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Yuuji’s in his shared apartment with the rest of his idol group's members, all four of them sitting around their small dining table. His phone is propped up against a bunch of browning bananas, allowing the viewers of their livestream to get a full view of the entire idol group.
Despite debuting last year, the idol group Exorcist skyrocketed to popularity and they took the Japanese music industry by storm, starting new trends and breaking music records.
As a result of their popularity, their agency Jujutsu Entertainment demanded that they do lives every week to keep their increasing number of fans updated and hooked.
The lives themselves aren't hard; it's just irritating when all Yuuji wants to do is knock out on his bed after hours of dance and vocal lessons. He knows that Megumi and Todo share the same sentiment as him, while Yuta remains indifferent to it. Yuta has an endless amount of energy regardless of the time of day, something Yuuji was shocked by when he found out that Yuta didn't like energy drinks, he was just naturally energetic.
Anyways, the weekly lives are a hassle, but at least all four of them have to do it, so their viewers attention is distributed amongst the quartet.
Yuuji squints at the livestream's chat box, the thousands of chats appearing each second blurring his vision. He's finally able to read one that looks interesting though.
"Who do you think is the hottest idol in the industry?" Yuuji reads aloud, already thinking of an answer.
Todo delightedly claps his hands together. "Nobuko Takada! She's amazing, and her songs are so inspiring. They make me feel so motivated," He tearfully admits, placing a large hand over his chest.
The viewers are amused by this reaction. It's no secret that Todo's a huge fan of the idol, and at every award show they attend, there always ends up being a clip of Todo eyeballing Nobuko with a look of pure admiration.
Yuta hums before responding, tilting his head to the side with a thoughtful expression. "I don't know, I think all the idols right now are exceptional," He smiles amiably at the chat.
Megumi nods his head in agreement. "They're all cool."
"Megumi."
"What?" All three men's heads turn towards Yuuji, who's oblivious to what he just said.
"Megumi's the hottest idol right now," Yuuji repeats, sweetly beaming at his phone’s camera before suddenly realizing how his words could be interpreted. "Wait, wait, wait! Not like that—“
Todo lunges for Yuuji, slamming his sweaty palm over Yuuji’s mouth, an awkward booming laugh escaping him.
Yuuji doesn't even have to look at the chat to know that they're all freaking out right now.
It's not like it's a lie; he does like Megumi a lot, and he thinks Megumi's the most good-looking guy he's ever seen, he's just never told Megumi how he actually feels about him. Idols aren't supposed to date, a strict rule that's a part of all their contracts.
He’s really starting to regret blurting out the first person who came to mind.
Desperately trying to pry Todo's salty-tasting palm off his face, Yuuji makes wide eyes at Yuta, who's taken the phone and has filled up the entire camera with his somber expression, trying to distract the livestream’s viewers.
He looks over at Megumi, whose face is a bright red, and he looks as dumbfounded as Yuuji feels right now.
Why the hell is Megumi blushing? Is he embarrassed by what Yuuji said?
"Let go!" Yuuji shouts, his words muffled by Todo's hand.
"End the live," Todo hisses at Yuta, who nods his head before handing the phone back to Yuuji.
Yuuji gratefully takes a large gulp of fresh, not salty air when Todo finally removes his hand, avoiding eye contact with Megumi.
"Yaga's not going to like this," Todo sighs, giving Yuuji a disapproving look. “You know how they get, they barely tolerate my pure love for Takada,”
Their fans, just as many other idol groups', were exceedingly parasocial and were prone to reading too much into their group dynamics and friendships. What Yuuji just did probably just sparked about two months' worth of rumors about him and Megumi, whose close friendship that people already made snide comments about weren’t helping his case.
Yuuji just sighs, covering his face. "Why do they blow it out of proportion every single time?" He groans into his hands, stealing looks at Megumi through his fingers.
Megumi is staring fixatedly at the dining table, his cheeks still red.
"Every time one of us somehow feeds into their fantasies, they take it and run with it for months. You know how it is, Itadori." Yuta sighs as well.
Megumi makes no move to respond.
Todo, of course, has to point this out. "And Megumi, why are you still blushing? Hmm?” He laughs.
Megumi finally looks up from the table and stares at them all before standing up from his chair and storming into his bedroom.
He slams the door shut.
Yuta, Todo, and Yuuji are all left sitting at the table, dumbfounded by what just happened.
"I was just joking," Todo wilts, his eyes downcast. "Should I go apologize?"
Yuuji shakes his head. "Let him cool off for now," He says, watching Megumi's closed door with a wistful expression. Why did he react like that? Was Yuuji’s answer that humiliating for him to hear?
The sound of Yuta's phone buzzing causes them all to look at him. "Gojo said he needs to speak with you, Yuuji."
He groans, dropping his head onto the table. Could this day get any more awkward? How did Gojo already hear about what happened on the live? "Now?" He mumbles, pressing his forehead deeper into the cool wood.
"He just said to check your phone." Yuta obviously sees how downcast Yuuji looks and pats his shoulder. "Don’t be upset, things like this have happened before. It'll be fine."
Yuuji looks up at the two men and shakes his head. "My life is over."
His career isn't over. He knows that. What’s really over is his potential romantic relationship with Megumi. He knows datings specifically banned in their contracts, but there are ways around it. People have always found ways around the rules, and if Megumi would just date him, he’d be motivated in every single way to find loopholes around the no-dating rule.
Yuuji’s mainly worried about Megumi's reaction to his answer, though. He's never really talked to Megumi about crushes or anything since dating is strictly off-limits, as established by Yaga, but that doesn't mean he can't like people. Even when he and Megumi were trainees at the bottom of the food period, he pined after his best friend the entire time. Even when they officially debuted as a group and got to meet hundreds of celebrities, all Yuuji could see was Megumi.
He’s never liked Megumi in a platonic way, and he never will.
Nobody, except maybe Nanami, a retired idol who now helps produce music at Jujusu Entertainment, knows about Yuuji’s crush on Megumi.
He’s not exactly sure that Nanami knows, but Yuuji suspects that Nanami has a vague idea about what’s really going on because he always starts smiling when Yuuji mentions Megumi. Neither has yet to bring it up, though.
Gojo, his other idol mentor in the industry, may as well be the second person who knows about Yuuji’s crush, considering that the highly perceptive man would immediately figure things out after this, and once he sees Yuuji in person.
Yuuji stares at Megumi’s closed door, still unable to get Megumi’s flushed face out of his mind.
He wishes it were Megumi comforting him right now instead of his overbearing seniors.
__
When Yuuji steps in front of the restaurant’s building, he resists the urge to call Todo to come pick him up again.
The day before, Gojo told Yuuji and Megumi to meet him at this restaurant without any further context. Yuuji already knows that Megumi and Gojo are there, but he can’t find it in himself to actually step inside.
He knows that it’s just loud Gojo and cranky Megumi waiting for him inside, but the thought of having to discuss what happened over that stupid, stupid, stupid livestream that he’s severely regretting makes him want to run away.
As Yuuji tries to steel his nerves before stepping inside, a high-pitched voice and the smell of flowery perfume draws his attention.
"Itadori?! What are you doing here?" Nanako beams at him, her usual updo covered by a baseball cap, and her usually glittery eye makeup concealed by a pair of black sunglasses. Standing beside her is Mimiko, who’s dressed the exact same way as her.
He'd met the twins ages ago at a variety show, and they quickly became friends.
Yuuji smiles at them both, thankful for the much-needed excuse to put off going inside. "What are you guys doing here?"
"We should ask you that," Mimiko giggles, her arm linked around Nanako's. "We got hungry, so we came here."
"Oh," Yuuji says, unsure of what to say to that, before he suddenly gets an idea. "Why don’t you guys come eat with me? I'm joining two other people for dinner; you guys should come. It’ll be fun, and you won't have to pay!" If he brings these two sisters along, Gojo definitely won’t be able to bring up the livestream incident in front of them without adding more fuel to the fire.
The two sisters look at each other before nodding their heads. "We were actually going to meet someone here, too. Is it okay if—"
Yuuji cuts Nanako off. "Yes! Sure! The more the merrier, yeah?! Let's go inside."
Eventually, the three are led into a private dining room by one of the workers, and when they step inside, Yuuji’s eyes immediately fall upon a very amused-looking Gojo who's sitting across from a very grumpy-looking Megumi.
Both of their heads snap towards the door, and Gojo's eyebrow quirks up. "About time, Yuuji! What took so long?!" His eyes drift behind Yuuji, and his jaw drops. "You!" He hisses, pointing a finger at Nanako and Mimiko, who are no longer smiling.
Megumi waves a hand at Yuuji before looking at the two girls behind him, his eyes widening in recognition. He'd become friends with the two girls as well, back when they were all on the variety show. The only person of their idol group who didn’t befriend them was Yuta, whom Nanako and Mimiko said was scary. Todo had laughed back then, who was usually the one people were initially put off by.
Mimiko and Nanako point at Gojo, their lips curling. "You!" They say back in unison.
Yuuji’s head fwips back and forth between the two, scratching his neck. "You guys know each other?"
It's not unusual for idols to know each other in the industry, but Gojo’s been an idol for far longer than everyone in this room, and it's unusual for newer idols to bump into ones of his caliber. Even Gojo knowing Yuuji is simply a coincidence, their meeting at a karaoke room simply fate’s luck.
"Yes, we do know him," Nanako says, opening her eyes as big as she can and giving Gojo a creepy look.
"There! That right there is what those two have been doing to me ever since they debuted!" Gojo shouts, nearly knocking over the cup of water in front of him. "Every single event, they do that," Mimiko flips him off, "Or they make ugly little faces at me!" He shouts indignantly, smacking the table with his hands.
"Will you calm down?!" Megumi snaps.
Gojo immediately ignores him and continues ranting. "Yuuji, you know these two? They're who you're friends with? I can't believe you would betray me like this!" Gojo places both hands over his heart and pantomimes being shot in the chest, a wounded expression on his face. "I can't believe you..."
Yuuji rolls his eyes and points at Megumi. "Megumi’s friends with Nanako and Mimiko too, not just me."
The said man glares at Yuuji before looking back at Gojo. "Who even cares? I just want to eat, can we call the waiter now?"
Gojo places a finger in front of Megumi, silencing his words. "Absolutely not. We need to talk about your poor choice of friends, young man." He turns and sticks his tongue out at Mimiko and Nanako. "Why are you guys fraternizing with the enemy?” He clicks his tongue.
“The enemy? They’re our friends, not the enemy. They’re your enemy,” Megumi snarkily rebuts.
“My enemy is your enemy too,” Gojo says with a serene expression before looking at the girls and sticking out his tongue.
Yuuji tries not to roll his eyes. Maybe bringing them here wasn’t the best idea.
He had no clue that these were the two girls Gojo was complaining about ages ago, saying they kept pulling faces at him during award ceremonies.
"Hey, old man, nobody cares! This is why we hate you!" Mimiko sticks her tongue out at Gojo, who looks appalled by her mimicking his behavior.
Suddenly, the door behind Yuuji, Nanako, and Mimiko slides open, and Geto Suguru steps inside the dining room, closing the door behind him. "I hope I’m not too late?"
"Sensei!" Yuuji chirps, beaming at him. "What are you doing here?"
“Sensei?!” Gojo shrieks.
“Sensei?” Megumi’s eyebrows knit together.
Geto valiantly ignores their reactions and speaks. "Mimiko, Nanako, and I were going to eat here, and they told me to come to this room. I hope that’s all right?" Geto smiles down at Yuuji. “I didn’t know you were the friend they said they ran into.”
Mimiko and Nanako are smiling now, all 'ugly faces' gone, completely replaced with smiles that showed all of their teeth.
Yuuji concludes that Geto must have something to do with why Nanako and Mimiko go out of their way to aggravate Gojo so much.
The sound of Gojo spitting out his water and Megumi yelling in disgust disrupts the sentimental reunion.
"What are you doing here?!" Gojo jabs an angry finger at Geto, and this time Gojo looks genuinely upset. He throws his sunglasses off, slamming them down on the table. "No, actually, what are you," He points at Yuuji, "doing talking with him?" He points at Geto.
"He’s my other mentor, of course. Geto-san has been helping me with my vocals," Yuuji stares at Gojo bewilderedly. He can’t tell what it is, but something in the air has shifted ever since Geto arrived.
"That’s the other guy who's been helping you with your vocals?!" Gojo screeches, his head fwipping between Yuuji and Geto. "Is that why you’ve been doing the same riffs as him lately?! I was wondering why your technique started to sound so similar to his; I cannot believe you went behind my back like that, Yuuji!"
Yuuji looks back at Geto’s irritated expression and Gojo’s horrified face. Maybe he shouldn’t have told Nanako and Mimiko to join him.
“I told you I have another vocal coach, I told you that months ago,” Yuuji retorts defensively.
“And you didn’t think to tell me that he’s your teacher?!”
"I didn’t think it mattered, and besides, Nanamin-"
"—Nanami?! Nanami knew, but I didn’t?!” Gojo laughs incredulously, his eyes freakishly large. “Wow! You have reached a new level of low, young man!"
Megumi interjects. "Can we please just order?! Kick him out, I want to eat." He gestures at Geto.
Nanako and Mimiko who are taking their seats on each side of Megumi both whirl on him, their expressions full of outrage.
"Absolutely not!"
"Megumi! How could you say that?!"
"Literally nobody here likes him besides you two, and Yuuji," Megumi says indignantly, his jaw tensing.
Geto’s smooth voice cuts through, silencing them all. "This is the ‘cool older man’ that’s been mentoring you, Itadori?" Geto looks amused, casting a glance at Gojo before turning back towards Yuuji.
Yuuji tries not to tear his hair out. Why is everyone acting like this? “Yeah, Gojo-san’s been helping me ever since I was a trainee. He’s taught me everything I know."
"Yeah,” Gojo says in a snipping tone. “I taught Yuuji everything, so you don’t have to help him anymore, Suguru." Gojo makes a very ugly face at him, flipping his eyelids and sticking his tongue out.
Mimiko, Megumi, and Nanako collectively shudder at Gojo’s blatant immaturity.
Yuuji looks between the two, still trying to figure out how his two mentors know each other.
"Don’t be immature, Satoru," Geto rubs his temples exasperatedly. "You know that not everyone has time for your antics, so don’t blame others for not wanting to put up with you."
"My antics? My antics?" Gojo’s voice seems to rise in pitch as he repeats himself. "You’re the one who ditched our group, asshole!" Gojo slams his hands on the table again, causing his and Megumi’s cups of water to spill over.
"Come on, my drink!" Megumi groans in frustration.
Mimiko grabs Megumi by his collar and starts shaking him around. “You spilled your drink on me!”
”That was GOJO!”
“Then you should’ve been holding your drink!” Nanako bangs her fist on the table.
“Leave Megs alone, you little deviants!” Gojo shouts, finally turning away from Geto.
”Shut up!” Mimiko snaps, letting go of Megumi’s collar and turning towards Gojo. “Are you some kind of perv? How do you know Yuuji?”
”Pervert?!” Gojo shrieks in horror. “I am his mentor, I’m the one who scouted him at a karaoke place, you little—“
”You may have scouted him, but I’m the one who taught him how to riff,” Geto laughs, still standing by the doorway.
Gojo turns back towards Geto, his eyes narrowing. “I taught him how to do vocal runs, and I basically taught him the basic of riffs,” he says cockily. “What important things did you actually teach him? Hm?”
”He’s done much more for Yuuji’s singing than you have!” Nanako interjects. “Old hag, are you really that delusional?”
“Delusional?!”
While Gojo, Geto, Nanako, and Mimiko all bicker with each other, Yuuji finally manages to catch Megumi’s eye, offering a tentative smile.
To his relief, Megumi gives a small smile back, and the two gaze at each other, drowning out the background noise of arguing.
Yuuji watches as Megumi takes a sip of his water, still looking at him when Gojo’s voice interrupts the moment.
"That’s the guy you like?!" He shouts, his voice making the room shake.
Yuuji comes to the shocking realization that Gojo isn’t even looking at him—no, he’s looking at Megumi, whose cheeks are coloring rapidly fast.
"W-what?! What are you talking about?!" Megumi stammers, his face growing redder by the second. "Literally, how do you even get that from just us looking at each other?!"
Yuuji remains quiet, his attention focused on Megumi’s expressions and reactions.
If he could just enter Megumi’s mind and figure out everything his best friend was thinking, he’d do it in a heartbeat.
Nanako giggles. “You guys were looking at each other pretty flirtily,"
Mimiko joins her, adding on. "You guys were making googoo eyes at each other."
"We were not making googoo eyes at each other," Megumi hisses, taking another loud swig of his water before glaring at them. "And what are googoo eyes? Huh? I’ve never heard of that before. Is that something you made up?"
“I’ve heard of goo goo eyes before,” Geto raises his hand.
“Hey, nobody’s talking to you, you dork!” Gojo snaps.
“Shut up, old man! Don’t talk to our dad like that!” Nanako huffs, giving Gojo the stink eye.
Yuuji realizes that this is why they’ve been terrorizing Gojo; it’s because Geto is their father, and whatever happened between Gojo and Geto must have resulted in a generational hatred for Gojo.
Looking at Megumi’s exasperated expression, he can tell that Megumi knows a lot more about this than he does. Yuuji resolves to interrogate him about this later.
“Old man?! My hair is naturally white, it’s not because of age,” Gojo hisses as he subconsciously brings a hand to his soft tufts.
Mimiko laughs right in his face. “It looks stupid!”
“It didn’t look stupid when your daddy Suguru was caressing it!” Gojo says triumphantly.
Before either can respond to this revelation, the doors slide open once more, halting all conversation once more when a familiar figure steps through.
"I’m so fucking hungry—" Zenin Naoya steps inside, taking in everyone in the room before stepping back. "What is this, a variety show? Why are all of you here?" He scoffs, his gaze narrowing at the three young adults sitting across from Gojo.
Yuuji slowly backs away into the corner, bringing a hand over his nose. Why the hell does Naoya always smell like ass? He’s a nepo baby; he can afford deodorant! Not only does this Zenin constantly reek, but he’s also one of the music industry’s most known douchebags, a guy that Yuuji despises in particular after multiple run-ins with him at award shows.
"Who are you?" Megumi deadpans.
Naoya’s face darkens. "I’m another idol, you priss. I’m Zenin Naoya." His eyes land on Gojo. “Oh! An honor to finally meet you,” he bows his head.
Yuuji watches Gojo’s angry expression morph into recognition at his name. “That’s the guy who’s been bothering you, Yuuji?" He gives Naoya a curious once over , but his voice is full of contempt.
"He’s been creeping on us, too!” Nanako chimes in, her eyes narrowing in recognition.
"Maki’s cousin," Mimiko says breathlessly, and Megumi’s eyebrows furrow at the mention of his cousin.
For the past few months, at nearly every award show and idol events that they’d all been attending, Zenin Naoya had been making creepy and uncomfortable comments towards the women idols—particularly his cousins Maki and Mai—while also facing his own drug and sex scandals.
He’s infamous for his unpleasant personality and telltale stench.
Yuuji grimaces at the memory of Naoya pestering him months ago, bugging him to come to a special party at his place.
He never went, thankfully, and it ended up working out considering that the party got busted by the police and countless celebrities were escorted out in cuffs.
Geto moves first, slamming his fist into the side of Naoya’s face. "So you’re the one who’s been bothering—“
He’s cut off mid-sentence by Gojo, who tackles Geto to the ground, and slams Geto’s back on top of Naoya, preventing the latter from getting back up.
Yuuji watches this with wide eyes, Nanako, Megumi, and Mimiko quickly joining him by his side to watch.
“Stay away from my daughters!” Geto grunts as he manages to shove Gojo off of him for a brief second and punches Naoya in the face again.
Gojo grabs Geto by the hair and slams his head into Naoya’s. “You stay away from my students!” He hisses, but Yuuji can’t tell if he’s saying that to Geto or to Naoya.
”Get off of me, you sick fucks!” Naoya screams, pushing himself off the ground for a split second before falling on his stomach again.
His teacher, Gojo, is wrestling with his other teacher, Geto, who both men are somehow simultaneously wrestling Naoya, who is desperately trying to push their two bodies off of him.
"Get off! Get off!" Naoya screams, but his screams are drowned out by all of their loud cheers.
Yuuji watches as Gojo smacks Geto in the face, who smacks Gojo back, both of their actions causing their elbows to jab into Naoya’s neck.
Naoya desperately tries dragging his body out from beneath them, but Gojo hooks his shoe around Naoya’s neck, preventing him from going any further.
“Should we stop them?” Yuuji says, entranced by the sight of all three of them fighting.
“We couldn’t stop them even if we wanted to,” Megumi groans. “Can we just go find the waiter? I’m hungry,”
Mimiko gives Megumi an exasperated look. “Stop complaining about the food, Fushiguro! We’ll get to it soon, just sit and watch this!”
Yuuji’s jaw drops as he watches Mimiko time a perfectly-executed jump on Naoya’s hand, who is still desperately trying to pull himself out from the pile of Gojo and Geto on top of him.
Naoya’s shrilly scream lets them all know Mimiko’s jump landed right on target.
“Nanako!” Yuuji watches as Nanako joins her sister in on the game of jumping on Naoya’s hand.
Both sisters are jumping up and down on his hand, the faint sound of crunching barely audible.
“Megumi?!” Yuuji squeaks as he watches the disgruntled man leave the dining room.
He looks at the pile of people on the floor, all of them fighting, before following Megumi.
“Megumi!” Yuuji catches him just in time, grabbing onto his wrist.
Megumi turns around, staring at Yuuji. “Neither of us has our hats on, you should let go.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No, Megumi. Can we talk? About the livestream?”
Megumi’s face darkens. “No.”
“I just wanted to say… I’m sorry that what I said embarrassed you. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.” Yuuji says earnestly, gazing at Megumi.
Megumi blinks, pulling his arm out of Yuuji’s grip. “What? No, no, you didn’t embarrass—no. Okay? It’s whatever. You didn’t embarrass me. I just don’t wanna talk about it.”
“Okay. So are we… good again?”
“We weren’t ever on bad terms, Yuuji,” Megumi rolls his eyes and punches him in the arm.
“Then can we go get food? Just us?” Yuuji wills all the shine and love to appear in his eyes as he clasps his hands together pleadingly.
“Okay. But you have to go get our hats from the room.”
….
“Where did Fushiguro and Itadori go?” Nanako looks around the room, sitting on top of Naoya’s back with Mimiko.
Gojo grunts. “They snuck off when we weren’t looking.”
Geto doesn’t respond and just fixes his hair, standing a far distance from Gojo.
”Just order the food already…” He sighs.
The group of four (Naoya was knocked out for the rest of the evening) ate a very awkward dinner in silence afterwards.