Archive of Our Own

Jyushi wakes up to the wonderful smell of breakfast. After forcing his eyes open, Amanda gently lands on his lap. “Good morning, Jyushi. Jiro got a head start and thought he would take the opportunity to cook breakfast for you.”

A drowsy laugh escapes his lips as his hand gets caught in a knot in his layered hair. Trying to extract it as gently as possible, Jyushi is forced to fully wake up the hard and painful way when the knot isn’t merciful to him like he had hoped. Regardless, he does greet his friend, and then follows it with a question.

“Say Amanda… do I have any banana combs…?” Amanda is shocked. “You really want to use that? I thought you didn’t like it because your hair would fall out of it all the time.”

Jyushi nods. “If it’s just for now though… It should be enough. I’ll have to deal with it later, but right now, I just want to see Jiro.”

Letting that realization seep into their stuffing, Amanda nods. “I get it, Jyushi. I think you have one hidden in the bottom drawer of your work desk.”

Jyushi slides out of his bed and goes rummaging through the old sheet music and miscellaneous items to finally find the comb in question. Twisting his layered hair into a bun, Jyushi feels awfully happy of the fact that it’s all being held in the comb, at least for right now. A long date with a comb and straightener are most definitely in his future, but that can wait.

Jyushi eagerly opens the door to his bedroom, Amanda hopping on his shoulder.

The sight of Jiro in his blue T-shirt and black pants, wearing the deep purple apron that is usually housed next to the refrigerator, and humming a tune while flipping a pancake in the pan… it was all too precious to Jyushi.

It’s like one of his fantasies finally became reality. The fantasy that he and Jiro can wake up in the morning, seeing each other’s faces, and being able to share one peaceful meal together to round out the beautiful morning.

… well almost afternoon at this point. But who cares about it being almost 11 in the morning. The band wasn’t going to get together until around 3 anyways. And besides, Jyushi knows that this is the way he’d rather be spending his mornings. So what better thing to do than share this experience with the one who made this reality?

Gently, as to not scare Jiro too much and hurt himself, Jyushi approaches the stove. “Good morning, Jiro.”

Jiro looks at him from the corner of his eye and smiles. “I don’t think that’s the appropriate greeting, Jyushi.”

Jyushi blinks innocently. “What do you mean?”

Jiro doesn’t say anything as he flips the last pancake out of the pan and onto the stack of the other waiting pancakes. Then, with a click of the gas range being turned off, he abandons the spatula to the sink and places a long kiss to Jyushi’s lips.

“Now that Saburo ain’t here to say anything, we can do all the shit we wanna do.”

Jyushi presses his  long fingers against his lips, looking like Jiro did something unfathomable. “But Jiro! I just woke up!”

That grin that spreads on Jiro’s face doesn’t seem to fade one bit. “So? Isn’t that the allure of a “good morning kiss?” To be able to see my most important person at all times of the day, looking perfect no matter how early or late it is, and just spend a few precious moments to embrace all that we have?”

Jyushi’s heart melts a little at the statement, as he himself thinks about the fantasy he let himself envision after some time. Those things Jiro said are all things Jyushi himself has imagined. The ability to just embrace what the peaceful morning has for them as their most important person is right there by their side is more than perfect.

It… might just be love, at its finest.

Slowly, Jyushi drops his hands from his lips and a defeated chuckle escapes him. “Geez… You sure have a way with words, don’t you Jiro?”

Jiro reaches out for Jyushi’s hands. Their fingers interlock. 

“I don’t know about that, but I do know that I think with you looking this fine, it’s gonna be a good day.”

Jyushi highly doubts he looks in any state of presentable. But even with his messy hair and undone face, Jyushi knows Jiro isn’t lying. And Jyushi is most grateful for this most of all.

So, he can’t help but smile. “You really do have a way with words Jiro…”

Amanda laughs. “Isn’t it because Jiro’s a rapper?”

Jiro has to poke Amanda for that, a big grin on his face. “What is that supposed to mean, Amanda?”

Another laugh. “Well, rappers have to think fast on their feet when it comes to rhyming and all that, you know!” 

“Oh! I am interested in learning about how Buster Bros!!! came to be! Were you all always interested in hip hop, Jiro?”

Jiro gets distracted by Jyushi’s question momentarily and Jyushi escapes to freshen up before Jiro does anything else suspicious. As he returns, Jiro ends up smiling at the way Jyushi’s hair was falling out of the bun he put it up in. When the three of them sit at the table eating their slightly cooled pancakes, Jiro recounts the funny story of how Buster Bros!!! came to be. It wasn’t easy trying to get the information Ichiro needed, and practicing his raps every moment he could was somewhat of a challenge since he was going up against Saburo. Regardless, the two of them impressed Ichiro, and they withstood an actual attack of his from his beautiful hypnosis mic.

Ichiro really had no other reason to refuse them, even when he didn’t want to put them through the possible dangers of rap battles. Regardless, Jiro and Saburo showed him that they could do it, and Buster Bros!!! was born. 

When they finish their breakfast, Jyushi decides that it’s his turn to tell some stories.

As they go through their morning routines and Jyushi has to work on straightening his hair, he tells an old story from his high school days.

Jyushi had attended a boarding school, so then his aunt and uncle could focus on building their own family without being forced to support him. Jyushi, while he wasn’t comfortable with socializing, had managed a few part time jobs that went in accordance to his school’s rules. It wasn’t much, but Jyushi was able to save from that. 

One day, when he’s walking back to the dorm after a shift at one of his jobs, he hears music being played. Three upperclassmen were sitting in a circle, and they all strummed their guitars. 

Jyushi understood from just that sight alone that they were genuinely interested in playing music. They were like him, who enjoyed singing. But as shy as he was, he couldn’t approach them and left for his dorm feeling warm and strangely happy.

At this time of his life, Jyushi was slowly teaching himself how to play the guitar. And with whatever free time he had, he ended up teaching himself how to read music and possibly make his own. His compositions weren’t the greatest, and he thought he’d just stash them away for nobody else to hear besides himself and Amanda.

Sadly for him, the three upperclassmates found him and heard his “failed” composition when the cord on his earbuds got unplugged from his phone by accident.

“Let me guess… It was Keisuke, Takeru and Jun?” Jiro sits on the floor by Jyushi’s vanity and he nods after straightening another section of his hair. “I didn’t know it back then, but they told me they were already interested in me because they heard me sing.”

“Well, Jyushi’s singing is hella awesome, so I can’t blame them!”

Jyushi flushes. “But the problem was, nobody was supposed to hear me!”

Jiro’s grin softens into a genuine smile, one that speaks many volumes of love. “But Jyushi… if you never met them, or they never heard you singing, then Argo Kishii Gakudan wouldn’t have existed. You might’ve had to suffer through university… and we sure as hell wouldn’t be here.”

Jyushi has to set down his straightener to face Jiro and hug him. “Well… don’t speak ill of university students. But I do understand why you said that… since it might’ve been true for me.”

Jyushi’s hands rub up and down Jiro’s black shirt, as a fresh wave of tears somehow threaten to come out. Thankfully, the makeup hasn’t gone on. “I definitely don’t know where I would be if I couldn’t pursue this passion for music like I have been fortunate enough to do at my young age. And on top of that, have upperclassmen that accept me for all I am, despite whatever plagues me. And now… I have a wonderful partner that’s here right now, when I believed a few months ago that there was nobody out there that was standing right next to me… Looking at me with all my imperfections and accepting even more of me.”

Jiro softly laughs as he returns Jyushi’s hug. “But you know, you’d have to thank Amanda for that. If Amanda wasn’t taken by anybody that day… we might still be strangers.”

Amanda slowly approaches the duo. “Did you call?”

The two break from their hug and laugh as Amanda’s timing is more than perfect. “We were just talking about how Argo Kishii Gakudan was formed, Amanda.” Jyushi lets his stuffed animal hop on top of his hand so that they can see both him and Jiro. 

“Ah… I always thought it was another twist of fate that enabled all this to happen.”

Jyushi tilts his head at Amanda’s statement. “Well… I’m not exactly sure why I believed this was another merciful act from the gods. But somehow, I’ve always thanked the gods for doing that. I figured, after all the pain you went through in middle school, you wouldn’t have ever been able to pursue your passion for music anymore. But you still continued to sing, and you continued to enjoy music like you have now. And then, by some stroke of luck, your senpais were out there… trying to find someone to balance them all out. To find that singer that could utilize all their skills… to make that one Visual Kei band that they all could envision, but not quite have.”

Jiro smiles at that statement. “Well, whatever it is, I think it’s good either way.”

And with that uncrosses his legs to stand up and leave Jyushi with Amanda for a short moment. He returns with his blue cased smartphone and aims the camera lens at the both of them. Jyushi does all he can to hide his horrible state of appearance right now, with half straightened hair and no speck of makeup on. Amanda just casually makes themselves comfortable on top of Jyushi’s head. 

“Why are you trying to hide, Jyushi?” Jiro teases and Jyushi can only groan with his hands covering his face. “Because I’m not necessarily camera ready!”

“As if. Jyushi looks more than perfect for the camera. Don’t you think so too, Amanda?”

Amanda nods enthusiastically. “But maybe it is because we are biased. We both agree that Jyushi looks fine with or without makeup, no matter what state of appearance he may be in.”

“I’m not gonna send this to anyone either. It’s just something I wanna document for my own personal reasons. So, will you let me take your photo?”

Jyushi slides his hands down from his face enough for his dubious eyes to peer at his boyfriend. Jiro has a sheepish smile as he sees Jyushi’s wary gaze. 

“I’ll only let you take the picture if you let me do your makeup again.” Jyushi responds after a long moment of silence. 

“If you wanted to do it, you could’ve done it yesterday too, you know? But I accept your terms.” Jyushi relents and poses for the camera. Jiro takes some pictures of just Jyushi and Amanda, before sliding next to Jyushi’s side and taking a few selfies of them all together. When Jiro happily saves them to his photo album, he looks up to his slightly worried boyfriend. “Those probably don’t look pretty at all…”

Jiro sets those worries aside when he shuts Jyushi’s worries with a short, yet needed kiss. “You don’t get to say that. Not when both Amanda and I think that you look amazing how you are.” Amanda nods very enthusiastically at that response.

After Jyushi adorably grumbles for a long time, he decides to return to his straightener. Amanda jumps off of Jyushi’s head and into Jiro’s arms as they watch Jyushi meticulously straighten his messy hair. After an unbelievable fifteen minutes later, Jyushi turns off his straightener with a huff of accomplishment. “Okay, I guess that should be okay for now.”

Jiro hums. “It should be? It is, Jyushi.”

Jyushi hums back. “But knowing me, it isn’t enough!!” After they bicker affectionately, Jyushi takes a hair clip and slides one in his bangs, and clips two to Jiro’s bangs. Jyushi looks very accomplished as he prepares the both of them for their makeup. He pulls out the drawer next to him and pulls out all the brushes, foundations, eyeshadow pallets, eyeliners, and everything else Jiro feels like he recognizes, but hasn’t really grasped.

After, Jyushi takes a lone makeup bag out of the drawer. “This is all Jiro’s products.” And as Jyushi unzips the bag, Jiro recognizes all the products from the time Jyushi purchased them while he was in Ikebukuro. “While I know I’ll use the foundation on Jiro… I think I’ll use a different pallet this time… what colors are you wearing, Jiro?”

“Eh? Uh… well, my normal blue?” Jyushi hums and rummages in his small basket of eyeshadow pallets until he finds a dark navy blue and a royal blue. Jiro can’t do anything helpful, so he just awkwardly sits and plays with Amanda while Jyushi decides on what he’ll do for Jiro’s makeup look.

After a while, Jyushi sounds triumphant and clasps his hands together. “Okay, I think I’ve got it.” And just like that, Jiro faces Jyushi and obeys every command to close his eyes, or look a certain direction, and most importantly, to not touch anything even if it feels wet.

Amanda stays in Jiro’s grasp and actually serves as a way to keep his hands busy, and Jiro was actually very thankful for that, considering some of the parts made him want to rub his eyes and that wouldn’t make Jyushi happy in the slightest.

Jyushi closes everything with a final snap and looks at the beautiful way Jiro looks, eyes closed and revealing the full extent of Jyushi’s smokey look. When Jyushi tells Jiro to open his eyes, it’s jaw dropping how Jiro’s golden and green eyes seem to stand out even more thanks to that.

When Jiro looks at his reflection in the mirror, he ends up taking less time to recognize that this is him. He’s gotten used to it after wearing it for a few days in Ikebukuro. Regardless, it is surprising to see this change in appearances for him.

“Do you think it looks okay?” Jiro has to face his boyfriend and give some form of “Are you kidding me? This is freaking amazing!” Without kissing him. That really was the challenging part, even if Jyushi let him get away with it a few times.

“Of course it is. Now hurry up and finish your look so then I can kiss you.”

Amanda’s laughter brings out a funky pout from Jiro’s lips and their friendly arguments about kissing monsters and the mysteries of makeup becomes wonderful background music for Jyushi while he prepares his own makeup look. It seems like no time has passed when he’s finally closing his pallets shut and putting all his makeup back in his drawer, vibrant pink pigment accentuating the sky blue of his eyes.

Jiro snaps another picture of Jyushi right then, and then looks at the both of them in the mirror. “Well what do you know, we match. In the couple kinda way.”

“It’s only a coincidental thing, okay?!” Jyushi protests, but his smile is just as bright as Jiro’s. They take some more pictures together before Jyushi banishes Jiro from the vanity area so they can change separately. 

Amanda looks at their friend with a very amused grin, even if their stuffed body had a perfectly stitched on on their face already. “Why the embarrassment, Jyushi? You and Jiro are both guys.”

“I told you, Amanda! Trying to not step into awkward territory, okay?!” Jyushi’s bright pink face speaks multitudes of embarrassment that Amanda never knew Jyushi had.

After he fiddles with stuff on top of the vanity for a little bit, Jiro lets him know that he’s done changing. Jyushi has to decide what kind of shirt he has to wear now that he decided to wear pink shadow to couple match with Jiro.

After finding a simple pink shirt that could be layered with one of his more holey shirts, Jyushi decides it’s enough, and proceeds to change. The bright pink really is off-putting for Jyushi, but when his boyfriend turns around from his chair in the living room and smiles at him, Jyushi finds himself not worrying about the problems that could come with pink shirts anymore.

Jyushi, Takeru, and Jun are too stunned to realize just how much better Jiro has gotten with his part while playing with Keisuke for only a couple hours yesterday. Keisuke gives them all a shit-eating grin, saying “I told you he’d breeze through this with ease.”

Jiro continues to scribble nonsense on his note-covered sheet music, muttering things to himself and conveniently unaware of the sight of all his new friends and his boyfriend looking at him like he was a genius of some sort.

There’s a multitude of emotions that run through Jyushi’s system. One is gratitude, that Jiro doesn’t hate him for things that happened yesterday. Another one is awe, since he knows Jiro has more potential with the guitar than he himself thinks, but that is also something that just shows itself in its own subtle way.

And then the third one… was most definitely love.

The overflowing warmth that made his heart melt and his and a never-ending smile spread on his face. There’s so many things that come to this embodiment of love, Jyushi doesn’t know what to do with it sometimes. Sometimes, Jyushi doesn’t know what he can do… 

But right now, Jyushi thinks he needs to kiss his boyfriend to pour all his emotions and feelings into it  and properly convey it to him.

So not even worrying about how the rest of his band will react, he places the mic back on the stand, takes a few strides to Jiro, gently cradles his face to divert that beautiful gaze away from the sheet music, and kisses him right there and then.

Jiro is obviously surprised at this sudden action, but his stiff posture relaxes as Jyushi’s soft kisses seem to wipe all worrisome things from his brain. After a long moment, Jyushi pulls away from the kiss and threads his hands through Jiro’s bangs. “How did you do it, Jiro?”

Jiro has to blink a few times to refocus, but he shrugs. “I dunno what you’re talking about to be honest. I mean it felt like I was playing the same thing.”

Takeru throws his hands up into the air. “Nooo! Jiro-tan literally just gave us a concert level performance and he didn’t even know it?! Kei-Kei!!!”

Keisuke shrugs. “Why are you blaming me?! Maybe it’s how Jiro works, but I just told him to focus on the sound he makes. Maybe he’s subconsciously blocking out all other sounds to ensure his sound sounds the best it can be.”

“No, it’s not like that?” Jiro lets a small smile spread on his lips. “It’s just… I feel like I can hear everyone’s sound, and just how it is that it can fit into the general sound of Argo Kishii Gakudan. And I can still notice that there’s a place for me in this music. So I looked back on how my sound fit with Keisuke’s and went from there I guess.”

Jyushi lets his smile widen even further. “Of course there’s a place for you in this sphere of music. But did you hear how you were with all of us?”

Jiro shrugs. “Maybe? Maybe not?”

Jun nods. “If that’s the case, we’re just gonna have to play all that we can to see if Jiro hears just how amazing one day of practice did.” And follows it up with a flashy flip of his drumsticks. He continues playing another song that’s a part of the set list Jiro got music for and throughout a multitude of songs, everyone is shocked at how much better Jiro sounds.

It was as if he really did get accustomed to his sound, or Argo Kishii Gakudan’s sound, and just went from there.

Jyushi is practically brimming with tears after they finish playing all the music Jiro was given, with literal ease. It was as if Jiro was a part of the band for longer than 24 hours. 

It was as if… Jiro has made his home there.

Time and time again, Jyushi has no words to express his gratitude, amazement, and adoration for Jiro. He’s been rendered speechless for a concert’s length of time.

“Jiro-tan! Are you like, a genius or something?! This was amazing!” Takeru jumps and squishes Jiro in a bone crushing hug.

“It wasn’t me, it was Jyushi’s writing.” Jiro protests.

“Nope! I won’t take that! Jiro-tan is a guitar master and that’s that!”

“I think he’s honestly always had this level of skill from the beginning. But Jyushi’s writing just enhances it. It really is something, considering he’s self-taught and only played for a few years, right?” Keisuke redirects his gaze towards Jiro, who just shrugs. 

“Sure, I’ve only been playing for a few years. But even then… it’s just some sort of hobby? Most of my time is consumed by soccer.” Jiro shrugs again. “But I guess… I do feel like sometimes playing the guitar is my calling.”

“That’s just the power of music calling to you again. Once someone hears it’s call, it’s nearly impossible to get out.” Jun says with a definite hum in his tone.

Jyushi once again holds Jiro in a bone crushing hug to express all the emotions that flow through his body. “Oh Jiro… I’m so happy…! There’s so much I could say, but I don’t think I have the right words to say in the first place…!”

Jiro’s smile softens as his hand gently runs up and down Jyushi’s back. “It’s all you Jyushi. Thank you for making this more than a dream for me. While I never have thought about having this for myself… It really has made it clear how much I do love music. So being able to perform like this, even at least once…”

Jyushi pulls from their hug and gently moves Jiro’s raven bangs with his gentle touch. “No thanks is necessary Jiro. Not when all of us here are in love with music like you are.”

Jiro takes in the entire practice room and sees how all of Argo Kishii Gakudan smiles at him. And that realization that they were all just people deeply in love with music just relaxes Jiro even more.

After a few moments Takeru clasps his hands together. “Oh! How did we not realize?! Mr. Perfect hasn’t even come out once today!”

Everyone looks at each other before zoning in on how Jyushi looks at Jiro. Somehow they deduce something based on this sight alone.

“I guess Boyfriend-kun really does a lot for Jyushi without even realizing it.” Jun casually says and the three just nod.

Keisuke motions for Takeru and Jun to leave the practice room with him so they can give the couple their privacy for a few moments. “Jyushi,  we’re gonna go grab a drink from the vending machine. Wanna come?”

Jyushi looks at Keisuke and shakes his head. “I think I’m okay right now.”

The three adults wave at the couple before closing the door to the practice room once more. The click of the door is loud in contrast to the silence of the room. But things like that don’t seem to matter right now.

Jyushi’s hands gently cradle Jiro’s face in his grasp, a comforting warmth always accepted by the younger of the two. He falls into the small action, and his eyes seem to stand out as he opens them to look into Jyushi’s watery gaze.

“Hey, why are you crying?” Jiro also places his hands over Jyushi’s cheeks, gently wiping away the tears that quietly escape him.

“It’s nothing really. I just find myself at a loss over how much I love you, if that’s the easy way to explain it.”

“Is this just about the music, or is it something else?” Jiro asks softly. Jyushi nods subtly. “It’s the music… and everything in general. I feel… thankful that you’re still here by my side. And I’m blessed with the opportunity to spend time together like this.”

At this Jiro smirks. “If it weren’t like this, then what kinda couple would we be?”

“Eh?”

“It’s something we decided on when we decided to have that date a few months back. We made the resolve to stay by each other’s side regardless of distance. And we did the best we could under our circumstances. For us, it’s more natural to be together but apart, and now that we’re really together together, everything we feel must be enhanced or something.”

Jiro gently presses their foreheads together, their silent go-to sign of affection when kisses didn’t seem appropriate. “I love you, Jyushi. All the things that have happened have only made me love you more and more. I should be thanking you for letting me into this part of your life. So don’t think of it as a blessing. Not when all of this going on is just another adventure for our story.”

Amanda takes this perfect moment to pop their head out of Jyushi’s bag. “Jiro is right, Jyushi! There’s nothing miraculous about this journey. In fact, things like this only serve to make these things even better, you know?”

Jyushi turns to face his best friend. “So what are you saying Amanda? That I should just keep things going as it is and see where it leads me?”

“Well, honestly I don’t know what to think. But I do think your journey will take you somewhere nice. I think you will end up having no regrets when it comes to how your life shapes out to be with Jiro by your side. How Jyushi views it though… it all depends on you.”

After a moment of silence, Jyushi tugs Jiro’s hand and they both sit on the couch where Amanda is. The two touch the stuffed pig with gentle adoration and Jyushi’s smile is as bright as anything out there when he finds himself together with his closest friend and his best boyfriend. 

“As long as I have Jiro and Amanda with me, I won’t have any regrets of any kind.”

“Well, there’s no way I’d leave you. So that’s that I guess.” Jiro grins. Amanda jumps with glee. And the three of them enjoy the little moment of happiness just for a little while longer.

Takeru pouts as the five of them go towards a favorite ramen stand of theirs to eat dinner. “I thought Kei-Kei dragged us out of the practice room because we were gonna catch Jyushi and Jiro-tan in the middle of couplish things. Kei-Kei you meanie!!”

Keisuke jabs Takeru by his side. “Oi! I didn’t know okay! I thought the mood was right, but then they were in the middle of talking about families, adventures, and the future! Like… who in their right mind talks about that kinda stuff this early?”

Jun silently observes as Jiro and Jyushi walk in front of them, their hands easily tangling in each other’s while Jyushi points to all the sights for Jiro to look at. “They have gone somewhere though. That much is apparent.”

“Hmmmm?!” Keisuke and Takeru all look at the drummer who shrugs. “What? It looks more like a couple that’s experienced much more than their time together normally should have allowed.”

The three continue to keep their gaze on Jiro and Jyushi for a long time, their silent gazes leading them to witnessing nothing more than the typical couple in love. 

They all look at each other, actually debating on asking the couple on their progress. Because as much as they look at them, they look like they’re far from doing more… things, if they’ll leave it at that. But they’re adults. And they know something is there bubbling underneath their close knitted relationship.

As they all debate on what they’re going to order from the ramen stand, Keisuke slams his hands on the counter and looks at the couple. “Argh! I can’t take it any more!! Jiro, Jyushi! Have you guys done things?!”

Owlish blinking is all he’s given in response.

Takeru is the one to push his elbow into Keisuke’s side now. “Kei-Kei! I thought we weren’t gonna ask them something like that!!”

As the two bicker about what they were going to do, Jun ends up sighing. “What our romantic idiot wanted to ask was, whether or not you guys have done the deed yet.”

“What deed?” Jiro scrunches his nose at the complexity of the question. Jun takes a deep breath before flat out saying, “Sex.”

Jyushi chokes on his water.

Jiro loses his balance and falls off his stool. 

Keisuke and Takeru look at them wide eyed before realizing. “W-We were wrong! Oh my gosh Jyushi we’re sorry!!” Takeru helps Jyushi safely clear his airways again and Keisuke is left with Jiro. 

“Really man? From the way you guys look surely you guys must’ve done something!” Regardless, Keisuke helps Jiro up and lets the couple calm themselves once more.

“I still have to ask if we’re that obvious or something. You guys and Nii-chan, Takahashi too….” Jiro grumbles softly. 

“So… nothing?” Jun asks. Jyushi and Jiro shake their heads at the speed of lightning.

“Not even a little…?” Keisuke sounds disheartened about this, especially when the couple says no.

“Just kisses and hugs…?” Takeru treads lightly. The two nod at that question so fast the three adults are at a loss.

“W-Well… we’re in no way with any right to say anything about it… as long as you two know what you’re doing and are happy, then that’s all that matters.” Takeru has to turn away to look the other way, letting his jumbled thoughts somehow find peace with their answer.

“Sorry about asking this out of the blue. Our romantic idiot just thought there was something more than what we’ve seen.” Jun leans forward to shoot a disappointed glare at his friend, who can only shrug in response.

“What? I mean, they’ve done something . But if they haven’t actually done it, then obviously that wasn’t what they did.”

This casual statement stays with Jiro and Jyushi for the rest of the evening, even through the light practice they had after dinner, the walk back to Jyushi’s apartment, and while each respective person took their baths.  They don’t dare touch the subject until they’re both sitting on top of the bed.

“So….” Jiro starts with.

Jyushi wearily hums, threading his fingers through some knots in his hair. After he looks up at Jiro, The embarrassment spreads on their faces as the comments flood back into their brains.

“A-Are we… obvious or something?” Jyushi starts with. Jiro only shrugs. “Nii-chan said we’re only obvious to those who have experienced love like ours, or something. I feel like we’re not doing anything awkward though?”

“Same here! I don’t understand what they’re all talking about!” Jyushi throws his hands up in the air. “It’s all confusing!”

“Right?!!” Jiro throws himself backwards to stare at the twinkling ceiling with a sigh. “What is the importance of whether or not a couple has done that or not?”

Jyushi joins him in their artificial star gazing. “Maybe it's a milestone kinda thing?”

“Even if it is a milestone kinda thing, why is that all people wanna know?”

“I don’t know about that.”

With an irritated sigh, Jiro lets all his worries get taken away with the wonderful sights. “You… You’re okay with how we’re doing things, right?”

Jyushi moves his vision from the ceiling to the man that makes him smile every single day. His hand reaches out, and the gentle and comforting contact is enough for Jiro to tear his eyes away from the stars.

A small smile spreads on Jyushi’s lips. “If I wasn’t okay with it, I would have told you.”

Jiro’s hand tightens around Jyushi’s. “Same here.”

They spend the minutes gazing at the stars and each other, until it turns into cuddling and sweet kisses, until it turns into sleeping in each other’s arms. Amanda gently jumps on the table and onto the bed, doing everything they can to drag a nearby blanket over the slumbering couple. 

The light motions of the stuffed pig are enough for the two to shift in their sleep, but their eyes remain closed.

“You two will figure it out eventually. As long as you’re happy with how you two are, that’s all we could ask of you.”

When Amanda finishes their mission, they sit and continue to watch over them, because this is how they can protect them.

The days pass and meld into the similar routine of practice and play and band bonding for Argo Kishii Gakudan and Jiro. They’ve got about five days left before their scheduled live at this point, when Jyushi slowly approaches Jiro after getting nods from his fellow bandmates.

“Say Jiro…” that was enough for Jiro to look at Jyushi who hands him more sheet music. 

When Jiro takes it, the first thing he realizes is that this isn’t a song he’s heard of.

He doesn’t need to ask, because Jyushi answers his question for him. “This is a new song we were going to promote at the live before the single goes on sale.”

Jiro blinks in supreme succession before his jaw drops. “Seriously Jyushi?! You want me to play this?! What about Keisuke?!”

“Unfortunately for you, I’m stuck with the synth parts, but I’ll be backing you up on other parts!” Keisuke waves his own sheet music with a wicked grin.

“We wouldn’t have agreed on it if we didn’t think you were up for it, Jiro.” Jun says softly. Takeru nods at that. “Jun-Jun’s right! We’ve heard you play for these past few days. We’re more than aware of the fact that you have skill. And that’s why we thought we’d be able to squeeze this last one song into the set list with you, because a lot of it is inspired by you.”

Jiro blinks again. “Me? What are you saying?”

Keisuke crosses his arms and grins. “What Takeru is saying is that this is a manifestation of Jiro being Jyushi’s muse.”

“He combined Jiro with the general idea of the anime, and went from there.” Jun follows it up with. Jiro practically drops his music at the statement.

“Jyushi…?! You’re… Argo Kishii Gakudan is doing anime themes now?!”

Jyushi shrugs and plays with his fingers. “I don’t know, but this was a good way to find out, right?”

Jiro’s grin only gives Jyushi peace and warmth. “Well, I guess I’m gonna have to practice this like crazy.”

“Should we do a rough first run then?” Takeru repositions his bass guitar and Jun shrugs. “Only if Jiro wants to try it. This is sight reading for him, you know.”

“Ah, that’s true…”

The more Jiro thinks about it, the more he realizes maybe he needs this experience. Because if he doesn’t know what his sound is supposed to sound like, and how the general music’s sound is supposed to be, maybe he shouldn’t have such a hard time finding the things he needs to do.

“Ah what the hell. I’ll give it a shot.”

Jyushi smiles. “We’ll all help.”

Jiro knows that very well now.

When they all play the song for the first time, Jiro is literally feeling like he’s being thrown off his feet. The reason is because he’s feeling like this is a new sound for Argo Kishii Gakudan in general. And because it sounds so freaking awesome, Jiro has literally no words for it besides that.

Jiro messes up. Everyone expected that. Hell, everyone else messed up at a few points in the song too. But this didn’t feel like it was last minute practices for a live. This literally felt like how music should be. It should be fun. And from the way everyone laughs at their mistakes, Jyushi realizes where stress and worry should have been, laughter and peace were there.

After they finish their first run of the song, everyone points out parts everyone should keep in mind, and Jiro once again covers his sheet music with notes and circles over key points. And Jyushi can’t help but smile widely at the moment.

They pass the hours redoing specific parts of their new song, not aiming for full-song runs. They clean up their sound fairly quickly in Jiro’s eyes, but in reality hours have passed in a blink of an eye.

“Does this always happen?” Jiro asks them when they’re turning to leave to get their fairly late dinner. It was only 9pm, so restaurants were still open, but it was considered late in comparison to the other times they’ve left to eat.

“Sometimes. It’s like getting into the zone, you know?” Keisuke shrugs. “Guess it is just something that happens when we’re having fun, maybe?”

“That has to be it! I mean, it was like that for us back in high school right? Jun-Jun! Back me up here!!” Takeru begs the drummer who only nods with a smirk. 

“Having Jiro here probably has helped us remember why it was that we fell in love with music. We’ve been playing music for the sake of the label, and our fans for these past few years. But along the way, we must have just… forgotten what it meant to actually love music.”

Jun leans over and gently presses his fist to Jiro’s shoulder. “But Jiro gave us that breath of fresh air that we needed. That reminder that we’re also doing this because we’re just in love with music like everyone who listens to us.”

Jyushi tightens his hold on Jiro’s hand with pride. “Jiro has helped us in so many ways. That makes me happier than anything in the world.”

Jiro takes the huge pile of praise from them and smiles sheepishly. “... I didn’t do much though…”

“What you think is only a little, could mean so much more to others though, Jiro.” Keisuke slides easily.

Jiro’s embarrassed blush darkens considerably at that statement, and his silence signifies the older guitarist’s victory in the conversation.

After their dinner at a family-run restaurant that has helped Argo Kishii Gakudan with their frequently late dinner breaks, they forego an evening practice to have fun at the arcade. They all end up having turns on the DDR machine, and failing miserably at the randomness that is Ievan Pollka. They went to other parts of the arcade though, from the basketball game, to shooting games. The five of them fight over who will be teamed up for group battles, and they pass the time just enjoying themselves. 

Jiro can’t remember laughing as much as he did with them, but the smile remains on his face even after they all break up to rest for the night and he’s walking with Jyushi back home.

When he gets ready to sleep, he strokes Amanda’s head and waits for Jyushi to slide into bed next to him.

“You know Amanda…? I think I could really pull off this concert now.”

Amanda’s ears twitch in excitement. “Really?! I mean, Jyushi and I knew you’d have the skill to do it. But you’ve never sounded this confident in yourself. What was the sudden change?”

Jiro shrugs. “I don’t know if it was any sort of change per say…. but today I really felt like Argo Kishii Gakudan was one huge family, and I was a part of said family. I never really thought about it these past few days though… and when I realized it, I kind of felt… happy, or relieved maybe.”

Jyushi shuts the door to his bedroom and slides into bed next to Jiro and Amanda. 

“Jyushi! Jiro feels confident that he’ll be able to do the concert!!”

Jyushi’s gaze softens as he caresses Jiro’s cheek. “Of course Jiro can do it. I’ve had faith in you this entire time. But it’s nice that you’re finally feeling that you can do it yourself.”

Jiro’s large grin spreads across his face and Jyushi can only chuckle affectionately at the reaction. “I’m really looking forward to practice tomorrow…”

Jyushi presses his nose to Jiro’s in a silent form of affection. “As am I, Jiro.”

A couple days before the appointed concert day, Jyushi cuts practice a little short. Everyone seems to understand why, but Jiro. For the most part, their new song was going really well, so it wouldn’t take horribly long to clean up the rest of it after another couple practice sessions.

“Jiro, there’s a place I want to take you… will you come with me?” Jyushi asks nervously, and Jiro can only smile at his boyfriend with excitement. “Anywhere Jyushi wants to go… I’ll go.”

“Can we come too, Jyushi? It’s been a little while since we’ve all visited her…” Takeru asks lightly. 

“Kou gave these to me… I was hoping to give them to her as well…” Jun holds up his bag filled with some foods and other items.

“It’s basically tradition for us to visit her together… what do you say, Jyushi? Shall we all go, as a new and improved Argo Kishii Gakudan?”

Jyushi smiles gently at all his band members and nods. “Let’s all go together. She’d like that very much.”

Jiro follows everyone out of the practice room and waits for Jyushi to lock it. When he’s finished, their hands easily tangle in each other’s. “Not like I hate surprises but… where is this special place we’re going? Are we meeting someone?”

Amanda pops out of Jyushi’s bag and nods. “It’s someone that was very important in Jyushi’s upbringing.”

It didn’t take Jiro very long to connect the dots and a smile spreads on his face. “I see. But if we’re meeting someone that important… I should have known sooner. I should have dressed a little better than this-“

“Part of the reason I never told you is because I wanted you to look like this. I didn’t want you to push yourself to change your appearance. She was one of the first people to teach me about being who I am. She became my pillar when I started dealing with all the bullying and things in school. Because of her support… I was able to be me. And because of that… I was able to pursue music, have this band… and you, Jiro. So… I wanted you to come as “yourself” as well… so then I could show her the results of me trying and being myself.”

Jiro readjusts their hand holding to the point that their fingers are intertwined, and his comforting squeeze speaks louder than the amount of other words Jiro could have stumbled over. Because he’s bad with words, especially words revolving around emotion. But he’s managed to compensate with his actions, when words fail him. And luckily for him, Jyushi can understand him in all ways… through words, or through actions. 

The squeeze is trying to convey too many emotions in one go… but Jyushi pretty much knows where these are directed. There’s gratitude, love, appreciation, and did he already say love? Those are the emotions that seem to pour out of Jiro’s body. The teary smile that Jyushi can give his boyfriend in response is all Jiro needs to know that his emotions were conveyed properly.

And while they walk, Amanda just appreciates the view of their pulsating red thread as it tangles in between their fingers.

Everyone spends time with Jyushi’s grandmother. They make light conversation about Jyushi, and their upcoming live in just a couple days. But they just merely sit back and enjoy their time in silence as Jiro prays for Jyushi’s grandmother. He remains quiet for a few moments before getting comfortable and introducing himself.

“Hi, Obaa-san…. This is my first time meeting you, even if it isn’t the first time I’ve heard of you. Jyushi talks about you frequently… so as funny as it may be, I feel like this isn’t the first time I’m meeting you. My name’s Yamada Jiro… and…”

Jiro takes a deep breath and when he releases it, the brightest smile is on his face as he gazes fondly at Jyushi’s family grave.

“... I’m Jyushi’s boyfriend.”

Jyushi trembles the moment Jiro speaks those words with confidence and glee that he can’t help but tear up at the sight. 

“We’ve only been together for a few months, but I haven’t had the chance to speak to you like this until now. See, Jyushi found out I was a good guitar player, and he invited me all the way here so I could play with his band. Not like I’m really good or anything, it’s been hard trying to get adjusted to everything in person… but I think it will be okay. Hopefully. I’m sorry for not meeting you sooner… but I’m glad I can see you like this in person now.”

Jyushi brings out Amanda from his bag, alongside something to dab his tears away with without disturbing the face makeup. Everyone sits back and smiles as Jiro practically spills everything that comes to his head. He speaks about his family situation back home in Ikebukuro, his experiences with Jyushi when Jyushi visited his friends and family, his own experiences spending time with Jyushi’s band. And most importantly… his developing relationship with Jyushi and Amanda.

“I think I have to thank you for making Amanda, Obaa-san. Without Amanda’s help… I think Jyushi would have been in a place where we wouldn’t have met. And thanks to circumstances… Amanda had brought us together. Without that fateful day… I don’t know where I would have been. I imagine I’d probably be spending my time playing soccer all day with my friends. But then I wouldn’t have been here… having the experience of a lifetime, playing with my boyfriend’s band. I wouldn’t have known the joys of spending time in a new place… and I wouldn’t have known how it feels like to seriously start thinking about the future.”

Jiro turns back to look at Jyushi with all the liveliness in the world. Jyushi only squeezes Amanda a little harder and gives Jiro the most appreciative smile without crying his eyes out.

“Thanks to Jyushi’s presence in my life… I’ve been able to do a lot of thinking about what I wanna do with my life. And while I haven’t really reached a decision… I know that at the very least, I wanna be in a position where I can always… always, support Jyushi. I never wanna see his light fade. So, in the case that he falters, or comes across an obstacle, I wanna be there to support Jyushi and catch him if he falls. That’s why… I would greatly appreciate it if you could keep on supporting Jyushi when I can’t. That’s the problem with this long distance relationship… I can’t really support him, no matter how much I think a phone call or a text could help. But at the very least… I know that if you keep on watching over him, he’ll be safe whenever we can’t meet.”

Jyushi does his best to keep the tears at bay, but the dam has broken. He sobs as Jiro continues to talk to his grandmother in such an endearing way. Takeru, Jun, and Keisuke all hug Jyushi as he tries to collect himself. But they all know the reason for his tears aren’t because he’s sad. He’s overwhelmed by his feelings for Jiro. He’s  overwhelmed by the fact that this one teenager, whom he met by mere chance, has changed his entire outlook on the world, and his life in itself.

Everything that he once viewed as negative, Jiro has turned into a mere obstacle in his journey of life. And while he’s encountered some really tough points in his life, because he managed to live past them, he’s become so much stronger. 

To Jiro… Jyushi has… 

“... you see… Jyushi has become the most important person in my life, alongside my brothers. That’s why… I would greatly appreciate it if you could make sure Jyushi can keep moving forward. Even on days we can’t meet. I guess I just love him so much that I can’t help but worry about him.”

Jyushi keeps a tight hold on Amanda as his tears never seem to end. 

“I love him so much… I love Jiro so much…!” Jyushi sobs.

Amanda sobs, even if they don’t have eyes that can actually produce tears. Everyone else looks at the couple and breaks out into teary grins.

“That’s the best thing that could happen, Jyushi.”

Jiro miraculously tunes everything out as he continues to talk to Jyushi’s grandmother about everything that comes to mind. He doesn’t realize how long he has chatted until his throat starts to get dry and the sun begins to set.

Jiro gets up from his place on the ground. “I’m sorry for chatting for so long, Jyushi… you probably have a lot you want to tell your grandmother as well…”

Jyushi walks up to his family grave and smiles. “Just… one thing. I’ve always wanted to introduce you to Jiro. Even if we have only physically been together for a handful of days… I don’t think the time we’ve spent apart was for nothing. Thanks to Jiro’s frequent messages and calls, I was able to move forward and continue to do what I love most. And because of Jiro’s presence in my life… I’ve managed to just… have a new look on everything around me. So… if I could ask you… to always look over Jiro like you do for me. Because more than anything… I don’t want any harm to come to him, especially when our distance from each other is so far.”

When he finishes his prayers for his grandmother, everyone opts to get dinner before getting back to practice for the evening. However, when Jiro is about to walk alongside the others, Jyushi grabs his wrist.

Jyushi pulls on Jiro’s hand until they’ve reached an empty part of the clearing away from the cemetery. It’s one of the alternate routes that lead to the entry of the cemetery, more obscure and filled with trees.

It is here when Jyushi pulls him in for the most desperate of kisses and tightest of hugs. From the way Jyushi hugs him, Jiro can tell he’s still sobbing. But Jiro doesn’t ask Jyushi just what is wrong. Because, if Jiro can assume correctly, Jyushi isn’t sobbing because he’s sad.

“... Thank you Jiro. I love you…” Jyushi says with a shuddering sob.

Jiro threads his fingers through Jyushi’s hair and presses their foreheads together, as usual. Jiro can see the way how the fading sunlight makes Jyushi’s sky blue eyes twinkle, and oh, how Jiro wishes that light and life never leave Jyushi ever again.

“I love you Jyushi. And there’s nothing to thank. This is just what lovers do, right?”

Amanda  gazes up at the sky as it turns a vibrant orange and sobs again. “It’s such a blessing… the understanding these two have…” 

Their words weren’t heard, especially when Jyushi was too busy trying to stop his tears. But the way he clings to Jiro’s warmth was all Amanda needed to know that this love and dynamic… it wasn’t going to go anywhere anytime soon.

And that was something Amanda was more than happy to learn.

They were finally closing in on the day before the live, and Jiro was somewhat nervous over the entire ordeal. While they managed to get all of the kinks out with their practices, he couldn’t help but think of one thing.

“We have so many songs… what if I mess up?”

With this, Keisuke gives him an encouraging slap to his back. “You’ll do okay. We’re all backing you up too, so don’t forget that. You’ve pretty much memorized all aspects of our currently released music right? Just lean on that- wait… maybe that won’t work…”

“Just listen to Jyushi’s voice, Jiro-tan.” Takeru says calmly. “You love Jyushi, and you trust him. If you ever feel like you’re lost in the music, Jyushi will guide you to the right place.”

“There goes the cool teacher Takeru. You never expect it, but he really does come through when someone needs advice like that.” Jun shrugs. “But he’s right. You might feel all the pressure because this is your first live performance with this large audience… but all of us will be there to back you up. If you can’t hear us, you’ll definitely hear Jyushi. So there’s nothing to worry about.”

Jyushi takes Jiro’s hands in his own. “I believe in Jiro. And I’ll be right next to you. Kei-kun will be across from you, and Takeru will be to your left. Jun will be behind you. We will all be on this stage with you. No matter what happens, we will be right there with you.”

“And of course… Amanda will be the greatest cheerleader there is.” Jyushi presses his forehead to Jiro’s, and his boyfriend can only chuckle at the imagery. “If they could, they’d probably wear the cheerleader outfit you see at sports festivals.”

A light chuckle. “Don’t make me ask Kei-kun to make that for Amanda. That would be an interesting thing to see.”

Keisuke is about to tell them off, saying that he only makes clothing for humans, until he remembers the thing that he packed earlier this morning. “Oh that reminds me!!”

He turns around to rummage through his large bag and pulls out a covered garment on a wire hanger. “Jiro, I want you to take a look at this.”

Jiro takes the hanger with caution and gently takes the covering off of the garment. 

His jaw drops at what it is that he comes face to face with.

“This is…”

“Well, you’re part of our family now. It was only appropriate that you wore this with us tomorrow night.”

Jiro is stunned for a long moment as he slowly takes off the official Argo Kishii Gakudan jacket off the hanger. “It’s... are you sure?”

Keisuke just laughs. “Just put the damn thing on. I need to see if it needs any last minute alterations.”

The moment he puts it on, something inexplicable fills his being. It’s like a final piece of a puzzle just clicking together. A feeling like… he has finally been made a member of Argo Kishii Gakudan.

Jyushi has to hold back the sob that threatens to escape him. “It’s… it’s perfect Kei-kun!”

Jiro moves this way and that and there’s enough comfort everywhere. Keisuke scrutinizes every movement before nodding. “I guess this is good. Wanna try playing with it on?”

Jiro grabs for his guitar and he tests the fit as he plays some simple chords and can’t help but grin like crazy. “You guess?! This is perfect!! How did you even-“

“He memorized your measurements on our first night, Jiro-tan! Knowing Kei-Kei, he probably went and pulled a few all-nighters…” Takeru gets closer to Keisuke with one of his unapproving glares and Keisuke has to edge away from Takeru’s gaze. 

“I-I didn’t pull all-nighters! I still managed to get some sleep every night!!”

Takeru continues to look at his friend suspiciously before shrugging. “Well, I guess I can let it slide this one time. Our time with Jiro-tan is short, but no matter how much time we have spent together, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s part of our family.”

“Ah, so now we’re being called a family. After so many years, that’s finally a label for us.” Jun shakes his head. 

“What are you saying, Jun-Jun?!”

“I mean, weren’t we already one? Family, that is.” Jun states simply. 

“At first it was three guys in the same class with the same interests in music helplessly trying to keep their ambitions alive. And then Jyushi found us. And our family was born. A family of people who loved music and wanted to spread their love of visual kei even more. And then our leader found someone in this world that fell in love with him and accepted everything he was and more. Our family is expanding, and this is honestly one of the best things to happen to me personally.” Jun clasps his hands together and smiles softly. “I love my brother, but I love this family too. Without this family… I don’t think I could have loved music as much as I have.”

Everyone looks down and lets the words from their more silent drummer seep into their beings before smiles all spread on their faces. “An Argo Kishii Gakudan family, huh. Why haven’t I thought of that sooner?” Takeru jumps and crushes Jun into a hug. Jun makes a lot of noise as he tries to escape Takeru’s bear hug, with little success. He looks to Keisuke for help, but he only gives his best shit-eating grin before adding to the supposedly group hug which only makes Jun more uncomfortable.

Jyushi looks to Jiro with a fond smile on his face and outstretches his hand. Jiro takes it with ease and the two jump in and tackle the three with their hug. The five fall to the floor in a messy pile and they all end up laughing at the silly move. But beyond that… they’re happy. 

After a long moment, Jiro sits up and grins at everyone with his hand sign proudly displayed. “Thanks for being such awesome guys.”

“Ohhhhh! The hand sign!!!!” Takeru says animatedly. Jyushi copies Jiro’s hand sign and smiles. “Jiro and his brothers do this a lot. You know…thinking about it... I feel like there’s a lot behind it. Besides the sense of unity just… a feeling of unwavering trust and… perhaps a feeling of everything just turning out okay. What does Jiro think?”

Jiro just shrugs. “I don’t know really. But whenever Buster Bros!!! goes out there and flashes this hand sign together, it really does feel like we’re invincible! What about you guys? Have hand signs been a thing?”

Keisuke scratches the back of his head with a sigh. “Sadly, the hand signs are only a thing because of the Division Rap Battles. You guys made the hand signs, and people started sporting it to show their support. For us, things like that don’t necessarily make sense, especially because we’re not part of a famou rap group or anything.”

“We could always do something though! It’s always a good idea to try new things!” Takeru jumps up. 

Jun looks at his hands for a long time before showing a peace sign. “It might not be a hand sign per say… but we could do something else to bring everyone together.”

He urges everyone to press their Vs together and the five of them make a star. It’s such a simple shape, but it is enough for everyone to smile at the sight. “We’re always performing in the dead of night. In the dead of night we have our bright moon Jyushi. But alongside that moon are a multitude of stars that glitter the sky with it’s fleeting beauty from far away.”

“So, our job as Jyushi’s musicians is to light the sky up with our music?” Keisuke asks.

“It could be that. But it also reminds people that the moon can’t exist without the stars in the sky.” Takeru states. Jiro takes it in and nods. “We’re always connected like this, huh?”

Jyushi nods at that and smiles. “It is true. No matter the distance, we’re all connected by the same star in the sky, huh?”

“... it’s perfect, Jun-Jun.” Takeru responds softly. Jun smiles softly in response.

After pressing their fingers together in this star shaped hand sign for a little while, Jiro jumps up. “Alright! I think I’m ready to get this dress rehearsal thing over with!”

Jyushi uncrosses his legs and walks towards Jiro with a wide smile on his face. “If it’s Jiro, then everything will definitely be okay!”

“Alrighty then. Guess we should get this over and done with so then we can go and eat some good grub!” Keisuke stretches his neck and grabs his guitar standing by the synth setup for their new song.

“If Kei-Kei is treating, all the more reason to go then!” Takeru jumps up and Jun nods. “Whenever Keisuke treats us, it’s always good food.”

“Oi! I didn’t say I’d be treating-!”

Jyushi ends up laughing at his band’s normal banter and Jiro takes the moment in with a snap of his camera. While the three elders are bickering over dinner, Jiro flips the camera to selfie mode and brings himself and Jyushi into the screen. Their smiles and gazes of love are enough to blur out the comical banter.

As he saves the pictures to his phone, Jiro feels a heavy feeling of contentment settle in on his being. But when he looks back to Jyushi, he feels like he knows that no words are needed. Not when Jyushi’s sky blue eyes are reflecting the same amount of emotion he feels right now.

Jyushi hauls Jiro to his go-to fashion hotspots the moment they get ready for the day. They have a few more hours before they need to get ready at the venue, but Jyushi was belatedly aware of the fact Jiro doesn’t have the same wardrobe that he has. The shop he frequents though should remedy this situation fairly quickly. Jiro is shocked by how Jyushi was able to go out into the world somewhat “bare faced” with large sunglasses and hair pulled back in a high ponytail. 

“I don’t have time to worry about everything right now, Jiro! We need to get you some clothes! How did I forget about this!!” Jyushi frets back and forth and Amanda just casually waves from the table. 

“We have plenty of time, Jyushi. For now, let’s just go and get Jiro’s clothes before the streets get more crowded.”

Jyushi sighs and stops packing the multitude of makeup supplies before turning to Jiro. “Jiro! We must go shopping now!!”

And Jiro gets dragged out of the house, Amanda in his arms. The shop was a few minute’s walk away from Jyushi’s apartment, and somehow the store manager looked like they were expecting Jyushi.

“Ah, Jyushi-chan! Did you forget to buy something?”

Jyushi waves hello to the manager. “I forgot my boyfriend needed to get some new clothes to fit our wardrobe. Could you show him some things?” Jyushi checks the time on his phone and the group chat for Argo Kishii Gakudan.

How could we forget about Jiro-tan’s wardrobe?!!!

It didn’t really click, even though we saw Keisuke give Jiro his jacket….

Hey, I was only responsible for making his jacket.

Jyushi sighs. “We should be okay….”

Everyone else in Argo Kishii Gakudan says the same thing. 

Remember that Jiro’s own style can come through.

Jyushi looks up as Jiro reaches out for a pair of severely ripped jeans. The smile that spreads on his face makes Jyushi smile too. 

“I think his style is already showing…”

That’s great!! Jiro-tan’s style is already so different, so it should be nice to look at!

Amanda pops up on Jyushi’s shoulder and he’s momentarily surprised by his friend’s sudden relocation. “Jiro is having a hard time deciding on shoes.”

Jyushi nods and puts his phone away to hold Amanda in his arms and walk over to his confused boyfriend. “Amanda tells me you’re having some trouble, Jiro…”

Jiro groans. “I mean, I shouldn’t but I’m kinda am.”

Jyushi wraps his arms around Jiro in a secure hug. “Talk to me, Jiro.”

Jiro has a pair of boots in his hands that look a lot like Jyushi’s own pair. “I mean, these are kinda like your signature style. So do I follow your style, or do I go for something else?”

Jyushi hums in thought as he looks at the small display and points at the hi-tops embellished with decorative spikes. “What about that?”

Jiro looks at the pair Jyushi points at and looks back at him. “I was wondering but….”

“Jiro is a part of Argo Kishii Gakudan. But Argo Kishii Gakudan doesn’t abide to a true dress code. The only thing we all have in common is the jacket, and the mostly black wardrobe. So what does Jiro think?”

Amanda remains still in Jyushi’s hold, but they also pitch something in. “None of us would want to force you into choosing a single style. And personally, I feel like those sneakers up there are your style more than Jyushi’s shoes. They’d go very well with the jeans you picked out earlier.”

Jiro looks back to the ripped jeans and looks back to the hi-tops and shrugs. “Well, if both Jyushi and Amanda say so, it wouldn’t hurt to try it out, right?”

Jiro asks the owner if they have the embellished sneakers in his size and he goes to the back to change. Jyushi pays for Jiro’s clothes discreetly during this time, and the owner laughs at the way Jyushi pays. “I want to do this for him, but we always somehow get into a banter of sorts when it comes to paying for things. This little thing isn’t enough to thank him for everything he’s done in such a short time…”

The owner nods in understanding and just as discreetly gives Jyushi a discount on the transaction. “Your concert is at 7, right? I’m looking forward to listening to your new sound.”

Jiro comes out and Amanda nods in approval. “Looking quite nice, Jiro! Like you’re an actual Argo Kishii Gakudan man now!!”

Jyushi takes a picture of Jiro wearing the new jeans and the hi-tops with his black top. Everyone in the group chat is all reacting positively to the look and Jyushi smiles in response. “I think you’re about ready, Jiro . Let’s go get our stuff ready now. Thanks for everything as usual, owner!”

Jiro scrambles to grab his stuff before asking what the price was. The owner waves it off, not disclosing Jyushi’s secret transaction. “After everything Jyushi-chan has done for me, I’ll just write this off. I look forward to the concert tonight!”

Jiro is at a loss before running after Jyushi. As Jyushi walks down the street, Jiro asks just what has Jyushi done to get such a discount on the goods. 

“The store was on the verge of closing a few years ago. It had been overshadowed by some other popular clothing store. But I honestly never liked it compared to that other one. I guess because I continued supporting that store as Argo Kishii Gakudan came to fame, it kept the store from closing.”

Jiro hums and ends up dropping the subject. “I guess it just shows how much love you’ve put into this place.”

Jyushi chuckles fondly at that response. “Of course I would. Despite everything that has happened to me, I do love Nagoya from the bottom of my heart.”

Jiro grins at that statement. “And I’m glad you do love this place.”

Jiro is utterly confused when Jyushi hauls all the makeup and garment bags and hair appliances. “D-Don’t we still have some time before we need to be at the venue, Jyushi?” Jyushi takes off his sunglasses and pouts. “No, Jiro! There is no time at all! Everyone else will be coming to the venue soon, and it’s gonna take all the time we have left to do everyone’s hair, makeup, and final run throughs!”

Jiro is taken back by the sheer amount of things they have to do, and Jyushi groans. “Nails! Amanda, where did I put the nail polish-!”

“Jyushi. Breathe.”

Amanda’s sobering words put Jyushi to a stop and he just takes a moment to breathe. Jiro hasn’t seen his boyfriend look this panicked over his music before, so he does the next best thing that he thinks should be good. 

With a warm embrace, Jiro makes his boyfriend calm down. Jyushi eventually melts into his embrace with a heavy sigh. “There’s a lot we need to do, Jiro…”

Jiro just nods. “Okay. We have a lot of stuff to do.  But it’s not just the three of us, right? Everyone else will be there. So let’s just work on packing everything we need here, and then head out to meet them.”

Jyushi looks at Jiro for a long moment before pressing their foreheads together. The contact is enough for Jyushi to remember to breathe for a moment. “...Thank you Amanda, Jiro….”

Amanda gently jumps on top of Jyushi’s shoulder. “We’re always there for Jyushi.”

Jiro kisses Jyushi’s nose in response to that. “Always here.”

Jyushi completely relaxes at this with a small smile.

“Jyushi!! Where’s the nail polish! Jun-Jun forgot to do his nails. Again!” Takeru waves at Jyushi as Keisuke pulls up his bangs and ties them with a cute hair tie from Takeru’s wrist. 

“Nail polish is nail polish Takeru. Besides, I’m in the back. Nobody’s gonna see my hands.” Jun protests. 

Keisuke parts from Takeru and slides over to Jun. “You guys seriously need some time with the hair straightener. Geez, did you guys sleep with your hair wet or something?!”

Jyushi pulls out the nail polish and gives one bottle to Takeru. “I need help with Jiro. Let’s just say… I forgot about a lot of things.” All eyes are on Jiro’s normal look and think for a long moment. 

Jiro just sits awkwardly in one of the chairs until Jyushi opens the nail polish. “Okay Jiro. No moving. This is the quick drying formula, but it still takes time for this to dry.”

Jiro shrugs as Jyushi flies through doing his nails in quick layers of black. And then when he’s done, he asks Keisuke to start parting his hair as he redoes his own manicure. Takeru jumps up and looks at Jiro. “Hmmmm…. what should we do to Jiro-tan’s hair? It’s pretty straight as it is…”

Jiro shrugs. “It’s just normal for me, so is that bad?”

Takeru shakes his head with a smile. “It’s wonderful. You don’t need to spend a lot of time on your hair, unlike us.”

“Oi, Take-chan. Kou packed this temporary hair dye thing in my bag after he heard about Jiro. Maybe we could put that on his hair.” Jun points to the bag next to him and Takeru looks at the hair with a shrug. 

“It’s like hairspray. I mean, it should be okay right?” Takeru turns to Jiro. “Jiro-tan, would it be okay to put this on your hair?”

Jiro shrugs. “I mean, I don’t particularly mind… If you guys think it will work on me, I’d say give it a go.”

Takeru jumps in excitement before Keisuke swipes the hairspray from him. “Alright. Hands off, Take-chan. You know it takes you a long time to redo your hair. I’ll take care of Jiro’s hair, and then you can work on that frizz you’ve got back there.”

Takeru pouts, but agrees and slides into the chair next to Jyushi. Dumping his multitudes of hair products on top of the table, he brushes through the frizz and does a ton of other things while Jiro is stuck simply waiting for his nails to dry. 

Jun asks for a test touch on his nails and after getting the okay from Keisuke, helps out with Takeru’s hair after washing his hands.

“Is it always like this before the lives?” Jiro asks Jyushi who only smiles sheepishly. “It’s a way to get the nerves out, I guess.”

“Okay Jiro. I’m only gonna spray the back now.” After bracing himself, Jiro lets Keisuke add the color to his hair. After spraying the back, Keisuke even sprays the ends of his bangs carefully. The small gradient of blue into black hair is quite the sight to see, and Jiro just shrugs. “Cool!”

Jyushi asks Keisuke to brush it out and play with Jiro’s hair parts, but after awhile, just lets it go. “How is it that Jiro doesn’t have to worry about all of this?! Somehow, I’m jealous.”

Jiro looks at Jyushi with a caring smile. “But now I know the full extent of the things you have to do to look awesome out there. It’s a nice experience for me.”

Jyushi just smiles back.

Jyushi gets the okay on his manicure and after pressing his Amanda themed hair pins into his hair and washing his hands,  gets started on his makeup. Unlike every other day, the base is dark. And it only gets darker as Jyushi works through a fully black smokey eye look and accentuates the look with a bright red liner. 

“Should I go darker?” He asks. Everyone looks at him.

“Not darker, but maybe add more sparkle?” Takeru suggests. 

“But darker would be okay too.” Jun says.

“Just go with a black shimmer down the middle then!” Keisuke says exasperatedly. But the smile that graces his face shows his excitement.

Jyushi packs the middle with sparkle like everyone else says and deals with the heavy fallout of the black. He sits back for about two seconds before blending more black down the bottom of his eyes and pushes the makeup away. “Okay! I have to stop!!”

“So a heavy smokey black is our plan this time huh. Okay!” Takeru pulls out his makeup. “Thanks for the help Jun-Jun. I’ll do the rest of it after I finish with my makeup.”

Jun steps back with an okay sign and sits back down. 

Jyushi turns to Jiro and Keisuke. “I think that should be okay right, Kei-kun?”

Keisuke shrugs. “I mean, it’s as good as I can think of. Your boyfriend’s got good hair, even if half of it is hat hair.”

Jyushi turns to Jiro to look at him. “Okay then. We’re just gonna dive into makeup then.”

Jiro blinks a couple times before deciding to fall back on his default plan, which was to just let Jyushi do as he needed. Following all his instructions was fairly easy enough, but then Jyushi added another element of eyeliner and the wet feeling on his skin was dangerous for Jiro again. But regardless, he just follows Jyushi’s instructions as best as he can. 

“Somehow, I got better at handling the mascara, but the eyeliner…” Jiro laughs softly and Jyushi closes the pallets with a smile. “But you follow my directions wonderfully, Jiro. I’m grateful that you do that.”

“Okay Jiro. Take a look at yourself.” Keisuke smirks as Jiro does another double take on his face. 

“OoooooOOOOHHHHH Jiro-tan!! You look COOL!!!” Takeru drops his brush as he gawks at his new look.

“Good on the guitar and badass on the looks. He was made to play with us tonight.” Jun follows. Jyushi just clasps his hands happily. “I’m just glad I can see Jiro like this. It’s always been a dream of mine to do things like this, and Jiro actually lets me do this! I’m so… blessed!” Jyushi beams and Jiro awkwardly takes the praise with an embarrassed blush and a smile. 

“Geez guys… stop saying that stuff!!”

“In any case! Jiro’s done. Now move over, so I can start on my own hair.” Keisuke almost kicks Jiro off of the chair and Jiro is confused as to where he should be then. Jun casually waves at him and Jiro walks over to him.

“Those three get crazy when it comes to styling and all that. I’m just usually here for the ride.”

“So, just wait until they’re all done then?” Jiro asks him. Jun shrugs. “Pretty much. Ah, but do go and wash your hands before you go and eat anything. That’s what they all say.”

Jiro goes to wash his hands then, since he really didn’t know what else to do with his time.

“Jyushi! Do you have clips?” Keisuke ass as he redefines his part.

“Here, Kei-kun.” Jyushi gives the clip without a single glance as he sets the straightener to his hair.

“Jyushi! Darker?” Takeru asks.

“Mm… But Take-chan likes to pack on the sparkle…”

“Okay. So stay.”

“For now.”

“Got it.”

Jiro and Jun just sit back as they get a full view of the three working on their appearance to the single hair. And even then… they weren’t done.

“Okay, we’ll do final touches after getting changed. We need to check for last minute alterations for Kei-kun’s sanity anyways.” Jyushi grabs his garment bag and hands Jiro his own one.

“Are you sure this shirt is like, okay?” Jiro asks Jyushi again, the first few times being on the way to the venue.

All Jyushi does is gently stroke Jiro’s hair. “It’s Jiro’s style. It’s more than perfect.”

Everyone rushes to separate parts of the room to get changed. And Jiro feels somewhat nervous as he puts the jacket on.

Regardless, when he meets with the others in the middle of the room, everyone voices their approval in more than one way.

Keisuke looks at Jiro for a long moment before grabbing the top zipper on his shirt and sliding it down. “There. I think that should be good now.”

Jyushi subtly hides his face from the new exposure of skin and disguises this shyness by checking up on his own outfit. Belts in pristine condition, jacket and pants with no tears, boots looking good. 

“I’m good, Kei-kun. I’m gonna finish working on my hair.” Keisuke takes Jyushi’s word for it and turns to Takeru. “Did you miraculously add more holes to your shirt, Take-chan?!”

Takeru sticks his tongue out childishly. “It was my students! They wanted to help me! So they gave my shirt and new skirt some decorations!” Keisuke just sighs and holds his scissors at the ready.

“Well, your students can’t do anything I can do. Just stand still.” Takeru hums and stays still like Keisuke asks of him and in a few minutes, Takeru’s skirt has been “embellished” with the help of some scissors.

“Next time you want some outfit change, come to me okay?”

“But my students-“

“-Have good intentions, but their handiwork still isn’t good enough!”

Jiro turns to Jun. “Are we sure this isn’t Mr. Perfect?”

Jun shrugs. “Perhaps it is. But it gives him peace of mind if we’re all on stage looking as perfect as we can be.”

Then, Keisuke turns to Jun’s multi-layered shirt and ripped jeans. “Kou-kun did a check on this beforehand, didn’t he?”

Jun nods. “He always does, you know that.”

With a nod, Keisuke turns to his own reflection. And Jiro is once again treated to the chaos of the waiting room being filled with chatter as people finish their touches on their appearances. 

Jyushi ushers Jiro over and Jiro follows. 

“How are you feeling, Jiro?” Jiro shrugs. “Lost, for the most part. But this is the stuff you guys do all the time, right?”

Jyushi nods. “We’re always like this. But when it comes down to it, we do feel calm for the live when we panic like this.” At this, Jiro takes Jyushi’s hands in his own with a gentle smile. “If that’s the case, then I’m doing fine.”

Jysuhi’s smile in return is gentle as can be. After that moment, Jyushi runs his hands through Jiro’s hair in another check before he pulls out the tube of lipstick that wasn’t applied earlier. 

“Well, Amanda said you should look good in the entire stage look. I guess we’ll be learning if that’s true or not.” Jiro laughs nervously, but lets Jyushi put on the black lipstick. Takeru is about to take out the hair tie holding his bangs up and he’s screaming excitedly. “Jiro-tan!!!!! You were MADE to play with us!!”

Jyushi smiles. “I guess Amanda was right.”

Amanda pops out of the bag and waves. “Of course I was right! Besides, the guy Jyushi’s interested in has to look good in makeup, right?!”

Jiro snorts. “I don’t know about that still… after all, I’m not gonna be touching these things on my own.”

“Then by majority vote, we say you look good in makeup!” Takeru says. Keisuke gently whacks Takeru over the head. “Alright, pipe down. You still need to straighten out your bangs,’

Keisuke holds some Bobby pins in his mouth as he braids some of his hair down the side. Jun helps Keisuke by telling him where to put the pins in, and then when he’s done, Keisuke braids parts of Jun’s unrulier fringe to keep them down.

“Do you just want to keep the frizz, Jun?”

He shrugs. “My hair isn’t like this. Kou gets all the waves. So I don’t really know.”

“Well, why don’t we ask him then?” Keisuke takes Jun’s phone and video calls his twin brother.

“Jun-chan? Something wrong?”

Keisuke waves. “Hey Kou-kun!”

“Ah, Keisuke-san! Hello!”

“We needed to ask for your input on something…”

Jun just groans. “Should I keep the frizz or not, Kou?”

“Ah… that’s an interesting question indeed…. Well, if you keep the frizz, you could keep it while still looking cool I guess. Jun-chan has always had the straighter hair though, so I can’t be sure… I think Jun-chan looks good regardless.”

Keisuke laughs at that. “Of course you do. You’re twins.”

Jun pushes Keisuke with a light blush. “Stop that, Kei.”

Kou laughs affectionately. “I’m looking forward to seeing how you look in person, Jun-chan! I’m always supporting you!”

At this Jun smiles. “Thanks for your support, Kou.”

A gentle chuckle. “Love you too, Jun-chan!”

With a sigh, Jun throws his hands up in the air. “Keep the frizz I guess. And make me look good.”

“If it’s for Kou-kun, I’m more than willing to oblige~” Keisuke teases, but sets Jun down to work through his hair.  Keisuke braids all around Jun’s hair and puts it all in bobby pins. The braids were short, leaving the majority of Jun’s hair out and free, to which Keisuke runs his hands through and styles the ends so they stick out.

Jyushi turns around and is astounded by Jun’s new look. “Jun..!”

Jun looks at himself in the mirror and shrugs. “I mean, will Kou like it?”

“Stop trying to impress just your brother for once, bro-con.” Keisuke teases.

“Oi!”

“I think he’ll more than love the look, Jun. You might have learned something new about your looks today, you know.”

Jun drops the statement after that and smiles softly. “Alright, who has all the makeup. Guess I need to get this thing done.”

Keisuke slides over some of the pallets and Jun gets working on it. Keisuke finishes his own hair style just as Jyushi sits back. “Does this look good, Kei-kun?”

Keisuke runs his hands through Jyushi’s longer ends quickly before nodding. “Ok.”

“Alright. How are you doing, Take-chan?”

“Nggh… Almost there.” Takeru finishes straightening his bangs and defines his part which almost covers one eye. “Alright, I think I’m good.”

“Jun-Jun! You need help with your makeup?” Takeru asks. “I don’t know anymore.” Jun sets the pallets down and Keisuke turns to check on the black shadow he built on his eyes. After taking some lighter grays to blend out, Jun is directed to doing his mascara and lipstick.

Takeru, Jyushi, and Keisuke complete all their looks with the gentle swipe of black lipstick and Jiro can just blink dumbly in response.

“... You guys aren’t the people I came in with.” Jiro says.

Jyushi laughs affectionately. “I guess we did it right then.”

“Of course we did! Stage looks need to have that special oomph right?” Takeru asks. 

“Ah, special oomph sure, but Take-chan…” Jiro trails off.

“This is how he looked all the time in high school. He got in trouble with the teachers because of this look.” Keisuke simply waves it off.

“Ah, I think there’s more to that…” Jiro sighs. But regardless, everyone looks ready. 

At that moment, someone knocks on the door. “Argo Kishii Gakudan, we’re ready for final checks.” Jyushi turns to the door. “Understood. We will be there shortly.”

After that is said, everyone gets ready to set out with their instruments. Jyushi brings Amanda and Jiro gets an earful about how he really does look like he’s ready to play with the band from the stuffed pig. 

“Alright, shut it Amanda. I won’t be able to concentrate if you keep complimenting me like that.”

The cheesy laugh Amanda gives in response is more than enough for Jyushi to smile his own happy smile.

Everyone goes through sound and lighting checks, lightly running through parts of their set list to make sure everything was okay. When it was all ready, they left the stage to allow for the audience to feed into the venue. All the while, Jiro deals with his nervousness in silence. But Jyushi notices, and comes to sit next to his boyfriend.

“Nervous?”

Jiro nods. “Kinda. Just, I’ve never played in front of this many people before.”

Jyushi takes his hands gently. “You’ll be okay Jiro. We’re all there with you. If you ever feel like you can’t remember that, look at me.”

Jiro sighs, but appreciates the contact. “Alright. I’ll remember that, Jyushi.”

Jyushi smiles gently in response before pulling his hands away to rummage for something in his bag. “Before I forget… I want you to wear this.”

Jiro raises an eyebrow before Jyushi takes out a necklace that he’s seen Jyushi wear a few times. But there are small alterations to the necklace to accommodate a few small pendants of stars and their lightning bolt necklace.

Jiro gingerly takes the necklace into his hands. “Are… you sure? This is your necklace.”

Jyushi nods as he watches Jiro run his fingers over the pendants. “I think I’ll like the necklace a little more now that I know that Jiro has worn it too.”

Jiro snorts at the response. “What the hell, Jyushi…” regardless, with a smile, Jiro wears the necklace. He has to get used to the cold sensation of metal on his neck for a moment. But when he does get used to the sensation, Jyushi can only smile.

“Perfect.”

Jyushi pulls out his own necklace adorned with lightning bolts and stars. After fastening it to his neck, Jiro can’t help but rummage for his smartphone. He takes a photo of Jyushi as he’s talking about final preparations with Keisuke about the smoothness of the synth parts.

Then, he takes more photos of Takeru and Jun as they look at Jun’s phone for something.

When everyone realizes what Jiro was doing, they end up huddling together for some group photos for Jiro to take with ease. He shoots one of them to Ichiro and Saburo before realizing that there were only a few more minutes to rest to relax before they need to get ready backstage.

“You look like you’re worrying about something, Jiro.” Amanda notes. Discreetly, they appear next to Jiro’s leg and he picks them up in his hands. 

“Just… nerves I guess.”

Amanda’s humming noise is drowned out by the staff saying they only had a few more minutes before they’re supposed to get ready to step on the stage.

“Well… everyone has faith in you. Jyushi… me… all of Argo Kishii Gakudan had voted on bringing you in for this live, remember? So we all had hope that you would stand with us on that stage. And it wasn’t your skill that attracted us originally. It was your desire to support Jyushi. But then you blew everyone away with your ability to pick up things quickly, and now look at you! Minutes away from blowing away everyone’s minds! Don’t focus on what could possibly happen. Rather… focus more on what you have done, and replicate that on the big stage.”

Jiro stays quiet for a long while, trying to keep that thought in mind. He gets stuck in his thoughts for a long while, not even realizing it was time for them to leave their waiting room until Jyushi is gently touching his face. With a jolt, Jiro stares at Jyushi, who only presents his own smile, gentle and caring. His eyes gaze over to Jun, who has the door handle in hand as he opens it for everyone. His smile is a minute one, but Jiro has learned that this much emotion from the drummer on a normal basis was just… him. Then he looks at Keisuke, who simply points his thumb out towards their stage. His grin is confident and carefree. The one that says that he has full trust in Jiro’s performance on their awaiting stage. Then his gaze lands on Takeru, who has his hands spread out happily. The raw excitement coming off of the bassist is off-putting, yet normal. 

“Let’s go, Jiro-tan!!”

“The stage’s waiting for you.”

“What are ya doin just sitting there?! The stage is out there. And we’re not complete if you’re not there with us, you know.”

“Come, Jiro. Our stage is waiting for us.”

Jiro looks down at Amanda, who only does their best attempt at a cheer. “You’ll do great, Jiro! I know you’ll do great.”

Jiro gently puts Amanda back down on the nearby table and takes a deep breath. He tries to clear his mind, and then focus all his energy on what he can do. And right now… 

It’s being the guitarist for Jyushi. To be a member of Argo Kishii Gakudan. It might only be for a couple hours… but it was surely gonna be the most meaningful couple hours in his life. Because he was sharing this experience with none other than the one that expanded his world and showed him the brightness of the world he couldn’t see before.

He was sharing it with the love of his life… the love he didn’t know he needed until it came crashing upon him and breathing life into his mundane life. The mundane life he loved… and yet his mundane life doesn’t seem right without him by his side anymore.

Jyushi. Do it for Jyushi. And do this with Jyushi. 

When he phrases things like that in his head… everything seems alright. 

Jyushi gets a good look at Jiro's expression, clear of all hesitation and worry. 

And that only helps him smile even wider in response. Jiro holds Jyushi’s hand for a short moment before getting up from the couch.

“Okay… let’s do this.”

With that, Argo Kishii Gakudan prepares themselves for their stage. The entire walk to their new waiting place backstage, Jiro is holding onto Jyushi’s hand. Jyushi says nothing of this touch, most likely because he can sense Jiro’s nerves. When they near the stage, Jiro’s hold on his hand gets a little tighter, and Jyushi just squeezes back in reassurance.

The two remain in the back of the group for as long as possible. Jyushi worries about Jiro’s state of nerves at this moment, considering he’s known Jiro to be a confident person. He knew he had flaws, but he also knew he had things he could do which he could do well. Jyushi knows that Jiro would pride his athleticism over his musical skill any day… but Jiro’s a skilled guitar player!

How can Jyushi tell this to his love to quell his worries about performing on stage?!

When all words fail him, actions are just about the only things left for him to do.

But… what?

Jyushi stops walking as he finds his answer. He faces Jiro, who tries to laugh off his nervousness. And yet… he knows Jyushi won’t buy it. Before he has a chance to even make up an excuse for his nerves, Jyushi runs his fingers through Jiro’s hair and pulls him in for a firm kiss. It was a shocking action which shocked Jiro’s mind into total stillness. With wide eyes, all he could register was the slight pain from Jyushi’s fingers pulling at his hair, and the way Jyushi’s lips lay firm and unwavering on top of his own. 

And waaaaait. Jyushi did this without worry of their makeup getting all messy…!

Jyushi senses Jiro’s brain has stopped running overtime and pulls back from the kiss. Jiro’s expression has lost all sorts of tension, but it has been replaced by utter loss. Slowly closing his eyes, Jyushi turns to his persona just a little earlier than normal to give Jiro a sense of ease.

“My Knight. Do not let the events that are about to transpire prevail over your inner self. Our members have all recognized the skill and effort my Knight has placed into preparations for this night. And as such, I shall only bestow upon you one decree which must be followed without question.”

“...?” Jiro slowly blinks curiously.

The smile that spreads on Jyushi’s face is one of certainty and absolute order… if Jiro could say so. But the look on Jyushi’s face did something to Jiro…. it chased away all the worries and hesitations that threatened to eat Jiro where he stood. 

“Look at my form only, my dearest Knight. I shall light your way in the darkness that threatens to take you. Discard all thoughts of others, and gaze upon the brightness this Dark Prince shall supply for you.”

Jiro is stunned at the response for a short moment. But then the only thing he can do is break out in a short fit of laughter.

“I see… so you’ll show me how this all works?”

“Such a place is my home, my Knight. For you, even the most trivial of matters is precious. Allow this humble Prince to guide his Knight through tonight’s events, and you shall experience music like it's never been seen before.”

Jiro looks at his talented boyfriend… and sees the reflection Jyushi sees of him. This teenager who had nothing more than a hobby for guitar playing… looking like he’s ready to rock the visual kei realm. 

… is this what Jyushi has been seeing all this time??

He is at a loss…. and the only thing he can end up saying is nothing else but… “uh… okay?”

There is an approving smile on Jyushi’s face at this response and he pulls Jiro in the direction of the stage. Everyone looks at Jyushi, and they pretty much get the gist of their tardiness. All eyes are back on Jiro, and the tight hold of his boyfriend’s hand grounds him. He can’t help but feel awed over the confidence Jyushi has over performances like this, when in actuality Jyushi is a shy mess over public confrontation.

When they all give him an unasked question with their eyes, Jiro just nods. 

“I’ll… believe in our leader and watch him.”

Everyone smiles at that.

Jun silently holds out his V-sign. It takes everyone by surprise and they momentarily forget about their discussions about the idea of a hand sign. But then they all smile and hold out their V-signs and press them together. Their black painted nails reflect the light hanging right above them and Jyushi makes an approving hum at the sight. “With this, all stars shall come together on this evening of dance and music. Shall our sound echo within the hearts of all who stand before us!”

Jiro likes the sound of that. It is a declaration to what music is at its core. Which for them… is something that should be enjoyed by absolutely everyone. Jiro ends up grinning, and when the others see, they end up smiling themselves. They break the star formation in a quick and silent fashion and face the stage.

Jiro stands next to Jyushi for a silent moment. But the words he says are louder than the staff’s directions to head out on stage.

“... Light my way, my freaking cool boyfriend.”

Jyushi’s eyes widen at the sound of those words, but he closes his eyes and focuses his mind over his task once again. The smile on his face speaks all the words he could ever say in this moment with ease.

“Watch me, Jiro.”

“Leave it to me.”

“We’re gonna be okay. This will be a successful live.”

“I love you, so so much Jiro.”

“Thank you.”

The lights on the stage dim and the instrumental intro that’s their cue plays. With stunning looks of confidence on their faces, all members of Argo Kishii Gakudan walk onto the stage and take their spots. The lights brighten and shine on their glorious forms, and there’s nothing that Jiro can focus on. Not with the light in his eyes anyways. 

But he made a promise to Jyushi. After making sure everyone was ready, their live performance begins.

And the entire time, he had his gaze on Jyushi.

Ichiro breathes a sigh of relief, while Saburo is just trying to catch his breath. “Look at that Saburo. We managed to make it!”

Saburo only tries to catch his breath in response.

Ichiro continues to look around the filled venue with a sense of wonder and pride. “Wow… so Jyushi has this kind of following. That’s actually pretty good!”

Saburo finally can stand to his full height with a sigh. “It is nice. But… please tell me we didn’t run all the way from the train station for that Baka Jiro’s sake.”

Ichiro just gives Saburo a smirk in response. “Now, don’t say that, Saburo. I know that you ran all the way for both Jiro and Jyushi’s sake. You were honestly looking forward to the live, aren’t you?”

Saburo’s eyes widen in response, and he blushes a bright red in response. Ichiro just ruffles his hair and guides the two of them towards a more accessible area of the venue, where the majority of the stage could be seen. Just when they get settled into their new spots, the lights dim. An instrumental is heard overhead, and figures slowly take their places on the stage. It was almost too easy to see Jiro’s form, just by the way he walked.

But what Saburo wasn’t expecting was just how different Jiro looked on that stage with everyone. Appearance aside, the aura Jiro exuded just seemed… different to what Saburo is used to seeing. The moment the live instrumentals come on, the sound is full bodied and there’s practically nothing Saburo could say about it. And not to mention the confidence that Jiro has towards this art. Hands skillfully sliding through chords with ease, eyes looking back and forth between his guitar and Jyushi… was this really how Jiro was like when he played the guitar?

“Jiro… really looks like he’s having fun up there…” Ichiro says fondly. Saburo can’t help but smile at that comment. 

It was true. He did look like he was enjoying himself.

“That’s the very least he could do… if he wasn’t enjoying himself, then why would he even come all the way here?” Saburo asks.

Ichiro grins at that statement, which was one of Saburo’s more wordy ways of expressing his love and pride for Jiro. Ichiro pulls out a couple of the glow sticks they received at the venue entrance and passes one to Saburo.

“Shall we enjoy this live then? For Jiro’s sake, and for Jyushi’s sake?”

Saburo takes his glow stick in silence and directs his gaze towards the stage.

Jiro had expected that this would be a very nerve wracking experience being on stage. However, while the mood of the venue was a lot more charged… it didn’t affect Jiro in the way he thought it would. He of course knew half of the reason was because he couldn’t see anything past the stage because of the lights directly on his face. But that definitely helped Jiro believe that this was just another practice session with Argo Kishii Gakudan. He spares moments here and there to look at everyone else around him on the stage, and he sees the excitement on their faces. Takeru is even dancing a little bit where he stands. That’s how charged the room was.

And then Jiro looks in front of him where Jyushi stands. His deep rich voice fills the room with a wonderful sound and his deep love for music is enough to motivate Jiro to give it his all. Of course, he had to give it his all since Keisuke was doubling on synth and guitar like normal. (Just how did he do that anyways?!) 

The more Jiro listens to their sound, the more complete it sounds in his head. His guitar line fills in for the spots Keisuke is dropping out of to handle synth parts, leaving a smooth guitar line. And whenever Keisuke doesn’t have to deal with synth parts, there’s a deeper guitar line where Jiro harmonizes with the main guitar line. 

And to think… Jyushi thought of all this when Keisuke didn’t practice with the synth line when they practiced this week.

Jun’s clear beats keep Jiro from getting off beat, and somehow, he can tell even Jun is enjoying himself from back there. 

A smile ends up spreading on Jiro’s face as he pieces all of these things together in his head while he plays his music. 

So this was the appeal of playing on a stage. 

It was most definitely an unforgettable experience that Jiro would never have dared to have on his own. But more so, there’s appeal in this experience more so because Jyushi was the one that brought it to him. Without Jyushi… Jiro wouldn’t have had another chapter in his life that exposed him to new things which expanded his horizons.

Jiro fully believes that he wouldn’t be a guitar player for a real job. But at the very least he knows he has the potential to play at this level, which is something that he never knew before. 

But if it was for Jyushi…

At this moment, Jyushi looks back at him with his blue eyes twinkling like starlight in the dark venue. Jiro can’t help but grin back. And perfect timing, a solo guitar part for him is coming up.

So Jiro walks up towards Jyushi and plays his solo to the best of his ability. But he doesn’t have a worry in the world when it comes to how good or bad it may sound. Because he’s doing what he can, and Jyushi is with him. That combination in itself is enough for Jiro to say fuck it to everything and just enjoy all he can out of this concert.

Jyushi’s eyes widen a fraction when their sound somehow changes. It’s something that everyone on stage notices, even if such a minute change isn’t discernible to the audience. He looks at Jiro with the brightest smile, and everyone is somehow compelled to pour even more into their performance.

Jiro was finally enjoying himself and was essentially drowning to the music. Which meant he stopped worrying about all the small things that plagued his mind. 

Jiro was finally accepting his role as a fifth member of Argo Kishii Gakudan. That was the greatest present everyone in Argo Kishii Gakudan could have received… even more than the fans and their very positive reception. 

Because Jiro was their vocalist’s most precious person. And if their vocalist’s most precious person was finally finding their perfect spot there, that only meant that they would move forward, rather than backwards.

The group continues to perform their set list with pride and adrenaline running through their veins. Onto the greatest live in Argo Kishii Gakudan history.

Jyushi has to resist the urge to tackle Jiro in the tightest hug when they go backstage for their short intermission. He resorts to squeezing the life out of Amanda. “Oh, Amanda… Jiro… Jiro did something amazing on stage!!”

Unlike Jyushi, Takeru has no qualms with pulling Jiro into a tight hug. “That’s right!! I never expected Jiro-tan to do something like this!!!

Even Keisuke joins in on the hug to an extent, if only to ruffle Jiro’s hair. “Same here. We least expected Jiro to come out and give us a new sound during the live.”

Jun nods positively. “Mn. Jiro’s sound changing suited all of our styles though. It deepened our sound, making us sound like a more complete group.”

Amanda looks at Jyushi and then at Jiro. “That’s amazing Jiro! How did it happen?! Even I could tell there was something different about your sound from back here. But it wasn’t a bad thing…”

Jiro looks at Jyushi and grins his “everything kinda just happened that way” smile. “Well… Jyushi gave me this idea that everything was gonna be okay… and I felt like he would’ve gotten mad at me if I didn’t enjoy myself to the fullest. It was my first time on a stage like that. But between seeing nothing else in front of me and following Jyushi, I ended up having time to myself to just reflect on my experience here. There’s nothing good or bad about it, but I ended up with the conclusion that I can’t be hung up on new experiences, and I should just enjoy everything I can.”

Jyushi’s fond expression melts Jiro’s heart some more. And somehow, no matter how cheesy or cliche his thoughts might be now, they’re nothing less than true.

“I think I ended up changing how I think and all that because I love Jyushi. Perhaps that’s the best way to phrase it.”

Everyone is stunned for a few short seconds before yelling at Jiro for his smooth statements. Jyushi blushes a bright pink and squeezes Amanda tight. Amongst the chaos, Jyushi whispers to his best friend, “Oh Amanda… I love Jiro…. so much.”

Amanda taps his hair softly with their stuffed appendages. “I know you do Jyushi. It shows every time, and that’s the best part about it. Because even Jiro can understand that much.”

The door opens and the staff calls for them to get ready for the next half of their set list. The first song is an instrumental only song to give Jyushi extra time to prepare his vocals for the next half of their live. Before they all leave though, he pulls both Jiro and Keisuke back. First, he turns to Jiro and runs his hand through Jiro’s slightly wet locks. 

“I’ll be listening from back here. I know that nothing will go wrong now, but I just want you to enjoy this performance to the best of your ability.”

Jiro takes Jyushi’s hand and smiles. “I will. I’ll be waiting for you to come out with us.”

With that, Jyushi lets Jiro go and turns to Keisuke. “Kei-kun, let me take care of the acoustic guitar lines for this half.”

Keisuke blinks curiously for a couple moments. Before he realizes… “You want to show off to Boyfriend-kun, huh?”

Jyushi flushes a deep pink, but nods. “Not like show off… but I want him to experience how it is if we play together… if that makes sense?”

Keisuke pats Jyushi’s shoulder. “Guitar’s over there, but it hasn’t been tuned yet. You should probably take care of that while you’re here.”

When Jyushi is left alone in the waiting room, he picks up the acoustic guitar and begins tuning it. It surely has been awhile since he’s played with the acoustic guitar, but he wrote the music and knows all the chords by heart. And more than skill, he just wants to play for Jiro… to play with Jiro.

He’s going to take this opportunity to become the guitarist/vocalist Jiro knows he can be and make him fall a little more in love with him.

… as if that could happen, right?

“You never know, Jyushi. Love has no boundaries after all~” Amanda sing-songs and Jyushi blushes as his best friend either could read his mind or heard him mumbling to himself about this. 

In the distance, Jiro and Keisuke are playing their guitar solos with such perfection it’s no doubt that they are enjoying themselves. With each chord change, it’s enough to know their music is taking on its own definite shape. But soon it will end. 

Jyushi stands up and waves goodbye to Amanda. “I’m gonna show Jiro a new side of me.”

“And I’m gonna be dying for details!!” Amanda waves Jyushi off and settles on the counter. They’re seriously excited about how Jiro would react to seeing Jyushi performing, instrument in hand.

Jiro and Keisuke finish off their solo parts and Jyushi appears on stage, acoustic guitar in hand. 

Jiro is fully expecting that guitar to go to Keisuke, because he knew from their next song Keisuke had acoustic guitar parts. But Jyushi didn’t give the guitar to him. Unsure as to what Jyushi was planning… he ends up waiting where he is until he knows for sure what was going on.

“My fair maidens, revered comrades and moon-dwellers who have graced us with your presence on this fair evening. Let us continue to serenade you with more melodies that will light up your dark evening. Now, our next song… HONEYCOMB.”

Jiro watches with wide eyes as Jyushi sets the guitar in front of him and plays the beginning chords to Honeycomb. Without much in terms of knowledge, he just continues to play his part when he’s supposed to. He looks over to Keisuke, who only gives him a shit-eating grin which continues to confuse Jiro even more!

Just what was going on?! All he understood was that Jyushi was playing the guitar- like he knew he could- but—

WAAAAAIT- Jyushi was playing the guitar. JYUSHI WAS PLAYING ON STAGE. WITH JIRO ON THAT SAME STAGE!!

A one-in-a-lifetime experience was happening, and Jiro couldn’t even understand it until the first verse almost ended. 

Jyushi was giving the both of them the opportunity to perform together. Which was always something Jiro had contemplated once in a while… but to actually have it happen in some sort of fashion-

“Ah… I really love this man.” Jiro can’t help but end up thinking these same words over and over again. 

And when Jyushi turns back to look at him on the stage… there’s nothing else on his mind except yes. This was love. 

And Jiro is more than okay with this at this point in time.

Something tugs at his heart, and somewhere in the back of his mind, Jiro thinks that this is some strange way of saying yes. This emotion called love, appreciation, gratitude, infatuation, whatever it should be labeled… it’s something that goes both ways. That Jyushi somehow feels the same way he does to some degree.

Jiro has to hold back the urge to just jump on Jyushi and give him a bone crushing hug, or a long kiss… or maybe both. 

It could surely wait until they finish with their live though.

“Just one time… just one more time…”

Jiro closes his eyes and plays his part, drowning in his boyfriend’s melody and voice as Jyushi continues to perform for everyone in the venue.

Bittersweet Ending comes to an end and they say their goodbyes. But that doesn’t mean that it was the actual end. There was their new song to promote, which was going to be their encore song. 

“We’re gonna do it! We’re really gonna do it!” Takeru jumps. 

“Well, it was only because Jiro picked it up quickly.” Jun easily responds back. 

“Are we ready then?” Jyushi asks his bandmates. 

Keisuke nods. “I feel like this is gonna be a great opportunity to perform this. The tension is awesome in the venue. And since Jiro’s here with us… it’s gonna be easier for you to explain your muse to the audience.”

“O-Oi. What are you saying- I don’t have that much of an influence on him-“ Jiro flushes.

“You do though, Jiro. At first, I was gonna reject the offer… but I thought about being in your world for a little while. And then this song came out. There’s nothing much more I can say about this… but this is one of the reasons why I need to explain this new song.” Jyushi faces Jiro with an embarrassed flush and smile. 

Jiro stares dumbly as the crowd continues to ask for an encore.

“I… really?” Is all Jiro can end up saying.

“Yes indeed.” Jyushi nods. 

Jiro is dragged out to the stage again with Jyushi holding onto his hand. Everyone gets back to their places on the stage and the spotlight makes Jiro feel awkward now. But Jyushi confidently takes the mic while holding on to his hand. 

“To all that have graced us with your presence, I thank you all. As a result of such a successful evening, let us serenade you with a brand new melody.”

Everyone in the audience cheers in response to this.

Jyushi looks at Jiro with a confident gaze. “This melody was brought to this earth as a result of the blossoming relationship that coincidentally changed my life. In short, this Dark Prince had encountered his Knight that became the ideal person in this world for this Dark Prince. Without complaint or question, this Knight changed this Dark Prince’s perspective on this world. And while you fair maidens have always supported me, this Knight gifted this Dark Prince something more… which many would define as love.”

The crowd cheers and looks at each other. “Who is it?! Is it a fan?”

“This Knight has allowed us to remain as we are, embracing all facets of our life. This melody was born because of him, and it is a gift to him, for everything this Knight has done without realization.”

Jiro blushes at the statements. “... It’s not like that, Jyushi. We did things for each other. You taught me things and gave me love as well. If you say any more…”

Little did he realize the mic picked up those words and the crowd blows up in response. 

“IT WAS THE GUEST GUITARIST THAT WAS JYUSHI-KUN’S MUSE!!!!!!!!”

“Oops. Guess that’s out.” Takeru jokes and Jiro’s face flushes a dark red. 

Jyushi can only look straight towards the stage with a small smile. “This Dark Prince requests you fair patrons to hold this knowledge for a short while. I do not wish to bring harm to my Knight, however I still desired to present to all who graciously appeared the one existence that changed this Dark Prince’s life.”

Jyushi looks back at Jiro and smiles. “And the subsequent result of said chance encounter.”

Jiro smiles sheepishly in response. “But… I’m saying this encounter didn’t go one way. It went both ways. You gave me as much as I might have given you.” Jiro squeezes his connection with Jyushi and turns away from the audience a little bit. “It won’t change the fact that I’m more than grateful for this encounter. Your love has changed my outlook on life so much…”

The crowd continues to receive this conversation fairly clearly and they erupt into cheers at the sound.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE JYUSHI-KUN IS TAKEN!!”

“BUT IT WASN’T LIKE JYUSHI-KUN COULD HAVE TOUCHED US AS WELL- HE’S SUCH A KIND SOUL!”

“SO WHAT ARE WE SAYING! GUEST GUITARIST-KUN WASN’T HIS FAN?!”

“NOT THAT! OUR FAN STANCE WOULD HAVE NOT ALLOWED US THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE PAST JYUSHI-KUN’S EXTERIOR!!”

“MEANING GUEST-KUN WAS ABLE TO SEE HOW COOL JYUSHI-KUN IS ON THE INSIDE?!!”

The cheers continue to embarrass Jiro and he just wants the entire thing to end. So he figures he could end it in his own way.

Grabbing the lapels on Jyushi’s jacket, he pulls Jyushi for a kiss. It’s a barely-anything kiss, but it was still enough for the crowd to erupt into cheers. “OH MY GOSH GUEST-KUN REALLY IS JYUSHI-KUN’S MUSE!!!”

Jiro’s face is a bright red as he pulls away from the kiss. “There. That’s enough, right? Now let’s just get this encore over and done with!!”

Keisuke points at Jiro with another shit-eating grin. “You’re a bold man Jiro. Very bold.”

From the drum set, Jun gives a thumbs up. “Nice move Jiro.”

Takeru jumps. “Jiro-tan is sooo cool!”

Jyushi stays dazed for a couple short moments before clearing his throat. “Ahem… now, for our final melody. BLACK MATRIX.”

Ichiro looks at Saburo, who continues to whack Jiro after the live. “How much of an idiot can you be?! You should know Jyushi is a celebrity, even if he’s just a small one! You’ll be pulled into scandals of all kinds if the news finds this out!!”

Jyushi waves his hands. “I-It’s okay, Saburo-kun. You said so, we’re not very well-known. That helps in a couple of ways you know. And if anything happens because people can’t accept how I live my life, then they’re not considerate of my feelings, or Jiro’s feelings.”

Saburo stops whacking Jiro to look at Jyushi who only smiles. “I want to be able to live life being able to proudly say these things happened which made me happy and changed my outlook on life. Most importantly, I want to be able to tell the world that Jiro is the reason I can smile like this and look forward to life in the future.”

Ichiro crosses his arms and smiles. “Well, if this is Jyushi’s decision, we can’t stop you. But I’m happy you think so much of Jiro to stake your reputation on it. Of course, it would be bad if your reputation got destroyed because of it but-“

“Something like reputation doesn’t matter to me, Ichiro-san. All I want to do is play music, and be with those who make me feel like my life is worth something. And I think Jiro is the person who made me realize that things like reputation or fame isn’t the solution to having a fulfilling life.”

Jyushi looks at Jiro with the brightest smile reflected in his eyes. “I’ve always been worried over the success of our band, and the looming threat of losing a contract because we fall short on expectations. But this entire week and a half Jiro has been with us… I think we all remembered that thing that made us fall in love with music in the first place. And with that…. the worries about expectations left and what remained was the sole mission of playing music because that’s what we love.”

Keisuke nods. “If something happens, we could always do our own thing.”

Jun nods as well. “Being independent might be difficult, but we have contacts. Kou and I could look into connections if we ever face that problem”.

Takeru spreads his hands wide and pulls everyone in for a group hug. “That’s right! And you know, if we do have to go independent, it wouldn’t be that bad either! We’d still be us. And more importantly, we’d be doing what we love. All the things we love.”

Amongst the chaos of Takeru getting the biggest group hug ever, Jiro looks at Jyushi. “... are you sure about this, Jyushi? Is that what you’ve decided on?”

Jyushi takes Jiro’s hands in both of his hands and smiles brightly. From this image alone, it seemed carefree, free from burden or worry. “... Yes, Jiro. And you were the one that gave me that option. So… I guess I have to thank you again.”

Jiro bursts out laughing. “Thanks for what? I don’t even remember doing anything important!”

“Of course you did, Jiro!” Jyushi presses back and their (affectionate) bickering adds to the lively noise in their waiting room. 

Ichiro can only smile at the lively scenery as he looks at it. He can see that Jiro made something out of this experience. And most importantly… he had fun doing it. Ichiro may no longer be that one person Jiro can rely on solely, but at the very least Jiro was finding himself. While it hurts Ichiro that Jiro won’t turn to him as much for help, he knows that there would be a point in life where Jiro, and eventually Saburo, would have their own paths that left him behind. 

But that time hasn’t quite happened yet. They’re still not adults, and they’re still at a point in their life where everything is fresh and a new experience.

Like now. 

“Haaaah… whatever. If you have so much faith in my stupid older brother, then the only thing to do is trust your decision.” Saburo pulls back and crosses his arms over his chest. 

Jyushi looks at Saburo with a confident expression. “Of course I am, Saburo-kun.”

“Okaaaay! Now that we’re done celebrating, we need to have a proper celebration!!!” Takeru yelps and Jiro looks very confused over what’s going on.

Ichiro laughs heartily. “You guys deserve it. That was a great performance.”

“Nii-chan, Saburo, will you come with us?” Jiro asks them. 

Saburo sticks his tongue out childishly. “I’m not gonna go anywhere with you. Not when it’s obvious this celebration is for the band members solely.”

“It isn’t though! Kou-kun always comes with us when we celebrate too, so join us too, Jiro-tan’s brothers!!”

Ichiro easily waves them off. “We wouldn’t want to barge in on your party. We’ll just meet up with Jiro tomorrow.”

Jyushi feels something cold rushing through his body at the recollection of the thing that he was trying to put off. But he feels like if he doesn’t do this now… it’s never going to happen. And least of all, he wants Jiro to hate him for hiding these things from him.

Taking a shuddering breath, Jyushi detaches himself from his bandmates and approaches Ichiro and Saburo. “Actually… there’s a place that I want to meet up…”

Ichiro doesn’t need much more than that to recall the conversation he had with Jyushi when he was staying over last month. Saburo looks up to Ichiro, apparently aware of the same thing he was thinking about. 

“Okay, Jyushi. Don’t worry about sending over the details until later. We’ll meet up with you and Jiro tomorrow.”

Jiro waves them off. “Ah, are you guys leaving? I’ll see you tomorrow then, Nii-chan, Saburo!”

With some waves, Ichiro and Saburo leave the group. As they leave the venue, Saburo looks up to Ichiro, slightly worried. “Ichi-nii…. Jyushi looked like he was worried.”

Ichiro nods. “He did look worried, Saburo. I think it’s because he’s worried about how Jiro would react to him when he finds out Jyushi is taking up a hypnosis mic.”

Saburo sighs. “He’s just overthinking… all in his personality, I guess. I think it will be alright.”

Ichiro wraps his arm around Saburo’s shoulder happily. “You think so too, Saburo? Well, if that’s what you think, then of course it’s gonna be alright.”

They walk down the streets of Nagoya Division in surprisingly high spirits as they contemplate what they will have for dinner.

“A-A club…? Are you even sure Jyushi and I can come in?” Jiro almost sweatdrops at the sight of the brightly lit sign of the club. 

In response, Takeru grabs both his wrists and pulls him towards the entrance. 

“Don’t worry! The way you guys look right now, you guys look fine! And besides, the guys here always let us in!”

As if to make a point, they enter the club without any problems at all. The thundering beat of the music provided by the DJ is completely different from the beat Jiro has been riding for the past week and a half. But it’s still something that is easy to get into, and everyone jumps around to the beat. 

Jyushi looks at Jiro with a sheepish smile. “Sorry about this Jiro. But they always like coming to this place to celebrate a successful live.”

Jiro just holds onto his hand. “I don’t mind! Let’s have fun!”

With a yelp, Jyushi is pulled onto the dance floor with Jiro. Takeru spots this and points to them. Keisuke and Jun look at them before grinning and falling into the beat. They all spend the minutes dancing and letting all their worries go to the wind. 

After about an hour of this though, Jiro’s stomach decided to say that he needed sustenance, which was something he didn’t really have due to live preparations and nerves throughout the day.

Jyushi stops dancing alongside Jiro and takes a long look at him. “There’s a fast food place nearby! Wanna pick something up?”

The way Jiro enthusiastically nods at this is endearing, and Jyushi interlaces their fingers to find their other friends.

Almost unsurprisingly, Takeru was forcing Keisuke and Jun to drink until they dropped. “We’re gonna get some food! Wanna come with us?” Jiro sees the appreciative look from Jun, who kind of looks like he was revived from the dead. “Anything sounds good right now. Anything to get this freak to stop forcing drinks down our throats.”

Keisuke, on the other hand, was going to accompany Takeru on their journey through alcohol. The assumption is that they’re going to stay there until Jyushi and the others come back from their dinner break.

Jyushi, Jiro, Jun, and Kou walk out of the club. “Sorry for the late introduction, but I’m Jun-chan’s brother, Kou. Thanks for helping Jun-chan find his passion for music again, Jiro-kun!”

Jiro looks at the two side by side and they seem like polar opposites. Jun was all gloomy looking, while Kou seemed bright. It was almost understandable how Jun posed worries about Kou’s bright personality. He seemed like the gullible type of guy that was friendly to every single person he came across. But even so, he stood by his twin more often than not. Perhaps that was just their bond… that their family bonds proved to be stronger than other relationships at the moment.

Jiro only smiles. “It’s finally nice to meet you in person, Kou-san. Jun has told me a lot about you.” Kou gently pats Jun’s head like one would pet an animal. “Awww, you talked about me to Jiro-kun, Jun-chan? I’m flattered!”

“I-It’s because I thought he’d understand the way we do things!!”

Jyushi looks at Jiro, who only shrugs with a smile. “I can’t say I can relate to things because we’re not twins. But when your brothers are your family… it helps change your perspective on a lot of things.”

They order some set meals at a place nearby and Jiro begins speaking his mind again. “As Ichiro Nii-chan distanced himself from me and Saburo, I couldn’t help but feel hatred towards him. But it was only later that I realized he was distancing himself because he knew the orphanage we were living in was terrible. He took on a bunch of dangerous jobs to save up money and get us out of that place. When we finally learned the reason why he did that… I couldn’t help but feel like this hatred was displaced. I couldn’t help but feel like this was….”

“Wrong?” Kou asks kindly. 

Jiro only nods. “I ended up looking up to him like he was a god after that. He supported both of us through our schooling, and has continued to do all these things for us. The only thing Saburo and I can do is… support Nii-chan with his work whenever we’re not bogged down by homework. But Nii-chan took on the role of our mother, father, and older brother all on his own. I don’t think there will be anything I can do to pay him back for all he’s done for us.”

Jyushi takes Jiro’s hand gently. “I think… Ichiro-san wants you and Saburo-kun to be happy and healthy. And that as long as those things happen, that’s all the payment Ichiro-san needs from you and Saburo-kun.”

Kou nods at this. “Jyushi-kun is right! I’m thinking that as long as you two are happy, that’s all that matters to your older brother.”

He turns to Jun with a smile. “All our lives… it’s only been the two of us in our little bubble. We’ve always stood next to each other, because that was the most natural thing to do. But others thought we were strange because we were close like this. But Mama told us one time when we were kids that… it was normal to be close to someone you trust. That we’ll eventually find our ways towards our own paths in life, but we have no reason to push it if we don’t want to. So all these years we’ve stayed together doing the things we love together, and separately to a degree.”

Jun smiles back. “We’ve added a few more people into the bubble thanks to the birth of Argo Kishii Gakudan. But even so, we’re still okay being each other’s support. So, don’t feel like you have to do things to grow up quickly, Jiro. You’ll eventually find that path for you on your own. And I hope that our leader will be by your side when you come across that path for yourself.”

Jiro looks at Jyushi and runs his thumb across Jyushi’s hand. This connection, which has become so natural and integral to their everyday life now… is… one thing Jiro can’t imagine moving forward without. Something disastrous would have to happen in order for Jiro and Jyushi to separate. But such a thing won’t happen. They’ve promised to tell everything to each other to the best of their ability. While they’re bad at conveying emotion sometimes… it won’t be too difficult if they at the very least try to convey what comes from their hearts.

“... I think Jyushi will be there for all my new changes in life. While I still don’t think I’ve reached a part in life where I know what I wanna be… I know that I want to change with my brothers and Jyushi by my side. That much… I am sure of.”

Everyone smiles in response to this comment and they continue to enjoy their dinner with light conversations filling the space between them.

Jyushi and the others return to the club about an hour later and aren’t surprised to see Keisuke and Takeru pitifully drunk. The two spot the group and they decide to drag them all to the dance floor. With great reluctance, everyone continues to spend the hours dancing to the upbeat music supplied by the DJ. They all jump into the air, pulling each other’s hands to dance together thanks to Takeru’s drunken state. And while everyone is less than willing to fall to Takeru’s inebriated decisions, they do enjoy the music.

Jiro and Jyushi find each other again after another 20 minutes of being pulled this way and that by the drunken duo and their hands easily hold onto one another. With light laughs, they twist this way and that as they dance their own dance to the music. It seems like an eternity ago when they literally stood on their own stage performing in their black venue. They still have evidence of their performance, mainly the black makeup and jewelry. But everything just seems so different compared to then.

Without worrying too much about it, they continue to dance their worries away. And then suddenly the DJ had changed the remix to take a more intimate and sensual pace. The two stop where they stand as they see couples of all kinds fall into the sensual beat. And then their vision expands to see couples of all kinds casually making out alongside the walls. Faces flushed, the two worm their way out of the dance floor. Ironically, the only safe spot seemed to be alongside the wall. The two just spend some time to themselves as others around them do… suspicious deeds on and off the dance floor. 

Jyushi keeps his hands to himself and keeps his gaze to the floor to avoid the sights of intimacy at its peak. Almost cruelly, however, it gives his mind time to think about other things. Which meant his blossoming relationship with Jiro. 

Sure, they (probably) made out once or twice. But everyone else was under the impression that they did… things. Which meant… things people were doing in this place, right?!

Jyushi grows redder and redder at the implication of their progressing relationship. But then Jiro tugs on his sweater and pulls his attention back towards his boyfriend. 

Jiro is probably as flushed as he is. Or maybe Jyushi’s the more embarrassed one. But it’s pretty obvious that the two are severely out of their element right now. And being confronted with one of their most treacherous obstacles now of all times doesn’t help their case at all.

“S-Should we get out?” Jiro asks. 

“Y-Yeah, we should.” Jyushi takes his hand and they try to fight against the crowd to leave the club. But they didn’t make it very far. The crowds of people pushed against them, and in a strange and cruel twist of fate, someone pushed Jiro towards Jyushi. The push made Jiro lose his balance, and Jyushi was trying to maintain his balance for the both of them, and they got ejected by the mass of people again. 

Jyushi’s back hits the wall, and he slides down a little bit. Jiro is pulled towards Jyushi and with staggering steps, only gets stopped as he traps Jyushi between his arms. Despite the thundering beat underneath their feet, there’s nothing that seems to be registering in their minds. Sure, they’ve kissed a numerous amount of times that such a distance doesn’t mean anything. 

Noses practically touching, eyes staring intently into each other’s … all of this is normal for them. And yet… there’s something that tells them if they kissed now, it would be drastically different than the other times they have kissed (except… maybe the time they made out in Ikebukuro…. or two. But is there someone counting?)

There’s a part of Jiro that tells him to pull away and give Jyushi his space again. But there’s another part that’s being influenced by the atmosphere of the club house that tells him to allow them the opportunity that they won’t give themselves.

So his hands stay stubbornly planted on both sides of Jyushi. 

To both sides of them, there are couples making out. So it wouldn’t be unnatural to just… go and do it. 

Instead, Jiro starts with a light kiss. It was a kiss he thought was an appropriate one, and it was payback for the times they couldn’t kiss during their live. But after he pulled away, Jyushi’s hands are tugging him back forward. 

“... You shouldn’t have done that, Jiro…” Jyushi’s blush paints his fair skin a red that Jiro has been accustomed to seeing. The small pout that covers his face, and a factor of other things about Jyushi more less short circuit Jiro’s mind.

“S-So, are we worrying about … t-things?” Jiro asks Jyushi. 

Jyushi’s answer was to pull Jiro by his shirt and lock their lips together. Like so many times today, Jiro’s hair is getting pulled by Jyushi’s strong grip, which serves to send jolts down Jiro’s spine. In return, Jiro runs his hands through Jyushi’s layers and destroys the perfect setting of layers in the process. 

They pull away, and Jiro gets a glimpse of Jyushi’s covered eye, which somehow looks even more appealing in the club lighting. “I think we’ve long lost the right to worry about… things, Jiro. But… I would have rather… at home…”

Something snaps inside Jiro’s brain at that statement. If he remembers correctly, they were only a couple blocks away from Jyushi’s apartment complex. If they were fast about it, they could get there in 15… 20 minutes.

Alright then. “... Are you fine with continuing this at home then?”

A fresh wave of bright red covers Jyushi’s skin, but he nods. It doesn’t negate the fact that he wants to kiss Jiro. These kisses wouldn’t be the normal they’re used to… sure. But kissing and close contact with Jiro are more than normal… and desired at this moment. 

Perhaps, Jyushi is drunk on the atmosphere in the club. But the more he thinks about it, the more he thinks he’s into the idea of making out with Jiro in this moment. 

So with that said… they leave the club with their very enthusiastic attempts to get out of the club. It takes a long while to escape the prison of the club, but the moment they get out they practically run home. The cold air hitting their flushed skin was like a sobering effect on their souls. They stop running and look at each other in mild shock before bursting out laughing.

“Just… just what were we doing?” Jyushi laughs. Jiro has to wipe a tear, and to Jyushi’s disappointment, Jiro wipes some of his eye makeup in the process. But the relieved expression on Jiro’s face tells Jyushi he’s happy things didn’t… go the way they were going to.

“I think the mood in the clubhouse was… dangerous.”

Just when he said that, they receive a phone call from Jun.

“Are you guys going home?” He tries to ask them over the loud music.

“Yeah. Yeah we are. That kind of atmosphere just isn’t… for us.” Jyushi responds. 

“Aww! Don’t say that! You two are dripping in sexual tension! Just loosen up and fall to your desires!” Takeru drunkenly responds.

Jiro and Jyushi look at each other nervously at that response. 

After some commotion over the phone, Keisuke steals it from Jun. “While I wanna disagree, Take-chan has a point. So if you guys are just gonna fuck, just do it already!!!”

More commotion and Kou successfully steals Jun’s phone back. “Don’t listen to them, Jyushi-kun, Jiro-kun. You two have your own pace, and you shouldn’t listen to their drunken ideas. Although if you ask me… I think they intentionally decided on the club to try and get you two together. To do… things.”

Something cold stops Jyushi where he is. But Jiro takes his hand caringly and confidently. “Well, can you two whack those guys for us? We’re just not ready for those things right now.”

A gentle laugh. “Okay, I can do that. Hopefully I’ll see you sometime soon, Jiro-kun!” 

Jyushi ends up throwing his hands in the air again. “Just… what is wrong with our relationship?!”

“There’s nothing wrong with it! It’s just people’s perception of your intimacy. They’re under the impression that you guys are super close… closer than you should be. And they think that you two, despite your age, are simply okay with moving forward. That’s just their perception though.” Amanda simply responds. They return to Jyushi’s apartment and they push their luggage from the venue from their place in the entrance way into the living room. Amanda unzips Jyushi’s bag to stare at them. 

“Let me ask you guys one thing. Are you happy the way you two are?”

“Of course I am!” They both yell at Amanda. With a snicker, they point to them. “Then that’s your answer. You two clearly have no intention to move forward. At least to the extent that those drunken adults assume.”

“Those two probably shouldn’t drink…” Jyushi sighs and Jiro ends up cracking up at that response. “Well, it was a surprising sight to see though! I’m happy for that much at the very least!”

Jyushi looks at Jiro surprisingly until Jiro pulls them both onto Jyushi’s couch. Jyushi’s body half-lays on top of Jiro’s body, but apparently that was what Jiro had wanted. He takes Jyushi’s manicured hand into his own and interlaces their fingers, all the while humming the chorus to BLACK MATRIX. 

“I think I’m happiest like this. Where we’re close like this, I feel like I’m closest to you. Of course, I feel closest to you when we’re kissing or whatever, but emotionally I feel like we’re closest during normal times like this.”

Jyushi squeezes their connection in response. “I think it is for us…. we don’t need much I guess. As long as I can feel Jiro like this… I think I’m okay with anything. What about Jiro though..?”

Jyushi’s vision opens as Jiro moves his bangs again. “I think I said so earlier… but. Short answer… yes. As long as I’m able to stand by your side, I’m okay with it.”

Jyushi smiles and presses his forehead to Jiro’s. “Then we just push those drunkard’s words to the side.”

Jiro snickers at that.

After they play with each other’s hands for a short moment, Jyushi gathers the courage to say the most important thing. “Jiro…. there’s some people I want you and your brothers to meet tomorrow. Basically, they’re my friends and family away from Argo Kishii Gakudan. I-Is… is that okay with you?”

Jiro furrows his eyebrows worriedly. “Of course I am. Why do you think I wouldn’t be?”

Jyushi shrugs. “I guess… because I don’t want you to hate them. They’re the people that saved me before Jiro and the others saved me.”

Jiro takes the information slowly and carefully before smiling. “But the important thing is… you want to introduce us to them. How can that be a bad thing…?”

Jyushi’s eyes widen as Jiro presses a kiss to his nose. “I’m being introduced to more people in your life. I’m happy about that. Really freakin’ happy about that.”

Jyushi chuckles affectionately as he hugs Jiro the best he can half-sprawled over him. “Ah… I’m happy too, Jiro.”

The rest of their evening was spent in happiness and Amanda believed things were going to be okay. But the next afternoon came and everything crashed in an unexpected way.

Ichiro, Jiro, and Saburo stand on one side as Jyushi waves a couple of people over. But Ichiro recognized those flaming red locks almost instantaneously. His posture is stiff, which alarms Jiro and Saburo. 

“Hitoya-san, Kuko-san, I want to introduce you two to my boyfriend and his family…”

Jyushi turns to the Yamada brothers with a happy expression. “Ichiro-san, Saburo-kun, Jiro, these people are Amaguni Hitoya-san and Harai Kuko-san. These are the people I’ve teamed up with… to take part in the Division Rap Battles.”

But he stops short when he sees Ichiro and Kuko staring at each other with fierce intensity. 

“U-Um….” Jyushi turns to Hitoya who only shrugs. 

And the moment that Ichiro and Kuko opened their mouths… the tension spiraled into something disastrous and almost life changing for Jyushi.

And it started with Jiro turning his back on him. And the subtle dulling of their red string that ties them together.