Chapter Text
Mona should really have known better than to say anything to Shibasaki. She’d worked with LIPxLIP enough times to understand that the idol duo operated according to some bizarre shared logic that made every single interaction with them a complete nightmare. She just hadn’t expected to walk out after recording her part of a guest MC job with Someya Yuujirou (her manager’s idea, not hers) to find his taller, blonder, equally obnoxious other half lurking in the waiting room. Shibasaki had been watching his partner so intently on the backstage monitor that for a split second, Mona couldn’t help but feel a twinge of something—camaraderie, perhaps? The childish impulse to have any kind of functional working relationship with her colleagues?
“You guys are lucky, you know. It must be nice to have a friend to do this stuff with.”
Aizou startled and spun around to glare at her like he hadn’t even noticed she was in the room. Typical. “That guy?” he said, tilting his head at Yuujirou on the screen. “He’s not my friend.”
“What?”
“Just because we work together doesn’t make us friends,” Aizou said, rolling his eyes. “Please don’t tell me you think you and I are friends, too. Because that might actually make me sick.”
“No, I—” Mona felt a headache coming on. “Believe me, you’re the last person on Earth I’d call a friend. My bad for trying to say something nice because I saw you came all this way just for Someya’s schedule.”
“I didn’t…” Aizou trailed off. “It’s whatever. I don’t want him to think I owe him anything when he comes to my shoots, that’s all.”
“Yeah, ‘cause you guys aren’t friends, huh?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Mona threw her hands up in the air. “Figure it out yourself!” Hiyori was a saint for putting up with those two practically every day. Mona would have quit on day one.
Hiyori chewed her cafeteria sandwich enviously as she watched Yuujirou unpack a homemade bento stuffed with roast beef and a generous helping of vegetables. It was a little odd considering how neat Yuujirou's mom's bentos usually looked, but it smelled wonderful all the same.
“That looks so good,” she said around a mouthful of bread. “Did your mom make something different?”
“You shouldn’t talk and eat at the same time,” Yuujirou said primly. “It’s gross.”
“You’re rude,” Hiyori retorted. They ate in awkward silence for a minute, Yuujirou methodically picking out all the vegetables and leaving them on the side. Hiyori wondered if it would be a good idea to have Manager Uchida talk to him about healthier eating habits.
“Actually, it’s Aizou’s. He said I could have it since he accidentally made too much.”
Hiyori stared. “Shibasaki can cook? Wait, scratch that. Shibasaki made lunch for you? That’s not fair. You aren’t even eating most of it!”
Yuujirou shrugged. Hiyori could practically feel the smugness radiating off him. “Go complain to him, then. He’s probably off playing basketball or something.”
“Ugh.” Hiyori slumped over in her chair, wondering if it was too late to join Juri and Chizuru for lunch instead. It didn’t look like her junior manager skills would be needed today, anyway.
“I’m glad you two are getting along so well, at least,” she added after a beat. “It’s much better than having to pretend you’re friends.”
“We’re not friends, though?”
Hiyori almost choked on her orange juice. “Huh? What?”
Yuujirou looked at her blankly. He lifted another bite of roast beef to his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “We’re only partners for work,” he said, as if it were obvious.
“But he made you lunch… My friends don’t even make me homemade lunch!”
Yuujirou seemed to contemplate the sad heap of vegetables left in his bento. I’ve got him now. There’s no way he can argue with that, thought Hiyori.
“No,” Yuujirou said, frowning. “Didn’t your friend, the potato boy—“
“Nagisa.” Since when did Yuujirou start calling him potato boy, too?
“Yeah, that. Didn’t he cook for you that one time?”
“He was confessing to me! ”
Aniki
r u coming back for dinner tonite?
Aizou
no
i’m going to yuujirou’s
Aniki
oh?
have fun lol
Aizou
ew
whatever you’re thinking, don’t
Aniki
i didnt say anything :(
Aizou
i’m helping him with math hw
Aniki
awwww cute
u cld do that over text tho
Aizou
don’t have his number
Aniki
??????
wdym
Aizou
what would i need his number for anyway
Aniki
???????????????????????????
u have his address but not his phone number
how many times have u been over there anyway
???
hey
answer meeee
“Yuujirou! You have to help me.” Minami bounded into the dressing room and threw himself into the chair next to Yuujirou, miserably brandishing his phone. “I need girl advice.”
Yuujirou put down his makeup brush. “Oh. Are the fans giving you trouble?”
“No! Not like that.”
“Then what are you asking me for?”
Minami groaned and buried his head in his hands.
“Your stylist isn’t going to be happy if you mess up your hair,” Yuujirou said helpfully.
“I don’t know who else to ask. Where’s Aizou?”
“Bathroom. Do you want me to get Suzumi? She might have better advice than us.”
“ No! ” Minami fiddled with his phone for a moment and pulled up the Honeygram app. “I mean, what am I supposed to say to this?”
KurukuruNakuru
hi minami~ guess what i just found out the place i’m filming on friday is right next to terapro!! we should get dinner after if you’re around ^^
“Well,” Yuujirou said slowly, “Do you want to get dinner with her?”
“Yes. No.” Minami flushed. “I mean, I do, but I don’t know if it’s like a friend thing, which is fine, but what if I want it to not be a friend thing? Or like, what if it was a friend thing in a way that’s like, let’s be friends for now but also I’m totally open to making it more than a friend thing in the future if that’s something she would be into, but also if she’s not into that—”
Yuujirou snatched the phone away from him. He didn’t want Minami to accidentally hit him with the thing while flailing around. “Okay, okay, stop. So you want to get dinner with her. Just say that?”
“—and I don’t even know what she means by dinner! Does she mean a fancy dinner or just, like, a casual hangout dinner? What makes a dinner casual? Can we do a dinner that’s kind of casual but also kind of not casual, just in case—”
“I think you’re overthinking this.”
Minami took a deep breath. “Sorry. I guess… What would you suggest, Yuujirou? Like, I don’t know, where would you casually get dinner with Aizou?”
“With Aizou?” Yuujirou looked thoughtful. “Sometimes when he loses a bet he has to take me to a dessert café, I guess. He hates sweets.”
“A dessert café…” Minami shook his head. “No, that’s too— I mean, I’m not sure if that’s a friend thing. And it’s definitely not dinner.”
“It’s basically dinner. But Aizou and I aren’t friends anyway, so.”
Minami’s face turned an even brighter red. It was starting to rival his hair. “Oh, you mean— I didn’t know it was like that,” he stammered. He’d really done it now, hadn’t he? This was so, so embarrassing.
In his defense, it was always hard to read Yuujirou and Aizou when they were together. They certainly didn’t behave like any other couple he knew. They fought constantly over everything, but they also had an uncanny ability to know where the other one was at all times. Sometimes they acted like they hated each other, and sometimes Minami would look at them onstage together and think he’d never seen two people look so truly happy.
And he knew Aizou wasn’t that good of an actor.
“Uh, Minami,” Yuujirou interrupted before the other idol could make a graceful exit with whatever remained of his dignity. “Are you okay? You look kind of feverish.”
“I’m fine!” Minami squeaked, just barely remembering to grab his phone before scrambling out of the room. “Just remembered something I forgot to do. Gotta go! Bye!”
“Minami’s being weird,” Yuujirou said without looking up.
Aizou let the dressing room door close behind him and took a long sip of his coffee. “Oh? I thought I saw him in the hallway.”
“Yeah, he said he needed advice about a girl or something.”
“Huh. Then what was he asking you for?”
“That’s what I said.”
Aizou
ken i have a question but you have to promise not to be weird about it
Aniki
when am i ever weird abt anything
Aizou
JUST PROMISE
Aniki
fiiine i promise not to be “weird”
Aizou
ok
are me and yuujirou friends?
Aniki
u have to be fucking kidding me
Aizou had to make sure everything was just right. His brilliantly formulated master plan went as follows:
- Meet in neutral territory (A café equidistant from their homes that serves decent dessert as well as coffee)
- Lower his opponent’s defenses (Ply him with all the free cake his heart desires)
- Negotiate terms agreeable to both parties (Decide whether or not Shibasaki Aizou and Someya Yuujirou are, in fact, friends)
Ken had caught him scrolling through restaurant blogs a few nights before, so Aizou was forced to explain to his brother that he had made up his mind to finally parley with his unit partner-slash-rival, to which Ken had responded by being entirely speechless for once in his life. Aizou should have come up with this idea sooner.
Since it was the weekend, he made sure to text Hiyori to text Yuujirou where and when to meet him. It was very important that the word parley was included. Yuujirou would have to appreciate it, seeing as he was the one that taught Aizou the word in the first place. Please don’t text me at two in the morning, Hiyori had replied.
Thankfully, his ever-reliable junior manager was able to deliver the message in time. Aizou felt a wave of relief wash over him when he spotted Yuujirou making his way across the street towards him.
“This cake had better be as good as you promised,” Yuujirou grumbled by way of greeting. “Can you believe Suzumi texted me at like two in the morning?”
“Did she?” Aizou shooed him towards the table he’d specifically requested at the back of the restaurant. Not that there was anything particularly scandalous about a well-known idol duo hanging out at a trendy cafe, but he figured his plan would go smoother without any passersby ogling them in public.
“I really hate that shirt, by the way,” Yuujirou said, looking at Aizou’s button-down. “You shouldn’t wear something so loud if you don’t want to be recognized.”
“It’s reverse psychology. And your tote bag looks stupid.”
It disappeared in the blink of an eye, but Aizou could have sworn he saw the ghost of a smile on Yuujirou’s lips. That was a good sign. He could work with that.
Aniki
hows ur date going
Aizou
what date
i have the thing with yuujirou today remember?
Aniki
oh my god
well tell him i said hi <3
Aizou
yeah whatever
“I never got to eat a lot of sweets growing up,” Yuujirou said, staring down at his slice of cake. There was a little heart-shaped piece of chocolate stuck in the top.
“Really?”
“Mhm. Sometimes, if we did really well at practice that day…” He prodded the icing with his fork. “But that usually wasn’t me.”
“Oh,” said Aizou. “My mom never really cared what we ate.”
“I know,” said Yuujirou. He let out a sudden snort of amusement. “I’m glad our parents aren’t here to see us now. My father would hate this place.” It was exactly the kind of establishment Someya Tamagoro would find frivolous and distasteful, full of moony couples and giggling schoolgirls with no appreciation for the arts.
Aizou wrinkled his nose. “You laugh weird. It’s not cute at all.”
“What do you care?” Yuujirou snapped, but there wasn't any real heat behind the words. “I should make you eat some of the cake, since you’re here.”
“No, thanks. And don’t sulk. It doesn’t work on me.”
“I’m not trying to trick you or anything,” Yuujirou said airily, pushing his small plate across the table. “It’s good. It’s coffee flavored. You might like it.”
He did like it. It was surprisingly light and delicate on his tongue, slightly sweet without being too overpowering thanks to the coffee and dark chocolate. “It’s fine, I guess,” said Aizou, already going in for another bite.
“So are you going to tell me what this is about or not?”
“Oh, yeah. Parley.” Aizou coughed awkwardly. Here goes nothing. “Yuujirou, are we friends?”
His partner scoffed. “Just because we work together doesn’t mean we have to be friends. I thought we were on the same page about that.”
Right… they had been on the same page, hadn’t they? “No, I know that. Obviously I know that. I just—” Aizou fidgeted with the cuff of his shirt sleeve. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. If you wanted to be.”
“I don’t need to be friends with you,” Yuujirou muttered, looking away.
“Me neither,” Aizou shot back instinctively. “Wait, no. Look, just think about it. We already see each other every day—”
“That’s our job .”
“—We eat lunch together at school—”
“Because everyone else won’t leave us alone!”
“—I buy you desserts all the time—”
“That’s your fault for making stupid bets!”
“—but that’s not important.” Aizou kicked at Yuujirou’s leg under the table. “Come on. You don’t actually hate me that much, do you?”
Yuujirou actually looked pained for a moment. Aizou wasn’t sure if it was from the kick or the subject matter. Sometimes he forgot his own strength. “You can’t make me say it,” the other boy said quietly.
They’d had this fight before. Aizou felt the words on his tongue, easy and familiar and comfortable. Yuujirou would say something he didn’t mean, and Aizou wouldn’t let it go. Yuujirou would pretend he didn’t care about anything, and Aizou would go home and wonder what it was about him that made it so hard for Yuujirou to just trust him for once.
But today there was a plan. He just needed to stick to it. Aizou sighed. “That’s okay,” he said.
“It is?”
“You don’t have to say it if you don’t want to.” Yuujirou was looking at him again with those round, wide eyes. Really not cute . “But I think it might be nice, being your friend. If you’ll let me.”
“Stupid…” Yuujirou said under his breath. “You can do whatever you want.”
Aizou beamed at him.
“As long as you keep buying me food,” Yuujirou added.
There was a warm, fluttering feeling in Aizou’s stomach. Why didn’t anyone tell him this was what friendship felt like? “I’ll buy you whatever you like,” he blurted out without thinking. It surprised him how much he meant it.
Aniki
so how was it?
Aizou
it was fine
maybe even good
Aniki
REALLY?
Aizou
shut up
Aniki
never
im proud of u
Someya Yuujirou
Hello
Suzumi Hiyori
Do you need Shibasaki’s number?
Someya Yuujirou
What?
I have a question for you
As my classmate, not my manager
Suzumi Hiyori
Ok…?
Someya Yuujirou
Do I have a crush on Aizou
Suzumi Hiyori
HOW THE HELL WOULD I KNOW