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“So, Gaku,” Tenn begins, “are you disappointed?”
Gaku scowls at him. “Why would I be? Our manager gave us good news.”
“Why would you be?” Tenn parrots back. “That’s what I’m asking you. There’s no point in pretending otherwise when we’ve long since established you can’t hide what you’re feeling.”
“I’m not disappointed,” Gaku insists. Ryuu pats his shoulder reassuringly. “I’m not,” he repeats. He narrows his eyes at Tenn. “And what does it matter to you anyway?”
Tenn sits on the couch across from them and crosses his legs. “Don’t flatter yourself. I’m not concerned for you. I just don’t feel like working around the consequences if you’re going to be a brat for the rest of the night.”
Ryuu shoots Tenn a reproachful look and grips Gaku’s shoulder firmly. “We’re your friends, Gaku,” he says, frowning at Tenn when the latter huffs, “and we care if you’re upset by something. You looked excited when Anesagi-san knocked, but you seemed let down even after she told us that the contract with FSC that we thought fell through was renewed.”
“Maybe he was expecting someone else?” Tenn proposes. He arches a perfectly manicured eyebrow. “Gaku, have you finally managed to get a girlfriend after twenty-two years? The president won’t be happy.”
“Shut up,” Gaku snaps, “I’m single out of necessity, not by circumstance.”
“That was unnecessary, Tenn,” Ryuu chides. Gaku feels a rush of gratitude towards him. “Gaku wouldn’t jeopardize his career—our careers—for a woman.”
Tenn mutters something that sounds suspiciously like on purpose under his breath. Gaku graciously ignores it. The three of them fall silent, Gaku studiously avoiding eye contact with either of the others.
Ryuu suddenly lets out a soft oh of realization. “Sougo-kun mentioned in a group chat last week that he’d like to cheer us on before our next concert. Would you happen to be waiting for him?” Tenn’s eyes narrow, and Gaku abruptly finds himself bereft of his earlier gratitude towards Ryuu.
“Osaka—” Tenn enunciates, letting the syllables roll slowly off his tongue “—Sougo.” Gaku stiffens imperceptibly, but Tenn somehow notices it anyway, his gaze sharpening. “Woman or not, it’s unseemly for you to get involved with a fan. I assumed that you knew that, but I suppose I was giving you too much credit.”
“I’m not involved with Osaka,” Gaku protests, “and he’s not our fan either. He’s a colleague.” A beat passes. “A friend,” Gaku amends, a touch quieter.
“Not our fan,” Tenn repeats flatly. “And your father is not our president.” God, Gaku wishes but—
“It’s not fair to Sougo-kun to write him off as just a fan,” Ryuu protests. “Even if he likes our music, our performances, he’s still our peer.” He hesitates for a moment before continuing. “Even though I was in awe of you two, I still did my best to work with you so that I could proudly call you my comrades. It may be, uh, noticeable that Sougo-kun was previously familiar with us, but dismissing the fact that he can perform at level close to ours isn’t fair to him.”
“I’m not putting down his abilities,” Tenn states, “merely his unfortunate association with Gaku.” He makes a show of thinking for a second. “Although I was under the impression that he was more a fan of Ryuu’s.”
Ryuu shifts uncomfortably in his seat. “I—I don’t think that’s relevant.”
Tenn shrugs indifferently. “Which of us he likes best on a personal or a professional level is of no import to me.”
Gaku lets out a noise of irritation. “Then why bring it up in the first place?”
“Because it matters to you,” Tenn responds slowly, as if speaking to a small, particularly thick-skulled child. “It wouldn’t do for you to get in over your head and become far more invested in a person than they are with you.”
“That almost sounded like you care about me, Tenn,” Gaku deflects.
“I don’t have to say it explicitly for it to be true,” Tenn replies testily. Well. That wasn’t the response that Gaku expected, but he’ll take it. Tenn squares his shoulders and continues. “It’s expected, almost required, in this business to want people to love you best. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make your fans smile. In fact, it should be your priority.
“It becomes a problem when your priority becomes a specific demographic—” Tenn shoots Gaku a significant look “—or a specific person.”
Gaku opens his mouth to speak, thinks better of it, and closes it. His lips form around silent arguments before he heaves a long-suffering sigh. “Look, Tenn … you’re … reading into this too much.” He looks beseechingly at Ryuu. “Am I not allowed to have friends now?”
“I don’t think that’s what Tenn is trying to say—”
“I can message Osaka right now and tell him I’m not allowed to see him anymore because, god forbid, he bought our album.” Gaku stands up and raises his voice slightly. “Should I cancel my movie nights with Izumi-ani too while I’m at it? He likes us too, doesn’t he?”
Ryuu catches Gaku’s wrist. “Listen, Gaku, we should—”
“—stop overreacting?” Tenn asks, his demeanor cold.
“You’re the one overreacting,” Gaku snaps back. “This might be a difficult concept for you to grasp, but people are usually excited to see people they like.”
Ryuu tightens his hand briefly and Gaku snatches his arm out of Ryuu’s grasp. Gaku shoots him an apologetic look before sitting down again carefully. Ryuu speaks softly, as if afraid of spooking a wary animal. “But you do like him, don’t you? Sougo-kun, I mean.”
“Wouldn’t it be stranger if I didn’t?” Gaku points out, but he exhales hard and sinks back into the sofa, his anger dissipating. “Osaka’s a good guy.”
“He is,” Tenn concedes. Gaku shoots him a look of absolute bewilderment. “He’s not the one I’m worried about,” Tenn clarifies, almost softly.
Ryuu brightens visibly. “Well, it’s good that we can agree on that!” His smile wavers slightly, and he looks at Gaku with something approaching pity. “That’s not quite what I was getting at, though.”
“Subtlety isn’t your forte,” Tenn comments wryly, “or Gaku’s, for that matter.”
Gaku looks between the two of them with a frown. “What are y—”
— knock
Gaku and Ryuu startle, and Tenn looks at the former expectantly. “Isn’t this what you were waiting for?”
“It might not be Osaka this time either, though,” Gaku points out. Still, he stands, brushes off his pants, and makes his way to the door.
He opens it, only to step back a second later as Sougo pauses mid-knock with his fist an inch from Gaku’s chest. Sougo pulls his arm back hastily and bows his head slightly in apology. “Ah—! Yaotome-san, sorry for the intrusion. I hope that now is an acceptable time for me to impose.”
Gaku grins at Sougo and puts a hand on his shoulder, guiding him into the room. “Of course it is, any time with you is time well spent.” Gaku returns to his seat, but Sougo remains standing awkwardly by the armrest.
Sougo abruptly shakes his head, as if awakening from a trance, before bowing. “Thank you for inviting me.” He straightens up. “I sent flowers beforehand with the rest of IDOLiSH7. I trust that they arrived safely?” he says, the end of the sentence rising up as if in question.
Ryuu nods. “They did, thank you. It was a beautiful arrangement.”
Sougo’s smile reaches his eyes. “I’m glad. I didn’t arrange them, but I suggested the flowers for it.”
“You have an eye for it,” Gaku says, impressed.
“Well, it’s more like Nagi-san suggested them. I’m just the one who wrote them down for our manager,” Sougo amends.
“Still,” Gaku insists, “you have good taste in any case. After all, you like—”
“Gaku, right?” Ryuu supplies, ever so helpfully.
Sougo’s eyes dart around the room. “Ah, well ... yes,” he decides firmly. “Yaotome-san is ... exceedingly talented.”
Gaku runs a hand through his hair and smiles at Sougo. “I’m grateful for that. I’ll work hard to meet your expectations with this performance.”
“No, don’t worry about that,” Sougo hurriedly reassures. “No performance of yours could be anything less than perfect in my eyes.”
“You don’t have to inflate his ego,” Tenn states flatly.
“I’m not!” Sougo insists. “Yaotome-san is amazing. All of you are.”
“As are you,” Gaku replies, and Sougo flushes slightly. “I can’t do anything but my best with you cheering me on.” Ryuu and Tenn exchange a significant look unnoticed as Gaku and Sougo exchange increasingly favorable compliments.
“—and you serve as inspiration to me as well. Maybe I should start calling myself your fan.”
“I wouldn’t even dare to dream of that, you—”
—knock
“Start warming up soon,” Anesagi calls through the door, TRIGGER rising to their feet in response.
Gaku puts his hand on Sougo’s shoulder as he leaves the dressing room. “Stick around after the performance, okay, Osaka? Tell me what you loved about it.”