Yami had a painful morning getting up the next day. The morning sunlight reminded him why he didn't go out drinking. He was such a lightweight that even the smallest amount of alcohol had him regretting it by sunrise. I am not looking forward to the performance tonight. As much as he enjoyed playing piano, it was hard to enjoy it with a hangover.
Yami forced himself to get up, walking over to take a shower and find some ibuprofen to stave off his throbbing headache. Go figure that the one time he decided to drink would be to impress a chick. Tea Gardner, I hope you realize the sacrifice I made for you last night. Yami shook his head, wondering if he could avoid turning on more lights and just shower in the dark.
Fifteen minutes later, Yami was showered and changed, opting for comfort as he threw on a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt. He made his way to his kitchen, looking for something to fill the empty pit in his stomach. He blinked for a moment in confusion when he spotted a set of hair, not too unlike his own. A pointed crown of magenta and black had made itself at home on his couch.
Yami sighed as he made his way to the kitchen, looking for some cereal. "Ever hear of knocking?"
A voice from his living room chirped up, still not moving from its spot. "I did. You were still asleep. I decided to let myself in."
Yami rolled his eyes, pouring some milk into his bowl before closing the fridge. "That wasn't the intent behind giving you that key." Yami walked out into the living room to join his morning guest. Though slightly irked, he wasn't really upset by his visitor.
"Well what did you want me to do, Yami? Just wait outside your door until you wake up?" His doppelganger was busy with a video game he currently had in hand. It took Yami a moment to realize it was one of his.
Yami just snorted as he scooped up some food. "How about not come over at an unreasonable hour in the morning?"
"It's 11:20, Yami."
"… What?"
"Eleven. Twenty. I came over at ten. Personally, I was shocked to see you sleep in this late, but I figured you must have had a pretty exciting night to stay up so late."
Yami rolled his eyes, glancing over at his younger cousin, Yugi. It was odd how similar the two looked, even though they didn't share the same parents. They were often mistaken for twins in public. To make matters more baffling, the two had been very close growing up. Neither of them had siblings, and after Yugi's parents died and their grandfather became his guardian, Yami would spend a lot of time hanging out with his little cousin.
Yami had lived with his parents about an hour from their grandfather, so he often would go to visit and hang out. College had made it difficult for the two to catch up. Now that Yami lived in Domino City, and now even closer to their grandfather, Yugi was a regular visitor. The two would often hang out and play games together as they had for years. Still, a little notice beforehand wouldn't go unmissed.
"Well, what brings you over here today?" Yami decided to ask. Yugi knew he had a performance tonight – weekends for musicians were often busier than most.
"Thought we could hang out before you perform tonight. Unless you have an afternoon rehearsal."
Yami groaned, not wanting to check his phone. He knew it was unlikely, but he wouldn't put it past Pegasus to suddenly call for an emergency dress rehearsal for god knows what reason. "Don't know yet. I'm not particularly rushing to find out."
"Well, while you're not rushing, can you help me figure out this difficult Professor Layton puzzle? You know which one I'm talking about."
Yami just laughed, standing up to put his dishes away. "You'll be annoyed with yourself later if you don't figure it out yourself." He could tell by Yugi's grumble that he begrudgingly agreed.
Yami had just placed the bowl in the sink when he heard his phone ringing from his pocket. Already knowing what was coming, he sighed as he took out his phone. He narrowed his eyes as he spotted a text from the personification of the gay parade. Yami opened the text, already anticipating the request.
"Yami – I'm calling a dress rehearsal this afternoon before tonight's show. Need to work on the Mambo and the duet. Things weren't as tight as we needed them. Be there at 2. Toodles."
Yami cursed his bad luck as he made his way back to the living room. "Well I hope you weren't hoping to spend tons of time with me today. I just got a text from the director."
Yugi looked up from his game, a disappointed look on his face. "Really? Rehearsal now? He's going to run you guys ragged at this rate."
Yami shrugged, not arguing the point. "Either way, I'll have to be down there at 2. If I'm lucky, it'll only be an hour. Either way, it's going to be killer for this migraine I have."
"Yeah, I was wondering why you were looking like death this morning. Are you hungover?" Yugi asked, closing the DS as he settled back on the couch, more focused on his cousin. Yami nodded slowly, the throbbing his head slowly dying away, though not fast enough.
"Yeah. Some of the cast members invited me out to go drinking after the show."
Yami heard Yugi chuckle, a large grin on the younger man's face. "How'd they manage that? You hate drinking."
Yugi's magenta eyes bore into Yami, as he felt a light blush growing on his face, recalling how he ended up going out that night. "Well… I mean, there was… I just felt like going."
Yami's poor attempt at lying only piqued Yugi's interest further. A wicked grin grew on his cousin's face. "Now I know your lying! Who is she?"
Yami swore under his breath, regretting mentioning anything. "There's nobody Yugi. And anyway, I thought you wanted to do something before I head off to rehearsal."
"I do. It's called talk about your love life. What's her name?"
Yami rolled his eyes, debating whether to resist or give in. In the end, he knew Yugi would continue to pester him until he got an answer. Yami glanced away, trying not to look abashed. "… Her name's Tea. She's a dancer at the show."
"Is she cute?"
"Obviously."
Yugi leaned back thinking, a small smile on his face. "Hmm… well in that case, I'll come to your show tonight."
Yami blinked, confused for a moment. "Wait, why? She's a chorus member, so it's not like she's the star of the show. Plus, you've already come to one of my shows this season."
"Yeah, but I didn't know you had a secret crush in the company. I want to meet her."
Yami quickly realized what Yugi was getting at. "Yugi, I barely know her myself. I'm not going to introduce you to her. That would be awkward."
"Then you need to get to know her! Stop being so shy and just ask her out!" Yugi ordered, looking rather impish in the process.
Yami rolled his eyes, resting his head against his propped up fist. "That's easier said than done. I'm working on it, okay? Can we just drop it for now?"
Yugi had a tendency of being somewhat pushy on a matter. Although Yami typically didn't mind, it could get exhausting. He held his breath, hoping that Yugi would move on to a different topic. After a few moments, Yugi flopped back on the couch. "Fine. But you better keep me updated on your love life. I can't stand seeing you waste away as a lonely bachelor."
Yami just chuckled, turning on the TV as he started to set-up Mario Kart. "Yes, I imagine you've been suffering quite a bit."
"I'm just concerned is all! It seems unfair that such a handsome fella like yourself should be alone."
Yami turned his head to stare at Yugi, smirk on his face. "You're only saying that because we share the same face."
Yugi just grinned, not denying the claim. He grabbed one of the controllers, plopping down next Yami as they settled in for some classic Nintendo.
Yami resisted the urge to let out an annoyed groan, his eyes glaring at the back of Pegasus' head. Yami had known that an afternoon rehearsal was likely with their pain in the ass director. What Yami hadn't anticipated was the fact that he was the only musician called for rehearsal. Since Pegasus said the issue was with the performers on stage, he didn't see any reason force the pit to come out for a two-hour rehearsal. That would have been unfair.
When Pegasus told that to Yami's face, he had to resist the urge to smash his giggling, idiotic director into the piano keys.
So in a manner that was most definitely unfair, Yami let out a loud sigh, watching dully as Pegasus worked with the two protagonists of the show. The other cast members were milling about, heading off stage. After Pegasus had drilled them over the mambo dance, he fretfully ended that part of rehearsal, calling it "passable." Yami was once again stuck in wonder at how he ended up with such an incompetent director.
Yami turned as he heard Pegasus call his name, gesturing for him to start at the given measure mark. Yami obliged, paying less attention to his director's theatrics and allowing himself to focus more assisting the singers in question. Pegasus seemed discontent, complaining that they were adding beats to the music that didn't exist. Yami had to resist the urge to remark that breathing was a necessary part of singing.
Yami was wise enough to keep his smartass comments to himself. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd rather being playing Mario Kart right now than sitting here. Being a rehearsal pianist, while definitely interesting and challenging at times, was dreadful at this point in the season. Yami knew what to expect of the musicians and actors in question. If he had issues with the music, he would turn to discuss these issues with the conductor, who knew how to find a middle ground.
Pegasus, unfortunately, had too many ideas for his own good.
Pegasus cut Yami off to work with 'Maria' on line delivery. Yami leaned back on his bench, staring at the keys before him. He wasn't sure how long Pegasus would be working with the two leads, so Yami figured now was as good a time as any to work on his side project. He slid his binder over, grabbing the manuscript paper he had sitting behind his score. He flipped a few pages, finding where he had left off.
Yami had only barely gotten into the third measure of writing when he heard a voice call his name. He looked up, confused when he realized it wasn't Pegasus trying to get his attention. He looked around his corner of the stage, peering around the decrepit upright piano he sat at. Yami wondered if he had imagined the voice until he heard his name again.
Yami glanced off to the corner of the stage, his heart skipping a beat when he saw a certain brunette sitting at the edge. He hoped his face wasn't turning red as he greeted his dancer crush. "Oh – Hi Tea. How's it going?"
Tea smiled, her blue eyes lighting up. He noticed that she was wearing yoga pants and a large t-shirt, an outfit fairly similar to last night's attire. It was a more relaxed side of her he enjoyed seeing. "Not too bad. Hangovers can be a real bitch though. You holding up okay?"
Yami chuckled, his facial expression slipping to reveal his annoyance with his situation. "As best as I can be." Yami explained, his eyes trained on Pegasus.
Tea giggled, nodding her head in understanding. She leaned back, stretching her back. She tilted her head as she studied the papers on Yami's music stand. "Mind if I ask what's that?"
Yami glanced back at his composition, flipping back a few pages to the front. He sighed as he took it off the stand to hand over to Tea. "Just a side project for my students."
Tea grabbed the music, reading through it as she tried to aurally understand what was written down. After a few moments, she chuckled, her eyes flicking up. She had an amused look on her face. "Didn't know you were a fan of Bruno Mars?"
Yami sighed, shaking his head in exasperation. "I'm not. But it's hard to keep younger kids interested in music. So keep their attention, I'll transcribe pop songs for them to play. It's no Beethoven, but maybe they'll stick around long enough to play that someday."
Tea chuckled, nodding her head in understanding. "I get it. I swear kids are pickier now than we were growing up. I have a class of kids who threw a fit when I told them we weren't going to be working on the Nutcracker for the spring show."
Yami grinned, understanding Tea's plight. "Ah, but Ms. Tea! Mom and dad want to see their little princesses as fairies!"
Tea let out an exasperated sigh, as if she heard this argument before. "And they can! But the Nutcracker is better fitted for a winter program, not summer. I swear it's the parents who are the bigger issue than the kids though."
Yami nodded, his eyes flicking over to Pegasus. "Yeah. Sometimes the adults are the ones who can be more childish than anyone else."
Tea laughed, leaning back to hand Yami his music back. "Yeah. If it was just my kiddos, it would be easier. Too bad the parents are the ones who help me pay rent."
"Isn't that what we're all trying to do?"
Yami smirked, enjoying their conversation as they discussed their struggles as starving artists. Although Yami enjoyed teaching a lot and it was definitely one of the better parts of his work, it could also be exhausting. It was nice talking to someone else who just… got it.
Tea glanced back to Yami, her expression thoughtful. "So what do you do on your off days when you're not the rehearsal pianist?"
Yami snorted, puffing up some air to push his blond locks from out in front of his face. "Probably humoring my cousin and playing Luigi's Haunted Mansion. You know, just a day in the life of a 28 year old musician."
"Your parents must be so proud."
"Every day." Yami lightly jabbed back. Tea had a pensive look on her face, almost as if she wanted to ask him a question. Yami felt nervous, almost as if both wanted to ask the question, but both were rather shy to do so. Was Yami reading the situation right? Based on the vibes he was getting, he felt like Tea liked him. But oh, was it so difficult to know what another person thought, wasn't it? Deciding to go with his guts, Yami mustered up the courage ask the burning question on his mind.
Before he could speak, a voice interrupted their conversation.
"Ms. Gardner! We are having a rehearsal right now! Please hold off on gossiping with our pianist and save it until after we are done." Yami let out a sigh, keeping his face neutral as he heard Pegasus reprimand them, trying not to reveal his frustration. Tea gave Yami a small smile before jumping off the stage, leaving the concert hall. Yami sighed, watching Tea before reluctantly returning his attention to Pegasus.
Well this blows. Yami shook his head, masking his desire to glare at Pegasus as he stared intently at the music. Pegasus counted them in, but Yami's mind was elsewhere. Though Tea hadn't said anything, Yami was sure that she wanted to ask him the same question he had in mind. But now, thanks to Maximillion cock-blocking Pegasus, Yami wouldn't know.
After a few more repetitions, Pegasus finally relieved Yami of his duty. He breathed a sigh of relief, grabbing his satchel to pack his music away. He was glad this headache was over, though he was aware he would do it all over again. Yami didn't have a problem with rehearsing. But he was a larger fan of intelligent rehearsals versus "practice it for practice sake."
As Yami put away his binder, he moved to put away his composition. He noticed one of the corners folded. He raised an eyebrow, finding it odd as he hadn't done so with any of the pages he had worked on so far. He flipped open to the page to fix the crease, his breath catching when he noticed what was written on the page. At the folded corner, there was a phone number written followed by a smiley face.
Holy shit!
Yami grinned to himself, glancing back up to stare out at the audience seating. He suspected that Tea had already left, but he couldn't help searching for her. After a few moments, he glanced back down at the number, the smile growing on his face. Yami tore off the corner of the paper, trying to memorize the series of numbers before shoving the piece of paper in his pocket. His day just got infinitely better.
Yami packed up, a smile still plastered on his face. Yami ignored all of his puzzled coworkers, who stared in confusion at the delighted pianist. He couldn't care less, eager to see how things would play out.
