Jazz took a seat next to the door of the lounge and sipped his energon. Bobbing his head to a steady rhythm gave the illusion he was listening to music, when in fact he wasn't. It was the best way to get the good gossip. If others thought he was preoccupied, they would speak in volumes slightly higher than if they knew he was focused.
Not much gossiping was going on today between the few bots in the lounge, and Jazz was getting bored. He was just about to get up and leave, when Spike, Carly, and Bumblebee walked in. Nothing unusual about that there, they almost always hung out together. But it was what was said when they walked in that caught Jazz's attention. Spike said, "Johnny hates Jazz." The other two just nodded and walked on as if he said 'my shirt is blue', not noticing Jazz was there. But to Jazz, Spike might as well have said 'Aerosmith broke up'.
But the question was, who was Johnny, and why did he hate him? He searched throughout his databanks and couldn't recall ever meeting anyone named Johnny. Maybe it was someone he knew indirectly, but if that was the case, what could he have done that would make this 'Johnny' person hate him? It's possible it might just be stupid prejudice that humans seem to be prone to, of Jazz being a different species. But if that were the case, Spike would've said 'Johnny hates Autobots'. And Bumblebee wouldn't have been so casual about it.
Baffled beyond compare, he walked over to the three. If he was gonna rectify this situation, he'd better find out who Johnny was and why he hated him. As he approached, Spike said, "Hi, Jazz," as if nothing was said about him.
Jazz bent down to Spike's level and said, "Hey, Spike. May I ask you a question?"
"Sure, Jazz. What is it?"
"Um, who's Johnny and what have I done to upset him so badly that he hates me?"
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
"When you walked in, you said someone named Johnny hates me."
The three of them shared confused looks, then burst out laughing. Jazz crouched there, confused, as Spike, Carly, and Bumblebee laughed at his question. "I don't see what's so funny about this, guys."
"Sorry, Jazz," Spike started. "I didn't mean to laugh, but I thought you knew."
"No, I don't. I'm usually up on all the gossip, but I don't know anyone named Johnny or what I could've done to upset him." He was getting very frustrated at this. Spike pulled his wallet out, and pulled out two slips of paper. He then handed them to Jazz. "What is this?"
"Tickets to an upcoming concert I'm taking Carly to on a date," Spike answered. "Look at the band's name."
Jazz zoomed in on the minuscule lettering typed on the tiny slips. There in bold letters under the section of 'performer' was three words: Johnny Hates Jazz. "They're a band?" He asked.
"Yeah. They're fairly new." Carly said. "They came out last year. They're more popular in the UK, but their song, Shattered Dreams, is currently number 2 on the charts here in the U.S."
"Oh, that band? I love that song. I didn't know their name and I wanted to get a copy." As Jazz looked at the tickets, the conversation played through his head with this new information added to it. Now he understood why they were laughing, and he laughed himself. "Now I feel like an idiot."
"Don't worry about that, Jazz," Bumblebee spoke up. "Tell you what. I was gonna take them to the concert, but how about you go instead. It's at that one open concert hall, so you should be able to hear the concert from the parking lot."
"Yeah, come with us, Jazz," Spike said.
Jazz smiled and handed the tickets back to Spike. "Yeah, okay. I'll take you guys."
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At the concert, the crowd roared, the band played, and one lone car in the front row of the parking lot bounced on his shocks to the beat. The sound quality wasn't the best, but it was good enough to enjoy. When it finally ended, everyone piled out of the door, searching for their cars. Jazz spotted Spike and Carly and flicked his lights. They waved and made their way over to him. Once inside, Spike asked, "Did you enjoy the concert?"
"Yeah, they're a pretty good band. Thanks for letting me come," he said as he made his way through automobile and pedestrian traffic.
"Hey, Jazz, we have a gift for you," Carly said, and opened up a small container that she kept hidden from view. She took something out and moved it to Jazz's radio. Jazz saw it was a cassette tape, right before she inserted it into his player. "It's their album. We bought it for you since you said you wanted the song."
"Thanks, guys," he said. They listened to the tape as Jazz took them home and then he went home himself.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My brother and I have a habit of calling or texting each other and letting the other know what songs are on the radio, even if we aren't able to listen. Shattered Dreams by Johnny Hates Jazz was on, and he sent me a text message that said: Shattered Dreams by Prowl Hates Jazz. After I had a good laugh, I imagined Jazz saying, 'Who's Johnny and why does he hate me?' That's what inspired this story. As for setting, I made it about late 80's, at the time Shattered Dreams was number 2 on the charts in the US. Thanks go out to LittleMewLugia for betaing this. Also, I don't own Transformers.