"Alright, this next one is for all you lovebirds here, celebrating this wonderful moment with the new couple..."
At the age of twenty three, Seijuurou Mikoshiba thought that his life was pretty alright. A bit over average, decent, at best, his up and coming profession being...questionable to most and to himself at first. It had all started when Gou Matsuoka, the younger sister to his close friend from their high school days Rin Matsuoka, was getting married and the entertainment had cancelled last minute due to a member of the band having a family emergency. The older sibling tried his best to calm down his sister as her maid of honor and mother tried their best to find someone to be a replacement, and as a partial joke, Seijuurou offered for himself to fill in. At first the initial thought was shot down but once Gou had thought it out (and recalling one too many karaoke nights that had ended with Seijuurou getting the highest points out of their group), she accepted with great thanks and the panicked rush had then turned to finding the right music to be used for the reception and to get it to Seijuurou so he knew what would be playing.
"Mikoshiba, you're a lifesaver!" Gou hugged Seijuurou tight after the reception was ended and their friends and family were slowly going home. "I seriously can't thank you enough!"
"Hey, hey, don't worry about it! Tonight was a lot of fun and I'm more than happy that I made things work out last minute."
"I've been getting compliments all night about you, you know!"
Seijuurou rubbed the back of his neck and laughed, nudging the new bride. "Yeah, me too. Which isn't fair because it's your night, after all!"
"You should really think about doing this more often, I have a lot of friends that came that said that when they get married they'd love to have you!"
"To sing, or to get hitched?" His joke made Gou snort and push Seijuurou's shoulder and she gawked at the redhead with a smile.
And after that, he had gotten several calls from friends, family, and people he didn't even seem to know (that he was somewhat sure that they were the women that Gou had mentioned at her wedding), all asking if he was free to sing at their weddings. It was something he sure didn't expect, making one of his hobbies into a career like this and so sudden and he was definitely having a great time doing it, so Seijuurou accepted the requests with a smile and bright determination. Seijuurou had went to Gou to ask her to be his manager of sorts, someone to help him smooth out his soon-to-be busy schedule since she was the one that had given him the push (and also getting Rin involved, the older Matsuoka agreeing to help out with the larger weddings) and the starting idea to do so over drinks almost a month after the calls had started, slowly making 'Seijuurou Mikoshiba: Wedding Singer Extraordinaire' a reality. He had gotten a significant amount of money from each gig and thanks to knowing his finances, his extra cash would go to new nice clothes (which technically were now his 'work clothes') and was in the process of discussing the possibility of maybe getting a small back-up band with Gou instead of relying on CDs and mp3s.
Seijuurou happily accepted requests aside from his own list of signature songs that were popular at past weddings and his main priority over everything was to make the bride and groom happy on their special day, and the guests as well, of course. Seijuurou was more than happy himself, making others feel the same, and it was a surprise to the redhead that with almost every wedding he attended and performed at, he would leave with several phone numbers on assorted napkins from women and even a handful of men on occasion. He would accept them with a smile and pink cheeks, sometimes even acting on it and going out with a few of those people. And for Seijuurou, it was very rare for himself to be leaving his own phone number to give to someone.
The thought of wanting to meet someone for the long run was something that crossed his mind, still being fairly young and there being plenty of time for him to find someone that he wanted to date, decide that they were more than special and then be with for the rest of his life. So Seijuurou decided to enjoy a bit more of dating around, meeting people, doing the things he liked, and maybe, in the back of his mind, that he would find that someone eventually and things would be well.
And it wasn't until a winter wedding that he saw someone that truly caught his attention.
Seijuurou was in the middle of setting up, he and Rin making sure cables were untangled and Gou finishing the playlist. The group still had time before the actual wedding would start so that they could get done way before the reception started and even had agreed to aid in setting up when they arrived since after all, they had the spare time with knowing what they were doing and the large amount of guests made it so extra tables had to be set up. He and Rin stepped back, stretching their arms over their heads and admired the ballroom, decorated in white and teal.
"Nice place, they must have spent a fortune on all of this." Rin whistled, impressed by how the ballroom was decorated.
"They did, that's what one of the bridesmaids told me." Gou added and not even looking up from the tablet in her hands, fingers still tapping away and dragging things across the screen. "Their budget was way smaller but the groom insisted on wanting to make things perfect for his soon to be wife."
"Awh, so sweet. That seems to happen a lot, doesn't it?"
The tallest redhead hummed in agreement, eyes scanning the centerpieces on the tables and watching as the last few chairs were brought in and the spare tables were being set. "Seems so, Gou told me that quite a few of the budgets were raised to make things a bit better. But whatever makes people happy that involves money, I guess."
"And," Rin grinned at Seijuurou, arms now crossed across his chest. "Gou and I made a bet."
"...What kind of bet?"
"Just a number of how many people are going to be completely swooning over you tonight."
Seijuurou laughed and rolled his eyes, nudging Rin with his elbow. "Well, who knows. I did see some cute ladies showing up when we did."
"Ah, already scoping people out aren't ya, Mikoshiba?"
Gou let out a sigh, standing up from the chair she was sitting in and patted Seijuurou's shoulder. "You wanna take a look at the setlist and then go finalize it?"
"Mmm, yeah." Seijuurou took the tablet that was in Gou's hands, scanning the list of songs and in what order, making small sounds of agreement as he scrolled down. "You even put on the couple's song, great!"
"Well I remember they mentioned it when we met with them, so..." She smiled at Seijuurou as the tablet was handed back to her. "Come on, let's go confirm this with Mayumi and get it all set up. Don't mess anything up, Rin!"
Red eyes rolled. "I won't. I need to call Ai and then I'll get your clothes from the car."
Seijuurou and Gou continued their small talk of the song list, pointing things out and even some last minute position changes. The singer suggested to keep the couples song a surprise for the newlyweds and Gou immediately agreed, swiping it off the list and made the note to put it back in once they were done discussing it.
"Maybe we should also block some songs? Few upbeat here, then a few slow ones...we were only given a rough time estimate..." He and Gou turned down the hall and Seijuurou looked up, his words trailing off as he saw something, someone, that caught his attention. Once that someone disappeared from his sight he blinked, trying to get his thoughts back on track. "S-Sorry, back to what I was saying..."
"You alright?" Gou tilted her head to the side. "I haven't seen you make that face since you were talking about one of your exes while you were still dating them in high school."
He could feel his cheeks start to warm up with Gou's observations and he ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "What face? I didn't make a face."
"You totally did! You stopped, right in the middle of what you were saying and bit your lip because you saw something, someone that totally caught your attention! Now spill!"
"Fine, fine..." He stopped walking to lean against the wall, Gou still at his side. "He was-"
"He?" By her tone Seijuurou knew that Gou had a wide grin on her face.
"...Anyways, he was tall? Maybe a bit shorter than me, brown hair and wearing a green shirt and slacks. Was following a guy with black hair in a blue shirt..."
"And you thought he was cute?" She nudged the older redhead excitedly. "C'mon, it's been awhile since you made the first move on someone!"
"I only saw him from a distance, but..."
"I'll tell Rin so we can keep an eye out for him, or his friend, so you can talk to him!"
Seijuurou smiled and bowed slightly at the applause he was getting. He reached for his bottle of water near the back of the stage area, taking a quick drink in between song changes. There were plenty of people socializing for the reception; some still lingered at their tables, some stood with drinks in their hands, and there were a few couples and small kids on the dancefloor. He was more than pleased, the newlyweds looked so happy as did their guests. Gou and Rin were off to the side, talking to some of the wedding party and by a gesture here and there, he knew that they had mentioned him.
But that brunette he saw, he was still most definitely thinking about him, and maybe he would see him again.
He cleared his throat before stepping back up to the mic, making small banter before looking over at Rin who had quickly walked to the side of the stage to get the next song queued up and ready to play by the time Seijuurou would stop talking. Once the slow piano had resonated through the speakers behind him he stopped, waiting for the right moment to start singing. While doing so, words coming out slow and low, he watched as the floor in front of him fill with couples coming together to dance. Seijuurou could see the bride and groom, bridesmaids and groomsmen with their dates, even a pair of small children acting like the adults around them and spinning almost in the middle of the floor. He couldn't help but smile, getting right into the chorus of the song and both hands rested on the mic stand, scanning the room and saw plenty of people looking back right at him.
And, while he was scanning the room, he saw a familiar frame of brown hair, right next to black, green and blue shirts illuminated by the low ballroom lights and candles on the table. Staring right at him, at Seijuurou, and smiling.
Seijuurou's heart quickened, thanking that the song would be over soon and he could excuse himself to take a short break. But what would he say? Would he just casually go over to him, say, "Oh hey, my name's Seijuurou and I saw you and your friend in the hall earlier today and I think you're pretty attractive from a first glance and still even by this bare lightning in the room and I want to take you out"? He finally blinked and looked away from the brunette, focusing back to his front and trying his hardest to not drift back to the left where his eyes wanted to go.
As soon as he was finished he backed away from the mic to sigh as the crowd applauded him, coming back to say that he was taking his break as Gou got the "break tracks" (which were just songs that they knew were popular from on the radio amongst some classics so that the guests could still dance and enjoy themselves) started. He rushed off stage, catching Rin and Gou's attention and the older Matsuoka caught Seijuurou by the arm.
"Woah there, what happened and why are you in a rush? Unless you have to piss-"
"Wait." Gou batted Rin's hand off of Seijuurou. "Did you-"
"I saw him." This time, he felt a smaller hand grip at his sleeve and he knew that it was Gou's. "Left side, table in the near middle. Him and his friend."
"Well then go get him!" She pushed him off and he stumbled to get his footing, recovering before he would have crashed right into a table. "Good luck!"
Seijuurou took a moment to calm himself, fixing the fallen strands of his hair and smoothed out his shirt, scanning the tables ahead to see if who he was looking for was still at his table. He tried standing on his toes, thinking that he would maybe he could see the top of his head, but from the corner of his eye he saw his friend go in that direction with two drinks in his hands. He exhaled, carefully making his way past chairs that were too close to each other and apologizing every time he passed someone and thought that he had slightly nudged. When the brunette was finally in his view Seijuurou inhaled, biting the inside of his cheek and tried to put on his best smile, despite the lump forming in his throat because seeing him up close and seeing brilliant green eyes raise to look at him.
"Hey," He breathed out, hand rubbing the back of his neck.
"Hi." The brunette smiled at him, small straw stirring the ice in his drink.
"Is, uh, the seat next to you taken?" Or are you taken? had been something that came to his mind, and the man laughed.
"No. Go ahead, sit down." He nodded, pulling out the chair and sitting down, elbow on the table and resting his chin against his palm and smiled back. "So, Seijuurou, is it?"
"Yeah, how did you-" Seijuurou started and laughed, forgetting that his name was usually included in the wedding program...and that he usually introduced himself when he got on stage. "Ah, right, right..."
"I'm Makoto, and this is my best friend, Haru." Makoto gestured to his other side where Haruka only nodded and Seijuurou nodded back, smile still on his face. "You're...really good, you know." Makoto's eyes went wide and his face turned red, holding his hands up. "A-At singing, I mean!"
"It's alright, Makoto. But...there are a few things other than singing that I'm good at." Seijuurou raised an eyebrow and his smile grew as Makoto's own did, the brunette trying to cover his mouth with the rim of his glass.
"O-Oh? Is that so?"
Seijuurou and Makoto continued to speak once Makoto had calmed himself down, exchanging topics like how Makoto knew either the bride or groom ("She's a friend of my mom's, and Haru and I used to see her a lot when we were growing up"), finding out that they both enjoyed swimming as hobbies ("You were a captain too? That's amazing!"), and that they were both older brothers ("Twins? Man, if my siblings were twins I'm sure that they would raise all kinds of hell!"), and that Makoto had a soft spot for anything feline-related.
But the most important thing, is that Seijuurou had learned that Makoto was perfectly single, on the market, and Seijuurou could have sworn that fate had a hand in tonight.
"He's wearing cat socks right now." Haruka spoke, and Makoto lightly kicked him from under the table. "Go ahead and look, it's true."
"H-Hey!"
The singer laughed, watching Makoto and Haruka playfully bicker back and forth until he saw Rin in his view waving his arms. Seijuurou sighed and nudged Makoto's leg with his own foot, making the brunette turn to face him.
"As much as I hate to leave, and I really do, looks like my little break time is up and I have to get back to work."
"Guess that can't be helped, can it?" Makoto frowned.
"...But hey, if you decide to stay around, come to the stage?" Seijuurou got up from the table, pushing his chair back in and seeing Makoto's smile return to his face with pink cheeks.
"Of course!"
Once Seijuurou got back to the Matsuoka siblings they were pushing him back on the stage, knowing that once he was done they would be asking constant questions about Makoto, but for now he had a set to finish, and the next thing on their list was the special couple's song for the bride and groom.
"Alright ladies and gents, sorry about the long wait," Seijuurou paused, waiting for the noise to settle down and looked to his left, right at Makoto's table, locking with green eyes once again. "Now, this one is special for the bride and groom, being told that this song was playing during their first date..."
Makoto woke up, sun shining directly onto his face and stumbled out of bed with a groan and a yawn. He rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand as he made his way to the small kitchen in his apartment to start making his morning coffee to begin his day. Through sleep-heavy eyes finally everything was all set and measured, he sighed happily when the rich aroma slowly filled the room and he leaned against the counter.
And then a small, white napkin with red lettering ended with a small heart caught his attention that made his heart swell and mind fill with images of a stunning smile, golden eyes, red hair, and a voice that made him want to melt from the previous night.
"Give me a call sometime?"
Makoto waited until his coffee was brewed and he fixed a quick and simple breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast with jam before getting in the shower. Dressed in a new change of clothes and towel draped over his shoulders, Makoto grabbed his phone and the napkin from the counter, biting his lip as he thought that maybe it was too soon to be calling Seijuurou, it being only slightly past eleven in the morning. But soon enough Makoto was dialing the number, heart pounding in his ears along with the ringing of the other line.
One.
Two.
Three.
Fo-
"Hello, this is Seijuurou-" The redhead yawned, and Makoto thought that he must have woken up not too long ago.
"A-Ah, Seijuurou? It's Makoto. You know, from the wedding last night..." Makoto's cheeks were already pink and he could hear shuffling on the other end.
"Makoto, hey!"
"So, I was thinking...I really would like to take you up on that dinner offer, if that's okay and you're not busy anytime soon hopefully..."
Author's note: This was just a little something that has been in my folders for the longest time (and that Seijuurou's VA can sing that makes my heart do the doki-dokis and Tsuken should be stopped at all costs and oh god posting this when I am very sleepy was a questionable idea
