Chapter Text
Being an idol was Narumi’s dream ever since he was five. He’d often go to any local idol shows with his parents, watching and hyping over their performance. By the time he was eleventh, he was being enrolled in an agency for training. He thought he could finally make his debut before he turned twenty, but he was wrong.
Ten years into training and no contract for debuting, Narumi was about to give up. He kept telling himself to quit, but his body and heart kept forcing him to train harder. It was then the unexpected offer came, one that he didn’t expect.
“Narumi, you’re going to be the new member of Solaris.”
“WHAT?!”
Solaris was one of the most popular groups, debuting when Narumi was around seventeen years old. The news of their sudden hiatus a year ago confused the public, with the statement that they wanted to make few changes in the group. It was normal for a group to make some changes, but being the chosen one to debut with them?
Narumi wanted to hit his head on the wall so bad.
“WHY ME?! I mean not that I want to refuse, but why?” Narumi looked at the contract in front of him, then he looked back at the CEO. “This group was originally a duo, right? Why are you suddenly adding me to the line up?”
Both the CEO and the Manager sighed heavily, looking at each other before answering the question.
“Well, their dynamic seems to be off with just the two of them,” said Konomi, the manager, while holding her head in stress. “Both Soichiro and Soshiro are fighting way too often and I can’t handle it alone, so we thought adding a third member will solve the problem.”
‘YOU’RE GIVING ME A CHANCE TO DEBUT JUST TO BE THE MIDDLE-MAN OF THEM?!’ Narumi screeched in his thought, completely baffled with their reason to debut him. Between the task of being the middle-man and debuting, the thought of rejecting it came through his mind. However, if he had to wait five more years, he’d eventually have to leave and worked a job he never wanted to.
‘SCREW IT!’
“Please Narumi! I’m begging you!” Konomi wailed as she sobbed on Gen’s shoulder. “At this rate I’ll be going bald because of the siblings!”
Narumi could only sigh as he took the pen from Konomi’s hand, signing the contract and giving it back to the CEO. He cockily smiled, making v sign while sticking out his tongue. “Heh, I’m going to make them regret ever stressing out both of you! This is the time for me, The Great Narumi!”
He was hoping that his presence wouldn’t bring any more chaos into the group.
The sun had been rising in Japan’s sky for no longer than two hours, but Narumi was already arrived at the company. He was sitting in the cafeteria, eating the free breakfast. It was all peaceful, but the sudden appearance of someone from his past made the onigiri he ate taste stale.
It was the youngest of Hoshina siblings, Soshiro, who was one of his rivals during his trainee period.
“Holy shit! Narumi?! I should tell nii-san that you’re here!” Soshiro laughed out loud, immediately sitting next to Narumi’s left. “Nice to see you my kouhai~! Finally making his debut, eh?”
“AAAAGH!” Narumi tried his best to shield his face from Soshiro’s prying hands. But well, he just really couldn’t prevent Soshiro’s hands from squishing his face. “WEMME GO STWUPID!!”
The memories from when he was eleventh flashed through his mind, the days when the Soshiro and his brother were treating him like a child’s toy and often made him cry. He was the youngest trainee back then, so it was normal that the older trainees would often tease him. However, Soshiro and Soichiro were the worst among them, so Narumi learned a way to hid his presence from them.
Narumi was too busy trying to eat his breakfast in peace, failing to notice that the older Hoshina was already beside him. He only realized when he couldn’t find the missing sausage on his tray then he turned around, finding Soichiro eating it.
“HEY! THAT’S MINE YOU THIEF!” Narumi was angry, but soon he noticed that Soshiro was drinking his juice box. “NOT THE JUICE!?”
“Today’s sausage is good, thanks Narumi-chan!”
“Thanks for the juice!”
Narumi took a deep breath, calmy finishing his breakfast before he stood up. He pushed the table a bit, creating a little space for him to stood up and looked at the brothers. He was smiling sweetly at them, almost uncharacteristically of him to smile like that.
Soshiro and Soichiro? Both of them weren’t expecting to see Narumi like this. They were both stunned for obvious reason.
“Listen you two shit heads, steal my food again and I’m going to make you two pay for your stupidity.” It was all Narumi said before he left, taking his other onigiri and ate it as he left.
Soichiro and Soshiro looked at each other, face beet red and seemingly confused with what happened with them. As if they were talking through their mind, they both ran after Narumi.
“WHY YOU DIDN’T TELL US THAT NARUMI IS THE ONE WHO WILL BE OUR THIRD MEMBER?!”
Konomi covered her ears while she glanced at Narumi who had been sitting on the corner like a lost child. Well, at least Narumi was way calmer than the siblings. She thought it was a bit stranger after hearing that Narumi was one of the loud and bratty trainees, but when being placed in a room together with Soshiro and Soichiro he was surprisingly quiet. If this was a dream, she hoped someone would wake her up.
“If you two are going to continue that, feel free,” said Narumi as he turned on the music, “I have to prepare for my debut anyway.”
The manager was quick to push both siblings out of the training room as Narumi began his daily training, leaving Narumi alone with some recording crew for the group’s channel.
Soshiro was immediately latching on the glass part of the door, checking how Narumi trained when he was alone. Soon, Soichiro followed his brother and the siblings were latching on the glass door. If people were looking at them without knowing why, they’d immediately think that the siblings were high on alcohol and started acting like a gecko.
“Listen,” Konomi pulled them away from the door and wall, “when we were checking your training documents, we found out that you two were in the same year and kind of close, so—”
“So you decided to put him with us?” Soichiro cut Konomi’s sentences. “I thought the CEO were going to pick someone else, seriously.”
Konomi sighed, feeling an incoming headache began to spread. “Don’t cut me, Soichiro. The CEO picked Narumi because of something else.”
Soshiro was the one who cut her off this time, always with the snarky sarcastic tone of his. “Eh? Is it because of nii-san’s lack of leadership?”
“You’re the one who’s hard to be dealt with, baby brother.” Soichiro’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance. “Poor you, still need your brother to take care of you in your mid-twenties.”
“I’m not a baby!”
“B-A-B-Y~ boo hoo!”
The brothers were starting to fight again; Soichiro was taking pleasure in teasing Soshiro, making the younger one angry. It was chaos, with how Soichiro kept avoiding Soshiro’s attempt to pull him by his hair and ran away. The security was about to stop them, until—
DANG!
The door was being opened with a loud bang, startling everyone including the training crew. Soichiro and Soshiro stopped immediately, sweats were rolling down their face as they saw Narumi approaching them with the filming crew.
“What did I tell you two about LETTING ME PREPARE IN PEACE?!” Narumi roared, pulling the Hoshina siblings by their ears into the training room.
“OW OW OW! I’M SORRY NARUMI-CHAN!”
“NARUMI—! THAT HURT! NII-SAN STARTED EVERYTHING!!”
“I DON’T CARE AND I DON’T WANT TO CARE! I’M NOT LETTING YOUR STUPID SIBLING FIGHT RUIN MY TRAINING REGIMENT! YOU TWO ARE DOING IT WITH ME, NOW!”
Konomi could only watch in awe. She was still new in handling a group and even with her history handling Soshiro and Soichiro, she found it hard to believe that both of them were easily obeyed Narumi. She then remembered the CEO’s words, of his reason choosing Narumi than another trainee.
“Narumi was always being teased by Soichiro and Soshiro, so picking him as the middle man will give him the chance to wrapped his hands around them, like taming two beasts with another beast.”
“Monster rookie siblings and a monster trainee…” Konomi murmured as she was watching them train together. “Is Narumi going to be okay though…?”
“Is the camera ready?” Soichiro asked as he came back into the dorm with take outs. “I have the food for our dinner. Where’s Narumi?”
“In his room. He refused to go out after we all done unpacking his stuff, go get him.” Soshiro quickly positioned himself in front of the camera, giving his fox-like smile. “Hello hello! Welcome to Solaris live stream, where we will brighten your day even in the darkest time!”
Soichiro peeked a little, waving his hand to say hi before he walked past the camera. He’d get Narumi to come out by force.
Soshiro himself was handling the live stream alone, answering to fans’ questions about their comeback. The company did mention about their comeback a week ago, so he was just updating about their progress while eating his share of food. Just then, Soichiro came back dragging Narumi with him and forcing him to sit in the middle.
“YOU COULD’VE JUST KNOCK MY DOOR?!” Narumi hissed, but soon his attention was focused on the livestream chat. “Oh hey! I’m on the livestream camera!” He chirped in happily, ignoring how Soichiro just put his arm around him.
“Since the company already make the announcement, here we are showcasing our newest member! Come on Narumi, say hi~!” Soichiro said, trying to snuggle their cheeks together but was being pushed by Narumi.
“HI YES HELLO AND GET AWAY FROM ME SOICHIRO!!” Again, Narumi was hissing. It was soon being silenced by Soichiro and Soshiro, who fed him a piece of pork cutlet and natto-covered rice. They were soon busy with the chat, while Narumi was busy with the food.
Soshiro laughed at the sight, ruffling Narumi’s hair as he couldn’t help it. “Eat a lot, sorry for teasing you earlier, okay?”
Soichiro looked at the live chat, laughing at one comment that said how Narumi act like a toddler. “Right? Maybe we should get the company’s permission to show everyone our training tape ten years ago. Narumi-chan was just soooo tiny!”
“I’M NOD DAT TEENY!” Narumi argued with his mouth full, but he swallowed it all soon after. “I’m not that tiny! I’m a grown adult!”
“Oh really? It’s okay Narumi~” Soshiro giggled as he teasingly pinched both of the youngest’s cheeks. “Look! He still got his baby fat cheeks!”
Narumi was embarrassed by how Hoshina described his cheeks. He moved behind Soichiro, now peeking at the screen while he continued eating his dinner. He even reached out to one of the snacks, then hiding again behind Soichiro. The livestream continued for about an hour, with the siblings doing the talk and Narumi kept eating food.
“Right? We even— oh?” Soshiro stopped mid sentences upon noticing that Narumi fell asleep already, curling up behind them yet still exposed to the camera view. “Narumi? He’s asleep…”
Soichiro stood up, not bothering himself to wake up the sleeping man as he carried him in his arms. He looked at the camera and the screen, smiling toward their fans. “Now that our Narumi-chan has asleep, we should continue the livestream for another day. Please support us on our upcoming comeback!”
“Solaris is checking out, bye!” Soshiro turned off the livestream. He then got up, chuckling at Narumi’s sleeping face. “It’s still the same like back then, isn’t it?”
Soichiro nodded. “Still our cutest Narumi indeed.”
“Hey you two, why is Okonogi telling me I did a good job? The hell did I do?”
“Oh…”
“We’ll talk later Narumi-chan, hehe…”