Author's note: Thanks for the lovely feedback, lovely people. x3
This fic is so much fun to write, I just can't stop. *-*
Oh, and there are lots of Puzzleshipping hints in this chapter. Just couldn't help myself. *cheeky grin*
10:45am - Three hours before the performance
"Ever given any concerts?"
"Nope. Except for musicals, three solos."
"Ever had any professional vocal lessons?"
"No."
"Ever done any professional vocal exercises?"
"…No."
Mai's jaw dropped to the ground. Instead of working on their assigned song, Mai had been asking Yami all these questions. She was leaning over him while he was sitting on the floor, leaning on the heels of his hands and giving her a defiant look.
"How are you even—? Okay, never mind. I don't see why they would pick you if you don't have any experience whatsoever," she muttered, shaking her head, her blonde hair flying all over the place. Yami huffed, he was truly trying to resist the urge to give her a piece of his mind, but his mother had always told him that a guy should never hit a woman.
"Vocal exercises are very important. You have to prepare your voice for singing otherwise it's going to break after a few minutes. We really don't have time for that."
Yami rose to his feet with his guitar, struck a chord and took a deep breath before he sang over the notes. Then, he struck another chord, hitting the strings one by one and singing along. Tapping his foot along the beat he had just created, he kept playing different chords, the notes going higher and higher, until his voice finally did that little jump and the highest note he had ever reached, came out. It had taken him years to get to that point and he was not afraid to show it.
"I think I'll be fine."
For the second time in just a few minutes, Mai's jaw dropped again. Her face grew bright red and Yami smirked, his lips parting, making way for his straight white teeth.
"Okay, so you can sing. We don't have time for this, go get warmed up and I'll split the lyrics."
"Fine." He went to the corner of the huge room, sat on the couch and started readying his voice. It felt weird doing it in front of someone else since he normally did these in the privacy of his own room, especially singing certain notes over and over until he was sure he hit them. He had read a lot about vocal exercises, but to afford another teacher for that was way too expensive, so he figured he could do it all by himself. There were also a lot of breathing exercises to expand your vocal range and he decided that he would do that later, too.
He kept his eyes on Mai as she made small notes on the sheet music, marking words and drawing circles around them. She played a few of the notes every now and then, humming along and mumbling things to herself, such as, "Ah, right," and, "Oh, so that's how it is."
A few minutes later, she grabbed her phone and looked up the song so she could listen to it.
Yami knew the whole attitude was a total fake, he'd recognize that anywhere. It was the kind of attitude a lot of people created for opportunities like these so he believed that somewhere, hidden underneath that mask, there was that nice, flirtatious woman he had met in the bus.
All of a sudden, the door opened and Yugi walked in with a cheeky grin on his face. Apparently he had turned back into the kind and gentle Yugi, Yami thought dryly.
"Everything all right in here?"
Yami glanced over at Mai, who was still listening to the song and couldn't hear anything because of the earphones that were plugged into her ears.
"Teamwork, right?" Yami joked with a small grin. Yugi chuckled and looked over his shoulder, giving a nod to someone who was out of Yami's sight. A tall man walked in with a large tray with food and water bottles. As if on cue, Yami's stomach growled softly and his mouth started watering at the thought of getting something to eat. The man laid the tray on the small table in front of the couch, smiled politely at Yami and walked out of the room again.
"Thought you might be hungry, so here are some snacks and some water." Yugi walked over to Yami and sat down next to him. Their shoulders touched and Yami still couldn't believe he was sitting this close to his idol. He let out a small breath before he hesitantly leaned forward to grab a chocolate bar.
"What's Mai doing?"
"Listening to the song you gave us."
"And what are you doing?"
"Vocal exercises."
Yugi raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a look. Yami's eyes shifted uncomfortably and he started nibbling on the chocolate, staring at the rest of the food in front of him. Yugi scratched his cheek with his index finger and smiled weakly at him.
"Um, Yami, that can take about two hours. You know that, right?" Yami almost choked on the chocolate he just wanted to swallow, he started coughing and felt the tears filling up his eyes. Yugi reached for his back and patted it, reaching for a bottle of water. "Apparently not."
Yami shook his head, taking the water bottle and gulping down a good amount of the liquid that was inside. When he was done and had wiped the tears away from the corner of his eyes, he breathed, "That long?"
"Yes," Yugi nodded. "If you knew how much time we spend on readying our voices for a concert, you'd probably go crazy." Yami pressed his lips together and looked down at his guitar, tugging on one of the strings.
"All right, done. It's a pretty easy song, but there's one part where you have to—" Mai stopped talking when she saw Yugi. Her violet eyes grew twice their size and she quickly replaced her serious face for a kind looking one. "Yugi. When did you get here?"
Yugi removed his hand from Yami's back and sat up straight, rising to his feet. "A few minutes ago. Do you mind if I take Yami with me to another room to do a real quick warm up?" Yami's eyes almost popped out of his head because he already knew that it was going to be embarrassing. He was an amateur and Yugi was a professional vocalist who probably knew everything about it and was going to laugh at his silly attempts to sound good.
Mai shrugged and nodded, turning back to her phone to listen to the song one more time. Yugi turned back to Yami and held out his hand to help him off the couch.
"You'd better take your water bottle with you." Yami followed him out of the lounge room, into the hall, where one could hear all the muffled chords and murmuring voices of people trying to get the hang of their song. Yugi led him downstairs to a big room with a keyboard in it.
"A keyboard…?" Yugi closed the door behind him when Yami had walked in, and walked past him, towards the keyboard. Then, he remembered that Yugi could play many different instruments, including the piano and Yami felt awfully down. Yugi was such a talented person and then there was him, trying to fit in the world of fame with his guitar and his voice. His drumming skills were not that great, anyway.
"Yeah, let's start with something easy. I think you're a baritone or tenor, so I'll play three notes within your vocal range. I want you to sing the melody I play. Ready? Here we go."
After just fifteen minutes Yami was already feeling like he could sing all day without having to worry about a sore throat. His vocal range had rapidly increased and he could reach notes that he had never reached before. Yugi was great at explaining things. He had quickly showed him a couple of his own exercises that he always did before a concert, and also a couple of breathing exercises.
"Okay, one more exercise and then I'm really gonna send you back because you need time to prepare your song. All right, this one has to do with high notes. Place your hands right under your ribs." Yami hesitated for a moment before he followed Yugi's example, placing his hands right under his ribcage. "Now, take a real deep breath and you'll feel your ribcage expanding. Yes, good, did you feel it?"
Yami nodded with a small smile. "Breathe out. And when you do, straighten up and try to keep it expanded so that you won't block any air. That way, you'll be unstoppable." He walked over to Yami and placed his hand on Yami's stomach. "Try again. I'll help you a bit. In order to keep everything open, you'll need use your abdominal muscles and stand up straight."
When Yami tried again, first he breathed in, and then breathed out, he could feel Yugi gently pressing on his stomach and shoulder blades to get him in the right position.
"How did that feel?" Yugi pulled back and patted Yami's shoulder proudly.
"Really good, actually."
"Great, 'cause you'll have to use it for this next thing I'm going to show you. Suck in your cheeks a bit, straighten up and try to sing that little melody I showed you before."
Yami blinked at him, reaching for his cheek with his hand. "Suck in my cheeks?" Yugi nodded at him, he walked over to him and pulled a bit of weird face Yami had seen before; it was what they called the "Fish face" back in high school. It was a little less theatrical than the face the guys used to make at school, but it still had a hint of hilarity in it.
He tried to do it, too. He sucked in his cheeks a bit and gave Yugi a look to see if he was doing the right thing. Yugi reached for Yami's face and with both hands, gently pressed down on his cheeks, telling Yami to follow.
"Good, like that. Now open your mouth and try to keep it small, as if you're saying the first two letters of my name, "Yu-gi", yes, good." Yami wanted to jump out of his skin because Yugi was still holding his face, smiling up at him. He was not used to this kind of human contact at all, especially not from another guy.
Yugi finally let go of his cheeks and beckoned him to sing the melody, while keeping his face like that. Yami felt like an idiot, but did it nonetheless. His mouth automatically started moving around to articulate and that was where Yugi stopped him.
"Here, I'll show you." Yami stiffened with Yugi used his forefingers on his cheeks, forcing them in place to make Yami unable to move them anymore. "Pretend your mouth is like a small tunnel where the tune has to flow through. Now, try again."
Yami took a deep breath, the one that Yugi taught him and sang the melody, while looking down at Yugi. Miraculously, he could sing the melody perfectly. It flowed out so easily that he could barely believe it himself.
"Told you you could do it," Yugi said when Yami was done with the melody. "Now, go back to Mai and start practicing. When you're in the band, I'll teach you everything there is to know about singing."
As soon as the words had left his mouth, Yami froze. He slowly looked at Yugi, whose cheeks were flushed and had the tips of his fingers on his lips, barely hiding the smile behind them. Yami was sure a car could have hit him and he still wouldn't have noticed. It was like he had fallen into a surrealistic world where everything was too good to be true. Yugi's eyes rolled up to the ceiling, then to the left, sucked in his lips and Yami could hear him sigh through his nose.
"You didn't hear that. I'll go look for anyone else who needs my help. Go back to Mai."
It was probably not a good idea to protest, so Yami nodded and left the room to go back to Mai.
12:45 – One hour before the performance
They were starting to get the hang of the song now and even though Mai did have an attitude, she had divided the lyrics fairly. There was just one part that had them worried: a particularly high note that lasted for about fifteen seconds. Mai had not wanted to admit it, but even she had trouble holding that note and so did Yami. She had started acting a little more like a human being because she noticed that her attitude did nothing to Yami, at all. Or so he had guessed.
"This would normally take me a couple of days," Mai said, running a hand through her blonde bangs and then placing her cheek in said hand. "Or at least a couple of hours and we don't have much time left. But one of us has to do it."
An awkward silence fell over them, in which both of them sort of tried to stare each other down. Mai reached for her purple purse that she had left on the couch and pulled out a small, pink wallet. "You're going to flip a coin?"
Mai gave him a look before she pulled out a small coin. "Yes. Unless you have a better idea?"
Yami sighed and shook his head. "Heads." When he looked back at Mai, she had placed the coin on her thumb and flipped it with great force. It twirled around in the air for a bit until it reached the floor again, it rolled past Mai's feet, past the table and right under the couch.
"Well, that escalated quickly," Yami muttered. Mai rolled her eyes and was about to bend over, but Yami stopped her. "Wait, I'll do it!"
"Why?" Mai stood up again, placing her hands on her hips in a very motherly way. Then, she looked down at her short skirt and realization was written all over her face. Without complaint she let Yami bend down to reach for the coin. "Oh, honey. Don't tell me you've never seen a girl's butt before. A guy like you should have at least had three girlfriends in his life."
For once in his life, Yami was glad his face was hidden under the couch because his face felt awfully hot. He could not believe how straightforward Mai was, but then again, she had been very direct from the start, he should have seen this coming.
"That's got nothing to do with it." He finally found the coin and, being very careful not to let it turn over, he placed his finger on top of it and slid it towards him. He slowly crawled backwards, still covering the coin and looked back up at Mai who was towering over him with a cheeky grin on her face.
"So, you've never had a girlfriend before?"
"As a matter of fact, I have."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, really. I'm dating someone…" Yami trailed off and his eyes widened. "Right now… Fuck!" Mai frowned at him and folded her arms over her chest, silently telling him to spill it. "What time is it?"
"Probably five to one, or something. Why, forgot to feed your dog?"
Yami ignored her and reached for his phone, using the speed dial to call Anzu. He had completely forgotten about the fact Anzu was supposed to come over at 12 for their date and that she was probably still waiting for him at the door. The phone beeped in his ear a couple of times before the line went dead.
She had hung up on him. His lips parted just a bit when he pulled the phone back to stare at the bright white screen. He hung his head, knowing he had screwed up big time.
"What's wrong?" The phone fell out of his hand and fell to the floor with a loud thud. Closing his eyes for a second, he tried to think of something, an excuse, an apology, anything. But the only thing he could really think about was the audition and what Yugi had said to him an hour ago.
"I stood her up," he said almost inaudibly.
Mai snatched the coin out of his hand and made a sound that could be described as a girly growl. "Men. They're all the same. And by the way, sucks to be you." She showed him the coin and for the second time that day and Yami cursed.
They kept practicing, but no matter how many times Yami tried to sing the note, he couldn't do it. He wanted to call Anzu to tell her that he was sorry and make it up to her. It was all he could think about and the fact that he could not leave this place for her made it even worse. Mai said Yugi would understand, but Yami didn't want to take that risk, which made him think. A real boyfriend would give up anything to be with his girlfriend, hell, he would probably risk his life for her. But did he really want to miss all of this for Anzu, who would probably never become his real girlfriend in the first place? He didn't know what to think anymore.
Anzu was one of the nicest girls he had ever met, right next to his best friend, Mana. Though, Mana could never be his girlfriend she was more like a sister to him, and he knew she saw him as an older brother. Their parents had met when they were still toddlers and decided to send them to the same school until they both graduated from high school. They never stopped talking to each other and sometimes called each other to catch up. Yami had even called her a couple of days ago to tell her the great news, along with his mother.
But Anzu… Yami tried to get rid of her face in his mind and therefor didn't notice Mai's knee coming closer to his stomach.
Until it was too late.
"Oof!"
"Wake up, sleeping beauty, we have to get on stage in a few seconds!"
Yami rubbed his stomach, growling at her. She hadn't kicked him too hard, but hard enough for him to be out of breath for a couple of seconds. He looked up at the two guys on stage, their skin glistened with sweat and their eyes looked fearfully at Yugi who was whispering something in Jounouchi's ear.
Mai leaned towards Yami so she could also whisper something in his ear. Her sweet perfume brushed against his nostrils, making him feel a bit dizzy; she had put on a bit too much. "Those two were really nervous, don't think they made it."
"You think so?" Yami blinked nervously at her, his shoulders slumped and he froze on the spot when Yugi told them they could leave. Yami could almost feel his heart wanting to jump out of his chest and hop out of the building because the poor thing could not take the pressure anymore. His hands were shaking against his guitar and they would have continued if Mai had not grabbed them and squeezed them reassuringly.
Mai had softened up a bit over the past few hours. Instead of wanting to bury him alive, she was now actually telling him it was going to be okay in her very own way and Yami liked it. Maybe they could become friends after all.
"Next, Yami Tanaka and Mai Kujaku," Yugi announced happily. Yami tried to swallow a big lump that had formed itself in his throat, but his mouth felt so dry that it was nearly impossible and he craved for just one tiny drop of water. Mai dragged him towards the stage and patted his cheek to wake him up.
"Showtime, guys. Did everything work out between you two?" Jounouchi said with a big grin of his face, his eyes focused on Mai who was grinning right back at him.
"Yes, handsome. We just gotta wake Yami up a bit, I think he's dreaming about his girlfriend." As soon as the word "girlfriend" slipped out of Mai's mouth, Yami completely snapped out of it and was about to tell her to drop the stupid subject, but he was interrupted by his very own idol.
"Girlfriend?" Yami turned his head oh so slowly to meet Yugi's eyes and saw a slight shimmer of dullness sparkling for a minute before it left again. A small smile made its way onto his face, but Yami had this nagging feeling that Yugi was very good at putting on a fake smile. It reminded him of his own teenage years where he always had to put on a fake smile to make it through the day. "I didn't know you had a girlfriend, Yami."
And I didn't know this was going to be such a big deal, Yami thought, officially pissed off. Instead of saying something like that, he rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled softly.
"Ah, it's a long story. Let's not talk about this anymore, shall we?" He turned to Mai and narrowed his red eyes to slits. "Please?" The word came out as a low growl and luckily, Mai got the hint and struck the first chord, silencing everyone else. Yami only kept his eyes on Yugi's and Jounouchi's, seeing that their eyes were watching every move they made and that they were also whispering things to each other every now and then.
Mai was really going for it, seeing that she was singing louder than before and Yami could almost feel the emotion pouring out of her. Slowly, Yami felt his hope trickling out of him like the salty tears that would probably spill if they send him home today. He decided to just go with the flow and was grateful it was a pretty slow song that didn't require screaming into the microphone. Yami closed his eyes and focused on the lyrics, telling himself that it was a bit of sad song and that Yugi had probably given him this one to show he could perform in a certain way. It was about a guy who was left behind by his own parents because they didn't believe in him, but in the end, he somehow managed to make it to the top without their help.
He let the lyrics take over his mind, picturing himself as that small boy, singing those lyrics that came right from his heart. The pain, the anger and yet the happiness in the song because he had done everything on his own and never gave up. They were reaching the high note, and Yami could almost feel Mai's eyes on his and Yami took a deep breath before he reached for the note. He remembered everything Yugi had told him, so he pretended that his mouth was a tunnel and he straightened up a bit. It felt like his voice did a little jump backwards and the note came out perfectly, much to his surprise. He couldn't even stop himself from doing a small fist pump with one of his hands when he was still singing the note after more than ten seconds.
He opened his eyes, grinning proudly and saw Yugi nodding at him with a big smile, but then he noticed that Mai should have been singing at that point and that it stayed silent. She was looking down at her guitar, still striking the chords with her nails, but her lips were pressed together. She continued to play and then Yami saw tears sparkling in her eyes behind her blond strands of hair. And then it hit him.
She had forgotten the lyrics. Yami stepped back from the microphone and softly sang her lyrics, hoping that it would jog up her memory. She looked up at him and hummed along, smiling sadly. Her defeated eyes told him she already knew she wasn't going to save herself out of it. The song ended with Yami singing the last part acappella. Mai was supposed to sing in harmony with him, but again, she was silent and hummed along.
When Yami was done, everyone slowly started clapping for them. A single tear slid down Mai's cheek.
"… I'm sorry," she whispered into the microphone. She avoided everyone's eyes and looked down at her guitar, nervously tugging at the strings. Yami stepped forward and looked at Yugi, their eyes locked and Yami sighed softly.
"She knew all the words backstage and she sounded amazing. She was just nervous." Yugi looked at him for a few seconds before his eyes drifted off to his notes in front of him, pursed his lips slightly and wrote a couple of things down. Yami gave him a pleading look, not liking this at all. It absolutely sucked and Mai didn't deserve this.
"I understand that, Yami," Yugi said quietly and Yami could almost feel the sympathy in his voice. Mai was shaking her head, her eyes were closed and her fist was shaking against her side. "But I think you both already know that we can't take that risk. I think you know the answer for today. Congratulations, Yami. We'll see you tomorrow night. Thank you, Mai."
Mai walked off the stage, her bangs shielding her eyes from Yami who quickly jumped off the stage to follow her. The next duo got on stage and started performing right away, singing over Yami's voice that was calling Mai's name. She kept walking until she had to push the door open and closed it behind her. Before she could leave the building, Yami grabbed her arm.
"Mai…"
"Why did you do that?"
Mai turned to him, her eyes shining with remorse and confusion. She didn't appear to be angry, merely curious and confused, just like him.
"Did what?" Mai fully turned to him, squeezing the strap of her guitar tightly and licking her dry, painted lips. She was nibbling on her lower lip, she looked at him before one corner of her lips raised.
"Why did you defend me even though you knew it wasn't going to help, at all? I've been a total jerk to you and yet, you say those things about me to change their minds. You were risking everything out there."
Yami's eyes softened and now he was the one to be speechless for a while. His eyes fell on the carpeted ground beneath their feet, thinking about what she said. He wanted to be there for her because no one deserved that awful feeling of a blackout, especially in a situation like this.
"I didn't want all of this anyway," she suddenly spoke up. Yami blinked at her and saw she had turned around again so the back of her head was facing him. "Singing was just a hobby and I forgot the lyrics because I'm human. I don't even care about the fame or the money. I've got other things to worry about."
She stopped and Yami kept looking at her, not moving an inch. She looked over her shoulder at him, a beautiful and attractive smile kissing her lips. "You're really talented. I guess I didn't expect you to reach that high note. You completely blew me away and I was so shocked that I couldn't continue." Her violet eyes softened and she reached out for him, placing her manicured fingers on his shoulder. "I saw the way Yugi looked at you. He's totally in love with you and will definitely do anything to get you through the next round."
"…" Yami made an odd noise, a noise that would be described as a sort of squeak and startled gasp at the same time. Though, he would probably never admit that it had sounded like some broken toy that was still trying to sound cute, but failed miserably at it.
"You're pretty cool, too, and fun to be with. And your girlfriend is a lucky girl and she'll probably forgive you if you tell her the truth. Just don't turn into a diva when you get famous, okay?" She waved at him before she left the building, walking into the sunlight outside. Yami watched her until she turned around the corner, the clicking of her high heels dying down after a while.
He looked over his shoulder at the open door. And right there and then, Yugi had looked over his shoulder too and their eyes met once again. Yugi's violet eyes sparkled happily and he flashed him a proud smile, mouthing, "Good job."
Author's note: So. PUZZLE HINTS, YES? Sad ending is a bit sad, but then there's a hint of fluff to make up for it, yaaaaay~.
Finals start next week and I'm stressing like crazy, so I can't focus on anything, huuurduuur.
Review?
