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Ah yes. Makeup. Eyeshadow, lipstick, concealer. Yes makeup.
For Toya Aoyagi, makeup had been a small part of his life. Every competition he went to, he had to wear a light coat of concealer to appeal to the audience. (Even though they were 10 feet away from the stage.) After joining Vivid Bad Squad, he never wore makeup again. Makeup reminded him of his past. He never thought he was going to wear it again. Until….
“Toya-kun, could we go shopping together?” Kohane asks meekly one day
“Me? What about An?”
“Well…An has to focus on studying.” She points towards the table that Akito and An are at. The two seem to be trying to study on their own after making a bet against each other. The bet was if one could get a better score without the help of the other group members, the loser would have to buy anything they want from the convenience store.
“That’s right, they do. Do you want to go now Kohane?” he asks politely
“I-if you can right now! That would be fine..!”
“Alright.”
The two walk towards the door and wave goodbye
“Bye Ken-San, Akito-kun, An-Chan! We’re going to the mall! We’ll be back!”
“TAKE ME WITH YOU KOHAAA!!!” An shouts dramatically
Kohane smiles at her
Akito waves briefly at the two and when he glances towards Toya, he smiles at him
Toya lightly blushes and waves to the three before going
“Be Safe! Have fun!” Ken shouts before the door shuts.
As the two walk to the train stop, Kohane giggles
“Why are you laughing Kohane?”
“I could see the blush on your face when Akito smiled at you. It’s pretty cute that you two are so adorable together!” She gushes
With every rocky fight to their relationship, their relationship sure has harden more each time. That’s how both of them like it. An and Kohane knew about Toya’s mental health. They always supported him since he’s been everyone’s rock.
Even so, Toya didn’t let them know about what happened at his house last time he had a panic attack. That was only for Akito and him to know. The softness that happened afterwards made butterflies inside Toya’s stomach thinking about it.
“You and An are quite nice together too. With all of An’s pda during practice and at school, I’m surprised you haven’t gotten diabetes yet. She’s so sweet to you.”
Kohane laughs harder at that
“Yeah! I really love it though. Do you?”
He thinks back to Akito’s own form of affection. The shared drinks, the hugs and kisses during sleepovers or when they’re the only ones in the room, the held hands when they were hanging out.
“Yeah. I do.” he smiles at her
Once they reach the bus stop and sit down they have a small chats about random things
“Speaking of Akito-kun, he has a huge obsession with pancakes doesn’t he?”
“Cheesecake as well. I’m not very fond of sweet things but I like cookies and coffee. What about you?”
“Peach buns a-and seasme balls! The peachiness of the buns just make it so sweet and moist and a-amazing!” Kohane gushed
“I’ll have to try them sometime.”
“Huh? You never tried them before?”
“No. My parents were strict about sweets, they thought I would get overweight and have cavities from candy or other sorts of stuff. I see where they’re coming from for that but the other main point was that I would be heckled for being immature for eating candy during the recitals so…no I never tried them. Even now, I don’t like overly sweet candy or desserts. I refrain from eating them.”
“O-oh! Thank you for sharing that! I’ll make sure you try the buns and other things! They’ll be really amazing! I promise! I’ll take you to my favorite dessert place in the mall later!”
“Why do you want to go shopping for items Kohane?”
“Well! I wanted to h-hang out with you! I…I also wanted to buy some clothes and stationary I saw online for our next concert!”
“I see. We should get something for An and Akito as well. They’re actually working hard for a test.”
“I agree!”
The train arrives and they both leave for the mall
While going around the mall, Kohane and Toya haul small bags of stationary, treats, and books.
Both come to a stop when Kohane glances at a shop
“Kohane? Is everything alright?”
“Yeah! I-it’s just-“ She points at the stick in the window
(Toya wonders ‘Is she ok?’ for a second)
“That’s the newest lip gloss! I-I heard so many reviews on it!” She looks incredibly excited before her face retorts to worry
“B-but, I’ll get it another day!”
“We could get it now though?” Toya asks
“Oh! Are you ok with that Toya-kun?”
“Yeah. I don’t really care much so it’s ok.”
Kohane smiles at him and walks inside the store
The store had tons of people inside and people crowding to get in
Kohane spots the lipgloss but the crowd there doesn’t budge
“A-ah! I can’t get to it!”
“I’ll get it.” Toya tells her
He moves in front of the crowd and pushes through his anxiety and the people
He successfully gets the slim box of lip gloss but when he looks over to the left side of the brand he sees various other colors and grabs them all in the shopping bag
When he goes to the less crowed part of the store he’s greeted with Kohane
“You…you just got sucked inside the crowd! I was worried you were alive!” She has a worried face but the slight upturn of her lips takes it away
“I didn’t know if you wanted more so I grabbed like two of each.” Toya opens the bag for her to look
Kohane looks through the bag and pulls two boxes out
“Toya this is eyeliner.” she giggles out in amusement
His mind thinks back to the time when he, Tsukasa, Saki, and her friends were over at the Tenma’s. Shiho had brought her older sister along with her. She taught them how to use various makeup items with her as a practice. In the end, everyone was covered in various colored items and black liner
That may be an old and cherished memory of Toya but he’s not against making new ones with his friends. Even with his pseudo siblings again. He should ask to hang out with them next time they’re free.
“Could we keep both of them?” He asks quietly
Kohane looks up at him shocked until she nods
“Yeah of course! Wanna keep one for you and one for me? We could do them at the cafe later when we return!” Kohane exclaims excitedly
“Yeah sure, I hope I still can do it…”
“I’m sure you can! Even so, I’ll help you!” she grins
Toya smiles and pays for the items at the cashier even with Kohane begging him that she could pay
When they return, they see Akito and An writing things down frantically while arguing
Akito spots Toya out of the corner of his eye and drops the angry act to smiling softy at his boyfriend before going to yelling at An again, An doing the same
They sit down at a table but Kohane suspiciously puts both of their chairs facing back to the other duo
“Koha-?” Kohane shushes Toya
“Don’t worry! I got a small p-plan!” she whispers
She unpacks the light pink dupe lipgloss that Toya got and unscrews the cap
“M-may I?” Kohane asks before she puts it on Toya
“Sure.”
Kohane gently spreads the lipgloss over Toya’s lips and signals him to close his eyes
He hasn’t had makeup on him since he was playing the piano. It feels…nostalgic and warm to have someone do it for you for fun. Not to look perfect. To have fun.
“T-there we go!” She whisper shouts and swipes her phone screen to her camera to show Toya
“What do you think?”
Toya is speechless with the amount of skill on the eyeliner. Its symmetrical and it’s pretty.
It’s not like his piano recital makeup anymore. It’s him. It’s what he wants. It’s what he wants.
It’s what he likes
“It’s nice.”
Kohane beams at that
“Can I do yours?” Toya asks
Kohane nods with excitement and closes her eyes for Toya
He picks a more heavier color, a dark pink for her gloss. His hand trembles when he puts it on but it still does the job perfectly. When he starts on her eyeliner, he blanks out. He forgets what he learned in the past until
“Well just be confident! One stroke should do it if you just take a deep breath and go for it.” Shizuku’s voice says
“It’s ok if you fail the first time! There’s no harm in having fun and learning too! If you mess up, just laugh!”
Toya heeds her advice and takes a deep breath. He tries to one stroke the liner on one eye and his shaky hand ends up accidentally creating a stray line, on the other eye he tries again and it ends up the same way
Instead of apologizing, he looks at her and laughs softly
“Toya?”
“How do you feel about having a heavier line?”
“Ooh! That’ll be cool! Punkish style basically!”
He traces the line again and it ends up looking pretty decent
“Uhm…I’m done.” Toya says anxiously
Kohane looks at the camera
“Wow! This isn’t all bad! I like it! Gives a punk rock kinda feeling don’t you think?” she asks genuinely
“Yeah.” He replies
“Yo, what are you two doing?” Akito comes up behind them
“Yeah! You two been quieter than usu…al…” An’s words stray out when they both turn around
Akito and An stare at their respective partners for a while before turning as pink as the lipgloss
“OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, YOU LOOK AMAZING KOHANEEEEE!!!” An grabs her partner’s hands and spins her around
“A-an-chan! I-I’m getting dizzy!”
“I’ve been waiting for you to come back from your little date with Toya! Now it’s my turn!” An then holds her hand and runs out the cafe
“BYE DADDDD!!!”
Ken waves back
“That girl has way too much energy sometimes, she takes after her mother.”
Ken then goes back to work while Akito stares at his partner
“Uhm…Akito?” Toya tries to snap him back to reality as his eyes never take off of him
‘Ah. Do I look stupid with this on? Or is he staring because I shouldn’t be wearing makeup? If so, I’m surprised he hasn’t made jabs at Kamishiro for tha-‘
He feels a soft hand caress his cheek and he snaps back to see Akito sitting in the chair Kohane was in.
“Toya, get outta your head.” he tells him
“Oh sorry.”
“Gotta say…” Akito moves his hands towards his eyes “You look really beautiful.”
Toya leans into his hand and puts his over Akito’s
“But…even without makeup. You’re beautiful.”
Toya’s breath hitches
“You look beautiful with or without makeup. Hope you know that To.” Akito takes his other hand and rubs the spot where his mole is
To Akito’s surprise, Toya kisses him first. A soft and chaste kiss that tastes like strawberries.
Toya laughs at his bewildered expression before telling him about his trip with Kohane. Akito lips then turn into a smile.
Toya never thought he was beautiful no. He never has. Ever since he was a child. But now, he’s starting to.