lights, camera, action ~ why don't we fanfic

1: what's next?

"Last day on tour!" Daniel announced as the boys walked onto their tour bus for the last morning of the North American 8 Letters tour.

"Oh, man. I'll miss this bus." Corbyn patted the bus table. "You think if Jonah breaks this again, they'll let me keep it as a souvenir?"

Jonah shrugged. "If you want that table, you're on your own. Too bad ducks aren't strong enough to break tables." He grabbed a plastic duck toy off a nearby shelf, jokingly squeaking it in Corbyn's face.

Corbyn rolled his eyes playfully. "Ugh, whatever."

The boys headed to the back lounge as the bus started to drive them to their only interview of the day.

"Guys," Jon briefed them, "this interview is for the biggest news channel in the country. So you'd better not mess this up, yes? The channel name is USA TV. They're popular for their dramas and comedies, but of course their news is pretty widely watched across the country."

The boys nodded. "Okay. "

~~~~~~

"Oh dang, this set is a lot bigger than I thought it would be." Zach whispered to Jack as a set crew member led them to their dressing room. The show was shot in a massive soundstage, almost the size of a small warehouse. Usually, the TV sets they shot in were small enough to fit on the floor of a high-rise office building.

They entered their dressing room, a decently large room with couches lining the walls. The walls had pictures of some of the show's most famous guests. Signed photographs of actors and actresses, singers, comedians, and athletes lined the wall.

Jonah ran a finger along the edge of Camila Cabello's picture frame. "Isn't it so cool that our last interview for this tour is in this huge, famous place? This is amazing."

"I would hope so." An unfamiliar voice said from the doorway. The boys turned to look at a man in his mid-60s in a grey pinstripe suit. "Good morning, lads, my name is Richard Collin, I'm the main media executive for USA TV. I've heard quite a lot about you." His voice had a slight accent, which the boys registered as probably British or Australian.

"All good things, I hope." Jon laughed.

The boys instantly recognized him as a seriously important man, quickly lining up to shake his hand.

"Indeed they were. I thought it would be fun to visit the set today." Richard smiled. "And of course, since my niece's favorite band is here, I thought I could get a couple pictures with you."

"Of course!" Jon said, and the boys moved to take a few pictures with Richard.

Richard grinned. "Aww, my niece is gonna love this. Thank you, lads. I'll see you on set!" He walked off, straightening his suit jacket. The boys caught a glimpse of his assistant outside the door, quickly following Richard as he walked away.

"That was a cool dude." Jack said, still watching the door as if Richard was about to pop back in.

"You're a cool dude, too." Zach replied.

"Aww, thanks bro!" Jack said in an overly optimistic voice. The two chuckled as they performed the band handshake.

~~~~~~

"Let's go over this one more time." Jon nodded. "You're going to do the interview for one segment, and then you're going to perform I Don't Belong in This Club, then Trust Fund Baby, then What Am I."

"Sounds good." Daniel nodded, shouldering his guitar.

"Ten seconds until air!" A crew member announced, and Jon rushed off the set, giving them a thumbs-up.

The interview went smoothly. It was a pretty typical TV interview; they asked pretty common questions like, "what's next for you?" and "what's your favorite song to perform?" As usual, the boys tried to interject as many jokes and personal stories as they could. It was their job to keep things energetic and get the TV viewers interested in them, after all.

During the first commercial break, the camera crew came over, offering the boys water and setting up the microphones and instruments for their performance. They accepted it gratefully as they talked among each other, reminiscing about all the ups and downs they'd had during the tour. Jon was talking to Richard, the TV exec they'd spoken to earlier in the dressing room. Richard was openly gazing at the boys, an interest sparked in his eyes as he talked to Jon.

The performance went well, as they'd hoped. There were no mic issues or vocal problems, and as their last interview of tour, they were taking it in stride and performing with all their hearts. Daniel and Corbyn were nearly in tears by the end of What Am I. It was just so meaningful, being the very last interview of this tour-- of this era of their lives.

When all the microphones were disconnected, the boys walked back to the dressing room to pick up their belongings. Inside, they found Richard and Jon, identical grins on their faces.

Richard's gaze swept over each set of eyes in front of him. "Gentlemen, I watched your interview today, and I've got to say, my niece has good taste." he chuckled.

"I absolutely love your chemistry as a band," Richard continued, "and I can't make any promises here, but I really think we should talk about doing something together. You could definitely be a hit TV show in the making. I've got your manager's number, we'll be in contact."

Richard nodded, sweeping out of the room as smoothly as he'd entered it.

The boys stood there for a second, exchanging surprised but excited glances.

They all broke off into celebration immediately.

"Oh my god, we could have our own TV show?" Zach laughed. "I can't believe it. What would it be, a game show? A sitcom? A reality show?"

"We have to do it, Jon, please. This could be so big for us!" Jack said excitedly.

Corbyn nodded. "It would be perfect to do a TV show now, especially because we're not on tour after today."

"Right, we'll be working on our album for a while. It's literally perfect." Jonah clapped his hands together.

"Now, now," Jon smiled, "this is exciting and all, but don't get ahead of yourselves. Richard hasn't gotten anything confirmed yet, and even if something does happen, there's no guarantee that we'll have the time to do a TV show. Hold your horses. Now let's go pack up and get to the venue for the show."

Daniel sighed, a wistful smile on his face. "I still wish you could have let us dream a little. We could be, like, Big Time Rush... or even something bigger..."

"Go pack your cello." Jon said sternly, but he couldn't hide his smile. "We still have your final show of tour, remember?"