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Like most days, Todoroki Shouto was torn between whether or not he regretted letting Yaoyorozu convince him to join a youth orchestra. On the one hand, the rest of the orchestra was made up of amateurs, most of whom were allergic to sitting still and listening to the director.
On the other hand, it had made his father mad. The old man had been trying to enroll Shouto in a higher level orchestra, but this orchestra overlapped most practices and Shouto had committed before the old man had time to do anything about it. Plus, Shouto wasn't even playing violin.
When he first joined, he had been. But, the youth orchestra was rather small, so there hadn't been any violists at all. On the first day, one of the directors—Aizawa—had asked if any of them had any violist friends who were looking to join. When no one had said anything, Shouto had volunteered to learn viola.
There weren't many solo pieces written for viola and it was probably the least popular string instrument. Violin was popular for it's (relative) convenience and versatility, double bass appealed to jass musicians and tall people, and cellos had a beautifully rich sound with less of the screechy sound beginner violinists often encountered.
Viola, though, usually took on a supporting role, which was what angered Shouto's father. He'd been either second chair of the first violins or a second violin for most of his time in professional orchestra and had never gotten over his issues with the idea of playing (pardon the pun) second fiddle to anyone.
Speaking of second (third) fiddles (cellos):
"What the fuck is this!" Bakugou Katsuki shrieked.
Shouto looked from his seat to the front of the room, where the new chair assignments had been posted. Ah. He must have just seen then.
"Why the fuck am I third chair now?"
"Probably that attitude," a girl said drily. Jirou Kyouka stepped in to the room, fingers entwined with her girlfriend's. "Let's see, where am I… first, first… oh! Momo, you're second chair. We'll be stand partners again."
"I'm glad," Yaoyorozu said warmly. "I've missed playing with you."
Bakugou gagged.
"Leave them be," someone else said. Kirishima stepped forward and slung an arm around Bakugou's shoulders. "Let's go sit down."
Bakugou huffed, but allowed himself to be led over to the cello section where he sat in the outside seat of the second row.
The next two people in to the room were one of the things Shouto really liked about the orchestra. Midoriya Izuku was unfailingly kind and Uraraka Ochako was unapologetically sincere. The two of them were now first and second chair cellists respectively. With the way seats were set up in their orchestra, this meant Uraraka was right next to Shouto. Perfect for talking during breaks.
And only during breaks. Unlike the pair now sitting on his other side as the first stand second violinists, he believed in the importance of focus.
"Damn," Monoma said, sitting in his seat on Shouto's other side. Shouto sighed quietly and leaned back in his seat. "I was hoping you'd dropped. Spare us all the pain of having to listen to a viola."
"If he drops, I'm making you take his spot as violist," Kendou threatened from Monoma's other side. Shouto fought the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. It wouldn't actually do anything, but he'd feel better.
Monoma gasped. "You wouldn't dare!"
Kendou whacked him on the back of the head and, thankfully, Monoma shut up.
The rest of the orchestra filled in quickly after that. Shouto participated in a light-hearted conversation with Uraraka and Midoriya until he heard the sound of loud footsteps and a tall boy with purple hair entered the room with an upright bass on his back, panting for breath.
The room was quiet for a moment.
"You okay?" Midoriya asked.
"Great," Shinsou Hitoshi wheezed, walking slower now to the back of the room. "Aizawa and Mic are… almost here. When I passed, Ai— Aizawa… was complaining about… how no one's ever ready to start—anyone… anyone who's not tuned by the time he gets here has… has to sight read our next piece in front of the class." With that said, he collapsed into his chair at the back of the room.
There was an interesting variety of curses as most of the students frantically pulled out their instruments to tune. Shouto was one of the few students spared, as he had tuned as soon as he had arrived.
Uraraka was pretty lucky; her instrument was still in tune from whenever she'd practiced last. Probably the night before, if Shouto understood her schedule correctly.
Midoriya was less lucky. Every string of his cello was painfully out of tune. This wasn't too surprising. He'd just had it re-stringed, so the strings hadn't settled yet.
"So," Uraraka said. "Excited for our new piece?"
Shouto didn't really care what they played, but he nodded anyway.
"I'm hoping for cello melody," she said. "But I'm always hoping for cello melody."
"Both violin sections got to play melody on the pieces for the last concert," Shouto said. "I think they deserve to play harmonies on something."
Monoma scoffed loudly on Shouto's other side, but Shouto ignored him.
"Oh, definitely," Uraraka said. "Think you might get a viola solo?"
Shouto opened his mouth to respond, but then he heard faint footsteps in the hall. He picked his viola back up from where it was resting in its case.
As Shouto expected, there was a loud "Good morning, musicians!" within the minute.
From around the room came various calls of "Morning, Yamada-sensei!" and "Good morning, Present Mic!"
Shouto had never gotten context on the group's nickname for the man, an unfortunate result of being a recent addition to the group. He'd only played one concert with the group, but the rest of them had been together for years.
Behind him, silently, came Aizawa-sensei (or Eraser(head?) as he was sometimes called, an even more nonsensical nickname than Present Mic).
"Mic'll hand out the music," Aizawa said after reaching the front of the room. "Instruments up."
They all obeyed. Shouto grabbed his bow from his stand.
"Faster next time," Aizawa said. "High e."
Obediently, the violins all played the note. All were in tune.
"A."
This time, the noise came from the whole room.
"D." For the first second, everything sounded right. But, then, someone came in a bit flat.
"Stop," Aizawa-sensei called. Every bow halted. "Firsts." The first violins played, all in tune. "Seconds." The second violins played the note. Shouto watched Monoma as discretely attempted to fix the note. He was sure Aizawa noticed, but he seemed to let it slide as Monoma got into tune.
"Viola, cellos, bass."
The remaining three sections played the note all on pitch.
"G."
Once again, the note was flawless.
"C."
The note was a bit off, but Midoriya didn't need any prompting to twist his fine tuner clockwise just a hair.
"Low E."
What Shinsou played was definitely not an E. It didn't sound like any actual note.
"What's that supposed to be?" Aizawa said.
"An E," Shinsou said, twisting the tuner for his E string a full rotation. "Why?"
When he played the note again, it was close to what it was suppose to be. Shinsou twisted it just a little bit more and, when he played it again, the sound was correct.
Aizawa sighed. "Alright, whatever. You, Midoriya, and Monoma are sight-reading the piece. Mic, give them copies first."
"Unfair!" Monoma hissed. "I fixed it!"
Hands rendered unusable by her instrument, Kendou jabbed him with her elbow instead.
Yamada emerged from the office with folders held high. He must have heard Aizawa, because he said, "Got it!" Sure enough, the three of them got copies immediately.
Aizawa gave them thirty seconds to look over the piece. During that time, Shouto leaned over to look at Monoma's piece.
Ew. Most of the first page was alternating between triplets and sixteenth notes. Plus, the piece was in a minor key. In other words: a pain in the ass to sight read, at least if one was playing the second violin part.
Monoma had to play first. He played about twelve measures before Aizawa stopped him.
Monoma flopped back into his chair and then it was Midoriya's turn.
Midoriya's playing, as usual, was much more pleasant. He missed a few notes and played with no dynamic changes, but he clearly enjoyed what he was playing which made all the difference in the world. Also—Shouto checked to confirm—the cello part was mostly made up of quarter and eighth notes. Much easier to sight-read, much easier to listen to someone sight-reading.
Next came Shinsou. What he played sounded drastically unlike what Monoma and Midoriya had played. Surely, this could not be the same song.
Aizawa must agree, because he stopped Shinsou six seconds in.
"What?" Shinsou said.
"What are you playing?"
"The piece?"
Yamada paused his traveling around the room to go look.
"Oh!" Yamada said loudly. "Sorry about that! I gave you Todoroki's part!"
Shouto stood, strode through the small gap between the cello and second violin sections, and took the music from the stand.
He looked between the music and Shinsou.
"You didn't notice the cleff? Or the sharps for the key being in the wrong spot?"
Shinsou shrugged. "I don't look at that part."
Shouto did not understand him. That was one of the most important things to look at for any piece. He took it back to his stand.
Yamada must have given Shinsou the actual music, because he began playing again. This time, what he played started pizzicato, which meant it was much more likely to be the actual bass part. It still didn't sound as good as Midoriya's playing, but it was better than his last attempt. Aizawa stopped him before long.
"Passable," he said. "All three of you. Now, everyone circle up with your sections and figure out your bowings."
Everyone, besides Shouto and Shinsou, rushed to obey. Shouto simply leaned closer to his stand to work on his own. Because he had no one else to coordinate with—or fight with, in the case of the the cello and second violin sections—he finished much faster than anyone else. With nothing else to do, he picked back up his viola and began figuring out the fingerings as well.
Aizawa nodded approvingly at him before going off to stop Bakugou from killing Midoriya over a disagreement about whether this one note should be played with an up-bow or down-bow. Shouto didn't know which one was better, but figured it was whichever one Midoriya wanted.
While watching this, Shouto saw someone appear in the door. The person was tall with bright blond hair.
Shouto knew who that was. Yagi Toshinori.
His father had posters of him all around the house which he would scream at. Shouto had never met Yagi-san, but he had to respect the man's ability to inspire his father's rage while having not actually done anything.
Aizawa must have seen him too, because he quickly abandoned the cellists to go meet him at the door.
"You're not supposed to come in yet," Aizawa hissed quietly enough that Shouto could barely make it out.
Yagi laughed loudly and cheerfully, drawing the attention of the entire room.
"I…" Aizawa sighed. "Whatever." To the orchestra, he said: "This is Yagi Toshinori. He's joining us as a third director. He doesn't know anything about directing." There was a long pause. "So, go easy on him," he added, not sounding like he actually cared. It must not have been his choice to add a third adult.
Yagi strode in to the room, shoulders back and head held high. Shouto had to wonder where those muscles came from; those were not the kind of muscles you build from playing an instrument. He must also work out or something.
The idea of his father getting into fights with Yagi not just in orchestra, but also at the gym briefly floated across his mind, but Shouto waved it away in favor of looking at Midoriya.
Midoriya was smiling at Yagi, who returned the smile. Hmm. Did they know each other?
Wait.
Could Yagi be the father Midoriya never talked about?
Written by a human in Ellipsus.