Work Text:
Truth or dare wasn't Leo's favourite game to play, but it was always hard to deny Suou when he made such simple, innocent requests. It was why they were having this sleepover in the first place. An innocent request followed by a flustered demand that they do it as his knights as the embarrassment caught up with him.
Their Suou could be so cute, especially when he asked for things Leo thought everyone had done before. But Suou hadn’t, and had gotten curious when he’d heard some of his classmates talking about it. And then it turned out Sena hadn’t either when he tried insisting their nights on tour buses and the time they spent in Venice counted, much to Naru and Ritsu’s dismay.
So now here they were at Suou’s house for a sleepover, playing truth or dare as Naru applied face masks to everyone. Suou had handed them all a list of activities when they arrived, ones he assured were the best according to his research, and it was a list Leo had gladly ripped to pieces as Naru kindly explained that that wasn’t really the point of a sleepover.
He was having fun now though, despite his initial annoyance at them for destroying his detailed plan on how to ‘best enjoy your first sleepover’, laughing as Ritsu drew on a grumbling Sena’s face.
“Okay TsukiPi~” Ritsu says as he leans away from Sena’s face, having finished the cat features he had been drawing. “It’s your turn.” Ritsu finishes, as he places the cat ears atop Izumi’s head.
“Why do you even have these?” Sena scowls, really making the cat look come together, Leo thinks.
“Hm,” normally Leo would pick dare, but Sena and Naru just had and also Leo was really comfy in his pillow pile and didn't really feel like having to get up, “Truth!” He exclaims, raising his arms lazily into the air.
“Oh let me,” Naru says, waving the pestle she’s using to mix the ingredients together, “I have one.”
“Hit me!” He replies, dropping his arms back onto the pillows with a dull thud.
“Are you interested in anyone right now?” She coos as Sena scoffs.
“Like that idiot is capable of liking someone.”
“Hey,” Leo huffs, “I’m full of love!” He even loves Sena even though he was a big jerk all of the time.
“Those are completely different things.” Sena argues, mouth opening to continue before Suou interrupts him.
“But do you, Leo-san?” Suou asks, “Have a crush on anyone, I mean.”
Leo hums, thinking, “I have a boyfriend. Does that count?” Does it count as being interested in someone if you’re already dating? You had to be interested in someone to date them, he guesses.
Leo blinks from his pondering, noticing that no one has spoken while he was thinking.
“Was that not a good enough answer...?”
“Leo-kun you’re dating someone?” Naru squeals, almost dropping her bowl.
“How could you not tell us Tsukipi,” Ritsu whines, “I thought we were friends.”
“Do we know them?” Suou adds, “What’s their name?”
“Uh,” he pauses, thinking. Well Ibara had said it was fine to tell other people now, “Ibara~”
“If you wanted us to believe you, you should at least try saying the person's name without thinking about it first.” Sena says, rolling his eyes.
“And pick a better person to name too,” Naru scolds, “no one’s gonna believe that one Leo-kun.”
“6.5/10,” Ritsu announces, “a great set up and execution but terrible punchline.”
But Leo wasn’t lying! He wasn’t trying to play some prank! Why was everyone acting like he was!
“It’s not nice to lie, Leo-san.” Suou says with a frown, though his voice isn’t as stern as it usually is when he scolds him.
“But I’m not ly--”
“Of course it’s a joke, there’s no way anyone would date Leo.” Sena scoffs.
“No one’s dating you either, Secchan!” Ritsu laughs, draping himself over Sena.
“Shut up, you shitty Kuma-kun. That’s because I don’t want to date anyone right now.” He defends, which makes Naru laugh and a sad pitying look appear in Suou’s eyes, all of which predictably irritates Sena causing him to start yelling at them.
Leo pouts, this was great, and he loved them, but he was a little miffed.
Since when did Leo ever lie! Never ever! That’s when! And yet not a single one of them believed him!
He sighs, pursing his lips as he looks at them in mild annoyance. Everyone had moved past it now, but maybe next time.
-
“Ibara!” Jun shouts, throwing open the door to his office, “Why are you telling Ohii-san lies?”
Every day Ibara closed the door to his office, every day he made sure to lock it. And yet somehow that never seemed to stop people from just bursting into his office.
“Jun. What do you want?” He asks, tired as he squints at his laptop.
“To know why you’re lying to Ohii-san!” Jun repeats, “Do you know how hard it was to convince him you couldn’t possibly be telling the truth.”
Ibara frowns at that, finally turning to look at Jun, who stands exasperated at the edge of his desk. “About what?”
“You know what I’m talking about.” Jun sighs, shrugging one hand.
He really didn’t.
Ibara would never call himself an honest man, but he didn’t go around spouting lies either. He preferred misdirection, roundabout half truths, or just plain old silence. All of those were much more efficient than telling actual lies, harder to disapprove and find out.
Either way, Ibara couldn’t remember any he’d told recently, let alone to His Highness.
“Do you really not remember?” Jun asks, confused and annoyed.
Well, that made two of them.
“Enlighten me.” He didn’t feel like spending the next however long arguing nothing back and forth with Jun, as enjoyable as that could occasionally be.
“You told Ohii-san you were dating someone!” Jun says, gaze expectant, like he’s waiting for Ibara to do... something.
For once Ibara wasn’t entirely sure what that was.
“I did do that.” He admits. He had been meaning to tell all of them, actually, but there hadn't been a good time to gather the entire unit together, so Ibara had just settled for telling them one by one. He’d only managed to tell Hiyori so far though, and that had gone fine enough.
Maybe a little too well, he perhaps should’ve expected the excitement but at some point the onslaught of questions had been enough to leave him mildly flustered. Not that he’d shown it, or would ever let the other know.
“Well?” Jun asks, gesturing like he’s asking Ibara to continue, but there isn’t more to add. “You know you usually aren’t this frustrating to talk to.”
Ibara could say much the same right about now.
“Jun, if you could please just tell me what it is you want. You haven’t been very forthcoming here.”
“What do you mean!” Jun says, exasperated. “I already told you I wanted to know why you were telling Ohii-san lies.” Ibara remembers, he just wasn’t sure how that connected to what had come after. “Why would you lie to Ohii-san about you dating someone? Who’d you even tell him it was, he wouldn’t tell me.”
Ibara stares, not even sure where to start with that. “And you said you’d convinced him I was lying?”
“Yeah! It took forever, let me tell you, he was really sure about it for some reason. God knows why, like you’d ever date someone.”
He thinks he would be offended if he didn’t understand perfectly well where Jun was coming from here.
He tsked. The problem here was that Ibara wasn’t lying, and it would take forever to convince Hiyori otherwise now.
Or Jun, for that matter it seems.
“I’m not lying,” he tries, “I am dating someone.”
“Sure,” Jun scoffs, “and who is it?”
“Tsukinaga-shi.” He says firmly, trying to impress as much conviction into the statement as he could.
Juns eyes widen, “When have you ever even met Tsukinaga-senpai?”
“... It’s complicated.”
Jun sighs, “You’re usually a lot better at lying than this, I’m almost disappointed in you.”
Is this some punishment from God? Lie too much and be cursed to never be believed.
“Jun. I am not lying about this.” He says, as sternly as he can, as sincerely as he’s capable of. “Tsukinaga-shi and I truly are dating. I am trying to share facts of my life with you all.”
For a second Ibara thinks he's gotten through to him, can see the hesitation in Jun’s eyes before he scowls, shaking his head.
“No! You aren’t tricking me with this Ibara, I don’t know what you’re trying to do with this scheme but I want no part in it.”
“Jun...”
“And don’t lie to Ohii-san about things like that again, I had to listen to him talk about how excited he was for like an hour!” He says firmly, kindly waving goodbye despite his clear frustration, before storming out of the room.
“... Bye to you as well Jun.
Ibara sighs, apparently this would be harder than he thought.
-
Today was one of those rare days where Leo actually got to hang out with Madara. Which was fantastic because Leo loved hanging out with Madara, and it was always hard to get their schedules to line up.
They'd had a great time at a nearby Orchestra Leo had managed to get tickets too, and now they were enjoying a nice dinner at a place Kohaku had recommended, according to Madara.
Leo hums, sipping at the bubble tea he had ordered. The food had been good, but Leo was much preferring all the desserts they had on the menu even more. Maybe he should tell Suou about it? But if his little cousin/brother had been the one to tell Mama, then he probably already knew.
Oh! Maybe Leo could take Ibara here, neither of them knew much about any of the local restaurants. Well, Ibara did, but all the ones he did know were far too pricey for Leo to ever feel comfortable in. Leo went out to eat to have fun, not feel all prissy in stuffy clothing.
“Ah!” He exclaims, the realization hitting him.
“Leo-san?” Madara questions “Did something happen?”
“I remembered something I wanted to tell you.”
“Of course, Mama listens kindly to all his friends and fans.” He boasts, puffing his chest out. “But yes, what did you want to tell me?”
Leo opens his mouth and then snaps it shut, thinking. The last time he had tried this it hadn’t gone well.
“You trust me right, Mama?” He questions.
“Of course, you are my most trusted friend.” Madara says kindly, and Leo grins, Mama always said the sweetest things. Leo loves him so much!
“And you know I wouldn’t lie to you?”
“Leo-san, you are one of the most trustworthy people I know. But what’s with all the questions?”
“Just wanted to make sure before I told you!” He sings, taking another big sip. “I wanted to tell you I have a boyfriend!” It still felt a bit weird to say that aloud, but that was just because Leo had barely gotten to tell anybody, and those he had told hadn’t even believed him.
“Hey, that's great!” Madara cheers, putting his hand on Leo’s shoulder. “Who’s the lucky guy?”
“Ibara! You know him right?” Leo says cheerily and then sighs, watching as Madara’s expression shuts down.
Why didn’t this seem to ever go right?
“Leo-san.” Madara says, his voice just shy of that cold tone he rarely if ever showed when Leo was around. In a way, Leo was almost happy Mama felt comfortable enough around him to act like this in front of him. Mostly, he wished bringing up he was currently dating someone didn’t cause this kind of reaction. “That’s not a very funny joke.”
“But Mama! I’m not joking!”
He sighs, “Did someone tell you this would be funny? Ibara-san is not someone to be trusted Leo-san. You shouldn’t say things like that even as a joke.”
Leo groans, giving up. He was more than used to hearing people talk about how untrustworthy Ibara was by now, why did he have to have just a poor reputation? He was making things real hard over here!
“Alright, alright, I’m sorry.” He wasn’t, but there was no way Madara was gonna believe him now, “But what would you do if I wasn’t?”
Madara smiles a smile that does not reach his eyes. “Well, we don’t have to worry about that so it doesn’t really matter does it?”
Hmm, maybe he should warn Ibara before he convinced Mama he wasn’t lying about this.
But that was a problem for a Leo of the future, for now Leo would enjoy the rest of his day with Madara. And then tomorrow he could get back to plotting on how to get anyone to believe him about this.
-
It wasn’t often that the two of them were found alone together. Ibara understood perfectly well Amagi’s justified dislike and wariness of him. It was a wariness that went both ways, but that was something that made their relationship equal, Ibara supposes.
They were discussing a new live Amagi wanted to create to perform as Crazy:B, and as it stood so far they were likely to put it forth to begin preparations soon enough, there were just a few minor things left to adjust before it could be considered good enough to produce.
His phone buzzes, the specific sound of it a familiar tune Leo himself had set. He flips it over, revealing a message in their chat that shows a picture of a snake curled up beneath the shade of a small tree. ‘It looks just like you!’ The message read, he was at the Zoo with his little sister today if Ibara remembered correctly.
He smiles, people often referred to Ibara as a snake, but people rarely meant it as kindly as Leo always did.
“Eh? What’s got you smiling, Viper-chan~?” Case in point; there was zero kindness in Amagi’s repeated referring to him as a viper or snake. Not that Ibara particularly cared, the way people perceived him was exactly as he wished it to be. “Didn’t think you could smile so sweet.”
He frowns, he wasn’t sure he appreciated Amagi’s implication there.
“And what is it to you, Amagi-shi?”
“Hey, hey, don’t get mad at me.” Amagi defends, smiling cheekily, “I’m just making conversation aren’t I?”
There was no point in getting riled by Amagi’s teasing, he thinks with a sigh. There was no malice in his questions, even if he was saying them with the intent of them being taken that way.
“Do you really want to know?” Ibara didn’t exactly have many people to share the news with, and the one’s he had hadn’t believed him. He hadn’t even bothered with trying to tell His Excellency after that, he was sure His Highness had already told him of the ‘cruel trick’ Ibara had played on him and wouldn’t have believed him either.
He was still trying to figure out how to fix that entire situation.
Amagi raises one brow, looking at him curiously. “Really? You’ll tell me just like that.”
“Not everything is some huge secret or play.” He says flatly, not surprised when Amagi laughs wildly at the statement.
“And I’m sure you meant that oh so sincerely.” Amagi replies, still laughing. “But sure, lay it on me, what makes our dear vice president smile like a schoolgirl in love.”
His lips purse at the comment, Ibara would never look so pathetic in front of someone else.
“I’m joking.” Amagi says, as if reading Ibara’s thoughts, but he doubts the other truly means that at all.
“It’s fine,” he replies instead, “it’s not that important.”
“Nooo,” Amagi whines, an effect undercut by the fact he is laughing once again, “tell me, tell me, I promise to be good.”
Amagi truly was a man who inspired annoyance and ire.
“It is nothing special, I simply received a message from the person I am dating.”
Amagi’s mouth opens, then closes, then opens again. “Viper-chan? Now you aren’t playing a little trick on your beloved employee aren’t you?”
Ibara frowns.
“Don’t be like that! Come on, tell me their name, tell me more?”
“Tsukinaga-shi.”
“That Knights kid?” Rinne asks, looking visibly confused, before he grins. “Ah! You’re getting better at telling jokes, I couldn’t be more proud of ya. You even practiced your acting to really seal the deal. Were you planning on going on some Variety shows again?”
Ibara sighs, not even trying to argue the point. “Let’s just get back to work, shall we?”
“And just when we were starting to have a good time...” Amagi sighs, his annoyed and petulant act betrayed easily by the fact he immediately picks up a sheet of paper and begins to scan it over.
It wasn’t like he was surprised Amagi hadn’t believed him, why should he when his own unit mates hadn’t, but it was still annoying.
Was this really that unbelievable?
-
Leo was frustrated, really and truly. Absolutely no one he had tried telling had believed him! Not a single person! Even Ruka had giggled when he told her about it, asking him if he had been imagining things too vividly again.
What was the point of deciding not to keep their relationship a secret anymore if telling people about it resulted in no one even thinking you were telling the truth. Ibara had told him no one had believed him either, so neither of them were having any kind of luck on that front.
And sure, people often thought of Ibara as a liar, but Leo wasn’t one! So shouldn’t people give him some benefit of the doubt.
It was so annoying! Leo thought with a frown, but that was okay, Leo had finally thought up of a plan that was foolproof. He had thought of it earlier today and there was no way it could go wrong. No one would be calling Leo a liar after today, and everyone would see that they’d both been telling the truth the whole time
He grins as he watches the crowd begin to filter out from behind the curtain, today's live had gone perfectly, and the crowd's smiling faces never failed to energize him.
It was energy he’d be taking with him as he initiated his plan.
“Leo-san,” Suou calls, “let’s go, they've set up the party room.”
“Coming!” He shouts, excitement putting a bounce in his steps.
Today was one of those occasionally large nearly-all-day lives the p-association occasionally ran, where they got units from all the 4 companies to come perform at a shared venue.
It meant it was one of the few times all of them would be in the same place all together.
He scans the room as the two of them enter, smiling as he spots Ibara off to the side chatting about something with Oba-chan. Perfect!
He waits for a bit, nodding along as Suou talks to one of his classmates and sips at his juice. Now seemed okay, as far as he could tell most people were here, and at the very least everyone Leo cared about was here, which was good enough for him.
“I’ll be right back!” He tells Suou, who looks at him with what is probably an appropriate amount of concern considering his plans, but that’s fine.
“Okay... if you’re tired you can go back to our rooms.” He says, nodding as he turns back towards his classmate.
Suou now officially distracted again Leo sneaks away, sliding towards the empty stage that had been used earlier today. The speakers and mics were still connected, they were supposed to play some games later tonight if he remembered right with them, but that wasn’t important right now.
He clambers up the stage, faster when he can almost feel the way Suou’s eyes immediately find him. All those months of chasing him had really given him a sense for these things Leo thought regrettably.
He grabs the microphone, ignoring Suou’s shout. “Hello and good evening everyone!” He says into the microphone. “I have an announcement I want to make!” He laughs, hopping off the stage as everyone’s eyes turn to him, weaving through the crowds until he finds himself beside the person he was looking for. “But before I do that I do need permission.” He says, looking expectantly at Ibara.
He watches the other look around the room, then back at Leo, eyes considering. “I suppose this is one way to go about it, sure.”
Perfect!
He grabs Ibara’s hand, pulling him in close. “Now I’ve been trying to say this for a while now, and none of you have believed me, so clearly you have all left me with no choice. Me and Ibara are dating, this isn’t a joke, I’m not lying! We’re really dating and all of you just have to believe that okay!”
Leo looks out into a sea of confused, unsure faces, looking back up towards Ibara who is smiling slightly. “It’s true.” He adds, which isn’t the most enthusiastic support but Leo understands.
Still, no one looks really sure of what’s happening.
“Argh! You guys can be so frustrating!” He shouts, stomping his foot into ground twice, then reaching up to pull on the lapels of Ibara’s coat, tugging him down until he’s close enough to reach. He waits for a moment, until Ibara can read his intent, and then continues when the other does not pull away.
He kisses him, a soft, sweet, quick thing. Grinning into it when he feels Ibara’s hand shift so it can cup into his hair.
“There! You have to believe us now!” He says smugly as they pull away.
And, well, Ibara’s laughter is the only thing he needs to know he’s done a good job.