Work Text:
They had been auditioning new guitarists for hours now, but so many of them could hardly even play a scale that the boys had started losing hope. If only Will could have learned how to play well enough to be a rhythm guitarist, then they wouldn’t be in this situation.
Percy started complaining about a headache between auditions, so Frank suggested they stop the search for the day after the next guitarist. Will had wanted to keep trying until they found the perfect addition to the band, but he was outvoted by the other three. With a sigh, he slouched back in his chair, slowly ripping up little pieces of paper while he waited for the next - and last - guitarist to show up.
He only looked up when he heard a voice saying, “Hey, are you guys looking for a guitarist?”
Will knew he’d seen the boy around somewhere, but he didn’t remember his name.
“Yeah, do you play?” Percy asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously - the kid was bouncing on his toes like he had too much pent up energy that he didn’t know what to do with.
“Yeah! I don’t have my guitar with me, but I could play you something if you have one I could borrow.”
Percy looked like he was barely keeping his eyes from rolling into the back of his head. They had specifically asked that people bring their own guitars, so anyone that asked to borrow one was almost immediately tossed into the no pile. Percy pointed to his own guitar against the wall. “Go ahead, but be careful. And don’t mess with the strap.”
As the kid pulled the strap around his shoulders, the body of the guitar hanging well below his waist, he asked, “What do you want me to play?”
“Just a couple of scales would be fine,” Jason told him. “That’ll be enough for us to know whether you can actually play or not.”
He frowned. “Uh, I don’t know any scales. I just know songs.”
Percy huffed in frustration. Will figured his headache was getting worse with every word this kid said. “Just play something then.”
He fitted his fingers to the frets and gave a test strum, nodding his head and then saying, “Cool. How about a Green Day song?”
And then he started playing. Will recognized the song immediately, almost tempted to start singing along, though watching the kid’s fingers move across the fretboard was too mesmerized for Will to remember any of the words.
When the song was finished - the only song that had been played all the way through the entire day - Will exclaimed, “That was great!”
“Yeah, that was pretty good,” Jason agreed, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed.
“You do have your own guitar, though, right? Because you can’t keep using mine,” Percy said.
The kid’s eyes widened. “Does that mean…?”
Frank stood from his chair. “What’s your name?”
“Nico di Angelo.”
Frank walked around the table and stopped right in front of Nico, holding out a hand to shake. “Welcome to the band, Nico.”
Nico was even more energetic during rehearsals than he had been during his audition, which just pushed the rest of the band to pump up the energy even more. Once they’d played a few local shows and got used to watching Nico throw himself around on stage, bouncing off of the other band members as he played, Jason started calling around to bars and other venues all across New York to schedule more shows.
While they kept playing local shows, Jason built up a short tour schedule for them, Frank worked on budgeting their profits to keep them fed during the tour, and Percy looked around for a cheap van that they could rent or borrow. Will was put in charge of making fliers to post around the towns they would be playing, and enlisted Nico’s help in the design.
Soon enough, the quintet were off to start their tour, driving off in a rusted out van, their guitar cases and suitcases stacked high in the back while the boys were piled in toward the front. Apparently, Nico never learned to drive, which meant that that responsibility rotated between the other four, though whenever Will drove, Nico always called shotgun.
They had just played the fifth show of their tour, and Will was exhausted. Luckily for him, it was Jason’s turn to drive, which meant there would be smooth sailing for Will to sleep in the back row seats - Percy always swerved whenever he was changing lanes, and Frank’s foot was too heavy on the brake for Will to stay asleep long when either of them were driving.
Will collapsed across the seats after they’d loaded up the van, ready to pass out at any second, though someone decided to drape themself across his back, causing Will to grumble. He struggled to roll over with the added weight on his back, and when he was finally able to flip onto his back, he saw Nico smiling down at him.
“Aw, c’mon, Will, you’re not actually going to sleep already, are you?” Nico asked, poking at Will’s stomach and making him laugh. “Aren’t you still pumped up from the show? We were awesome tonight, don’t you think?”
Will laughed tiredly, pinching Nico’s side under his shirt to get the other to stop rambling. “I drove all night last night, I’m sure you recall, and somebody didn’t stay awake with me like he said he would.”
“It’s not my fault Percy got me drunk!” Nico argued.
An arm appeared over the back of the seat in front of them, which started swatting at Nico immediately. “Don’t blame me! I wanted to see if you would chill out for once if you had a few drinks in you. We’re trying pot next time, that has to work.”
“No, we’re not buying pot on the road,” Frank piped up from the passenger’s seat. “It’s unfamiliar, and who knows what it might be laced with. Just get it from your usual guy back home.”
“Shouldn’t you all be sleeping?” Jason asked.
“I’m trying,” Will whined, “but Nico won’t get off of me!”
“You promised me last night that you’d let me teach you to play the guitar!” Nico reminded him.
“I’m too tired.” Will reached out and wrapped an arm around Nico’s waist, pulling him down and then rolling them over on the narrow bench seat. “It’s bedtime. You can teach me tomorrow,” Will said before yawning into Nico’s hair.
Nico shoved half-heartedly at Will’s chest. “Hey, get off of me, Solace! You’re crushing me!”
“Hey, you guys had better be keeping it PG back there,” Jason called back to them.
“Jason, make them shut up so I can sleep,” Percy grumbled.
“Shut up and go to bed, guys,” Jason said.
Will shifted so that his weight was no longer smothering Nico, and instead wrapped himself around Nico like a cuddly octopus. “Yeah, no more arguing until the sun is up,” Will mumbled into Nico’s hair. “Then you can teach me to be better than you with a guitar.”
Nico shouted in protest, which only caused Will to laugh while Percy and Frank yelled at him to shut up.