On His Own: A Sing Fanfiction

An Old Coworker, A New Friend

Our hero woke up bleary-eyed. "Well, that was a dream if I ever had one.." he mumbled groggily. Johnny rolled over to his wristwatch on the bedside table and realized it was 7:14. "Hey, I've got work in two hours," he murmured, rubbing one eye. He liked the way that sounded coming out of his mouth. He would be earning money.
       Johnny put a load of clothes to wash and stepped as lightly as a sleepy person would down the stairs. As he took a took a box of cereal from the cabinet, Johnny resolved something he'd been thinking about all night. "I've got to bail my dad out," he said to himself. "I've got to get him out... Somehow." Just then, his phone jingled. A text from Mike, a fellow former performer of Johnny's, lay on the screen. "hey kid. buster wants us for a meeting today," the text said flatly. Johnny picked up his phone.
       "Can I come after work? I think I get off at 3," the gorilla typed on the phone's keyboard with one hand, and spooned up cereal with the other.
       "the meeting is at 4. where are you working" The mouse didn't exercise proper punctuation. Then again, Johnny figured, it's to be expected. Mike's a busy man. I think.
       "Screwball Cafe."
       "are you kidding me"
       "What?"
       "my brother in law works there. He's a total loser."
       Johnny chuckled. "He's the manager."
       "aw geez. just come at 3 30. Buster says it's important"
       "When is it not important with Buster?"
       "right? But really. If dylan gives you crap, slug him for me."
       "If I punched him, he'd die."
       "knowing you, you wouldn't punch him even if he insulted your dad you pansy."
       Johnny laughed.
       ***
       Fast forward to after work. A hard first day. "See ya, bud. You did great for your first day," called Dylan to Johnny, who was already at the door. "Thank you, sir. Have a good one!" he called back before shutting the door. He ran home and jumped on his skateboard, kicking off in the direction of the Moon Theater.
       He arrived thirty minutes early, right on schedule for him, and found Mike the mouse pulling into the back parking lot as he disembarked from his skateboard. Johnny decided to wait for him. It turned out that Mike had who Johnny could only assume was his girlfriend with him. The mice chatted among themselves until Mike realized Johnny was there. The twenty-six year old's eyes lit up, and he ran over. "Johnny!" shouted Mike as he ran up. He wore a green t-shirt and shorts, a drastic change from the dapper clothes Johnny usually had seen him in. "What's up, buddy?"
       Johnny's mood improved right away. Seeing even one of his performer friends again made him so happy. "I'm just fine, Mike!" he chimed, kneeling down to shake hands. "Nah, don't gimme that formal stuff. Bring it in, kid." Mike jumped from Johnny's leg onto his chest and the gorilla laughed, cupping his hands around the little man. "You're  awfully nice today," he said.
       "Well, we haven't spoken in a month. I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the opening ceremony. I had places to be."
      Johnny lifted Mike off of his chest and held him in his hands. "No offense taken. You are really being super sweet today. Are you sure you didn't eat something weird?" he joked.
       The mouse pushed off of Johnny and landed back on his leg, bouncing back onto the ground. "That's enough callin' me sweet. I just missed ya, is all." He swaggered off, pretty lady mouse in tow, through the doors of the theater.  Johnny stood up, smiling brightly, and followed suit. Buster Moon himself soon slid down the railings of the stairs, the very same ones Johnny saw him go up the day before. "Hey, guys! Ready for our meeting?" he asked, rubbing his hands together, ever charismatically. Johnny agreed right away, but Mike looked back at Buster quizzically. "Yeah, uh, but what's so important about this meeting that you've gotta keep it under wraps?"
       "You'll see soon," the koala said mysteriously, walking ahead of Mike into the central doors of the auditorium, and holding the door for the others. "Hate it when he does that," the mouse grumbled to his girlfriend, who giggled. The koala seemed to hear them and smiled big, baring his teeth.
       Buster's secretary, Ms. Crawly, was already on the stage, hobbling down the stairs to meet the early animals. Buster turned to Johnny, somewhat less charismatically. "Uh, I heard about your dad.. I'm sorry, Johnny." Johnny just smiled. "It's alright. I'll be fine at home." Buster just sort of brooded, his hand at his chin, before running back off in the direction of the doors. "I've gotta welcome everybody else!" he shouted back in his usual charismatic voice. Johnny sat down in a seat near the stage as Ms. Crawly came up to them.
       "Hello, Johnny. Hello, Mike," she squeaked as she came. Johnny could hear Mike snickering a few feet away. Johnny smiled, as polite as ever. "Good afternoon, Ms. Crawly. How does life find you?" He heard Mike cough.
       "It's treating me just swelly," Ms. Crawly said, hooking the air with a knobbly arm. Johnny glanced over to Mike and his girlfriend. Mike was covering his mouth, red crawling over his white cheeks as tears formed in his eyes. His girlfriend was rolling her eyes. Johnny couldn't help grinning a little, but he turned back.
       "Well, I just got a job. I'm learning to cook."
       Ms. Crawly gasped  exaggeratedly, as one would when being really sarcastic, but this was normal for the old chameleon. "Maybe you should cook for me. I can't make a thing."
       Johnny planted an elbow on one knee. "I'm sure you can make anything you want." He thought about winking, but he figured she'd get the wrong thought, and that would be dreadful. And he didn't want to send Mike over the edge, but he really thought about it.
       Suddenly, through the double doors burst a seething porcupine. Johnny stared as the girl flung her guitar case on the ground, and jumped into a seat in the second row, slipped off, and jumped back on again, animatedly thrusting her chin into her hand and folding up one knee. Before Mike could compose himself and start roasting her, Johnny greeted her, to which she didn't respond. "Yyyyup..." he murmured to himself, scratching his neck nervously. Mike looked up from his laughing fit to see the sour faced porcupine and laughed a little more. "Boy problems, Ash?" he jeered. Ash slowly turned her head, shooting lasers at Mike the whole time. Johnny hid himself from the heated action by staring avidly at nothing in particular on his phone, which was hard, as his phone contained no special apps or fancy background, so he was left looking at the home screen. It was a bit before he noticed with a start that an elephant girl was sitting to his left and doing just the same.
       "Oh, hey, Meena." She started at him too, as if she wasn't the bigger one.
       "J-Johnny! Hi..." she looked to her phone again. Johnny tried to keep up the talk. "How are you?" Meena the elephant's ears closed around her head, and her words came melded together. "Iii'moghey.."
       Johnny was an extraordinarily polite gorilla. He went out of his way to exercise chivalry and manners, no matter how another person might react. But one thing he hated, really despised, was small talk. So he shut his mouth entirely before getting angry with himself.
       Buster came in through the doors determinedly. "Alrighty, who's still missing?" he hopped up to the stage. Somewhat quieter now, he said "Okay, Meena, Johnny, Ash, and Mike. Still missing our pigs. And who's this?" he wondered aloud as he stepped over to Mike and his girlfriend. One pig came through the doors, blasting them open again, and striking a pose. Of course, it was Gunter.
       "Hello, everyone!" He chimed as he descended the incline to the front seats, his arms outstretched, hooves waving like a j-pop idol at a lot of people who weren't listening. Johnny and Meena were glued to their phones, Ash was steaming like a pot of tea, Mike was postponing the inevitable by introducing the female mouse to Buster, and Ms. Crawly was zoning out. Despite not being observed, Gunter still laughed and plopped down right next to Johnny, who was all too eager to be out of his situation with Meena. "Heyyy, Johnny!" He almost sounded like he was catcalling the gorilla, who chuckled in the face of absurdity. Gunter instantly noticed something was bothering Johnny. "How is it going?" he asked.
       It was Meena's refusal from conversation, but Johnny said it as well as he could without hurting anyone's feelings. "Better, now." he said after about four seconds of thinking about it.
       Johnny really didn't know a thing about Gunter, other than his constantly cheery behavior and his affinity for dance, but Gunter was a fellow performer, and Johnny felt a special connection to all of his fellow performers. Meena and Ash were younger than him, so he felt closer to them, but he ended up focusing too much on the gang's activities, and his father's eventual arrest, to really build relationships with them during rehearsal. He was most close to Mike, as they both were in the grey area of justice, and Johnny's was the only voice that Mike appreciated. Mike thought "the others sound like uncultured garbage, especially that Rosita and her common pop." Johnny could beg to differ, as he loved everyone's singing abilities.... except maybe Gunter's. He was better dancing. He liked Mr. Moon and Ms. Crawly, too, but simply as mentors. The first of the two did occasionally give Johnny vibes of something deeper, even so.
       Finally, after thirty minutes, right at 4:00, Rosita burst into the auditorium looking winded. Johnny really didn't know much personally about her, either. "I'm so sorry," she managed between huffs. "The kids had early dismissal from school. Am.." she exhaled suddenly, then waited for her breath to somewhat equalize. "Am I late?" Mike, jerky as ever, said. "Great. The other one." He was ignored. Mr. Moon clapped his hands together. Rosita, right on time! It's a miracle, your punctuality, especially with all your children!" Before she could thank him, Buster called, "Everyone, gather round." He waved his hands around in circles, as if to lasso the other animals in. "It's finally time for our meeting."
       As the animals assembled on stage, Johnny began to feel skiddish. What could Mr. Moon be planning? Once everyone was up, the koala got right to business. "So, it's only been a day since we've officially started business here at the New Moon Theater, but I already have a problem," he began, pacing slowly among the performers. "You all may know this, but before the singing competition, we put on musicals and plays here. Sure, of course, it's a theater, but." He stopped short, then turned around, weaving around the others slowly. "Those productions really got me nowhere. Had it not been for the competition, even if it didn't go as planned, I would be sort of starving on the streets by now." He said so with a strangely smug smile.
       Johnny spoke up. "But, Mr. Moon, what's this got to do with us?
       Buster whirled around to face the gorilla, his smug smile turned to a resolute one. "Well, my dear Johnny, you'll find out presently. I have a proposition for you all." Everyone leaned in. Or at least, that's how it felt to Johnny, who felt a tension in the air, and leaned in also.

       "I want to put on another show. With you all as the stars." Everyone was surprised. "Now, hear me out!" the koala countered to their surprise. "I wanted to get another show started right away, but this one is so inexpensive, it's perfect! Sure, we may need a bigger backstage crew, but you guys will all do wonders on this brand new stage!"
       Everyone was excited right away, except Mike, who wore a disbelieving face. "Not without pay, we aren't." This statement instantly made Johnny realize something. He could get his father out sooner. He agreed with Mike, saying, "He's right. With all due respect, sir, the first show took a toll on some of us that will need compensation."
       Mike took the pass and said, "Not to mention the fact that you paid us literally nothing last time."
       "It's not like we want a hundred thousand dollar prize, but we must have something," Johnny reasoned. He almost felt Mike's heart sink. Buster stepped back, his hands raised in a no-trouble manner, though somehow still confidently. "Of course, you'll be paid. Of course," he repeated to Mike, whose eyebrow raised. "A bi-weekly salary. And I've even already got a few songs picked out for some of you." The mood picked up again. "Now, go home. Rehearsals start tomorrow, at three thirty sharp. Nine o' clock on weekends! Why have auditions if I already know you all are so talented?" he asked rhetorically, walking off.