Bad Day (Mötley Crüe)

New Tattoo

It was a new week and Mick and Tommy stayed at the new apartment while Nikki and Vince ran between their old ones and the new one, bringing everything over with Tommy's van.

A few of the first things to be brought over were Tommy's piano, drum kit, and Mick and Nikki's guitars.

"Jesus... this is like, serious stuff" Vince commented as he loaded Mick's equipment into the van.

"He's a serious guy" Nikki said. "A serious guy with... a serious problem" he laughed. "What is this?"

Vince looked to see what Nikki was laughing at. It was a box full of busted guitar strings, broken picks, and other broken equipment.

"Does he plan on fixing this shit or...?" Nikki asked into the air.

"How long have you guys been playing?" Vince asked.

"Too long for some people, not long enough for others" Nikki shrugged. He put another box by the door. "I was probably ten, I think Mick was like ten or something too" he said. "What about you and Tommy?"

"Tommy learned how to play piano as a kid, he started playing drums in his early teens I think." Vince said. "I started singing and stuff when I was a kid, didn't do too much with it until high school"

"Did you write that song that Tommy's been playing?" Nikki asked.

"Some of it, it's not all that good" Vince said.

"I think it's good" Nikki commented, thinking about the lyrics.

"You write songs too, don't you?" Vince asked.

"I do, yeah. Mick goes in and cleans them all up, y'know, changes a few words here and there. Never really gets further than a guitar riff and words" Nikki said as he picked up a box.

"So... are you okay with what's going on with me and Mick?" Vince asked.

"I am" Nikki said. "He's not good at showing emotions and shit, but, I can tell he loves you" he said endearingly.

Nikki looked over at Vince, who had a very prominent blush.

"Please just... don't do what his wife did..." Nikki said, hugging himself a bit. "Please just... don't hurt him" he said quietly.

"Hey, it's okay, I don't have any plans to, come here" Vince said. He stood in the van so he was about Nikki's height and held his arms out.

Nikki wiped his eyes and chuckled. He walked right into Vince's arms and hugged him.

"You're a great guy Nik, I'm so glad Tommy's warmed up to you" Vince said.

"Thank you for giving us a chance" Nikki said, his voice slightly muffled from Vince's jacket.

"Someone needed to" Vince said with a gentle smile. "You ready to drop more stuff off?" He asked, separating himself from Nikki a bit.

"Think so, I'm gonna sweep our apartment one more time, but that should be everything from ours" Nikki said.

He wandered up the stairs and into his apartment. He looked around, just to look. It seemed like yesterday they Mick told him he found them an apartment, and now they're already moving out of it a couple months later. With some really great people, no less. He sat in the middle of the bare floor for a moment.

"Nik?" Vince popped his head in the doorway. "You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah... just thinking" Nikki said.

Vince walked in and sat on the floor next to Nikki. He rested his head on Nikki's shoulder, which Nikki rested his head on Vince's.

"Hey, let's go get some food. Just is, y'know, hang out for a bit before taking stuff over?" Vince said.

And that's what they did. Vince went across the road and picked up some pizza and some other snacks, as well as a couple sodas. They sat on the floor of the vacant apartment, talking about everything and nothing, but mostly music.

"So... what made ya wanna be a bass player?" Vince asked.

"I... didn't at first. I wanted to be in a band, and this band that was willing to let me join was without a bass player" Nikki said. "I didn't have a bass at the time... so I went to go get one, but instead of a bass... I stole a guitar on accident" he laughed. "Yeah that didn't last long. But it was Mick who urged me into doing what I wanted. Nobody wants to be a bass player... but I didn't want to be a nobody, so... I wanted to be the bass player everyone wanted"

Vince looked at Nikki, who started to grow a bit sad.

"But nobody wanted us, and if they did, they didn't want the both of us." Nikki shrugged. "We've been trying to start our own thing, but, yknow, couple of addicts nobody wants"

"You're way more than just an addict Nik," Vince said, causing Nikki to smile.

"Nuff about me, Mick says you sing?" Nikki asked.

"I like a little Van Halen, Cheap Trick, or something like... I dunno, but I like rock too" he said.

"Maybe we could write some songs up" Nikki said, not really knowing what Vince's voice really sounded like. "Wait, actually, here's a couple you could try if you wanted" he slid a notebook towards Vince.

Nikki had thumbed through a few pages and found some songs he thought Vince would like.

"These are like... really good"

"These ones are the most recent..." Nikki said, he flipped the page over.

"Mick wrote Don't Go Away Mad, and I wrote Time for Change" Nikki said.

Vince read over the lyrics, feeling how emotional they both were. He got that weird feeling in his nose and eyes, right before someone tears up.

"What are these?" Vince asked. There were all sorts of lines and notations above the words.

"Mick's notes, he plays the lines and stuff on his guitar with how he thinks they should sound... looks like Greek to me, but, makes sense to him I guess. He's lucky he's got decent handwriting, because the way he writes shit, makes no sense" Nikki laughed.

"I've seen Greek... and, I can't tell the difference between this and that" Vince chuckled.

They had a few more laughs as they finished up their lunch.

"We ready to take more stuff back?"

"Yep, let's go" Nikki said.

•••

They pulled up in front of their apartment building and when they got out of the van and immediately heard music.

"Is that what you mean when you said it's how he thinks the words should sound?" Vince asked.

They heard Tommy's piano playing coupled with Mick's guitar playing.

"It's like how I thought it would sound too" Nikki commented. "It's nice, isn't it? Mick's killer, Tommy's killer, I bet you're killer too"

"How the fuck did no band want you guys?" Vince asked.

Nikki just shrugged.

"Their loss..." Vince said.

They grabbed a few boxes and crept up the stairs, careful not to interrupt them too much. It was a nice day, so they had just left the front door open. They managed to set boxes down in the doorway without really being noticed.