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The screen flashes the first shot of our star.
“Hey everyone,” he says, then leans close to the camera to whisper. “Sumeragi Tenma here.”
He sets the camera back a bit, showing the cup of coffee in front of him and the view of the outside, filled with airplanes flying and taking off from landing strips under clear skies.
“Figured this was a good place to start my vlog,” he says. “It’s two hours until my flight to LA. I guess you should know by the time this is uploaded or from the title what I’m headed there for– but it’s amazing, right? Never thought I’d even make it to overseas award shows at this age, but what can I say? Though, I’ll save the sappiness for my winning speech. In case I do win Best Supporting Actor.”
He laughs and takes a sip from his cup. It’s visibly black coffee.
“Well, whether I win or not, I’ll convey my thanks to you all in some way or another. For now, enjoy LA with me.”
He reaches his hand out to tap on his phone screen.
“Oh, and one more thing.”
He taps on one button, and his phone switches to his front camera. Tenma angles it up a bit to show a confused Yuki.
“What are you doing?”
“You’re supposed to appear on the vlog, remember?”
“We’re still at the airport, I’ll do that later.” he takes a sip out of his iced coffee. On Yuki’s side of the table is his notebook, open and filled with schedules, timetables, budget plans, numbers Tenma can’t understand. “Don’t know if you can see it, but I’m stressed right now. Your jumpsuit for the after party hasn’t arrived in LA yet. Do you know what it means for my career if one mistake happens and your entire styling falls apart?”
“Yuki, relax. We’ve got 2 days until D-Day,” Tenma tells him. “We’ll start actual work when we arrive there, alright?”
“I’ve been working for weeks before this flight, you hack.”
“Whatever, you agreed to this anyways.”
“‘Cause your agency pays good.”
Tenma kicks him under the table, nearly knocking their cups over. The two stare at the what-could’ve-been mess, then Yuki quietly gets Tenma’s phone and stops the recording.
They’re in the plane. Tenma didn’t take the window seat, but his roommate did. He points the camera at the both of them. Yuki looks up from where he’s drawing in his sketchbook, spots the camera, and gives a finger heart. Tenma smacks him in the shoulder, laughing.
“We’re in our hotel now,” Tenma says, holding his camera high enough to show the entire room. It’s a luxurious two-bedroom suite, one side of the room showing the entire view of the cityscape. “Pretty cool, huh– oh, there you are.”
Yuki nonchalantly steps into frame while walking across the room, and Tenma goes after him, putting the camera in view of both their faces. “I haven’t introduced you properly. Yuki’s with me. You’ll know him as part of my theater troupe in MANKAI and their costume designer. He’s my stylist for the whole trip.”
“Hey.”
“Any spoilers for my looks on that day?”
The camera pans to Yuki, who scoffs. "They'll already know what it is by the time you post this vlog, you know."
Tenma pulls the camera back, showing a disappointed look in his face. “Can't you play along for once?"
“What am I even going to say? Either way, I know your fans are going to go crazy over it,” Yuki says, grabbing a suit bag from one of the suitcases.
Tenma gets the bright idea to switch the camera to show Yuki holding it up, trying not to drag the bottom of the suit bag across the floor as he moves it.
“Heh, the suit’s longer than your whole body. You need help?”
Yuki shoots him a dirty look.
“If your strat is to humiliate me on the internet in front of your entire fanbase for clout I’m going to kill you and string you high up like one of these thirty-two carat suits.”
Tenma sighs and stops the recording. “Not even a full day in and my video editor has to cut out a lot of scenes already…”
“Your fault for bringing me along, hack.”
Tenma groans and falls back to his bed. “This trip is going to feel so much longer than it actually is.”
Yuki rolls his eyes. “Stop complaining. Now are you going to help me unpack these so they don’t get wrinkled or not?”
“Fine, fine!”
A couple of shots follow next. Tenma shows his breakfast, the most aesthetically pleasing french toast he’s ever seen, and himself getting ready for today’s schedules. Yuki’s dressed him in a sleek turtleneck and trousers that complement the dark color well, and a pair of nice tinted shades he’s sure Yuki just borrowed from one of MANKAI’s thrift enthusiasts but hey– if they don’t mention it, no one will know.
“Your schedules should be more relaxed after the designer store visit this morning,” Igawa tells Tenma. They sit in a van going at a comfortable speed. “The questions for this one will be more simple than actual interviews, so speak full English if you can.”
“Of course. I had Chikage-san coaching me for the past month,” Tenma says, confident. He then catches Yuki at the corner of his eye, casually scrolling his phone.
“Ah, but what about this guy… he knows a lot more about fashion than me.”
“They’re not going to ask me anything,” Yuki tells him. “I’m not even your official stylist.”
“You’re still the Rurikawa Yuki who acted with him. There’s a chance they’ll recognize you…” Igawa thinks. “... well, as long as you don’t overshadow Tenma, it should be fine.”
Yuki snickers. “You’re afraid of me overshadowing him?”
“Come on, you know what he means.”
“I don’t have to stick by his side all the time, right? I want to explore the store on my own.”
Igawa blinks. “That’s not a bad idea, actually.”
Yuki smiles. “Then we got nothing to worry about.”
The schedule does go as smoothly as they wished. Tenma knows what he’s doing, surrounded by cameras as high-fashion designers converse with him while they tour around the store.
Yuki does his own thing, but as he sees Tenma across the store peering at the shelves of bags as the designer gives their speech, he takes the liberty of getting his phone and turning on its camera.
Tenma looks like both a seasoned professional and a popular character straight out of a teen film at the same time, talking with designers like they’re friends and cameras surrounding him without making him sweat. There’s an air around him that, no matter how Yuki gets close to him, he feels he won’t ever be able to grasp fully.
He switches to the selfie camera, showing a close-up closer than he intended. “Whoops.”
It’s shot after shot of his view out the car window as he goes through his schedules, along with a short review of his dinner at a Michelin star restaurant that night.
They arrive back in their hotel room. Tenma leans back on the door. “I call dibs on the bathroom first.”
“Whatever, VIP.”
Some time after Tenma showers he turns his phone camera on, and waves.
“Hey. Just got done with day one in LA.” He shifts a bit to sit comfortably on his bed. “I don’t have a lot to do tomorrow, so there’s some leeway for me to explore the city. I’ll show you around.
“I’ve been here before, so it’s just as good as I remember. But I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable than last time, even brushed up on my English too so I won’t have to worry much in interviews and the like. It’s fun. If I wanted to keep on aiming higher, I guess I’d have to get used to this, huh?”
He chuckles. “I’ll take my sweet time here, but I also can’t wait to tell everyone else what I’ve experienced once I get home. Anyways, I think that’s all for today, I’ll–”
A blast of wind suddenly hits the side of his face and hair, throwing him off. Shocked, he – along with the camera – turns to Yuki, who holds a hairdryer in one hand and his stomach in the other as he laughs.
“What’s wrong with you?!” Tenma’s red in the face. “I– okay, let me just–”
He stops the recording. “The hell’s your problem?!”
“You’re in the way of the outlet,” Yuki tells him, though his stifling laughter makes it obvious that it’s not the main reason.
Tenma gets off the bed. “Go. Jesus Christ. I’m going to have to reshoot that.”
“No you don’t. It’s a vlog. It’s supposed to be spontaneous,” he says, plugging his power bank in the outlet by Tenma’s bed. “Come on, hack. You’re a theater actor. You should know all about doing just one take.”
“Sure, but I’m recording with a camera. I can do as many takes as I want.”
“Whatever, that’s boring.”
Yuki’s phone rings. He grabs it and sees Kazunari’s name.
“Yukki! Tenten!” Kazunari’s voice is loud from the other end of the line. Tenma waves at him as Kazunari’s video camera blurs for a second until finally the rest of the Summer troupe is seen.
Kumon wails. “We missed you already!”
“No you don’t, we just got here.”
“Yukki, so mean! So how was your first day? Was the food good? Met anyone famous?”
“Shit, yeah, I should post on Inste.” Tenma gets his phone. “But yeah, it was a pretty tiring day, but we made it. Yuki was a pain to bring, by the way.”
“Hey, I didn’t bother you at all while we were outside.”
Muku momentarily takes the phone. “Yuki-kun, you took pictures, right? Send them! I wanna know all the romantic spots in LA too.”
Yuki nods. “I will. How are you guys doing there, by the way? Struggling without us?”
“Don’t talk like you’re the leader.”
“We’re doing juuuust fine!” Misumi’s voice echoes in the call for some reason. “Bring lots of triangles when you get back, okay~?”
“Don’t worry, we’ll go shopping for them tomorrow. The hack’s going to pay for all of them.”
“No I’m not!”
Even with thousands of kilometers apart, Summer Troupe’s laughs can be heard among them.
Tenma carefully sets the camera up so it doesn’t slip and fall flat on the concrete. Seeing that it’s sturdy, he walks back to show his entire outfit, wearing a chunky denim jacket that shapes his shoulders well, a cropped tank top underneath and baggy pants that fit him just right. The angle of the shot frames him as if he’s looking down on you, a display of confidence.
“Pose better for a fit check, won’t you?”
Soon enters Yuki, standing next to Tenma in a crew neck sweater with a cute design on it, frayed shorts, and a handbag shaped like his iconic Yuru bear. Yuki looks him up and down, and Tenma flashes a smug smile as he puts on a new pair of shades.
“We fit in right with the LA cool kids, don’t we?”
“I styled us both,” Yuki says straight to the camera.
“Aaaand we are going to go shopping and sightseeing.” Tenma gets his phone. “So see you.”
“We should get actual pics in these outfits first.”
“... right. We should.”
It’s just the two of them this time, so Yuki takes the role of the navigator this time.
“This downtown shopping district’s loaded,” Tenma comments. “Alright, so top priority are gifts for those guys first, the Director, then your family. We grab every triangle we see along the way.”
“And you pay for everything.”
“No I will not.”
Tenma records a montage of them browsing stores, all decorated in different aesthetics and styles. A lot of the shots involve checking out all the different products and trying on the hats and accessories offered, while a couple of other shots show Yuki’s shining eyes as he looks around, turning different items in his hands as he talks.
“If I failed as a costume maker,” he begins, looking closely at a necklace adorned with seashells. “And if I would fail at being a restaurant owner too, I probably would’ve owned one of these shops.”
Tenma soon shows a paper bag full of the triangles they accumulated throughout the trip as they walk around: triangle hair clips, pins, dice for some reason, anything. The camera catches him smiling a bit when he flips his phone over to keep it.
With their bags loaded in the car, they return back to sightseeing. Yuki holds his camera as high as he can, trying to get a good shot of their view, making Tenma giggle.
“Come on, just ask me if you need help.”
“I can do this just fine,” Yuki tells him through gritted teeth. “Besides, I’ve been sending footage of my own to Igawa too.”
Tenma stops at his steps. “You what? ”
“Oh calm down, I’m not sending the most incriminating shit known to man.”
“You better not.”
Yuki keeps his phone and finally pulls out the polaroid camera out of his handbag.
“I was wondering when you were going to use that.”
He fiddles with it, checking its film. “I’ll only use it for the actual scenic spots. Film is expensive.”
Tenma is about to speak next when the look in Yuki's eyes suddenly hardens as if some sixth sense is activated, looking into space as he slowly pulls out his phone. He opens the selfie camera and tilts it enough for Tenma to realize what's going on.
"... shit."
Yuki lowers his voice to a whisper. "Is protocol for encountering fans different this time, or what?"
"I think there's no point in pretending we're someone else. Then again, they're just two people… I think we should be fine."
" We should be fine? You hack, I don't know enough English."
"Then I'll take care of it."
Tenma takes a deep breath, looks back, and slowly takes off his glasses.
He finally sees the two fans who had been behind them, too shy to make a move. As Yuki looks back as well, he takes the initiative to wave at them.
That finally breaks the ice as the fans finally approach them. Yuki's a little surprised that they asked if they were the Tenma Sumeragi and the Yuki Rurikawa — not that he was dreading not being recognized, but he had already expected to be in the background most of the time, especially when veteran-movie-star and useless-actor Tenma was going to be beside him most of the time.
They're both fans of MANKAI. Yuki notices one of them wears an itabag with mini Mr. Sankaku plushies filling its display pocket. He makes a comment that Misumi would love that, and despite not knowing if he said it right, the fan sounds really happy to hear it.
Tenma seems relaxed. He's casual in the way he answers their questions and easily slips in a question about good sightseeing spots to visit. Yuki can only do so much as to nod along, a thought stuck to his mind to which he has too much pride to admit upfront.
But God, he's lucky to have a leader like Tenma.
An idea pops up in his head.
"Hey," he mumbles, nudging his leader. "Ask them if they could take a polaroid of us. It's hard to do selfies with this thing."
"Eh? Uh–" Tenma relays the request to the other two, who accept it as enthusiastically as they can.
Tenma can't help but chuckle at the way one of them has to mentally prepare themself before holding Yuki's polaroid camera.
The two pose with the seaside view behind them. Yuki gestures for them to take one more.
Tenma raises an eyebrow. "You said film is expensive."
"I know."
After the second camera shutter, the two fans marvel at the photos they took, not immediately noticing the way Yuki walks up to them while digging for a pen in his handbag. He smirks when he hears their collective gasp as he signs one of them.
"Ooh, good thinking, Yuki." Tenma tries to write his signature as perfectly as he can on the glossy vinyl of the polaroid, trying not to snap at Yuki who's stifling his laughter.
After sharing multiple greetings and thanks (and one additional I like your outfit from Yuki that will surely stick with them until they die), the two fans wave them goodbye and run away in skips with the signed polaroid in their hands. Yuki slips the sole other polaroid into his phone case.
"Told you we got our fanservice under control," Tenma huffs, a smug smile on his face.
"Thanks for doing most of the talking," Yuki throws at him as he starts walking ahead of Tenma.
"Oi– it wasn't easy, you know!"
For the afternoon they visit the venue for the awards show, as a way to brief themselves on the program — which Tenma treats as if they're blocking for a show. He asks a staff member to record him from afar, sitting on his seat alone and waving at the camera.
Tenma meets Yuki in the dressing room, greeting the other stylists before approaching his own not-official stylist.
"Can't believe I'm seeing the real thing right now," Yuki comments, looking around in awe. "It's a lot fancier than MANKAI's, though."
"Well, of course. This room's built on thousands of dollars."
His phone buzzes. Tenma watches the expression on Yuki's face change when he checks his phone, and catches him from falling over.
"Wh– Yuki?! What's wrong?!"
Yuki can only give him a relieved smile as he shoves his phone screen to his face.
"It's arrived. The jumpsuit for your after party look finally arrived in the damn hotel. Oh my God, I can finally rest."
"Oh," Tenma sighs in relief. "Good thing that's finally resolved–"
"Wait, no… I can't rest. I still have to check it thoroughly. I still have to run through everything tonight. Fuck."
Tenma, despite having dealt with all types of an exhausted Rurikawa Yuki for the past several years, awkwardly just pats him on the shoulder.
"Uh… good luck."
It's nearly nine o' clock in the evening, back in their hotel. Tenma's freshly showered, wearing a hoodie that only dedicated fans can recognize from watching his other personal content.
"Hey guys. It's the night before the awards show. Already did my skincare routine, so I'm thinking I should just head in early to catch up on sleep. Ah, but there's also this–"
He lies on the edge of the bed, stretching out his arm down and facing Yuki, sitting on the floor with various articles of clothing strewn around him.
"Our resident stylist's hard at work. You doing alright?"
"I feel like I'm about to die."
Yuki grabs the empty box the jumpsuit was packaged in and uses it to muffle the guttural scream he lets out. He holds up the jumpsuit, showing it to Tenma.
“Look at this. They got your waist measurements wrong. The cutouts will jut out and make you look like some failed origami attempt, because they won’t fit around your hips properly. They’re meant to fit. That’s why I sent them your measurements. And they got them wrong! I’m going to kill someone. I swear. I should have sewn this myself back at home when I still had the time. Why didn’t I do that? I’m seriously going to kill someone.”
Tenma watches him with half-lidded eyes. This is, unfortunately, a familiar sight for him, particularly during certain play runs when certain costumes don’t turn out right just days before general rehearsals.
If this was back in their dorms, Tenma can leave and get someone else more suited to help him – Muku would help him calm down, Taichi could take some of the workload if he wasn’t assisting Yuki already, and Izumi would know the exact words of comfort to tell him – but here they are, thousands of kilometers away from home.
Tenma thinks. He may be here in LA as Best Supporting Actor nominee Sumeragi Tenma, but right now in this hotel room he has to be a leader.
He stands up. “I’m going to grab some drinks from downstairs. You want your usual grape soda?”
“Why don’t you just call room service like a normal person?” Yuki glares at him. “... actually, you know what, go. Get out. I need quiet.”
“Call me if anything comes up.”
Yuki grunts as a reply, staring at the clothes with weary eyes.
As soon as he closes the door, he dials Izumi’s number immediately. Lucky for him, she picks up.
“Director,” he says as close to the microphone as possible. “Director. Help me.”
No answer. He walks briskly to Igawa’s room as he waits for an answer, only to hear the sound effect phones make when someone in the call opens their camera.
He’s greeted with the ceiling of the MANKAI dorm kitchen. “Huh?”
Someone who’s clearly not their director steps into frame, looking down into the camera. “What’s up– eyyy, you're wearing the hoodie I gave you.”
Tenma stares at the screen, confused. “Banri-san? What are you doing with Director’s phone?”
Banri sighs and brings the camera up, and Tenma sees Izumi hard at work in front of a stove. She finally notices the phone Banri has shoved to her face and smiles. “Tenma-kun! Hi, is something wrong? Sorry, I’m a little busy here, but we can still talk.”
“What are you doing making curry at nine in the evening?”
“Nine in the evening?” Banri laughs. “Dude, it’s twelve noon here. Timezones.”
“A-Ah, right. Well, I kinda knew that! I just forgot–”
“Sure, sure. Director-chan and I got busy drafting production plans so we decided to make our own lunch.” he says, setting the phone on the counter. “Anyways, what’s up? Why’d you call?”
Igawa finally opens the door, and Tenma rushes in before there can be anyone in the hallway who can hear him. “Okay. Yuki’s stressed the fuck out. One of my outfits for tomorrow night was done wrong and he’s been tearing his hair over it. The people who usually help him aren’t here.”
“Oh no, Yuki-kun…”
“I mean, knowing that kid, he’ll pull through sooner or later,” Banri says. “Taichi told me about it once. He usually just needs to cool down first.”
“Sure, Banri-kun, but you have to remember he’s not at home. He’s in a completely new environment expected to work for a celebrity and his work is going to be seen all over the world,” Izumi’s voice is heard in the call, a wooden spoon waving towards Banri at the side of the screen. “There’s a chance the usual strategy won’t work. I think some extra support is needed.”
“I’ve left him alone for now to give him space, but I don’t know how much that’s going to help.”
“There’s also the issue of him lashing out if you disturb him too much while he’s having a breakdown...”
Izumi hums. Tenma hears her turn the stove off, and soon enough she joins Banri in the frame, wearing that gentle, concerned expression she always does when dealing with personal matters within the troupes. Tenma almost feels bad that he’s bothering her even when it’s got nothing to do with theater, but Izumi gives him a reassuring smile.
“I have faith in Yuki-kun,” she tells him. “And in you both. I think that this time since the stakes are higher and that it’s just you and him, you’ll have to be a little more honest in showing your support.”
Banri nods, tapping on the kitchen counter. “I know you two usually express your love through shouting matches, but I think you should loosen up this time.”
“Framing it as ‘expressing our love’ is kind of…”
Izumi laughs. “Don’t be embarrassed, Tenma-kun! Everyone knows how much you look after your members. It’s one of your best qualities as a leader, even.”
“Yeah. If it gets awkward just pretend he's one of your bonsai children or something. That'll get you baby-talking in no time," Banri teases.
Tenma scoffs. "Yuki will never compare to any of my precious bonsai."
"You're not denying the baby-talk?"
"Shut up."
He finally returns back to the hotel room, expecting some snarky remark as soon as he opens the door.
"Where were you? Did you get lost?"
"I went with Igawa," Tenma says, eyes on his phone. "I got your soda. How's the–"
He stops. An even bigger mess greets him on the floor, stray thread and other sewing tools scattered around. There's a sewing machine he brought along, but it seemed to have been cast aside. Right on Yuki's lap is the unfinished jumpsuit, one side of it seam-ripped.
Tenma decides not to comment on how freshly red his eyes and nose are and makes his way to sit beside him. Yuki doesn't complain and quietly takes the can of grape soda offered to him.
"You…" Tenma begins, gesturing at the mess. "Are going to take a short break. I'll clean this up a bit."
"Shouldn't you be asleep already?"
"I need to be awake for the final fitting, right? I can stay up for a couple more hours,” Tenma says, stretching his legs out, careful not to touch any of the fabric. “And review my winning speech, probably.”
Yuki scoffs. “‘Probably’. You better win, hack. Those guys won’t let us back in the dorms empty-handed.”
“You don’t have to worry about that.”
The two of them sit by each other quietly. Tenma looks at him and sees him staring into the ceiling, spotting the thin film of tears coating his eyes. Yuki doesn’t react when Tenma gently pries the seam ripper and the jumpsuit out of his hands.
“I’m still thankful, regardless, that I brought you along. I wouldn’t ask anyone else to style me for something as important as this. So I know it’ll all work out.”
“Don’t pity me.”
“I’m not saying that to pity you! Stop pretending you don’t need to hear things like these once in a while!” Tenma’s voice is trembling, but he lets the words fall out. “And besides, I… wanted to say that, too.”
Yuki finally turns his head to meet eyes with Tenma. His roommate swallows, taking the plunge and bringing his arm around Yuki’s shoulder — best case scenario is Yuki swatting his hand off which means he’s back to normal, worst case is that he blows up and they break into a fight at the worst possible time.
To his surprise, Yuki takes a deep breath and just leans in closer, head on his shoulder.
Tenma smiles as he grabs his phone. “Let’s call the Summer Troupe guys.”
“... okay.”
Tenma greets the camera with a grin.
“Hey, everyone. It’s D-Day. I feel like everything's going to turn out well, honestly.”
The view of the city through the car window is swept past as they’re en route to the venue. Tenma shifts in his seat, pans to his side and switches the camera.
He nearly jumps at the sight of Yuki staring right back.
“Wh– I thought you were asleep!”
“Your voice is too loud.”
“I was already being as quiet as possible!”
Yuki rolls his eyes, snuggling further into the car seat. It’s reclined, and he’s got two blankets covering him — Tenma makes a mental note to tell the editor to caption him as a burrito in this shot.
“This guy worked hard, by the way,” Tenma brags. “If it weren’t for him, I don’t think I’d even be able to walk down the red carpet today.”
“Guys, just so you know, Tenma usually doesn’t talk about me like that.”
“Why do you always act like this when I’m being sincere?” Tenma scolds, pulling the camera back. Yuki’s laugh can be heard outside of the frame.
“Oh, and can we stop by a drive-thru for coffee?”
“We can’t take detours, we have to make it in time.”
“Said by Sumeragi Tenma, known for always making it to places on time, as we all know.”
Tenma makes a hurt face, and ends the recording without words.
Everything happens in a blur as they finally arrive. Yuki at the very least remembers thinking “so this is what it’s like” as they’re rushed by the staff, and soon after he and other stylists do one final check on Tenma’s outfit, the roommates are completely separated for the first time in their trip, although just for a couple of hours.
Yuki takes a quick breather to sip his coffee Tenma did let him get, and checks his phone notifications for the first time since last night. He stares at the screen, puzzled as he scrolls down through the many DMs other MANKAI members sent him.
The reason becomes clear to him when he opens one from Izumi. A message of encouragement from her, telling him that she knows he can pull through and that she’s always proud of him.
“Did he seriously tell everyone?” he mumbles, opening each of them one by one. Even with the knowledge that everyone in the company learned of what happened last night, he can’t keep himself from smiling as he reads each message: some short and sweet, some as long as poems and were actual poems (Homare sent about three), some even just a heart or hugging emoji thrown his way, courtesy of the likes of Masumi and Juza.
Yuki won’t say it out loud, but he doesn’t mind. He tries to reply back to each of them as quickly as he can before going back to work.
Soon enough he hears Tenma’s name within his vicinity, and he looks up to see the wall-mounted monitor in the dressing room about to present the next person on the red carpet.
Immediately he grabs his phone.
“If he messes up the posing again I’m going to be so mad,” he says behind the camera.
When that familiar head of orange comes into view, Yuki lets out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. Best Supporting Actor nominee Sumeragi Tenma finally makes his entrance, flashing that proud smile of his and waving at the photographers. He doesn’t even flinch in front of all the flashing cameras.
He seems to be in a typical suit at first, just a blazer and belted dress pants both in shades of violet that complements him — then the view switches to his side and his bare back is seen, just behind a window Yuki had cut out on the back of his blazer.. The fabric around the window drapes almost like a curtain on his back.
Pride swells up in his chest when he hears soft gasps and howls right at the reveal.
"I did that."
The camera doesn't show him grinning from ear to ear, but anyone can tell he's speaking with a smile.
Tenma's gone from the red carpet before Yuki knows it. He lets out a deep exhale, and stops the recording.
He leans back on his chair. Some of the other stylists congratulate him, and despite the language barrier Yuki's able to thank them back, complimenting their works too, and soon enough Inste usernames are exchanged between them. Yuki starts to think he's incredibly lucky.
He doesn't mind much when the awards show proper actually starts, instead focusing on finishing up Tenma's outfit for the after party. The names of famous TV and movie actors and directors fly into his ear and out the other — Yuki was never really into showbiz. He still isn't, save for one obvious person.
The words "Best Supporting Actor" are heard from the speakers of the monitor, and Yuki looks up. As the screen plays through the other nominees, big names he couldn't really care less, he tries to open his phone camera as fast as he can.
It's finally Tenma's turn: the show plays a clip from the multilingual movie some popular American director was fortunate to cast him in, and fortunate they were as Tenma is seen standing by the sea, a special and fleeting kind of pain he's managed to convey in his eyes.
Everyone in the venue, in that dressing room, in many screens all over the world — all of them get to see Tenma's acting. A certain feeling blooms within Yuki's chest.
In his head, he thinks That's Sumeragi Tenma for you. Audibly, in such an unintentionally affectionate tone, he goes "He's so dramatic."
The award show goes straight to the point with the immediate "And the Best Supporting Actor Award goes too…" silencing the room and Yuki as well.
The seconds-long wait is grueling. Yuki tells himself that whatever the outcome, his roommate did great.
"Tenma Sumeragi!"
It doesn’t register immediately in Yuki’s ears that the room has erupted in cheers. He stands still, arm holding his phone frozen, staring as the screen shows a shocked Tenma while his co-actors from that movie usher him to go up on stage.
Yuki’s shocked, too, instinctively putting his emotions on pause as Tenma takes the award handed to him: a golden trophy with a globe on its forefront, reminiscent of the globe back in their dorm room. If Yuki wasn’t frozen, he’d have made a joke about how ironic that someone like Tenma who scores low in geography tests now holds a model of the world in his hands.
With the microphone in front of him, he struggles to speak. Is he crying? His backup interpreter follows him onto the stage, and Yuki laughs. So much for preparing a speech, he thinks.
“... I… wow.” his roommate’s voice echoes in the silent venue. Everyone’s listening to him. “Listen, I… I’ve been acting for over twenty years. I was always confident that I’d make it this far someday. I was already happy enough that we got a nomination, but to actually be here and hold the award, it’s…”
His phone’s microphone picks up everything else he’s saying, but Yuki himself doesn’t. He thinks he’s dreaming; The sight of the Tenma he’s known for the past several years – the hack, the useless actor, the Summer Troupe leader, his roommate, his friend – finally reaping what he deserves after all his years of hard work.
Yuki thinks of the early mornings where he’d wake up to Tenma finally arriving home after hours of filming, the afternoons of him projecting his voice in the practice room during rehearsals, and the late nights of watching him mull over movie scripts and only being able to provide passing comments to give his roommate a sense of normalcy.
He’s proud. That’s what he’s feeling, he realizes. Yuki’s proud of him.
The recording pauses as a video call notification takes up the upper half of the screen, finally snapping Yuki back to reality. He looks back up at Tenma delivering his speech, realizes the actual show is going to be recorded anyway, and answers the call.
The collective screams of Summer Troupe – wait, maybe the whole company? – fills his ears and Yuki immediately lowers the volume, giving apologetic bows to the other stylists for the noise.
“Keep it down, I’m not alone, you know!”
“YUKKI!” Kazunari yells, visibly in the MANKAI lounge, with the other actors sitting by him. Right beside him is Muku, tears rolling down his face. “YUKI-KUN, ARE YOU SEEING THIS?!”
“How am I not seeing it? I’m literally here!” he huffs, though he can’t hide the wide smile he’s wearing.
He watches the flashes of other MANKAI members on his screen through Kazunari’s camera. Surprisingly, a lot of them are crying — standing right behind the couch Kazunari sits in are Izumi and Sakuya, both crying and clinging onto Banri who’s just laughing at everyone else’s reactions. Kazunari pans the camera around and Yuki catches an assortment of liquor and beer on the coffee table.
“You brought out the alcohol?” Yuki sighs. “What is this, the Super Bowl?”
“I can’t believe he’s still trying to act so normal about this.” Banri leans in towards the camera, giving Yuki a teasing smile. “Come oooon dude, everyone can tell you’re happy about it too.”
“Shut it, I know how you were looking at the TV while the hack’s giving his winning speech.”
“YEAH, BEAT IT ONE-LENGTH!” A red-faced Kumon appears, falling into frame. Is that a can of lemon chuhai in his hand? Yuki decides not to question it any further. “Also, Tenma-san received the award in an outfit he made! Of course he’s going to be happy about it!”
“Tenma looks amazing! You should be really proud, Yuki!” Misumi’s voice right on the microphone seems to pass the decibel limit, leading Yuki to lower the volume of his phone even further.
He can’t even be mad — he’s even laughing the loudest in the dressing room, seeing his MANKAI family like this even with the barrier of the phone separating them. It’ll be so much louder once the two of them arrive home.
Just does his final check on the after party outfit, the door opens.
He turns his head. “There you are–”
The impact of Tenma barreling right onto Yuki nearly knocks him over, but Tenma fortunately catches him, scooping him into a tight hug.
“BEST! SUPPORTING! ACTOR!” he cheers, squeezing him until he pulls away to brag right at his unofficial stylist's face. “WHO’S THE HACK NOW, HUH?”
“STILL YOU!” Yuki yells back, and Tenma doesn’t even retort, he cackles as he hugs him again and ruffles his hair, ruining it as much as possible. Yuki makes a mental note to murder him for that as he repeatedly smacks Tenma’s back, signaling him to let go.
Yuki catches his breath once they’re apart. “At least warn me before you’re about to suffocate me, hack!”
“When are you going to drop that name now that I have this?” he smugly holds up the trophy in between them. Yuki taps on the surface. He peers on the plate, finding Tenma’s name in bold letters.
“Wow. It’s the real deal.”
“Right? I’m going to rub this on my dad’s face when we get home.”
“Be sure to bash his head in with it, too.”
“Don’t say that with the other stylists around!”
Yuki laughs. “Whatever. But congratulations, you hack. You looked good in that suit, by the way.”
“Can’t you say my name for once?” Tenma pouts. “... but thanks, Yuki. Couldn’t have done this without you.”
Yuki hums, then gestures towards the clothes mannequin near them. “Speaking of, your after party look’s ready. Get changed.”
“Wait, wait, let’s record something quick.” Tenma grabs his phone. The two get into position as he opens the selfie camera and starts the short clip.
Yuki grabs the trophy with one hand and covers the nameplate with another. “Hey guys, I won Best Supporting Actor.”
“Like anyone’s going to believe that!”
Igawa looks in the rearview mirror, watching Yuki finally enter the car. He leans back, gathering the blankets and throwing them over himself.
“Finally, I can actually rest.”
Igawa looks back at him, smiling. “Good job, Rurikawa-kun. Tenma-kun looked amazing tonight.”
Yuki hums, eyes closed. Igawa tells their driver to start the car and make the drive back to their hotel.
The after party is already underway. For obvious reasons, Yuki can’t stay behind, so after he wrapped up everything in the dressing room Igawa was more than willing to accompany him home.
The hack’s already mingling with other celebrities, Yuki thinks. He doesn’t know how much Tenma’s going to drink — he prays he drinks just enough to save himself the embarrassment, but wonders how funny it’d be if he goes overboard and resorts to the bathroom a good thirty minutes after one extra shot.
“Tenma-kun’s all grown up now,” Igawa says. “Feels like yesterday when he first asked me to drive him to the MANKAI theater.”
“Ah, yeah, back when he was a complete hack and so full of himself.”
“I’m glad you were one of the people auditioning at the same time as him. If it wasn’t you, I don’t know what he’d be wearing tonight.”
“... there were always more professional stylists to choose for today anyways,” Yuki mumbles, pulling the blankets higher. He sees Igawa glance back at him.
“You don’t have to be so humble, Rurikawa-kun. Tenma-kun really wanted you to style him,” he tells him. “He even tried preparing a script on how to ask you, but I told him to just ask you normally like a friend.”
“That guy did? I swear, he always blows things out of proportion…”
Igawa chuckles. “Thank you, by the way. For being Tenma-kun’s friend.”
“That’s just the bare minimum.”
“Sure it is, but before you and the other members of the Summer Troupe, Tenma-kun didn’t really have anyone. I’m sure that he’s able to make it this far because of the support from his friends like you.”
Yuki blinks slowly. He looks out the car window, the city lights flying past him. He wonders if he’ll see a sight like this again soon, and he wonders how many Inste follow notifications will he wake up to in the morning.
“Well… it’s not a one-way street, though.”
Igawa smiles at him. “I know, I know.”
Tenma reaches their hotel room at four in the morning. His face is a little red, but he looks really happy, at least.
“Hey guys, it’s me.” he struggles to unlock the door to their room. “Saw the show? Pretty cool, huh? Thanks for supporting me as always guys, uh– I’m actually not that sleepy yet, so I’ll just wind down a bit with Yuki for a while. Believe me, he’s got a sleeping pattern as bad as mine.”
He finally opens the door. “What’s–”
It’s quiet. The only thing heard is the hum of the air conditioner, and the only thing seen through the camera is Tenma’s surprised expression.
He shrugs his shoulders. “Okay, I guess I’ll just head in early. Thanks everyone. Goodnight.”
He gazes at Yuki’s limp body on the other bed, right on top of the duvet and half his limbs dangling off the edge. Tenma tries to hold back his laughter as he goes to switch the air conditioning off as he’s not risking a sick stylist for the last day of his trip.
“Didn’t even dry his hair before lying down…” he mumbles. He starts considering waking him up for a bit just to get himself sorted out for bed, but he catches a glimpse of Yuki’s sleeping face.
He stares at it for a while, not realizing the fond smile on his lips has formed. He opens his phone again.
“Aaaand… good night to you too, Yuki.”
The knocking on the door wakes them up. Yuki still keeps his eyes closed as Tenma wipes his own, getting up to get the door.
Igawa pokes his head in. “Good morning– or, I guess good noon…? Anyways,I’m just reminding you you have an interview at three in the afternoon. I’m going to order lunch now, anything you two want?”
“Uh… up to you, Igawa. I can’t really think right now.”
“Okay, Tenma-kun. I’ll get going then.”
As the conversation finishes, Yuki grabs his phone. He scrolls through the hundreds of notifications he received throughout the night, but one that catches his eyes is the fifty new messages in the Summer Troupe group chat.
He opens them, scrolls back a bit while catching a "yuki has died" message on the way, and jolts up.
Tenma looks back at him, who's now glaring at his phone. “Oh, you’re awake.”
“You absolute fucking hack, I’ll swing that ugly-ass trophy to your head as many times as I can until it looks like bloody mess of mashed carrots.”
“You’re really energetic this morning, huh.”
“Idiot, it’s almost twelve noon. And did you really have to send that to the other guys?”
“You looked pretty funny sleeping like that, not gonna lie.”
Yuki raises his phone, aiming, and throws it right towards Tenma — who yelps as he very luckily catches it in his hands.
“Are you stupid?! Is that worth almost breaking your phone over?!”
“Should’ve caught it with your big forehead.” he gets off the bed. “Come on. You still have to get ready for your last schedule. God, my head hurts.”
Tenma records short clips of their first day after the awards show. Despite the many hours he’s spent awake yesterday he’s still full of energy, wearing a genuine grin so bright Yuki makes a passing comment at how it’s blinding him.
“Should’ve considered that before accepting my offer to come here,” he teases, opening his bowl of Japanese takeout in front of the camera. Yuki shakes his head disapprovingly despite taking the carrots from Tenma’s dish out of habit.
Tenma leaves the hotel room in a loose white button down and jeans, while folded in his collar is a new pair of shades in a shade of pink Yuki likes. He waves at Yuki before he departs through the lobby. They won't see each other again until later that night. The only clips in the vlog that follow after are probably of him and his interviewer. He can already expect what the questions are.
The foundation of those questions sit on the hotel dresser, right across Yuki as he's sprawled on the bed with a bag of chips on the bedside.
He yawns. None of the channels in the hotel room's TV interest him, and even if they did, he can't understand much.
His phone starts buzzing, and he picks it up to see Muku's name on the screen. He swears it's way too early in their timezone, but he answers anyway.
Unexpectedly, the first thing he sees is Misumi's face up close. "Hi, Yuki~"
"Huh, Triangle Alien. Isn't it like five o' clock in the morning for you guys?" he squints his eyes, trying to make out their background. "... are you on the roof?"
"Yup!"
Finally the camera pans to Muku beside him. "Yuki-kun! We just saw the sunrise earlier. Kyuchan took lots of pictures."
"Oh right, I should send them!" Kumon says outside of the frame, who soon joins them. "Hey Yuki! You doing okay? Tenma-san told us earlier how you were practically knocked out last night."
Yuki groans. "I know. That hack didn't have a better way to tell you guys, for some reason."
"At least we know Yuki's able to rest," Misumi giggles. "I hope you're feeling a lot better after the other night."
Yuki's breath hitches. He found it embarrassing, that the troupe saw his absolute worst in the hotel room that night — but with Tenma beside him at the time, he remembers that sometimes that embarrassment is necessary. That even when he's puffy-eyed and snot-nosed, the Summer Troupe will still welcome him like an old friend and make him laugh even through choked sobs.
"I am." he smiles. "Thanks again, for that. I wouldn't have pulled it together without you guys."
"We're always happy to help, Yuki-kun!"
"Yeah! It's the least we can do since we're so far apart."
"I wish I could have hugged you and Tenma that night," Misumi tells him. "But that's okay! We can hug as much as we want after you both get home~"
"You don't have to do that, Triangle Alien."
"I think it'd be cool one day if we could go there together as a troupe for vacation…"
As the other three start fantasizing about a Summer Troupe training camp that's definitely not just a cover for a week-long trip to LA, Yuki lies back on the bed.
"I'm gonna take another nap. Bye guys."
"Eh?!" They all protest, especially Kumon who grabs the phone. "But you woke up late! That's going to mess with your body clock!"
"Says you three who's up at ass o' clock. Goodnight."
Yuki ends the call right after, smirking.
"See you guys tomorrow."
The sound of the bathroom door slamming shut rouses him awake.
Tenma had already arrived since an hour ago. "Oh, there you are. I reserved a table in the restaurant downstairs. Get dressed."
Yuki rubs his eyes. "What time is it?"
"Seven."
"Ugh… okay." he stretches before hopping off the bed. "The interview?"
"It went well," Tenma tells him, confident. "We talked a lot. They asked about you, too, so I showed them your Inste. That's at least one more connection you earned."
Yuki grins. "Maybe nepotism is okay sometimes."
Tenma throws a pillow at him.
Tenma shows a fancy plate of a pasta dish he’s never heard of before, and slowly pans the camera to Yuki’s side of the table. He looks up from taking pictures of his own food.
“What, are we gonna do a mukbang again?”
“No? Also, hold this for me.” he hands his phone to Yuki, the camera now showing him. He poses while holding up his glass. “Make it look like a ‘POV: Tenma as your boyfriend’ type of thing.”
“Ewwww.” Yuki gags, despite still adjusting the angle to frame Tenma a little better. “Editor, leave what he said in.”
“They’re not going to do that.” They did.
Dinner goes as usual, with Yuki mumbling “Ma’s cooking is still better” in between bites and Tenma scolding him to keep it down. They return to their hotel room to pack.
“I’m not really that sleepy anymore,” Yuki says, swinging his legs off the bed. As soft and comfortable the hotel beds are, he’s starting to miss the mattress back in their dorms.
Tenma looks at him as he’s still struggling to pack souvenirs into his luggage. “What else are we going to do? It’s late.”
“Isn’t this hotel pretty bougie? There’s gotta be at least something fun to do here.”
Tenma thinks. “Let me ask Igawa.”
They discover the rooftop pool area sometime later — it’s peaceful and brightly-lit with fairy lights and neon pool lights. No one’s in the water, surprisingly.
“Whoa. I should’ve brought swimwear if I knew I had the time…” Tenma kicks the surface of the water as they make their way to a tiny bistro table right by the railing. They take polaroids of each other with the skyscrapers in the view, slip the photos in their phone cases for safekeeping, then lean back on their chairs as they wait for drinks.
“Feels like the past three days happened so fast,” Tenma comments. Yuki hums.
“It’ll be back to work once we get back.”
“I have uni assignments to catch up on.”
“... shit, I still have some projects to do.”
The two sigh. Tenma pulls out his phone. “Let’s not think about that until we get home.”
Tenma greets with the rooftop view. He sets his phone down on the table, using his wallet as a stand to angle it nicely between them.
“If the other guys were here, they’d be causing a storm in the pool already.”
“Oh, definitely,” Tenma huffs. “Kazunari would have brought a speaker. Misumi and Kumon would be doing all types of tricks in the pool.”
“There’d be water everywhere. We’ll get blacklisted by hotel staff immediately.”
“Is Muku good at swimming? I feel like he’d be the fastest if we did a swimming relay.”
“You’d do a swimming relay?”
“Hey! I’m pretty good at swimming. What, you don't want to do a swimming relay? You slow at it or something?”
“Are you serious? We’ve literally been to the beach many times.”
The two are interrupted with a hotel staff member setting their drinks on the table.
“Ooh, a cocktail,” Yuki deadpans as he’s stirring the straw milkshake. “Sooo fancy.”
“It’s Hiro-san’s recommendation. He gave me an entire list of drinks to try in LA, but I only have time for one." He takes a sip from the drink, his lips forming a smile as the flavor runs down his throat. “Okay, okay that's good. You should try it.”
Yuki makes a mockingly grossed-out expression. Tenma’s confused until Yuki side-eyes the camera, and it sinks in.
“Oi! I meant when you’re older! Don’t put words in my mouth!” Tenma groans while his roommate moves out of frame just to laugh. “You’ll seriously put me in trouble someday! God…”
Chatter fills the air as they casually start talking about the trip. Yuki talks about how he decided to sew Tenma’s red carpet suit himself at home and Tenma talks about his experience playing his first significant role in a multilingual film — with lots of quiet in between as the two begin to wind down. Tenma thinks that their editor would have to cut out all the minutes where it’s just them sipping their drinks and staring into the view, and prays a silent apology to them.
Tenma stands up and stretches. “We should head back in. We have a flight to catch tomorrow noon.”
“Alright.” Yuki grabs the phone. They both start walking by the pool as they make their way back in.
“I’ll be really busy tomorrow so I won’t be able to record myself speaking until I’m back in Japan,” Tenma says, looking back at the camera. “So this is going to be the last you’ll see of me in America for now. See you gu–”
Before he knows it, Tenma feels a force on his shoulder and his feet slipping off the pool pavement. Blurry pool lights fill his vision and he closes his eyes shut until he finally manages to lift his head above the water. The first thing he sees is Yuki standing over him, barely holding his phone up as he’s reeling over in a hysterical laughing fit.
“Asshole!” Tenma yells out. “I should’ve known you were planning to do this from the start!”
“Come on! You were the one who said he wanted to take a dip.”
“Not in these clothes!” he groans, wading his way through the water while making sure his slippers don’t float away. “God dammit, Yuki. Help me up!”
“Alright, alright–” Yuki holds an arm out as Tenma tries to lift himself out of the pool. He sees Yuki smirking, grabs his arm, and drags him in.
“HA! How’s that?” He watches Yuki splash around — he’s not afraid of Yuki possibly drowning as they both know he can swim, but another fear quickly rises when his roommate’s hand shoots up above the water, clasping the phone.
All alarms blare in his head as he immediately snatches the phone and shakes off the water droplets, tapping the screen frantically.
Nothing beats the relief that washes over him when the screen lights up, completely unaffected.
He feels a weight on his shoulder as Yuki holds onto it and uses it as leverage to pull himself up and finally breathe.
“Should’ve thought about your phone before dragging me in, dumbass!” he yells into Tenma’s ear, who considers pushing his head back down in the water. “And couldn’t you have helped me first?!”
“That’s payback,” Tenma tells him with a glare. “Come on, let’s get out before hotel staff kicks us ou–”
Tenma freezes. Yuki looks up and sees the faint figure approaching them.
Lucky for them, Igawa’s glasses reflect the light and the two sigh in relief.
“Uh.” He stares at them. “Are you both okay?”
“Oh thank god, Igawa.” Tenma holds out his phone. “Keep this for a while.”
“O-Oh, alright. I’ll go get some towels!”
As Igawa runs off, Tenma glares at Yuki. “I can’t fucking believe you. We could have been in so much trouble!”
“And it was still worth it!” Yuki sticks his tongue out as he swims towards the pool stairs. Tenma tries to chase after him, but obviously he can’t run in water.
Tenma has his shades on. The camera pans to the car window as they go down the highway on the way to the airport.
He stops the recording and checks his unread messages on his now-dry phone. As he hovers a finger over the Summer Troupe group chat, he stops.
“... Yuki.”
His not-unofficial-stylist-anymore roommate turns his head towards him. “Hm?”
“Why is this the group chat photo?”
Yuki snorts as Tenma stares at the thumbnail of himself gasping for air in the pool.
“I don’t know,” he says, mockingly. “You looked pretty funny.”
“This is way worse than what I sent, you know!”
“Sure it is.”
They barely make it to the airport just an hour before their supposed flight, rushing to their gates while pushing around bags. Tenma pushes his luggage (that has a duffel bag full of souvenirs sitting on top of it) with one hand, and hovers his other hand behind Yuki’s back, making sure neither of them are getting left behind.
Tenma gets recognized a few times, this time as an award show winner. Each time, Yuki wishes him luck and hands him a pastel-colored pen with dangling gems on the other end for Tenma to borrow. He can’t really complain.
Tenma takes the window seat this time, completely dozing off during the flight. Yuki angles the camera to show the both of them, then leans back so it’s just a picturesque shot of a sleeping Sumeragi Tenma with the view of the sky just beside him. Yuki hopes they used this shot for the vlog’s thumbnail.
After what feels like forever, the shot shows the familiar background of MANKAI dorms’ Room 201. Tenma takes his seat on his desk chair for the first time since he's arrived back.
He exhales. "Hey. I'm finally back. It's eight in the morning, just woke up from a nap. Anyways, it was a really fun trip. It still feels surreal that I won Best Supporting Actor in an international awards show, you know? I don't think I can ever describe how proud I feel, and… how thankful I am of everyone, too. So thank you for cheering for me and watching me, as always. It's the best thing I can have from you all as an actor. Maybe with time, I might actually get Best Actor."
"You better."
Tenma sighs at hearing the muffled voice, turning his head to the other loft bed off-screen. "Go back to sleep."
Yuki makes an unintelligible noise with his face half-pressed against the pillow. Tenma shakes his head, though he's smiling. "Yuki might be too tired to say it, but he's thankful to you guys too."
His roommate makes one more affirmative noise before he goes completely quiet. Tenma grabs his phone and pans the camera to the trophy sitting on one of the shelves. Strangely enough, there's something different about it.
"This stays here for a while, but I'll have to transfer it to my family's house later in the day." He brings a hand to touch it gently, like he would with a plant. "I'm really glad to have brought it home. Also, don't mind the little hat it's wearing. Yuki just can't keep his hands off my stuff."
"It looked boring."
"Shut up."
He switches the camera away from the cat-eared-knitted-hat-wearing award and shows himself, with a half-asleep Yuki holding a peace sign up in the background. Tenma's tired, but the proud smile he wears is sincere, regardless.
"Well, that's all for my vlog. I hope you all enjoyed it. Thanks for watching."