Regular Crack Chapter 8

~8th crack pairing: Benson and High Five Ghost~
"Alright, guys," Benson was talking to the group on the stairs. "The park annual "Eye-grabber"  show is 2 weeks from now."
Some of the guys seemed interested and kept listening.
"Now most years, we'd have local bands and musicians come out. A long while ago, we even had the Yonkees come out and play."
"Whoa, bro," Muscle Man stood up. "THE  Yonkees?"
  Benson wasn't amused. "Yes."
"Whoa!" Mordecai, Muscle Man, High Five Ghost and Rigby said at once.
"They've had like 60 number one hits in their whole 15 year career!" Mordecai exclaimed.
"Yep, they sure got the crowds comin' out." Skips nodded.
"Due to budget cuts, the show's probably not gonna attract any crowds this year. We couldn't afford to book anyone." Benson looked at his clipboard. "Only things we could afford would be magicians, but there's no demand for those."
"Ooh, magic spells arise~!" Pops chirped.
"Anyway, Mr. Maellard's coming  and he's expecting a show, so I need all you guys to perform ANYTHING on that stage. Music, dancing, talents, stunts, anything that crowds would like."
"And....what if we don't wanna?" Rigby carelessly shrugged.
"You HAVE to, Rigby! Unless you wanna be out in the streets like the rest of us. Mr. Maellard's expecting a 2 hour show, so you all are obligated to perform, no matter how crappy you might be. I'll give you till next week to practice, but you have to tell me what you'll be doing by the end of the day."
Everyone walked away and started to discuss what they would do. Muscle Man and HFG high fived each other.
"Woo!! We're gonna rock that show, bro!" Muscle Man said as he high fived his friend.
"Yeah!" HFG said. "I uh-"
"We should use some sticks and make 'em into those fire things you twirl around, or we can both use our fighting skills to beat up 20 dummies within a matter of minutes!"
"Uhh yeah," HFG forced a smile. "But uhh..I actually had another idea."
"Does it involve tacos, man? Cuz I could go for some of those right now-"
"No, Muscle Man, I was thinking I could..you know," HFG smiled and shrugged. "Sing a song, maybe one of Fist Pump's slower songs."
"What!" Muscle Man seemed irritated. "No way, bro. Don't embarass the crap outta yourself. We're doing that fighting thing, bro, that's final." He finished and started walking towards Benson. HFG flew in front of him.
"But I wanna sing! I'll wow the crowd!"
"Dude, no offense to you, bro, but you're not good by yourself at all, at anything."
HFG was angered now. "I can be good by myself!"
"No you can't, bro, I know you! Besides, we're a team. It's boring to watch one person up on stage unless they're awesome or something."
"OH!" HFG yelled. "So I'm not awesome, am I? Well, you know what Muscle Man? You can find another BEST FRIEND!" He quickly flew off past Benson, who'd heard all the yelling.  He approached Muscle Man.
"What's going on?"
"I was saving Fives from failure! He was gonna try to SING by himself on stage instead of do some cool stunts with me!"
"So?" Benson said without emotion. "He's allowed to sing by himself if he wants. Anything works as long as it's 'eye-grabbing'."
"No way, that'll make him the park loser! When he sings in the shower, I can hear him from outside and he sounds like a dying cat. Everyone'll boo at him bro, he can't sing bro!"
Benson sighed. I'm really getting sick of all this 'bro' stuff....
"I'll go talk to him. I'll tell him what you said, but if he insists on singing at the show, you'll have to deal with it!" Benson walked away.
"But Benson-"
"No! High Five Ghost is his own person and you don't own him!"
This kept Muscle Man speechless for sure.
"Now stay outta my way and don't bother High Five Ghost or you're fired!" With that, Benson left to find the tiny little ghost, leaving Muscle Man to stand there....without his comrade.
Benson began his search for HFG. It was tough since he could've went anywhere.
God, my job sucks sometimes....
He kept walking until he saw Skips trimming a bush.
"Skips, have you seen High Five Ghost?"
"Not since the meeting. Why, what happened?"
"Long story. He ran off because of something Muscle Man said. I just need to find him so I can talk to him about the show."
Skips nodded. "He's so quiet, he could be anywhere."
Benson facepalmed. "What am I gonna do, Skips? He needs to be in this show."
"Hmm." Skips was in thought for a few seconds. "I usually don't like lending this out, but it seems like you actually need it." With that, Skips pulled out an infrared thermal scanner. It sure looked like any fancy gadget you could get at the electronics stores.
Benson was handed the device. "What is this?"
"An infrared thermal scanner. High Five Ghost is a ghost, so the average temperature of a place drops when he and other ghosts are in a certain area. Just keep it pointed in a forward direction and you'll be able to find him."
"Thanks Skips!" Benson said as he rushed to find HFG.
It was about 20 minutes later, and Benson still couldn't find HFG. The temperature still stayed the same according to the infrared thermal scanner(ITS).
He was about to give up when he was finally by an old abandoned area in the park. It was blocked off by old trees and debris, but pushed to the side as if it were a part of nature. The ITS then stated the temperature went down about 10 degrees.
"High Five Ghost? I gotta talk to you." He said.
No answer.
"This is serious, Fives. This area of the park hasn't been safe in 10 years. I know you're here so....just come out."
Finally, HFG floated out, with a depressed face.
"I don't wanna go back."
"Well, you have to. Look, I talked to Muscle-"
"He's right," HFG interrupted. "If he told you I'm a bad singer he's right. But I don't care, I wanna sing. I like it. It makes me feel....at peace."
Benson's eyes widened. He's never talked like this before. God forbid he speaks 3 sentences a day.
"Actually, at first, I thought Muscle Man was lying because he wanted you to be his partner in the show."
"Only partially the reason. The other part is because I suck at singing."
"Ah c'mon, you can't be that bad." HFG handed Benson an mp3 player with headphones that played a sample of HFG singing a song.
Of course, Benson cringed. He quickly took the headphones off.
"Okay, I won't sugarcoat it either, you really suck." Benson rubbing the back of his neck, feeling a little guilty. "Sorry."
"It's okay, Benson," HFG smiled. "I'm glad you're honest with me."
"Nonetheless, I'll allow you to sing in the show. Muscle Man's just gonna have to deal with it."
"Ah sweet!" HFG cheered as he high-fived Benson. "Actually, I might have Muscle Man do some cool stunts while I sing! Yeah, that's what we'll do!"
Benson wrote it down, hesitantly. "Uh okay, you got it."
As HFG flew away happily, Benson walked back to the park, still in thought.
I should probably talk him out of those stunts. I can't afford to-
Benson shook his head and smiled.
Something's bound to happen anyway. Plus, it'll make the little guy smile....