A bit of fun for me, and allows me to combine my two greatest passions, music and writing.
I'm going to try not to make too many, if any at all of these song-fics.
Here we go.
'Hey Evergreen, you wanna take this solo?' James shouted over his mic in his confusingly mid-Atlantic accent to the rhythm guitarist of 'We Were Once'.
For a second the teenager appeared to be considering, then his eyes lit up as he relished the chance to try his new wah pedal
'Sure!' He shouted back, tapping his foot onto the box in front of him.
A smooth transition between tones announced the first note of what was to be a rip-roaring solo, 'Evergreen' pulling out all the stops and dumping his whole trick-bag right onto the floor.
A screeching split harmonic faded to nothing and as the band stopped in anticipation of the final chorus Raven faded out the CD.
'So you want us to go and see these guys?' Robin asked with no expression on his face at all.
'Well, I just thought it would be something interesting, if you don't want to we don't have to.' Raven was secretly disappointed, she had been a fan of We Were Once for at least a year or two and now they were playing in Jump City she wouldn't have a chance to see them.
'I'll get you for this in sparring, Boy Wonder.' She thought.
'Didn't think that was your kind of music, Rae.' Cyborg said from the counter in the kitchen area.
'You don't know me that well then.' She retorted in a monotone.
'I thought they were wonderful, the squealing guitaxe was very expressive.' Starfire blurted.
'Guitar, Star.' Beast Boy corrected, he didn't seem too keen himself, for some reason. This was usually his favourite type of music.
'Ok fine, we'll go, but we leave the minute there's trouble.' Robin gave in and stalked from the room, silently screaming in jubilation. He already had his ticket.
'Very good.' Raven phased through the wall to her room.
Starfire simply floated out of the room in search of something else to occupy her attention.
'So, you not a fan of We Were Once?' Cyborg asked the green teen who seemed very indifferent.
'I just think that solo wasn't up to the standard of the lead guitarist.' Beast Boy sighed.
'Well duh, that's James Raze. He's like the greatest musician alive. Besides I thought the rhythm guitarist, what's he called?' Cyborg floundered for the name.
'Evergreen.' Beast Boy said instantly.
'Yeah, I thought he held up great, I just wanna hear them play together, that'd be…well…it'd be…BOOYAH!' Cyborg was trying to imagine how a joint solo between the band's guitarists would sound, he couldn't think of a word to describe it.
'Hmm.' Was all Beast Boy said.
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'James?' Evergreen wandered over to the front man of his band during their break from rehearsal.
'What is it, EG?' James dropped his magazine and took a drag on his cigarette.
'I was thinking during the Jump show we should harmonize the solo in 'Bring Me Your Smartest'.' He didn't think this would work, James loved to solo, the again he wasn't a selfish musician and usually gave up his own solos for Evergreen.
'Sure, that'd be great, I've been waiting for a chance to play with you properly, you've improved no end.' He offered his cigarette packet to the teenager, who declined.
'Good man, don't ever start.' James hopped from his perch on top of his Marshal and shouted to the rest of the band.
'Jake, Suzy! Greeny and I are harmonizing on 'Bring Me Your Smartest'! You guys just keep doing what you do.' They nodded in response.
'Those two make a great couple.' James noted.
'Yeah.' The other teen agreed.
'You got someone special?' James asked him.
'Not as such.' Evergreen told him.
'So that's a one-sided yes. Guy or girl and do I know them?' James prompted.
'Dude, sick! A girl and yes, you've probably heard of her.' Evergreen blushed a little.
'Ah, one of your 'business associates', prep or goth?' James' grin grew wider.
'I'm not telling you.' The other teen grinned as well.
'I'll find out.' James shouted after him as he went back to his amp.
'I'll tell you who if you tell me where you're from.' James chuckled at the guitarist's little 'in-joke'.
'Not a chance. After practice you want me to drop you back at the Tower?' James shouted to him.
'No way,' the green teen replied, 'the shore of the other side, I can't have anyone know I'm a huge rockstar as well as a superhero, can I?' Evergreen shouted back.
'All in a days work, eh BB?' James chuckled and began to retune his PRS.
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'See you tonight, Green Man.' James pulled up at the shoreline and unlocked the doors.
'The rest of the guys are coming to watch on Saturday, I can't just ditch them so that's when I'm gonna tell them.' Beast Boy told him, declining another cigarette.
'Peer pressure is nothing to you is it? Anyway, why not bring 'em backstage before the show? They'd have a blast.' He lit his own cigarette and took a drag, it's a bad habit, but he seemed to make it look so damn cool.
'You sure?' Beast Boy asked him, between blowing on his aching fingers.
'Dude, you've got to stop acting like I'm your boss, I'm not Robin. You can do what you like, it's your band as much as mine or Jake's or Suzy's' James told him, trying not to blow smoke onto his friend.
'Thanks man.' Beast Boy hopped out of the car, 'I might bring them to the sound check tonight then.'
'Do just that.' James pulled away and sped off down the street towards his home.
'Yeah, my band.' The changeling said to himself before setting off for his tower home.
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'You got what?' Raven was barely controlling her excitement and proceeded to hug Beast Boy to prove the point. Thankfully since Trigon's defeat she had been able to show emotion without blowing stuff up. She was really getting accustomed to it too, sometimes being more excitable than Starfire.
'Fuhbuhhstuhtuckuh.' He said through her shoulder.
'Back stage tickets, four of them.' Cyborg translated, used to having to listen to BB talk with his mouth full, be it with food or with stank ball.
'Four, what about you?' Robin asked him.
'I uh…don't need one. I also got us invited to tonight's sound check, I'm connected like that.' Beast Boy told them.
'Sometimes you do such wonderful things I just want to lock you in a cage and keep you as my little bumglorf.' Starfire shouted, causing Beast Boy to back off a little.
'Though I would never do that.' She added, sheepishly.
'Yeah, we're gonna be late though, so hurry up and get ready.' With that he strolled out.
Timescale jump
'Here we are. I'll just see about getting you in.' Beast Boy strolled casually from the car to the security guard.
'Jerry,' he said quietly, 'dude, pretend to be considering whether to let me in or not.' He asked him.
'Sure.' The burly man replied.
'I think he's having some hassle over there.' Cyborg pointed to the little green teen, who seemed to be having an animated argument with the security guard. He began to scuffle back over, looking dejected.
'The guard says he was never told. I'll call James, he'll sort this out.' Beast Boy reached into the pocket of his off-duty jeans and grabbed a cell phone, punching in a number and holding it to his ear.
'James? It's BB, yeah; the security guard's trying to get us to leave. Yeah. Thanks man. Peace.' He flipped the phone closed and stared expectantly at the doorman.
He watched as Jerry lifted his hand to his ear and pretended to receive a message from inside. He waved them over and opened the door.
'Sorry about that guys.' He said as they passed.
'No problem, dude,' Beast Boy said, the last to enter, 'I totally owe you one, Jer.'
Inside they were led through the main doors to the arena floor and to the foot of the currently empty stage.
'Here we are, it gets hot in here, so you guys may wanna lose the jackets.' BB told them.
The team removed their outer layer to reveal very plain off-duty clothes, well, in Robin and Cyborg's case at least.
Raven revealed a We Were Once tour shirt and purple-black baggy pants, studded belt(s) and wrist bands. She had obviously leant another shirt to Starfire as it seemed too small for her and hugged her curves in all the right places, she was wearing a short black skirt much like her normal one. She also wore all the accessories associated withy rock show goers.
Robin drooled for a second before being startled back to reality by a loud bass note.
'That's Suzy, the bass player.' Raven pointed out the tall girl on the stage.
'Hey, it's the Titans!' She shouted over her shoulder to the drummer who came forwards.
'Hey Titans, hey BB.' He shouted down to them. 'You looking for James?'
'Jake the bass player.' Raven said quietly to Starfire.
'Yeah, you know where he is?' BB shouted, oblivious to the stares he was gaining from the other Titans for conversing so freely with a famous rockstar.
'He's in the back, you know the way.' Jake pointed.
'Thanks.' He led the other Titans to a door and through a maze of corridors until they came to a door with a star on it.
'Wait here.' He told them and entered.
They stood for a long time, Raven almost shaking in anticipation.
'Ok guys.' They heard BB shout from within. They entered.
Sat on the sofa next to their team mate was James Raze, lead singer and guitarist of We Were Once and all-round musical genius.
'Wow, that's James Raze.' Raven said not too quietly. The famous musician chuckled.
'Yes it is.' He said, his accent not American but not British.
'Who?' Starfire asked, eliciting another chuckle from the singer.
'He's the guitarist and singer, he also writes movie soundtracks, opera and composes modern classical music. He's sung or played an instrument on nearly every recent album and is generally a genius.' Raven rambled.
'Pleased to make your acquaintance, James Raze at your service. I must say I've been told lots about you by my band mate, Evergreen. He's familiar with all of you.' He presented a hand first to Robin, then to each Titan in turn, kissing the hands of Raven and Starfire.
'Where is he? He's the only one we haven't seen yet.' Raven asked, glancing around, over a manically grinning Beast Boy.
'He's here.' James said, gesturing in a round about way. 'Somewhere.'
'You guys should go back out front, the whole band are about to sound check, I'll be with you shortly.' Beast Boy told them.
They stood a while in the arena, waiting. Eventually James appeared on stage with his guitar.
'Frank, can we boost the backing mics? I couldn't hear Suzy or EG earlier today. Thanks.' He shouted to the man on the mixing desk.
'Hello again, guys. We're just gonna get levels right and then we can leave, k?' He asked them. They nodded.
'Alright, we'll check on 'What's That?' It's easy. You ready guys?' He asked the band, Evergreen was finally there, his back to the open arena.
'That's Evergreen, he was taught by James and is debatably as good a musician as him.' Raven told them.
'It's not debatable, love, he really is.' James said with a grin. '1.2.3.4!'
He broke into a fast riff, with Evergreen chugging chords behind him, the bass came in and eventually Jake entered with a fill.
'I am singing random nonsense! To the tune of one of our songs! So Frank can check the levels and get it right.' James sang into his mic in perfect tune, but the words were obviously not part of the song.
His singing was nonetheless impressive and gained an amused outbreak from the Titans.
'I think that Evergreen should introduce himself! It's rude to keep your friends waiting. Frank boost the left hand moniter, I can't hear a thing.' He continued to sing.
'Green bean, take it. SOLO!' He suddenly shouted, leaping away from the microphone.
The previously unseen guitarist stepped backwards and span, wrenching out a pinched harmonic bend that could make Hendrix cry.
'Wait, isn't that… BEAST BOY?' Raven shouted suddenly, grabbing Starfire's arm in sheer disbelief.
He wailed on his Gibson so hard Steve Vai would hang up his pick for good and Slash would kill himself. A bend and dive-bomb into a very, very fast run all the way up the neck and he stopped, stepping back and letting James back to the mic.
'Wow, I have taught you well Grasshopper.' He said down the mic, grinning back at his friend.
Frank gave them a thumbs up and they all stopped playing.
'Cheers mate.' James said, placing his guitar on the nearby rack and jumping off the rather high stage, landing in a roll and popping up in front of the Titans, who were simply staring at their friend on the stage.
'Well?' James said, waving a hand in front of Starfire's face.
'BB…on…stage…guitar.' Cyborg said.
'Heh, I think this is all yours EG.' James walked away, lighting a cigarette.
There you have it. I know Raven is OOC but I've explained that as her enjoying being emotional now she can be.
So, review me, I'm sure you will.
Reamis. Once more, out.