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"Collaborations…?”
“That's correct.” answered Alan from the other end of the video call. “Honing your skill is important, but so is making connections and growing your brand.”
“He's right about that.” Akito conceded. He knew from personal experience how important it was to have friends in high places if you sought to get anywhere in this industry – hell, that was how they'd gotten signed with No.9 to begin with.
“That's easier said than done, though…” An groaned, a pondering look on her face as she visibly racked her brain. “What kind of partnerships are we supposed to be making, even?”
“We could reach out to artists and editors, maybe?” Kohane threw into the ring, though her suggestion made Akito cringe at the reminder of a pair of annoyances waiting for him back home. “Our songs have a fair amount of views, so I'm sure we could commission someone to make an MV for us.”
“That's a good enough idea.” Alan tagged in from his side. “Though I would recommend branching out as well. It's one thing to play to your strengths, but a core part of business is drawing in new customers alongside appealing to longtime fans.”
“Oh, that's true…” Kohane tipped her head down, the air suddenly becoming thicker as it dawned upon all four of them that this dilemma would be trickier than they initially thought.
“...If that's the case, I might have something.” Toya's voice was the first to cut through the subsequent silence, all eyes suddenly upon him as he opened up his phone.
“What's that mean?” asked Akito, claiming his apparently rightful place upon Toya's shoulder just in time to watch him open up his email and enter a secluded folder of the inbox.
“...Holy shit.”
“I've been receiving a lot of sponsorship offers ever since Azusawa and I participated in that photography competition.” Toya began to explain, scrolling through the list of messages to seemingly no end. “Fashion companies, makeup brands, modeling agencies…”
“Dude, there's so many in here.” Akito added onto his earlier shock, as the list seemed to just keep going and going. He wasn't sure if he should be happy his partner came in clutch or jealous that so many people wanted to capitalize off his pretty face.
“I kept declining since I thought we wouldn't have any downtime in between RUSH BEATS and our domestic activities…” Toya chuckled out somewhat bashfully. “But now that the situation has changed, I suppose accepting an offer or two wouldn't hurt.”
“Attaboy, Toya!” An playfully smacked her teammate on his back, a scoff bubbling past Akito's lips as he leaned even closer into his partner like a protective dog.
“This one has been particularly insistent.” Toya continued, finally tapping upon a particular message as he spoke. If Akito's cursory glance maintained accuracy, it looked like there were… at least five of them in a row, all from an identical sender. “All they want is for us to model a few sample outfits and promote them on our social media.”
“Sounds easy enough.” Akito shrugged. Unlike his sister, he wasn't exactly a fan of flaunting his face around on the internet, but there was hardly a choice if they needed this to get their foot in the door – plus, fashion was his bread and butter any day of the week.
“The outfits in the images are all men's, though.” Kohane pointed out as she squeezed in beside the other, the space suddenly far too crowded for Akito to tolerate.
“Oh, you're right…” Toya murmured, glancing at the provided article list as he brought a spare fist to his chin. “I suppose they're familiar with me personally and not the rest of the squad… Should I ask them to send some extras?”
“No need!” An hummed, thankfully pulling away from the pile as she angled her fingers into a mock frame. “The internet goes crazy over handsome guys, right? We've got the perfect chance to pump out some fanservice!”
“I'm not doin’ anything weird.” Akito immediately interjected, meeting that frankly evil look in his teammate's eye with a duly unimpressed frown of his own.
“You are handsome though, Akito.” Toya pointed out way more matter-of-factly for the younger's taste, not an ounce of shame in his body as he redirected his smiling gaze toward the boy in question. “You have an optimal facial structure and a very impressive body. Not to mention y-”
“Alright, alright…!” Akito immediately intercepted before all the blood in his body rushed to his pinkening cheeks, taking his turn to pull away this time. “Just get in contact with the guy and go from there, kay?”
“Understood.” Toya nodded, whether or not he realized how embarrassing he was being – or if he even thought of it as a bad thing if he did – a complete mystery for now. “I actually just sent- Oh, he replied right away…”
“...These kids are way more independent than they look, aren't they?” an apparently forgotten Alan thought as he watched the show before him.
From there, things were surprisingly simple. The people at the company made things quite easy for them – though Akito couldn't help suspecting they were just overly eager that their favorite fish finally snagged the hook. The company would put an overnight rush on shipping two sets each of some sample outfits, and all they had to do was put them on and post the pictures to the official Vivid BAD SQUAD account. (Plus a couple tags and links, of course. Not much point in a sponsorship if you make the brand you're promoting a secret.)
When they received the packages the next day, Akito was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the clothing they were sent. Usually, the kind of brand that snags random teenagers off the street for promotional material was the type you'd expect to be broke as all hell and even more desperate – but comparing their online pricing to the real thing, it seemed they had bark and bite in equal measure.
“They didn't give you any extra direction?” Akito queried as he helped his partner sort through all the items, holding up a couple shirts to his body in the process just to check if they were sized correctly.
“Surprisingly, no. I asked several clarifying questions, but they seemed insistent on giving us freedom… Especially when they saw your picture.” Toya shook his head as he cut through the tape of another box, tossing aside another addition to their impressive collection of flattened cardboard. “I was even told we could keep the clothes at no cost to our promised compensation.”
“That right…?” Akito scoffed, no longer needing his earlier suspicions to be confirmed. Even if Toya himself didn't realize it, they were definitely spoiling him rotten in hopes of keeping him as a long-term client.
“That's okay, isn't it?” asked Toya with an adorably intent tilt of his head, his smile as innocent and freeing as ever when he turned to look at Akito. “This way, you'll be able to make free use of your styling expertise.”
“You don't gotta butter me up, y'know.” Akito rolled his eyes, though the endearment hidden behind pools of olive was clear as day when he reached out to pat his partner's head.
“You say that…” Toya hummed, glancing between Akito's face and his accumulated pile of clothing. “...but I noticed you haven't been separating the clothes by type. You've already got some ideas in mind, right?”
“Well, yeah…” Akito shrugged, redirecting his own gaze toward the neat sets he'd pulled from their repertoire. “If all they're gonna tell us is to slap ‘em on and flaunt it online, we've gotta make some sort of game plan.”
“Hehe.”
“Shuddup, man…” Akito grumbled out of obvious growing flusterment, using the hand which was already conveniently planted in Toya's hair to ruffle it up. The latter could hardly help it, though – Akito was always performing the tiniest of thoughtful gestures like that, and Toya found it adorable that he'd always brush it off through red cheeks when it was pointed out.
Regardless, it was only moments later that Toya found an outfit being stuffed into his arms – accessories and all. Just from combing through the pile, he could tell Akito probably wanted to contribute a couple of items from his personal collection, but that would defeat the purpose a little bit. Luckily, the prospect of getting to keep these clothes meant there would be plenty of opportunities to come.
“Akito, I…”
Toya probably had a coherent word or two in mind when he opened his mouth. It was a little hard to remember when all of a sudden Akito was tearing his shirt over his head without an ounce of hesitation, whatever thought had been forming in Toya's brain becoming a puddle of useless static as a result.
It wasn't like this was the first time he'd seen Akito shirtless. They were no strangers to sharing a dressing room – well ’dressing room’ was a bit generous when they were doing this in Akito's house – and many a glimpse of skin had been caught over the years as a result. They were close enough that casually baring themselves to each other felt like nothing at all.
…Well, that used to be accurate, anyway. But now that they were an item, things became a little bit more complicated.
Granted, this wasn't the first time Toya had noticed the shift. After they started dating, whenever Akito pulled him in for a hug, slung an arm around his shoulder, affectionately ruffled his hair… Things his partner had been doing to him for years were suddenly making his heart perform cartwheels like never before.
“...Toya? You good?” Akito cocked a brow, of course noticing the extremely visible derailment of his partner's train of thought. Ordinarily, it was here that Toya might've offered a naïve compliment toward the athleticism which earned Akito his nicely muscled build. But right now, he couldn't help pondering if all those times he'd innocently praised his partner's dedication were simply unwitting evidence towards his current internal concession – he found a shirtless Akito insanely attractive.
“...I think so.” Toya finally answered upon remembering that, shockingly enough, participating in a conversation required one to speak aloud. Akito kept the suspicious look on his face for only a few moments before seeming to decide the pursuit was unnecessary. Toya might've been a bit of an airhead, but he was still aware that he had a couple quirks that needed to be intentionally bypassed – Akito must have assumed this was one of those cases.
With a shrug, Akito deposited himself upon the bed to continue the process of changing. Perhaps there was some version of the universe out there where that might've helped the situation, but the one they were currently in was most definitely as far removed from it as possible.
Unfortunately, Toya's initial instinct to chicken out would be a no-go. They came here with the objective of fulfilling an obligation; it would be dishonest and cowardly if he went back on his word all because he was too embarrassed by his personal desires. He had no choice but to swallow his pride and hope his shame would disappear alongside it as he began to follow Akito's lead.
“Whoa.” Akito's eyes widened when Toya suddenly began to speed through tearing off his clothes with an abrupt determination. Akito himself had already gotten halfway through replacing his pants by then – a pair of baggy black sweats with a white line that ran down the middle of each outer leg, only interrupted by the oddly large cargo pockets on his thighs.
Toya's were quite similar, something he found as he rushed through the process of shucking them over his long legs. They matched Akito's in color and bagginess, though his were held closed with the snap of a button and the threading of a belt rather than a drawstring. As far as they could tell, they hadn't been sent any special shoes to pair with their outfits, so the black sneakers they were both sporting would have to do well for now. Luckily, their shoes would most likely be the last thing any onlookers were focused on.
Next was the shirt. In terms of features, they were nearly identical – simple tees colored white, though Akito's leaned ever so slightly further into a shade of light gray. Perhaps it was because he'd chosen to tuck it in, something Akito seldom had any intention of even considering, but Toya felt as though the neck of his shirt sat a little bit lower as well, showing off his collarbone quite nicely… The person he exchanged emails with did comment on how shapely it was multiple times, so he supposed this was just modeling expertise at work.
Well, at the very least, no longer being half-naked quelled most of Toya's embarrassment. Anything else was honestly of secondary importance right now.
Third was the jacket. Once again, they ended up looking very similar – though it was reasonable to assume that was intentional on the part of both Akito and their collaborators. Toya's was a black button-down, rather simplistic in design apart from a tiny blue logo on the breast pocket, with sleeves that draped over his hands like sweater paws.
Akito, on the other hand, ended up with a rather stylish blazer – identical in color apart from the miniscule accents of orange along the sleeves. The biggest difference was that it seemed to be a size or two up from Toya's, the southernmost hem sitting partway down his thighs rather than stopping at the line in which his upper and lower halves met. He also opted to sling one of the black crossbody bags they'd been given across himself; something to break up the look and grant it some extra functionality, if Toya had to guess.
The finishing touches were anything but a hassle – a necklace with a transparent rectangular pendant for Toya, a chain tinted orange in the front for Akito. They'd gotten through the entire process without any incident from Toya and his still-beating-way-too-fast-for-his-liking heart… Thank god.
“Hmm…” Akito hummed to himself as he stood up, scrutinizing Toya's completed outfit from head to toe until finally meeting his gaze with a smile tugging on his lips and an approving glimmer in his eyes. “Lookin’ good, partner.”
…Never mind, he'd immediately been drop kicked back to square 1.
“Guess we should take the picture now, right…?” Akito began to ponder, once again reminding Toya that there was indeed an endgame to this and they weren't just flirting for the sake of it. “Gimme a sec.”
“...I'm going to die before the end of the night…” Toya found himself thinking as his partner disappeared into the hallway.
“Oi, Ena…!” Akito, meanwhile, immediately went to pound on his sister's door with no regard for the fact that she had night classes in a couple hours. “Lemme borrow your ring light!”
“...ENA!” He immediately barked again after a respectable 2 seconds of waiting.
“Oh my god, you're so annoying!” groaned Ena at an equal volume from the other side of the door. “What the hell do you even need it for?!”
“Adult stuff.” Akito scoffed back with twice as much cheek. “Not that you'd wake up from your third nap long enough to figure out what that means.”
“You say that, but guess which one of us is preparing for entrance exams~?” Ena hummed through obvious clattering.
“I'm a second-year.” Akito rolled his eyes, injecting enough bite into his words to make sure the gesture could be heard behind the door. “I don't hafta think about that yet.”
“Oh Akito, you sweet summer child…” Ena sighed, feigning innocence like she always did when she wanted to be really goddamn obnoxious. “Don't you know you're supposed to start early? You're falling behind~”
“Oh shut up, you only started talkin’ about yours last month.” Akito groaned, smacking the door with the back of his fist just to emphasize his annoyance.
“Did not.” Ena childishly bit back just in time to crack open the door and shove the ring light into her brother's hands. “Here, now get out already…!”
“Gimme back the CD jacket you took first.”
“Tell Toya-kun I said hi!”
SLAM!
“...I'm totally eating her cheesecake later.” Akito grumbled, cutting his losses and making his way back to his own bedroom.
“I got it.” he announced simply as he toted up with his prize, immediately getting to work on setting it up once he stepped inside. “A full body shot is probably for the best, right…?”
“Yes, I agree.” Toya nodded, choosing to keep the question of whether the volume of their arguments often got complaints from the neighbors to himself for now.
“Alright…” Akito nodded with partial absence of mind as he finished rigging his phone up to the ring light. “Just do it how we always do, I guess.”
Upon tapping the shutter, Akito rushed to his partner's side, immediately perching an arm upon Toya's right shoulder with the rest of him making short work of fully leaning against the older's body. Without much else to do but stand still enough to support his partner's weight, Toya simply bore into the camera while Akito graced the lens with a peace sign and a cheeky flick of the tongue.
“Nice work, man.” Akito hummed with an approving pat to the back, striding back toward his phone to check how the photo came out. Luckily, Akito's camera quality was anything but junky, hence why they elected to use it for the photoshoot in the first place.
(Well… not wanting to be eyed up and down by a professional photographer or especially Kohane was an extremely obvious deciding factor, but Toya wouldn't tease him by pointing it out. For now.)
“Turned out perfect.” Akito pronounced aloud, and Toya was well aware of its truthfulness. When it concerned their careers, nothing would escape the grasp of Akito's perfectionism.
“I've been thinkin’ this ever since I saw that pic Kohane took of you…” Akito continued, though focusing on his words was a Herculean task when he'd already shucked away his jacket and was halfway through pulling off his shirt. “...but the camera really loves you, huh?”
“...Does it?” mumbled Toya with a brief delay, struggling to remember how words worked as every node in his brain – apart from the one screaming ‘oh my god he looks so good with his shirt off’ – began powering down one by one.
“You kiddin'?” Akito huffed, apparently oblivious to the fact that Toya was currently on the verge of exploding as he turned around and stretched, offering a flawless view of his gorgeous back. “You look amazing in every picture I've got of you.”
“...Fuck...” Toya whispered under his breath. He very, very rarely cursed – it just wasn't part of what was typically a polite, demure vocabulary. In spite of that, Akito always had a way of awakening parts of Toya's soul he seldom admitted the existence of, and it was showing more keenly than ever right now.
“You sure you're okay, man?” asked Akito back in reality, because of course he'd notice something was off with Toya when the dude was basically gnawing off his own lip. If only admitting the precise reason why he was acting so strangely wouldn't end up a humiliation ritual of the highest degree.
“Um… yes.” Toya blatantly lied, unable to hide that kicked puppy demeanor of his. “We should focus on the photoshoot, shouldn't we?”
“...Kay. But you better let me know if somethin's up.” Akito hesitantly relented, turning his attention back to where he'd started to comb through his shoe collection. “I think I've got some lace-up boots in your size if you wanna borrow ‘em…”
“Sounds lovely…” Toya totally didn't go straight back to staring at Akito's half-naked body the moment he turned around again.
Thankfully for Toya's heart, Akito was quick to cover himself up once more. In fact, it was a little bit hard to make out his figure beneath the somewhat bulky black jacket with all the extra pouches and belts it was adorned with – a quality that was matched by the pants which now tucked into his boots. Even his neck and hands were shawled by a loose gaiter and a pair of fingerless gloves.
He had two accessories slung over his chest, as well. The first was of a material that matched the bits and bobs along the front of his coat, strapped just shy of his right shoulder so it could veil over his left, while another bag – similar to the one from before, albeit smaller – was inversely slung from left to right. It made him look slightly… militaristic, almost?
Toya's outfit, on the other hand, was more akin to formalwear – about the cleanest line you could draw between something he'd have been forcibly stuffed into for a piano recital as a kid and the savvy fashion expression of Vivid Street's occupants. They shared a few key elements – like the excess of belts hanging off the twin-tailed coat and the black pants stuffed into his lace-ups – which helped along the retainment of thematic resonance, but it couldn’t be denied that the white dress shirt and its accompanying black tie gave him a more neat vibe.
Even the way his form-fitting gloves sat snug upon his fingers drew a sharp contrast, Toya found as he slipped them upon his hands. Of course, he had the utmost faith in Akito’s powers of styling, but it was still impressive to watch it in action in quick succession like this. The quietly enforced limit of utilizing as few personal elements as possible was quite the handicap, but he managed to overcome it with ease and come out with several outfits that both suited their personal tastes and did the designers’ work proper justice.
…Though this time, looking upon his partner’s finished work brought with it an unexpected dilemma. Akito had put his clothes back on and then some, so why was Toya’s heart still pounding as though neither of them were wearing anything at all?
“Hmm…” Akito seemed to be pondering the handiwork himself – though Toya was absolutely certain it was for reasons entirely different from his own – with a tug upon that jacket which obscured his sinful waist so nicely. “Now that I’ve got it on, I dunno if this is a good look… What do you think, Toya?”
“You always look amazing.” Toya answered a bit too quickly and far too truthfully. Even Akito seemed to be caught off-guard by his comment, the typical stern countenance of his resting face replaced with wide-eyed bewilderment as his entire face became dyed a rosy hue in half a snap.
“Jeez…” Akito huffed, returning to an obviously forced scowl as he looked away with an awkward rub to the back of his blushing neck – akin to what is known as a ‘tsundere’, as Mizuki once deigned to teach him. “You don’t hafta lay it on so thick, y’know.”
Seeming to take Toya’s candid review as sufficient evidence that he was overthinking it, Akito strode back over to the ring light, hurrying to pull Toya into the frame upon hitting the shutter once more.
…Surely, he wouldn’t mind if…
With a touch that immediately made Akito jolt, Toya closed his hands around the younger’s waist, marveling at the way his palms instantly sank like a skydiver plummeting into quicksand. Though the sudden contact was far more of a mutual surprise than Akito’s instinctual reaction suggested he thought, the both of them managed to lock in just in time to offer the camera its wanted attention – even if its flash signaled the dawning of a mortifying answer to Toya’s earlier question.
This was bad. He never used to think about this sort of thing before. They could try on outfits together without his heart threatening to jump out of his chest or burst in its cavity trying. But now? When Akito slipped off his shirt, Toya’s limbs and brain turned to complete jelly, and when the clothes came back on, all he could think about was the moment in which he’d get to sneak a look at or maybe even lay his hands upon his partner’s perfect skin again. A complete maelstrom of emotion had begun to whip along his every nerve into an incomprehensible storm, and yet he knew all too well that behind this veil of humiliation and bemusement lay an eye of wanton desire he wasn’t meant to glimpse.
The photoshoot. He needed to focus on the photoshoot. This wasn’t the time to submerge himself in these waves of what were surely the most inappropriate thoughts; time to towel off and retreat back into the shade where he was meant to stay. He wouldn’t think about how much he wanted to feel up Akito’s muscles as he watched them subtly flex in and out of his next outfit. He wouldn’t think about how nice it would probably feel to have his head trapped between those strong legs while they disappeared into his pants. He definitely wouldn’t think about how badly he wanted to pull Akito in by that chain closing around his neck to drag his tongue upon the skin and decorate it with a slew of hickeys before dragging him into a kiss as messy as it was passionate-
“Toya.” Akito suddenly called out his partner’s name – and judging from his tone, it wasn’t the first time. “I can tell somethin’s been buggin’ you all day. Are you seriously not gonna tell me what’s up?”
“...Do I look that awful?”
“Dude.” Akito scoffed, pausing to swipe his thumb up the corner of Toya’s mouth. “You’re literally drooling right now.”
Oh. Indeed he was.
“Sorry, Akito…” Toya bumbled out awkwardly, unsure if he should be more remorseful about the fact that he was zoning out in the middle of an important photoshoot or that he’d mindlessly dripped a puddle of saliva onto Akito’s sheets. “My head’s felt fuzzy all day.”
“You feelin’ sick?” Akito questioned, pausing to wipe his finger off on the bed – they were already dirty, so whatever. “You could’ve just said so… ‘s not like this couldn’t have waited.”
“I appreciate that, but…” Toya’s speech became more incomprehensible by the nanosecond, twiddling his thumbs as he began finding it more and more difficult to look his partner in the eye. “...it’s because of you, Akito.”
“...Hah?”
“It’s just… Things are different between us now.” Toya continued – a realization that Akito was quick to pick up on, if the way they were suddenly matching in cheek color spoke to anything. “When I look at you, my mind keeps racing with all sorts of thoughts I know I shouldn’t be having, and yet…”
“That right…?” Akito murmured, a flicker of something braver in his eyes when he pressed a knee just shy of where Toya sat on the mattress’s edge. “Tell me about ‘em, then.”
“W-what?” Toya stammered as idiotically as he felt, doing his best to swallow the frog in his throat when Akito anchored himself partway into the older’s lap.
“You’re real stupid, man… You think I care about what you’re s’pposed to be thinking?” Akito spoke with equal parts endearment and exasperation, a simple tap upon Toya’s chest prompting the older to fall square on his back. “None of that shit matters to me. I’m your partner.”
“S…sorry.” Toya mumbled simply, unable to decide whether having Akito straddling his lap made it easier to pay attention to his lecture or completely impossible to remember what day it was.
“So c’mon.” Akito prompted, guiding Toya’s hands – which anyone with half a functioning eye could tell were itching to put themselves to use – beneath his jacket to settle upon his waist. “I wanna know what you think about me, Toya.”
“I…” Toya gulped down what was apparently the rest of the army of frogs, no longer able to help what could only be described as pathetic neediness as he seized Akito’s invitation with an experimental squeeze. “I think you’re beautiful, Akito.”
“Yeah?” Akito hummed – and if that sultry tone didn’t encourage him to keep spilling his guts, leaning down to mouth at Toya’s neck certainly did the trick.
“You put so much work into taking care of yourself, and it shows. Every inch of you is refined to perfection.” Toya babbled with all the restraint of a busted damn, carefully kneading his fingertips in a circle until they could slip their way beneath Akito’s tank top. “Just looking at you drives me completely insane, Akito.”
“All I want to do, day in and day out, is kiss you up and down your entire body until I run out of places to mark.” Toya continued, extremely thankful for the change in position allowing him to run his hands along that back he’d probably memorized every atom of by now. “It makes it feel like such a tease when you keep letting me look when we both know I shouldn’t touch. I’m starting to forget how to control myself.”
“Then don’t.” Akito spoke aptly, popping away from the shapely love bite he’d sucked into his partner’s milky skin with that smug look on his face – one he seldom adopted when it came to Toya, but boy was it doing well to tighten the coil around his partner’s heart right now. “I keep sayin’ it’s fine, don’t I? Take what you want, Toya.”
“Akito-”
“AKITOOO!” Ena very conveniently yelled in equal time, the frustrated groan from the boy in question becoming mutual at the interruption. “Mom says to come down for dinner! She made enough curry for Toya-kun!”
“I’m gonna beat her up.” Akito groaned, making Toya chuckle as his face scrunched up with the sourness of a hundred lemons.
“We should probably save any kissing for after we’re done taking pictures anyway.” Toya reasoned as Akito pulled back, just a bit of sense managing to return to him in time to offer a comforting pat to his partner’s hip.
“Guess so…” Akito conceded, swinging himself off of Toya’s (now slightly numb) lap until he could slide off the mattress. Covering up the frankly massive hickey he’d given Toya would already be a pain, let alone whatever amount of editing would suffice to hide all the extra bruises and swollen lips they'd inevitably end up with.
“Don't worry.” Toya hummed, suddenly hugging Akito from behind with such a lack of hesitation that the younger could at least confirm his pep talk was successful. “My mother already told me I could stay the night if I wanted. We'll have lots of time to ourselves.”
“...Heh…” Akito chuckled, reaching back as well as he reasonably could to ruffle up the two-toned hair currently tickling the crook of his neck. “You're startin’ to make me forget self-control too, man.”
“Is that a problem…?” Toya hummed with a kiss to Akito's nape that made poor work of passing itself off as chaste.
“Not at all.” Akito craned his neck upward, ready and willing for-
“AKITO!”
“Oh my god, we're coming…!”