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Ibara thinks that the only appropriate way to describe the swirl of emotions running through him as Hiyori herds the rest of Eden through backstage and into a company car is baffled .
He’s baffled. He’s baffled that Nagisa and Hiyori’s whole fight had been staged from practically the very beginning, and that the two of them had been so thoroughly convincing in their charade that Jun — who as far as Ibara is aware, has been made to spend nearly every waking hour with His Highness — and himself couldn’t tell they were pretending as though this fight were a mere stage play and not one of the most stressful weeks of Ibara’s entire life so far, holy shit.
(Ibara was stressed! Ibara is still stressed! He’s put at least a good year and a half of his life into wrangling Nagisa and Hiyori into a group that will give him access to everything he needs to take care of himself, damn it, and they nearly fucked it up in a week by acting on their own for once and making moves that even Ibara, in all his strategic genius, couldn’t predict! Forgive him for being a little stressed!)
He wishes he could more succinctly or accurately describe the rush of emotions running through him, his own thoughts flashing quickly enough that he can barely keep track of them in a coherent manner. The public response to the Conquest stage seems to be overwhelmingly positive, to which Ibara is baffled but not upset; Hiyori had planted a large and rather wet kiss on Nagisa’s cheek as soon as they made it offstage and Nagisa had given him a softer, sweeter kiss on the lips in response, to which Ibara can only think that he is glad they didn’t kiss onstage — it’d be horrible for group optics, their marketability would go down at least 15% and it would be far too risky a move considering their previous precarious position.
And, now — Ibara is trapped between Hiyori and Nagisa, who decided that holding hands over Ibara’s lap was something they simply had to do right at this minute, as the company car takes them… somewhere. Ibara is usually the person in charge of directing the company car, but between Hiyori’s surprisingly forceful personality and Nagisa’s larger frame and Ibara’s desire to not cause a massive scandal backstage by physically fighting Nagisa and Hiyori to escape their scheming clutches, Hiyori has taken charge of today’s post-live transport.
(Ibara doesn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted that the two scheming leaders seem to have decided that he is more of a threat than Jun, who was immediately relegated to the passenger seat and told by Hiyori that, “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay put, Jun-kun!”
Unsurprisingly, Jun stayed put.)
It isn’t long before the car pulls up to a stop in front of the Seisoukan dorms — a choice from His Highness that continues to baffle Ibara, if he’s being honest. With Hiyori left in charge of their transport and destination, he’d assumed (wrongly) that Hiyori would take them to his family home, or perhaps a restaurant that fit his tastes for a post-live meal.
Instead, Hiyori leaps out of the car with a dazzling grin and grabs Ibara by the wrist before he can even think to protest, dragging him towards the dorms. Nagisa seems to have been left in charge of Jun; when Ibara glances back he sees that Nagisa’s method of herding Jun is far more tame than Hiyori’s as the other two members of Eden walk calmly behind them. (Ibara once again doesn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted.)
Hiyori only stops in his mad dash through the Seisoukan hallways — and up a flight of stairs . Ibara hates whatever has gotten into His Highness to cause him to act like this — when he flings open the door to the common room nearest Nagisa’s dorm and drags Ibara onto the couch with him.
Drags Ibara onto Hiyori , to be more precise. Hiyori flung himself onto the couch in a comfortable, sprawled position, and dragged Ibara down on top of himself. Ibara finds himself pressed almost awkwardly against Hiyori’s chest, their faces far closer than can possibly be considered proper, his legs on either side of Hiyori’s thigh. His wrist, still wrapped in Hiyori’s fingers, is trapped in the space between them. Hiyori’s other hand has settled loosely at Ibara’s waist, and Ibara’s free hand is bracing against the back of the couch to keep him from crashing into Hiyori completely.
“Jun-kun!” Hiyori says with his signature inflection, at a volume that causes Ibara to wince with how close it is to his ear in this position. “Make us dinner! Today is a special circumstance, though, so it doesn’t have to be quiche. Something simple! Commoner food, even!”
“Ohii-san,” Jun replies, and Ibara twists enough that he can see Jun and Nagisa enter the room in his peripheral vision, “what the hell’s going on?”
“Can’t you tell?” Hiyori asks. There’s a beat of silence where Hiyori seems to be waiting expectantly for an answer, and he lets out a frustrated huff when there isn’t one. “Nagisa-kun and I are simply being gracious and benevolent tonight!”
That still tells Ibara nothing. Jun, from what little of him Ibara can see from this angle, seems to be just as confused.
“Your Highness, I fear your intentions are too much for this lowly viper to understand!” Ibara says. He moves to extricate himself from Hiyori’s lap, only to be stopped by a grip tight enough to make him wince. “And — I would appreciate it greatly if you would set me free!”
“Hmm, but I was so busy because of all the Conquest work I didn’t get to annoy your cute face, Ibara!” Hiyori coos, pinching Ibara’s cheek with his free hand. Ibara would slap the offending hand away, but doing so would cause him to topple forward and press against Hiyori even more , and that would certainly cause Ibara more problems than letting Hiyori poke and prod at him until he’s content.
“...What Hiyori-kun means,” Nagisa says, “is that we want to make up for the trouble we caused you two with our little stage play.”
By forcing me to sit on Hiyori’s lap?
“Huh.” Jun looks at Nagisa, then towards Hiyori, then back to Nagisa. “That’s… surprisingly considerate of you guys.” His lips purse in the beginnings of a frown. “Wait, but I still have to make dinner?”
“Well, yes,” Hiyori says. “Unless you want us to burn down the kitchen! But that would give our dear viper here a heart attack, and that would be some bad weather indeed.”
“I’m honoured you value my life so highly, Your Highness!” Ibara makes another attempt to escape Hiyori’s vice grip. His attempt is, once again, unsuccessful.
Nagisa laughs, low and quiet and yet still filling the common room with its resonance. They walk over to the couch Hiyori has trapped Ibara on and sit down next to them. “...I would offer my assistance in the kitchen,” they say to Jun, “but I think I would be more of a hindrance than a help.”
“It’s fine, Nagi-senpai,” Jun says, and he starts to walk towards the kitchen — leaving Ibara alone with these two menaces — “Ohii-san gave me a free pass to make fried rice, or something, it won’t take me too long.”
And then he’s disappeared into the threshold of the kitchen, and Ibara is still on Hiyori’s lap, and one of Nagisa’s hands has lifted up to join them, slowly carding their fingers through Ibara’s hair.
“...You should make yourself more comfortable, Ibara,” Nagisa says, and Ibara resists the urge to break out of Hiyori’s grasp and run for the door. Instead — with only a mild amount of complaint from Hiyori — Ibara manages to get himself off of Hiyori’s lap and into the small bit of couch space between the other two. Hiyori’s hand still somehow remains entwined with Ibara’s.
‘Comfortable’ isn’t the best way to describe how Ibara feels being once again sandwiched between the two scheming, horrible leaders, but Ibara can at least compromise for this instead of Hiyori’s lap. Far less embarrassing for all parties involved. (And by all parties, Ibara does mostly mean himself — Hiyori seems to have never properly learned or cared about what shame is. Ibara’s certain that Hiyori finds some kind of enjoyment in embarrassing Ibara and being so shamelessly affectionate in the common room , of all places.)
Before Ibara can again attempt to ask what their aim is, Nagisa’s fingers are running through Ibara’s hair. “...Can I braid it, Ibara?”
Ibara blinks. “For what reason do you ask, Your Excellency?”
Nagisa hums quietly. The tips of their fingers drag along Ibara’s scalp in a way that Ibara will begrudgingly admit feels pleasant. “...Whenever you braid my hair, I find it quite calming. I know braiding my hair is your own method of relieving stress, but a part of me is interested if the opposite is true, and if I will enjoy braiding your hair.”
…Today is just full of surprises, isn’t it.
“I see no reason why you cannot try it, Your Excellency!” Ibara responds — a beat too late, because he’s confused and baffled and what is happening , and Ibara would pray for Hiyori to not have noticed his slip if there was a god out there he believed in. (Nagisa notwithstanding; it’s hard to believe in that sort of ‘god’ when you had a direct hand in shaping them.)
“Hm, so you still don’t know how to accept our love properly?” Hiyori says, and Ibara suppresses a wince — there it is, His Highness’s surprisingly perceptive nature and inability to keep his mouth shut. “It’s been a year of us being a unit — never mind that we’re all dating — and you still can’t handle Nagisa-kun being so kind as to braid your hair?”
“... I never said they couldn’t,” Ibara says, knowing full well the effort he spends fighting Hiyori on this is futile. (He thinks he’s done quite well! Ibara could have escaped Hiyori’s grasp any time he wished, but he didn’t — must he be corralled into sitting on Hiyori’s lap and cuddled ?)
Nagisa seems to take that as enough of a ‘yes’ to be satisfied, and the fingers that had been loosely carding through Ibara’s hair — still a bit stiff with product from the earlier live; Ibara has been resisting the urge to point out to Nagisa that his hair is certainly not the softest or cleanest that it’s ever been and that they shouldn’t be satisfied with its current state — take up a different pattern, tugging lightly at the strands as they manipulate them.
“I suppose,” Hiyori sighs, sounding very put-upon and resigned, “we’ll just have to shower you in even more of our love until you finally stop rejecting us! Or treating us so professionally, still, whenever we’re even close to somewhere public.”
“His Highness forgets that we are not public with our relationship,” Ibara says, “and that my position as the group’s producer has not changed since its formation.” Ibara will admit, Nagisa’s hands in his hair do feel quite nice. While he far prefers being on the other end of things, he can’t deny that this is… pleasant. Pleasurable, even. “The scandal that could befall us would be ruinous , certainly—”
“And we are careful!” Hiyori whines. He brings their joint hands up towards his mouth, pressing a soft kiss against the back of Ibara’s hand. “But we’re in the dorms , you silly snake. No one’s going to snitch on us here, so you can stop acting like our manager and start being our boyfriend again.”
And, oh — Hiyori’s motivation in taking them back to the dorms instead of a restaurant nearby is suddenly much clearer to Ibara. (His family home was still an option, Ibara supposes, if he really wanted the privacy for all four of them to behave as closely and intimately as they wished, but Ibara would wager a guess that Hiyori was too impatient to stomach the longer drive to the Tomoe estate.)
Jun chooses that moment to waltz back into the lounge space of the common room, a serving tray laden with a large bowl filled to the brim with what seems to be fried rice and four smaller bowls in a stack off to the side in his hands. He catches Ibara’s eye as he approaches, lips twitching in the barest hint of a smile. “You guys sure seem comfy.”
“Jun-kun!” Hiyori beckons Jun over with the hand not holding Ibara, settling down only when Jun has squeezed next to Hiyori on the couch. This couch really was not made for four people, Ibara notes. “Feed me!”
Jun sighs and rolls his eyes, but starts to dole out four bowls of fried rice regardless. Once the bowls have been filled, he lifts one of the bowls up between him and Hiyori and scoops some of the rice into Hiyori’s waiting mouth. “You can feed yourself, Ohii-san.”
“Mm, but it’s more fun when you do it!” Hiyori says after swallowing the bite of rice. “Jun-kun’s cooking is always so good, yum~!”
A slight increase in the tugging on Ibara’s scalp has his focus shifting back over to Nagisa, and whatever it is they seem to have done to Ibara’s hair. “...Done,” Nagisa declares.
Ibara looks over at Nagisa — their hair has been freed from their signature ponytail, falling in loose waves against their shoulders. Still slightly stiff with product like Ibara’s own — and more of it, if Ibara’s being honest, since Nagisa has considerably more hair and it tends to be more unruly — but shiny and luscious despite that. Ibara’s tempted to ask to braid it, but restrains himself as he runs his free hand against the clumsy braid that Nagisa has made on the left side of his head, held in place by the very hair tie that usually belongs in Nagisa’s ponytail.
“I’m sure it looks beautiful, Your Excellency!” Ibara says. He’s certain that he looks quite foolish — the enthusiasm and care that Nagisa put into it can’t replace their lack of practice in braiding hair, and because of Hiyori’s insistence at sticking close to Ibara’s other side they were only able to braid about half of the hair on Ibara’s head, leaving half of his hair awkwardly loose around his face.
(A quieter, more sentimental part of Ibara flutters and flushes and preens at the care Nagisa put into the braid, at the way Hiyori insists on holding his hand, at the wry and understanding glances he exchanges with Jun and the tenderness of having food made for him. He’d rather die before he admitted it exists, though.)
Nagisa picks up one of the bowls of fried rice Jun had laid out. Ibara begins to reach for his own — only for Hiyori to tug him back against the couch, and for Nagisa to hold up a bite of fried rice in front of Ibara’s mouth, not unlike how Hiyori is being fed by Jun on the other side of them.
“Your Excellency,” Ibara starts, and he’s absolutely certain that this time, he was unable to keep the embarrassment he feels out of his voice, “I’m perfectly capable of feeding myself—”
“... I know,” Nagisa says, and their stare is as intense as their voice, causing Ibara to bite his tongue immediately despite Nagisa’s comparatively quiet volume. “... But I’d like to. Consider it merely a whim of mine.”
Ibara weighs the options in his mind and decides to acquiesce, letting Nagisa feed him some of the fried rice Jun oh-so-lovingly made. (To Jun’s credit, it’s fairly good for fried rice — not too greasy, the sheer amount of rice balanced out by scrambled egg. Ibara’s eaten worse, and he certainly isn’t left wanting with this meal, even if it’s a bit less balanced and a bit more filling than he’d choose for himself.)
Their late dinner concludes without much fuss, apart from when Ibara had to pry his hand from Hiyori’s firm grip in order to feed himself — he was not willing to let Nagisa feed him for the entirety of their meal, he still has that much pride and dignity.
Ibara makes an attempt to stand from the couch as soon as their meal was consumed — someone has to wash all the dirty dishes, and with Jun having made the meal, Ibara figured he could avoid owing Jun if he took charge of the clean up — and is once again foiled by the combined power of Hiyori and Nagisa. Hiyori throws a leg over Ibara’s, pulling himself closer against Ibara’s side, and Nagisa simply lets their head fall until it’s resting against Ibara’s shoulder, making it impossible for Ibara to move without jostling either of them.
“Your Highness, the dishes—” Ibara tries, only for Hiyori to elbow him in the side. Not that it hurts much, but Ibara is still mildly offended by the attack on principle.
“The dishes can be dealt with later,” Hiyori says, voice almost haughty in its commanding tone, “I want to cuddle for right now. Get over here, Jun-kun.”
Ibara looks over at Jun. Their eyes meet, and Jun lets out a low bark of amusement at the situation Ibara’s trapped in before settling in at Hiyori’s side, melding easily against his body when Hiyori throws an arm around Jun’s shoulder and pulls him in closer.
“Isn’t this nice?” Hiyori asks. “You two enjoyed yourself, certainly!”
“That’s not something you can just assume, Ohii-san,” Jun grumbles. It would be a much more convincing complaint if he weren’t cuddling with Hiyori as he voiced it. “But, yeah. This was nice. Feels like we haven’t gotten to spend time together since before the whole Conquest mess.”
“... And you, Ibara?” Nagisa asks.
“Anything you two could have put together would have been appreciated and enjoyed!” Ibara replies. And then a beat passes, and Hiyori’s words from earlier echo a bit too loudly in his ears, and Ibara says in a slightly more subdued version of his usual, boisterous tone, “I did enjoy it. Honestly.”
Nagisa hums quietly in a cadence Ibara has come to know means they’re pleased, and Ibara can see Jun smiling softly out of the corner of his eye, and Hiyori says, “Well, of course, it was us two glorious leaders that put this all together!” and it’s maybe not what Ibara had expected from today, but he can’t say he disliked it. Not one bit.