Bright Lights - Chapter 2
Title - Bright Lights
Rating - PG for now.
Chapter - 2/? Multichapter
Genre - Romance, Drama, AU, School Life,
Warnings - Fanboying, dancing, dreaming. Not beta'd
Bands - The GazettE, Dir En Grey, Alice Nine, OC's and more..
Pairings - ?/Reita, more to be revealed.
Summary - What does it take to reach the bright and shining stars? The answer is to become one.
Disclaimer - The story is from my dreams of real characters :p
Notes - This is the first story I've posted up, so I really hope that my writing is not too bad >.< Feel free to criticize, comment and tell me what you think so I can improve in writing^^
Author's comment - Did not proofread so be warned! More comments at the bottom of the page! :3
Previous chapters: Prologue, Chapter 1
~Chapter 2~
It's a bright and sunny day. There are no clouds in the sky, the sun is shining brightly, and the hot weather is perfect to spend the day at the beach. Akira however, found himself under the shade away from the sun, with water up to his chin in the indoor pool at the Takashima's backyard.
Starting with the key of middle C
Ma mi ma mi ma mi ma mi mahh, and one note up D
Ma mi ma mi ma mi ma mi mahh, repeat note E
Ma mi ma mi ma mi ma mi mahh, again step up F note
Ma mi ma mi ma mi ma mi mahh, and repeat until an octave is completed, and then reverse.
Kouyou had invited their group to come his house, because his family was having a barbecue. It's a Saturday, 4 days after the official announcement of the Peace & Smile Company auditions.
Today they were doing vocal warm ups in the shaded bean shaped pool, while Akira and Kouyou's parents chatted on the yard under the sun with cool drinks in their hands by the barbecue pit. Singing in water up to your neck was a technique introduced by Lexy that she learned from voice lessons when she was younger. Apparently that technique would help exercise the diaphragm. The pressure of the water makes it harder to breathe while submerged, and the more often you practice, the diaphragm muscles would get stronger. If you can sing well in singing in water, you can sing better out of it, and high belting songs would be much easier to sing.
Kouyou, Akira and Lexy just spent the first half hour doing breathing exercises, and practicing the warm up scales in the water while Midori, the only one in their group uninterested in auditioning, helped them out, playing the notes on the keyboard next to the pool.
It wasn't easy to concentrate when there were two little boys screaming and running around in and out the shade, shooting each other with water guns.
After the warm ups, they stopped for a few minutes, while Midori chased after kids running around to tell them to stop; her little brother and Akira's brother which were around the same age. As much as Akira was tempted to yell at his brother to stop being such a bother, he couldn't.
No screaming allowed.
Cold drinks are not allowed.
Cold drinks and screaming would jack up your vocal cords. Jacked up vocal cords means the inability to sing, which is bad because singing is a big part of the auditions. They'd just have to leave scolding Akira's his little brother to Midori for the moment, and be content with cooling off the hot weather with room temperature drinks.
"Karaoke time!" Kouyou got out of the pool, dripping wet as he reached out for his towel and turned on the television set, sound system, and karaoke microphone by the pool. It was mainly used for parties, but now it was useful so they can keep practice singing while in the water.
Midori came back with a huge plate piled high with barbecue ribs, baked potato, and corn on a cob. It looked perfectly delicious, which made the other three's mouths water.
"Foods done, you guys. Go out and grab a plate." Midori sat on the indoor patio table .
"Is there anything else other than what's on your plate that's healthier?" Lexy asked still staring at Midori's plate with longing.
"I can't eat anything too heavy. I'll gain back the weight I lost." she sighed.
Midori swallowed what she was chewing and replied, "There’s barbecued veggie skewers and fruit."
"Mimi, get me some pretty please. You’re already up anyway, and I don't want to be tempted by sight of ribs and potatoes." Lexy asked sweetly using the nickname she made, and Midori puffed out and agreed, and went out to grab her a plate.
"Alright baby-back ribs! You coming to get food Aki?" Kouyou finished setting up the karaoke and placed the microphone beside the pool, water dripping down his swimming trunks.
Akira looked at him. Kouyou's bare chest was exposed in full milky white glory as the rest of the skin on his body, glistening wet from the beads of water that hung on him. No mark, no scars, and almost hairless. His toned and tight upper body was not bulky with muscle, but it looked just right, as model perfect can be in his wet dripping swimming trunks. How the hell does he do it? Akira thinks to himself. Kouyou eats whatever he likes and never seems to gain any weight. He would bathe under the sun, but would never get overly tan. When he does tan, his skin would change right back to its naturally milky white tone within a few weeks. He looks out near the food where their parents were socializing. Both Kouyou's parents looked like him, but his facial features were taken after his mom. Figures, that Kouyou would inherit such attractive genes, and it's not his fault that he has them.
"Aki?" Kouyou was looking at him still waiting for his answer.
Akira sighed. "I don't wanna get out of the pool, and I don't wanna get too tempted with food either. Can you please get me those skewered veggies please." he finally replied.
"Wow Aki, you're really taking this diet thing seriously. I almost feel sorry for you" Kouyou joked chuckling. Akira gave him an exasperated look.
"Fine, fine. Anything for you, lazy." He stuck out his tongue and left to get them food.
To his side, Akira turned to see Lexy staring at him. "Afraid to get burned, Aki?" She asked smirking, "Because, that's also one reason I didn't want to go out there under the sun. I'm guessing it's the same for you."
"Well yeah, honestly after Kouyou flashing us his perfectly fair complexion, I'm afraid of burning under the harsh UV rays of the cruel summer sun." He replied, making water squirt out of his hands mimicking a fountain.
"Oh believe me, I know what you mean. If just looking at Kou makes you feel bad, how do think I feel? I'm a freaking girl and he looks more beautiful than me!" Lexy pointed out, laughing.
"It's fine Akira. We'll be fine. We just need to put a little more effort in some things than others. That's at all." She glided in the water to the side wall of the pool.
"You mean unlike Kouyou, we have to watch what we eat, and stay away from the sun to keep from tanning." Akira looked down at his own chest and limbs. For the past few days, he's been using the exfoliating soaps and skin creams that he took from his mom's vanity set that supposed to brighten your complexion. Apparently there was a side effect if you're exposed to the sun after using that product. He wouldn't want to find out, just to be safe.
Not that there was anything wrong with being tan, because in normal life it's fine. Akira gets tan plenty of times especially during soccer season, and that's why he knows he tans easily. The hard truth is that it'll be harder to get into the idol entertainment industry if you didn't look a certain way. They didn't like it, but after all the research they did on idol trainee life and Peace & Smile Company, fair skin tone was preferred rather than not. The exception to that rule is when the management decides that a darker skin tone is more suited for their artist and concept otherwise.
"Yup." Lexy said. "Especially you and I, Aki. I'm the closest person who understands how you feel about everything." He did know that, and now that she reminded him, Akira felt a lot better that he doesn't need to internally freak out too much, because he has Lexy there to understand him. It's silly that he would forget about how much they knew each other too well, sometimes.
"Don't you just hate and his pretty face sometimes! Ah, but what can we do. We love him." Lexy grabbed a towel at the side of the pool, and wiped her arms dry, half her body still in the water.
"Plus, at least we know that he has to put a little more effort on a few other things more than what you and I need to." She giggled, and grabbed the karaoke microphone and entered the number she memorized of a song. She swam back to a deeper end of the pool until the water reached her chin and started singing along with the karaoke.
Akira chuckled when he understood what she meant. Kouyou and singing... needs a lot of work. He knew himself that he also needed to work on his own voice, but at least that was something he knew he can do out of anything else. He can sing.
He walked until the water reached his chin and sang along and harmonized with Lexy, practicing his own voice.
They sang with the karaoke machine and practiced in the pool throughout the afternoon until the sun set before it was cold enough for them to catch a cold from staying in the pool for a long time. Midori and the adults even joined them in singing on the karaoke towards the late afternoon, enjoying themselves. What is a little gathering with close family friends, without karaoke anyway? By the time they finished, all the kids got out the pool with really pruned and wrinkled hands and toes.
***
"Happy Birthday dear Kouyou~ Happy birthday to you!!!" Everyone sang. Kouyou closed his eyes and to make a wish and blew the candles and everyone cheered. He leaned over to take a bite his two layered chocolate cake - a tradition they practice on someone's birthday, which they learned from a few foreign exchange students a few years back - BAM! His face slammed onto the whole cake. He looked up and everyone was laughing, especially the person who guilty of the crime. "Suzuki! You are going to pay for this!!! You little-"
Akira was still laughing like an idiot overly pleased with himself while running away from the furious birthday boy covered in vanilla flavored white frosting. He grabbed the top layer of the two layered cake with his bare hands and sprinted after the other. After just after a week of running every day, Akira's stamina improved and so did Kouyou’s. It wasn’t long until he was able to catch up and smother Akira’s face with the white frosting as the boy groaned.
The sky is orange and dark blue from the setting sun. Their friends that were in town over the summer were there, which mostly consisted of half of their Class A, kids in their neighborhood, and other schoolmates.
House electro dance music was pumping on the large speakers loud enough to be heard by the entire beach. Their section of the beach were dimly lit up by decorative torches and lanterns, outdoor string lights, and the large fire pit in the middle; a perfect picture of a summer bonfire themed birthday party.
It’s June 9. There were people casually dancing to the thumping base, scattered around the bonfire. Some were piling their plates high with the catered barbecue and other finger foods under the high ceiling tent. Other teens were just enjoying the ambience of the party, the starry sky, and the company of their friends with a drink in their hand.
Lexy went with Midori went to the dessert table, mostly staring almost in a trance at the red velvet cupcakes, colorful variety of macarons, the make-your-own-smores set, and other sweets on display, while Midori actually stacks her plate up with sweets without hesitation.
Kouyou and Akira were walked towards the two at the dessert table, wiping off the thick cake frosting they painted on each other's face and hair (at least trying to). They saw Midori nibbling on macaron while adding cookies on her already full dessert plate. The two guys looked at the stacked up frosted red velvet cupcakes next to her, and then the two turned and looked at each other in silent agreement. A moment later each boy appeared on both Midori's side, and as she turned her attention away from the sweets, the red velvet cupcakes were slammed onto her cheeks, one on each side, totally off-guard causing her to drop the full plate of she had in her hands on the sandy ground.
Lexy snapped out from her dessert trance and looked at them incredulously, and other guests around them gasped and started laughing. As if that wasn't enough, they smeared the frosting all over her face and her mouth as she squeaked. As soon as it happened, the two boys were off running away from the furious petite girl, much like how Akira ran from Kouyou earlier, laughing their lungs out like idiots.
Midori reacted quickly grabbing a napkin and hurriedly wiping off frosting from her face as much as she can, picked up the plate of sweets that fell and ran after the two. It's significantly harder to run on uneven ground like sand than on the solid ground, but Midori was much lighter smaller than Kouyou or Akira, so she had an advantage caught up to them in no time and launched all the sticky sweets from the plate she was carrying, aiming at their heads. She successfully hit the back of Kouyou's head, and Akira twice on his shoulder and neck.
Unfortunately, she managed to step on a piece of wet seaweed and slipped, falling face first.
The two boys stopped, their wide grins still plastered on their faces. They happened to be looking back when it happened. Laughter boomed from the two and the others that witnessed the frosting covered petite girl gracelessly falling over.
"You guys are mean to me! Keep that up, then I won't give you your gift." Midori pointed at Kouyou.
"Oh come on now Mimi. That was pretty funny." Lexy laughed, wiping the tears off her eyes as she helped Midori back on her feet. She was the only one not covered in frosting out of the found.
-Kouyou imitates Midori tripping & Akira and Lexy Laughs-
"Haaaa fiiiineee now I REALLY won't give to Kouyou's birthday present and none of you guys can enjoy it." Midori takes out a red envelope from her clutch bag, opened it and slowly took out three shiny silver tickets and displayed it right in front of her.
"Now I have to find three other friends who aren't mean to me to give these front row tickets to see the one and only SHADOW621~" She tsked as her three other friends grew silent with their eyes wide open at the gleaming tickets in her hands.
"No... Midori, you didn't." Kouyou said pointing at the tickets.
"Um, yes Kouyou, I did~" Midori replied, her smile gleaming like the silver paper.
"I'm one of the winners of the online share contest and got these babies."
"Oh. My. God. But that contest ended two months ago! And you didn't tell us?!" Akira almost screamed.
"Or me! You didn't even tell me!" Lexy piped in.
"I wanted it to be a surprise like right now, so I waited for Kouyou's birthday since it's closer to the concert date than Akira's birthday." She said still smirking, obviously happy with herself. "But now I don't know. You guys are being mean to me, I think I'll find someone else to go with me watch all those gorgeous sexy men on stage~."
Then she skipped off towards the large group of their school mates and friends around the bonfire calling out, "Anybody fans of SHADOW621 here?!"
The other three looked at each other speechless, and when a few of their friends yelled out "I do!" and "Omg I love Toshiya!" and other mentions of their favorite members in response to Midori's question, Midori was suddenly tackled hard tumbling onto the ground. Luckily they landed on top of a pile of thick fleece blanket over the tan beach sand, so their fall wasn’t as hard.
"What the…? What the hell was that for Kouyou?! Falling on the sand is getting really old." Midori was trying to push the heavy weight lying on top of her. Todays is clearly not her day. Lexy and Akira came running to them.
"Sorry Midori! For tackling you" Kouyou said, still not getting off oh her, "And sorry for teasing you, but you can't give those tickets away. He looked at their other two friends and back to her."
"Oh really now?" Midori rose up one eyebrow with a smirk, "Fine, I'll give you the tickets if you proudly yell out to everyone on the beach of how awesome I am."
Kouyou rolled off of her and stood up. "Great. I'll do it."
"Ha, better make it good." She warned playfully.
"Hey everyone! Thank you for taking the time out of your summer vacation to come to this bonfire and celebrate my birthday with me! You guys are awesome. And one big thank you to the best person in the party, the smart and beautiful, and my dearest little friend Midori, who is giving me the best birthday present ever; she won tickets in a contest for me to see SHADOW621 live in concert! Isn't she amazing?! Thank you Midori!" Kouyou turned to her and gave her a bear hug, then lifted her up to show her off to his guests while they swooned on how lucky Kouyou was and how they envy him for having such a great friend like Midori.
Lexy giggled at the display," Kouyou is playing favorites now, he is." She stated.
Akira hummed. "He knows how to get what he wants. And I doubt Midori was really gonna give away those tickets for real."
Lexy suddenly pushed him on the shoulder. "Dude, after what you and Kouyou did her earlier, she actually WOULD give them away!!! You risked our tickets!" She started poking at his sides and it hurt. Her pokes are lethal.
“Ow ouch okay sorry! I know! But I didn’t know that she would do that for us”
“Really think about it Akira. I wouldn’t see my gorgeous sexy Toshiya, and you wouldn’t see you’re man crush neither because of some stupid joke you pulled on her.”
Man crush?
Everyone knows he really admires and idolizes him. He guesses he can call him that.
Wait.
They’re gonna see SHADOW621 next month.
“Lexy,”Akira turned to the girl with a dead serious expression,
“We are going to see SHADOW621 in a month.” He slowly stated, emphasizing their favorite boy band’s name.
They looked at each other for 2 seconds as wide smiles grew.
“WAAAAAAH!!!”
They screamed as the realization hit them, not caring that the whole beach is watching them jumping like lunatics, because that was exactly what they looked like as they ran to embrace both Midori in Kouyou.
Oops, they weren’t supposed to scream. They forgot about taking care of their voices for a moment, but they just couldn’t help it. Having the auditions and the concert to look forward to in just a few short weeks, there is still so much things to do before then. At least their summer is definitely getting exciting.
Author's comment: Aha! Haha! When my promise of 2 weeks becomes 2 months. Or was it 3 months?... Sorry... Seriously though, I think it was a bad idea to promise that to myself that I would have a new chapter done every 2 weeks, when I actually started this right at the beginning of my Fall Semester in college, and damn this sem is harder than before (-_-“) I’m such a noob in fic writing omg.
Anywho, yay I finally got this done and posted up! Celebrates! I already have next chapter started, so that’s awesome for me :D
So that band’s name is finally revealed! SHADOW621 (who here knows where that name came from? :P) We are now a little closer to finding out who Akira’s idol truly is, and we know for sure that Toshiya is in it. Anyone still curious? I promise this is still a boyxboy fic! I can promise that more things will happen next chapter! Things related to the concert~ I hope to have it up this month in November!
Any readers of this story, please tell me what you think! Thanks! ^_^
Rating - PG for now.
Chapter - 2/? Multichapter
Genre - Romance, Drama, AU, School Life,
Warnings - Fanboying, dancing, dreaming. Not beta'd
Bands - The GazettE, Dir En Grey, Alice Nine, OC's and more..
Pairings - ?/Reita, more to be revealed.
Summary - What does it take to reach the bright and shining stars? The answer is to become one.
Disclaimer - The story is from my dreams of real characters :p
Notes - This is the first story I've posted up, so I really hope that my writing is not too bad >.< Feel free to criticize, comment and tell me what you think so I can improve in writing^^
Author's comment - Did not proofread so be warned! More comments at the bottom of the page! :3
Previous chapters: Prologue, Chapter 1
~Chapter 2~
It's a bright and sunny day. There are no clouds in the sky, the sun is shining brightly, and the hot weather is perfect to spend the day at the beach. Akira however, found himself under the shade away from the sun, with water up to his chin in the indoor pool at the Takashima's backyard.
Starting with the key of middle C
Ma mi ma mi ma mi ma mi mahh, and one note up D
Ma mi ma mi ma mi ma mi mahh, repeat note E
Ma mi ma mi ma mi ma mi mahh, again step up F note
Ma mi ma mi ma mi ma mi mahh, and repeat until an octave is completed, and then reverse.
Kouyou had invited their group to come his house, because his family was having a barbecue. It's a Saturday, 4 days after the official announcement of the Peace & Smile Company auditions.
Today they were doing vocal warm ups in the shaded bean shaped pool, while Akira and Kouyou's parents chatted on the yard under the sun with cool drinks in their hands by the barbecue pit. Singing in water up to your neck was a technique introduced by Lexy that she learned from voice lessons when she was younger. Apparently that technique would help exercise the diaphragm. The pressure of the water makes it harder to breathe while submerged, and the more often you practice, the diaphragm muscles would get stronger. If you can sing well in singing in water, you can sing better out of it, and high belting songs would be much easier to sing.
Kouyou, Akira and Lexy just spent the first half hour doing breathing exercises, and practicing the warm up scales in the water while Midori, the only one in their group uninterested in auditioning, helped them out, playing the notes on the keyboard next to the pool.
It wasn't easy to concentrate when there were two little boys screaming and running around in and out the shade, shooting each other with water guns.
After the warm ups, they stopped for a few minutes, while Midori chased after kids running around to tell them to stop; her little brother and Akira's brother which were around the same age. As much as Akira was tempted to yell at his brother to stop being such a bother, he couldn't.
No screaming allowed.
Cold drinks are not allowed.
Cold drinks and screaming would jack up your vocal cords. Jacked up vocal cords means the inability to sing, which is bad because singing is a big part of the auditions. They'd just have to leave scolding Akira's his little brother to Midori for the moment, and be content with cooling off the hot weather with room temperature drinks.
"Karaoke time!" Kouyou got out of the pool, dripping wet as he reached out for his towel and turned on the television set, sound system, and karaoke microphone by the pool. It was mainly used for parties, but now it was useful so they can keep practice singing while in the water.
Midori came back with a huge plate piled high with barbecue ribs, baked potato, and corn on a cob. It looked perfectly delicious, which made the other three's mouths water.
"Foods done, you guys. Go out and grab a plate." Midori sat on the indoor patio table .
"Is there anything else other than what's on your plate that's healthier?" Lexy asked still staring at Midori's plate with longing.
"I can't eat anything too heavy. I'll gain back the weight I lost." she sighed.
Midori swallowed what she was chewing and replied, "There’s barbecued veggie skewers and fruit."
"Mimi, get me some pretty please. You’re already up anyway, and I don't want to be tempted by sight of ribs and potatoes." Lexy asked sweetly using the nickname she made, and Midori puffed out and agreed, and went out to grab her a plate.
"Alright baby-back ribs! You coming to get food Aki?" Kouyou finished setting up the karaoke and placed the microphone beside the pool, water dripping down his swimming trunks.
Akira looked at him. Kouyou's bare chest was exposed in full milky white glory as the rest of the skin on his body, glistening wet from the beads of water that hung on him. No mark, no scars, and almost hairless. His toned and tight upper body was not bulky with muscle, but it looked just right, as model perfect can be in his wet dripping swimming trunks. How the hell does he do it? Akira thinks to himself. Kouyou eats whatever he likes and never seems to gain any weight. He would bathe under the sun, but would never get overly tan. When he does tan, his skin would change right back to its naturally milky white tone within a few weeks. He looks out near the food where their parents were socializing. Both Kouyou's parents looked like him, but his facial features were taken after his mom. Figures, that Kouyou would inherit such attractive genes, and it's not his fault that he has them.
"Aki?" Kouyou was looking at him still waiting for his answer.
Akira sighed. "I don't wanna get out of the pool, and I don't wanna get too tempted with food either. Can you please get me those skewered veggies please." he finally replied.
"Wow Aki, you're really taking this diet thing seriously. I almost feel sorry for you" Kouyou joked chuckling. Akira gave him an exasperated look.
"Fine, fine. Anything for you, lazy." He stuck out his tongue and left to get them food.
To his side, Akira turned to see Lexy staring at him. "Afraid to get burned, Aki?" She asked smirking, "Because, that's also one reason I didn't want to go out there under the sun. I'm guessing it's the same for you."
"Well yeah, honestly after Kouyou flashing us his perfectly fair complexion, I'm afraid of burning under the harsh UV rays of the cruel summer sun." He replied, making water squirt out of his hands mimicking a fountain.
"Oh believe me, I know what you mean. If just looking at Kou makes you feel bad, how do think I feel? I'm a freaking girl and he looks more beautiful than me!" Lexy pointed out, laughing.
"It's fine Akira. We'll be fine. We just need to put a little more effort in some things than others. That's at all." She glided in the water to the side wall of the pool.
"You mean unlike Kouyou, we have to watch what we eat, and stay away from the sun to keep from tanning." Akira looked down at his own chest and limbs. For the past few days, he's been using the exfoliating soaps and skin creams that he took from his mom's vanity set that supposed to brighten your complexion. Apparently there was a side effect if you're exposed to the sun after using that product. He wouldn't want to find out, just to be safe.
Not that there was anything wrong with being tan, because in normal life it's fine. Akira gets tan plenty of times especially during soccer season, and that's why he knows he tans easily. The hard truth is that it'll be harder to get into the idol entertainment industry if you didn't look a certain way. They didn't like it, but after all the research they did on idol trainee life and Peace & Smile Company, fair skin tone was preferred rather than not. The exception to that rule is when the management decides that a darker skin tone is more suited for their artist and concept otherwise.
"Yup." Lexy said. "Especially you and I, Aki. I'm the closest person who understands how you feel about everything." He did know that, and now that she reminded him, Akira felt a lot better that he doesn't need to internally freak out too much, because he has Lexy there to understand him. It's silly that he would forget about how much they knew each other too well, sometimes.
"Don't you just hate and his pretty face sometimes! Ah, but what can we do. We love him." Lexy grabbed a towel at the side of the pool, and wiped her arms dry, half her body still in the water.
"Plus, at least we know that he has to put a little more effort on a few other things more than what you and I need to." She giggled, and grabbed the karaoke microphone and entered the number she memorized of a song. She swam back to a deeper end of the pool until the water reached her chin and started singing along with the karaoke.
Akira chuckled when he understood what she meant. Kouyou and singing... needs a lot of work. He knew himself that he also needed to work on his own voice, but at least that was something he knew he can do out of anything else. He can sing.
He walked until the water reached his chin and sang along and harmonized with Lexy, practicing his own voice.
They sang with the karaoke machine and practiced in the pool throughout the afternoon until the sun set before it was cold enough for them to catch a cold from staying in the pool for a long time. Midori and the adults even joined them in singing on the karaoke towards the late afternoon, enjoying themselves. What is a little gathering with close family friends, without karaoke anyway? By the time they finished, all the kids got out the pool with really pruned and wrinkled hands and toes.
***
"Happy Birthday dear Kouyou~ Happy birthday to you!!!" Everyone sang. Kouyou closed his eyes and to make a wish and blew the candles and everyone cheered. He leaned over to take a bite his two layered chocolate cake - a tradition they practice on someone's birthday, which they learned from a few foreign exchange students a few years back - BAM! His face slammed onto the whole cake. He looked up and everyone was laughing, especially the person who guilty of the crime. "Suzuki! You are going to pay for this!!! You little-"
Akira was still laughing like an idiot overly pleased with himself while running away from the furious birthday boy covered in vanilla flavored white frosting. He grabbed the top layer of the two layered cake with his bare hands and sprinted after the other. After just after a week of running every day, Akira's stamina improved and so did Kouyou’s. It wasn’t long until he was able to catch up and smother Akira’s face with the white frosting as the boy groaned.
The sky is orange and dark blue from the setting sun. Their friends that were in town over the summer were there, which mostly consisted of half of their Class A, kids in their neighborhood, and other schoolmates.
House electro dance music was pumping on the large speakers loud enough to be heard by the entire beach. Their section of the beach were dimly lit up by decorative torches and lanterns, outdoor string lights, and the large fire pit in the middle; a perfect picture of a summer bonfire themed birthday party.
It’s June 9. There were people casually dancing to the thumping base, scattered around the bonfire. Some were piling their plates high with the catered barbecue and other finger foods under the high ceiling tent. Other teens were just enjoying the ambience of the party, the starry sky, and the company of their friends with a drink in their hand.
Lexy went with Midori went to the dessert table, mostly staring almost in a trance at the red velvet cupcakes, colorful variety of macarons, the make-your-own-smores set, and other sweets on display, while Midori actually stacks her plate up with sweets without hesitation.
Kouyou and Akira were walked towards the two at the dessert table, wiping off the thick cake frosting they painted on each other's face and hair (at least trying to). They saw Midori nibbling on macaron while adding cookies on her already full dessert plate. The two guys looked at the stacked up frosted red velvet cupcakes next to her, and then the two turned and looked at each other in silent agreement. A moment later each boy appeared on both Midori's side, and as she turned her attention away from the sweets, the red velvet cupcakes were slammed onto her cheeks, one on each side, totally off-guard causing her to drop the full plate of she had in her hands on the sandy ground.
Lexy snapped out from her dessert trance and looked at them incredulously, and other guests around them gasped and started laughing. As if that wasn't enough, they smeared the frosting all over her face and her mouth as she squeaked. As soon as it happened, the two boys were off running away from the furious petite girl, much like how Akira ran from Kouyou earlier, laughing their lungs out like idiots.
Midori reacted quickly grabbing a napkin and hurriedly wiping off frosting from her face as much as she can, picked up the plate of sweets that fell and ran after the two. It's significantly harder to run on uneven ground like sand than on the solid ground, but Midori was much lighter smaller than Kouyou or Akira, so she had an advantage caught up to them in no time and launched all the sticky sweets from the plate she was carrying, aiming at their heads. She successfully hit the back of Kouyou's head, and Akira twice on his shoulder and neck.
Unfortunately, she managed to step on a piece of wet seaweed and slipped, falling face first.
The two boys stopped, their wide grins still plastered on their faces. They happened to be looking back when it happened. Laughter boomed from the two and the others that witnessed the frosting covered petite girl gracelessly falling over.
"You guys are mean to me! Keep that up, then I won't give you your gift." Midori pointed at Kouyou.
"Oh come on now Mimi. That was pretty funny." Lexy laughed, wiping the tears off her eyes as she helped Midori back on her feet. She was the only one not covered in frosting out of the found.
-Kouyou imitates Midori tripping & Akira and Lexy Laughs-
"Haaaa fiiiineee now I REALLY won't give to Kouyou's birthday present and none of you guys can enjoy it." Midori takes out a red envelope from her clutch bag, opened it and slowly took out three shiny silver tickets and displayed it right in front of her.
"Now I have to find three other friends who aren't mean to me to give these front row tickets to see the one and only SHADOW621~" She tsked as her three other friends grew silent with their eyes wide open at the gleaming tickets in her hands.
"No... Midori, you didn't." Kouyou said pointing at the tickets.
"Um, yes Kouyou, I did~" Midori replied, her smile gleaming like the silver paper.
"I'm one of the winners of the online share contest and got these babies."
"Oh. My. God. But that contest ended two months ago! And you didn't tell us?!" Akira almost screamed.
"Or me! You didn't even tell me!" Lexy piped in.
"I wanted it to be a surprise like right now, so I waited for Kouyou's birthday since it's closer to the concert date than Akira's birthday." She said still smirking, obviously happy with herself. "But now I don't know. You guys are being mean to me, I think I'll find someone else to go with me watch all those gorgeous sexy men on stage~."
Then she skipped off towards the large group of their school mates and friends around the bonfire calling out, "Anybody fans of SHADOW621 here?!"
The other three looked at each other speechless, and when a few of their friends yelled out "I do!" and "Omg I love Toshiya!" and other mentions of their favorite members in response to Midori's question, Midori was suddenly tackled hard tumbling onto the ground. Luckily they landed on top of a pile of thick fleece blanket over the tan beach sand, so their fall wasn’t as hard.
"What the…? What the hell was that for Kouyou?! Falling on the sand is getting really old." Midori was trying to push the heavy weight lying on top of her. Todays is clearly not her day. Lexy and Akira came running to them.
"Sorry Midori! For tackling you" Kouyou said, still not getting off oh her, "And sorry for teasing you, but you can't give those tickets away. He looked at their other two friends and back to her."
"Oh really now?" Midori rose up one eyebrow with a smirk, "Fine, I'll give you the tickets if you proudly yell out to everyone on the beach of how awesome I am."
Kouyou rolled off of her and stood up. "Great. I'll do it."
"Ha, better make it good." She warned playfully.
"Hey everyone! Thank you for taking the time out of your summer vacation to come to this bonfire and celebrate my birthday with me! You guys are awesome. And one big thank you to the best person in the party, the smart and beautiful, and my dearest little friend Midori, who is giving me the best birthday present ever; she won tickets in a contest for me to see SHADOW621 live in concert! Isn't she amazing?! Thank you Midori!" Kouyou turned to her and gave her a bear hug, then lifted her up to show her off to his guests while they swooned on how lucky Kouyou was and how they envy him for having such a great friend like Midori.
Lexy giggled at the display," Kouyou is playing favorites now, he is." She stated.
Akira hummed. "He knows how to get what he wants. And I doubt Midori was really gonna give away those tickets for real."
Lexy suddenly pushed him on the shoulder. "Dude, after what you and Kouyou did her earlier, she actually WOULD give them away!!! You risked our tickets!" She started poking at his sides and it hurt. Her pokes are lethal.
“Ow ouch okay sorry! I know! But I didn’t know that she would do that for us”
“Really think about it Akira. I wouldn’t see my gorgeous sexy Toshiya, and you wouldn’t see you’re man crush neither because of some stupid joke you pulled on her.”
Man crush?
Everyone knows he really admires and idolizes him. He guesses he can call him that.
Wait.
They’re gonna see SHADOW621 next month.
“Lexy,”Akira turned to the girl with a dead serious expression,
“We are going to see SHADOW621 in a month.” He slowly stated, emphasizing their favorite boy band’s name.
They looked at each other for 2 seconds as wide smiles grew.
“WAAAAAAH!!!”
They screamed as the realization hit them, not caring that the whole beach is watching them jumping like lunatics, because that was exactly what they looked like as they ran to embrace both Midori in Kouyou.
Oops, they weren’t supposed to scream. They forgot about taking care of their voices for a moment, but they just couldn’t help it. Having the auditions and the concert to look forward to in just a few short weeks, there is still so much things to do before then. At least their summer is definitely getting exciting.
Author's comment: Aha! Haha! When my promise of 2 weeks becomes 2 months. Or was it 3 months?... Sorry... Seriously though, I think it was a bad idea to promise that to myself that I would have a new chapter done every 2 weeks, when I actually started this right at the beginning of my Fall Semester in college, and damn this sem is harder than before (-_-“) I’m such a noob in fic writing omg.
Anywho, yay I finally got this done and posted up! Celebrates! I already have next chapter started, so that’s awesome for me :D
So that band’s name is finally revealed! SHADOW621 (who here knows where that name came from? :P) We are now a little closer to finding out who Akira’s idol truly is, and we know for sure that Toshiya is in it. Anyone still curious? I promise this is still a boyxboy fic! I can promise that more things will happen next chapter! Things related to the concert~ I hope to have it up this month in November!
Any readers of this story, please tell me what you think! Thanks! ^_^