Archive of Our Own ^beta

Daichi was assistant drum major now, and he meant well, but Suga wanted to kick him right now. He could hear Nishinoya and Tanaka snicker from their spots next to him, and Ushijima walked up to them, scaring them silent.

A couple of minutes later, when Ukai called the practice to the end, Suga gave a loud sigh in relief, his arms swinging with the trumpet in hand. It was mainly marching practice, so his lips weren't dead, but he had to lean against Kageyama to rest. 

Ukai addressed everyone once they all trudged up to him in a half circle.

"I have the music for the closer. Once copies are made, I'll pass them out in class."

That news made Hinata wriggle on his feet happily. "I hope I get a solo!"

"Hinata, you suck at playing trumpet," Kageyama snapped.

It wasn't true, but Suga found himself laughing quietly under his hand as Ukai continued talking. He didn't notice Oikawa creep up on him until his head was tilted next to his, asking him something in a whisper.

Suga jolted and stumbled onto his shoulder, his hands grabbing on to his arm.

"Did I scare you? My bad." His lips curved into a grin, and he stepped away with his hands behind his back. Iwaizumi was holding his clarinet in the distance like a weapon, waving it at Oikawa and narrowing his eyes.

"Is Oikawa still bothering you?" Daichi asked once practice officially ended.

Suga rubbed his neck and rolled his head back in frustration. In most of the first two years of high school, Oikawa didn't really notice him, ignoring him in favor of pestering Iwaizumi and entertaining groups of girls. Suga fumbled a solo in concert season of sophomore year, cracking on a high note in the middle of a rated performance. He turned red and stammered an apology to Ukai after, but he shoved it to the back of his mind.

When they replayed the judge's comments in class, he heard the screech again in the background, and it was played over and over for each judge's tape. Suga sunk into his chair and covered his head, biting his lip and hoping no one would ask him about it. He already had trouble hitting high notes, and the experience left him vowing to never push himself outside of his comfort zone and volunteer to solo ever again. Almost everyone gave him space, but Oikawa looked at him a bit differently after, side-eyeing him more with an unreadable expression.

Oikawa cornered him a few days after they listened to the recordings, stalking up to him with a pleased smile. "It's a shame that you messed up that solo. You wouldn't want a private lesson from me, would you?" he asked.

Oikawa played really well. He taught music to children, but Suga didn't find the offer comforting. He had noticed Oikawa watching him before, and the tone he was using sounded too teasing for Suga's comfort. He ducked away without a word, and from then on, Oikawa kept coming after him to make small comments.

Over a year passed now into their third year, and Oikawa still tried to drag him into conversations, casually mentioning his own prowess while making Suga squirm. It wasn't very section leader-y of him, but no one stopped him.

Suga followed Daichi into the band room and complained to him about it.

"He won't leave me alone, Daichi. He keeps making fun of me."

Daichi opened the door with a lazy swing. "I wonder why Iwaizumi hasn't stopped him by now."

"He probably tried." Suga let his shoulders drop as he stepped in first, heading to his locker. It wasn't really a "locker," though, with bars forming a door instead of one solid piece of metal. Tanaka thought it looked like a prison. 

His locker was unfortunate enough to be below Oikawa's. It wasn't a bottom locker, like the one Hinata used by sitting on the floor to open, but Suga had to either hurry up and put away his trumpet or have Oikawa stand over him. Today, he managed to stuff the case back in before Oikawa made it through the door. It was obvious why he was slow, though, as two female saxophone players walked beside him.

Oikawa attracted girls faster than the flickering light outside zapped moths, but the girls were rarely annoying. They didn't squeal or pass notes in class, but Suga still didn't like the sight of them when they tried to catch his attention. Suga thought he was just bitter that they never interrupted Oikawa talking to him, though. That would have made them his saviors.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Daichi." Suga went outside to let Daichi and Oikawa stay behind for a leadership meeting. He heard that they were dry and repetitive, but he didn't feel much pity for Daichi.

Suga and Oikawa both played trumpet 1. They didn't sit next to each other, but they were only one seat apart. Kageyama sat in between them in class, glaring at his sheet music when Ukai was talking and Oikawa was also talking.

This morning, Kageyama didn't come to school. He texted Suga and warned him, although he didn't sound apologetic. It sounded more like a complaint, that he was free from Oikawa for the day but sick and unable to enjoy it.

"Oh, well look what we have here." Oikawa was dragging a chair to the trumpet area of the floor when he gave a mock gasp. "There's an empty seat!"

"Please just sit down." Suga tried not to look at him. He gave a light kick to his case to push it under his seat, and he blew air into his horn, testing the valves to check if they needed to be oiled again.

Oikawa slid his chair right next to Suga. The legs of the chairs bumped together, and Suga scooted his chair over to give himself space. He shot Oikawa an annoyed look.

"Kageyama's gone, so there's more space to fill."

"I know. Now I can move over and we can give the others room to breathe."

"That's not how air works."

Oikawa ignored him and edged over, though not as close as before. He pouted to himself.

That didn't last for long as he actually began to warm up. Suga stopped playing to listen, bristling a little in irritation.

Oikawa sounded flawless compared to him. Even if it was just a few starting exercises, Oikawa could reach the high notes of scales beautifully. He didn't waver or screech, and he didn't stumble through slurs. Suga knew he didn't practice every day, judging by when he could see the empty locker after everyone took their instruments home, but it was frustrating to hear when Oikawa was so much better. Suga did practice every day. He could move his fingers quickly from frequent practice, but he thought his tone was still poor.

As the rest of the band warmed up, Ukai passed out the new sheet music. Suga never actually wanted the trumpet 1 part, but Ukai found him more reliable than the others from practicing so often. He couldn't hit much above the staff, but he could keep up with a fast pace of eighth and sixteenth notes, and apparently had potential, so he was kept as a trumpet 1 as a third year. When the music reached I'm, he felt himself pale at the string of high notes in the middle of the first page.

"This looks fun," Oikawa said. He rested the trumpet on his knee and leaned over to scribble on the sheet with a pencil. He looked silly as he wrote, sticking at his tongue and bending his elbow, but he almost always wrote actual numbers and words. He numbered every measure like Suga did, filling in rests and adding marching directions later.

Suga scanned over the pages and noticed a small section of music with two sets of notes. The text said duet in a small scroll above it.

Suga backed up in his seat. "We're giving this to you and Kageyama, right?" he asked Oikawa. 

Oikawa shrugged. "He's not here, so we have to sight read it somehow."

Suga swiveled his head to the fourth chair trumpet 1. "Sight read the duet, Bokuto."

Akaashi leaned his head forward. "You mean you want Bokuto to play? With just Oikawa? No band to cover up his indiscriminately brassy noise?"

Bokuto flicked him on the head. "It's not noise, Akaashi." 

"It sounds like the fanfare that opens the door to hell." 

Bokuto groaned at him, but when they heard laughing, the three of them looked up at Ukai. Bokuto gave him a very betrayed look, hanging his head to the side. Ukai continued to walk by with his hand over his mouth.

"Yeah, we can't use Bokuto. It looks like it's going to be us two." Oikawa elbowed him.

"I am not going to play."

"Of course you are!" Oikawa patted his shoulder and nodded. "I'm here. There's nothing to worry about."

Suga felt worse after that. It reminded him of the last time he had a solo, when Oikawa took notice of him after the failure, and he felt his throat dry up.

When the band started from the top, the flutes taking the first few measures, Suga shook Oikawa's shoulder.

"I can't do it," he whispered. "You take it."

"You want me to play both parts? I know I'm amazing, but--"

Suga stomped on his foot, and Oikawa yelped. Ukai glanced at them with a raised eyebrow, but he didn't stop conducting.

"Don't do that, we play soon," Oikawa hissed lowly.

There were only a few measures left until their duet, and Suga began to panic. Compared to the rest of the music, this was pretty simple, half notes and quarter notes that were in the staff with some slurs. Oikawa's part was higher with a few eighth notes, but the more complicated part made Suga think that it'd be easier to notice any mistake he did with his lower notes ringing out. If he shook, then his trumpet was going to shake, and everyone was going to hear it.

Even if this was the first time anyone had seen the music, the band had the tact to quiet for the upcoming duet. Oikawa lifted his trumpet calmly, and Suga followed with a pit in his stomach.

He came in a beat after Oikawa. He was too stiff to have a clean entrance, and the nervous tremble was noticeable in the longer notes, but he managed to play the right ones. Suga felt dazed after, and he huffed with a rush of air.

"That wasn't that bad," Oikawa said.

Suga could barely play the rest of the song. After it was over, Ukai briefly commented on it.

"That was technically correct, but…we'll try Kageyama with it when he's back."

Hinata raised his hand. "Can I do it?"

The entire trumpet section said, "No." Hinata's hand flinched down.

Oikawa peered over at Suga. "You sound like you need more practice." 

Suga narrowed his eyes and pinched his lips together. "No, what I need is to not play the duet. Kageyama is going to do it."

"Kageyama wants first chair. He'd take my part."

"Then give it to him," Suga snapped. He flipped the sheets over and reached for the second movement's music of their fieldshow. The ballad was slow and quiet and didn't have many measures the trumpets played in, so it was Suga's favorite part of the whole show.

"If you want to practice, then I could practice with you, you know." Oikawa's smile was too sly, and Suga shifted in his chair under his gaze.

"No."

"Come on, it'll be fun."

"No it wouldn't."

Oikawa tried to respond, but he was cut off by the opening measures of the ballad. He sighed and shrugged to himself, and the whole section lifted their horns together to play.

Ukai swept a hand in the air and told them to stop. "Trumpets, that was supposed to be pianissimo. That wasn't quiet enough."

"But th--"

"Shut up, Bokuto." Akaashi slapped a hand over his mouth. "We'll try again, Ukai," he said, nodding to him.

"Good. And Hinata, don't play this time."

Hinata's face fell. "But this is the only part of the ballad that trumpet 3 has."

"Too bad. Just try it."

Tsukishima and Yamaguchi snickered from the clarinet row in front of them. Hinata ruffled his hands over his hair in frustration and whined to himself, kicking his feet under the chair and sending the trumpet case to the pit instruments behind him. Ennoshita reached his arms over his vibraphone with a defensive glare.

They started from the top again, Ukai ignoring Hinata's apology to Ennoshita.

Suga buzzed very quietly into his mouthpiece, but after a few moments, he realized he was the only one playing. The other trumpets held their horns to their mouths without any notes ringing from their bells, and Oikawa's lips were twisted too smugly to make a noise.

After a couple measures, Ukai stopped them again. "Alright, that was perfect, trumpets. Keep it that way for now."

"I didn't even play," Bokuto said. He turned his head to Akaashi. "Did you play?"

Oikawa hooked his thumb in the air to point at Suga. "He did."

Suga ducked his head into his shoulders, slipping down his chair as his feet scraped the floor. "Why did you do that?"

"I didn't even tell them to do it. They just did it," Oikawa said. He crossed his arms in satisfaction, his eyes sliding over Suga.

"Oh, man, that's actually awesome!" Bokuto raised his hand in the air, leaning over Suga to grab Oikawa's hand and forcefully give him a high five. Oikawa jerked his hand away and shoved Bokuto off Suga.

Suga rubbed a hand over his face. "Oikawa. You're supposed to play with me."

"You want me to play with you? But we can't do that kind of thing in public," he said, his voice deep and rough. He tried to lean forward, shifting a hand under his chin, but Suga stepped on his foot again.

"I swear, Oikawa, if you ever make me accidentally solo again, I'll k-kick you." Suga was stammering at his own threat, but he managed to stab a finger at Oikawa.

"Oooh. Do it again, I want to see Suga beat up someone."

"Bokuto, for the love of god, please shut up please shut up please shut up."

"I agree with Akaashi. I don't want you to sully your pretty little feet."

Oikawa and Bokuto both began to chuckle under their breaths. Suga's face burned as they laughed harder at his embarrassment.

When Kageyama came back the next day, he ended up arguing with Oikawa before music class started.

"A jerk like you doesn't deserve to be with Suga. I should do the duet with him."

"You don't want to play it together with me? That's so rude." Oikawa flipped his hair and tilted forward to catch Suga's attention. "Who are you going to choose?"

Suga's mouth was on his mouthpiece to warm up, but at the recognition of its unfamiliar surface and shape, he pulled it away warily. "This doesn't feel like my mouthpiece…"

Oikawa dangled a mouthpiece in the air between his fingers. "Oh. What a coincidence. Mine felt weird, too."

"…Did you switch our mouthpieces?!"

Suga wiped his tongue on his hands, gagging alongside Kageyama's choked sounds of disgust.

"Oikawa, that's gross. What the hell is your problem?" Kageyama asked, yanking Suga's mouthpiece out of Oikawa's hand to return it.

"It was an honest mistake."

"His mouthpiece was in his own trumpet case, you asshole."

Suga handed Oikawa's mouthpiece back, a hand over his eyes. "Please. Take this back. Before I throw it in the trash."

"You two are so dull." Oikawa plucked it out of Suga's hand and twisted it back into his trumpet.

"We're not dull, we're sanitary."

Oikawa slouched into his chair with a sigh. "So dull."

Once class actually started, and Oikawa attempted the duet with Kageyama, Ukai told them that it couldn't work. They both played the top part, loudly, and everyone clamped their hands over their ears for the duration of it.

"Suga can improve. The friendship between you two, though, is never going to improve," Ukai said, pointing at Oikawa and Kageyama and shutting up their argument.

"We're not friends." Kageyama inched away from Oikawa on his chair.

With Kageyama as a buffer between them, Suga spent the class in almost-peace. The duet was still nerve-wracking, and he ended it on a whimpering note, but he felt a little less terrified after playing through it before. Sight reading it may have been a terrible idea.

After class, Oikawa followed him to the lockers. He had the perfect excuse to, but Suga hardened his jaw and tried to stay quiet.

"Since we're going to be doing the duet together, don't you think that we should spend some time practicing together?"

Suga stepped around him.

"Why are you ignoring me? I'm the best trumpet player in school. Don't you want my help?"

Suga bent down to twist the combination on his locker's lock. 

Oikawa clicked his tongue. "Fine. Don't talk to me. But if you change your mind, then here's my number."

Suga felt him slip a piece of paper in his back pocket, and he jolted up.

"Oikawa!" Suga slapped his hand away.

"Change your mind yet?"

"No!"

"Oh. That's too bad." Oikawa sidled closer and whispered, "Because for you, I'd teach for free."

Suga stepped back and lifted his leg, shoving his foot into the back of Oikawa's knee. Oikawa staggered to the wall of lockers in surprise, his smirk completely gone, and Hinata watched with an open mouth.

Bokuto applauded.

Suga spent half an hour in his room practicing his part of the duet. His lips were sore from not taking any breaks, and he now felt too frustrated to continue.

He flopped on his bed and moved his trumpet to the side. Suga didn't think he was improving very much. It would be a simple matter to replace him with Kageyama or Bokuto--sort of--but backing down sounded like running away to him.

Continuing with this was probably more painful, but Suga was really tired of being considered the quiet trumpet player that held the envied part just for having average skill and good behavior. Playing softly was probably his best quality, and if he joined with other people then he supported them well, but he couldn't stand alone. Even if Oikawa was beside him, he didn't think he could do it. Now, actually, Oikawa made him more nervous.

Oikawa's jokes started feeling personal. They weren't becoming meaner, just…personal. Intrusive. And maybe a bit embarrassing. 

Suga pressed his fingertips into his temples as he thought about Oikawa's offer. At this rate, Suga wasn't going to be ready for a competition when it came. Refusing Oikawa's help at this point would be ridiculous, if he was sacrificing the band's progress for his own comfort.

He made a slow, reluctant reach for his phone and dialed Oikawa's number before he could change his mind. He rolled onto his back as Oikawa picked up.

"Suga? You're calling me?"

"How did you know it was me?"

"Ushiwaka-chan gave me your number and address. I already saved your number in my phone, too."

"W-why. Why. Why did he do that." Suga felt like digging his fingers harder into his skull.

"I told him I was considering practicing with you alone, and he looked up your info for me in the leadership spreadsheet."

That actually sounded believable. Ushijima was always dedicated to band, and now that he was drum major, he took some things too seriously. Suga didn't doubt that Oikawa wrung the information out of him.

"I'm going to kill Ushijima."

"Do it after marching season is over. Now, what did you want to talk about?"

Suga scratched his head sheepishly. "I want you to help me. With the duet. Only for the duet."

"Oh? Do you want me to come over right now?" Oikawa asked, way too eager.

"No, I'm tired right now," he said quickly. He heard Oikawa's bed creak as he stood up, and there were sounds of rustling in the speaker.

"Nonsense. Right now is the perfect time to practice together!"

The phone call beeped off, and Suga let his arm drop to the mattress with a groan. He lied there for twenty minutes before he heard Oikawa's voice in the hallway, and the sound of footsteps leading to his door.

"Knock knock!"

Oikawa didn't wait for Suga to let him in. He twisted the door knob open and stepped inside with a grin.

"Ready to practice?" He swung his case on Suga's bed.

"I really am tired."

Oikawa waved a hand. "A short practice won't kill you."

"I already practiced today. I meant my mouth is tired." Suga pressed a thumb over his bottom lip and loosened his jaw to open his mouth.

Oikawa tilted his head. "That's not really a problem. There are ways of relaxing, you know."

Suga closed his eyes to ignore Oikawa, but when he felt the weight on the bed shift, he opened them again. Oikawa was craning his head over him.

"What are you doing, Oikawa?" Suga moved his hands on the bed and tried to scrabble backwards in alarm. Oikawa was still leaning in.

"Helping you relax."

Suga couldn't move out of the way. He stiffened instead, his arms and legs tensing as Oikawa's lips descended onto his.

Oikawa nudged their lips together in deep slow movements. The strange attention to each lip made Suga swallow and feel light headed, but then he realized that Oikawa was massaging his mouth. His lips felt strong and firm as they kneaded, rubbing into him and making Suga's breath catch. When Oikawa's tongue peeked out, brushing each lip with powerful licks, Suga moaned.

Suga's skin flushed in mortification, but Oikawa didn't pause. He slipped a hand under Suga's neck and stroked in circles, pushing Suga up a bit into the kiss. They weren't doing more than kissing, but the strength in Oikawa's mouth and hands made Suga feel like he was swimming in something else.

Oikawa pulled away. He hovered his head and traced a finger over his bottom lip. "Do you feel better now?"

Suga didn't think he could move his mouth. His lips felt heavy, slack and pliable under his teasing finger. He slid his finger back and forth, moving his lip with it.

"Shocked, huh?" Oikawa smoothed his finger over one last time before withdrawing it. He bent over to murmur, "I usually just play trumpet, but if you'd like to practice something else tonight, then I'd be happy to play with just you, like you wanted earlier." 

For once in his life, Suga wasn't quiet.