This chapter is probably mostly long because of the lyrics to the songs they sing. I didn't really get any suggestions for the songs they do sing so I had to come up with some last minute. I did change the title of the second song they sing but I'll make sure to credit the actual song in the next AN! And if some of the lyrics are wrong, I apologize. I was looking up on YouTube first to see if I got the lyrics to the third song right and they kept on replacing where 'best' should be with 'rest' AND I KNOW MY EARS AREN'T DECEIVING ME! Dx Anyways...I'd like to thank FallenxLinkin (actually, no, that wasn't the song but that's a really good idea o.o I might just use that ^^), Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza (I'm gonna need to memorize your user, huh?), and InsanityOwl (I actually do listen to them o.o) for reviewing!
You would think that Allen would be excited about today. Today was the day that he'd finally get to play alongside Lavi and the others. He'd wanted it for so long, especially when he was dating Lavi three years ago. Yes, this should be the greatest day of his life. Or well...close to the greatest day. The greatest day would probably be when Mana adopted him. Still, today should be exciting for him. He should inwardly be jumping up and down with excitement. He knew it was going to be fun, especially the ride there as they would all jokingly sing together and hang out and perhaps even stop by a restaurant for food.
Then again, Allen did not enjoy being woken up at five o' clock in the morning.
Not to mention that someone had hid all of his new clothes before leaving back to England. Allen seriously couldn't find any of the clothes he bought to keep Cross from insulting the way he dressed. He texted and called Narain several times but he didn't answer. As it turned out, since England was eight hours ahead, Narain was probably at school and wasn't getting any of his calls anyways. He felt defeated and dressed into some of the old clothes he used to wear. He put on some black skinny jeans and a t-shirt that read 'I'm not antisocial I just don't like you' and a black and white striped hoodie, complete with a pair of gloves. I'm going to kill Narain the next time I see him. Allen thought as he laced up his boots. Lavi opened his mouth to comment on his clothes but Allen gave him a death glare with the threatening voice of "One word about my clothes and I'll kill you."
Lavi didn't talk for the longest time.
"Ugh, doesn't this thing start at eight?" Allen asked groggily, breaking the silence and he rubbing his eye.
"Yep! But we need to set up first." She smiled apologetically at Allen. "That'll probably take an hour to do and then we have to tune and go over all our songs...the last one preferably..." She grumbled bitterly from the passenger seat. Yesterday everyone was preoccupied doing something and they didn't even get to look at the song Allen wrote.
This was really bad.
"Well, I just hope you guys are good at sight reading..." Allen grumbled, receiving a playful punch from Daisya.
"Oh please, we're amazing at playing! Give us s'more credit, Allen." Daisya said with a grin.
"Sight reading is completely different from playing a song you already know." Allen informed with a scowl.
"Of course it is, but that doesn't mean we completely suck at it." Lavi replied. Allen yawned and laid his head on the side of the van. In his opinion, the van was really creepy because it didn't have any windows. Of course Lavi would own something like this.
"Remind me next time to bring a pillow." He grumbled, closing his eyes. Kanda, being the jerk that he was, slammed on the brakes, causing Allen to hit his head. He let out a string of curses under his breath and Lavi chuckled. "I really hate you, Kanda." Allen said grumpily.
"The feelings are mutual, beansprout." Kanda replied smugly.
"My name is Allen." He snapped.
"Che, do I look like I care?" The eldest rhetorically asked.
"I'd be surprised if you did care about something other than your guitar." Allen growled back.
"Guys, can we please not fight? Today is a special day!" Lenalee scolded.
"Well maybe if someone didn't jump on people to wake them up, I'd be in a better mood." Allen grumbled, glaring at Lavi, who just shrugged him off.
"Well you wouldn't wake up any other way..." Lavi said nonchalantly.
"Did you even try any other way?" Allen asked and Lavi stayed silent. "Not only that you broke into my house!"
"I couldn't help that your door was locked!" Lavi said, flailing his arms around. Allen sighed and laid his head against the back of Kanda's seat. It was the only thing comfortable enough to lay on.
"If need be, you can lay on me Allen~" Lavi sang.
"I'd rather lay on Kanda." Allen countered.
"Ooh burn." Daisya laughed.
"Screw off, Daisya..." Lavi grumbled. "I was just playin', Allen~!" Lavi whined and laid on Allen. Surprisingly enough, Allen didn't push him away.
"...don't care...tired..." He muttered, yawning. Lavi yawned too.
"Me too..." He mumbled and closed his eyes. Allen didn't even care that Lavi was laying on him. He was tired and it wasn't as if they had feelings for each other anyways.
"I feel so left out." Daisya said and crawled over to lay on Allen's other shoulder. Lenalee giggled at the three of them.
"Faggots." Kanda grumbled.
"Hey, at least they shut up, right?" She said jokingly and Kanda nodded, keeping his eyes on the road.
The drive was long and soon enough Lenalee found herself moving the seat back to go to sleep as well. It was quite peaceful and Kanda actually enjoyed a ride with them all for once. It was so much easier to deal with them when they were sleeping. Still, it was a bit too quiet so he slipped Lenalee's iPod cord into the car and let it play soothing music. Sure, it was a bit too lovey-dovey for his taste, but it was soft enough to keep them all asleep for the entire ride. The long-haired teen felt much more relaxed now. He drove into the parking lot and felt his eye twitch.
Now the only problem was waking them all up.
"Oi, wake up." He grumbled, shaking Lenalee awake. She yawned and opened her eyes, looking around.
"Hnn...are we here?" She asked, rubbing her eyes.
"Why else would I be waking you up?" Kanda asked in a low growl. Lenalee just laughed and unbuckled her seat-belt before climbing in the back to wake them up. She paused and smirked before she took out her camera. "What the hell are you doing?!" Kanda hissed, but was quickly shushed by her as she resumed clicking. She hummed and woke Daisya up.
"Eh...wha?" He asked and Lenalee gestured to the building before them. There wasn't a lot of people in the parking lot since it was six in the morning. "We're here? Woo! I'm outta this thing. I think my butt is numb..." He said, rubbing his bottom. He opened the back doors and climbed out. Lenalee watched him jump out and turned to the two in front of her to wake them up. She paused and smirked when she noticed that they were cuddling with each other. What a great opportunity for blackmail~
Lenalee wasn't evil. Not at all.
"Lavi~ time to wake up~!" She said in a sing-song voice, shaking him awake.
"Mm...five more minutes..." He whined and cuddled with Allen some more. He saw a flash through his closed eyes and heard a click and jumped away from Allen. "Awe, shit, Lena, so not cool..." He grumbled. Lenalee simply laughed and stored her camera in it's case.
"Time to go!" She chirped happily. They weren't there to win, they were there to have fun. She was going to make sure to get a lot of pictures with other bands. It was great for advertisement. "Allen, it's time to wake up." She said and gently shook his shoulder. Allen opened his eyes and looked around. He stretched and yawned before climbing out of the van, completely forgetting about the clothes he was wearing.
"Can I ask what happened to your wardrobe?" Lenalee asked, chuckling at the shirt he was wearing. Allen opened his mouth but closed it and shook his head.
"No. You can't." He said. "Anyways, where are we supposed to go for this? And are we just going to carry our instruments in? I was not informed of anything..." Allen added, changing the topic.
"Oh, we have to move our instruments in there, which is why we had to go in there early. Come on, let's get started." Lenalee cheered and they all started moving things. Lavi, Daisya, and Kanda could all easily bring in their guitars (and Daisya's violin too) but it took awhile to get the keyboard and drum-set in there. Luckily, they got done early and could practice in their own room. Lenalee stared at Allen's clothing for a long time before grinning. "You know what we should do? We should get custom shirts. You know, like, design our own." She said.
"That's not a bad idea, Lena..." Lavi agreed and nodded. He looked over at Allen and snorted.
"Maybe we should get Allen to design our clothes." He laughed when Allen dropped the keyboard stand on his foot. Allen sent Lavi an 'I hate you' glare. Lavi just beamed at him.
"Great! We should do it after we're done here! We're like the fifth ones playing so we should have enough time to go shopping afterwards." Lenalee smiled. They were finally progressing. "Now everyone remember, we're not here to win, we're here to have fun!"
"Please tell me you're not going to give us a pep-talk. It's like six in the morning." Daisya complained.
"Well then chin up, guys!" Honestly, Lenalee wanted to jump up and down in excitement. They were professionally playing somewhere! It was exciting! She didn't understand why no one else was excited. Then she hummed. "After we're done we can get lunch at McDonalds."
"Really?" Allen chirped, already feeling his mouth start to water. Lenalee giggled and nodded.
"Definitely!"
"...Allen...how are you not fat?" Daisya asked and Allen simply shrugged.
They finally finished setting up and started practicing. They finished practicing their first two songs and Allen gave them all (except Kanda) the parts for his song. Lavi hummed the melody and nodded. They all started practicing their parts instead of sight reading and, in Allen's opinion, it was terrible...but that's only because they weren't playing together. If he listened to them separately, they were really good at this. Allen didn't necessarily need to practice since he learned the whole thing by heart...he did write it after all. Lenalee squinted her eyes to read the lyrics and couldn't help but let out a dignified squeal, causing more than just a few wrong notes to be played in the room.
"Shit, Lena, what the hell?" Lavi asked, grumbling that he messed up. He was on a roll too...
"Sorry, sorry, couldn't contain myself. Think about it, Lavi. Allen basically wrote this song after you guys broke up, right? Oh my god, I just can't even..." Allen blushed deeply at her words and looked away, mumbling something they couldn't hear.
"How cheesy." Daisya commented with a smirk.
"Shut up." The youngest of them grumbled. He tried to ignore Lavi's stare, but it wasn't really working out so well. He finally looked away and Allen let out air he didn't know he was holding in.
Half an hour of practicing later...
"I think I got this down!" Lavi cheered and Lenalee nodded, agreeing with him.
"Hold on a second...I think...uh...okay, got it!" Daisya also joined in.
"Should we play it or wait for the judges?" Lavi asked. Lenalee looked at the clock.
"Well, we're going up in like five minutes. If number four finished early, we'll be called in and we don't want to spoil the fun." Lenalee said and Lavi nodded his head in agreement.
"I guess we just chill for now then?" Lavi asked, already relaxing into a couch that was supplied nearby. The rest of them followed suite and chilled out. Just a few minutes later, an employee came in and directed them to the room they had to go in and they wheeled their instruments out of the room and set them up in the new room. Lenalee took the mic and greeted them; they just nodded back. The audience, however, were more pumped and cheered.
"So, for our first two songs, only four of us are playing. Our keyboardist wasn't with at the time we created the songs, but the last song he will be playing." She then continued on, introducing where they were from and the name and answered any questions that the judges had.
"Okay, so what will your first song be?" The judge asked, interrupting Lenalee's story and getting a few boo's from the crowd behind them.
"The first song we'll be playing is called 'Dance, Dance'." The audience cheered and clapped and she smiled at them. She beckoned Lavi over and he grinned and skipped over. They all rolled their eyes and Lenalee smiled as she made her way to the drum-set.
"Begin whenever you're ready." The judge said in a bored tone, waving them off. Wow, don't be so excited. Allen thought sarcastically as sat at his keyboard. He'd stand when it was his time to play and he felt a bit left out not playing the first two songs with them, but ignored his feelings. Now that he thought about it, he didn't really listen to them all that much. Really, he just sat in the back and relaxed to the sound of their music.
His thoughts were cut short when Lenalee had started to play her drums. About four seconds into the song, Daisya started to play his bass and it was really catchy. He felt like there was something missing...but he couldn't quite put his finger on it...about ten seconds later, Lavi started to sing.
"She says she's no good
With words but I'm worse
Barely stuttered out,
A joke of romantic stuck to my tongue
As Lavi sang the next lyrics, Kanda started to play along.
"Weighed down words too overdramatic
Tonight it's 'it can't get much worse'
Vs. 'no one should ever feel like'
Then Lavi joined in with his guitar.
"I'm two quarters and a heart down
And I don't wanna forget how your voice sounds
These words are are all I have so I write them
I just need them to get by
Insert a catchy guitar tune here and here comes the chorus...
"Dance, dance
We're falling apart to half time
Dance, dance
And these are the lives you love to lead
Dance,
This is the way they'd love
If they knew how misery loved me
They really didn't sound that bad, actually...if Allen were to judge anything, he'd say they sounded terrific. But, then again, some parts probably could've been managed-not that he'd know considering that he wasn't a judge. He didn't even know how this whole competition worked out. Were they being compared to someone else and then they'd choose the better band to go on to the next round like some sort of fighting match? Or maybe did they just record all the bands and listen to them all before figuring out who they liked the best? It didn't really matter, Allen guessed, as long as they worked their hardest. He was unsure of why Lavi wanted a singer in their band since his voice was nearly perfect in Allen's opinion. No really, he was a really good singer he wasn't just saying that because Lavi was his friend...
"You always fold just
Before you're found out
Drink up it's last call last resort
But only the first mistake and I...
"I'm two quarters and a heart down
And I don't wanna forget how your voice sounds
These words are all I have so I write them
I just need them to get by
Honestly, Allen thought that he was going to sing the chorus again, but he was proved wrong...
"Why don't you show me the little bit of spine
You've been saving for his mattress, love
"Dance, dance
We're falling apart to half time
Dance, dance
And these are the lives you love to lead
Dance,
This is the way they'd love
If they knew how misery loved me
"Why don't you show me the little bit of spine
You've been saving for his mattress
I only want sympathy in the form of you
Crawling into bed with me
"Dance, dance
We're falling apart to half time
Dance, dance
And these are the lives you love to lead
Dance,
This is the way they'd love
Dance,
This is the way they'd love
Dance,
This is the way they'd love
If they knew how misery loved me
Allen found that they really liked putting guitar solos into their songs. Each Lavi and Kanda took turns with them, but they both sounded great, if not the same. It was probably the first time he saw Kanda having fun...if by him having fun meant he wasn't scowling at anyone or thing...which he wasn't. He just played and looked at nothing in particular. But, then again, with Kanda, who knew, right?
"Dance, dance
Dance, dance
Dance, dance
Dance, dance"
And with that, the song was over. Allen found himself clapping alongside the audience as well. The judges were still writing things down by the time five minutes passed once the song was over. They all waited impatiently and Lavi had half a heart to not clear his throat into the microphone and embarrass the judges...if that'd even embarrass them. They finally finished writing and Lavi chose then to open his mouth and speak. "The next song is called 'Swear To Shake It Up'." He said cheerfully and winked at a few girls, causing them to squeal. Nearly everyone in the entire room rolled their eyes, including a few of the judges. Kanda glared at him. "Don't give me that, I'm just trying to lighten up the mood!"
More eye rolling ensues.
He gave them all looks and they all focused. This song probably didn't have an introduction so he needed to make sure they were all ready. Once again, Allen felt left out, but he started feeling more anxious as it was almost time for them to play his song in front of this whole crowd...all the songs they played so far were upbeat but Allen's was slow...would that sit well with the judges? Perhaps they should've played his song first...
"Sit tight I'm gonna need you to keep time
Come on just snap snap snap your fingers for me
Good, good now we're making some progress
Come on just tap tap tap your toes to the beat
Every time Lavi repeated a word, Daisya would sing in the background softly along with him. He didn't sound bad, he just mirrored Lavi's voice-which he did a pretty good job at it might Allen add.
"And I believe,
This may call for a proper introduction, well
Don't you see?
I'm the narrator and this just the prologue.
"Swear to shake it up if you swear to listen
Oh we're still so young,
Desperate for attention
I aim to be
Your eyes, trophy boys, trophy wives
"Swear to shake it up if you swear to listen
Oh we're still so young,
Desperate for attention
I aim to be
Your eyes, trophy boys, trophy wives
"Applause, applause
No, wait wait
Dear studio audience,
I've an announcement to make
It almost sounded like Lavi was actually talking, which made the song all that more catchy...
"It seems the artists these days
Are not who you think
So we'll pick back up on that on another page
And I believe,
This may call for a proper introduction
"Well,
Don't you see?
I'm the nararator and this is just the prologue
"Swear to shake it up if you swear to listen
Oh we're still so young,
Desperate for attention
I aim to be
Your eyes, trophy boys, trophy wives
"Swear to shake it up if you swear to listen
Oh we're still so young,
Desperate for attention
I aim to be
Your eyes, trophy boys, trophy wives
After singing the chorus another two times, the song took an interesting turn into a creepy sort of way and the audience was moved at how easily they made them suspenseful. Allen blinked a few times at the sudden change. Was this supposed to happen?
"Swear to shake it up, you swear to listen
Swear to shake it up, you swear to listen
Swear to shake it up, you swear to listen
Swear to shake it up
"Swear to shake it up
Lavi whispered and Allen felt more than a little creeped out. It was catchy, yes, but quite creepy...
"Swear to shake it up if you swear to listen
Oh we're still so young,
Desperate for attention
I aim to be
Your eyes
At this point, Allen didn't even know what to expect. Lavi started singing a few random 'Da's' and 'Duh's' and really, Allen was unsure if he was going to sing the chorus again or not. Out of all the randomness in this song, Allen could only guess that it was Lavi who wrote the thing. Was his attention span all over the place or what? Still, it was a good song. Lavi continued adding 'ah's' and 'uh's' until the song finally ended with a guitar strumming.
"That was a very...interesting song..." One of the judges murmured.
"Why thank you I made it up myself~" Lavi chirped.
"...knew it..." Allen mumbled and Lavi turned around to frown.
"What's that supposed to mean?" The audience laughed at his accusing tone.
"Nothing bad, certainly not." Allen drawled.
"At least mine isn't cheesy." The white-haired teen blushed at the redhead's accusation.
"Lavi, you're going to get him nervous." Lenalee scolded and Lavi shrugged.
"So you wrote this one yourself? Who wrote the one before this one?" One of the other judges asked curiously. They actually seemed to be interested and received scolding glances from the others.
"All of us except beansprout over there and Yuu." Lavi informed with a wide grin. Allen grumbled his signature 'My name is Allen', but no one paid any mind to him. They moreover feared for Lavi as Kanda tried to whack his head off with his guitar.
"Guys, guys, settle down!" One of the judges barked and the audience roared with laughter as the two awkwardly stepped away from each other. "You still have one more song to play. The, uh, cheesy one did you call it?" She asked amusingly and Allen blushed, glowering at the wall.
"Right, for this one there's an interesting sort of instruments I guess you could say." Lavi said and Allen switched through his settings on his keyboard and set it to piano, wondering why he didn't do this before. Daisya put his bass away and pulled out his violin. Lenalee nodded and looked at Lavi, who took out his acoustic. Lavi started playing before Allen was even prepared. Oh god I can't do this I'm gonna mess up...NO! You can't back out now! You have to do this...just...stay calm...he told himself and listened to the sound of Lavi's voice. He used to dream of this moment and now it was finally coming true.
...except when he dreamed it, he and Lavi were actually together.
"I remember what you wore on the first day
You came into my life and I thought
'Hey, you know, this could be something'
'Cause everything you do and words you say
You know that it all takes my breath away
And now I'm left with nothing"
Now Allen was currently forcing himself to calm the hell down so he can sing and wouldn't sound like a total idiot. Sing...sing...don't sound stupid...okay. Just. Don't. Freak. Out.
"So maybe it's true
That I can't live without you
And maybe two is better than one
There's so much time
To figure out the best of my life
And you've already got me coming undone
And I"m thinkin' two is better than one"
And now Allen had to sing...by himself. He didn't really realize the surprise on Lenalee's face as he sang along with Lavi. Even Daisya felt excited and it wasn't his time to play yet! Allen started playing his own little tune later on in the song as well. The audience was completely silent except for a few girls who were talking excitedly among each other. Allen opened his mouth to sing his own part as Lenalee started playing her drums.
"I remember every look upon your face" Yes it was one line so far, but Allen was nervous as he sang it, not that you could hear it in his voice. The next two lines Lavi had to sing.
"The way you roll your eyes the way you taste
You make it hard for breathing"
This time it was both of their turn to sing, but Allen had to overpower Lavi's voice just by a little.
"'Cause when I close my eyes and drift away
I think of you and everything's okay
I'm finally now believing"
They both switched and Allen lowered his voice to let Lavi's through.
"That maybe it's true
That I can't live without you
And maybe two is better than one
There's so much time
To figure out the best of my life
And you've already got me coming undone
And I'm thinkin' two is better than one"
Cue the violin and piano here. After the burst of music, Lavi started to sing when it died down.
"I remember what you wore on the first day
You came into my life and I thought hey..." Lavi trailed off and the two started singing together yet again
"Maybe it's true
That I can't live without you
And maybe two is better than one
There's so much time
To figure out best of my life
And you've already got me coming undone
And I'm thinkin'
"Ooh ooh, I can't live without you
'Cause baby two is better than one
There's so much time
To figure out the best of my life
But I'll figure it out
When all is said and done
Two is better than one
"Two is better than one"
There were several cheers from the girls once they finished the song and Allen honestly wanted to go bang his head against the wall. Of course the girls would like it...maybe Lavi was right...maybe it was too cheesy...maybe he should've just finished the other song...oh well...too late now, huh. The judges stacked their results and put them aside, bringing out another sheet to fill out for the next band coming in. They each had their own compliments and their own criticism, but all in all, they had fun and that's what mattered most.
When they came out of the room with their instruments completely intact, they were confronted by a few new fans and they even started telling them information about where else they could play. Before they left, the receptionist at the desk asked for their fax number/printer or whatever (Allen wasn't a genius when it came to that stuff) and they'd print the results of the judges to them later. The woman also said to make sure to stay in the area until five so that they'll know exactly what place they got. As soon as they managed to pack everything back into the van, they left to go watch more performances and some of the audience even asked to take pictures with them...and some of them hit on them...
Every time a new band would come out, the five would inwardly judge them-good and bad-and then have a picture taken with them and exchange numbers. This went on for quite awhile and it was almost two in the afternoon. They still had three hours until their names were announced (if they were announced) and it was then that Allen had started to feel dizzy. He dismissed it as nothing until a few minutes later his head began to hurt. Crap...didn't Bak say something about side effects or something? Allen thought, wiping sweat onto his glove from his forehead. Lavi and Lenalee left to go get drinks for the last two bands and Allen was stuck with Kanda of all people. Daisya left to use the bathroom.
Aren't I just the lucky one?
Allen tried to keep his eyes open, but it was becoming harder and harder with each passing minute. "Oi, beansprout, don't fucking fall asleep standing." Kanda muttered and Allen couldn't help but send him a weak glare. The older of them blinked a few times and narrowed his eyes at Allen's pale state. "The heck is wrong with you?" He asked, and stood up straight from where he was leaning on a rail before. "Don't you dare faint. If it's too hot, just fucking leave..." Don't pass out...especially not in front of Kanda...don't you dare, Allen Walker...don't...Allen's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell forward. Thankfully, yet surprisingly enough, Kanda caught him before he could hit the ground.
"Fuck."
Yay for cliffhangers, right? :D *dodges pitchfork* The first song played was 'Dance, Dance by Fall Out Boy', the second was 'The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage by Panic! At The Disco' (and you guys wonder why I changed the title xD) and then the last song 'Allen's Song' was 'Two Is Better Than One by Boys Like Girls' (surprise! xD)
