A/N: HAPPY NEW YEARS!!

sapnap fiddled with the zipper of his leather jacket, fingers shaking slightly from both the cold and nerves.

"i'm sorry guys" bad mumbled sympathetically. "so you're saying we have the choice to either drop out of the competition or-" dream spoke quietly as the three boys stood outside of the tour bus, bad shifting his weight between both legs as he watched sapnap intently.

"or uh combine with 404?" dream spoke quickly rushing to get his words out as he waited for sapnaps reaction, suprisingly, the raven haired boy stayed silent, his eyes trained on his hands as the moved across the zipper.

dream and bad stayed silent, assuming sapnap would burst at any moment at the thought of having to work along side karl. the two boys leant back against the bus as they silently discussed their answer through eye contact.

it was only a few minutes until sapnap eventually spoke up, looking up at the two boys who stared right back at him.

"well we better go practice" sapnap mumbled walking over to the bus doors his feet dragging against the floor.

"wait so you wanna join them?" dream asked, in awe at sapnaps response not expecting him to agree.

"it's not like we have any other choice, bad has to leave either way and i wanna win this shit, besides you're all loved up with george" sapnap fake gagged as he slid open the door, earning a few protests from the other two boys "not loved up!" dream huffed, bad sighing softly.

"i promise i'll be back in like two weeks tops, we can go back to normal after that! but my mom really needs me home because of my sister" bad didn't continue on any further as the other two boys already knew about his family issues.

sapnap headed straight to his room ignoring his other two friends, why had he just agreed to that, sure he wanted to win but his conflicting emotions towards karl were fucking up his brain.

to his surprise, karl was no where to be seen. he sighed in relief, glad to know that he had time to mentally prepare for the next few hours he'd be spending with the other band.

he didn't really mind skeppy, the blue haired boy seemed kind, and bad had taken a liking to him so that meant he couldn't be that bad.

sapnap had mixed feelings towards george though, he must've heard the british boy speak maybe two times, but from the way dream had instantly found an interest in the boy, sapnap assumed he couldn't be the spawn of satan.

however, that did not apply for karl. sapnap swore the brunette went from being so cocky and arrogant during the day, to quiet and even shy at night. it was confusing to say the least, the way he presented his self on stage completely different to the way he seemed late at night while sapnap drifted off to sleep.

after giving his self a small pep talk, sapnap tied up his bandana and zipped his jacket up slightly, grabbing his favourite pair of drumsticks out of his travel bag.

he left the room, meeting bad and dreams eyes, who were patiently waiting outside of the bus. the two boys lit up at the sight of sapnap, that's when the raven hair boy knew that he had to do this, for his friends.

the three all walked towards their now shared practice room, dream draping his arm across sapnaps shoulder making a comment about how small sapnap was compared to his self.

"s'not my fault you're a giant" sapnap huffed causing bad to laugh "he got you there dream"  bad hummed placing his hand against the door handle looking behind at dream and sapnap who nodded slowly.

he opened the door peaking his head around the frame "does your offer still stand?" had asked softly, offering the opposing band a small smile.

the other two boys also entered the room awaiting their answer, sapnaps eyes trained to his shoes once again, not wanting to make eye contact with any of the others, he felt dream tap his shoulder reassuringly causing him to relax slightly.

as sapnap looked up from where his eyes were previously trained, he met directly with karls piercing gaze. he froze slightly, assuming karl had changed his mind.

"sure!" he hummed, lips turning up slightly as he didn't break eye contact with sapnap "but only if sapnaps our backup dancer" he hummed causing the boys to chuckle slightly, a small smile making its way onto sapnaps face, an eye roll following soon after.

"you wish jacobs"

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"well we need another guitarist if bads leaving"dream hummed, the six boys were all seated on the ground, trying to figure out who'd be playing what, they'd decided that karl and dream would stay singers since nobody else wanted to, and besides, their voices fit well together.

george would still be playing bass since he'd never really learnt any other instruments (besides the recorder but karl and skeppy had explained how awful he was). so that left skeppy and sapnap.

sure, sapnap knew how to play the guitar and he was not bad at doing so, but he hated being front and centre, which was the whole reason he learnt the drums, so he could receive the least amount of attention possible.

but the issue that arised was the fact that skeppy couldn't play any instrument other than  the drums, and it wouldn't be possible to have two drummers playing the same thing at the same time.

so really sapnap was left with no other choice, it was either sit out and not play at all, or take bads place as lead guitarist due to bad having to leave temporarily.

dream snaked his hand into sapnaps squeezing it tightly "you'll be fine sap" he spoke quietly for only sapnap to hear, smiling softly. sapnap nodded agreeing with the plan. he ignored the way he could feel karl's eyes burning into his skin.

"sapnap knows guitar" dream chimed in causing sapnap to exhale shakily as he glared the the blonde. "i'm sure he'd be happy to fill in for bad" sapnap looked up at the group, everyone's eyes on him. he nodded slowly cursing dream out silently.

"okay so that's sorted, skeppy you're on drum-"

"i'm going with bad" skeppy blurted causing sapnap to look up from where his eyes were previously on the ground. george raised an eyebrow and karl tilted his head to the side.

"you're leaving? with bad?" karl spoke slowly taking in the information looking over at bad who offered him a sheepish smile.

skeppy sighed, he just wanted to get it over with, he'd been thinking about asking bad to let him go with the other. the pressure of the competition truly getting to him, he didn't enjoy playing anymore, it felt more like a job than a hobby.

and bad had agreed, saying that he'd enjoy the company as he looked after his family. so that's exactly why he'd asked his friend, quackity, to fill in for him for the last few weeks of the competition, already informing the managers that had all agreed to let quackity replace skeppy.

bad sat facing the group, watching them all as he tried to read their expressions. he couldn't help but feel guilty about having the leave, the way skeppys face seemed to sadden after the two had spoke about it the night before he knew he had no other choice but to accept the others offer of coming with him.

"but who's gonna play the guitar for us if saps on drums again?" dream asked looking down at sapnap who's face was blank, presumably relieved that he'd no longer have to play guitar for the group.

"i uh invited a close friend of mine, the managers know him and stuff it's all been sorted out" skeppy mumbled quietly, feeling slightly guilty for not letting the others know sooner.

the boys all nodded simultaneously, coming to terms with the fact skeppy was deadly serious about leaving.

"okay so what's his name?" karl piped up looking at skeppy expectantly "oh yeah his names uh qua-"

"HOLA AMIGOS!" an unfamiliar voice yelled causing the rest of the group to look up at the door, sapnaps eyes narrowing as he took in the others appearance, the beanie on his head completely covering what seemed to be black hair.

"quackity." skeppy finished his cheeks heating up slightly as the group turned back to look at him, then back to the unknown man.

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it had been maybe an hour since quackity had entered the room, and sapnap had already taken a liking to the boy. skeppy and bad had left almost instantly leaving the others to introduce theirselves.

"okay so, george you're on bass, dream you're singing with me, sap you're on drums and quackity you're our new lead guitarist" karl hummed writing it down on a napkin, everyone agreed, sapnap pushing down his anxiety as best as he could. he'd never heard quackity play before but he must've been good for skeppy to invite him.

everyone headed over to their designated instruments, sapnap sliding into his seat, drumsticks clasped tightly in his hands. he watched as quackity plucked at a few strings, cringing at the sound it made.

he didn't notice the way karl's eyes were watching his every movement, his face dropping when he realised sapnap was doing the same, but to quackity.

soon enough everyone was ready, they'd all decided on a song that everybody knew, just to get an understanding on how everyone played.

sap counted them in and dream looked over at george. george looked straight back smiling at dream, he moved slightly closer to him giving him a small thumbs up. the blonde haired boy smiled returning the action.
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"i'm going back to 505, if it's a seven hour flight or a 45 minute drive" dream opened up with the first few lines, sapnap noticed the way george watched him in admiration. he silently gagged at the affectionate stare rolling his eyes.

eventually sapnap came in with the drums as sapnap waited patiently for his cue, after a while karl began to sing in replacement for dream.

"i'd probably still adore you with you're hands around my neck, or i did last time i checked." sapnap couldn't help the way his cheeks flushed, staring feet that were pressed firmly against the pedal of the drums.

the two boys began to sing the chorus together quackity, george and sapnap playing along perfectly. the two singers dropped out in time for quackitys makeshift solo. sapnap prayed that the other would be good, but from the way the boy carried his self with so much confidence, he assumed he would be.

sapnap watched in awe as he nailed his solo, karl giving him a short lived glare that didn't go unoticed by sapnap, he realised that karl really seemed to have a problem with quackity but he couldn't wrap his head around why. karl's gaze then moved locking onto him, sap blushing slightly under his vision.

"but i crumble completely when you cry!" the two boys sang simultaneously and sapnap swore he'd never heard anything so beautiful in his life. quackity played the guitar flawlessly along with george who seemed just as infatuated with dream and karl's signing.

the group continued on like this, until the song eventually came to a perfect close. everyone pausing the catch their breath.

quackity was the first to speak, breaking the silence as he made eye contact with sapnap.

"we're popping off!"