And then there was Yasu.
I loved a challenge. The guy obviously hated me. Not that I could blame him. But I craved the way his eyes would flare with heat whenever he spoke to me.
I wasn’t about to keep tempting fate for today I realized that what I’d done in the hallway was stupid. Yasu had been willing to humble himself, and I took a chance to mess with him. Doing stupid shit like that was sure to put me right back at the top of his shit list.
Once we’d wrapped up playing for the day and I was packing my bass away, I wasn’t all that surprised when Itsuki made his way over to me. He was all smiles and joy, and he wasn’t alone. He dragged the drummer with him, and if I remembered correctly, his name was Riku. The other two members of the band hadn’t really interacted with me much yet, but maybe that was the goal here.
“Ryo-san!” Itsuki was so damn chipper that I didn’t bother to correct him on the nickname. The guy could call me whatever the fuck he wanted as long as it kept that smile on his face.
I grinned up at him as I stood brushing my hands off on my pants after slinging my case over my shoulder. “What can I do for you, Itsu-chan?”
God, if you could see literal heart eyes, this guy had them. Maybe I’d need to be a little more careful, but again, I wouldn’t have of an issue if he had a thing for me.
“I wanted to introduce you to Riku,” he chimed as he motioned to the dark-haired man next to him. The drummer crossed his arms over his chest as he raised an eyebrow to look at me. He clearly had just as many reservations as Yasu did.
I gave the man a slight bow. “Pleased to meet you, Riku-san,” I said, giving him a small smile.
Unlike the frosty vocalist, that was all that seemed to be needed to loosen the man up. He gave me a smile before he turned to Itsuki. “Are you sure we can trust him?”
Itsuki’s face fell just a little before he gave a rapid nod. “One hundred percent. He’s very talented and nice. We all make mistakes, and I don’t think it’s fair to hold that over someone’s head forever.”
Riku nodded before he looked at me again. “We’re going to go for some drinks. Care to join us?”
I’d never turn down a drink. That was just stupid.
“I’d love to.”
Tatsuki joined us as well, and I didn’t miss how Yasu didn’t join the rest of the band for the excursion. When I asked Itsuki about it, he mentioned that Yasu lived with his sister and that he worried about leaving her at home by herself all the time. It was still an odd excuse. Drinking culture was such a huge part of being Japanese. Maybe once I got the guy to loosen up a bit more, I’d learn what was going on there.
We all sat at a small table with glasses of Sapporo, giving a small “Kanpai!” as we lifted our glasses before taking a drink.
Riku and Tatsuki were a lot easier to get to know.
The whole band had known each other since high school, so it was no wonder that it was so hard to let someone so new in.
Tatsuki was a lot more reserved, but opened up by the end of the evening. Enough so that I knew he’d been gifted his first guitar when he was ten and had always wanted to play professionally. It had been a dream come true for him when he met the rest of the band. He was more than thankful just to be along for the ride.
The biggest outlier of the band was with Riku.
He’d come from a very strict family, learning how to play the drums in secret because it was something he’d always wanted to do. When he met the rest of the band, they’d help him come up with excuses as to why he was out so late with friends instead of focusing on studying for university. His parents had wanted him to be a doctor or scientist, and none of that had held hisinterest. While he’d gotten good grades in school, a must to keep his parents off his back, music is what really held his soul.
Maybe it was a little fucked up to be thankful that no one in my life had given a shit enough to care what I did. I’d almost skipped high school. My application had been last minute, and I’d ended up in one of those commercial high schools that took everyone who couldn’t get in anywhere else. Not that it was anything to be ashamed of. There were a lot of students who let that break them. I’d lost a few friends to the pressure, and I never understood why.
In the grand scheme of things, you could be a successful person no matter what career field you ended up in.
I’d bought my first bass thanks to working at a conbini part time on the weekends. I was lucky to have landed the job, as most places wouldn’t hire students since most schools didn’t allow it either. They wanted you to focus on your studies. There were a few times when my schedule conflicted with weekend exams, but I’d always found a way to make it work.
At least I knew I had an impeccable work ethic.
By the time we’d reached round number three, we were all feeling a lot looser. I wanted to get to know my new bandmates on more than just a superficial level. The question was how to broach the subject without coming across as presumptuous.
I took a long sip of my beer before lowering the glass to the table. Itsuki’s eyes met mine from across the table, and a shiver raced down my spine. There was something about that dark stare that sent little zings through my body, and it wasn’t just the alcohol talking.
“Itsu-chan,” the nickname rolled off my tongue like honey. Like I’d known the petite man my entire life instead of only a couple of weeks. He didn’t seem to mind the familiarity, so I kept rolling with it. “How often do you date?”
The question was innocent enough, but his cheeks turned a deeper shade as he looked away from me. Itsuki still had his beer in hand, and he took a long drink, nearly finishing off the entire glass before setting it down to meet my eyes once more.
“I don’t. Not really. There aren’t many people who catch my attention, and the ones who do?” He shrugged at the admission. “I don’t know. I’m not sure how they feel about me and the way I behave or dress. There’s so much pressure to act a certain way and have very specific goals...” Itsuki took a deep breath before his eyes softened. They watered a little bit, and I knew exactly what he was talking about.
