Chapter Text
Gyutaro grew up poor. Like, dirt poor. Genuine joy over finding a penny poor. His ticket out of this shit was his musical talent. Ume was everything he wasn't. She was more fitting for the spotlight, but refused unless he was in it with her. He wasn't sure if it was codependency or love. Either way, he was fucked. Unable to say no, he agreed to form a band with her. Their success was overnight. A rock band with the prettiest, most angelic-looking singer and her older brother, who wasn't exactly very special. Fame made her happy. And he'd do anything to keep her happy. So there was no way he'd let the new faces get ahead.
He was quite surprised when one of the new faces was a cute one. Not the yellow-haired one. What was that kid's deal? He was kinda chubby. Gyutaro never managed to gain much weight. The cute one was the older one. Dark hair and green-blue eyes. A nice build, too. That scowl on his face was just unfortunate, though. Like he had a stick up his ass. Their little stare down only lasted a few seconds before Gyutaro interrupted it.
"Who are you?"
A question often used to befriend someone. Except they both detected the animosity. The bite was equivalent to that of a rabid dog. The yellow-haired one was staring off into space. The cute one narrowed his eyes. From the look in his eyes, Gyutaro would've thought he was refraining from hitting someone.
"I'm Kaigaku. What are you?"
What are you? This guy was a dick! What the hell?! He was being nice! No. No, he wasn't. He threw the first verbal punch. Kaigaku just retaliated with a gun. Damn it.
"...Gyutaro. You got a problem?"
"No problem. Unless you have one."
Gyutaro figured it was better to storm off than start a fight in the middle of the gala. Ume would have his head on a stick if he got them kicked out. So he turned and walked away. Unaware that his record label was about to force him to collab with these two fuckwits for an album. This was just the beginning.
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Words are weapons. Weapons that Gyutaro is too familiar with. From the passive-aggressive remarks about his looks from classmates to the backhanded words coming from his own mouth. But hidden weapons in the form of words cowered in the face of unfiltered, straightforward ones. That was why he was tangled up with Inadama Kaigaku. A blunt, bold guy. That was it. The only reason.
So Gyutaro was especially annoyed when Douma looked him dead in the fucking eyes and told him to collab with the new band. Hybrid Thunder. Douma had really busted into his apartment at seven in the morning to talk about Inadama Kaigaku. And Agatsuma Zenitsu, who he'd learned the name of through a social media post. "The yellow-haired one" was pretty wordy anyway.
Douma just invited himself to the table. The man was quite confident. Maybe because he knew Gyutaro owed everything to him. He'd given them this chance. Their manager was quite annoying, but he'd survive.
"This is a golden opportunity. You don't have to be friends, but Hybrid Thunder is an amazing band. So you should collab with them. Actually, you will. No choice!"
Gyutaro spat his coffee out as soon as those words left Douma's mouth. Ume was thrilled, only because she wasn't yet aware of Gyutaro's terrible first impression on the brothers. She was already grabbing a napkin for the coffee on the table with a big smile on her face.
"That's a great idea! We haven't worked with other artists in forever!"
God damn it. Gyutaro's weakness was his sister. If Ume wanted it, then so did he! So it was settled. He just nodded. Put his differences aside. For Ume. For his sister. Yup. He could do it. Douma just smiled that creepy smile.
"Then it's settled. An album!"
"An entire album!?"