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Waking up with aches and pains over all of his joints, Kei Tsukishima was quickly jolted from his peaceful slumber.
Rubbing the graininess and intrusive bright lights out of his vision, Kei quickly realized that he had collapsed face-first on one of his basement's couches like an idiot. After fixing a couple of the cricks in their body, Kei turned around to search for their glasses. In spite of his currently-blurred vision, the blonde quickly noticed the lenses and placed the glasses back on his face. As if to further test out his vision, Kei took a quiet moment to capture the monotonous scenery of his basement.
From there, the bespectacled blonde could see a pile of unconscious and tangled-up bodies resting on the carpet, clashing heavily against the basement’s usual monotony. And unfortunately, Kei knows these bodies all too well. They were of his four bandmates.
Honestly, how a cold and unmotivated soul like Kei managed to get Shanghai-ed into being the keyboardist for a rock band is beyond even his above-average intellect. And worst of all, said cold and unmotivated soul actually enjoys the company of the "colorful" bunch, currently strewn about, all over the basement's floor. The blonde had no idea how it happened, but somehow the ragtag bunch of misfits currently having an impromptu sleepover at his place, managed to get together and become one of the most major aspects of Kei's life: a rock music group known as Milky Way.
Using his body as a bed for one of the other bodies was Tadashi Yamaguchi, Milky Way's drummer.
Having known the greenette since grade school, Kei could very comfortably point out the many good and bad points of the boy. One of Tadashi's best points was his big heart, filled to the brim with love and appreciation for others. However, being his childhood friend, Kei also knows that people have taken advantage of that big heart. Whether that be shunting off homework and other duties onto him or just plain bullying him, people (especially wretched bandmates of the past) always seem intent on turning one of Tadashi's biggest strengths into one of his biggest handicaps.
However, after getting recruited into the band by their intrepid leader, the freckled boy quickly became more confident and assertive, without losing even a bit of the innocent charm that makes him endearing to all four of his lovers.
Resting her head on Tadashi's stomach and chest was Hitoka Yachi, Milky Way's bassist and primary designer.
Originally meeting (or, more like bumping into her) at a concert the irksome ginger dragged him to (headed by his embarrassing brother, no less), Kei could barely distinguish her from any of the other concert's patrons. However, in a desperate attempt to fill in for the absence of his brother's band, Shoyo had the bright idea of leaping onto stage, playing the guitar and singing some random improvised tune, featuring Kei as back up. Pushing past her persistent neuroses, Hitoka got up onto the stage and added a bassline to the ginger's improvised tune. This would be the first ever exposure both Kei and Shoyo had to Hitoka's hidden courageous side.
Much like with Tadashi, Hitoka quickly became more confident in herself and was able to establish herself as a proud bassist and designer for Milky Way. In fact, the petite blonde managed to gain enough confidence to be the person that helped each band member realize their respective romantic feelings for the remaining group members.
Burying their head into Tadashi's neck and wrapping their arms tightly around the green-haired boy's midsection was Tobio Kageyama, Milky Way's guitarist.
When first meeting Tobio, Kei was impressed by both the ravenette's guitar-playing skills and willingness to scold Shoyo for his more idiotic moments. However, within the next couple of days of getting to know them, Kei realized that, while they're still an excellent guitarist, Tobio is only intelligent when it comes to guitar-playing and bird care (owning several crows as pets), and is otherwise on Shoyo's level of intellect.
But while Tobio is far from a people person (which Kei fully understands) and needs considerable help with exams, they are still a proud member of Milky Way. In fact, there are about two instances in which you’ll ever see the normally-dour youth smile: when they’re caring for their many pet crows and when they and their group have just had a successful concert. That, and Tobio helped come up with the band name. (They had their favorite drink in mind, and any astronomical references were completely unintentional.)
And curled up on top of them all was Shoyo Hinata, Milky Way’s other guitarist, lead vocalist, and leader.
Where to start with Shoyo Hinata?
Everything about Shoyo seemed to exist to be the diametric opposite of Kei. Whereas Kei is tall, intelligent, and has a constant air of disdain and disinterest, Shoyo was short, impulsive, and goes through every day with a sense of cheer and exuberance. Ever since the curious ginger poked around in Kei’s basement and found her signature guitar, Shoyo continued to be a constant presence in Kei’s life, as was quick to stick around the blonde, even as they regularly attempted to push her away.
Kei has no idea why, but something about this nuisance sets them apart from the other many nuisances Kei has encountered throughout their lives.
In spite of his academic intelligence and general common sense being on the same low level as Tobio, the short ginger seems to have boundless emotional intelligence, allowing him to sense the hidden baggage of his schoolmates. With nothing but his natural charisma and reckless abandon, Shoyo managed to not only recruit all four of his bandmates, but also managed to break down the emotional walls that originally barred them from music, all by himself. This is probably what allowed feelings of the romantic kind to blossom forth from all four bandmates, Kei included (no matter how many times he tries to deny it).
Staring at all of the sleeping bodies, Kei couldn’t help but smile. They may be massive nuisances (or at least, Shoyo and Tobio are) who always seem to find new ways to top the stupidity scale that shock and appall even Kei (the less said about the “Sakura Party” incident, the better), but at the same time, they’re his nuisances. Kei ultimately wouldn’t be the same without this group, and they would still be a directionless academically-inclined burnout.
Thanks to this ragtag team of misfits, along with revitalizing a dream previously thought to be long dead, Kei managed to gain a new sense of both passion and direction.
In a way, true to the band name, all of the band members come together to paint a beautiful picture of a sprawling galaxy. Taking just one of these elements out of the grand picture would twist it into something unrecognizable and not worthy of being called a “milky way”. In spite of many differences, all of the components come together to form something truly amazing.
Tobio is the dark and dominating yet highly-crucial night sky, Hitoka is quite accurately represented by the small yet brightly-shining stars that dot and light up the night sky, Tadashi is, quite aptly, the green and life-sustaining planets, Kei is the cold yet picturesque moon that’s regularly seen around the planet, and in the center of all this, is the warm and passionate sun, represented by Shoyo.
The loud ringing of a bell from atop the basement’s stairwell snapped Kei out of his daydreams, as irritation quickly overtook his features. Of course, their idiot brother would seek to ruin their quiet moment with the band, even if it was unintentional (and even that’s debatable).
Akiteru: (loudly) Everyone! Breakfast is ready! I made pancakes!
Kei: (muttering under his breath, irritated) Could you not?...
After the loud ring of the bell and the sugary-sweet smell of breakfast filled all their orifices, the four rock musicians were quick to stir from their slumber, some quicker than others, and rushed up the stairs. It’s almost as if they didn’t just have a physically-and-mentally-taxing practice session that lasted until the middle of the night, and ended in everyone collapsing from exhaustion.
Shoyo: (excited) WOO! PANCAKES!
Tobio: (irritated and exhausted) Oh, would you just SHUT UP?!
Tadashi: (yawning) C’mon, now…let’s go eat…
While Shoyo, Tobio, and Tadashi headed up the stairwell and followed Akiteru to the kitchen, Hitoka was quick to notice that Kei remained completely still.
Hitoka: (confused) Um…Kei? Aren’t you coming with us?
Still irritated by his brother’s ruining of a potentially-tender moment, Kei wordlessly climbed up the staircase, leaving a bewildered Hitoka to follow him.
Hitoka: (internally) I wonder what caused him to zone out like that...