The car comes to a soft stop as they arrive at the venue. The door where Agate slept was opened and he was shaken awake. He jolted up and looked around, CarCar and his family waited out front the venue. It’s a local bar that the Jewel Watchers always played at. Their first performance was done here and so will their last.
Jade poked him, “Dude I swear you sleep way too much. You need to get more sleep.”
Agate yawned and got out of the car, carrying his music with him. “I can’t help it. I get tired a lot.”
Jade patted his shoulder, “Mmhmm right. Now let’s get in there and get this party started!”
Agate laughed as she grabbed his hand and dragged him to the bar, they went inside by a side door that went to their prep area. Music stands, chairs, and other bits and bobs were strewn about. The floor was that neutral beige color you’d see in schools and the walls had a nice rustic color to them. A very off-putting color combination. Carnelian sighed and started to clean the place up a bit.
“Goodness in all our years being here. I swear I’ve never seen this place clean.” Carnelian said exasperated.
Jade chimed in, “Yeah remember the last time we were here and you slipped and ate the floor.” She chuckled at just the thought of it.
“Ha. Ha. Ha. It wasn’t funny, my poor ass hurt for days, Jade.” He responded, a stack of messy papers in his arms.
Agate looked around and put his music sheets on a music stand that, by the miracle of god, isn’t wobbly. Jade looked around and then back to Agate. “Hey. Where’s y’a moms and dads.”
“They went out front to sit and wait for things to get started.” He responded as he flipped through the music. Tapping his foot to the tune of the songs he wrote, pencil and white out in hand to fix any mistakes. A knot of worry and stress formed and made its presence known as his chest felt heavy. This is their very last performance together. It needed to be perfect.
Jade looked over Agate's shoulder and just watched a while before speaking up. “You stressed?”
Agate sighed, “Very.”
“Oh well come on man don’t be. We practiced really hard and your music is just lovely you know.”
He put down the pencil and whiteout and took a seat on a metal folding chair. “I mean I guess. But you never know with these things. Like what if I put a wrong note there that makes it sound like shit?”
Carnelian walked up to the music sheets and looked them over. Humming and tapping his foot to himself. He looked over to Agate, “I mean all the parts look and sound good to me. Well, I did it in my head so it’s not the same as out loud but- yeah imma hush now.” He mumbled. He put the sheets back down and walked over to Agate. “Plus man, if you keep worrying like that then you’re actually going to mess up.”
“Mmhmm what he said Pebble!” Jade bellowed.
Agate sighed and rubbed his face, “Argh! You’re right, you’re right, I worry way too damn much.”
“You wanna do some extra little warm-up practices before we actually start? Would that make you feel better, man?” Carnelian mentioned in a soft tone.
Agate stood up and nodded. “Yeah let’s, let’s do that. Just go over the songs just a little bit.” He grabbed his guitar and put the strap on, it was smooth and cold to the touch. The feel of his guitar in his hands is one that he always welcomed and one that’s evolved into a feeling of comfort for him. He grabbed his pic and set his hands as one held the body and the other the neck. His hands rested on the strings. The stress in his chest dwindled slightly as they got ready to do a small practice. Agate uses the tuning pegs to get his instrument sounding right, Carnelian carefully tunes the drums he has in his possession, and Jade warms up her voice. Once all finished they all looked at each other and got ready to practice. Agate took a deep breath as he played the intro to their performance.
~~~~~~~~~~
He put his guitar down and took a seat in front of the music sheets, a slight smile on his face.
Jade patted him on the back, her guitar still hanging from its strap around her neck. “See! We told you it would be fine man. It sounded perfect!”
He tilted his head up to look at her, “You’re almost always right!”
“Pardon me. Almost?”
“…Anyways-” Agate was cut off when two people came bursting through the door. It was Stone and Jack with the gift they forgot to give in their hands.
“Sup your little musical shits! You're favorite none uncle uncles are here!” Stone practically yelled. He was wearing a messy light brown jacket that stopped at the door elbows and was clearly too big for him seeing how it’s practically hanging off his scraggly body. An obnoxiously bright blue and white plaid shirt was worn underneath. Ripped light blue jeans and tan Tim’s worn on the bottoms. He was holding the gift box in his hands, an overly happy and refreshed look on his face.
“Stone please, you're way too loud I swear!” Jack yelled over his voice. Jack was dressed like he was about to go fishing. A darker jacket that has a deep ‘U’ shaped cut stops in the middle of his chest and the sleeves end at his shoulders, showing off his hairy arms and it’s zipped up. A large pocket sits on each side of the jacket. A pair of khaki shorts that make you think he’s about to yell something about fishing come down to his knees. A pair of long thick socks poke out from his clunky well worn sneakers.
Jade looked at Jack and smirked, “Did you catch a big fish while we were gone.”
Stone nodded and bumped Jack with his hip. “I’m the biggest fish he caught in a long while.” Jack looked embarrassed and pushed him away, the tips of his ears slightly red.
“Ahem. Anyways, ignoring that. We forgot to give y’all guys a little something.”
Agate walked up to them, confused. “What’d you forget?”
Stone shoved the gift box in his hands, a childish expression on his face. “It’s in there. Open it up with all of y’all!”
Agate gave him a puzzled look before calling over CarCar and Jade. Carnelian took off the top of the box then they all gasped. Agate took the box and ran over to a chair where he sat it down and pulled out what was in it. Tears welled up in his eyes as he looked at what they were all given. Professional-made uniforms for their band. Leather jackets that have a warm wool-like layer inside of them and the back of the jacket have their band name on the back with three different gems sewn into it. A Jade, Agate, and a Carnelian. It had long sleeves to keep them nice and warm. Ripped jeans the same color as the jacket were also in the box, they were soft to the touch and looked stunning and they had nice deep pockets for a change. A chain hung off each side of the top part of the pants. Pairs of combat boots in each of their sizes were in there. And last but not least there were spiked brackets but each one had something special about them. Each of them was a different colored bracelet that each had a gem that matched their name. Agate’s was pink, Jades was green, and Carnelians was orange.
Jade and Carnelian were starting to tear up when Agate put the jacket down and ran over to Stone and Jack and gave them a big hug. They both smiled and hugged him back.
Through tears and snotty sniffles, he spoke, “Thank you guys. This- I can’t even begin to tell you how much this means to me. I- I love you guys so much.”
Jack was holding back a smile, embarrassed, but gave in and let a soft genuine smile spread across his face as he hugged him deeper. “I love you too lil’ man.”
Stone let out a loud incoherent sound and took Agate out of Jack's arms and held him extremely tightly. “Awwww! My boy! My non-biological boy whom I love with all my heart like the child I totally want! Me and Jacky really thought that you guys would love a new uniform. The ones y’all had were good but- were kinda tacky. Sorry not sorry.”
Jack waved over Jade and Carnelian and smiled. “Sorry but yeah Stone is actually kinda right for once. You guys go ahead and take your size of clothing and run to the bathroom to change okay.”
They all nodded as Jade and Carnelian ran off to do so and Agate had to escape Stones, surprisingly, strong grip.
After a bit of changing the three of them came out of the bathroom and they’re all changed into their new outfits. They all look extremely happy, they keep looking at the little details of the outfits.
Stone squeals, “Ah! Omg you guys look so cute!” Jack nodded in agreement.
Agate chuckled, “Thanks again man. This is just amazing.”
“Of course Mr. Leader of the Band. Your guys had to look in tip-top condition to do your final performance. Oh and here’s from your momma.” Stone handed Agate a bag of some regular BLTs for them. “She said to tell you that those are the actual snacks she was talking about in the house before y’all left.”
He nodded and took one out to start snacking.
Jack spoke up, “Alrighty y’all. You guys should be called out sooner or later. Me and Stone will be sitting with your parents okay.”
“See y’all soon~” Stone exclaimed femininely and left the room. The three of them chuckled and sat down and ate the sandwiches. It was silent for a bit before Carnelian spoke up.
“You think this is going to be good? Like we won’t fuck up.”
Agate finished the rest of his sandwich and nudged him. “Well don’t jinx us man.” He stood up and stretched, “But I think we’re going to do well. Like- really well.”
Carnelian nodded and smiled and right before he started talking a person came back to the room. “Hey. You guys are on, head on up now.” They have a thumbs up and left. Jade quickly finished her sandwich and grabbed her things.
“Alrighty boys! It's time to go time.”
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