Work Text:
"In a corner of this room
where I kissed a purple butterfly on my right shoulder,
I learn the emotion of grief,
as the piano emits an echoing tune of dissonance."
"Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder" - Nori-P
Translation by animeyay
Yamato removes his hands from the keys. Wrong again, he thinks, as the dissonant tune fades away. How many times had he screwed it up at this point? Five, six, maybe even ten times? He'd lost count. He repositioned his hands on the piano and started to play again. It only lasted a short while, his fingers once again slipping and hitting the wrong keys.
"Damn it," Yamato speaks quietly under his breath, trying to determine whether he should keep going, or if it was better to give up at this point.
"Is damning the piano supposed to stop you from screwing up?"
Yamato flinches as his eyes briefly search for the source of the sound. They land on the corner of the room in front of him, where it appears someone had been standing as he played.
"How long have you been here?" asked Yamato, shocked and a little embarrassed that he had an audience.
Taichi smiles at him, stepping out of the corner a little. "Not too long. Maybe five minutes?"
"You could've knocked instead of sneaking in, y'know?"
"I could've, but I didn't wanna interrupt you," Taichi glanced at the piano before looking back up to Yamato. "I didn't know you played piano."
Yamato looked down at his fingers, surprisingly still laying on the keys. "I don't. Not really," he smiled to himself. "I felt like giving it a try. Something new, y'know?"
Taichi smiled back, however there was a hint of sadness. Yamato knew exactly why. A lot has changed recently for both of them. Some of these changes had been good, but others—specifically one huge change they hadn't spoken too much about yet—were not as good.
"Mm, doesn't seem like you're doing too good."
"I'd be offended if you weren't entirely correct," Yamato laughed and it didn't take long for Taichi to join in.
"What are you trying to play?" Taichi asked, taking a couple more steps toward the piano.
Yamato sighed, "I'm trying to play 'Boku ni Totte'."
Taichi smirked, "Been awhile since I've heard you mention something Knife of Ramen related." Yamato chose not to correct him. "Thought you were done with them."
"Yes, but the songs I wrote are still important to me." Yamato frowned, "Especially this one…"
Yamato didn't have to explain what he meant. Taichi already knew. They stayed in silence for a few beats, neither sure of what to say next. Then, Yamato had an idea.
"You know the lyrics, right?"
"Yeah, of course," replied Taichi with a smile. "Why do you ask?"
Yamato took a breath, "Do you think you could sing while I played? I don't know, I'd just like to see if it helps."
"Yama, I can't sing," Taichi laughed. "I thought you knew this."
"No, you can sing. You just don't like to do so in front of others and play it off as if you can't," Yamato explained. Most of what he said was a guess, but he had caught Taichi singing to himself before. His voice was very nice to listen to. Yamato sometimes thought that Taichi's voice would compliment his own, as Taichi's voice was higher than Yamato's deep voice. He wanted Taichi to embrace it.
"You should've seen me try to wake TonosamaGekomon. It was a mess." Taichi was clearly grasping for any excuse to not sing, but Yamato wouldn't have any of it.
"That was literally eleven years ago," he couldn't help but laugh. After it died down, Yamato looked up at Taichi and said, "Please?"
Taichi looked at Yamato for a beat and then nodded. "Okay. I'll do it. Start playing."
Yamato did just that. He started with the notes at the beginning that he would usually play on his bass, moving onto the chords after. Not too long later, Taichi began singing. As Yamato predicted, he sounded great. He didn't quite hit all the notes correctly, however just having him sing along helped Yamato with playing the song. He also didn't quite hit all his notes right, but by the time they got to the chorus, they were too into it to be stopping anytime soon. Yamato even managed to sing some of the harmonies, proving his theory about their voices complimenting each other in the process.
Soon after—maybe too soon, Yamato closed out the song. When he looked up from the keys, he saw Taichi smiling at him. Yamato intended to smile back, however it quickly turned to a smirk.
"'I can't sing,' my ass, Taichi!"
"Okay, maybe I can kinda sing," Taichi smirked back.
They both laughed. Yamato intended to keep the banter going, but his smirk eventually turned back into a genuine smile. "You were really great. I mean it, don't underestimate your voice."
Taichi was caught off guard by this, blushing ever so slightly at the compliment. "I mean, uh, I appreciate it, but don't sell yourself short either. I mean, harmonica, bass, singing, and now piano? I'm a little surprised you're not in school for music!"
Chuckling, Yamato was coming up with a response when something caught his eye. Pointing, he said, "How long has that been there?"
Taichi followed Yamato's finger to his right shoulder. Sitting there, he saw a small butterfly with purple wings.
"I honestly don't know," Taichi said, clearly confused. "Didn't notice it."
"How'd it even get in here?"
Shrugging, Taichi tried to get the butterfly to crawl onto his finger. Instead of doing that, the butterfly took flight and started flying around the room. They both watched as the butterfly flew, presumably looking for an exit.
"Maybe that's why we did the song so well," Taichi said and Yamato could already see the smirk growing. "Maybe I'm just your good luck charm."
"You mean the butterfly is the good luck charm."
"It was on my shoulder."
"You're such a dumbass," Yamato shook his head, yet he was smiling.
"That may be true, but," Taichi turned to look at Yamato, "I'm your dumbass."
"Oh, shut up."