Chapter Text
“One! Two! One, two, three, four!”
The silence of the small garage is quickly replaced as the chanting and hitting of drumsticks ushers in thunderous music. It’s a familiar song to everyone in the room, though it’s unlikely anyone outside of their circle would've ever heard it before. It’s loud, it’s bold – it’s far from perfect but no one cares. If the drummer is a half beat off, no one comments. If the bassist plays the wrong riff, the mistake is immediately forgiven. If the guitarist fumbles on the strings because he’s too focused on getting the vocals just right, no one even notices because they’re all too enthralled in the sound to care.
The only one who could possibly notice is the blonde sitting on the beat up, battered, probably moldy couch. He’s invited to every practice and jam session and he’s never missed a single one. Such is the life of a groupie. Sure, he knows the band he’s tagged along with since their formation isn’t anything to write home about, but somehow what anyone else would describe as a cacophony of sound, he’d describe as a major comfort.
It’s a relatively newer song that they’re playing, one that the lead vocalist wrote. It’s not often that he comes up with the lyrics – usually the bassist writes their surprisingly poetic songs – but the three found it interesting enough to try out. The words are near-incomprehensible and he’s not sure if they have any meaning whatsoever, but he’d be lying if he said the tune isn’t catchy. The guy is obnoxious, but he’s undeniably the most talented member of the band.
With a final riff of the guitar the song is over and the drummer is already excitedly rushing over to the couch.
“How was it, Kou-kun?” She asks between heavy breaths. Her face is noticeably pink and her microbangs are slick against the sweat on her forehead. Most people would be somewhat disconcerted by the hot air practically emanating off the girl only a few inches away from him, but he’s always found it adorable how quickly Nene gets winded even after so long of playing the instrument. “I think I kept the tempo a lot better than last practice, don’t you think?”
He nods with a grin, a faint blush dusting his cheeks. “Yeah, you were great!” He tosses her the small towel hanging over the end of the couch and she immediately begins to wipe her face. “I could never play something as fast as that.”
“Probably not!” Another voice chimes in. The boy slaps the back of her shoulders and recoils, looking at his hand in shock. “Wow! Your back is soaked~!”
Nene turns around in horror and smacks his face. “D-don’t say things like that to a girl, Tsukasa-kun!” She shrieks and buries her face in her hands.
Her words visibly don’t register in his mind, his face remaining unchanged as he rubs his hand off on his brother’s arm and tries to play it off by clinging to him. “Are we leaving soon? I wanna relax in the car already…”
Nene perks up. “Can I sit in the front? I could use the air conditioning…”
“Yeah I guess s–”
“Nope! In Amane’s car, I’m always the passenger princess,” He clings tighter to his brother’s arm. “Right?”
Amane purses his lips and doesn’t speak another word making Nene’s jaw drop.
“But!” She puffs her cheeks. “You’re the one who told me I was soak…!” The sentence dies on her tongue as she clenches her fists. “Why can’t we take Kou-kun’s car? You’d let me sit in the front, wouldn’t you?” She folds her hands and looks up at him with puppy dog eyes. He’d be inclined to say yes, but…
“Wasn’t your license suspended?” Tsukasa taps a finger to his chin with an annoyingly inquisitive expression. Kou cringes when two pairs of wide eyes fall on him.
“Um…” He rubs the back of his neck. “Only for a few months…”
Amane fails to stifle a laugh. “How’d you manage that? You didn’t kill anyone did you?”
The joke flies completely over Nene’s head and the girl gasps more deeply than Kou has ever heard in his life. “N-no!” He exclaims. “I just got into too many small accidents and got a bunch of tickets…” Kou clenches his teeth and shakes his head. “Nevermind that! Let’s go already…”
The four leave the stuffy garage and file into the car. To Nene’s dismay, Amane apparently has no backbone when it comes to his brother, because he successfully takes the front seat and locks his door before anyone can try to drag him out. Kou and Nene take a while to Tetris themselves into the back seat around all of the fast food bags and various sweatshirts cluttering the space.
“Your car is disgusting, Amane-kun…” Nene complains after narrowly avoiding pressing her hand into a dangerous-looking stain.
He puts the car in reverse and makes eye contact when he turns around in his seat. “I’m way too busy to get around to cleaning it. Maybe if it bothers you so much you could help me clean it?” He grins fake-hopefully.
She crosses her arms and looks out the window. “I’d rather scrub your and Tsukasa-kun’s gross bathroom!”
“Ha! I wouldn’t mind that either,” He remarks, adjusting his mirror before turning onto the main street. “Though that’s more of his mess than mine,” He nudges Tsukasa’s arm. “It’s a wonder your boyfriend doesn’t mind being with such a slob.”
Tsukasa shrugs as he skims through CDs in the glove box. “It used to annoy him, but he doesn’t bother nagging me about it anymore,”
“That’s right!” Nene exclaims, gripping the headrest of Tsukasa’s seat and leaning over the side. “He’s meeting us at karaoke, isn’t he? I can’t wait to meet him!”
Amane lightly smacks her hand with a nonaggressive glare. “Put on your seatbelt, Yashiro.”
Kou raises an eyebrow as he absently watches her buckle up with a pout. “Yeah, do you know when he’s coming?” He’d be lying if he claimed to care even the smallest amount about Tsukasa’s love life, but he’s at least a little interested to see what type of person would ever consider putting up with him on a daily basis. Either they’re some poor soul who didn’t realize what they were getting into until it was too late, or they’re equally or more insane than the guy. Neither option sounds like it’ll be fun to be around, but it could make for some interesting free entertainment.
“Oh, he’s been there for about a half an hour,” He says with a nonchalant smile, texting someone on his flip phone. “He was blowing up my phone during rehearsal so I had to mute him.”
Amane narrows his eyes and shares a look with Kou through the rear view mirror. “Did you tell him when we’d be there…?”
“Hmm… No, I don’t think so!” He closes his phone with a loud snap and happily looks out the window. “Wanna play I spy?”
“Maybe you should let him know we’re on the way…” Nene says. “He’s probably all alone over there…”
Everyone’s gazes drift expectantly to Tsukasa, who is silent for a few while his eyes fixed on something outside the window. After a few moments he clicks his tongue. “I spy something green.”
It doesn’t take long to spot his mysterious boyfriend when they reach their destination, because the moment they walk into the building a guy with a face nearly as pink as his hair and cardigan intercepts the group with a scowl pointed directly at Tsukasa, the heavy tears in his angry eyes threatening to spill over.
Tsukasa smiles innocently. “Hi, Mitsu–”
“Where were you!?” He all but shrieks. “You said you’d be here at 5 o’clock! Haven’t you checked your phone at all!? I’ve been trying to reach you for forty-five minutes!” He wipes his eyes with his oversized sleeves. “They were gonna kick me out if you didn’t come soon! And you only gave me enough money for a ride here, so I would’ve been stranded outside in the heat…”
Kou plunges his hands in his pockets and exchanges glances with Amane and Nene, who seem to feel equally as awkward as he does. On second thought, Amane actually looks less awkward and more like he wants to die watching the scene before them unfold.
Tsukasa hums thoughtfully. “You’d probably end up getting hot in that sweater if that happened.”
He didn’t realize it was possible for this guy to look angrier than he was before, but his body tenses infinitely more and his cheeks become completely red. He clutches the end of his cardigan tight enough for his knuckles to turn white, and for a moment, Kou feels genuine pity for the poor dude.
“You…! I shouldn’t have to put up with this! I’m going home,” He spits and marches right past the three onlookers and towards the door.
Tsukasa raises his eyebrows and tilts his head. “Didn’t you say you couldn’t find a ride? I doubt you could walk all the way home from here, Mitsuba.”
That causes him to stop clean in his tracks. He mumbles a string of curses under his breath before turning around and getting in Tsukasa’s face. “Send me money for a rideshare then. You owe it to me for everything you put me through today!” He taps his phone against his chest.
He takes his flip phone out of his pocket and wiggles it in the air. “My phone doesn’t do that.”
The guy – Mitsuba, apparently – looks like he’s at his wits end before he approaches Amane with pleading eyes. “Please drive me home, Amane-kun… I’ll owe you one!”
He desperately looks back and forth between his brother and Mitsuba, seemingly torn between the two choices. He shares a final look with Tsukasa who seems to be communicating something via twin ESP and sighs. “I’m sorry. I can’t leave him alone here,” Shame drips from his voice as his gaze falls to the ground.
Mitsuba deflates, then looks to Kou and Nene reluctantly. “Um…” He fiddles with his sleeves. “I know we don’t know each other, but could you help me get a ride by any chance…?”
The two whip around to look at one another in hopes that the other has an idea, but the shared guilt hanging over both of them quickly makes them realize they’ll have to let this poor guy down.
“I’m sorry,” Nene starts. “Mitsuba-kun, was it? I’m actually waiting for a couple of my friends to join us, so…” She trails off. Mitsuba frets and turns his attention to Kou. Damn it, why does he have to be the one to put the final nail in the coffin…!?
“Uh,” He grits his teeth. “I, um…”
“His license is suspended,” Tsukasa supplies a little too eagerly. Kou shoots him a glare and Mitsuba glances between them with an incredulous expression.
“Seriously?” He barks out a humorless laugh. “What, is that stupid traffic safety earring just for show or something!?” He flicks the charm dangling from his ear and Kou raises a protective hand over it with a frown. “So what, am I just supposed to stay here? I don’t wanna be around you right now! I don’t wanna be around you ever again!” He points at Tsukasa with tears threatening to fall again, but like before, Tsukasa looks entirely unmoved. Kou isn’t sure whether to be comforted or dismayed by the fact that he shows his boyfriend that exact same frustratingly neutral smile that he shows everyone else when confronted.
“Hmm…” He rubs his chin. “Maybe you could ask Sakura and Natsuhiko to come get you?”
“Oh, so you don’t want me here!?”
His eyes widen in confusion. “I thought you said you didn’t want to be here.”
“I don’t!”
“So call Sakura and Natsuhiko.”
“No!” Mitsuba drags his hands down his face. “I’m already bumming around on their couch; I can’t just ask them to drive across town to pick me up all because my boyfriend is being a jerk! Like always!” He huffs. “I guess I’ll stay if I have no choice,” He relents, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “But I’m not singing a duet with you anymore!”
It’s an awkward walk to their reserved room for sure, the two lovebirds purposefully walking on opposite ends of the group from one another. Well, Mitsuba is. It seems like Tsukasa doesn’t have a care in the world as long as he’s walking alongside Amane. Kou feels inclined to whisper to Nene about what they just witnessed, but Mitsuba is walking right beside her while nervously fiddling with his sweater. Safe to say it’s not the time to be gossiping about the guy.
He’s not what Kou was expecting at all. It’s not like he ever had a clear idea of what kind of person Tsukasa might date, but whatever he might have been thinking, it’s not Mitsuba. Immediately sticking out to him is the pink hair. It’s a bold choice – an even bolder choice for a man. Well, he supposes he is gay, so maybe it’s not actually all that bold. Is that a stereotype? Surely not. Actually, he could be bi. How silly of him to forget about his own orientation! Still, he’s very visibly queer, and as much as Kou would like to stress that it’s not a bad thing, it doesn’t seem like the type of thing Tsukasa would be into.
Hell, the guy had never mentioned anything about liking men until he randomly brought up his boyfriend one day at rehearsal! Apparently he was the last one to find out. It shouldn’t have been as shocking as it was – nearly everyone in his circle has come out in one way or another in the last few years – but something about imagining Tsukasa having a genuine crush on someone is hard for him to believe.
And judging by the way he refuses to even address his so-called “boyfriend,” he still finds it difficult.
According to Amane there’s some sort of story behind it. Kou had to hold back from wrestling him to the floor when he refused to provide any more information than that. What story could explain such an odd pairing of people? Tsukasa can be a bit over-affectionate at times, so maybe he accidentally wooed this guy. Maybe Mitsuba is touch starved and took his physicality to heart? It wouldn’t be shocking, judging by the guy’s slightly anxious body language. But that could also be as a result of the embarrassment from arguing in front of people he doesn’t know. Who’s to say? Kou’s not a psychologist.
So maybe Tsukasa cuddles with him. That’s well and good, but there’s got to be something else to the two of them that he’s not seeing. Maybe Mitsuba finds him attractive? It’s unfortunately likely. As much as he’d like to claim that there’s important distinctions between the two, the Yugi twins are decently good-looking. He wouldn’t blame him for falling for that alone, but…
Kou cringes. There’s no way their relationship is purely physical. Picturing the two of them kissing is extremely strange, and the idea of them doing anything more is too bizarre for him to even find it in himself to blush at.
“Could you stop undressing me with your eyes?”
He’s swiftly taken out of his thoughts by a voice that’s temporarily unfamiliar to him before realizing it belongs to the subject of his pondering. Nene apparently walked ahead to chat with Amane at some point, leaving Kou alone in the back of the group with Mitsuba, who is presently looking at him like he’s just caught him peeping through a bathroom stall.
“Huh?” Kou clears his throat. “Excuse me?”
“The way you’re looking at me,” He elaborates. “It’s creepy.”
His mouth forms a line. “I wasn’t looking at you.”
“Eek…” Mitsuba shoots him a look of disgust and takes a few steps away from him. “Denying it makes it even creepier…”
Oh. So he’s obnoxious. Maybe that’s the common thread.
“But I wasn’t! I was just spacing out…”
“Spacing out while staring at me,” Mitsuba corrects. “Tell me, what kind of sick fantasies were running through your head just now?”
Is he joking? Everything about his tone, his expression, and his posture says that he’s being one hundred percent serious, but the absurdity of his words is making Kou genuinely unsure.
With a shake of his head he outstretches his hand to Mitsuba and changes the subject. “So… Tsukasa didn’t bother introducing us. I’m Minamoto Kou!” He grins in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Mitsuba studies him for a moment and hesitantly shakes his hand. It’s one of the limpest handshakes Kou’s ever received. “Mitsuba.” The mood was evidently not lightened.
“How’d the two of you meet, anyway? You don’t seem like you’d be into the same things.”
He shrugs. “I dunno. I guess we ran into each other on the street?” A dainty hand buries itself into faded pink hair while the other points at Kou’s face, “I could ask you the same thing. You don’t seem like the kind of person he hangs around with, either!”
“I’m not,” He mutters. “He just happens to be in a band with my friends. I wouldn’t hang out with him willingly,” Nene turns around to shoot him a stern look and he crosses his arms in embarrassment. “Um… I guess I shouldn’t say that to his boyfriend.”
Instead of scolding him, Mitsuba lets out a surprisingly airy laugh. “No, I get it! Not everyone can get along with him…” He fiddles with the ends of his sleeves and stares into the back of his boyfriend’s head. “Even I find it difficult sometimes.”
Tsukasa glances at him over his shoulder causing Mitsuba to let out a small “Eep!” But he just looks at him for a few seconds with a blank expression and then turns back around to continue talking his brother’s ear off.
Tension visibly releases from the boy’s shoulders and Kou can’t help but gulp. Is it normal to feel such a sensation of dread rush down your spine when a couple gets in a fight in front of you? Back when Nene and Amane dated in highschool they had more than their fair share of spats and arguments, but none of them made Kou feel… cold?
He’s not able to say anything about it though, because once they reach their private room Mitsuba disappears from his side to check everything out.
“Ahh…” Nene claims her spot on the end of the couch. “I haven’t been to karaoke in so long…! Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I’ve even sung anything.”
Amane sits beside her and begins to scroll through the songs. “You’re probably better than me. I’m not really one for singing…”
“Me–” Kou is immediately intercepted by Tsukasa when he brushes past him to sit beside Amane. “–neither…” He sighs. He really doesn’t want to be the person to sit in the middle of the feuding boyfriends, but he’d rather do that than force Mitsuba to…
…Sit right next to him.
Okay.
As if he hadn’t been screaming about how he doesn’t want to see Tsukasa ever again only a few minutes ago, Mitsuba snuggles up to his side and clings to his arm with a small smile. Like nothing happened. Like he didn’t just nearly jump out of his skin simply because the guy so much as glanced at him.
Well, whatever. He doesn’t mind sitting on the opposite side of the couch from the only two people he knows in this room. Really, it’s super great. He actually prefers to sit next to such a hot and cold pairing of people that make him feel vaguely uneasy. He hopes Nene’s friends arrive soon so he has an excuse to sit on the floor.
“What are you gonna sing, Amane-kun?” Nene asks, leaning over his shoulder to look at the screen.
He smiles uncomfortably. “Since when am I going first?”
“Since you picked up the song selection!” She grins brightly. “I can sing with you if you don’t want to go alone.”
So they kick off the evening with a duet. It’s some song Kou’s not familiar with – though you could probably say that about basically any song that’s not aggressively high-tempo. Maybe it’s from a musical, or a movie or something. What’s more important is the conclusion that he quickly reaches while listening, which is that these two need to take vocals in the band far more often.
Nene’s voice has a soft yet full lilt to it. The sweet tone of her singing is just as adorable as her regular speaking voice, the only difference being her confidence in the words coming out of her mouth. If someone were to only listen casually it’s likely that they’d simply find it impressive and move on, but beyond the surface she has a surprising amount of control over her voice. It’s hard to imagine that she’s such an insecure person when she’s up there singing like this – that she so frequently stumbles over her sentences and even fails to speak at all to people she’s trying to impress.
Meanwhile, Amane was right when he said he wasn’t used to singing; it’s easy to tell that he’s not sure of himself and is actively trying to avoid the more difficult parts of the song by quieting down. But he’s by no means bad. As a matter of fact, if he had a little more faith in himself he could have just as full a voice as his brother. The song isn’t doing his remarkably androgynous vocals much justice, either. When he gets into the flow of a higher-pitched part he seemingly cuts through the air like butter, but as soon as he seems to be gaining confidence the song forces him back down the octave and he just as quickly mellows out. Given the proper chance, he’d be right up there with his bandmates
At least, those are his thoughts. His musings are probably worthless to anyone who actually knows anything; it’s not like Kou’s much of an authority on singing or even music as a whole. All he does is blast loud rock in his ears though his giant headphones and watch his friends at their rehearsals. He’s probably more of a fan than an expert.
Speaking of fans, as soon as the song is over Tsukasa hops off the couch to swing his and Amane’s arms together. “See? I told you that you had a sweet voice!”
“We have the same voice…” He’s trying to play off the compliment, but the small smile on his face says otherwise.
Tsukasa purses his lips. “Hmm… No, we sound totally different.”
Nene fiddles with the microphone awkwardly as she watches the twins get lost in their usual game of compliment showering and denial. She visibly attempts to jump in, but Tsukasa offers her no opportunities and keeps going on and on singing his praises to his brother.
Before Kou can address her, the boy next to him surprisingly pipes up. “You,” Nene blinks a couple of times and points at herself quizzically. “Yeah, you with the daikon legs. Did you do theater in school or something?”
Nene briefly bristles at the comment on her legs, but she lets it go and nods enthusiastically. “I did.”
“I can tell.”
A warm blush creeps across her face. “I wasn’t ever the lead or anything like that,” She makes her way back to the couch with a shy smile and sits beside him. “They only ever put me in the ensemble…”
Mitsuba raises his eyebrows. “Really? Well, I guess that makes sense…” He taps a finger to his lips in thought while Nene quietly frets over his words. “You have the kind of voice that’s easy to overlook.”
Kou glares and leans into their conversation. “Hey! Don’t say something like that. I thought you sounded great, senpai!”
“Relax,” Mitsuba lightly backhands his arm. “I never said it was bad. Actually, you probably had shitty casting directors if you never got a single main role. Those are the people who are supposed to be able to hear what normies like Minamoto-kun can’t.”
He scoffs. “Who are you calling a normie!? I just said that she sounded great!”
“And anyone would say that, wouldn’t they?” Mitsuba regards him with a cocky grin. “Plenty of people have great voices. Unless you’re willing to be more specific, you’re nothing but a normie with a stupid earring.”
Kou opens his mouth to retort before music starts playing through the speakers again – apparently at some point Tsukasa had roped Amane into singing a song with him. Not that he cares considering he wasn’t planning on singing unless someone asked him to, but they could’ve at least asked…
“Anyways,” Mitsuba turns back to Nene, completely ignoring both the song playing and Kou’s pissed expression. “You played off the fact that it was completely out of your range pretty well.”
Nene blushes. “W-well if you noticed it, then I probably didn’t…”
Then Mitsuba looks over his shoulder at Kou with that same annoyingly self-satisfied smile. “Did you notice, Minamoto-kun?”
“I… d– uhh…” He clamps his mouth shut. He totally hadn’t noticed! But if he admits that, this guy will only think he’s even more of a normie. Then again, if he lies and says he did, Nene will just get more self-conscious. “Well–”
“Exactly,” Dammit, he shouldn’t have taken so long to think about it! “Come to think of it, maybe you never got casted because you kept choosing audition songs that don’t actually suit the kind of voice you have. You–”
“Mitsuba!” Tsukasa is suddenly right in front of them and reaching for his arms. “Take a video of us!”
He blinks a couple times and reluctantly nods. “Okay, can I just–?” Before he can finish his sentence, Tsukasa is reaching into Mitsuba’s pocket and fishing out his phone. “H-hey!” He swats his hand. “I can get it on my own!”
But Tsukasa ignores him and continues to fish for his phone, inputting Mitsuba’s password when he finally gets it out and opening the camera app for him. “There,” He shoves it into his hands and runs back over to continue singing with his brother. With a sigh, he begins recording.
“Hey,” Kou pokes his shoulder. “Hey.”
“Shh!”
“He knows your password?” Mitsuba glances at him with a half-lidded frown and doesn’t say anything. “That’s weird.”
“Could you–!?” He rolls out his shoulders and lets out an exaggerated huff. “ No , it’s not. He just likes to take it to play shitty mobile games.”
“Why can’t he use his own phone for that?”
“Because he has a flip phone, dumbass. Aren’t you around him, like, all the time?”
“Oh yeah…” Kou looks around the room for a few moments before poking his shoulder again. “Do you know what that’s about? Whenever we ask why he doesn’t have a normal phone he doesn’t give us a straight answer.”
“If he didn’t tell you, why would he tell me?”
Kou takes on an incredulous expression. “Because you’re his boyfriend…?”
He catches Mitsuba’s lip twitch as he turns around without a response to focus on recording. He’s clearly trying to play it off as if he’s unbothered, but the way he’s spacing out and hardly getting the brothers in frame tells a different story.
After a few awkward moments the song is over and Tsukasa is back over by the couch. Without a word, he takes the phone out of Mitsuba’s hand and brings it over to Amane to show him. Mitsuba sinks into the couch and folds his hands over his stomach.
“Are either of you going to sing?” Nene asks hopefully.
“Meh,” Mitsuba flaps a lazy arm. “At some point. I don’t wanna until I’ve heard all of you,” Suddenly, a hand is pressed into the middle of Kou’s back and he’s being shoved off the couch. “You’re the last one, normie. Go wow me,” He says with a cheeky look and Kou scrunches his nose at how not-genuine he sounded.
Nene perks up. “Are you going to, Kou-kun?”
Kou stammers as he’s finally shoved off the couch. Right as he’s about to sit back down, Mitsuba sprawls out across it with an L on his forehead. “Um…”
“Do it, kid!” Amane slings an arm around his shoulders. “We won’t laugh at you too much if you’re bad at it.”
“Amane-kun!”
Kou scoffs and pinches Amane’s nose. “I’ll do it, but I have no idea what songs are in or out of my range. I’ve literally never sang before.”
“I’ve got it,” Tsukasa says nonchalantly, taking over the song selection screen once again and scrolling through. “I’ll give you something easy since you have way less experience than any of us. You don’t need a good range at all for this one!”
Amane puts his microphone into Kou’s hands with a wink and he reluctantly makes his way to the middle of the room. He waits anxiously for a moment, before frowning immediately as the music begins to play.
“I’m not singing th–!”
“BAHAHAHAH!” Mitsuba breaks out into a fit of laughter. “The wheels on the fucking bus! ” He exclaims in pure delight, pointing at him and continuing to ramble without taking a single breath. “Because you have to take the bus because you can’t drive! Because you aren’t actually safe in traffic!” He kicks his legs wildly and grabs onto Nene’s side. “Because of your stupid earring!” He heaves as he runs out of air.
“Shut up! Tsukasa, put on an actual song!”
He tilts his head. “Is this not a song? Look, I’ll even sing it with you: The wheels on the bus go–”
Kou shoves the little twerp out of his way to take over the tablet and turn off the song. “Anyone have an actual suggestion?”
“Well, what kind of music do you usually listen to?” Nene asks.
The question shouldn’t be as embarrassing as it is, seeing as he almost exclusively wears shirts of his favorite bands. Maybe it’s less embarrassment and more dismay that apparently Nene hadn’t paid as much attention to any of his metalhead-mode infodumps as he thought she did.
“I–”
“You probably listen to shit like Radiohead,” Mitsuba unhelpfully supplies with a cheeky smile. “Or Weezer.”
Kou’s gonna leave this karaoke session with a new mortal enemy. Or at the very least a migraine.
“No,” He spits. “I only like some of their music.”
“There!” Nene exclaims. “Sing one of their songs that you do like!”
An exasperated breath leaves his chest. “B-but!”
“Gonna serenade us with some Buddy Holly?” Mitsuba giggles to himself. “There’s no way you’re ever getting laid.”
“I am too!” He defends himself automatically before he can actually process the accusation. “Wait! No! I don’t even care about…” He trails off with a huff. “ Anyways , I refuse to sing any of their stuff. Amane, choose something for me.”
He flinches as if he weren’t expecting to be addressed in this conversation. “Huh? Why me?”
Kou leads him by the shoulders to the song selection. “Because everyone else wants me to make a fool of myself and you’re the only person I can trust.”
Amane raises an eyebrow. “You trust me to not make a fool out of you?” He rolls his eyes fondly at Kou’s puppy dog eyes. “Okay fine. You know we don’t have the same music tastes, though.”
“Whatever, whatever,” Kou taps his foot while he waits for the song to play.
It’s a song he’s definitely heard before, but he never cared to listen to it too closely. It’s too slow for him; a bit too sad, a bit too emotional. A bit too lovey. It’s not bad by any means, but it’s not even nearly his style. He struggles to listen to music that doesn’t make you feel like you’re moving at breakneck speed if you even attempt to focus on a certain instrument – something about it not being stimulating enough to his ADHD brain.
He clutches the mic as he attempts to recall the notes meant to accompany the lyrics on the screen. He may have heard it more than a few times driving around with Amane, but that doesn’t mean he really knows it. But the way he’s shitting it clearly seems correct, because his friends on the couch are leaning forward in awe as he nears the chorus.
Kou was being honest when he said he’d almost never sung before. Other than the various class performances he’d been forced to participate in back in elementary school, he’s never really engaged with actually creating music more than occasionally humming while listening to his headphones. It just never seemed like something that was for him.
Clearly his friends disagree.
“Kou-kun!” Nene all but shrieks the moment the song is over. “A-are you kidding me right now!? You’ve never sang before?”
Kou pushes out his lips in confusion. “No?”
“Liar!” She shakes him wildly by the shoulders. “You sound like you’ve been taking lessons since you first began to speak!”
“Why didn’t you tell us you were so good?” Amane asks with surprised eyes. “I was totally expecting you to butcher that… Dang it, the whole reason I put it in was because it was stuck in my head! I wanted you to ruin it so badly that it’d get out…” He goofily clutches his head in feigned agony. “Now it’s never gonna leave!”
“Oh, come on…” He covers his burning cheek and holds the microphone out like he’s desperate for someone to take it.
Suddenly he’s being shoved back across the room by a particularly serious-looking Mitsuba. “You’re singing something else! I need to see if you were just lucky with that song…” He all but throws him to the side as he aggressively taps on the screen to input another song. “There! Sing this.”
Kou sighs and waits in resignation for the lyrics to appear on the screen. And the moment they do, he whips around to glare at Mitsuba.
“This is in Korean!”
“Yeah? It’s k-pop. K-pop is in Korean.”
“I don’t speak Korean.”
“Hmph!” Mitsuba hops back up from the couch and skips over to snatch the mic from Kou. “Neither do I, and yet…”
Kou watches in bewilderment as he effortlessly switches into performance mode, not only singing the lyrics he can’t comprehend, but seemingly performing a choreographed dance to them. There’s no way he’s coming up with it on the fly; he had to have spent plenty of time practicing this. It’s as confusing as it is mesmerizing.
His vocals are about what Kou would’ve expected from a seemingly former musical theater kid – that is, they’re pretty amazing – but what’s even more surprising is his range. Despite almost exclusively speaking in an obnoxiously high-pitched tone, his voice can actually go a decent bit lower. Probably not as low as Kou can, but it’s different enough from his regular speech to make him raise his eyebrows in intrigue.
What’s certainly not surprising is that he’s putting on a show with it all. Mitsuba seems to love attention, and it’s pretty obvious this was all just a ploy to sing a song without directly asking to.
Kou can see right through him.
When he’s done, he bows as if he were putting on a performance in front of an entire stadium; he reacts to the scattered applause of three people in the same way. “Thank you, thank you! You’re too kind,” He says in a sickly sweet tone. Sounds like that bit was practiced too.
“How did you memorize all those lyrics?” Nene asks on the edge of her seat. “I’d always get tripped up when I used to listen to that kind of music…”
Mitsuba shrugs with an obnoxiously self-satisfied smile and sets the microphone down. “It’s not hard once you’ve listened to it over and over again.”
“I didn’t realize we had so many singers in the room,” Amane comments, “Why is our band only three people again?”
Oh?
“You’re not asking if we want to join, are you?”
Tsukasa gasps. “Are we recruiting more people to our band, Amane?” He clutches his brother’s arm with an awestruck expression.
“Only if you want,” Amane scratches his cheek nervously.
Tsukasa hums and looks between Kou and Mitsuba for a few moments. Before Kou can point out that they hadn’t even asked their opinions on it, Tsukasa pipes up again. “I guess it wouldn’t be very different! He’s always around anyway, and I like Mitsuba enough,” He muses. “Why not?”
“Wait a–”
“Really!?” Mitsuba’s suddenly standing over Tsukasa in elation while bouncing up and down on his heels. “You told me I couldn’t join before!”
“He’s asked to be in the band?” Nene peers across the couch. “You never mentioned anything about that…”
Tsukasa shrugs and stands up, brushing past Mitsuba to pick up the microphone. “It wasn’t worth bringing up since I said no,” He says, typing something in on the tablet. “But now I think it’d be interesting if both of you were in.”
“Hang on!” Kou interjects. “I never said I’d join!”
Suddenly all eyes are on him. Tsukasa studies him for a moment and shrugs. “Okay, nevermind. Sorry, Mitsuba.”
“Huh!?” He shrieks, “What!? Why?”
“It has to be both of you,” He says vaguely. “Come on, Amane, let’s sing another duet!”
Amane stands up, but pokes Kou in the shoulder before following. “Think about it,” He whispers.
“Come on, Minamoto-kun!” He doesn’t waste a moment once the twins begin to sing their next song to pester Kou. “You’re getting in the way of my dreams!”
“No I’m not. Your shitty boyfriend is.”
“Nuh-uh! He’s giving me an opportunity to join!”
“Um,” Nene interjects as gently as possible, “It seems more like he’s taking the opportunity away by making it rely on someone else…”
Mitsuba raises a finger to interject, but Kou jumps in right away, “Yeah! Don’t blame me, blame that guy for treating you like garbage!”
“He doesn’t treat me like…!” But before he can finish his sentence, he inhales sharply and lets it out in one big huff. “You don’t understand anything. Sure he’s not nice to me, but it’s not like I’m all that nice either.”
Nene frowns. “That doesn’t sound very…”
“I know,” He cuts her off. “I know, you don’t have to tell me about it. Maybe I deserve better than someone who constantly leaves me alone in his own apartment because he forgets I’m there, but he’s helped me a lot in the past, too! I wouldn’t be where I am without him…” Mitsuba sinks into the cushion of the couch and shuts his eyes. “He’s not always mean.”
Kou waves his arms in exasperation. “He’s being mean right now!”
“No he’s not,” He crosses his arms without sparing a single glance. “He’s being nice. This kind of thing doesn’t happen very often…” He opens a single eye and gazes at Kou with an unreadable expression. Anger? Sadness? Hope? Whatever it is, he looks like he’s expecting something. “Cause it’s so rare, I like to take advantage of it.”
That’s not fair. This situation has nothing to do with him! He should not feel guilty over refusing to dignify Tsukasa’s ridiculous whims with a response, especially if he’s hardly affected by it one way or the other! The responsibility shouldn’t fall on him, yet both Mitsuba and Nene are looking at him as though if he answers anything other than affirmatively, he’ll be the asshole!
But he’s not mad at them. He’s mad at his own incessant need to be needed trumping any desire to keep his integrity intact.
So with a hefty sigh, he folds.
“Fine.”