Work Text:
They’re not two to do much.
HiMERU has practice at 11, Tatsumi at 12, so they spend the early morning together. Before the hustling of idols begins, and before a morning rush of students, they enjoy time alone.
Tatsumi drinks orange juice quietly, he’s looking out to the gardens in the silence of the commons. HiMERU sits mindlessly, cereal before him coupled with a glass of milk. They connect their hands across the table in the shared silence.
They separate at the sound of footsteps, Hasumi Keito’s morning routine has begun, diffusing Tatsumi and HiMERU’s intimacy. They leave one after the other, unspoken agreements popping in the sizzling of Keito’s scrambled egg breakfast.
They meet again at 10:45. Tatsumi comes to solicit attention and favor before HiMERU leaves for practice. Arashi greets him in the hallway quietly, her smile is polite and knowing.
Tatsumi forgoes knocking, it’s a part of his “secret” boyfriend privilege, actually. HiMERU is pulling his practice sweater around his waist, shushing his lips as Tatsumi recognizes Tetora’s sleeping form. He glides silently to HiMERU, who puts moisturizer into his skin with a cool stare.
Tatsumi figures this is time to enforce his presence again, holding HiMERU’s midriff through their baggy practice shirts. HiMERU looks entirely unimpressed, as if Tatsumi’s desire for skin-to-skin and incessant clingy-ness isn’t apparent everyday of their lives together. Tatsumi wonders if this is what they call tsundere.
After the tribulations of removing Tatsumi in total silence, as to not wake up Tetora, along with violent kisses poorly hidden behind potted plants—HiMERU can make it to practice on time.
Crazy:B is never on time, HiMERU wonders if he’s the only one here who can reliably do anything of value, but despite his unit full of tidsoptimists… He luh… L… Likes them. Likes them enough.
Practice goes as planned, if planned meant not at all.
Rinne and Niki are themselves, toeing a dangerous line of disgustingly enamoured and equally violent with each other, and Kohaku is exhausted. HiMERU attempts to appeal to their needs, only to be caught in the whirlwind of arguments they may constantly find himself in.
Tatsumi spends the hour apart from HiMERU searching for ALKALOID’s members. Gathering them together can be quite the task on it’s own. Aira is never far from their dorm, and the easiest to retrieve, Tatsumi stops for him first. Aira animatedly tells him about new idol merchandise, and Tatsumi allows him to explain his newest fixations while he attempts to multitask by listening for Mayoi.
They don’t end up finding Mayoi, instead, discovering Hiiro alongside Koga in the gardens he had made with Tatsumi. While it was somewhat of a detour, they’ve almost completed their unit for practice. Tatsumi decides he trusts Mayoi enough on his own to catch up, even if Mayoi is much better at handling coaching Aira, he’ll do his best.
The three of them manage, Tatsumi claps for them on beat as they attempt to perform Distorted Heart. It’s a shoddy production, and Hiiro and Aira can never really sync all that well, being too fast or too slow respectively. They wrap up after they occupy the practice room an hour over their limit.
Mayoi disappears, Hiiro and Aira leave to have a meal, it’s been several hours since he last saw HiMERU. He misses him.
Setting out for his object of affections, Tatsumi sends a carefully worded text; it’s some of his best work.
HiMERU - CosmicP 16:33
16:33 Tatsumi: I miss you.
16:33 Tatsumi: :pleading:
16:33 Tatsumi: Are you there.
16:33 Tatsumi: I miss you.
16:36 HiMERU: Hii :mm_kiss:
Tatsumi wrinkles his nose. That’s not how his HiMERU talks. He clicks his phone off, maybe he needs to trim his plants in the dorm, or maybe he needs to research new elbow patches for his new sweaters. He and HiMERU had gone shopping together recently.
Online, of course.
“Amagi. Give HiMERU the phone.”
He’s posed over Rinne, Niki and Kohaku unwilling participants in restraining their leader to keep their mobile devices.
“You guys neveeer focus in practice! What’s more important? Sharing cooties or making sure we’re not jokes in the SS! Geeeez!”
Niki mumbles an intolerant remark about a newfound game being full, and that he’ll need to play it eventually. Rinne being compliant or otherwise.
“Shaddup. Give me my phone.” Kohaku, ever eloquent, kicks Rinne unceremoniously in the ribs. Rinne relinquishes the hold on their mobile devices. Kohaku immediately scrambles to LINE.
With minimal disruption, they successfully occupy their practice room for 6 hours. Their practice is infrequent, but long and draining with their combined brain cells constantly clashing deciding on what’s “Crazy:B” at heart. (HiMERU’s vision hardly ever wins, not since their labyrinth escapade.)
Rinne has rolled facedown on the floor, Niki trying to coax him away so they can go home. HiMERU feels a pang of empathy, sympathy, and apathy all at once. Kohaku looks at him pathetically.
“Get outta here HiMERU-han. I can't stand looking at yer lovesick self anymore. I need a nap.” Kohaku leaves attached to his phone, usually he’s not so moody, but maybe today he’s not getting ample affection from Aira—not that HiMERU checks his social media to know, that’s just research on his unitmates—It seems they all have their own battles in love.
Excusing himself from practice, he goes to wash his face, clicking his phone alive he reads the fruits of Rinne’s labor.
17:06 HiMERU: Tatsumi. :wave:
17:06 Tatsumi: Himeru!
17:06 Are you busy?
17:08 Can I come over
17:09 I miss you.
Tatsumi smacks his head against the table so hard Koga looks behind to check on him. Definitely not very Tatsumi-like, but Koga returns to his work on his bed. Tatsumi imagines Koga knows the tribulations of being left on delivered well.
He rises, and tells Koga he’ll be back later, or not. Koga flips him a thumbs up before tapping away at his laptop again. He’s always been so studious. Tatsumi feels a little tug at his heart, akin to looking at a small baby lamb.
HiMERU splashes cold water on his face, trying to ignore how he knows this will close his pores and depuff his face, when did he know all that? Forever, actually, he just pretends he doesn’t in the mirror.
HiMERU reapplies a concealer and mascara more suited for nighttime, a little lighter to mask the impending darkness. He changes into a presentable outfit, and brushes past the doors to see if there’s someone else to solicit for brief attention.
He’ll need to go grocery shopping soon, as well. Mathilda’s canned food storage is slowly diminishing, and he should really focus on that. HiMERU’s career as an idol is carried on the back of Mathilda.
Mika is in the common room, alongside the twins. They’re playing a fighting game. The twins are shouting and kicking over the remote, Mika focused in on the game. This could be a perfect time to build his image as an idol among his peers. Familiar but endlessly distant.
How hard could a fighting game be?
“May HiMERU join you for a round?”
They turn around all at once, like three blind mice. They exchange comical glances, before Yuuta springs to life.
“HiMERU-senpai can use my remote! Let’s see what kind of moves he’s got packing!” He yanks HiMERU around the couch, and they all squeeze in just right. Peas in a pod.
And as it seems, fighting games are much harder than it seems. His hands are sweaty, and eventually they begin to push eachother off the stage, and he feels himself start to smile.
He lets out laughter he didn’t know he held in, watching the flashes of characters on screen and suddenly, he’s floating alongside his peers excitedly, and he feels a thousand times younger.
Happier, even. As if the label of a name isn’t a parasitic burden. As if it’s run to the ground in breathtaking fashion.
And then there’s footsteps. It’s not secure anymore. And the laughter dies down to a smile, silent among the boys laughing at the game.
Tatsumi’s heart does a tell-tale flip. Like he’s on an elevator, or the drop just before a rollercoaster’s edge. His neural functions mock him.
Distantly, he wishes HiMERU was only laughing when he was with him and no one else. It’s nothing to be compared with jealousy, it would fall under life’s simple pleasures.
He walks a little louder, just to stop the feeling at its source.
HiMERU looks over back at him, and their strings of the heart are pulled taut in the face of such close intimacy. Tatsumi gives a little wave, he feels a little warmer.
A little softer, a mindful darkness invading his space, he walks a little closer, he has every intention to force HiMERU to spend time with him again, he’s needy on the inside. He hasn’t had his dosage of HiMERU’s bony lithe body today.
Fortunately, he doesn’t need to force them apart. Hasumi Keito, alike in dignity, clicks the console shut.
“This is tyranny! You can’t keep us from the system!” Hinata appeals, but Keito is adamant. He sends them away, claiming the TV will make them develop a hunch, or whatever.
He nods at HiMERU, quiet in juxtaposition, who turns around and greets Tatsumi without a noise. They leave together, a few steps apart.
Though! Nothing screams Tatsumi like his occasional spoiled streak, and if he pulls HiMERU into a much darker corridor where he knows the cameras will only reach the exterior wall, just for a taste if HiMERU’s lips before bed? No one truly needs to know, he researched extensively for the best rendezvous points in Ensemble Square.
HiMERU’s mouth tastes faintly like coffee bean, had he spent time with Adonis and Souma again? He sneaks his hands to better capture HiMERU’s waist. He spreads his grip, just to hold all of HiMERU in his hands.
HiMERU tilts his head against his, a muffled whimper lost between them as they move together. But as always, to end their brief dance in the lengthwise hall, HiMERU pulls away disgruntled. Hands untangling from Tatsumi’s mop of hair, when had they gotten there? He hadn’t noticed the tight grip against his scalp.
HiMERU doesn’t say a single word. He shuffles awkwardly, and Tatsumi makes no move to better it. HiMERU is the occasionally fulfilling lover, and leaves a brief kiss on Tatsumi’s lips. He hesitates pulling away, scurrying off to his room regardless.
Tatsumi watches his figure depart. If he had more time, he would’ve left something more obvious to mark HiMERU as his own.
He shoves his hands in his pockets. He has an early start tomorrow with HiMERU again. Maybe he can finally get him to these “bases” Koga tells him about.
But he’ll send one last goodnight text too.
22:11 Tatsumi: I love you. :)
22:12 HiMERU: I love you too.
Finally. A successful day.