Work Text:
It is a warm, hot summer day in Los Angeles. The year is 2000, and Rivers Cuomo from the band Weezer is working to make new music for this band. He works in a studio down the street from his house, and he walks there. But as he walks there, he walks past a door with a “KEEP OUT” sign everyday. When he goes inside of the studio to record with his bandmates, everyone there seems to be talking about their rival band, Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Rivers, and his bandmate, Mikey Welsh (who he lives with) would talk about how addicted everyone in California seems to be to RHCP. Rivers had always been struggling to stay mainstream with other bands; his last album, Pinkerton, was a commercial failure. But out of all of the other popular bands, Red Hot Chili Peppers were topping them. But this occasion, it was not normal. Everyone was talking about RHCP, it was the only thing they would ever talk about too. That night, Rivers walked past the studio again, since he was out and to walk home he would have to walk past that door. However, this time the locked door was slightly ajar. Since Rivers was curious, he peeked inside. He opened the door a little more, slowly, to not make it creak. The old, wooden door made a slight “eek!” sound, but nobody noticed. Inside of the room, there were two men hunched over a small wooden table, and they seemed to have their noses in a big book. But these weren’t just two ordinary men. These men were Anthony Kiedis, who was the lead singer of Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Anthony’s guitarist, John Frusciante. Rivers wasn’t sure what they were doing, but the room smelt faintly of chemicals. There were bottles of neon, glowing liquids around the room. Rivers didn’t approach, slowly backing away and walking home. He found the situation suspicious, why were there chemicals? He eventually made it to his small apartment, unlocking it and walking inside. Mikey Welsh was on the couch, watching TV. “Your home late.” Mikey spoke, his voice gruff. He looked at Rivers, who looked like he had seen a ghost. “Are you okay?” Mikey stood up, walking to his friend. Rivers let out a small sigh, looking down. “No, I don't think I'm okay. I had seen something that I wasn’t meant to see.” Mikey, who was tired, immediately became alert. “What did you see??” Mikey spoke, he had a hint of concern in his voice, but he sounded pretty excited to know. “You know our rival band, Red Hot Chilli Peppers? Their singer and guitarist are hiding in the studio.” Mikey began to speak, but Rivers cut him off. “It seems like they're doing something illegal there. But not like drugs or anything, they are like.. Doing a lab experiment.” Rivers speaks with a worried tone. “I think we have to tell somebody.” Mikey didn’t believe Rivers, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. “Are you sure you're not seeing things again? They could just be there late recording music.” Mikey believed his friend was going insane. “No, I'm SURE that they're up to something in there, man. I’m gonna go tell the police.” Rivers protested, turning and stomping back to the door. Mikey’s eyes widened, and he reached out to grab Rivers’ shoulder. “Can I come with you?” Mikey looked at his friend with pleading eyes. Rivers twists the doorknob, letting out an audible sigh. “But you don't believe me.” Mikey’s expression hardened, and he gripped Rivers’ shoulder slightly tighter. “Okay, maybe I believe you a little bit. There is something fishy about that band..” Rivers looked over his shoulder, he knew Mikey changed his mind a lot. “Come on, let's go tell the police.” Rivers whispered, watching as Mikey shoved his feet into his shoes, not even tying them. Both of the men held hands as they walked down to the police station. As they arrived, Rivers explained the whole situation to an officer. The officer nodded, and told them to go home until further information came out. The officer didn’t believe Rivers at first, but they investigated anyway. The next morning, Rivers and Mikey’s home phone blared throughout the silent air, ringing loudly. Rivers sat up from him and Mikey’s bed groggily, before feeling Mikey push him back down. “I’ll go get it, Rivvy.” Mikey stood up, walking to the phone. He picks it up, a deep, low voice with a thick country accent spoken over the phone. “Eh, This is Officer Josh speaking. Is this Mikey Welsh or Rivers Cuomo?” Mikey giggled silently at the man’s accent, he couldn’t take anything serious! “Yes sir, this is Mikey.” Mikey replies, his voice deep from just waking up. “We have an update on Anthony and John. They have been taken in for questioning.” The man spoke, his heavy breathing audible over the phone. “What were the chemicals in the building?” Mikey questioned. Officer John spoke almost immediately, “We do not know that yet. We have taken samples in for testing.” The conversation continued for a bit longer, before Officer John hung up to get back to his duties. Mikey walked back into his bedroom, getting in beside Rivers and holding him close. “W-What happened..?” Rivers spoke groggily, half asleep. “They were taken in for questioning.” Mikey reassured Rivers. “You were right, Rivers. I should have believed you.” Mikey places his chin on the top of Rivers’ head. Rivers mumbled something under his breath, holding Mikey tighter. “That's why you should always listen to me, dummy..” Rivers teased, he meant it lightheartedly. “Shut up..” Mikey mumbled, already falling back asleep. A few days later, the police checked in with the couple again. Anthony and John had been arrested. After questioning, the two criminals had been busted! They snuck into restaurants, injecting formulas they had made into food. The formulas made Californians addicted to Red Hot Chili Pepper’s music, and it was very contagious. Anthony and John advanced their formula everyday, and were planning to make the infection global. It took a long time for California to recover from this infection, but they eventually did. Mikey and Rivers were highly praised for saving many people. Weezer had become mainstream as well, and Mikey and Rivers, as well as their bandmates were proud of what they had done. They were all on the news, always interviewed, and swarmed by paparazzi. Rivers usually didn’t like fame. But this time? It was different. It was a reward for being brave and speaking up about something terrible that was going on. And, he had Mikey too.