Chapter Text
Shindou Yoshiki was not a blind man.
He had seen something brilliant in Leo/need, and he was working on bringing it out of them as much as possible. Part of it was how passionate the girls of Leo/need were about their music. Part of it, though, came from how much they loved each other. After getting to know them better, he understands now that the passion for music came after- first was their friendship, and the music they built upon that shone because of that fact.
He supposed that it was only natural that in a band with such strong relationships, that their bond would push past platonic at some point. He'd seen it happen before, he had lived through it before- there was something about making music together that tended to complicate relationships, for better or for worse.
He just didn't realize they could be this complicated.
Shindou Yoshiki really wasn't a blind man- he had seen Ichika and Saki holding hands during nearly every meeting in his office. He hadn't wanted to assume anything- Leo/need tended to be physically affectionate with each other anyways, having known each other for so long. But when Saki had walked out his office, tugging along their vocalist and insisting they pick up their pace so they didn't miss their reservation for date night, well, he figured that he was less making of a leap and more drawing a logical conclusion. Once he was sure that there was at least one pair dating within Leo/need, he felt as though he started to notice this more often. It might've just been confirmation bias at that point- he was convinced that the guitarist and keyboardist of Leo/need were dating, and they weren't exactly doing anything that'd sway his opinion otherwise. They'd come into his office together, usually arriving slightly later than Honami and Shiho if the girls hadn't all come in together, they'd stick to each other's sides, and they had started to write their songs together. On second thought, perhaps asking them to write their debut song together was a stroke of brilliance from Yoshiki, if he did say so himself. From what they had told him, the experience had ultimately strengthened their relationship, and, more importantly, had resulted in a wonderful debut song for the band.
Apart from that, he had also noticed how the other two revolved around each other in similar ways. He had advised that Leo/need engage in some smaller, pair focused practice sessions. He didn't have time to see them all over individually, but he had ended up by the studio he knew they tended to book out for their sessions. Honami had texted him earlier to let him know that she and Shiho were having a rhythm section session. She was a diligent leader for the band, and she kept Shindou looped into the more minute details simply because she knew it would help the band's growth. Shindou was on the way to grab a drink with some old friends after work, but he had figured simply dropping in and giving some notes wouldn't take too long.
When Shindou had pushed the door open to the studio that the two were practicing in, Shiho was leaning over Honami's shoulder, closer than he had ever seen her get to any of the members of Leo/need. When she realized he was there, she almost jumped back, and Honami had laughed it off, welcoming Shindou into the space and jumping into giving him a rundown of what their practice for the day had entailed. On its own, the sharing of physical space wasn’t that odd, but Shiho tended to keep her space from the others, and the way she had separated from Honami and looked at Shindou seemed to signify something more going on.
Though, as he left them behind and finally caught up with his friends, it did cross his mind that it was a tiny bit complicating to have both the guitarist and keyboardist and the drummer and the bassist dating. Two inter-band relationships would be hard to navigate, and since they hadn’t actually told him anything, he didn’t feel like he could address it outright.
Regardless, all of this, he could live with quite easily.
What he found a little harder to live with, was what he started to see outside of the two pairings he had thought he had grown to understand.
He didn't expect that dating would stop their constant physical affection with each other- their bonds really did run deep- but he certainly didn't expect to see Ichika pulling Shiho into a kiss after their Jam Fest performance. Yoshiki was taken back, to say the least. He glanced over to see if either Honami or Saki had noticed, but Saki had pulled their drummer into a vicious hug, and the two of them were too giddy to notice. When he looked back over to Ichika and Shiho, they had broken apart, but Shiho made some arguably very guilty eye contact with him. He couldn't press the issue at the moment, though- it was too dangerous, risked ruining the moment after the very successful performance they had just put on. Yoshiki had simply clapped his hands to get their attention. It was time for him to talk business and get the hell out of there.
After that, he kept trying to find an appropriate time to bring it up, but with the busyness of the band’s debut alongside the fact that the girls were still in high school, he struggled to find the time to deal with it. More than that, he really wasn’t sure how he was supposed to deal with it. He could bring it up during his group meetings, but that felt like it would blow up in his face. Emotions could run high, and the band was doing too well for him to think he could just drop a bomb like that without having to deal with the immense fallout.
Still, something like this was bound to only cause problems down the line. So when he had a moment to think, sometimes, he would find himself pondering how exactly to untangle the love lives of high school girls, and how exactly he got himself into this position.
It really was not helping that the things Yoshiki was finding himself noticing kept piling up. During an after-live celebration, he had taken the girls out for dessert, intending to reward them for another excellent performance. Though, as they had gotten there, Ichika and Honami had excused themselves to the bathroom. While Yoshiki was on his phone, responding to a few messages from his manager about the show, he heard Saki’s voice cut through the noise of the diner, pleading with Shiho to praise her for a job well done. When he glanced up, Shiho was blushing furiously, and Saki was practically sitting on her lap. When Shiho finally uttered out a ”...you did well.”, Saki seemed pleased and returned to sitting next to the bassist normally. Yoshiki went back to his phone. Again, this really was not when he wanted to have to deal with something like this. He supposed he was in luck, then, that Ichika and Honami only returned after this exchange was finished, happily chatting about what had caught their eye on the menu.
The rest of the dinner had gone well, luckily enough. The post-show warmth paired with both the exhaustion of playing along with the heaviness of the desserts they had all ordered had made Leo/need one very sleepy band, and Yoshiki almost offered to buy them coffees just to make sure that they were all completely awake on their way home. But Honami had looked at him from across the table, and promised him that she would make sure that they all got home safe, all while Saki practically snored on her shoulder. At least he could always trust their leader to keep things together.
With that, he had finally said farewell to the band and returned back to his apartment, cold and quiet that it was. Not quite silent- his darling Cosmo was curled up on the couch, her fur cast in soft lighting from the moonlight washing through the room. He would’ve guessed that she was asleep, listening to her soft breathing, but as he had began to toe off his shoes as quietly as he could, she had looked up at him anyways, almost seeming disappointed in his late return. Still, she hopped off the couch to stroll over and curl around his legs, and he bent down to give her the affection she deserved. “Cosmo, you would not believe the day I’ve had,” he whispered, more to himself than anything.
Still, even with the live having gone well, and the band seemingly getting along as well as ever, Yoshiki couldn’t keep his mind off of whatever romantic entanglements were happening between Leo/need. As he stared at the ceiling of his darkened room he thought about how it really would’ve been so much easier for him if they at least had the grace to be subtle. But no, his band seemed almost determined to make this his problem at every turn. He let out a sigh, only impeded by the weight of Cosmo on his chest.
“What are we going to do about this, sweetheart?” He asked, looking down at the adorable grey cat that he was lucky to have in his life. She simply mewled at him, blissfully unburdened by responsibility, and went to sleep. Well, he supposed that was his answer. This was a morning problem.
When morning did finally hit, Yoshiki didn’t even let the idea of handling the impending problem cross his mind. He had much more important things to deal with, like making himself a coffee and explaining just how successful last night’s event had been to his boss. He was responsible for Leo/need, and though sometimes that meant looking out for them, sometimes it meant doing all the boring work of managing a band that he had chosen to make a life out of. He didn’t mind it too much. Sometimes boring was good.
Still, at the end of the week, when he sees Leo/need for a brief meeting about how they plan to spend the winter break, he asks Shiho to hang back for a little. Just for a quick chat, he promises, before sending the other three on their way. He listens for the sound of their footsteps trailing away before turning to look at Shiho. She met his gaze unwaveringly, just as she always did.
“I really don’t want to keep you long, so I think I’ll just get to it,” he started, leaning against his desk to keep the conversation casual. “It’s not really my business, but as someone who’s been in a band where emotions ran high before, I just wanted to, well,” and here he paused, wanting to make sure he came across correctly.
“Just, ah, it’s important to be open and honest with your bandmates, right? Especially about how you feel about them. Just keep that in mind.” As he finished his little spiel, he noticed that Shiho had a growing blush on her face. So she knew what he was talking about, indeed.
“Of course, Shindou-san,” and despite it all she gave him a small smile, so he figured he hadn’t misspoken horribly, “and thank you.”
“Alright. Well, I’ll be seeing you all soon, so keep up the hard work.”
And at that, Yoshiki could swear her grin grew just the tiniest bit bigger.
“Always. See you soon.”
With that, she was turning out of the room, likely intent on catching up with her bandmates. He couldn’t really keep her longer- he had said what he wanted to say, and he had another meeting in less than twenty minutes. Though, after his packed schedule, perhaps he could catch up with some friends for some drinks. He figured he had earned it, at least a little, for putting up with and hopefully solving a complicated problem.
Well, none of that was his priority right now. He needed to talk with marketing about the next single release they had lined up soon. He could let the worry of the band imploding go now, he was sure.
Yoshiki thought he had celebrated far too early, kicking himself for it over a glass of wine the next week. He didn't particularly enjoy drinking on his own, but the label had gifted them all some decent wine last Christmas, and he hadn't had a reason to break it out all year.
Until that day, where he realized that he had not solved the love square shaped problem that kept coming into his office for check-ins on how the label wanted to proceed with them.
He had arranged to meet them after their practice that day, just to check base and arrange for a day for their next photo shoot, since a magazine that had reached out to the label wanting to cover them. He was once again coming from another meeting, having had to talk about some other bands that had been coming up locally, trying to determine with his coworkers whether reaching out with a contract would be the right move. It had ran a little longer than he would've liked, setting him to be late to meet with Leo/need. He- well he didn't run, but he did pick his pace up a bit on his way back. Thankfully he knew the girls knew how to find his office well enough without him there, but it still felt unprofessional to not be there to greet them. As he pulled open the door, ready to put away his current files and focus on Leo/needs direction, he is surprised to see just half the band waiting for him.
Well. It almost seemed like they weren't expecting him- Saki was in the middle of planting a kiss on Honami's cheek, the latter blushing furiously, both seemingly unconcerned by the fact that they were in his office.
He stood in the doorway, feeling a bit out of place Both of them had noticed him there, and Honami was turning even redder, it seemed.
"S-Sorry, Shindou-san!" The drummer blurted out, while the keyboardist averted her eyes, hiding the grin on her face.
"Right, sorry Shindou-san! It wont happen again," Saki said as she looked back at him, "Promise!"
Honestly, that wasn't even Shindou's biggest concern at that point. Before he could find the right words, or even find any words, Honami was speaking again.
"Ichika and Shiho stayed at the practice studio a little bit longer to figure out the little trade off they've been working into one of the song for our live shows," she explained, "and since you said it was just a quick meeting today, I figured it was okay if it was just me and Saki coming in today."
He couldn't argue with that. It really wasn't an important meeting. "You know their schedules, right?" He asked just to confirm, waiting for the nod of Honami's head just to be sure, "then it should be fine. There's just a magazine that reached out to us, and we thought it would be a good fit for you. We aren't sure about the exact spread they want to do, but they've given us some dates for the shoot and interview. You can just let me know which ones work, and then you can be out of here."
Talking about band stuff seemed to be as grounding for Honami as it was for him, the two of them hashing out scheduling rather than trying to find a way to address the elephant in the room. They settled on a date about a week and a half away, and Saki had simply hummed in agreement when Honami had pointed out the date that she thought would be best. The two left his office, and Shindou finally let himself down into his chair.
He didn't dwell on it then- he had an email to draft, for starters, and probably a hundred more things that he could be doing that were related to his actual job.
Still, when he mulled over it, mediocre company wine in hand, he came to the conclusion that he really is not equipped to deal with this. Complicated, passionate teen romance wasn't exactly his area of expertise, he complained to Cosmo. His days consisted of managing bands and data during the day, followed by scouting acts and barhopping in the evenings. It was a simple life, certainly not a boring one, but one he understood well nonetheless. It was being hammered in every time he interacted with Leo/need that he didn't have the slightest idea how to begin handling this. He didn't know who he could talk to about it either- anyone at Solis Records was automatically ruled out for fear of making it a bigger problem than it already was, and he didn't feel like bringing it up to his friends when they were out catching up, fearing that they would put two and two together with how much he talked up Leo/need in the past.
The only person he might've trusted to have an idea about what to do with the band was a contact labeled 'DO NOT TEXT' in his phone, the last message sent being an unanswered congratulations on the singer-songwriter's last album release.
Things really were getting dire. Yoshiki let out a sigh, and resolved to be a little less dramatic about this- he was far too old for that. Instead, he finished off his wine, avoided opening any text message chains on his phone, and shuffled off towards his bathroom, resolved to perhaps, finally find a fix for this in the morning.