Trade Mistakes - Prinxiety [COMPLETED]

Chapter XV

Band meetings used to excite Virgil. They typically happened before tour, during tour, and at the end of tour, and were usually a load of fun. Just another brainstorming, laugh session with the guys in the band. He could remember when Joan had suggested the idea of making fake fan accounts to stalk their fans; he hadn't seen why they wanted to, but they were all a little tipsy and it didn't seem like a bad idea at the time. However, Joan was still incredibly active on theirs, and Virgil had had a strange run in with another fan account that ended with a slightly flustering roll play session with them. Luis once told them about his idea for water effects during their shows which resulted in Virgil's makeup running down his face and appearing like some sort of nightmarish clown. Band meetings were fun, but not anymore.

The singer didn't even want to be in the same room with De if he could help it, but he couldn't in this case. They'd been through half of the tour, and this was the point where they needed to start discussing what they'd do afterwards. Virgil was sure it was going to lead to an argument if the guitarist tried to claim he was going to quit again.

He's not going to quit, he thought to himself as he waited for his bandmates to arrive at his hotel room. De's all talk and no action. He always loves to hiss and rattle his tail when he feels threatened, but he'd not going to go through with it.

The darkly dressed boy nodded to himself as a knock sounded at his hotel door. He hurried to answer it, opening said door and gesturing for his bandmates to come in while avoiding looking at De at all costs. Though they may have reached a mutual agreement to still say civil in regards to the band itself, they were not thrilled to be seated in the same room for a few hours.

"So, how's everyone's day off going?" Luis asked, clearly smiling through the obvious tension in the air. "I've been pretty good myself, did a bit of swimming down by the pool! Had a nice strawberry daiquiri, it was fun!"

Joan nodded to him, smiling. "I did some work on some solo stuff I was thinking about talking to the label about releasing," they said, eyes widening as they realized what that sounded like. "I'm not leaving the band or anything, I was just thinking I could do some solo stuff as a little side project, if you're all cool with that."

"No, of course, that's fine, Joan," Virgil told them, nodding with a slight smile to show it was okay. "I was thinking though... we've been having really good attendance on this tour, and our fans are really hyped. What if we expanded our reach?"

All of them turned their eyes to him, gazes confused and wide. "What are you suggesting?" their drummer asked curiously, intrigue sparkling in his eyes.

"What about a Euro tour?"

The suggestion was met with a sudden silence before grins broke out across two of the other members' faces. Luis and Joan looked ecstatic by the idea of going to another continent; De, on the other hand, looked very unimpressed by the idea. "Europe!? Like the UK? France? Germany?" Luis listed off, practically buzzing with excitement. "OH! Please tell me we'd go to Ireland!"

"We can talk to our management about anywhere you guys want to go if we did a Euro tour," Virgil promised, smiling at their enthusiasm. He was about to continue on with explaining the concept when De spoke for the first time since the meeting began.

"I'm quitting the band."

Silence much more tense and much heavier settled over the band as they turned to him. The singer's eyes narrowed as they locked with the guitarist's. He'd already made this threat, and had yet to do anything seriously suggesting he was going through with it; however, this was the first Joan and Luis were hearing of it.

"What are you talking about?" Joan questioned, alarm in their voice. "Why would you be considering quitting? We're getting bigger every day, we're superstars, why would you even think about leaving?"

De tore his gaze away from the darkly dressed boy sitting across from him to address the bassist. "I'm not 'considering' it, my decision is final," he corrected them. "And I'm no longer happy in this band. I don't agree with the morals of some people here, and I don't feel like this is a mentally safe environment for me anymore, so I'm quitting. I'm going to do my own solo music."

"But we're in the middle of tour! You can't quit now!" Luis cried, looking extremely upset, like he was going to break down in tears.

Sympathy seeped into the guitarist's voice as he addressed him. "I'm not going to walk out in the middle of tour, I'm not that cruel," he reassured him. "I'm leaving as soon as tour's over. I recommend you start looking for a fill in now, because after this, I'm done. I'm not going to Europe with you guys."

With that, De stood up and walked out of Virgil's hotel, ignoring his bandmates calling his name. The drummer and bassist looked at their leader with wide eyes for some sort of comment. "Did you know about this?" the non-binary asked, accusation in their voice.

"He mentioned it briefly during a fight not long ago," he replied honestly. He then chuckled and shook his head. "Come on, he's not serious. You know De! He's all talk, no action. He won't walk away from the biggest success of his life just because he got his feelings hurt."

Neither of them looked entirely convinced, but they did calm down at his words. "So you think he's just mad and that by the end of tour he'll have changed his mind?" Luis asked, looking hopeful.

"I can almost promise you he's not going to actually quit, I mean, come on! He hasn't even talked to our management about it yet! He's got little to no experience with creating music on his own, he doesn't even know if he'll get a record label for his solo work! Why would he really quit over a stupid misunderstanding?"

They nodded, shrugging a little in agreement. It seemed like an unwise choice on the guitarist's part to quit such a successful band over a heartbreak. Virgil convinced them it was nothing to worry about and sent them back to their rooms for the night. It would be fine.