Chapter Text
Being partners of three years, Toya and Akito have long established a system that keeps them actively producing setlists and covers. They both know each other’s abilities and limits, and thus could offer each other quick suggestions. In the past three months, though, they have been working only as Vivid BAD SQUAD or going off on solo performances—furnishing their respective skills and talents with experience and heaps of group practice.
‘No doubt, it has done us some good,’ Toya thought, smiling as he watched Akito do… nothing special in particular, honestly the boy was just talking to An and Kohane, but Toya would never miss out on the opportunity to admire the inflections in his voice, observe the miniscule changes on his expressive face, and think back on how far they’d walked side by side.
Toya had no reason to miss the thrill of he and Akito passing lines to one another and marrying their voices in a perfect harmony developed through the years; there hasn’t been a week since they decided to be partners that they didn’t perform on the same stage at least once, after all. Plus, he saw Akito every school day. And singing with VBS was perfectly satisfying.
Akito made him endlessly happy.
Some days— these days, he’s just? Selfish?
“Everyone, may I suggest something for our group?” Toya interjected into the discussion about their next performance. He patiently looked around the round table in Crase Cafe for everyone’s reactions.
Akito turned his full attention on him and away from the notepad he and An were leaning over. “Yeah?”
“Of course, Toya!” An immediately followed.
“What is it, Aoyagi-kun?” Kohane piped up from beside An, looking over at him curiously.
While it’s true that Vivid BAD SQUAD did everything with group effort, Akito and An were usually ahead on the setlist generation. Toya and Kohane would usually only cut in when they’re already at the assignment of parts and lines or sometimes if they believe the other two need to be steered back to their purpose for meeting. Plus, until his announcement that he had an idea, he had been quietly stirring and sipping from his coffee and letting the other three converse seemingly without much care for anything more.
Toya began his case smoothly, “I agree that we may need to add some new songs to our list.”
The three looked a little surprised that he had actually processed what they had been talking about even though he seemed mentally far from the scene.
“In fact, I believe we can add two more.” Before Akito could cut in with the logistics of that suggestion, he continued. “However, they’re not group songs. I propose we do some covers, one by Asuzawa and Shiraishi, and another by me and Akito.”
As the others clearly thought it over, he added to his persuasion, “With that, since our next performance isn’t an event or competition, we could even schedule more breaks, two at a time. Hopefully, this would allow us to last a longer time without relying solely on our endurance or compromising the quality of our performance–at least until we have perfected it all.”
Kohane was the first to speak. “Aoyagi-kun has really thought this through.” She looked to the side in consideration. “We’ve been doing a lot together and improving our synergy a lot, but trying to add more for us to work on as a group when we still have some notes on how to improve our performances for existing numbers would mean sacrificing some things.”
“Hm, yeah! If you mention that, then Toya’s plan is very well thought out,” An agreed, already pumping her fists. “The idea of extending our setlist with more duet covers… I like it!”
At this point, Akito and Toya had already been sharing a look for the past two minutes. Before Toya could even ask for his opinion, Akito leaned back and spoke up, “Of course, I agree. It’s just like Toya to suggest this. And to think I thought you were thinking so hard on something more…” He chuckled, shaking off the furrow on his brows and leaning on Toya’s shoulder. “Ah, it doesn’t matter.”
‘YES.’ “I’m glad.” Toya smiled, welcoming the weight on his side. ‘ Okay, next step.’ He brought a hand to his lips in thought. “Ah, but the group songs.”
“It’s a given we’ll begin with Ready Steady, but the other songs…” An trailed off.
“We might end up with a theme for the new songs we’ll pick,” Akito pointed out, gesturing with the hand closest to Toya and brushing his arm in the process. “If there’s one, we can choose the group songs based on it so that it flows seamlessly. If not, then still, we have to work around it.”
“Right,” Kohane said, nodding. “It’d be great to properly highlight that they’re new. We’ll need to choose our new additions first.”
An pulled the abandoned notepad back to her so she could tap her pen on the paper as she spoke. “We’ve written and covered enough, so we can definitely make a storyline work even if the songs we choose don’t really seem to relate at first.”
“So how about we meet up with our partners and then talk about it as a group in a couple days?” Toya suggested.
Akito had definitely been missing singing with just him about as much as he did. When Akito pulled out a list of suggestions the next day when he and Toya met to discuss song choices, Toya was immediately sure of that.
It was the day after the proposal, a Thursday. They were in the Shinonome household for a lack of a better place to discuss and practice. Ena, Akito’s sister, was probably preparing for class. The Shinonome parents, Toya knew would not be home until either very late tonight or tomorrow night. Akito and Toya sat together in Akito’s soundproofed room, bodies side by side on Akito’s bed and facing each other. Toya prepared his own list of songs—all love songs (as he was a desperate man with a plan to get his best friend to acknowledge him as a potential romantic partner) with explanations for why each song was chosen. Luckily, they already had a couple numbers in common so it was just a matter of Toya steering them to the one where he could talk for ages about his analysis and Akito readily agreeing.
Usually, with songs they both struggle to split and connect to, they spend quite some time analyzing it so that they could give a more meaningful performance. With this song they’ve chosen, however, neither seem to need help understanding where to draw their feelings from. In fact, Toya believed that learning a new song has never been this easy. A sad song with riffs? Simply sing like you’re crying and you’ll do perfectly. Need a bit of acting to sell your performance? It’s literally about losing your partner slowly; it’s neither that hard to imagine nor difficult to make yourself absolutely devastated with. In short, the relatability of the lyrics of Aun no Beats is too strong for him to remain impassive.
And Akito? Of course, he would do well. He insists on being fantastic at everything that could help him.
In no time, with barely any questions for the other, they had the lines split between them both. As a sort of test for its workability, they do one runthrough. Just because it was their first time. The initiative Akito displayed when they were splitting the lines was nothing new. The insistence that he can play the lover who loses? It was not. They don’t sing a lot of love songs to begin with.
Akito and the way he sang of longing…
Aisaretai no wa doushite? Why do I want to be loved?
Toya wanted to shake him. And so:
Aishitetai no wa doushite? Why do I want to love?
Toya believed, quite strongly, that he has so much to offer Akito, this world. His love is something he can’t imagine not sharing. Eye contact: just how effective is it in relaying how he felt?
watashi I
aimai sa yue ni shinpashii My sympathy is due to vagueness
daitan futekina sensorii And my fearless sensory
This. This was what Toya meant when he thought their voices married into a harmony.
donmai donmai daijoubu Don’t worry, don’t worry, it’s okay
warawasete ageru kara I will make you smile
Akito looked so serious singing that. He maintained eye contact with Toya like it was a necessity, like he knew this song inside and out, like he believed entirely in what he was singing, like he wanted Toya to believe him.
dakara atae ataerarete So giving and receiving
kienai you ni koko ni ina yo Stay here so you won’t disappear
Toya was begging in the most pathetic way: from a safe distance, where he is up for interpretation. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that even before the song has started, they already fucked up. How dare he…
soshitara Then
"boku ni mo ohenji kudasai ne" “Please reply to me too”
…take on this role.
The instrumental hit, leaving them boring into each other’s eyes. They barely needed the lyrics for anything other than a glance at their highlighted parts. Suddenly, as if Akito was smacked on the head, he widened his eyes and leaned forward toward Toya. He laughed something light and barely audible from the music playing and stared at Toya with a sheepish smile as if saying ahah, I think I got too into it, for a practice run. Toya could only smile back fondly.
Akito looked like he was going to say something before Toya cut him off with a single raised finger stating his cue.
Anata ni sasageta shinzou I held up my heart to you
‘Are we still playing pretend? Still acting for the sake of a wonderful performance? Will you still take my honesty with a grain of salt?’ Toya wondered, staring at Akito with what he knew would only translate as loving.
Itsuka kaeshite yasashiku shite ne? Give it back someday, be gentle, okay?
Akito didn’t seem to react other than take the note ending as his cue to take over. Toya is too rational and realistic to be disappointed.