On With The Show

4

Tommy had taken a couple of pens from Nikki's drawer, and was tapping them against the side of the bed. He'd felt guilty about just crashing here and not doing anything all day, so he'd cleaned Nikki's apartment. A thank-you of sorts, while Nikki was at work that day.

He was tapping out a beat on the side of the bed, vocalizing the drums as he did. It wasn't remotely close to his drum set back in Covina, which he sorely missed. Honey had hated his music – whenever he wanted to play, he went to a music store and played on their drum set till he got kicked out of the store. It was one of the things he missed most.

He lost himself while drumming – almost like it flowed through him because of some external force, and he was just an amplifier. He loved this – he called it reaching Drliss. Even his sister Athena thought that was a stupid name, but he didn't care, people always thought he was stupid, no matter what he did. Plus, what else was he supposed to call it, 'drummer bliss'? Now that was stupid. With a capital stupid.

"You a drummer?"

Tommy half jumped out of his skin when he heard someone behind him. He snapped his head back, relieved to see that it was just Nikki. Just Nikki. He almost laughed at the thought that it could ever be just Nikki Sixx.

"Yeah, dude! Though my drum set's still in my parent's place in Covina. Honey didn't really like it, so I left it there. Good thing is, though, that a few music stores on the boulevard let me practice there when I want to. Oh, and I hope it's cool that I cleaned the place up a bit – saw a few roaches and shit, it was f.ucking nasty man. I fried them with a lighter, now that was fun-"

"Breathe!" Nikki said, half-smiling. "Breathe, Tommy."

Tommy laughed as Nikki said that. "Right. That. I somehow always forget to do that when I talk. I talk a lot, when I'm in the mood to, anyways. To be fair, it is almost always. Just tell me if it's irritating, yeah? I've heard it gets irritating."

Nikki nodded, "Okay, but really, don't worry about it."

He wasn't looking at Tommy, but he swears he could feel the room become less tense, knowing immediately that he'd just smiled again.

"Enough about me, dude that's all we've been talking about. How was your day?"

Nikki sat down next to him, "Same old same old, really. But I need a new band, I can't just wait here, doing nothing while potential rivals take everything," He said, "So far, I thought I'd only have a bassist if I started planning already – but looks like I've got a drummer, too."

"You – you're kidding me, right? Nikki Sixx from London wants me in his band? Yeah, of course! Damn, my parents wanted to send my drum set here for so long, now they can have their garage back, too. Can we keep it here?"

Nikki didn't know what it was about Tommy that made him feel so at ease, so happy, and so calm. He loved the feeling – he had a taste, and he craved more. "We'll have to move most of this stuff in here, but yeah. We can leave your drums here, sleep in my room, and use this as a rehearsal space. Not like we're going to be home much at all once the band takes off, or even before it does."

"You're sure it's not too much, right Sixx? I totally get it if it is, living with me isn't easy, I'm told I have 'too much energy' and shit-"

Nikki did something he hadn't done in a long time – not genuinely, anyhow. He laughed. A small laugh, unnoticed when most people do it. "It's fine, Tommy. It's all fine."

"Are you smiling, Sixxter? The scary, dangerous bassist from London is smiling? Damn, something's gone right for you today." Tommy was grinning widely, twirling the pens between his fingers. "Dude, I've been watching London's shows since you guys played the Starwood, I don't think I've ever seen you smile before."

All Nikki could do was roll his eyes - this guy was going to be the death of him. And he wasn't sure that he minded, at all.