Work Text:
“Tonight, again.”
The remnants of Akito’s singing voice reverberate through the empty, dimly lit space that is crase cafe at night time. It’s nearly three in the morning, and his heart and mind are racing, thoughts and feelings moving at lightspeed— way too fast for Akito to process. The music accompaniment finishes and Akito lets out an exhale he didn’t know he was holding. Singing helped him ease his mind a little; music is his craft, and people tend to be the happiest when they’re doing the things they love. Akito is no exception to that norm.
He stands in silence for a few seconds, analyzing his performance. It was an objectively good attempt at practicing his vocal range; Garando was pretty difficult to sing, after all. He
should
be proud of himself for being able to sing at that caliber at such an unholy hour.
However, he thinks, it’s not nearly good enough. He needs to practice more.
With that, he picks up the microphone again, and shuffles through the songs on his phone, eventually settling on Uninterrupted Indigo, launching into song once again. His feet shuffle against the mahogany floorboards of the crase cafe stage as he freestyles a choreography, and he’s so focused on his footwork and making sure his voice sounds not too gruff but also not too nasally that he doesn’t notice the doorbell chime as the door opens.
He only realizes he has an audience when quiet applause follows his grand finish. His eyes widen as Kohane (when did she get here?!) smiles at him. She looks different, under the dimmer glow of the stage spotlights at night, under the sparkling lenses sleep deprivation tends to bring. Her hair is loose, she’s wearing her glasses, and she’s not in her usual attire, opting for her pajamas instead.
It’s cute, Akito’s inner voice suggests, but he immediately stomps down that thought with a She’s just your friend, what are you thinking?
Akito isn’t one to judge though, because he’s also in his PJs, his hair’s a mess, and he’s wearing his glasses too, and he looks like an absolute dork, sliding around the stage in his Gudetama-patterned socks.
“Wha-” Akito begins (very eloquently if he must say so himself), and Kohane giggles and greets him with a small nod.
“That was great,” she compliments. Akito stares at her dumbly.
“What are you doing here?”
“Same as you, I guess,” she shrugs sheepishly. “I couldn’t sleep.”
Akito nods as a comfortable silence hangs in the air, taking in that information. Kohane presses on, breaking that silence.
“Do you always sing when you can’t sleep?”
“It helps,” Akito nods as Kohane climbs onto the stage. He hands a second mic to her, and chuckles awkwardly when her hand brushes against his as she takes it.
“Have you tried it?”
“Once or twice,” Kohane answers as she tests her mic. She turns to him once she realizes it’s working and Akito smirks.
“You know, I’ve never tried a duet at three in the morning before,” he begins before he gives her a knowing look, “You look like you’re raring to try it.”
“I might be.” Kohane grins in return. “Shall we try something new?”
Akito doesn’t hesitate to open his playlist, queueing Meltdown. Kohane gives him a determined nod as the piano intro begins. Her feet begin to follow the rhythm of the song and she outstretches a hand to Akito.
Akito stands stunned before he smiles. What else can he do but take her hand?
With his other hand, he raises his mic to his lips and begins to gently sing in his higher register, “ The city’s lights are spectacular, but I feel ether’s lingering chill.”
He uses the fact that he’s holding Kohane’s hand as an opportunity to gently step backwards, leading Kohane to step forward with her eyes trained on him. She’s beaming and Akito feels his heart race as he continues, “ I can’t sleep, it’s 2 AM.”
“It’s three, actually” he hears Kohane mutter quietly, and he chuckles into his next line, adding an air of lightheartedness to the song.
“ And everything seems to move so quickly. ”
He twirls Kohane around and she laughs as she raises the mic to sing in response. Her voice is made of glass, crystal clear and dazzling, and Akito doesn’t take his eyes off of her as she belts out her part.
“I’m like a lighter out of fluid, my insides are on fire.”
She pulls Akito close to her, causing him to stumble (Gudetama socks weren’t the grippiest footwear, after all), but she continues, holding on to him as he regains his footing. Her hold on him sends tingles up his spine and, in turn, sends him reeling to regain his composure.
“Sometimes I wish it was all a lie.”
Akito scans Kohane’s face as he joins her, “ In my dream, I strangled you, in the languid afternoon light.”
He glides to his right, sliding in his socks and Kohane mimics his actions with eager eyes and a wide smile. She looks so radiant, confident in this moment like she truly belongs here— where it’s just the two of them— and Akito almost falters as he’s reminded that he once doubted her. He quickly recovers to sing his next line along with her, forcing down the guilt that threatens to bubble up and spill over as a problem to deal with later.
“I watch your throat, thin and twitching.”
They sing in unison as Kohane steps closer. Akito ends up stepping back, almost as if he is scared, and Kohane’s grin falters a bit. She must have noticed that something unpleasant popped in his head. She presses on, plastering a smile back onto her face as she sings.
“ Through eyes brimming with tears.”
They both tear their gaze from one another to pour their soul into the following high note before launching into the chorus. Kohane trains her gaze on him once more and Akito watches her carefully as he does a small spin, using her as a reference for his spotting.
“If I jumped into the core, I’d vanish like I’d gone to sleep.”
While they belt out the chorus, something shifts in Kohane’s voice — she sounds more determined (somehow; she’s already one of the most determined people he knows, aside from his sister). Akito realizes that he has to match that shift in her tone in order to keep the song sounding cohesive and harmonious, so he lowers his voice, reharmonizes with her and puts a little more of his chest into his voice.
“A morning without me would be perfect”
They sound great, but even great is an understatement. Akito’s baffled on why he’s barely ever sung a duet with her before. There was that one time An suggested they trade partners and try singing and he and Kohane sang a rendition of Children Record against An and Toya, but that was back when Vivid BAD SQUAD was still learning the ropes. They both have evolved so much since then. He’s gotten better at singing and firing up a crowd, and she… well, she was already good at singing to begin with, but she sounded more confident, more mature, more beautiful- stop it, Akito.
“All the gears meshing together,”
They’re reaching the part where Akito really needs to focus on how he sounds and not on… well… everything about Kohane, so he looks away once more, and his voice intertwines with Kohane’s in the air as he sings his heart out. He makes a note to talk to Kohane about whatever’s going on in his head afterward, and focuses on the present.
“That’s how the world would be.”
When they sing the last line, they harmonize together until the high note at the very end. Akito feels his heart beat faster when he hits the note just right and he swears he’ll never get used to the rush of adrenaline that follows. The music fades out shortly after they stop, and Kohane smiles at Akito like the two of them just hung the stars up in the sky together. She switches off her mic and sets it aside.
“You sounded great,” she begins, “ We sounded great. Amazing even. You’re right, this does help.”
Akito chuckles and nods in agreement. “We really did.”
Silence hangs in the air following his response, and Kohane is still smiling at him, making eye contact with him and he doesn’t know what to do with himself. He tends to be a bit of an impulsive person from time to time, so before he can even think about it, he ends up blurting out:
“I’m sorry.”
Kohane’s smile morphs into a look of surprise, before her brows furrow in confusion.
“Why are you sorry?”
“Uh,” Akito begins, eloquently, “I never really apologized to you for the way I acted when we first met. I really underestimated you and I still feel really bad about that. It’s just that I felt-”
Kohane laughs. She laughs, and Akito pauses his spiel to stare at her in disbelief. Did he say something stupid? Why did he care so much in the first place? It’s not like he cared when people laughed at what he’s done or said in the past.
“Why are you laughing?” He asks quietly and Kohane’s laughter subsides.
“No, it’s just that-” she begins, regaining her composure before addressing his question. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me, Akito. We’ve known each other for a long time, now, and if I know anything, it’s that you’re not that kind of person. You’re always trying to prove yourself to the world. I get that your actions back then were just you trying to prove yourself to me. You’re good.”
“Weren’t you ever upset?” Akito asks.
“Well, yeah, at some point I was.” Kohane says, “But I got to meet and get to know the real you. I couldn’t stay mad after you taught me about microphone types, and you hyped me up after the first couple of performances we had as a group. And then I learned about the fire inside your heart, and everything made a lot of sense to me. I’ve grown to consider you as one of my best friends, Akito. I admire you a lot.”
Akito smiles softly, genuinely touched.
“I’m glad you feel that way. I admire you a lot too.”
Kohane grins before she opens up her arms for a hug. Akito willingly wraps her up in one, glad that they could talk things out and set things straight. She’s warm, he thinks, and he holds her just a tad bit tighter.
His heart is slamming against his ribs as if it is trying to escape his chest, and he’s secretly hoping that Kohane couldn’t feel that sensation. He’s honestly so glad that Kohane held him in high regards. She is so kind-hearted, and powerful, and oh.
Akito’s breath hitches as the puzzle pieces click together in his head, and the thoughts he’s been silencing finally spill into his brain. Oh. Kohane feels the way he stiffens in her hold and she hears the light inhale he takes in. She takes a step back, tilting her head in confusion and she almost looks like a lost hamster (in the most adorable way possible).
“Everything good?” she asks, cautiously.
Akito sets the mental puzzle aside. Everything’s more than good— here he is, singing with someone he loves (yeah, loves ), and he wants the moment to last forever. Kohane’s standing before him, and there’s still the entire night and a playlist waiting ahead of them. Akito certainly couldn’t fall asleep just yet, and from what it looks like, Kohane can’t either.
“Everything’s perfect.” Akito breathes, before smiling encouragingly at Kohane. He picks up the mic she set down, and turns it on again, testing it before handing it to her.
“Ya wanna go again?” He asks, trying to be nonchalant about it, in case she was indeed sleepy and wanted to get some rest. Kohane gives him that determined smile of hers that makes his heart skip a bit.
“I got all night.”
With that, Akito queues another song on the playlist. They sing their hearts out, dance until they collapse and become laughing messes on the floor, and talk until their batteries run empty. Despite the extremely informal outfits they were wearing, it proved to be a magical night for both of them.
(And the next morning, when Meiko walks in to upon up crase cafe, she sees Akito and Kohane asleep on one of the couches, limbs tangled with one another. Her head rests on his chest and he holds her in his sleep, and Meiko smiles knowingly.
“These kids are going to be the death of me.” She mutters to herself.
She lets them sleep a little while longer. It looks like they had an amazing time together.
And they sure did.)