Chapter Text
Matthew stepped onto the stage, suddenly feeling aware of the eyes staring at him. As he carried his keytar and talk box, he couldn’t help but feel a bit insecure.
It was only a small bar but to Matthew, it felt like the entire galaxy.
It wasn’t the fact that he was nervous, more so his weird choice of costume, mainly his helmet. He wore a big red helmet that was adorned with white accents around the visor, it looked like one of a motorcycle but it had two small fins pointing outwards and behind. The visor was one-way, the audience reflected on the outside of his visor. No one could tell that it was him, not that anyone remembered who he was without the helmet. He wore a white t-shirt with a red undershirt, jeans and nice red and white converses. Other than his hands, the only thing visible in his costume was his mouth. It made him quite nervous but he reminded himself it wasn’t only him but his brothers as well.
Alfred covered his face with an astronaut helmet. After pulling multiple all-nighters, he found a way to install LED and have the helmet reflect his emotions on the screen. If he smiled, the helmet would display a simple ‘:D’. Matthew forgot Alfred was smarter than he led on. As Kai once described it; Alfred was a dumbass by day but a genius inventor by night. Alfred smiled as he felt his brother’s pride radiate off of him, it was infectious. He wore his worn-out red, white, blue patriotic shirt under his blue zipper hoodie, ripped jeans and sneakers. Alfred had his electric guitar with him, Alfred loved his guitar. It was a gift from their older brother, Arthur, he named it ‘Dangus’ but that was only after his other suggestion, ‘Fuckass’.
Kai got a bit lazier. He went with a store-bought sheep mask with a strap that held around his head but, in his defence, he didn’t realise the effort everyone else was putting into their look. So during the last week, he made two ram horns to cover his hair horns that became his defining feature. He was also the last to arrive, not knowing his horns were going to take so long to put on. He wore a light jacket vest with his favourite Star Trek t-shirt, skinny jeans and comfortable sneakers. He carried his electric bass (subtly named Ewe), fiddling with the strings and plugging in the amp. He was a little embarrassed by his lopsided horns but prideful enough to stand up straight.
And last, Jett. He donned a full-face respirator mask, it was dark forest green with bright yellow accents and black cartridges. He managed to replace the visor so it would be too dark to see his eyes but not dark enough for him to mess up his drumming. When he breathed through the mask, it echoed 10x louder. Jett had too much fun with that bit. He came in with a Hawaiian shirt decorated with small pictures of beer (Kai physically gagged upon seeing him), cargo shorts and socks with Jesus sandals. He spun his drumsticks around his hands as he climbed the stage before propping himself onto his drumming seat.
Matthew placed his keytar nicely to the side and plugged his talk box into the keyboard. He stuck the talk box tube in his mouth to quietly test it out as the audience continued murmuring to each other, ignoring the men on stage.
The four had never performed in front of people, hell, they don’t even have a band name. It was nerve-wracking, Matthew could have puked on the spot. They could sound terrible and this would be the first time that they would find out. And even though all these thoughts ran around his brain, even though this could end horribly, even though all four of them could end up separated again, he couldn’t help but feel giddy. It was thrilling, breath-taking even.
He couldn’t help his grin as he took a hold of the microphone. “Uh, hello everyone!” He felt his nerves starting to kick in. He went with Alfred’s version of an introduction. “We’re all from the future! My name is Professor Soul. My crew behind me are Captain Kuiper," Alfred played a simple guitar riff and winked to the audience, or at least his helmet did. The audience woohed a bit. "-Biite" Jett showed off by completing a complicated but simple sounding drum roll. The audience clapped and cheered slightly louder. "-and Ram Tam!" Kai played a intricate slap bass riff, grinning when the audience cheered significately louder.
"Our goal is to eliminate boredom across the universe!” He looked at Alfred’s helmet, he raised a thumbs up as a happy emoticon displayed on the helmet. “We crash-landed in Halifax, Canada and decided to stay because we discovered life-threatening levels of boring in this area! We're here to fix that up with some sick funky jams!” The audience quietly chuckled and giggled, Matthew exhaled. The audience continued to converse, it annoyed Matthew a little but he understood describing their ‘backstory’ wouldn’t move them forward.
He cleared his throat. “This first song is called ‘Life Party’. Thank you.” The audience only lowered their voices just a bit. Matthew signalled to Jett to start the beat.
Jett hit the sticks together then begun a simple beat, enough to capture most of the audience. As the beat continued, Matthew stuck the tube back in his mouth and prepared himself to sing through the talk box.
“Have you ever thought… of our place in the stars?” The audience was silent, enraptured by the sudden rhythmic, robotic voice. The melody was soft, not sad or sombre but it was building up to something. Matthew grinned as he resting his fingers on the keys. “How lucky we are?”
The guitar and bass weaved themselves in as the song continued. The people in the bar began swinging side to side to the happy tune, mindlessly mumbling the tune without a thought to the lyrics. “Think just how amazing it is that we are alive on this tiny Little Rock is where we all reside!” Matthew felt his worries drift away as he pressed the keys of the keyboard. Alfred’s helmet displayed a delighted smile as he bopped to the tune. Kai muttered the lyrics under his breath as he pulled the strings of his bass. Jett was growing more enthusiastic as the song continued. For once in their hectic crazy lives, the four were completely in sync, blissful and content for the first time. “There's a million, billion, trillion stars up in the sky but here we are!”
“Please join me, baby! And you will see!” The three standing starting dancing and swinging in sync without realising it, they spun at the same time, the same direction. The small audience cheered when they spun, it was the only thing that made them realise they even did that. It felt exhilarating. Their harmony and coordination were intoxicating. “We can be happy on this life journey! Now let me tell you how! Just get together!”
Soon enough the whole song was finished, then their whole first and second set. Suddenly, they were packing up and putting their instruments back into Jett’s van. Their gig had ended.
Matt blinked, feeling like the past three hours just rushed by without warning. He climbed into the backseat of the van, settling his keytar on his lap. Jett sat in the driver’s seat, Kai jumped into the passenger and Alfred reluctantly took the backseat with Matthew.
A beat.
“Oi, mates.” Jett sounded, his mask muffling his speech only a bit. “Can we take these head mask things off now?”
Everyone groaned as they slid off their masks. They were sweaty. The masks and their faces.
“Duuuude, I need to install air holes into this.” Alfred chuckled, his voice sounded worn-out and tired. “Oh my god, dude! Ahah… I feel like I just went into a sauna, man.” He breathed heavily
“Aw, man.” Kai frowned, holding up his damp, saggy mask. “My mask’s completely drenched.”
“Eww…” The rest of the van sounded, it was gross. The van started to stink of sweat and generally bad body odour.
Suddenly, a knock on Jett’s door. The band jolted and screamed but calmed down upon seeing a young lady out the window. Probably in her early twenties, the group analysed. Jett rolled down his window and stuck his head out. “Whaddya want, ey?”
“You’re that band that was just up in the bar, right?” She asked.
The van was silent. “Maybe-“ Kai answered before being interrupted with the rest of the band’s “SHHHH!” Kai huffed, sinking into his seat.
“Oh, don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone what you look like!” The young lady raised her hand, loyally. “I promise.”
Jett squinted, suspiciously. “Okay then. Whaddya want?”
The lady stifled a giggle. “I was wondering what your band name is! You guys have an awesome sound but you never introduced your band. I wanna listen to you guys more or at least keep updated on you four!”
The four looked at each other. “Uhhh, yeah.” Kai drew out his words to give others more time to come up with something.
“Totally! We’re called… called…” Alfred stuttered at a stop. “Uh… T-The Funk… S Express?” The band started at him, jaw dropped. They turned back to the lady who one hundred per cent bought it.
“Oh wow! …Interesting name!” She awkwardly complimented. She grabbed her phone. “Where can I find you guys?”
“Oh! We haven’t set up an account for anything!” Matt waved his hands, like if he was trying to clear up something. “That’s just a working name, we haven’t decided yet.”
“Oh, that’s fine. Well, make sure the next time you come here you have an actual band name!” She chuckled, pushing her hair out of her face.
Jett blew a raspberry, growing tired of the conversation. “Well, we got a get a move on but I’ll be sure to update you, baby.” Jett winked, clicking his tongue. The lady blushed, grinning a bit. “Maybe I could get your number and we can update you then.”
The lady giggled, waving her hand. “Absolutely not.”