Soooo I took a look back at the reviews and it appears I was mistaken. Calvin in fact did NOT mean Jason will go after Meena as in "try to get together with her" but he meant it as in Jason will sing his song after Meena in the finale. I apologise for that stupid misunderstanding of mine.
As for you hoping he'll sing "Glorious", I already have it planned out what he's going to sing in the final show and it's NOT that song. What song he'll sing instead, I won't say. But I will say that there's some foreshadowing of the song choice earlier in the story.
Now that we got the apologies and explanations out of the way, let's move on, shall we? :)
I do not own the movie Sing. I only own my OC, Jason.
Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review! :)
"Yep, this is gonna take a lotta getting used to."
Rubbing the last remaining bit of sleep out of his eyes, Jason gave the amphitheatre doors a shove and made his way down the corridor to the stage. He could say he was getting better at waking up early for rehearsals, but that'd be a giant lie. If Stephanie hadn't burst into his room and yanked the covers off him, he'd have missed the bus.
Jason tiredly made his way backstage as he fished his crumpled sheet out of his pocket, noticing that nearly everyone else was there already. While waiting for Rosita to arrive, Gunter was helping himself to a sandwich from the refreshments tray. Johnny, from the sounds of it, was just sitting down upstairs and practicing a few notes on the piano. The frogs were already in their rehearsal room, engaged in quite the heated argument, while Pete the camel simply wandered around and gazed at his surroundings.
"Good morning, Jason." Smiling, the porcupine turned around to the source of that familiar gentle voice. Meena was just making her way down the stairs from Moon's office, clad in her usual blue hoodie with baggy jeans and pink sneakers.
"Morning, Meena." He replied kindly.
"Bright-eyed and early, just what I like to see, Jason!" Startled, both their heads whirled around to be greeted by the koala, once again seeming to have appeared out of nowhere. Jason repressed his frustrating memories of Buster's selected songs for him and put on the friendliest smile he could muster.
"Nice to see you again, Moon." He added for good measure.
"Right then, Jason, I want you to carry on going over your songs until you find the one that suits you best. Pretty soon, you're gonna have to show me what you got."
"Umm, sure thing, Mr. Moon." Jason was about to raise his paw in protest against his song choices until the voice of his sister echoed in his mind loudly:
It never hurts to try stepping out of your comfort zone, big brother. You'll never know for certain you can't sing these songs unless you try.
Mentally sighing to himself, Jason lowered his slightly-raised paw. Besides, he figured, even if he did object to Buster's song choices, he'd probably end up being on the receiving end of another corny platitude.
"Yeah, yeah, you got it." The porcupine said at last, though it came out in an uninterested-sounding mutter. Moon, of course, didn't notice and instead turned his attention to the elephant teen.
"And Meena, I need you backstage with me for Mike's rehearsal."
"Heh, it'll be nothin' but smooth sailing, Mr. Moon!" As if on cue, the vermin himself strode past Meena's ginormous feet, straightening the lapels of his red suit like he owned the place. If he was trying to make Jason dislike him more with every sentence that came out of his mouth, he was succeeding beautifully.
"'Bout time I showed you schmucks what a real talented singer is." Mike stated, holding his paw to his chest pompously with a grin to match. Before he could stop himself, Jason fired back at the mouse with a condescending statement of his own.
"Ooh, goodie, lemme know when he gets here." The porcupine could help smirking in satisfaction as that arrogant smile instantly dissolved from Mike's face, quickly replacing it with a mixture of shock followed by an insulted glare. Jason narrowed his eyes in return as Moon thankfully stepped in-between them before it got any uglier.
"Now, now, there's no need for any animosity between the contestants." Mike's tensed shoulders lowered but he still held his dirty look at Jason, who just stared back in contempt. "Now, Mike, if you please, let's get you onstage and see whatcha got."
Finally turning on his heel, the mouse brushed off his suit flaps and followed Buster to the backstage door, as if he'd never acknowledged Jason in the first place. The porcupine only rolled his eyes disdainfully.
"Was that really necessary?"
Snapping out of it, Jason's frown softened as he turned to look at Meena, realising how uncomfortable she must've felt throughout that whole ordeal.
"Sorry 'bout that." He apologised, stuffing his paws into his jeans. A little hostility returned to his tone as he glanced in Mike's direction. "But a guy with an attitude like that is no friend of mine. If he can't treat any of us with kindness or respect, why does he deserve any?"
"Jason, please…" Looking up at the elephant again, Jason sighed through his nostrils at the almost puppy-like eyes she was giving him.
"Alright, I'm sorry." Jason replied mildly, "I'll try to hold back on the hostility."
The key word being 'try'.
"Meena, with me please!" The koala's voice called from the stage. Remembering her assigned task, Meena began making her way to the stage door.
"Well keep up the good work, Meena." Jason called after her.
"Thanks." With an appreciative smile, she closed the door behind her. Jason was about to head to his rehearsal space until the sound of another door opening broke the silence. Turning, he smiled at the sight of Ash coming down the steps from the fire exit door, guitar case clenched in her paw. And upon noticing him, she smiled in return.
"Hi, Jason."
"Hey there, Ash." Taking a quick glance at the clock upon the wall, Jason realised he has once again arrived at rehearsals before she did. In the mood for a little comedy, the porcupine held his paw behind his back and straightened an imaginary pair of glasses, attempting to look as stuck-up as possible.
"Late again, I see." He asked, complete with a raised eyebrow and an elderly British accent to boot. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Shame on you, Miss Ash. This is most unorthodox." For a split second, Ash looked a bit ashamed but that quickly evaporated into an amused smirk when she recognised it as a joke.
"Shut up, you goof." She replied, giving Jason a friendly punch on the arm, "I just overslept."
Jason rubbed his arm better, still smiling playfully. "Man, at the rate I'm waking up late and still beating you to rehearsals, I'll probably win this contest by a landslide."
Ash just rolled her eyes, grinning in return. "Yeah, when pigs fly."
"Actually, mein opa was a pilot!" Came a plucky voice from the other side of the hall. The two porcupine's smiles faded in slight annoyance as they turned to see Gunter in his sparkling gold coat and pants from yesterday. The rotund pig gave a little wave to the pair of them, his third sandwich that morning in his other hand.
"It's just a figure of speech, Gunter." Ash called back to him.
"Oh, I know, I know." The pig replied, showing absolutely no offense at all. Despite his interruption, Ash and Jason couldn't help smiling slightly at his enthusiasm, giving a little side glance to each other. "But still, no harm in a little making ze jokes, ja?"
"No, I guess not." Jason replied at last. Finishing off the sandwich in one bite, Gunter whipped off his gold clothing in barely a second to reveal his signature red leotard underneath, that happy-go-lucky smile still present on his face.
"Well, better get ready for ze warm-up with Rosita. We all got lots to do for ze big day, no?" Trying not to let his nervousness show at the mention of the 'big day', Jason gave a quick nod.
"Yeah, 'spice things up onstage' and all that jazz." He added with a supportive smile. He then raised an eyebrow in surprise as Gunter let out a loud guffaw in response.
"Ha! All zat 'jazz'! Is good music joke, Jason!" With that, the pig made his way into his rehearsal space and shut the door, still chortling at Jason's unintentional pun.
"Wow, even when you're not trying to be funny, you crack others up." Ash stated, folding her arms with a teasing smile. Deciding to play along, Jason pretended to straighten his hoodie in a vain manner.
"Well it's a gift." He dropped his fake smirk with a chuckle as Ash gave him a playful shove on the shoulder.
"Excitable, isn't he?" Jason looked over his shoulder in amusement to see Gunter doing stretches through the glass of his room. Following his gaze, Ash let out a chuckle.
"I'll say." Jason turned back to her, looking curious this time.
"Do you know if he's even in this competition for the prize money?"
The girl porcupine paused for a moment, thinking back to yesterday. "Well, from what I overheard from Rosita yesterday, he's here… just for fun."
"Really?" Jason asked before the smile came back to his face. "Well good on him."
"Yeah, I've watched plenty of singing contests on TV and I don't think I've ever seen a contestant that eager about the thing he loves as him."
That little comment made Jason pause for a moment; Gunter wasn't here for any attention, any prize or any desire for fame. He was taking part merely because he loved doing what he did. Nothing more or less. And… what was so bad about that?
"Well better go and practise my pop." Jason blinked, snapping out of his thoughts and giving a small nod of understanding.
"Guess so." Came his swift reply. "And, uh, wish me luck on my high notes."
Ash smirked playfully. "Yeah, we're both gonna need it to survive the next few days."
It wasn't until he entered his own rehearsal space and leant against the door that his polite smile dropped.
"Ain't that the truth?" He murmured, fishing his song sheet out of his hoodie pocket. Once again glowering down at the list of accursed songs, Jason gave a sharp exhale through his nostrils before glancing at the CD player on the chair across from him, ready and waiting. Repeating his sister's words softly, the porcupine walked over and hovered his finger above the play button.
If he was going to take part in this competition, he was going to need to perform something. No more slacking off. No more murmuring the lyrics. No more scanning over the songs.
Only singing.
"Fine."
Jason pressed the button.
Hehe, clever title, huh? Like the book by Leo Tolstoy? And how it references the "war" between Mike and Jason and the "peace" he feels when talking to Ash? Okay, I'll shut up now.
Since I've been off for a majority of the summer searching for work, I thought you guys deserved a little something with the dreaded September returning and whatnot. Also thought I'd throw in a few more interactions between Jason and the other contestants before I carry on with the romance. But don't worry, I promise the next chapter will have all the Jason and Ash fluffiness you could ever dream of. ;)
*I do not own the rights to the movie Sing. All rights go to Illumination Entertainment