Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey Minami,” Aizo’s voice unexpectedly sounded out from the side, punctuated by the telltale click that indicated the fact that he had set his chopsticks down atop his bowl. “Can you hear me out for a sec?”

“Sure?” Minami lifted a spoonful of broth to his mouth as his gaze shifted towards his blond friend. “Go on?”

“So… let’s say I have this… friend …”

We both know you’re talking about yourself, Aizo…

“...And he has feelings for Yu— this other guy …”

Oh, Aizo… Everyone can see that you’re madly in love with Yujiro… Don't you know that there's that betting pool going around amongst the other idols to bet on when you two are going to get together? Mona put 5000 yen on the bet that you're already dating, though.

“And I… uh… my friend , yeah. My friend . Not me. Don’t give me that look, Minami. I’m not talking about myself at all. Seriously. For reals. I’m completely devoted to my Julietas. I don’t have time to fall in love with Yujiro,” Aizo narrowed his eyes at Minami, folding his arms across his chest indignantly.

Ah. He revealed everything.

Minami shrugged. “I didn’t say anything about you being in love with Yujiro. You did.”

“Wha—?!” Aizo’s jaw dropped, his face taking on an interesting hue of red. “I’m talking about my friend here!”

“Sure,” Minami nodded, lifting the bowl of now-warm broth to his lips to polish off his meal. “Carry on.”

Aizo sighed heavily for a fairly long moment before beginning to speak again, sounding very obviously out of breath, no thanks to his heavy sigh. “...Right. So… this friend…”

He’s still keeping up this ruse? Wait… I see… he’s doing it to avoid dropping names in case any of his fans are lurking around! Way to go, Aizo! As expected of an experienced idol!

“He gets… really uncomfortable when he sees the person he likes talking to other people…” Aizo chewed on his bottom lip, his brow furrowing as he seemingly recalled his memories of seeing Yujiro interact with others. “And he just wants to show the entire world that Yu— no, the guy he likes , belongs to him. So, Minami. How should I, uh, he , go about doing it?”

“Eh?” Minami stared at him. “You’re asking me?”

“Do you see any other ‘Minami’ around here?” Aizo gave him a wholly unimpressed frown.

“No, but…” Minami shook his head. “Why are you asking me this? Don’t you already kiss his neck all the time?”

“Who told you that?!” Aizo blushed deeply. “Did Yujiro spill the beans?! That’s supposed to be a secret!”

That’s supposed to be a secret? But everyone knows about it!

“No, he didn’t,” Minami shook his head slowly. “In any case, wouldn’t you be better off talking to him about it directly? He’s your boyfriend, right?”

Aizo stiffened. “...No, he’s not… He doesn’t even know that I’m in love with him…”

And yet you want to show the world that he’s yours?!

Minami sighed softly. “Why not get him a gift or something, then? I gave Nakuru a necklace when we first got together.”

“A necklace…” Aizo echoed, nodding to himself. “...Say, how effective is that necklace in staking your claim on Nakuru?”

“Please don’t phrase it like that…” Minami shook his head. “...But, well, it’s usually effective enough against other guys, especially when I'm holding her hand as she wears it, but… maybe the charm on it is too small. Some guys still try to hit on her sometimes… when she's alone...”

Come to think of it, our next monthsary is coming up… I could give her a necklace with a larger pendant then!

“So… something large around the neck should do the trick, right?” Aizo frowned in thought. “The bigger the better?”

“Maybe…” Minami nodded absently. “I should probably get Nakuru a new necklace too… I don’t want other guys to think that they have a chance with her…”

“That’s settled, then,” Aizo patted Minami on the shoulder, a weirdly determined glint in his eyes. “Let’s meet up here again next week. Bring this new necklace of yours.”

“N-next week?! And why do I have to bring the necklace?!”

“Just do it, okay?!” Aizo hopped out of his chair and readjusted his rather flimsy disguise, before slinging his bag across his shoulder. “See you next week!”

“H-hey, Aizo!”

Minami could only watch as his friend darted out of the ramen restaurant at top speed, seeming to have an idea in mind about what he wanted to gift Yujiro with. He sighed heavily as he departed from the restaurant himself.

Well… I guess I could start off by deciding on a necklace… I’ll ask Mona for help, then!

Chapter Text

“Look, Mona! Isn’t this pretty?”

Mona sighed heavily as she stared at what was probably the fortieth image of an absolutely gaudy necklace that Minami had sent her that evening. This particular necklace was especially ugly, though, with a huge heart-shaped ruby pendant dangling from the middle of its rather heavy-looking chains, along with smaller, just as tacky, heart-shaped alternatingly pink and silver-coloured charms lining the rest of its circumference.

“that looks real tacky, minami :/ no girl would ever wear that in public.”

“Eh?! Why?! It has heart-shaped charms though!”

“nope, pass. heart-shaped jewellery is tacky. i thought i told you that about 30 necklace pics ago, though?”

“But why? Won’t Nakuru see how much I love her when she sees the hearts?”

“...Isn’t it obvious?” she muttered to herself, zooming into the picture of the hideous necklace. “I mean, it’s…”

…Something that even Big Sis would pass on wearing for a well-paying modelling job…

Mona glanced down at her phone with another sigh when it buzzed in her hands. Her eyebrows instinctively shot upwards upon noticing that she had received a message from a very unexpected person.

…Shibasaki Aizo?!

She quickly navigated to her rather barren chat window with him, only too eager to escape the horrors of Minami’s latest necklace picture.

“Oi Mona. What’s the size of your neck?”

“Huh?!” Mona’s face scrunched up in disgust.

“WHY DO YOU WANT TO KNOW THIS?!”

“Just tell me already! I’m at the store and they need to know!”

“EXCUSE ME?! WHAT STORE?! AND WHY DO YOU NEED THIS INFO?????”

“I’m getting something for Yujiro! You and Narumi Sena are the only ones I know who are about the same size as him! So if you won’t tell me, I’ll have to ask her instead.”

“DON’T INVOLVE BIG SIS IN YOUR NONSENSE!”

“What does being about the same size as Someya Yujiro have to do with anything, though?” Mona grumbled as she typed in her measurement, tacking on a disclaimer to add about 2 inches or so to the length of whatever he wanted to get Yujiro, just in case. “Don’t tell me…”

…He’s getting Someya Yujiro a necklace? First Minami, now Shibasaki Aizo?! Is today National “Get Your Lover a Necklace” Day or something?!

Mona flopped backwards onto her bed with a sigh.

A series of knocks sounded out on her door, which soon cracked open to reveal a lightly blushing Sena. “Hey Mona! Could I get your opinion on something?”

“What is it?” Mona turned towards Sena with an unimpressed stare. “Are you getting your boyfriend a necklace or something?”

“Eh~?! How did you know?!”

Seriously?!

Mona smothered her face into her pillow and let out a scream.

Chapter Text

Minami stared blankly at the ground as he trudged into the office of his agency, the memories of his earlier meeting with Aizo still fresh in his mind.

That was definitely just… a normal choker… right? Despite the design…

“Huh? Minami? What’s wrong?”

“...Ah, Mona…” Minami slowly raised his head to meet the concerned gaze of his fellow idol. “I met up with Aizo just before this…”

“...That explains it,” Mona muttered under her breath with an irritated click of her tongue. “So. What did he do this time?”

“Well…” Minami began as they slowly made their way towards the office couch. “We met up for ramen, and we… showed each other the necklaces we got after we were done…”

“And then?” Mona prompted, flopping down onto the couch with an undignified thump. “What kind of necklace did he buy for Someya Yujiro?”

“It was…” Minami involuntarily cringed a little as he seated himself next to her. “...a yellow… choker, I think.”

“Yeah, figured as much,” Mona shrugged flippantly. “No wonder why he asked me for my measurements. At least it wasn’t a necklace with a heart-shaped pendant.”

Measurements?

Minami opted not to dwell on her remark as he spread his index finger and thumb apart to show Mona the approximate thickness of the choker . “It was about this thick.”

“Eh?” Mona blinked. “That’s pretty thick for a choker. Would it even be able to go around Someya Yujiro’s neck? …Not that it’s any of my business.”

“I think Aizo also used what looked to be rhinestones to write some kind of message around the choker…” Minami formed a circle with his hands. “Let’s say that there’s a buckle where my thumbs are. Starting from my right thumb, I saw what looked to be the letters I, B, and E , and the letters Z and O around where my left thumb is… I think the rest of the message looped around the choker, though.”

“...Yeah, nope, can’t imagine it, sorry,” Mona sighed, leaning against the back of the couch. “So in short, you’re telling me that Shibasaki Aizo got Someya Yujiro a really ugly choker, right?”

“...Pretty much, yeah,” Minami gave her a resigned nod. “But here’s the thing… Aizo said that he was going to use it to confess to Yujiro.”

“...Huh?!” Mona leapt off the couch, seemingly on instinct. “You mean they aren’t already together?! But they kiss and everything! Dammit! There goes my 5000 yen!”

“Shh! Mona!” Minami raised an index finger to his lips. “The part about the kissmarks is supposed to be a secret!”

“Seriously?” Mona snorted. “Please. They’re fooling no one.”

Minami found himself nodding in agreement.

Right?! See, Aizo, everyone knows you two kiss each other!

“But then…” he released a depressed sigh. “...when it was my turn to show him the necklace I bought… he just gave me a weird stare and laughed at me.”

“I hate to ask this after you sent me almost a hundred necklace pictures last time, but…” Mona frowned a little. “...which necklace did you end up buying for Nakuru?”

“I only sent you eighty-nine pictures, though…” Minami awkwardly chuckled as he pulled out the fairly large box from his bag. “I went with this one.”

Mona reached over to remove the lid to the box, her face paling almost instantly as she laid her eyes upon the necklace. “...Minami, why? I can’t believe it… It’s even more hideous in-person!”

Eh?! It’s not that bad, right?!

Minami looked down into the box as well.

A large, red, heart-shaped ruby pendant twinkled up at him.

Chapter Text

I can’t believe Nakuru actually ended up liking the necklace… and that she actually wears it out in public… on multiple occasions, in fact.

Mona frowned to herself as she paced about the waiting room, trying to chase away her memories of having seen Nakuru with that tacky heart-themed necklace around her neck that very morning. She shook her head rapidly in an attempt to regain her composure upon hearing an irritated tongue click courtesy of her fellow idol Asuna, who was seated by the side with her arms folded and a prominent scowl on her face as she awaited her turn to perform.

I sure hope Minami’s having an easier time in his dressing room… I mean, those two guys are performing at this idol festival too…

Mona took out her phone to text Minami some words of encouragement, lest she missed the opportunity to do so when she was called up on standby. Her eyes widened a little at the sight of a few new messages from Minami, having not expected him to have texted her first.

“MONA HELP”

“REMEMBER HOW I TOLD YOU THAT AIZO BOUGHT YUJIRO A CHOKER A FEW WEEKS AGO”

“YUJIRO’S WEARING IT AND IT’S SDBKVBWBVAEVL”

…What.

Mona stared at the messages in confusion.

Is Minami okay? What did those guys do to him?!

However, before she could even send him a simple text containing the two words of “what happened?” , a staff member called both her and Asuna out to be on standby at the wings of the stage.

Well…

Mona tossed her phone back into her bag as she followed Asuna out of the waiting room, fully aware that she had left Minami on read.

…Those guys are going on after me. I’ll run into them eventually. And I’ll be sure to give them a piece of my mind!

“Hey guys~! How are y’all doing today~?!” Asuna’s cheerful introduction rang out as she dashed out onto the stage by her lonesome.

Mona gasped softly as she watched as the audience responded enthusiastically to Asuna's self-introduction.

Asuna really is the—

“Ugh, of course you’re here too, Mona.”

“What was that?!” Mona whipped around with a glare at the frankly unwelcome words spoken by the one and only Someya Yujiro. Her momentary irritation was quickly replaced by a strong sense of utmost confusion the moment her eyes landed on him, however. “...Wait… what’s with you, Someya Yujiro?”

“What do you mean?” Yujiro merely raised an unimpressed eyebrow in response, as though the bright red kissmark placed at the corner of his lips was just a regular occurrence, as though that gaudy yellow collar around his neck was commonplace.

Oh help. Those really are rhinestones! In the form of letters no less! This is even more hideous than Minami had described!

Mona squinted as she circled Yujiro in an attempt to read the message on the collar . “I, B, E, L, O, N, G…”

“...Mona. What are you doing? Stop that.”

“Shut up, Someya Yujiro,” Mona dismissed his words as she continued to pace around him. “T, O, A, I, Z, O… Wait…”

…“I belong to Aizo”?! And on a collar?! Didn’t Minami say that it was just a choker?! Wait, does that mean Shibasaki Aizo used my measurements to make Someya Yujiro a collar?! I knew I shouldn’t have helped him!

Mona looked up at him in unconcealed surprise as she jabbed an accusatory finger at the collar . “What is the meaning of this?!”

“It is what it is, Mona,” Aizo’s flippant voice called out from behind her. “He belongs to me.”

“Wha—?!” Mona’s jaw dropped as she watched as Aizo sidled up to Yujiro and shamelessly draped an arm around his shoulders. “You guys are together now?!”

“What do you think?” Yujiro shrugged, turning around to cup Aizo’s cheeks and leaning in close to his face. Aizo closed his eyes, seemingly appearing to be anticipating a kiss from Yujiro.

Are they seriously gonna kiss?! Here and now?!

“I can’t believe you guys,” Mona groaned as she stomped away from them to return to her original spot by the side of the stage to await her cue. She shook her head in an attempt to distract herself from what sounded to be the sloppy noises of LIPxLIP making out right there behind her.

“—Thank you all for your kind attention~!” Asuna’s voice chirped as her performance seemed to have drawn to a close. “I love you~!”

Argh! I missed Asuna’s performance thanks to those two!

Mona slapped her cheeks to regain her composure.

“—Let’s give it up for Asuna! Next up will be the one and only mona! Come on up!”

Mona took a deep breath as she dashed out onto the stage at the emcee’s cue, running past Asuna as she departed from the stage with a frown.

…Ah. Come to think of it… Should I have warned Asuna about them…?

“L-LIPxLIP?! What are you two doing?!”

Mona internally sighed as she took her place under the spotlight, Asuna’s scandalised shrieks and LIPxLIP’s mutual yelps of surprise ringing out from the wings of the stage.

…Well. Too late for that, I guess.