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As a child, Toya was hardly well-acquainted with the joy of the holiday season. Time off school for Golden Week only meant twice as much piano practice, his birthdays felt more like business transactions than parties… even Christmas was an affair as bleak as it was ordinary at his household.
That all changed when he came to Vivid Street, much to his liking. In addition to refusing to concern himself with what his father wanted for him, amassing a close circle of loving friends brought with it lots of opportunities to celebrate. Suddenly, all those marks on the calendar which usually only brought double the agonizing monotony were something he actively looked forward to.
Summer festivals in particular were quite fun to experience with a group, he'd come to find. This was his third year in a row attending, and yet he never tired of wandering the temple grounds with Akito. The snacks were tasty and unique, the games were a charming test of skill, and the atmosphere was absolutely bustling with carefree joy.
“Make sure you don't overdo it, kay…?” Akito would lovingly warn him each night they went. Frankly, it was probably for the best that he had his partner to keep him in check – he'd surely end up with soreness in his feet and stomach if left unchecked. Lucky for him, Akito's natural tendency to fuss over him ensured Toya would never leave the festival with so much as a blemished cheek.
Tonight would be particularly exciting, too. They always saved the firework display for the last day of the festival, so it was by far when the grounds were at their busiest. The crowds were thick and the lines were long, making it quite the chore to navigate through the tide even with Akito holding his hand. (For safety reasons, or so he claimed.)
“Jeez, I could barely move an inch…” Akito grumbled once they finally managed to slip into a more secluded area. His newly freed hand came up to tug upon his shirt collar, the summer heat continuing to hit like a truck even as the sun began to set.
“It's nice to see things so lively, though.” Toya commented, ever the yang to Akito's yin. His time on Vivid Street had cultivated a natural affinity for lively crowds – though, ironically, he could barely stand tiny sounds like clinking jewelry in comparison.
“Guess so.” Akito shrugged, pausing to take a bite of the kakigori he'd procured – topped with condensed milk, fruit and soda candy, of course, as if basically eating pure syrup wasn't sweet enough. “It'd be a lot nicer if it wasn't apparently everyone's first day on earth, though…”
“At least we know the food will be fresh.” Toya shrugged, eyes fixated on a stall toward the bottom of the hill with a cartoon octopus hanging over it. “Should we get some takoyaki before it sells out?”
“Might as well.” Akito resolved, gulping down another spoonful of kakigori in a race against the sweltering heat. “I heard those taiyaki sundaes are pretty good too, so I wanna snag some.”
“Heh… Already thinking of where to find your next sweet, huh?” Toya hummed out as they started down the stairs, his tone equal parts teasing and endeared as he summoned a rush of blood in Akito's cheeks.
“You don't hafta put it like that...” muttered an embarrassed Akito, though Toya could only let out another chuckle at his lack of denial. No matter how many times he claimed to only be here for Toya's sake, it was clear he derived quite a bit of enjoyment from sampling all the seasonal treats the festival booths had to offer.
Despite his sweets-eating ability – or lack thereof, more accurately – Toya had to admit it was impressive for the man running the stall to deck out taiyaki so thoroughly. Using the fish's mouth as a well for the ice cream until it was fit to burst, then taking it even farther by swirling it a mile higher than the pastry itself, only to douse it with syrup and fresh fruit… Truly, this was a meticulous art only the highest of connoisseurs could achieve.
“You're gettin’ that look again…” Akito chuckled out, the overpowering glimmer in Toya's eyes as he bore a hole into his sundae recognizable from a mile away.
“...Was I making a strange face?” asked Toya, oblivious to his own emotions and their corresponding expressions as ever, with a curious tilt of his head. He touched a pair of fingertips to his cheek, shock visibly settling into his face though the muscles within were a foreign entity beyond his control.
“You always look like you've got fireworks in your eyes when you wanna try somethin’ new.” Akito planted the hand not occupied with his taiyaki into Toya's hair as he spoke, giving it a good affectionate ruffle that left the older looking nice and bedheaded upon retraction.
“It would would be nice if I could assemble aesthetic desserts like that.” Toya conceded, watching as Akito proceeded to desecrate the creation by scooping a generous helping into his waiting mouth. “I'm not sure I'm cut out for making sweets, though…”
“Those cupcakes you made for White Day turned out pretty good.” Akito pointed out, oblivious to the fact that it took three attempts for said cupcakes to be rendered even remotely edible…
“I suppose.” Toya chuckled, his confidence successfully restored in only a couple beats flat. “I'll have to call on you to put my work to the test when the time comes, then.”
“I'm not that much of a sweets buff, y'know…” Akito muttered, though his feigned scowl didn’t stop him from continuing his ongoing battle against the melting ice cream.
“Of course you are.” Toya hummed, eyes following the path of Akito’s spoon as it repeatedly disappeared behind his lips – like watching him enjoy his treat brought the same satisfaction Akito himself got from eating it. “You’re always well-informed about the latest trending sweets and which shops are worthy of recommendation. I honestly find it admirable-”
“Oh! It’s Akito-kun and Toya-kun!”
Had Akito just been saved by the bell from Toya’s cheek-flushing praise or made to witness the prelude to his ego’s destruction, he wondered... Oh well. Either way, the sudden calling of a familiar third voice forcibly veered the conversation’s direction adrift.
“Ah… It's Momoi-san and Hanasato.” Toya offered a polite wave as the girls in question came over to greet them.
“Aoyagi-kun, Shinonome-kun!” Minori greeted just as eagerly as her groupmate as she approached. “I wasn't expecting to run into you two here.”
“Likewise.” Toya replied with a nod. “Are you and Momoi-san here to enjoy the festival as well?”
“Sort of!” Airi cropped up happily, which the two boys had realized they could attribute to the selfie stick in her hand. “Festivals are the perfect opportunity to farm some engagement~”
“Oh… You guys are streaming the festival, then.” Akito concluded rather obviously, backing up like a cornered snake as the realization dawned on him. “Toya, we should go-”
“C'mon, don't say that, Akito-kun!” Airi instantly proved the validity of the ginger's worst fear when she pulled him into the camera frame. “I'm sure our fans would love to say hi to our friends from Vivid BAD SQUAD, right?”
“H…hello, everyone…!” Akito swapped personas in a snap, hoping he looked less like death than he felt in that moment. “I hope you've all been having a good summer.”
“Pfft…” Toya snickered from the sidelines, prompting as brief a death glare as Akito could manage without arousing suspicion from the chat.
“For those of you who aren't familiar, this is Shinonome Akito and his partner Aoyagi Toya!” Airi continued to explain, reangling the camera so it could capture all four of them in the frame. “Looks like they've already tried the taiyaki sundae we were planning to show you, so maybe they could give us a review!”
“Fuck.” Akito immediately lamented in his head. “I should've known better than to eat this right next to the booth…”
“I see… I wasn't aware it was trending.” Toya swooped in to save Akito's dignity, stepping forward to join his partner up front. “We just purchased it to beat the heat.”
“Whoa, that's lucky…!” Minori marveled, the shift in attention hopefully enough to mask Akito's sigh of relief. “So many people line up down the street to get one that it's hard even if you come early.”
“I guess it's a good thing you caught us then, Momoi-san.” Akito feigned a laugh, scooping up a rather aesthetic bite of ice cream to show off to the audience. “Here, the camera can have a bite too.”
Truthfully, he was just mimicking what he'd seen from food influencers… but it seemed the simple trick worked quite well for the audience. The chat erupted with positive reactions and gifts, even more so when Akito actually ate the bite of ice cream. Was there really this big of a market for watching people eat…?
“...Yeah, he does look pretty cute when he takes a bite of something sweet, doesn't he?” Airi spoke in an obvious reply to a message directed toward Akito. “Honestly, I'm jealous I can't scoop him up and keep him as my little brother!”
“Oi, hang on a minute…” Akito began to grumble, just barely catching himself in time to remember he was currently suffering the misfortune of a hundred prying eyes. “...W-well, it’s probably time that my partner and I got moving! It was nice to chat with you, Momoi-san.”
“Aww, do you really have to leave so soon?” Airi began to pout, though it was obvious what she really meant was ‘Do you really have to deprive my viewers of the eye candy I just dangled in front of their faces?’
“...Oh!” Minori seemed to drum up a solution in a flash, stretching onto her tiptoes so she could lean up to Toya’s ear with a hand cupped over the side of her mouth. “Aoyagi-kun, let’s do that thing I taught you!”
“Really...?” Toya’s eyes widened, knees bending to a more Minori-friendly height. “I thought I looked a bit silly when you showed it to me, though…”
“The hell are they plotting...?” Akito thought to himself, having already taken a strategic step toward the edge of the frame by the time he noticed their whispering. To his fortune or perhaps the exact opposite, he got his answer a moment later when the two of them approached the center of the camera.
“Goodbye, everyone~” Toya hummed airily with a smile and a wink, shaping his thumbs and pointers into a heart shape against his cheek that perfectly mirrored Minori’s. “Please continue supporting MORE MORE JUMP!... Oh, and Vivid BAD SQUAD too, of course.”
…Huh?!
“Haha, yeah, totally!” Akito tried really, really hard to ignore the vein popping out on his temple, visibly straining to maintain a smile as he threw an arm around Toya and began to drag him off. “C’mon, let’s go already...!”
“What the heck?!” Airi called out in surprise right when Akito made the mistake of assuming he’d finally secured an escape route. “We just hit double our donation goal in seconds flat!”
“Eh?!” Minori squished herself further against Airi to get a better look at the camera, only to stumble back in shock as she took a proper glimpse at the numbers. “Th-th-that’s so many gifts! Is Aoyagi-kun magical?!”
Unfortunately, the answer might as well have been yes, and Akito had once again run into a situation where he ended up wanting to bash his head into a wall as a result.
“Toya-kun! You can’t leave yet!” Airi seemed keen on deciding for the younger boy, who had been jerked around enough to visibly lose any sense of what was going on. “You’ve got lots of messages from our viewers!”
“Sorry, but we really should get going.” Akito turned down with an unamused shake of his head, doing his utmost to maintain patience in his venture to save Toya from the fate of a cash cow... Yeah, that was totally the reason.
“It could be fun, Akito.” Toya chimed in at the most critical moment, innocently flashing that smile of his which never failed to thaw out even the coldest heart. “The experience we’d gain from learning how to deal with a virtual audience would be beneficial, too.”
“...Alright, then. Do what you want.” Akito finally relented with a sigh of defeat. The prospect of making Toya happy and the illusion of turning play into work had always been the most surefire of hacks to make Akito do what you want – and by sheer coincidence, Toya himself managed to hit both nails square on the head in one fell swoop.
“Yay!” Minori rushed in from behind to patter her hands just below the space where Akito had claimed both of Toya’s shoulders. “Thank you so much, Aoyagi-kun! We’ll be sure to repay you!”
“Nonsense. You’re both dear friends of ours, so it’s no trouble at all.” Toya said with a widening smile, stopping to offer the camera a demure little wave as he spoke. “Besides, it’s wonderful to hear that so many people took time out of their day to offer a kind word.”
“Whoa, it happened again...!” Airi marveled, nearly losing herself in the numbers rapidly spamming themselves on the screen. “T...Toya-kun, take the phone, quick!”
“O-oh, okay.” Toya blinked in surprise as a selfie stick was suddenly shoved into his hands, taking a moment to mimic the way Airi was holding it in an attempt to stabilize. “So I just answer the messages the fans are sending me...?”
“Mm-hm! And the ones that come with donations are really important!” Minori squished herself into frame to tap her finger against the frankly concerning volume of special notifications stacking on top the screen.
“Th-they’re all going so fast, though…” Toya’s eyes widened once more, nerves starting to wrack up as he struggled to comprehend the slew of special comments. “Um... thank you all for being so generous.”
“Give ‘em some fanservice, too...!” Minori spoke quieter that time, tapping thrice under her eye to ensure Toya would get the memo.
“Oh, I see…” Toya mumbled to himself like he’d been offered an epiphany, immediately heeding Minori’s advice by offering the camera another wink that nearly bordered on flirtatious. “Thanks for the love, everyone~”
“K-k-kyahhh!” Minori stumbled about a hundred feet back as if blinded by a radiant light. “Even I can feel his intense idol aura...!”
“He is weirdly natural at this…” Akito muttered to himself. Obviously, as his partner, he knew better than anyone that Toya was a certified pretty boy, but this debacle was starting to make him wonder if he really did miss his calling as an idol or a model...
But more importantly, a tiny, obscured section of Akito’s heart absolutely boiled at the sight of so many people fawning over his partner. No matter how many times he told himself it was ridiculous to feel this way, he couldn’t shake the barely suppressed instinct to drag his partner away and stake his well-earned claim over him. Namely by shoving his tongue down his throat until they were both breathless and dizzy.
“Yes, thank you for the tip, AirisNumberOneOshi. It’s wonderful to see you as well, MinorisLeftShoe. ‘Give the chat a ‘bakyun’...? Um... Bakyun~ Was that good enough, ShizuAi4Lyfe? Oh, thank you for supporting our friends at MORE MORE JUMP!, Yaoitron9000... I’m afraid I’m not sure what an ikemen is, though.”
“Dude, you don’t gotta read every comment.” Akito huffed as he snuck into the other half of the frame, an act which obviously had nothing to do with that last comment that totally did not piss him off to the point of morphing into a 1930s work whistle.
“Oh, Akito. The comments were just asking about you.” Toya pointed out with an oblivious hum. When Akito looked at the screen to see what he was talking about, he found that people were actually sending in tips to get him back onscreen – and once he returned, all sorts of extra comments flooded in.
Some people praised his quote unquote ‘moe gap’, others asked if he could take another bite of taiyaki – which, evidently, he’d already finished devouring… Some even complimented how his arms looked in the tank top he was wearing, asking if he could flex for the camera. Considering he’d never been on stream before, he found it kind of off putting how quickly they got comfortable saying some of this crap. But on the other hand...
“...Y’mean like this?” Akito asked with a casual flex of his arm, the muscle definition seeming to increase tenfold like magic. The subsequent wave of rampant thirst comments fed his fascination for how astoundingly easy it was to entertain these people.
“Whoa, Shinonome-kun looks way buffer when he flexes...!” Minori gasped from the back, touching her own arm for comparison – which, of course, yielded the result of looking like a complete noodle next to him.
“Well, yeah, that’s how it works…” Akito shrugged as he let his arm rest. “Your muscles tense up when you’re flexing, so they look squishier when you relax ‘em. You can do special training if you wanna look super beefy, but I don’t work out for bodybuildin’, so…”
“Yes, I agree, Yaoitron900. He does look very good when he’s all sweaty.”
“Seriously, ignore those weirdos...!” Akito finally put his foot down, speaking through his teeth and hoping none of the viewers heard his complaints.
“Oh, the fireworks are starting!” yelled Airi, and that was the only warning the boys received before she was suddenly snatching back the camera and rushing to get a good view. “Everybody say thanks to the boys from Vivid BAD SQUAD for joining us~”
“Bye, Aoyagi-kun! Shinonome-kun!”
And just like that, they were alone again. After all that chaos, the sudden silence between them felt almost surreal. It took Akito’s heart a few moments to recover from the rollercoaster it had just been barrelled through, Toya’s own mood remaining completely calm in sharp juxtaposition.
“That was a nice experience.” Toya chose to articulate, taking a seat at the adjacent park bench they might’ve enjoyed their respective meals upon if they hadn’t been interrupted.
“Yeah, but…” Akito rubbed the back of his neck in an awkward gesture as he sat beside his partner. “You know those people were goin’ crazy over you cuz they think you’re hot, right?”
“Oh, was that it...?” Toya’s face went listless as he processed the information, like it was surprising but by no means a disappointment. “Well, that’s a shame.”
“How come?”
“Because I’m only interested in you, of course.” Toya said it like it was nothing, eyes fully focused upon the firework display as its dazzling array of colors exploded across the darkened sky.
“...Jeez…” Akito huffed, his growing blush inevitably rendering his whole body ablaze despite the air beginning to cool down. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were tryin’ to butter me up too.”
“You’d deserve it and more.” said Toya as he turned back toward his partner. He was still smiling, though Akito had noted long ago that it looked different when it was directed at him. There was something more soft and affectionate hidden in those crowd-catching features of his; a side of him only Akito was privy to.
Weirdly enough, that was what finally convinced Akito of his prior foolishness. Nobody else got to see this saccharine romanticism for Toya, so why should he care that a bunch of randos on the internet find him hot? Still, just to be safe, he’d stake a proper claim with a gentle kiss upon his partner’s lips.
“Eh...? What are Akito-kun and Toya-kun doing in the background there?”
“A-A-Airi, pan away!”
~
🌕☀️
~
“Akito, what does ‘queerbait’ mean?”
“What?!”