Work Text:
the claps from the customers resounded in the small bar they were currently at. satori watched wakatoshi as he clapped to support his friend after singing the second set in his gig. satori followed the gesture.
"he sings so well!" he leaned into wakatoshi's ear to say it, and the latter smiled as he agreed
"he's always really been good at it, i'm just glad he's following his dream now." wakatoshi answered back, leaning down to whisper in satori's ear.
if it sent subtle tingles down satori’s spine, satori paid no mind to it.
they did this every fridays these past months — hanging out. and if you would ask satori, he never would’ve known they would get to hanging out like this, what with wakatoshi known to be the resident stoic and strict man in the office and satori known to be the… clumsy type ( but he’s trying his best!) assistant of his.
but fast forward to now, and they were hanging out. what started as a one time thing of bringing satori home when he was drunk turned to more nights of bringing him home, then more nights of satori introducing new places to go and wakatoshi doing the same.
so, yeah. here they were.
satori watched wakatoshi’s side profile as he continued to watch his friend sing out acoustics, leave the door open sounding real good when played by a professional guitarist and a smooth ass voice to go along with it, and he found himself nodding to the strumming as he watched wakatoshi sneakily bobbing his head along with the song.
satori snickered, these past nights found him learning more about this stoic man, who only ever knew seriousness even in the office. he didn’t know if he should consider it an honor to have wakatoshi loosen up around him — maybe he should, because not even shirabu, the self-proclaimed wakatoshi-whisperer didn’t know this side.
the last chord was plucked, and applause was heard right after. they both smiled when semi eita tapped on the mic to speak.”
"is anyone tired of my voice yet," he started, and laughed in the mic when some customers whined and refuted and joked around. satori smiled — this was what constant exposure did, formed a bond with singers and customers.
“it’s your lucky night, guys! i actually have someone i can introduce to you tonight" semi laughed, eyes crinkling at the corners.
"really?" satori muttered to himself, excited eyes trained on semi as the latter's eyes were mischievously looking at someone beside him —
"oh hell no." he heard wakatoshi grumble, and seeing semi's grin was the only sign he got before a lightbulb flashed on his head.
"i have my college friend here who's been very supportive of me," semi started, earning ooh ’s from the place, even from satori which wakatoshi gave a stern stare at.
"he's been coming to my gigs more often than not, and i want to pay him back by letting him have the stage tonight!"
satori watched in amusement as wakatoshi tried to shake his head to stop semi from talking shit, but it only fueled semi to do it more.
talk about being close friends — you don't stop when your friends tell you to.
"stop that," wakatoshi mouthed as he scowled but semi laughed it off as he walked down the small-stage set up for his gig. "i — i’m not going up there."
and oh, was that a stutter satori heard just now?
"oh waka-boy! don’t be like this! the customers are excited." semi said with a fake whine, making satori laugh at their whole ordeal.
"that’s your fault.."
"awwww, just once! come on!"
"no, it’s embarrassing." wakatoshi whispered. semi gave him an incredulous look.
"and why the hell would you feel that? you have like, one of the most beautiful voices i heard - well, second to me of course!" semi winked pulled wakatoshi up by his suited bicep much to satori's surprise. wakatoshi looked too heavy to be easily pulled like that. he wanted to snicker but masked it when he saw wakatoshi’s stern eyes trained on him.
satori only shrugged and smirked.
“go on, waka !” he snickered at wakatoshi’s scowl, clearly a look of betrayal.
wakatoshi shook his head. “no.”
“come on just once!” semi pleaded, before looking at satori and smirking.
“or would you like your friend to see how lame you are by not giving your poor old semi a chance to rest?”
“...”
satori laughed. using him as bait, huh. not that that would change anything ---
it did, in fact, change something. it changed wakatoshi’s mind. and now, satori found himself left where he was seated, eyes squinting on the flickering bar lights as semi and wakatoshi sat on the stage to prepare for wakaatoshi’s song.
"what song, my friend?"
wakatoshi shyly looked around the bar before whispering to semi's ear, and satori watched as the latter hung his head back and laughed.
"always going for the classics, i see." semi laughed, before he settled down.
semi started strumming an acoustic version of a song satori felt like he heard before and he fought the urge to start laughing before wakatoshi even began to sing.
his phone was on hand, at the ready, with the camera aiming at wakatoshi sitting stiffly on a stool beside semi. with the scene like this — with wakatoshi looking too big for the stool he currently sat on he was afraid it would break from his weight — satori already wanted to break off with a goofy grin.
wakatoshi's eyes roamed around the bar and when his eyes landed on satori's, he frowned lightheartedly. satori only smiled widely and raised his phone teasingly.
oh he was going to show this to his workmates tomorrow. he couldn't wait to have something to tease wakatoshi with! maybe with this, he could knock a certain shirabu kenjiro down a few steps as satori would finally be able to claim himself to be the new wakatoshi-whisperer .
i’ll show you i know more about him now, shirabu!
all in good spirits though.
"let’s give it up for ushijima wakatoshi tonight!" semi said, and wakatoshi frowned before smiling, and with a grip on the mic, raised it to his lips to start singing.
aiming the camera at his workmate, satori was about to let out a loud laugh ---
'baby lock the door and turn the lights down low—'
only to have the laughter get stuck on his throat.
when satori pulled out his camera to aim it at wakatoshi as he readied himself to sing, he was expecting an out-of-tune wakatoshi trying hard, and the laughter of the customers as everybody just had a good time.
this, with his deep voice resounding in the high quality microphone, was not one of them. especially not the amazed gasps of everybody else.
the claps came right after wakatoshi sang the first line, and satori could only stare wide eyed as he listened with an open mouth.
he could briefly see semi mouthing an 'oh yeah!' beside his workmate, could briefly see the hands of the customers waving up in the air as they followed to the beat of the song, before everything else just — faded away and all he could see was wakatoshi and wakatoshi alone.
the latter had his eyes closed as he enjoyed just singing out the song, his voice resonating in every inch of satori's body. who knew his voice was so deep like that? who knew it could reach to the very bones of his?
who knew it could make his heart skip a beat like this?
‘there’s no hurry, don’t you worry
we can take our time.
come a little closer,
let’s go over
what i had in mind’
another skip of his heartbeat. satori could only stare dumbly and gulp.
because he never really saw wakatoshi as the type to be able to have a voice like this. he was used to having him speak in a monotone voice, and hearing him like this made him feel things he'd never felt before. suddenly satori felt like he couldn't breathe.
he wasn't sure.
but when wakatoshi opened his eyes and looked at him as he sang:
'i can't believe how much it turns me on
just to be your man'
and when wakatoshi's eyes crinkled in the soft yellow lights of the bar, satori was fucking sure now that he couldn't breathe.
and - was that semi sneaking a glance at satori to give off a teasing smirk?
later, when the song ended and they went home after bidding each other goodbye and exchanges of 'i had a good time! you're such a good singer' and 'thanks, i'm glad you like it, good night'
satori checked his phone only to see that the recorded video of wakatoshi didn't have wakatoshi in it, only satori's motherfucking stunned face, with wakatoshi's voice in the background, the sound of the guitar and the amazed claps of the audience to go along with it.
satori didn’t realize how long he listened to wakatoshi’s voice until his phone gave up on him first completely, battery drained. he watched it turn off before feeling his face heat up.
too many thoughts were running on his head!
satori groaned as he lied down and calmed his beating heart. yeah, he couldn't show this to his workmates. couldn’t show it to anyone. he could kiss teasing shirabu with a meme -able wakatoshi video goodbye.
he just knew it.
he was going to be the meme instead.
because god fucking damn did satori look fucking whipped in that video.