rating / general
genre / band!AU, friendship, romance
summary /
and when the doors stayed shut,
the band members realized that the lingering feelings had been set free
and no longer hidden and stuck.
_____________
Okita's dream had been granted. The lights blinded him, there were screams from the jumping audience, there was no doubt that everyone was enjoying the concert. This was his lifelong dream. To be an artist and to use his tunes and lyrics to convey his inner feelings. And of course, for these songs to be loved and appreciated by others. He relished in hearing different kinds of people uniting through his music, and it was so satisfying that he couldn't describe it well.
But the music that was deafening him right now, it wasn't his. It was theirs.
A reminder flashed brightly on the back of Okita's mind, remembering Nobume. Nobume was a blue-haired girl, a quiet one who had an exquisite and extremely beautiful voice. At first, Okita admitted that he felt something quite different when he saw her, something albeit to attraction, but once he found out that she was his band member, a rich flame took in the oxygen and burned bright.
He didn't even expect that his company would put him in a band. He never liked working in groups, not being able to work with other people well no matter how much he tried. It was really difficult, especially when he wavered when he started to converse with a certain cold quiet girl.
After a while though, he found a way to mask his emotions whenever he was around her.
"That's it for the night! Thank you, Manila!" Okita and Nobume both bow in sync while holding hands, with mics in the other.
The two scramble in the dimly lit backstage, as more screams could be heard from the crowd. There were definitely fanchants, awesome and united, resulting to another smile from Okita. Tonight's crowd was definitely lit and an ultimately different experience, there were many times where Okita couldn't help but be this hyper kid, because all the fans that attended tonight's concert seemed like they had energy coming from another world. They cheered with so much vigor, Okita didn't know that was actually possible.
He even spotted a smile on Nobume's face, which hasn't been seen for 0283840272634027 years—of course that was a joke—Manila's energy was indeed very unworldly.
Speaking of energy, Okita could smell coffee pervading the air. Then he felt something hot near his crotch. Then he felt his skin burn. Then he felt like screaming his lungs out.
"AAAAAH! WHAT THE HELL?" Okita was loud as he immediately stood up from his comfortable seat on the couch — where he daydreamt with a smile on his face — and started jumping around as he felt his skin sting.
"Sorry," Nobume mumbled, eyes half-lidded and unobscured, showing clear disappointment for herself.
"You should be more careful! Oh Jesus," Okita chided with a frown marring his face.
He masked his feelings with a reasonless anger, finding every opportunity to get mad at Nobume.
_____
"Welcome to your room," their manager monotonously mentioned as he opened the hotel door with a key card.
"You'll be staying here for two days before we go to the next tour destination. Please practice your songs, together. I'll be buying lunch," with that he exited with a bang, letting the two settle down.
Everyone knew "buying lunch" at 6PM was the code for "i have a date with Hijikata so don't you fuckin bother me" so they nodded in response.
Okita was smiling when he saw the interior of the room. It was bright, with pictures of music legends hung from twine, small LED bulbs decorating the table and nightstand, giving off a rustic and old vibe.
"Oh no," suddenly, Nobume muttered, looking worried with eyebrows furrowed.
"Hmm?" Okita averted his attention from the room and to Nobume who was now digging through the pile of things. "Hey hey!! What do you think you're doing!"
"Sorry, I'm looking for our mic case. I think it was left in the car," she replied.
"Can't you leave that for tomorrow?" Okita groaned, "the sun is setting already. Just rest, alright?" he told her as he threw himself on the bed. "Goodness, why is there only one bed? Are they expecting us to sleep together?"
"But your charger is in the mic case. Aren't you the type to not live without their phones?" Nobume tilted her head as she asked, and Okita frowned at himself for finding that cute.
"It was there?!" his voice raised in volumes again, "why didn't you say so sooner or later? Let's go get it. It's probably in the van right at the basement where we left it."
They started shuffling to put on their shoes, and rushed to get out of the room. They proceeded to approach the elevator, and once they entered, it was apparent that Nobume stayed as far away as possible from Okita, putting distance between them no matter what situation comes.
But they were on the 25th floor for goodness sake, and it turned out that the floors below them were used for office purposes.
"Wow," Okita exclaimed once he saw the men and women adorned in formal apparel rush in the elevator at record speed. It was 6PM, it was time to go home.
As the first people on the elevator, he was forced into a corner to accommodate the people outside.
He was just surprised to see Nobume against the corner too, so now he was compelled to get closer to her?
No, no, no. He didn't want to be anywhere near that girl, much less in a cramped room with no space to move about!
"Excuse me," Okita ended up being pushed by a woman—that was probably me—vigorously at that, and he ended up stabilizing himself on a wall just in time. However, that didn't change the fact that Nobume was between him and the wall.
"Sorry about this," Okita clenched his teeth in anger as he let this situation go along, wanting it to be over as soon as possible. Screw this elevator. He tried not to blush as much as possible!
He averted his gaze and craned his neck towards the screen that showed the number of the floor they were in, and saw the digit 19. Why was this ride so goddamn slow? He complained in his mind as he felt himself sweat with the accumulating heat inside the steel box.
He took a moment to take a glimpse of Nobume before him, who had her hands on her chest and was definitely, heavily, blushing. Oh why did she have to be so adorable?
"No, you shit," Okita had said aloud, and he gained the stares of the people, who clearly misunderstood. "Ah, imouto, I wasn't talking to you!" he patted her hair and smiled a brotherly smile as he fished out his phone and pretended to be angry at someone.
Seriously, he needed to watch his words in public. He was an artist, being unaware of his actions was obviously bad for his image.
"I–imouto..?" Nobume quietly muttered, confusion on her face.
"Hmm?" Okita apparently didn't hear, but Nobume just raised her head and met his eyes, shaking her head.
"Ah, no no, I wasn't saying anything, sorry," he clicked his tongue in annoyance at her response. She's saying sorry again when there's nothing to be sorry for.
After what seemed like hours, the elevator reached the ground floor and the heavenly ding of the doors rang. The sounds made by the leathered footsteps of the businessmen started to get out, finally giving Okita the space he desperately needed to continue breathing.
"At least that was over," he exhaled in relief, the steel box starting to move again after releasing some weight.
Nobume stayed in her spot, quiet and lost in her thoughts, but Okita didn't bother to disturb her.
The movement of the elevator suddenly became ragged, and its smooth pace earlier was rudely interrupted.
"Agh! What the hell!" The vehicle continued on chaotically, until it came to a full stop.
"Please tell me we arrived at the basement and we can safely get out of here," he begged, but really, he was never that lucky.
Nobume tried pushing the open button, but with despair, the doors didn't move an inch.
"No luck," she sighed in sadness.
"Good thing I brought my phone, do you have yours?"
"Yeah, should I call the manager?" she asked while stuffing her hands in her pocket and brought out the device. Okita nodded, as he clicked his tongue when he saw the battery percentage of his phone. 19%. This number was certainly becoming a stress to him.
"Gin–san? Is this you?...it's obscured by static?Okay, well we're here in the elevator..yes Okita and I..we got stuck! We forgot the mic case, that's why...you will? Really?...oh thank you thank you manager! Bye!" Nobume finished her conversation with Gintoki, their silver–haired manager, with a smile.
Needless to say, Okita felt jealous. He was never able to bring a smile on her face ever since they debuted. And they debuted 1 year ago. In that span of 12 months, he wasn't able to decorate Nobume's beautiful lips with a smile. He wanted to beat himself up, really. All the emotions he ever brought to Nobume was being apologetic, and that was pathetic. Nobume didn't need to say sorry, and yet here he was, acting all superior, giving her the disrespect she definitely didn't deserve.
"Great news! Despite being on a date with Toshirou–san, Gin–san is going to sav—"
"Tell me, Nobume," Okita interrupted rather rudely, surprising the girl before him that he called her with her first name. Or he even bothered to say her name! "What do you feel about me?"
"W–what?"
"What do you feel about me?"
Nobume thought that she wasn't hearing straight, "are yo–you serious?"
"Yeah, why?" Okita had crashed on the carpeted floor of the elevator, feeling his legs give up on him.
"You don't care about other people's opinions," Nobume bluntly put out, following Okita on sitting down on the floor, feeling the toll of yesterday's concert affecting her legs too.
"Well, you are my important partner, so I value your feelings," Okita had said.
Nobume shot up from her sitting position and started to crawl towards Okita, looking up at him with analyzing eyes that were so adorable.
"Are you sure you're the Okita I know?" she asked accusingly, a bit loudly too, with her eyebrows furrowed cutely.
Okita couldn't help but release a laugh, but truly he was kind of hurt with that response. He sounded like an asshole.
"Are you thinking of something?" Nobume tilted her head as she asked, concerned, "have you eaten something? Is your stomach empty? Are you sick?"
"If this is not me, then what Okita do you know?"
"Okita," she breathed in an effort to boost her confidence, "I'm going to grasp this opportunity to tell you my feelings, okay? I'll be blunt and honest, I'm sorry," he nodded his head as a response, saying that it was okay.
"The Okita I know never asked for my opinion nor feelings. It seemed like he doesn't care about me at all," she stopped for awhile, looking if Okita wasn't enraged by his expression, and it seemed like he wasn't. Thankfully.
"Despite debuting and promoting for almost a year, we never really got close. I can't call him a friend of mine, nor acquaintance, because we've been together but we weren't together."
"What do you mean?" Okita smirked, getting dangerously close near Nobume's face.
"I–I meant that we didn't actually do normal things fr–friends do! I don't–didn't mean anything else, Okita!" she blushed.
"Anyway, I'm actually not a quiet person, but I pretend to be one when I'm around him, because we can't strike a normal conversation without making it too awkward to handle."
"You're not a quiet person?!" Okita reacted incredulously, really surprised at the revelation.
"No," Nobume chuckled, "but what I like about Okita is that he is very industrious, he has passion for music and his voice is amazing. He knows the value of never giving up, believes in himself. But I don't like it when that confidence overflows and turns into arrogance though."
"Hey!" Nobume laughed at his response, and Okita thought he was hearing the cadence of a perfectly tuned piano or a Stradivarius.
"Are you satisfied now?" she smiled a little.
"Mhm," Okita nodded, acknowledging the characteristics he gained and summed it up; "I sound like the perfect asshole."
Nobume laughed even more, slapping the man's knees as she doubled over. "That's very accurate!"
"Look, Nobume," he had a serious tone, which calmed her instantly, her music–like laugh fading away. "I apologize."
"Hmm?" she tilted her head for the nth time—Okita's about to combust because of her cuteness, "why? What for?"
"You deserve more than anything, really," he breathed, trying to muster up some courage and be a man, "we've been together for a year now, practicing our songs, composing for them, touring the world, and yet we're still not friends. It's my fault. I treated you like shit, all because of these feelings of mine.."
"Feelings?"
"O–oh, because remember, my debut got delayed right? Y–yeah, those feelings I got at that time," Okita stammered dumbly, which made Nobume smile at him, because he was terrible at lying.
"You've been earning disrespect that you definitely don't deserve," Nobume felt a pang on her chest as Okita kept talking, because he was realizing her worth, and that was really sweet.
"I haven't been able to appreciate you as a person, sometimes pretending that you don't even exist, that I'm the only one on stage when in fact you're there, shining, being one with me, but I still had the audacity to treat you like that. We were supposed to be one and together, but when you reach out to hold my hand, I didn't hold it back. Really, I'm sorry for everything," he scratched his neck, feeling a bit nervous as he kept spitting words right from his heart. He was supposed to be good at expressing his feelings, being a composer and all, but why was this suddenly so difficult? Especially with his heart doing all these tumbles.
"We're a team now. I promise to work harder in the next years that will follow. We'll take over the world with our music!" Okita felt exhausted with all the words he said—and even cheered, really, that was embarrassing—and his pride was aching, but who gave a damn? Nobume was smiling. Because of him. Did he just conquer the universe? No? Well, the feeling that he felt when he saw her smile was alike to it.
He was surprised when Nobume attacked him with a vicious hug, one that cut his breath and respiration, but nevertheless he embraced her back, celebrating the warmth that was formed between them now that he apologized for his wrongdoings.
"Thank you, Okita," she hugged him tighter, "let's be together until the end!" there wasn't enough air in the room for him to breath anymore, but at least they were happy, and their promises were sealed. They'll be together and one with music and they'll take over the world with it. Just thinking about it made them so excited, and got even more thrilled when the doors creaked open, and they were safe at last.
"OHOHOHO!" Gintoki cackled like Santa, "what do we have here?"
Both had a stunning smiles on their faces as Nobume released Okita from her blood–cutting embrace, and the man's face was red and both of their hairdos were disheveled, leading to another misunderstanding.
"Did you guys do something while you were stuck in here? Naughty bunnies, pets aren't allowed in the hotel! Hide in the room and do it there instead," Gintoki smirked, while swinging an arm over the worker that managed to get the elevator doors open, "there's lube in the drawer."
They both gasped, "GINTOKI!"
________________
070817 / 1:37PM
NOICE!
IM ON A ROLL HAHAHAAHHA
can you suggest things to do this summer? i'd love to try new stuff!
i actually thought of going to korean language classes since i love kpop~
how about you guys? how was your summer? I also learned a dance routine awhile ago, and hopefully lost weight HAHAHAH
i actually went to japan recently!!!11!1!1! i went to osaka, nara, & kyoto ✿ I SAW CHERRY BLOSSOMS I CRI ✿ yall better go to japan it's such a beautiful country and the people are beautiful [ inside&out ] too omg ♡
too bad there were no gintama merch to the places I went to, + nobume is not a very popular character, so i'm v disappointed
did you like it? I sure hope so hehe thank you for reading, YALL ARE SO BEAUTIFUL HUHUHU
this was also inspired from a legendary kpop group named EXO and if yall don't know them BETTER CHECK THEM OUT NOW bc they're visual gods and they're overflowing of talent, fun, and oh my goodness I'm blessed to have known them gO TO GOOGLE FASTER THAN "zura janai, katsura da" AND SEARCH FOR EXO GOGOGOOGOG
spoiler corner!
• we can never truly move on from our first love. the question is, will there be a second one?
thank you so much!1!1!1!1 also about what Gintoki said, I originally planned it to be like that /winks/ HAHAHAHAHAH
together, let's go to the next chapter!
V O T E
C O M M E N T
F O L L O W
❁ ambertrill ❁