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14 Years	By : lunavin Category: Singers/Bands/Musicians > Metallica Views: 2583 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not know the members of Metallica. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Title: 14 Years
Chapter: One
Pairings: Jason/OC, Jason/Kirk, James/Francesca, James/Jason
Rating: PG for now. Will go up pretty soon.
Warnings: Slash, James gay-bashing
Disclaimer: I do not own Metallica. I do not own Metallica. These things never happened.
Summary: Seven years after Jason left Metallica, he and James happen on each other one night in a bar.
Author's Note: Inspired mostly by the Playboy Interview in 2000 and a few interviews after Jason left Metallica. Title from the Guns n' Roses song. Pairings might change slightly.

He knew it wasn't exactly the smartest thing he'd ever done, walking into a bar when he wanted to remain clean and sober, but James Hetfield had never claimed to be the smartest of men. Still, it wouldn't be the first time, nor the last, that he would flirt with disaster in this manner. He was an incredibly determined and stubborn person, and he hadn't fallen off the wagon yet.

He and Lars were in New York doing press for the new Metallica album that hadn't been released yet, but they had filmed a video for the new single to promote it. Kirk was doing promotion in California with Rob. Tonight Lars and James had been invited to the Trash Bar to listen to some live music and chill out. Lars had gotten food poisoning, and had asked James if he could go alone.

He'd been here before. He knew that before he walked in, and the place hadn't changed really. There were a few people on the small stage playing The Beatles "Revolution" in acoustic like MTV’s unplugged use to do. He made his way towards the bar and ordered a bottle of water. Some of the people greeted him, none he recognized.

After getting the water he turned back around and walked over to lean on a column and watch the band. James then realized that it wasn't really a "band" at all. Slash was on guitar, the most easily recognizable of the bunch. He was pretty sure the vocalist and bassist were from Alice in Chains. The drummer he didn’t recognize.

They sounded pretty decent, James thought. It was obvious it was just a group of musicians jamming together, passing the time on a Wednesday night. He felt a slight pang of envy then. He analyzed that for a moment and decided it was due to the months spent in a studio working on a new album. Months spent perfecting the same few songs over and over. It had been a long time since he had just simply jammed.

The song ended and William, the singer from Alice in Chains, thanked everyone for the applause, and made a few jokes about some lyrics he forgot along the way. The bassist, Mike, stood up then and said something to William who immediately turned to look down into the audience.

William was calling up a guy in the audience to come up to the stage to play and give Mike a break. The guy in the audience had his back to James and James couldn’t tell who he was. The crowd around the guy starting cheering and he must of relented because he stood up and made his way to the stage. Of all the bars in New York, James thought as the guy turned to face the audience, he had to walk into this one. Of course it would be Jason Newsted.

After 14 years with the guy, it was impossible not to feel something when he saw Jason take the bass from Mike. At first it was anger, the bitterness from Jason leaving Metallica coming in again though now dulled slightly due to the years apart. James also realized there was no way he could walk out of the bar now; the bartender had seen him, and there was no way he was going to leave himself open to jabs over something as simple as this. He'd just have to stand here and try not to hide while trying not to be seen.

Jason sat in the stool Mike had vacated. There were a couple of minutes where he warmed up and the guys conversed on stage. Then they settled down and started playing up again. This time it was the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil."

That's when James felt an unexpected tightening in his chest. He breathed deeply. He'd had enough therapy where he could understand his feelings better and face up to them. He told himself that it was natural to feel something like this, hurt. Jason's stage presence was a constant thing that never changed, and his enjoyment was always obvious. It was perfectly normal that James should feel a bit nostalgic remembering the days that he would look over on stage and see Jason's enthusiasm over the music.

James hadn't seen Jason in years, not in person. He hadn't seen him perform in even longer. He suddenly wondered if Jason had heard Metallica’s new single and what he thought of it. Then he laughed at himself for caring.

James was moving his head slightly to the music. They fucked up once in the middle of the song, but laughed and plowed on. James looked through the audience to try and find the guy that had invited him and Lars to drop by. Not to maim, but to thank in hospitality.

"Hey, James Hetfield! You in here?"

The shout of his name came from a speaker and James looked up and around the room before settling on the stage to find the guys had finished their song and were looking around the bar for someone.

"Over here!"

That was a different voice, a guy on his left who along with some other people were calling out to the stage and making huge gestures in his direction. James gave the guy who spoke a glare before looking back on stage. The guys on stage had all noticed him now and they were focused directly on where he was standing. It was dark inside the bar; he knew they could make out his figure, but not his face.

"James!" William called. "You wanna jam with us?"

Slash lifted up another guitar from beside the stool he was sitting on and offered it up in James' general direction. The audience clapped and hooted. He looked at Jason, who had a strange smile on his face. It was like he was trying to force himself to smile while being aware that it would look sad regardless and was resigned to it. James thought he knew what that half-smile would turn into if he said no. And everyone would know he had declined because of Jason.

He walked up onstage with resolution, like it was no problem whatsoever. The audience in the club cheered and he waved around as he made his way to the front. He stole a glance over at Jason whose smile had changed to one the likes of which he had never seen. The most he could tell was from the look in the bassist’s eyes, and they were sincere.

"Pull up a stool, man," Slash said and indicated behind himself when James finally made it on stage. There was another stool sitting beside the drum kit.

James did and sat down on Slash's left, but slightly turned. He put his water bottle on the floor next to him. A sound guy came up and plugged James in with the rest of the guys. Together they formed a semi-circle around William and James looked at Jason with a slight nod. Jason nodded back.

"What are you up for, James," William asked.

"Name it, I'll tell ya if I can play it."

William looked over at Slash a second before looking back to James. "Can you play the Izzy Stradlin part of 'Patience'?"

Slash laughed. "It's real simple, man,” he said to James, “Just follow me. Jason, you can be Duff."

"That means I get to start the song with Duff's count," Jason smiled

"That's fine," James said.

“You good with that,” Slash turned to the drummer.

“Yeah,” he said. “Not much for me to do on that one.”

"We ready then?" William asked.

Everyone voiced they were and Jason started the count. William faced the mike and began Axl's whistle intro while the rest of the guys started playing. It wasn't the exact notes, but with Slash playing the original guitar James and Jason could follow along the chords with little effort. It sounded all right.

"Said woman take it slow
It'll work itself out fine
All we need is just a little patience."

William's voice rang out. It was a bit eerie sometimes, listening to the voice of a deceased person because sometimes William sounded so much like Layne Staley you'd swear Jerry Cantrell had just hired this guy to lip sing. That’s probably why they played live so much and made sure to improvise.

Jason loved to jam with other musicians. Everyone who knew him knew that. He would have been a perfect jazz musician back in the day when the musicians were all solo acts and they got together in studios to record together on whims. Almost every jazz record had guest musicians on it from equally famous musicians with their own albums. Jason had nearly created the heavy metal version in his own studio.

He had been happy to get onstage with these guys. He hadn't seen James Hetfield walking in, and he sure as hell couldn't believe James had walked on stage to play with him willingly and with no fuss whatsoever. He tried to steal a glance at James, but found he almost choked on a swell of emotion at seeing the man on stage with him again. That wasn’t a surprise to him really. He looked back at the instrument at hand and continued to play.

"If I can't have you right now, I'll wait dear
Sometimes, I get so tense
But I can't speed up the time
But you know, love, there's one more thing to consider"

James looked over at Jason several times. He looked at Slash and William, too. He just followed along letting the lyrics settle into him peacefully. It was a nice slow song which made the atmosphere that much more relaxing.

"Said sugar take the time
'Cause the lights are shining bright
You and I've got what it takes to make it
We won't fake it, Oh never break it
'Cause I can't take it"

Slash was the one sporting a shit-eating grin. Things couldn't be that bad if the two men, James and Jason, would still get on a stage and play together. After all, he and Axl could barely stand to be in the same room together without one of them sending a projectile flying in the other’s direction. He wondered how fast this night’s event would hit the press. He wondered if James could appreciate this moment. Slash had been so grateful to start another great band with his former band mates Duff and Matt.

James, Jason, and Slash started singing the back up vocals to the last part of the song. The crowd joined in with the vocals and started clapping along as well. William’s voice rang out strong against them all sounding nothing like Axl, but still doing every bit of justice to the song.

“It's hard to see with so many around
You know I don't like being stuck in a crowd”

James admonished himself for wanting to leave the bar at the sight of Jason. He was having a lot of fun just playing for the hell of it in some bar. With the release of the new album looming on the horizon, he knew this was probably the last moment like this he would have for a long time.

"Yeah, Yeah, but I need you
Ooh, I need you
Whoa, I need you
Ooh, all this time, yeah."

William finished with flourish while the crowd applauded. The guys onstage congratulated each other and Jason and James shared a smile before they realized what they were doing.

"Hey Will," Slash called out. The singer turned to him. "You know the lyrics to any Metallica songs?"

"Uh, 'Enter Sandman'?" William said.

James and Jason laughed and then looked towards each other again with a smile. This time James forced himself to hold Jason’s eyes for more than a second. Jason looked away, but then looked back to him quickly. When he saw that James still looked him in the eyes he gave the man a small nod. James nodded back.
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14 Years