I'm a Changed Man

William woke with a start that morning. With someone shoving him.

“Wake the fuck Chizzy. We gotta get Bill up and get this hot chocolate.” He heard his voice, Sisky, say. “I just wanna get back in my body, I’ve already hit my head like, 3 times this morning.”

“Quit hitting my head.” William grumbled, before he thought about what Sisky had said. “Wait, Sisky, I-”

“Bill, Sisky, are you guys back?” Michael said, climbing out of his bunk.

“Michael?” Sisky stared. “That definitely you in there?”

Michael stopped. “Yeah.” He said slowly.

“Fuck, why didn’t we all change back?” William groaned. “I don’t wanna be Sisky again!”

“You guys are still… for Christ’s sake, what is going on?”

“No idea. But we need to get the hot chocolate.” William said, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side.

“Chizzy, come get it with me.” Sisky said. William noticed that he was already changed.

“You better not have been looking at my dick, Siska.” William growled, narrowing his eyes at the bassist who was in his body.

Sisky snorted. “Don’t flatter yourself.” Sisky sneered. “Don’t worry, when we’re back to normal, you won’t have to worry about me irritating you at all.”

William sighed. “Sisky, I-”

“Chizzy, come on.” Sisky dragged away the Australian, leaving William on his own.

“Fucker!” William called out to him. Sisky wouldn’t even let him apologise for what he had said. He didn’t mean it, he was just annoyed by the whole situation. He would make sure that Sisky listened to him when he got back.

15 minutes later, he heard Sisky and Michael return. He got out of the bunk and grabbed Sisky’s arm, pulling him onto a seat.

“You, listen, now.” William told him. “I’ve been trying to apologise to you for what I said last night, now you’re going to listen.” Sisky was about to say something, but William cut him off. “I’m really sorry for what I said last night, I was just really pissed off about this happening to us twice in one day. So, let’s just make this hot chocolate and get it over with.”

“There is no hot chocolate.” Sisky replied. “There was none, we’re going to have to wait until later.”

“But…” William’s eyes widened. “We’re not stopping again until we get to the venue.”

“Then we’re going to have to wait until then, aren’t we?” Sisky replied. He was obviously pissed off about this, the same that William was.

“Wait for what?” Mike asked, walking out of the bunk area, hand ruffling his bed hair.

“To get some hot chocolate.” Sisky said.

“Uh, it’s not the end of the world, you know. It’s just some hot chocolate.”

“Yeah, well not when it’s the difference between me being back in my own body or being in Sisky’s.” William snapped, then covered his mouth, eyes going wide.

“What the fuck?” Mike exclaimed, confused as fuck.

“Bill, you idiot!” Sisky slapped his arm.

“Uh, guys, you should really…” Michael motioned towards a wide eyed Mike Carden.

“Mike, go get Butcher.” William sighed. “We need to tell the both of you.”

“Right. Ok.” Mike turned away to wake Butcher up.

“You sure we need to tell them?” William asked.

“Well, someone already let the cat out of the bag.” Sisky glared at William.

“Well, someone left the hot chocolate on the side.” William glared back at Sisky.

“Ok, why am I out of bed early?” Butcher yawned, walking in with Mike, who still had huge eyes.

“Ok guys, what we’re about to say is the complete truth, we are not bullshitting.” Sisky said.
William and Sisky began to explain the whole story, from what had happened earlier that day, to what happened that morning.

“Dude, so you were the one singing at sound check yesterday? No wonder you sucked!” Butcher said.

“That’s why Sisky doesn’t have a mic on stage.” Mike said.

“Ok, shut the fuck up, man.” Sisky glared at them. “You won’t be laughing if we can’t get hot chocolate before tonight. I’ll have to sing, and Bill’s gonna have to play bass. Neither of which we can do.”

“Ok, I get your point now.” Mike said. “Although…”

“Don’t just leave us hanging, Carden.” Sisky said.

“Bill, grab Sisky’s bass.”

“Why?” William asked.

“Just get it from the back lounge.” William stared at Mike, but got the bass anyway. “Now play Big Mess.”

“But… Mike, I can’t play bass!” William said. “That’s what this whole thing is about!”

“Listen, I know you can’t play, but Sisky can, obviously. And you know the music.”

“Where is this going?”

“It’s gotta be muscle memory, a lot of it. Sisky, when you play, how much do you need to truly concentrate on playing?”

“Not a lot, to be honest.” Sisky admitted.

“Exactly. Just play through Big Mess as well as you can, just let it run through you.”

William looked up at everyone before looking down at the bass. He closed his eyes and began to play. He thought of the music, just thought of the music.

“Bill, you can play!” Sisky exclaimed about halfway through the song. William opened his eyes again to see everyone grinning at him.

“That was amazing!”

“Yeah it was. So, I can play, but can Sisky sing?” William looked over at his own body with his bassist currently occupying it.

Sisky shrugged. “Probably not.”

“If Bill can play bass, you can sing. It’s not like yesterday.” Butcher said. “You had your own voice yesterday.”

Sisky sighed. Then he began to sing The Phrase That Pays. He sounded a tiny bit off, but other than that, he sounded perfect.

“Ok, so we’ll get this sorted and if we can’t before the gig tonight, we’re at least sorted for that.” Butcher said. “Can I go back to sleep now?”