StarFish: A Helluva Boss Fanfiction

Verosika and the rats (part 2)

"Fuuuuuuck"

"LUCAS!", Dani shouted as he clapped infront of Lucas's face.

The fish demon blinked himself out of his dazed. "Come on", Lucas said as he got out of line. "Where the hell are you going?", Fritz screamed, staying in place. "We're going round back to find a different entrance"

Fritz looked over to Dani, "Are we actually doing this?" Dani just smirked, causing Fritz to sigh, "Yep, we're doing this."

They jogged to the back of the theatre where Lucas was. A metal fence stood between the boys and the back entrance. "Fence is electric, learnt the hard way", said Lucas. The smell of fried fish made it obvious what he meant.

"No one's looking, right", Dani asked looking around. "You're all clear D", Lucas checked. Dani took off his pleather jacket, revealing the puppet like joints of his shoulders, elbows and wrists. Lucas used the jacket as an insulator between the fence and his hand.

"Hurry up", said Dani, holding his arms in each other. His face was red from embarrassment and he's constantly look around the corner in case anyone was coming.

Lucas through the jacket over the fence once he was on the other side. Fritz was next to climbed up and Dani was last.

After each one got over, Dani was back in the safe sleeves of his jacket. "Doors locked", said Fritz, "time to leave before a tall, muscley security guard finds up and beats the shit out of us."

Lucas just rolled his eyes, smashing the door knob off with a nearby brick. The guys found themselves underneath the stage where the other bands were auditioning.

"What are we doing here?", asked the dog demon in annoyance. "Shhh, the music is stopping", hissed Lucas as he kept his ear (or whatever fish have) closer to the stage.

Band 24 finish their song. "Thank you guys for that... performance", they heard Verosika's voice say, "I can promise I'll never forget it."

Once the other band left, the rest of Verosika's crew started chatting.

"So that was shit, right?" Kiki asked. "That's the nice way of putting it", Verosika commented, drinking from her canister.

"Hey Ver, what should we be looking out for when helping choose a band?", asked Apple. "Oh, I don't really know what I'm looking for yet. I'll know it when I hear it, you guys are just here to talk shit." "That, we can do!", shouted Josh. "I just know I don't want a band that takes 3 minutes repeating the same 5 versus like those last fuckers."

"Next"

Rat Salad started speaking again once the next band began their song.

"Whatcha thinking Lukster?", asked Dani. "Verosika doesn't know what she wants from her new band, but she knows what she doesn't want." "So, you wanna listen to everything she says so we end up as her dream band", Dani concluded. Lucas clicked his tongue and used finger guns to confirm Dani's guess.

"So you want us to learn 10 new songs catered to Verosika Mayday in a few minutes, instead of playing the 10 sounds we've been practicing over the last 2 months?" "Full disclosure, the ad said we only needed one song. I made us practice 10 so this plan would work." The 25th band finished their song, Dani and Lucas listened for feedback.

"I'll kill him", Fritz whispered, I'll kill him. He's immortal and I'll kill"

About 105 performances later, the Rat Salad was looking through all of the feedback Verosika had given the other bands. They needed something fast paced, they needed the lyrics to be sung clearly, they needed to "not kiss her ass by singing a cover" and it needed to be emotional.

"So, what are we playing?", asked Fritz, biting his nails. "Lucas, it's your call", Dani stated as he fidgeted with his necklace.

"I think we should go with _ . It tickets all of Verosika's boxes. You okay singing that number again Dan?" "Yeah...I mean, like you said, it ticks that emotional box", the nervous smile on Dani's face wasn't missed by his band mates but they knew better than to press. If Dani said it was fine; chances are it was but he'd never say it out loud.

"Number 131"

The guy walked up from underneath the stage and grabbed the instruments that were already set up, whereas everyone else had come through the front door. "Ahhhh, where did you guy come from?", asked Coco.

"We...were...looking for the bathroom and got lost", Lucas answered. There was a long silence as the succubie contemplated if he was lying or not."

"Moving on", Dani spoke up, "Hi, we're Rat Salad." Their audience all looked confused. "Um, it's actually a pretty funny story about how we got that name." Their looks went from confused to uninterested. "....But that's not really important now. Um were going just star- count us down Lucas."

"...2 3 4..."

Pushed me away when I held out my hand
Deep down I'd pray that someday you'd understand
That was just a dream and it's time I woke up
Can't cling to the fantasy that I'll get your love

From the start
Torn apart
Empty nothing was in your heart

Or was it me?
Broke what could be?
Guess it's too late for us to see

I wish that I knew what was in your head
In every moment I was with you, did you wish I was dead?
Or was there a time when I could call you mine
And it wouldn't be a lie?
Did we ever see eye to eye?

Oho, oho, oh oh oh oh
Oho, oho, oh oh oh oh

My hopes to make amends are on the floor
I needed you but you thought my cries were something to ignore
I was something you thought you could discard
Not a person, less so a beating heart

Now I'm looking back
Hoping to find a good memory to cling to
Cos after all this shit and I would still say 'I love you'

*Silence*

Ahhhh ah ah

I wish that I knew what was in your head
In every moment I was with you, did you wish I was dead?
Or was there a time when I could call you mine
And it wouldn't be a lie?

Did the fallout make your heart break?
Or was not leaving sooner a mistake?
And I still don't know why I try
Well never see eye to eye

Oho, oho, oh oh oh oh
Oho, oho, oh oh oh oh

And I'm still wondering why

Dani took a deep breath as the sound of Fritz's base faded out. Putting the guitar back on the stand before Verosika started speaking. "Thank you for that performance", her tone was almost impossible to read.

"Next"

As the band left the stage, they were told to wait in another room before callbacks.

On the way there, Lucas pulled Dani aside. "Hey man, you doing okay?", he asked. Dani took another deep breath out, "You know how it goes. The songs that hit the hardest, never seem to hit any different no matter how many times it's played. But I'm over it. I got over it a long time ago."

"Dan, it's just..."
"Hey, I'm fine", Dani assured him.

"It's sweet that you care so much about feewings Lukie", Dani added in a baby voice. "Oh fuck off", Lucas said with a smirk. "You looove me" Dani teased. "Keep telling yourself that"

"Are you doing okay?", the singer asked. "I mean you just performed a song in front of your celebrity crush". "It was just another song. If we get a call back, great. If we don't, who cares."

"You're gonna destroy your drum set if we don't get picked, aren't you?"
"Yeah, probably"