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Mona wasn't much of a LIPxLIP fan.
They smiled too much, looked too fake —and her sister had confirmed that they weren't even friends, just co-workers. Off stage, they were mean and always seemed to be looking down on others.
To Mona, none of their love songs had seemed real , just the same four chords with carefully picked lyrics, so everyone could relate to them —so everyone could feel the song was for them. It seemed like they were telling someone else's story. And it could very well be the case, as nowadays most famous singers don't write their own music.
But their newest song, Yume Fanfare , was different. It felt more personal, like they were letting other people see a part of their own story, like they were singing for each other, not trying to please a crowd. Their moves and smiles didn't look so staged and everything seemed very… genuine .
But Sena was shooting another video with them, and she said their relationship hadn't changed much. Then again, lately Sena had been spending most of her time texting someone — Mona supposedly didn't know, but she was pretty sure it was that Midori guy— and probably hadn't paid much attention to the boys. So she wanted to check it herself.
She accompanied her sister to the studio and stuck around to take a look.
“I thought you didn't like them, though?” Sena asked her while they were walking there.
“And I don't. I’m here to steal their secrets,” she said in a flat tone. Her sister laughed, but Mona wasn't really joking.
So here she was, in her rivals’ studio. The shooting hadn't started yet —they were still giving the idols some final touch-ups and dressing up Sena. Mona didn't really have much to do but stare, and no one said anything to her, so she grabbed a chair, sat backwards on it and started boring holes into Yuujirou's head, even though he probably didn't even remember her.
So far, the boys weren't doing much. Yuujirou was leaning against a wall, checking his phone, and Aizou was sitting against the opposite wall, listening to music with a pair of headphones that probably were more expensive than Mona’s own clothes —they even looked custom-made. Then, something happened.
Yuujirou looked up from his phone and frowned when he noticed Aizou. But he didn't seem angry, more like… worried ? Yuujirou walked towards Aizou, sat next to him on the floor and snatched his headphones. Yuujirou, still frowning slightly, looked into Aizou’s surprised eyes and said something Mona couldn't hear. But, without sound, all she could see was the two boys sitting very close to each other. She raised her eyebrows, surprised, as she saw them quickly pull away from each other, flushed. Then, Aizou catched her staring, and she smiled knowingly, which only made him redden more. He seemed about to say something —probably threatening—, but they were called for makeup.
Time to make a tactical retreat —Mona had already found more than what she bargained for.
It felt nice to have leverage on Japan's most popular idols.
The Shibasaki brothers were used to eat alone. And sometimes, it felt like not even the two of them were together, with Ken talking to his latest girlfriend on the phone and Aizou wrapped up in his own world, ignoring every call or text his phone received —it was always in silent mode, if not completely turned off.
So, what was Ken's surprise when he heard Aizou's phone buzz, and saw his brother actually picking it up, looking at whatever he'd received and smirk amused?
“Oooooh, has my little brother finally landed a girlfriend?” he asked in a suggestive tone.
Aizou rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous, it's just Yuujirou.”
“Someya?” Ken repeated, sceptical. “I can't believe you would actually turn on your phone for him.”
“Believe what you want,” Aizou showed him a flash of the phone screen —just enough for Ken to see that his brother had indeed been talking to one Someya Yuujirou —he didn't get to read the conversation though.
“I didn't know the two of you were that close,” Ken commented, surprised.
“We aren't,” Aizou said, looking at his plate of food.
Ken leaned forward in the table, resting his chin in his hand. “Oh, really?”
Aizou narrowed his eyes —but his ears were turning red. “Yes, really.”
“Well, for people who hate each other, you sure are close.”
“We're not.” Aizou insisted —but his blush was reaching his cheeks.
Ken decided to cut his brother some slack and went back to eating.
“He should come over more often,” Ken commented after a while.
“Why? So he can hear them fight?” Aizou pointed at the room where their parents had been yelling at each other.
Ken sighed. “So he can distract you a bit. It looks like you're never relaxed.”
Aizou didn't say anything.
Until his phone buzzed again, but he didn't pick it up.
“C'mon, you can answer him,” Ken said after a pause, getting up and collecting the dishes. “It's good to see you happy.”
Aizou frowned, seeming determined as to not answer out of spite, but he ended up giving onto the temptation, letting out a soft smile when he saw the text.
Ken sighed, smiling.
How long will it take him to realize…
Sure, Sena had been distracted as of lately. She had been spending more time on her phone during breaks because of reasons , and sometimes zoomed out and daydreamed instead of actually listening to conversations. But that didn't compare to how distracted Aizou and Yuujirou were.
Sena hadn't noticed at first, but she did hear some of the staff commenting it.
“I'm glad they're… sort of getting along, but it's becoming impossible to talk to them if they're together,” she overheard one of the makeup artists complain. “Do you know how hard it is to do their makeup when they refuse to take their eyes out of each other?”
She hadn't quite understood what that meant until the three of them were on break.
She had been texting Midori and hadn't really paid much attention to what the boys were doing, but when the break ended and she went back to practicing, they didn't follow, still completely engrossed on their conversation.
“Hey guys, the break has ended,” she remembered them, but Sena didn't even get as much as a glance in her direction. It was like she wasn't even there. “Hey?”
“Don't worry about it, Narumi,” said a member of the staff, who proceeded to snap their fingers at them, finally popping their bubble. “Break time is over. Back to work.”
Yuujirou and Aizou nodded and got up immediately, slightly embarrassed.
“At this rate, they'll end up actually doing each other's kiss marks.” the staff member mumbled to themselves as they walked away, but obviously louder than planned.
The boys blushed violently upon hearing that, but neither of them had the courage to speak up. Sena smiled nervously at them and opened her mouth to say something and cut the tension when Yuujirou spoke up.
“Hey, Shibasaki,” that sounded odd to Sena. She knew they had been in a first name basis for a long time. “Just so we're clear: I still really hate you.”
“Not as much as I hate you, Someya.”
Yuujirou seemed about to answer when he thought better. “Are we really going to start again?”
“Yeah, you're right,” Aizou admitted sheepishly. “We should… go back to work.” The tips of his ears were still red.
“Yes.” Yuujirou answered awkwardly and they both walked away while Sena looked at them confused.
Is this what Mona had been talking about?
Sitting between Someya Yuujirou and Shibasaki Aizou had proven to be really uncomfortable and awkward.
Not only because Hiyori felt like everyone was looking in their direction as soon as they got the chance —she hoped the novelty of the idols being in their class would wear off soon— but because you could feel the tension emanating from them.
She didn't know if they were actually friends or not, but they seemed to have some sort of chemistry, because they always seemed to be looking for each other and, based on her previous experiences , were willing to defend each other —even if they did so begrudgingly.
She couldn't use their music as evidence of whatever relationship they had, because most of it was staged but it was obvious that they were used to physical contact between them —and only between them—, to always have the other at arm length.
None of them waited for the other one to finish packing up to leave class together, but somehow they were always walking together. They always had lunch together but they never ate in the same place twice. Hiyori had never seen one of them alone for more than five minutes, except perhaps in the morning —Yuujirou always arrived early. The few times one of them had been sick, Hiyori had seen the other one open their mouth to say something, only to close it when they realized the person they were looking for wasn't beside them.
They were attached by the hip, but pretended it was just a coincidence that they spent the day together. They were always perfectly coordinated.
But today they looked off-sync.
And perhaps it wasn't noticeable for anyone else —they were good actors— but Hiyori, who was feeling Yuujirou's stare even if it was actually directed at Aizou. She couldn't really tell if anything was wrong with him, but now that she thought about it, perhaps Aizou's shoulders did seem a bit more drooping than usual. Or maybe that was just her imagination. Still, she was too scared to actually intervene with whatever was going on with them.
When recess started, Yuujirou walked to Aizou's desk. He looked serious and about to say something important. But what came out of his mouth was:
“I really hope you've already regretted what you said yesterday about cats being better than dogs,” he said, with a completely straight face.
Suddenly, the tension Hiyori had been feeling lifted. She couldn't see Aizou's face, but she could guess he was smiling.
“There's nothing to regret,” he answered in a light, joking tone as he got up, facing Yuujirou.
They walked away, still bickering, their hands brushing, and Hiyori wondered, not for the first time, what their relationship was.
Practice had started a while ago and Aizou was still acting weird.
Yuujirou didn't know what had caused it, because this kind of weird was different from Aizou's usual weird. Yuujirou could usually get him out of his weird mood easily, but this time his usual techniques didn't seem to have effect for too long, and Yuujirou wasn't sure if serenading him again would get Aizou to start acting like himself.
But whatever this was, it was starting to affect his dancing and his —their— coordination, so Yuujirou called a break and brought Aizou to a secluded corner to talk.
“Something is bothering you.” Yuujirou stated.
“… It's nothing,” Aizou averted his gaze.
“C'mon, tell me,” Yuujirou put his hands in his hips. “You've spent the last days sulking.”
“I was not sulking,” Aizou corrected.
“Yes you were. Still are,” Yuujirou pointed out. “So tell me. You know you can trust me.”
Aizou looked at him with a pained expression and Yuujirou was almost tempted to back out, but he knew this was for the best.
“Please,” he insisted, letting his cold facade break a little bit.
“… Why did I lose my first name privileges?” Aizou asked in a low voice.
Then, Yuujirou started laughing, but there wasn't any bite to it. All the tension in the air disappeared. He placed his hand in Aizou's shoulder.
“Oh, Aizou! Have you been moping because of that?”
“H-hey!” Aizou tried to defend himself, embarrassed. “At first I thought it was just a one-time thing, but then you kept calling me by my last name and…!”
“I'll call you by your first name as many times as you want, you idiot,” Yuujirou promised, smiling.
And then, Aizou smiled too. He smiled, widely and genuinely, the golden light entering through the window just to shine on his blond hair, his amber eyes more sparkling than ever and Yuujirou understood why he was the sun.
Suddenly, everything around them seemed brighter, the world felt softer, and his heart was beating a new tune.
His cheeks felt hot with this realization that, when Yuujirou thought about it, wasn't so new —he had just been ignoring it. But now, he was aware.
He was aware of their closeness, his hand in Aizou's shoulder, the shine on his partner's lips —the makeup team had done an excellent work— and he couldn't help but wonder how could have he been blind to all of it.
How long had they been like that ? Their automatic answer to the “What is your relationship exactly?” was “rivals”, but now he wasn't so sure anymore—they worked together, had known each other for years and spent more time together than not. But, were they actually friends? They didn't really act like such and even after all this time, not much has changed between them.
No, scratch that. They did change, and for the better. They were closer —they trusted and helped each other. Perhaps they were friends. But why did the term feel so wrong to Yuujirou? Why did it feel… lacking ?
“Aizou,” he started a question, still more lost in thought than aware of what he was saying. “Are we friends?”
His surprised amber eyes met Yuujirou's blue ones.
“Yes? I guess so.”
“We aren't your typical pair of friends, you know.”
“Why does that matter? We're our own kind of friends .”
“Friends...” Yuujirou pronounced out loud, tasting the word in his mouth. It still didn't feel right.
“But we're rivals, too,” Aizou added, sensing Yuujirou's doubt.
“That's what we always say, don't we?” Yuujirou smiled sadly. “I don't think those terms are compatible, though.”
“We can make them compatible,” Aizou insisted. “We are LIPxLIP.”
With only those words, Yuujirou understood what exactly was wrong with the term friend .
I don't think friends are supposed to feel like I feel about you.
He liked him.
After that, a wave of tranquility? invaded Yuujirou. Somehow, he was glad it was Aizou and not someone else.
But then he couldn't meet Aizou's eyes. His face grew impossibly hot. He took a step back and cleared his throat.
“You're right,” he said, trying to regain his composure. “I don't know why I doubted it in the first place,” Aizou looked at him surprised, but Yuujirou kept talking. “Let's get going,” he added, turning around.
But, as he walked, he kept thinking about it. Was he going to keep this a secret? He didn't want to. Would it change anything? Should he try and find out? He stopped walking.
“Hey, Aizou,” he said, without turning around. “I like you. Just so you know.”
He felt Aizou's hand on his shoulder.
“I like you too. I have for some time.”
“Will this change anything?” Yuujirou asked, still not facing Aizou.
“Only if you want to. But Yuujirou, listen,” he turned around, finally making eye contact, and the look in Aizou's eyes was so intense that Yuujirou knew he wouldn't be able to look away.
“I want to be with you. I want to keep doing all of this,” Aizou gestured vaguely to the studio. “I want to keep writing cheesy songs, and singing and dancing and everything! But I also want some things to change,” Aizou seemed hesitant, blushing slightly. “I would like to be… closer . All the time. If possible.”
Yuujirou interrupted him with a soft laugh. “I do, too.”
“I… would like to kiss you, too,” he added, looking away.
Yuujirou smiled, stood on his toes —those darn five centimeters— and kissed Aizou.
It was short and sweet, nothing magical or epic, but it left him feeling immensely happy, like he could barely contain his heart in his chest. They were both smiling widely when it ended.
“So then, what are we?” Aizou asked playfully.
“We're LIPxLIP.”