Well, I got to say, compliments to the chefs!" America gave a thumbs up continuing to eat his pizza.
"Thank you very much!" took the compliment happily, "Ne, ne! Are you guys the ones performing tonight? The 'ALLIED FORCES' right?"
"Da!" Ivan responded first.
Japan looked over to China, "Really? So…it's really you guys?"
The Chinese sighed as he finished his potato, "Unfortunately yes… It was Alfred's idea, and I got brought into it with everyone else here…"
"Ah…ah…I'm sorry then…" Kiku bowed slightly in his seat.
"How come, aru?"
"I…actually invited S. Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan for the performance…" Kiku's expression dropped to a guilt ridden race, "We were going to have…'bonding time', since Taiwan wanted to do something with all of us…"
Yao looked a bit bothered, "How come…I was not invited to this family bonding time?"
Kiku turned his face the other way towards France, "She said not to invite you." It felt as if an arrow written "HATE YOU", hit Yao in his face. He turned away from the bar and took another seat far off the corner of the room.
"That must of hit him hard", Ludwig commented.
The pub, 4:45 pm
The seats in the room were full, and instruments for the ALLIED FORCES were left on the stage. Everyone was getting dressed in their rooms before the first night. America and England came out of their room first, followed by France and Matthew, then China and Russia.
Alfred was dressed with a graffiti covered shirt and American bandana around his neck, wearing dark blue jeans and white and red shoes. Arthur wore a long black turtle neck, with a white tie and a buckled belt that had the British flag on it. Francis wore an open dark blue collar shirt with a bunch of bracelets and tight white pants. Yao wore a sleeveless red vest, with black pants that had two small white belts on his side, where he also had his hair down. Finally, Ivan wore a dark patterned scarf where you could also see a black tie underneath, a white plaid shirt and torn up dark blue pants.
"Somehow… this feels really strange", UK murmured.
"It's because we all look more band like!" US responded.
"You look pretty sexy yourself today Yao", Francis leaned over towards China. The Chinese man socked Francis in the stomach, "Don't even think about it, aru"
Matthew ran towards everyone exhausted, "Everyone get in your places! It's almost time!" Everyone began walking towards downstairs to the pub, where Ivan carried Francis on his shoulder, still enduring the pain.
Once they entered the room, everyone stared quietly whispering, "Oh they are here!" As they got on stage, China noticed his Asian family watching from afar; Im Yong Soo was waving endlessly, Taiwan seemed more interested in Japan and Hong Kong, who had a slight interested look in his eyes. Everyone had their own particular instrument, Alfred had vocals, Arthur had the electric guitar, Francis on the bass guitar, Yao on the keyboard, and Ivan on the drums. Of course, they planned to take turns singing, or they would just use a radio to sing songs they chose themselves.
Russia began banging the drums in a fast pace, followed by Arthur and Yao, then Francis. Alfred began singing, "I waken up at the start of the end of the world, but just feelin' like every mornin'…" He continued singing the song he chose as the intro for their band "How Far We've Come", by Matchbox Twenty. "Hello everyone! I'm Alfred! The greatest hero you will meet, and the lead singer!" and he continued his singing more, "I believe it all is coming to an end…"
"Since when did we made you leader?!" Arthur wacked Alfred on the side with the tip of his guitar; America endured the pain laughing a bit continuing his singing. As the song ended, many people clapped with a few whistling and screaming here and there. The quiet pub was beginning to change to a club like feeling.
Arthur walked up to the microphone next to Alfred, while still holding onto his guitar, "Uhmm… Hello everyone! We are the ALLIED FORCES!" Everyone clapped again, "You can say, we are like a semi-kareoke band…I guess…we still make our own songs but we like to sing songs from current and past bands for fun! So…I hope you all enjoy this song!"
He nodded to Yao, who began playing a few notes on the keyboard. "Beating Hearts Baby~" Alfred sang as back-up next to Arthur becoming louder as the band played. Arthur took lead and got into the moment singing passionately to the music. "Baby is this love for real?! Let me in your arms to FEEL!!!"
The first performance went on with endless songs Arthur and Alfred chose to sing. Francis began performing "I Don't Want to Miss A Thing" by Aerosmith, to calm the mood of the cheering crowd in the pub. He went through the club wooing some women, but was later pulled back by UK. When it was Yao's turn to sing, things got a bit crazy.
"Nihao! I'll be ending this small showcase with a song called 'Senor Senora Senorita' by a man named Miyavi!" Yao got up to mic finally, after Francis. "One Two Step, ARU Step" China sang, not noticing the mistakes and singing happily. As he continued to sing, he felt something holding his leg. "ANIKI!" S. Korea shouted like a fan-boy. China tried to continue his song dragging Im Yong Soo towards his Asian family. Taiwan wacked S. Korea on his hands with her fan, "Stop pestering aniki!" Japan and Hong Kong was struggling holding the Korean back. China went back on stage and finally ended his song bowing, and glaring at S. Korea, who shouted, "I'm always going to be your number one fan Aniki!"
America took China's microphone, trying to not laugh. "Pfff…Okay…okay… thank you for watching our show! We will be back…I-don't-know-when!" Everyone who was screaming began to grow silent. Alfred stared at Matthew for any advice but he shrugged. "Umm… Be sure to keep watch for our next performance! I guess…eheh…" Alfred waved to the crowd, who clapped anyway for their great performance. "Uhmm…till' next time, invite your friends once you learn about our next show!" Alfred tried to keep the crowd alive, as they walked down the stage.
"Hey Germany", Feliciano nudged Ludwig next to him at the bar, "Should we try making our own band like that with Japan?"
"I don't have time for anything like that…" Ludwig sighed.
"But, I get to hear you and Japan sing!" Feliciano whined.
"Ask Kiku first, I'm not suited for things like this…"
"Aww…fine…" Feliciano sighed returning to the kitchen to cook.
….
"It probably was a good idea, though, I think Feliciano would be singing more than Kiku and me…" Germany thought as he wiped the bar table.