Work Text:
“Bye, Keisuke! I’ll see you tomorrow for rehearsal!” Nao says as he leaves Inoue’s basement.
“Bye!”
He gives Inoue a quick hug, then walks out of her basement, grabbing his journal and guitar as he does. As Nao heads towards his bus stop, he hums quietly to himself, remembering the days when he was in junior high.
As he stands at the bus stop on 5th Street, waiting for a bus that probably won't show up, he gets a text from Ari.
“Hey, what's up Nao! Are you free to hang out later?”
He considers this for a few seconds but then remembers what he had promised Keisuke. He quickly responds before shoving his phone into his back pocket.
“Sorry, Ari, I can't today. I need to have a song at least started for Keisuke by tomorrow’s rehearsal. Maybe another day though.”
He quickly got onto the bus and then went to his usual seat in the back. As Nao sat there looking out the window, it suddenly started raining with immense power.
“So much for writing outside, I guess...”
He sighs and leans against the window as the bus arrives at his stop. Once the bus stops he stands up and gets off, jumping off the last step and accidentally landing in a puddle.
“Fuck... now my socks are wet, dammit...”
***
Once Nao got off the bus, he quickly ran into his house. His two roommates weren’t there which was a relief. After being around people all day, he only wants some time alone.
Once Nao makes sure the door is locked, he wanders into his bedroom, grabs his journal, and plops down on the bed, opening to the next blank page in his journal.
He’s been trying to write something new for weeks but couldn’t develop anything. Every time he attempted to write something, it would always turn out to be shit so he would scrap it.
Nao continues to stare at his paper, attempting to write something until an idea pops into his head.
“Hmmm, oh fuck! What have I been thinking all this time… I’m a dumbass...”
Nao quickly stands up and rushes over to his desk, searching around for an old notebook from high school.
He quickly finds it and wipes a little dust off as he walks to his bed.
He sits back down on his bed and flips through the pages. He isn't sure which song he’s looking for. All he knows is when he finds it, he’ll know it’s the one.
“No...no...not that one...”
He continues to flip through around 15 more pages before finally finding the song he’s looking for.
“Ah, here we go...”
He scans over the lyrics to remind himself of the way it goes and then decides to grab his guitar and play a few chords as he sings along.
“One day I feel like I'm on top of the world... the next day the world crumbles under my feet, everything’s falling apart, but then you came in with your pure, sweet smile...you turned the crushed world upside down.”
“No...it doesn't sound right.. I- something about these chords. It sounds like I’m singing to someone, except I’m not. Why would I have ever written a song for someone...let alone a song like this? Who the fuck managed to get me so infatuated with them?”
He sets down his guitar along with the papers.
“I need a drink...”
He goes into the kitchen and pours himself a cold glass of water, taking a long sip before setting down the cup.
“Ahhh, nice, cold water.”
He sets the cup down in the sink before walking over to the window to look out at the rain.
“Damn I love the rain...so peaceful, it's almost like it's asking me to reminisce...”
He sighs and walks back into his room, sitting on his bed and staring at the song he had been experimenting with.
“Who could it have been for? I don't remember ever liking anyone enough to write a whole ass song about them. I wonder if there’s anything in my yearbooks that could tell me anything.”
He walks over to his bookshelf and pulls out his senior yearbook from high school, looking for anyone he might remember having a crush on.
“Oh, who’s this... I feel like I remember him... and his hair kinda looks sunny, like the sunshine. Maybe I could’ve written the song about him then? I wonder if I still have his number. I’ll have to check that later.”
Now that he's got a pretty decent idea of who this song could be about, he puts his yearbook back on the shelf and lies down in his bed, pulling out his phone to text Inoue.
“Hey, I have a song I found that could work for what you're looking for. I think I wrote it in high school about some guy, I can’t remember who though.”
Inoue quickly responds to his text, since neither of them was doing anything after rehearsal.
“Cool! Why don’t you bring it in tomorrow and we can see what it sounds like with the rest of the band?”
Nao considers this for a few seconds, debating if he’s ready for the entire band to hear it or only Inoue.
“Erm, yeah, sure, I can do that I guess. I’ll see you tomorrow, Inoue.”
Nao sighs and throws his phone onto the bed, staring up at the stars on his ceiling. When did they get there? He can’t even remember ever not having them. Suddenly his roommate comes in, startling him out of his daydream.
“Oh hey, Ikeda, how was school?”
Nao looks up at Ikeda who doesn't answer, clearly stressed about something so he lets the topic go. “I'm gonna go to sleep now, don't throw any parties.”
Nao sets his phone down on the table, making sure it's plugged in before getting up to turn off the lights. He flops himself back down onto the bed and sighs as he rolls over, tired from today’s long rehearsal.
Suddenly Nao’s phone beeps again. It’s from Inoue... and she’s calling him. Again.
Nao groans and picks up his phone. Temporarily blinded by the bright screen, he answers the phone with a quiet groan.
“Yes...? I was sleeping.”
Inoue giggles slightly before responding in her typical cherry, high-pitched voice.
“I need you to come over, and bring the song and music too. I can't wait any longer to hear whatever this is you’ve found.”
Nao sighs but reluctantly gets out of bed, throwing his jeans and hoodie back on.
“You’re lucky we have to have a song by next weekend, otherwise I would have made you wait. You know I've been trying to go to bed earlier.”
Inoue chuckles but ignores him.
“Don’t come to the basement, my cousins are sleeping there for some reason. We can rehearse in the living room.”
Nao responds to her, confused as to how her cousin would have moved into her basement so fast, given that just five hours ago there were no signs of anyone living down there.
“I— okay... I mean, I guess we can practice there instead. I’ll be there in 10.”
As Nao hangs up, he grabs his journal and guitar, silently slipping out of the house and starting to walk towards Inoue’s. Thank god she only lives one block away.
***
Soon after Nao hung up the phone, she found him waiting at her front door. When she went to let him in, she noticed that instead of having only brought the one song he’d mentioned, he brought his entire journal.
“Hey Nao, c’mon, I'm excited to hear this song.”
They both walk into the room and sit on the couch. Nao quickly tunes his guitar and then looks back at her.
“I'm redoing the lyrics right now since they made me cringe a lot. I've only got some chords and part of the chorus redone so far. You can listen, though.”
She watches him closely as he starts to play the first few chords. She's been learning guitar herself so whenever she's able to watch him play, she pays as close attention as she can.
He starts to sing quietly, his voice a soothing sound that fills the room. His voice provides a warm and comforting aura for Inoue as he sings, seemingly making her forget about everything else.
“One day I feel like I'm on top of the world... the next day the world crumbles under my feet, everything’s falling apart, but then you came in with your pure, sweet smile...you turned the crushed world upside down.”
Once the song finishes, Nao sets down his guitar and looks over at Inoue.
“Do you like it?” he asks her quietly.
“Erm... I mean, i-it’s pretty good. I think it'll be good enough to keep once we get more lyrics.”
Nao smiles softly.
“Thanks... I don't think it's too shabby for high school writing, it did need to be redone though.”
Inoue looks over at his guitar thoughtfully. All his talk about changing the song makes her wonder what it was like before he had changed it.
“Hey, uhm... Nao?”
He looks up at her, confused as to what's wrong.
“What’s up, Inoue?”
She takes a deep breath, not sure how to word her question.
“What did the song originally sound like? Before you changed all the lyrics?”
Nao looks at her a little amused. She always loved his songs.
“It was childish... It talked about them being my sunshine and how I’ll always love them. It's kind of ironic actually since I've got no idea who I wrote it for.”
She chuckled softly.
“I see... Imagine if you could find that person again. Maybe you could get to know them again and maybe rediscover that ‘crush of yours.’”
Nao chuckled softly, amused by her idea for him to try and rediscover whoever his crush was.
“Yeah, I suppose I could do that... But the past is in the past. I'm sure if I was meant to date them, I would have done it when I knew them.”
Inoue smiles slightly and shrugs.
“You never know, maybe it was supposed to happen later and you just haven't gotten to that ‘later’ yet.”
Nao sighs and puts his guitar back in his case.
“I'll see you tomorrow, Inoue.”
He stands up and gently pats her shoulder before walking out of her house.
***
A few minutes later, Nao enters his own home, now even more tired as he sets his guitar and journal in the hall. He then stumbles into his room. Finally letting himself sleep as he falls into his bed, falling asleep in a matter of seconds.
***
The next morning, he wakes up to a text message from Ari. It's a simple one, yet one he sees every day. All it says is,
“Good morning”.
He and Ari had started a small tradition of always saying good morning to each other every day. They had started it when Nao was in a moderately bad crash. A bus had T-boned his car in a fairly empty intersection; the fact he survived the crash was a miracle on its own.
He chuckles softly at the text, still not used to someone texting him every morning. Before going to take a shower, he quickly says Good morning and asks Ari if they want to get some coffee.
When he gets out shortly after, he finds that Ari has agreed. He quickly gets dressed, grabbing his journal and phone as he walks out.
Right as he's about to close the door, however, Ikeda comes out of the living room to find him walking out.
“Nao… I thought you said you would teach me guitar today,” Ikeda says with a disappointed tone in his voice.
Nao had been promising him for a while now that he would teach him, yet every time one was free, the other never was. Like now.
Nao notices his mistake and immediately feels sorry for the kid. He knew how much Ikeda wanted to learn.
“Sorry Ikeda… I promised Ari I'd get coffee with him this morning. You can join us though if you’d like.”
Ikeda considers it for a second: it isn't guitar lessons, but it's still a way to be with Nao.
“Sure, I'd like to come with y'all.”
Nao smiles softly and opens the door for him.
“C’mon.”
They head towards a small cafe in town. Once they get there, they find Ari and wave. Nao sees him first, smiling as he walks up, still limping a little due to the accident.
“Hey Ari, nice seeing you! Glad we could meet up!”
Ikeda just gives him a polite nod, secretly jealous that Nao is happier to see Ari than he is himself. They both sit down at the table and talk for a while, ordering coffee and pastries as well. Eventually, Nao remembers he has rehearsal in a few hours so they have to leave.
***
Back at home, Nao takes his yearbook back out, looking for the guy he had recognized.
“Ah fuck, what was his name again? Oh yeah... right, that was his name.”
Nao potters over to the computer on his desk, opening it up and going to his Instagram page. He goes to people near him, figuring they never left the area.
As he types Ueshima Souta, an almost nostalgic feeling washes over him, as if he's done this same thing before, only it was under different circumstances.
As he looks at all of the different profiles, there's one that stands out to him.
When he clicks on the profile he sees that it's the same guy that matches his yearbook.
He shoots him a message:
Hey, this is Nao! I think we went to high school together and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to meet up sometime? Here's my number, give me a call. (498) 276-4359.
Before he leaves for rehearsal, he makes sure to send him a friend request. After all, this could've been one of his former best friends, and they might still have a chance.
He grabs his journal and guitar and walks out of the house to take the bus to Inoue’s house, just like he's been doing every day for the last 3 weeks now. They’ve been doing daily rehearsals since they still don't have any original songs and need one by Sunday, and it's Wednesday.
When he gets to Inoue’s house, he is surprised to see Ari greet him at the door.
“I- oh- uhm... h-hi Ari... erm, what are you doing here? We're gonna have rehearsal soon....”
Suddenly Inoue shows up at the door as well.
“Hey, Nao!”
“Oh hey, Inoue! Are you ready for rehearsal?”
She nods eagerly and leads him into the basement.
“Y’all stay here, I'm gonna get some water.”
Nao and Ari both go and sit on the couch, Nao tuning his guitar and starting to warm up, doing his best not to blush and stare at Ari. While Ari is just sitting there awkwardly not even knowing why he’s there.
Eventually, Keisuke comes back. Unfortunately, Nao was talking about Souta with Ari.
When Inoue came in, she heard Nao mention that he was starting to think he may have had a crush on Souta at one point, especially after looking at the fact that he used to like and post on every post Souta would make.
He doesn't mention the part about the song's mystery meaning though; he wants to figure out more about that before he does.
Despite being crushed, she pushes that to the side, deciding to deal with that later.
“Hey, I’m back.” She hands them each a glass of water. “Are you ready, Nao? Ari wanted to hear your song if you're okay with it.”
Nao nods, a little flustered at the idea of Ari wanting to hear the song, but also super fucking scared that he's gonna think it's about him. Not that he'd be mad about that, he just isn't ready for that talk yet, especially after discovering Souta again.
***
After rehearsal, both Nao and Ari leave the band and they get on the bus together. As they're sitting there, no matter how much Nao tries, his gaze keeps going back to Ari.
It's killing him though because he knows Ari is straight. After a few minutes, Ari notices, standing up and walking over to Nao.
“Hey Nao, you good? Your eyes look super crazy right now...”
Nao watches him walk over, scared as hell.
“Yeah I'm fine, it's nothing, don't worry about it.”
Ari chuckles softly and sits beside Nao.
“Okay...if you say so.”
***
Eventually, they both get off the bus and go to their respective houses. Once Nao gets home, he quickly sets his guitar down and goes back to his computer, wondering if Souta has replied. When he opens Instagram, he sees he has.
“Hey Nao, this is Souta, I think I remember you too actually! If you're still in the area there's this cute cafe we can go to. It's called Esquires Coffee. Does tomorrow at 11:30 sound good?”
Nao chuckles slightly
“Damn, guess I've got an old friend to catch up with.”
He figures out what to say after a few minutes and quickly responds.
“Yeah, that sounds good! I'll see you tomorrow at 9:30, glad we’re able to meet up!”
He then shuts off his computer and goes to bed, degenerated from all of the day's activities.
***
The next day when Nao wakes up, he quickly tells Ari good morning with a GIF he finds and then walks to the kitchen, finding Ikeda passed out sitting at the counter. Presumably drunk. Nao sighs and walks over to him, shaking him slightly.
“Ikeda… wake up, it's like 11 am. Come on, man.”
He continues to shake him softly. Once he finally wakes up, he chuckles, seeing his hair stuck to his face and marks from his arm being pressed against it all night (more like morning, assuming he was probably partying till 3 am).
“Ikeda… how's your head?”
Ikeda groans and stretches.
“No...hurt...sleepy...” (same)
“Ikeda, get up, we have stuff to do y’know,” Nao lectured in a slightly annoyed tone.
“Fine fine,” Ikeda groans and starts to stand up. “Ah fuck, my head.” He puts a hand to it, he's hella hungover, he leans over the counter going to take a sip of water. Nao chuckles softly and pours himself a hot cup of coffee.
“This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn't gotten so drunk y’know.”
Ikeda just glares at him, not wanting to admit that Nao’s right. Nao just shakes his head and starts to walk out.
“I’m gonna go to the park. I’ll be back later.”
He grabs his notebook on the way out, hoping to write some.
***
Once he gets to the park, he sits down under a big oak tree. The scent from it calms his mind which is a staple he needs when writing.
As he opens his notebooks to write, he sees two blue jays playfully sauntering across the sky. This gives him what he's pretty sure is the best idea he's ever had.
He immerses himself in his writing, hours upon hours pass him. He's so focused on this song that he doesn't even notice the sun has started to set.
When he finally looks up, it's nearly completely dark outside. As he stands up, he looks at what he wrote one last time before walking home.
While he's walking he stops to take in the beautiful scenery.
The glistening water beneath him. The reflection of the forest on it. A couple sitting by the lake, a swan swimming aimlessly. It’s so beautiful you would've thought it was out of a movie.
As he’s standing there, he can hear the frogs and crickets start singing.
A sound from nature he's loved since his childhood.
“Such a nice night… I bet Emi would love it, she's always enjoyed the nighttime.”
He sighs softly and continues to walk home. As he gets home, he slips in through the front door and quietly goes to his room.
As he's lying on his bed, ideas for songs still overwhelming his head, he slowly drifts off to sleep.
***
The next morning, he's awoken by Ikeda knocking on his door.
Groggily sitting up, he looks at the clock. 9:58 am. He has a coffee meetup with Ari in 30 minutes.
As he stands up and walks over to the door, he rubs his eyes. Cracking the door open, he looks at Ikeda.
“Yes? Did you need something?”
Ikeda looks at him, his messy hair from just waking up giving him a crazy appearance. Pushing that aside, he remembered what he was there for.
“Uhm, after you get coffee with Ari do you want to go to bookstore with me? I was gonna get some textbooks and the next book in a series.”
Nao thinks about his options for a couple of seconds. He does like going to the bookstore but he also needs to save time to meet up with Souta after coffee with Ari.
“Uhhh yeah, I can. I just need to be somewhere at 11:30 so we can't stay long.”
“Cool, I'll leave you to get dressed.”
As they leave the house, Nao gets a text from Ari.
“Hey I have a cold, gotta cancel.”
Nao texts him back quickly, upset about having to cancel.
“Ok, get better soon :3”
“Hey, we're not going to get coffee. Ari’s got a cold. Do you wanna just go straight to the bookstore instead?”
“Uhh, yea sure, we can just go straight there.”
As they walk to the local bookstore on Main Street, Nao gazes over the beautiful scenery. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom, and a slight breeze cruises through as well. Looking up to the sky as he walks there are seldom clouds to be seen; it isn’t extremely blinding though, a sight he loves.
As they approach the bookstore he gently pats Ikeda's back as a way to say he’s gonna look on his own, before past him in search of a book.
“You can stay as long as you want but I've gotta meet a friend in 30 minutes so I can't stay long.”
“Ok, I'll be over in the educational section.”
He walks off, leaving Ikeda to get his textbooks as he goes to the music section.
Scanning through the vast array of books they have, he pulls one off the shelf. Reading the back of the book, he decides he's going to buy it. Another book can't hurt? Right?
Once he finds the book he’s gonna get he goes to find Ikeda and tells him he’s leaving.
“Hey, I'm gonna go ahead and meet up with my friend now. Are you okay to walk home alone?”
“Yeah, I'm cool with that! Have fun.”
He quickly pays for the book and then leaves the bookstore. He walks to the cafe where he and Souta agreed to meet up. As he’s about to walk in, he sees Souta approaching and waves at him.
“Hello, I'm Nao. You're Souta, right?”
“Yep! The one and only.”
Nao chuckles softly and they both walk into the cafe, finding a booth in the back to sit at.
“So...how’ve you been?”
Ew. That's so stereotypical. Why'd I say that, he thinks to himself.
Souta shrugs.
“I just recently graduated college and now I'm a soccer coach for one of the local middle schools. What’ve you been up to?”
Nao looks at the daifuku on the plate in front of him.
“Nothing much really. I'm in a band with some of my friends. We've got a small gig on Sunday at the local festival.”
Souta’s eyes light up as he hears Nao mention being in a band.
“Oh, that's so cool! Do you sing or play an instrument?”
Nao chuckles softly, finding Souta’s reaction mildly amusing.
“I play guitar and I'm also a backup vocalist.”
Souta looks at Nao with genuine interest and excitement for what he's just said.
“That's so cool, my god. Can I come to your gig?”
Nao suddenly gets extremely shy again, all his confidence leaving his body.
“I-uhm…I don’t know…maybe the next one. We aren't very good right now.”
They continue talking for the next two hours, remembering their days in high school and catching up on what they've missed the last couple of years.
Once Nao is back home, he walks into the living room and sits on the couch, turning on the TV to watch football.
Halfway through the game, Ikeda walks in and sits down next to Nao. He pulls his book out and starts reading.
As Ikeda gets lost in his book, Nao is still sitting on the couch cheering for his team to win. As halftime hits, however, he gets a text from Souta.
“Hey, it was nice catching up with you, wanna meet up again soon?”
As Nao responds, he notices himself smiling at the thought of being with Souta. (Already?)
He responds to him with a quick “Sure! How's next Friday sound?” and then turns off the TV.
“Hey, Ikeda, I'm going to bed now, try to get some sleep.”
***
Next Friday Nao is sitting on a bench in the park waiting for Souta to get there. He looks up a few minutes later and sees Souta approaching. As he stands up, he waves out at him, greeting him warmly.
“Hi, Souta!! So glad you made it here!”
He gives Souta a quick hug, and then they start walking through the park. The two of them chat peacefully as they walk through the park.
A few minutes later, they walk over to a tree, Nao leaning his back against it and Souta in front of him.
He looks at Souta with a gleeful expression.
Giggling softly, he pulls Souta closer. As he feels Souta’s body against his, he can't help but feel his heartbeat increase tremendously. Still giggling quietly, a slight blush on his cheeks, he leans even closer to Souta—
“Abnormal heartbeat detected! Abnormal heartbeat detected!”
Right as they’re about to kiss, Nao's Fitbit starts to go off. Damn technology, always ruining all the sweet moments.
He blushes and quickly takes it off, shoving the watch deep in his pocket.
“S-sorry…I guess it just didn't want that to happen.”
Souta chuckles softly, amused that his heartbeat had gotten so high by this that he got alerted about it.
“It's nothing, silly. It was quite cute, to be honest.”
As they both stand up and keep walking, Nao laces his fingers in Souta’s, waffle style.
He looks down at their hands and smiles.
Later on, when he's back in his room, alone, just him and his thoughts, he can't stop thinking back to earlier that day. They had almost kissed. It nearly happened.
As he sits cross-legged on his bed, giddy about his day with Souta, he feels his phone buzz. Pulling it out of his pocket, he sees a message from Ari.
“Hey, what's up? You've been kind of quiet lately…”
Nao quickly responds, realizing how little he talked to Ari lately.
“Nothing much, just been writing, really. I also met up with an old friend. Wbu?”
As he waits for Ari to respond, he sets his phone down, leaning against the headboard. He sighs softly, his eyes drifting closed. He's still enamored by what happened with Souta.
When Ari responds he looks down at his phone. Reading the message as he types his response.
From Ari: “Can I come over and hang out with you? I've been missing you…”
Nao: “Yeah sure come over whenever”
Ari: “Cool, I'll be over in a few.”
Nao: “cool”
About 20 minutes later Ari gets to Nao's house, letting himself in as he goes to Nao's room.
“Na—”
“Ah, what the fuck! When did you get here!?!?”
Ari bursts out laughing when he scares Nao, clearly amused at himself for what he's done. He walks over and sits on the bed next to Nao.
Once Nao’s recovered from his mini heart attack, he takes out his sketchbook.
As he draws, Ari watches, amused as always by how good Nao is at it…he's never quite understood.
A few hours pass. Eventually, Nao stops drawing, they watch Link Click for a little bit, play Trash, and watch football with Ikeda.
Around 2 am they go to bed, together, two feet apart cause they’re just friends.
***
Nao was supposed to meet up with Souta for a date before Souta went to the States for a few weeks to be with family. As he was walking down the street, going towards the train station. The one they always met up at. Something felt off, he didn't know what, but there was an eerily strange aura that seemed to be floating around him.
He pushes the feeling to the side, continuing to walk as he gets near the train station. He's so nervous right now that even the butterflies in his stomach are telling him to calm down. He can't, however, as he's got a big question to ask Souta. That question, however, you'll have to wait and see 😉.
As he walks into the train station, however, his heart drops. On one of the platforms, there’s a huge crowd. Looking into the crowd, that's when he sees it. The EMTs, the police, and the cones surrounding him. He runs over to the area, a million thoughts racing through his head as he pushes through the crowd. Running up he collapses next to the body. Nao leans forward and picks up Souta’s hand with his own. His fingers gently graze over Souta’s hands as they gaze into each other's eyes.
“Souta…Souta, no! You can’t leave me! Please!”
He begs and begs, the last thing he wants is what he can only imagine is going to happen. He looks at Souta’s face, seeing the blood trickle down his eyebrow. Wiping it gently from his face, he leans down and kisses Souta’s temple.
“Nao, please… don't leave me. I don't want to die yet!”
As Nao holds his body even closer to him, the tears coming faster yet, he sings for Souta.
“Nao…please, stay with me..”
“I am,” is all Nao can manage to get out.
Only a few seconds later, he watches Souta take his final breaths. His grip on Nao’s hand loosens, the tension in his body going slack. All he can remember thinking back on it is screaming out Souta’s name to his lifeless body as he's dragged away. While being forced to watch the love of his life taken away, forever, right in front of him.