A/N - this fic is also on ao3 under the same title and i just wanted to clear up some confusion, yes! this is my fic and i wrote it originally on ao3 but i also wanted to put it on here so more people can read it! i love seeing your comments and if you ever have any ideas that you'd like to see in the story please let me know and i'll try my best to include them (with credit obviously) thanks for reading!! <3

"wait we tied?" bad repeated slowly, as dream tapped his foot against the floor. they all knew this meant they'd have to preform again before the final and they didn't have any songs prepared.

"shit dude we gotta think about something and fast" sapnap murmured leaning back into the armrest of their small couch of the tour bus, he ran a hand through his hair, a new habit of his.

"we have an hour to prepare a whole song sap, we may be good but we aren't that fucking good" dream huffed bad muttering a small language, not wanting to annoy dream further.

the three boys sat in silence for a while, until they heard the bus door slide open, and in came the others, looking equally as nervous.

that was everyone but karl, the stupid bastard still wore his signature cocky smirk, 'does this man have feelings' sapnap thought to his self before quickly looking away from the other group, standing up from his place on the couch.

"c'mon assholes" he hummed grabbing bad and dream by there wrists tugging them up and out of the bus, pushing past karl purposefully, heading towards the venue.

the three had made it to the practice room, all in their designated spots, sapnap tapping some random pattern against his snare, trying to get some sort of flow. bad following in his footsteps, dream mumbling some words trying to stitch them together.

eventually, after an intense 40 minutes, the group had managed to put together a decent song that they were mostly confident with. and even if they wanted to spend longer, karl jacobs just had to interrupt, poking his brown hair through the door grinning at the three of them.

"stage manager wants you" he hummed meeting eyes with sapnap, tilting his head slightly when he realised sapnap was staring right back.

not able to handle the weird tension the two had, dream and bad instantly left causing sapnap to follow behind.

the three made it to their destination, listening carefully to what the manager had to say, sapnap nodding occasionally and dream asking a few questions here and there.

by the time the manager had finished talking, the three boys could hear the venue filling up, sapnap tightening the bandana around his head as dream fiddled with his fingerless gloves, bad adjusting his devil horns that lay atop his head.

the three entered the stage, sapnap winking at a few people, bad waving and grinning widely while dream positioned his mask smirking.

sapnap counted the band in with his sticks, bads opening guitar solo blaring through the speakers. "i fell, in your arms tonight" dream sang with his whole chest, slowly getting used to the idea of preforming live. the way his heart pounded in time with sapnaps drums, his hips swaying along with bads guitar riffs. the words flowing easily now.

"i tried to escape the afterlife" dream and bad both harmonised, their voices matching perfectly to create a sound that was ethereal to the ear.

after a while, sapnap noticed the other band were now in the crowd of people, at the barrier, all looking up at them. sapnap dropped out his drums and dream stopped singing, allowing bad to have his long awaited solo.

"i fell, in your arms tonight, suicide in your arms" he sang hitting every note as he stared into skeppys eyes, grinning widely. after he'd finished singing he looked back to his guitar simultaneously nailing his guitar solo, causing dream and sapnap to smile wide.

dream held the mic stand tightly as sapnap hit his drums with every inch of his being "and hey, you, don't you think it's kinda cute that i, i, died, died, right inside your arms tonight" dream raised his voice, unknowingly staring at george, george not noticing due to the mask covering his eyes.

sapnap faded out once again, allowing dream and bad to harmonise the last few lines. the three boys beamed as the chorus of cheers flew through the venue, all of them waved as they left the stage, giddy with adrenaline.

they all made their way to the crowd, prepared to watch the other band they were competing against, eager to see what they had prepared.

————————————————————————

"there's no honking way, we seriously tied?" karl asked as the three walked towards the tour bus, george and skeppy nodding slowly.

"does that mean we're gonna have to preform again?" george asked rocking on his heels slightly as they stopped outside the bus, karl finding the keys, assuming the other band had already left to practice.

"yeah, but we'll totally rock it!" skeppy added trying to sound optimistic, karl nodded slowly, he was very clearly nervous but quickly but on a brave face as he heard the other band talking in the main room.

it wasn't long before sapnap had dragged his friends out of the bus, leaving 404 alone. the three had already prepared a backup song before leaving, just for situations like this. but that didn't mean they weren't any less nervous.

after a while, karl headed off to find out when they'd be performing, but being told to go find the dream team in response. it didn't take long to find them as he heard the music coming from the practice room, he didn't bother knocking as he peaked his head around the door, repeating what the manager had said.

he made eye contact with sapnap, and to his surprise sapnap didn't look away. it had truly been mixed emotions for karl, not knowing wether or not he hated the other boy, or if he wanted to befriend him, sticking to the former.

sure, after watching them preform, his legs felt a little less stable, and above all, he'd decided to wear a skirt, a stupid shitty bet he'd lost with skeppy back at the tour bus, resulted in him being forced to wear the black tennis skirt george had provided for him.

the three entered the stage, george and skeppy waving and grinning, karl heading straight to the mic stand. he'd never felt so awkward on stage before, but that feeling soon changed to cockiness as he met eyes with sapnap, who's mouth was parted slightly, clearly in awe.

karl smirked winking at sapnap before looking out into the rest of the crowd, who were cheering and hollering to keep the atmosphere alive. george played the opening notes on his guitar, waiting for skeppy to join in with his signature drum beat.

"r.i.p to my youth, and you could call this a funeral." karl sang looking over at george, who just grinned in response, reassuring the brunette that he was doing just fine.

skeppy grinned at bad who was currently dancing along with the rest of the crowd, instantly grinning back at skeppy waving slightly, making dream and sapnap chuckle, he was too kind for his own good.

george played along, his clout goggles falling down onto his eyes causing his nose to scrunch up, he quickly pushed them back onto his head meeting eyes with dream who chuckled at him, causing george to smile right back. the two had become friends over the multiple nights of dream snoring too loud and george waking him up to complain.

karl tried not to make eye contact with sapnap, not wanting to make it obvious that the brunette was very clearly drawn to the boy, although he'd never admit it. after a while, he'd gotten used to the feeling of the skirt against his thighs, and the way the light reflected off off his skin, a beaming grin growing on his face. the drums and guitar soon dropped out completely leaving karl alone to sing the next few lines.

"i was naive and hopeful and lost, now I'm aware and trapped in my thoughts, oh" he nailed the notes smirking as he ran a ringed hand through his hair, the instruments soon coming back in as he and george harmonised. his hips instinctively swayed along with the music, his skirt flowing as he moved, he knew he looked good.

"what do i do? what do i do? i don't believe it if i don't keep proof" karl finally met eyes with sapnap, who's cheeks were so clearly red that even karl could see it through the harsh lights blaring against his skin, he sang the last few words to sapnap, not breaking eye contact, fading out along with skeppy and george.

karl didn't have his signature cocky smirk plastered across his face, no, it was quite the contrary, a small shy smile left against his lips as he watched sapnaps every move, and he swore he saw the raven haired boys lips upturn in response.

maybe karl could try to befriend him, but hating him was so much easier.