Unsung Heroes

Maya and I ended up spending a good few hours just wandering around, checking out bands’ sets and getting sunburnt. Today’s show was in Dallas. Summers in Brazil are much harsher than they are in America because of the humidity, so it feels like you’re walking through hot, sticky syrup. And air conditioning was ungodly expensive and it was mostly fans in rooms. Thankfully my grandfather was a pharmacist so it worked out a bit more in our favor, but still. But unfortunately I forgot that while the summers in America didn’t feel as bad, the sun was still very intense.
By about 2 in the afternoon, my skin on my cheekbones, nose, and the back of my neck and shoulders had gone from its normal tanned tone to a burnt brown color. Maya’s had gone from light to rosy on her nose and cheekbones and her shoulders and chest. I can usually get past a bit of burnt skin since my skin was already kind of dark but Maya’s really pale and it’s really noticeably when she gets burnt.
When we got back to the trailer, the guys were getting ready to leave for their set. Jinxx saw Maya’s burns and made a noise of sympathy and pulled her close, kissing her burnt noise gently and was careful to not touch her other ones.
“There’s sunscreen in my bathroom bag under my bunk,” he said gently. “Why didn’t you put any on before, May?” Oh, the nicknames have started.
She frowned. “I don’t know, I was being brainless,” she whined, ducking her head as Jinxx kissed the top of her head.
He smiled. “Go take a cool shower and put some on the sunscreen. We’ll be done in a couple hours come see us when you’re done.” He pecked her lips – are they official? – and walked off, following Jake, CC, and Andy who’d walked off.
Ash walked out of the trailer in a Slayer band shirt and ripped black skinny jeans and his cowboy boots. His cowboy hat was perched on his head and he was holding his sunglasses.
He smiled brightly when he saw me and when the distance between us was closed to just a foot he could see the burns on my face and shoulders.
He stuck out his lower lip. “Aw, Baby how long were you in the sun?” He brought me closer by taking my hands and pulling me to him.
I stuck out my tongue. “Fuck off I got to watch all my favorite bands perform in Dallas heat while you stayed on a trailer and primped yourself with four other straight dudes.”
He snorted. “Hey, me all primped brings in the dough.” He kissed my forehead gently. “Baby, you know the sun gets bad out here, why didn’t you put on any sunscreen?”
I groaned. “Because I forgot that the sun is still pretty intense here even though in Rio it’s so much more humid and it’s not even worth going outside half the time.”
Ash chuckled. “Go put on some sunscreen and then come backstage. I want you at this show and at tomorrow’s before you go back.” He kissed my cheek and then moved to walk around me to the stage. I turned briefly to watch him go, following after Jinxx who was fast-walking to the stage. I let my eyes wander from his hat-covered head to his broad shoulders and inked arms to his narrow waist – yes I am checking out my own boyfriend, DON’T QUESTION IT! – to his skinny jeans-covered legs and boots. How the fuck he will survive in that, I’ll never know, because Texas wasn’t exactly known for being cold in July.
I followed Maya onto the trailer and bypassed her to the bathroom, where I splashed cold water onto my face and shoulders – which felt AMAZING – and then left so that Maya could use the bathroom and I could go and get Ashley’s sunscreen from his bag and cover myself with it. Changing into a lighter top, I grabbed my phone and left the trailer, waiting for Maya who came out with wet hair, a slightly shiny face from sunscreen, and a new BVB band shirt and shorts.
“Race you to the stage!” I shouted, and then I turned and ran as fast as I could to the stage. I don’t know if Maya actually followed me, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to get to the stage fast so that I could see as much of their set as possible.
Maya, as it turns out, did start running after me, after the initial shock of me shouting in her face and then turning and running away from her.But she didn’t beat me, making it to the stage about three minutes after me, her face much redder, matching her sun burn.
“Dammit, Indy, give a girl a little warning next time,” she gasped, taking a drink from a water bottle that I didn’t know she was holding until then, and then she let me take a birdie from it.
“Come on, Maya! They’re about to start!” I grabbed her hand and flashed our passes at the security guard before running by him to backstage. This time by ourselves since Juliet had to prepare for her own show.
The guys were just getting ready to go onstage. Ash was fitting his headset on, underneath his hat, and he, Jinxx, and Jake were all adjusting their guitar straps. Andy was tapping the side of his microphone, and CC was twirling his drumsticks.
I walked up to Ash and kissed him deeply, surprising him and startling a noise out of him.
I smiled. “Knock ‘em dead, Outlaw,” I purred.
I saw Maya out of the corner of my eye kissing Jinxx deeply, his arm around her lower back. Jake rolled his eyes and CC pretended to gag, and then he marched onstage before anyone could retaliate. I heard the crowd, who’d previously been shouting “Black Veil Brides” in a rhythmic chant, start to scream and shout “CC!” and “CC I LOVE YOU!” and just about everything in between. CC then proceeded to do a quick drum solo while everyone screamed and chanted his name.
Then Jake walked on, waving at the audience and receiving love similar to CC’s. Jinxx walked on, waving shyly at the audience as people shouted more love at him. Ash kissed my cheek and then walked onstage, showing a heavy metal sign as people shouted and Andy then took the stage, and everyone lost their shit.
“WHAT’S UP DALLAS?!” Andy shouted into his mic, throwing his fist up into the air.
“I CAN’T TELL YA HOW MUCH IT MEANS TO US TO BE HERE FOR YOU GUYS TODAY! HOW DOES HEART OF FIRE SOUND?” More crazy screams from the audience.
As the set went on, Maya and I danced side stage to the music, singing along with the audience. Then I noticed a couple of incredibly muscle-bound guys standing in the audience, flipping off the guys and shouting the occasional “you suck ass!” I could tell that the guys noticed them, but were doing their best to ignore them. It was really starting to get on their nerves, though, Andy’s especially.
When Andy walked over to us halfway through to drink water, he was grumbling a bit under his breath.
“Andy, you gonna do something about those jackasses in the audience? They’re really starting to bug the shit outta us,” Maya asked, handing him a water bottle.
Andy groaned. “I want to but I kind of want to ignore them but I can tell they’re annoying the people around them.”
A sudden idea popped into my head. “Hey, Andy, how about we say something?” I said.
Andy guffawed. “What? Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
I shrugged. “It’s not like you guys can’t defend themselves. It’s more of a ‘you mess with them you mess with all of us’ thing.”
Andy studied my face, unsure.
I held my hand out to him. “Hand me the mic.”
Raising an eyebrow, Andy handed me his mic, and I marched out onstage, Maya beyond me with another mic she’d taken from a PA.
Ash and Jinxx looked at us oddly, and Jake crossed his arms, smirking, while CC started laughing, clearly aware of what was going on.
“Hey girls, whatcha doin?” Ash said carefully.
“Watch,” I said into the microphone.
I turned to the audience. “Hey, my name’s Indigo Graham, I’m Ashley’s girlfriend. And this is Maya Winters, Jinxx’s girl.” Some cheers, other sounds confused, like “what the hell are they doing?”
“We couldn’t help but notice from over there” – I pointed to the side stage – “That two assholes in the audience have done nothing but shout abuse at my boyfriend and Maya’s boyfriend and their kick-ass band this whole damn time. And the reason I’m saying something instead of Andy is that Andy was hoping to ignore you and enjoy himself. Me, however, I am trained in martial arts and am known for having quite the temper!”
Maya lifted her mic. “Here’s the deal. This is WARPED TOUR, one of the best memories of growing up in California I have! And it’s assholes like you who seem to forget the words “filter” and “walk away” and just stand there and shout shit that no one wants to hear! I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but no one gives a fuck about what you have to say!”
I turned to the assholes in the back. “You two!” I shouted, pointing at them. “I have a brilliant idea, instead of standing in the middle of hundreds of fans who will protect their band like a mama bear would, why don’t you, oh, I don’t know, WALK THE FUCK SOMEWHERE ELSE AND FUCK OFF! It’s this new thing I heard about that really works!” Then people started cheering when they realized what we were doing.
Maya lifted her mic again. “I don’t know if you know this, but standing in a crowd full of people who like what you’re hating on is a REALLY easy way to end up in a hospital, if not a morgue. And we get it, they’re not hard enough for you or they’re the quote “faggy” band, but guess what? While you two go off and give each other hand jobs, they get to go back to a bus and a home with US!” she pointed at the two of us.
The two meatheads looked kind of shocked that we were standing up to them. They probably thought they’d have a shouting match with the band and not us, and didn’t know how to react to two girls yelling at them from a stage.
“And the reason why they’re not saying anything is because they just want to play a good show and make all their fans happy without any drama! You wanna know why they’re so defensive? It’s because people like you don’t know when to shut the fuck up and walk the hell away!” I pointed away from the stage. More shouts of agreement and I saw Andy pound his fist in the air in agreement.
Ash had a certain look in his eye that I couldn’t place… was it good? It kind of looked like “I am so proud of you that I will show you exactly how proud I am when we get back to the bus.”
“Freedom of speech, bitch!” One of them shouted.
“HEY!” Ash shouted, walking over to stand by me, pointing at the two dumbasses. “NOBODY TALKS LIKE THAT TO MY GIRL, ESPECIALLY SOME DUMB DICKCHEESE WHO CAN’T TELL HIS ASS FROM A HOLE IN THE GROUND!” More cheers and agreements.
I laughed. “AND I HAVEN’T EVEN BEEN IN THE COUNTRY AS LONG AS THESE PEOPLE AND EVEN I KNOW THAT YOUR “FREEDOM OF SPEECH” DOESN’T COUNT ABUSE, ASSHOLE!”
Then I got closer to the edge of the stage. “Wanna know what we’d call you back in my country? Cafés com leite! Which basically translates to PUSSIES! In my country, if you made fun of anything we’re passionate about, you’d get something 10x worse than any of these lovely people could do to you!”
Maya lifted hers. “UNLESS YOU WANNA GET BEAT UP BY A BUNCH OF AWESOME MOTHERFUCKERS IN MAKEUP, I SUGGEST YOU WALK THE FUCK AWAY!” I laughed internally at her half-quote of Andy.
The cheers coming from the crowd were immense, now. And the people closest to the meatheads were pushing them around and telling them to fuck off.
“HEY!” I shouted. “NO FIGHTING! JUST FUCK OFF!” I flipped them the bird and so did the whole band and Maya.
The two assholes forced the arms of various people away, flipped us off again, and then forced their way out of the crowd and stalked off, their tails between their legs. The audience started to cheer again, chanting “Black Veil Brides!” and “Indy! Maya!” Over and over again.
Ash walked over to me and dipped me suddenly, kissing me hard and then pulling me back up. Jinxx strolled over to Maya and pulled her close, also kissing her deeply.
Andy walked over and took his microphone back from me. “HOW ABOUT IT FOR THOSE AWESOME LADIES!” Andy shouted, walking over and hugging us, hard. There were shouts of agreement.
I smiled and bowed sarcastically and took Maya’s mic. “Now, I think I’ll go back to dancing like a crazy person with Maya backstage and enjoy the rest of the show. Vamos ficar loucos!” I threw a metal sign up and kissed Ash hard quickly before marching offstage, Maya close on my heels after Jinxx kissed her quickly.
Walking off, I was laughing hysterically, and Maya was holding onto me she was laughing so hard.I handed the mic to a PA who was smirking.
“Oh my god, that was AWESOME!” Maya choked out. “I haven’t had that much fun in a while!” She took another sip of her water that she’d apparently set aside. “My throat’s all dry from shouting.”
I smirked. “Yeah, mine too.” I gratefully tooka water bottle from a nearby cooler and taking a deep swig.
“Let’s enjoy the rest of the show!”

Following the show, we found ourselves in some bar in Dallas, laughing and drinking. There was some really drunk guy singing terrible karaoke and a dance floor.
I was sitting on Ash’s lap at the bar, sipping at a scotch – I don’t do fruity girl drinks – and Ash had a glass of Jack. Maya was sipping from a Corona bottle and sitting on Jinxx’s lap, who had a Bud Light. Andy and Juliet were cuddling up together against the bar, Andy drinking whiskey and Juliet had a Margarita. Ake had a Bud light and was texting presumably Ella. CC was drinking his third beer – I didn’t know which one – and was on his way to becoming tipsy.
“Oh my god that was awesome,” CC laughed. “When you two came onstage and tore into those guys!”
I laughed and blushed. Ash kissed the side of my neck affectionately. Jinxx pulled Maya’s head around and kissed the tip of her nose. Jake rolled his eyes but chuckled lightly. Andy barked out a short laugh and Juliet smirked.
“Why’d you guys do that, by the way?” Juliet asked suddenly. “Normally the guys handle it just fine.”
I shrugged. “I kind of have a temper and I could tell they were trying to ignore them despite everything and usually if someone doesn’t do something I usually do something cause it’ll bother me if I don’t.” I finished off my drink; feeling the liquid burn the back of my throat and making my head feel slightly heavy.
Maya nodded. “What you guys saw out there was nothing. She’s put a handful of guys twice her size in the hospital when they wouldn’t leave her be.”
I smiled. “Brazilians are passionate people, and we get very angry and protective over what we love and care about.” I poked the side of Ash’s face as I spoke.
Ash made an “aww” noise and pulled me a bit closer. “You’re adorable,” he cooed into my ear, lightly tugging on my earlobe, which immediately sent shivers down my spine directly to the space between my legs, which I crossed.
I saw Jinxx pull Maya down to whisper something in her ear that made her eyes widen and she shifted on his lap as he smirked and kept whispering something that was probably incredibly filthy.
Smiling to myself, I adjusted myself so that my head was resting against Ashley’s shoulder and I was leaning against his chest. He tightened his arm around my waist and rested his hand on my leg, taking one of my hands in his and lightly gripping it.
“I wish you didn’t have to leave so soon,” Ash whined. “I want you to stay longer.”
I smiled. “I know, I do too. But I have work and I promised Ella I’d take her to a dance studio and show her some samba.” Jake looked up sharply from his phone when I said that.
I sighed sadly and waved the bartender over to refill my glass with scotch. As he refilled my glass, Ash started kissing the back of my neck. Oh he was feeling feisty lately. He’d been doing that to me all evening and it was starting to become apparent more and more what he wanted the longer I sat on his lap. So I turned to mouth “later” at him and grind down slightly, rolling my stomach as I did so.
“You’re really going to show Ella samba?” Jake said slowly.
I smiled. “Yup. She texted me earlier and asked me if I was free on Tuesday and I have an early shift that morning so I agreed to give her a lesson that afternoon.”
Maya downed her drink and grabbed my hand, pulling me off of Ash and towards the dance floor and the DJ, who was playing shitty dubstep music.
He looked us up and down and ran a hand through his unruly, curly, red hair. “Can I help you ladies?”
Maya smiled. “My friend here is a kick-ass dancer but needs the proper music. Can you play it?” She pointed to me, and I suddenly found myself blushing as she put me on the spot.
Maya wanted me to dance in front of all these people and my boyfriend? I have severe stage fright, she knows that! I felt myself shake a little bit.
He smiled at me. “Sure, what’s the song? I can look it up if I don’t have it.”
I took a deep breath. “Ey Macalena.” He looked at me funny so I walked around and searched it up on youtube and clicked on the video.
“By the way, it’s samba dancing, so… yeah.” He looked at me wide-eyed but didn’t say anything, he just grabbed a microphone.
“Alright everyone, I’m gonna need everyone to clear the dance floor, we have a special performance from…” He looked at me and I mouthed “Indy” at him. “…Indy! If you like watching beautiful women dance samba, I suggest you take a seat.” I don’t think I’ve seen guys move faster, dragging their girls with them. I saw the band move closer, and Ash’s eyes were wide in surprise.
I look a deep breath and took off my flannel and headed towards the dance floor. “Well,” I said to myself. “I guess I’m really doing this. I just hope I don’t have a panic attack and die from this.”

Notes

Hey guys!
Oh wow i can't believe how many views this story has, that makes me feel good! :)
The reason i had Indy and Maya go onstage and yell is because i was watching those videos where that happened and they pissed me off and i wanted to go onstage and yell at them. This is basically me doing that through Indy and Maya.
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