Chapter Text
1981.
Cozy entered the hotel with a weary sigh. He hadn't even gotten to the reception that he already wanted to go home and forget he was a drummer.
Don't get him wrong. Cozy loved Japan with every fiber of his being and playing there was always an honor for him. But the only thing that seemed unfair to him was the distance and that was one of the things that kept him tired.
He was tired of touring. Last year he had been touring non-stop and when he joined MSG all he found was a half-finished album and a tour on hold. Cozy was expecting a moment of rest after finishing the album and before going to touring, which he obviously didn't get.
And to make the things worse, the chemistry with the band was not what he expected and that was twice as tiring. It wasn't that bad but it wasn't that good either. Cozy felt that he didn't fit in this band and every second that he spent with them, the more he realized it was true. He has rolled with it as much as he could so he was always trying to spend just a little time with them until it was time for the concert or soundcheck.
When Cozy reached the reception, he dropped his travelling bag, setting it aside while he waited for his room key. He turned and leaned his elbows on the counter table as he watched the people coming and going from the hotel.
The rest of the band went to hanging around the city. As much as Cozy wanted, he preferred to go to the hotel since right after he got off the plane he was in a very bad mood. He had an argument with Michael just before the plane arrived. He had never fought so much with someone and so often in his life. Not even with Ritchie.
The receptionist's voice washed his thoughts away and with a half smile he turned back to receive the key and say a very polite 'Thank you' and then grab his bag and walk into the hallway. But when he turned to the hallway he found a gaze upon him, a green gaze with a frown that he would recognize anywhere...
Ritchie, the one and only. Cozy cursed the power of coincidences under his breath.
The guitarist quickly hid his face with the magazine in his hands, as if he didn't want to see him or something. Cozy took that as a Ritchie-thing and started walking towards Ritchie with an unexplainable happiness that Cozy didn't know where that came from.
The things had ended good -well sorta- between them and the drummer admitted that he was thinking about him when he was on the plane but he never expected to meet him again so soon. He thought that he never wanted to see him again but when he realized it was not like that, a little adrenaline ran through his body.
Once he had approached, at that very moment the receptionist called Ritchie to give him his key. Ritchie got up without looking at Cozy, took the key from the guy and headed down the hallway completely ignoring Cozy, as if he didn't know him.
Cozy frowned completely disorientated and almost out of inertia started walking behind Ritchie to catch him up. The guitarist, noticing that Cozy was following him, began to walk faster
"Ritch? Hey" By pure chance, Cozy gently but firmly grasped the guitarist's elbow with the intention of slowing him down.
And Ritchie was still. If he really wanted, he could break out of Cozy's grip and be on his way to his hotel room… that’s what the logic part of him wanted. His head. But what his heart wanted?
Ritchie froze for a few seconds thinking about Cozy's touch and his voice. It hadn't been that long since he heard that voice, but it surely felt like it. Ritchie also thought that he never wanted to see him again, since he never liked to keep relationships with his ex-bandmates but somehow, Cozy was different and that bothered him deeply.
"What?!" He replied by finally breaking off Cozy's grip turning to see him. For some unknown reason, the drummer looked more bad ass than ever but also he looked more tired than ever. Something felt wrong with him but he didn't know what it was. Ritchie wanted to ask but he remembered that he was mad at Cozy.
"Woah, easy tiger" Cozy raised his hands. "You were ignoring me on purpose or just playing the fool?" He asked jokingly. Ritchie looked different from the last time he saw him but he was sure it was the new haircut which was curly. Cozy thought he looked cute, surely it fitted him. And that's were the changes ended, the rest was the same, angry expressions and sharp gaze but, as always, his eyes were calm.
"The first one" The guitarist replied sharply and coldly. Of course he was ignoring him and wishing for this conservation to end very soon.
"Are you sure it's just that one?" Cozy asked mischievously with a sly smile but Ritchie just rolled his eyes annoyed. Then a dead silence filled the hallway and suddenly the both of them felt downhearted. "So, how's Rainbow going?" Cozy broke the silence trying to fix this conversation attempt.
"Good. Better..." Ritchie said with a bitter tone, nodding his head as he crossed his arms. Cozy interpreted that 'better' as 'better without you' and Cozy was sure that his interpretation wasn't wrong at all.
"I'm glad" And he really was but he was feeling a strange wall between them. "I listened to the new record, it was excellent and that Joe Lynn kid, he was very impressive too." Cozy smiled as he was remembering the night he found him. "I'm happy that I found him for you and that he fit the job so well." He was being completely honest with him and he always was.
"Well, somehow you had to fix what you did." Ritchie spat poisonously and as if those words had real poison, Cozy felt dizzy. Dizzy with anger.
The drummer was trying to get into confidence with him again since he stopped him seconds ago but it seems that Ritchie didn't want to leave behind what happened between them and with that way of thinking, Cozy couldn't be reasonable.
"What exactly was 'what I did'?" Cozy asked with a defiant look ready to face whatever the guitarist said to him. It has been just like this the last year he was in Rainbow. Defiant gazes, cold comments, heated arguments.
"You left" He answered cold and almost as if he was scolding him for that. For leaving.
"Oh, for Christ's sake." Cozy blurted out without raising his voice, dropping his arms as he rolled his eyes with and turned his head a little. "I thought we were on good terms with that, dammit" He insulted almost without realizing it due to the frustration of the moment.
"You thought wrong" Ritchie replied with his typical disinterest in the emotions and reactions of others.
"What?" Cozy faced the guitarist again, looking into his eyes with an incredulous smile and an acid chuckle.
"Maybe you thought you left on good terms but I certainly didn't think so" Ritchie said shrugging his shoulders.
"Oh god" Cozy let out a frustrated sigh. "I left because it was the best for both of us. You were as tired of me as I was of you." The drummer answered firmly.
"Mmh, I never agreed with that." Ritchie put a finger on his chin and pretended to think for a moment.
Cozy scoffed "Well, you've always been a stubborn bastard, haven't you?"
"Screw you, Powell" Ritchie exclaimed offended but without raising his voice. "You left because you wanted to. You didn't do any good, you left me in the middle of nowhere." He accused him. Here he comes.
Cozy was trying to keep his temper but it wasn't hard to remember why they had decided to part ways either. "I left you exactly were you wanted to be. You wanted to start a new line up. You screwed up the excellent lineup we had because of your childish comments about Graham's hair. The fans were getting used to him and they respected him for his voice but you... but you didn't like that. " He didn't mean to be rude but he was at his limit with this failed conversation.
"Fuck off, Powell, fuck off" Ritchie never liked being told the truths that he didn't consider to be true ... Well, who does? But Cozy knew it wasn't just because of that the lineup failed and he was kinda regretting what he said but right now he was so frustrated that he didn't even think of the word 'apology'. "Good for me you left, now I have no one to get in the way of how I want to write the songs. The fans and I are not going to miss you. You are as replaceable as any drummer can be." Ritchie knew it was a lie, a tremendous lie but he tried to be as hurtful as possible and somehow it was working, Cozy was genuinely hurt. Too bad they ended up like this but Cozy had seen it coming somehow.
"Well, if we are done, which I think we are, I have a soundcheck with the band" Cozy said as he watched Ritchie turn his back on him and start walking.
"We should never have talked again, but like me, you're another stubborn" Ritchie added and that's when the guitarist felt a feeling smiliar to remorse but he wasn't sure. But what he was sure of, was that he felt as if he had lost something.
"Yeah, storm out of this conversation... like you always did" Cozy said loud but by the time he said that Ritchie was disappearing into the hallway. Actually Ritchie didn't stormed out this time but it was just the memory of all the times he did it that haunted Cozy at that very moment.
Cozy walked back to the reception and grabbed this travelling bag, which was on the floor, to disappear into the hallway but in the opposite direction.