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“Come on, Kiyoko we’re going to be late! I’m going to be late and Ryuu will fuckin’ kill me!”
“You’re already going to be late” Kiyoko replied, trailing behind Saeko who was dragging her arm while lugging a guitar case over her shoulder.
“Shut it. We’re not going to be late if you’d hurry up! Use those long legs of yours and move!.”
Kiyoko moved marginally faster, if only to lessen the likelihood that Saeko would pull her off her feet. “Are you sure your amp is already at the venue?” Kiyoko asked for the dozenth time that evening.
“Yes. I asked Noya and he said he’d make Ryuu bring it with his.” She groaned.
“And then?” Kiyoko prompted.
“And then I asked Ennoshita to make sure that Ryuu brought it because my brother is an irresponsible piece of shit.” The way she said it made it sound like a practiced routine, a mantra Kiyoko had burned into her mind.
“Correct.” Kiyoko replied, as if there was a correct way to deal with her girlfriend’s bandmates. Ennoshita was fine, as far as they went, he was moderately responsible and got just as pissed off at Nishinoya and Ryuu as Kyoko did. And as much as Kiyoko loved Saeko, she knew that when her, her brother and Nishinoya got together, they were a terror.
They rounded the corner, stepping off the college campus and into the business district surrounding it, and the venue was within sight. Saeko didn’t let go of Kiyoko’s arm as they jogged to the entrance. She clapped the bouncer on the shoulder as they approached and they were allowed inside.
Strictly speaking the venue was a bar. The long counter ran along one wall, ending just at the edge of a raised platform that did it’s job as a stage. When they got inside the room was still mostly empty, the line outside having not been allowed in yet. Ryuu shouted as soon as he spotted them.
“Saeko, Kiyoko-san, over here!” He yelled.
“When will he stop calling me -san, do you think? Will he stop once we’re married?” Kiyoko grumbled, leaning into Saeko’s shoulder and taking her hand.
“Was that a proposal, Kiyoko-san?” Saeko joked.
“Of course it was, but you said it first, remember.”
Saeko groaned, “Don’t remind me, I made a fool of myself.”
“It was cute, that’s 90% of the reason I went on a third date with you, you know.” Kiyoko bumped Saeko lightly with her hips as they walked towards the stage.
“Did you bring my amp?” Saeko asked Ryuu when they were closer, and he lifted a large orange piece of equipment by its handle.
“Don’t break it, you asshole, you just had to say yes.” She yelled as he lost his balance after lifting the amp and set it down harder than was strictly necessary.
“Yes, I brought it. I said I would, didn’t I?” He puffed out his chest. “I don’t break my word!”
“He forgot it and we had to turn the van around.” Ennoshita quipped, while wrapping a wire around his wrist and attaching it to his bass guitar.
“Chikara, shut the fuck up she didn’t need to know that!”
Ennoshita just rolled his eyes and continued adjusting the levels on his amp.
Saeko set her guitar case up on stage and hopped up after it. Kiyoko went to turn away but Saeko grabbed her arm.
“Where do you think you’re going?” She asked with a smile, leaning down from the stage.
“No where.” Kiyoko smiled back and leaned up to kiss Saeko. They kissed a few seconds longer than they should have because they were broken apart by a mixed chorus of groans from Ryuu and cheers from Nishinoya who had just emerged from backstage.
“I will never get tired of that.” Nishinoya said with fake emotion in his voice, wiping a hypothetical tear from his eye.
This time Kiyoko rolled her eyes as she stepped back from the stage. Saeko began setting up her guitar and Kiyoko walked to the bar to get a drink. She ordered a vodka cranberry, after flashing her ID at the smirking bartender, and sat at the bar to sip it. It was only 7:15, the show didn’t start until 8 and Kiyoko didn’t want to spend the entire night drunk.
After a few minutes Ennoshita hopped off the stage and joined Kiyoko at the counter.
“Hey,” he said as he reached her and lifted his hand to get the bartender’s attention.
“Hey,” She replied, and he ordered a beer from the bartender, who slid a bottle across the counter.
“So, are you all set up?” She asked.
“Yeah I made sure we got here early.” he took a long drink of his beer, “good job getting Saeko here on time by the way.” He said sarcastically.
“You know exactly how difficult it is to get a Tanaka anywhere on time. And it wasn’t my fault that she decided she absolutely needed to meet me on campus during my music theory class. I told her to leave without me but she wouldn’t.” Kiyoko sighed and sipped slowly at her straw.
“Yeah, yeah, and I’m sure you guys didn’t make out behind the building afterwards or anything.”
“Shut up.”
Saeko interrupted them by tapping her mic a few times. “fuck one, two, fuck one, two” She said, followed by a giggle. This was her traditional mic check and she never could say it without laughing.
“I better get back up there,” Ennoshita said, and he finished his beer in a long swallow before walking back to the stage and hopping up.
Kiyoko turned on her barstool, adjusting the dress at her hips and watched the band soundcheck. At least, this time, she noted, the sound engineer seemed to know what he was doing and she didn’t have to barge into the box to correctly balance their mics.
The bouncer began to let the line of people inside and Kiyoko went through the door at the side of the stage that led to the back room. She followed a hallway and stood at the side of the stage where she couldn’t be seen but she could see the band finishing up their tuning.
Saeko turned and Kiyoko caught her eye, waving slightly. Saeko smiled and flashed a thumbs up, quickly followed by a vulgar gesture involving two fingers and her tongue. Kiyoko smiled and ran her hand through her hair, shaking her head at Saeko.
The room had filled up, considerably, and Kiyoko was proud of the turn out. She’d been working with Ennoshita for the two months leading up to this gig to get as much advertising as possible. The bar required them to bring 30 people. There were at least 75 milling around on the floor beneath the stage.
Noya hit his sticks together in rapid succession and the first song began. It was an upbeat one, an older song that Saeko and Ryuu had written a few years ago, before Kiyoko helped them organize their music into something more than screaming and power chords.
Saeko’s voice was low on the mic, deep and sexy and, even with the guitars blaring over the top, Kiyoko felt a little flush come over her cheeks. They’d been together for more than a year, and she’d known all of them for a few years before that, but she never got tired of hearing Saeko’s voice on stage.
They finished the first song to raucous applause and started right in on the second, without any banter. Saeko’s on-stage banter was almost legendary among the local music scene, but she knew that the longer she withheld what they wanted, the more they would want it.
After the third song they finally stopped and Saeko introduced the band. They’d been cycling through names for years, joke names, serious names, every variation of “untitled” they could imagine and it was something of a joke, betting on which name Saeko would introduce them with. This time she went with Flock Flight. It was one of the more serious of the bird motifs, that is, until any of them had too much to drink and it turned into something like “Fluck Floght” or “Fuck Fight”.
They had a 10 song set, pretty long, considering they were a local band, but the crowd was engaged the entire time. At the end of their set, after the final mention of their names and the band name, Saeko bowed deeply and turned to smile at Kiyoko.
“Hey, fuckers, maybe if you cheer enough my beautiful girlfriend will come out on stage.” She said into the mic, still staring back at Kiyoko. Kiyoko shook her head furiously. The crowd cheered. “Come on, you losers, louder!” She crooned into the mic and the crowd obeyed.
A few seconds later Ryuu set his guitar down and went to the side of stage to pull Kiyoko from the shadows. She still shook her head and resisted until he picked her up bridal style and carried her to Saeko. Her face was beet red as she was unceremoniously dumped at her girlfriend’s side. The crowd was still cheering.
“This is Kiyoko, my beautiful girlfriend.” She paused for cheering, “That’s right, I’m taken, I know you’re all really sad. Ryuu is single though!” she said with a laugh, pointing at her brother, a good percentage of the crowd cheered at that proclamation as well.
Ennoshita leaned into his mic to add “chronically single, get at him ladies.” and Ryuu flipped him off as the crowd laughed.
“Quiet down, I was talking!” Saeko interrupted, pulling Kiyoko flush against her side. “Anyways, I wanted to bring out my gorgeous, stunning girlfriend tonight for a reason.” She paused and stepped away from Kiyoko, dragging the mic on its stand with her. She pulled the mic from the stand and knelt and Kiyoko began shaking. The crowd cheered.
“Shut up, assholes you’re ruining the moment!” She said, smiling up at Kiyoko. The crowd got quiet. “Shimizu Kiyoko, gorgeous being of sunlight and my amazing girlfriend of one year and 4 months,” she paused and took a deep breath, “will you marry me?” The crowd cheered, overpowering the last part of the sentence which Kiyoko could just make out was “or whatever the fuck gay people do in this country.”
Kiyoko felt the tears before she realized what they were and she nodded furiously. Saeko stood, put the mic back on the stand and took her hands.
“Is that a yes?” She asked, more to Kiyoko than to the crowd that time.
“Yes,” Kiyoko croaked. “Yes it’s a yes, you idiot.” and she kissed her.
Seko deepened the kiss, bending Kiyoko backwards dramatically as the crowd whooped and hollered.
After the band got everything packed up Saeko and Kiyoko sat in the open doorway of their van.
“I’m glad you said yes,” Saeko said.
“Of course I said yes. I said yes on our second date but you were too embarrassed to notice.”
“Wait, really?” Saeko’s eyes went wide.
“Yes, really.” Kiyoko smiled and leaned her head against Saeko’s shoulder.
“Enough of that shit, lovebirds,” Noya said, as she shoved the last of his kit into the back of the van and shut the hatch.
“Fuck off, Noya, don’t talk to my fiancee that way.” Saeko replied, and Kiyoko kissed her again.