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Yu~ki paced nervously back and forth, threatening to burn a hole in the studio carpet. Three things were bothering him today, which was only a slight increase in what bothered him on a usual day.
First of all, he was the only one here. Somebody had let him in when he arrived, tracing the familiar path to the same old practice space he hadn’t visited for years, but once he’d clambered out of the elevator with his gear, he was met with complete silence.
Usually, Mana would’ve been sitting at the desk as if he owned the place (he didn’t, but that never stopped him from exerting whatever authority he had) and reprimanding him for being only ten minutes early—which is why he’d come fifteen minutes early.
That led him to the second thing. It was nearly five minutes past, and there was still no sign of life, which meant Közi was late (as usual) and that Mana would yell at him or hit him with a ruler, which Közi actually seemed to like. Regardless of what Közi thought about Mana’s physical and psychological and verbal abuse, Yu~ki dreaded seeing them go at it—he already had lasting mental scars from the previous years, and Közi’s apparent chronic apathy towards the whole situation made those memories flare to life in his already jumbled head.
The third thing was the worst, though. Despite Mana’s rather unsettling absence, Yu~ki was sure he’d appear when he least expected it. And when he did, Yu~ki would have to tell him the uncomfortable truth.
Suddenly, the outer doorway buzzed. Someone was coming. Yu~ki sat down and straightened his back in his best attempt to seem like he hadn’t been panicking. He didn’t have high hopes that it would work, though. Especially when he saw who it was.
“Good morning,” Közi said as he half-stumbled through the door, a massive cup of coffee in his hand, his guitar case slung over his back.
“Uh,” Yu~ki stole a quick glance at the clock overhead. “It’s, like, past noon.”
Közi smirked. “I said what I said.” He clumsily set his things down behind the desk, apparently not noticing or caring about the lack of Mana occupying it, and leaned against the wood, pulling his sunglasses down to get a better look at Yu~ki, who was still trying his damndest to look normal.
“What the hell’s wrong with you?” he asked with a raspy laugh.
Yu~ki wrung his hands together in his lap, giving one last glance around the room just to be extra sure that Mana wouldn’t hear him; he could be hiding in the walls, for all he knew.
“I, uh,” he began, finding it more difficult than he thought to get the words out. “I… forgot how to play our songs.”
Silence. Yu~ki waited patiently, but Közi only stared at him for a long moment with his mouth open, his tinted sunglasses resting precariously between two fingers.
“I know, I feel so bad, but I can’t remember! Mana’s going to be so mad at me! What should I say?”
Then, Közi grinned in the same way he did when he knew he’d just gotten away with something. It did not make Yu~ki feel any better, however. In fact, it did the complete opposite.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, finally whipping his glasses off and shoving them into his breast pocket, where they hung haphazardly. “I don’t remember that shit either.”
“Wh…what?”
Közi scoffed. “You think I practice it?” he said, chuckling. “Why would I?”
“Well, I mean, we’re supposed to be playing it. Isn’t Mana—”
“Ah, forget about Mana for a second,” Közi interrupted with a dismissive wave of his hand. “He doesn’t have to know.”
“I mean, yes? He does?” Yu~ki was beginning to really panic now. Then again, having a one-on-one conversation with Közi often had that effect on him. “How will he not know?”
“Just turn your amp off, whatever,” Közi said, yanking a donut from his other jacket pocket and shoving it halfway into his mouth. “Works for me.” Whatever he said next, Yu~ki couldn’t understand on account of the donut. Közi didn’t seem to care and continued talking into it.
“Okay, well, when he gets here, what do you think we should tell him?” Yu~ki asked when Közi finally swallowed what was in his mouth.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Leave it to me.”
As if on cue, the interior door opened and Mana stepped out, a stack of mismatched paper in his arms. They had clearly been well used, the corners crinkled and the edges not quite laying flat. A pair of headphones sat atop his messier-than-usual hair, pushed to the side to expose one ear. The end of the cord hung by his side as if he’d abruptly walked away from whatever it was plugged into.
“Mana-chan!” Közi said, sauntering over to pull him into a hug. Mana just stood there, eyes glazed over, not even reacting to the fact that Közi had a smear of chocolate icing on his face. Közi seemed to pick up on this and held him by the shoulders, examining him like a relative might do to a child they hadn’t seen in a long time.
“You look like shit today!”
Yu~ki flinched, waiting for the inevitable snap, but it didn’t come. Instead, Mana absentmindedly placed his things on the desk and slid the headphones around his neck before turning to face both of them.
“Good morning,” he said, staring blankly forward, the bags under his tired eyes seemingly weighing down his entire face. It was different from the disturbingly neutral expression he often had—that was purposeful. This was not.
Közi noticed this, too, his face scrunching up in some apparent show of concern. “It’s, like, past noon,” he said, looking at the wall clock, then at Mana, who pinched the bridge of his nose and simply nodded as if the mistake didn’t completely paralyze him with annoyance. “Have you been up all night?”
Mana hummed in agreement, finally noticing the time, his brow furrowing at the hours passing too quickly for his liking.
“Whaaat… without me?”
“I was busy,” he answered simply. Finally, he noticed Közi’s general unkempt vibe (not necessarily abnormal, but it was a bit late in the day for that) and the chocolate smear on his face, the corner of his mouth twitching in disapproval.
“Now,” he said, collecting himself a bit more before turning his gaze towards Yu~ki, “I hope you’re both prepared.”
“Well, about that,” Közi said, directing Mana’s attention toward him once again. “Yu~ki-chan is keeping a secret from you.”
Mana clicked his tongue before Yu~ki could interject. “I don’t have time for this.”
“For Yu~ki-chan?”
Mana, still in Közi’s grip, came to his senses and shoved his way out. “No,” he said, brushing off the shoulder of his jacket, “for your bullshit.”
“Mana-chan, that’s cruel…”
“Look, did you come here to practice or not?” Mana snapped, apparently fully awake thanks to Közi’s prodding.
“Course I did,” Közi answered with a smirk. “But there’s a problem.”
“No, no problem at all!” Yu~ki interrupted, sounding more panicked than he’d meant to. He started to get up from his chair in some attempt to stop Közi from saying what he knew he was going to say, but of course, he wasn’t fast enough.
“Yu~ki-chan forgot all his bass lines!”
“Közi!”
But Közi just laughed while Mana fixed him with a cold stare, his eyes beginning to pierce deep into Yu~ki’s soul in that all too familiar way.
“Közi forgot his parts too!” he blurted out, pointing an accusing finger at his bandmate, who just shrugged.
“Are you serious?” Mana asked, crossing his arms. He turned to Közi, who was giggling next to him. “You showed up without knowing what to play?”
“I mean, yes,” Közi answered. “How is that different from normal?”
“I expected a little better from you, that’s all,” Mana said, clearly trying his best to reign in his frustration, one fist clenched atop the pile of paper he’d left on the desk between him and Közi.
“Especially you,” Mana said, whirling around to face Yu~ki. “This one always disappoints me,” he gestured to Közi with his thumb, “but you—well, apparently, the bare minimum was just too much to ask!” Mana said, throwing his hands up.
“Ease off him,” Közi said as Yu~ki sat back down in his chair with no rebuttal. “He didn’t do anything.”
“That’s exactly the problem!” Mana said, one hand tangling in his already messy hair. “You didn’t do anything!”
“Hey guys,” Yu~ki butted in, finding the strength to stand on his shaky little legs, his anxious heart threatening to burst in his chest. “Can we just stop arguing and—”
Mana let out a frustrated sigh and stormed off, pacing in a little circle and looping tenuously close to the exit, both hands in his hair while muttering something to himself. He’d left Közi alone by the desk, and as he watched Mana go, his attention was drawn to what he’d left behind: the stack of paper, pinned and separated three ways, dangling close to the edge.
Whatever he saw made him smile—that same devious look he’d had on before Mana crashed the party. For once, Yu~ki found comfort in his expression and closed the distance between them just in time to see Közi pick up the sheets.
At the sound of paper rustling, Mana stopped mid-step, his head whipping around to stare daggers at Közi. The look sent a cold shock down Yu~ki’s spine, and he prepared for the worst.
“You were busy though, hm?” Közi said, wiggling the crunchy papers in his hand like a matador teasing a raging bull forward. Yu~ki tried to grab him by the arm to stop him, but Közi swiftly yanked the pages away.
“I—” Mana stuttered, which was a first. He took several hurried steps and crossed the room, one hand extended. “Give that back, it’s important.”
“Nah,” Közi said as he leafed through it, turning his back to Mana, who momentarily revved up to do something reckless before his posture collapsed into reticent admission. “What is this, huh?”
Mana crossed his arms silently, tapping one foot on the floor, staring at the carpet.
“Huh?” Közi taunted him again with the page, punctuating the question with his crooked smirk. “I think you owe Yu~ki-chan an apology.”
“Fine,” Mana said, tilting his head up in stubborn defiance. He spun on his heels and took several small steps to where Yu~ki stood. Közi lingered between with a snide grin on his face as he slid several pages out for himself. He handed the others Mana freely, who snatched them up without hesitation.
Mana shifted the stack of paper and pulled one pinned section away from the rest, handing it to Yu~ki. He was fully expecting some kind of elaborate rejection letter or further insult to his irresponsible character, but to his surprise, it was a sheet of tablature, the markings hastily penned in amidst a minefield of coffee stains.
“I transcribed this for you,” Mana said, his voice strained as if saying a kind thing was the most difficult task in the universe. “It took me—” he glanced at the clock “—a while.”
“Um, thanks,” Yu~ki said. “But why did you go to all this trouble?”
He didn’t really have to ask. But he would, because Közi was gloating, and Mana was silently fuming at being found out, and to Yu~ki, all matters of who was catching who in a faux pas had now equalized.
“Because…” Mana said, letting out a strained breath.
“...I also forgot my guitar parts.”
Közi let out a satisfied cackle at the admission, throwing his arms around both his bandmates and pulling them in close—close enough that Mana now also had a smear of chocolate icing on his cheek. While he didn’t exactly return the kind gesture, the tiniest hint of a smile crept onto his face.
And just like that, Yu~ki had three fewer things to worry about.