Leave it all on the stage

Sal sits on the edge of the stage with his bass guitar laying beside him, humming a bit as he fixes up one of the patches on his jacket. A chubby, scruffy guy with his hair put up in liberty spikes, tired eyes, and huge headphones around his neck walks up to him.

"You the only one playing tonight, Sal?" It was said jokingly, but he was visibly stressed. "We gotta do sound check soon, the fuck is everyone at?"

"I might be, at this point! I think Yuvan and Mav are arguing about something backstage, givin' them some space." The guy groans in frustration. "And the van broke down again, so a friend of mine is helping the other guys bring the drums in his truck. I offered to take mine, but I think I freaked their landlord out too much last time. Officially got permabanned." He sounded almost proud of himself for that.

"Great. Fucking perfect, it's always something..." He presses two fingers up to his temple, taking a moment to try his best not to shoot the messenger. "What the hell are those two even arguing about, I thought they were cool now."

Sal gave an unconvincing shrug, continuing to sew the patch on his jacket. "Couldn't tell ya."

"Bullshit, Sal."

"Sorry, Vinny. My lips are sealed." He grinned, all his sharp teeth on full display.

Vinny huffs, turning to walk away. "Nobody tells me shit, man..." he mutters to himself, fully aware Sal could still hear him.

---

"Jangan jadi bodoh,”Yuvan tapped their forehead to emphasize, Mav scowled “If you keep this up, you're going to get hurt–”

"Oh, fuck off, man. You sound like my mom." 

The two had been going back and forth like this backstage for awhile, now.

"Oh, well, I'm sorry for looking out for you. You can't be serious with this shit."

"Yeah, so what if I am?! It's my fuckin life, man. everyone else here has a life outside the band, why shouldn't I?"

"Yeah, but it's just day jobs, man. I'm a fucking Whole Foods cashier, hardly call that fulfilling my higher calling."

"Oh come on, you know what I meant. You're making me sound like a prick, Yuvan."

"Because you sound like one right now! Think, Mav! What happens if you get spotted, if some guy can just blast away all the spiders, huh? There's a million different ways this goes south. And what then, huh? You'd be shit outta luck."

"They haven't, though. I'm being smart about this, doing the whole stealth thing." They make an odd little hand gesture to depict ‘stealth,’ though it’s much too vague to actually communicate a real concept of anything.

"You're being stealthy? Really?" That set something off, but Mav’s expression looked more hurt than angry.

"Yeah, I am! Apa masalah kamu, huh? Why's that so hard to believe? You think I can't handle myself?!" 

Yuvan opens his mouth to say something, but instead ends up groaning in frustration. As he does, the lights seem to dim, as the room grows gradually darker. He takes a second to attempt to compose himself, and light returns to the space.

"Of course I know you can handle yourself, Mav--"

He's interrupted by the door opening. A light breaks as all the light leaves the room, the careful control on Yuvan's emotions being broken by the sudden intrusion. The only light present now was coming from the hall. Both parties snap their heads towards the door, seeing a tan man with red hair and a goatee looking at them from the doorway, holding an amp in one hand. Charlie looked a bit confused, clearly not prepared to walk into the middle of this fight.

"Am I interrupting something? I did knock."

Mav glances at Yuvan then back to Charlie. "Nah, we were just talking 'bout some stupid shit. What'd you need?" Mav lied. Charlie raises an eyebrow, but doesn't press it.

"Sure. Well, that sound guy with the spikey hair told me to let you guys know they're about to do a sound check."

"Thanks, Charlie, and thanks again for helping haul stuff out here. Tell Vin we'll be out in a sec."

Mav gave him a little wave, signaling for him to leave. He shrugged and continued down the hall. They left the door open, so the light from the hall would keep the room from being completely dark. 

Yuvan took a deep breath, continuing once Charlie was out of earshot. "I know you can handle yourself. But guys who've done this shit for years only need to get caught slacking once, and now there's a hole in their chest, or in their friends, or some other shit. Some guys are like that Alistaire guy that hangs around Charlie, they just fuck around and nothing too bad happens, sure. But the majority of them are so, so much worse. You get that, right? It's not always about how good you do, some of these people are just fucked."

Maverick crossed their arms, not looking at Yuvan directly. "Yeah, well. If I d--"

"Don't you dare finish that phrase, Maverick. I swear on every god and then some, I'll break your fucking nose."

They huff. "Yeah, fine, fair. My bad."

Mav slumps into one of the fold-up chairs they had backstage, looking down at their hands as they speak. "I just. I need to do something with this shit, so that it isn't just awful, all the time, for everyone around me."

"Oh come on, Mav. It's not awful for us."

"Yeah, not as much as it could be, because I have to keep everyone at a distance. I mean, we couldn't live together for even 2 years, Yuvan!” He winced a bit at that. “And don't give me your whole cursed son spiel either, right now. It’s not the same."

They put their head in their hands. Yuvan walked over to the chair, putting a hand on their shoulder.

"Look. I might not get it, it doesn't really work the same for me. But I know how it's been for you, and I get wanting something good to come out of it for once. I even admire you trying to help people. Just... promise you'll ask for help if things go south? That you won't get in over your head?"

Maverick looked up at him. "What, me? Get in over my head?" They cracked a smile.

"I'm serious, Mav."

Their smile fades, and they look back down again. There’s a long pause.

"Yeah... Yeah. You'd be the first guy I call if shit ever goes south."

"Hopefully it doesn’t, but… Good.” He glances at the open doorway. “Maybe call Sal, though. He's actually got a truck, prolly faster than my bike."

Mav got up, quickly turning to Yuvan and giving him a hug. It was gentle, and short. Yuvan gave them a little pat on the back, and they pulled away quickly.

"I promise. Now we better get out there before Vinny skins us." Maverick grins, then walks over, grabbing their guitar next to the doorway.

"Yeah, well, he can fucking try me." Yuvan walks out past them, Maverick following behind him.

---

After the sound check, Mav ran into Charlie sitting in a chair backstage with a drink, waiting until people started to file in for the show. He gave them a nod in greeting as they grabbed some extra guitar picks from the box of miscellaneous stuff they had back here.

"Hey, not to get in your business or whatever, but what was all that about? You alright?"

Mav looked up from the box they were filing through.

"Huh? Oh, right. Yeah, Yuvan and I just got into a little disagreement. We sorted it out." Charlie seemed unconvinced.

"Right... I shatter light fixtures when I have disagreements with my friends, too."

"I mean... Don't you? Remember that one time you and Alistaire--"

"Not the point." 

"Okay, yeah, he lost his cool a bit, but I was being a dick too. But it’s fine, it calmed down after you left. Really, don't worry about it."

Charlie put his hands up, knowing when someone’s trying to draw a line. "Cool, fine. It's not my business, anyways. Just wanted to make sure you were alright."

Mav smiles a bit. "I appreciate that.. Good lookin' out. I gotta get some stuff and head back out there and finish setup, but drinks on me after the show?"

Charlie gives a thumbs up, and Mav goes back to the box while Charlie browses his phone. They eventually grab a few things and head back out.

---

Yuvan adjusts the height on his microphone while they wait for Maverick to come back.

"I don't know why these are always set so high, like I'm gonna start belting from the secret mouth in my forehead."

"Damn, you're not? That would've added to the stage vibe for sure." Sal leaned down over his shoulder, a looming figure that might be a bit more unsettling if Yuvan wasn't used to him by now. "I always have the opposite problem, anyhow.”

"Yeah, well, we can't all be what, 8 feet tall?"

Sal barks out a laugh. "I'm 6'10"! Hardly a giant."

"No, you're right, that's a perfectly reasonable height." Yuvan said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Once he got the mic stand to stay at the appropriate height, he turned to face Sal while they talked, stepping away from him slightly so they didn't end up smacking into each other's faces. Sal stood back up to his full height, crossing his arms and looking down at Yuvan.

"So?" Sal asked expectantly. Yuvan looked puzzled, unsure if he was meant to know what to say.

"....So?" 

"You and Mav sort your shit out?"

"Ah. Yeah, I just...don't get why they're so intent on this whole thing."

Sal shrugs. "We don't have to get it, though, do we?"

"Guess not... Wait, does that mean you side with me then?"

"Ehhh..." Sal makes a 'so-so' hand waving motion. "It's not my thing, but I kinda see why it'd appeal to them. And I've known some people into that scene... Well, Mav definitely isn't doing shit like them, but that's Mav."

"I just think they're being reckless. And if I..." he trails off, not finishing the thought. Sal tilts his head a bit, curious but not pushing it. 

Yuvan doesn't come back to it though, he just seems to get deeper inside his own head, completely losing track of the conversation. Sal knows where those roads go, he puts a hand on their shoulder in an attempt to anchor Yuvan back to the present. They startled slightly, but didn't recoil from his grasp.

"Huh--? Shit, sorry. Lost the plot."

"S'alright, Yuvan. We can talk more about this after the show."

"Yeah, yeah." Sal removes his hand from Yuvan's shoulder....there was a bit of a pause. "Hey, wait, so you know superheroes?"

"I never said that, just people into that kinda stuff."

"Like....cape chasers, or....?"

Sal laughed. "I mean-- I don't really know what they're into, so I'm not ruling that out, but no. Normal people."

"Right. Normal people are friends with you."

"Wowwwwww, I see how it is. I'm wounded, hurt, even." Sal dramatically clutches his chest, as if shot. Yuvan rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.

"I mean, if we're anything to go by..." Yuvan sort of just gestures to the rest of the band on the stage, the rest of the sentence not even really needing to be stated.

"Touché. Goes both ways, though."

"Hey, I never claimed to know 'normal people.' I get enough of that at work." They suddenly straighten their posture, their dreary eyed resting bitch face being replaced with the bright eyed customer service facade. His voice goes up two octaves as they speak, annunciation becoming more crisp and intentional. 

"Hiii there, do you need help finding what you're looking for? Would you like to try our new totally organic super vegan tofu sliders? No? How about a quinoa salad bullshit bowl, ready to go!" They over dramatically mime the presentation of a sample platter as they speak, before suddenly dropping the act entirely, voice and expression returning to normal.

"...Wow,  that was awful. It was like you got possessed." 

Yuvan laughs. "If I was gonna get possessed, god help me it's not going to be by the ghosts of Karens past." 

Sal's ear twitches, and Yuvan looks past him, noticing that Mav was coming back onto the stage from an unusually long break to grab picks. They give a little sigh.

"Thanks for cheering me up, Sal. Time to get our heads in the game, then?"

Sal grins. "Let's go."

---

Malay translations:

Jangan jadi bodoh - don’t be stupid

Apa masalah kamu - what’s your problem