Solitary Man

A/N: Ok this is a random School Of Rock ficcage. I don’t actually KNOW what the pairings are going to be , but I know there will be SLASH. MalexMale bonding. MORE THAN LIKELY, SHOUTA-CON. Deal. Or leave. Possible Zack angst. Maybe.

I beg of you, if you don't like the above or don't know what yaoi/slash/shouta-con means DO NOT READ IT. I don't want flames just because you didn't read this.

DISCLAIMER: I am using several HIM songs for Zack’s ‘made up’ songs. I DO NOT OWN HIM. Duh. I just can’t write songs of my own ._. I also do not own School Of Rock and I profit from this in no way.

Solitary Man

Zack Mooneyham was probably one of the only kids in the world who absolutely loved Mondays. Most kids hated the idea, it meant a new week of school to get through, but for Zack it also meant something else.

Band practise.

It had been a few years since ‘The School Of Rock’ had blown the minds of thousands at Battle Of The Bands, Zack was now 16, in high school with the rest of the band…but none of them had grown out of the rock band idea and all of them could never wait for Monday afternoons.

That morning Zack was running late as usual because he had been updating the band website again, they had an actual tour coming up now that they were old enough to travel out of town, he had been messaging excited fans on the forum and just lost track of the time.

Out of breath, with his tie slung round his neck haphazardly and a bit of toast crammed in his mouth he struggled to lace up his Converse and close his guitar case at the same time. Finishing he threw a glance at the clock and slung his guitar case on his back.

“Bye mom, band practise tonight as usual, I’ll wait out front!” he yelled and without waiting for the reply dashed out the door, slamming it behind him. Now that he was outside he calmed down a little, it wasn’t like he was going to be terribly late and his Math teacher was kind of soft anyway. Zack slowed to a walk and let his mind wander, thoughts on the band once more, or more on the members and how much they had all changed.

Zack himself was a lot taller now, slightly more built as well…he had always been rather thin and feminine looking. His hair (which he hadn’t bothered to cut often) was now shoulder length and in his opinion, much more ‘rock star looking’.

Then there was Freddy, the blonde, ADD suffering drummer, he had grown as well, but more…physically than mentally. Zack smiled at this. Freddy was always going to be Freddy personality-wise, though his voice was a lot deeper now and he was almost as tall as Zack.

Lawrence…Zack had to admit, he didn’t hang out with Lawrence a lot outside of band practise, he kind of felt bad about it. But the keyboardist tended to hang out with Billy and Katie (who it was rumoured he had a crush on).

Katie herself liked Freddy. Zack had a sneaky suspicion Freddy liked her as well, she was no longer a little kid and Zack had to admit the bass player was attractive but…she held nothing over him. She was just another girl to Zack. The same went for Alica, Tomika, Marta and Summer really, he just wasn’t interested in relationships apparently.

Last but certainly not least, there was Dewey. Dewey was 28 now but he still continued to help them at band practise. Of all the people he had bonded with during the formation of the band, Dewey had helped Zack the most, he remembered when he was depressed over his father’s attitude and the ‘teacher’ had cheered him up instantly with his infectious excitability.

He had also taught Zack to stand up for himself that same day, Zack had vowed he was not going to let his father push him around anymore. He had held that vow and now he realised Dewey had been right, his father no longer tried to stop him playing rock and he didn’t mention Dewey anymore (who he had been quite happy to rant about even after the Battle Of The Bands until Zack had told him quite firmly to stop).

“OY! Zack Attack!”

Zack let out a startled yelp as someone crashed into him from behind and sent them both to the floor, his introduction to the pavement was less than appreciated, he was just glad his guitar case was re-enforced to deal with such things daily.

“Spazzy, get your elbow out of my back and get off me,” Zack mumbled into the arm he had thrown out to save his face from the fall. ‘Spazzy’ or Freddy rolled off him and stood up, Zack struggled up shakily and glared at the blonde who was sporting that stupid grin, “git.”

“What crawled up your ass and died this morning?” Freddy pouted at the guitarist, Zack gave him the eyebrow and shrugged.

“Oh gee…I dunno…maybe I’m just a little sick of you trying to ruin my pretty face every morning.” Zack slung his guitar case over his shoulder again and grinned as Freddy started laughing hysterically. When he calmed down he two boys reluctantly made their way to math shoving each other and trading insults every now and then.

***

Zack’s bad day started at lunch, he had just sat down to enjoy some well deserved food after a boring science lesson when Summer had invited herself to sit opposite him. She was giving him evils.

“Summer…what do you want?” Zack has paused, spoon halfway towards his mouth, Summer was band manager and she never hung out with him. He was suddenly scared of the tiny business-girl.

“Zack, I’m telling all of the band members this so listen up, Dewey won’t be at practise tonight. He’s ill according to his flatmate. I just thought you ought to know first since you were supposed to practise that new song with him tonight,” Summer flicked her hair and then got up to leave, Zack was still staring at the spot her eyes had been a few seconds ago, “Zack…are you ok? You’re not ill as well are you?”

“What? No. No! I’m fine, really.” Summer eyed him suspiciously for a few seconds but then left, seemingly satisfied he wasn’t going to keel over and die. Zack sighed and lowered his spoon, this sucked, he had been stoked to practise his song with Dewey and show him a new song he’d worked on all last night. Now the vocalist wasn’t going to show? “Damn! This sucks ass!”

“Zachary Mooneyham!” a voice echoed over the lunchroom and Zack groaned into his hand, sure enough the principal was soon at his table. He wasn’t as strict as Mrs. Mullins used to be…but he was going to get into trouble. This day officially sucked, as of now.

After being chewed out for swearing Zack was met by an unamused Freddy outside the principal’s office, the two walked in silence until Freddy said what they both wanted to.

“I’m gonna kick Finn’s ass.”

“Yup.” Zack smiled slightly at the bluntness and even more so at their anger. It wasn’t Dewey’s fault he was sick. It didn’t stop him feeling annoyed though.

“He’s gonna be sorry, I’m gonna take one of my sticks and I’m gonna-”

“JUST STOP!” Zack was grimacing and looking slightly uncomfortable, “look…we’re annoyed yeah, but that I didn’t want or need to hear. Besides…there isn’t anything we can do, so let’s just practise some other stuff tonight and then we can work on the new stuff next Monday when Dewey is feeling better.”

“Hrnph.” Freddy grumbled to himself for a little while but he had to admit Zack was right.

***

‘Band practise tonight…’ , Zack thought to himself, ‘…isn’t as fun.’ He was sitting in a chair writing in his notepad and watching the other members practise various songs. He had decided he would rather write a new song than practise the other without Dewey’s opinion on it. The only problem was a lack of ‘inspirado’ as Dewey called it.

He flicked his eyes around the room, it was then that he found his inspirado, Freddie was talking to Katie who was flirting unsubtly. The drummer did not seem to mind, in fact he seemed to be enjoying himself. Zack turned away and starred at the paper. Of course…

“Zack Attack, what are you writing? More secret songs?”

Zack looked up expecting to see Dewey giving him mock-evils, instead Freddy was leaning over the desk trying to see his notepad.

“Nothing for you to see yet, I only have one line,” Zack flipped the pad closed and Freddy pouted, the drummer pointed at him with a stick, Zack blinked and leant back a bit.

“Dewey has told you not to keep songs from us, you git, now lemme see it!” Freddy snatched for the notepad but Zack grabbed the offending drumstick and rapped him over the knuckles with it, “OW! Fuck! What was that for!?”

“For trying to read my work when I have told you it’s not done and for invading my creative bubble,” Zack frowned, “I’ve forgotten what I was going to write now thanks to you.” the guitarist tossed the notepad into his open bag, Freddy was looking sheepish and opened his mouth to apologise, but before he could Summer approached the two to inform them it was time to go.

Zack found that for once, he couldn’t wait to get out of band practise and back to his room where he could write and think in peace.

***

Later in his room, listening to Led Zeppelin, Zack put pen to paper once more. He frowned, he wanted to get out his feelings…his ideas about love. But he didn’t know how to do it without it sounding very personal. He also didn’t want it to sound stupid, slowly he started to write his lyrics, inserting notes for guitar solos and the like.

‘Love is a flame that can't be tamed
And though we are its willing prey, my darling
We are not the ones to blame

Trust is a word all lovers know
The glorious art of staining souls, my darling
We are not the ones to blame
The more we have the more we want
And the more it hurts our hearts, my baby
It always ends up in tears

So keep on pretending
Our heaven is worth the waiting
Keep on pretending it's alright
So keep on pretending
It will be the end of our craving
Keep on pretending
It's alright

When doubts arise the game begins
The one we will never win, my baby
It always ends up in tears...

So keep on pretending
Our heaven is worth the waiting
Keep on pretending it's alright
So keep on pretending
It will be the end of our craving
Keep on pretending
It's alright

So keep on pretending
Our heaven is worth the waiting
Keep on pretending it's alright
So keep on pretending
It will be the end of our craving
Keep on pretending
It's alright

Love is a flame that can't be tamed
And though we are its willing prey, my darling
We are not the ones to blame’

As he finished Zack blinked, had he really wrote that? It was so different from his other more bouncy songs, yet it seemed to express him perfectly. That love was a silly emotion and that he didn’t believe in it…that it only hurt people. He felt oddly proud of himself, he hoped Dewey liked it as well. He couldn’t wait to hear it sung the way he imagined it in his head.

Yawning he put his pen back in his bag along with his notebook and made his way to the lamp, he gave his bag one last look before he flicked off his light and climbed into bed. He was asleep almost immediately.

***
A/N: End of first chappy, yes it will be slash as I have said. I don’t know the pairings just yet, so I hope I left it open enough. I have a bit of an idea where this is going now though…

The HIM song used in this chapter is ‘Pretending’, like I say, I own not the song or the band.