Ship - James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, Jason Newsted, x Birthday Girl!Reader
Rating - PG-13
Tags - ALLLLL the fluff, a curse word or two
Word Count - 600ish
Birthdays weren't anything Y/N got excited about anymore. It was just another day to her, and she hardly expected a gift or a card. With no immediate family left, and barely any friends in this new town, she intended to spend her "big day" working a twelve-hour shift at the restaurant.
Sliding on a black pencil skirt, white button-up shirt, and simple silver pumps, Y/N went to blow dry her lengthy brown hair and added some eye makeup. After putting in some contacts, she donned her purse and headed out the door for what was foreseen to be a long night ahead.
About halfway to work, traffic came to a stand-still.
"Fuck! Jay's gonna kill me if I'm late."
Glancing at the digital clock on her cell, she noticed she only had ten more minutes until she was supposed to clock in. Sighing, she unlocked it and scrolled through her contacts until her thumb hovered over the restaurant's number.
"Hello, and thank you for calling Jay's Soup Kitchen, how may I help you today?"
Y/N recognized the voice immediately and rested her head on the steering wheel.
"Hey Jay, it's Y/N, I swear I'm on my way. There must be a wreck on Main Street because the traffic is completely stopped."
She heard her boss muffle the receiver and say something she couldn't make out. Finally, he came back and cleared his throat.
"It's totally cool Y/N/N, I've got things covered until you can get here. No rush, okay?"
The line went dead before she could respond. She pulled the phone away from her ear and stared blankly at the screen. What just happened? Her boss was never that lenient when it came to being late, and he certainly didn't tell anyone to take their time. Something was up, and Y/N aimed to find out.
Finally, after ten minutes of being a sitting duck in traffic, Y/N pulled in to the back parking lot of her work. Rushing in the back door as fast as she could, she was met with a shit-eating grin on her bosses face.
"Jay? What's going on? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Jay chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Today's a special day Y/N. Special days call for surprises, and I think I can say that your co-workers and I have the best one yet."
Y/N looked at him with confusion. He'd never celebrated her birthday before, and she'd worked her for over four years.
"Jay, I don't know what you're ta-"
Her sentence was cut short by a very familiar voice reverberating off the walls of the dining room. She'd know it anywhere, but it felt too close to be coming from a stereo. Jay grinned at her once again as she slowly opened the double doors to the main eating area. There on a makeshift stage was her favorite band, Metallica.
Y/N couldn't believe her eyes. Once again she was rendered speechless. A round of applause behind her brought her back to reality, and she whirled around to find every single one of her co-workers, past and present, standing there cheering. Jay, her boss, stood in the middle holding a single cupcake with a lit candle.
"Metallica and I wanted to thank you for your dedication. Not only, to your job, but also to their band. We know how big of a fan you are, so we decided to close the restaurant for the evening. This private concert is all yours, as thanks from all of us. Happy Birthday, Y/N."
