Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It’s a miracle Keito still makes the effort to visit Eichi these days, what with how insufferable he’s become. He’s always been insufferable, but this new closeness he’s developed with Hibiki has pushed the extent of his insufferableness past the limit of what Keito’s willing to tolerate.

Nonetheless, he still finds himself sat in a too-bright room, on an uncomfortable blue chair, arranging the newest bouquet of flowers in the resident vase. Because Keito has yet to develop an ability to say ‘no’ when it comes to Eichi’s every whim and unreasonable request. He’s working on it.

“Wataru came during lunch,” Eichi says, eyes not lifting from the white feather he’s twirling between his fingers, straining an IV cord as he does. “I still can’t believe it’s real, but he keeps returning. And he’s so entertaining. Did you know he has five doves, but no one can tell them apart?”

“No, Eichi,” Keito says. Well, would you look at that- he said no.

It doesn’t deter Eichi.

“I’m spotting subtle differences between them. I just haven’t figured out which is which, yet. Wataru keeps performing tricks every time I try to focus. I think he’s doing it on purpose. Fufufu it’s fascinating. Why lament others’ lack of knowledge about you if you’re going to purposefully obfuscate their attempts to bridge the gap? I’m going to figure him out, Keito. Just wait and see. Now he’s chosen to stay by my side for a while, I’m going to do everything I can to ensure he remains there.”

“I don’t doubt you will,” Keito says, all too aware of Eichi’s stubbornness from the sheer amount he’s been on the unfortunate receiving end of such behaviour. “Would you mind telling him he should try spending as much time at school as he does by your bedside?”

“Now why would I ever do that?”

Keito doesn’t know why he tries.

“He’s agreed to join fine. I didn’t bother arranging a test like I did for our two new members. It would’ve been an insult, what with how easily he surpasses my own negligible abilities. He’s the most talented idol in Yumenosaki. I can’t believe he’s really agreed to be my weapon. He has so many reasons to despise me, but he’s chosen to join me, instead. I know his acting is far more incredible than I could ever see through, but he genuinely seems to enjoy spending time with me. He keeps coming back, after all. And he even sits beside me on the bed, despite my warnings that it’s not wise with all the machinery. He’s Wataru, though. Nothing’s impossible for him.”

Keito has heard pretty much all of this before. Hibiki has been Eichi’s idol for a long time, as well as one of the driving forces spurring Eichi on to carry out their revolution. The jealousy that curls in Keito’s stomach isn’t new, either, but it’s been feeling less intense the more he’s investing time in Kiryu and Kanzaki.

“I’m thinking of reading more Shakespeare so we can talk about plays together. Could you bring me some, next time?” Eichi asks.

“Ask Hibiki,” Keito says, filling Eichi’s water glass and finally sitting down from his faffing.

“No, I want it to be a surprise. And I don’t want him to know I read them for him. It has to look authentic. Ah, he’ll probably figure it out anyway, but I want to practice fooling him. Fufufu, what a thrill that would be.”

Hm. Keito is starting to have his doubts about the whole situation between Eichi and Hibiki. He’s never paid too much thought to Hibiki’s motives regarding this whole joining fine business. Whether he intends to betray Eichi or not, it doesn’t change that Keito will still be there by Eichi’s side to support him through whatever comes. It also doesn’t change the fact that Eichi adores Hibiki as an idol. But the way he’s been talking about him the last few days is… different.

“Oh, Wataru upset your favourite nurse, too,” Eichi adds, still oblivious to Keito’s disinterest in their conversation topic (his feigned disinterest. Keito likes to know everything that’s going on more than he lets on). “I had to scold him because she seemed genuinely upset about being startled into dropping the tray. Did you know, when he’s surprised, Wataru just sort of stands there with his mouth slightly open for a second before he snaps back into character? I think I might have seen beneath his performance for a moment, but I was too caught up in making sure Mizuku was okay to press further.”

“Seriously,” Eichi continues, taking the files that Keito has wordlessly removed from his bag, “as much as I enjoy Wataru’s dramatics and endless entertainment, I do wish he remembered that other people are not as entertained as I am by sudden floods of flowers in a previously empty bed. He’s going to scare away the best staff.”

“Are these all the new proposals?” Eichi says, Hibiki-spiel briefly paused for the work he’s actually supposed to do.

“Yes. They aren’t extravagant given the year has only just begun, but I thought you should at least pretend to look over them before you sign them. Of course, I’ve already checked their budgets and feasibility. These are the ones we don’t have to reject. The new council members are competent, thankfully. Or, at least, the young Himemiya’s butler is,” Keito says, already nearing wits end with at least three members of the new fine. Thank Buddha for Yuzuru Fushimi.

“Hm. I wonder if I can convince Wataru to give Tori some training. I know he’s only joined for my sake, but our plans would fall through rather suddenly if our youngest member isn’t stage ready. Could you lead Tori and Yuzuru in the right direction before Flower Fes? I’m intrigued to see how their personalities will fit with Wataru’s. I suspect they’ll find him a little hard to handle,” Eichi says, flicking through the forms and supposedly reaching Keito’s own proposal regarding fine and Akatsuki’s joint performance in two weeks.

“I wouldn’t blame them for deciding to quit and join a simpler unit. Hibiki is a loose canon. I hope you know what you’re doing with him,” Keito says. He’s warned this exact thing about five times before, but one can never attempt to dissuade Eichi from Hibiki’s supposed charms too many times.

“I think he’s the one doing things with me, in honesty. And I’m not sure I mind all that much. It’s a little nice to be used as a puppet after so long being the puppeteer. And to think my master is so considerate of my own wishes and plans! Ah, perhaps I’m not quite the puppet after all. I think we’re putting on a puppet show together. Keito, should I invite him to the theatre or is that too on the nose?”

“Where is this coming from?” Keito makes the mistake of speaking up at the sudden change of topic.

“Too sudden? I can’t come on too strong. Or too predictable. Oh, this is going to be exciting. I’m looking forward to figuring out exactly how to keep Wataru tethered to my side. I can’t get complacent just because he’s temporarily set up camp, you know?” Eichi says, eyes glistening with excitement.

Keito, unfortunately, does know, because the dots have connected in his head and the truth is inescapably obvious.

Eichi has always admired and idolised Hibiki, yes. But now? Now he has a crush on him. As a person, not an idol.

The curl of jealousy sneaks up Keito’s throat and threatens to strangle him, but he swallows it back down. He’s worked hard to move on from Eichi, and he will succeed. Keito thinks about his unit and the joy he gets from completing forms beside Kiryu, watching Kanzaki dance and dance until he gets the move perfect, when Kiryu swears because he pricked his finger on a needle before throwing Keito an apologetic look for his bad language and focussing carefully on his task again. Eichi has never brought him that same feeling of comfort and peace. Mainly, Eichi has brought him headaches and irritation.

“Yes. Whatever. Are you done filling me in on the inanity of your love affair with Hibiki, now? We have student council work to do, and I’m not going to leave until I’ve lectured you about the importance of eating foods lower in fibre, so we’d better get going,” Keito says, his daily limit for Hibiki related topics well and truly surpassed.

“Mizuku, you snitch,” Eichi says under his breath, pouting like a toddler.

“It’s like you want your stomach to give up on you. Is a faulty heart and lungs not enough?”

“I could play a sort of organ bingo. See how many can malfunction before I actually die,” Eichi suggests. Keito glares at him, but Eichi’s smile doesn’t fade. Sometimes Keito really hates his childhood friend.

“Flower fes arrangements,” he says firmly, smacking a new file on top of the papers already across Eichi’s bed. “Find your relevant contacts for the list of equipment I’ve detailed.”

Eichi finally sighs in defeat and picks up a pen to get to work. It doesn’t feel like the victory Keito wishes it did.

Keito doesn’t go out of his way to avoid Wataru Hibiki. It just so happens that their paths cross infrequently due to both their separate classes and the rarity of Hibiki attending said classes.

Therefore, more often than not, Keito goes a full school week without seeing Hibiki in person. It would be impossible not to hear about him, as vice president of the student council, but Keito can cope with sending written warnings and dealing with the aftermath of Hibiki’s presence. Tenuously.

It’s a very unexpected and unwelcome turn of events when Hibiki decides to make his presence directly known by bursting in through (assumably) the window of the student council room.

“Oh Keito~” Hibiki calls out, ignoring that three people are currently sat working on important matters (Himemiya is… playing with a teddy bear? But Fushimi is thankfully handling the documents. Thank Buddha for Yuzuru Fushimi). “I have urgent business with you as Eichi’s loyal right hand man!”

“It can wait until we’ve finished our work. Leave,” Keito says, not bothering to glance up again from the contract he’s reviewing.

“Don’t let him see me, Yuzuru,” Himemiya whispers way too loudly, ducking underneath a table. Hibiki has undoubtedly seen him, but thankfully for Himemiya, he’s not Hibiki’s target today.

Unthankfully for Keito, he is. He feels his chair spin before he even registers Hibiki’s presence near him, and he grips the arm rests with all his might until the world stops spinning.

“After I came all this way to deliver a love letter to you, you won’t even accept it? Oh how heartless,” Hibiki says, clutching his chest from where he’s now hovering over Keito, one leg propped up on the arm of his chair. Keito’s vision finally refocuses to note a book of some sort in Hibiki’s other hand.

“Please, Hasumi-senpai. Won’t you accept my confession?” Hibiki’s entire demeanour changes and he thrusts the book in front of Keito’s nose, head bowing so snappishly that a curtain of silvery hair follows the movement of his head, hiding his entire face from view. Keito considers it a blessing in disguise.

Intrigue outweighing his common sense, Keito snatches the book out of Hibiki’s hands and flips open the front page. It’s a diary, and the cursive on the top line reads,

‘My dearest Wataru,’

“This is Eichi’s handwriting,” Keito says, turning the page without reading any further (not whilst in company, at least).

“Oh my, perhaps it isn’t my confession after all. What a turn of events!”

Right on cue, Hibiki forcibly spins Keito’s chair once more. Keito desperately stares at the words in front of him as the rest of the world spins by. The second page has different handwriting and reads,

‘My dearest, Eichi,’

at the top.

Keito feels sick. What is this and why is Hibiki giving it to him?

He also feels sick because he knows what that nauseating theatre kid has done with just one stroke of his pen. Ugh.

“Why,” Keito says when his world stops spinning for the second time, “are you giving me this nonsense?”

“Are the innermost feelings of your beloved childhood friend and your most fierce and determined rival naught but nonsense to you, Right hand man?” Hibiki gasps in horror.

“Yes.”

“You see, the utter heartbreaking tale is that I have an important callback audition this evening, and I fear I have no choice but to forgo my usual visit to our beloved emperor’s sick bed. I’m entrusting his most loyal advisor with the prestigious task of carrying my words forward, like the fierce wind of the east, ensuring they reach their intended target with meaning perfectly intact,” Hibiki explains in about 500 more words than were necessary. Keito is starting to understand how he and Eichi get along so well, which is saying a lot given he’s hardly a man of few words himself.

“You want me to pass this… exchange diary or whatever… to Eichi,” Keito confirms to an unfortunate loud whooping of consent.

“Precisely! Can I entrust such a task to you?”

Keito risks a glance up at Hibiki once more and is surprised to find his expression more sincere than anticipated. This is a genuine request with some level of importance to him. And, as reluctant as he is to admit it, the diary’s importance to Eichi is likely matched if not increased.

“If you leave the council room in the next 20 seconds then yes, I’ll give it to him. Understood?” Keito succumbs. Hibiki claps his hands together and grins.

“Amazing!” he says loudly, before spinning Keito’s chair around for the third time since his arrival.

“Hibiki!” Keito says through gritted teeth, but when the room stops spinning, its unwanted visitor is nowhere to be seen, previous presence made known only through the swirl of blue petals cascading towards the floor and the diary pressed into Keito’s hands.

“Vice president-sama, I brewed some tea. I suspected you may need a calming blend once Hibiki-sama deigned to leave the room,” Fushimi says, placing a steaming tea cup on Keito’s desk. Keito blinks up at him, mouth slightly ajar in utter gratitude for the thoughtfulness of this boy. Thank Buddha for Yuzuru Fushimi.

“Thank you, Fushimi. It is… greatly appreciated. I apologise for the interruption, but we can return to sorting the practice room reservations, now,” Keito says.

“You should take a break for a few minutes, Hasumi,” Isara suggests. “You look a little dizzy.”

He feels more than just dizzy, but he appreciates Isara’s concern.

“I assure you I’m fine, although I may just take two minutes to drink the tea Fushimi kindly brewed for me. Please, feel free to begin allocations without me,” he decides. Fushimi and Isara nod in agreement and turn their attention back to their work.

Himemiya is quietly whining about the fact Fushimi didn’t brew him tea, as well, but Keito has shifted his attention to the diary in his hands. He knows it’s an invasion of privacy to look, but arguably it’s a larger breach of privacy to burst into a locked room and enforce your property into another’s possession. With his reasoning sound, Keito doesn’t feel guilt at flicking through and finding the most recent entry.

Beloved Eichi,

I admit, this week has been devastatingly plain. I fear I have nothing new to add to our recap, and so perhaps I will simply mention what I have observed at Yumenosaki this week. You can compare my account with your right hand man’s own tales when he comes to visit you in my stead.

Ah~ on the topic of that, I received a callback for the role in an upcoming local production of Dr Faustus. If I land the part, I’ll ensure I get tickets for you- it’s a plot I think you’d be particularly fascinated by, if you aren’t already familiar with Goethe's original tale. Unfortunately, the inconvenient timing of the callback leaves me unable to attend our regular rendezvous. I assure you, I won’t let you drift from my mind for even a moment during my absence. I promised, after all, to devote my efforts to you, but if I fail to assert my presence on wondrous stages, I will have no efforts of which to devote. Besides, if what you’ve told me is the truth, you’ll be much looking forward to a new performance from yours truly.

I’m loathe to leave you lonely, however, as all too familiar with the empty feeling you and I both are. That’s why I will be sending your right hand man to occupy the other side of your bed, no doubt with tales of my antics to regale you with, as a subpar substitute for my presence. At least you can know that I am with you through the grievances I’ve caused your oldest friend. You saved me of my own lonely fate, and I’ve grown to care for you in a way I hadn’t anticipated, leading me to wish nothing more than to return the favour!

Time runs short, and I have a vice-president to aggravate, so I must bring this exchange to a close, in spite of my intent to update you on the school’s affairs. I fear it is simply that uninteresting without your addition to the populous. I’m certain that next time I write, there will be a hoard of tales waiting to be heard. I can’t wait to share them with you, my emperor.

With warmest wishes to manifest as a comforting presence in lieu of my physical form,

Your very own Wataru Hibiki

Keito blinks at the page he’s just read for a few seconds. He can hardly read this in Hibiki’s voice, it’s so removed from his typical style. This was not what he’d anticipated the content of Hibiki’s exchanges with Eichi to be. This is… personal. On a level Keito didn’t know Hibiki even possessed.

It’s with deep regret that Keito admits to himself that he’s apparently been wrong about Wataru Hibiki. He suspects fine’s new bluebird may have gotten a little more than he bargained for when involving himself in the life of Eichi Tenshouin.

Keito is torn between pity, envy, and relief. Loving Eichi Tenshouin is far from an easy feat, and he can only imagine how complicated it must be to have that love returned. However, it feels like a weight has been lifted, knowing that this bluebird doesn’t seem likely to be released any time soon. Even if he is, Keito suspects he’ll find his way back, just as the tale is intended to go.

Hibiki might be the match Eichi needs. It irks Keito to realise it, but he can’t deny their seeming compatibility. Oh well- Keito has a school to organise, and playing cupid is far out of his job description. He gets to his feet and joins Fushimi and Isara at the disused president’s desk.

“I’m ready to continue. Any issues with the scheduling I can help resolve?” Keito asks, tapping Fushimi’s shoulder lightly to grab his attention.

“Ah,” Fushimi says, turning to Keito with a pleasant, if seemingly strained, smile. “Just the one, although it’s proving to be quite a challenge.”

Keito furrows his eyebrows and turns to see the desktop that Fushimi’s body no longer obscures. There, in Eichi’s seat, sits a single dove holding five pages of practice room schedules in its small beak. The bird blinks at Keito with what he’s almost foolish enough to deem a sparkle of mischief. With a slow and steady movement, the bird lifts one foot, grasps the edges of the papers in its claws, and tears the pages cleanly in half.

“HIBIKI!”

Chapter Text

Tori kind of can’t wait to meet this other new member of fine Eichi-sama couldn’t stop talking about in the hospital. He also kind of never wants to meet him, because Eichi-sama admires this guy sooo much that Tori can’t deny he’s more than a little jealous.

“Ah, before you two go,” Eichi-sama had said after Tori jumped to his feet, unable to sit still from the excitement that he’d passed Eichi-sama’s test and was going to be a member of fine for real, “you’ll need to meet the third new member. I imagine some time before I’m allowed out of this hospital bed.”

“Of course,” Yuzuru had replied immediately. "We’ll ensure we extend contact and include them in any practice prior to your return.”

“Who is it? Are they cuter than me?” Tori asked, just to elicit his dream reaction. His wishes were met and Eichi-sama chuckled, reaching out a pretty weak looking arm to pat Tori’s head. Tori didn’t mind that Eichi-sama was really ill- he’d just work ten times harder so he could support him! He was going to be super reliable and Eichi was going to trust and adore him in no time.

“Of course not- you are the cutest new recruit I could ever attempt to find,” Eichi-sama said. “However, reaching out to him won’t be much of an issue. I’ve asked Keito to try and keep him in the loop, so if you attend Student Council Meetings dutifully, Tori, I’m sure Keito will help you arrange something.”

“Yep, yep, I’m gonna be at eeeevery meeting,” Tori promised, ignoring the not-so-subtle cough Yuzuru made. Slaves were meant for doing Tori’s paperwork, anyway! What mattered was he protected Eichi-sama’s Student Council until he returned to school.

“Good boy,” Eichi-sama said, ruffling Tori’s hair again. Tori felt his heart skip a beat. He was so so lucky that he got to stand by Eichi-sama’s bedside like this, being praised by him, when just months ago he was sitting in an endless crowd gazing up in admiration at the beautiful figure on stage. “I will warn the two of you that you’ll have your work cut out for you, though, what with our fourth member.”

“Oh?” Yuzuru raised an eyebrow. “Surely he can’t be more of a handful than Bocchama.”

Before Tori could protest and throw something at Yuzuru for insulting him in front of Eichi-sama, a chuckle sounded from the bed.

“Fufu, it depends how you define a ‘handful’. He is utterly impossible to match or keep up with. In terms of skill and in general communication. He’s so talented I can hardly believe he agreed to join me.”

“Well, as soon as everyone sees him on stage next to you, that won’t be a problem. Eichi-sama is the most incredible idol out there!”

“Aw, thank you, Tori. But even idols have idols, and he’s been mine since I was a child. He has more talent in his fingernail than I could ever dream to possess in my entire lifetime. If you two don’t work hard and follow his guidance, you’ll disappear on stage next to him. He’s an absolute miracle for fine. And for me, I admit. Without him, I don’t think fine would ever be able to stand on stage again,” Eichi-sama said.

“What?” Tori couldn’t help but gasp. “No, no, no, you can’t get rid of fine!”

“I don’t plan to. Not now. You noticed, surely, that your contracts are of an unusually loose nature compared to what I imagine you’re used to.”

“Indeed,” Yuzuru said. “They read more like applications to join a school club rather than legally binding documents. You wish to leave our decision to be a part of fine up to us as individual members. We have agreed to join your unit, but our enrolment isn’t entrapment, nor are we protected from your dismissal if you deem us inadequate.”

“Oh, I like you,” Eichi-sama said. Tori felt a pang of jealousy at the way Eichi-sama’s eyes flicked over Yuzuru. “Do you know, our final member called me ‘hilariously gloomy’, during a recent visit to my bedside. I’m excited to see how he copes with two of us scavenging for the worst aspects in well-intentioned actions.”

“I’m not a pessimist, President-sama. Simply a Butler carrying out my duties. Said duties include being aware of any potential harm- physical or emotional- that could come to my master, and dealing with them appropriately. It’s pointless to leave potential outcomes unsaid if we’re discussing the details of our contracts,” Yuzuru said. Eichi-sama hummed and carded his fingers out of Tori’s hair to rest his chin on his hands.

“Then take comfort that your contracts allow you the freedom to remove yourself and Tori from my unit without repercussion if you suspect any foul play on my behalf. I believe you’re sharp enough to be able to spot it plenty in advance, no?”

“I politely request you not overestimate my abilities, President-sama,” Yuzuru said, his brows furrowing into a slight frown. Tori could hardly keep up, if he was being honest, but he could tell that at this rate, he was gonna be fighting away two completely ridiculously and unreasonably skilled people for Eichi-sama’s attention. Ugh!

“Fufufu, if that’s truly what you believe I’m doing, then yes, I suppose I should stop. I’d have thought you’d enjoy the change- surely you’re all too familiar with our societies’ underestimations of your capability,” Eichi-sama said, tilting his head and continuing to smile rather coyly at Yuzuru. Tori was getting seriously pissed off. Yuzuru wasn’t nearly as cute as him! Why wasn’t Eichi-sama paying more attention to Tori?

“I believe we’re getting off topic, here,” Yuzuru said, which roughly translated to ‘stop trying to figure me out because you won’t like what you’ll find’ in Yuzuru-speak. Something like that- Tori’s still not entirely sure what happened when Yuzuru was gone for a while, but he does know he won't facilitate any sort of discussion regarding anything that could slightly relate to it.

“Yes, we are,” Eichi-sama said, but his eyes didn’t relax. Tori was starting to wonder why he surrounded himself with such complicated people. They were fascinating, and he wasn't as naïve as everyone seemed to think, but ugh. Sometimes he missed Tsukasa for his stupid obvious idiocy. He didn’t speak in riddles- just plainly said dumb stuff and lame insults.

“All this was to say- please try your best and work hard if you want to be an idol as part of fine, because your competition in this unit is the most powerful, shining idol of Yumenosaki. And that may well be me on paper, but- heh- take a good look at reality. I’m lying half-dead in a hospital bed, knowing that trying the simplest of dance moves would lead to my collapse, whilst he shines on stage to masses of adoring fans- a group I wish I was physically a part of, even though I’ll always be among them in spirit.”

Yuzuru nodded in understanding, and Tori could tell he kinda didn’t care about what Eichi-sama believed to be this new and shocking revelation.

“I’m gonna work super hard no matter who else is in our unit, because I’m the cutest new idol- Tori Himemiya of fine- and I wanna stand on stage and shine with you, Eichi-sama,” Tori said.

Eichi-sama chuckled and patted Tori’s head again.

“I can’t wait, Tori-kun.”

Translation? Eichi-sama has a gigantic crush on someone who isn’t Tori.

It makes sense! Tori’s not even an idol yet, and he’s had no professional training, because making Yuzuru sneak him out to karaoke isn’t the same as official lessons. Of course Eichi-sama’s dreamy idol is gonna be someone other than Tori right now. But that doesn’t mean forever. Tori can use this as a learning opportunity to see what kind of idol Eichi-sama admires. Then Tori can be the cutest, most sparkling idol ever and Eichi-sama will love him even more than this other guy!

It’s not gonna be easy, though. Ugh. Tori’s already exhausted from his new schedule, and that’s with Yuzuru handling… pretty much everything, because that’s what slaves are for (and because he seems more at ease in their new environment with tasks to do. Tori feels bad enough that he was forced to tag along with him on his dream, so giving him mindless managerial tasks in the student council room should help put him at ease. Because Yuzuru's weird like that and enjoys paperwork).

On top of that, this guy sounds too incredible to even be real. After all, Tori is a fan of idols, and as far as he’s concerned, the best of the best is Eichi-sama. So how has he missed seeing someone who even Eichi-sama considers to be the most talented idol ever? How is it even possible to be more talented than Eichi-sama?

Admittedly, after hearing the name from the boring Vice prez, Tori thinks ‘Hibiki’ does sound familiar. He just can’t put his finger on it. And if he’s seen this guy and not even remembered him then he can’t be as amazing as Eichi-sama claims, which means that- that-

That Eichi-sama loves this guy so much that he truly believes he’s this incredible?

Tori feels his bottom lip quiver and he stamps out the emotions. It’s one thing to have a silly little crush on Eichi-sama because of how cool and talented and fascinating he is, but feeling this upset is embarrassing. Yuzuru would laugh at him sooo hard if he wasn’t currently still on the phone to Vice Prez. Yuzuru talks to him way too much at the moment. He even joined his stupid club. Tori’s starting to think he’s not the only one with a crush on his senior right now, but Vice Prez? Really?

Tori suspects it’s probably for his sake. Most things Yuzuru does are, at this point, as much as that annoys him, but surely he doesn’t need to act this chummy with the guy. Hey, if Yuzuru is into nerdy stuck up bossy boring guys with glasses then Tori will pat him on the back and tell him to go seek out some happiness somewhere that isn’t glued to Tori’s side 24/7.

Tori has just about crushed down his upset with a newfound impatience for this super long phone call before they go to meet Hibiki. He’s also decided that it’s fine, because Hibiki probably doesn’t love Eichi-sama back. Not like Tori does. It’s a little mean to hope that someone else isn’t in love with Eichi-sama- especially given how loveable he is- but Tori doesn’t even know this guy so he doesn’t feel bad about it.

Yuzuru finally hangs up, and they finally enter the room to meet the mysterious Hibiki, and Tori’s world is turned upside down once again.

Because he does know who Hibiki is, after all. This is Wataru Hibiki of the Five Eccentrics. This is fine’s biggest enemy. So what is he doing as part of their unit? And why in the world is he so… so… eccentric?

The conversation isn’t going very well. Tori can’t stop himself from getting more and more agitated with Hibiki’s- everything- and he does not appreciate being insulted for his still novice abilities. He’s getting there! And he’s going to work hard to get there! What does this enemy know, anyway? Is he trying to mess with fine to get back at Eichi-sama?

Ooo, will Tori get to uncover this secret plot and tell Eichi-sama and be his hero by saving the day and fine?

That’s when Hibiki says it.

“Nonetheless, I am not interested in fine, but in Eichi!”

His eyes shift, and gone is the mocking tone he’s been parading this whole conversation, replaced with a gross looking fondness that makes Tori want to gag and roll his eyes. Tori doesn’t even hear the rest of whatever nonsense he spouts, because the hope he was clinging to has just crashed down around him.

Eichi-sama’s love for Hibiki is reciprocated. So much so that Hibiki has swapped sides and joined a unit he doesn’t care about- not like Tori cares about it.

What’s worse, Tori doesn’t think he can ever become someone like Hibiki. If this is Eichi-sama’s type, he’s pretty much doomed.

Tori’s just about ready to resign himself to being in a unit with his butler, an insufferable clown, and a couple featuring both his crush and said clown, when Hibiki spares him one more glance. His eyes rake over Tori, and Tori feels his skin shiver. Not in the nice way like it does when Eichi-sama’s gentle voice washes over him in soothing sound waves, but icky shivers. Tori feels like he’s being sized up and consequently underestimated, labelled as something utterly unimportant in Hibiki’s eyes.

HMPH! He’ll show his annoying senpai! Just you wait, Wataru Hibiki- Tori will work super hard and become so much Eichi-sama’s type that Eichi-sama leaves that clown and falls for Tori’s amazing, undiscovered talent and cute, charming, cheeky personality. That’ll show Hibiki. That’s what he gets for once being the enemy.

Tori will steal Eichi-sama for himself. Hibiki had better watch his back!

Chapter Text

✧ ☆ ✫ Eccentric Party Night ✫ ☆ ✧

Bloodsucker69: Interesting news I just uncovered from bouzo

Bloodsucker69: Care to explain? @✩AMAZINGGG✩

✩AMAZINGGG✩: However am I supposed to surmise what news I’m to tell with no context?

I’m NoT YouR ChilD: Oh shit. Mophead was right, wasn’t he?

Bloodsucker69: Ah, I see our poor child has become privy to the unfortunate news, as well

I’m NoT YouR ChilD: Can you read, Rei-nii-san?

Bloodsucker69: Now now, Natsume - respect your elders.

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Yes, yes, you never even call me nii-san. Boohoohoo, why does my adorable child hate me so much :((((((((((

I’m NoT YouR ChilD: I’m not talking to you anymore, traitor

✩AMAZINGGG✩: WAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

✩AMAZINGGG✩: 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

✩AMAZINGGG✩: I think I have begun to suspect what news you all speak of, however

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Yes, it is true that I have joined fine for next year. But I have my reasons. Don’t think I have simply forgotten all the pain and sorrow we underwent at their hands

Itchy Shoe: You. WHAT.

Itchy Shoe: WATARU CHANGE MY NAME BACK RIGHT THIS INSTANCE

I’M NoT YouR ChilD: Shu-nii-san, you can change it yourself in settings

Itchy Shoe: Where is that

Puka Puka: in🐠your🐟phone🐬somewhere🦐

I’M NoT YouR ChilD: i swear you must have auto linked your space bar to the fish emojis or else this dedication is insane

Puka Puka: I🐙do🦈not🐡know🐠how🐳to🦀do🐟that?🦑Chiaki🦞showed🐋me🐙where🐚the🐟fish🐳live🦞in🐡my🦈phone🦐

✩AMAZINGGG✩: AMAZING! Perhaps I should begin punctuating my messages with emojis, as well ✨🎭🤡🎩🕊

Puka Puka: Shut up traitor.

I’M NoT YouR ChilD: YOU KNEW HOW TO DO THAT ALL ALONG?

Puka Puka: Wataru🐋does🐠not🐟deserve🐡my🐙lovely🐬fish🐳right🦈now🦐

Bloodsucker69: we’re getting off topic

Bloodsucker69: Hibiki, I do trust you have a reason for this. However, this old man suspects all of us here would be eager to hear some reassurance of what that reason entails

Itchy Shoe: Don’t sound so passive about it

Itchy Shoe: Wataru. If your reason is not good enough, consider this the termination of our acquaintanceship

I’m NoT YouR ChilD: I’ll never let you meet the new magician who’s joining my unit next year if you don’t quit and leave that Ratass Bastard Tenshouin right now

Puka Puka: I🐬can🐳drown🐠Tenshouin🐡for🐙you🦑if🦈he🦀threatened🐟you🦐

✩AMAZINGGG✩: There’s no need for any drastic measures. This decision was made willingly

✩AMAZINGGG✩: As you all know, my job as an actor is to undergo whatever role is laid out for me

✩AMAZINGGG✩: This last year, that has been one of a villain against the student council

✩AMAZINGGG✩: For this next year, I have been offered the role of the Emperor’s jester

✩AMAZINGGG✩: I believed that if I were to reject this role in the sequel, our tale would never reach a conclusion we could be proud of or content with

✩AMAZINGGG✩: But now, there is a chance to turn things around, wouldn’t you say, Natsume-kun?

I’m NoT YouR ChilD: What exactly are you up to?

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Telling now would be spoiling the ending far too soon!

✩AMAZINGGG✩: You’re all familiar with the phrase ‘keep your friends close, but your enemies closer’, yes?

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Well, I certainly intend to keep you close, my precious friends, no matter where my new role and my new company take me

Bloodsuker69: Hm. I assume you’re aware that this won’t be an easy role. You know as well as I do that Tenshouin is a piece of work

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Don’t I just!

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Although you cannot deny that he is an utterly entertaining one

Itchy Shoe: I promise you, I can

Itchy Shoe: As displeased as I am with your decision… I will admit that I understand your motivations

Itchy Shoe: Very well. I suppose I will allow you to remain within my selective group of associates

I’m NoT YouR ChilD: Tag yourself, i’m the selective group of associates

I’m NoT YouR ChilD: wait, you guys are old and technologically incompetent. You won’t get that

✩AMAZINGGG✩: You give me too little credit, Natsume-kun!

✩AMAZINGGG✩: I have also raised myself with awareness of the digital world, see?

✩AMAZINGGG✩: shu.png

I’m NoT YouR ChilD: you are on thin fucking ice rn. Hush and let me make up my mind about this

✩AMAZINGGG✩: 🤐

Puka Puka: I🐙am🐬not🐋happy🦞Wataru🐟sad🐬face🦐

I’m NoT YouR ChilD: how have you found every type of fish related emoji but not the faces…

Puka Puka: but🐚I🦈can🐠understand🐡your🐳feelings🦐

Puka Puka: You🦑have🦦a🐬duty🐙to🐟perform🦀your🐚script🦈like🦞I🐳have🐋a🐡duty🐙to🦑perform🐠miracles🦐

✩AMAZINGGG✩: I am truly grateful that you’ve all been willing to listen to this clown’s buffoonery

✩AMAZINGGG✩: I wouldn’t have blamed you for simply casting me aside on account of my betrayal

BloodSucker69: We’re the Eccentrics. You can’t detach yourself from us that easily. Mwhahaha

I’m NoT YouR ChilD: hhhh fine, if everyone’s willing to hear you out then I guess I’ll let you meet Sora. But you’re still a traitor for this

✩AMAZINGGG✩: So no ‘Wataru-nii-san’?🥺

I’m NoT YouR ChilD: Shut up before I change my mind

✧ ☆ ✫ Eccentric Party Night ✫ ☆ ✧

Puka Puka: we🐠should🐬eat🦀fish🐟🐟🐟🐟tonight🦐

Puka Puka: all🦑of🐋you🐳come🐚eat🦈fish🐙with🐡me🦐

Puka Puka: i🐟will🦞prepare🐋everyone’s🦀favourite🦐

Puka Puka: Shuuuu🐙what🐠is🦑your🐬favourite🦈fish🦐

Itsuki🚂: Non, fish is not to my tastes

Itsuki 🚂: However, since you are inviting me, I shall attend. I will prepare my own food

Puka Puka: like🐳a🦞picnic🐋How🐚nice🦐

Itsuki 🚂: Alright, Wataru, I give up. What is the train supposed to mean

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Why, it is your name of course!

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Itsuki CHOOOOOOO

Itsuki 🚂: I apologise deeply, Kanata, but something has suddenly arisen and I will no longer be attending

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Oh, don’t be such a buzzkill!!

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Besides, I regret to inform you that, to everyone’s great sorrow and no doubt countless tears of devastation, I will be unable to make it to dinner tonight

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Alas, this Wataru Hibiki has yet to master the art of being in two places at once, and so my prior commitment binds me to a single location in space and time

✩AMAZINGGG✩: In my absence, eat some octopus for me! Then it will feel as though I am there in spirit!

BloodSucker69: Hm, octopus is too slimy for my tastes

BloodSucker69: Shinkai, I would appreciate any salmon if you have some

Puka Puka: Salmon🐟salmon🐟yes🦑I🐠can🐡retrieve🦞salmon🦐

ReluctantlY YouR ChilD: any sushi is good for me, Kanata-nii-san

ReluctantlY YouR ChilD: What’s got you busy, though, Wataru-nii-san? Thought you’d already finished dress rehearsals for the show next week

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Indeed, I have! For once, it is not the stage calling me away from you all, but rather my idol duties! I am, after all, an idol too

Itsuki 🚂: Abandon them. Does friendship mean nothing to you?

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Now this is some fascinating hypocrisy!!!!

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Shu, who is so reluctant to call our relationship anything more than acquaintanceship to our faces is now claiming our friendship significant enough that I should break my promises over it!

Puka Puka: I🐠agree🦑Leave🐳Tenshouin🐬Eat🐚fish🦀and🐡come🦈puka🌊puka🌊

ReluctantlY YouR ChilD: Thirded

BloodSucker69: Fourthed

ReluctantlY YouR ChilD: don’t continue the bit, it ruins it

BloodSucker69: why is nothing this old man does ever good enough for you

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Truly, I would love nothing more than to join you all in an evening soiree

ReluctantlY YouR ChilD: apparently you love kissing Tenshouin’s ass more

✩AMAZINGGG✩: HOWEVER

✩AMAZINGGG✩: I have concocted many surprises in preparation for my pre-established evening plans and, quite frankly, it would be a hazard to the public to leave them unattended

BloodSucker69: Isn’t Tenshouin hospitalised, currently?

BloodSucker69: Or perhaps you are rehearsing without him?

✩AMAZINGGG✩: That, my good friend, is information I will not be divulging to the enemy

ReluctantlY YouR ChilD: you used to be one of their ‘enemies’, remember?

ReluctantlY YouR ChilD: or has he already tricked your mind with that stupid pretty face and angelic words secretly dripping with poison

✩AMAZINGGG✩: My, my, speaking from experience, are we, Natsume?

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Are all of our delightful once-enemies equipped with a silver tongue and handsome face enough to tempt us demons to their side?

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Or is your own fallen angel exempt from the contempt you hold for fine?

BloodSucker69: Now, now, children

Puka Puka: Wataru🐬that🦑was🐙mean🐋sad🐠face🦐

ReluctantlY YouR ChilD: i’m gonna give you an actual lesson in emojis and it’s not gonna be optional

Puka Puka: Natsume🦞is🦦also🐟being🐡mean🦐

✩AMAZINGGG✩: I do apologise! It seems I took my role as a loyal jester a little too far in front of my beloved friends

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Nonetheless, my answer unfortunately remains unchanged

✩AMAZINGGG✩: The next time, I will ensure I free all the time in the world for you, Kanata! We will dine on fish until the ocean is emptied and we are so stuffed we can hardly move!!

Puka Puka: Hm🐙 You🐠are🐡not🐬invited🦦next🐚time🦑Traitor🦐

✩AMAZINGGG✩: And to think I was trying to be so mindful of your feelings😭😭

Itsuki 🚂: If you wanted to be mindful of any of us, you would ditch the tyrant who tried to kill us

✩AMAZINGGG✩: AMAZING! So that is still the steadfast conclusion you all drew from the story

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Have a wonderful time without me. I’m expecting photos of that octopus!

BloodSucker69: Hm.

✧ ☆ ✫ Eccentric Party Night ✫ ☆ ✧

DisowneD MyselF: Wataru-nii-san wtaf is up with the butler in your unit

DisowneD MyselF: I swear he could legit commit a murder and not even flinch. I knew it was weird he was soooo polite but WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS GUY

DisowneD MyselF: he’s gonna make me lose my reputation as scariest guy in second year ugh

Itsuki Witsuki Shu-der: he doesn’t give off the aura of someone intimidating. I always assumed he was rather insignificant. His talent is present, but he lacks any artistic emotion in his performance

BloodSucker69: kukuku, I have had my share of interactions with fine’s butler. He is a rather interesting child, I must say. His politeness truly had me fooled at first

BloodSucker69: However, I doubt he is a threat to your menacing aura, Natsume. A cheeky butler can hardly outdo our wonderful magician

Itsuki Witsuki Shu-der: Wataru if you change my username one more time I am leaving this group chat forever

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Ohohoho, threaten to leave all you like. You still remain, even after all the antics I’ve pulled thus far!

✩AMAZINGGG✩: I see you’ve uncovered some of the hidden depths to dear Butler-san, Natsume!!

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Ah, he is fascinating, truly. For all I’m accused of wearing my masks, none are as intricately and desperately crafted as the facade Butler-san holds firm

DisowneD MyselF: It’s not even that though

DisowneD MyselF: He straight up terrified me and idk how to live down the shame

Puka Puka: What 🌊did🦈he🐡do?🦞I🐳will🐙drown🐋him🦐

DisowneD MyselF: I don’t think he’d even die

DisowneD MyselF: We were playing a stupid fucking game during sports class too

DisowneD MyselF: Never slacking off on guard duties when he’s around again

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Oh I see!

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Would this perhaps be pertaining to an exciting game of Capture the Flag Butler-san informed us he’d had the honour to participate in?

✩AMAZINGGG✩: His physical prowess is entirely unexpected, no?

Puka Puka: hm🐟is🦑he🐠also🐚stronger🐬than🦀he🦈looks🦐

Puka Puka: everyone🐡is🐳surprised🐙when🦀I🦦lift🌊heavy🐟things🦐

Blood Sucker69: Our puppy did reveal to us that he has a lovely set of abs. Who knew it wouldn’t be our dearest Hibiki playing the role of sex appeal for fine

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Oh, I am affronted!! With my bewitching long locks and entirely too flexible limbs, how could I ever lose the top spot?

BloodSucker69: Don’t you worry, Hibiki. You’re still plenty sexy

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Oh Rei, you flatter me! See how you’ve turned me into a blushing maiden?

✩AMAZINGGG✩: *replay photo*

DisowneD MyselF: wtf have you done to make your face so red

Itsuki Witsuki Shu-der: I understand requesting to stay on topic is futile amongst this group, however I was intrigued as to Natsume’s story

Puka Puka: yes🐙yes🐠Natsume🦑what🐟did🦞Yuzuru🐬do🦀to🐳you🐡and🐋when🦦would🦈he🐊be🐚asleep🌊near🐡the🐙fountain🦐

DisowneD MyselF: omg Kanata-nii-san pls stop trying to kill everyone who has ever slighted me

DisowneD MyselF: You’re not even doing a good job. Tenshouin’s still alive

Puka Puka: i🐬am🦀saving🐋my🐠energy🐊Natural🐙causes🌊will🐡get🦈him🦞fine🦐

✩AMAZINGGG✩: As much as I know you love a stab at my dear emperor, let us not make mean-spirited comments regarding unavoidable health conditions

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Mock his terrible taste in interior decoration! Mock his hilariously depressing sense of humour! Mock his childish desire to spend millions of pounds on inanity for his own amusement!

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Surely this group, of any, can find a jab at something other than disability when it comes to Eichi and the trespasses he has made against us

BloodSucker69: Hibiki makes a point. Just because we dislike Tenshouin does not mean we can become the devils he once painted us as

BloodSucker69: We can instead suggest that his horrible personality will either eat away at his body until his outside is as rotted as the core, or that his manipulative ways and dubiously present moral code will lead to a most fascinating murder case

Itsuki Witsuki Shu-der: If Tenshouin goes missing under mysterious circumstances, I will need one of you to fake an alibi for me

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Could we perhaps let Natsume finish his story!

Puka Puka: wataru🦈you🐙dislike🐳him🦀too🐠remember🦐

Puka Puka: you🐡find🦑him🦦interesting🐬but🐚he🐟still🦞hurt🐋you🦐

DisowneD MyselF: ….

DisowneD MyselF: Wow. Of all things not to reply to. Yikes, Wataru-nii-san

DisowneD MyselF: my story seems kinda pointless now. Just know that Yuzuru Fushimi is talented with weapons, insanely fucking fast, has the intelligence to figure out my weird ass mind-game tactics, and attacks like some wild beast when he chooses to drop his camouflage and launch an attack

DisowneD MyselF: god, i think i’m gonna see his bloodthirsty grin in my sleep tonight

✩AMAZINGGG✩: I will be relaying this tale to Butler-san! I’m sure he will find it very amusing, no matter how little his face will display such emotions

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Ah, to think everyone once believed me to be the mystery!

BloodSucker69: You’re having more fun with fine than I expected

BloodSucker69: I’m glad you’re happy, Hibiki

Itsuki Witsuki Shu-der: I’m not. Of all places to find happiness. Ugh

✩AMAZINGGG✩: What good is it in blaming the young for the sins their predecessors committed?

✩AMAZINGGG✩: They are but fledgling talents currently, I admit, but there is a certain joy to nurturing your juniors, no?

Puka Puka: Our🦀children🐚are🐠very🌊lovely🐙in🐬Ryuseitai🦐

Puka Puka: Good🐡kids🐋good🐟kids🦐

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Precisely! They can be menaces, but it is our duty to lead them in the right direction

DisowneD MyselF: when have you ever cared about your duties?? If you're not interested in them it’s pointless wasting your energy, ugh

DisowneD MyselF: not like you’re planning to stay with them forever

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Yes, you may be right

✩AMAZINGGG✩: But I’ve begun to consider this a part of my role

✩AMAZINGGG✩: And you’re all familiar with how earnestly I devote myself to a well-penned script

Itsuki Witsuki Shu-der: Please. This is the shoddiest writing possible

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Ah ah ah, you’ve yet to see the conclusion, dearest Shu!

DisowneD MyselF: tell Fushimi whatever, just don’t try and include the rest of us in your fine nonsense, alright?

✩AMAZINGGG✩: That would be akin to going on stage and reciting lines of a character from a separate show!

✩AMAZINGGG✩: I would never commit such an amateur mistake, fear not

Puka Puka: Don’t🐙forget🦦you🐟are🦀a🐊human🦞too🐬Wataru🦐

Puka Puka: We🐠are🦈all🦑humans🐳now🦐

BloodSucker69: It is easy to feel otherwise, as unique as we are, but yes

BloodSucker69: Do not be ashamed when humanity sinks its teeth into your neck when you least expect it

✩AMAZINGGG✩: the sting doesn’t sound as painful as I once imagined, fufufu

DisowneD MyselF: Wataru-nii-san…

✩AMAZINGGG✩: hahahaaaa you’re still so quick to fall for my jokes

✩AMAZINGGG✩: it fills this jester’s heart with relief

Itsuki Witsuki Shu-der: I suspect you should be questioning why it’s reached a point we’re so inclined to believe you

Itsuki Witsuki Shu-der: but I know all too well that mentioning it further will only spur denial from you

Itsuki Witsuki Shu-der: it is still with great regret that I admit to our similarities

Puka Puka: no🐳sad🐟talk🦐

Puka Puka: I🐠am🦞bored🐟someone🐡come🐬Puka🦑Puka🐋with🦀me🦐

✧ ☆ ✫ Eccentric Party Night ✫ ☆ ✧

BloodSucker69: oh fellow otherworldly beings forced to dwell in this human world…. I have an invitation of highest relevance for you

BloodSucker69: You are cordially invited to a performance where creatures of the night reveal their forms to all mortals who would risk witnessing this immoral spectacle

BloodSucker69: Tomorrow night, UNDEAD will perform in the Live House downtown, and 4 VIP tickets have been reserved for you- my esteemed friends- should you be available to witness this dark and dangerous show

i’M a fathER noW: did you give this spiel to everyone you invited

BloodSucker69: Is there something wrong with it?

i’M a fathER noW: ……

i’M a fathER noW: Who else is advertising

BloodSucker69: Koga made the posters and advertised in the area

i’M a fathER noW: Thank fuck

i’M a fathER noW: I can come, but Sora wants to come along too (he’s with me rn), so if any of the rest of you can’t make it lmk

Puka Puka: I🐬am🐙free🐟too🐡I🦈will🦀be🐳there🦐

Choux Bun: hm, i’m unsure if I can make it. Kagehira and I have a performance in the evening. What time does your show begin?

BloodSucker69: Ah, I would never force you to attend a concert so shortly after leaving the stage yourself

BloodSucker69: If you truly wish to view a performance by yours truly, we are setting up a livestream- you’ll have all the time in the world to watch the show afterwards

Choux Bun: Thank you. I will watch from the comfort of my dressing room as I decompress, in that case

Choux Bun: Wataru, where are you? I don’t appreciate the mocking of my name’s phonetic similarity to a French pastry

i’M a fathER noW: @✩AMAZINGGG✩

i’M a fathER noW: you’re all so smart how have you not picked up any tech literacy from me

BloodSucker69: Aw, the kid thinks we’re smart

✩AMAZINGGG✩: HELLO I SEE I HAVE BEEN SUMMONED

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Ah, may I request the times of the performance as well? I am only free for a portion of the evening, tomorrow

i’M a fathER noW: ugh, at this rate fuzzy hair is gonna be asking to come along too

Puka Puka: I🦞saw🐋a🐟poster🦦it🦑said🐠8pm🦐

BloodSucker69: Shinkai is correct. The live begins at 8, and UNDEAD will entertain the crowd for at least an hour- hopefully longer, should they wish for an encore to greet their hungry ears

i’M a fathER noW: wtf is this speaking style, this is worse than the grandpa act you’ve adopted

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Aw, rats

✩AMAZINGGG✩: I’m devastatingly booked from 7 until 9

✩AMAZINGGG✩: However, thanks to my extraordinary ability to teleport, i’m sure I could catch the encore, would you still have me

BloodSucker69: But of course- we dark-dwelling monsters recognise those of similar nature and welcome their presence with open arms, at any time

i’M a fathER noW: oh my goddddddd

i’M a fathER noW: I’m sure it’s a coincidence that mojacko just mentioned that Tenshouin’s in hospital again and 7-9 is visiting time HM?

Puka Puka: betrayal🐳again🦈crying🐙face🦐

i’M a fathER noW: damn, Wataru-nii-san. Kanata-nii-san’s upgraded to crying bc of you

✩AMAZINGGG✩: You are all so wonderfully talented at jumping to conclusions! A marvellous parlour trick, truly!

Choux Bun: Can you deny it?

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Dearest Shu, I am capable of denying any truth or lie I so desire and no one would be any the wiser. Or are you forgetting my profession so callously?

Choux Bun: Rei, translate

BloodSucker69: “I’m visiting Tenshouin in the hospital so I can’t come to your important performance”

Choux Bun: Hm. As I thought

Puka Puka: Wataru🐬I🦑know🐠we🌊are🐚mean🐟about🦀him🦐

Puka Puka: But🐊we🐡are🦈still🐋your🦦friends🦐

Puka Puka: You🐟can🦞tell🐳us🐡if🐙you🐚have🐬started🦦to🦀care🌊for🐠Tenshouin🦐

i’M a fathER noW: tbf we’re mean about him for a good fucking reason

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Natsume makes a point. If that were the case, as once again you’ve shown wonderful adeptness at conclusion-jumping, then is that truly something I would be able to tell you all?

BloodSucker69: I suspect we have pushed buttons a little too firmly this time

BloodSucker69: I apologise, Hibiki. Your happiness is the most important thing to us, of course

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Ah, don’t misunderstand, my friends!

✩AMAZINGGG✩: This is still a performance with a fixed finale. I may appear more devoted to this role than some others, but only from how riveting I’ve found the performance to be

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Indeed, I have grown closer with my co-performers than anticipated

✩AMAZINGGG✩: But, as all performances end, the curtains will eventually fall, and this chapter of my life will conclude

Choux Bun: If that’s truly what you believe, we will attempt to support you

Choux Bun: However I will never support fine, whether you happen to be a member or not

✩AMAZINGGG✩: Fufufufu but of course, I’m well aware of that

i’M a fathER noW: @BloodSucker69 right, in this case, can Sora and Senpai come along with me? They’ve both been getting annoyingly excited next to me

BloodSucker69: I would be delighted to entertain them. Their tickets are secured

Puka Puka: I🦈will🐙see🐟you🐋there🦑Natsume🦐

The Tenshouin Dilemma

Natsume🔮: It’s happened, hasn’t it

Kanata🐠: What🐟has🦐

Rei⚰️: I assume Natsume is referring to what we suspected might occur from the changes in Hibiki’s behaviour and demeanour

Rei⚰️: He has fallen in love with Tenshouin

Shu🧵: I have never felt so disappointed to have been correct

Shu🧵: But there is a glow in his eyes, a smile behind his voice, and a pep in his step that wasn’t present all last year

Natsume🔮: I feel like a bit of a bitch for being angry bc like,,,, he seems happy. Genuinely so

Rei⚰️: I agree. As repulsive as the rest of us find him, attractive facade aside, it seems something about Tenshouin has truly captured our Hibiki’s heart

Kanata🐠: I🐋am🐙sad🐬we🐡could🦞not🦈be🦀the🐊ones🐠who🐚made🌊him🐳happy🦐

Shu🧵: That isn’t any fault of ours, Kanata

Shu🧵: I suspect we are all too troubled in too similar a manner for any of us to have been the one to save each other

Shu🧵: That’s why we’ve all found our own heroes, no?

Kanata🐠: Ah🦦that🦑makes🐟sense🐋now🦐

Kanata🐠: Tenshouin🐡is🐠Wataru’s🦑Chiaki🦐

Natsume🔮: god don’t tell him that. I’d cry if someone likened me to Tenshouin, fucking hell

Rei⚰️: All in agreement that, as much as we dislike him, we shouldn’t interfere in the romantic entanglement Hibiki has found himself in with Tenshouin?

Natsume🔮: begrudgingly, yeah

Shu🧵: my thoughts exactly

Kanata🐠: yes🐊sad🐙face🐳and🦞happy🦈face🦐

Kanata🐠: oh!🌊resigned🐡face🦐

Natsume🔮: i’m going to smash your phone

Chapter Text

Anzu truly loves idols with all her heart, but god they can be a pain. Like, for example, when she completely forgot to prepare an emcee for the Tanabata Festival and, instead of informing her of her error when she submitted the finished proposal to the student council, Eichi Tenshouin had no doubt fed it back to what Anzu can only term his ‘partner in crime’, placing an unpredictable Wataru Hibiki out of reach in the sky with a microphone in his hands.

This event is about to fall out of her control so fast. She hates to say it, given how fond of them she is, but she’s starting to see just why the Eccentrics posed such a problem to those attempting to revolutionise the system in an orderly, systematic manner.

Her fears are somewhat proven correct when Wataru shoves emcee duty onto Nazuna to perform last minute, and promptly disappears, leaving an unmanned blimp floating in the sky and causing a potential safety hazard for the fireworks Keito and the rest of the staff are attempting to prepare.

Anzu has learnt enough by now to know that when a Wataru related incident occurs, she must either find Eichi and request he reel his bluebird in with a bat of his eyelashes (she’s still figuring out this dynamic because… hm. She knows about their past, and she knows of Wataru’s love for a good performance. Is his devotion to Eichi a mere act? She hadn’t assumed so at all, but she’s learnt that Wataru’s acting runs deeper than it seems anyone can dissect, and with all she’s yet to discover about how and why Wataru joined fine, the plot doesn’t make sense just yet. Eichi is too smart to be fooled so easily, no matter how obviously infatuated he is), or she should track down Yuzuru and ask if he knows how to move a blimp.

Her minor tangent aside, because Anzu has quickly learnt that attempts to dissect the complexity and insanity of the convoluting paths connecting all the idols at Yumenosaki through past and present are futile without intense research, she suspects the Yuzuru method will be simpler and easier. For some reason, he is over-competent at a ridiculously large range of tasks a typical butler wouldn’t be.

Only, Yuzuru has left, Mao tells her when she searches backstage just before Trickstar go up to fight Ryuseitai (she’s sent three people to retrieve a missing Kanata already), because Tori was overtired and falling asleep where he sat, so he excused himself to Wataru and called for a car.

“Did you see where Hibiki went after that? He’s who I’m trying to retrieve,” Anzu asks, conscious that her boys are anxious to get on stage and warm the audience up.

“It’s pointless ever attempting to find that Masked Pervert,” Hokuto says, rolling his eyes with so little subtlety Anzu’s unsure he knows the phrase isn’t typically supposed to look so literal. “He won’t be found unless he wishes you to find him. Stick to looking for Fushimi.”

“If you just need a member of fine, I think Tenshouin’s your best bet,” Mao suggests. “He looked exhausted but took himself off straight away. It’s kinda rude to say but, well, I doubt he’s made it far.”

Anzu matches Mao’s small grimace at the words but nods her thanks and gives them one last vote of good luck before extending her search of the area, checking with Kuro and Souma that they’re happy to help keep an eye on things backstage before she returns. With their confidence assured, she heads out into the increasingly chilly night.

Most students are gathered for the Tanabata Festival, and as the noise grows gradually more distant to Anzu, the emptiness of the academy becomes more obvious. It should, in theory, make finding Eichi- or even Wataru- easier. Only as loud as Wataru is, what Hokuto said is true. Plus, if Eichi is collapsed somewhere, Anzu doubts he’ll be making much sound. Searching by sight it is.

She checks places she thinks the two of them are more likely to go to first, but when inside the school has been thoroughly scoured and Anzu hears the fireworks begin to explode outside, she figures there’s only outside left to survey. The urgency is decreased, at least. It sounds like Keito’s found some way around their pressing issue. Either that or he’s decided enough is enough and has considered the safety of Wataru’s blimp to be a necessary sacrifice. Anzu wouldn’t blame him.

With panic no longer clouding her vision, Anzu takes the time to decompress as she walks around the grounds, keeping an eye out. Her first big event. She thinks it’s been going pretty well (idol versus idol disputes notwithstanding- that’s not on her, even though she’s desperate to do her best to ensure the drama has minimal interference on any events). She owes a lot to Akatsuki for their assistance. A small part of her feels guilty for how helpful they’ve always been, given she set out to tear them down upon joining Trickstar. It’s nice to know that they’ve not taken it personally. They’re good people, and Anzu can tell they understood that what she was doing was for the sake of idols, those three being no exception to her adoration.

As for Trickstar’s final opponent, fine… Anzu’s reluctant to call them ‘good people’. Or particularly helpful towards her endeavours. From what she’s learnt and identified so far, though, Eichi’s ultimate goals aren’t too dissimilar from her own. He just has drastically different methods, and is aided with possibly the most dangerous and unpredictable weapons possible.

One of those weapons is Wataru Hibiki, having pledged his loyalty to Eichi’s side despite what she knows of their past. Their dynamic is intriguing. Anzu remains resolute in her belief that Wataru’s devotion can’t be just a performance. She’s witnessed moments that don’t make sense if there’s a specific role Wataru’s adopted. Idly, she wonders if even Wataru knows it’s deeper than a charade. She’s not the best at reading people, but she did become a producer for the opportunity to examine these dynamics up close and bring about change in the system by… well, using them essentially.

Hm. Maybe her way of doing things isn’t too dissimilar to Eichi’s. If anything, she’s been less upfront and honest about her goals.

What she’s doing at Yumenosaki isn’t the same as the mistakes of her past, though. She genuinely wants to be a producer and help her beloved idols to shine. And she hopes to do it without hurting anyone at all, if she can, and at least atoning for any mistakes as soon as she notices them. That’s what makes her different from Eichi. That and… a huge amount of power and money and conniving tactical abilities.

Ah, and think of the devil! At last, Anzu spots a scene of pastels peeking above a bed of flowers. She keeps her approach quiet to avoid disturbing any potential conversation- Wataru’s voice can be heard from a mile away, even though he’s not speaking loudly- in hopes to quietly get their attention and demand Wataru do something about his blimp which may or may not have been surrendered to the fireworks.

Anzu has recently discovered that she has an impressive ability to approach completely unheard and shock a lot of the idols. It’s an ability she’s enjoying making the most of, and Anzu can’t deny she’s a little curious to see how Wataru would react, given how fond he is of surprises, yet how seemingly difficult to surprise he is.

She can see the two of them a little better, now. Eichi’s head rests on Wataru’s shoulder, and a blanket is draped over his back. Wataru looks more serene than Anzu’s ever seen.

Unfortunately, Anzu’s silent approach is ruined when her next step sends a small stone skittering across the floor, and she sees Wataru’s head tilt up a little as he senses her presence. Not quite what she was hoping for, but at least he reacted a little?

Anzu takes a couple steps forward so Wataru doesn’t have to move his position too much to see it’s only her who disturbs them. When his eyes find her, she bows in apology and opens her mouth to express as much verbally. Before any sound can leave her mouth, Wataru shakes his head a little and brings a finger to his lips, hushing her, before he tilts his head towards Eichi in explanation. She nods obediently and mimes zipping her lips closed with a smile.

Wataru grins at her and throws in a wink, before his gaze drifts back to Eichi’s sleeping form as if magnetised.

Mind completely cleared of any reason Anzu had for finding these two in the first place, she takes a few steps back and slinks away, leaving the couple in peace. Or, well, almost. When she’s sure Wataru will be convinced she’s disappeared from view, she ducks behind a plant pot and waits for a few more seconds.

The words Anzu had heard drifting from Wataru before don’t continue, whatever one-sided conversation he was making having drawn to its conclusion. Anzu peeks her head up just enough to see what Wataru Hibiki is doing in the silence- truly a rare opportunity she doubts many have had the chance to investigate.

What she finds immediately has her regretting invading such privacy. The sleeping form of Eichi has shifted a little and Wataru’s arms are around him, now, supporting him in that position. Whilst he holds him, Wataru gazes down at Eichi with utter adoration; the likes of which Anzu is unsure she’s seen on anyone’s face- never mind Wataru’s, always putting on a performance for whichever audience accompanies him.

This is a genuine expression, no act behind it at all. There’s no audience, as far as Wataru must believe. No conscious audience, at least, because it’s obvious that the intended recipient of this besotted look is Eichi. This expression isn’t a performance for him, but for Wataru.

If this, then, is Wataru’s genuine, authentic, mask-less reaction to Eichi Tenshouin, then… it looks like Anzu was right to suspect that Wataru’s loyalty went further than an act. She doesn’t know how it’s happened, and she’s not sure anyone aside from possibly Wataru and Eichi will ever be privy to the explanation, but somehow Wataru has gone from being fine’s enemy to falling in love with its emperor.

Anzu mentally reworks her perception of how fine functions. Looks like it truly is less contractual than it had been in the past and how she’d expected it to be this time. Yuzuru is still a bit of a mystery, as it’s clear he’s just joined for Tori’s sake, but occasionally he looks as though he might genuinely enjoy being an idol (it’s hard to tell, as Anzu is taking the slightly terrifying grin he sometimes wears as indication of his true feelings of enjoyment…). But when it comes to Wataru, it seems he’s here for Eichi and intends to stay for Eichi, too.

She’s still certain that whatever happened post-war between the two will have been complicated and secret and no doubt impossible to uncover the whole unbiased truth of, but currently the dynamic seems far simpler than she’d feared. Wataru is in love with Eichi, and Eichi has been plainly in love with him back for as long as Anzu’s known them. It’s pretty sweet, actually. Anzu’s rooting for them. It definitely spares some of the others the terror of having either Wataru or Eichi express a romantic interest in them (except perhaps Yuzuru, again! Can that guy please become less of an enigma to unravel? Anzu is reaching her limit).

Ah. A horrible thought just crossed her mind. Anzu makes her way back to the festival, typing a hurried message to Kunugi-sensei

Anzu: Do you have any recommended resources I can look into regarding covering up relationship scandals between idols?

Kunugi-sensei: https://www.yumenosaki-online.org/production_modules/datingscandals

Kunugi-sensei: Don’t tell me anything else about this. I don’t want to know

Perfect! And yeah, Anzu doesn’t blame him. She gives it maybe three more months before she’s absolutely fed up of this type of situation herself, and she’s quite sure Wataru and Eichi will be a leading reason for her impending headaches.

Chapter Text

It sure is overdramatic of Yumenosaki to refer to the restructuring their school rules and unit system underwent as a ‘war’. Truly, the documents all suggest that aside from some strict rule changes and implementations, and the destruction of some famous reputations, the only real impact the war made was on the few who lost hope and threw themselves off the roof. By those standards, Ibara is more likely to term the events at Reimei a ‘war’. At least the main catalysts landed themselves in hospital for their efforts at a revolution.

Regardless, Ibara is researching their history to scope out information about their opponents for the upcoming SS, not to snort and laugh at Yumenosaki’s pathetic excuse of a battlefield. He’s planning a full infiltration of the school, but with no actual threats from the past to boast of (Tenshouin’s financial power aside), it appears the trip will be far easier than Ibara anticipated.

He didn’t climb this far out of the quite literal trenches by assuming ease of a seemingly low threat, however. Somehow, this small unit have usurped the Student Council and are competing in the SS. Their tactics may be more shrewd than Ibara expects. Still, it’s nothing a little preemptive information gathering can’t solve.

Ibara hacks into the attendance list for the idol course and finds the second year classroom registers. Trickstar members are all his own age, if the public information is to be believed. Sure enough, the name Akehoshi, Subaru headlines a class list. Ibara sends the file to his links in CosPro’s IT department, requesting access to the details inside, and he scrolls down the list to do the same with Hidaka, Hokuto and Yuuki, Makoto. Isara must be in the other class, so Ibara flicks across to the 2B list and scrolls.

His vision zeroes in on the name he least expected to ever come across again in his life and he scrolls back up. Sure enough, his keen sense hadn’t fooled him. A sick feeling washes over him as Ibara blinks at the screen.

Fushimi, Yuzuru

What the fuck. What the actual ever-loving fuck is Yuzuru Fushimi doing at Yumenosaki Academy?

Ibara takes a breath in before he clicks on the profile. There’s surely more than one Yuzuru Fushimi in the country. Yuzurus far more inclined to join an idol school than his dear Instructor ever would be. He’s going to click on that profile and be met with just another random uninspiring stranger with little to no potential as a profitable idol and his worries will be quelled in seconds.

His hand is not shaking as he clicks the mouse. There would be no witness here even if it was. The profile loads in slow motion, further antagonisation of Ibara’s thinly veiled horror that all his well thought out plans and schemes are to instantly come tumbling down if he is even remotely involved.

A deceptively passive smile that Ibara is all too familiar with greets him through a small square on his computer screen and Ibara slams his laptop shut, heart racing faster than he thinks it has in years. Probably since it has the last time he was in that wretched place.

Yuzuru Fushimi has enrolled at Yumenosaki. He’s training to be an idol. He had not been there the previous year. Or at least, if he had he’d been keeping his presence impressively hidden from Ibara’s background checks. How could he have known, though? Who in the world would have been able to predict that Ibara would inherit a part of the entertainment industry and land himself as an idol? Even Instructor couldn’t have expected anything of the sort.

So how. Why. What.

Ibara slowly opens his laptop again and takes stock of the limited profile he has access to without outside assistance.

Yuzuru looks older and less sharp than before. His hair is shorter- gone is the rattail that Ibara used to delight in tugging, just to piss him off. His eyes are still fierce, behind the otherwise gentle features of his face. It’s masked to anyone who doesn’t know him, but Ibara can still see the hunger of a wild beast trapped behind his attempt at a glazed and polite expression of servitude. His face has lost the remnants of youthfulness. Gone are the rounded cheeks Ibara remembers of him- the only reminder that this boy was only a month his senior- replaced with a strong jaw that gives away more of his physical prowess than Ibara suspects anyone else is privy to.

Fuck. He looks good. It makes Ibara want to claw that attractive mole off his face, sink his nails into his bewitching purple eyes, tear his beautiful navy hair out, kiss him so hard his head hits a wall and knocks him unconscious, stab a shard of glass into his chest for good measure.

Ibara is starting to suspect this is going to be an even larger thorn in his side than anticipated. He thought he was stronger than to still feel pain and resentment at the way he and Yuzuru had parted. Perhaps if he crushes Yuzuru as an idol, this ugly resentment will finally settle as nothing but thoughtless dislike, rather than the way it’s reared its head as a painful burning in his heart.

Ibara scans the rest of the document. Idol unit: fine. Hah. Of course he’d managed to join the top unit who’d reformed the school through vicious methods, an angelic smile on their faces as they stood on stage in white outfits washed of the blood that surely stained them. It was overwhelmingly appropriate for him. Ibara wasn’t disappointed.

He fires off Isara’s file before anyone can question his delay, then opens a new tab and searches for the new fine’s content. It seems they’ve only performed live a couple of times as a full unit since their hiatus and restructuring. Ibara puts a video on and studies the four members with all his might.

Ah. It all makes sense, suddenly. The pink haired brat is Tori Himemiya- Yuzuru’s assigned Bocchama. Ibara almost laughs to himself in glee. The lapdog shows his new nature! He truly had left to be a well groomed, domesticated pet. He should feel relieved. Yuzuru won’t be a threat to any of his schemes as long as his dear Bocchama is the focus of his attentions. His senses will have dulled with so much time lavishing in comforts the battlefield could never yield. He’ll be half the opponent Ibara anticipated.

It feels like he’s tricking himself. Ibara still suspects that, somehow, Yuzuru is just as dangerous an enemy to have now as he was back in their childhood. He ignores his feigned comfort in favour of hitting play on the video, ready to analyse fine’s every movement.

He’s somewhat surprised to discover that fine are actually good. He’d assumed their role in the war was that of tactical victory rather than wrought by any actual talent. Admittedly, the cast has changed drastically, but Ibara was still under the impression that money was the driving force behind fine’s success, as opposed to the genuine talent- and excellent production, if he’s so bold to say- of Eden.

It would seem he was mistaken. It’s no surprise that Yuzuru’s movements are perfect and exact. With the physical capabilities Ibara is all too aware he possesses, he’ll find the dance work required of idols as easy as Ibara does, if not more so.

The idol Ibara knows as Wataru Hibiki is talented, too. Ridiculously so. Ibara would argue his raw skill rivals His Excellency Nagisa’s, but his performance is more audience focussed. He’s a performer through and through, and he has the abilities to back up his pleas for the viewer to watch and be amazed.

Tenshouin and the Himemiya brat are competent dancers with good voices, too, but their efforts are coated with the dyes of hard work and passion. It reminds Ibara of Jun. They’re talented performers, but they’ve worked for this. It hasn’t come naturally. Ibara would point and laugh at their absence of talent if he didn’t respect their dedication to the battlefield. Perhaps the Himemiya brat is not as pampered and idiotic as Yuzuru always implied. He’s been willing to divert off his path and battle his way into one of the top idol units, after all.

Ibara wonders how much of that is Yuzuru’s influence. Even when they met, Yuzuru had been naturally vicious and war-minded. Whilst watching his movements on stage, Ibara can tell that holding a gun was more natural to Yuzuru than extending a graceful arm in dance.

He’s not satisfied with the minute evidence music videos provide of Yuzuru’s current threat level. Ibara hunts for interviews next, determined to find anything that will clue him in on any potential weakening in Yuzuru’s defences. He’ll never be able to infiltrate Yumenosaki unless he can confirm there are cracks in his armour.

Before he knows it, he’s watching more videos about fine than he ever wanted to. Ibara will tell himself it’s just for research. He’ll ignore the part of his brain trying to inform him that hearing Yuzuru’s voice after so many years is comforting. That hearing how gentle it sounds compared to what he’s used to stings more than any cuts he received at the behest of Yuzuru’s blades. That seeing Yuzuru fake such a passive, deceptive smile has captivated his entire attention, because Ibara just wants to climb through the screen and tear the flesh off Yuzuru’s face until his lips finally twitch into a genuine grin of malice and sick, twisted enjoyment of the unsavoury.

Only when Ibara clutches his pen so hard that it snaps does he realise his obsessive staring at Yuzuru is not productive or beneficial to his research. He forces his attention onto the other members of fine for the remainder of the video, determined to ignore Yuzuru’s presence for the sake of his own sanity.

He almost chokes on his own saliva when he finally hears the words that Tenshouin and Hibiki are saying.

“Wataru is my idol- he’s the reason I’m here at all. I knew I wanted to reach him- to stand on stage with him. That was my goal; that’s why I made fine.”

“Of course, acting has always been my passion! However, being an idol is simply Amazing, no? I’m finding that the joys and horrors of the idol world have weaved more fascinating scripts for me than the now still hand of Shakespeare is capable of. And that’s all thanks to Eichi for being my most beloved playwright!”

“Wataruuuu it’s lonely over here, won’t you join me on this sofa?”

“Ahahaha but of course! Eichi is just too cute when he pouts so sadly. Here, let me scoop you into my arms🎶”

“May I remind the both of you that we are currently at work.”

“Oh, I don’t mind! It’s nice to see the fine off stage, you know?”

“We’re just as cute and refined off stage as on! Or, we would be if Long Hair didn’t hog Eichi-sama all the time.”

“Fufufu, jealous are you, Himegimi?”

“Young Master. The interview.”

“Geeeeeez, fine, no need to look all scary, Yuzuru.”

“Our kids are so lively, aren’t they, Wataru?”

Ah, there it is! Ibara had been so briefly entrapped by the horror that is Hibiki and Tenshouin’s outright shameless flirtation their unfortunate PR hire must be run off their feet to damage control that he’d almost missed the gem he was looking for. The cold look of warning and genuine threat had only flashed through Yuzuru’s eyes for a brief second, but the moment the look had crossed his face, Hibiki had disentangled himself from Tenshouin, and Himemiya had immediately given up on any retaliation.

So he is still a terror. And it seems his fellows in fine are aware of his true nature, after all. Fascinating. Hahahaha! He’s thrilled that life can remain a bit more interesting, even though anti-Yuzuru defences won’t be easy to implement.

His limit of how many idol interviews he can stomach reached, Ibara closes the tabs and opens a new one, looking into tapping devices and wondering how easily he can discover where Yuzuru is likely to frequent. He doesn’t want to allow any room for his infiltration to go awry.

Thankfully, it takes only a small google search to find Himemiya mention the name of a karaoke place near Yumenosaki that he loves to visit. No doubt his loyal servant will accompany him, giving Ibara the opportunity to listen in on Yuzuru away from the public and gauge how far from his previous level of terrifying skill he may or may not have fallen.

Planting a listening device that doesn’t record conversations is an easy feat for Ibara. As is hacking the karaoke place’s booking system and setting up code to notify him if the surname ‘Himemiya’ shows up. Ibara can go about his life as normal without needing to monitor it or even think about Yuzuru until something of note happens.

(He’s still thinking about Yuzuru. It feels like he can’t stop, now he’s started. Does he cook delicious treats for his young master, now? That same smile that had seemed so out of place when he showed rare kindness towards Ibara constantly plastered on his face? Does he remember the things Ibara told him when they’d escape and sit in the grass together, complain about their lives, jealously long for the other’s, tell secrets Ibara still hasn’t let escape his mouth to anyone else since?)

He’s in a rehearsal with the rest of Eden when his phone buzzes. He reads the screen whilst going to take a swig of water and finds that Himemiya has booked a karaoke room in 15 minutes’ time. Ha! The luxury of those with money to throw around that they can waltz in and ensure last minute reservations at their will.

“Ibara? Everything okay?” Nagisa asks over his shoulder, almost making Ibara jump from how silently he’d approached. Fuck, he really can’t let his guard down around His Excellency. No matter how tame he may appear, his abilities are uncanny, and his mind is sharper than he lets on.

“Yes, nothing the matter over here! However, I have just been reached by a contractor regarding an important call I will have to take in 15 minutes’ time. Do go ahead without me until I return. I will work twice as hard to ensure my body does not fall behind in our performance, hahaha!” Ibara says, adding a salute as he drops his phone and heads back to the centre of the room. “Now, shall we take it from the top one more time?”

Ibara’s perfectly set alarm sounds 15 minutes later, and he excuses himself to take the ‘phone call’. Once he’s tracked down an unbooked room and locked the door from inside, he taps into the listening device he’s planted in the karaoke place and turns his phone volume up.

Yes, that’s Himemiya’s voice ordering everyone around. And by the sounds of it, the rest of fine are along, too. At least that guarantees Yuzuru’s presence and, ah, sure enough, there’s his voice, reminding Himemiya to place his possessions down with greater care.

Himemiya seems to be the reason for their visit, and soon he starts up music that is too loud over the device. Ibara fiddles with the control panel his phone has provided and messes with the sliders until the device is focussing on background noise over the main audio input.

Aha! Now he can hear the other members of fine talking among themselves. Or, at least, he can hear Tenshouin and Hibiki talking.

Jesus. Their closeness is no act for the cameras- they truly are this insufferably flirtatious with each other. Ibara wonders how the always pragmatic Yuzuru copes with such a duo this close to him. He won’t deny his amusement at the thought of Yuzuru silently suffering, forced to maintain his polite facade, as he seethes in secret at the horrifying sappiness of his seniors.

“Ahaha, so cute! It’s pleasant to have someone who adores you. It almost make me envious, Eichi.”

“Is that so? But it’s because of you that Tori chases after me, since I’m always yearning for you and work hard to get close to you.”

Ibara scrunches his nose up. If any of his fellows in Eden started acting like this in front of him, he’d be putting some strict workplace restrictions in place. How Yuzuru must suffer, having no authority in his unit! Haha!

Ibara doesn’t hear anything aside from Hibiki and Tenshouin’s romantic prattling over Himemiya’s song for a good few sentences. Oh, he should have gotten video footage too- that would have been beneficial.

“Exactly. It’s going to be busier from now on, Wataru. Will you come along?”

“Certainly! You don’t need to force me- we’ll walk close to each other… Eichi.” Ew, why did he say his name like that? “Please entertain me from hereon too. I’m looking forward to it from the bottom of my heart!”

“That’s my line, Wataru.”

“Both of you,” Yuzuru’s voice cuts through. Ibara’s body instinctively responds to it, snapping onto high alert as he listens in. “I’m sorry for disturbing you when the mood you’re creating is one where the world belongs to the two of you, but Bocchama is performing, right now. We’re here to support him, so won’t you pay proper attention?”

“Ah, of course, sorry Yuzuru.”

“Go Himegimi!! Clap clap! Your dance is so much better now!”

Hm, much like before, it seems all it takes is one vaguely spine-chilling comment from Yuzuru to snap the rest of his unit out of whatever idiocy they’re engaging in.

It has confirmed Ibara’s musings regarding Tenshouin and Hibiki, however. If even Yuzuru, as infuriatingly observant as he is, is commenting on it, then it must be true indeed that the two are romantically involved. Ibara isn’t well versed in romantic relationships aside from what Hiyori rambles about and what he’s encountered in fiction, so he had his doubts if what he was assuming to be romantic between them was indeed so. Unfortunately, and against all his best wishes, Ibara trusts Yuzuru’s judgement. If Yuzuru believes there to be some form of entanglement between the two, then Ibara supposes that confirms it.

It’s nothing quite so wonderful as finding out that Yuzuru is pathetic now and won’t pose any threat- in fact, it just highlights to Ibara that he’s still observant and assertive as all hell- but Ibara feels as though the revelation of a romantic relationship between two male idols in a top unit is a good souvenir from this endeavour. You never know when blackmail material will be needed. Especially when it comes to dealing with influential businessmen like Tenshouin.

Ibara might just be able to survive this battlefield, after all.

Chapter Text

Overhearing loud laughter on the approach to his dorm room is nothing out of the ordinary for Madara. All three of his roommates are exuberant, extroverted personalities, and he’s no exception when it comes to a lack of volume control. Their dorm is proud to boast the largest quantity of angry messages and visits from an infuriated Keito out of any other room.

He’d feel a little bad for Sora, but he was never going to turn out to be quite the good, well-behaved kid that Ra*bits are with the troublesome seniors he surrounds himself with. That, plus Madara tries not to feel any more guilt over how his actions hurt his juniors than absolutely necessary. The list is… too long already, thanks!

Some point around halfway down the corridor, Madara identifies the laugh as Wataru's, but where he’s expecting to hear a responding cheerful reply from Subaru or Sora, he hears nothing. It’s also not unusual for Wataru to practice scenes from whatever script he’s currently reading in their room, but his roles have never seemed to call for his natural tone of voice, or laughter quite this raucous and unfiltered. If there’s one thing Madara’s learnt about Wataru since he recently moved into the same room as him, it’s that as silly and troublesome as he can be, Wataru is deadly serious when it comes to acting, and won’t accept anything less than perfection.

His curiosity gets the better of him, and rather than politely knocking as he typically would, Madara just unlocks the door in hopes to catch Wataru in whatever state his unrestrained cackles have found him.

To his utter disappointment, Wataru sits cross-legged on his bed with a laptop open in front of him, and when Madara isn’t ambushed with hundreds of obnoxiously bright stickers covering every surface, he catches sight of the face on the screen.

Ugh. Wataru is on call with Eichi from his hospital room. Why couldn’t he just go and visit like a normal person, and keep that annoying guy out of their dorm room?

Madara closes the door behind him and looks towards Wataru, but he doesn’t make any signs of acknowledgement, despite Madara knowing all too well that he’s wayyyy too sharp to have missed the sound of the door. Ouch! To choose to focus his attention on Eichi instead of him! Wataru is cruel. Madara supposes it does make sense, though. They do seem pretty close, even as unitmates go, and he figured out that Wataru wasn’t in fine for revenge (which was what he’d expected, given what Madara would do in his situation) when he was roped into Träumerei.

But still, if Eichi’s rudeness has spread to exuberant Wataru and made him so cruel as to neglect to call out an overdramatic welcoming home, Madara is gonna have to sit him down and give him a stern talking to from his Mama.

“Wataru, pleaaaase, I think I’ll die of suspense before any ailment if you don’t tell me,” Eichi’s slightly garbled voice comes over the speaker.

“Ah, ah! A secret means it’s a secret. Besides, you’re the one I’m attempting to entertain with the surprise- my efforts would be entirely wasted if I told you now just because you begged so cutely,” Wataru replies. Madara resists the urge to visibly cringe as he drops his bag onto his bed. Interestingly, Wataru has made no move to inform Eichi of his presence. Madara idly wonders if he can find out some secret weakness of the emperor’s. Aside from the obvious ones of his health and his obsession with Wataru.

“The fact you’ve entered the Neverland cup for me is even more reason for me to know what you’re up to. Shall I perhaps order you to tell me?”

“Ah, Eichi, I think you’ve deluded yourself into holding more power over me than is true,” Wataru says, still smiling gently.

“Ouch. Forget the suspense- I think the heartbreak you’ve just caused will kill me first,” Eichi says, and Madara hears a flopping sound followed by a bout of coughing.

“And after all my earnest promises to not betray you. Perhaps I should be more honest, in that case! You do, indeed, hold a great deal of power over me- as is the nature of the force we call love- and the reason I’m denying you this is because I know if you order me too sternly, I will cave to your beautiful face and gentle voice and will rid myself the ability to ever surprise you again. Alas, if that becomes the case, I would have no reason to keep living, for what is Wataru Hibiki without the surprises to bring smiles to his adoring audience?” Wataru says, and Madara pauses his unpacking to listen in closer. Did he mishear that?

“I value you for more than surprises, Wataru. Even if you could never entertain me again, I’d still keep you by my side. Because it’s you- simply your existence alone- that I adore so fiercely.”

He knows he’s giving himself away as an eavesdropper, but Madara can’t help but turn his head to gauge Wataru’s reaction to such a heartfelt confession expressed less privately than Eichi believes.

Ohohoho, this is interesting. His cheeks are a little redder than they were a few seconds ago! His expression remains unchanged, as Madara would expect from such a seasoned actor, but this is still an interesting observation.

“Compliments won’t unseal my lips I’m afraid, Eichi! Perhaps you’re losing your touch with me?”

“Then allow me to spend every second from now on striving to get it back.”

“I jest- it would take more than failing to get me to succumb to your wishes for me to ever lose interest in you,” Wataru says, giving the laptop a smile that’s a bit more fond than Madara’s ever seen on his face. His suspicions are seeming more likely every second, but he won’t jump to any conclusions until he’s had some pretty solid evidence! He still feels like he missed a little too much of the drama from their Yumenosaki days to know exactly what’s going on between these two.

“Although,” Wataru continues when Eichi has to pause to cough again, “on topic of my interest in you, I had a fascinating conversation about you and the old fine with Nagisa whilst we were brainstorming!”

“Ugh, I don’t think I want to hear about this,” Eichi says. Hmmm, interesting. Madara hadn’t realised he felt guilt at everything that transpired. He’d always assumed Eichi was quite proud of the devastation he’d caused. Especially given the warning the results of his trial run with Leo surely provided to someone so cunning.

Madara distracts himself for a moment with getting his laptop out so that Wataru doesn’t suspect him of doing exactly what he’s doing- ignoring all work he intended to achieve in favour of eavesdropping on their conversation.

“Ah, nothing so deep, don’t fret. We simply bemused how entertaining it was for us to be in the roles we currently find ourselves, given our past,” Wataru says. Madara lets himself zone out a little so he can open some documents. This conversation isn’t quite as interesting anymore.

Eichi complains that Wataru’s being mean, Wataru says something about it actually being poetic that despite his history with darker colours, overdramatic and bold, flashy performances, he’s found comfort and genuine joy in the angelic, heavenly performances of fine.

Hm, okay, that last bit was a little interesting, again. Madara tunes back in.

“And Nagisa has found his little snake to be awfully dear to him, too! It truly feels like we’ve swapped roles. Whoever would’ve thought Wataru Hibiki would find his rightful place by your side!”

“Well, I always thought that, but I suppose it was wishful thinking,” Eichi says. He still sounds so petulant. The emperor is really quite the baby when it comes to his feelings, hm?

“You wished upon the right star. Or, perhaps, it should be termed more than just a wish when you went to all the effort of reaching out and tethering me to your side, no?”

“I never expected you to stay put when I loosened my hold.”

“Because you think too little of yourself, Eichi,” Wataru says, tone gentle and eyes fond. Madara is feeling like he shouldn’t be listening in, all of a sudden, but this is his room too, so Wataru is the one who needs to learn to tone down the… flirting? He’s not sure what else to even call it at this point.

“I think anyone who looked at the sins of my past would agree that I don’t deserve to have the one person I always desired so firmly within my grasp. I’m not going to let you go, though. There is no one else in this world I've ever wanted to have as badly as I want you, Wataru,” Eichi says, and even through the grogginess Madara can hear the, um, lust in his voice.

Yikes! He has really gotten himself into a situation here. He throws a mildly panicked glance over at Wataru, hoping he’ll at last get the hint to inform Eichi that his partner/unitmate/friend-with-benefits/whatever else they are is not alone in his room thank youuuu.

Wataru briefly makes eye contact and Madara makes the mistake of believing he’s saved.

“Hmm, not even your right hand man? You’ve known him so much longer than me, and kept him so earnestly by your side all this time. I feel jealous sometimes, you know,” Wataru says. That in itself isn’t the issue.

“I do rely on Keito’s help quite a lot, you’re right, but he’s not you Wataru. You know you’re different, right?”

“I could perhaps do with a reminder every now and again, or you’ll make me feel lonely,” Wataru says. This isn’t the issue either.

“Fufu, that’s the last thing I want you to be. But be honest, are you really jealous of Keito or are you trying to get a certain response out of me?” Eichi says. Wataru laughs loudly- it’s the same natural laugh Madara had heard from down the corridor.

“Ah, I fear you know me all too well at this point. I admit, the idea for a devilish game crossed my mind with all this talk of who you want by your side.”

“Do tell- with my current location, I’m positive literally anything you can come up with is bound to entertain me thoroughly.”

“The reason I brought your right hand man up too is that I thought we could play smash or pass with our fellow idols!”

Yep. That’s the issue. Madara genuinely contemplates the merits of killing the both of them. Probably not by his own hand to avoid suspicion, but he could quite easily arrange for a contact to do the job for him.

“Honestly, Wataru, it’s like you don’t listen to me. Haven’t I told you enough that you’re one I want by my side?” Eichi says with a sigh. Wataru’s smile grows, but not in his usual devilish way- it’s something more natural and pleased looking.

“Then allow me to explain the rules a little better! This is no ordinary game. The two of us have to agree on if we’d have a threesome with them! It’s a little more interesting the more dynamics you bring in, no? Plus some of our coworkers you know better than me and vice versa, so it’s bound to be all the more entertaining than a simple yes or no,” Wataru explains. Madara thinks he would like to smash both of them over the head with a large rock right about now for forcing him to listen in on whatever the hell this is.

Eichi laughs and ends up coughing again.

“Okay, okay, I’m game. Are we starting with Keito, then, since you keep bringing him up? Fufu, I’m starting to think I know your answer already. Perhaps I should’ve been the one getting jealous.”

“Ah, but don’t misunderstand my reasons for beginning this game. I never intended to exclude you from my own answers, either. You’re also the one I want, Eichi, and I do wish you’d stop forgetting this after my so-frequent heartfelt confessions of devotion to you.” Wataru pouts and pulls the most pathetic face Madara has ever seen, which draws a flustered sounding giggle out of Eichi. Oh my god, Madara’s about two seconds away from calling an assassin to come end his suffering right this second.

“However, yes,” Wataru continues, “he would be a smash from my behalf. Ah, there is something so pathetic about him when he gets all angry at me, don’t you think? Fufu, and when the three of us are together that cute expression only deepens!”

“Hm, I do see your point, but… I feel like I’d just burst out laughing if I had to sleep with Keito. I’ve known him far too long, and aside from perhaps a week when I was about 14, I don’t think I’ve ever seriously considered him that way. You’re right, though. Watching you toy with him would be very entertaining,” Eichi says. Madara doesn’t want to know this. These aren’t the secret weaknesses he was hoping to uncover.

“Ah, then perhaps we need three answers! Smash, pass, and ‘I would like to sit in the cuck chair’,” Wataru suggests, with a bright expression completely inconsistent with the words that just left his mouth. Madara has to actually cover his mouth to stop himself from choking on his own saliva.

Eichi is less fortunate and enters another fit of spluttering coughs. Wataru waits until he’s recovered to continue.

“So I’m going to note down Eichi on the cuck chair for Keito-kun and let’s move on!”

“Wataru, you’re going to kill me, hahahaha,” Eichi laughs through interrupting coughs. “Have you made a list of names for this?”

“But of course! I had to come to our call with entertainment planned, or what kind of friend would I be?” Wataru says. Hold the phone. Pause. Friend?

Madara looks up again, against his will, and gives an incredulous look to Wataru. He thought he’d finally come to a concrete, if horrifying, conclusion with overwhelming evidence that Wataru and Eichi were secretly dating, only for Wataru to throw a spanner in the works with a single word.

Wataru glances up from the laptop, once again proving that he’s all too aware of Madara’s presence, and throws him a grin and a wink.

Okay… so the use of the word was because of his present audience? Idols are technically forbidden from dating, so if there’s a third party listening in, it’s better safe than sorry, but after everything Madara’s heard, does Wataru really think that’s enough to throw him off the scent?

Interestingly, Eichi doesn’t really react to the word.

“Go on, who’s being subjected to this next?” Eichi asks, as if he’s not entirely complicit in this game.

“Why, our dear Butler-san of course!”

“Smash, next question,” Eichi says faster than Madara was at all expecting. Huh, he’s never really paid attention to Yuzuru.

“Good, I was hoping you’d agree. Ohoho, do you think we could get him to drop the act completely?”

“Oh, I hope so. He’s so hot, it’s not fair. I’m not a masochist-“

“Uh huh, sure you aren’t,” Wataru interrupts in a tone Madara can only read as thoroughly sarcastic. Interesting.

“-but oh my god, Yuzuru could beat me up a little and I would not be mad about it at all. Have you seen his abs, ugh!”

Yeah, that’s the closest thing to a moan that Madara hopes he ever hears out of Eichi Tenshouin’s mouth, thanks!

“Why of course I’ve seen them. I must say, you were quite the genius when you insisted sharing that changing room would ‘deepen our bonds as a unit’ fufu. Here I was wondering if you just wanted to see me shirtless,” Wataru says.

“Well, that was admittedly another motivation. Allow me my small indulgences.”

“I’d allow you any indulgences you wished of me, my dear! I suspect Butler-san will not be as lenient as me, however. We’d have to orchestrate our attack very carefully, but I think with our combined cunning we could get him to drop that ever so beautiful mask for at least a single night of raw, authentic Fushimi,” Wataru says with a grin and eyes that are slightly too heated for what is still, Madara reminds himself despite Wataru’s memory apparently failing him, a public conversation.

“Okay, this is getting fun. Who’s next?”

“Rei! What say you?”

“Oh, smash,” Eichi says. Madara tries not to feel a spark of jealousy at their new target. He has no claim over Rei- he’s only a successor in his eyes, no doubt- but hearing them so casually bring him up as a target for their inappropriate game is… infuriating.

“Hm, I suspected. He is very beautiful, but I’m unsure if the two of us are all that compatible. Of course, we’ve jokingly flirted in our past, but it was very much all in jest on my behalf! However, seeing the two of you interact- that would be fascinating, so perhaps I’ll choose to sit on the cuck chair for this one.”

Madara would also like to choose the cuck chair here, because he intends to use it to smash Eichi over the head and keep his filthy hands off Rei. Shame it’s all hypothetical.

“Our next target is an interesting one,” Wataru says, as though anything here is at all uninteresting to these two weirdos, “mainly because he entered this very room not that long ago and has been listening in to our riveting conversation despite pretending to be working on his laptop!”

“Oh god, please tell me it wasn’t Harukawa,” Eichi says, genuinely fearful.

“No, no, goodness, I would’ve kept things far more PG had it been him! It’s Mr Festival! Our resident friendly giant has been pulling some most fascinating expressions as we’ve spoken,” Wataru says, grinning over at Madara. Madara raises his eyebrows at him. It’s pretty much the only thing he can do to stop himself from going over there and punching his new roommate. Got to try and start things on good terms, after all! Even if he’s the only one being so considerate!

“Wataru, how much has he heard? Oh, this is so embarrassing,” Eichi says. At least one of them feels some semblance of shame.

“It has been equally as mortifying for me!” Wataru absolutely definitely lies. “However, I didn’t want an extra presence to allow the importance of our calls to lower, so I spoke my feelings genuinely and earnestly as though no one else were here. I’m sure he’ll keep quiet about our little exchanges of sweet nothings, right Mr Festival?”

Wataru looks over at him, awaiting a response, grin still bright as if Madara isn’t aware that Wataru and Eichi could make his life even more hellish than it already is if he doesn’t cooperate with their idiocy.

“My lips are sealed!” Madara says. He wonders if snitching to Keito might work. Keito would at least believe him. Hm, Keito’s not the biggest fan of any of the three people here. Still, perhaps a little sympathy vote?

“Why do I not fully trust that?” Eichi says with a sigh. “Either way, him being in the room doesn’t change the fact that I’ll pass. Too tall, loud, and unpredictable.”

Madara does not point out that those are possibly three of the most appropriate words to describe Wataru.

“No offence, Mr Festival, but I would pass as well. It would be an awfully awkward arrangement to share a room alongside someone whom you’d engaged in an unfeeling affair with!” Wataru adds.

“No offence taken, haha,” Madara says, forcing a smile to hide the violent thoughts bubbling beneath the surface.

He thinks he’s finally reached a point where no information gained is worth listening to this conversation, so Madara buries himself in his work and tries not to burst a blood vessel when Eichi says he’d smash Leo but thankfully Wataru chooses to refrain. He doesn’t care enough to comment on Nagisa, Hokuto, Hiyori, Chiaki, Ritsu, Ibara, Tsumugi or Subaru.

There is one conclusion he draws from all this as Wataru finally winds the conversation to a close upon the arrival of Eichi’s evening hospital staff. Somehow, through either being away from Yumenosaki half his final year or from being caught up in affairs far more stressful, troublesome, time consuming and distracting than whatever childish political battle Eichi’s attempting to orchestrate at ES, Madara has missed an important turning event. He hadn’t realised the closeness between Wataru and Eichi was more than just becoming genuine friends after the events of the war.

This intimacy they so openly parade is far more than that, and the subtle expressions Eichi draws from Wataru prove more than anything else that Wataru is in love with the guy. Madara feels completely relieved that Wataru chose to pass on him during their game, because if his taste is that bad, then Madara’s quite pleased to be excluded from it. Not that he’s some moral angel, but at least he isn’t Eichi Tenshouin.

Madara thinks everyone else probably assumed he knew and thus neglected to fill him in on the fact that the Emperor of Yumenosaki had started dating Wataru Hibiki of the Five Eccentrics, but hey, at least he’s found out now before he can embarrass himself.

One thing he’s absolutely sure of, though, is that he needs to warn the youngest two roommates of this potential dilemma. Eichi Tenshouin is not allowed in this dorm room after the way that conversation went. Because apparently these two have zero qualms about PDA and seem to delight in exhibitionism. Yeah, Madara doesn’t want to be brought into their weird bedroom games any more than he already was today, thanks. Honestly, he’s surprised he hasn’t caught them making out in the new common room, yet. He suspects Eichi’s hospitalisation must be the cause, and he wonders if he’s the bad guy here for being grateful for it.

Madara opens a new tab on his laptop and browses online for an eye mask and earbuds. Never hurts to be prepared for any potential incident, haha! And hey, worst comes to worst, he’s got contacts in questionable places. Wataru will obey the Eichi boundaries on this room or there’ll be big trouble.

Ha! Madara can’t quite believe he’s contemplating such extreme measures because of one game of smash or pass. Only, he absolutely can, because Wataru and Eichi are, without a doubt, the most obnoxiously horrifying duo Madara has ever encountered.

Maybe he should just stay away from the dorms as much as he can. Being flighty isn’t out of character, and it will spare him some Wataru-shaped suffering. Haha, sorted! Madara is a genius. Some things are worth the sacrifice. And one of those things is definitely Wataru and Eichi’s romantic relations.

Chapter Text

Aira feels like he’s actually living in a fanfiction. He love love looooooves his life, because not only does he get to live his dream of being an idol with screaming fans and beautiful outfits and stunning performances, but he gets to see his favourite idols every. single. day. EEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

There are, unfortunately, some huge downsides to interacting with the people Aira goes insane over on the internet, writes and reads fanfic about, collects merch of, and all together can hardly believe are real, and that is that in being an idol himself, Aira has to share a room with idols.

Because life was apparently going a little too well for Aira, it’s just his luck that the two roommates he has are possibly two of the biggest idols in Japan- two absolutely stunning and talented megastars whom Aira’s twitter moots go crazy over (and, Aira won’t lie, he goes crazy over them too). Not only that, but these two idols have renowned beef, and the theories have been circulating for a good while. And Aira is finally in a position where he can find out the truth- where he can learn insane secrets no one on the internet would even believe if he shared them.

But he can’t. Tell. Anyone!!!! Because he’s an idol, too! And he has to sign contracts about secrecy and he has to respect his roommates’ private lives!!!! And all he wants to do is go insane online and tell people that they were WRONG, HAHA AND HE WAS RIGHT.

Aira mainly laments his sorrows to Kohakucchi, who’s always been a more than generous ear listening and comforting Aira’s woes. But yeah, in short? Aira is going a little bit stir crazy over the fact that he shares a room with Eichi Tenshouin and Rei Sakuma.

It’s all totally going to be fine, though. Aira hides his merch in drawers and under his bed in the most incriminating instances (he does not want Sakuma-senpai to see some of the DEADMANZ pashas he owns). And it’s not even that upsetting when he finds out some things he’d been dead certain about turned out to be completely wrong (the tears he shed upon discovering ReiKei had not been dating during DEADMANZ era are between him and his pillow alone, thanks).

So yeah, Aira’s had to become a little less active on ES twitter and a little less obvious about his idol infatuation specifically targeted towards his two roommates, but he can still live with it most of the time… sort of. Tenshouin-senpai constantly telling him the most insane stories Aira has ever heard about his favourite idols, Sakuma-senpai included, is… a bit of a dilemma still, but mainly because Aira’s come to the horrifying realisation that gorgeous, heavenly-voiced, angel-faced, powerfully beautiful Eichi Tenshouin is a petty, sneaky, lying bastard of a man who delights in the defamation and destruction of others. He’s also Aira’s boss, if all that wasn’t already enough psychic damage to poor little idol fanatic Aira Shiratori.

Okay, Kohakucchi had told him he was being a little bit overdramatic with that description of Tenshouin-senpai, but he stands by the fact that it’s kind of accurate. Oh, if only he could tell his old twitter moots what he knows about fine’s leader, now. It’s not just Tenshouin-senpai whom Aira’s gotten to find out more about from fine, either.

By some miracle, Himemiya-senpai is really nice to him at their Pretty 5 events. And he talks to Aira in the common room and at school. He’s also joined the same circle as Fushimi-senpai, and it’s kinda terrifying to have someone so smart in a circle about learning, because he absolutely does not need to be there, but he’s always so polite and helpful and asks questions Aira secretly wanted to ask Hasumi-senpai, and he’s even patient with Hiiro’s idiocy (which Aira may or may not hide his own unintelligence behind, but at least he’s learning!).

And whilst Tenshouin-senpai certainly isn’t the best roommate in the world, he’s not the worst. He likes to try and give Aira advice a lot, and Aira genuinely values it! Advice from the Eichi Tenshouin isn’t something to take lightly. He also brews really nice tea. Aira’s no expert on rich food and drink, but he can tell it’s expensive. So are the snacks Tenshouin-senpai shares. He’s scary rich, honestly, but it works in Aira’s favour sometimes.

The only member of fine who still remains completely unreachable and an absolute mystery of an idol never to be attained or understood by Aira is Wataru Hibiki of the Five Eccentrics. Or, well, of fine now, which is an equally impressive and fanboy-worthy title in Aira’s opinion.

That, however, changes, as do all of Aira’s preconceptions of idols and the pedestal he puts them on, these days. Half the time, he wonders if they’re going out of their way to be batshit insane and completely pathetic, just to erase any good impression Aira ever held. Not everyone, of course, but… many.

Aira can’t get to sleep. This is nothing particularly special- it’s taken a while for him to feel comfortable enough in this dorm room to actually calm down and pass out, so insomnia is a familiar sensation. Still, he’d been doing better this last couple of weeks, so it’s annoying that tonight is bad, because Alkaloid are training tomorrow, and Mayo-senpai’s dance classes are kinda hellish, as love~ly as Mayo-senpai himself is.

After at least half an hour of tossing and turning, Aira gives up and succumbs to Twitter. He switches out of his professional idol account (because he has one of those now, accompanied by a little blue check mark. AaaaahhHH!!) and into his long-serving stan account.

One of his moots is fine posting, which is no surprise given they’ve been a Wataru stan for as long as Aira’s known them. Aira decides to check out the thread, because he’s not above starting some mild discourse if he knows something the general public doesn’t and can subtly argue with other fans in a way that doesn’t expose why he has insider knowledge.

Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary

!!UPDATED!! Thread of all Wataru and Eichi moments that suggest they’re in a secretrelationship (bc, y’know, idols aren’t allowed to date lol) (1/26)

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See more…

Aira opens the thread because although he came here to argue, he’s not against adding some additional support for a moot. Eichi is always a little bit suspicious when he talks about Wataru, and before Aira came to ES he was a bit of an EiWata shipper. Literally nothing he’s witnessed since he arrived here has changed his stance. If anything, it’s only further convinced him that something’s going on.

Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary

1.Starting off kinda basic but it’s essential to their story- Wataru joined fine after the original members defeated him and only Eichi remained, suggesting he joined for Eichi, which he’s basically proven in interviews (2/26) [img.01]

💬: Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary Image description: transcript from interview. Text says ‘Interviewer: As we all know, the cast of fine changed quite a lot last year. Hibiki-kun, you weren’t one of the original members, but you did compete against them at Yumenosaki. Did that competition inspire you to join them? What happened?

WH: Ah, you’re not too far from hitting the truth. It wasn’t quite the old fine who captured my attention, but our very own Eichi, fufufu. He was quite the catalyst for my joining’

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Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary

2.The way they look at each other, both in MVs and interviews and basically just anywhere you see the two of them together UGHHHHH. Just take a look at this. Heart Eyes Hibiki is real (3/26) [img.02] [img.03] [img.04] [img.05]

💬: Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary Image description: photos feature idols Eichi Tenshouin and Wataru Hibiki. The first photo is a screenshot from the fine MV ‘Owaranai Symphonia’. Eichi is gazing fondly at Wataru. Second photo is from a promo video for a toy store. Wataru is behind Eichi and smiling sappily at him instead of looking at the camera like everyone else. Images 3 and 4 are both from interviews. Both idols are looking into each other’s eyes and smiling in an unmistakably whipped way.

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Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary

3.Backstage at TempestFes. Iykyk, and if you don’t WELL! You are in for a treat. Before fine’s debut of Tempest Night, a fan was working tech and got a glimpse of the idols backstage and probablyyy broke their contract but w/e, we got this pic, totally worth is. So, um, yeah. This was WataEi backstage before a show [img.06]

💬: Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary Image description: Wataru is holding Eichi in ballroom position, hair flying behind him in motion. Eichi’s mouth is open in laughter and Wataru is smiling fondly at him.

💬: Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary Side note, if you know about the live where they started waltzing during the instrumental, i’m p sure that’s a callback to this. Like, waltzing to Tempest Night is their THING UGH i hate gay ppl

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Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary

4.The lyrics of Tryst of Stars and their solos. We only got the second solos recently but holy shit i cried. who else cried. Mr Eichi ‘Take my hand because it’s a miracle I met you in the brightness, and I hope to respond to the miracle of meeting you with my entire life’ Tenshouin meets Mr Wataru ‘and it would be wonderful if we could look at each other in the garden of joy’, ‘and tonight at the end of the world the clown you invited will deliver a surprising song you’ve never heard before’ Hibiki and they have a beautiful baby girl Mr Tryst ‘See, they’ll make a miracle when the tryst of stars shines upon us, let us dance a waltz, holding dear this single moment is all I ever need’ of Stars. Just… JUST HEAR ME OUT. LISTEN TO THEM ALL. THEY’RE SPEAKING TO EACH OTHER IK IT

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Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary

5.Y’all see the Feathers of Arc MV? Because I don’t think their fucking PR agent did, holy SHITTTT the hand holding, the back touching, the choice of lyric distribution, the meaniiiings of their past ahhhhhhh. Listen, just… just watch this whole MV… trust me. youtube.com/watch?v=_qk-xT0cSyU

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Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary

6.Idk how you guys do it, i swear i got stalkers for oomfs but i’m so grateful bc we got the leaked hospital pics. We been knew wataru visits eichi when he lands in hospital but did we know it went like THIS?? [img.07] [img.08]

💬: Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary Image description: between the gap of a wall and a door, two people are just about visible. The long blue hair and the blond guy in hospital clothes betrays their identities. Wataru is straddling Eichi and tilting his chin up with his index finger. Their expressions aren’t visible, but the closeness of their faces is. Second image is harder to see, but it’s clearly in the same place as the last. Both guys are led in the bed now. Eichi looks to be asleep on Wataru’s shoulder as they lie side by side

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Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary

7.The Lap Incident is maybe my fave fine interview ever and it’s such an early one too but omg we get Tori being jealous over WataEi, we get Yuzuru being a boss ass bitch who secretly runs fine like a military bootcamp, and we get THE LAP INCIDENT aka Eichi tells Wataru he’s lonely and to come join him on the sofa, so Wataru SCOOPS HIM UP and sits Eichi on his lap and omfg the way Eichi melts into his hold? you can’t make this shit up

💬: Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary forgot to link the interview, here: youtube.com/watch?v=NKR72y7T1pU

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Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary

8.This one is literally the biggest proof but the trouble is we don’t have full confirmation that it’s real and hasn’t been an impersonation or, like, AI or something. Anyway, Wataru had an interview that couldn’t be aired, but someone leaked this audio clip from it, and it sounds EXACTLY like him, and the content would explain why it had to be deleted. It’s gay as fuck. Here’s the audio file: youtube.com/watch?v=x``v8rl14Zvb8

💬: Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary Transcript: Interviwer: Hibiki, you and Tenshouin have a not-so-pleasant history from before you joined fine, but you’re super close now. What changed?

Wataru: I fell in love. Everything about Eichi is fascinating, unpredictable, and Amazing. As a performer, there’s nothing I love more than surprises. Eichi is the personification of that very adoration. Ah, it would be more difficult to tear me away from his side than it was for our dearest Emperor to tie me to him in the first place

Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary

9.Next up is the incident known as The great hand kiss of Yumenosaki. Aka the time Wataru took Eichi’s hand post DDD where fine had just LOST to Trickstar for title of SS representative. Just. Look at this shit and tell me they’re not in love [img.09]

💬: Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary Image description: Wataru is bent over and his lips are pressed to the palm of Eichi’s hand, which he holds in one of his own. His eyes are looking up at Eichi. Eichi looks visibly exhausted but is smiling. They’re both on stage in their school era fine outfits

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Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary

10.The ES idols are not exactly subtle about some of the beef and drama going on between them, and Wataru and Eichi are definitely not excused from some of the more uhhh harsh comments lol (we love our problematic kings) so here are just a few of the incriminating ones about the both of them lol (Mainly Keito, thanks for being no.1 WataEi hater, king!! Stream Konjiki Senya Yumebutai xoxo) [img.10] [img.11] [img.12] [img.13] [img.14]

💬: Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary Image descriptions 1: A tweet from Keito Hasumi of Akatsuki replying to Eichi’s comment on Wataru’s selfie reading ‘keep your Hibiki addiction out of the public’s eyes, you imbecile’

💬: Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary 2. A tweet from Natsume Sakasaki of Switch reading ‘If Wataru-nii-san threatens to bring Tenshouin to one more Eccentrics meet up, I’m going to study explosive alchemy in his room’

💬: Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary 3. A tweet from Hiyori Tomoe of Eden replying to a fan asking who the worst people to live with in the dorms are, reading ‘Hmmm, no one is completely unbearable, if only because Ibara spends all his time at the office! But I am finding Eichi to be rather a pain. Especially when combined with his favourite toy. The both of them are quite the horrifyingly insufferable combination. Don’t tell anyone from fine I said that <3☀️’

💬: Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary 4. A tweet from Keito Hasumi again, this time replying to a tweet from Eichi featuring a photo of him and Wataru wearing matching suits in a dressing room. It reads ‘did you seriously just announce that you’ve replaced me as your plus one to this event via Twitter? I’m not responding to your emails for a week.’

💬: Wataru is my Wife @neo_sanctuary 5. A tweet from Madara Mikejima of MaM reading ‘Does anyone know if it’s possible to cut the wifi out in a specific room in a hospital? And will that stop my roommate subjecting me to some horrifying FaceTime calls? Asking for a friend :D’ (for context, this was tweeted whilst Eichi was in the hospital for a week in April & Wataru is one of Madara’s roommates)

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Okay, Aira is gonna have to stop reading here because he’s about two seconds away from squealing and kicking his feet on the bed. Also from waking Tenshouin-senpai up and showing him all this evidence and asking him to actually tell Aira something truthful for ONCE. Aira knew about TempestFes and the hand kiss and has heard rumours of the deleted interview, but he hadn’t seen those replies from Hasumi-senpai or the hospital pics.

As he scrolls through the thread to skim read, he sees a photo of Tenshouin-senpai with Hibiki-senpai in a cafe stealing a sip of his milkshake, and he watches a thirty second compilation of the way they say each other’s name. Aira feels so ashamed of himself. He could’ve been the one gathering this information all along!!

He finally feels a yawn coming on and decides it’s time to try sleeping again. His brain feels far more content, if a little giddy, at the idea that he’s gonna be able to use the utter insanity of Eichi Tenshouin to provide for his fellow stans. And nothing he submits as evidence will even be questioned, because he doesn’t know HOW half of these bits of proof have been tracked down himself, so who would ever suspect him of being Alkaloid’s Aira Shiratori from the odd bit of info here and there?

Aira very quickly learns that he doesn’t need to look far at all in order to find out more about Tenshouin-senpai and Hibiki-senpai’s relationship. In fact, he’s lucky enough (or unlucky, depending on your viewpoint) to get front row seats to a private interaction from the comfort of his own bed. Yup. The idol fanboy part of his brain is screaming with joy right now, but the regular teenager part is slightly tempted to tell the two idiots to SHUT UP so he can get to sleep.

Here’s the situation:

Aira can’t sleep, again, but has been very mature and resisted the sweet call of his phone in favour of burying his face in his pillows and trying to suffocate himself to sleep. So far, his efforts have been unsuccessful, but he was just starting to feel like maybe he could drift off if he kept his mind quiet for just a few more minutes, when he hears a small creak from over by the window, and a light chill enters the previously warm room.

Aira opens one eye, conveniently already facing the direction of the window, and spots a trail of pale hair slinking across the room in the direction of Tenshouin-senpai’s bed. It’s unmistakable. Wataru Hibiki is in Aira’s room at…. he squints at the clock on the wall but without alerting Hibiki-senpai of his wakefulness, he can’t quite figure out where the arrows are pointing. It looks like it might be between 2 and 3am. Wayyyy too late at night.

“Oh Eichiiii,” Aira hears Hibiki-senpai say as quietly as it seems his voice can go. It’s not loud enough that it would wake him if he was asleep, but it sounds like he’s going to get to listen in to this fascinating interaction.

Hey, yeah- what is Hibiki-senpai even doing in their room this late at night? Surely any business he has with Tenshouin-senpai can wait until morning… unless they stay over in each other’s rooms sometimes? Oh god, what if all the theories are right and they really are together? And if they think he’s asleep, they might- oh god Aira’s gonna need to bury his head soooo far into his pillow.

Thankfully, Tenshouin-senpai doesn’t seem at all up to any, um, physical activity when he responds with a very sleep-ridden “Wataru? What are you doing here? It’s the middle of the night.”

“Oh, interesting, you’ve never questioned my unexpected presence quite so harshly, before. Or is this sleepy side of you dampening your affection?”

“Mm, I’ll forgive you if you get under here and keep me warm. It’s too cold for the end of Summer; I haven’t been sleeping well,” Tenshouin-senpai says. Aira can make out the movement of him lifting up his duvet, Hibiki-senpai sliding in so smoothly it looks like he might be liquid.

Aira can’t quite believe this is happening right in front of his eyes. Wataru Hibiki is in Eichi Tenshouin’s bed. Twitter would be going CRAZY if they knew about this, but for all the subtle ways Aira can drop lore about his favourite idols, announcing this development would be wayyyy too big a breach of every NDA he’s ever signed.

“You should’ve told me! I’d’ve changed the weather for you, my dear,” Hibiki-senpai says. Tenshouin-senpai sighs and rolls over, assumably into Hibiki-senpai’s chest or something equally adorable.

“That’s sweet, but as you’re always eager to remind me, you can’t do real magic. It just feels like you can.”

“Ah, so you do listen to me, after all. You know, sometimes your actions do make me wonder.”

“Don’t be mean, Wataru. Yes, I have a selfish and independent streak, but I’ve never once taken a word out of your mouth for granted.”

“Fufu, I’m only teasing you. You only ignore me when you’re very determined to do things your way. It’s infuriating, but I can’t deny I love that part of you.”

“Oh, I see, your plan for warming me up is to make me utterly flustered, hm?”

“That hadn’t been a scheme at all! But I’m glad if it’s working.”

Aira can hardly believe this isn’t some sort of idol-obsession induced dream he’s having- that Hibiki-senpai and Tenshouin-senpai are actually having the most romantic conversation Aira’s ever heard right in front of him.

Tenshouin-senpai sighs and Aira hears the movement of fabric. He squints to try and make out their position in the dark, but it’s hard to tell. He thinks Tenshouin-senpai just wrapped his arms around Hibiki-senpai, but that might be wishful thinking.

“Why did you break into my room, by the way? You never gave me an answer,” Tenshouin-senpai asks.

“Isn’t my wish to spend time with you enough reason to prove that such meagre barriers as locked windows are no match for a Wataru Hibiki on a mission?”

“That would make me feel quite content, but I have a feeling that’s not the truth.”

“Would you believe me if I said it isn’t entirely a lie?” Hibiki-senpai asks, and oh, that’s the quietest voice Aira’s ever heard out of him. It barely even sounds like him, but it’s definitely not Tenshouin-senpai, and there’s no one else in here with Sakuma-senpai being out tonight.

“I’d try to,” Tenshouin-senpai says back equally as quietly. Fuuuuck, Aira’s starting to feel like he’s eavesdropping on a way too personal conversation. It’s not like he can turn his ears off, though.

“Then I’ll put equal effort in, for you,” Hibiki-senpai says, rustling the fabric once more. Aira sees a hand emerge from the bed sheets and brush a strand of hair out of Tenshouin-senpai’s face. Okay, he can turn his eyes off. It’s not much, but it is some kind of privacy for the two. “I was feeling lonely, even in a room of four, and I knew talking with you would be the only way to feel like a human being again.”

Oh. That was deep. Far more than Aira was ever expecting to learn about the mind of Wataru Hibiki. He feels so so bad for overhearing all this.

“Did it work? Did I help?” Tenshouin-senpai asks. Aira’s never heard him so desperate before.

“Always,” Hibiki-senpai says. “You’ve never once, in all the time I’ve known you, failed to pull me back to earth. It’s why I wish to always be by your side. One day, you’ll realise how genuinely and desperately I mean it when I say I want to be with you for as long as you’ll keep me around.”

“I think,” Tenshouin-senpai starts, “that that day is getting closer by the second. I want to believe it so desperately. My brain still protests that this happiness can’t be deserved, so it can’t be for me.”

Shit, now Aira’s getting a deep dive into Tenshouin-senpai’s brain, too. This was not the sort of insider information he wanted to get about his beloved idols!!

“Then I’ll have to dedicate every day to convincing your stubborn brain that you deserve it,” Hibiki-senpai says. There’s a pause, and Aira refuses to open his eyes because he’s half convinced that the two of them are kissing right now, and if he finds out he’s correct then he’ll never ever be able to look either of his seniors in the eye again.

“What time does your little roommate usually arise?” Hibiki-senpai asks. Aira freezes a tiny bit. No no no, Hibiki-senpai is talking about him but NOT in his ideal dream way! He doesn’t want it like this!

“Hmm, Alkaloid don’t have anything scheduled tomorrow so he won’t be up too early. I’ll be out of the room before he’s awake for definite.”

Aira isn’t ashamed to feel utterly relieved that he won’t have to interact with Tenshouin-senpai tomorrow morning. They rarely do because, as Tenshouin-senpai says, Aira isn’t an early riser when given the choice, but after tonight he doesn’t think he could survive that interaction.

“Then could I stay tonight?” Hibiki-senpai asks.

“Of course. You didn’t need to ask.”

“Okay. Goodnight, Eichi.”

“Mm, goodnight, Wataru. Thank you.”

“Surely I should be the one thanking you.”

“Argue with me in the morning. I’m tired- let’s sleep.”

“As you wish, dearest. Sleep well.”

With a little more shuffling, the chatter cuts out and Aira exhales with relief. Finally he can try and get to sleep. The exhaustion of having witnessed an actual idol dating scandal right in his own room will knock him right out, he hopes. God, his life is insane.

LOVE says stream Kiss of Life @lovely_swan

Believe me when I tell you guys that EiWata is so so real. Like, I would be willing to bet actual money on it. They are absolutely dating. Oomfie’s thread got me paying attention and now I know for SURE. They’re so cute together I could actually cry <33 I love <33

Chapter Text

Arashi sighs at the papers she’s laid out in front of her once again. She’s never felt so uncertain before when it comes to matters of the heart- specifically other people’s matters of the heart, because she doesn’t need to think too hard about her own unless it’s her adoration for Kunugi-sensei. It’s just, this seems too coincidental to not mean something, but she feels like something’s just that bit off here, and she’s not sure whether she’s reaching conclusions she wants rather than finding out the secret truth.

When Anzu-chan first enlisted her help for the next shuffle project, Arashi was delighted, because truly who else would be able to whip these boys into shape when it came to love better than she could. Especially when members as troublesome as Leo-chan and as neglectful of his needy lover as Mao-chan are involved.

And truly, when she heard the group’s first thoughts on love and demanded they tell her at least one experience of a crush at the very least, she realised her help was critical to the success of this unit, because they were utterly useless without her. But now… Tenshouin’s answers are bothering her, which is further bothering her by the fact that she’s paying closer attention to Tenshouin of all people.

“Narukami-senpai, are you okay?”

At Tetora’s voice, Arashi looks up in surprise. Her roommate is in the doorway, returning his bags and shoes after what appears to be a trip to the gym if his workout clothes and hair slicked back with sweat are any indicator.

“Yes, I’m good!” she lies. “How was your workout.”

“Great! Taishou was at the gym, too, so I got the chance to exercise with him,” Tetora says with a grin, before he looks between Arashi’s bed and her, and his face drops into a frown. “You sure you’re okay, though? You don’t look too great.”

“Ouch, when did you get so mean, Tetora-kun? Ah, I miss the days you used to call me pretty. Now you only have insults for my appearance.”

“U~miu, I didn’t mean it like that! You’re gorgeous as ever! Your expression looks troubled. Something happen at work? You’re welcome to tell me about it if you want to get it off your chest,” Tetora says earnestly, and he comes over to perch on the edge of his bed, facing Arashi. She sits up and contemplates discussing this situation.

On the one hand, she has firsthand experience of how… not great Tetora can be at reading people’s feelings. Sure, it turned out well and gained her a really good friend and now roommate, but for all Tetora’s many wonderful traits… sensitivity is perhaps not his strongest.

On the other hand, Tetora is earnest and hard-working and caring and altogether a wonderful person. Arashi’s not entirely sure when she started thinking so highly of her roommate- it’s a little embarrassing when she compiles the data in her own brain- but it is true that she values his support and admires his work ethic. If she asked him to help, he’d do so in a heartbeat.

“It’s nothing actually upsetting, but yes- something’s come up at work, I suppose,” Arashi hesitantly says. Tetora nods, urging her to keep going. “Anzu-chan invited me to help out with the next shuffle project and I was delighted to be involved. It’s a wedding theme, and it looks like it’s going to be so gorgeous, but the participants are hopeless when it comes to romance, so Anzu-chan needed my help.”

“She came to the right girl! You’ve got such good taste in decor and fashion, and you’re really in tune with your feelings. Perfect for romance, ossu! Midori mentioned he was struggling with work for the shuffle unit, but he never said it was wedding themed.”

“I think half of them are embarrassed, and the other half seem to find it more amusing than romantic. Ah, boys are hopeless,” Arashi says with a shake of her head.

“U~miu. Sorry,” Tetora says. Arashi giggles.

“You don’t need to apologise, I’m just saying in general. You do pretty well, Tetora-kun, don’t worry.”

“Is it upsetting you that they’re all embarrassed? It’s not very manly of them to not take their work seriously. I get that some gigs can be embarrassing- we’ve had to say some pretty cringe-y lines as part of our hero shows- but it’s a job Producer has given them, so they should all try their best!”

Arashi smiles. Tetora’s work ethic truly is admirable. Ah, she somewhat envies his devotion to his tasks, but at least she gets the pleasure of sitting back and watching him throw himself into everything with such dedication.

Is that a normal thing to think about her roommate? Probably. She doesn’t want to think too hard on it.

“Ah, that’s not actually the issue,” she says, preparing herself for Tetora’s inevitable crestfallen look. Yep, there it is. He’s so cute, if a little predictable. “See, as part of this job, they need to say vows to the camera for the promo video, and when I asked them to try, they were all completely hopeless, so I made them tell me about their experience with love, and sent them away with homework of writing a decent sounding vow of love. I’ve got their drafts back, and that’s where the problem lies.”

“Still hopeless?” Tetora guesses. Arashi nods.

“Not just that. There’s something… off about Tenshouin’s.”

“He does seem kinda weird, sometimes.”

“Mhm,” Arashi agrees. She looks at the paper again and decides that she’s only hesitating accepting Tetora’s help because the she doesn’t want to burden him when he’s already so caught up in troubles with his unit, but here he is, wanting to help her, and Arashi can't help but be a little selfish. “By itself, it’s not too horrific, but… here, just read this. You’ll see my point.”

With that, Arashi slides Tenshouin’s printed out vows onto Tetora’s bed,

My dearest partner- I love you. Surely you’ve noticed by now, after all my efforts, after every day I’ve strived for your attention and basked in the smallest feedback. My deepest desire is to understand your every intricacy, even when you’d try and obfuscate it from my gaze. That’s why I want to dedicate every moment I have left to live to showing you how much I love you. I once idolised you from afar, but now I’ve had the chance to be by your side, I’ve learnt the true you, and my heart desires to hold you close and have you all for myself. Would you do me the honour of entertaining this selfish desire? Will you marry me?

“And now read my Dramatic script,” Arashi says when Tetora glances back up. She slides the opened pages over to him

Hibiki: Because I love you! Haven’t you noticed by now? After all my efforts? Day after day I’ve toiled and strived for mere scraps of attention, basking in the radiance of feedback as small as a single glance. And now you come here to betray me?

Hidaka: No, that’s not true- after all this time, have you still not discerned my intentions?

Hibiki: Oh, for all I have tried, I fear you are still an enigma to me. My heart desires nothing more than to understand your every intricacy, and yet you take it upon yourself to obfuscate your reality from my eyes. Is that how much you despise me?

Hidaka: Quite the contrary. You see, the truth is that I’ve been curious how far you’re willing to go for me- if this love is genuine affection or simply idolisation of my works

Hibiki: Then let me dedicate every moment from now on to showing you my love. Whilst once you were but an idol for me to worship, now I’ve been by your side, I’ve learnt of the human within, and my deepest wish is to hold that human close; to love them as my own. Would you ever entertain such selfish desires?

Hidaka: You’ve yet to learn all there is to know of me. Your feelings may change, and of that I’m scared. I don’t want to lose your adoration. But… perhaps… if you hold me close now, I can at least promise to try

Tetora’s brows furrow with concentration as he carefully reads the pages once, then twice, before he straightens up again, frown not abating.

“U~miu, his vows are completely stolen from this play. He knows that can’t be aired, right? Why would he copy it? This is what you’re working on with Dramatica at the moment, yeah?”

“Yes, it is. And he should definitely be aware of this- I’m fairly certain he dictates half the copyright laws. But Tenshouin isn’t in Dramatica, so now comes the question of why?”

Tetora taps his finger on his chin. Arashi hasn’t seen anyone quite so visibly enact the signs of thinking before. She doesn’t know whether to find it cute or amusing.

“His two best friends are in Dramatica, right? Maybe it was because of them?” he suggests.

“Right?” Arashi says, because if she’s not the only one connecting these dots then it can’t just be bias. “And Keito-chan doesn’t have a role in this play because he wrote the script, so if Tenshouin stole the script from someone to write his vows, it has to have been Wataru-chan.”

“Okay, but aren’t Hasumi-senpai and Tenshouin-senpai childhood friends? Tenshouin-senpai definitely seems the type to steal Hasumi-senpai’s draft and use the words to annoy him, especially because he’s in this unit too."

"That’s what I considered at first. But Tenshouin read this out loud at our meeting before handing the script to me, and Keito-chan just rolled his eyes a little and made no comment. He yells at Tenshouin for pretty much anything else, so isn’t it a bit weird to try and annoy Keito-chan when he doesn’t even react to it?”

“U~miu, I’m confused,” Tetora says with a sigh. Arashi sympathises. She might have made this a little too over-complicated, but she’s not an idiot- especially when it comes to romance- so she decides it’s time to clue Tetora in on the other secret she’s been keeping close that aided her conclusion jumping.

“Okay, Tetora-kun, I need to tell you something, but you have to promise not to ever tell anyone else. This is a really important secret, and not the kind of secret like Tsukasa-chan sneaking sweets backstage at our last live after Izumi-chan and I strictly told him no eating mid-performance. A really serious secret,” Arashi says, leaning in closer, just in case HiMERU-chan arrives home at just the wrong moment, as he has a little bit of a habit of unknowingly doing.

Tetora nods and leans in close. Arashi waves him onto her bed because is it even telling a secret if you don’t whisper it in someone’s ear?

“Tenshouin is gay,” she whispers in Tetora’s ear, pretending not to notice that he shivers at the quiet timbre of her voice. “And from what Tori-chan tells us in Pretty 5… he likes Wataru-chan.”

“Oh,” Tetora says, pulling away with red cheeks. “I mean, I’m not surprised. Most of us idols aren’t exactly the straight men we pretend to be for the fans, right? But oh, do you think that means he wrote lines of the script to get Hibiki-senpai’s attention?”

Arashi tilts her head side to side.

“I don’t know, because he genuinely seemed to believe this was his original work. I’m starting to think he didn’t even realise he wrote Wataru-chan’s dialogue into his speech. But that’s why I can’t quite figure out what’s going on,” she says.

“How do you mean? U~miu,” Tetora says, he still looks so confused, bless him. Maybe Arashi had been right to suspect he was too emotionally unintelligent to figure this out with her, but it’s still nice to have a soundboard to bounce her ideas off.

“I have an extra secret to add that would be helpful for my full theory,” Arashi says, beckoning Tetora in close again. “Tenshouin told us he’d never been in love at the start of this project.”

“Okay…” Tetora says under his breath, eyebrows still furrowed.

“Ahhh, I can’t do all this build up anymore! I’m going to tell you my whole theory, just promise not to laugh at me,” Arashi says, kicking her feet and covering her cheeks because this whole situation has her unreasonably embarrassed.

“Why didn’t you just tell me from the start?” Tetora asks.

“I don’t know! It’s embarrassing!”

“I’m sure it’s not! Ossu, I’ll even tell you one of my embarrassing theories about our friends if that makes you feel better,” Tetora says, laying a hand on her arm when Arashi covers her face completely.

Okay, that has her intrigued, she won’t lie.

“Would you?” she asks. Tetora nods and she exhales.

“Ahhh, okay, thank you. Right, here’s what I think.” Arashi takes a deep breath in and plants her hands down on the incriminating evidence.

“I think Tenshouin is in a secret relationship with Wataru-chan, and he got worried this project would lead to his secret being exposed, so he’s pretending to not understand love and have never even had a crush on anyone, which is quite frankly a stupid thing to claim unless you don’t feel romantic attraction, in which case you’d just say that, right? Anyway, everything he’s said and done in relation to the confessions they all need to say for the project could all be applied to Wataru-chan, and then he’s included parts of Dramatica’s script apparently by accident, because he loves annoying people and laughing at their misery, but he clearly wasn’t trying to annoy Keito-chan, which means it was because of Wataru-chan. Why would he be trying to get Wataru-chan’s attention, though? They’re super close, and he never annoys Wataru-chan like he does with Keito-chan, but he always seems to have Wataru-chan’s attention anyway. Plus he knows copyright law, so I’m convinced this was an accident. How does an accident like this even happen? Well, maybe if your boyfriend is practicing his lines with you and you find it super romantic and touching and you remember it accidentally and then it’s how you think of love when you have to write about it for a project. Tenshouin loves to brag about his memorisation abilities- it would make sense. And when I sit and think on every time I’ve seen Tenshouin and Wataru-chan interact, it just all seems to add up. They’re definitely not the only people hiding a relationship around ES. Hah, although thankfully those two are hardly over here, these days. But I should know what hiding a relationship looks like, and now I think about it, Wataru-chan and Tenshouin just ooze it! Do you think that sounds stupid?”

Tetora blinks at her for a few seconds and Arashi resists the urge to kick him out the room and tell him to never look at her again from the embarrassment, but then he slowly starts to nod.

“I don’t know either of them very well but… yeah, that makes sense! You’re so smart, Narukami-senpai. Do you think there’s anyone we can ask and find out? Oo, or we can do some sort of spy work to figure it out. I’ve picked up some reconnaissance tips from Shinobu.”

Arashi chuckles at his eagerness, but Tetora’s support has made her feel more at ease about voicing such a ridiculous idea.

“That’s not a bad suggestion- I used to share a class with Yuzuru-chan, but he’s always so cagey. I think I could try and sweet talk something out of him, though. Surely he’s grown tired of his annoying seniors, right?”

“Ossu! If fine is anything like RYUSEITAI, then the juniors will gladly betray any of their senior’s embarrassing secrets!”

“Ara ara, I hope Tsukasa-chan doesn’t feel that way. Ah, I’d just die if he told someone about that time I had a mascara stain on my nose during a photoshoot,” Arashi said. “Ah, please don’t tell anyone, Tetora-kun.”

“Of course not! Your secrets are always safe with me. You’re not an annoying senior, so I’d never want you to feel bad or embarrassed,” Tetora promises. Arashi flushes a little at the compliment.

“So you’ll really help me figure out if I’m right?” she asks, because this matter isn’t exactly pressing, but it’s been bothering her all week, and Tetora is so earnest and a joy to work with, so she thinks it’ll be a lot easier with the assistance, as reluctant as she’d felt to ask him at first.

“Yes! Shinobu’s pretty good at gathering information, so I’ll ask if he knows anything, and then I’m sure I can have a conversation with Tori at school and see if he spills anything. Hm, maybe Shinkai-senpai knows? Hibiki-senpai is one of his best friends. Oh, and if I ask Taishou to ask Hasumi-senpai-“

“Tetora-kun, don’t get too carried away. Ahh, I couldn’t live with the shame of this many people knowing I wanted to find out. Let’s start small, okay?”

“Ossu~ got it! You can count on me, Narukami-chan!”

Arashi smiles at him and pretends it didn’t just make her chest feel bubbly to be addressed so cutely by Tetora.

Arashi learnt pretty quickly that trying to prise information out of Yuzuru-chan via any sort of flirtation was a futile mission. Ritsu-chan still insists that she just isn’t trying hard enough, but Arashi knows a pointless cause when she sees one- Yuzuru-chan is not going to be swayed, no matter how sweet, beautiful, handsome, charming or whatever else a person can possibly be into she acts.

So that means her persuasion techniques are a little hindered. Ever the strategist, Ritsu-chan had yawned and told her to just ask outright if she wanted to know something. She loves Ritsu-chan dearly, but that isn’t going to cut it here.

Still, she can’t do nothing when Tetora’s gone out of his way to ask Shinobu-chan for help, even though she knows that RYUSEITAI are busy and struggling currently. He really didn’t have to help her, but he’s always so sweet. Even when he’s had a rough week, he still takes her up on offers for a shopping trip. Ah, he’s truly growing into the man among men he dreams of. Arashi’s so happy for him. And she refuses to not ask Yuzuru-chan, no matter how weirdly intimidating he can be, when Tetora even told her a secret theory in turn.

Hehe, she promised not to tell anyone else, but oh how exciting it would be to inform the rest of Knights how their adorable little Tsukasa-chan really feels about Tori-chan.

Thinking of Tori-chan…

“Yuzuru-chan, do you have a moment?” Arashi calls out the second she notices Yuzuru-chan’s chair move backwards, having been too distracted by her thoughts and with waving to Mika-chan now they’re devastatingly in different classes.

“Narukami-sama, did you need my assistance with something?” Yuzuru-chan asks, polite as ever.

“Ahhh, a little bit? I was just wondering if you had some insight on this issue. Hah, the members of your unit are quite hard work, aren’t they?” Arashi sighs and she walks over to him, placing her cheek in her palm. Yuzuru-chan raises his eyebrows a little. It seems like the closest thing to an eye roll he’s probably capable of, but getting even this much visible emotion out of him is definitely a win of some kind. Arashi’s back up approach of ‘act pathetic enough to be pitied by a hardworking boy’ is somewhat working, it would seem.

“I apologise sincerely if either my troublesome seniors or cheeky bocchama have caused you any trouble.”

“No, no, don’t worry, nothing like that. Are you aware of the current Shuffle Unit project that Tenshouin’s involved in?”

“Ah,” Yuzuru-chan says with a nod. “Unfortunately, I am quite familiar thanks to the overdramatic responses it has spurred from the uninvolved two.”

“My my, that’s entertaining,” Arashi says, attention thoroughly piqued. Yuzuru-chan tidies up his books and gets to his feet before she’s had chance to blink. How is he so fast? It would be kind of scary if he wasn’t always so polite about it. Arashi’s never quite forgotten that time in the sports festival, though. She’d thought a bloodthirsty beast was running behind her for a second. Yuzuru-chan isn’t quite as domesticated as he makes himself out to be, it seems.

“Maybe to someone else. I take it Eichi-sama is the cause of your concern, currently?”

“Yes, I suppose he is,” Arashi says with another sigh. She doesn’t want to go straight into bad-mouthing Tenshouin in front of Yuzuru-chan but she does get the sense that he’s a little more aware of how annoying Tenshouin can be than he lets on. “Did you know Anzu-chan has asked me to help them all with the romantic side of the event?”

“Yes, I believe I’d heard about that. It makes sense- you seem like a very romantically inclined person, Narukami-sama,” Yuzuru-chan says with a polite nod.

“Ara, ara, you think so?” she asks, feeling a little more flattered than necessary. “Well, I thought so too, but Tenshouin is making me doubt my abilities. Is he always so dense when it comes to matters of the heart?”

If Arashi’s not mistaken, she think she sees Yuzuru-chan’s lips twitch up into a brief smile.

“I’m afraid to say that Eichi-sama has a bad habit of attempting to appear less observant and cunning than he is. I suspect he understands the feelings better than he’s letting on, and is finding a rather unsavoury amusement in frustrating you with his antics.”

My oh my, that’s interesting! So Yuzuru-chan knows something about how Tenshouin feels about love. Arashi thinks if she chooses just the right wording, she can get one final piece of the puzzle out of Yuzuru-chan.

“I don’t suppose you’d know if Wataru-chan might be involved in these- ah- antics?”

Okay, that didn’t have quite the subtlety she was aiming for, but Yuzuru-chan’s expression darkens a little, and she wonders if maybe Ritsu-chan was onto something about outright asking after all.

“I should’ve known better than to assume Eichi-sama could behave himself for one event. Narukami-sama, I apologise for my bluntness, but it would be in your best interests to refrain from involving yourself in this situation any further. Hibiki-sama and Eichi-sama are a duo best left… unprovoked,” Yuzuru-chan says, expression taut and smile completely fake. Arashi feels like she just won the lottery.

“Oh my, thank you for the warning, Yuzuru-chan. I’ll do my best to fulfil Anzu-chan’s wishes for this project and then stay away if I can,” she says, knowing full well her nosey ass is not going to be doing that.

Yuzuru-chan nods.

“Is that all you needed to talk  about, Narukami-sama?”

“Yes, that’s all, thank you for the advice, Yuzuru-chan!”

With that, he takes his leave and Arashi sees Mika-chan slowly approach her.

“Whaddidya need Yu-kun for? Ya alright?” Mika-chan asks, squeezing her hand in greeting. Arashi squeezes it back and gives him a big smile.

“Just something about work, don’t you worry, Mika-chan. Now, where are we going for lunch?”

Before Mika-chan can respond, Arashi’s phone buzzes and she excuses herself to read it. It’s a message from Tetora.

Tetora-kun :D <3: Good news! I have acquired some information on secret topic E/W!

Me: So fast? You’re too reliable, Tetora-kun, I’m blushing 🥰

Me: i’ve also found something interesting, though

Tetora-kun :D <3: Are you free this lunch? Do you wanna meet up and swap info? I’ll pay 💪

“Naru-chan, are ya okay? You’ve gone all blush-y and quiet,” Mika-chan asks and Arashi feels her heart pound in sudden panic. She has?

“Ah, um, I think I’ve just been asked on a lunch date?” she says, desperately willing her cheeks to cool down.

“For real? I’m so happy for ya Naru-chan ahhh, who with? Are ya gonna go?” Mika-chan looks so excited for her. He’s practically bouncing up and down on the spot. Oh god, this was just supposed to be an information exchange, but now it feels like something much more important.

“I was going to eat lunch with you, though…” Arashi says, giving Mika-chan the opportunity to tell her to stay and stop her from experiencing whatever this flustered panic is.

“We eat lunch together every day! I wanna hear about ya date tomorrow rather than complainin’ about ma English homework today. Go, go, go!” Mika-chan encourages. Aggghhhh fine! She’ll go!

Me: My, are you asking me out on a date, Tetora-kun?

Me: I’ll meet you at the cafeteria 😘

Tetora-kun :D <3: OSSU!! See you soon :D

The information, Arashi finds out, was that Shinobu-chan had stolen Tori-kun’s phone whilst Tetora distracted him, and found selfies of fine with Wataru-chan and Tenshouin holding hands, sitting on each other’s laps, playing with each other’s hair, and on and on. It confirms Arashi’s theory so completely that she thinks her heart should be able to stop fluttering in nervous excitement now. Tenshouin and Wataru-chan are dating! She and Tetora solved the mystery!

Only, Tetora changes the topic to ask about her recent photoshoot and to tell her how stunning she looked in the last one, and the nervous excitement doesn’t dull at all. It only seems to be getting worse. Arashi opens her big mouth and invites Tetora jewellery shopping on their next day off, and Tetora agrees and offers to carry all her bags, and Arashi finally allows herself to think that maybe Tetora has become more to her than just the cute junior she was trying so hard to restrict him to the role of.

Dear oh dear, this wedding shuffle unit sure has caused Arashi some drama.

Chapter Text

Niki is great at his job. Not just because he’s good at cooking, although that’s definitely a large aspect of it, but it turns out he’s pretty competent when it comes to remembering orders, serving customers, and acting as pest control whenever Rinne-kun decides it’s ‘terrorise Niki-kyun o’clock’ which is… frequently.

But yeah, Niki might not be great at pretty much most things- especially idol work- but he’s good at working for Café Cinnamon, and that’s all the self esteem he needs for now! It’s also ensuring he gets to know any potential coworkers, because pretty much every idol at ES drops by the café once in a while. The easier this can make his idol work, the better, but sometimes he thinks he ends up learning a little too much about his colleagues.

Niki’s been in the idol scene for long enough to know that, for idols, ‘dating’ in the official sense isn’t on the table. He’s also been around Rinne-kun for long enough to know that there are ways around the rule. For example, Rinne-kun says they aren’t dating and they never need to be dating because he’s gonna make Niki his wife when it finally becomes legal in Japan. Or he’s gonna drag Niki’s ass to his hometown and do it there.

Either way, no-one’s ever questioned the fact that they’ve lived together, that they’re overly physical with each other (Niki would call it ‘physically affectionate’ if it didn’t result in Rinne-kun bullying him into a headlock or tickling him past his limit or grabbing his cheeks nine times out of ten), or that Niki did accidentally ask to kiss Rinne-kun on a stage in front of fans that one time. Whoops. He probably needs to thank Vice President for that cover up, but it’s kinda embarrassing to bring up, so he just pretends it never happened, nahaha.

So yeah, idols and ‘dating’ are a tricky combination, but not one that would stop anyone Niki knows. Half the idols at ES are insane. And sometimes he gets front row seats to their insanity from his comfortable position behind the counter at Cafe Cinnamon.

Like, for example, whatever the hell is going on with Eichi Tenshouin and Wataru Hibiki.

Niki doesn’t know either of them that well personally, and from whatever info he’s acquired through Fushimi-kun- the member of fine Niki’s most familiar with, if being utterly confused by how fast he switches from the most devoted helper in Niki’s Kitchen to the biggest inconvenience the second Vice President opens his mouth can count- it’s safe to say they’re a huge beacon of chaos. So far, Niki’s experience of the two of them as patrons of the cafe has only further cemented this perception, and he lies in fear of the day Rinne-kun decides to pester him at work during one of their visits.

The first time, he truly had no expectations or mental preparation for what was about to ensue. They entered the cafe together, though it was neither of their first visits Niki had witnessed, and Tenshouin-kun went up to him and ordered his typical darjeeling, alongside a slice of the seasonal cake Niki had spent days musing over the exact flavours of until he was happy it was perfect for bridging the gap between spring and summer.

Before Niki could pull up his total, Tenshouin-kun turned to Hibiki-kun and asked,

“You still want me to guess?”

“But of course!” Hibiki-kun said, looking a little like he was bursting with excitement. It was a look Niki was cautious of after too much exposure to Rinne-kun’s unpredictability.

From what Niki could quite easily surmise, Hibiki-kun had challenged Tenshouin-kun with guessing what drink he’d like. Given on all occasions Hibiki-kun had previously visited the cafe he’d ordered different drinks, this would either be a very easy challenge as far as Hibiki-kun’s tastes went, or one doomed to fail, if Tenshouin-kun was under the impression there was a singular ‘correct’ answer.

“Hm,” Tenshouin-kun considered, staring intently not at the board as most customers pondering drinks did, but at the array of syrups behind Niki. “Then we’ll have a large caramel, pistachio and hazelnut triple shot of espresso latte made with almond milk and with whatever that red syrup is on top.”

“Oh, the strawberry frappé sauce?” Niki asked to clarify, trying his very best to not visibly scrunch up his nose in horror at the monstrosity he was about to be asked to make.

“Yes, perfect. That’s everything for us,” Tenshouin-kun said, still wearing his classically polite smile and holding a credit card Niki knew would contain more money than he would ever see pass through his bank account in his life against the reader.

Niki didn’t even bother telling him the total. The payment immediately approved. 

“Oh, one last thing- could you draw something in the syrup? Anything you like- surprise us,” Tenshouin-kun said.

“Amazing idea! That alone counts as a win for guessing my tastes,” Hibiki-kun said, looking way too delighted at what was a pretty standard request from an artistic place like Café Cinnamon.

“Sure, I’ll bring everything to your table when it’s ready,” Niki said, his well-practiced service smile hiding any opinions on his customers’ orders. He was kinda used to that part of his job.

“Thank you, Shiina-kun,” Tenshouin-kun said with a nod, and he motioned to Hibiki-kun with his head. Hibiki-kun apparently got whatever hint that was because in a flash he’d crossed the cafe and found a nice table by the window. Thankfully more out of the way of other customers than Niki had feared. What little Niki did know about Hibiki-kun was that he was very loud and… noticeable in a room full of people.

He couldn’t deny he was a little anxious that Hibiki-kun’s reaction to the surely horrifying concoction Niki was making for him would be dramatic enough to clear out half the customers. Niki did his best to balance the flavours as well as he could so it would at least be palatable.

Niki finished their orders, took their drinks to the table, returned to his safe haven behind the counter, and waited with bated breath.

To his complete surprise, the two sipped their drinks and continued having a normal conversation. A slightly flirtatious looking conversation, if Niki was being honest, but who was he to stop two idols from having a secret affair away from the public’s eyes. Okay, admittedly they were not currently away from the public's eyes, but they weren’t doing anything quite as idiotically inappropriate as things Rinne-kun had done to Niki and somehow gotten away with. Just, leaning close, making way too intense eye contact, linking their ankles under the table, caressing each other’s hand every so often.

Niki didn’t need or care to know, honestly. So Hibiki-kun and Tenshouin-kun had something going on. They made an intriguing pair, but Niki didn’t know enough to make proper judgement.

Alas, he still wished he knew even less.

His false sense of security built by Hibiki-kun’s shockingly mundane reaction to his horrific drink came tumbling down when, about twenty minutes later when he was halfway through making a cappuccino, a loud and recognisable voice rang out through the cafe.

“Then, if you won’t trust my promise to you on this, let me announce it to the masses and have an audience of 50 hold me accountable to my word,” Hibiki-kun said, drawing the attention of pretty much every person in the cafe, Niki included as he hurriedly turned the steamer off before he made a mistake. In doing so, he made the entirely different mistake of looking over at Hibiki-kun and Tenshouin-kun’s table.

Hibiki-kun was stood up. Not on the floor. One foot was on his chair and the other was poised on the table, ready to elevate him further. No. God, please, no.

“Eichi, you have my word that come sunshine or rain, death or birth, audition or job offer, I will ignore it all and ensure I am by your side. Everyone, you heard it here! I will be Eichi’s plus one no matter- whoops!”

Hibiki-kun had made the decision to step fully onto the table when he addressed the crowd. The tables at Cafe Cinnamon, it turned out, were not equipped to support the weight of much more than a few coffees and cakes, and one or two human arms.

Wataru Hibiki weighed more than those things combined. As such, midway through his unnecessary speech, the legs of the table had unclasped from their brackets and snapped closed beneath him, causing the table to hit the floor flat with a loud BANG, Hibiki-kun falling alongside it.

The cafe’s patrons stared in disbelief. Niki stared in horror. Tenshouin-kun stared in amusement, if Niki was reading the mirth in his eyes correctly. And Hibiki-kun-

Hibiki-kun sat cross-legged amongst the carnage, hands holding the two cups that should’ve met their untimely demise, looking far too composed.

“Come table collapse or a peaceful, uninterrupted tea date- I will be there as your plus one next weekend. That will be all, folks! Do enjoy the rest of your stay here without any further dramatic intrusions from yours truly. My apologies!”

Niki blinked at Hibiki-kun. Did he really believe that was enough to get people’s attention away from him?

Whether it was or not, Hibiki-kun acted on as if it had been, standing up and dusting himself off after placing the cups in Tenshouin-kun’s hands (after they’d moved from smothering his laughter), before picking up the table and inspecting the damage. He pulled a face at Tenshouin-kun that Niki truly didn’t know how to describe. It was a cross between guilt, pride, and pure amusement. It made Tenshouin-kun burst out laughing all over again, this time enough for his grip to loosen on the tea cup handle and the nice china to fall to the floor, hitting the broken table leg just wrong and instantly shattering. Great. More work for Niki. Ughhhh.

He hurriedly finished that cappuccino he was supposed to be making and handed it to the customer before marching over to the carnage with a hastily grabbed dustpan and brush.

“Ah,” Tenshouin-kun said upon spotting him. Hibiki-kun was still sitting on the floor looking comically apologetic, eyes wide and face drawn. “Apologies for the accident. My medication makes my hands more unsteady than I remember. Here, to cover the damage. We’ll be out of your hair, now.”

“Really?” Niki hadn’t been able to help himself from saying in pure exasperation, but it was too late. Hibiki-kun was hurriedly tugging Tenshouin-kun out of the door via his hand, leaving the scene of the crime for Niki to deal with alone.

Ughhhhhh for once in his miserable life Niki was missing Rinne-kun coming to pester him at work. At least he just wanted to play games or braid Niki’s hair whilst he was trying to sort people’s orders. If he didn’t have a manager to report to, Niki would straight up ban those two from the premises.

Unfortunately, the wad of cash Tenshouin-kun had left behind was more than enough to cover the damage, and Niki’s pleas met capitalist ears who refused to do anything about the situation.

Hence, Niki now lives in fear of a Hibiki-kun and Tenshouin-kun date. The second time they showed up together, Hibiki-kun released multiple pigeons around the cafe and customers came flooding to Niki en masse to complain about feathers or ‘bird dust’ in their drinks or food.

The third time they had a cafe date, Niki noticed a trend (and also spent the rest of his shift cleaning whipped cream off the ceiling). Even if they don’t arrive together, they both have a certain pep in their step and glow in their eyes that they don’t have when dining alone or with other people. Really, if the overdramatic dates aren’t enough to announce to the public they’re supposed to be keeping any relationships secret from that the two are dating, the ridiculously obvious way they’re in love with each other more than betrays it. Niki’s pretty certain he’s never looked that excited to see Rinne-kun. And he’s definitely not as enamoured in his presence. Actually, the thought of Rinne-kun is probably a lot better than the reality, the more he thinks on it.

(Or, it would be if Rinne-kun isn’t the only person he can always rely on to still be here. The only person who’s stayed. The only person who thinks Niki’s worth something. Gahhh, Niki hates that he does actually like that idiot. More than likes him. It’s infuriating as all hell.)

So, when the door to Cinnamon opens and Hibiki-kun walks in with a beaming smile on his face that is way too wide to be entirely performative, Niki knows what to do.

“Can someone else come to the shop front, please? We’ve got a bit of a chaotic customer, so we need all hands on deck nahaha,” he says, casually as he can to avoid frightening anyone with the actual severity of the situation.

“Sure, I’m just setting the dishwasher up and I’ll be out there,” one of the weekend staff answers. Niki breathes a sigh of relief as, sure enough, Hibiki-kun comes to the counter and asks for a darjeeling tea and that horrifying concoction with the strawberry sauce on top that Tenshouin-kun had ‘guessed’ for him the first time.

Well, that confirms Niki’s theories! Hibiki-kun only ever orders that unnatural monstrosity when it’s date day (D-Day, Niki’s been appropriately shortening it in his mind). Aaaaand yep, sure enough, Tenshouin-kun enters the café shortly after Niki’s finished preparing the drinks. God, he hates D-Day. He wishes he knew a way to find some slither of peace in the terrifying event of Tenshouin-kun and Hibiki-kun’s dates.

Hmmm, Niki wonders if he could somehow trick Rinne-kun into making a bet with him about this. He’ll be sure to bet on an all-you-can-eat buffet straight from Rinne-kun’s pocket. Mmm, his mouth is watering just thinking about it. Okay, it’s sorted. Niki’s gonna survive this D-Day, and it’s all thanks to Rinne-kun. Hibiki-kun and Tenshouin-kun’s insanity can’t stop his relaxing longing for a beautiful plate filled with meat and vegetables.

Chapter Text

Tomoya might be a little bit stubborn. Maybe more than a bit. But with this… there’s just something not quite adding up for him, no matter how insistent Hajime is that they absolutely 1000% percent are, and no matter how much Ni-chan agrees with him, no matter the fact he saw Fushimi-senpai raise an eyebrow when he overheard Tomoya insisting, and alright he gets close to succumbing to the masses when Hokuto-senpai says he’s being a bit oblivious if he doesn’t believe it, but Tomoya just… doesn’t believe it!

Against all his best wishes, he thinks he understands Wataru Hibiki a little bit too well. He’s been privy to one too many deeply personal confessions from the Masked Pervert, staged as comedy routines or dramatic monologues but still personal confessions, does he think Tomoya is an idiot? (Answer: yeah, probably). And, as a result, Tomoya thinks he gets how Hibiki-senpai’s brain works.

Or, more accurately, how it does not work in a normal human way whatsoever, but Tomoya doesn’t really know how to tell his senior to go to therapy instead of trauma dumping on his juniors and then cracking jokes and performing magic tricks as if that’s going to make them instantly forget that he just said the most harrowing thing about identity and humanity known to man.

Anyway, all this is to say that Tomoya doesn’t believe that Hibiki-senpai is dating Tenshouin-senpai, despite the fact everyone else in the entire of ES seems to disagree with him. And he does see why! He’s not denying that there isn’t some horrifying entanglement going on between them in what Tomoya is sure counts as romantic to approximately only those two weirdos, but he has reasons for thinking they haven’t reached the point of actually being in a relationship- just… mutually, possibly eternally, pining after each other.

One reason is the way Tenshouin-senpai talks about Hibiki-senpai. It’s all very… idolised awe and pathetic yearning. If Tomoya’s being honest with himself, it reminds him of how he talks about Hokuto-senpai. Only Hokuto-senpai is actually worthy of such admiration because he’s so cool and talented and beautiful and suave and charming and kind and- okay, Tomoya’s getting off topic.

The point is that Tenshouin-senpai doesn’t talk about Hibiki-senpai in the way one would about someone they were dating. He talks about him like he has the world’s biggest crush on him. Tomoya was always under the impression that when you were dating someone, you got a little less… idol-worshippy about them. That’s how he one day wishes to feel about Hokuto-senpai, but it’s nice to have an out-of-his-league crush, too.

The other reason is a little bit harsh, but it rings true, and Tomoya hasn’t felt bad about being mean to Hibiki-senpai in a good while, now. Which ties in to the fact his next gut feeling is due to the fact that Hibiki-senpai is a bit of an asshole, and an extremely manipulative one at that. He truly is the type to string Tenshouin-senpai along as part of what he believes to be some grand performance.

But, if Tomoya’s to lend him some leniency, it’s also quite likely that Hibiki-senpai is simply too afraid to let himself reach a point of extended vulnerability with another person to be in a relationship with them. He is still way too bad at being a human being, even though it seems he at least puts in a bit of effort around Tenshouin-senpai. That might be the only thing that has Tomoya from leaving off ‘lol why would Hibiki-senpai have feelings for Tenshouin-senpai?’ off his list of reasons he doesn’t believe they’re dating.

And, as such, Tomoya’s mind is pretty firmly decided that everyone else is wrong until he’s proven otherwise.

Tomoya should never even suggest such things, even in his own mind, because his fate in life is such that the presence of Wataru Hibiki haunts his very existence, and chooses a horribly inconvenient time to prove him wrong.

Tomoya’s had worse Fridays than being trapped in an evil world with actual monsters roaming outside abandoned buildings and an amnesiac, wounded Wataru Hibiki in front of him acting so bizarrely ordinary that it’s more disturbing than when he’s a freak. Not many, but he has. Because his life is surely just some long-con entertainment show for the world to pervasively mock his misfortune, probably. Tomoya’s exaggerating, but it seems reasonable given the other shit that goes on around Ensemble Square.

And then, as if the situation couldn’t get worse than it seeming like Hibiki-senpai genuinely has developed amnesia, Eichi Tenshouin arrives out of the sky in a helicopter of all things, seething with jealousy directed at Tomoya as if any of this had been his idea or doing.

Tenshouin-senpai says some magic words and Hibiki-senpai is pulled out of his self hypnotism are you kidding him, and it turns out it was all some other mentally ill way of fulfilling his desire to live a normal childhood. And he’d chosen Tomoya as his target. Tomoya was… unfortunately a little flattered, as well as his usual state of being offended at most everything Hibiki-senpai did and said.

This was the part that had angered Tenshouin-senpai, though, and Tomoya proceeded to be subjected to a lengthy conversation between the two about… dissecting Hibiki-senpai’s feelings, and attempting to understand him, and then Tenshouin-senpai was berating Tomoya alongside himself, as if anything here had been Tomoya’s fault. As if Tomoya even wanted to understand Hibiki-senpai’s mind more than he already did and more than Tenshouin-senpai was clearly desperate to. 

Tomoya truly doesn’t have any clue how to respond to either of them. Honestly, all he wants is to get out of wherever the hell he’s wound up, because it’s dark and creepy and there are strange creatures prowling about. Holograms or actors or whatever, they’re still scary. Instead, Hibiki-senpai and Tenshouin-senpai are caught in their own world, busy discussing what Hibiki-senpai’s decision to do this means for them; what Tenshouin-senpai’s lack of understanding means for them; some other horrifically complicated discussion of feelings that Tomoya thinks he could solve for the two of them if he had the guts and they had the attention span to listen to him tell them the blunt, obvious truth.

Tenshouin-senpai wraps his arms around Hibiki-senpai, and for a horrifying split second, Tomoya thinks they’re about to kiss. Yes, Tomoya who was dead convinced they were not together, was so caught up in the overtly romantic connotations of that conversation that he genuinely believed there was no other movement that would make more sense.

He’s not sure what does happen is a movement that makes sense, because Tenshouin-senpai grabs hold of a ladder that Tomoya swears was not there a second ago, and with strength he didn’t know Tenshouin-senpai possessed, lifts Hibiki-senpai up off the ground and hugs him close, whispering something in his ear, as the ladder retreats into the helicopter, taking Hibiki-senpai and Tenshouin-senpai with it and away from the hellscape Tomoya’s trapped in.

He should be furious at them. He is, if he thinks about it, but the most pressing realisation in Tomoya’s mind is that he has never seen Hibiki-senpai look that sincere since the time he told Tomoya that Tenshouin-senpai had saved him; how Tenshouin-senpai had tethered him to earth to save him from flying away.

And now, Tenshouin-senpai has saved him once more, being able to free him from his hypnotism, before flying away with him, to heights unreachable by Tomoya.

Huh. Ugh. Gahhhhh.

Tomoya will admit he was wrong. Hibiki-senpai truly has been in love with Tenshouin-senpai this whole time, and he’s apparently more sincere with him than everyone else, because it seems like Tenshouin-senpai knows this. And it seems like Hibiki-senpai- ever elusive and constantly afraid of understanding- is actively leading Tenshouin-senpai towards an understanding of his ridiculous brain. Tomoya truly didn’t think Hibiki-senpai had it in him to do anything aside from purposefully make people misunderstand him. And yet here he is, having been subjected to proof of the inverse.

Tomoya watches Tenshouin-senpai’s silhouette cradle Hibiki-senpai as they drift away, their faces unfortunately all too close as he does, and reaches the conclusion that it seems everyone else was correct after all. For all the extra insight Tomoya had, he’d overlooked an important factor- it seems Hibiki-senpai is capable of falling in love, and Tenshouin-senpai has been lucky enough to receive the full affections of his idol.

In the back of his mind, Tomoya tries to stamp out the remaining upset at this whole situation, along with the fear from still being trapped in this horrible world and his phone is being all weird and he’s kind of scared actually by wondering if this means there’s hope for him and Hokuto-senpai. Tomoya is a way nicer person than Tenshouin-senpai, and Hokuto-senpai is so much more sensible than the Masked Pervert.

And… well, if Wataru Hibiki is capable of letting himself be vulnerable enough to be loved as a human, not an idol or actor or unknown entity… maybe that means Tomoya can be loved for his overwhelming mundanity, too.

Chapter Text

Amaya Hibiki didn’t entirely expect what she was getting herself into upon adopting a small boy with blue hair and bright, expressive eyes all those years ago. She’s still not entirely sure what she has gotten herself into. Parenting wasn’t what she’d expected, especially doing it later in life than all her peers. She’d assumed she would learn from their mistakes but… well… she has many, many regrets when it comes to Wataru. She wouldn’t be surprised if one day he turns around and admits he despises her.

And yet, even now he’s moved out to live as a famous idol under the popular Ensemble Square company, the hatred has yet to drip down and infect their relationship. Somewhat, at least, because Wataru does come to visit them, but he’s always cheerful, positive, and exuberant.

He has only been that around them for a while, now.

It hurts more than Amaya knows how to deal with or undo.

She raised this boy- she knows how prone he is to loneliness; to putting on a front; to designing masks for different environments and switching them out like a magic show.

Her son used to be so expressive. He would cry, laugh, perform, throw tantrums, act kindly, get stuck and confused. But now, for the last few years, it’s been the same facade every time. Content with life, happy to help, comforting words and positive anecdotes.

At some point, Wataru had developed a mask for his parents. And Amaya doesn’t know how to remove it. She doesn’t know what she did to cause the mask to be necessary in the first place. She’d do anything to turn back the clock and undo it, but all she can do is try and remind Wataru that she will always love her precious son, no matter what emotions he feels and expresses around her. No matter how human or inhuman he needs to be.

The very least she feels she can do is show support for her son’s feelings towards his unitmate. The first time Amaya connected the dots that the ‘Eichi’ her son spoke so fondly of was the heir to the Tenshouin Zaibatsu, she almost fainted, but now ‘Eichi Tenshouin’ has become a common name around the household- a name attached to a person more than an idea.

Wataru has brought up Eichi a lot over the past few years, and now he only visits every so often, the mentions have increased tenfold. And, given Wataru is only telling her about the most positive aspects of his life- the happiness he’s feeling and the wonderfully opportunities he’s experiencing- it’s telling that 90% of those stories revolve around Eichi.

Amaya is aware enough of the kid she’s raised to know he is not your typical heterosexual male. From the research she’s done about terminology and support systems in preparation for being there for him if Wataru ever decides to discuss this aspect of his life with her, she believes the most accurate descriptor of what Wataru is would be a, um, gender ambiguously queer…. clown.

So, it’s not exactly hard to put the pieces together about just why Wataru is so obsessed with Eichi Tenshouin.

Nonetheless, with the way her son has been slowly detaching his life from his parents’, Amaya wasn’t expecting to be informed until the laws changed and a wedding invitation slid through the front door.

Alas, full of surprises as he’s always been, Wataru subverts her expectations.

It’s an average Sunday afternoon when she hears a knock at the door. Her husband asks if they were expecting anyone, which they weren’t, so Amaya approaches the door with intrigue, only to open it and reveal Wataru, red faced, eyes wide, tears streaming down his cheeks and body shaking.

“Hi, Mum,” he manages to say, before the sobs wrack his body and he collapses into her arms.

Amaya is stunned. She doesn’t know what to do or how to feel or what in the world has possibly brought this about, but her parenting instincts kick in enough to know that right now, she needs to hold Wataru tight, lead him to the couch, and let him cry for as long as he needs to.

They’re both on the sofa by the time Wataru has calmed down enough to get words out.

“It’s Eichi,” he says, almost choking on the name. “We were out in the park when he- I had to call the ambulance- he couldn’t breathe and he was in so much pain and there was nothing I could do except hold his hand and whisper words I knew neither of us believed. And- and I watched them take him away from me and I just… lost it. No matter the fact there were onlookers, I just couldn’t stop the tears. I’m not ready- I can’t do it- I- I couldn’t go to the dorms and be seen by fellow idols like this. News spreads whippet fast; they’d all know. And I don’t want any of them to ever see me like this. And I didn’t know where else I could go to be alone. Here is the only place I think I can cope to exist in, right now. I’m sorry, Mum. I shouldn’t use you like this.”

“Oh, honey, don’t be silly, you could never use me- I’m your mother; I’ll always be here for you whenever you need a shoulder to cry on. Just like now- you can stay here as long as you need,” Amaya says, pulling Wataru firmly into her arms, where he hunches in on himself and cries into her shoulder.

“We’re not ready to lose him. There’s still so much to do- so much he wants to do. ES can’t lose him. fine can’t lose him…” Wataru pauses, and Amaya knows what he’s holding back from saying- can sense the underlying fear that voicing it will make it real; will let her know the truth he doesn’t know she’s already been aware of for a long time.

She squeezes him that bit tighter and cards a hand through long, well-kept hair. Wataru breaks.

“I can’t lose him! I can’t do it. I don’t know how to be human without Eichi. I don’t think I ever did. He’s the best thing that ever happened to me and I don’t know how to be Wataru Hibiki if I’m not by his side. Oh, Mum, I’m not ready to be lonely again. I don’t want him to leave me.”

“It’s going to be okay,” Amaya says. It’s an empty promise but it’s all she knows how to say in response to this. How can she convince her child that he’s always been more human than he even realises when he’s too caught in grief to hear her consolations? Grief Amaya doesn’t know how to remove. Grief she knows he has to feel, as much as she wishes she could undo it.

She lets Wataru cry; holds him tight when his grip slackens and he can do nothing but crumple on top of her. She has no reason to check how long it's been by the time Wataru’s breathing finally begins to regulate itself again.

“Do you know where Eichi is right now?” Amaya asks when Wataru pulls himself away and wipes his eyes.

“I assume they took him to his regular hospital when the ambulance arrived. I can probably check with Yuzuru. He’s likely to know,” Wataru says. It takes Amaya a second to realise who he’s talking about- Wataru’s so prone to referring to his other acquaintances by monikers beside their name that she’d almost forgotten ‘Butler-san’ and ‘Yuzuru Fushimi’ were the same person.

“Would it be helpful if I take you to go visit him?”

Wataru shakes his head, eyes wide and face pale, an authentic reaction if Amaya’s ever seen one. But then his eyebrows furrow.

“I don’t know. I’m scared to see him… but I want to be there for him… but what good is it if I can’t be there for him? I don’t think I can act normally in front of him right now. It’s probably better I stay here until I feel better, right?”

Another sign for Amaya that Wataru is doing worse than she’s witnessed in a while- he hasn’t been so uncertain about his own decisions in a long time, and whenever he was, it was in a desperate desire to always do the ‘correct’ thing to please everyone around him. Amaya had hoped it perhaps was a sign he was learning to make decisions for himself, not just those around him, but… hm, she’s wondering if perhaps the link between the change and the appearance of a certain someone in Wataru’s life meant that there was someone telling Wataru how to be without him needing to ask.

She’s unsure if that’s best for him or not. On the one hand, her son being with someone who he feels like he knows himself around- knows how to act and how to please without needing that constant reassurance- is comforting. On the other hand… she would ideally like for her son to not need another person’s reassurance- for him to make decisions for his own happiness rather than other people’s. Amaya knows her encouragement of Wataru’s career as an entertainer and her own desperate desire to be liked by others hasn’t helped. She’d turn back time if she could, but the damage has been done, unfortunately.

“I think it’s better for you to do what you want to do and to stop thinking about everyone else for a second,” Amaya says, and Wataru scoffs through a sniffle.

“If I could do that, I don’t think I’d be quite so upset right now,” he says, some of his typical tone starting to reappear.

“Okay, if that’s off the table, then I’ll tell you what I think will be helpful for you right now. I think you should go and see Eichi in the hospital, and I think you should visit him however you are right now, no masks, no pretences, no pretending to be okay. Don’t you think he might be upset if he thinks you’ve not even been affected by his hospitalisation?”

Wataru considers her words, chewing on his bottom lip and tapping his foot as he does. He’s always struggled to sit still for long periods of time, especially when emotions are high.

“I don’t think I can drive right now, so I won’t be able to see him just yet-“

“I’ll drive you,” Amaya interrupts. “Don’t even consider doing everything on your own. I’m here for you, honey.”

Slowly, Wataru nods his head, sighing in reluctant concession.

Amaya pours him a glass of water whilst she gathers her things and starts the car. Wataru takes a few seconds to pace and shake his hands out before he steadies his breathing enough to step out the front door.

“Distraction or silence?” Amaya asks when they’re both strapped in and Wataru’s shared the location ‘Butler-san’ has sent to him (Yuzuru, Amaya reminds herself. The ‘butler’- whatever that means- is Yuzuru).

Wataru doesn’t reply, gaze fixed out the window and face scarily blank. It’s a rare expression she hasn’t seen since he was a kid, but it’s answer enough to her question that she sets the car into motion, somewhat comforted that this is a moment she’s privy to after so long without it.

Only when Wataru was home and completely at ease did he let all facade drop, revealing what she’s realised he believes to be an empty shell underneath. Amaya can understand why he thinks that way- it truly was a little unnerving the first time she witnessed Wataru go mannequin still, face void of any emotion or humanity, but she quickly learnt what the hollow exterior was a result of.

When Wataru drops all performance, it’s because his head is racing with thoughts. Too many thoughts for him to have the spare attention to divert to crafting a mask. It is, possibly, the most human expression he has in his repertoire. Amaya’s never been sure how to express as much to her son, as unconvinced of his humanity as he is.

They arrive at the hospital and Amaya uses Wataru’s phone to locate the ward, leading him along as fast as she can so he doesn’t feel the need to adopt a performance to hide from the eyes of staff and patients.

“Will you be okay in there alone, or do you want me to come in with you?” she asks when they reach the door of the private ward the Tenshouin heir is unquestionably granted. Wataru grabs her wrist and lightly tugs it in the direction of the door in answer. He takes a shaky breath, eyes refocusing on the world, and gives a nod with determination.

The room is filled with the noises of machinery and deep, rasping breaths. Eichi Tenshouin lies deathly still in the centre of the bed, but after a few seconds, Amaya is filled with relief at the gentle rise of his chest.

Wataru has left her side, immediately falling to his knees next to Eichi’s bedside and hunting for his hand, the tube of the cannula leading his search.

“I’m sorry,” Wataru whispers to him. It’s so quiet Amaya wonders if he wanted her to hear this or not, but the beep of the machines isn’t a busy enough noise to disguise his voice. “I should have stayed by your side. I’m sorry for leaving. I was so scared of losing my composure in front of you that I never considered how you felt. I’ll stay, next time. I’m here, now. I won’t leave until they drag me out.”

‘They’ may well be Amaya if the doctors don’t beat her to it. She’s all too aware that Wataru would neglect his own health for the sake of fulfilling his promise to remain by Eichi’s bedside.

Wataru strokes hair from Eichi’s face, eyes unbelievably fond in a way Amaya’s never seen him look at someone before. There’s a new sort of shake in Eichi’s breath that leads to a choking cough. Wataru is lifting his torso up off the bed before Amaya has even blinked, his face morphed to open and explicit fear in a split second.

The coughing subsides and Eichi’s eyes flutter open, eyebrows knitting together in what Amaya is sure must be pain. He looks to his side and spots her son, and the pain is replaced with an expression far more gentle.

“Wataru?” he whispers. His voice is hoarse. It sounds painful for him to form just three syllables.

“I’m here, Eichi. I’ll stay as long as you want me to. I’m so sorry,” Wataru says. Eichi shakes his head and seems to immediately regret the movement. Wataru slides himself onto the bed in what appears to be a practiced motion, and Eichi immediately buries his head into Wataru’s chest.

Amaya feels guilty for watching such an intimate scene. The utter adoration they hold for each other is palpable through every inch of their bodies. The natural way they’ve fallen into each other within the too-small bed is evidence that this scene has played between them before. Amaya decides this is her cue to leave the room and stand guard outside.

After all, as much as she loves her child and is proud he’s found a beautiful love like this, she knows the rest of the world won’t assuredly look upon such a scene so fondly. She wants to grant them this sanctuary, before the outside world forces its way between them again.

Amaya hopes the law changes within her and Eichi’s lifetimes. After today, there’s nothing she desperately longs for more than getting the chance to walk her Wataru down the aisle to be by Eichi’s side for as long as the universe allows them to be together. She hopes her support can be at least somewhat of the apology she owes Wataru for the battles she’s created in his mind. Fighting for his happiness and humanity now is the least she can do to atone.

Chapter Text

Wataru usually ignores a buzz from his phone when he’s at the theatre, but he’s set a different sound for Eichi just in case it’s something important (importance dependent on how much Wataru cares to know what is or isn’t happening). Thankfully, he’s not required on stage until a few scenes later, and it’s been a comparatively lax rehearsal as far as this troupe goes, so Wataru slips his phone out of his back pocket and checks the screen.

My Eichi <33: could you meet me at the Starpro office after rehearsals? There’s a situation. I want your input before I make any attempts to deal with it

My Eichi <33: Ah, and maybe turn your notifications off unless you feel like vibrating your way through your scenes

My Eichi <33: Heh, that’s given me a funny mental image. Perhaps you should leave them on, after all

It’s nothing out of the ordinary for Eichi to request his presence once he’s finished all his tasks for the day, or to be amused by his own messages and derail the conversation. But a request regarding notifications is an odd one. Wataru can surmise that something must have happened regarding the public and either fine, himself, Eichi, or one of the juniors they particularly care for.

Wataru wracks his mind for a recent memory of some event that may have breached one of the many mysterious taboos of the idol industry, or more simply caused some kind of controversy they’ll now have to cover. Nothing comes to mind as out of the ordinary, but the general public are unpredictable and fickle creatures, as Wataru knows all too well. A performance yesterday’s audience praised and adored could have easily become boorish and irrelevant today.

It’s with a combination of genuine concern for what has led Eichi to bother him during the middle of rehearsals (he’s typically more mindful of when he texts… unless he’s in a bad mood and purposefully wants to interrupt. Ah, he can be sooo adorably petty sometimes. It’s too cute) and growing curiosity about just what might be making his notifications (which he already had mainly turned off) go crazy that Wataru decides to engage in the daring task of approaching Kiyoko Hidaka and requesting an early leave.

“Oh my dearest Lady Hidaka! Your humble servant boldly pleads for a scrap of your attention for just a moment,” Wataru says, tapping her on the shoulder with his hair as soon as she wraps up her conversation with a light technician. She doesn’t jump, which is equal parts irritating and impressive.

“I’m busy. Get your point across in iambic pentameter within the next 20 seconds or I will ignore you for a month.”

What a challenge! If Wataru were not so thoroughly enamoured with Eichi, he would have fallen head over heels with this woman hundreds of times over! He always did have a little celebrity crush on her, growing up. It was one of the only things keeping his parents from sitting down and having a talk with him about his- ah- preferences in life. (They have since discovered that said talk was still quite relevant. Alas, he cannot control the yearnings of his own heart, no matter how hard he has tried.)

“It grieves me greatly to request as much,

But I have urgent matters to attend.

My lines are learnt and staging is rehearsed,

So may I leave before the scheduled time?”

Wataru is irritated in himself that he still hasn’t mastered the art of improv iambic pentameter without counting the syllables on his toes. He has to keep it subtle or risk Kiyoko seeing his counting rather than some accompanying dramatic hand gestures.

She glances up from her watch sporting a frown, which is typically a promising sign, given how much glee she takes in tormenting her troupe.

“Fine. Your presence is hardly noticed, anyway. Truly, your assertiveness has been lacking as of late. Do better next rehearsal or you’re out,” she says. Wataru grins. That’s a bald faced lie and they both know it. If there’s one thing Wataru has never lacked, it’s stage presence, no matter what scenario he decides to perform in.

He won’t risk saying even the smallest retort that could have her changing her mind, however, so Wataru gives her a signature ‘Amazing’ and disappears from her view via a pillar to go collect his things and drive back to ES so he can find out what’s going on with Eichi.

He parks in his reserved bay right next to the entrance (because Eichi never does anything by halves, even when Wataru protests) and amuses the receptionist by swiping his access card with his hair, entering the lift that takes him straight up to StarPro’s floor.

He hasn’t prepared any dramatic entrance to Eichi’s office, mainly because he’s loathe to detract from whatever serious thing Eichi has summoned him for. Wataru’s convinced of its severity mainly because Eichi requested his presence after rehearsals. If it was something minor or petty, Eichi would’ve begged Wataru to leave rehearsals immediately and teleport to his side.

Wataru opens the door devastatingly plainly, and Eichi’s chair immediately swivels. Instead of the utterly fond look of adoration Wataru’s used to being greeted by upon his appearance in Eichi’s eyesight, he’s met with a too-serious expression. It… hurts more than he wants to admit, even to himself.

“We’ve got a scandal on our hands,” Eichi says, and he hands a tablet over to Wataru with a news tab open. Wataru slinks further into the office and perches on Eichi’s overly robust shredder to read it, allowing Eichi to lean over his shoulder and rest his chin on it as he likes to do whenever they read something together.

“Ah,” Wataru says when he sees the title. “Quite the disaster for our reputation, no?”

“Mhm. Read the whole thing,” Eichi presses, chin predictably coming to sit upon Wataru’s shoulder, his hand brushing the hair taking up his desired spot aside and coming to rest at the curve of Wataru’s waist.

Wataru does his best to stop thinking about the gentle, loving way Eichi always touches him, and brings his attention back to the article.

ES’s beloved angels caught in a devilish affair?

Ensemble Square’s founder and adored idol Eichi Tenshouin has been spotted on what can only be described as a clandestine meeting with fellow unitmate and close friend Wataru Hibiki. Whilst it may be common knowledge amongst idol fans that their beloved idols are always a little on the flamboyant side, seeing such a display is somewhat jarring, both to long time fans of the serious and impressive unit fine and to any regular passersby who may recognise two well-known celebrities in a scandalous embrace.

The two were caught cross-handed in their amorous affair in Ensemble Square’s renowned Café Cinnamon, and since the release of the photo, fans have expressed both outrage, delight and perfectly neutral shock at the scandalous scene.

[IMAGE]

Image features Tenshouin (left) and Hibiki (right) caught in a passionate embrace, hands entwined, Hibiki perched on his lover’s lap, noses touching, as a single drink with two straws betrays their secrets equally as well as their positions do

The photo gained traction on Twitter and drew attention to a long-time fan of Tenshouin and Hibiki’s documentation of all public moments between the two idols that suggest the two may be romantically entangled. It would seem twitter user @neo_sanctuary was ahead of the game, and their thread documenting years worth of data only further proves the secrets held within this photo.

What will this affair mean for the future of fine? Idols are forbidden from dating, even amongst themselves, and same-sex relationships still face much public disgrace, without the ability to marry under current law. Furthermore, Tenshouin’s fame outside of the idol scene could lead to trouble for the illicit couple. Do partners of the Tenshouin Zaibatsou know there’s no prospective heir incoming? Well, unless Hibiki- magician that he is- has any utterly surprising tricks up his sleeves.

Turn to page 9 for more idol scoops. To read more about Tenshouin and Hibiki’s affair, see our official Twitter page @starspotlight_official

Wataru releases a long sigh and lowers the tablet to the desk.

“A little gossip surely isn’t going to be anything we can’t cover up, no?”

Eichi pulls a face and sits back in his chair, clicking open the email tab on his computer screen.

“Fifteen of these are from investors mysteriously finding loopholes to pull out of agreements. No explanations, but all have been since the release of that article. Six more are business partners of ours asking for more information and threatening to end trade if the rumours are true. It’s utterly ridiculous that they care more about who I may or may not be dating than their companies. Idols end up in scandals all the time. I should’ve known better than to expect there’d be the same degree of disbelief generally granted to such scandals when I was subject to one. I’m sorry you’ve been roped into this too, but your reputation is likely on the line as well unless we sort this,” he says, finger agitatedly tapping the corner of his keyboard. It’s a habit Wataru’s noticed whenever Eichi’s convinced himself he’s hit a dead end.

“I appreciate your consideration, but you're definitely my main concern with regards to this. The acting scene is a little more liberal than the business world- this won’t damage my chances anywhere near as much as it may sabotage yours. Perhaps we should call our favourite producer for some insight on how to resolve this dilemma?” Wataru suggests. Eichi’s eyes brighten a little. Wataru suspects he’d gotten so caught up in his head that he forgot outside sources were an option for concocting solutions.

“Ah. I’ll drop her an email right now,” Eichi says. His shoulders lower a little and Wataru moves to stand behind him, gently massaging them with the excuse of reading over the article once again.

“Don’t you find it a little amusing that so much could be gained from what is, if we truly reflect on ourselves, not the most- ah- incriminating position we’ve ever been in?”

“I always assumed the media were aware enough of my engagement to never bother speculating about me. I hadn’t been watching my actions at all carefully.”

Wataru isn’t sure that Eichi is listening to a word he says anymore. He’d always deny it, but Wataru knows him better than that. When he gets caught up in his head like this, Wataru’s voice becomes background noise, and he’ll retroactively feign understanding of what Wataru just said.

In a way, it’s comforting.  To be reminded that despite the claims Eichi makes, Wataru really is just a regular human to him- not some unreachable idol. As heartbreaking as ignorance from Eichi can be, it’s another thing Wataru loves- another reason Eichi makes him feel like a real, tangible person.

“Truly, it is entertaining to me that the news outlets figured out how I feel for you before you did,” Wataru continues, just to prove his point to himself.

“I suppose this photo is quite something, though. Even my arranged engagement isn’t enough to deter journalists when it comes to a potential spectacle and a good gossip, don’t you think, Wataru?”

Oh, Eichi’s finally ready to hear someone else’s voice again! Wataru was beginning to feel a little lonely, to be honest. He was about three words away from just throwing himself across Eichi’s lap like some sort of neglected cat. He’s not above being a little over-dramatically needy to gain some attention.

“When it comes to gossip about idols, they truly know no limits. The curious part is what about this specific incident caused this large a response,” Wataru says, moving to Eichi’s desk and sitting on it so he can push and pull Eichi’s revolving chair with the heel of his foot, just to amuse them both. “After all, I’ve always acted like this with you, be it in public or behind closed doors. At least since I entrusted my mask to you. Surely you’ve noticed?”

“Ah, I thought you’d behaved like this even before that… I hadn’t made a connection between this sort of interaction and the mask. Was I supposed to?” Eichi sounds uncertain and it suddenly hits Wataru that if he doesn’t start being very careful about his wording, he’s about to snowball into territory they both try to avoid.

Alas, Wataru knows it’s somewhat inevitable that the resolution of this will spark some form of conversation around their unsaid ‘will we, won’t we’. He’s just unsure if he’s entirely ready for the inevitable ‘we will’ the discussion will draw to- especially when the extent of Wataru’s knowledge on the topic is that Eichi’s still uncertain of his feelings. His last update was almost a year ago, but Wataru would never push for an answer for fear of acquiring a placating and disingenuous one.

“It wasn’t meant as a code for you to crack. I’m merely reflecting on the trends in my own behaviours,” Wataru says, and continues before Eichi can dissect that honesty further. “In that case, I suspect you may be the culprit for our current predicament. What changed with the way you decided to behave around me, hm?”

“Nothing of any particular note, I wouldn’t say,” Eichi says, frowning down at the tablet and zooming in to the image of them both. If Wataru disregards the current dilemma, he can admit that it truly is an adorable photo of them both. If this resolves positively, he’s somewhat tempted to print it and frame it on his bedside table. “Although, now I remember this moment, I’ll admit I’d forgotten there were non-ES personnel in the café. Fufu, the way you looked at me truly made me believe we were the only people in the world. I suspect my actions reflected that reality I was striving to manifest; that warmth blossoming inside me that only you can elicit.”

Wataru’s foot pause for a millisecond before he reminds it to keep moving on Eichi’s chair lest he entirely give himself away.

Is this really about to be it? Is Eichi going to confess to him at long last? Feelings identified and cemented, after Wataru has constantly warred with his own brain to ponder if the uncertainty Eichi has approached love with is a sign that he doesn’t truly love Wataru this way- not like Wataru loves him.

Just as Wataru musters the words for some form of response to Eichi’s pseudo-confession, a loud blast of Rainbow Circus sounds from Eichi’s pocket.

“Ah, Anzu,” Eichi says, expression paling. It’s only at Wataru’s surprise at his change in tone that he realises Eichi had been blushing before. “Did you read my email?”

Eichi turns the phone onto speaker and holds it between himself and Wataru so he can also hear the unimpressed voice that responds.

“Of course. You two finally did something ridiculous enough in public that you need me to lie to every media outlet we know and come up with some plausibly deniable excuse for your relationship. You idols never let me have an easy Tuesday, do you?”

Eichi opens and closes his mouth comedically. Wataru sympathises with him because… what?

“Anzu, beloved producer, our favourite damage control, what relationship are you referring to, exactly?” Eichi finally says.

There’s a long pause from over the phone.

“The romantic relationship… that you and Hibiki have been in for the past two years….” Anzu says slowly. Eichi’s cheeks immediately flush once more, and Wataru fights against his own blood cells to prevent his from doing the same.

“Huh?”

“HUH?”

“Anzu… we’re not dating?” Eichi says. It sounds like a question. Wataru isn’t sure it isn’t one.

“Tenshouin, with all the love in the world, and I mean no ill will when I say this, what the fuck is wrong with you two?”

“Frankly, I’m more confused about what specifically has been giving you this impression for two entire years.”

“Are you?” Anzu says, professionalism completely dropped. It’s typically amusing to Wataru to see her lose her composure- particularly with regards to Eichi’s unreasonable requests- but this situation is less amusing than it typically would be. “Are you really unaware of why I and everyone else in the entire ES might have developed that impression?”

“Well, ah, this is irrelevant for the issue at hand, Anzu, so perhaps we should-“

“No, actually. I’m not going to help you out until you and Hibiki figure out what’s going on between you. I think the public deserve to believe you’re in a relationship given the utterly infatuated way you both behave around each other. Goodbye, Tenshouin.”

With that, Anzu hangs up. Eichi stares at his phone in bewilderment.

“Well, that was a rather childish approach to the situation. We may be doomed after all,” he says.

Wataru chews his bottom lip, preparing himself mentally for the bomb he’s about to drop.

“You know, there is quite an easy way to un-doom ourselves. We could heed Anzu’s demands and bite the bullet that’s been slowly inching towards our hearts since the moment you wrote me into your script,” Wataru says, avoiding Eichi’s eyes as he speaks.

“Wataru?” Eichi practically chokes out.

“If this is truly the only thing to save fine’s reputation and your business contracts, I’m willing to overcome whatever inconsequential fear has been holding me back all this time. But, it will only work if you’re amenable to confronting your own feelings. Are you, Eichi?”

Wataru drags Eichi’s chair forward, lowers it, and kneels in front of him so he’s finally looking at him at eye level. Eichi’s mouth has formed a delicate ‘o’ as he returns Wataru’s gaze, wide-eyed and bewildered.

“You’re really- right now- over this-?”

“Come now,” Wataru says, tilting his head with amusement, “when was it ever going to end up being sensible or logical when the two of us are involved?”

“Even so,” Eichi says indignantly, the flush in his cheeks giving away the real reason he’s holding back. “This is too sudden- we’re not ready- I’m not ready-“

“When will you be ready, Eichi?” Wataru asks. Because he’s been patient, and he’s always known that at the end of the day, Eichi won’t figure out his feelings or believe himself capable of loving in the way he believes love must be given unless Wataru spells it out for him, just like he’d had to all those years ago in the hospital, after the war had ended. “Whether you understand love or not, it doesn’t change that you love me- it’s woven intrinsically into your every action. And loathe as you are to believe it, I love you, too. Not in spite of our history- because of it. Is finally admitting it and allowing ourselves to openly love each other really so big of a change to how we currently are?”

Eichi blinks up at Wataru before shaking his head. His eyes betray his feelings, droplets forming in the corners that he swiftly blinks away.

“I don’t deserve to admit it,” Eichi says quietly, and suddenly his reluctance makes all the more sense to Wataru.

Yes, Eichi has been eternally confused on the specifics and intricacies of romantic love and how to feel it, but the most important facet of his reluctance is his dead-set belief that he is a creature to filthy and tarnished to be deserving of such adoration from another human.

Wataru is hardly an angel himself. He’s dirtied himself far too many times for Eichi’s sake and before or beside that. His motivations can hardly be called moral, even though he claims to long to entertain his audiences, for how often does Wataru deliberately irritate or invade or ignore his audience in favour of bringing about an entertaining response? In order to cure his own boredom, keep himself entertained, cling to his vague sense of humanity?

If anything, Eichi was pure and innocent before he spotted Wataru on a TV screen and sought out his goal to reach the same heights. If anything… Wataru is the root of Eichi’s own self-hatred.

Is Wataru deserving of Eichi’s love?

He’s been quiet for too long. From his own minor spiral, he’s as good as confirmed Eichi’s fears. Wataru feels a brief panic grip him and he surges forward to cup Eichi’s face between his hands and assure the other looks at him; that he sees the overwhelming amalgamation of emotions that Wataru has been hit with, no mask hiding his reality.

“If you aren’t, then it must be a heinous sin for me to do so, but,” Wataru pauses. Script, script, he needs a script, but the performance has already drifted too far away from the original lines.

Wataru was supposed to say that if being together was the only way to save their reputations then they should overcome their fear and do it.

Eichi was supposed to agree and admit that he does love Wataru, and he finally understands what love is.

Wataru would then swoop in and kiss him and it would be better than any halfhearted, unfeeling stage kiss could ever dream of being.

But instead they’re looking at each other, lines disintegrated in the tense air between them, wanting but not taking, actions inhibited by their history that Wataru swears to Eichi is old news, but that still crops up at the most inconvenient times, reminding Wataru that he never truly allowed himself to feel anything during that performance, and never took the time to feel after it, either, too afraid he’d find negative emotions towards the one he now holds so dear.

“But perhaps I’m the selfish one between us,” Wataru says quietly, stomach twisting in knots. Eichi’s face- beautiful and confused and afraid of what Wataru might say- is enough to spur him on. “Because I want you anyway. I want us. Will you be selfish in this, too? Is it possible for you to want me in turn?”

“It’s more impossible for me to not want you, Wataru,” Eichi says with a rough laugh unbefitting of the scenario, yet releasing a small amount of tension from his rigid frame. “This is ridiculous, is it not? I’m finally allowing myself to admit that I love you, all because Anzu refuses to help if I remain stubborn.”

Wataru’s heart skips a beat as the words leave Eichi’s mouth. Somehow, somehow this is going to work. He’ll allow himself the unusual self-reflection of addressing his feelings for Eichi’s sake. The script is imperfect, but Wataru can see the rough draft panning out in his mind as he reaches out and strokes a thumb across Eichi’s face.

“Surely that’s not the only reason,” Wataru says, hiding the desperation for Eichi to want this as much as he promises he wants Wataru.

“No,” Eichi agrees. “No, it’s definitely not. I fear I’ve been too awful for you to ever love, but you’re fearing the same, aren’t you, my Wataru? Perhaps we should be awful together, rather than denying our pleasure through senseless guilt.”

Eichi makes love and life sound so poetic. Wataru never knows what might fall from his mouth next, and the surprise keeps him oh so enamoured.

“I’d like that very much, Eichi,” Wataru agrees, leaning forward a fraction more. This is the part where they kiss, surely. Wataru’s fingertips feel electric as they ghost over Eichi’s cheek, down to his chin. Is he nervous? Perhaps- it’s so different to kissing under the guise of performance. This is real- this is Eichi- he doesn’t want it to be anything aside from perfect for him. For both of them, if he’s honest.

Eichi’s eyes flit between Wataru’s eyes and mouth. A shaky breath falls from his lips and Wataru’s stomach lurches with the desire to devour the sigh with his own mouth. He’s just about to take the plunge and close the infinitesimal distance between them when a loud slamming sound interrupts their bliss.

“Eichi-samaaaaaa what are we going to doooooo?”

Wataru’s hand snaps back to his side as the door bursts open and in storms a flurry of pink, followed by a rather irritated looking Butler.

Eichi’s chair shoves back from the desk and hits Wataru in the leg as it moves. He blinks away the pain to avoid it showing on his face and greets the new arrivals with a grin and a flourish of his arms.

“What an unscheduled unit meeting! I see the two of you have grown aware of the current dilemma, as well?”

“Ah, Tori,” Eichi says, cheeks flushed bright red as a ball of pink tumbles into his arms. “Don’t worry yourself over it. The situation’s under control.”

Yuzuru raises an eyebrow at Wataru and he glances aside to avoid giving anything away to such a keen eye. Yuzuru seems to have derived the answer from the action nonetheless. Damn that perceptive butler.

Wataru jumps to his feet to spin Tori around and out of Eichi’s lap as he notices Yuzuru’s eyes narrowing as he looks between Eichi and Wataru’s positions and no doubt equally as flushed faces. Damn that perceptive butler.

“Of course your Amazing Wataru Hibiki is handling the matter! And of course our lovely producer has not abandoned us. fine will be back on track with our pristine reputation in no time whatsoever, Himegimi.”

“Uh, put me down Hibiki-senpai!” Tori complains, but he holds onto Wataru’s arms anyway, because the feigned dislike is entirely an act at this point, and both of them know it, as much as Wataru now respects their unit’s little princess.

Wataru puts Tori down after another spin, only for the poor princess to be grabbed by the back of his shirt.

“We’ll be leaving, now. Get the situation under control before you need me to step in or I won’t be pleased,” Yuzuru says, dragging a less-than-pleased Tori as he makes his way to the door, harsh gaze flitting between the two culprits.

Well! If Yuzuru is going to threaten them, it might be in their best interests to setback to precisely where they left off. Wataru looks at Eichi, somewhat unsure how to continue what they were about to start.

“Wataru?” Eichi speaks up after the door closes, leaving them staring at each other in tense silence.

“Yes?” Wataru asks, response void of any pointless embellishment he’d normally add.

Eichi taps his foot and spins his chair to fully face Wataru, beckoning him closer with nothing but the intensity of the longing in his eyes.

“Let’s do something worthy of a scandal,” he says. And Wataru forgets that Yuzuru and Tori have scarcely left the room, because Eichi is permitting him to enact his deepest desires- is requesting it- and Wataru may be more human in this than he ever realised he could be in anything, because he doesn’t feel at all capable of denying the temptation that Eichi Tenshouin is to him in every conceivable way.

With less grace and elegance than Wataru has possibly ever possessed, he practically throws himself into Eichi’s inviting lap, cups his face to take in the anticipatory awe crossing his expression, then kisses him so feverishly that Wataru thinks he might faint from the lightheadedness, were he not so determined to stay conscious.

Eichi’s tongue is in his mouth before Wataru’s brain can even catch up with his body. Kissing Eichi feels so natural and autonomous that for an impossibly rare moment, Wataru doesn’t think through his actions. He just does.

His hands grab Eichi’s hair; his tongue meets Eichi’s own, his breaths leave his body with louder noises than normal, a mix between sighs of relief and pleasure.

Wataru doesn’t have any more awareness of his own actions than that, because Eichi- Eichi- is so overwhelming in every aspect that he’s all Wataru can focus on- all he wants to focus on.

Eichi kisses him like he’s starving- like this is all he’s dreamed of since the moment he first saw Wataru on a hospital screen. Perhaps it is, even if he hadn’t realised it himself. The thought makes Wataru’s heart beat just that little faster, to have such tangible evidence that after all the myriad sides of the pitiful excuse of a human Wataru is that Eichi has seen, he still wants him so desperately.

Hands wrap round Wataru’s waist and he shivers at the sensation. The hands dig in to his flesh, pulling him impossibly closer. Eichi takes a gasping breath between them, stealing back the breath Wataru had taken from him, before his mouth is back on Wataru’s again and Wataru thinks he might combust if he has to keep control of himself for one second more.

The emotions Eichi spills through his tongue into Wataru say more than a thousand words could. Not only does Eichi love him, but he wants to share this love- he wants to openly love Wataru and take the one thing he’s always desired yet refrained from being selfish with. Wataru could spout a thousand poems he’s learned about love right at this very moment. He thinks he could compose his own, for once, despite others’ words always being so much easier than his own. Eichi is just too intangibly wonderful for Wataru’s usual restrictions to apply.

When Eichi next pulls back for breath, Wataru takes the opportunity to twist his head lower and begin lathing kisses along Eichi’s jaw and down his neck, soaking in the sighs Eichi releases at the sensation as they send shivers down his spine.

“We should- ah- contact Anzu- mmm, Wataru~, and tell her we figured it out, right?”

Wataru hums in agreement and allows his teeth to graze Eichi’s skin. Ah, even his sweat tastes delightful. Wataru wishes he could devour him in entirety, right here. It is, alas, the middle of the work day. Self control must be enacted, much to his frustration.

“Probably,” Wataru agrees, detaching himself long enough to look at Eichi’s kiss swollen lips, mussed hair, and flustered expression. He leans forward and kisses him again, quick and filthy. “But that can wait another ten minutes, no?”

Eichi’s face breaks into a giddy smile, face glowing with youthfulness Wataru always fears he’ll lose too early from the level of stress he encumbers himself with each day.

“I hope you’re not challenging yourself with a time limit for something deplorable, Wataru.”

“Me? Deplorable? When would i ever be! However… just say the word and this Wataru Hibiki will accomplish any challenge you wish upon him.”

“I’d be saddened if my only demand was a challenge for you, given all you’ve told me. I only have one request when it comes to you,” Eichi says, eyes shifting to something more solemn. “Love me?”

He says it like a question- like it’s ever been something remotely doubtable when it comes to Wataru.

“Can we even call that a challenge when it’s easier to me than breathing?” Wataru asks, tracing his finger along Eichi’s jaw, relishing in the adoration he’s permitted to bestow upon him.

Eichi smiles, and he’s so breathtakingly gorgeous that Wataru wants to live in his moment with him forever. It’s not actual magic, as much as Wataru always wishes he could perform such, but kissing Eichi once again is the closest he can get.

Chapter Text

Yuzuru prides himself in many of his less publicly known capabilities. One doesn’t rise to the rank of instructor in a military camp they’ve been banished to without innate skill, after all. It’s not boastful to admit in the solitude of his own mind that Yuzuru is highly observant and intelligent.

It doesn’t help that the obliviousness of everyone around him only proves to further cement his confidence in his own abilities. See, for example, the situation between Eichi-sama and Hibiki-sama.

Yuzuru had thought it glaringly obvious that the two were trapped in some horrific entanglement of idolisation, self-doubt, saviour complex, miscommunicated and uncertain mutual pining that was utterly unbearable, especially as they grew closer and slowly figured out each aspect.

Tori had been convinced they were dating for a long time. Admittedly, Yuzuru’s own commentary during rehearsals didn’t dissuade his bocchama’s perception per se. Who could blame him for doing anything within his power to push those two in the right direction?

Alas, not only had Yuzuru been made aware quite viciously of the delusion of all of ES when it came to Wataru and Eichi, but he had also been alerted that urging them together was, in hindsight, the inverse of what he should have been doing.

It would’ve been far preferable for everyone’s sanity had Wataru and Eichi not figured it out just as Tori and Yuzuru burst into Eichi’s office yesterday. It would have been preferable if Yuzuru had dragged them both aside and threatened their lives if they so much as looked at each other in public.

Whatever insufferableness Yuzuru thought he had already suffered at the hands of his two idiot seniors was naught in comparison to his current predicament.

“Ugh, those two lovebirds have entered. Avert your gaze,” Izumi says as he grabs utensils off the rack facing towards the common room.

“Nahaha, I think we’re all pretty used to those two being lovey-dovey everywhere. Let’s just pay attention to these macarons so we don’t over-whip them,” Niki said. Yuzuru and Souma both nodded earnestly and continued beating the mixture. Yuzuru had studied the specific timing and pressure needed for this, so with Niki’s expert guidance he was confident in the success.

A certain infuriating presence he’d been keeping a close eye on cackled by his side as he lined baking trays.

“Kanzaki, I wonder if you would like to inform Hasumi of the potential for inappropriate public acts! Perhaps His Eminence would learn a lesson or two if his old friend wrangled him.”

“It would be wise not to needle your way into intimate matters when you’re unaware of their full history,” Yuzuru said, voice calm. Ibara stepped on his foot. Yuzuru quickly twisted his ankle to catch Ibara’s, and yanked it backwards. Hard enough to make him lose his footing, but not so bad that he fell and disrupted their cooking.

“Perhaps I should inform Hasumi-dono. He does become frustrated whenever Tenshouin-dono and Hibiki-dono are up to something,” Souma considered, pausing his whipping to ponder. Niki made a strangled noise and took over.

“So annoying,” Izumi complained, having been shoved out the way. “Ah shit, I looked back over. No one needed to see that, ugh.”

Yuzuru had been made thoroughly aware through their conversation that all four other members of Niki’s kitchen were under the impression that Wataru and Eichi had been in a relationship since longer than- Yuzuru glances at his watch- 16 hours, give or take one depending on just how long post his and Tori’s quick retreat it took for them to get back to the topic at hand, or if perhaps their kiss was going to be a resulting action from a precursory conversation.

“It wouldn’t be as annoying if they at least kept it to Seisoukan,” Niki says with a sigh as he grabs Souma’s arm, stopping him from whisking any further. Yuzuru gives his a few more beats before feeling the signs of tension that indicate completion. “I dunno how you survive being in a unit with them, Fushimi, haha.”

“fine are very good at perpetuating our angelic appearance, including hiding any unsavoury activities of the members,” Yuzuru says. It’s not entirely accurate, but he knows it will entertain his current audience. Ha, he’s starting to sound a little like Wataru. How unfortunate.

Ibara, naturally, snorts a laugh.

“I’ll bet.”

“Eden would do well to remember they have their own unsavoury problems to disguise.”

“Ohoho, Yuzuru, if you’d be so kind as to step within my range, I’m sure I can erase at least one of fine’s issues right here and now!”

Yuzuru feels his blood boil with excitement. Oh, he loves riling Ibara up like this, ready to meet his fire with his own deeply buried passion.

Alas, they are currently in the common room kitchen, and even more idols are filtering through the door.

Conveniently, Wataru and Eichi have chosen this specific moment to begin making out, hands far too intimately placed for such a public setting. Right. Yuzuru should have suspected they’d be just as insufferable with this as they were with everything else.

Yuta Aoi returns a bowl to the sink, rinsing it thoroughly and grimacing in the direction of Wataru and Eichi.

“Usually those two aren’t that bad with PDA. What gives? They look about two seconds from stripping each other on the couch,” Yuta says, earning a snort of laughter from Niki, a horrified splutter from Souma, a hidden smirk from Izumi, and no reaction at all from Ibara or Yuzuru, still caught in their glare-off.

Yuzuru decides to irritate Ibara further and refuse to pay him further attention.

“That may be because they have finally entered into a romantic relationship,” Yuzuru says, anticipating the sea of confusion and amusement that follows.

“Fushimi… they’ve kinda been…”

“Please, everyone knows those two-“

“Ahahaha, to think you of all people could have been so oblivious-“

“Fushimi-dono, I am afraid to admit that this has been occurring for quite some time-“

Yuzuru’s smile doesn’t waver.

“Excuse my manners for a moment,” he says, and, just at the moment Wataru and Eichi finally remember to resurface for breath, Yuzuru throws the towel Ibara had been actively using directly at them, glad to see it hit the side of both their heads with enough force to alert and irritate them simultaneously.

“Butler-san! What an abrupt way to draw our attention,” Wataru says, voice exuberant but frustration barely disguised, which is more an indicator of his frustration than outright rudeness would’ve been.

“Yuzuru,” Eichi says, making no attempts to disguise any of his easily identified anger.

“Pardon me, but I felt it proper to remind you that the common room is a public place, where multiple idols from different agencies are gallivanting around. You’re not idiots, despite how you both act. Perhaps ventures into this new relationship would be better explored in private.”

Eichi flushes red, somewhat predictably. Wataru’s grin doesn’t waver, as could also have been predicted.

“God, this is gonna be a bit embarrassing,” Yuta says, looking between Yuzuru and the offending duo.

“We’ve always behaved like this, Yuzuru. You’re more than aware,” Eichi says, the colour of his cheeks telling an entirely different story.

“No, even those present who believed you were already in a relationship before yesterday had commented on the new level of closeness. Self-awareness is neither of your forté, but I beg you to maintain some form of cognisance when there are unsavoury persons nearby.”

Ibara snorts from behind him. Eichi exchanges a look with Wataru. Yuzuru ignores both of these. He could easily control all three of them in an instant if he had to, but he is thankfully aware enough of the presence of others to find it unnecessary currently.

“Okay, okay, I see your goal, Butler-san, so I may as well ruin your fun for you in favour of avoiding a loss. Whilst it’s true that Eichi and I have only very recently transformed our feelings for each other into a formal relationship, that in no way will stop us from displaying our affections wherever we choose! As you’ve so kindly pointed out, everyone already suspected we were together, no? So what possible extra blackmail could they hope to achieve?”

One day, Yuzuru will remember that Wataru is far sharper than he lets on. That day was, devastatingly, not today, but Yuzuru can still chalk this up as a win given the murmurs that erupt around him and his initial goal in tarnishing his annoying seniors’ pride.

“Well, I’ll be damned, they really weren’t together,” Yuta says with a shrug, pulling out his phone and typing rapidly to inform goodness knows who of the update.

“I’ve suffered so much for no reason, ughhhh I hate being an idol,” Niki bemoans, spooning macarons onto a baking tray as the only member of the group who didn’t pause cooking preparations in favour of eavesdropping.

“Whatever,” Izumi says, visibly embarrassed.

“How am I going to break this news to Hasumi-dono? I’ll have to wait until he seems calm and content or I fear he’ll do something rash. Perhaps I’ll need to recruit Kiryu-dono for assistance,” Souma mutters to himself.

Ibara is shooting Yuzuru a stern gaze, not too dissimilar from the one Eichi is attempting to pin him with from the other side. Fufu, Yuzuru sure keeps some interesting company.

“Happy?” Eichi asks.

“That would be pushing it,” Yuzuru says with an unfeeling smile. Eichi returns one- it’s a familiar language between the two of them.

“I’m going to kiss my beautiful boyfriend now, if you don’t mind,” Eichi says. Yuzuru raises an eyebrow at the grin that blooms on Wataru’s face, hands immediately grabbing the hips perched on his lap.

“Nothing I say could stop you, I’m quite sure,” Yuzuru says, resigned. He has, after all, achieved his goal, if at the cost of witnessing his unitmates exchange saliva.

“Getting rusty?” a snide voice comments from beside him. Yuzuru throws Ibara a look, before pointedly refusing to meet his gaze further.

“That’s rich coming from you. Should I be disappointed that for all I tried to teach you about reading dynamics, you never spotted something as simple as this? It was blatantly obvious they weren’t together.”

“But it was you who made me think-“ Ibara stops abruptly. Yuzuru’s eyebrows raise towards his hairline.

“A lesson in watching your tongue may also be useful before you reveal your nefarious tactics in front of someone far more likely to get you in legal trouble than your lenient old instructor,” he says. Ibara steps closer to him, a fork in his left hand that Yuzuru assumes he believes has gone unspotted.

“Ha, please, that was years ago. Foolish, immature decisions by a desperate, naïve kid. You take me for an idiot, if you think I’ll trip myself up that easily.”

“Or perhaps,” Yuzuru says, catching Ibara’s wrist just as it tries to fly out from behind his back; bringing the pronged weapon between them, raising Ibara’s fist like a trophy, “I don’t want to see the pupil I raised with care and love trip and fall at all.”

Ibara makes a disgruntled noise and rips his wrist out of Yuzuru’s grasp. Yuzuru lets him go.

“Don’t get sentimental on me. You’re making me feel grosser than looking over at those two.”

Yuzuru smiles. It’s something genuine. He looks back over at Wataru and Eichi, sharing smiles so wide they almost struggle to kiss again in between the fond looks.

“What a shame,” he says to Ibara, walking away to assist Niki with setting multiple timers at once.

Yuzuru may have been a little harsh towards Wataru and Eichi. Perhaps the way they always flaunted their love wasn’t so foolishly futile after all.