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Kotetsu checked himself out in the mirror, smoothing his vest down. This attire was not something that he would normally wear— black leather vest on top of a mesh shirt, green fingerless gloves that match the green ‘W’ chain around his neck. It was a little loud, especially the green streaks in his hair, but he supposed that came with being an idol. It felt a bit like he was just some sort of living doll sometimes, being dressed up for interviews, MVs, what not. He couldn’t deny it though, at least he looked good, and felt like a badass.
He snapped out of his reverie when he felt another presence walk up towards him, Kotetsu turning to meet the eyes of Antonio. He donned a leather jacket with green studs to match with Kotetsu’s green aesthetic. His friend looked cool, especially with his hair slicked back, dark black streaks intermingled. The nose piercing was a nice touch, even if it was fake. The fans didn’t know that, however. Kotetsu supposed that it was probably for the best— something about not wanting to break the illusion.
“Don’t you get cold in that?” Antonio looked over at Kotetsu.
“What?”
“You know.”
Antonio gestured to the mesh shirt Kotetsu was wearing, prompting the other man to shrug. “It’s not like I can say much about it if I have to wear it. Besides, you know that the cold barely affects me.”
“You’re like a walking heater.”
“If you said that during the interview, the fans would eat that shit up.”
“Hah! Maybe I will say it then. Our company would probably like that too.”
Kotetsu rolled his eyes. “I still can’t believe they had me on my knees in the music video practically grabbing at your crotch.”
“Are you complaining?”
“If I had known that I’d be practically making out with you every time we film a new MV I wouldn’t have decided to go down this career path.”
“Oh please, you’re just jealous that I have more fans than you.”
Kotetsu rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at his lips. “Bison has more fans than me? You must be dreaming.”
“Hey! Any fans of yours are fans of mine— we’re marketed as a package deal! Besides, don’t act like you hate it.”
“Tomoe thought it was sooo funny to watch our latest release. She asked me when we were going to announce that Tiger and Bison are dating!”
Antonio’s smile turned into a smirk when he heard that, “Well? When are we going to announce that?”
“Haha, very funny Toni. I guess it can always be worse. I mean, can you imagine having to do all of this with someone you’re not comfortable with? That would make things a lot weirder.”
“Oh, speaking of Tomoe, she’s here tonight, right?”
“Yeah! She asked for tickets to this show for some reason.”
“Well then, should we put on a show for her?”
Kotetsu barked out a laugh, caught off guard by Antonio’s suggestion. “You know what? Why not? She’d think that it’s funny.”
Their conversation was cut short by a knock on the dressing room door, their manager stepping in a few moments later.
“You’re on in five minutes, are you two ready?”
Antonio spoke up first. “Yeah, we’re ready.”
“Try not to get too rowdy when you’re up on stage.”
“Aww but where’s the fun in that? If you want to market us as bad boys, we should be able to be a little bit rowdy,” Kotetsu complained with a grin.
Their poor manager sighed, shaking their head.
“You know exactly what I meant by that, Tiger.” “I know, I know. I will be on my best behaviour. We both will, right Toni?” Kotetsu turned to give his best friend a cheeky smirk, one that Antonio returned.
“Of course. Our best behaviour.”
“And now, please welcome our long awaited guests for tonight! The duo who recently released their new global hit ‘Wild,’ Tiger and Bison!”
That was their cue. The idols stepped out onto the stage, smiling and waving at their fans.
It wasn’t hard to spot Tomoe.
She sat in the middle row, wearing some cheesy merch of the duo. She had gotten her hair dyed too— green streaks, to match Kotetsu’s. It took everything in Kotetsu not to absolutely melt when he saw her. No matter how many times he saw her, she never failed to give him butterflies. He had been on stage plenty of times before, but just her presence alone was enough to make his knees feel a little weak with some sort of self-induced stage fright from wanting to impress her so much.
Both Kotetsu and Antonio took a seat on the couch on the stage, sitting a bit just too close to each other, knees bumping into each other’s. That elicited some sort of reaction from the audience, one they would pretend not to notice.
“Thank you for having us tonight, Stella!” Kotetsu shot their hostess a smile.
“Oh it's a pleasure to have you both here! I mean, you two are the biggest rising stars right now!”
“Aw you’re too kind!”
“But it’s the truth!”
The interview was casual and light-hearted. The hostess asked them a bunch of questions, generic things like what their favourite food was, their favourite song from the album, whether anything interesting had happened while they were filming their MV. Other than sitting too close to each other, both Idols were on their best behaviour.
Then came that question.
“You know, I’ve been wanting to ask— both you and Bison had mentioned that you’re best friends outside of work. I bet everyone is curious about how you two actually met.”
“Oh, well, it’s a funny story, actually.” Kotetsu chuckled, “We met while we were still in highschool, right, big guy?”
He turned to Antonio as he asked that, his friend nodding in response.
“That’s right. We bumped into each other in the hallways and I made Tiger drop all of the things he was holding.”
“God, I was so pissed off— I remember yelling at Bison for bumping into me...”
“Oh man, I remember that. His vocabulary was… colourful, to say the least.” Antonio chuckled, Kotetsu rolling his eyes in response.
“I thought he was an idiot for not looking at where he was going, but then he helped me pick up my stuff and even offered a hand to pull me up. I almost swooned back then, I swear.”
“Don’t act like you didn’t.”
“Mm? Maybe I did, who knows?”
It was clearly an exaggerated lie. It was so cliché, too, but the fans ate it up regardless. They got a few ‘aww’s from the crowd— Kotetsu could already see the posts that would be made after this. He turned to look at the audience, and when he saw Tomoe laughing, he couldn’t help but break out into a grin. She looked beautiful. She always did, of course, but Kotetsu thought that Tomoe was the most beautiful when she was smiling and laughing.
“Anyway, that was how we met. We’ve been best friends ever since.”
“You know, somehow I can see it,” the hostess chuckled.
“Hey! In my defence, I was still much taller than Tiger even when we were teens. I honestly didn’t see him when I bumped into him.”
“Woww… how nice of you to say that.”
“I can’t help but take a jab at your height.”
“You’re the worst.”
“Aw, you know that you love me.” Antonio smirked at Kotetsu, and Kotetsu only smirked back, leaning closer to the other man.
“Do I? You’re awfully cocky, Bison.”
“It’s not being cocky if it’s the truth.”
That got a bigger reaction from their fans, Stella laughing as she fanned herself with her hand.
“Is it just me, or did the temperature in the room just rise a few degrees?”
“Ah- sorry, did I get carried away?” Kotetsu turned away from Antonio with a chuckle.
“Oh no, don’t worry about it! I’m sure your fans don’t mind at all.”
Kotetsu turned to face the audience again, his eyes immediately zeroing in on Tomoe. She was giggling, for a totally different reason as to why the rest of their fans were. Their own inside joke.
“Well, we only have time for one more question, and I think it’s one that everyone is dying to know: are the both of you dating?”
“Oh,” Antonio chuckled, turning to Kotetsu, “Well, I don’t know, are we?”
“I don’t think we are allowed to say even if we were.” Kotetsu shrugged, “Let’s just say that we’re very, very close friends.”
“Oh my…” Stella giggled, turning back to the camera, “I guess that’s as good of an answer we will be getting from them. Again, thank you both so much for being here.”
“Thank you for having us tonight.”
“Let’s give it up for Tiger and Bison again!”
The duo stood up, once again waving as the crowd cheered and applauded them. They were greeted by their manager, who was smiling ear to ear.
“Great job out there!”
“Hehe, thanks!” Kotetsu was more than happy to hear the praise.
“Get changed and go home, you two deserve rest after this.”
“Really?”
“Well, you have another photoshoot scheduled tomorrow, we wouldn’t want you two to look too tired.”
“Aw thank you!”
“Now go on then, before the show ends and your fans try to mob you.”
They were shooed off to the dressing room, Antonio bursting out into laughter as soon as the door shut behind them.
“Did you see their faces? I can’t believe they actually believed that stupid story you made up.”
“I am very convincing, after all.” Kotetsu grinned, “Did you see Tomoe’s reaction?”
“Oh yeah. I couldn’t look at her because I almost started laughing too”
“Maybe we’ll be able to convince her to let us give her an exclusive interview.”
Antonio rolled his eyes good naturedly, peeling his leather jacket off, “She wouldn’t do it. Even after all these years, she’s still too stuffy.”
“Wait until I tell her you said that.” Kotetsu laughed, taking his vest off as well.
“Maybe I should wear that jacket of yours the next time we have a public appearance.”
“Hah! I’m sure the fans would love it.”
They changed relatively quickly, Kotetsu pulling the hood of his jacket up.
“You’re not gonna remove your makeup?”
“It’s not like anyone’s gonna see. I would rather leave as soon as I can.”
“Ah right, Tomoe’s waiting, huh?”
“I’d ask if you would like to come over, but I drove my bike here.”
“We’ll be seeing each other again tomorrow anyway.”
“True.” Kotetsu laughed, “See you around!”
“Try not to get caught!”
Kotetsu slipped out of the studio after grabbing his helmet, making his way towards his bike. Sure enough, Tomoe was waiting for him, smiling as he approached.
“A meet cute, hm?”
“Was that funny?”
“I thought that it could be a little bit more dramatic, but your fans seem to like it regardless.”
“Okay, next time, I’ll elaborate that he saved me from falling down the stairs and breaking my neck.”
She laughed, rolling her eyes.
“You sure you don’t want an exclusive interview? You can tell your readers that Toni saved me from falling down the stairs- No one else knows that. Maybe you can even tell them there were rumours in school that said we were dating.”
“Just get on the bike, dear.”
“Whatever you say, Sunshine.”
Kotetsu put on his helmet, stabbing the key of his motorbike into the ignition. He smiled when he felt Tomoe’s arms wrap around his waist, her chest pressing up against his back.
“Ready?”
“Ready.”
He revved up the engine, before driving out of the parking lot, Tomoe’s arms tightening around him. Kotetsu had been to a few fancy hotels when he went on tour, with beds probably much more comfortable than the one he had at home. All of that didn’t matter though, because the most comfortable place in the entire world would always be in Tomoe’s arms.