Work Text:
Tsukasa frowns for the umpteenth time this hour, chewing his bottom lip between his teeth with a wrinkle in his brow. He clicks the pen, setting it to the notebook paper but not yet writing another line. The other torn-out sheets stare up at him from the table, their scribbled lines and scratched out phrases looking at him menacingly.
Although it feels like he's been at it all day, his wristwatch tells him it's only been a couple of hours. Even that seems like too much time to have been spent on such a task, though. With a resigned sigh, he starts to write again.
Footsteps approach, and Tsukasa glances up. He's greeted with a head of fluffy red hair and wide cerulean-blue eyes. Huh?
"Hiiro-kun?" Tsukasa asks, turning to face him. "What brings you here?" Perhaps he's here to spy? After all, Alkalod is a rival to Knights, and—
"...I think I may be lost!" Hiiro says, a surprisingly jovial tone to his voice.
Ah. "Well, where are you looking to go?"
Hiiro looks around. Left, right, behind himself, then back to Tsukasa. "I'm not sure!"
"Huh?" Tsukasa chuckles softly. "So you're just wandering, then?"
"I suppose so!" He laughs, then glances towards the papers strewn about. "Are you working on something? I'm sorry for interrupting!"
"Ah, no, it's—" Tsukasa tries to casually lay his arms over the sheets of paper spread across the table, a futile attempt to hide his work, but it ends up looking more awkward than he'd intended. Hiiro looks at him with a confused expression.
"You don't need to hide anything from me, Tsukasa-kun!" He pauses, then backtracks. "But if you would like to hide it, I do not mind! Whatever would make you most comfortable."
"It's..." Tsukasa trails off, clearing his throat. "It's something for Knights, so I'm not sure if I could let a member of a rival unit see." A rather poor excuse to cover up the fact that he's just incredibly embarrassed by what he's been writing, but it seems to work all the same.
"I see!" Hiiro nods. "If it helps, you could think of me not as a rival, but rather just a fellow idol, or something to that extent?"
Tsukasa blinks. "Eh?"
"Well, you seem somewhat distressed— if you're not, I'm terribly sorry for presuming!" He says it with a slight bow forwards. "If you are, though, you can just talk to me like a friend rather than your rival!"
"I see," Tsukasa murmurs, fidgeting with his pen. "I suppose that would work."
Hiiro smiles widely, taking a seat next to Tsukasa. "So, what's all this for?"
"I'm... trying to write a song." He feels his face flush ever so slightly, ducking his head from Hiiro's gaze.
"Oh, from scratch and everything?" Hiiro asks, looking genuinely interested.
"Not quite. Lea— ah, Leo-san, he wrote the composition," Tsukasa responds, lifting the small stack of music sheets Leo had given him. "I'm working on the lyrics for it."
"How is it going so far?"
Tsukasa's brow furrows slightly, shoulders slumping a bit. "Not as well as I had hoped, unfortunately."
"I see. What kind of song are you trying to write?" Hiiro prompts. "What emotions are you hoping to convey?"
He pauses to think on the question for a moment. "Knights is a unit that typically does love songs, so I believe it'd be best to write lyrics that fit within that genre."
"Okay! Then what do you know about love, Tsukasa-kun?" Hiiro inquires unabashedly, and Tsukasa's not sure if it's because he's oblivious with no sense of shame or embarrassment, or if he's simply that bold and forward. Perhaps it's a mix of the two.
"I'm not— I don't... Hiiro-kun, you can't simply ask things like that, you know?"
"Why not?"
"It's improper. And rather embarrassing for me. It puts me on the spot."
"Oh! I apologize, that wasn't my intent!"
Even if he's a bit airheaded, he's quite polite, isn't he? "Ah, it's alright. I don't consider myself... experienced with love, that is all. I love my fellow members in Knights, and I love Onee-sama, but I don't think that's the kind of love I want to convey in this song."
Hiiro nods, listening intently. "What kind of love, then?"
"Ah..." His cheeks are a flaming red by now, he's sure. "I suppose it would be r-romantic love, would it not?"
"Romantic?" Hiiro's eyebrows raise. "What does that entail?"
Is he seriously that obtuse? Isn't this the sort of conversation one should have with their parents— if not them, then his brother? Why me? "Erm, well— things like, um, holding hands, and... k-kissing..."
If Tsukasa were capable of doing so, he would melt into the floor at this very moment from the mortification. Hiiro, in contrast, doesn't seem all that affected by such descriptions. He even goes as far as to place his hand atop Tsukasa's and interlace their fingers, making the latter practically jump in surprise.
Ehh?! "Hiiro-kun, what—"
"Is this romantic?" He asks, squeezing Tsukasa's hand a little.
Tsukasa feels like his brain is short circuiting. "Huh?"
"Does this give you sufficient experience for writing your song?"
"I-I don't think you quite understand, Hiiro-kun, this isn't—"
Wordlessly, Hiiro lifts Tsukasa's knuckles to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to his hand. "How about now?"
"Hiiro-kun!" Tsukasa says, scandalized. "You can't just... do things like that!" He's not upset about the displays of affection, but rather at himself for how much he enjoys said displays of affection.
"Why not? Is this not helpful for the artistic process?"
"I— it's... not unhelpful, but—" Tsukasa fumbles over his words, sighing. "It's not exactly appropriate workplace behavior, or even something that should occur between f-friends."
A slight pout becomes apparent on Hiiro's lips. "I think Nii-san and Shiina-san do this type of thing all the time, though?"
Your brother is an awful example for model behaviour, you know that, right?
"Yes, well..." Tsukasa makes a frustrated noise, squeezing his eyes shut. A soft kiss is pressed against his cheek, and his eyes fly open, turning to Hiiro with a bewildered expression.
"Will you stop that?" He whisper-shouts, blush spreading from his cheeks to his ears and down his neck.
"Okay!" Hiiro nods.
An awkward pause. Tsukasa stares at him with wide eyes. Hiiro blinks, once, then twice.
"Do you... not like it?"
Another lull in conversation, this one stretching longer than the last.
Tsukasa breaks the silence with a wheezy laugh. This is ridiculous. "I— I do like it. Very much so, actually, but such things are rather embarrassing, Hiiro-kun."
"Why's it embarrassing?" Hiiro tilts his head. "And even if it is, if you like it, it shouldn't matter, right?"
Somehow, he makes sense, but I don't understand at all! "Maybe you're right. You can... um, you can keep holding my hand. I'm going to try to write a bit now, if that's alright.'
"Ah, so I've sufficiently inspired you! I'm glad to be of any help, Tsukasa-kun," He chuckles, an adorably goofy grin gracing his face.
"Thank you," Tsukasa smiles back, picking up the pen and putting it to paper. "I truly appreciate it."