Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Miyano let out a loud and long sigh as he looked at his phone screen.

“What’s up?” Kuresawa asked as he, Tashiro and Shirahama arrived and sat around him. They had all just gotten off their shifts for the week and, as previously agreed on, were meeting up at the family restaurant near the station. Miyano was the one who worked closest to it so he showed up first.

“My bank account…” Miyano sobbed.

“Ah,”

“I thought you were pretty good with your money, is it really that bad?” Tashiro asked as he looked over the menu.

“It was fine, but then a bunch of my favorite artists all dropped books at the same time. Some of them even had collection booklets come out where they worked together…” Miyano groaned. “I barely have enough for rent, let alone all the other expenses.”

“That’s rough, man.” Shirahama said, shaking his head. His comment got him a swift kick under the table by Tashiro. “Ow - hey!”

“Be more sympathetic, would ya?!”

“I am! But there’s not much we can do,” Shirahama shrugged and Tashiro sighed.

“Have you thought about getting another job?” Kuresawa asked.

“I did but I don’t know if I can find a good balance between working at the cram school and another job.” Miyano said with a sigh, turning off his phone and putting it face down on the table.

“What about streaming?” Tashiro offered.

“Streaming…?”

“Yeah, like live streaming.” Tashiro pulled out his phone and typed something in before flipping it over and showing it to Miyano. “A lot of people do it and make some money - you could even talk about BL and probably get a pretty decent amount of people watching you. I bet if you posted it on your socials, it’d be a hit.”

“But I don’t know how I feel about people seeing my face.”

“Oh, right… wait, you could be a VTuber!”

“A V…?” Miyano tilted his head.

“Yeah! There’s a ton of them! You might have to spend a little money to get started but it’s a good way to hide your identity.”

“What’s a VTuber?” Kuresawa cut in.

“It’s just a streamer who uses a typically animated avatar in place of a webcam.” Shirahama said, going to his phone and pulling up a streaming site, scrolling quickly through some of the more popular ones.

“Whoa those… look expensive.” Miyano could feel his money burning away in his wallet just looking at the movements on some of them.

“Oh these are just the popular ones. People who are just starting out don’t tend to be as… animated? Here. This one just started streaming about a month or so ago,” Shirahama showed them a VTuber really just seemed to have mouth and eye movements. Their body moved a little but they weren't as… bouncy? As the others.

“Oohh…” Miyano was captivated and took the phone away from Shirahama.

“Wait, don't VTubers all have like, personas or avatars they use that aren't themselves? Wouldn't that mean he'd have to come up with one too?”

“You mean we,” Tashrio said as he began to scroll through his phone.

“Wait, what?”

“I have a friend from college that was doing some designs for a group but they fell through at the last minute. Lemme see if she still has them…” Tashrio found the number and quickly dialed.

“Wait, what was that about ‘we’?”

‘Hey, Yamada? It's Tashiro… yeah, hey, do you still have those designs for that boy group? Can you send them to me? Awesome, thanks… oh, yeah… yeah. I'll call you back and let you know. Yeah… okay, talk later.” Tashiro hung up and then began to scroll through his phone with lightning pace. Before anyone had a chance to ask any questions, he went Ah-Ha! And flipped his phone around to show the group.

On his screen were four anime boys, two had rabbit ears - ones were up and the other ones were down - another had what looked like mouse ears and the last one seemed to have… antenna?

“Alice in Wonderland…?” Miyano couldn’t help but say his thoughts out loud.

“Bingo!”

“Wait, really?” Kuresawa also peered closer.

“Yeah, see. The white rabbit, the march hare, the dormouse and the caterpillar.”

“What about the Cheshire cat?” Shirahama asked. Tashiro shrugged.

“I dunno, I didn’t ask her about it. See, she was telling me a while back that she had this pretty popular group ask her to create some VTuber designs - I guess they were gonna give streaming a go? - But almost right as she finished the concept art, they backed out. They had already paid her for the art but never bought the licensing so she’s free to use it however she wants. Or so she told me, anyway.”

‘Why’d they back out?” Miyano couldn’t help but ask.

“I think she said they asked for it without contacting their manager first and it was a whole thing. Either way, she got paid. Do you wanna do it?”

“I dunno… are we really gonna do this as a group?”

“Do you wanna do it alone?”

Miyano paused. He really didn’t.

“I figure we can start doing a stream together, once a week. Once you’re used to it, you can stream on your own.”

“What are we gonna do though?” Shirahama asked.

Tashiro shrugged, “We can play games or just talk. I don’t think we’d have to stream for very long in the beginning. Once you’re used to it, Miyano, you can use your channel to talk about BL! A bunny boy VTuber who talks about BL with as much enthusiasm as you do? You’ll be insanely popular.”

“Hmmm…” The prospect was tempting, Miyano had to admit. He had wanted a way to talk about BL in public spaces like that before and had used social media but sometimes it was hard having to wait for replies… at least this way, there’d be a chat that he could see in real time. And maybe even the artists would show up and ask for his thoughts…! “Okay!”

“Really?” Kuresawa was actually thrown off by his sudden enthusiasm. It really looked like he was waffling between saying yes or no. He made a mental note to ask him about it later.

“Great! Here, pick your design and oshi mark - an oshi mark is like your tag more or less - since it’s Alice in Wonderland, you can pick hearts, clubs, diamonds or spades. Oh you’ll need to pick a theme color and a screen name too.”

“I guess we’re all doing this?” Shirahama said with a sigh, glancing over at Kuresawa, who shrugged.

“As long as it doesn’t get in the way of the time I spend with my girlfriend, I’m fine.”

“Don’t act like you don’t wanna do this, Shirahama.” Tashiro said, nudging his friend. “I’ve heard you complain about how you wanna be popular. This is your chance!”

“I wanna be popular in real life! What’s the point if they’re never gonna see my face?”

“You can do a reveal one day.” Tashiro said flippantly as he went back to walking Miyano through what he could choose.

After many drinks and plates of food later, they had a rough idea of how they wanted it to go. Miyano was going to be using the White Rabbit as his motif and the color he had chosen was blue with a heart and a book for his oshi marks. Tashiro had chosen the March Hare as his motif and his color was a bright and lively lime green. He had chosen a clover and a carrot for his oshi mark (when asked why he didn’t choose a teacup he said rabbits didn’t drink tea with such a serious face no one continued to question him). Shirahama picked the Dormouse for his motif.

“Do you think I can pick grey as my color?” Shirahama had asked and both Miyano and Tashiro frowned. “What? Why the faces?”

“I’m not saying you can’t, it’s just…”

“It’s boring.” Tashiro said flat out. “C’mon pick a different color.”

“I don’t know! What’s your color again? Lime-green?”

“You could always just pick regular green. It’s different enough that I don't think you guys would clash.” Kuresawa pointed out.

“Yeah but I don’t think I like green that much…”

“But you like grey?”

“Just pick it, it’s easier to pair us together like that.”

“Why are we being paired together?!”

“You just said you wanted to do streams together without Miyano and Kuresawa! How much have you had?” Tashiro started to count the glasses by his friend but Shirahama just waved his hand away.

“Whatever, green is fine.”

“Well wait, maybe grey is the way to go. A lot of these vtubers seem to have bright and vibrant colors, maybe having grey as your main color would make you stand out.” Kuresawa said, scrolling through his phone.

“But I just picked green!”

“Look, we’ll just have the artist pick the color, how ‘bout that?” Tashiro threw out the idea and everyone agreed it seemed like the simplest way.

That left Kuresawa with the Caterpillar for his motif, which he seemed okay with. Since Shirahama was taking too long he picked the Diamond as his oshi mark, leaving Shirahama with the Spade.

“Are you only picking the one?” Tashiro asked as he wrote down Kuresawa’s picks.

“Yeah, I don’t plan on streaming very much outside of doing it with you guys as a group, so,” Kuresawa shrugged.

“I think Spade might already be someone’s and I don’t think you can share… how about spades and a star? You like stars,”

“That’s fine.”

“And your color.”

“Teal,”

“Got it,”

“Wait, if he’s teal, I can’t be green! That’s too many similar colors!” Shirahama pointed out.

“Oh…” Miyano agreed.

“He’s right,” Kuresawa turned to Tashiro who shrugged and scratched out the previous option for Shirahama.

“Then we’ll just go with grey. By the way, have you thought of screen names?” Tashiro tacked on.

“Oh, I have no idea.” Miyano shook his head and Kuresawa agreed.

“You never thought about a name you’d use if you ever tried to do something like this?” Shirahama asked.

“You have?”

“Well… not recently but I used to. Not like any of that applies for this context though.”

“Miyano, you have a social media account already, right? I’d recommend using the same handle so your current followers can find you.”

“I just went with the default name it gave me though…” Miyano said, pulling up his account on his phone and showing it to Tashiro.

“Oh, yeah. Can’t use that.”

“What are you going to use?” Kuresawa asked him.

“Hmm… I don’t wanna use my real name but I can use part of it. Take the ‘shiro’ from ‘Tashiro’ and write it in English like… this…” S*H*I*R*O

It really was just his name.

“Why the dots?”

“It gives it flair.”

“Can I do something like that?” Miyano asked.

“Sure! Let’s see you’re Miyano so take the ‘Miya’ and you get…” M*I*Y*A “Like that? We can also try it with the ‘yano; part, too, if you want.”

Miyano shook his head, “No, Miya works.”

Kuresawa nodded, “Simple but effective. It works.”

“Let’s just do that for all of us! Then it really feels like we’re a group.” Miyano said excitedly and Tashiro began to break up their names.

Kuresawa became K*U*R*O and Shirahama… ended up being S*H*I*R*A*H*A because just SHIRA was too close to SHIRO and (despite Tashiro’s best efforts) he refused to be called HAMA.

“I think I’ll try to meet up with her later and go over this stuff to make them feel more like us . If you have any requests, as long as they aren’t too big, I’m sure we can work them in there.”

“What about the rigging? She just did the art, right?” Shirahama asked as Tashiro got ready to leave.

“Oh, right. I don’t know anyone that does VTuber rigging.”

“Oh! I might!” Miyano suddenly remembered.

“You might?” The three echoed.

Miyano nodded, “Yeah, a girl I knew back in middle school was really into art. She kept up with it throughout high school and college, I bet she might know someone who’d do it. Hold on, I’ll call her.”

Miyano quickly dialed up Makimura and she picked up after the second ring.

“Miyano? What’s up?”

“Hey, sorry it’s late, I know, but I was wondering do you know anyone that does VTuber rigging?”

“VTube… wait, Miyano, are you going to become a VTuber? Oh, man! I’d love to work on that! If you want, I can work on it free of charge! I’ve been wanting to learn so if you don’t mind it taking a bit longer, I’ll totally work on it!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Just send me the files when you’re ready - oh, sorry! I was in the middle of something, I gotta go. Talk to you later!” Makimura quickly hung up before Miyano could even attempt to give her more details.

“Well… she’s on board.”

“Really?!”

“Yeah, she said she’s been wanting to learn but hasn’t had the chance. As long as we’re okay with taking a little while, she’ll do it for free, too.”

“Oh, man, this is great! Hey, by the way, the licensing fee per character is about 21,000 yen. Are you guys okay with that?”

“21,000?!”

“Well, yeah, girl’s gotta eat. This is her living, after all.”

“Can you afford that, Miyano?” Kuresawa couldn’t help but ask. They had just been talking about how he was struggling with rent.

“Yeah I’ll just have to settle for one copy of my latest release instead of going for all the extras…” Miyano said with a wistful sigh. 

Ah so that was the root of all this. They all couldn’t help but think. Tashiro quickly left after making sure to confirm when they would meet again to finalize everything and then there was not left to do, but wait.

Several months later

Sasaki awoke with a start at the loud banging at the door to the dressing room he was in. Groggy, he shifted off the couch and opened the door to find Hirano on the other side, arm lifted mid knock.

“Oh, you… don’t look so good. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Sasaki moved back to the couch and Hirano followed after him. “I just haven’t been sleeping well lately.” Lately meaning at all. He couldn’t really remember the last time he had had a full night’s rest.

“Here, lay back down. There’s gotta be a blanket in here somewhere…”

“Alright, mother. ” Sasaki’s words made Hirano pause mid-search and glare at him, “What are you doing here?”

“I came to tell you that your shoot has been delayed. Which by the looks of it seems like a good thing, for real, man, when was the last time you slept properly?”

Sasaki said and ran a hand through his hair (noting it was a good thing he wasn’t having to be in hair and makeup anytime soon), “I dunno.”

“Have you tried anything to help?”

“Short of banging my head in with a frying pan, I’ve tried everything. And nothing worked.” Sasaki groaned.

“Well… here, try this.” Hirano sent Sasaki a message and Sasaki opened it, seeing a link, he clicked on it and suddenly his phone’s screen was filled with a bunch of anime people.

“Uh…”

“They’re VTubers.”

“V…?”

“They’re just streamers, look, they help me.”

“Help you how?”

“After a long flight or when I just can’t settle down - they’re good for just background noise if you pick the ones that just do chatting streams. Some of them do play games but I think the appeal is just having an anime character talk to you. I did find this group with these two guys who play games together and they’re pretty funny but I can’t watch them too often or that’s all I’ll do and I won’t sleep.”

“Sounds promising.”

“Look, just pick one. Any of those ones on that link I sent you do chatting streams. They’re just archived so you won’t get the live experience or anything but maybe that’s all you need is just a voice.”

Sasaki made a noise of acknowledgement and scrolled through all the videos. Hirano had a point. After college, he had ended up working as a pilot for a national airline. He was always traveling from one of Japan to the other at the most random times so not being able to settle down was definitely plausible. If these videos could help him…

“Besides, wouldn’t your sister be worried if you showed up to a shoot looking like you haven’t slept in days?”

“Mad is probably a better word, but yeah.” Sasaki couldn’t help but agree. The modeling thing was just a side gig he took on to help his sister out in a pinch - given his physique, he and Ogasawara were actually in high demand. It paid pretty well for something he only had to do once every couple months (granted it was an all day affair but still). On top of his normal job as accountant, money wasn’t really an issue. So why wasn’t he able to sleep?

“Hi~rano~” They both looked towards the door and saw Hanzawa, decked out in all sorts of accessories, at the door. “Ah, I figured you’d be here.”

“What’s up, Hanzawa?”

“There’s a boy waiting at the main entrance for you. Tall, lanky… looks a bit like a lost puppy.”

“Ah. That idiot… I’ll go deal with him, thanks. Sasaki, remember-”

“I know. I’ll check it out. Thanks.” Sasaki waved goodbye to Hirano as he left and Hanzawa took his place.

“Haven’t been sleeping well?”

“You could say that,”

“Stress?”

“I’m not sure. Probably not.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Got nothing to be stressed about.”

“Hm… wait, didn’t you move recently?”

“Yeah?”

“Farther from home, right?”

“Yeah…?”

“Could that be it, like you’re homesick? Missing the noise and such?”

“Huh. Hadn’t thought of that.” Sasaki had been so busy since he moved closer to his workplace that it hadn’t even occurred to him that that could have been the cause. He had started losing sleep shortly after he had moved but he had just figured it was because he wasn’t used to it. But it had been weeks by now and he still wasn’t sleeping well.

“Maybe Hirano’s suggestion isn’t so far off base.” Hanzawa said, making Sasaki snap his attention back to him. Hanzawa simply smiled and pointed at Sasaki’s phone. He had left the screen unlocked on the couch, the link that Hirano had sent him still openly displayed.

“Do you think so?”

“It wouldn’t hurt. At least try it. Find someone who’s voice you like, put it on at night and see if it helps. No harm in trying, right?”

“Right… right…”

After everything was said and done, Sasaki returned to his apartment on the last train. Since he only helped out modeling every couple months, he always had a ton to do. It seemed like his advertisements were well received though, as they kept asking him back even after he had helped the first time. That being said though, he was completely and utterly drained. Even with that feeling however, sleep never seemed to come easily.

After getting ready for bed, Sasaki grabbed his phone and clicked on that link once again.

Let’s see… I want someone who doesn’t seem too animated… a lot of these are girls. Do I wanna listen to a girl? … ouch, no. That can’t be her real voice. Okay someone else, someone else… oh. This is… a group channel?

“Oh, it has links to the other group members.” Sasaki clicked on one at random and just clicked on the first video. A black haired anime bunny boy with pure white ears, red eyes and a mole under one eye suddenly filled his screen. Sasaki vaguely noted his outfit seemed to be heavy on the heart motif and was somewhat reminiscent of the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.

“ Welcome back everyone! You’re right on time! Today we’re going to be discussing Sayaka-sensei’s newest release… ” Sasaki felt immediate comfort wash over him as the boy began to speak. He felt a slight shock when he started talking in depth about something called BL but his voice was so calming, Sasaki didn’t even care. Soon, he felt his eyes grow heavy and before he knew it, he was deeply and soundly asleep.

Chapter Text

Miyano let out a large yawn, quickly covering his mouth before anyone saw. Or at least he had hoped he caught it but the stifled laugh from his coworker made him blush and move his hand.

“Hanzawa-sensei…!”

“Sorry, sorry.” Hanzawa giggled and then coughed, trying to cover the rest of his laughter. The two of them were organizing documents in the library for next week’s assembly. “Rough night?”

“I just stayed up a little too late, is all.” Miyano said flippantly. 

It had been a few months since he had started streaming and overall, it was going well. He had a group of followers that actually enjoyed his content and Tashiro was right about having a niche - he was extremely popular within his circles as a male VTuber who openly talked about BL with enthusiasm. Meanwhile, Tashiro was exploding with popularity himself - something about him being so open just translated well to his persona - and was constantly bringing in viewers to their monthly group streams. It had gotten to the point where, randomly on his socials, he would come across fanart of Tashiro’s VTuber avatar paired with either his own or (more often than his own anyway) Shirahama’s avatar. So Shirahama had gotten his wish to be popular… just not in the way he expected. Out of the four of them, the least popular of them all was Kuresawa but that was somewhat expected. He only joined during their monthly group stream and when he did, he had a designated segment where they let him talk uninterrupted about his girlfriend. He had done this since the start and at first a lot of the viewers were turned off by it but as their group streams continued and Kuresawa continued gushing about her, some of them changed their tune and even encouraged or got excited about it now so even he had a small following.

… All that being said though, he still wasn’t really making money like he thought he would be at this point. Sure, he was making money but it wasn’t enough to help his wallet.

“Stayed up too late reading again?” Hanzawa asked with a small smirk.

Miyano tilted his head a bit and couldn’t help but yawn again, “You could say that…”

“You know, if you had a roommate, you’d be able to sleep without worry. They could wake you up.”

“I don’t know how I feel about rooming with someone though… I wouldn’t want to get in their way.” And I don’t want to be judged for my hobbies.

“Hmmm… that’s a fair point. But, I didn’t bring it up for no reason. A friend of mine at my part time job - the modeling one, I’ve told you about it - is actually looking for a roommate. He’s having trouble sleeping and thinks having another person around the house could help.”

“I don’t know. A complete stranger?”

“Not a complete one. He went to high school with us. He was in my class - he had dyed hair and piercings.”

“... sorry, Hanzawa-sensei but your class was filled with a bunch of rough looking guys, that description doesn’t help.” Miyano said with a frown. Just from that, the first person that popped into his head was Hirano-senpai, who had been on the committee with them both as the vice president. Miyano had desperately shipped him together with his basketball playing roommate but until the bitter end, Miyano never got more out of Hirano than they were roommates. They hadn’t even been roommates for long - just during his roommates first year and Hirano’s second year. During Hirano’s third year, he had gotten a room for himself and his basketball playing roommate took on a first year of his own and as far as Miyano knew - they had more or less stopped hanging out like before. Miyano still firmly believed his roommate was fiercely in love with Hirano but Hirano would always just brush him and his theories off whenever he saw him.

“He’s not a bad guy. He just looks a little scary. Here,” Hanzawa shoved a piece of paper into Miyano’s hand. “I told him I knew someone that was looking for a new place, so he should be expecting you. Go now, I can finish up here.” Hanzawa spun Miyano around, directing him towards the door.

“Wait, how did you-” Miyano couldn’t even get the question out before he was out the door, his bag suddenly being placed into his arms.

“Give him a shot, okay?” Hanzawa said with his signature smile that made a chill run down Miyano’s spine before closing the door to the library.

“I guess… I’ll go?” Miyano muttered to himself, looking at the note. Sasaki Shuumei seemed to be Hanzawa’s friend’s name - he didn’t recognize it but he did recognize the name of the apartment complex, it was near the station he used to get to work - much closer than where he was living now. Maybe it really wouldn’t hurt.

“I forgot how big this apartment complex was…” Miyano said, looking up at the complex with a weak smile on his face. The complex was bigger and far more secure than his current residence, which was already a big plus. Let’s see, I think this is the intercom for his room? Miyano hit the buzzer and after a moment, a sort of rough sounding voice answered.

“Yeah?” His voice was husky and thick. Almost like he had just woken up but it was almost dinner - almost seven to be exact - so why did it seem like he was just now getting up?

“Hello?” The voice through the intercom spoke again, making Miyano jump. He had gotten so lost in thought he hadn’t responded.

“Yes! Sorry, um, I’m Miyano. My coworker - senpai, Hanzawa Masato, sent me here…”

“Miyano…”

“Yes?”

“Sorry, nothing. Come on up,” There was a buzz and the sound of the front door unlocking so Miyano thanked him and entered the lobby. It was small and clean, with the whole wall being used for the tenants' mail. A quick glance showed that Sasaki didn’t seem to get much mail - or rather, he was diligent in picking it up every day.

Not wanting to make him wait any longer, Miyano hurried to the elevator and got on, hitting the button for the 5th floor. The building had about seven floors altogether. No one else got on while he headed up - perhaps they were all home for the evening? Or maybe they hadn’t gotten home yet. He pondered how many families were likely to be living in the building and before long, the elevator dinged and he arrived at his floor.

Following the numbers on the signs and the one from the note, Miyano quickly found the room - number 522. After a moment of hesitation, he took a couple deep breaths and knocked twice.

At first there was no answer - no noise at all. It made him slightly panic that maybe this was the wrong apartment after all. Just as he was about to leave and call Hanzawa, he heard a shuffling on the other side and the door unlocked, swinging open.

“Hee-” Miyano let out a small squeak. The man who opened the door was tall . Over 180 centimeters, making him almost 20 centimeters taller. Not only that, he had brightly colored hair, multiple piercings in both ears and sharp eyes that looked down at him with sort of a cold disinterest.

“Uh-um…” Miyano was too flustered. He hadn't expected someone so… frankly, terrifying to be on the other side of the door. “I'll come back later!” He spun around and was about to sprint down the hall when he heard the man call out.

“Wait!” Miyano paused and slowly turned around. He was scrubbing at his face in a sort of desperate way, “Sorry, I was just taking a little nap and just woke up. Sorry if I scared you,” He apologized again.

Oh, so he had just woken up. Miyano thought briefly before also thinking, Despite his looks, he speaks really politely.

“Hello?”

“Oh, sorry! I mean, it's fine. I just didn't want to disturb you, I really can come back later-”

“No, it's fine. You’re already here, it'd be a waste to just leave. Come on in,” He moved out of the doorway and - after hesitating for a moment - Miyano headed inside. He took his shoes off at the entrance, put on the guest slippers Sasaki had set out for him, and followed his host deeper into the apartment.

“So, Hanzawa sent you?” Sasaki asked as he moved into the kitchen. “Also, feel free to sit down. I'll make us some drinks.” Miyano nodded and couldn't help but note how spacious the apartment was - everything seemed to be spread out. The entertainment system in the living room was also notably filled with CDs, almost to the point of overflowing.

“Hm? Oh, yes! Right, I'm Miyano. Miyano Yoshikazu- Yoshikazu is written with the characters for reason and beautiful but it's not Yumi. Hanzawa-san was my senpai back in high school we were-” Miyano rushed to introduce himself but Sasaki just waved him off from the kitchen.

“On the disciplinary committee together, I know.” Hanzawa must have told him about their relationship. “Do you have a preference? Tea, coffee, hot chocolate?”

“Coffee is fine. And just black is fine. I'd prefer it if it wasn't too sweet…”

“Don't have a sweet tooth?”

“Not really, sweets tend to make me feel sick. I would say it's an age thing but I've been like this since middle school.”

“Hmm…” Sasaki made a vague noise of acknowledgement. It didn't feel rude, it just felt like he was genuinely listening and didn't have anything else to add. After a few more minutes, Sasaki joined Miyano in the living room, placing his coffee mug on the table in front of him while he took a seat in a nearby armchair.

“Oh, I almost forgot. I'm Sasaki Shuumei. Shuumei is written with the characters for excellent and ringing .” He gave Miyano a small grin, which made Miyano blush and take a sip of his drink. He had just rambled on earlier, he hadn't actually thought Sasaki was listening.

“Um, Sasaki-san-”

“Shuumei.”

“Pardon?”

“Just call me Shuumei. Being called Sasaki-san feels weird.”

“Are - are you sure?” Miyano hesitated but Sasaki just nodded. “Then… Shuumei-san…” It felt so strange. Calling a (more or less) stranger by their first name. To hide his embarrassment, Miyano took a big gulp of his coffee - in doing so, he missed the giant smile that was growing across Sasaki's face which he covered with his cup before Miyano finished his drink.

“Ahem,” Sasaki coughed. “Did you have a question, Miyano?”

“Oh, right. Um, you said earlier you knew that Hanzawa-san and I were on the committee together… how did you…?”

“Oh, I just saw you together a lot with Hanzawa and Hirano. Those two were only together for committee things so I just assumed at the time.” Sasaki said simply and Miyano nodded. That made sense. “Now, I have a question for you.”

Miyano tilted his head slightly, “Yes?”

“Why are you looking for a new place?”

“Oh, it's nothing serious. My current place is - or rather was - cheap but it's old and it's far from the station. There's no sound proofing or anything so you can hear everything anyone does on either side of you. The landlord also mentioned they were going to be raising the prices since their husband can't work anymore due to health issues.”

“I see… well, do you want to look around? I can show you the basics, it's not much though.” Sasaki added, standing up. Miyano followed suit.

Sasaki showed him the location of the toilet and the bathroom (which also had an included washing machine and dryer). He then showed him the kitchen one more and then took him to see the two rooms, his own and the spare.

“Um, Shuumei-san, if you don't mind me asking, why are you looking for a roommate?” Miyano asked as they entered the spare room. There was a bed without sheets in the center of the room but aside from that it was bare, so he couldn't help but think of things.

“Oh, my sister and I used to live together. She moved out to live with her boyfriend a few months ago,”

“Oh… can you not afford to live here without help?” Miyano wondered aloud and Sasaki shook his head.

“It's not that. I make enough from my job - oh, I'm an accountant by the way - to afford this place. It's not like I have a lot of things to spend money on either so that's never really been an issue,”

“Then… why a roommate, if you don't mind me asking?”

Sasaki paused, like he was thinking about something. Then he slowly said, “It's lonely?”

“Lonely?”

“I always lived with my family until my sister moved out so it's a bit strange, being alone. I guess I could have gotten a pet or something but with how much time I spend working, I would have just felt bad.” Sasaki shrugged. Miyano nodded and the two continued on, ending back at the couch.

“So, what do you think?”

“It's a nice apartment.” Miyano admitted. “But I don't know if it's what I'm looking for.” Mostly, Miyano just felt weird about moving in with a guy he barely knew. He would just have to figure out a streaming schedule for when his neighbors were at work or something.

“The apartment is soundproof, though?”

Miyano's ears perked, “Huh?”

“I didn't mention that? Yeah, this whole place is soundproof. You can’t hear the neighbors and they can't hear you. It was a must for me when looking for a place because I like to listen to my music on my stereo but didn't want to get any complaints.”

“... how much is the rent?”

“You don't have to-”

“How much, Shuumei-san?”

Sasaki hummed, “25,000 yen?”

“That’s it?!”

“That's half, yeah.”

“When can I move in?”

Sasaki saw Miyano out - he tried to walk him all the way to the station but since it was so close it was almost impossible for him to get lost. Sasaki gave him a spare key so he could move his stuff in even if he was at work and that was that. The official stuff would happen next time but Miyano was moving in with him.

Miyano.

Was moving in with him.

Miyano .

Sasaki let out a shaky breath and let his back hit the door as he slid down it to the entryway floor. He had never dreamed that the person Hanzawa was suggesting as his roommate was Miyano . The boy he couldn't take his eyes off of back in high school. And he certainly wasn't going to let him slip out of his hands now. He didn't care what it took, Miyano was going to move in with him... which was why he lied about the rent. It was much more expensive than that, closer to 70,000 yen than 50,000 but Miyano seemed like he was in a tight spot - money wise (why else would he live so far from work like he stated). So he had lied and made it seem cheaper than it was - not like it mattered, Sasaki could more than afford this apartment on his own salary.

Despire saying all that though, Sasaki was never one for crushes - in college lots of girls had asked him out but he had always turned them down. In middle school they were too afraid of him to ask him out (most were happy to watch him from afar and those that did try were bluntly ignored), and in high school he had gone to an all boys school. But that had changed when he met Miyano Yoshikzau for the first time that summer of his second year in high school.

He still remembered the day he met Miyano for the first time - when he had saved his friend from getting beaten up despite not being a fighter himself. Miyano had been so small, he had thought a girl had snuck onto the campus somehow. When he turned around and saw those big, clear eyes looking back at him - he was done for. He never had a chance to talk to him after that. He had gotten pretty beat up by the boys he had beaten before and went home, never telling anyone except for Hirano about it and telling him not to tell anyone what had happened. Hirano had passed the word along to the teachers but word never got down to the other juniors, so he never had a reason to go seek him out. But whenever he would hear his voice, he would make it a point to watch and listen to whatever it was he was doing and saying.

And now that very same boy was all grown up and went from being adorable to gorgeous and adorable. He still looked Sasaki right in the eyes when he talked to him - just like he did that day.

“What am I gonna do…?” Sasaki groaned. His sleeping problems seemed like they weren’t going away anytime soon, that's for sure.

Chapter Text

“So, how’s your new apartment coming along, Miyano?” Tashiro asked as they waited for Shirahama to join the group call. It was that time of the month where their little group got together and streamed together. It was basically just a podcast and lasted about an hour or so (not counting the preshow). It was shockingly popular - largely thanks to Tashiro’s viewerbase. He was insanely popular.

“Yeah, is your roommate gonna be okay with the noise?” Kuresawa asked.

“Oh, he’s not home. He’s at work right now. But even if he was home, it’d be fine. The apartment is actually pretty soundproof and if my door is shut, we can’t really hear each other.” Miyano explained.

“I still can’t believe you moved in with some random senpai. What are the odds?” Tashiro said, his voice tinted in kind disbelief. It was more like you’ve got insane luck rather than some type of diss.

“He’s not a random senpai. Kuresawa, do you remember back in our first year of high school when you got ganged up?”

“... I prefer not to think of my dark past…”

“Well, he’s the senpai that helped us out back then.”

“Ooh. Now that I recall, he did seem like he was good in a fight.” Kuresawa said. Miyano couldn’t practically see him nodding.

“But he’s really nice. We split the chores - I clean and he does all the cooking.”

“I’m glad he’s the one cooking,” Tashiro said. “If you were cooking, I’d be worried for your health - both of you,”

Miyano couldn’t refute his friend's words. He was notoriously bad in the kitchen. He had once made flour explode and somehow had burned water. He still didn’t know exactly what he had done to cause that.

“Sorry, I’m late!” Shirahama came tumbling into their call - slightly out of breath.

“You’re cutting it close, Shira ,” Tashiro teased and he groaned.

“That was a lot.” Kuresawa noted

“I don't like being reminded I’m being paired with Tashiro,.” Shirahama complained. Miyano wasn’t sure if it was because he knew them or if it was own personal tastes but he didn’t see the appeal in that pairing either… not that he would ever admit to it.

Hoping to change the subject, Miyano asked, “”Why were you late anyway?”

“The trains got delayed - it started pouring and everything came to a halt. I barely had time to change my clothes before joining the call.” Shirahama explained and Miyano’s ears pricked a bit. Did Shuumei-san remember to take an umbrella this morning?

“We have about five minutes before the preshow ends so let’s go over today’s topics real quick. Kuro, do you want to open or close?” Tashiro asked, slipping into his steamer mode.

“Are those my only options?”

“We have to mention that Miya moved - oh, don’t worry, we aren’t going to give too much details. Just that you aren’t living in a shabby place anymore, you can mention your roommate if you want - and do a little casual conversation before starting. You know, giving them an update on our lives and such, we haven’t done that in a good bit. Given that Miya’s move is the highlight, moving into his BL segment would be a smoother transition than having you open by gushing about your girlfriend.”

“Mm, good point. I’ll close then.”

“Okay. Miya do you have your recommendations ready?”

“Always,” Miyano opened his list on his computer. During this little podcast he would go over the BLs he read, the ones he was looking forward to and the ones he recommended the most. The more excited he was about it the longer the segment went but in the end, it was still just a small taste. He did the real deep dives during his solo streams.

“After Miya’s segment, Shiraha, do you wanna do the Q&A?”

“I don’t mind,”

“Awesome. You’ll MC that then. I guess I can talk about the games I played the past couple weeks on stream, mm, I’ll probably do that before the Q&A so Kuro’s gushing segment can properly close us out. It should be just about 45 minutes to an hour if I planned that right. It relies on Miya’s segment though and the questions during the Q&A. Sound good, boys?”

The other three voiced their agreement. Miyano was always a little taken aback by how in charge Tashiro got during these streams. His friend was always goofy, unserious and playful in real life but being in a position like this - where people relied on him and looked forward to seeing him - seemed to be making him do a complete 180. His normally ditzy and carefree friend was focused and serious.

“Alright - here we go!” Tashiro played their group theme over his speakers so their entrance timing would be correct and the group stream started.

 Due to the heavy rain, it seemed like they had stopped the trains. Sasaki wasn’t too upset about it - he had forgotten his umbrella at home, not thinking to check the weather before he left in the morning. In all honesty, he did want to get home - the sooner he could see Myaa-chan (the nickname he gave Miyano that he only ever called him in his mind) the better.

But since he had nothing to do but wait, Sasaki put on his headphones and opened up the streaming app on his phone, going quickly to his favorites and clicking on the lone livestream there.

The second it opened, he heard laughter and soon enough four VTuber avatars filled his screen. An anime boy with black hair, antennae and a green diamond motif to his clothing was on the far left- underneath his avatar was a nameplate that simply read KURO. Next to him was Sasaki’s personal favorite member - a dark haired bunny boy with red eyes and a blue heart motif - the nameplate under his avatar read MIYA. Next to him was the other bunny boy of the group - he had one ear that was up and one ear that was down, bright green eyes and shaggy light brown hair. His motif seemed to be that of a lime green clover and his nameplate read SHIRO. The last member had the simplest motif, a pair of mouse ears and grey hair to go with his grey spade motif. His nameplate read SHIRAHA. He always looked somewhat sleepy and his colors were very muted compared to the rest which actually made him stand out. Next to Miya, Shiraha was the only other member Sasaki actually remembered quite well.

“Okay, okay, next question please.” Shiro got about between coughing laughs. Oh, I must have missed it . Sasaki had tried to join the stream during Miya’s segments when he talked about BL. He never knew what he was talking about but he talked about it so enthusiastically, Sasaki was utterly enthralled. His segments were always before the Q&A which tended to be towards the end of the streams so they must’ve been going for quite a while already.

“What is your group name?” Shiraha read from the many questions that popped in the chat. With a little over 900 viewers, the chat was always moving and lively.

“Do we have one?” Kuro asked, his avatar shifting as if he was turning to look at the others.

“Wasn’t it like Tea Time Boys or something?” Shiraha asked.

“No way! That’s so lame.” Shiro cried.

“Didn’t we want to do something with our names?” Miya was the one who asked next.

“We bounced that around yeah… but smashing Kuro, Miya, Shiro, and Shiraha together is a mess in and of itself. Oh, why don’t we use the first letters of our names?”

“KMSS?” Shiraha tried.

“Wait, no, you can’t say that on stream.”

“Wha-”

“Do we need one?” Kuro asked again. “We’ve gotten this far without one.”

“Ah, a chatter says we absolutely need one” Shiraha read as Sasaki saw it fly up the screen.

“We already have pair names, a group name isn’t a bad idea.” Shiro agreed.

“... Shiro, why do you know about pair names?” Miya asked, his voice somewhat cold.

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Wait, shouldn’t it be something Alice in Wonderland themed? That’s what we are, right?” Kuro said.

“That’s why I said the tea time thing.” Shiraha pointed out but he was quickly overruled by Shiro’s loud shout.

“Ah! Why don’t we just let chat decide?”

“Hah??” Everyone responded as Sasaki watched the speed of the chat pickup tenfold.

“Yeah! You guys can submit your ideas and we’ll pick the one we like the most - but it’s gotta be something we all agree on. Not half, all of us. Deal?”

“Yeah,”

“Sure,”

“Okay.”

“Great! Then we’ll end the Q&A section on that. Next up to close out the show, Kuro will have his segment where he gets to gush about his girlfriend. Normally, all of us would suffer through this but Miya has to get going so everyone say bye-bunny to Miya!” Shiro called out and the chat once again lit up with people saying goodbye. Without Miya there, Sasaki had no reason to stay so he left as soon as Miya’s avatar disappeared from the table. It was good timing anyway, the train had just started back up.

By the time he got to his station, the rain had picked up even more than before. There was an announcement over the intercom stating what trains were still running and what ones weren’t and which ones were delayed. Even though his apartment was about a ten minute walk, he didn’t wanna spend that ten minutes in the rain.

I should have taken my umbrella… Sasaki thought with a sigh. What was Myaa-chan doing right now? Was he waiting anxiously for him to come home?

“Yeah, right…”

“Shuumei-saaannn!” Sasaki’s head snapped up at the sound of his name being called. There was no way… right?

“Shuumei-san!”

“Miyano…?” Sasaki scanned the crowd of people in the station. Miyano was small, yes, but Sasaki had no doubt he could find him. But he didn’t have to look hard. After a moment, Miyano pushed his way through the crowd and appeared in front of Sasaki.

“I made it…” Miyano was panting heavily, hands on his knees as he caught his breath but he still looked up at Sasaki and smiled a tired but bashful smile that made Sasaki’s heart skip a beat.

“Myaa-chan…” The name slipped past his lips before he could stop it.

Miyano tilted his head slightly as he stood straight, “Hm?”

Realizing the noise of the station had more or less covered his ass, Sasaki shook his head, “Nothing. What are you doing here, Miyano-kun?”

“Hm? Oh! I realized you didn’t bring your umbrella this morning and when it started raining I thought I should come give it to you,” He explained as he handed Sasaki a closed (yet slightly damp) umbrella.

“Thanks…” Sasaki took it and then glanced at Miyano, as if waiting for something. When the other man didn’t pull out a second umbrella to join him in his walk home, he couldn’t help but ask. “Did… did you bring another one for you?”

“Of course I did,” Miyano laughed, “It’s right… here…” Miyano turned as if he was going to pull something out of his bag but quickly seemed to realize… he didn’t have his bag .

“Wait, but I-! Ah! I left it right by the entrance…!” Miyano groaned and Sasaki bit back a laugh. He could easily imagine how - in his hurry - Miyano had put his bag down to put on his shoes and rather than grab that, he simply grabbed the spare umbrella and left the apartment with that. “Sorry, Shuumei-san, I’ll go buy another one,” Miyano said, hanging his head.

Sasaki reached out and stopped him before he could walk away, “No!”

“Huh?”

“I mean,” Sasaki quickly let him go and held up the umbrella he had just been handed. “Want to share?”

“Wha-!?”

“We’re going to the same place and it’s only a ten minute walk. It’d be a waste for you to buy another umbrella, after all.” Sasaki explained. Miyano hesitated for a moment before sighing.

“I guess… I’ll take you up on that offer…”

“Great!” Sasaki grinned and stepped out into the rain, holding the umbrella. He was trying not to show just how giddy he was at the concept of sharing an umbrella with Miyano but he was almost positive he wasn’t doing a good job of hiding it. Miyano hesitated for a moment before ducking under the umbrella with Sasaki. He subtly shifted it so Miyano was completely covered. He would be fine if he got a little wet but he wasn’t about to let Miyano get even a drop on him. “Let’s go home,”

Chapter Text

“And once again, cheers to MiyaMiya for getting his plushie fully funded!” Tashiro cried out lifting his glass of beer high above his three friends.

“Cheers!” They echoed his call and clinked their mugs together, Miyano and Tashiro draining them to about a third of the way while Kuresawa sipped his and Shirahama (try as he might) failed to down it like the other two. He was a pretty good drinker but when up against Miyano and Tashiro he seemed like a lightweight.

“See? I told you you’d be popular,” Tashiro grinned and shook Miyano’s shoulder. Miyano smiled back bashfully. Streaming was finally starting to go some place for him. Thanks to moving in with Shuumei-san, he was able to save up and thanks to his fans, he was even able to get limited edition and first editions of all of his favorite series. He was starting to think he was being a bit spoiled for choice but beggars can’t be choosers, after all.

It was also thanks to his fans that their little streaming group (currently just using S*S*M*K as their group name as no one came up with one they all agreed with) was able to do some really fun projects. Their first step into the waters was a plushie project for each of their avatars. Tashiro’s was funded almost as soon as it went up, but out of all of them, Miyano’s was the next one. Shirahama was third and Kuresawa was fourth but he didn’t really mind. They all got samples of their plushie before starting the campaign and all he wanted was to have one to give to his girlfriend. Miyano’s had just gotten fully funded a couple days ago and at Tashiro’s insistence, the four of them went out to celebrate.

“You guys are on your way too, you know,” Tashiro told Shirahama and Kuresawa as his beer was topped off with another mug.

“I still can’t believe how fast yours went,” Shirahama said, shaking his head.

“People love Tashiro,” Kuresawa said in such a matter of fact tone that the others could only nod.

“I don’t think that’s true.”

“Shut up, mister popular,” Shirahama playfully shoved his friend. “When we met up last week for lunch you surrounded by girls,”

“I was just helping them find their bearings,”

“Yeah, right,”

“Well, anyway, we’re here to celebrate Miyano,” Tashiro threw his arm around Miyano’s shoulders. “Let’s drink ‘til we drop!”

They cheered again. At that moment, the door to the bar opened, catching Miyano’s attention. He liked this bar because it wasn’t very busy and no one really bothered him and his friends while they talked about their lives as VTubers. It was something they were trying to keep secret after all. But, h e froze as he saw the group that had walked in. Not only was his coworker - Hanzawa-sensei - there but also his senpai, Hirano, and his current roommate, Sasaki. Joining them was another rough looking fellow, with short, choppy hair and many piercings and a… girl?

“Is this really the type of place you wanna go to, Niibashi?” Sasaki asked as he eyed the somewhat seedy looking door. It was down a dark alley and off to the side, down a small set of stairs. There was no signage and the lights were flickering - almost as if they were about to give out. 

“I said I would pay for the drinks and I am not going to some random place I don’t agree with.”

But you agree with this? Sasaki wanted to ask but kept his mouth shut. They had somehow managed to finish their shoot early today and as a reason to celebrate, Niibashi had offered to get them all drinks. Originally, Sasaki’s sister was invited too but she had left instead to go home to her boyfriend… a similar sentiment Sasaki also had. He wanted nothing more than to go home and be greeted by Myaa-chan at the door, but he did have somewhat of an obligation to at least appear grateful. He made a mental note to slip out as soon as he could.

The moment the group stepped into the building they heard a loud cheer that grabbed their attention. Off to the side, a group of four men were sitting together over what looked like a large pile of empty and half-empty glasses. There was a bleached blonde with a headband, standing tall above the rest, a man with glasses and dark hair who wore a somewhat bemused look on his face, a grey haired fellow with droopy eyes who looked exasperated and the last one Sasaki knew the second he put his eyes on his back.

“Myaa-chan…”

“Hm?” Hanzawa was the closest one to Sasaki so he heard him whisper the name and turned just as Sasaki started making his way over to their table. “Oh?”

“Hey- Sasaki!” Niibashi also noticed as their taller companion left their group. He quickly chased after him and the rest of the group - not really knowing what was going on (aside from Hanzawa, anyway) - followed closely behind.

“C’mon, it’s a celebration! Drink some more!” The blonde was conjouling Miyano, throwing an arm around his shoulder and holding up a mug of beer.

“I really-” Before he was able to finish the sentence, Sasaki reached their table and roughly grabbed the other man’s arm, yanking it off of Miyano.

“Whoa-”

“Don’t.” Sasaki’s eyes and voice were colder than ice.

“Shuumei-san?!”

“Sasaki! Stop, stop!” Hirano and Ogasawara grabbed Sasaki, pulling him back and he let the other man go.

“Hirano-senpai?! Hanzawa-senpai?!” Miyano had seen them come in, yes, but he hadn’t expected them to show up at their table!

“Miyano? Oh, and friends.” Hirano quickly let go of Sasaki once he realized who was at the table. He didn’t really interact with them much back in high school so he couldn’t exactly pick out each one but he knew them well enough to know that they were Miyano’s friends.

“Oh, Tashiro-kun. And Kuresawa-kun and Shirahama-kun, hello,” Hanzawa popped out from behind the three others and promptly took a seat next to Tashrio like it was the most natural thing in the world, who in turn just looked at him with a look of wonder and slight fear.

“Uh…” Shirahama shared a look with Kuresawa while Sasaki pulled Miyano a small ways away from the table as everyone else joined the group.

“Shuumei-san, what’s wrong?”

“There’s nothing wrong. I just… I wanted to know why you're here? I thought you were at home,”

“Oh, I was just hanging out with my friends. We kind of all reached a big milestone and we wanted to celebrate.” Miyano had to keep it vague otherwise their VTuber cover would be blown.

“With drinking?”

“Yeah! Despite my looks, I actually like to drink - wait, you don’t, though. Why are you here?”

“We just finished a shoot and to blow off some steam, the lead designer said they’d take us out for drinks.” Sasaki gestured to the pink haired girl who was sitting next to Shirahama. Surprisingly, Shirahama didn’t seem flustered.

“Ooh… wait, wasn’t the lead designer a guy?” Miyano asked, tilting his head slightly.

“They are a guy?” Sasaki responded, mimicking his movement.

“Huh?”

“Yeah, Niibashi. We all went to the same high school. He won the drag contest in your second year.”

“Oh… oh! That was him!? I always wanted to talk to him about that. I mean, I prefer-” he caught himself. He hadn’t been totally open with Sasaki about his love for BL yet so he wasn’t actually sure how much he could say. But Sasaki just tilted his head slightly at him and Miyano shook his head, “It’s nothing, can we go back?”

“Oh, actually, I wanted-”

“Mi-ya-nooo, c’mon! We’re gonna play a game,” Tashiro called out, cutting off Sasaki’s words.

“Okay, okay. You coming, Shuumei-san?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there in a second.” Sasaki said but didn’t follow immediately. He just had to relax. That guy was Miyano’s friend. There was nothing going on between them, that was just… skinship between friends . Sasaki nodded, yes, that was what it was and nothing more… or so he hoped to convenience himself before he made it back to the table.

“Okay, now that everyone is here, we’re gonna play a game called…” Tashiro built up the suspense and then pulled a tray of shots out, placing it in the center of the table. There was at least double the amount of shots as there were people. “The I adore you game!”

“The what?” Shirahama and Miyano shot him a look and Sasaki felt his heart stop in his chest.

“It’s simple. You just say I adore you to the person of your choosing. If they laugh or break in anyway, they drink. If you laugh or break, you drink. We’ll get to see who the best actor is here.”

“Um, I don’t think-” Hirano started to say something but Tashiro continued on. He was hard to stop normally but with a few drinks in him, he was practically unstoppable.

“I’ll go first! Kuresawa, I adore you!” Tashiro called out to his friend.

“Sorry, but I only accept confessions of love from my girlfriend.” Kuresawa immediately shot him down.

“Harsh! But I guess that means I drink, I didn’t get through to him.” Tashiro took a shot. “Next up, Shirahama-kun!”

“Me?! Uh, then Niibashi, I - uh,” Shirahama turned to the pink haired boy in a panic but everyone could see his mind draw a blank. “I’m sorry I can’t do this.”

“Then drink,” Niibashi said with a smirk, passing him a shot glass. He downed it without hesitation, wincing only slightly.

“Niibashi-kun, you’re up next.”

“Kuresawa didn’t have to go?”

“He’s no fun with this game.”

“Fine, then Hirano-san, I [know who] adore[s] you,” Niibashi said. Hirano tilted his head.

“I feel like there was more to that than what was said…”

“Do you accept it?”

“I mean… no?”

“So, Tashiro-kun, who drinks in this case?”

“Mmm… both of you! I didn’t feel the passion from Niibashi and Hirano-san didn’t reply in kind.”

“Wha-”

“Just drink,” Niibashi pushed the shot glass towards Hirano, who shrugged and took the drink. “Do I get to pick now?”

“Sure!”

“Then, Sasaki-san, I want to hear you confess to… the little one next to you,”

“Huh?!”

“Hm?”

“Or the other way around, either or.” Niibashi said with a shrug as he took another shot. There were plenty on the tray so it wasn’t like taking one or two extra was going to be a problem.

“Then I guess I’ll…” Miyano started to say something but Sasaki shot out his hand and grabbed a shot before he could finish his words, taking his punishment. He knew he wouldn’t be able to handle Miyano saying he adored him even if it was in game. “Shuumei-san!?”

“Ugh…” Sasaki immediately felt ill. It burned going down and his eyes watered and his stomach churned.

“Are you okay?!” Miyano put a hand on his back as he doubled over.

“Dude!” Ogasawara also came over, shoving a glass of water into his hands. “You can’t drink, what the hell are you doing?”

“That was disgusting… it was thick and bitter and burned and was just awful…” Sasaki complained after he took a big drink of water. He could still taste it on his tongue.

“Myaa-chan… can we go home now…?” Sasaki asked, grabbing onto Miyano’s sleeve.

“We can just let me-”

“I’ll go next!” Tashiro’s sudden cry made them all pause and look.

“You just went-” Shirahama started to protest but Niibashi put a hand on his shoulder, cutting him short.

“Hanzawa-senpai, I adore you!”

“Oohh,” Ogasawra and Niibashi couldn’t help but let out a sound of amazement at the bold confession and everyone watched Hanzawa with baited breath.

He simply smiled that smile that made a chill run down everyone’s spine but that didn’t seem to mean anything this time. In response to Tashiro’s confession, he simply grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him towards him, covering his lips with his own.

“Ooohhh!!”

For his own part, Tashiro froze in place, going limp after the kiss didn’t end after a moment. By the time Hanzawa pulled away, a single silver trail connected their parted lips. He licked his lips as he let Tashiro fall to a heap on the floor, “I adore you too… who’s next?”

“...” The party was frozen. Out of fear or wonder, it was hard to tell.

“Myaa-chan,”

“Right, right. We’re leaving.” Sasaki and Miyano quickly gathered up their things, left money on the table and exited the building. Miyano’s mind was so preoccupied with what had just happened and taking care of Sasaki that he didn’t even notice the particularly tall individual that entered after them that called out to Hirano as soon as he entered the building.

Miyano kicked open the door to their apartment and despotied Sasaki onto the couch. The shot had hit him like a sucker punch on the way home and he was one hundred percent hammered.

“Myaa…”

“I’m here, I’m here. Shuumei-san, here. Drink this,” Miyano helped him sit up and handed him a pre opened water bottle. He made sure he drank it without spilling it everywhere. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Mmm…” Sasaki put the bottle down and then grabbed Miyano, pulling him to the couch before the other man could walk away.

“Whoa-”

“Stay…” Sasaki mumbled, dropping his head into Miyano’s lap and nuzzling into him.

“Uh,” Miyano panicked. Was Sasaki like this when he was drunk!? Clingy and kind of… adorable?

“Speak,”

“Come again?”

“Speak. Say something.” Sasaki’s words were slurred and he was mumbling but he was so close that Miyano didn’t have a problem understanding him.

“Like, what, exactly?”

“Anything,”

“Um, okay, well… oh, Tashiro was telling us about this new client he got recently. He had to help them find something and he didn’t understand their dialect - I guess they weren’t from Tokyo? And then he…” Miyano just rambled. At some point, without thinking, he began to run his fingers through Sasaki’s hair as he spoke. 

Sasaki forgot about the queasy feeling in his stomach from the alcohol and just listened to his junior’s voice. Yeah his voice was the only thing that let him sleep well. So that’s why I like Miya so much… they’re the same… . Sasaki’s drunken hazy thoughts made the connection but as he drifted off, there was no doubt... he was notgoing to remember what that when he woke up.