In the morning, Nico opened his eyes. He blinked a few times, adjusting to the light streaming into the room. Deciding that no matter what time it was, it was still too early to get up, he dug himself deep under the covers and snuggled in.

As he rolled around, trying to find the most comfortable position, he bumped into something, or rather, someone. He lifted his head from the fluffy pillow to see Jason lying next to him, still fast asleep.

Confused, Nico thought back to the events of last evening. They'd played a show, did a signing session and came back to the hotel. He was pretty sure he didn't seduce Jason into his since they'd decided they'd worked better as friends they'd stayed out of each other's . He and Jason were both single so every now and again, after a particularly rowdy after party and too much alcohol, or even to blow off some steam when they were both worked up, they couldn't keep their hands off the other.

He dropped his head back on the pillow as memories of the fan came flowing back into his mind.

He smiled a little to himself, hoping that... Will, was it? Hoping that Will felt a little better after having his guitar stolen. Which reminded him, he'd have to go get a new guitar to replace the one he'd given away.

He rolled over again, blindly searching for his phone on the nightstand. His eyes hurt as he squinted at the screen to make out the time. 9:30. Shit, his eyes hurt.

Sighing, he threw the covers back and noticed he was naked down to his boxers. A quick scan across the room revealed his clothes neatly folded in a pile on a chair. Now he was sure that nothing had happened between him and Jason last night.

He got up and started dressing himself before reaching into his suitcase. He fell asleep wearing his contacts again. His optometrist was going to kick his ass when he went for his next checkup.

Swapping out his contacts for a sleek pair of black framed glasses, the ones he tended to wear whenever he was not playing, he heard a soft groan coming from the bed.

"Morning, Grace," He grumbled and lightly kicked at Jason's leg under the covers.

His friend mumbled something unintelligible before rubbing his hands through his face. He sat up straight and Nico couldn't help smiling at the ruffled mess that was Jason's hair.

"Morning," he yawned out, scratching at his chest. "What time is it?"

"It's 9:45. Mind telling me what you were doing in my bed? The record company's paying for three separate rooms, you know." Nico asked from in front of the full length mirror on his bedroom door as he ran a hand through the raven mess that he called his hair, trying to tame it enough to be presentable.

Jason yawned again, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. "I came up to check on you before I went to sleep. Found you slumped over a table on the balcony. You were shivering, so I put you to bed and warmed you up. Guess I fell asleep too."

Nico turned around and walked over to his friend, who was still sitting on the edge of the bed. "And you even helped me out of my clothes," He snorted. "Ever the gentleman, Grace."

Jason smirked. "Nothing I haven't seen before, Neeks. Besides, I'm pretty sure those pants you wear cut off your circulation. You should be thanking me."

Nico grinned and bowed at Jason. "My sincerest gratitude, Sir Grace. Thank you for saving me from the skinny jeans of doom." He rolled his eyes. "Get dressed, I need a new guitar and I'm pretty sure Percy is going to visit his mother today, so you're coming with me. I'll buy lunch after."

On the other side of the city, Will was jerked from his sleep by a harsh beeping sound.

As he lifted his arm to slam down on his alarm clock, he bumped into something hard.

Will's eyes widened as he looked at the guitar case next to him on the bed. Somehow he'd thought it was all a dream.

He couldn't believe it. After months of studying and exams, and countless piles of homework and reports to write, he'd finally gotten the day off. His friend Cecil had to retake an exam and had given Will his ticket to the Thrice Greek show across town. Will had been so excited, he'd had an exam on the day the tickets went on sale, and it had sold out by the time he could get online to order one.

Will had been a fan for years. After the news came that his brother was missing, he'd slipped into grief, refusing to speak to anyone, not going to school, barely eating and generally taking bad care of himself. He'd locked himself in his room and refused to come out.

He'd cried until he ran out of tears. His friends couldn't get him to talk to them, nothing helped.

Eventually he couldn't take the silence any longer. He had turned his radio on to drown out the static filling his head.

A few days followed after that, the music coming from the radio his only companion. The songs he recognized and usually liked did little to perk him up, it was as if his whole world had lost all colour and taste. Everything looked gray, everything tasted of cardboard.

He didn't remember when it happened exactly, or even what time of day it was. Everything had blurred together as he heard a slow, low bass tone coming from his radio. He paid little attention to it, opting to roll over on his bed.

You let the dark in, somehow

I feel the winter more now, more now

A dark and low voice reached his ears before the song exploded into guitars and drums. It reached down into Will's very core and rattled him. The melody was angry and melancholic at the same time. For the first time that week, Will felt something, like the song brought just the barest hint of color into his life.

Some things do matter, a price to pay

We will find our own way, always

More drums, more bass, more guitars. More of that voice that seemed to sing for him and him alone. More feelings beginning to stir.

Sharks swim around your drowning soul

Let your good heart lead you home

Will closed his eyes at let the music take over. He hadn't even noticed he'd been crying, this time for a whole different reason.

He felt. He listened and he felt. His heart hurt and his head hurt but he felt.

As he slowly pulled himself out of the hole he'd fallen into over the next few weeks, he'd learned more and more about the song that started it all.

He'd heard it a couple times on the radio and about a thousand times in his head, that voice not leaving him alone for a second. The voice had become a companion to him, singing to him before he slept, as he tried to punch his pillows apart and as he cried over his brother.

He'd learned that it was the first single of this new band from California, Thrice Greek. He'd looked them up on the internet and signed up for their newsletter.

As Will thought back to how it all started, he couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness in his chest along with the happiness of last night's memories.

He'd wanted to see if he could get his guitar signed, and it had been stolen right from under his nose. The only thing his beloved brother had left him in the will the army had made him draw up before shipping him halfway across the world.

He should never have left it in the hands of people he didn't know. He was mistaken to think that security would... Well... Keep it secure for him.

He shouldn't have gotten in and out of the queue for the signing session three times. He should have made up his mind and gotten over his nerves. The pressure of coming face to face with the voice that had done so much for him was almost too much.

Here it was, though. He ran his hand over the surface of the guitar case, still warm from where he'd slept against it.

Nico di Angelo, owner of the voice. He'd been nothing short of awe inspiring during the show. The venue had been packed but Will had felt as if he was all alone, like the band had been playing just for him. The world had faded away.

He was glad he'd been able to see them in person and even say hello. Meeting Nico, especially, had been a pleasure. He was shorter than he'd expected, and when he spoke his voice was soft, and nothing like the voice that had boomed through the speakers earlier that evening. He was a force to be reckoned with during the show, but he seemed to have a different persona off the stage; a quiet, shy one. Will knew a thing or two about pretending to be stronger than you are and he was pretty sure he recognized it in the singer.

They'd been more amazing people than he ever could have imagined. Instead of sending him home with a "Sorry, kid, nothing we can do." they'd taken him backstage after he'd been told the news about his guitar. Jason had spoken soft and soothing words as if he was used to doing so every day. Percy had fussed over him, offering him everything but the kitchen sink to make him feel better.

He was heartbroken, and while Jason made him feel calmer, it was Nico who'd once again given him some light in the darkness.

Will opened the case in front of him, revealing the sleek black guitar, exactly like the one he used to own. The silver signatures glistened in the light coming through the curtains he'd forgotten to close last night.

He couldn't believe it. Nico di Angelo had given him his own guitar, as if he knew what Will had felt, as if he knew what a simple instrument could mean to someone.

He gently touched the neck of the guitar and lifted it from its case to study it from all angles. As his hands touched the cool surface of the guitar, he thought back to how Nico's fingers had felt equally cool under his own. His stomach did a backflip and a blush crept up his cheeks.

He shook his head. Nico was a rockstar who had accidentally touched him while trying to be nice,and that was that. Nico had turned red because he was clearly uncomfortable. "Don't get any ideas, Will." He mumbled to himself.

He was not about to fall headfirst into a crush on an unattainable rockstar. He wasn't.

Nico and Jason stepped out of a taxi onto the busy New York streets. They'd asked the cab driver to drop them off at one of New York's many guitar shops. Nico had swapped his glasses for a pair of unnecessary sunglasses -"Nico, it's October."- and had hidden his hair under a black snapback. He buried himself in the giant hoodie he was wearing under his leather jacket, trying to keep most of the crowd on the streets out of his view.

"Over there." Jason pointed to a shop window full of guitars in all shapes and colours. Nico nodded and they walked to the storefront together. As they pushed the door open, a jingling bell alerted whoever was inside to new customers in the store.

A woman peeked her head from behind a giant rack filled with guitars. "Hi there! Welcome to Lou's. How can I help you?"

Jason smiled warmly at her. "My friend here is looking for a new guitar. Do you mind if we look around for a bit?"

The woman nodded, smiling a bright smile that reached her green eyes. "Of course, handsome. Come find me if you need any help or if you want to try one out. I'm Lou Ellen, but you can call me Lou."

Nico and Jason nodded at her and walked further into the store. It was quite large and Nico really didn't know where to begin, instead focusing on feasting his eyes on the wealth of instruments the store had to offer.

Jason opened his light gray peacoat. "You'll catch flies if you keep gaping like that, Neeks."

Nico glared at him. "I can't choose, Jason. I want them all. How much do you think she'll ask for the whole lot?"

His friend chuckled. "I think we're about five albums and a couple of stadium tours away from having that kind of money, even if we pooled all of it together."

"Urgh. Well that's not fair, is it? I'm going to need all of these guitars to fill those five albums with!" He grumbled and walked to a rack of guitars, choosing to admire one up close. "I think I'm just going to get the same one. But... Hey, how would a Rickenbacker look on me?"

Jason furrowed his brows in thought, trying to imagine. "No offense, Neeks, but I think you might be a bit too scrawny for that one. It's a big guitar. Maybe they'll have a kid size?" He snickered.

Nico scowled at his so called friend and stomped off, choosing to go look for the guitar and seeing how it would look and feel for himself.

On the other end of the store he saw it hanging on the wall, calling to him as if it were a newborn puppy in a storefront window, begging for a passerby to take it home.

He heard a drawn out whistle from behind him, and he startled and turned around. Lou was standing there, her arms crossed over her chest.

"That's a beautiful one," She nodded her head in the direction of the beauty on the wall. "Costs a pretty penny, too. I think I'd recommend a different model if you're a beginner, though."

Nico grew bright red. First Jason, now this woman? Before he could open his mouth and say something he'd probably regret later, Jason appeared behind her, drawing his lips closed with an imaginary zipper as he shot a glare at Nico.

Nico regretted shaving that morning. Every time he did so he was mistaken for a high schooler. He preferred having some scruff on his face. It made him look cooler and he was certain people took him more seriously.

"I'm not a beginner." He mumbled out, thankful that his hat and hoodie combination was enough to hide who he was from the shop owner.

"Always played a Les Paul, thought I'd switch it up."

"Well let's see, then." Lou said in a chipper tone, lifting the guitar from the hooks on the wall. "If you'll follow me, I've got a few amps set up in the back and you can try this baby out."

Nico and Jason followed her to a stack of amps, each glaring at the other. Nico stomped down on Jason's foot. "Kid size, huh. You're a dick, Grace. You're paying for your own lunch."

Jason grimaced in pain as Nico's heavy boot made contact with his foot, limping after him as his friend went to take the guitar from Lou.

He adjusted the strap and hung the guitar around his shoulder, holding the neck in his left hand and letting himself get used to the difference in weight.

"It's a bit lighter than my old one, but I think I can get used to it. How do I look?" He had a childish grin on his face as he looked at Jason, who was keeping the weight off his right foot.

"Like a rockstar!" Lou exclaimed. She plugged a cord in one of the amps and turned it on, handing the other end to Nico. "Try it out, kid. I want to hear what you've got."

Nico plugged the guitar in, grabbed a pick off the amp and let his fingers dance across the strings. He played a few quick riffs before stopping, fiddling with the tuning keys and playing some more. He repeated the process a few times until he was happy with the way his new baby sounded.

From a few feet away, Lou was beaming at him.

As he unplugged the cord and turned the amp off, he nodded at Lou. "I'll take her."

She took the guitar off him and went to go put it in its case. "Meet me at the register, I'll have her all good to go for you."

Jason winced as he walked forward. "I think you may have broken my foot, Neeks. Damn." Nico smirked. "Served you right for joking about my height. Not all of us can look like underwear models. Now stop whining, if we're going to keep track of who made who limp then I'm pretty sure I owe you a lot more of those." Nico retorted. "C'mon, let's go pay for my new baby."

After paying for the new guitar and asking Lou to have it delivered at their hotel, they found themselves at a small restaurant not far from where they were staying.

Jason checked his phone after it vibrated loudly on the table surface. "Percy's going to meet us back at the hotel in an hour. Says Sally said 'Hi' and we'd better come visit her before we leave New York."

Nico smiled, thinking about Percy's mother, and how she had always thought of Nico as a family member, even though he hadn't met Percy until he was 13. "For sure."

When he looked back up from his plate, he noticed Jason looking at him with a smile on his face, his eyes glistening mischievously.

"What?" Nico furrowed his brows. That look could only mean one thing.

"So, Neeks. Bad memories aside, that fan last night was something, huh?" There it was. Nico rolled his eyes at the question.

"I'm not doing this, Grace. His guitar was stolen, I gave him mine because his story reminded me of..." His voice trailed off.

"I'm not talking about that, Nico, and you know it. I could feel the tension rising between you two, and I know you well enough by now to know when you're attracted to someone." He smirked. "After all, he wasn't the first cute blond guy to get your blood flowing faster."

Nico threw his napkin at Jason's face. "Really, Jay? Do you never tire of people telling you how good looking you are? Do you really have to go and fish for compliments too? You're a dick. A handsome one, but still a dick."

"Of course not, now answer my question and stop changing the subject." Jason reached over and straightened Nico's glasses. "I swear it's like having an actual teenager around." He muttered to himself.

"Fine, he was good looking. A blind man could've seen that, Jay." Nico could never have imagined that at the age of 21 he'd be talking to his ex-slash-sometimes lover about cute boys.

"But what are you going to do about it?"

"I'm not going to do anything about it. I'll probably never see him again and in a week I'll have forgotten he exists. I don't do unrequited crushes anymore, Jay. I've learned my lesson." Nico huffed and pushed the last of his food around on his plate.

Jason nodded. "Let's get going, then. Percy should be back soon and we have the whole night off so we can finally have that movie marathon we've been talking about forever."

Later that afternoon, when Will got back from his lectures and was bent over a large medical volume in the campus library, his phone buzzed.

"You'll never guess who just bought a new guitar from me."

"I can guess."

"Oh sure, Mr. Psychic."

Will blushed. Would he really have gone out to buy a new guitar? He felt a little bit guilty for being the reason.

"Nico, from Thrice Greek?"

"Yes! How did you guess?"

"Just a hunch. Thank your brother for the ticket. The show was really great, last night."

"No worries, I'll pass it along. I'm going back to work. See ya, Will."

"Later, Lou."

As he dropped his phone into his bag, his fingers brushed along the edges of an envelope. Shit! The envelope!

The memory had almost slipped Will's mind. After he'd left the dressing room in a daze, he'd bumped into Thrice Greek's tour manager. Piper? Something like that. She'd given him a blue envelope, telling him to open it when he got home, and once again apologized for what had happened with his guitar.

He'd tucked the envelope in his bag and completely forgot about it.

With trembling hands he pulled the envelope from his messenger bag. He pried a paperclip apart and used it to slice it open in the fold, not wanting to damage it any more than he had to.

He took a deep breath and pulled a white piece of paper from within and opened it.

"Hey Will. Sorry about your guitar, man. Really wish we could've been of more help to you. Piper will make sure management speaks to the owners of the venue about their security staff.

Anyway, I hope you'll come see us again. We're happy to have you as our #1 fan!

-Percy J."

Wow. Will could hardly believe it. He looked down at the note, more scratched out words than legible ones, like it had taken him a great deal of effort to write it.

He thought back to some of the interviews he'd read. Was Percy the one with dyslexia? He couldn't remember. It warmed Will's heart that he had taken the time to write him a note.

Will lifted the envelope, meaning to put the note back inside and something slid out. A rectangular piece of laminated paper, so it seemed. It was covered by a yellow post-it.

"Pick a show and show this at the doors. They'll let you in for free."

The handwriting on the post-it was different from the note. Percy must've given instructions to include this in the envelope.

He turned the laminate over. It showed a photo of Thrice Greek and had "GUEST" written under it in big, fat letters.

He stared at it for what must have been a good five minutes, his homework long forgotten. He'd get to see them again. Before he went to class this morning he'd checked for tickets, but all shows on the tour were sold out. And yet here it was.

He slammed his book closed and shoved it in his bag. He carefully placed the laminate and the note back in the envelope, and made sure it was safely tucked in his bag before quickly making his way out of the library.

He'd see them again. He'd see him again. An involuntary blush crept up his cheeks.

"Is he even watching this movie?" Percy asked Jason, who was sitting beside him on the couch. Jason looked over at Nico, who seemed to be paying a lot of attention to his notebook.

"Probably writing a song. You know how he gets." Jason stretched his tall body before sinking back into the comfy couch cushions.

Nico carried the notebook everywhere he went. If and when the songs would come to him, he'd write them down immediately.

Percy smiled at the ratty old notebook. "You'd think that thing would be full by now. I'll have to buy him a new brooding book."

He had barely spoken the words before a pillow hit him square in the face.

"Heard that, asshole." Nico spoke up, without taking his eyes from his notebook. He scribbled something in with a frown on his face and walked to his bedroom, leaving his notebook open on the armrest of the chair.

"Is he okay, Grace?" Percy looked concerned as he turned to his band mate.

Jason furrowed his brows and was about to speak when Nico walked back into the room, carrying a small amp and a set of oversized headphones. He sat down in the giant recliner he'd been sitting in before and pulled his guitar onto his lap.

"Welp, that's the last we'll see of him today." Percy snickered before nudging Jason in the arm.

Their movie long forgotten, Jason nodded at Percy. "I think he's okay. I think the story we heard last night rattled him more than he's letting on, though."

Percy chewed on the inside of his cheek. "That's the vibe I got. Other than the gay vibes that hung in the air." He waggled his eyebrows exaggeratedly.

"Oh, you got that too, huh?" Jason smirked. "He's been refusing to talk about it all day, but I think there was a spark there. Not that there's much to be done about it. We play in front of thousands of people every week, what's the chance that he'll see him again?"

As Nico quietly strummed away on his guitar, Percy turned his eyes back to the giant TV-set in their suite. "Right. One in a million, I'd say."