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Kohane sat on the couch, heart warm with excitement and hand cool with the drink in it. This feeling wasn’t uncommon, but tonight, it was amplified. Because it wasn’t her own couch, and her three favorite people were next to her.
“Cheers to a successful event!” An raised her glass, and Kohane, Akito, and Toya followed suit.
“Cheers!”
The four sipped their drinks right after the glasses clinked, throats dry from singing their hearts out. The contents were thankfully just blended drinks — seventeen still wasn’t old enough to drink alcohol of any kind — but still delicious and refreshing nonetheless. Toya had one without sugar, and Kohane had some with a bit of milk and tea. “A special blend made by her special girlfriend”, in An’s words, because of the solo she had performed that night. Kohane much preferred that over any kind of alcohol.
“You even added honey?” Her eyes lit up the moment it hit her tongue, sweet and refreshing as she always adored.
“Course I did!” An gulped down her own drink. “It’s good for your throat, and you needed it after singing so much.”
“Aww, An-chan,” Kohane’s face turned pink and a smile
spread across his lips. “Now I feel bad about drinking half the cup so fast and not savoring it more.”
“It’s yours, isn’t it?” Akito nudged her arm, holding his own glass with his free hand. “Drink it however you want.”
“You sang an amazing solo,” Toya added, a soft smile on his face that she was so happy they’d gotten accustomed to seeing. “You deserve a reward.”
And she had. After the event at Crawl Green, Kohane and the others had decided to have her sing more solos. She’d sung a couple so far, but this event had been her best one yet. She’d felt electric, with the atmosphere and the mesmerized stares of the packed crowd and the song flowing from her lips. She was sure the best reward of all had been the hug Akito had spun her around in with a proud grin, along with the consecutive tackle-hug from An and kisses on the face from Toya.
Yet, the drinks An made were never anything short of delicious, so she drank more, savoring every bit of milk, honey, and juice there was.
“Still not sure this is enough space for an afterparty.” Akito looked around at the living room, and at their plates of food that were shoved messily onto the table.
“We probably should’ve done cheers in the kitchen,” An admitted with a sigh, “But you agreed to this too, Akito!”
“I never said it was a bad idea,” He defended in return.
“You basically implied it.”
“No, I didn’t—”
Kohane and Toya both chuckled at the banter, and she scooched closer to his side to murmur, “They never change.”
“I’d worry if they ever did.” Toya nodded in return.
Afterparties were usually held at diners or Weekend Garage, along with a debriefing. But today, An asked everyone to come to her house, have it there, and stay the night. The reason: the four of them had recently started dating. They’d gone on dinner dates, picnic dates, arcade dates, karaoke dates (Akito called it just a normal practice, but that was proven wrong by him and An having a singing battle, which was not part of normal practice), yet they’d never had a sleepover together.
They’d all been to the Shiraishis’ house before, and Kohane had fallen asleep on her couch and stayed the night back when she and An were still just friends, but they’d never had a sleepover as the four of them in a relationship. Which An had decided needed to change. And combining it with an afterparty after an amazing event was the perfect first sleepover date.
Kohane loved the Shiraishis. The atmosphere of their home was always warm, and there was always something delicious to eat, hugs from both An and her mother (Yuka also adored her and the boys to bits) and a hair ruffle from Ken. She knew it was a shared sentiment of all of them, especially for Toya before things had started to get better at his own home.
Living together like this one day might be nice, she thought.
About a minute into the lover’s quarrel, An shoved some cheesecake her dad had baked into Akito’s mouth to shut him up, and after a couple seconds of sputtering, he stopped arguing and chewed it. Anyone who knew Akito knew sweets were the way to his heart. Sweets, music, and his teammates.
Kohane reached for her camera and snapped a quick photo, smiling as she looked at the result. Sweet and domestic. Even when two of them were bickering, nothing ever felt tense.
An was a genius, because this sleepover was already turning out to be the best afterparty they’d had.
—————
The rest of the time was spent drinking blends, chatting and playing video games per Toya’s request. Everyone should have been exhausted after such a fulfilling event, but instead, it filled the place with a certain air of excitement and warmth that Kohane only ever truly felt with the three of them. That wasn’t to say she never felt warmth with others — she loved her friends, but it was different with the three of them. Everything about them was special.
Toya destroyed everyone at Puyo Puyo, to no one’s surprise and everyone’s dismay. Akito, ever the competitive one even when it came to his partner, had tried multiple tactics, but none of them could beat his gaming skills. Kohane was pretty sure the only one who’d ever beaten him was Nene. Akito’s annoyance at losing hadn’t lasted too long, however, because no one could stay annoyed at Toya’s smile, especially not his own boyfriend.
By the time the gaming session was over, Kohane had several new pictures in her camera roll. She was glad the three were comfortable with her snapping photos when she liked. (Akito always got embarrassed when he caught her, but he was never truly uncomfortable.) Photography was something she loved, because she couldn’t help but want to immortalize special moments. And with three teammates she was endlessly in love with, there was no shortage of those.
“We got our asses kicked,” An lamented, leaning on Akito’s shoulder.
“Majorly…” Kohane added on, but still had a smile on her face as she patted An’s back. “I had a lot of fun, though. I don’t game often, but I’m glad we did this.”
“You all did well,” Toya said, plugging his controller into a charger. “Especially you, Akito. You came quite close to beating me.”
“Been practicing,” Akito explained, giving a small smile. “Couldn’t just let you have all the fun during game night.”
“Me too!” An chimed in, sitting up and crossing one leg over the other. “I’d challenge you to another game if our controllers weren’t out of battery.”
“Another time,” Toya promised, “What do you all want to do now? We still have time before it gets too late.”
“Truth or dare?” An grinned, staring right at Akito.
“Hell no,” Akito glared back at her. “Last time we played truth or dare, you dared me to eat ten carrots. Boiled and unseasoned.”
“Had to make use of our leftovers somehow.” An laughed.
”Boiled and unseasoned!”
Kohane adored the memory of that Weekend Garage gathering, especially the howling laugh Kotaro had given at Akito gagging and choking, but she had a feeling they’d be up all night if they played truth or dare, and that wasn’t a good idea after an event.
It seemed Toya felt the same way, because after a couple moments of the group deciding, he chimed in with, “What about painting our nails?”
The three all turned to look at him with surprise, because that was not something they were expecting Toya to say. He’d taken a small interest in makeup after the photo contest he and Kohane entered into, but nails?
“I was never allowed to paint my nails when I was younger,” He explained. “I want to try it. Also, it’s a common sleepover activity.”
The moment the surprise cleared up, the three started getting excited, as they always did when Toya wanted to try something new. It was like introducing your friend to your favorite artist they’d never heard of.
“I think I’ve been waiting for you to ask my whole life,” An grabbed his hand in hers, squeezing it tight. “I’ve got a whole stash of nail polish in my house just for this!”
“Definitely better than truth or dare,” Akito grinned, placing his own hand on Toya’s shoulder. “What color?”
“Black.”
Everyone’s expression turned so delighted that Kohane couldn’t help but snap a picture.
——————
An wasn’t exaggerating — she did have a whole stash of nail polish.
Not just different colors, but several different shades, too. Pinks, purples, even a couple milder brands with less chemicals. It wasn’t shocking, considering how clean and pretty her nails always looked, but it was still impressive.
She was skilled, too. It hadn’t taken her long to apply the polish to Toya’s nails. They had used a milder polish, given his sensitivity when it came to scents. Akito was doing the other hand, holding it in his and gliding the brush along the nail. Kohane wasn’t quite skilled at nail polishing or much of anything beauty-related, so she was in charge of filing down the nails and helping to dry them off.
“You’re both very good at applying it.” Toya remarked once An moved the polish brush to her pinky finger.
“Me and Haruka used to do it at sleepovers,” An smiled, tilting his finger just the slightest. “Mizuki as well. She’s a genius when it comes to beauty.”
“That’s so sweet,” Kohane looked up, focusing her fan on Toya’s index finger and avoiding his pinky. “What about you, Akito-kun?”
“Ena used to like to paint her nails with her acrylic paints when she was a kid,” Akito explained, moving the brush to cover an unpainted spot on Toya’s nail. “She used to make me do it for her sometimes.”
“Oh, yeah,” An shot him a grin, “Didn’t you also try to eat the paint one time and cry when your mom stopped you?”
Akito sputtered and turned bright red, whipping his head over to her so fast Kohane thought he’d break his neck. “How the hell—?!”
“Ena-san told me when I saw her at school.”
“That blabbermouth…” He hissed, turning back to Toya’s nails with a burning face. “I was five, okay? I wasn’t— Shit.”
A drop of polish fell, and he just barely saved it from falling on his bed with his hand, and somehow managed to not mess up Toya’s nail polish at the same time. His cheeks were red and his face was lightly scrunched up the way it always was when he was embarrassed, and despite the mild scare from acetone almost staining An’s sheets, Kohane found his expression adorable. She didn’t say it out loud, because then Akito might actually drop the polish onto the bed.
After another couple minutes, the three had finished with Toya’s nails, and though Kohane was still drying them, he turned them over to look at them, his eyes widening.
To all their reliefs, they had done a great job. His nails were painted a sleek, shiny black that had just a tint of blue. It matched perfectly with his shirt, and went well with his entire look. The color had been an excellent choice.
“It looks amazing, Toya-kun!” Kohane marveled, admiring the black color. He always looked exceptionally pretty, but the nail polish felt like adding a cherry on top of a beautiful cake.
“Black fits you like a glove.” An beamed with pride, screwing the cap to the nail polish back on.
“I love it,” Toya murmured with the same awe he always did when he had a new experience and enjoyed it, a tone of voice she adored. “Thank you all. I’m so glad I got to do this with everyone.”
He pressed a quick kiss to each of their heads, flustering Akito quite a bit given by the way his face turned red again. He coughed and ruffed Toya’s hair, averting his gaze. “Don’t move too much. Your nails still aren’t properly dried.”
“Oh— since we’ve still got time,” An chimed in, reaching into her polish bag and pulling out a couple more polish bottles. “Let me do your guys’ nails, too!”
Kohane lit up. She’d always wanted to do her nails with An. “Sure!”
“I’ll pass,” Akito declined. “It’d end up flaking off.”
She knew he didn’t mean it in a lazy way. Akito wasn’t one to not take care of his appearance, caring quite a bit about making a good impression on others, but he had a bad habit of biting his nails. The most likely outcome would be him not only biting the polish off, but also ingesting the chemicals from it.
“Right, forgot,” An sighed in defeat. “But that means you’re on filing duty for Kohane.”
“I can help with the fan,” Toya offered, and then looked down at his still unset nails. “…When this dries.”
“Thanks, everyone,” She beamed, pointing to a bottle sticking out of the bag. “Can I have that pink?”
An nodded excitedly, and took her hand that wasn’t holding a fan over Toya’s nails, handing Akito a nail file with the other one. Her heart felt warm with a mix of younghearted excitement and a fond sense of domesticity. This felt so fun, getting her nails done after an amazing performance with her teammates, and so comfortable, on her girlfriend’s bed with their two other boyfriends, the air warm and everything so comfortable.
The four chatted as her nails were done, with no hint of tension even when Akito and An made jabs at each other, and laughter every minute or so from one of them. She couldn’t help smiling. She was with her soulmates, after all.
Toya’s nails were all dried, and her right hand was all done, so Akito gestured with his hand in a “come here” motion. “If you’re done, then gimme your hand so I can file your nails.”
Toya gently took the fan and began to hold it over her right hand, still giving that smile she loved to his nails as the air hit her own, sending a feeling of coldness through her fingertip. It felt nice, like fresh air after opening a window. Everything with him felt like that. No matter what she was going through, a smile, a hug, or even just an “I believe in you” made her feel like she could face anything.
Kohane shifted her hand to be in Akito’s hold, and he took it and filed her nails, precise and tilting his head for a better angle. She had always loved how his hands felt in hers — warm, a bit rough, yet his grip was always reassuring. Firm and gentle when she needed it, and always loving. She was glad one of Akito’s main love languages was physical touch, because she didn’t think her life would be complete without the warmth that always came with skinship with him. Even when he was done filing, his head still found its way to her shoulder and his hand around her arm, like it was second nature.
An painted along her nails with a big smile once Akito was done filing, talking in the voice Kohane had fallen for the moment she’d heard it. No moment with her ever felt boring. They could be sitting and doing nothing, and her heart would still pound with excitement and unmeasurable love, because it was her, the very embodiment of starlight, and her most precious partner in the entire world.
Once her nails were done and dried, the beauty of them delighted her so much that she couldn’t help but take pictures, a group selfie included.
Well, the beauty couldn’t compare to that of their faces.
——————
The night had gone on, and it had gotten a bit too late for any more fun activities. So the four just helped each other get ready for bed, which included brushing each other’s hair and helping with the nighttime skincare routine. (Akito had dozed off on Kohane’s shoulder, and she couldn’t resist snapping a picture and admiring him for two minutes before having to wake him up.)
She had finished brushing her teeth a bit earlier than everyone else, and she was pretty sure Toya was still showering. So she sat on An’s bed, taking the time she had alone to work on her photo album.
Someone who loved photography as much as she did couldn’t not keep a photo album. To her, it was the most beautiful collection of memories that she could look on when she was having a bad day or just wanted to reminisce.
A fond smile was on her face as she looked at it. Most was of Vivid Bad Squad, her family, or Minori and Shiho, but there were moments with their other friends there too. Like a photo of Tsukasa from one of Wonderlands x Showtime’s shows, where he was leaping in the air in a blur of lights and Emu was watching him with awe. Or the moment with everyone after she, Toya, and Haruka had uploaded their picture in the photo contest to get chocolate for their teammates, with everyone smiling and Ena even laughing. Oh, and her favorite one, the group photo Vivid Bad Squad, Ever, Kotaro, and Arata had all taken after they had surpassed Rad Weekend.
They were all such lovely photos, with people she loved so much. It was heartwarming.
An amazing event and her first sleepover with the loves of her life had to go in the album. So she flipped to the next blank page and pulled out some tape.
She added all the photos from her camera. The solo that Kotaro had been kind enough to take a picture of, a bit blurry and awkwardly angled but still beautiful with the lights and focused. The selfie she had taken with him after, Kotaro’s smile being big and bright. The picture of An feeding Akito cheesecake, her heart fluttering at how cute his blush and glare always was. He looked like a cat. Toya and An playing Puyo Puyo together, and the excited smile that he had given. The group photo after the nail-painting session, with both Kohane and Toya holding their hands up to show off their nails. Toya hadn’t quite been smiling, still not very good at smiling for pictures, but his eyes had that fond crinkle to them that showed he was happy even so.
Her heart felt warm with every addition. They all looked so beautiful, the moments immortalized in time.
Unfortunately, the moment was broken by footsteps and a familiar voice calling, “Don’t act like you didn’t lose t— Kohane?”
Kohane yelped, looking up to see Akito, who also jumped a bit from the sudden startle of her voice. “Woah!”
“Sorry!” She quickly apologized, her heart rate calming down. She was still easily startled, even if she was seventeen and a singer with three teammates she was in love with. “I just got startled since I was really focused.”
“It’s fine. Sorry too,” He shook his head with momentary embarrassment, the tension gone as his eyes moved over to her hands. “Is that your photo album?”
“Yeah,” She smiled, her cheeks pinkening a bit. “I was just updating it. Wanna sit with me?”
The others had seen her photo album before, so it wasn’t quite a secret. Though they hadn’t seen any updates in a while, so now was the perfect time. No better way to end a lovely sleepover.
And it seemed Akito thought so, too, because he said, “Sure.” and climbed up on the bed next to her, leaning into her side.
Kohane gently wrapped an arm around him, smiling affectionately. The angle was a bit awkward considering he was much taller than her, but not enough to be uncomfortable. Despite the embarrassed protests to the contrary whenever called out, Akito liked being the little spoon more. The only time he was really the big spoon is if one of them was sad or needed to be held, in which case he did so for as long as needed.
However, she didn’t quite get much time into showing him the updates before her other two partners came out of the bathroom in their pajamas, and An’s eyes lit up seeing her album.
“Oh, are you sharing your album?” She asked. An had always loved looking over her photo album with her.
“Mhm!” Kohane nodded, gently rubbing her finger along where she was holding Akito. “I was updating it just before you all got here. You can all sit with me, if you want.”
“Definitely!” An scurried into the empty space to her left, cuddling up to her side and causing her to giggle.
“Oi, don’t jostle the whole damn bed.” Akito grumbled in annoyance, but still intertwined his fingers with hers across Kohane’s midriff.
Toya smiled fondly and moved over to An’s side — Akito’s was a bit too close to the edge, and leaned against her head, holding her other hand in his and looking over her shoulder to see the album.
“Ah, is that from your hangout with Hanasato-san and Hinomori-san on White Day?” He asked, pointing to the page a painted nail, to the photo showing Minori beaming big and Shiho giving a small, but still happy smile.
“Yeah,” She nodded in return. “We had a lot of fun that day.”
“The flower bouquets you all brought were so pretty,” An said with a fond smile, “I remember Haruka telling me how happy she was to get them from Minori.”
“Minori-chan put in a lot of effort for her sake.” Kohane smiled fondly, remembering the expression of determination on her face, and the battle-like declaration of “For Haruka-chan!”
“Sounds like her,” Akito said, because anyone who knew her knew she loved Haruka. “And that one's your pet snake…?”
“Mhm!” She confirmed, her smile growing wider. “This was her after eating freeze-dried mice. She looked so happy, I just had to capture her expression.”
Akito and An visibly shuddered, while Toya just said, “That’s very sweet of you.”
The four continued to discuss, reminisce, and cuddle on the bed. There was so much nostalgia from the pictures, even though a lot of it was only a few months ago. Every bit of it filled her with warmth and love, for her teammates, friends, family and everything captured with that camera and printed out onto this album.
She always liked looking over this album when alone, but looking at it with the three of them was even better. Every time Akito blushed and got annoyed for a picture where he looked stupid (Kohane thought he looked cute in all of them) yet still held her just a bit tighter, every time An sighed fondly and smiled that crinkle-eye smile of hers that she could never get enough of no matter how many pictures she took, every time Toya lit up and got that sparkle in his eyes when they came across a memory particularly dear to his heart made her want to burst with love.
“You look beautiful here.” Toya smiled and gently tapped a picture of her that her mother had taken of her in a new dress, right around the time summer had started.
She giggled at the compliment, blushing, “Rin-chan helped me pick the dress out.”
The next page was their best memory yet — the day they all surpassed Rad Weekend. It took up two whole pages because of how many pictures she’d taken of it. Everyone softened as they saw it, smiling.
“Feels like it was just yesterday,” Akito sighed fondly, smiling.
“I still remember how hard you cried.” An teased, though she had still hugged him that day and cried with him.
“Shut up,” He scowled back, his glare not having much edge due to fondness and tiredness. “You cried too.”
They all talked about it, with a certain air of exhilaration like it had just happened yesterday and not over a month ago. Reminiscing on all the challenges, all the happiness, and everything they overcame to get to that point and beyond it.
Kohane ran her fingers over the group photo of Vivid Bad Squad a friend in the audience had taken, delicately and fondly. Their faces sleek with sweat, still smiling, because the experience was just so overwhelming in the best way possible.
“We’re going to face a lot from here on out too.” She murmured.
After a moment, Toya placed his hand over hers.
“None of us will be facing it alone.” He promised.
An joined the two, her hand kind and guiding. “Partners forever, Kohane!”
“No way out but forward. Together.” Akito grinned at her, placing his hand over it all, the picture covered by their fingers.
Kohane smiled, her heart warming. That was right. No matter what, she would always have these three. They would always be Vivid Bad Squad, breaking down whatever walls came their way with their hands intertwined and love guiding them.
She kissed the three of them each. When she pulled back, all of them were bright red, Akito was covering his mouth with his hand and holding hers with the other, An was beaming and already hugging the life out of her, and Toya leaned back in a mild daze, looking like a happy pile of goo. She’d never felt more fulfilled in her life.
The happiness lasted about another minute before she let out an involuntary yawn, and Toya recovered from the daze of the kiss and turned to the three, “It’s late. We should all get some sleep, or we won’t have enough energy tomorrow.”
“Time flew by,” An also let out a yawn, it seeming contagious, then raised a hand. “Let’s go through more of your album again, okay, Kohane?”
Kohane beamed fondly, the answer still making her heart pound even despite the tiredness. “Yeah! Next sleepover.”
The thought of that sounded amazing. She wanted there to be many more sleepovers to come, for them to do this even after high school and university, well into adulthood. And they would. Vivid Bad Squad had always been forever, even before the forever became romantic.
She closed the album and placed it on the nightstand next to her.
They all laid down, and An wrapped her arms around her, sighing in bliss. Akito leaned on her shoulder and draped his arm across her stomach, a fond smile on his face that always made her heart melt when it showed. She was happy he could let down his guard in front of them, enough to fall asleep with them. Toya leaned over to hug An from behind, holding Akito’s hand in the process. The scene was so beautifully domestic, and she only realized she was still smiling when her cheeks started hurting a bit.
“Goodnight, guys,” She said. “I love you all.”
Because she did.
“I love you too, Kohane!” An kissed the side of her head. She and An had clicked right from the start, with her bright and starry nature perfectly complimenting Kohane’s quieter one. She had always been her partner, the girl to burst through any walls and reach out to her with every bit of patience and care, as well as fire and passion. And she had given her that fire she had, and so much courage and drive. She had taken her hand and led her along, into the brightest, and true to their name, most colorful and vivid world imaginable.
“Love you too.” Akito mumbled into her neck, embarrassed but still smiling all the same. Akito and her had clashed at first, and he’d given her the strength to rise above resistance. He’d watched her grow and pushed her forward, encouraging her along the way. And she’d watched him grow and soften, opening up more and showing more of his emotions. She knew he’d chase all of them to the ends of the earth, because that was how his love was. Fiery, tender, and never-ceasing. And she was so lucky to have it.
“I love you too.” Toya brought her hand to his mouth and gently kissed her knuckles. She and him hadn’t been as close at the start, but they bonded as time went on. They’d read together, sang together, and he was a comforting presence for her. She could sit in silence with him, and they’d still be content with just each other being there. He was so kind, and strong, and even cute. And she’d watched him grow and become so much more open — smiling more, having fun, singing with the same fire she’d felt when she’d first started singing. She loved seeing that. She loved everything about him. She loved him.
She loved all of them. Everyone meant so much to her in unique but similar ways, and she wanted to spend forever with them. There wasn’t anyone else she’d rather chase her dream with. Her life wouldn’t be complete without the three, and she promised herself at that moment that she’d take pictures with them for the rest of eternity.
She looked over to see the three of them nearly asleep, and smiled, pressing a small peck to An’s cheek and Akito’s head. She would have kissed Toya as well, but he was a bit too far away from her, so she settled on promising herself to give him lots of kisses in the morning. There was plenty of time, anyway.
This really had been the best afterparty she’d ever had.
She looked up to the ceiling, and with excitement in her heart for the next sleepover, let herself be lulled to sleep by the breathing of the three most precious people in the universe to her.
(In the morning, she woke up with An sprawled across her and Akito’s torsos, her arm aching from Akito curling up on it, and Toya sleeping like an unmoving slab of wood on her shoulder, and she’d never felt better in her life.)