Chapter Text
Bad news: his road bike was crushed.
Good news: he was not riding at that time.
Bad news: he really wants to ride bike right now.
Good news: there is a road bike backstage.
"Whose bike is that?"
"Jason's."
Kirk sighed, Cliff definitelly should drop his "the whole world knows what I'm talking about" attitude, "Who the hell is Jason?"
Cliff continued playing, not bothering to meet his eyes, "One of my bass techs."
Kirk walked up to the bike and checked it out. The chain was clean and shiny, the tires had no trace of dust or mud, and the lock circled it. He stood up straight to measure the height of the saddle, which turned out to suit him quite well.
Not willing to leave the lovely bike, he raised his voice, "The last time I checked, the only bass tech you could name was Zach."
"If your 'last time' is a month ago, that's right."
"You serious? What's up with Zach?"
"Said that he had some health problems, got too much stage work, had to find someone to take care of my corner."
"Oh, that's...what about this Jason guy, then?"
"Was our roadie back then, new kid, Zach trusts him though, so there he is. Skilled, careful, hard-working...good kid."
"How come you never talked about that?"
"I'm no Lars."
Fair enough. Kirk shrugged, besides Cliff, the bass players that he cared about were no more than a handful anyway.
Only now he had to borrow a road bike from this Jason now, "Where is he, this Jason kid of yours?"
"Doing some tech stuff up the stage, probably."
Kirk waved him a quick goodbye and walked towards the stage, fiddling his strings warming up for the show, and also to loose up some pressure. Maybe he was not drunk or high enough, or it was just the whole borrowing-bike-form-a-stranger thing that was getting to him. Hope this Jason is nice.
He forgot to ask what the kid looked like. For a while, he stood under the dim light at a loss. They were playing some songs as an opening act, noise from the audience up and down, Kirk narrowed his eyes, and spotted the tallest guy among their staff—his high school friend and guitar tech—asked loudly, "Hey, John, where's this Jason kid? He's Cliff's new bass tech."
Somehow, the song ended, and the audience was quiet for a second, it was only him shouting like crazy in the whole damn world.
“Jeez, you scared the hell out of me,” John jumped a little, "save it, after you shouted like that, he'd come to find you."
He tilted his head. Following his instruction, Kirk looked over, finding all the staff staring at him laughing. He held back the embarrassment and threw up his hand, then found out the only one who was not laughing from afar.
Grabbing his guitar, he trotted through the bad guys, with several slaps landing on his shoulder. What are you looking at, he murmured quietly, I'm not looking for trouble.
"Jason?" He called out, the ball of messy brown hair nodded blankly, "Cliff said the road bike backstage is yours, will you ride it tomorrow? Can I...uh, borrow it? Mine was...um..."
"Crushed. Heard about that. Glad you are okay."
Well, that's what's like to have a team as a family, you can't hide any bad news.
"Oh, sorry, I was talking too much. Sure, guess tomorrow I won't have time to ride anyway. I, uh...should I give you the key now?"
"Tomorrow‘s better, bet I have it now, gotta lose it on the stage seconds later."
Jason smiled, pawing his bangs, and nodded.
Kirk smiled back, and patted his arm after telling him his room number, "Thanks, man!"
With the deal done, Kirk was rather happy tonight, restless even, thrashing all around the stage. He jumped to the stairs and ran through the bridge to Cliff's side, cheerfully asking, "Have to buy a new bike, come with me?" Cliff shook off his hair and leaned on him, shouting, "Rather go to comic store!"
He was no fun. Kirk grimaced at him, glancing at some roadies standing by off the stage before returning to his spot. That Jason kid was next to Cliff's bass case, gazing at them. Kirk smiled, the kid seemed startled for a while, then made a small wave.
They love their new album regardless of how people estimate it. At least, they were able to change tour bus to plane most times thanks to the profits. For them, it's rather nice to rest for a night in the hotel before hitting the road, if they weren't crushing some bars or playing guitars in the middle of the night in a hotel, that is.
Kirk rested early tonight for tomorrow's ride, and for them, three in the morning was definitely considered early. When he woke up, he had neither a headache from a hangover nor a depression after a kick. He could still catch the hotel breakfast. Their flight was in the afternoon to match Cliff's schedule, he got enough time to ride for two or three hours then back to clean up and pack. All he had to do now was wait for the Jason kid to come knocking.
Just as he thought that, there was a gentle knock on his door, he'd miss it if he was still in the bathroom. He looked through the peephole and opened the door, combing his hair with his fingers, a hair tie between his teeth. So his words sounded a little vague, “gusht shinkin' when you gotta come.”
"Guess I'd better not visit too early, but I'm afraid you won't have enough time to ride if any later," Jason was in their band's t-shirt, raised one hand and scratched his neck, reached out and spread another, a key lying on his palm, "here."
Not that he didn't want to take it but his hands were kind of busy right now.
"Have you had breakfast?"
"Huh? Not yet, why?"
He stepped back tying his hair, "Come in, just a minute, I got to change, then we can go and grab some breakfast...I mean, if you don't have other plans already."
"No, but don't bother, I'm saying that you don't have to—"
Kirk tied his hair up and looked down at his worn-out sneakers, pulling him into the room, "Of course I do, you can't imagine how much I want to ride. It's a good deal just buy you breakfast. Besides, I'm counting on you to take me to your bike!"
He got up early, but by normal standards, it was kind of late. The hotel breakfast time was about to end. There ware only some of their roadies eating around a table except them. Luckily, the hotel served breakfast buffet, because the kid really needed to relax.
For someone who has enough empathy, he may not be a perfect eating company. He didn't expect a total stranger would care about his eating habits, feeling somwhow indebted to the kid, because he just saw him stopping adding more bacon to his plate.
Kirk peeled a banana and took a bite, checking out Jason as he was busy shoving mushrooms into his mouth. How old is he, twenty-five? He was skinny like teenager, only growing taller but not stronger. His eyes were clear as those of high school kids. Acne popped up on his chin.
"How old are you?"
Jason paused with his fork, swallowed a mouthfull, and replied, lifting his head, "Twenty-three."
He's just a kid. Kirk called back to when he was at that age, only to find a pile of chaos.
"You did great. I was never capable of these types of jobs which require carefulness and patience when I was twenty-three, and Cliff could be a pain in the ass sometimes."
"He's not. He's awesome," Jason immediately protested, offended, "he's always been my hero."
Hah, he turned out to be a fan. Kirk was amused, "that must be he has a reputation to maintain in front of you. He refuses to return my books all the time."
With brown eyebrows knotted, this kid looked like wanted to teach him a lesson but owed him a meal at first. Kirk had enough fun, backtracking, "he likes you a lot. Yesterday he said that you were good."
"Really?" The young face lit up suddenly, making Kirk realize he had a pair of pretty blue eyes, "I'm honored to work for him—for you guys!"
Lucky for Cliff, Kirk thought, how come I don't have such a sweet kid to be my guitar tech?
Following him, Kirk found his road bike and got the key to unlock it. The bike was just about the right height. He mounted, goggles on, and buckled the helmet belt, then adjusted the pedals and get ready to go.
Jason stepped back a little, "you can keep the key until we arrive at the next town. We are going to load the equipment and get going shortly after. Well...ride safe, and have fun."
It was heartwarming. Kirk smiled, "Thanks, kid!"
The bike was nice. Though it wasn't some expansive type and had been used for quite a while, it was well maintained. The freewheel was neat, so he could pedal easily. When he got back, he checked the bike, before transferring it to the airport with their luggage.
On the plane, he elbowed Cliff who was sitting next to him.
"What."
"Did Jason give you his room number?"
"Who the hell is Jason?"
Kirk rolled his eyes. This guy could be rather childish sometimes. "Come on."
"What's your doing with him? He's not in charge of your guitars."
"To give his key back...why do you have to ask so much!"
"Fine. I dunno, but he's gonna set up the stage tomorrow morning. You can go find him yourself, only if you can get up that early," Cliff raised his eyebrow smugly, "oh, tell him the head of my SB700 cracked. I knocked it on the tub last night."
"Playing in the bathroom? What's wrong with you!"
"Better than you playing sitting on the toilet, naked."
Who said Cliff was awesome and all? Kirk almost got sidetracked until he checked in, realizing he could simply ask the front desk. But then, he didn't know the kid's full name, there were so many Jasons out there. At last, he got to know Zach's room number, planning to ask him about it. When he was at his door, he heard music playing inside. He tried to listen clearly for a second, it was the bassline of Battery. He knocked a little harder, and a vague "Did you forget your room card again, man" came out.
"...Kirk? Why are you—do you come to give me the key? How did you know where I'm staying?" Jason carried a bass that he has never seen before, which might be his but not Cliff's, and his right hand moved a little, hiding a pick in his palm.
Apparently, he could play that fast using a pick. Cliff did tell the truth then, that his tech boy was good indeed.
"I'm a prophet," Kirk blinked, playing mysterious. The kid almost believed him, making him nearly fail, "Ahem, Cliff sent me to tell you that the head of his Aria cracked. He knocked it on the tub last night."
"Huh? Then he could just tell me when he's at the arena tomorrow. You don't have to come down here."
"I have to, because of this," Kirk took out his key and swung it in front of his eyes, disappointed by him not asking "What kind of weirdo would play bass in the bathroom", "Are you gonna let me in or what? Did I interrupt your music time?"
"Of course not. I'm just killing time. Come in, please."
The room was horribly tidy...at least for Jason's half. It looked like his luggage was not much, a small suitcase, a bass case plus a backpack, standing in a perfect line against the wall. The other stuff which was several bass cases and toolboxes with Cliff's name on them, was at the end of the bed.
"Did he make you work overtime?"
"What? No!" Jason switched to the Cliff Burton Protection Mode in no time, "It was just me. I'm still...I'm not as good as Zach yet, need more time. But one day I'll do my job fast and perfect."
Kirk lifted open one of Cliff's bass cases. The bass lay comfortably on the velvet, with a glossy black lacquered body and neatly cut strings that were right next to the tuning pegs. The well-folded strap was close by. Last night, this bass was covered in sweat and beer, which was occasionally poured all over it.
It had been a long time since he had taken care of his guitars by himself. He suddenly realized that they were like the basses, despite going through all the torture, they came out clean and shiny before the next show. Their techs must have magic.
"Thanks to you," he patted Jason on the shoulder and handed him the key, "I'll never figure out how we stayed the night and cleaned up our guitars and basses after the shows."
Jason took the key and tilted his head in confusion, "It's my job. Uh, it's nice talking to you, but maybe I should go get Cliff's wounded bass."
"There won't be enough time for the glue to dry," Kirk raised an eyebrow. This kid certainly didn't understand courtesy, since they hadn't even talked much. "Leave it for tomorrow. He can survive without that bass for a show or two. Have you had dinner? I'm starving!"
"Not yet. But..."
"No 'but', kid. Even Lars wouldn't argue if I bought him dinner."
As they were about to finish their meal, Cliff came down to the cafeteria. Kirk spotted him immediately, but stayed cool, waiting for him to join them, which startled Jason, who was sitting with his back towards Cliff. It was fun to tease Cliff's tech boy. Besides, it was always nice to have a friend who also likes to ride bikes.