Chapter Text
“Hello everyone! Are you well?” Yata shouted into his microphone. It was the beginning of what he’d thought was probably the worst concert he’d had to perform. No because he hated being an idol, no, it was because….
“Thank you for being out here tonight!”
… Of him.
Fushimi had been invited to share the stage with him on his last concert in his Wild Crow Tour, much to his dismay. It was requested by Totsuka, who was in charge of most things musical, when he figured out that Fushimi and Yata had previously been childhood friends.
“It’ll be great!” Totsuka had told him. Yata cringed at the memory of having found out about it. They never practiced together; in fact, they’ve never so much has seen one another in the two months’ notice they were given. This whole concert was going to be full of surprises. Yata thought bitterly.
Fushimi smiled and waved as the crowd in front of them went wild. Him being a part of the concert had been a total secret from the public up until a few days ago. Fushimi’s charisma on stage irritated Yata, who knew just how cold he could be offstage - to no end. He tried not to let it show as he waved to the crowd, a broad grin plastered on his face. They were expected to act friendly, despite everything. Yata wanted to get this show over and done with, but at the same time he didn’t want the show to end. It was his last show for his debut tour, and he wasn’t going to let some tall, lanky guy that was once his best friend ruin the night.
Fushimi had the nerve to walk over from the other side of the stage and sling his left arm around Yata’s shoulders. “I’m Fushimi Saruhiko, special guest of the evening!” He winked. Yata nearly pulled away in disgust, but he couldn’t screw anything up tonight, especially since this show was being taped for commercial use.
Yata just broadened his grin and spoke into his mouthpiece. “I’m Yata Misaki, star of the evening! ... supposedly.” The crowd laughed. “Are you guys ready now?” The large screen that served as the back of the stage displayed the words “ARE YOU READY?” in red, with a blue shadow underneath. The background was of one of Yata’s photoshoot images of him leaning onto an alley wall, smirking at the camera.
“Of course they are, Mi~sa~ki~.” Fushimi smirked, imitating the one behind them. He had leaned into Yata’s ear, as if to whisper a secret, though their mouthpieces caught every word. This earned a large round of applause from the audience.
Yata and Fushimi are well known nation-wide for their fiery rivalry. Their stories were always the hottest, most interesting stories out there. People often asked them what and where their rivalry stemmed from, why it was that way, and when it had all started. Neither would reveal the details; instead Fushimi would rile up Yata by answering suggestively during his interviews, and Yata in turn would throw out equally suggestive answers, though angrily at best. Even though they never fought physically, they’ve always sent hidden meanings back and forth to each other in most of their songs. It’s what has kept the crowd so interested in the two. One in every few songs always kept some sort of hidden meaning, and it was always the talk of the music industry when someone figured out the messages.
However, when word got out that they used to be close friends who had even lived with each other at some point in their lives, the press went from spicing up their rivalry to pressing on about their relationship with one another.
“Have you developed any feelings for Fushimi?” An interviewer had asked Yata. He huffed and glared at the reporter.
“As if I did!” He’d yell, though his eyes always told a different story.
And when Fushimi was asked about the same thing towards Yata, he had only smiled and shrugged the question off.
So seeing them together and sharing the same stage was a real treat for the audience. It didn’t help that their attire complemented each other as well; they were both in black slacks and cardigans, but Fushimi had on dark blue sneakers with a dark grey vest while Yata had on dark red sneakers with a cream vest. It wasn’t anything overly flashy, but it complemented each other enough to woo the audience. Nobody would really think that this was Yata’s concert, and that Fushimi was just a guest.
“Wait, who’s going to open?” Yata openly wondered. Fushimi, who still had an arm around Yata, shrugged.
“Shouldn’t the star open it?” He asked.
Yata sighed heavily. “True, true.” He pulled away from Fushimi and asked for an electric guitar from one of the side stage helpers. “Thankyou!” he called out before testing the strings. The crowd was silent, anticipation heavy in the air. Fushimi had walked to the other side of the stage and jumped to sit on the ledge of the second tier stage floor. There were a total of three tiers: the stage floor, a slightly smaller second tier for the band, and the tier that sat dead in the center towards the back. There was a set of stairs that lead straight to the top, but they had been told to not use the top tier until the end.
Fushimi watched in silence as Yata played a few notes, bobbing his head to in an imaginary beat. All of a sudden a drummer had joined in, and soon enough an entire band had started playing on either side of the second tier. Fushimi wanted to get down and cover his ears, but with the way Yata was looking at him as if challenging him, he held his ground.
“You ready?” Yata called into his mouthpiece. The crowd cheered. He started playing the actual song he was entering with, and Fushimi clicked his tongue.
“Of course I’d remember your name,” he muttered, making the crowd cheer even louder. Yata glared briefly at him, but Fushimi just sat there, ready to take the secondary vocals when needed. They both had been forced to memorize each other’s songs in preparation for this concert, so it was a piece of cake to jump into a song, whatever it may be. This concert was running on only improvisations, after all, and neither wanted to be outshined by the other.
Yata had no trouble singing along while spilling out notes from his guitar. This was his specialty, after all. “It’s not about the salary, its’ all about making the noise!” the crowd sang along with him. Yata turned his body towards Fushimi. “Makin’ the story – makin’ sure his clique stays up. That means when he puts it down he’s pickin’ it up!”
“Let’s go!” They said together before Fushimi picked up on the song. He jumped off the ledge in the short second it took for them to sing that part together, and started belting out the next verse.
“Who the hell is he anyway? He never really talks much, never connected with status but still leavin’ them star struck,” he rapped on, leaving Yata nearly dumbstruck as he hit every note perfectly. Hell, his Japanese accent seemed to have disappeared for the most part. Yata stood there slack-jawed while he kept on with his guitar. This song took a good two months for him to actually get right, and here Fushimi was, singing as if he’d made the song himself. Was he always this good at English?
The chorus came along and Yata had somehow managed to gain back his composure after watching Fushimi gracefully throw out every word with accompanying dance steps that just consisted of him moving his hands around like the average American rapper often did in videos.
“This is ten percent luck,” they started to sing together, “twenty percent skill, fifteen percent concentrated power of will!” Fushimi had stepped his way towards Yata again and rested an elbow on his shoulder. He leaned back enough so that Yata wouldn’t accidentally elbow him, but Yata still made an effort to hit him whenever possible.
Yata sang his solo once again, and Fushimi just swung his free hand around as if a composter was leading an orchestra. He watched with observant eyes as the crowd swung their hands to the rhythm. Of course, he couldn’t really see the crowd because of the lights glaring against them, but he could still make out the lightsticks the majority of the concert attendees waved around. Blue and red lights swayed to the rhythm, and Fushimi wondered if they ever thought to make purple ones.
Fushimi once again went through his part of the song with perfect ease, except this time he just leaned his whole body onto Yata’s back, forcing Yata to stand sideways as Fushimi once again took the spotlight. The song wasn’t really either of each other’s style, but Yata had gained a lot of popularity from it nonetheless. The stage seemed too big for a song like this, though.
Yata went through the last verse before they repeated the chorus two more times, ending the song and earning a loud cheer from the two thousand or so attendees.
“Eeh, your English has improved greatly.” Fushimi mocked. “You used to hate speaking in English, yet here you are, singing as if it was your native language.”
Yata grinned. “Anything to be better than you, monkey.”
“Hmph.” Fushimi shrugged, smiling. He leaned off of Yata and gestured for the guitar. “It’s my turn now, neh? Let me show you how English is really done.”
Yata reluctantly handed his enemy-turned-temporary-partner his favorite guitar in the world, and watched as he readjusted the tuning and turned off any special effects, making the guitar sound as acoustic as possible. Yata laughed.
“What, you’re going to serenade me to death or something?”
“Maybe.” Fushimi sang before plucking some strings. Yata nearly growled; it was these kinds of retorts that always seemed to tip him over the edge, but he had to keep his cool for the sake of this concert. He went to sit on the ledge of the second tier, reluctantly giving Fushimi full reign of his concert for a few minutes.
“You know I’d fall apart without you,” he sang slowly, and the crowd cheered. Yata pouted; this song always made him jealous for some odd reason. The band on the second tier fell silent; this was better off a solo song. “… like everything that’s green, boy, I need you, but it’s more than one and one makes two.” Yata frowned. Did Fushimi deliberately change the lyrics, or was he mocking Yata?
Yata shook his head and took a deep breath. He had to drop his vocals more than usual to accompany this type of music. “Wrap you up… kiss your lips… wanna make you feel wanted,” he sang the last few words of every line in an attempt to emphasize them. “… Call you mine, wanna hold your hand forever, never let you forget it… yeah I, I wanna make you feel wanted.”
Yata was blushing like crazy, but he didn’t know why. Was it the sappy lyrics? Or was it the way Fushimi would sometimes turn his head a little to look at Yata? It irritated him enough to want to yell to stop everything, but the show must go on. Fushimi walked back to lean on the ledge of the second tier, right next to Yata. His head was leaning on Yata’s leg, making him terribly uncomfortable as they sang the chorus together.
“As good as you make me feel, I wanna make you feel better. Better than your fairy tales, better than your best dreams; you're more than everything I need, you're all I ever wanted… All I ever wanted.” Fushimi hit the higher notes of the bridge with ease, but what was really making Yata queasy at this point was the way Fushimi had been looking him dead in the eyes the entire time. There was a strange glint in them, something he couldn’t really figure out….
Fushimi went on to the last chorus and Yata sang along throughout the entire chorus and right onto the outro without realizing it. They finished off the song and the crowd gave a heartwarming cheer. Fushimi was smiling up at Yata, but he couldn’t tell what the intention behind it was.
Yata watched Fushimi set his guitar down on the ledge, then turned his attention back to the audience. He froze before he could say anything. Some of the crowd was cheering a single word; it was barely audible, but the instant he heard it he just knew what it meant.
“Sarumi?” Fushimi said into his mouthpiece. “Sarumi… heh, sounds like a couple’s name or something.” The crowd cheered, as if to say yes, yes, that’s exactly what it is!
“Shut up!” Yata said, smacking Fushimi lightly on the top of his head. “Misaru sounds so much better!”
The crowd cheered even louder at Yata’s retort. As much as Yata hated the meaning behind either of the words, it drove the crowd crazy. Fushimi had no objections to it whatsoever.
“You see, Misaki, they even want us together.” He chuckled. Yata made an attempt to kick Fushimi, but only succeeded in nearly falling off the ledge. Fushimi’s chuckled turned into a laugh at this point.
“Stop calling me that!” Yata said, pouting. He crossed his arms.
“Yes yes, master.” Fushimi mocked. “Who’s singing next, master?”
Yata shrugged. “Rock paper scissors?”
“My pleasure.”
The cameras that had been projecting their performance onto two large screens on either side of the stage suddenly focused on their hands. “Rock… paper… scissors… shoot!” they both said in unison. Yata glared at Fushimi’s hand; he had played rock while Fushimi played paper.
“I hope you don’t mind me stealing the stage for a little longer, master.” Fushimi smirked. He turned to the audience. “Would you guys like to see some magic?” he asked as he half-skipped to the center of the stage. There was a small catwalk sticking out towards the audience, and he made his way over to the very end of it.
Yata groaned. “Why this song?”
Fushimi ignored him as the track started to play. “Ready!?” He called out to the crowd, who sang along to the intro. M-da A-da G-da I-C!
“Inside and out, everything high class!” he sang, hopping left and right while clapping his hands to the rhythm. The crowd clapped along, singing wildly as they sang the first verse together.
“You're not wannabe, here is what I see: ‘boyfriend of boyfriends’” he sang, pointing right at Yata as he sang the last few words. Yata glared; this was all being caught by the cameras that were circling around above their heads, but their interaction only made the crowd cheer even louder. “Your charm is a tease, this is how I feel: you're the King, you're the King, you're the King, yeah!”
Yata was getting irritated by how Fushimi was twisting the words around to mock him, but he couldn’t do anything about it. He hopped off the ledge and started walking up to where Fushimi was riling up the crowd on the catwalk, and started singing along with him so he wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb on stage. He sang bits and pieces of the next two verses to serve as emphasis as he went up to Fushimi, who was dancing rather energetically.
“Inside and out, everything high class! Hey, talk to me, I’m already engrossed! It’s like magic is consuming me, what's your game?” They both sang together. Yata remembered watching Fushimi’s previous performance of this song, and managed to keep up with Fushimi, mirroring his movements almost perfectly. If anything, Yata was very quick at picking dance choreography up, much like how the person next to him was quick at picking up lyrics. “From top to toe, everything high class! I’ve been hit by a bright light! Each step cuts my BPM. Oh, my heartbeat!”
Yata turned to one side of the audience and pumped his hand into the air twice “Hey, hey!”
“Going faster!” Fushimi sang in return, reaching his hand out to the crowd on the other side. They repeated this sequence a couple more times before Fushimi motioned for Yata to lead the next verse. He tried not to glare, but his frown was caught by the cameras. Fushimi stepped back a few steps so that Yata could have enough room to dance around. He replaced Yata as the secondary, laughing when Yata mimicked his own actions from the previous few verses. “Had a bad day? Don’t worry about it, you're the top of the "A-LIST"! Got the attitude and your shiny shoes; you're the King, you're the King, you're the King, yeah!”
The chorus came back around and they once again sang in unison, switching sides as Yata pumped his hands into the air again to the beat of the last part of the chorus. Fushimi took back his song for a few more lines, then gave the last chorus to Yata alone, despite his efforts to stay back and not sing it. The crowd sang along with him, and as the outro played the crowd picked up on the song, ending it with loud cheering and crazy-fast waving of lightsticks. Yata and Fushimi were a little out of breath from the dancing.
“Saru, you should have saved that for last or something.” Yata breathed. “Now we’re tired!”
Fushimi smirked. “Either way, it’s your song next.” Yata glared at him for the nth time that night and huffed.
“I know!”
They both walked off the catwalk and stood in the center, looking out towards the crowd. It had only been about thirty minutes since they started the concert. They had another two and a half or so hours left to go.
“Okay, let’s take a break.” Yata said, motioning for some chairs. They were given red and blue beanbags; Yata took the blue one and Fushimi took the red one. They both practically flopped onto their respective beanbags. “Sitting feels great.” Yata murmured, relaxing. The crowd laughed.
“Are we even allowed to take breaks?” Fushimi asked. Yata shrugged.
“There’ll be a break somewhere in the middle of the concert, but might as well let the crowd catch their voices.” Yata replied. “You pretty much made them lose their voices, monkey.”
“Hmph.” Fushimi smiled, leaning his body towards Yata. Their beanbags were a couple feet away from one another, but he was long enough to be able to rest his head on Yata’s beanbag. As much as he wanted to shove Fushimi’s head away, he just let it lay there.
“So what are we going to do right now?” Fushimi asked, looking up towards the ceiling. “Might as well tell them a story.”
“Oh! So there was this one time when I was younger. I was in elementary school back then, and was trying to get to school on a bike with my friend. We ended up skidding over a loose rock and falling off, so we had to catch a bus. But get this! The bus was taken over by some thugs! They took my friend and another kid – “
“Hold up.” Fushimi said, raising a hand into the air. “Then the kid and your friend tried to light firecrackers to scare off the thug, am I right?”
“Yeah! But they were caught and the kid who brought the firecrackers got picked up by a thug and I headbutted him! I shielded them from the thugs but they were about to hit me, and all of a sudden POP! The firecrackers lit up on their faces and I was saved!”
“Heeeh, what a small world.” Fushimi murmured.
“What do you mea – wait. How did you know about the firecrackers?”
“That was me, stupid.” He said. “To think it was you that headbutted that guy, though…” he suppressed a laugh. “and here I thought the thug was my dad, too...”
Yata laughed. “What? Why?”
“He always pulled pranks on me when I was a kid. It was stupid.” He sighed.
The atmosphere in the concert had somehow turned sentimental, and for a while even Yata forgot that he didn’t really like the guy that was laying his head on his beanbag.
“But we didn’t formally meet until middle school.” Yata let out a long breath. “To think I’d already seen you around so much earlier…”
Fushimi shrugged. “You’re welcome for saving you, by the way.”
“You’re welcome to you, too.” Yata laughed. The crowd laughed along with them.
Fushimi started humming, and pretty soon he began singing acapella, much to everyone’s surprise. “I’m glad I liked you from the very beginning, I sing to the sky.” He sang. Yata didn’t know this song. He wasn’t even aware that this song existed.
“Like a fire flower, so that I wouldn’t disappear, I let sparks fly and let dreams launch. I wish I hadn’t liked you from the beginning, did you see through my lie?” The audience was quiet as Fushimi sang his unexpected solo. “… in the middle of our life’s journey was a sparkler, which, even for an instant, would illuminate the two of us like a sunflower…. Like a fire flower, until I send the biggest fire flower ever into the sky, please wait for me. I’m glad I liked you from the beginning, I sing into the sky…”
He stopped singing, and the crowd was quiet, taking in this completely new song.
“D-did you just make that up?” Yata asked, breaking the silence.
“I might have.” Was Fushimi’s curt reply. They both chuckled.
“You’re too smart for your own good, ya know?”
The air felt so light that neither of the two idols wanted to get up and continue the concert, but after a sharp “It’s time to continue!” from Totsuka, they sighed and stood up, throwing the beanbags off to the side of the stage.
“Your turn.” Fushimi said, loosening his muscles a bit. Yata nodded, stepping forward a little.
“Speaking of magic, how about I cast a spell on you all?” Yata laughed. “Man, this is gonna be embarrassing…”
The track started playing and Fushimi almost keeled over with laughter. “Of all songs,” he wheezed, “you chose a children’s song?””
“Hey! I’m just tryin’ to keep the mood!” Yata grinned. “Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo. Put 'em together and what have you got? Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!” Even Yata was laughing as he sang the song. He made up some of the rest of the song, inserting things such as I can do better than this old Saru and And the one you can rely on is me! For the fun of it. The song ended quickly – it was only a two-minute song – and it was once again Fushimi’s turn to pick a sing.
Fushimi was still trying to suppress his laughter. “Misaki, you’re so cute…” he grinned, making Yata blush. What?
“Ju-just hurry up and sing!” Yata said, crossing his arms.
“Yes, yes,” he said, finally shaking the giggles off. “Did you like that song?” he asked the crowd, and was met by a mix of laughter and cheers. “I think it’s time to take it a little slow now, what do you say?” The crowd kept cheering. He pulled the two beanbags to the end of the catwalk and motioned for Yata to sit on one. He did so, and leaned back on it as soon as he did. Fushimi sat next to him and slung an arm around Yata. “Let’s show them just how close we are, nee Misaki?”
Yata groaned again. “So touchy-feely today.”
Fushimi smirked. A guitar started playing somewhere behind them and the crowd cheered quietly, knowing just what song is going to come up next.
“If I could have one wish granted, I'd like to always stay close to your heart. No matter the darkness, I've been searching for that one and only light.” he sang softly. Yata blushed again. “As I look up to the stars, so far away” they watched as the crowd waved their lightsticks slowly to the rhythm. Fushimi kept singing softly, and when it hit the chorus Yata couldn’t help but sing along.
“Until I went away and faced the lonely days, I thought I’d understood what it meant to love someone. Feeling everything that was right in front of me, losing the things that are most precious to me, I’ll realize what real love is.” They both sang. Yata was leaning unconsciously towards Fushimi now.
Yata refused to lead any of the verses, and simply sat there, listening to Fushimi singing. Something felt odd about this song, but he paid no mind to how much his heart fluttered when they sang the chorus together. “I had to go away and, faced the lonely days, now I can tell you the true meaning of love. No matter if we're apart or journeying different paths, I'll walk on, believing ‘cause you and I are connected. I'll tell you now, just how close you are…” they sang in the end. Yata loved and hated this song for making him feel so many things every time he had to listen to it on his music player. Hearing Fushimi sing it next to him made him feel even weirder, and them leaning against each other in front of thousands of people didn’t make it any better.
Yata nearly jumped off the seat, praying that his face wasn’t as red as a tomato. “A-anyways,” he stuttered, “let’s sing one more song together and take a little break. How’s that?”
The crowd cheered sarumi! once again, making Yata even more uncomfortable. He didn’t see Fushimi looking at him, but figured that he was okay with it. “What song do you want to hear us sing?” Fushimi asked the crowd. Yata tried desperately to not turn around and look at him.
“We meet every night,” Fushimi sang from behind. Yata glowered. He hadn’t sung this song in years. “At Beauty and Rudy in Udagawa-cho, yeah.”
“While the drizzle heartlessly blurs your face,” Yata butted in before he was forced to sing the high noted line. He absolutely hated high notes. He could literally feel Fushimi’s smirk from behind him as he allowed Yata to steal his line.
“Let's make this our final dancehall rendezvous!” Fushimi sang perfectly. Yata sighed; if there was anything Yata couldn’t do better than Fushimi, it was hitting those high notes. During the small intermission they pulled the beanbags away and ran back to the main stage. This was their first song they ever made together as a duet. This song was made before their fallout, and Yata, who had the rights to the song, never allowed it to be sung live again.
They had the dance steps memorized by heart. Yata occupied the right-hand stage like before, and Fushimi took the left-hand stage. This wasn’t an upbeat song that required a lot of jumping, but it was a song where they could go at each other all they wanted and it still fit.
“Just a game, although we're supposed to rock the floor just for tonight, we can no longer take our eyes off each other!” Fushimi hit the high notes with ease, and he looked to Yata challengingly as he finished his verse.
“Just a game, you can call it love or affection, but it's still a mere game, so at least until the day breaks, I will keep dancing with you,” Yata fired back. The crowd went wild as the two went at it once again in a song that hadn’t been sung in more than four years. As to how they still had the track to this song; neither of the idols knew, but Yata was secretly glad they did.
“That bartender who's shaking his shaker loves me tender in his heart. My heart still throbs at his hand that's handing me a Rum and Coke. Before morning comes, I want to run away together with you. I don't care if I don't have an umbrella and become completely soaked!” Fushimi sang along with Yata on the last line as Yata danced along to the song, knowing that Fushimi was mirroring him on the other half of the stage. This song was written and choreographed by the two of them; it wasn’t hard to mirror one another perfectly. However, Yata did add in an extra few steps in order to outshine his rival.
“Adenine, Thymine, Guanine, Cytosine. There's an attractive force between us at the genomic level. Who do you think you are at this point? Lord have mercy. There's now a repulsive force called "fate”. I push away and pull closer, pull closer and push away, but there's still something unopposable. I dance, you make me dance, and I dance more. Are these drops of sweat or tears that are dripping off me?!” Yata sang along to the last two lines of Fushimi’s verse just as Fushimi did earlier, but watched in annoyance as Fushimi too added in a couple of his own steps as he captivated his - their - audience.
“Why can I be honest and say I love you? Why don’t you be honest and say you love me?” Fushimi sang as Yata got ready for his only high-noted line.
“In the end, we’re both being obstinately prideful, How stupid! How boring! How it makes me want to cry! I’ve only been hurting you!” Yata belted out rather clumsily, but still earned a large round of applause from the crowd.
Fushimi continued the song as Yata drew back from the note, and soon they played the outro and danced around until the track ended. They were both out of breath; this wasn’t a song that was meant to wear them out as they danced around, but with the way they were trying out outshine each other it wasn’t a surprise at all that they both had ended up on their knees as their ending poses. The crowd went wild! This performance was definitely going to be on the news later tonight. Fushimi and Yata: Walking Down Memory Lane.
“Well,” Yata panted, “I think it’s time for a proper break now.” He got up and watched as Fushimi picked himself back up as well. “So, who do you think did better for the first half of the night?”
“Obviously me.” Fushimi smirked. Yata frowned.
“Let’s have the crowd tell us who won!” Yata yelled out. He raised his hand. “Who thinks I did better than this monkey?” The crowd that had voted for Yata cheered as loudly as they could, waving their lightsticks around furiously. The crowd went quiet again as Yata drew his hand back slowly. He smirked. “See?”
“Hmph.” Fushimi looked out to the crowd. “So how many of you think I did better than our star?” He raised his own hand up, and the crowd cheered equally as loud as they did with Yata. He frowned. “So it’s a tie? Really?”
“Better than being beaten by you, I guess.” Yata shrugged. He watched Fushimi put his hand back to his side. “Anyways, how about a break? The night’s only halfway over!”
The crowd cheered and dispersed momentarily as soon as Yata and Fushimi walked off either side of the stage.