Requested by and dedicated to JamieVanHalen

~ Adventures in the Studio~

Today was going to be a great day. Slash had promised me a lot of fun involving only the two of us. He was my best friend, but ever since he had joined Guns N' Roses he'd had less and less time to hang out.

My thoughts drifted as I put on a decent outfit. It was now 2 in the afternoon; he should be done recording. What were we going to do? Go to the park? Movies? Hit the Sunset Strip? The possibilities were endless and I was very excited.

I drove for a while to get to the studio he'd told me to meet him at. I knew Guns was popular and was recording in there, so it was pretty cool getting to see it.

I let myself in, not sure what to do once I got inside. I didn't think I would make it this far... I expected some security guard to come and toss me out. That didn't happen, though, so I took a few cautious steps down the hall to try to find the band.

I heard the sounds of music being played. Was that them? If so, they were really good. I'd never heard anything like it... And I approved.

I decided to just wait and took a seat out in the main room. A little while later, a familiar face rounded the corner and spotted me.

"Hey!" I said, jumping up to hug him. He hugged me back and gave me an apologetic look.

"Hey, (Y/N). Look, I know I said we'd have a lot of the day to hang out, but this is taking longer than I thought it would. Please don't be mad, I really thought it wouldn't drag on for this long."

I sighed, disappointed but not surprised. "How much longer is it going to take?"

"One or two hours," he replied.

"I'll wait." It was a good thing I had brought my cassette tape player.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, now get back in there and hurry up."

He nodded and turned to walk back, then seemed to remember something.

"Come sit in one of the rooms. It's nicer."

I shrugged and got up. He led me to one of the rooms in the back. Inside was a set of drums, several guitars, bass guitars, a keyboard, a bunch of microphones on stands, chairs, shelves, and some other random musical items. I sat on a beanbag chair next to a shelf full of random books.

"Ya need anything?"

"Nah, I'm good," I said. "Go on now."

Slash nodded and left the room. I lay back in the chair and sighed to myself. Of course this would happen.

A few minutes later, the door opened, and a blond guy started walking in. He stopped short upon catching sight of me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know someone was in here."

"That's okay, you can stay here," I said as he was turning to leave.

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to intrude on anything."

"There's nothing to intrude on," I assured him, and he smiled and took a seat near mine.

"So, what's your name?" He asked.

"(Y/N)," I replied. "What's yours?"

"Steven," he said.

My eyes narrowed a little bit. "Steven Adler?"

He shifted a little, not looking too comfortable under my gaze. "Uh-huh. That's me."

"You're one of Slash's bandmates. What the hell are you guys doing that prevents him from doing literally anything else?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize... I'm not the one who schedules this stuff. And we're working on an album, and Axl-- the singer-- is a real perfectionist... that's why this is all taking so long..."

"Whatever. None of that even matters." I knew I was being rude, but I couldn't help it. I felt like Slash had abandoned me for his band, and here was one of them in front of me. I was taking it out in the wrong way.

I felt bad almost immediately but I wasn't sure how to take it back. So I grabbed a book off the shelf and opened it, not really paying attention to what I was reading.

After a few minutes of very awkward silence, he nodded a little, then got up. He started heading for the door.

"Wait," the guilt prompted me to call out. Steven turned around. "I'm sorry I said that, I didn't mean to be so rude. I'm just mad that Slash never wants to hang out anymore. I was just blaming you when it's not your fault at all."

"That's okay," he said, taking his seat back. "I mean, I get it. I'd be kind of mad, too. But you gotta understand it's a debut album, and Slash and the guys want it to be just right. It might take some time to finish."

"Yeah, and I respect that," I grinned. "If I know one thing about Slash, it's that he takes pride in his playing, and I get it if he needs time to get it perfect. Thanks for reminding me of that."

"Anything for a friend of Slash's," he said. "So, do you play anything?"

"A bit of guitar," I responded. "It's how Slash and I became friends. You play the drums, right?"

"Yeah, I'm the drummer. Hey, do you play cards?"

I tilted my head to the side a little, caught off-guard by the question. Then I nodded.

"Would you want to play a game?" He brought a pack of cards out of his pocket and held them out to me. I took them and nodded with a grin.

***

"I swear, I've never lost this many rounds in a row! What kind of good luck charm are you wearing?"

"None, I'm just better than you," I said, shuffling the deck. "Another hand?"

"What, so I can lose for the hundredth time? I'll never be able to play poker again. Deal for War instead."

"Wimp," I laughed, then dealt the cards as he asked.

I beat him at that, then at Twenty-One, Blackjack, Slapjack, Bluff, Heart Attack, Presidents, Crazy Eights, Old Maid, and even Go Fish. I'd never won this many games in a row. I even considered that he was somehow letting me win all those games, but how would that be possible?

If it was, he was very good at it. If it wasn't, he was very bad at card games.

***

"And that's why I can never go back to Redding!"

"And all that's true?" I asked in disbelief at the crazy story Steven had just told me.

"I swear it is. I'm never going to see scooters in the same way."

***

At one point more than two hours later, Slash came in the room.

"I'm so sorry, (Y/N), this is taking way longer than I thought. I'm not sure how much more time this is going to go on for-- oh, hey, Steven."

"Hey."

"That's okay," I said, still laughing from the last story Steven had shared with me. "You take your time."

"Uh... thanks," Slash said, leaving the room again.

***

At one point, we decided to leave the room for a bit.

"We don't have free run of the studio, but that's okay. Rules were made to be broken," Steven said. We both gave quiet laughs, then poked our heads out of the room we were in. No one was in sight.

We crept down the hall like idiots, tiptoeing like robbers in cartoons. We made it out into the main room, then turned to creep down another hallway. This one branched off into several other hallways, then led to what seemed like a lounge of some sort. There were six rolling chairs in there.

"Sit," Steven said, pointing to one of the chairs. I sat down and he stood behind it. "Ready?"

"Uh-huh. No, wait!" I put my feet up so I was sitting cross-legged on it. "Ready."

He gripped the sides of the chair and took a breath. I closed my eyes for a moment, pretending I was about to run a race in some kind of movie.

My eyes shot open when he suddenly jolted forward, out of the lounge and back into the hallway. He turned a sharp right into another one of the hallways, then a left that took us down the longest corridor I'd ever seen in my life.

That one led into a room bigger than the last few we'd been in. He shoved the chair forward, and it spun away from him before slowing to a stop in the middle of the room. I stood up and wobbled, nearly falling.

"Your turn," I said. "Sit."

He obeyed, looking a little skeptical. I stood behind the chair and pushed.

It was a little heavy, but I could manage. I pushed him out of the room and down the same corridor, then left and right through the hallways. We passed door after door, until eventually I got tired and it was my turn to sit again.

This time we passed an open door. Steven slowed at the end of the hall to catch his breath, and a guy burst out of the room.

"Hey! You're not supposed to be doing that here!" The man started walking toward us.

Steven and I froze. Our heads slowly turned and our eyes met. And we had the same thought.

I shot out of the chair and we both took off running.

"Where's our room, where's our room?" I yelled, wildly looking for anything familiar. This wasn't even the same hallway...

"I don't know... just remember, look for a room with the number seventy-six on the door!"

"I know! And where would that happen to be?"

"I don't know!"

"Hey, stop!" The man said. He was actually running after us. Shit, he was gaining!

We turned down hallway after hallway, trying to lose him, but he was relentless. We were so done for.

"This was a bad idea!" Steven yelled.

"No shit!"

"Wait, wait, I see the hall! Speed up, we'll lose that son of a bitch!"

We both poured on the speed, and I recognized where we were. I saw our door, still ajar. I leaped forward, grabbed the edge of the wall, and spun into the room. Steven bounded in after me, and we slammed the door and turned off the lights.

We threw ourselves onto the ground, holding our breaths and looking under the door. A pair of feet approached, ran past, and carried on. We'd lost him.

We both let out our breaths and sat up, leaning against the door. My heart was still pounding.

"Oh, my God," Steven breathed, "that was close."

"We're so stupid," I said.

We slowly turned to look at each other. All I could see in the dark was his outline and his glinting eyes.

After a beat of silence, we burst out laughing.

"That was so dumb!"

"I know! I thought he had us!"

"But what was he going to do, tackle us?"

"Probably! You never know."

"Man, I was like, 'how are we gonna ditch this dude? I can't breathe!'"

"Damn, I'm never doing that again."

"Me neither."

We laughed for a while, then finally settled down and stood up to turn on the lights.

"So, can you play the drums?" Steven asked. I shook my head. "Come on, I'll teach you."

***

"Not bad," Steven said after a while of me failing miserably to play paradiddles.

"I'm terrible."

"Naw, come on. You just gotta slow down. Take it easy."

I tried, but nothing came of it.

"Here, I'll help you..." Steven stood directly behind me and wrapped his hands around mine. He leaned forward to put my hands in the playing position right above the snare.

He guided my hands in playing for a minute. Then I decided to mess with him a little. I started wildly banging on the drums with his hands still on mine.

"You suck!" He laughed as I repeatedly tapped on the cymbal.

"I know!" I responded, laughing as well as I hit one of the drums on the right.

He pulled my hands up to stop me from playing. He held them up above my head, and I was unable to bring them back down. I turned to look up at him and noticed his head wasn't that far from mine.

"Let go of me," I said in a whiny voice.

"No," he said, giving me a relaxed grin. I tried pulling myself free, but I couldn't. "That's not gonna help."

"Maybe not," I said, ceasing the struggle. "But this probably will."

I suddenly yanked down both arms, catching him off-guard. He fell forward a little, right according to my plan. As he did, I caught his lips in a rushed kiss.

He melted into it almost right away, letting my arms go. I dropped both drumsticks and turned more to be able to kiss him better.

"Hey, you guys, we're done-" Slash's voice carried around the room as soon as he threw the door open and walked in. Steven sprang away from me, his hair covering his eyes and his face flushed.

"Slash, what are you doing in here?" I almost squealed.

"Coming to get you... What the hell were you two doing?"

"Nothing," Steven and I quipped at the same time.

"No, you guys were-"

"Doing something that isn't any of your business," I finished. His eyebrows lowered and his eyes shifted to Steven.

"Alright, then... You ready to go?"

"It's late, Slash," I said.

"That doesn't mean we can't still go out. It's not even that late."

"I guess," I said. "Steven, come here."

He did so, and I pulled a pen from my pocket. I handed it to him and held out a hand. He took it and raised one eyebrow.

"Phone number, headass," Slash said. He nodded in understanding and wrote it down on the back of my hand.

"Thank you," I said, smiling at him.

"Thank you," he responded, smiling right back. I waved at him when I left the room after Slash.

"So, had a good time, did you? Made a friend?" Slash asked as we exited the building.

"Yup," I said. "I did."

"That's good. Just let me know if you need me to kick his ass, and I'll do it."

"Thanks, Slash," I laughed.

"Any time," he grinned. "Ready?"

I looked at the number written on the back of my hand. "Ready."

***

Damn, this is way longer than I thought it would be! Funny though, it took me less time to write than some of my shorter chapters did. Anyway, I hope you liked it! Until the next update!