Akihito sat backstage with a takeout container of his favourite pad thai on his lap courtesy of Sion's manager. The long-haired man had been so relieved that the show was saved that he had drilled Akihito with an alarming intensity until he had spilled what his favourite takeout was. So, his night was certainly looking up. Good food and live music, all without emptying his wallet.
The first opening act was just wrapping up while the second band prepared to take the stage. He sat with Sion's members, all warmed up and bored while they waited their turn. Asami, the lead singer, was oddly quiet but the other three were chatting easily amongst themselves, telling stories and making Akihito laugh. He would have been star-struck from meeting his favourite band members if he hadn't been so damn over the night so far. By the time he had come back to himself after stuffing his face, the easy atmosphere around the members reminded him that they were just human still.
"Alright kid," Suoh, the drummer, said as he pointed his empty water bottle in Akihito's direction. "You're a sound tech, you must hear a lot of music. Favourite artist and song?"
"What is this? Fan time?" Kuroda, the bass guitarist, muttered with a snort.
"It's music appreciation time," was Suoh's short reply.
"You guys," Akihito replied without missing a beat. "Favourite song would be Broken Open."
Four sets of eyes turned to him in surprise and he flushed at the sudden attention.
"That's an obscure one," Kirishima, the lead guitarist, said. There was a note of consideration in his eyes now as he looked Akihito over. "Why that one?"
"I wasn't sure about it for a start," he admitted, self-conscious. He fidgeted with his plastic fork, eyes averted in embarrassment. "I so was excited when the album came out, I had already fallen in love with the single, much like the rest of the world," he added with a small laugh. "You couldn't escape Careless Whisper if you turned on the radio for months! But when I got to Broken Open, I just couldn't decide if I liked it or not. So I listened to it again. And again. Each time I listened I picked up new undertones in the music and the lyrics became clearer. Not just what was said, but what wasn't said. By the time I realised it, I had been listening to it on repeat for an entire day! It just struck me in a way that most music doesn't, it's raw somehow. Honest? Open?" He struggled to find the words he wanted but in the end, gave up and shrugged hopelessly. "Anyway, it's been my favourite ever since."
Silence reigned for a few moments as everyone took in Akihito's words. The clamour of the back-stage crew and the live music blaring couldn't even pierce their bubble of quiet.
"Well, you hear that, Ryuichi? That's probably the most heartfelt compliment we've ever received. If not the most eloquent," Kuroda quipped.
Akihito peered at Asami only to be met with an intense look boring into his being. He felt trapped by the weight of that gaze for a moment and gulped at the unreadable depths. It was like he was drowning in a look alone. It was the same look he got onstage sometimes, the camera's making great use of it for close ups and music video clips.
"That one's Ryuichi's baby," Suoh explained softly, a small smile tugging at his lips. "We work on all our music together but that one he just appeared with one day having written the entire thing in one night."
"Really?!" Akihito gasped and turned back to the man still staring at him. "I kinda want to be impressed but to be feeling that much pain that you can't sleep and have to channel it out? Well, I wouldn't wish that on anyone, even for my favourite song! I wish I could turn into some kinda of musical genius after my breaks ups though."
That clearly wasn't the reaction anyone had expected as silence overtook them again. Akihito mentally kicked himself, he didn't want to make it awkward. Maybe he should have gushed about how awesome it was like a real fan? Ah, too late now. But he had listened to the song so many times, heard the pain behind the words and felt the raw, broken feeling it gave off. Broken Open was a very fitting name for that masterpiece.
"See, music appreciation," Suoh said as he sat back in his chair, looking satisfied. "You can trust the sound techs to have a real appreciation for the nuances of music."
Their manager approached to coral the group into re-warming up and Akihito wandered off to find the bands touring sound tech. May as well have some company while his polished off his food. The other man grinned as Akihito approached and once again gave his thanks over his wrangling of the finicky sound system.
"You know," Akihito said after they sat in silence for a while, enjoying the live music and smooth performance of their hardware. "All the interviews I've seen had Kirishima and Asami as the talkative ones, not Suoh."
"Ah," the other man gave him a knowing grin. "That's just their stage persona's. Although, Suoh is pretty quiet until you get him talking about music. He's seriously passionate. The others take a bit of warming up unless they are dealing with screaming fans or media, then they are all gallant words and easy smiles. Hard life of the famous and all that."
They lapsed into silence again then the other sound tech had to leave to make his checks as they finally switched over to main performance. The roar of the crowd was deafening as Sion took the stage. Akihito winced even as he grinned. He couldn't see much from his position backstage but he could hear everything loud and clear. The sound checks were quickly complete and he sighed in pleasure as Asami's deep voice boomed out over the stadium, the husky tones feeling intimate even though they were directed at thousands of adoring fans.
"Tonight, we are going to start off with something a little different than we had planned. This song isn't well known but it is the favourite of someone who saved out show tonight. Without them, we nearly couldn't play. The song is Broken Open."
Akihito blinked in surprise as the familiar instrumental started up.
"Huh."
A/N: I have been listening to (and channeling) FMLYHM by Seether while writing this. Also Seether's cover of Careless Whisper is a song I really enjoy so that was an intentional reference ^^
