Grey Matter

                 ⚠️Smut warning!⚠️
                   

It was a shit storm. Thick, dark, thundering clouds covered the sky. Lightning crashed overhead, streets were flooded, the rain replicated bullets as it hit the ceiling of the van. The Ride The Lighting tour was coming to an end but the boys still had a few gigs to complete. Who would've thought Seattle could have such shitty weather. The guys have been stuck with each other for the past three days driving each other up the wall, a place to piss and rest was on everybody's mind. "Is that it?" Kirk asked looking up from his magazine. "Yeah, it doesn't look too shabby." Lars yawned. "For a two star motel." Cliff added.

Kirk and Lars eyed him as if he just said something about drowning newborns. "What? I'm just- never mind." Cliff huffed and crosses his arms. The van rattled as Lars pulled into the dinky parking lot. "Alright, are you guys ready to run?" He warned. "Wait a minute guys, why can't we-" Cliff snuggled into an already asleep Jason. Jason groaned in disgust. "Get the fuck off me, you smell like shit!" "Cliff! I'm done with you fucking around! I've been staring at a concrete road for three days straight! How would you like it if I forced you to stare at absolutely NOTHING for three whole fucking days? Huh? All just cause I got tails! I can barley even reach the petals! My feet are cramping up! I'm hungry! I'm tired! GET YOUR ASS IN THERE AND GET ME A FUCKING ROOM!"

"You're a drummer right? Don't you have like twenty stupid petals to-" Lars's head snapped over to Kirk. "I SAID MOVE." That was all it took for the guys to duck out of the van and jet towards the doors of the motel. Before Kirk left he grabbed his trusty guitar and wedged his magazine in his armpit, hoping that would be enough to keep it dry.

Cliff managed to haggle very little off some chick he was with last week so they might be lucky enough to afford something luxurious this time round. A soft electronic "ding-ding!" sounded as they stumbled on in. "Fuck! Fuck!" Kirk tried to shake off all the water that soaked into "Mettallica's" first ever front cover zine'. "Hey relax man, you can probably call up the company tomorrow and get another." Cliff clapped onto Kirk's shoulder and shook him. "I know that! I'm not stupid... But this was the first one ever pressed!" Kirk whined. Jason rolled his eyes.

"So what? They spelled our name wrong anyways, since when did we add a second "T" into Tallica'?" Jason snatched the mag out of Kirk's ink soaked hands and tossed it into the trash next to him. Lars popped up behind the guys, shaking himself off and started chuckling. "If you wanted to keep it dry why didn't you just leave it in the van?" Kirk inhaled through his nose and turned around fast enough to lunge at the shorter man. "Y'KNOW WHAT I'M GONNA SAY IT." Kirk paused for a second for dramatic effect, he was good at that. "FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING PIECE DANISH OF SHIT YOU CAN'T TREAT US LIKE THIS AND THINK IT DOESN'T HURT OUR FEELINGS, UGH! I'VE HAD IT WITH-" Jason and Cliff just looked at each other and rolled eyes together. They strolled over to the front desk to find it empty.

"Where's everybody at?" "Don't know, this place looks abandoned." Cliff tapped on Jason's chest with the back of his hand. "Check this shit out." He looked around to see if there was a bell, and lo and behold. A small silver bell was to Cliff's left. He smirked at Jase and rang it. Nobody came. Cliff inched closer to it and rang it again. Nada. Cliff started pounding it with his iron knuckles, nothing moved.
 

Little did they know, in the back office was one fast asleep employee. In his dream he kept hearing violent ringing noises and multiple bickering voices. He shifted in his seat and grumbled. "HELLOOO!?" one of the voices said loud enough to pull him out of his beauty sleep. Strands of drool followed him as he lifted his head off the table, groaning. "Ah, shit." The stranger wiped the puddle of slime off with a cloth from underneath the desk. He flicked the rag into a corner as he got up. His head started to throb violently, he rubbed his temples hoping for it to settle down. He looked around and grabbed a cup of full water off the desk as he started to soak in the fact that the office was in shambles. Torn up files covered the office like a fresh blanket of snow along with some empty bottles, wrappers, and darts. He was going to get so very fucking fired. "Whatever." He mumbled while taking a sip. He picked up a dart from beneath a pile of papers and flung it at the board with some interchangeable glam rocker duct taped to it. He walked over to a mirror and looked at himself, a washed up nineteen year old stared back at him. He sighed while reaching for a brush to smooth out his wild hair, but the brush head was broken off. "Greeeat."