Chapter Text
Mumbo was as a general rule quite prone to being anxious. He really tried not to be, although perhaps that made it worse, but no matter how hard he tried and tried and tried. Ren had said very shortly after meeting him that he had that nervous aura. (Mumbo wasn't entirely sure what that meant but he had determined that Ren had probably meant it positively. Right?)
He wasn't entirely sure where it came from. It wasn't as though he had particularly struggled in his upbringing in the same way that some of his fellow band members had. He'd grown up in a very upper middle class family with two parents who had supported him and his music career.
Although to call it a career was a bit of a stretch perhaps at this stage. It haad started when he was younger and he'd started posting videos of himself covering classics on youtube. While it had taken a litte while (and he had mused to himself, who wants to watch a 13 year old sing deep cuts of Marvin Gaye, Otis Reading and Mumbos personal idol TFC)he had managed to gain quite a following.
In all actuality he'd thought the offer was fake at first. Perhaps that was his nervous aura kicking in. Perhaps it was the fact that he'd mentally not really been able to understand the fact that the numbers of subscribers that he'd gained was, well, real.
Oh he had known intellectually that each of the individual 500,000 that made up his subscriber count was an individual person. But it was more... emotionally?, tangentially? Un-intellectually? (Was that even a real thing) that he could not quite reconcile it within his silly nervous brain.
It took the fact that a man, from HC Records who went by the name of Mr Cub Fan actually knocking on his parents door with a contract (and a totally real business card that Mumbo definitely Had Not claimed was definitely fake, nope that totally did not happen!), for Mumbo to realise that he could take this whole music thing seriously.
His two very supportive parents talked to Mr Fan. Then as they were incredibly supportive they encouraged Mumbo to "follow your heart darling" "do what makes you happy son" and so he'd agreed and a week later he'd found himself on a train down to London to meet with the head of HC Records. Mr Xisumia Void himself.
For some reason Mumbo had assumed that he would be meeting just with Mr Void (and no it didn't matter that he'd told Mumbo to "just call me Xisumia" because Mumbo's nervous aura meant he could not think of doing that without feeling like he might spontaneously combust or be hit by a falling anvil that is to say, perish immediately on the spot). He had been surprised then when he had walked into the room to see three other men.
He'd noticed the tallest one first.
This was partially due to the fact that, and this was an an embarrassingly arrogant thought that he had sworn inwardly he would never divulge, but his first thought upon seeing the tallest one in the room had been
"Huh, I'm not looking down at him"
Not because Mumbo considered himself better in any way. But because Mumbo was just sort of, used to being the tallest one in a room at any given point. So to meet someone who was on a somewhat level playing field was, well, unique.
He was a handsome dude. Although Mumbo noted that there wasn't really anyone unattractive in the room
Well apart from me obviously his traitorous hind brain had whispered.
In any case apart from his awkward moment of inner panic where he was pretty sure he had just stood there looking like it was his first day on the planet Mr Fan had intervened
"Gentleman this is Mr Mumbo Jumbo, Mumbo these are your future bandmates Mr Skizz Leman, Mr Ren Thedog and Mr Beef Vintagè"
Mr Skizz was the aforementioned tall one, unlike Mumbo, who was all height and no width, Skizz was a solid wall of muscle, with soft light brown hair, soft brown eyes decorated with smile lines and a warm smile on his lips that Mumbo found his lips quirking to respond to.
Mr Ren was a relatively tall lithe figure. Much like Skizz he had brown hair but to be fair that was where the similarities stopped. Ren was, Mumbo could admit, devastatingly handsome in a very conventionally attractive way. His skin was a golden tan that made the bright blue of his eyes stand out. He grinned widely, lavishly, at mumbo and theatrically swept and arm out in a sort of bow? Towards Mumbo? Mumbo had waved. (He'd panicked, what else was he meant to do, and it's not like he was particularly good at thinking on his feet all the time). (Mumbo would later learn that Ren was actually a Theatre Kid and so was just like that).
Mr Beef was possibly the most unassuming and yet coolest one of the lot, he had sunglasses perched on his head, with his dark hair pulled into a ponytail that tinged to a lighter purple, he had little golden earrings that Mumbo distantly noted really matched the shade of purple in his hair and a golden necklace that held a golden eye, the symbol of The Watchers. His dark eyes glinted with amusement and gave Mumbo a small smile and a slight head tilt.
Oh my watcher, he's so cool, Mumbo thought. Quite sure that if he were to try to replicate the absolute suaveness of the head tilt that he would end up looking like some type of possessed chicken. So in endeavouring to not spontaneously perish out of embarrassment of trying too hard he had settled on waving at Beef in the same way that he had at Ren.
(He was not to know of course that Skizz, Ren and Beef had seen the somewhat gangly young teen enter the office nearly vibrating with nerves and had all individually and simultaneously decided he was the cutest and most charming boy who was theirs now actually Mr Void, no take-bakesys and that in fact his awkward responses to their voiceless greetings had served to instantly endevour to them. How was he to know for they would never speak of it. Not to each other and certainly not to him. It was however the truth of the matter).
"Xisuma should I tell them or would you like to fill the boys in" Mr Fan began and looked towards the man behind the desk. He had his famous half mask, respirator on but his green eyes, while somewhat terrifying to Mumbo, were also kind and you could tell he was smiling by the way that they turned up into half moons.
"I'll take it from here Cub" and his voice was so silky smooth marveled Mumbo. He'd thought that they must have given the man some type of filter in all the interviews that he had done but it seemed that no, it was just like that and Mumbo wondered briefly what it must be like to be so blessed by the Watchers.
"Greetings boys, it's so lovely to meet you all in person. Please just call me Xisumia..."
oh and die instantly i think not Mumbo internally scoffed
"And I, well I'm sort of the Head of HC Records, we're a little company that likes to treat our singers like family and we would like to offer you four specifically the opportunity to join us as our newest feature"
Which had been massive news to Mumbo, but then he also at the same time did not know what else he should have expected. HC records famously only had one Solo artist amongst their catalog of artists; LdShadowlady, a Pop Princess whose bubblegum pink hair matched the bubblegum pop songs that she performed in glittering rhinestone covered outfits.
Then they had their founding group The Clockers, a band whose lead singer Bdubs had garnered not just national approval but international acclaim. It had been a bold choice they had said, to have a band with 3 members but with the groups leader Cleo Zombie on the guitar and Scar Goodtimes on the drums they had become a cornerstone of a sort of rock-pop genre. Nether Mumbo owned Clockers merch, his favourite hoodie still held the Gold and Red Clock symbol (though admittedly the colors had faded from the many washes it had been through and you couldn't really see the initials inscribed on the quarter marks anymore).
Then they had The Flower Boys. A proper certified Boy Band with four members who had seemed almost designed to appeal to teenage girls, Their Leader Martyn Littlewood , Youngest Jimmy Solidarity and their Lead Dancer Scott Major all had varying shades of blonde hair with only the final member of the Band Joel Smallishbeans having dark black locks. (Supposedly his hair was the reason that he was considered the 'bad boy' of the group). They had great popularity and while Mumbo couldn't say that he went out of his way to listen to them, he also knew he didn't have to because their songs seemed to play everywhere regardless.
The latest addition the HC Records artists had been in the year previously, and from the small amount that he had seen Mumbo thought they had blown up pretty quickly to be massive. ZIT was another group who, like The Clockers, was a three piece band. They were different in that they did not appear to have a clear leader. Though, Mumbo supposed, from what he could tell, he supposed that maybe lead singer and Bassist Zed Dafpleiss would be his pick for the leader. Mostly because it seemed he talked the most in interviews. Though that was not to say that the guitarist Tango Tek and the drummer Impulse Esvi didn't talk during interviews. From all that he could tell the entire band seemed to talk a great deal actually.
Mumbo supposed it made sense that HC Records would be aiming for another four piece boyband given the pattern that was emerging. Mumbo also very cynically supposed that in all honesty they would have it fairly easy as the public knew HC Records. Knew the label like a brand name.
Mumbo cast his eyes over to his future bandmates and found himself smiling widely at the excitement on everyone's faces.
"Now the way we do things here is maybe different to how other Labels act but I, along with our head sound engineer and head choreographer have great plans which we feel like each of you four are uniquely suited for and so would be thrilled if you would consider being a part of one of our newest and most exciting projects; The C-Team"
THE C-TEAM! Mumbo cheered internally, it was almost like a reference to The Clockers
(Maybe it was a coincidence that they started with the same letter and maybe it was completely irrelevant and Mumbo was thinking too deeply into it. He chose to believe in the serendipitous nature of it). Mumbo was so pleased to think that he would be a part of a HC Records Band.
His joy was hampered slightly though when Skizz had cut in, and Mumbo had been surprised to hear an accent
"What do you mean by one of?" Skizz had queried. His tone light as though he knew it may end up being a moment of him asking a stupid question but still being willing to be made fun of to enable clear communication.
Mumbo had honestly thought that Mr Void had meant it as a turn of phrase, or in the sense of adding to their established artists roster.
Skizz it turned out had been right to ask the question because the smile lines around Mr Voids eyes had fallen away somewhat
"Ah yes well, I was hoping to get you all a little bit more settled in before telling you but I guess now works too"
Tell us what? Mumbo thought, now utterly lost as to what was going on, is there an A Team and a B Team as well or something?
Mumbo was both entirely correct and entirely wrong at the same time.
"Well we thought that perhaps a little bit of healthy competition would or could be a bit fun i suppose and so we have also have plans for another group that we will be working with as well as you but rest assured we have separate plans for the both groups so it'll be more about helping us decide dates of debut rather than if you will be in a group or not"
"I'm sorry. Excuse me?" Came flooding out of his mouth without his permission.
Mr Void, very rudely in Mumbos opinion, just let out a snort and short burst of laughter
"Honestly I think you'll get along, and it helped Flowers and ZITs figure out who they wanted to be so just trust that we have thought about it and it will be a wonderful experience for both of you"
Mumbo felt himself blink in shock as he did the math in his head. Flower Boys had debuted 3 years previously and then a whole 2 years had gone by before ZIT had debuted which, according to Mumbo's math skills (and not to brag but he had aced his advanced math classes) meant that they were looking at potentially a 3 or even 4 year wait before they could debut. Intellectually Mumbo could understand and even appreciate the logic, it made a certain amount of sense from a business standpoint.
Unfortunately Mumbo was not a business. He was a human being. With feelings. From a feelings standpoint this news kinda sucked actually. Sucked so bad that it made Mumbo nervous.
What if he had made the wrong decision to follow his heart and do what made him happy. Because what made him happy was singing yes, but to have to wait potentially 4 whole years seemed like such an insurmountable time for a moment that very briefly Mumbo's nerves surged to encourage him to just quit while he was ahead and to just go home to the safety of his parents and his youtube channel.
He was saved from this brash decision by Ren, who also had an accent (and Mumbo was somewhat aggrieved to notice an absolutely sinful voice, it could have almost given Bdubs honey voice a run for his money) had interjected
"Does this other group also have a name?"
Which, Mumbo mentally noted, was a fantastic question and really he was quite grateful that it seemed like the other members of his band were both clever and brave.
This was followed up by the best news of all for Mr Void had nodded and his eyes had creased into smile lines
"Yes, they will be called EGG"
And all of a sudden. Despite the way in which Mumbo had been a terrifying mess of nerves through the entire meeting. He found that he wasn't nervous anymore.
Because with a name like that it wasn't going to be much of a competition really.
As far as Mumbo was concerned now, there was no way a band with a name like EGG were going to beat The C-Team to debut. Absolutely no way.
And so Mumbo relaxed (as much as he was able to) and found himself looking forward to getting to know his teammates in their preparation for what was sure to be an imminent debut