Chapter Text
Two years younger, Fernando wouldn’t believe where he is now. Two years younger, he wouldn’t convince himself to do it, to follow his dream and to-
The light was so sharp on his eyes his train of thoughts blackened out along. He was used to Mark blocking that lamp for him.
Fernando is a drummer from an underground band called Be Fast and Don’t Fret, he has been practicing drums since he was like four years old, it all started when he got a toy drum set from his dad.
He has bandmates he enjoys being with, and, luckily he enjoys spending time with them. He’s heard and seen too many cases of a band with potential breaking up because their dynamics were wrong. Well actually, they had a lot of arguments going on, especially him and the lead singer Lewis, but it was nothing serious.
Lewis is a kind hearted man, his voice is very, very unique, he sings great, and he looks handsome. Girls are going crazy for him, and the little love songs he sings with the second singer in the band, Nico. Nico is a charming young man, with the prettiest blonde hair shining under the club light. They float like waves with his movements. Besides singing the chorus and bridge, his keytar skills are a highlight to the band’s instrumental. They couldn’t count the amount of time they joked about the two singers being “literally made for each other”.
Things get funny when you have a friend who loves to be a teaser, and they have a common friend who happens to be the biggest teaser you’ll ever meet. Jenson, oh… Sometimes Fernando gets amused by the fact that their band has so many good looking faces, he saw it online once, someone calling them a “boy group”. Which he pretty sure was from some jealous male shitting on their music.
But Jenson is a great looking lad, and a great guitarist. He can’t do anything but to admit that if he was a girl he would definitely fall for him- Like c'mon, look at his face and the way he plays his instrument…
And it’s Mark, his childhood buddy, high school best friend, who later got into the same university with him. It’s like his mom paid Mark to be his friend or the other way round, because Fernando can’t think of one single time where this guy is absent from any events. And yeah, he looks as if he plays the bass, and he does. It was no surprise (he insists) when he found out his best friend plays bass so well.
Mark walked back to his spot, just onto the perfect location where his body blocked the ground lamp blinding Fernando’s eyes.
“Thank you guys, a lot, for being here today! And here’s a song dedicated to the FUCKING SYSTEM!!” Nico yelled, his voice is a bit sore from the hour of non-stop singing.
Twenty minutes later the band ended up in a neighboring restaurant talking about their performance tonight. It’s around 12am already when they got there and there was no one else sitting inside except for a few crackheads.
“AND I SWEAR I heard Lewis’ voice crack that sentence!” Jenson exclaimed, and it’s all over again. Fernando joined in the conversation and the five young boys were laughing at each other.
“And YOU missed a whole part, Jenson.” Nico sneezed.
“Well and you were too focused on your boyfriend and also forgot to sing-” Jenson backed himself.
Mark Webber stood up, his hand moved towards the empty plate. “I’m gonna get some ketchup, continue with the arguments, I hope it ends up being a fight-” And he smiled.
Fernando’s eyes followed the Australian as he walked away. Accept it or not, there are always a couple or two friends inside a friend group who can’t live without each other. With Lewis and Nico, it’s love. And with himself and Mark? Fernando argues it’s: pure platonic, we are just best friends.
“Why won’t you learn from Nando, Britney?” Jenson got the “don’t call me that” look again but he didn't really care.
“He was STARING at Mark all the time but he didn’t miss a single beat.”, Lewis nodded and whispered true and got back to his plate. That was when Mark returned from the counter.
“Here! Got yall some extra fries, and ketchup. Hot sauce for Fonz- Did I miss something…?” Mark Webber froze with the plate in his hand. All the four bandmates were staring at him, it got him panicking as if he was a kid who threw up in kindergarten.
“Just talking about how Fernando was staring at you the whole performance-” Lewis joked, or maybe not.
“Well, that was because I-”
“Well, that was because HE-”
Fernando and Mark spoke at the same time, and everyone bursted out in laughter.
“Techniquely that means you were also staring at Fernando, Lewis” Nico reached for the fries. Oh, boyfriends… He will never not be sour about that past history Lewis had with Fernando, but that’s another talk.
“WHAT? Nico! You must be losing your mind.” And they started fighting.
“No, but honestly, I was just looking at Mark because he’s standing in front of me. Where else do you want me to look at, Jense.” Fernando signed.
“Your drums? Well- No use talking to a dumbass who knows nothing about love.” And they unitedly looked at him as if his head got hit.
“You sure know about love.” Mark chuckled and packed his bag. “You guys better get your ass back to your University dorm.”
Mark was 21 years old, the oldest among the group, Fernando and Jenson were one year younger, Lewis and Nico were born in the same year and the youngest two. The two younger singers were still studying for their degree, Fernando finished his a bit earlier. Jenson was fighting to graduate and Mark dropped out early, he didn’t see the need to get a degree as all he wanted was just staying in the band and earning a living with their performance.
Mark was also there when Fernando graduated, he helped with pictures and basically existed as an emotional support pet for Fernando that day. Not that he was projecting Fernando’s success in his business major degree on himself, but Mark was genuinely happy for his friend. They later settled down in a young adult apartment they shared with Jenson, and eventually met Nico and Lewis when they were still singing on a tiny stage in a local bar.
Your guitar skills really suck, Nico. Jenson exclaimed after the five boys started to hang out regularly. Lewis was very anxious back then, he wanted to start a band with Nico, but anyone with ears won’t enjoy either of their guitar skills, they needed a guitarist, a bassist and a drummer.
And it’s like he got blessed by god herself, Jenson plays guitar. Fernando was learning drums and it was a miracle he met the three of them when he finally got confident about his skills.
And you can be our manager! The five of them still remember how hyped they were. Just a bunch of young lads, talking about dreams.
Well, not sure if I will be able to manage anyone… But I can play bass…
And to this day they still laugh at Fernando’s reaction. HOW COME YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THAT?? He couldn’t believe it, ten years of friendship and Mark Webber never told him he can play any instruments.
The band has been doing well for at least a year now, they are staying underground but already started to gain a bit of fame, especially in the local area, teens are crazy about Be Fast and Don’t Fret. But it has been at least FOUR months they haven’t released anything new, relying on the few songs Nico wrote is definitely not bringing the band anywhere.
They had a meeting in the band room one day, Nico was so busy with academics and coming up with new songs, he couldn’t even leave time to shave his stubbles. Eventually they just gave up, the rest of them got too worried for Nico.
“Maybe we can wait for a few more months.”
And a few months passed. It’s been five days since their last performance, and audiences are even thirstier for new songs.
ANYTHING will be good!!
They need to think about this again.
Fernando was nibbling on his sandwich when Nico walked in with Lewis.
“How’s things going?”
He meant how’s your song writing going, but Nico basically gave up. Poor Nico, stuck in the cycle of writing, deleting, re-writing, testing it out, and scrapping everything.
“To be honest-” Jenson took a bite from Fernando’s sandwich and got a look, “Sorry Nano, was soooo hungry-”
“To be honest-” He swallowed the bite, “I think we can try writing songs too.” Jenson repeated.
Fernando shrugged and went back to his eating business, he’s not against this idea, just that even if they are doing this, he won’t be writing anything, they know how bad he is at writing.
“Yeah… I think yall can go for it honestly…” Nico loves this idea. “You will see why I struggle.”
“So what now, we write something by the end of this week?” Mark flicked his metal necklaces, the steel clattering against each other.
Mark Webber couldn’t believe it, 2 years without any school work and now he has to finish a song writing assignment, thanks to Jenson Button.
He just washed and changed some baggy clothes on, and it’s 11pm.
Mark walked past the living room, Jenson was sleeping on the couch with a stack of paper on himself and all over the floor. “Go wash, Jense.” Mark threw a dry towel, and it smacked right onto Jenson’s pretty face.
The British smeared the sweat all over his own face and blinked twice before getting up.
“Ugh. This is getting nowhere!” The guitarist picked up the crumpled scratch paper scattered on the floor. “Don’t eat the ice cream in the fridge, I need some sweet things tonight!”
“Sure- Hey, Jenson, have you seen Fernando anywhere?” Mark needs a talk with his best friend, maybe that will get him some inspiration, he thought.
“Dunno, I saw him leave the apartment ten minutes ago, no idea where he is. Good luck mate, I’m washing.” Jenson laid the papers tidily back onto the coffee table.
It’s windy outside, late September, and it’s getting cold. Mark found Fernando on the bench he thought he would be at. Their favourite bench, it’s up a few meters on a low low hill, you can see the beautiful grass field. Sometimes Mark and Fernando sit there during the daybreak, and talk for hours and hours before leaving for breakfast.
“Hey buddy, it’s freezing here.” Fernando was immersed in his writing but still saw Mark at the corner of his glance.
The bassist sat near his dear friend, and removed his own jacket, the cloth tousled under the gusty wind. “Here, wear this.”
“Thanks, I thought you were sleeping.” Fernando’s lips curled when he grasped the jacket around his shoulders.
"Couldn't write anything so I thought being in a different place would help.” The drummer answered before Mark could ask anything.
“Just wanted to talk to you, I couldn’t get anything out of myself too.” Mark whispered. Fernando was still looking at his notes, and Mark found himself lost in gazing at his best friend’s face.
Mark added, “You will definitely be amused if you saw Jense, he fell asleep on the sofa writing this crap.”, and managed to get Fernando sneering.
It’s not been the first day since Mark Webber found himself catching feelings for his best friend. He’s not sure if it’s love or anything, admiration, or just that he is more than satisfied about this friendship. He noticed the brunette’s hair ruffling under the wind.
Mark grew jealous of the wind, it blew through Fernando’s hair, brushed over his face and left at the tip of his nose. He doesn’t think it’s anything over the line admiring the beauty of your friend. But his heart sores when he realised that’s it, it’s bitter when he looks at Fernando, because that’s his best friend, and that’s it.
“You look great when you smile, Nano.” The words didn’t mean to slip out, but they did. If it wasn’t the small grin on Fernando’s face, Mark would be spending the rest of his life regretting not keeping his mouth shut.
“Isn’t it funny not even Jenson can write anything?” The drummer nuzzled his nose, “Got so many girlfriends and couldn’t get one single love song out of himself.” He mocked.
“Sounds like someone is envious.” The guitarist reached and grabbed the paper out of Fernando’s hand.
“Let me see what you wrote-”
“Hey!”
The two young men fought over the paper and cracked into laughter. Later that night they worked out a few sentences together, in the end agreeing on how stupid those sounded.
“Do you want to go home?” Fernando threw away another paper into the bin, he got up from the chair and Mark swore he could see him shining under the moon.
“Yeah- Sure, I’m so cold because you are wearing my jacket.”
“Let’s go home! And buy some ice cream on the way back, I’m sure Jenson will forgive us for interrupting his sleep.”
And it’s just another week for them, except that they now have to come up with a song good enough for their next performance. And for Mark, he hasn’t realised he stepped one foot into an emotional hurricane.