It had been about a year since Hitori had started to play the Guitar, and she and (Y/n) had both improved tremendously. They had learned to play a few songs together.
Though Hitori noticed that she had really begun to skyrocket a few months ago. Now the pair were quite good at playing and about on the same field.
But Hitori was surpassing him in some ways, which (Y/n) would praise often, something which she enjoyed… a lot… probably a bit too much, but she didn't care, the praise made her feel good dammit!
Hell, that praise is what made her start uploading YouTube cover videos, she had grown a slight following, and even had fans she saw comment on each video, which made her smile.
He even encouraged her to express herself more with her hair, which led to her starting to grow it out, which she liked much better than her old short Bob haircut.
Despite all of the progress she had made with (Y/n), her social skills… didn't. She still couldn't talk to many people, but she was pretty comfortable around (Y/n), often enjoying the time they spent hanging out or practicing guitar.
And that led to now, Hitori standing at the front door to (Y/n)'s house, shaking. She had never been to a friend's house before. Now that she was here, wanting to ask to hangout and practice with him herself, she was freaking out. Her fist was just centimeters from the door as it shook uncontrollably. Despite being friends with him for so long, she was still nervous when doing things like this…
Despite that, her shaking was what seemed to do her in. As her fist hit the door, hard enough for it to make a noise. All her shaking suddenly stopped as she watched the door, frozen in place by her fear.
She could hear someone's footsteps coming from inside the house, her singular knock seemed to have been heard. Each footstep felt like the stomp of a mighty beast, who would burst through the door and gobble her up in an instant.
The door slowly began to open as Hitori's breathing quickened. Her pupils began to dilate. Her heart began to go off the rails as if she had just chugged five energy drinks to pull an all nighter to practice on her guitar skills, but this felt so much worse than that.
As the door fully opened, revealing a woman with long (h/c) hair, which was tied up in a bun. Hitori assumed was in her early thirties, who was wearing white medical scrubs, a nurse. Dark bags had formed under her eye. The beautiful face of a young woman distorted by the look of tiredness on her face. She looked ages older than what she really was.
Taking a huff of the cigarette that was in between two of her fingers and blowing the smoke towards the young middle schooler, which nearly caused her to cough as she inhaled some of the second hand smoke. The woman gave her a harsh glare, which put the socially anxious teenager in a state of complete fear.
"What the hell do you want?"
"I-I was w-w-wondering…"
Hitori stuttered, trying to form words, but she was so scared and nervous that she was unable to form a complete sentence. She just became a stuttering mess
"Hurry up and spit it out."
The woman seemed to be getting more and more displeased by the second her glare becoming harsher which just made Hitori even more nervous.
"I-I just w-want to… to-"
"Hitori!"
Her attention was drawn to the voice behind the woman as (Y/n) ran up to the door, smiling at her, though a slightly worried look in his eyes was present along with it.
"You know this girl, (Y/n)?"
"Yeah, she's my friend!"
"And you told her our address?"
"She lives right next door, mom."
"I see…"
She muttered as she put her cigarette to her mouth again and took another puff of the smoke before blowing it all out towards the girl again as she looked the girl up and down.
"Whatever, I'm heading off to work, do whatever you want."
Flicking the cigarette towards the ground, missing Hitori by a few inches. She began to take a few steps forward, smothering the cigarette with the bottom of her shoe as she began to walk to her car. The two kids watched as she got in and began to drive off, neither saying a word.
Once the car had driven off (Y/n) gave Hitori a small frown before sighing.
"So you had to meet her like this…"
"N-No, it's fine!"
Hitori quickly said as she waved one her hands dismissively, clutching her guitar's case strap with the other, obviously she was put off by the encounter, but he chose not to address it as he gestured into his home.
"You wanna come in and practice?"
"S-Sure."
Hitori entered her friend's house and the first smell she felt was that of cigarette smoke, the house wreaked of the smell, Hitori cringed as she noticed (Y/n) walking into the living room, deciding to follow she saw burnt out cigarette butts on the coffee table, which (Y/n) quickly made a point of wiping off the table and throwing them into a nearby bin.
"Sit tight, let me go get my guitar."
Running off, Hitori took a look around the living room. Her house's living room gave off a cozy, welcoming environment… this was anything but. Even the socially anxious girl, who often found herself liking the dark and gloomy confines of her closet couldn't help but feel put off by the feel of the room.
Though one thing caught her attention, that being a picture that seemed to be gathering dust. Sheepishly reaching out to grab the picture frame, Hitori looked down at the picture.
Displayed on the image was (Y/n), albeit, a younger version of himself, she guessed he was only a few years younger than he was now. He was grinning ear to ear, wearing a nice dress shirt and a pair of khakis.
To his left was the woman she had seen earlier, despite it only being a few years ago, she looked so much younger than she appeared now, a stunning and beautiful woman who you wouldn't find out of place in a fashion magazine, she was wearing a nice dress, giving off a warm and gentle smile.
And to (Y/n)'s right, was a man with short brown hair, his (e/c) eyes glancing as he, like his son, was grinning from ear to ear, he sported a similar style of clothes to (Y/n). She assumed this must be his father. They looked to be a perfect family of three from this small snipit of them.
What could possibly have happened?
Though her thought process was broken as hurriedly footsteps began to come down from the stairs, hurriedly she put the picture back where she had found it before rushing to the coffee table, laying her guitar case on the ground and began to open it as (Y/n) entered the room, his own guitar case in hand.
"Shall we get started?"
He asked as he knelt down on the opposite side of the coffee table as Hitori who nodded, pulling her guitar out of her case.
"Y-Yeah…"
- - - - - -
The strumming of the two guitars filled the room, they were trying to play the same song, though each playing different notes. (Y/n)'s was taking the lead this time, with Hitori supporting his music. The pair playing together, albeit with some mistakes from both parties.
Soon, as they got further into the song, Hitori heard something, it was (Y/n), but it wasn't tips or pointers like he normally would say, instead it was… singing?
"Tell me, what is it that makes us unique?"
Hitori looked up at (Y/n), who's eyes were closed as he focused on his fingers, though about to question it but she stopped when he opened his mouth again.
"Is it our bodies?
Each a completely different snowflake."
Hitori's playing stopped, as she just looked at her friend, who didn't seem to notice she had stopped.
"What about our personalities?
Which swirl up inside of us."
"Our souls?
Each brimming with potential."
"Or just…
The challenges we face?"
As he finished playing he opened his eyes, looking at Hitori, who stared at her friend in disbelief, before she slowly began to clap.
"What?"
"I-I had no idea you could s-sing…"
"I can't, I was just saying words."
"That's n-not what it s-sounded like…"
She muttered as she set down her guitar, (Y/n) sighed and set down his own guitar as he stood up, Hitori watch him as he walked into the kitchen.
"Anything you want?"
"W-Whatever you h-have is fine…"
She responded to his question, jot really sure what he had, but soon she heard the sounds of (Y/n) cooking from a few rooms away. Though something didn't sit right. Something about (Y/n) seemed off, and she couldn't put her finger on it.
It bugged her, why did he sound so somber when she said he could sing? It was clear he had some talent and that he wasn't just "Saying words".
She felt as if she had to do something to help, she thought he was quite a good singer, especially for a fourteen year old. Why did he just seem so put off by her saying that she thought he could sing..?
She wanted to help him realize that he was good at singing? She began to think about ways that she could help. Though suddenly she got an idea, maybe she could actually help him! She could be an actual help for once!
After a few minutes of waiting, she heard the sounds from the kitchen stop, turning to the entrance way she saw (Y/n) coming out with two bowls of Udon, setting a bowl and a pair of chopsticks in front of Hitori before sitting down on the opposite side of Hitori. She began to eat the food he had prepared. He, on the other hand, slowly began to eat, instead of scarring it down like Hitori.
"T-Tis is really g-gud."
"Thank you."
(Y/n) couldn't help but chuckle at the sped his friend was eating at, soon she had already finished her bowl and let put a sign of content, smiling to herself.
"Delicious~"
"I'm glad you like it."
Hitori smiled at him as though her expression changed to something abit more serious as she began to hit her chest several times with her fist, her eyes shut tight. (Y/n) watched on in confusion as he swallowed his food, tilting his head slightly.
"Something wrong?"
He asked her, but when her eyes opened she stared at him with determination in her eyes.
"I-I want to do Karaoke with you!"
"Huh?"
- - - - - -
The pair sat together in a booth, a massive TV illuminated their faces, but Hitori just shifted uncomfortably as she looked down. Glancing up at (Y/n) who was looking around for songs to play, with the remote. She felt her heart flutter being so close to (Y/n), a slight red on her cheeks.
Once he found a song he liked he selected it and got it ready to sing.
"I don't know how you convinced me to do this, I can't sing…"
"Y-Yes you can, I h-heard you, it was really… really good…"
"No it isn't. I'll never be good at singing."
He said as he selected the song and began to play it, grabbing the microphone, sighing as a countdown started.
He sighed as he took in a deep breath.
"God your the only one who could actually do this…"
Then he began. Singing the lyrics as they flashed on screen. Hitori watched as his attention was fully focused on the screen, but her eyes sparked as he heard his voice, she wasn't wrong, he could sing. Though, was it perfect? No, but it sure was a hell of alot better than she could do.
She began to giggle to herself, a smug smile on her face as he began to finish the song hopping up and down in her seat, which caught his attention as he finished up, lowering the mic, he looked at her, frowning slightly.
"What?"
"I was right~"
He looked at her confused before his eyes looked over toward the TV, which displayed his score, a eighty-two, which was much, much higher than he expected.
"You c-can sing!"
Hitori smiled as she patted his head, which caused him to turn from the TV and look at her, his face giving off a look of confusion and glee.
"I… I can sing like… like dad?"
"Huh, dad?"
She asked, hearing him muttering though once she asked that question he smiled and shook his head.
"It's nothing, don't worry about it. Now…"
He handed her the remote and sent a devilish grin her way.
"Your turn, come on, pick a song!"
"B-B-But I can't s-sing!"
(A/n: New chapter, yay! Back from vacation and back to writing and normal life! Now sorry if the lyrics I used were abit... janky... I don't write lyrics, at all. But I hoped you liked this chapter, even if it is another off, and I'll see you all in the next one!)