Tiny little chapter for Christmas.
Yag got a musical duckling for Christmas.
*BRRR-*
*CLICK*
"This is Yagami."
The room was silent. Athena and Kensou had wandered outside to enjoy the beach. Shermie was nowhere in ear-shot. Riot seemed to have either lost interest and went to sleep, or was listening intently. Iori sat there on the stool with sheet music scattered all about him. The morning sun cast a spot of golden light on the papers through the faceted skylights, while he himself sat in the shadows.
*... uh, hi boss. Um...*
He let out and audible sigh and leaned against the back wall as he waited for Rock Howard to collect his thoughts. The phone was on speaker and balanced on his knee. This was the moment of truth. What Rock said next would determine the fate of this Tour. Seven months ago, his backup guitarist moved to Idaho to be a dad, and Iori had be floundering around, looking for a halfway decent musician since.
But when he finally found one, he was the shyest kid on the planet, but damn was he good. When Rock auditioned, Iori perceived he had so much raw musical talent that it was a miracle nobody else had snapped him up beforehand. So of course, Iori on-boarded him immediately. He spent the first month drilling classical technique into him, as up until this point, Rock was self-taught, then the second month, he'd teach him stage-manner.
That was the only reason he even dreamed of teaming up with a J-pop star. Athena had been bugging him for weeks about doing this collaboration, as she wanted to break into Australia. Iori, meanwhile, wasn't really looking to expand his fanbase toward prepubescent boys. Actually, he didn't do much marketing at all. The newspapers did that for free.
He had snagged CYS, paid them an absurd amount of money, then poured over Athena's song-list and chose the ones with the easiest secondary guitar portion - demanding she sing those. The focus was stage-manner, not technique this time, so brain-dead easy was a good thing. Athena didn't give him any trouble over the songs. She knew he was using her for something, but she was using him as well and wasn't naive enough to expect charity from him.
The best way to overcome stage fright was to experience it, again and again and again. For anyone else, Iori would just toss them onstage and let the deal with it on their own, but he didn't want to lose Rock Howard. He paid CYS for the purpose of mitigating that fear. Having many people on-stage would be more comfortable for a new performer, as the focus was spread out among the many artists. Additionally, if Rock bailed, he could do so without the pressure of 'having ruined the performance'. Hopefully, by the time they were done with this tour, Howard would be comfortable waltzing around in his underwear on TV. Then Yagami's band would be up on its feet again.
That was the plan at least. Iori hadn't even considered the possibility of failure. He had completely ignored the fact that if Rock Howard ran away, the entire Tour was for naught.
*Um.*
Iori looked down at the phone and tapped at the bass in his lap. Wherever Rock was calling from was really loud. There was bustling and murmuring and people talking to each other in the background. Probably the Airport, he was probably calling to say goodbye. Fuck.
*Yeah, so… I'm sorry for punching you. I know this sounds… really unbelievable, but I didn't mean it. Something just came over me, uh… please don't… yeah…so, am I dead?*
"What do you mean 'Am I dead'?"
*... I mean I punched you...*
"I know. That's not something you have to tell me."
*Yeah but… guh… fine. Look, I just wanna know if… uh… the next time you see me, are you gonna try and kill me?*
Iori frowned. Did Rock Howard actually take his death threats seriously? At this point, they had become so ingrained into his speech that he was hardly conscious of them anymore. It'd been a running joke for years, at least among the people who knew him.
"Howard, I don't think I've ever hurt you, and I've never had any intention to. This is the fucking music industry, not Vietnam. What are you on about?"
*Oh... um. So you're not-... I mean you say stu-*
"What do you want Howard. Just say it. An apology? A plane ticket? To quit the band? I'll give it to you. If you leave, I'm not gonna hunt you down. Tell me what you need from me."
There was a long pause. Iori sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He looked across the concert venue and out the large, glass paneled walls to the ocean. Beachgoers frolicked in the surf and seagulls cried to one another. Iori tapped the bass in anticipation for the worst.
*Can I ask you some stuff?*
"Ask."
*Yashiro told me that… uh… Well, why did you hire CYS? Why are they here?*
"They're here in case you panic and need to step out."
*Why didn't you tell me? I was dying from nervousness! *
"Because I'd prefer you didn't step out."
*Oh, but… uh. I guess… alright… *
Iori stared up at the vaulted ceiling and waited. The marble wall was cold through his t-shirt. His phone was balanced on his knee and airport sounds emitted from it. He briefly wondered where he would find another guitarist. What a pain… dammit, even Riot was warming up to the kid…
*...Can I stay in the band?*
"What? Oh fuck-!"
Iori had expected Rock to ask permission to purchase a plane ticket home. Instead he said just the opposite and it surprised the red-haired man enough that he shifted and his phone fell off his knee. It clattered across the floor and Iori scrambled after it. Rock just kept talking.
*Even though I punched you, can I come back? I'm really sorry about that. The truth is, I was just really, really nervous about the show and I sort of snapped. Um. I didn't know you set this stuff up for me. So… yeah. I'd really like to come back. Are you okay with that?*
Iori snatched his phone before it tumbled off the stage, then stood up. The guitar hung from him by the shoulder strap. He yanked it off and hopped off the stage. The gloom over his head broke, and he grinned at nothing.
"Am I okay with you staying in my band? Oh dammit Howard."
He started laughing raucously. Hopefully it didn't scare the kid too badly, but honestly Iori hadn't been this thrilled in a while. "You're lucky you're not here or else I'd french you for saying that! Come on back. Let's get this performance down and make a killing tomorrow. Fuck me, 'am I okay with that' heh. Imagine..."
Rock hung up and blinked at the phone. He had been sure Iori would flip out, and it was taking some time for him to register what his boss had said to him. Not only was Yagami willing to forgive getting clocked in the face, he was actually ecstatic that Rock was staying in the band.
He actually wants me in the band? Like shoot. I didn't even know…
Rock felt pride swell in his chest. The #3 musician in the world was happy enough to kiss him when he said he'd stay in his band. Rock had always been a bit of a downer, so things like this only happened in his imagination. He looked to Yashiro who was crammed beside him around the small coffee table. The larger man was wearing a wide grin and stirring his frappe.
"I told you he likes blonde guys. Maybe I should dye my hair, haha. Well. Ready to head back?"
"Yup, let's go" Rock stood and sidled out the gap between the table and the wall. Yashiro followed suit and sort of just bounced the chairs off his large frame. "Uh, Yashiro… Iori won't actually… "
"Kiss you? He definitely will."
"Wait. But-"
Rock's grin slowly faded as he felt the stirrings of dread in his stomach. Yashiro sniggered behind him the entire walk back to the Opera house.
Heh. I just realized that I made Yag kiss Benny too, and he's also a blonde guy.
Oh god.
Rock's gone from - 'My boss doesn't care about me, so I'm quitting' to 'oh shit my boss likes me too much should I quit?' in the space of thirty minutes.
Everything is crazy in Nano world :)
