Chapter 1803 - bh

Second Day. [Hyde POV] All of my friends were walking together at the festival. My forehead vein throbbed as multiple people waved their hands at me. "Manly Man." An androgynous guy tried to high fived me. A second forehead vein throbbed in my forehead. A crowd of people, roller skaters, discogoers, and some girls in skimpy clothes surrounded me. I didn't mind the last one, but I really hated getting crowded like this. Eric laughed awkwardly and pushed me away, "Now now. Hyde has a really low… I mean, he hadn't had breakfast yet. So–" Donna laughed and said, "We can hang out at the Command Center." So we went to the temporary base. The Red Cross also had their base next to us, to nurse people who have bad acid trips, treat wounds, and also people who had heatstroke there. Mrs Forman was working as a nurse there today. She saw me being pushed by Eric and Donna and got concerned. Kelso laughed and leered at the nurse. "Oh man. Look at that blonde one. She's totally checking me out." Kelso said, shooting a 'what's up' chinjut to the nurse near the Red Cross camp. "Steven! Are you fine? Do you need to lay down? Ooh! I know I should've pushed you to go to the hospital last night." "It's fine Mrs Forman. He's just really annoyed." Donna laughed teasingly. "Yeah mom. He's on the brink of.." He gestured slightly, "Ka-boom." "Oh yeah. Steven doesn't like people." Mrs Forman nodded in understanding. "It's really weird for you to not like people but work on TV." I groaned and said, "It's a sacrifice I made for the sake of money." "You sell out." Donna scoffed disdainfully. "Just go and enjoy the festival. I'm just going to stay here in the AC." I said and shooed everyone away. "Are you sure?" Eric asked, looking concerned. "Yeah man. Just go. I'd very much rather stay here than continuously walk for hours till my legs give up." A lot of people agreed with me. Fez nodded and said, "Yeah. My legs were cramping last night as I went to sleep." "My toes hurt." Donna complained. "I want to die." Eric added. Kelso sighed and said, "I can't take girls shooting flirty looks at me anymore. There's too many choices… too little time." "Also you have a girlfriend." Donna said mercilessly. Jackie shrugged and said, "I don't know what you're all talking about. My feet are fine, and I'm even wearing high heels." "What? You're crazy." Eric gave her a disgusted look. She smirked and said, "The trick is to push forwards even when you think your legs are giving up. Now, I can't even feel my legs anymore." "Jackie!" Donna scolded her. "You should wear normal shoes." "No! Donna, sacrifices are necessary for the sake of fashion. It's not like you'll understand it. You dress like a lumberjack." I nodded in agreement with Jackie and said, "That's true. She's like a hot lumberjack." "Yeah." Kelso leered at Donna's body. "Like I can see it. In the middle of the Playboy magazine–" He got hit before he could finish. "Damn Donna! I'm trying to give you a compliment!" Kelso complained, rubbing his sore hand. "You're being a sleaze!" Donna exploded. "Come on Eric." She grabbed Forman's hand and left. "Well Steven. I'm going too." Jackie touched my collar and fixed it slightly. "I'll miss you." She twirled and said affectionately. I groaned and said, "God. This is worse than getting jumped last night." Jackie's face turned blank and she shook her head slightly. As they all left, I went inside the command center and sat inside the couch there. "Ah." I relaxed by the air conditioning when my walkie talkie crackled again. Tyrell was calling for me. "Boss. The Rockwells are here." "Let them come to the Command Center. I'm not going to them." Bruce came to the command center alone twenty minutes later. I raised an eyebrow and asked, "I thought you came with your wife." "Oh, she's around alright." Bruce grimaced and dropped onto the couch across from me. I handed him a bottle of cold water and asked, "What happened? Did you piss her off?" "Apparently working hard for my company is 'too much,' and I'm only doing this to sleep with desperate actresses." He made quotation marks with his fingers while mocking her voice. "I mean, she's not completely wrong." I interjected casually. "You're aiming for the superstars. Why would you bother with the desperate ones?" "Exactly— No! No no no!" Bruce pointed at me frantically. "Don't ever say that in front of my wife. She'll kill me." "So it's true?" I smirked. Bruce sighed tiredly. "As long as I don't get caught, there's no crime." "Very inspiring marriage advice." I nodded solemnly. He ignored me and rubbed his forehead. "Anyway, I checked the theatrical print situation." His expression immediately became sour. "We're screwed." "How screwed?" I raised an eyebrow. Since we were partners in the distribution company, if he's screwed then I'm screwed. Bruce leaned back against the couch. "Six months." "What?" I was shocked. "The labs are backed up. Every major studio's clogging the system." He threw his hands up. "If I go with the cheaper labs, maybe three or four months." I frowned immediately. "That long?" "Steven, these people are making physical copies of movies by the hundreds. Every print is multiple reels. It's expensive as hell, takes forever, and everybody's fighting for priority." He grimaced. I pulled up ChatGPT quietly and did some research while he kept ranting. After I saw the numbers, I raised an eyebrow curiously and asked, "So how much are they charging?" "For three hundred prints?" Bruce scoffed. "About one-point-two million." "Jesus." "Yeah. And I wanted eight hundred prints, so around three million minimum." He grimaced. "Closer to four or five if we want a premium turnaround." I stared at him for a second. Now I finally understood why distributors panicked over release schedules. Bruce pointed accusingly at me. "You tricked me into this money pit." I snickered. "But if the movie's successful?" "Then the money fills the pit and turns into a ladder." Bruce smirked slightly. "Nice." I leaned forward and high-fived him. Bruce sighed and took a long drink from the water bottle. "I'll see what I can do about the prints." I said casually. Bruce froze in shock. "…What?" "I think I can get you eight hundred prints in around four weeks." The bottle nearly slipped out of his hand. "That's impossible." "Maybe." I shrugged. "But do you even need eight hundred immediately?" "Yes. Obviously." He nodded vigorously. "No, you idiot." I grimaced. "You start with three hundred. See where demand is strongest, then expand from there." Bruce frowned stubbornly. "But if we go wide immediately—" "You burn money immediately." I cut him off. "A mid-sized movie doesn't need blockbuster numbers on day one." He still looked unconvinced. I continued, "If the movie catches on, then you increase supply. That's the entire point. Why waste millions printing copies for theaters that might not even sell out?" Bruce slowly leaned back into the couch. The grown man in his forties looked genuinely sulky after realizing I was right. "Not to mention the marketing cost. The previews print. The ad slots–" "Okay. Alright." He stopped me with annoyance. After some research, I realized that if I digitized the film and sent it to the future lab, I could generate a tremendous amount of profit here. Future print labs would be faster, more professional in their quality control, and more importantly… I have the money multiplier. In the 2025 United States, for 800 prints, it would cost me around 2.5 million dollars. But I only have to pay 250 thousand. So where would the 2.25 million go? In my pocket. 'This will work really well in my favor,' I thought secretly. 'I can use the money to fund more projects without taking massive bank loans.' Still, filmmakers wouldn't trust some random Wisconsin operation without a proven track record. So for now, all I could really print were Shannon Tate's Encounter movie, and my own films. I looked toward Bruce. "Hey. What movies does the distribution company even have right now?" "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre— Wait, I'm still waiting for the duplication slot for your cut." He paused. "Actually, I guess I can cancel that now." I nodded and said, "Alright. Maybe one hundred prints first. Anything else?" Bruce waved his hand dismissively. "I'll give you the full list later. In fact, talk to Jeremy, the dude I hired for this company." He pulled out a cigar and offered me one. I immediately pointed at the sign on the wall. "No smoking in here." Bruce looked genuinely offended. "Jesus Christ, Steven. What do you have against smoking?" "Nothing. But not inside." He grumbled under his breath and stood up, already preparing to smoke outside. Then he suddenly stopped near the doorway. "Oh yeah. You know Deborah Shelton?" "The former Miss USA?" I asked, confused by the suddenness. Bruce grinned immediately. "You're gonna LOVE her next movie. Italian production." "Oh?" I raised an eyebrow. "She naked in it?" Bruce looked delighted. "Naked? Not just that." He laughed loudly. "Sex scenes too. Real artsy European stuff." "Damn." Bruce pointed his cigar at me. "We should distribute it." "No." I rejected him immediately. "Why not?" I sighed and said, "We're trying to build an actual brand now. We can't just grab every sleazy European movie with boobs in it." Bruce looked personally betrayed. "But we're distributing The Kentucky Fried Movie." "That's different. That movie's mostly comedy skits." Bruce sulked visibly. "Fine. Fine." He pointed at me accusingly. "But you need to cast Deborah Shelton in one of your movies. I wanna meet her." I sighed tiredly. "Fine. But she's fully dressed the entire time." Bruce scoffed. "What do you think I'm gonna do? Hide in the bushes with a camera?" "You seem exactly like the type." Bruce ignored that completely and walked outside while muttering curses under his breath. I couldn't hear most of it, but I was fairly sure at least half the sentences were directed at me personally. I caught words like, 'boobs,' 'smart,' 'dumbass,' 'titties,' and 'actress.' An unpleasant smell suddenly caught my attention. "Ugh. My bandage is starting to smell." I sniffed myself slightly and quickly found the source. Maybe it was because I showered every morning, but skipping one today because of the bandages made me feel disgusting. Suddenly, a blonde nurse entered the command center. She wore a knee-high skirt, and the top few buttons of her blouse were undone, revealing a black bra and noticeable cleavage. "Mr. Steven Hyde. Nurse Forman told me to change your bandages." She spoke in a flirtatious whisper. "Okay." I replied casually and took off my shirt. "Don't worry. I'll handle it for you. My name's Eliza." "Nice to meet you, Eliza." I responded to her flirting casually, which somehow seemed to encourage her instead of discouraging her. She lightly ran a finger across my chest while removing the bandages and frowned slightly. "It's really bruised up. Maybe you should… go see a doctor?" "I'll go after the festival ends." I replied casually. She nodded. "I'll give you some stronger pain meds." She fixed her hair before adding carefully, "Don't tell Mrs. Forman about it." "I won't." I smirked slightly. "Do you want me to give you a sponge bath?" she asked while holding up a yellow sponge. "Yes. Definitely yes." I nodded immediately, a grin tugging at the corner of my lips. "Thank you, Mrs. Forman." She giggled and subtly adjusted her blouse again to make sure her cleavage was still visible. While she was washing me, an old rock star manager came to the command center with Leslie. "Oh. Steven, you're busy. I'll bring him back later–" Leslie tried to leave quickly, but I stopped her. "Just come in." "Do you want me to stop?" Eliza asked, batting her eyes slightly. "No, continue." I replied and let her wash my back with the sponge while Van Halen's manager sat in front of me. "So is this your version of a power play? Got to admit, it's really strong. Not the strongest I've seen, but really strong." The manager laughed sleazily, looking quite uncomfortable. "Yeah? What is the strongest power play you've experienced?" I asked casually. "There's this one guy in Vegas. He plays with his knife… you know the knife game where you stab in between you finger–" "Yeah. I know it." I nodded slightly. "The Hand Roulette." "We call it Stabscotch." The manager replied, shuddering as he reminisced about it. "He stabbed his finger clean, and still smiled as the blood gushed from his wound. We talked about the show while his finger was still stabbed." I shuddered too and said, "You're right. That's the strongest one." Leslie chuckled slightly as she saw my reaction. "Sir Hyde. There's not much time left before the concert." "Oh. Right." I got her hint and said, "We should hasten it up. Do you have someone to make a music video for your band yet?" "Music video?" The manager was intrigued. "No, we aren't in talks with anyone yet." "I can do it for you." I said quickly. He opened his mouth to reply, but I interjected– stopping him with a palm gesture, "I know it's so sudden. And you can't trust me yet. I can show you the movie I'm working on if that'll help. Or my tv show and the documentary–" "No. I actually had watched your documentary. The song 'My Way' with the dead veteran car? That's really… amazing." He grinned slightly. "How long do you think it will take for us to make the video?" He asked. "Just one day will be enough. But not right now. We can do it at the next festival." We shook hands on it and the manager left to go talk with the stars. I put on my shirt after Nurse Eliza bandaged it again. "You can't do anything strenuous until you get checked out." Eliza said with concern. "No drinking either. And no intercourse." "Aww." I whined playfully. "This is my home number. If you need anything at all, you can call me." She batted her eyes at me, finally buttoned up her blouse and left. I checked her out from behind. "I'd definitely call you." I said, admiring the jiggle physics of her butt. … Forman, Donna, Fez, Jackie, and Kelso returned to the command center before the concert started. "Hyde. You missed out on everything." Eric laughed mischievously. "Like what?" "Big Rhonda entered the hot dog competition, and won her third championship." Donna said flatly. Jackie grimaced in annoyance and pushed the couple to the side. "Enough Donna. Why would you even bring up Big Rhonda." "Let me guess. She should've brought you up?" Forman said with irritation. Jackie smiled and said, "Yes! Steven! You should organize a Miss Point Place competition here! I would definitely win it and you'll officially be going out with the hottest girl in this town!" Kelso grimaced and said, "No! I want to go out with the hottest girl in this town!" "Why don't you just go out with a mirror?" Fez teased Kelso. "What?" Everyone turned to Fez with bewilderment. Fez whimpered and said, "So. The concert's starting huh." "Yup." I nodded slightly. Forman laughed suddenly and asked, "Hey Hyde. What does it take for you to sing up there?" Jackie gasped, fully absorbed in the question. "Ooh! Steven! You should definitely sing. Then, I can go out with a rock star!" I grimaced and said, "No– what? Jackie, we're not going out." "We're going out, remember? I'm locking you in until summer's gone." "No, it'd be done after this concert's over." I frowned slightly. Fez interjected and said, "Answer the question fool! What will it take for you to sing up there?!" "I mean, maybe touching Donna's boobs for a minute?" Kelso suggested sleazily. "What—" Eric looked horrified. "No, Kelso. Shut up." Donna snorted and crossed her arms. "Yeah Kelso, you can't barter with my boobs! They're not your boobs!" "I mean…" Kelso stammered. "I can't offer him my boobs. So these are the only boobs I can offer." "Ew." Jackie shuddered. "I'd do it for Donna's boobs." I admitted casually. Eric immediately turned toward me. "Hyde! Shut up!" Donna grimaced. "Fine. But you can only look." "For an hour." I negotiated instantly. "For ten seconds." "Half an hour and two honks. Both boobs." "Thirty seconds. Half a honk. One boob." "Fifteen minutes, one honk, both boobs." "One minute, one honk, one boob. But you have to sing your own song. And the crowd has to cheer after you're done." "Deal." I shook her hand immediately. "What? Donna!" Eric exclaimed in disbelief. "Relax. He's not gonna win." Donna said confidently. Jackie immediately interjected, "See? I don't know, Donna. Guys can do literally anything if they're motivated enough. Especially if boobs are involved." … The concert started at 4 in the evening, two hours earlier compared to yesterday. From Van Halen, to Journey, and finally Blue Oyster Cult, the concert went on really smoothly. Eric snorted and said, "He lost. Thank goodness." Fez complained and said, "Aww come on. Have some faith." "If he really sings on the stage to get to touch your boobs Donna, I'm going to rip your slutty red hair off your stupid red head." Jackie threatened Donna immediately. "Jackie, you should rip Kelso's hair instead of mine. He's the one who suggested it." Donna snapped back. Jackie turned to Kelso angrily. "Whoa–" Kelso laughed nervously. "Remember when you said that you love my hair?" "That was before Micheal! Now that we've broken up, I don't care about your hair!" Jackie snapped at him. I went backstage and waited until the concert almost ended. Today, Miss Gaynor wasn't here since she has a prior gig in Green Bay. Leslie concluded the concert and said, "Give a big hand to the band, Blue Oyster Cult! Now, we have a special performance from the founder of the festival. He's going to close the show for us today!" "Give a giant hand of applause to Mr Steven Hyde." Chapter 112: Festival Ends [Hyde POV] 'What kind of song should I sing?' I stood backstage scrolling through my Spotify playlist on my iPhone, trying to find something good enough to win the bet with Donna. "Should I just sing some AI-generated song?" I muttered to myself. Scratching my head in frustration, I reminded myself about the giant prize waiting for me at the end. Then a sudden thought came to mind. There weren't any official recordings of tonight's concert. Without albums, tapes, or hard copies floating around, I didn't really have to worry about whatever impact this song might have on the era. Four-fifths of the people here were high anyway. Even my friends were all high on weed right now. 'Maybe I can get away with this?' Finally, Leslie called me up to the stage. I had already connected my phone to the speaker system, and I could start the instrumental with my smartwatch. The crowd cheered loudly as I walked onto the stage. The festival lights were blinding from up here. "Hello everyone." I adjusted the microphone slightly. "I know some of you are probably disappointed that I'm here instead of Miss Gaynor. She had another gig she needed to honor first." "NO WE'RE NOT!" Jackie's voice rang clearly across the crowd since she was standing right against the front railing. I exhaled softly and admitted, "Anyway… I'm definitely not a professional singer, so forgive me if this becomes the worst performance of your entire lives." A lot of people laughed again. Most rock stars acted larger than life on stage, so it was strangely fascinating for the audience to see someone who genuinely looked like he'd been dragged up there against his will. The instrumental started playing through the speakers. And suddenly, the entire festival grounds became quiet. The rock stars watched from backstage curiously. I adjusted the microphone slightly, tapping my boot against the stage to count the beat. The cold patch was still attached to my bruised cheek, and the white bandages wrapping around my forearm were visible beneath the rolled sleeves of my leather jacket. Under the stage lights, it made me look less like a singer and more like someone who got dragged out of a street fight and shoved onto a stage. Then I started singing. My voice wasn't high, but it was soulful. Similar to the singer– Teddy Swims. "♫♪ I was so high, I did not recognize… the fire burning in her eyes ♫♪" Donna's face froze. Jackie squealed. A few girls near the front immediately screamed. "Oh my god! He's so hot!" Jackie shouted. "♫♪ The chaos that controlled my mind ♫♪" The crowd grew quieter instead of louder. People were actually listening. "♫♪ Whispered goodbye as she got on a plane ♫♪" "♫♪ Never to return again. But always in my heart, oh♫♪" Some of the older rock fans folded their arms at first, skeptical about the softer sound, but even they stopped talking once the chorus started building up. "♫♪ This love has taken its toll on me! She said goodbye too many times before ♫♪" "No way…" Donna muttered under her breath, holding her head in astonishment. Eric looked genuinely disturbed. "No! My boobies!" he cried. "♫♪And her heart is breaking in front of me! And I have no choice, 'cause I won't say goodbye anymore♫♪" "♫♪Whoa♫♪" Fez muttered, "Whispered goodbye as she got on a plane?" Donna heard it and her eyes widened in realization. "That bitch tricked me! He wrote this a long time ago!" "♫♪WhoOa♫♪" I was enjoying myself as I danced– just bouncing my body slightly to the beat. "♫♪WhoOa♫♪" Backstage, Eddie Van Halen lowered his drink slightly. "What the hell…" he muttered. David Lee Roth looked delighted instead. "I knew it." He pointed dramatically toward the stage. "I knew it the first time I saw him!" A group of teenage girls near the barricade grabbed each other's arms and screamed every time I looked vaguely in their direction. "♫♪ I tried my best to feed her appetite~ Keep her coming every night. So hard to keep her satisfied, oh♫♪" Some of the girls there blushed instantly as they understood the lyrics. "♫♪ Kept playing love like it was just a game. Pretending to feel the same. Then turn around and leave again, but uh-oh ♫♪" Some of the crowd were already mouthing off the chorus as I continued. "♫♪This love has taken its toll on me~ She said goodbye too many times before~♫♪" "♫♪ And her heart is breaking in front of me.