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Nico wasn’t sure how to talk to his dad. If he told Hades that he was dropping everything to go on tour with Will, would he also have to confess to the fact that they’d started seeing each other? Hades didn’t need to know that part. But it would certainly bring up a few questions that Nico wasn’t sure he would know how to answer.
Nico had horrible stage fright. That was pretty common knowledge around DOA, and it was certainly something that Hades was aware of - it was something that had come into play recently in their lives. If Nico suddenly announced that he was going on tour - that he was going to play on a stage in front of huge crowds - then wasn’t Hades going to get suspicious of why Nico was going on tour? How did he expect to combat his stage fright when he was going to have to face it head on, just about every night for the next two months?
Fuck if Nico knew.
He just hoped that having Will with him through every step of the way would make it all a little bit easier.
But what about Nico’s actual job? He couldn’t take two months of vacation and leave the studio floor totally high and dry without both him and Lou in the building. He had other bands to produce, and budgets to cover, and equipment to maintain, and and and--
But set him up with a good enough laptop and a tour bus with decent wifi, and surely he’d be able to get just as much done as he had before.
He could even say he was using this as some kind of learning experience. Hades had never gone out on tour - he’d only ever heard about tour progress through managers and the off-chance that he stepped backstage sometime before a local LA show started. If Hades expected Nico to run his company to the best of his abilities, then Nico needed to experience it from every department.
(And sure, that might backfire on him when Hades came back with, okay, spend a week with accounts once you get back, but he’d learn how to be a fucking accountant if it meant that he didn’t have to spend the next two months apart from the boyfriend he’d just managed to get.)
He could do this. He just had to march into Hades’s office and refuse to take no for an answer. He was going on tour so that he could celebrate his boyfriend’s successful debut album, and he was finally going to get some of the praise he deserved for the hard work he put in on all of the music he’d written.
Nico was fucking terrified.
He had an appointment, because he knew that barging into Hades’s office unannounced would only piss the man off and get things started off on the wrong foot. He only wished he would’ve scripted something out before he walked in, because as soon as he laid eyes on his father, every single word disappeared from Nico’s head.
“Dad,” Nico said as he stopped on the other side of Hades’s desk.
“Hello, son,” Hades replied, not taking his eyes off of the computer monitor on the corner of his desk.
Maybe it would be best to just rip off the bandaid, right? “I’m going out of town,” Nico said, and tried to suppress the wince that followed. That wasn’t really very clear, was it?
“Finally taking a vacation? Good for you,” Hades told him. “Have Lou Ellen reschedule any meetings you have coming up, but make sure you’re back by the twentieth - we have another new artist coming into the studio that morning that you’ll need to work with.”
“No, I--” How should he say it? “I’m not leaving yet.” Not like that, that’s for sure. “And I’ll be gone for two months.”
Hades finally glanced up at him. “I can’t justify paying you for two months of vacation time. Just because you never used your paid time off the last two years, doesn’t mean it all rolls over for one long vacation every few years.”
“That’s not what I’m asking for,” Nico said, starting to feel frustrated with himself for being so unable to just say the words. He took a deep breath. Just say the words! “Will asked me to go on tour with him, and I said yes.”
Hades didn’t reply right away. He looked…surprised, to say the least. And maybe even a little bit like he might start laughing. “Your stage fright is cured, then.”
“I--” What? Why would he say that? “No, I didn’t say that.”
“You’re going to walk onto a stage in front of hundreds of people,” Hades pointed out, “and that doesn’t make you nervous?”
“No, it really fucking does, but I--” He shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut to try to fight off the mental picture that Hades had just put in his head. Was his heart pounding in fear that his father would say no, or at the impending presence of an audience to watch him fail? “I’m going on tour. I’m not asking, I’m telling you. Will needs a drummer, and I already agreed to go--”
“We have drummers,” Hades reminded him. “We have every musician imaginable available at the drop of a hat. A single phone call away! Why do you have to be the one to go with him?”
“Because it’s my music,” Nico snapped. “Every other artist in the world gets to go out on stage and hear people cheering for the songs they wrote, so now it’s my fucking turn. And I’m going to keep up with my work here as much as I can while I’m on the road. It won’t be perfect, but it’ll be done, and that’s all that matters, right? And once I get experience learning how touring works from the inside, I’ll know a shitton more than you ever have in running this company, which means I’ll be able to do it better than you ever fucking did.”
Well, fuck. He hadn’t exactly meant to phrase it quite like that, but now that it was out there…
“And I’m fucking in love with him, too, if you even care,” Nico added, feeling himself losing steam as he stared into his father’s unaffected eyes. “So I’m going on tour with him, whether you like it or not. And if you think you can stop me, then you had better find yourself another company heir.”
That finally got a reaction out of him, even if it was just a twitch of his eyebrow. “Has HR been made aware of this development?”
“Why the fuck do I need to tell HR?”
“It’s company policy--”
“Fuck company policy,” Nico snapped. He really fucking hoped his dad wasn’t going to fire him, but-- Then again, Hades couldn’t run this place without him. “My relationship is my business. I don’t need to tell anybody. I only told you out of the kindness of my fucking heart. Aren’t you happy that your only son is in love?”
Hades sighed heavily, and Nico felt a second wave of anger wash over him. “Yes, Nico, I’m happy for you, but is it really the best idea to--”
“To learn how another branch of this company is run before I take over? Yeah, I think it’s a great idea for me to see what touring life is like first-hand so that I can prepare my future artists for a life on the road. I’m also finally going to get some of the fucking praise and respect I deserve for making this company what it is, so, yeah, I think this tour’s going to be fucking fantastic for me, thanks for asking.”
Hades shook his head. “The logistics of working from the road--”
“Are no different from working from my house,” Nico cut in, “which I was doing for half of Will’s album. Get me a tour bus with some decent fucking wifi, and I’ll be fine. I hear some bands are even ripping out the back half of their tour bus and installing a full recording studio. I bet if I did that, I’d never have to set foot in this fucking building ever again.”
Hades finally pushed himself to his feet, his palms pressed against the surface of his desk. “Niccolo, you’re being unreasonable--”
“Is it unreasonable for your son to do something that will make him happy? Because I’ve thought this through, and maybe if you thought more about what’s best for me and my future at this company instead of what you think is best for appearances, then we might start seeing eye to eye.”
Nico took half a step backwards - not to show that he was retreating, but to signify that their conversation was coming to an end. “So, I’m going to go put in my notice for when I’ll be out of the office, and if my time off request is rejected, then you’ll be receiving my letter of resignation shortly.”
He turned on his heel and marched out of the office.
As soon as he stepped into the elevator, he felt the adrenaline leave his body, and he slumped back against the back wall. “Holy fuck,” he whispered to himself as he let the elevator carry him back down to the studio floor.
He wasn’t even sure how he managed to make it back to the studio lobby on such shaky legs, but he finally managed to collapse on the couch across from Lou’s desk a few moments later.
“You good?” Lou called from across the room, barely glancing up from her computer.
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Nico replied, his eyes glued to the ceiling above him. “When you hear from Will, can you tell him to come here?”
Silence, just for a moment, and then Lou replied, “His meeting should be done any minute now.”
Nico took a deep breath. That was good - that Will would be there soon, and that the deep breathing helped him feel less like he might puke.
He let his eyes fall shut as he continued to breathe evenly, until he heard the lobby doors swing open, and a second later, the couch dipped near his head. “Hey, baby,” Will said quietly, “what are you doing?”
Nico let his eyes flicker open, and he tilted his head back to stare up at Will. “Trying not to puke.”
Will frowned. “What’s wrong? Did you hit your head somehow? Here, follow my finger.” Will lifted his hand over Nico’s face, his index finger raised and slowly waving over Nico’s face.
“I’m not concussed,” Nico told him, taking Will’s hand out of the air and resting it on his chest. “I… I talked to my dad.”
Will’s eyes widened. “Oh, shit, that’s right. How did that go?”
Nico took another breath. “I told him that if he doesn’t let me go on tour with you, then he can find somebody else to take over the company.”
“Holy shit,” Will whispered. “Baby, you didn’t have to do that.”
“No, I--” Nico ground the heels of his palms into his eyes. “You’re right, I probably didn’t. But it’s too late now. So, uh, if you have room in your band, I might need a new job soon.”
Will started rubbing his thumb over Nico’s sternum soothingly. “Nico, there is always room for you. And you know what?” Will lifted his head and called out across the room, “Hey, Lou, come over here.”
Without raising his head, Nico heard the wheels of Lou’s desk chair rolling against the floor, and within seconds, she was pulling up a chair and taking a seat next to them. Nico let his hands fall over Will’s on his chest again, and he let his eyes flicker back up to Will’s. He was grinning at Lou, then finally aimed that smile back down at Nico.
“What do you guys say about making this band the real thing?” Will asked. “No touring band shit - we are the band. Whoever we bring on for bass or… Or anything else, they’re the touring band. But this, us, is never gonna change.”
Lou hummed in thought. “So you want me to be a permanent third wheel?”
Will winced. “No, that’s not--”
“Yeah, sure,” Lou said with a shrug, then glanced at Nico. “So, Nico, I think this means that I--”
“You’re not quitting,” Nico cut in, forcing himself upright, relieved when he didn’t immediately empty his stomach onto the carpet. “I mean, unless I get fired. Then you can quit. You should quit. I bet we could really fuck this place over if we both left. Maybe after the tour, we can even find a new label.”
“Hang on, Neeks,” Will said, wrapping an arm around Nico’s shoulders to draw him in. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. I bet everything’s going to work out fine, okay? The three of us are going to have an amazing fucking tour, and we’re all going to have jobs to come back to afterwards.”
“Who’s we?” Lou asked. “Aren’t you technically unemployed?”
Will blinked, his mouth falling open like he wasn’t sure how to answer. His eyes darted down toward Nico as he demanded, “Am I unemployed?”
Nico snorted, patting the hand that was draped over his shoulder. “Let’s say you’re between jobs.”