Band Practice

It's 1997, a swelteringly-hot summer, setting record heat waves all over California.

Most residents of the West Coast state were staying indoors, cooling off with their ACs and fans, while others embraced the heat, using it as an excuse to be at the beach and enjoy the Pacific Ocean's waves. For one group of people, however, it was just another day at the studio.

Said group was the upcoming band System of A Down, who were slowly rising in popularity and had the chance to have their first studio album. The four members were stoked about the album, and spent a lot of time practicing the songs that would go on the album. One of those days in the studio just so happened to be today, on one blazing-hot day in Los Angeles.

It had been a while since the four men began practice in the studio, and while they had water and the AC was working, everyone was still sweating their asses off. Serj, the lead vocalist, called for the rest of the group to take a breather and cool down, giving everyone a chance to rehydrate, cool off with a fan, or just lay around and recharge somewhat before getting back to practice.

"Man, this shit's insane.." muttered Shavo, the band's bass guitarist. "I think we're getting there with these songs though! That has to count for something right??" He lifted his head to look towards Serj, who nodded his head in approval. "Yeah, we're making some great progress! Let's take an hour to chill, yeah? We can get back to where we left off afterwards." Shavo gave Serj a thumbs up before collapsing on the studio couch, sighing as he finally started cooling off. John, the band's drummer, joined him as well, nursing his third bottle of water. Serj wandered off elsewhere in the studio with Daron, the guitarist for the group, likely to discuss some of the songs while relaxing.

Serj was the founder of the group, and the first member was Daron himself. Since they had been part of the band since its very inception, the two had a close bond and would work on lyrics for their songs together quite a bit. They were almost inseparable when it came to the band, although they have begun to interact more outside of band practice and meet-ups, and eventually the two men would sneak away when taking breaks just to talk with one another. Serj hoped that the hour he gave himself and the others would be more than enough time to discuss some very important things with Daron...

Soon, a few minutes became half an hour, and that half an hour became a full hour, but it wasn't until 15 minutes had passed when Shavo and John, who were dozing off, became a little suspicious. "Hey." Shavo spoke up, "Where the hell are Serj and Daron? Usually they'd be back by now." John rolled his eyes, grunting as he sat up from his comfortable position on the cool floor. "I dunno man, maybe in the back?" He looked over to a small corridor that led to a smaller room, where most of the equipment was kept, nodding his head in its direction. "Probably got carried away with whatever, you should go check if they're in there." With that, John laid back down on the floor, clearly wanting to take advantage of the extra time to enjoy cooling off. "Alright alright, I'll go.." Shavo replied less than enthusiastically, standing up from the couch and making his way to the corridor.

Once he made it to the door that led to the smaller room, he noticed something odd; There was almost no sound coming from the other room. Now, the room did have foam on the walls to absorb noise, but even Serj and Daron's voices could get loud enough to ignore the foam, and Shavo could hear the faint ramblings between the two men. This time, it was quiet. Too quiet. He decided to hell with it, let curiosity kill the cat, and proceeded to turn the knob. "Hey Serj! Daron! You in there? I'm coming i-"

Shavo was not prepared for what he saw on the other side of the door.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey, Daron." Serj whispered to the younger man, "Do you have a minute? I wanted to talk to you about something." Daron looked up from his guitar, nodding, "Yeah yeah, what's up?" He asked, following Serj as they went to the smaller room; It was mostly used as a quiet space for brainstorming or practicing solos, but it also worked well as a private room to chat one-on-one with bandmates, which is what Serj decided to use the room for today.

Serj opened the door, letting Daron go in first before he followed suit, closing the door quietly behind him. "So uh, what's up Serj?" Daron piped up once the door closed, looking at Serj with his big, expressive eyes. "What did you wanna talk about?" Serj averted his gaze from the young guitarist, it was now or never... He took in a breath and sighed, "Look, before I say anything, I just... want you to know that I don't want whatever might happen between us affect the band; We're not just bandmates, we're also all friends. I don't want to lose the friendship we all have with each other." The taller man gathered the courage to look straight at Daron, seeing his eyes wider than usual, a dust of pink across his nose and cheeks. 'Fuck. I screwed up already didn't I?' Serj thought in a panic. 'I really messed up, I shouldn't have said anything..'

"Serj, you..." Daron stammered, "You like me? Like, like like me??" Serj bit his lip out of worry, nodding his head a little. His anxiety bubbled away when he heard Daron laugh, shaking his head with a smile. "My God Serj! Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to say something?" Serj looked at him, shocked by what his friend was saying; Was he dealing with a crush this entire time too?!

"Serj," Daron smiled, reaching for the older man's face. "I'm so madly in love with you.."

Serj found himself laughing too, grinning from ear to ear. He felt Daron's hands caress his cheeks, encouraging him to move closer, before they both closed the distance between them, slowly kissing each other.

Their kiss slowly became more heated, with Daron's lips slotting in between Serj's. Serj felt his legs weaken, slowly falling to his knees, with Daron following suit. The two bandmates broke apart after some time, their spit connecting each other's lips as they both breathed heavily for air. Daron managed to catch his breath first, and held Serj's face before slipping his tongue into the man's mouth. They'd pull apart, then reconnect, countless times, neither wanting to let go of the other, wanting the state of euphoria they were both feeling to last forever. Serj and Daron, in fact, were so engrossed in making out, that they didn't hear Shavo's knocking, or him opening the door yelling their names.

"Hey Serj! Daron! You in there? I'm coming i- oh." Shavo opened the door, only to be greeted with his bandmates making out aggressively with one another. Both Serj and Daron looked dazed when they first looked in the direction of the door, a long string of saliva slowly falling from their lips. It didn't take long for either of them to sober up from their euphoric highs, staring at Shavo with wide eyes, both of their faces turning bright red.

Shavo looked between the two men, before shrugging his shoulders. "Alright, carry on then. Be done in like five minutes though, I guess?" Shavo waved to Daron and Serj, getting ready to leave the doorway. "H-Hold on." Daron interjected, stopping Shavo from completely leaving the two alone. "You're not mad at us?" He asked sheepishly, averting his eyes in a bit of embarrassment. Serj averted his own eyes to the ground, definitely feeling how awkward the situation had become. "I mean, we've been waiting for over an hour for you guys, at least you weren't like, doing weed without John and I!" He laughed. "Anyway, meet us back so we can get to practice again?" Shavo looked back at Serj and Daron with a smile, a subtle sign that he was more than okay with whatever might happen between the two men.

Serj smiled, getting up from the floor and holding his hand out to assist Daron as well. "Yeah, we'll go back with you, it's not a problem!" He said, following Shavo back to the main practice room in the studio, with Daron in tow.

The rest of practice went smoothly, besides awkwardly explaining what happened to John who gave a similar reaction as Shavo did. Serj was glad that he and Daron's newfound romance wouldn't negatively affect the group in any way. By the end of the day, the group was exhausted, but happy with the progress they had made so far. As everyone was packing up, Daron approached Serj, with his guitar case on his back. "Hey, um..." Daron muttered, "I was wondering if it'd be alright if we, uh.. What I'm trying to ask is; Could I stay at your place tonight? I dunno why but, I don't want to be away from you right now.."

Serj felt his heart soar, he was definitely on Cloud 9 just from hearing Daron's adorable confession. He smiled, leaning down to kiss Daron on his forehead. "Of course, Daron. We might have to be separated for a bit while we drive back though, I don't think we can leave our cars in the parking lot overnight without getting towed." He giggled seeing his Daron pout a little, and left the studio with the rest of the band.