Chapter Text
“Yo, Shu-kun! ♪” Rinne called out, fumbling over his feet as he approached the other idol, who was very clearly in a hurry to get out of there, “Where ya off to?”
Shu quickly opened the door without giving Rinne even a single glance of acknowledgment, “Nowhere that concerns you.” Typically long meetings like the one they just finished left him in a foul mood, and he wanted nothing more than to vacate the building as soon as possible. Talking to or even just indulging Rinne in his rather irritating conversation topics was not at all on his to-do list that day, or any day for that matter. He swiftly left the conference room, beginning his walk down the partially vacant hallway. But of course Rinne had been following right behind him the entire time. Such a nuisance, that guy.
“Y’know we got like 3 hours ‘til that whole costume fittin’ thing, right?” Rinne reminded him, “So what’s the rush?” It was unlike him to even care about attending work-related activities on time, but Shu chose to ignore that part.
But he was well aware. How could he possibly forget? Shu had been assigned the arduous task of fitting Crazy:B for a new set of stage costumes. The mere thought of having to be anywhere near that unit, especially Rinne, for that amount of time absolutely pained him beyond belief.
Especially when Rinne Amagi was the source of some of his most horrific dreams. Or rather, nightmares.
If Shu couldn’t escape Rinne in his sleep, then he’d just have to try his best to avoid him during the day at all costs. He had one job; steer clear of Rinne. One job, and yet he managed to mess up such a simple task already. And it was barely noon.
“I am aware.” Valkyrie’s leader finally gave Rinne the satisfaction of glancing over at him, “I have something I must take care of before then, so I do not have the time to waste speaking to you. Now if you’ll excuse me.” Any normal person would take the hint and kindly leave him alone. Rinne, however, was far from normal. He skipped forward, planting himself at Shu’s side, a little too close for comfort.
“I’ll help! ☆”
“Excuse me?” The sharp clicking of Shu’s heels came to a sudden halt.
Rinne grinned in response, “You said ya had to take care of somethin’, so I said I’d help. Ain’t I just the nicest guy~”
While it was true that Shu probably could’ve used the help, after all it would have been difficult on his own, if he truly wanted assistance he would have asked someone more fit for the job. Perhaps Kuro or even Mika. Anyone but Rinne. Especially not for this particular task. Before Shu could respond, Rinne continued, “So whatcha gotta do anyway?”
The pink haired idol sighed, picking up the pace once again as to not waste anymore time, “My family has asked me to take some of my old possessions with me. They were discussing the idea of selling the home, so they wished to clean out as much as possible.” Shu wasn’t entirely sure why he felt the need to explain himself to this guy, but Rinne could honestly be a pretty decent listener sometimes. When his mouth was shut, that is.
The other nodded, “Ah, I see. In that case, I’ll tag along ☆ I can help ya carry boxes or somethin’.”
Shu had spent the entire day actively avoiding Rinne, refuting his every question, and dodging every absurd attempt at flirting. His patience was beginning to wear thin. But perhaps he really did need the help. His family members were not currently home to assist him anyway. Mika was working at his part-time job and Kuro was probably busy with who knows what.
“Very well then. I must warn you, the walk is rather unpleasant.” Shu finally gave in. Blaming it on lack of manpower instead of admitting whatever bizarre feelings he had for the man was the only thing keeping him from going insane.
“Nah, can’t be that bad!” Rinne said, hopeful.
He was, in fact, very wrong.
The walk took them nearly an hour and the weather outside was far from enjoyable. It didn’t matter how many layers both idols were wearing, neither of them were able to escape the harsh winds that the winter season brought. It definitely did not help that along the way, Rinne stopped to gush over every single small animal they passed. If Shu wasn’t in such a hurry, he would have found it quite cute. He never would have admitted that though.
Once they finally stepped foot in front of the Itsuki residence, Rinne’s mouth practically fell open, “Woah Shu-kun, yer house is ginormous!”
That it was. He’d always admired the aesthetic of his family home. It was beautiful, authentic, and incredibly spacious. While that might have sounded appealing to most, Shu found that all the extra space had made living there all the more lonely. Perhaps that was partially his reasoning for leaving home so quickly after high school.
He brushed off the other’s previous statement before turning the key and walking inside, feeling immense relief when he realized the heater was on. It was clear that Shu’s family had been cleaning out the whole house, because there were boxes scattered in just about every corner of the home. If he were still living there, this whole ordeal would have been finished by now. His family clearly lacked any ambition to get things accomplished. Unlike Shu, of course.
Shu scoffed at the sight, pushing past the mess in order to make his way upstairs. Rinne silently followed close behind, too caught up with admiring how spacious and fancy the interior was to focus on walking. He’d nearly tripped up the stairs a few times, yet Shu simply pretended not to notice.
Once they finally reached Shu’s old bedroom, Rinne couldn’t help but to immediately crack a smile, “This was yer room?“ he let out a light chuckle, “Well this seems fitting.” If he hadn’t known Shu was living abroad, he would’ve guessed that this room was used and cleaned every day. Leave it to Shu to keep his bedroom looking brand new, even when he was thousands of miles away.
“Naturally,” the other moved to sit on the bed, opening one of the cardboard boxes that laid on top of it, “I would not have slept in here unless it was up to my standards.”
Rinne playfully rolled his eyes, “Yer so picky.”
The redhead plopped himself next to Shu on the bed, receiving a displeased noise from the other. Even so, he couldn’t help but to grab at the nearest thing he saw. It was a teddy bear. And a really old one, at that. Its once soft material had grown dusty, the antique-looking dress it was wearing was clearly tattered. The poor thing, it looked as if it had definitely seen better days.
After laying eyes on a few other small trinkets and periodically asking Shu what they were, Rinne decided to make himself at home. He fell backwards, his back resting on the soft duvet. It was surprisingly comfortable considering how it had been vacant for so long, well, since Shu graduated high school.
“Y’know, Shu-kun,” Rinne began as he fidgeted with some strange-looking paperweight, “Wouldn't it have been cool if we met in high school instead?~”
“Absolutely not.”
His response was so quick, it nearly caused Rinne to flinch. He slowly sat up again to look the other in the eyes, “Why not? I wanna know what you were like! Were you as snappy as ya are now?” The redhead let out a giggle to the thought of high school Shu yelling at him for the dumbest reasons. They most definitely would not have gotten along. But the thought of getting to spend every single day at school with Shu, sitting behind him in class, passing him stupid little notes, throwing crumpled papers at the back of his head; it wasn’t too bad of a concept.
Shu sighed, “I am still the same person, and high school was not even that long ago.” He returned to searching through the boxes, occasionally sorting certain items into different piles, “But to answer your question, I suppose I have changed a bit since then.”
Rinne was hoping to get a good tease out of the other, but upon reading his expression, he wasn’t so sure it was appropriate. Shu almost seemed.. sad. More like, his expression held a bittersweetness to it. Perhaps his high school experience wasn’t all that enjoyable. Rinne might have had a tendency to joke around at times when he probably shouldn’t, but he definitely knew how to read the room. So, he chose not to pursue the subject any further.
To his surprise though, Shu continued, his expression much more relaxed now, “However, I will admit that I was drastically different as a child.”
“Ooh ♪ do tell~” Rinne leaned forward, ready to be bombarded with stories from Shu’s childhood.
But of course, this was Shu. He kept to himself most of the time and rarely ever spoke about his childhood to people he wasn’t close with. He wouldn’t blame him if he wasn’t comfortable telling Rinne. They weren’t that close after all, despite how much he wished they were.
But yet again, he was pleasantly surprised.
“There isn’t much to tell. Though, I was far weaker back then than I am now. I used to cry at just about everything. It was quite pathetic, if you ask me.” Shu confessed.
Rinne smiled at that, wanting to mention how crying isn’t necessarily a bad thing, only to immediately switch to an intrigued expression once Shu pulled out a folded outfit from one of the boxes. Shu gently unfolded it, revealing a very ruffly white undershirt with a thick blue school blazer over it.
“Is that-“
“My high school uniform, yes.”
“Woah-“ Rinne began laughing to himself once again, “Did everyone else’s look that fancy??”
Shu scoffed, placing the clothes neatly in the spot on the bed in between him and Rinne, “Of course not. I made my own alterations.” Afterwards, he simply moved onto a different box, standing up off the bed in order to sort through the items properly.
Meanwhile, Rinne took the slightly wrinkled uniform into his hands to inspect it. It looked so prestigious. Just looking at it gave him a headache. Even so, he didn’t even think twice before sliding the blazer on himself.
Turning around, Shu stared at the man wearing his uniform, completely stunned.
“Well? Do I look super smart ‘n stuff? ☆” Rinne took it upon himself to do a little spin to show off the blazer in all its glory.
Shockingly, that managed to make Shu laugh. It was brief and quiet, but it was a laugh nonetheless. The mere thought of it gave Rinne a warm feeling in his chest, one that had become all too familiar whenever he was around Shu.
Rinne threw himself back onto the bed, still wearing the uniform, “Y’know, I didn’t go to high school, so I never got to wear one of these cool uniforms.”
“They are hardly ‘cool’. There is no individuality to them, no way of directly expressing oneself. That is precisely why I altered mine. Honestly, the reason why schools feel the need to force students into uniformity will forever be beyond me.” Shu complained. But then, his expression softened, “You can keep it, if you’d like.”
“Wh- really?” Rinne glanced over at him, a dumbfounded look in his eyes.
Shu nodded in confirmation, “I don’t have a need for it anymore, so I don’t see why not. I would have simply thrown it out otherwise.”
Rinne grinned widely, “Wow~ thanks Shu-kun! It’s a real shame though. It’s been sittin’ here for so long that it doesn’t smell like ya anymore.”
Clearly that caught him off guard, because Shu dropped the piece of clothing he was holding out of pure disbelief for the other’s statement. Rinne had a habit of mindlessly flirting with Shu, that by itself was normal. However, it was never anything more than cheap compliments. This was far different. It felt way too genuine, way too real. And the other showed no signs of it being a mere joke.
The pink haired idol simply cleared his throat, “Well, that is to be expected.”
After a few moments of silence with Shu rummaging through boxes of old belongings and Rinne playing with random trinkets that Shu would put onto the bed, he finally pulled out something of significance.
“What’s that?” Rinne asked, repositioning himself on the bed to sit with his legs crossed.
Shu formed a half smile on his face, “It’s one of the first dresses I ever made for Mademoiselle. This feels quite nostalgic.”
Rinne chuckled, “Man, you’ve been makin’ clothes for a long time huh?” He hesitantly reached his hand out to touch the old fabric of the doll clothes, which Shu surprisingly let him do (with a brief moment of reluctance, of course), “I can definitely see the improvement.”
“Indeed. I am sure most of these boxes are simply filled to the brim with forgotten projects and unfinished costumes.” Shu mentioned, opening yet another box to reveal said outfits.
“‘s that so? I wanna see ‘em~” the redhead leaned over, head nearly centimeters away from resting on Shu’s shoulder. The man was only peering into the box of scrapped outfits that sat on Shu’s lap, but all he could focus on was how delightful Rinne smelled. He smelled faintly of pine and soap, something he’d only caught brief whiffs of whenever Rinne would sit beside him during Craftmonster meetings.
Admittedly, the two had found themselves together more often as of late, even if it was unintentional. Rinne made it a habit to sit next to Shu while he worked and at first he found it annoying. The other would constantly talk his ear off about subjects he couldn’t care less for, and even when he did, Rinne’s way of explaining things was hardly even cohesive. As time went on though, they began talking less and less. Their time in the Craftmonster room consisted of Shu working tirelessly on the sewing machine with Rinne sitting silently beside him, often watching the delicate movements of Shu’s fingers. What he hadn’t expected was for it to ever feel so comfortable. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he always looked forward to Craftmonster meetings specifically for that reason alone.
Shu snapped back to reality, only to realize his hand was resting on top of Rinne’s head. He also came to the horrifying realization that his fingers were entwined in the other’s soft red locks, gently brushing through it as if it was second nature to him.
Shockingly enough, Rinne actually leaned into it.
Perhaps out of pure shock, Shu quickly pulled his hand away as if he’d just come into contact with a burning hot stove. How could he possibly let himself falter like that? He was never one to act on impulse, and certainly not when it came to stuff like this. That, of course, got him thinking; what exactly was this then? Casual interactions between colleagues? Or, dare he say, exchanges between friends? Naturally, that caused his brain to spiral into a whole other rabbit hole of what-ifs. Were they friends? Had Rinne even considered him as such? Even if he did, who’s to say he’d ever think of him as anything more than that?
All of these difficult questions and yet he hadn’t the answer to any of them. Instead, all he was met with was a very confused Rinne staring at him with concern as if he’d done something terribly wrong.
Shu opted to clear his throat, in an attempt to dispel the awkward silence, “Perhaps we should take a short break. I am sure you’re hungry, yes?” He placed the cardboard box to the side as he gently pushed Rinne away so he could get off the bed.
It seemed that look of concern was hardly a cause for worry, because Rinne jumped up as if nothing had happened, “You bet I am!”
He’d only hoped that Rinne couldn’t see the idiotic smile on his face as they left the room.
———
As if this day couldn’t possibly get any worse, his family’s kitchen was almost completely empty, save for a few packets of tea.
Shu hardly wished to return to Rinne, who was waiting for him in the other room, empty handed. Tea would have to suffice for now. What a horrible host he was. Surely after this, Rinne would never want to be around Shu ever again. He’d start avoiding him during CosPro meetings, quit the Craftmonster club, or even completely vanish from the idol industry all together, all simply because Shu had nothing to offer him other than nearly expired tea.
That might’ve just been him overthinking again, but despite their reputation, he knew how valuable Crazy:B had become for ES, whether Rinne wished to acknowledge it or not. He couldn’t risk being a core reason for Rinne’s disappearance from the idol world. They were part of the same agency after all. If Crazy:B were to go down, surely that meant Valkyrie would be taken down with it.
That being said, he scrapped the tea idea completely. Instead, he promptly marched into the other room, grabbing his keys and wallet before taking Rinne’s hand in his own and darting out the front door without as much as a single word.
During their slightly uncomfortable walk down the street, Rinne couldn’t help but to speak up, “Uh, hey Shu-kun?” Rinne asked, being pulled by Shu at a speed at which he definitely was not used to walking at.
“What is it?”
“Where are we goin’ exactly?”
Shu was worried he might ask that. Who wouldn’t, though? Rinne had every right to be confused. He’d just grabbed him against his will, dragging him to who knows where.
“We are getting food, of course. Where else would we be going?”
“Man, when I said I wanted to take ya on a date, this ain’t really the circumstances I imagined.” Rinne confessed.
Ignoring the fact that he couldn’t recall Rinne ever saying that before, he finally let go of his hand, “You are right. I’m sure just some tea would suffice. Let us return, then.”
Before he could turn around and head back to the house, it was the redhead’s turn to take Shu’s hand in his own. “Hey hold on a minute! Ya can’t just lead me on like that, that’s not very nice y’know. If yer gonna take me out, the least you could do is tell me where we’re goin’.”
Shu took a moment to stare into those bright blue eyes that he’d grown to adore. Everything about this situation was troublesome, and to think it all started because Shu couldn’t simply say “no” to him when he offered his help. Not that he was much help to begin with anyway. However, the company was always nice.
“There is a small cafe near here. I used to visit it regularly when I was in high school.” Shu finally explained.
Rinne smiled, content with that answer, “Well then, lead the way~ ♪”