Prompt credit: OTP-imagination on tumblr
Imagine your OTP as musicians, doing duets and going to competitions as an epic duo.
Chapter 1.
Ever since that day, I couldn't stop thinking of the dark haired boy.
The way he looked when he sang.
The way he held his guitar.
How confident he looked while on stage.
His slim figure demanding attention.
I am a waiter at a small pub in the quiet district. Small enough that it wasn't even really a pub, but a restaurant with a very small bar and a stage in the corner, I think the owner, Takashi Shirogane (shiro for short) just likes to call it a pub because of the small bar in the corner. Every Thursday night The pub, the Black Lion, we would have a music night where musicians could sign up and play a few songs that night. Most Thursdays the roster was full, and there was a variety of songs that made people of all kinds come in, listen to some music, and eat their food.
Without fail every Thursday that dark haired boy would come in and sign up at the end of the night slot, and sit in the corner booth listening to the other artists leading up to his turn. Also without fail, every Thursday one lovestruck waiter would stare at him from across the room while he pretended to listen to the chef hunk, and the owner/bartender Shiro talk. That lovestruck waiter being me.
This night was no exception. I was bringing over an order of onion rings to a group of girls at table three, winking as he set them down hoping for a good tip. That's when I heard pidge, my fellow waiter, announce one Keith Kogane to come up to the mike and perform.
I attempted to casually watch Keith set up his amp, failing miserably on the causal part, and receiving a nudge from the small waiter beside me.
"Oooooooh someone has got it bad for the singer" they winked up at me, to which I responded with a forceful, but not rough, shove, enough to send my small friend a few steps to the right.
"Oh shut up, there's no way it would ever happen. He is probably straight anyways. All the hot ones are straight." I pouted as I picked up the next order from hunk and delivered it to table 5, where Shiro's girlfriend Allura was managing the funds for the Black lion. Allura looked up at me and pushed a stray hair back from her eyes and pushed it into her ponytail.
"Oh come on lance, you will never know if you don't try!"
"Not you too Allura! I already get enough of it from pidge!" I said pointedly at the white haired girl.
"Ooh looks like he is starting!" Pidge said and pulled me down into one of the chairs at Allura's table. The sound of the guitar swept over the dining area, causing even the more than slightly drunk group of girls to grow silent and listen.
The complex guitar music washes over the audience and it's as if everyone was holding their breath, waiting for the singing to start. And start it did. His voice was like velvet, his vocal range like nothing anyone there has ever heard, and it didn't take long for people to clap after the song ended, many in the building standing up.
"He comes in every week, but every time I can't get over how his voice carries. At some point, I will definitely need to get him to sing with an acoustic guitar instead of the powerful electric." Allura said as she stopped clapping and turned to me. "For quiznack's sake, lance just ask him out!"
"I agree lance!" Shirt shouted from behind the bar, Receiving a murderous glare from me.
"Hay shiro, I think I will head out now, I have a lot of studying to do for my English midterm tomorrow" Keith had walked up to the bar and began talking to shiro.
"Hold on a sec, hey lance, can you get Keith's tips from the front? I can't believe we don't pay you by now because wow man, you have so much potential!" Shiro said as he wiped down a glass and put it in its place under the bar.
"Honestly Shiro, I don't need pay. I come here to listen to the other artists and take a break from school work." I walked up with the jar with the last number for the night on it and handed it to shiro. Unlike with the other singers, shiro doesn't even bother taking a cut of the performance money.
"Hey, Keith… help me try and convince lance of something." Shiro said winking at me while Keith looked at me. As soon as Keith looked back to shiro I willed lasers to come out of my eyes and smite shiro right there. "So lance likes this guy right?" I could have sworn I saw a flash of hope on Keith's face, but wishful thinking right? "he won't just ask him out though! He has always been like this, guys, girls, it doesn't matter. He just won't ask someone out. What do you think? Should he just rip the band-aid off and ask this guy out?" Shiro was grinning, but luckily Keith was still looking at shiro and I pretended to strangle and invisible shiro before pretending to strangle myself for good measure. Just then Keith looked back at me and I stopped just in time.
"Just ask him out dude, if he rejects you then he rejects you. I have had my share of guys reject me, trust me just try! you never know what will happen!." Keith shoved his now folded tips into his pocket and picked up his guitar case and small amp before saying goodbye to shiro and allura and heading out the door and turning left down the street.
It was a moment before I registered what he said. 'My fair share of guys'. 'GUYS'. I walked over to hunk in a trance, a million things running through my mind, picked up the order of fries he just put up and gave it to the same table of drunk girls. I didn't even wink as I walked away this time, it's not like they noticed, I mean they were so drunk by then that they all probably thought I winked anyways. After I set down the food I walked back over to allura, my eyes wide.
"Remind me to murder your boyfriend later, ok?"
"What were you three talking about over there?" She asked me, pidge casually strolled over to hear the story too.
"Basically, shiro said I had a crush on a guy, made Keith pressure me to ask "this guy" out, and I found out Keith wasn't as strait as I thought he was," I said staring at the table in front of me.
"Ohmygoodness that is great! Will you just ask him out already?" Allura said as she shook my entire body by my shoulder.
"I can't just ask him out! I need to do it in style! I can't just use a shitty pickup line and expect it to work for someone as cool as him!" I said and dropped my head into my hands
"I know you can sing, you sing all the time during closing. Why don't you try singing next Thursday?" Pidge leaned over the side of the booth so their head was next to mine, and I looked back up at them.
"You expect me to be able to sing in front of an audience? Singing to the radio is a lot different! Plus I can't keep time with the mop if I am on stage!" I responded quickly, no hope left in my voice
"Then play an instrument! Didn't you learn piano at one point?" Pidge just wasn't giving up.
"I haven't played since middle School! I would sound awful!" The drunk girls cleared out of the place, and Shiro started clearing the bar and putting up stools.
"If you want to try and practice you can stay here and use the piano, I trust you to lock up," Shiro said as he made his way over table by table, wiping them down. Pidge and I start doing the same, and hunk is cleaning up tonight's mess in the kitchen
"What song should I sing though? What would make it clear that 'that guy' I have a crush on is Keith?"
"You could sing one of his songs?" Allura says as she starts packing up all the bills and receipts that she had on the table
"Ooh ya! You could sing that one love song he sang last week! It was about a singer who loves a singer, it would be perfect!" Pidge singsonged the last little bit of their sentence
"But what if I can't do his song justice? Aaaahhhh I am so stupid I can't do this!" Shiro came up to my and hit my shoulder with his prosthetic hand, luckily it was a very expensive and a prototype he was testing for a local technology company, so it felt like a normal hand but made of metal.
"You heard Keith today! Just give it a shot! You will never know what will happen!"
"I agree with Shiro, and not just because he is my boyfriend. You deserve to be happy." She gives me a hug before finishing up her cleaning, and she and Shiro packed up their stuff and got ready to leave for the night. Shiro tossed me the keys to the pub.
"At least give it a try tonight?" He said before he and allura walked out and got into his car, an old black jaguar, ironically with the license plate saying "lion". It wasn't long before pidge and Hunk were ready to leave, giving me a bit of encouragement.
I finished the last two tables before going to the booth in the corner. I was surprised to find one red and white jacket belonging to a certain boy that I was head over heels for. I held it for a bit before walking behind the bar and sticking it into the lost and found. I quickly locked the door and made sure the sign said closed.
I walked over to the piano and opened the cover feeling the dusty keys. I wiped over it with the rag I still had on my shoulder and tested a key. It was amazing that even though no one played it, Shiro always made sure it was tuned just in case someone came in wanting to play.
As I began to play the years of classes came back to me, and even though I was nowhere near the level I was at when I stopped playing, I was better that]n I thought I would be. I played a few easy songs I had learned so long ago, then pulled up a fall out boy song I used to know on my phone, testing my sheet music abilities, stumbling a bit over the notes.
Suddenly I heard a knock at the glass door in the front. There stood Keith Kogane, looking a bit cold in the black t-shirt he was wearing.
Aaahhhhh. Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I know very well that there are a bunch of things wrong with the spelling etc, so if you catch anything please tell me! (This will probably be a few chapters, I only have one other chapter thus far and I am still editing it soooooo...)
Also on a side note, if you would like to beta my stories, feel free to send me a message!