By Daisuke Anarie
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any related characters. Nor am I receiving money... So I suggest you don't sue. I have nothing to my name, so you'd most likely get nothing. Buuut, the 'lyrics' used in this fanfic do belong to me, unless stated otherwise. See?! I can do something for myself!
Author's Note: Too many hours listening to Takuya's theme does something to you... So what?! I like his voice! It's too adorable for his good! Leave me alone! ... So, perhaps this is dedicated to the people who love Takuya's theme, too? Umm... Yeah.
Warning: Koukuya... or Takouji... Takoukuya... Takuya and Kouji! Something! Uh... Well, Shounen-ai! Yaoi! Slash! MaleMale! Oh, yes, beware the crappy poems used as lyrics written by moi that will be in future chapters. They aren't too good. I think... -Daisuke
Chapter Three: Likkle Uke Kuya-chan
Within the next thirty-six hours, Takuya had neglected his over-the-summer homework and dedicated the majority of his time to completing the two songs they would perform. Despite how much time he lacked to prepare and that he didn't work his best under pressure, the brunette felt that the results were satisfactory and would have to do. Now, this next day or so would be completely focused on learning the pieces. Which meant they'd be locked in the studio way past their bedtimes with hardly any breaks.
"What key is it in?" Junpei yelled over the raucous of everyone scrambling around to get his or her instrument ready.
"The usual," Takuya replied dully as he tapped the microphone, the sound echoing a bit louder, signaling that it was indeed on. He gave his father and brother, Shinya, a thumbs-up to tell them that the sound seemed to be working just fine.
"Both songs?" Junpei asked again.
Takuya swallowed a sigh of exasperation and nodded. "Yup." He must've failed to scribble down the key signature on the music sheets. "That's what happens, though," he mumbled to himself, making sure he wasn't close enough to the mic for it to pick him up. "And if I forgot to put it, Moonlight is three/four time, and Cry is four/four, but it changes to two/four in the middle," he raised his voice to say.
"That's simple enough," Izumi commented lightly as she fiddled with the different sounds her keyboard would play.
The leader brunette glared over his shoulder at her. "Are we ready?"
There was a chorus of the affirmative.
Takuya allowed himself a sigh of relief. "Okay, good. Let's go through both without the vocals," he offered. It was accepted without hesitance. "Moonlight song first," he said quietly, just loud enough for them to hear. There were a few nods and Izumi quickly reset her keyboard to the default 'grand piano' sound, since the piano started off the song, while the others flipped to the right song and waited quietly. She pressed down on one key for the starting pitch and looked at Takuya, who nodded silently.
Takuya retrieved a small metronome and set it to the tempo necessary, then draped the strap on his guitar across his shoulders. He gave Izumi the first three beats before the starting measure, and then she began to play. He looked away from her fingers, which danced along the keys and focused on his copy of the music, for the part of his acoustic guitar would come next. He ignored the lyrics altogether when he started his part, strumming gently at the guitar strings.
Shortly after, Tomoki and Yutaka joined with light percussion and bells.
The bass and electric guitar had been excluded from this piece, to the momentary dismay of Junpei and Kouichi. Takuya had claimed that this song was meant to have a mystical, calm, and flowing sound. Instead, they were given keyboards, but with different tones – a flute and clarinet. Fortunately, everyone had been taught the piano in junior high and into high school, so his or her knowledge of the instrument was suiting. They would enter the song at the first chorus.
The piece lasted about four minutes and the final notes hung in the air when it was over. Everyone remained silent as they flipped back through the song, double checking places they were unsure of. Takuya nodded to himself in approval – there had been a few mistakes, but otherwise, it had turned out good for their first time through it.
He was brought out of his thoughts by his father's clapping and Shinya's whistles. He blushed faintly and looked around at the others, who were also slightly red. He ignored the comment that their small audience was eager to hear the lyrics to the song as well, and went to the next one.
The piece, Cry, changed time signatures, so he put the metronome away and took it on himself to keep time for everyone with a soft tap of his toe against the stage. Kouichi and Junpei returned to their key instruments, grinning at Takuya as they passed him. He managed a smile back.
Once finished, they admitted that the latter piece was a bit more difficult and contained some tricky rhythm. Takuya couldn't count how many times the words angst, depressing, and dread were mentioned, but he could understand that. This song, unlike Moonlight, was meant to have a haunting, sad sound with its angsty fast beat. Yutaka finally commented to them quietly that it reminded him of the score for a murderer or suicidal person.
Takuya could only smile weakly at the others, as their moods seemed to slump. "Actually, I kind of want to see Kouji's reaction to that song," he explained softly. "I want to see if he realizes that the Takuya he knew a long time ago, happy, energetic Takuya, wrote that... about him."
Yutaka smirked faintly. "Putting him back in his place, hmm, Takuya?"
Takuya nodded and grinned darkly. "Of course."
Izumi tried to contain a giggle, and failed, as she stated, "That's odd. I always thought that would be Kouji's job, to put likkle uke Kuya-chan back in his place." That last part was said in her infamous, sing-song voice.
The whole studio erupted into howls of laughter and snorts, but Takuya only blushed and glared daggers at her, muttering, "'S not funny..." At least they weren't sulking over the song, though. However, when the laughter failed to cease, he wailed out, "I'm nooot an uke!!"
This went on for at least another thirty minutes – Izumi teasing Takuya, Takuya protesting against Izumi, and the others laughing madly while throwing in random comments that brought the slowly dying squabble to an uproar all over again. But, like every normal human being, they tired themselves out and finally slumped down on one of the few couches set up in one far corner, exhausted and throat raw from yelling.
"I'm hungry. Starved, even," Junpei said slowly after looking at the clock and seeing that it was past noon. There were murmurs of agreement, but no one made any suggestions or movement to get up.
"How 'bout popcorn?" Kouichi asked dully. Of course, everyone knew what would be said next.
"With peanut butter and honey?" Tomoki chirped; sitting up to look at everyone with begging eyes – Yutaka gave a disgusted look.
Izumi giggled, as usual, "Why not?"
Takuya grinned and somehow managed to bounce up from the comfortable cushion. "Peanut butter and honey popcorn it is, then!" he exclaimed. He then motioned for the others to get up, too, despite their moans. "C'mon, every hand helps and every hand gets messy!" He got several dirty looks. "'Sides, we'll need more than one bags of popcorn for this lot of starving beasts, and I can only pop so many bags by myself." He quickly dodged three pillows thrown his way and stuck his tongue out at them. "No one helps, then I get all the popcorn!"
The reply was unanimous. "NO WAY!"
Preview to the next chapter...Having being there so many times, the group of six made their way to the back of the building, where they went in from a back entrance/exit. Takuya's father greeted them almost instantly. He embraced them all, one by one, as he announced, "We're doing sound checks right now. Your instruments are all set up, so you can go onstage and make sure everything's in tune."
"Right," Takuya said, and they all headed towards the stage, taking a path that would easily avoid whoever was backstage and from Kouji's group.
The auditorium was deserted, except for the ones running the checks, and they immediately set to work tuning their instruments. Everything was working properly, to their relief, and they joked to each other cheerfully.
As it ticked closer to six forty-five, Kanbara-san waved at them from below and called, "Anyone nervous?"
The answer was without hesitation, "No way!"
-Author's Note: Yes, peanut butter and honey popcorn. Really, it's good!