Later that evening, everyone was racing around the studio trying to get everything ready for the show that was going to occur in less than an hour.
Swedish Chef was getting the food set out and ready to be picked up by anyone and consumed; Uncle Deadly was adding the finishing touches to Miss Piggy's outfit for the night; Scooter and Kermit were running around, checking to be sure everyone was in the right places; Gonzo, Pepe and Rizzo were going over the order of the performances with the people that were performing; Fozzie was looking over his comedic material; Statler and Waldorf were sitting in their seats, ready to heckle the poor bear; Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker were getting their invention ready, which was hidden behind a shimmery pink tarp; and some of the Electric Mayhem members were sitting at their places. I say some because three of the members were missing: Dr. Teeth, Zoot, and Lips.
Dr. Teeth and Zoot were sitting in the band's hang-out place again, both getting a little more time to relax before going on camera again for the first time in months.
Dr. Teeth looked over at the saxophonist and said, "Okay, so we have about an hour to kill before having to go live. You nervous?"
"Nervous? Nah, man, I'm pretty much used to this craziness by now. It's Lips you should ask that question to. Last I saw him, he was shaking more than chihuahua," Zoot said.
Lips always got nervous before a show started; despite having experience from the Muppet Show and a few Muppet films, he still got a bit of stage fright, even when performing on Up Late with Miss Piggy. He had to have a cup of tea with him to soothe his nerves.
"Well, I hope he manages to calm down before the performance; I'd hate to see him pass out onstage. It might cause some chaos," Dr. Teeth said, knowing how when performers are very stressed they drop to the floor and the audience tends to panic when they see it, worried that something may be very wrong with the person who fell unconscious.
"I still have a feeling that there will be chaos tonight though. I just wish I knew what it was," Zoot said.
"Why don't you light some incense on the old burner. Maybe you'll get one of your 'visions'," Dr. Teeth suggested.
As weird as it may sound, whenever the incense burner was lit, specifically with the opium scent, and Zoot would smell it for a brief moment and take a nap, he'd have a weird dreams that would somewhat tell the future: the first time it happened, he saw himself and the band onstage in a theater that resembled the Muppet Theater just a week before they auditioned to perform in the Muppet Show;
the second time, Zoot was in the theater and he heard a trumpet being played somewhere but he couldn't pinpoint where it was, which happened the night before the band began auditions to add a trumpeter to their group, who ended up being Lips, who played eerily similar to how the hidden trumpeter in Zoot's dream played;
the last time it happened, Zoot had a scary vision that the Muppet Theater was torn down, which happened a day before Walter showed up telling the band that the Muppet Theater was going to be torn down and drilled for oil!
Zoot doesn't know if it's just coincidence that he has those visions or if he's psychic, but he does know that it was weird thing to happen after smelling opium incense, especially since the incense didn't even contain the element in opium that caused people to get high. The band are well aware of his visions; Dr. Teeth, Floyd, and Animal thought it was cool, Janice was pretty confident that Zoot was psychic, and Lips thought it was kind of scary.
It had been a while since he did it, because Janice hadn't bought opium for a long period of time. She actually did get some last night, but it was probably too late to take a nap right now.
"It's too late night now, maybe I'll just stay tense all night, stressing out about what's going to happen tonight. Whoa! I think I'm starting to know how Lips feels!" Zoot stated.
"Being stressed out won't do good for you, Zoot; you need to stay calm and mellow when you play your sax, otherwise you might mess up your notes and the pig might get steamed," Dr. Teeth told his partner. Then, he raised his eyebrows and said, "You know, I think I may know something that'll help you calm down."
Before Zoot could have the chance to ask what, Dr. Teeth forced him flat down on the couch, where the keyboardist was over him, looking into his eyes, er, sunglasses. Zoot could feel his face burn red, knowing where THIS was going to go.
A while later, 5 minutes till showtime to be precise, everyone was all ready for the show to go live, but Dr. Teeth and Zoot were still missing.
Kermit turned towards Scooter and said, "Scooter! Can you please go find where Dr. Teeth and Zoot are! We can't start without them."
"Sure thing chief," Scooter obliged, about to run off, when Lips ran up to them.
"Hold on; I think I know where they are, but let me go get them," Lips said, already having a feeling he knew what they were doing at the moment.
"No, no, you stay at your spot, I'll go get them," Scooter told the trumpeter.
"Trust me, Scooter, I should be the one to get them," Lips said.
"Why?" Scooter asked.
"...Reasons," Lips answered.
"Which are?" Scooter asked.
Lips went blank and frantically tried to think of an excuse to why he should be the one to get Dr. Teeth and Zoot instead of Scooter other than the OBVIOUS reason, but will he was blanked out, Scooter went off to search for the two missing Muppets.
Scooter went down the hall to where the band's hangout place was, not helping but remember how the band tried to help him live on the edge by giving him a piercing which did not go as planned. He wondered why Lips didn't want him to retrieve the two musicians, but he was sure it wasn't as big a deal as Lips made it seem...until he entered through the beaded door.
Dr. Teeth had Zoot pinned down on the sofa, where the two Muppets seemed to be sharing a very passionate make-out session, with Zoot moaning a bit every couple of seconds and Dr. Teeth rubbing his hands on the saxophonist's hips.
"Whoa, wasn't expecting this," Scooter accidentally said out loud.
Upon him speaking, Dr. Teeth and Zoot broke their kiss and looked over at the orange Muppet, both gasping, "Scooter!"
Scooter jumped and quickly stammered, "Sorry! Did I scare you? Didn't mean to! I...Um...Uh…" He cleared his throat and wiped his forehead before saying, "You're needed onstage in a minute and a half." And then bolting from the room.
Dr. Teeth and Zoot stared at the bead door, their eyes and mouths wide open.
"Did...that just happen?" Zoot asked Dr. Teeth, hoping they had both imagined Scooter walking in on them.
"Yep," Dr. Teeth answered, getting off Zoot and straightening out any bits of his clothing that got mussed up during their make-out.
"What should we do?!" Zoot asked, grabbing Dr. Teeth's arm, his entire form shaking.
Dr. Teeth put his hands on Zoot's shoulders and told the blue Muppet, "Whoa, man, don't get your nerves all wrecked over this. We're going live in a minute and we need to remain calm. And we know Scooter; he's just going to keep it to himself until after the show and ask us about it later. You know he's not the type to spread gossip."
"Yeah, that's the truth," Zoot said, his tense muscles starting to relax.
"Now, we better get out there before we're too late and the pig chops us through the scenery on camera," Dr. Teeth said as he and Zoot ran out of the room to the set.
Fortunately, the two musicians go to their positions in the band area just 10 seconds before the cameras turned on and as soon as those seconds were up, the show had begun.
Miss Piggy looked at the camera and greeted her audience, "Hello, hello, hello! Hello my adoring audience! It had been far too long since we've seen each other. I've missed each and every one of you! I'd name you all but sadly I don't know each of your personally. Now tonight, our show is going to be packed full of fun, starting with…"
Zoot glanced over to where Scooter was standing, where he caught the orange Muppet staring at him and Dr. Teeth with very wide eyes. When Scooter saw the blue saxophonist was watching him, he quickly turned away, trying to focus on the show.
Zoot looked away, giving out a soft, but annoyed, sigh. First, Scooter caught him and Dr. Teeth having one of their groovy moments, and now the kid won't stop staring at them!
The saxophonist only hoped that Scooter would keep his wide mouth shut about what he saw. Despite what Dr. Teeth said, Scooter does have a tendency to let secrets slip, especially the types of secrets regarding romantic relationships!
For most of the show, Zoot watched Scooter from the corner of his eye so he could see who the associate producer spoke to and how the other person reacted, just to make sure if they were talking about him and his boyfriend. Until commercial break, he didn't seem to spill anything.
When it was break time, Uncle Deadly went onstage to check on Miss Piggy's make-up while Kermit spoke with Bunsen and Beaker about their sketch. Scooter just bolted to the food table and grabbed a few brownies.
Lips looked over at the band and said, "I'm going to grab something to eat. You guys want anything?"
"Just some water probably," Floyd answered.
"Oh, a coconut water would be, like, good right now," Janice added.
"MUFFIN!" Animal shouted.
"Nothing for me, but thanks for asking," Dr. Teeth said.
Zoot didn't respond because he was too focused on Scooter to pay attention to what Lips said, so the trumpeter had to tap him on the shoulder.
"What?" Zoot asked his friend, looking over at him.
"I said I was going to get something to eat and if anyone wanted anything," Lips restated.
"Um…" Zoot stammered, until a thought went into his head. "Actually I'll go with you. I didn't really check to see what they had over there."
The trumpeter and saxophonist went over to the table, and as soon as Scooter saw Zoot, he was about to bolt, but the blue Muppet grabbed his arm to keep him from escaping.
"Don't hurt me," Scooter whimpered.
"Relax, I'm not. I just want to know one thing," Zoot said.
"Well so do I; are you and Dr. Teeth a...thing?" Scooter asked his friend.
Zoot sighed, releasing the orange Muppet and rubbing his forehead, "Yeah, we are, but please don't tell anyone!"
"Relax, I won't. I'm not that type of person. Besides, you should be glad it was me who caught you and not Pepe; if he had seen that, he would've spread it around like wildfire! Wait, does the rest of the band know?" Scooter asked.
"Know what?" Lips asked, going over to the two.
"Nothing!" Scooter answered.
"Chill Scoots, they know about it," Zoot told the young adult.
Lips froze and said, "Whoa are you telling Scooter what I think you're telling him?"
"Yep," Zoot answered flatly.
Lips gasped, "Oh man…"
"But I'm only telling him because he caught me and Dr. Teeth...um…" Zoot explained before dropping away from the subject a bit.
Lips frowned and shook his head, saying, "What did I tell you about doing that at work?"
"Hey! We didn't go that far!" Zoot stated. "At least not this time."
"Shh! Kermit is starting to look over here!" Scooter warned the musicians, as Kermit glanced over at them as soon as Zoot hollered a bit, along with Miss Piggy, Uncle Deadly and the writing team (In case you forgot, it's Gonzo, Rizzo and Pepe).
"So now since Scooter knows...are you two going to come out now?" Lips asked Zoot.
"...I don't-," Zoot started muttering until Scooter cut him off saying, "Commercial break is almost over! You gotta get back to your spots!"
"Oh right," Zoot said, as he and Lips retrieved what they needed and went back to their spots.
"Bunsen and Beaker's sketch is about to go on...man, I hope they don't screw up whatever they're doing," Zoot thought.
Well, Scooter knows Dr. Teeth and Zoot's secret now! Whether or not he'll let it slip to someone we don't know, but hopefully it'll be a while until that happens!
And in the next chapter, we're going to see what sort of bizarre invention Bunsen and Beaker had come up with this time!
Which will result in some more chaos on Up Late with Miss Piggy!
Jim Henson owns the Muppets (characters)
Bill Prady owns The Muppets (TV Show)
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