Disclaimer: The Vocaloids featured in this story obviously do not belong to me. They belong to their rightful companies which includes Zero-G and Yamaha.
Notes/Comment: Well, there's not much to say or note on besides this being a Vocaloid AU. To be very honest, I never thought of doing an AU with Vocaloids before because a) I didn't think it was completely possible to consider it an "alternative universe" because this is dealing with Vocaloids and b) the Vocaloids have little to no things which are considered "canon" in their world, so most AUs could pass as normal, every day things for them.
...okay, that probably didn't make sense; however, I'm hopeful this story will be a neat-o one.
Anyway, happy reading!
(Also, no I'm not going to use "Una furtiva lagrima" again for a song that Tonio sings. Twice is enough, even though the song itself is pretty nice. Instead, I'll be pulling two other songs which was used as a demo. "Donna e Mobile" and the duet with Prima called "Cinque Dieci". Prima, in the meanwhile, is singing "Lascia ch'io pianga". No, I didn't put the lyrics in the story due to the "songfic" rule. I'm telling you guys the name of them in case you want to listen to those songs while reading the story)
Names:
William Mori - Wil
Kyou Tsukino - Kyo
Yuu Koizumi - Yuu
Antonello Bellomi - Tonio
Primrose Bianchi - Prima
The year was 2009 in Italy when a concert at Teatro Tammaro was to begin in ten minutes, displaying the theatre's top opera singers of different ages, gender, and race or nationality. People from parts of the world even chose to come and visit the blossoming theatre upon hearing its reputation of obtaining exquisite singers.
There was a man in particular who finished studying himself in the restroom mirror. Suits weren't his favourite, and he was okay with admitting this aloud to his two friends who waited for him out in the theatre lobby. William Mori adjusted his black tie, his slender fingers brushing the fabric in his hold as he did so.
William and his two friends from high school — Kyou and Yuu — decided to go overseas from their home in Japan for a "celebration" present for themselves once they graduated, choosing Italy as the perfect vacation destination. To be honest, William was expecting to come here to simply ride on the little boats which rode in the water, not see an opera performance. Now, it wasn't as though he was the kind who disliked opera — in fact, he had a liking for it after watching a few on a public television network — but he was surprised at the suggestion to actually see an opera performance live.
He stepped out of the bright and clean restroom, Kyou wrapped an arm around his shoulder while Yuu joined them with a potato skin hung in his mouth.
"There you are! You were almost in there for five minutes, Wil! What took you so long?" Kyou demanded to know.
"I was fixing myself up," William replied, not phased by the arm on his shoulder, for he was used to Kyou doing this. "Were you behaving yourself while I was in there?"
"Of course I was! Why wouldn't I be? And why are you only questioning me and not Yuu, too?"
William shot a smile over to Yuu, then he answered truthfully to the other man, "Because Yuu doesn't misbehave like you do, Kyou."
He huffed. "Anyway," he changed the subject, "let's get going. They're going to close the doors in five minutes…!"
Yuu, in the meanwhile, tilted his head back and let the remaining piece of potato skin drop into his mouth. After he licked his lips, the blonde asked Kyou, "Why did you want to come here, though? You never told us…"
"Well…" Kyou wrapped his other arm around Yuu, earning a soft gasp from the youngest of the trio, as he briefly explained, "we're here in Italy on vacation, opera is a pretty big attraction in Italy, and Wil is keen on opera." He shot a glance to Wil, inquiring, "I mean, you do like opera, right? Did I get that assumption wrong?"
"I wouldn't say you were entirely off with that statement."
"See? This could be a treat for Wil! Besides, it's nice to check out things we've never experienced before, Yuu."
Yuu simply nodded.
"Good! Come on…" With a careful stride, Kyou began to lead his two buddies into the performance hall just as others started to pour through the double doors.
Student and teacher
Although she had been a familiar face to Teatro Tammaro since she was twelve-years old, Primrose Bianchi continued to feel excitement and pure anticipation upon performing in front of others or teaching future opera singers the rope of being an official member of the opera world. Now at twenty-six years of age, the Italian woman was slipping on her favourite set of ebony gloves as her eyes glanced at herself in the vanity mirror.
She beamed a bright smile, her heart aflutter.
"Perfect," she whispered.
Ah, she could hardly restrain herself any longer! That never-ending sensation in her stomach was going out of control, for her love of opera was rather passionate when it came to the genre. She took hold of the dress straps, slipped her thumbs underneath them, and then she adjusted them to where she felt her shoulders become comfortable. Closing her eyes, Primrose ran a gloved hand through her hair for a moment. Primrose's eyes opened then gazed to the clock hanging on the wall beside the dressing room door.
Suddenly, there was a knock.
'Right on time,' she thought with her smile present. Primrose, deciding to be clueless by not knowing who the person at the door could be, called out, "Yes? Who is it?"
A low mumble replied.
She chuckled gently. "What? I couldn't hear you! Could you please speak up, dear?" Aware of the grin spreading to her face when she heard an annoyed sigh, she listened on with silence until she heard:
"Antonello. Could you let me in now?"
"It's unlocked. Come on in."
The door creaked wide then shut itself quietly. As Primrose began to put her wavy black hair back with a clip, her ears captured the sound of feet shuffling towards her. "Well," she spoke to the young man whose reflection revealed itself in her mirror, "how are you feeling? This will be your very first public performance, after all, and I want to make sure you're all right."
Antonello Bellomi — whose nickname might have been very relevant due to his gorgeous physique — had known Primrose for a total of two years as of now and soon became a favourite of her students during opera workshops. If one had to use one word to describe his personality, "hesitant" could be one of those choices. The tenor came off as shy, but not to where he was frightened to sing in front of hundreds.
His brown eyes watched Primrose place some lip gloss on her puckered lips before answering, "I'll be fine." Antonello ran both hands through his dark brown hair then straightened the bottom of the jacket he donned. "How about you?"
"Of course I'll be okay during this evening. I live for this~…" She winked at him.
A sigh escaped him again. His hands went to the bow-tie and attempted to fix it. They remained quiet for a few seconds until Antonello broke the silence.
"Primrose?"
"Yes~?"
"I, erm—"
"Wait."
Antonello paused when Primrose lifted a hand then sniffed the air. There was something which reek of alcohol which made the older singer frown. Primrose turned to him whilst he averted eye contact with her.
"Antonello, were you drinking again?"
"A little."
She huffed, immediately putting her hands to her curvy waist. "Look at me," she commanded the man. When Antonello finally — though shyly — faced her, Primrose's frown deepened at the red eyes and faint flush speckled on his olive skin. "Antonello, I can't believe you would do this when you knew that we're going on stage in…" she darted her eyes to the clock then to her student once again, continuing, "five minutes…!"
He had a premonition Primrose would've reacted in this manner.
"I needed it," was his explanation, one which Primrose didn't enjoy hearing.
"…do we need to talk about something else?"
"No, I'm—"
"You usually drink when something's troubling you, dear."
It was now Antonello's turn to huff. "No I don't. I have a martini or two when I'm relaxing also. How do you know whether or not I'm simply relaxed or stressed about not living up to everybody's expectations?"
"Because I know you're a perfectionist and have a self-esteem problem which you hardly want to acknowledge."
He snapped, "I find nothing wrong with being a perfectionist."
Sighing, Primrose said, "Being a perfectionist is a good and bad thing, dear. It's admirable; however, it's also a stress inducer at times."
"I rarely get stressed!"
"Dear, I've seen how you were for several days after I told you that you were going to perform in the summer concert with professional singers…"
Antonello fell quiet. His eyes looked down at his feet as he muttered, "I was fine just like I am right now, Miss Bianchi."
The soprano didn't buy it; instead, she took his left hand into hers and led him to the restroom. "I've no time for this. Let's freshen you up a little while we still have time."
...
"Excuse me! Pardon!" a red-haired teenager with freckles chimed out as she slid through the seated isles with a blonde man and woman followed her.
"Sonny, you don't have to be so loud about excusing yourself," the woman in the back told her eager cousin.
"Sorry Lola~…"
Leon, the name of the man of the group, spoke up, "Sonny, I thought we had a box seat. That's the tickets that you ordered for us, right?"
She paused. "Wait, really?" Sonny looked back at them with a cocked brow. Once they nodded to her, the nineteen-year old whipped out the three tickets from her pockets. "Blimey! How could I have forgotten?"
The three — within the middle of a row of seats — stood in silence.
"Well," Sonny announced, "head back the way we came through and let's get ourselves to our seats!"
The people in the seats — along with Leon and Lola — groaned with the audience having to squeeze their knees in for the trio to slide back out and the two siblings needing to shuffle their way through.
Meanwhile, William and his group finally found their own seating.
"Perfect seats we've gotten," Kyou commented as he sat in between his two graduate buddies.
"How long is this?" Yuu asked, fiddling with the programme pamphlet which they each were handed upon entering the hall.
"I think two hours."
"You 'think'…?"
"Well, I'm not really sure…"
William opened his pamphlet and scanned it until he spotted the date and time displaying themselves. "It says that it starts at eight and ends at ten, but depending on how everything will go, it could last longer."
While Yuu nodded then stretched in his seat with a yawn, Kyou grinned at William, questioning, "Are you excited to see a live opera performance, Wil?"
"I guess so," his reply — since he had a husky voice — was gentle as his eyes drifted around the packed performance hall. It felt a bit surreal to be here, due to never thinking he'd be able to come see an opera performance — well, a showcase of an opera, anyway.
Kyou held in the laughter he wanted to let out while he asked something else, "Are you going to look for any attractive singers up there?"
"You're lucky we're in public and in an opera hall or else I would kick you in your knees."
Yuu allowed himself to laugh — though it sounded more like a hushed giggle — whilst Kyou playfully stuck a tongue out at William through the noisy talking of other attendees for tonight. All of a sudden, everyone ceased everything they were doing when the lights dimmed and a single spotlight shinned downstage. A woman in her early twenties made her way underneath the spotlight, her red dress sweeping across the floor as she moved.
She brushed the left side of her fringe out of her bright brown eyes, then she said into the microphone she had in her other hand, "Hello and welcome to Teatro Tamarro's fifth annual Summer Showcase! I'm Clara Azarola, and I'll be your hostess for this lovely fine evening!"
Kyou whispered to William, "She's pretty gorgeous."
"Out of your league," he was quick to knock that comment off.
"You suck."
"Shh, she's still talking."
Continuing on with her memorized speech, Clara announced to the audience, "On this night, we — at Teatro Tammaro — will be showing all of you the best of the best that our theatre has to offer Italy and the world! We have quite a performance tonight," she paused, then she checked her wristwatch and went on, "though we're all probably hoping we get out before eleven since we've got stuff to do like drinking at a bar or—"
A loud cough erupted from stage left, interrupting the Spanish woman and as a signal to cut it out.
"Yeah, I heard you, Bruno. Sorry." She paid attention back to the audience for a final word for now. "Anyway, without further ado, I present to you our opening duet! Performing together as teacher and student, here is Miss Primrose Bianchi and Antonello Bellomi with 'Cinque Dieci'!"
As she departed the stage, a woman and man in their twenties walked to where Clara once stood, earning an early applause from the audience.
The woman — known as Primrose Bianchi — wore a long black dress which ruffled at the very bottom of it while donning matching gloves. Her equally black hair was pulled behind her head; though not tightly, but enough to where it would remain in its place. She smiled over to Antonello, a man in a tux and cape, and held out her hand to him.
As the clapping died, Antonello gingerly held her hand while he felt the slight nervousness he had fade away.
"He's probably a newbie…" Yuu whispered to William and Kyou. "He looked kinda nervous, too…"
"He does?" Kyou quirked an eyebrow. "He doesn't look like it."
"His hands were shaking and his eyes are looking only at the lady."
"Oh, I see."
William tilted his head to one side at the couple on stage. After hearing Yuu's comment, he also took notice at Antonello's body language. If what Yuu was saying about Antonello being new to this was indeed the truth, Antonello must be panicking on the inside with the fear of screwing up someway or another. Poor guy, William understood what it was like to present yourself for the first time in front of a large group such as this during his days in high school.
Primrose smiled warmly at Antonello, who then blushed and turned his head away.
A take of breath broke the deathly silence in the hall. Soon, the voices of an elegant soprano and her tenor companion began with the accompany of the orchestra in the pit.
When he saw Antonello singing along with his teacher without a worry written in his face or body language, William found himself smiling a little at the sight and soaked in on their duet. Primrose and Antonello sounded wonderful together. The way they held their hands as though they were the perfect couple, how Primrose's smile refused to leave her porcelain coloured face, and the sparkles in Antonello's brown eyes while his fringe brushed across his cheeks once in a while.
…maybe he shouldn't focus too much on Antonello. Kyou might get the wrong idea and believe he found the male opera singer handsome. Okay, granted, Antonello did look attractive; however, Kyou would probably pester him about it if Antonello had to perform later on into the next hour or two.
And he damn well knew he wasn't going to let Kyou do that to him while he tried to enjoy tonight.
Tonight, tonight
Antonello sighed heavily as he took a seat in the green room, tossing his cape to his side. Thank God it was over for now. It felt so awkward singing in front of so many. This was definitely different than singing in front of the class, obviously; after all, there was a huge contrast with fifteen and over a hundred people.
Suddenly, a body practically lunged itself onto him, the arms wrapping around his shoulders, but Antonello didn't jump like he would've done had it been a stranger.
"You did so well out there, Tony!" Primrose proudly said.
'Tony?' Antonello repeated the new nickname in his mind while he allowed himself to still be held by his teacher and ignored the blush growing onto his cheeks. "Do you honestly think so, Primrose?"
"Of course! I wouldn't lie to you, dear."
"Oh, well…thank you."
Primrose pulled herself away with a smile. "You're welcome. At least you get to relax for a bit; I, on the other hand, have to go back on stage in a few minutes."
"Solo?"
"Three of them."
"Will you be able to relax your voice if you're doing that?"
With a laugh, she answered, "I've done this before, so I should be all right. Thank you for worrying…" Primrose lifted Antonello's cape and laid it across her lap as she joined him on the couch. "How did you feel out there?"
He thought, recollecting how he felt moments ago. Antonello wasn't — if one had to describe it — completely afraid, but neither was he confident up there at first. His young seventeen-year old heart pounded madly and palms remained clammy until the very end of "Cinque Dieci". Such an embarrassment; however, he knew things could've been worse for him…
"Maybe…" he slowly responded, glancing over to the left in order to avoid Primrose's stare, "a little nervous, I admit?" He turned back to her as he added, "I wasn't like that the whole time, though. I got better when were we finished."
The soprano bowed her head with a soft giggle as she let a hand touch her chin. "Aww, that's how I was when I first performed onstage. I'm glad you were well further on. I hope you'll be okay when you do your solo for the finale, dear…"
Antonello's face faltered as soon as he heard that last comment of Primrose whilst his teacher stood and left the room.
"Merda," he cursed to himself.
Good luck with that.
"Miss Primrose Bianchi has been with Teatro Tammaro since she was eleven-years of age, and ever since then, she has been supporting the theatre as a 'thank you' for her success," Clara told the audience with her eyes darting down to her hand where she had scribbled the outline of what she needed to say onwards. "By the way, she's been recently assigned to perform in an unannounced opera as the main lead, so Tammaro will proudly update on the title of the opera and its dates for anyone to see!"
Man, it was getting hot underneath this light. Clara whipped her forehead with the back of her unwritten hand.
"Anyway, here is Miss Bianchi with 'Lascia ch'io pianga'!"
Again, Clara departed from the stage while Primrose proudly drifted to where the Spanish woman once stood. Primrose, instead of making a peep, curtsied with a stunning smile and gentle eyes which might have captured the hearts of a few audience members at the sight.
"Wow, she's pretty…" Kyou mumbled, breaking the silence between his friends.
"Out of your league," William told him.
Yuu joined in with a whisper, "Definitely."
"I'm sticking your hands in warm water while you're sleeping tonight," was Kyou's threat to the two. A childish one, sure, but kicking them in their shins after they left would've been a bit too much. The old Steinway piano introduced the song to the attendees for this summer evening and soon was joined by Primrose's voice — full of innocence and sweetness at the beginning — in perfect harmony. She handled the higher notes with relative ease, for Primrose had been trained to sing in this tone. Primrose finished singing the first section of the song, leaving the piano playing by itself for a moment. She jumped into the song again with the same attitude written in her voice with a hand clasped to her chest and the other sweeping to the side.
William relaxed in his seat thanks for Primrose's voice. It was such an odd experience and he wasn't sure if the woman's singing, the music, or both was the cause for his shoulders to be free of any pressure upon them. Why on earth didn't he try going to an opera back in Japan instead of just now doing it?
His eyes drifted to the pamphlet in his possession and opened it while the other half of his attention was paid to Primrose as she finally completed singing. For most of the programme, a total of five people would perform excerpts with each of them doing two or three songs. In the last thirty minutes, there was a special presentation featuring the students who attended Tammaro for training.
Finale — Tammaro's Future Stars
"Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour" - Miss Emily Arce and Miss Seung Kim
"Sebben, crudele" - Miss Luka Mikhailov
"Ch'ella mi creda" - Mister Ken'ichi Camui
"Donna e Mobile" - Mister Antonello Bellomi
A tiny flutter shot through his body at the last name displayed. Bellomi was the guy who performed with Bianchi from earlier, was he not? Why did he react that way because of spotting his name? Was it because of how lively his eyes appeared? Could it have been due to his tenor voice spouting Italian in a manner which captivated the rest of the audience? He tilted his head in thought, wondering to himself with a hum.
Green room - a place for performers to meet up or relax
"Tony, are you still in here?"
Antonello, who was resting on the couch, sat up and saw a handsome Spanish man with curly brown hair and blue eyes step into the room as he held a plastic cooler in one hand. "What on earth is with everyone calling me 'Tony' all of a sudden?"
Ignoring the question, Bruno Cardona took a seat beside the Italian boy with a smile. "How are you holding up?"
"And now everyone is asking how I'm doing. Lord, I wasn't that nervous…"
"Sure looked like you were."
"Anyway, I brought the drinks," Bruno announced as he sat the cooler on the tiny coffee table in front of them. He lifted the top then sat it down. "Don't try drinking too much, though. I heard Primrose scolding you from her dressing room…"
"You're nosy," he huffed.
Watching Antonello lean forward in pull out a flask from the cooler, Bruno pressed his back against the cool material while tugging his tie loose just as another person began to sing onstage. "I just want to make sure you'll still be sober when they call you up there." He frowned for a second in thought, but then he reached over and ruffled Antonello's soft hair then let his fingers trail behind his neck.
"You and Primrose worry too much for me, I swear," he mumbled while giving in to the touches at his neck. Antonello twisted the top off, then tilted his head back and allowed the familiar bitter drink to pour into his dried mouth. Usually, he would've added a "keep your hand to yourself" half-heartedly; however, Antonello found himself needing something else to calm his nerves along with the martini he drunk.
"It's because you're still so young," he explained to Antonello. "We want to make sure you don't have a breakdown or anything, especially Primrose."
Another huff escaped from Antonello at the mention of his age.
Bruno fell quiet and listened on to the singing and his buddy — Clara — talking once in a while before introducing another performer. The room remained free of any sounds from both men for the following thirty minutes. Meanwhile, thoughts were scattered about in Antonello's mind during this time. At least with a duet he had Primrose with him, but now he was all alone. Primrose did tell him weeks prior to prepare himself in case he and a few of his classmates had to do solos to meet the "two hour" limit of the programme.
The thought of a solo in front of hundreds is what caused him to dig into the cooler for another drink. As Bruno watched cautiously, Antonello spotted a jug which was filled to the top and immediately knew this was where he would get the rest of his martini. He would've preferred drinking from a glass; in contrast, pouring some into a flask and drinking from that was better than not having a drink at all.
For you see, when it came to his self-esteem, it was lower than low. Suicide wasn't a thought to him, nor the act of harming himself; although, he drank quite a bit and was possibly hurting his insides in the process. Minus his loving mother and father, Antonello's family moaned about how he chose to follow in his mom's and dad's footprints and pick up opera as a career. They — his other family members — went on and on of how opera was so boring and an annoyance. It did not help that they seemed to enjoy talking about him and his parents behind his back. Those thoughts would find their way back to him whenever he got on stage or had to sing in general.
"You know, if it'll make you feel better…" Bruno spoke, "I think you'll do great out there." With a nudge of his head, he gestured to the open door of the green room. "Whenever Clara and I are here working, we hear your class for the majority of the time."
As Antonello poured some of the martini into his silver flask, his brown eyes glanced to Bruno whose smile softened. Blushing deeply, he turned his head and sat back against the couch. That co-worker for the theatre stirred something inside of him, but he was uncertain of what those feelings were. A crush? N—no, it couldn't be. He was too young for the twenty-five year old, anyway. Besides, he was probably taken.
"You're such a bloody sap. I—it's not like you're making me feel better about the situation…"
Bruno's smile widened as he chuckled. "If you say so."
Finale.
The audience clapped as a Japanese man with long black hair — which was pulled back into a low ponytail with a white strip of cloth — bowed and left the stage with a sigh of relief written on his feminine face. Clara arrived to where a Mister Camui stood and performed fantastically.
"Thank you to Mister Camui for his take on 'Ch'ella mi creda'!" Clara cleared her throat — glad she drank a glass of water while she waited for Camui to finish — then checked the writing on her hand. Shit, the top part was smudged…
Oh well. There was only one more performance and then she'd wrap things up. Easy.
"As a closing performance," Clara started as she decide to brush away the rest of the words on her hand by rubbing the palm onto the right side of her dress, "we're going to bring out our splendid tenor from earlier in the program. Just like the other four before him, this is Bellomi's first time being up here on his own, so please make him feel at home!"
William felt his hands hold onto the paper bill tighter as his cheeks lightly flushed, and he hoped Kyou didn't notice his odd behaviour. He was such a shy person, so maybe the dork beside him will assume he's feeling awkward being around so many people at once.
Kyou glanced to Yuu, whispering, "Did you still want to go to the arcade afterwards?"
"No," the boy whispered back in response, "I'm hungry. Can we go eat when it's over?"
"Even better. I'll ask Wil."
"Okay."
"Hey, Wil—…" Kyou was turning to face William; however, he paused when he took notice of William's face as Clara introduced an "Antonello Bellomi" out loud. His cheeks were turning a shade of red as the room was filled with clapping. The brown haired man glanced ahead just when Antonello Bellomi walked onstage as the orchestra played one more time.
Antonello, in the meantime, refrained himself from wanting to vomit under the eyes of the audience. 'Merda,' he thought, 'I wish I could've had more to drink until I didn't care anymore…'
He tried. He tried his best to keep Bruno's words in his mind. Primrose had given him another hug before he was called out here, whispering into his ear about letting himself go. She wanted to make sure he did not hold himself back from singing at full power.
Ah, those familiar notes of "Donna e Mobile" sounded. The Italian boy closed his eyes and took a breath of fresh air. Opera, this was something he enjoyed. If this was the absolute truth, then he should prove to these strangers and Primrose his admiration through his voice.
And he did.
William — not realizing he was being occasionally watched by Kyou — could tell that a smile crossed his lips. He had seen a nervous look on Antonello's face, but William felt relief at it vanishing in an instant once he sang without fear and so powerfully.
Kyou was impressed at the mature voice coming from a guy who was probably their age, but he kept glancing to William in order to see his friend's expression. "Wil," he called his name in a hushed tone. When William quickly made a "hmm" as his eyes remained on Antonello, Kyou asked with a smirk, "Antonello is a pretty good singer, isn't he?"
A chill shot up his spine as Antonello hit a higher note, but William made certain to reply to Kyou. "Yeah…"
"Is he pretty?"
"Y—yeah?"
"Got the hots for him?"
William shot a heavy glare, his ears and neck burning at the suggestion.
"I'm kicking your ass later."
"So worth it."
Antonello — at long, long last — released the final notes to the song, ignoring how hard his heart beat against his chest. Oh thank God his voice neither cracked or wavered when it didn't need to. When the music ended, his ears were filled with clapping and a few cheers all around him. Not used to this sort of attention, Antonello flushed, bowed calmly, and left the stage without a glance to the audience.
"Thank you, thank you all!" Clara immediately thanked the group once they calmed themselves. With a wave of her hand, she said, "And so, we've reached the end of the summer showcase. I hope you've had a wonderful time! Tammaro has booked a nearby restaurant — Bronze Frog — and is open for anybody to join us for food, free of charge!" She curtsied. "Have a nice night!"
With one last applaud — including loud "whoops" from a red haired girl in a box with her two cousins — from everybody, the showcase came to a close. William slowly recovered from the embarrassing questions from Kyou to look down at his bill, staring at Antonello's name. He couldn't point out why as of yet still, but there was something about Antonello which captured him and refused to release him.
to be concluded.
