Chapter Text
The first thing Spoke said to Mapicc was: “I love music.” Actually that was a lie, the first thing Spoke said to Mapicc was: “Do you know the answer to question 4?” Spoke and Mapicc were both in the same literature class and both had been staring blankly at the homework they were supposed to be working on. It wasn’t hard to become friends after both of them shared a common hatred at their teacher, LettuceK.
After that, they decided to meet up when they were both free, and then the first thing Spoke said to Mapicc was: “I love music.” Soon they started studying together (thankfully caused Mapicc’s literature grade to improve), eating together, and just being together.
Mapicc then truly learned that Spoke LOVED music. So much so that he started learning the bass guitar in 5th grade and stuck with it ever since. Spoke stated that a song without the bass was just a son. He constantly was ranting about the songs he wanted to write, the artists he was into, and music in general. Mapicc still loved being Spoke’s best friend though, even if it meant that he had to listen to him ramble about random music facts.
。。。
Mapicc was creeping to their dorm’s fridge and tried to stifle his snicker. His roommate, Zam, was going to absolutely kill him in the morning but this double, chocolate fudge cake was definitely worth it. It wasn’t Mapicc’s fault if he had 4:00 am chocolate cake cravings. He paused slightly as Zam let out a huge snore in his sleep. He quietly got the cake out and was deciding if he wanted to risk grabbing a fork or just to eat it with his hands, when his cell phone buzzed. He quizzically took it out of his pocket while ripping the sticky note that said “ZAM’S CAKE! MAPICC DONT TOUCH” from the cakes lid. Mapicc wasn’t all that surprised to see that Spoke was texting him at 4:00 am because well… it was Spoke. He clicked onto messages and deciding screw it, grabbed a chunk of the cake with his hands.
Spoke:
“MAPICC”
“I WANT TO START A BAND”
Mapicc raised his eyebrows in surprise. This was definitely the type of idea that Spoke would get waking up at 4:00 am. He chewed on his chocolate cake grinning to himself. This was one of Spoke’s more outlandish ideas, not because it was quite hard to do, but it was going to be a lot of responsibility for a person like Spoke. Mapicc wondered how far he would take it. He was just about to send Spoke a photo of him eating with his hands with a thumbs up, but froze as he heard a creak behind him.
“Mapicc… is that mine?” A voice growled menacingly. Mapicc swallowed his last bite of cake and turned slowly around in his chair. He said a silent prayer as he gave Zam an weak smile.
“Hey Zam…” Mapicc said sheepishly.
。 。 。
Spoke was practically sprinting to the music design course teacher’s office. He had a spring in his step as he neared it and felt excitement coursing through him. Now this was one of his most brilliant ideas yet, and he’s had lots of brilliant ideas. He knocked frantically at the door and rocked up and down on his heels with unspent energy. The door creaked open and a pair of familiar dark eyes fell on him.
“Hi Minute!” Spoke beamed. Minute was like a second dad to him and was one of the main reasons he had chosen to go to this university.
“Spoke? Why are you here?” Minute asked and opened the door to let Spoke in the office. Spoke crashed down on the chair closest to the door and across the seat Minute usually sat in.
“Minute I want to start a band,” Spoke said, quite confidently. Spoke tapped his foot on the floor. Minute took some time to close the door and sit on the other side of the desk. “Well I’m not saying it’s a bad idea but are you sure you’re up to it?” Minute asked carefully. Spoke nodded eagerly.
“Well first you need to let the campus community know what you plan to do and how you’re going to do it. You also need a staff advisor, which I’d be happy to be. Then you need at least 4 people to start a club. Submit a paper to the school’s student activities or Student life office…” Minute ranted. Spoke’s hopes dropped lower and lower. He sank down into his chair as Minute lectured on. This sounds like too much effort for one band, Spoke groaned inwardly.
“Ok, ok, ok!” Spoke cut Minute off mid monologue. “So there are a lot of responsibilities to it, I understand.” Spoke pouted in his chair crossing his arms like he did to Minute when he was a child. Minute softened and sighed.
“For now, you can focus on recruiting some people to your… band. I’ll see if I can get some stuff sorted out for you, but your club still needs to do some of it on your own,” Minute warned. Spoke sat a bit straighter in his chair, gaining back his eagerness.
“I’ll handle it no sweat. Thanks Minute!” Spoke said. He stood up and Minute rose as well. Spoke gave him a quick hug and was just about to leave when he paused and turned around.
“Do you know anybody who might join my band?” Spoke asked. Minute stood for a moment tapping his finger on the desk.
“I do know a person who told me he played the keyboard. He’s also a first year.” Minute remarked. “Hmm I don’t remember his name. But I remember he paid good attention in class, had a dyed hair, and he hung out with another guy with a grey sweatshirt.”
“Then I’ll look for him first,” Spoke said, pulling the door open and waving goodbye to Minute. Spoke smiled to himself. So far things were looking good for his new band. After all it couldn’t be that hard to find one person.
。 。 。
Spoke clattered his plate of food on the table Mapicc was sitting at.
“Sorry I’m late I was—Mapicc… why do you have a bump on your head?” Spoke grinned and sat down across from him.
Mapicc shrugged sulkily and gestured to Zam who was sitting at a different table, though he usually sat with them.
“I see,” Spoke said as he took a bite of his dinner. “Anyways, do you know anyone who pays attention in class, has dyed hair, and hangs out with a guy in a grey sweatshirt?” Mapicc put on a look of great thoughtfulness.
“Nope,” Mapicc shrugged. Spoke groaned. This was going worse than he thought. Spoke had already asked loads of teachers and a bunch of other students. More like ambushed and harassed them for information now that he thought about it, but that didn’t matter. No one knew anyone who matched his description. Who was this mysterious keyboard player and how was he so well hidden?
Spoke carefully thought back to every single lead he had on this guy. Maybe Spoke would ask Minute for any more details he could remember. Spoke sat there deep in thought while staring off into the distance. Mapicc on the other hand was watching him curiously.
“So you still going on about the band stuff?” Mapicc asked. His attention was slightly diverted when a person across the room tripped over their own feet and had fell quite spectacularly. Their friend quickly rushed over and pulled them up, asking if they were okay.
“Obviously! I don’t think you understand how great this can be for us!” Spoke exclaimed, he was staring down at his food and ignored the guy that tripped entirely.
He didn’t quite have a great start on finding the keyboard player but he was working on it. Mapicc snickered and took a sip of his drink. Of course Mapicc had ordered apple juice, he seemed to get addicted to it more and more everyday. Spoke playfully kicked him under the table. They soon started to have a comfortable conversation (after they had kicked each other a bit) but the whole time, a small part of Spoke was still thinking about the mystery keyboard player.
。。。
“Ok, I understand that you want to have a band, but I don’t understand why it involves us spending our only free day of the week ambushing random people,” Mapicc grumbled. Spoke patted him on the back comfortingly.
“It’s all for a good cause! If we find this keyboard player and recruit him, then we are one step closer to making a band!” Spoke said happily.
“Your band you mean. I am only helping you make this band because I’m a good person who helps my friends,” Mapicc huffed. Spoke shrugged.
He had dragged Mapicc to random locations to ask people if they had seen anyone that matched his description. So far they had come out empty handed. Mapicc was complaining further as Spoke was leading them to the last location he wanted to check. Which was the library.
Spoke was feeling quite discouraged now. It had been almost a week since he’d been looking for this person. He had only dragged Mapicc in to help him because he really didn’t have any leads now. The person had to be very discreet and secretive to have not been identified by half the school.
Spoke sighed as he looked up to realized that Mapicc had wandered away somewhere into the maze of bookshelves. Spoke wandered aimlessly, looking for more people to interrogate. He was starting to find some truth in Mapicc’s words. Friday was one of the only free days he and Mapicc had and it was being spent quite stupidly. So far today looked like it was just going to lead back to a dead end. He sourly wished he would have just stayed inside his dorm to practice his guitar or continue writing a song he’d been working on.
Spoke turned a corner and saw Mapicc standing next to some students.
“Spoke! I was just about to ask these guys if they knew anyone that met your description,” Mapicc said, turning towards him. Spoke nodded.
He glanced at the two people Mapicc was asking. One of them was holding a book that Lettuce assigned his class to read. He looked up and saw an interesting choice of dyed green hair, with a colorful array of red, blue, and yellow on the front. He scanned the other guy who was pretty tall. He had a grey sweatshirt with a yin and yang symbol on the middle. Wait… book from class, dyed hair in the front, friend with a grey sweatshirt… Spoke’s eyes widened.
“Mapicc!” Spoke shouted, “These guys are my description!”