multifandom oneshots/preferences

xxvi. the network--jim root (slipknot)

a/n: another slipknot imagine! please give me ghost/marvel/tf/st requests i'm running pretty dry on ideas

also, the network is an actual band, it's a green day side project and i love their stuff so go check em out!

It's been a slow day at the record shop you work for, so you've taken out your bass, propped your feet up on the desk in front of you, and started to play around on it.

...

Jim is honestly done with the day, but he's still got a concert to go to tonight in a small local bar, so he decides to kill time in a record store. When he enters, he is the only customer in the place, and seemingly the only other person aside from an employee with a matte black bass covered in stickers on their lap. The employee haphazardly says, "welcome in, man. Let me know if you need anything" without much eye contact as their focus is largely on the riff they're playing. 

Jim replies with a just as lifeless greeting and begins to look around the store, studying the racks with old guitars, amps, vinyls, and other music stuff organized in the store. All the while, the employee continues to play their bass. It's wonderful background noise, Jim must admit. He listens to the Taxman riff, some Led Zepplin, and Nirvana until the employee plays People=Shit. Jim smiles to himself. It's not the first time he's happened to come across his own music in public, but there's something about a bored employee in a pretty awesome music store playing a Slipknot song that fills Jim with joy. 

He begins to saunter over to a shelf close to you as you shift to Duality, humming the song to yourself as you go. 

"That's a good song," Jim smiles, keeping his gaze fixed down on the box of records he's sifting through. "You play pretty well."

"Hm?" you look up. It takes a few seconds of buffering for it to click in your head who just said that to you. "Oh, shit, you're Jim Root."

"Yeah, and you're playing Slipknot songs on that bass," Jim turns his head over to you. "You're one hell of a player, Paul would be proud."

You smile. "Thanks, that means a lot," you put the instrument down. "What brings you over here?"

"I'm going to a concert in about an hour," Jim replies. 

You raise an eyebrow. "Where?"

"That bar down the street. Why, are you going there too? I honestly was sold at 'small local alternative band playing for cheap tickets at a bar'," Jim chuckles. 

"Yeah, I am going to that concert. I'm playing that concert," you laugh. "I'm the bassist in my band, The Network."

"I'm really excited to see you guys."

No fucking way. No way James Root of Slipknot is going to see The Network. 

"For real?" you ask in disbelief. 

Listen, it's not like you make bad music or anything, it's just surprising to hear that a world famous musician paid money to see you live. 

"A friend of a friend said it was a good concert and I love post punk, so yeah, I'm pretty stoked," Jim nods. "What's your name, by the way? I love meeting fellow musicians."

"Y/n," you reply, holding out your hand for Jim to shake. He takes your hand with a strong and sincere grip. "Or Van Gough of The Network."

...

Jim can sense movement on the stage, but the area is pitch black and he can't tell what's going on until he hears a bass riff and a drum beat under it. The lights turn on when the guitarist enters with a riff matching the bass.