Chapter Text
The owner of Zero Arena contacted Tsumugi barely a few days later, telling her that he and his team would be going down to watch IDOLiSH7’s next live in Tokyo as an evaluation of their ability. They had two weeks to prepare for it, which was ample time by any standards, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t all equally nervous about it.
Re:vale was expecting them to get the spot for the second day’s performance, and none of them wanted to let Re:vale down. Riku, especially, felt the pressure placed on him as IDOLiSH7’s centre, and his condition didn’t seem to be improving in the slightest.
Everyone was worried about Riku’s increasingly frequent midnight coughing fits, now at the point where there wasn’t a single night that he didn’t end up coughing his lungs out. On bad nights, he would wake up twice or even thrice to cough, and it was bad enough that the rest of the group would wake up as well. Even Yamato would come out of his room to check on Riku, and he was a whole five rooms away from the alpha.
The day of their live came around all too soon, and rehearsal seemed to pass by in a flash. Tsumugi had come up with a new staging for this live in particular, and she’d been rather confident about how it had turned out. Iori, too, had been impressed by the stage setup this time around, and he was quite honestly looking forward to see the audience’s response to it.
More than that, though, Iori was extremely concerned for Riku’s health. Aside from the fact that Riku was considerably stressed about having to do well, he’d also been coughing for almost the entirety of the previous night.
But they couldn’t not perform at their live, and it was already time for them to go on stage for their first performance soon. Riku took a deep breath to calm his nerves, and Iori went over to put a hand on the alpha’s shoulder. “You’ll do fine, Nanase-san. Don't worry too much about it.”
“I’ll try,” Riku sighed, glancing around quickly before pulling Iori into a hug.
“N-Nanase-san!” the omega hissed, fully aware that there were staff members around who could see them. A few of them were Takanashi Productions’ own staff who already knew about their relationship, but there were a few staff from the concert venue’s management team.
Riku was sensible enough to pull back after just a few seconds, managing a sheepish smile at his boyfriend. “Sorry. I’m just nervous. I think I should be fine.”
“That’d be best,” Yamato cut in, “time to get this concert started.”
Riku nodded, and they walked on stage together.
“Good evening! We’re IDOLiSH7!” Riku greeted with a bright smile, and the audience exploded into screams. “I’m sure you already know, but our regular show A Lovely Night with IDOLiSH7! is starting soon! I hope you cheer us on, be it TV or here, at our lives!”
Iori looked at Riku’s back, confident and unwavering, and he hoped that Riku would be able to make it through the rest of the concert. All traces of Riku’s prior nervousness had seemed to vanish the moment they stepped onto stage, as it usually did. Riku was always able to perform better when he had an audience in front of him.
The audience shouted eager replies in response to Riku’s statement, and the alpha continued, “Thank you! We’ll keep on challenging new things! We hope to show you even more sides to IDOLiSH7! And now, the song that started it all, our first song – MONSTER GENERATiON!”
The concert started off well; Riku managed to project his voice decently enough considering his health as of late, and unlike at NEXT Re:vale’s recording, he managed to keep up with the other members throughout the first half of the concert.
It was during the second half when it became more apparent that Riku was beginning to struggle to breathe. As much as he was able to, Riku didn’t let it affect his singing, forcing himself to belt out his lines and only breaking off to wheeze once it was the other members’ parts.
By the time the concert ended, Riku was well in the throes of an attack – a bad one, from what Iori could see and smell. “And that was IDOLiSH7! Thank you for tonight, everyone!” Riku exclaimed gratefully, and Iori immediately ushered the alpha off the stage.
---
The moment they were out of the audience’s view, Riku dissolved into a series of wheezing coughs, his lungs struggling to take in oxygen. Everything hurt, and he was beginning to feel light-headed, but even in his condition he could hear the audience calling for an encore. “Haah- ha...”
Iori had run off immediately to look for Riku’s inhaler, returning as quickly as he could and forcing the inhaler to Riku’s mouth. He knew that Riku hated to rely on his medication, but the alpha’s scent was quickly becoming distressed, and Iori didn’t want Riku to collapse. “Nanase-san, please open your mouth! Here’s your inhaler. Breathe slowly.”
As weak as he was, Riku still pushed the inhaler out of his face. “No! It’ll make my voice go hoarse-” he broke off to cough again, leaning heavily against the wall for support. Iori was certain that without the wall holding him up, Riku wouldn’t even have the strength to stand. As he was now, Riku was already doubled over in pain. And he’s still being stubborn, the idiot, Iori thought frustratedly.
Yamato came over to where they were with a chair, frowning disapprovingly at their centre and forcing him to sit down. “There’s no way you can do the encore, Riku!”
“I can still... do it...! I can do it!”
Iori liked to think of himself as a rather level-headed person, but seeing Riku in such a condition was making even the omega begin to panic. He had to swallow past the lump in his throat, ignore the way his heart was almost physically hurting from seeing how much pain Riku was in.
“With the way you are right now, you can’t go on stage!” Iori said as firmly as he could, although even he himself could hear the way his voice trembled. He turned to look at the members of MEZZO with pleading eyes. “Osaka-san, Yotsuba-san! Can MEZZO take it from here?”
Sougo was quick to nod. “Understood! Don’t force yourself, Riku-kun. Promise?”
“S-sorry,” Riku choked out, eyes beginning to burn with unshed tears. He wasn’t sure if he was crying from the pain or from the frustration of getting an attack during such a crucial concert. “I’m- so sorry-”
Tamaki shook his head, nudging Sougo and making his way back on stage. “Don’t apologise! Rikkun, we’ll buy you time,” Tamaki assured. “Let’s go, Souchan.”
“Riku, are you okay? You were coughing all night, too...” Nagi trailed off as Riku dissolved into coughs again, this time more serious than before.
“Just use your inhaler! MEZZO’s singing right now so, in the meantime, you’ve got to calm down!”
Still, Riku shook his head adamantly, and if Riku wasn’t already in pain Iori would’ve tried to shake some sense into him. “It’s no good, if I use it then I won’t be able to focus-” he coughed again, lungs burning with the effort to breathe. “This is my job, I have to sing-”
“Riku-san...”
Riku forced himself to look at Tsumugi, and even though he very clearly looked like he was suffering, he managed to retain the determined gaze in his eyes. Iori admired Riku for his determination, he really did, but times like this made him wish that the alpha could be a little less headstrong about his duties. “I promised... that I’d sing... until the very end of the live... That, and... they came to see us... the reopening ceremony people...”
“Riku-san’s health is by far more important! Please use your inhaler! If you don’t then we’ll pull you out on doctor’s orders!” Tsumugi ordered. “At this rate, you’ll be wheeled out in an ambulance!”
Shaking his head defiantly, Riku said, “N-no! We... finally got a chance...!”
“It can’t be helped.” Please don’t blame me for doing this, Nanase-san. “Nikaidou-san, please hold Nanase-san down and open his mouth.”
Betrayed eyes met Iori’s, and the omega had to tear his gaze away from Riku’s. “Iori...!”
“Sorry, Riku. Stay still. Your health is our top priority, got it?”
“...No! I can still go! I can-” Riku was cut off when Yamato pinned him against the chair by the shoulders, Nagi coming over to help hold Riku down, and the beta forced Riku’s mouth open.
Iori held the inhaler to Riku’s mouth. “Ready in three, two, one,” he said, administering the dose of medication as he’d previously done for Riku. “Breathe in slowly. Now hold your breath.”
“Don’t thrash about, Riku! It’s okay, you’ll be okay.”
They waited for a few moments for the medication to take effect, but Riku’s breathing didn’t stabilise, and he continued to gasp for breath. Iori’s eyes widened; this hadn’t ever happened before. Riku’s attacks were always, always, able to be kept in control with his inhaler. “S-should I administer it again?”
“N-no-”
“I’m calling an ambulance,” Mitsuki declared, not bothering to wait for anybody to reply before he was dialling the emergency hotline and relaying the situation to them.
MEZZO was nearly done performing their last song, and by now Riku was crying in earnest. It'd been long, too long, since he’d last had an attack this bad. The previous time he’d been admitted to the hospital hadn’t been all that long ago, but that incident had been more of a precautionary measure, to ensure that he was fully recovered.
Riku was familiar with attacks like these, ones that couldn’t be stopped with just an inhaler no matter how hard they tried. He already knew it meant a stay in the hospital, however long it would be, and he hated that his body was so weak. It didn’t matter that the others were telling him that it was fine, because he knew it wasn’t.
He was reminded of when he’d been a lot younger and had attacks like these much more often. Even Tenn’s soothing voice hadn’t been able to help him calm down, and so many times he’d thought that he would end up dying. But back then he hadn’t had to live up to anyone’s expectations except his own; now he had an arena full of fans waiting for him to get back on stage and perform for the encore, and he couldn’t do even that.
Riku gasped out his sobs, digging his fingers into the hem of Iori’s jacket and crumpling it. Completely at a loss as to what to do, Iori set the inhaler down, knowing now that it would take more than a measly inhaler to quell Riku’s attack. “I-I’m... sorry... I’m sorry!”
“Shh. It’s okay, Nanase-san. You’ll be alright. Please don’t cry,” Iori pleaded, arms aching to wrap around Riku’s shoulders and scent him, comfort him. It was all he could do to release calming pheromones, although he could tell that they weren’t helping at all, and squeeze Riku’s arm in assurance. He didn’t want to hug Riku and make it even harder for him to breathe than it already was.
“Riku, don’t cry... it’ll only worsen the attack,” Nagi told him. When Mitsuki returned to stand beside him, Nagi asked, “How long till they get here?”
“Five minutes or so,” Mitsuki replied, eyes wide with concern for Riku. “I hope he’ll be alright.”
“I’m sorr-”
“Riku-kun, it’s okay,” Sougo chimed in, having just rushed backstage from closing the concert. “Just breathe. Slowly, slowly.”
“Rikkun, are you okay? Do you need me to carry you on my back?”
Again, Riku shook his head, tears streaming down his face as he tried to get his breathing to be a little less laboured. The last thing he wanted was to work himself up into a panic attack. “Manager- and everyone... tried their best for me... but even so...
“Be quiet,” Nagi said in a soothing voice. “Don’t think about it. Riku; you fought your hardest. Your feelings, your wishes – they all came across. Rest assured. I promise, nothing tragic will occur. There is nothing to worry about.”
Riku didn’t say anything, simply tightened his grip on Iori’s jacket.
“Nanase-san...” was all Iori could say, feeling utterly useless as he watched his boyfriend continue to suffer from his asthma attack. It was only slightly better than a few minutes ago, and there was absolutely no way any of them were letting Riku get out of a visit to the hospital. They couldn’t possibly let him go home with them in his condition.
The ambulance sirens could be heard soon enough, and the paramedics quickly loaded Riku onto a stretcher before whisking him off to the hospital.
---
“I...ori?”
Iori’s head snapped up from the documents he’d been looking through, eyes wide with relief as he looked at the now-awake Riku. “Oh, thank god, you’re awake,” Iori said, the words gushing out of him all at once. The uncomfortable pressure that’d been suffocating him vanished immediately, and Iori let the documents fall to the ground as he moved to pull Riku into a gentle hug. He was careful to avoid the IV drip by the side. “I was so worried.”
“I’m sorry,” Riku apologised, for what seemed like the thousandth time that day.
“I’m sorry too, for forcing your inhaler on you,” Iori grimaced, recalling the way Riku had vehemently refused to take his medication. There'd been nothing he could’ve done about it; there’d been a chance that the inhaler would have been able to stop the attack, and Iori wasn’t about to let Riku needlessly suffer because he wanted to go back on stage. None of them would have let him, anyway. “How’re you feeling? Do you need me to call the doctor?”
Riku managed a small smile, shaking his head in response. “It’s fine,” he replied, voice still raspy and hoarse from coughing so violently after the concert. “Can you...”
“Water, right? I’ll be right back.”
Iori picked up the papers that had fallen to the floor, arranging them properly and setting them on the table before grabbing the empty jug and leaving the room.
Riku glanced at the stack of papers curiously, picking up the first one and scanning through its contents. It was mostly about IDOLiSH7’s achievements since debut, such as their first sold-out concert and the sales of their albums. Riku had never been one to keep up meticulously with their sales, not nearly as much as Iori did, so some of the numbers on Iori’s report surprised him.
The door to his room slid open, and Riku glanced up from the report to see that Iori had returned with a jug full of water. He waited until the omega filled a cup with water and handed it to him before asking, “Hey, Iori? What’re you planning to do with these documents?”
“You looked at them?”
“Was I not supposed to?”
“I guess there’s nothing wrong with that,” Iori shrugged, taking the piece of paper back from Riku and placing it on top of the stack. He sat back down on the chair beside Riku’s bed, looking pointedly at the untouched cup of water in Riku’s hand. “Drink your water, Nanase-san. I’m just preparing these at Manager’s request; I’m not sure what she wants them for.”
It was a total lie, really. Tsumugi had no idea that Iori had gone to retrieve all these data and compiled them into a report before coming to the hospital to visit Riku. He hadn’t had the time to properly sort everything out yet, but he wanted to at least be able to go through them once and then figure out how to arrange them in a presentable fashion.
He wasn’t about to let Zero Arena’s owner judge them based on just one live, especially not when Riku had tried to fight tooth and nail just to return to stage for the encore. If he had been in any better of a condition, Iori was sure that Riku might just have used his alpha voice to get Iori to back off. Riku was ridiculously headstrong when it came to matters such as these, and he often acted on instinct.
It wasn’t that Iori couldn’t understand Riku’s desire to properly do the encore, but the alpha had to know his own limits. Even if they’d let Riku go back on stage and perform the songs they’d had lined up for the encore, there was no way he could’ve performed them at an acceptable standard, not with the way he’d been wheezing and coughing. It would’ve only made the fans worried for him.
“Is that so,” Riku said, seemingly unconvinced. He downed the rest of the water, putting the cup down on the table and holding his hands out expectantly. Iori raised a brow, wondering what exactly Riku wanted and causing the alpha to puff his cheeks up. “Can I scent you? I’m not going to lie; I actually feel terrible. Please?”
Iori hesitated for a moment, unsure if a hospital staff would suddenly pop in to check on Riku’s condition and catch them in a compromising position. But Riku was looking at him so earnestly, and Iori could tell from his scent that he was, indeed, feeling less than stellar. And it wasn’t a particularly difficult or unreasonable request to carry out, if only Iori could lock the doors to Riku’s ward.
“Only if you make it really fast,” Iori decided eventually, sighing inwardly when Riku’s face lit up and he nodded eagerly. Iori, again, had to manoeuvre around the IV drip to lean down and let himself be pulled into Riku’s waiting arms.
Riku pulled Iori down until he could easily bury his face in the crook of the omega’s neck, nuzzling Iori’s scent glands and letting Iori’s scent wash over him. It was calming, as it always was, and Riku felt the tension slowly seep out of his body.
He was still worried about not being able to make it for the encore during their live, worried about what kind of impression it would leave on Zero Arena’s owner and his team. After all, what kind of centre missed the encore?
It was less than a minute later that Riku let go of Iori, but not before sneaking a quick kiss to Iori’s cheek.
“W-what was that for...” Iori mumbled, glancing worriedly at the door that was still closed. “Someone could’ve seen that!”
“But nobody’s here,” Riku pouted indignantly. “Anyway! You can get back to whatever you were doing. I won’t disturb you, I promise. Manager wants those documents looked through, right?”
“Well, yeah.” Iori felt terrible for lying to Riku about something as minor as this, but he knew that if he told Riku the truth, the alpha would feel even worse about himself. Looking through reports of IDOLiSH7’s achievements was no big deal; it wasn’t like Iori was overworking himself by doing this.
It wasn’t just for Riku’s sake that he wanted to convince Zero Arena’s owner to let them perform on the second day of the concert, either. It was important that IDOLiSH7 snagged the chance, in order to further establish themselves as one of the biggest rising groups in Japan. But, of course, making sure that Riku didn’t overwhelm himself with guilt was probably the biggest reason that Iori was going to this extent.
True to his word, Riku kept quiet as Iori continued to look through the various reports, scrolling through his phone idly. A nurse came in to check on him as well as bring him dinner, after which the alpha promptly fell asleep.
Iori worked silently, scribbling notes all over the reports diligently. He hadn’t even realised that Riku was sleeping until he glanced up to check the time, noticing that visiting hours were nearly over and that his boyfriend was already asleep. Even in his sleep, Riku’s breaths seemed to be uneven.
The omega packed his belongings, trying not to accidentally wake Riku up. “See you tomorrow, Nanase-san,” Iori whispered, pressing a soft kiss to Riku’s forehead.
On his way back to the dorm, Iori stopped by a cafe, picking up a hot coffee with an extra shot of espresso. He had a feeling he’d need it.
---
It was early the next morning that Tsumugi went to fetch Riku from the hospital, and even when Iori heard the door to Riku’s room open, and then close, he didn’t go to greet Riku immediately.
He was fairly certain he had impressive eyebags at this point, and his hair was probably dishevelled and he was not at all presentable. If Riku saw him like this, the alpha wouldn’t be very pleased. He could already imagine the way Riku would pout and complain that Iori wasn’t taking care of himself properly.
Riku hadn’t come knocking on Iori’s door, either, and although Iori was slightly confused as to why Riku wasn’t looking for him, he wasn’t exactly complaining. It was only after he’d properly washed up and made himself look less like the dead that he’d gone to check on his boyfriend.
Riku was asleep, curled up on his bed, and Iori went over to adjust the blanket to ensure that Riku was fully covered. As he did so, Riku stirred, blinking blearily at Iori and mumbling, “Morning, Iori.”
“Good morning, Nanase-san,” Iori greeted with a gentle smile. For Riku to still be sleeping, even though he’d just returned from the hospital, was a clear enough indicator of how completely exhausted he was from his treatment. Iori didn’t want to disturb his rest any more than necessary, so when Riku made to get up, he pushed the alpha back down onto his bed. “Just sleep. I’m heading to the office for a bit. I’ll try to make it quick.”
Eyes fluttering shut once more, Riku nodded. “Okay. Love you.”
The corners of Iori’s lips tugged upwards involuntarily, and Iori replied, “I love you too.”
After making sure that Riku was asleep, Iori left the alpha’s room. He went back to his room to pick up the reports that he’d been going through the entire night, as well as the additional documents he’d printed out. He left for the office after making sure everything was in order, immediately heading for the filing room to look for more supporting documents.
It took him less than half an hour to get everything sorted out, then Iori went to find Tsumugi, inform her that he would be going out to run a quick errand. “Good morning,” the omega greeted, nodding politely at Tsumugi and Banri.
Tsumugi smiled warmly at Iori. “Good mor-”, the beta greeted, cutting herself off when she registered the ridiculous stack of files that Iori was currently holding. “Iori-san!? What’s the matter!? What’s with that mountain of files... And you look like you didn’t sleep a lot last night.”
Iori glanced down at the files in his arms, ignoring the second half of Tsumugi’s statement. She didn’t need to know that he’d stayed up all night to prepare these reports. “I’m going to go pay the Zero Arena owner a visit and present to him all of IDOLiSH7’s achievements. He can’t just form an opinion of us from yesterday’s live alone.”
“Eh!?”
“Good morning,” Yamato greeted, striding into the office as well.
Tsumugi looked away from Iori briefly, only to be taken aback by Yamato as well. “Yamato-san, what’s going on? Why are you wearing a suit...?” she asked in confusion.
The leader shrugged. “I’m going to talk face-to-face with Zero Arena’s owner.”
“What!?”
“To be honest, I was never that attached to this whole reopening concert thing,” Yamato admitted, shrugging again. “But it’ll bother Riku, especially with how things are going – and we all know that stress is detrimental to his body.”
“Nanase-san’s state of mind doesn’t concern me,” because I know he’s strong enough to get over this. But it’ll affect his health, and that, I mind, “but I do mind the idea of determining IDOLiSH7’s worth just from one live performance.”
Iori didn’t need to voice his real intentions aloud for the betas, as well as Banri, to know why he was going to this extent. It had always been, and would always be, for Riku’s sake that Iori would go to such lengths. IDOLiSH7 was important as well, but without Riku, there would be no IDOLiSH7 to speak of.
That, and Iori just hated to see Riku pushing himself so hard. If there was any way that he was able to make things easier for the alpha, he would do it.
Nodding in agreement, Yamato said, “Exactly that. I don’t care about this owner dude, but he needs to watch at least ten of our lives to decide. He doesn’t even know how hard Riku worked yesterday.”
“We’re going to make him regret dropping us on the basis of last night’s live.”
“You’re onto something, Ichi!” Yamato grinned approvingly. It wasn’t difficult to tell how worried Iori was about Riku, even if Yamato couldn’t smell his scent.
After they’d returned to the dorm yesterday, Iori had gone straight to his room without even eating dinner. Then he’d left the dorm in a rush, obviously heading for the hospital to stay with Riku. He didn’t eat after returning from the hospital, either, instead locking himself up in his room for the night. Yamato was no genius, but he could see from Iori’s eyebags that the omega had stayed up for a significant portion of the night, if not the entire night.
Iori smirked. “He won’t even know what hit him!”
Eyes wide, Tsumugi looked to Banri for help, but received only a helpless smile in response. “U-um...”
The doorbell rang suddenly, and all heads turned to the door. Raising a curious brow, Yamato went to let their guest in. “This early in the morning? Who is it? Come on in.”
“I’m Zero Arena’s owner, Tanaka.”
Iori exchanged a smile with Yamato; this would make their job a lot easier.
“Welcome!”