A/N: A really short birthday oneshot for Maya that I thought of on a whim in which Maya's a nervous gay disaster (and a total nerd) while Eve is a distinguished lesbian. I also had to indulge a bit in my own nerdiness for sound tech…
The title has double meaning. Most of you probably know the psychology definition, which implies that people who spend more time together are more likely to form more meaningful relationships. There's also a proximity effect in terms of audio terminology, which is the phenomena where a cardioid microphone tends to pick up more bass frequencies the closer the sound source is to the mic.
The alluring sounds of live music filled the Hazawa Café on one Saturday afternoon. Patrons were enjoying their coffee and cakes with a side of local talent filling the atmosphere. The further side of the café had been cleared of tables and chairs to make room for a staging area where Poppin' Party was currently performing an acoustic version of Tear Drops.
With the recent closing of CiRCLE, many of the bands no longer had a venue to perform at. However, the collaboration of five bands with an unwavering passion for music made an alternative possible. Tsugumi was able to convince her parents to create a small performance area within the café, saying that more events would help bring in more business. The Hazawas were hesitant at first— mostly because of what the expense of such a renovation would entail— but with a little funding from the Tsurumaki family, the necessary equipment could be afforded. Tae and Maya, in all their experience with live sound and lighting, were happy to volunteer themselves to help set everything up.
When everything was up and running, everyone agreed that a live event would be the perfect way to celebrate their successful efforts. Posters and flyers were made, catering agreements with the Yamabuki Bakery and Kitazawa Meats were made, Michelle even endorsed the event to gain popular appeal. On the day of the live, the turnout was better than anyone ever expected.
Out of the way of the stage, a small sound booth was set up where Maya was running the sound board. Aside from drumming, running sound was one of her favorite things to do. She rarely had the chance to be the one in the booth outside of Haneoka Drama Club productions and was quick to jump on the opportunity. There was an unexplainable excitement that rose within her when she was monitoring meters and riding faders. A little EQ here, some subtle compression there— Maya was clearly in her element and was as serious as the musicians once the performance started.
"Maya-san has such an intense face when she's working," Eve observed, handing Maya a glass of water as they were switching bands. On stage, Afterglow was setting up for their set.
"Huhehe, is that so?" Maya laughed as she scratched her cheek, "I suppose I do get a bit hyper-focused. It's just that-"
"I never said it was a bad thing. It's cute." Eve smiled, pulling up a stool beside Maya to watch her work.
Maya blushed hard, hoping her hair would block the redness in her face as she started adjusting the knobs on the board to the settings she had noted down during Afterglow's sound check earlier that day.
"Aren't you supposed to be serving customers?" Maya asked, more out of nervousness but worried that she may have sounded rude.
"Tsugumi-san let me have a break so I could watch her band perform," Eve gracefully answered, seemingly undeterred by Maya's question.
"That's awfully nice of Hazawa-san." Maya threw a side glance and smile as she kept conversation, not wanting to take her attention fully away from setting up the board.
"So what exactly are you doing?"
"Eh?" Maya was a bit thrown off by the question. She didn't think anyone would really be interested in the technicalities of live sound reinforcement, but nonetheless she did not hesitate to explain her duties.
Maya began turning a few nobs, all lined up horizontally near the bottom of the channel strips. "Well these are pan knobs. It affects where the instruments are in the stereo field and I'm trying to make it so that it's similar to how they're set up on stage."
Pressing a button on the side, the faders suddenly jumped to different positions, spurring an interested hum from Eve, who was intrigued at the automated mechanics of the equipment. "This button lets me switch between the main mix— which is what we hear out here— and their monitors on stage so they can hear themselves. For example, they're probably going to want more of Hazawa's keyboard in their monitors than we need out here since she's using DI and doesn't have her own amp."
"You certainly are really knowledgeable at this kind of stuff, aren't you, Maya-san?" Eve giggled as Maya continued to rant about minor details. She didn't really understand most of the terminology the sound technician was using, but the enthusiasm Maya had when she talked about music was endearing.
"I- uh, well, I mean…" Maya sputtered, clearly embarrassed. "You didn't understand a word I said, did you? Sorry, I went off on a bit of a rant."
"No, No!" Eve quickly replied. "I think your passion for it is very bushido."
Maya laughed awkwardly at all the compliments, but was a little relieved that Eve wasn't repulsed by her nerdiness. "Say, do you want to run the light board? It's nowhere as complicated as running sound, I promise."
Eve's eyes lit up. "Would that really be okay?"
"Of course. It's really easy, and you can have a bit more fun with it."
Maya quickly directed Eve on which light each fader controlled—luckily, it was also conveniently labelled with masking tape for reference. She even shared her notes with the rookie light operator on how to set the lights during certain songs and at what parts. It wasn't nearly as involved as what Maya was doing on the sound board, but Eve could certainly see why Maya enjoyed doing this sort of work. Eve would certainly have to ask Maya for some more lessons in the future.
A/N: Pastel Palettes performed first so that Eve could help out with customers and Maya could run sound for the rest of the event. Tae dutifully filled in for sound during their performance.
I really just wanted to write something about that since they're both knowledgeable in it. I promise, running sound is much more fun than I probably wrote it out to be :/