Chapter Text
Iori knows what love is. Love is his parents, a story of a boy and a girl, a pâtissier in training with dreams of owning his own cake shop someday and a frequent customer with a sweet tooth that could rival Tsumugi’s. (“Did you make this, Izumi-kun?” “Yes, do you like rabbits, miss?” “I love them!” She happily clamps down on her fork, another taste of chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla cake filling her mouth. He smiles, wiping the corner of her lips with a napkin. “I do too.” She blushes, fists clutching at the fabric of her skirt. “I’ll walk you home after changing into my normal clothes.”). Love is nii-san who played pirates with him, and searched for him tirelessly when he found a cat in the rain and their parents said he couldn’t keep it.
Riku knows what love is. Love is his high school friends who brought him home notes from school when he missed it, who, despite their concerns, cheer him on as a singer, and who took him to the arcade and karaoke when he felt well enough to join them. Love is Ten-nii who brewed hot water with honey to soothe him every time without fail after an attack and built snowmen for him on his hospital windowsill in the the wintertime because he couldn’t do it himself.
Iori’s gotten his fair share of confessions (all of which he’s rejected because between helping out at his parents’ shop, homework, nii-san failing auditions left and right stressing him out, and simply not being interested in them for various reasons, including fearing their reaction when his real personality doesn’t live up to their expectations, dating is without a doubt out of the question). Riku’s liked girls, like that one from 2-A who wore a different clip in her hair each time he saw her or their manager, clumsy but cute and hardworking, for example. He received a letter once with no signature, and sometimes, he still thinks about that girl and how her life turned out when he can’t sleep at night.
“How do they not realize they’re in love with each other?” is a question weighing on the elder members of IDOLiSH7’s minds, Mitsuki’s in particular because he’s never seen Iori so affectionate towards someone who’s not blood-related to them. It makes him want to cheer for him in fact, especially since Mitsuki believes Riku is Iori’s first crush (or at least the first that he’s aware of). Ten, on the other hand, is a different story. Ten possesses daggers in his eyes promising to fuck anyone up tenfold who dares to mess with Riku despite them being estranged.
Everyone else can see it, how Iori’s eyes linger on Riku for one second longer even when he’s in good health, how Riku comes quickly to Iori’s defense every time someone misjudges his personality (most recently, Ten-nii). Everyone else can see it, but they can’t , brushing it off as “Of course we’d do that. We’re a unit.” Iori doesn’t recall, though, Mitsuki or Tamaki ever mentioning to him that they toss and turn in bed at night because they can’t stop thinking about how much they’d like to kiss their fellow group member, not because his lips are cute or anything, but because his curiosity regarding whether or not Riku’s lips taste as sweet as the donuts they brought back to their dorm (much to Riku and Tamaki’s delight) needs to be satisfied. It shouldn’t cause Riku to blush whenever they brush hands or duck his head whenever their eyes meet or get jealous when he sees Iori and Tsumugi talking together alone again.
Someday, they’ll understand (or so help the elder members of IDOLiSH7 if they don’t), but for now, they’ll pluck at the petals of their carnation, one by one.