fic; The Walk
Five drabbles. Three by me, two by Mark. In his words;
Mark|DEAD: Fair warning. They're fucking painfully adorable at places and blatantly obvious spoilers for the subplot's future.
Both drabbles Ib and IIb are Mark's. Blame him! Also as a note; Yue has synesthesia. In her case, she 'sees' sounds and music as colors.
I.
It was raining that day, and a part of Yue suspected later that fate had been messing with them. She’d forgotten her umbrella, and it was pouring now. Her uniform had soaked through, and at this point, Yue was almost wondering if she’d make it home undrowned.
Maybe it was coincidence that she ran into him then. Maybe it was fate, but Yue had never really believed in that kind of thing. But Alejandro had taken one look at her, and insisted-in that polite way of his that wasn’t really insistent at all-that she take his umbrella, or at least come and dry off if she wasn’t. He ended up walking her home.
It ended up being the first time since they’d found out about the engagement that they’d simply talked, and it was the first time Yue paid enough attention to note that Alejandro’s eyes were rather pretty, honeyed gold and warm.
Naturally, she’d nearly slapped herself for the thought. But whether she liked it or not, that shade of gold turned up more frequently in her drawings that night.
Ib.
148, 150, 152, 150, 148...
Alejandro's hands move fast, precise like a surgeon, sliding the toggles on the mixer back and forth. Beat matching was an essential art for a DJ, the first thing you learned to do and do well before you ever thought of trying to make it big.
150, 150, 150, 150....
It was usually how Alejandro cleared his mind when things began to get to him. Lose himself to the music. The patter between songs came naturally to him. But something was bugging him worse than usual. Almost as prevalent as the specter of his sister that came to the back of his mind.
150, 150, 150, 150...
It had been a rainy day. A pouring one, enough to make him wonder if the apartment would be seeing a hurricane. Thinking about this, he had gone a different way, to see if it was faster. And instead, he found himself face to face with Yue, soaked to the bone and looking furious for it. He'd forced his umbrella on her, and she'd headed over to his apartment until the rain ended. Saya had been up the night before, so it was simply pleasant conversation.
150, 150, 150, 150...
Well, until the tea. With the rain finally dying down, he had offered to make her tea, something hot before the trek back home in damp clothing. The problem was, Ken'ichi usually did the cooking. And with Ken'ichi hiding in his room (despite Alejandro insisting that he didn't have to), Alejandro had to make the tea. Perhaps it was a bit too hot, or too full, and she'd recoiled when he handed it to her. His reflexes had kicked in, and he grabbed for the cup, instead getting her hand, which lingered for perhaps a moment too long. The look of mutual confusion hadn't helped much either-
148, 152, 146, 154, 140, 160!
Alejandro snapped back, mixer sliders being whipped around immediately to correct the mistake.
“Sorry, listeners, but even a great man makes mistakes now and then. Now, for a next track, I think this will be one for the....”
-What was bothering him so badly about a simple conversation? It was just tea, why was he still thinking about that so much it threw his work off?
“For the couples out there. Here's hoping the rain isn't ruining your plans - or that you've adjusted accordingly...”
148, 152, 150, 150....
Alejandro, perhaps subconsciously, chose not to pursue this train of thought, or the immediate curiosity as to why he'd made that dedication of all things.
II.
Yue had never really been a big fan of flowers. They were beautiful, yes, and they often held vibrant colors, but sometimes she though it would be better if people paused to actually look at them. It seemed to her, people thought flowers were pretty because they were supposed to be pretty.
So perhaps it wasn’t the flowers she disliked as much as the way people viewed them. Either way, she’d been idly sketching this bunch for the last fifteen minutes. She didn’t know why Paru had texted her, but she had gone to the riverside anyway…and promptly gotten caught up in sketching. Maybe that was why she didn’t hear Alejandro’s approach.
“Yue?” It took her a moment to calm down from the shock, looking at him with a rather confused expression. Why was he here?
“…Paru texted me.” Ah. That explained much. Yue let out a long sigh, before reaching to pick up the blade she’d been sharpening her pencil with. At that moment, Alejandro had leaned over to see what she’d been sketching.
“You’re very good.”
“Ah…these are just sketches…”
”Of the hibiscus, right?” Alejandro smiled, and for some reason, Yue thought her heartbeat was much louder in her ears. Honey gold and sea blues…the colors of his voice were nearly overwhelming, all of a sudden. “It suits you.”
In a single moment, Yue felt she might drown in the colors of her own heartbeat.
IIb.
“Lunch is ready!”
It was a simple meal, just a spicy gyudon. Simple meals were pretty uncommon in the apartment; Ken'ichi could cook in a way most people only wished they could, and Saya and Alejandro went out of their way to make sure he knew that. Still, rain made it hard to get groceries, and while the three had decided it was a day to skip class, Saya had decided this way instead the perfect time to do research. The two young men sat in the living room, television muted and showing the local broadcast. Their small-talk went back and forth. Ken'ichi's father might be visiting in a month, and had promised this time he'd actually be able to make it. Alejandro had managed to get through a particularly difficult test in his History class. It was an idle patter, back and forth, without a great deal of substance to it. And then the mail came.
The package was slightly damp, but it was an insulated envelope. It was addressed to Alejandro. No return address. No real markings to give away what it was. He supposed it was a maxi-single from some local band, trying to see if a late-hour DJ would give them some play time.
What it was almost made him drop the whole thing in his meal out of surprise.
“...Huh. These are really good. Did you commission them?” Ken'ichi tilted his head, glasses sliding down his face some. Alejandro held the sketches of himself, though to call them sketches was something of a disservice. They were incredibly well drawn, detailed in ways that made him wonder how the artist had done so without him nearby.
“No signature, either. The artist wanted to remain anonymous. It looks like you have a fan!” His friend nudged him in the ribs, laughing some. Alejandro echoed the laugh, but he wasn't entirely there. He knew this art style. His mind flashed to their meeting at the river, the one time in a week it hadn't been raining. She'd seemed so... confused for a moment, just staring at him. He'd wondered if he had said something wrong, until she responded with a simple thank-you so curt he was sure he'd made a faux-pas. Was this her way of saying she could draw more than flowers?
“It's not surprising, either. Since this whole thing with the Izumi, you've been acting different.” Alejandro's snapped back to reality. Ken'ichi had noticed? It only was natural, the two we best friends, but, had he changed that much?
“Ah... You really think so, Ken?”
“I know so. You've been much more determined, since you two started working together. When you first moved in, you just used to sit up all night and drift through the day. Now you've got a purpose. It's going to be a shame when you two manage to get this broken off, if you're going to lose all that motivation.”
Ken'ichi laughed again, though this time Alejandro didn't join him. These drawings were nothing short of wonderful, and to be sent, not given to him, seemed strange. That moment when she seemed so surprised when he commented on her drawings of the flowers. At that moment, he just wanted to assuage any doubts he might have put in her head to her skill. It was a fantastic drawing, and it had captured everything in the field perfectly. It was beautiful, and now removed from that panic, he realized that part of his own clumsiness with the situation had been his surprise at how beautiful she had looked among the hibiscus, pencil in one hand, looking over at him-
“...Alex, are you okay, man? You just went all quiet and red in the face. Hey, did you figure out who the stalker is? Come on, tell me. Is it someone in your class?”
“Ah, n-no. I guess I'm just overtired. I didn't sleep well last night. That always makes me kind of spacey.” Alejandro knew the attempt at a recovery was clumsy at best, from the look on his friend's face. But, Ken'ichi was the sort not to pry into his business unless invited to do so, and Alejandro knew that when his friend simply shrugged in that way that made him look thirty years older than he was.
“Well, maybe you should take a nap after lunch. You've got a show, don't you?”
“Every Monday and Wednesday, yes. I guess I'll try to sleep after this.”
There wouldn't be any sleep, between now and then. Not when he had something to puzzle over. What did the drawings mean? Art was something personal. Nobody put that much effort into something unless they wanted someone to appreciate it, either as a friend of a buyer. And unsigned, it couldn't mean she was trying to sell him the art - why would she even offer to, unprovoked? Was this her way of saying that they had more in common than their mutual goal to get out of the relationship?
And why was the prospect of that making his heart race, anyways?
“Think your admirer's a fan of the show?” Ken asked, pointing with his chopsticks and again dragging Alejandro out of the depths of introspection.
“I wouldn't know, Ken. My address is on the site, but it's also in the student directory. They might not even know I'm a DJ.”
“Well, there's only one way to be sure, then. Dedicate a song to them and see if something else shows up in the mail.” “
Not a bad idea. I'll have to think of a track, though. Work it into my sets. I guess I'll have to put off that nap.”
One hundred-sixty gigs of music. Over fourty thousand songs. Where was he going to begin to look for something to say thank you?
“In fact, I'd better get to work. I'm going to take this with me, Ken. Thanks again for the meal.” Alejandro grabbed up the food in one hand, and the pictures in another, making his way very carefully to his bedroom door. He was so caught up in his train of thought that he neglected to notice that Saya had, in the meantime, opened her door and begun a new web of information on the nearest whiteboard. For her effort, she simply tilted her chin, birdlike, watching him go.
“...Curious.”
III.
It was the stupidest thing. Yue was well aware how ridiculous it all was, but even so…she couldn’t escape the truth of it all. Sometimes, Yue wondered if fate existed, and was laughing at her.
One month, since that day at the river. One month, and even an idiot could look at her canvas and see what was happening. She’d kept one sketch, and made more in the times they’d been working together. And what’s more…she had a CD she’d gotten, shortly after a particular show of Alejandro’s. She’d known who the song had been dedicated to…and while she’d had to listen to it a couple times to puzzle out all the English (She spoke it, but she had an easier time reading it), she wondered…if he meant it to be as it sounded.
Yue sighed, staring at the canvas again, before putting the CD into a stereo she kept nearby. She normally didn’t paint to music (it was too distracting) but it worked this time. She pressed play, reaching out to touch the canvas as the music came on.
Last night, I had a dream about you…
It was sad, how well it fit. Yue stared at the canvas. The blue of the river, and the gold of his hair…the colors were as vivid in her mind as they were on the canvas. Logically, she knew the river was never that clear, or the scenery that vibrant. And yet, in her memory…
In this dream, I’m dancing right beside you…
When had it happened? Yue could almost laugh at it, tracing fingers over the lines of the painting. For all they’d been fighting against the wedding, she’d…she’d gone and…
And it looked like everyone was having fun…the kind of feeling I waited so long
Yue growled, picking up a tonfa and sending it flying into the CD player. It shut off, naturally-things tended to stop working when something crashed them into the floor. And there, with her face in her hands, she pondered all meanings of the word ‘irony’.
Mark|DEAD: Fair warning. They're fucking painfully adorable at places and blatantly obvious spoilers for the subplot's future.
Both drabbles Ib and IIb are Mark's. Blame him! Also as a note; Yue has synesthesia. In her case, she 'sees' sounds and music as colors.
I.
It was raining that day, and a part of Yue suspected later that fate had been messing with them. She’d forgotten her umbrella, and it was pouring now. Her uniform had soaked through, and at this point, Yue was almost wondering if she’d make it home undrowned.
Maybe it was coincidence that she ran into him then. Maybe it was fate, but Yue had never really believed in that kind of thing. But Alejandro had taken one look at her, and insisted-in that polite way of his that wasn’t really insistent at all-that she take his umbrella, or at least come and dry off if she wasn’t. He ended up walking her home.
It ended up being the first time since they’d found out about the engagement that they’d simply talked, and it was the first time Yue paid enough attention to note that Alejandro’s eyes were rather pretty, honeyed gold and warm.
Naturally, she’d nearly slapped herself for the thought. But whether she liked it or not, that shade of gold turned up more frequently in her drawings that night.
Ib.
148, 150, 152, 150, 148...
Alejandro's hands move fast, precise like a surgeon, sliding the toggles on the mixer back and forth. Beat matching was an essential art for a DJ, the first thing you learned to do and do well before you ever thought of trying to make it big.
150, 150, 150, 150....
It was usually how Alejandro cleared his mind when things began to get to him. Lose himself to the music. The patter between songs came naturally to him. But something was bugging him worse than usual. Almost as prevalent as the specter of his sister that came to the back of his mind.
150, 150, 150, 150...
It had been a rainy day. A pouring one, enough to make him wonder if the apartment would be seeing a hurricane. Thinking about this, he had gone a different way, to see if it was faster. And instead, he found himself face to face with Yue, soaked to the bone and looking furious for it. He'd forced his umbrella on her, and she'd headed over to his apartment until the rain ended. Saya had been up the night before, so it was simply pleasant conversation.
150, 150, 150, 150...
Well, until the tea. With the rain finally dying down, he had offered to make her tea, something hot before the trek back home in damp clothing. The problem was, Ken'ichi usually did the cooking. And with Ken'ichi hiding in his room (despite Alejandro insisting that he didn't have to), Alejandro had to make the tea. Perhaps it was a bit too hot, or too full, and she'd recoiled when he handed it to her. His reflexes had kicked in, and he grabbed for the cup, instead getting her hand, which lingered for perhaps a moment too long. The look of mutual confusion hadn't helped much either-
148, 152, 146, 154, 140, 160!
Alejandro snapped back, mixer sliders being whipped around immediately to correct the mistake.
“Sorry, listeners, but even a great man makes mistakes now and then. Now, for a next track, I think this will be one for the....”
-What was bothering him so badly about a simple conversation? It was just tea, why was he still thinking about that so much it threw his work off?
“For the couples out there. Here's hoping the rain isn't ruining your plans - or that you've adjusted accordingly...”
148, 152, 150, 150....
Alejandro, perhaps subconsciously, chose not to pursue this train of thought, or the immediate curiosity as to why he'd made that dedication of all things.
II.
Yue had never really been a big fan of flowers. They were beautiful, yes, and they often held vibrant colors, but sometimes she though it would be better if people paused to actually look at them. It seemed to her, people thought flowers were pretty because they were supposed to be pretty.
So perhaps it wasn’t the flowers she disliked as much as the way people viewed them. Either way, she’d been idly sketching this bunch for the last fifteen minutes. She didn’t know why Paru had texted her, but she had gone to the riverside anyway…and promptly gotten caught up in sketching. Maybe that was why she didn’t hear Alejandro’s approach.
“Yue?” It took her a moment to calm down from the shock, looking at him with a rather confused expression. Why was he here?
“…Paru texted me.” Ah. That explained much. Yue let out a long sigh, before reaching to pick up the blade she’d been sharpening her pencil with. At that moment, Alejandro had leaned over to see what she’d been sketching.
“You’re very good.”
“Ah…these are just sketches…”
”Of the hibiscus, right?” Alejandro smiled, and for some reason, Yue thought her heartbeat was much louder in her ears. Honey gold and sea blues…the colors of his voice were nearly overwhelming, all of a sudden. “It suits you.”
In a single moment, Yue felt she might drown in the colors of her own heartbeat.
IIb.
“Lunch is ready!”
It was a simple meal, just a spicy gyudon. Simple meals were pretty uncommon in the apartment; Ken'ichi could cook in a way most people only wished they could, and Saya and Alejandro went out of their way to make sure he knew that. Still, rain made it hard to get groceries, and while the three had decided it was a day to skip class, Saya had decided this way instead the perfect time to do research. The two young men sat in the living room, television muted and showing the local broadcast. Their small-talk went back and forth. Ken'ichi's father might be visiting in a month, and had promised this time he'd actually be able to make it. Alejandro had managed to get through a particularly difficult test in his History class. It was an idle patter, back and forth, without a great deal of substance to it. And then the mail came.
The package was slightly damp, but it was an insulated envelope. It was addressed to Alejandro. No return address. No real markings to give away what it was. He supposed it was a maxi-single from some local band, trying to see if a late-hour DJ would give them some play time.
What it was almost made him drop the whole thing in his meal out of surprise.
“...Huh. These are really good. Did you commission them?” Ken'ichi tilted his head, glasses sliding down his face some. Alejandro held the sketches of himself, though to call them sketches was something of a disservice. They were incredibly well drawn, detailed in ways that made him wonder how the artist had done so without him nearby.
“No signature, either. The artist wanted to remain anonymous. It looks like you have a fan!” His friend nudged him in the ribs, laughing some. Alejandro echoed the laugh, but he wasn't entirely there. He knew this art style. His mind flashed to their meeting at the river, the one time in a week it hadn't been raining. She'd seemed so... confused for a moment, just staring at him. He'd wondered if he had said something wrong, until she responded with a simple thank-you so curt he was sure he'd made a faux-pas. Was this her way of saying she could draw more than flowers?
“It's not surprising, either. Since this whole thing with the Izumi, you've been acting different.” Alejandro's snapped back to reality. Ken'ichi had noticed? It only was natural, the two we best friends, but, had he changed that much?
“Ah... You really think so, Ken?”
“I know so. You've been much more determined, since you two started working together. When you first moved in, you just used to sit up all night and drift through the day. Now you've got a purpose. It's going to be a shame when you two manage to get this broken off, if you're going to lose all that motivation.”
Ken'ichi laughed again, though this time Alejandro didn't join him. These drawings were nothing short of wonderful, and to be sent, not given to him, seemed strange. That moment when she seemed so surprised when he commented on her drawings of the flowers. At that moment, he just wanted to assuage any doubts he might have put in her head to her skill. It was a fantastic drawing, and it had captured everything in the field perfectly. It was beautiful, and now removed from that panic, he realized that part of his own clumsiness with the situation had been his surprise at how beautiful she had looked among the hibiscus, pencil in one hand, looking over at him-
“...Alex, are you okay, man? You just went all quiet and red in the face. Hey, did you figure out who the stalker is? Come on, tell me. Is it someone in your class?”
“Ah, n-no. I guess I'm just overtired. I didn't sleep well last night. That always makes me kind of spacey.” Alejandro knew the attempt at a recovery was clumsy at best, from the look on his friend's face. But, Ken'ichi was the sort not to pry into his business unless invited to do so, and Alejandro knew that when his friend simply shrugged in that way that made him look thirty years older than he was.
“Well, maybe you should take a nap after lunch. You've got a show, don't you?”
“Every Monday and Wednesday, yes. I guess I'll try to sleep after this.”
There wouldn't be any sleep, between now and then. Not when he had something to puzzle over. What did the drawings mean? Art was something personal. Nobody put that much effort into something unless they wanted someone to appreciate it, either as a friend of a buyer. And unsigned, it couldn't mean she was trying to sell him the art - why would she even offer to, unprovoked? Was this her way of saying that they had more in common than their mutual goal to get out of the relationship?
And why was the prospect of that making his heart race, anyways?
“Think your admirer's a fan of the show?” Ken asked, pointing with his chopsticks and again dragging Alejandro out of the depths of introspection.
“I wouldn't know, Ken. My address is on the site, but it's also in the student directory. They might not even know I'm a DJ.”
“Well, there's only one way to be sure, then. Dedicate a song to them and see if something else shows up in the mail.” “
Not a bad idea. I'll have to think of a track, though. Work it into my sets. I guess I'll have to put off that nap.”
One hundred-sixty gigs of music. Over fourty thousand songs. Where was he going to begin to look for something to say thank you?
“In fact, I'd better get to work. I'm going to take this with me, Ken. Thanks again for the meal.” Alejandro grabbed up the food in one hand, and the pictures in another, making his way very carefully to his bedroom door. He was so caught up in his train of thought that he neglected to notice that Saya had, in the meantime, opened her door and begun a new web of information on the nearest whiteboard. For her effort, she simply tilted her chin, birdlike, watching him go.
“...Curious.”
III.
It was the stupidest thing. Yue was well aware how ridiculous it all was, but even so…she couldn’t escape the truth of it all. Sometimes, Yue wondered if fate existed, and was laughing at her.
One month, since that day at the river. One month, and even an idiot could look at her canvas and see what was happening. She’d kept one sketch, and made more in the times they’d been working together. And what’s more…she had a CD she’d gotten, shortly after a particular show of Alejandro’s. She’d known who the song had been dedicated to…and while she’d had to listen to it a couple times to puzzle out all the English (She spoke it, but she had an easier time reading it), she wondered…if he meant it to be as it sounded.
Yue sighed, staring at the canvas again, before putting the CD into a stereo she kept nearby. She normally didn’t paint to music (it was too distracting) but it worked this time. She pressed play, reaching out to touch the canvas as the music came on.
Last night, I had a dream about you…
It was sad, how well it fit. Yue stared at the canvas. The blue of the river, and the gold of his hair…the colors were as vivid in her mind as they were on the canvas. Logically, she knew the river was never that clear, or the scenery that vibrant. And yet, in her memory…
In this dream, I’m dancing right beside you…
When had it happened? Yue could almost laugh at it, tracing fingers over the lines of the painting. For all they’d been fighting against the wedding, she’d…she’d gone and…
And it looked like everyone was having fun…the kind of feeling I waited so long
Yue growled, picking up a tonfa and sending it flying into the CD player. It shut off, naturally-things tended to stop working when something crashed them into the floor. And there, with her face in her hands, she pondered all meanings of the word ‘irony’.