Notes: This was originally posted in June 2019 on AO3.
Khi đôi môi em còn đỏ mọng, em muốn nói "em yêu anh" ?
Khi men còn trong hơi thở, lại gần hôn anh đi.
Khi con tim không còn trên đầu, khi hai má em hây hây
Em nói em say tiếng đàn, vậy lại gần hôn anh đi.
When your lips are still red, do you want to say "I love you?"
Whilst the alcohol is still on your breath, come close and kiss me.
When your heart is no longer in your head, when your cheeks still tingle
You said you're drunk on the music, then come close and kiss me.
Một Đêm Say - Thịnh Suy
The night was going spectacularly bad, and Shiro hadn't even been the least surprised. If anything, his car breaking down in the morning was already an indication of how this day was going to go down, and then he was running late for his date after his final classes finished up. And to find out that his date was another average asshole with a brain cell to share between himself and his "teammates" - for whatever sports, Shiro couldn't even recall - was just the cherry on top of the haphazardly made sundae that was Shiro's day.
The thing was, Shiro's standard for the night was already incredibly low. His expectations was to find just a decent person who would join him for a meal and drinks, and if things go smoothly, then they end up back at either of their places for a different kind of intoxication. In the best case scenario, he would have made a friend. In the worst case scenario, he would have wasted an evening with some random person off the Tinder. And somehow that was the case.
But at least he had drinks, he supposed. So he took his alcohol with gratitude, nodded when prompted by less than desirable company whilst he glanced at his surroundings every once in a while.
The bar was rather crowded that night, probably because of the band playing and some rather chill music upon the small stage. Shiro wasn't complicated about his choice in music, but he knew the band was good, to say the least. And… wait , is that Matt's sister on the keyboards?
Shiro blinked slightly in surprise. Katie that was singing on stage with three guys. A stocky guy with a bandana on his head that Shiro might have seen around his department sat at the drums, a rather lanky and tall guy on the bass, laid back and relaxed, and the final member of the band that held a certain enigmatic quality in his seat behind Katie, sipping on his drink and tucking back the hair that has fallen from his ponytail.
"And then I was like- Shiro? You listening?"
Shiro turned from the stage. "Oh, sorry. I was a bit taken by the band."
His date - named Chad, which really should send some alarm bells in Shiro's mind, but then that would just be rude - glanced at the stage. The band was moving onto their next song with an announcement by the guitarist, who had no business to have a jawline that sharp, jeans that tight and certainly not eyes so intense as he stared into the crowd that made Shiro self-conscious.
Then he sang whilst Shiro was halfway through a sentence, and Shiro lost his thoughts. The warm timbre of his voice sounded through the air, encapsulating the room in the song and pulling their presence into a world of just notes and words.
Behind his eyelids, Shiro would find himself entirely transported into a story, a painting of red, orange and gold like paper lanterns on a river bank, calming and constant as the deep notes of the bass echoed behind the staccato guitar that strokes his skin like a calm breeze. Every tap of the piano was sharp and spiced like wine for the chilly autumn night such as this one, and the slow beating drums echoing his own heartbeat as he allowed the voice to take him from the world and erase whatever weight in his chest.
The guitarist glanced up and caught Shiro's eyes in between the many patrons of the bar, gifting him with a trace of a smile on the edge of his lips, and a twinkling of promise in his gaze.
Shiro couldn't keep up a conversation for the rest of the night.
Half an hour later and the band finishes their gig, and Shiro excused himself to the bathroom - he figured it couldn't hurt when he was already on his unintentional (but also intentional) attempt to clue his date of the fact that they just weren't ever going to work. 'Unintentional' because Shiro had been too entranced by the band on stage and Chad had definitely gotten bored of Shiro ogling at the guitarist. 'Intentional' because… well, there is a time and place for everyone and everything in Shiro's life, but he'd rather his less-than-desirable date to be off the schedule forever after this night is over.
When he came back, he was ready to pay the bill and gtfo in a most sincere and nice way. Under normal circumstances, he probably would offer to drive his dates back to their home if they had taken public transports, but then he was the one with the broken car and had to take the shuttle bus from campus to the bar, and now the subway home. He wasn't sure that Chad would be as generous, and even if he was, Shiro wasn't sure he wanted another twenty minutes within the same vicinity as the guy - no hard feelings.
He ran over the words in his head and walked back to his table, and what's surprising - though perhaps unsurprising - was that there was no one at the table. Only his messenger bag full of papers and his laptop leaned against the foot of his chair, and Chad was at the nearby bartop talking to a guy over someone else's shoulders. It was the lanky tall guy from the band, who was clearly displeased by Chad's appearance as Chad seemed to be hitting up on the fair-haired woman between the both of them.
The woman - Shiro pushed his glasses onto his face and blinked as he recognised the distinct unimpressed glance that was Allura 's. Somehow he kept running into people he knew today.
The dark haired guitarist/singer sat back, uncaring as he glanced at the Their eyes caught again, and Shiro was sure that the guy felt bad for him as his eyes flicked from Shiro to the guy in understanding, and his mouth twitched into a sympathetic frown before he took another gulp of his beer. Though the sympathy was for Allura or for him, Shiro couldn't be sure. Maybe both.
"Do you mind backing off? She said she wasn't interested already," the tall guy spit, and Chad ignored him completely.
"You realise that you're way too good for him, right? You deserve a man who sees your worth and knows it's worth, and knows how to keep it," Chad said. "Just one drink, with me, come on."
"I really don't want to, so please take a hint." Allura turned to her friend. "Lance, please pass my phone."
Shiro sighed. On the one hand he could jump in and save his coworker from bringing his mess upon her, but on the other hand, he could just settle the tab and spend the rest of his evening sitting on his much comfier lounge at home and have the time of his life doing whatever the fuck he wanted after this long, long day.
"I mean, what has he got that I don't?" Chat pointed rudely at Lance. And on the other side of Lance, the mystery hot guy snorted. "Brains, for one. And human decency, for another."
Shiro was so getting out of here. He mentally apologises to Allura as he reached down to pick up his belongings and his jacket draped over the back of the chair. He glanced at his watch - maybe he might just make it home before Matt returns from his parents, and he won't have to explain why he was out late but came back looking entirely unlaid.
He made a move to put on his jacket, eyes glancing over to Allura again. She hid her smile as she turned away from the group, towards him. Her gaze fixed on him and her brows pulled upwards as she recognised him. Fuck.
"Hey, Shiro!" She waved him over as Chad, Lance and mystery guy turned up to look at Shiro. And Shiro had one line of thought that went somewhere along the lines of " FuckshitfuckwhyAllurawhyijustwantedtogohomewasthatsohard."
Though he really shouldn't blame Allura because somehow, it was now two people in the Maths department that has been hit on by Chad, and that's unfortunately Shiro's fault.
Shiro waved back and approached with a slightly awkward smile at everyone. Chad's eyes might fall out of its sockets, Lance looked at him with mild curiosity, and the guy next to him was gaping slightly. His face was red, and Shiro wasn't sure if it was because of the whacky lighting at the bartop, or it was just an asian glow - Shiro had a fair share of that - or he was just flushed at Shiro?
His eyes darted down to Shiro's left arm slightly, and then back up to his face. Shiro subtly draped his jacket over said arm.
"We work together," Allura explained to Lance and turned to Shiro with a smile. " Fancy running into you here, Shiro." Translation: What's up? What are you doing here?
Shiro scratched his head and looked at Chad, who was mildly embarrassment, but he was also trying his best to appear as if they don't know each other. Fair enough. Shiro didn't want to try to be petty and out him to be an absolute asshole. It just too much work for the weekend, anyways. He had better things to do and better people to be with.
I got stood up for a date , he was going to say, but the words had barely escaped him before mystery hot guy interjected. "I invited him to come see us perform."
"You know Keith?" Allura blurted to him and whipped her head around to Keith. "You know Shiro?"
Keith - a name sharp, and cutting from the very first consonant but softening as the word drawls. The name suited its owner, Shiro thought.
"Yeah. Met him at the gym I go to. We were talking about how he couldn't find a place with decent live music the other day, so I told him to come today."
Fact was, Shiro does go to the gym because he needed to keep up a certain physique to actually handle his prosthetic. But he definitely has not seen Keith at the gym because he would definitely have noticed - perhaps even a bit too much - if someone like Keith had walked into the gym around the same time he did.
Shiro mentaly shrugged and rolled with Keith's lie. He sat down next to Keith as he gestured to the adjacent seat, and ordered another drink.
"Oh! How did you find the performances?" Lance asked eagerly. "Pidge - our pianist - did a really great number today."
He shared his honest opinions, that their performance was great, and he had always known that Katie could sing, having grown up hearing her play piano and singing at the talent show at the school that he, Matt and Katie all went to. There were more surprised questions on how he knew Katie, but Keith didn't show a hint of reaction, as if he had known all along.
At some point Chad tried to worm his way back into the conversation thought to share his thoughts on the band's performance as well. Though Shiro wondered if he really heard anything above his own voice the entire night.
Keith only glanced over with apathy - he was drinking hard liquor now, and perhaps that was also to blame for how blunt his next words were. "Really? I didn't think you could hear anything over your giant ego." He takes another sip of his drink with a smirk. "Oh, I'm sorry. I meant your crippling insecurity and narcissism that - well - I only hope you don't look at yourself in the mirror too often."
Shiro might have just fallen in love right then and there. He could literally just kiss Keith right then and there if he was given permission. He really hoped Keith was attracted to men, at least and a voice in his mind supplied that the tightness of those jeans can't scream gay louder than the horns in the university's basketball court.
Chad hung his mouth in horror and shock, at a loss for words, and Lance stopped trying to contain his laughter. Keith's proud and passive aggressive grin was evident across his face, and in a way it was endearing to see as his eyes crinkled and his cheeks remained red.
Shiro used the opportunity to call for a glass of just ice, and turned over in his stool with a smug smirk. "I think it's best if you leave us now." He hands over the glass to him with a smile. "For the burns."
Finally - finally - Chad takes the glass with a numb confusion and left, and the four of them erupted into laughter.
"We should get you drunk more often," Allura said as she raised her own glass and clinked it to Keith's. He grunted.
"I'm not drunk."
"You mean you're always this amazing?" Shiro flashed him a grin. "Just my luck."
And unbelievably, Keith got even redder than he already was, so much that his entire neck and ears couldn't escape either. Shiro had an urge to cover every inch of Keith's reddened skin with his mouth, and to card his hair through every strand of hair tied loosely in with red hair tie.
It seemed that everything about Keith was that colour, gradients and shades of red that Shiro might never be able to describe in full. His hair tie was bright crisp apple. his skin a fair tinge bordering on pink like camellias in winter, his leather jacket draped behind his chair was accented with a rusty red.
And his lips, a sinful shade of rouge that Shiro wanted to taste and devour and have it imprinted into his mind so that every time he saw the colour, what he would remember was the sharp cut of Keith's jaw in his hand, the rush of breaths and the melodic voice, speaking, singing and humming against Shiro's lips.
The motorbike that Shiro got a ride back home on was also red - a bright and sunwashed red. Shiro also learnt that the red of Keith's lips was exactly the spiced notes of wine, intoxicating and overwhelming, until it smooths out into a sweetness that had lingered on his tongue and had him chasing after it. Though he didn't need to run far. Just a slight lean across a few centimetres on his bed.
And in Shiro's dreams, an angel sang.
A/N from 2019: Well this is a clusterfuck. This was inspired by the song from the beginning notes. I tried to translate the lyrics so you can sort of understand how I was inspired by it, but honestly translating this song is just butchering it. The video kinda gives you an idea of what the song is about tho - via animation.
But if you still don't understand, the song is from the perspective of a performer urging a woman that he clearly has affections for, who has a significant other, to kiss him whilst they are all drunk on actual booze and her, specifically, drunk on his music. It's more of a daydream as the guy experiences unrequited love, that he hopes the girl would make that move and come to him.
Somehow that story became... this. Like just Keith being rad and Shiro actually leaving his asshole date so he could go to Keith - under an entirely reasonable reason. Also idk why i hate how little dialogue and character development this has, but i hope the style and imagery makes up for it?
Also i apologise for the name Chad. I almost put Curtis, but then i actually really like Curtis and what he meant as a character in VLD. So i just... Chad is just such a bad joke, im sorry.
I'll probably regret this after posting it a mere half an hour after I finished but hope you enjoyed! HMU on Tumblr and please leave a kudo or comment if you liked this! I'm always happy to reply!
2022 edit: The song is available on Youtube and Spotify if you would like to find it. It is actually quite a nice melody, but I have grown out of it because certain parts of the lyrics was kinda dumb in retrospect lol.