After the first time they kissed, it had been hard to stop. Shu somehow always managed to find a way to get back into Rom’s bed, his touches burning Rom’s skin as they would trail along his body. It went on for months, the two of them stealing moments of spare time wherever they could find it. Overall, they didn’t meet that often, due to Shu’s more-often-than-not hectic schedule, but with how dizzying every encounter felt to Rom, it felt like no time at all.

When Rom took in Hachin however, he had to put their dallyances on hold for a while. There was simply no time left while him and the teen adjusted to living together. Shu spent the time well, as in he occupied the moments they would otherwise spend together with sending teasing or provocative texts, and their phonecalls during late evenings became downright lewd.

So it was no wonder that when Hachin made plans to stay over at a friend’s house, he invited Shu over. It was a sunny evening when Shu arrived, only letting Rom lock the door behind them before his hands were running along Rom’s arms, up underneath the hem of the sleeves of his t-shirt, feeling out his muscles.

“Hey, hey,” Rom laughed as he felt impatient lips brush his own. “I see you missed me.”

Shu looked up at him from beneath his fringe, eyes bright with delight. “I did,” he admitted, making Rom’s cheeks grow hot at the lack of any sense of bashfulness. “Quite a lot, actually. It’s been months.”

Now, Shu actually took the time to step back a bit, letting his eyes run down his body, taking every aspect of him in. It made Rom all the more flustered. “I’ve always thought you’d make a hot dad, and here you are, not even a spouse for me to get rid of to get to you. A pity, really. I do so like a challenge.”

Rom rolled his eyes, even as he couldn’t stop the grin from growing on his face. “You’re insane.”

“Just a little bit.”

They quickly found themselves in the bedroom, though Rom still found the time to fend off Shu’s advances several times to keep them from fucking right there on the hallway floor, much to the blond’s chagrin. Shu must have really missed him - or at least his dick - a whole lot these past few months. Though it would be uncharitable of him to think that that’s the only thing Shu missed. He wasn’t fool enough to think Shu would risk his contract with Judas, with its strict rules about dating, just to have sex with someone. Though Shu had explained that they would be fine as long as the public didn’t know, as he held no doubt that Judas had already figured out what the two of them were doing.

Once they got through the door Shu tugged Rom’s shirt over his head, tossing it to the floor. Rom leaned forward, capturing the other’s lips. He could practically feel Shu melt in his arms, his body relaxing against his. He moved them backwards, pressing Shu against the closed door. One of Shu’s hands came to rest on his arm, the other holding on to the back of his neck. Well-manicured nails dug into his bicep as he moved his lips down to Shu’s neck, just above the collar of his shirt. He was gentle, careful not to leave a mark, as he slowly unbuttoned Shu’s shirt, though he was forced to move their bodies apart just slightly to allow the action.

Shu’s shirt fell to the floor, and when Rom looked back at him there was a sly grin on his face. Without a warning, he spun them around, Rom’s back now pressed against the cool wood of the door. Shu’s legs bent as he slowly knelt, kissing and licking all the way down his chest and stomach, making Rom’s fingers curl in Shu’s hair.

As Shu’s teeth buried themselves in his hip, he let his head fall back with a groan.

The aftermath was often a surprise to Rom. He never knew how long Shu’s schedule would allow him to stay, and their meetings were often so quickly put together that they had little time to discuss it beforehand. Tonight though, they seemed to have plenty of time to spare. Judas didn’t need him until lunchtime the day after, leaving him free at least until eleven.

He considered it proof of how much Shu must really like Rom, when he let him follow him into the bathroom to remove his makeup. Rom watched him as he held a cotton pad to his eye to dissolve the makeup that was somehow still flawless even after what they had done, hair pulled back by a light blue headband made in some sort of soft fabric he knew Aion and Crow had blankets made out of. Pulling out his phone, he opened the camera app, calling out, “Shu”.

When the idol turned away from the mirror to face him, he quickly snapped a picture, the sound of the camera getting Shu’s attention. Shu narrowed his eye, glaring at him, though he looked wholly unthreatening at the moment. “You better not show that image to anyone.”

“Nah, this one goes under lock and key. Can’t have your dreamy space tourists know their galaxy prince is just like every other person and gotta take his face off in the evening.”

“It’s Dream Galaxy Tourists, and you know that,” Shu replied, turning back to the mirror to wipe the now melted makeup off his eye. For a moment it made him look a little bit like a panda. He thought back to just how smudged and raccoon-eyed he would look while removing his makeup back when they were younger. It made him snort, Shu pouting at him from where he had switched eyes, the backside of the cotton pad now pressed to the other. “A man who calls his fans ‘cattle’ has no room to speak on silly names.”

He’d correct Shu on what had made him make that sound, but the temptation to tease won out. “Says the man who is absolutely one of my ‘cattle’.” He turned Shu around, resting his hands on Shu’s hips, massaging at the exposed skin over the hem of Rom’s own pajama bottoms that Shu was wearing.

“Ah, my reputation would be in tatters if it came out that I was enamoured with the drummer of such a raggedy band full of misfits as ShinganCrudeBoys.”

“Yeah, it’d be absolutely destroyed.” It felt bittersweet to tease each other about something that in all likelihood, did in fact have the potential to ruin a career for someone like Shu. The man stripping his face naked in front of him was supposed to be an enigma, something otherworldly, to the point where not even his current bandmates knew the whole truth about him, though they had found out a little bit more now, wholly due to Adam’s failed scheming.

Rom plucked the cottonpad from Shu’s face, pressing a firm kiss to his eyelid before gently wiping the rest of the melted makeup off. He laughed at the ‘gross’ Shu muttered under his breath, reveling in the sight of the other’s cheeks growing pink even without the help of makeup. Then he made the mistake of licking his lips, and in the end, Shu was the one laughing as Rom spat the taste of makeup remover into the sink.

Rom was sitting with his shoulder pressed to the headboard, turned to the other man, hand resting on Shu’s thigh. Shu was painting his nails with the bottle of cheap black nailpolish that he had bought to match the others for a concert last year. Shu screwed the cap onto the bottle, as Rom admired his work. “Damn, you still suck at this, huh?”

“Oh shut up, I’m out of practice. My nails are always done for me now.”

“Out of practice my ass, you were never good at this in the first place.”

“I will paint you in the face.”

But despite the annoyance on his face, Shu’s tone was fond, and he leaned back against the headboard, tipping his head to the side to look at him. There was something so soft in the look in his eyes that it made Rom flustered. He reached out a hand, palm up. “Your turn.”

Shu’s brow furrowed. “I just told you, my nails are done for me, and I certainly can’t remember Judas hiring you to do so.”

“Your hands, yeah, but you can’t tell me they’ve forbidden you from having someone paint your toenails?”

“You are correct, there’s no such stipulation in my contract.” Shu shuffled around so he could put one of his feet in Rom’s waiting hand. “But if I remember correctly, you were just as shit at painting nails as I was.”

“I’ll have you know I’ve had a whole lot more practice at it than you have since then.”

“I suppose you’ll just have to prove that.”

Spending time like this together was nice, and something completely new to Rom. He suspected it was just as foreign to Shu as it was to him however.

He glanced to the side where Shu was lying next to him, head on Rom’s arm. Shu, feeling the movement, opened his eyes. “What?”

“I’m just thinking… about how different you are now compared to before. Even when we were roommates it was as if you never let me get too close to you. Even when tough shit happened, when you told me and the others about your past, you didn’t even let any of us comfort you.”

With a quiet sigh, Shu sat up, crossing his legs beneath him. “I’ve always had problems, Rom, you know what some of them stem from. I told all of you all that bullshit back then. But I’ve also always been greedy, and selfish, and I knew once I let you too close I wouldn’t be able to let you go. And I think,” he held up a hand to quiet Rom, urging him to let him finish. “I think I would have destroyed whatever chance you and I might’ve had if I’d started something with you. Especially since I would have ended up leaving the band regardless of what we might’ve had, and I would’ve found a way to drag you with me, to both of our detriment.”

Rom looked at Shu, considering him where he sat, dressed in one of Rom’s old pajamas. “You’re probably right. It still feels like we wasted a lot of time though, not saying anything. Walking circles around each other.”

“What can I say, youth and stupidity go hand in hand. You were clueless and I was in denial for quite some time.”

“That why you were behaving like such a bitch toward me all the time?

A surprised laugh bubbled out of Shu’s throat. “Yeah, a little bit. I was a pretty bitchy person regardless though. Still am, I just expanded my personality traits a bit further.”

“Nah, I know that. You’ll always be a bit of a bitch. It’s just who you are.”

“That much is true.”

Shu leaned forward, his lips brushing against Rom’s as he whispered to him. “I hope you realise that you won’t ever get rid of me now. I’ll do my best for it not to ruin either of us this time around though.”

“I was counting on it,” Rom murmured, hand lifting to cup Shu’s cheek.

They end up waking up at around 6 in the morning. Both of them were used to getting up early, and Shu was easily roused from sleep, so they were already at the breakfast table by the time 7.30 rolled around, hair tousled from another round.

It was the first time Shu was actually staying for breakfast since they started whatever it was they had got going on, and Rom was a little nervous about it. Which was why he ended up making pancakes for breakfast, even though it was not something he usually did. He only did that when he was nervous, which he knew that Shu was fully aware of. But Shu didn’t say anything. Instead he just gave Rom an amused look and accepted the first pancake, even though it came out very scuffed, as the first pancake was wont to do when Rom made them.

They were almost done with their first pancakes when they heard a key in the lock of the front door, making both of them freeze. Their eyes met for a brief second, and Rom could tell Shu was at a loss for what to do, which was a little bit funny, as it so rarely happened these days. There was nowhere for Shu to hide, as the corridor outside the kitchen was in clear view of the entryway.

Before they had the time to come up with a plan, Hachin swung into the kitchen, calling over his shoulder that he’ll be right back before he too froze, staring at Shu, jaw going slack in the middle of telling Rom good morning. “Holy shit,” he gasped, which prompted whoever came with him to come further into the apartment.

Yasu stopped right behind Hachin, peering over his arm, confused until he too spotted his fellow houseguest. “Holy shit,” he echoed.

For a few seconds all anyone did was stare in silence, the two teenagers confused and the adults caught off guard. Rom wasn’t surprised when Shu was the first one to regain his composure.

“Hello boys, it’s nice to meet you again.”

Hachin opened and closed his mouth for another few moments, clearly not sure what to say. “Uh, hi,” Yasu finally piped up behind him, a bit flustered at seeing Shu in the kitchen. Rom got it. Most people who only knew Shu as the idol Shuzo tended to not expect him to do regular things that they all did. Like being dressed in a worn out pajamas, having breakfast with someone you know.

“I made pancakes, if you want any” Rom offered, taking pity on the awkwardly staring teenagers.

That got Hachin alert again, and he grabbed Yasu by the wrist to pull him into the room. Yasu withdrew his arm pretty quickly, but followed his friend into the room. Rom still caught the slight flush to his cheeks as he took a seat between Hachin and Shu.

The atmosphere sufficiently relaxed again, Hachin seemed to have no trouble starting off the conversation. “I forgot some of my stuff, Yasu came with me to get it. He helped me out with my history homework yesterday, he’s really good at it.”

“I’m average,” Yasu corrected, cheeks going bright red at the enthusiasm in the compliment. “I’m not that good at it.”

“Ah, history. It was the bane of my existence when I was in school.” Shu remembered, resting his chin in his hand, slight smile on his face.

Rom let out an amused snort. He remembered Shu telling him why exactly that had been. “I think it was more school in general for you, wasn’t it?”

“Ah Rom, there you go, revealing all my secrets. I’m supposed to be mysterious, remember?”

Yasu and Hachin’s eyes followed them when they fell into easy banter, Hachin picking at his pancake like popcorn at a movie, eyes never leaving them before he spoke up again. “So are you two like, doing it or something?”

Yasu hissed an embarrassed ‘Hachin!’ at his bluntness, lightly smacking his arm. Hachin ignored him in favour of grabbing another pancake. It was remarkable how comfortable the teen had gotten around him by now. It was equally as heartwarming as it was stressful, as it opened up avenues for conversations Rom hadn’t really thought about how to deal with yet.

It only made Shu laugh though, Rom the only one out of the two of them to feel any embarrassment, choking on his coffee. “Or something,” Shu agreed, picking up his own coffee cup to drink as he gave Rom a sideways glance.

“So more like, dating?”

Rom’s eyes met Shu’s. They had never really put what they were into words, but considering Shu made it obvious he wasn’t going anywhere this time around, it wasn’t too far off from the truth, was it? “I suppose we are, aren’t we?” Shu’s eyes were steady, looking at him with an intensity that made Rom want to look away, heat spreading across his entire face.

“I guess,” Rom murmured into his coffee.

“Wow.” Hachin was clearly blown out of the water by the revelation. “I didn’t even know you knew each other, other than, like, I know Shingan opened for Trichronika before.”

“We used to play in the same band when we were young.” Rom leaned forward in his seat, putting his cup down in favour of the pancakes. The little ‘no way’s from both boys were amusing, the surprise in their eyes obvious.

“I used to live here,” Shu added. “Though we were strictly platonic back then.” Rom gave him a look, thinking about all the time they had wasted to even get to this point even now.

“Oh, so it’s your guitar I found in the closet?”

Shu’s eyes quickly zeroed in on Rom. “You kept it?”

Suddenly feeling way too flustered, Rom cleared his throat, looking anywhere but at Shu. “So how’s the songwriting going?” It was a painfully obvious change of topic, and though Shu didn’t comment on it, he could practically feel the smug look on his face. He would bring it up later, he was sure of it.

Hachin was quick to pick up the new thread that had been given to him though. “It’s going great, Joe insisted we get our homework done first though, so we got started pretty late last night.” Which meant that clearly none of them had gotten an ounce of sleep yet, and Rom had been fool enough to get them hopped up on sugar (though he had heard something about sugar rushes being a myth).

Rom liked Joe, he was responsible and made sure to keep the other boys (mostly) in check, especially Hachin who was easily distracted. Yasu, he had noticed, could put his mind to it when he wanted to, but was otherwise hyperfocused on music, viewing school as something he had no choice but get done with. Sojun was a whole can of worms all on his own, someone Rom needed to get to know a bit better. He could tell there was more to him than his fellow drummer wanted the others to know.

Shu meanwhile entertained himself by asking them more questions, not particularly interested in the topic of homework (Rom knew he had been even more focused on music than Yasu was at that age. That, and fighting. Another thing Shu had in common with the boy). “Are you signed to any agency yet? As I recall you weren’t back when you came to space with us. Did you sign with BRR?”

“We’re still not signed anywhere, no,” Yasu admitted, a bit flustered at the attention. Shu knew how to be overwhelming when he wanted to be, even without the makeup and the idol persona. “We just started the band cus our principal said it was either that or get expelled, and then it’s just kinda… gone from there.”

No matter how many times Rom heard that, it still seemed unethical to him, what said principal was doing. He had been trying to schedule a meeting with the man, but so far he’d had no luck.

“Oh? That’s quite the original backstory. What kind of man is this principal of yours?”

Rom could see the gears in Shu’s head turning, trying to put together the pieces of a man Rom had been trying to have a word with for weeks now.

“He’s this weird dude with pink-purple hair and an eyepatch, looking real serious when we’re in his office.” Hachin rolled his honey-slathered pancake into a roll before skewering it on his fork, Yasu grumbling something to him after his words. Rom only managed to catch the word ‘rude’, but what he’d said became more apparent at Hachin’s response.

“He dressed up in a ugly-flashy suit with a friggin scarf over his eye, not even on the same eye as his eyepatch’s usually on, and tried to ‘test’ you or whatever by tempting you with a solo career, seems pretty weird to me.”

Next to him Shu leaned back in his chair, a soft ‘hmm’ of consideration leaving his throat. Clearly he was putting something together that Rom was missing, even though he’d heard Hachin tell this story in more detail before. “And you chose to stick together?”

The question made Yasu’s cheeks bright red. “I mean, well, uh, yeah. I didn’t wanna ditch them. It was just a test or whatever anyway, it’s not like it would’ve done any difference if I said yes.” There was a happy smile on Hachin’s face as Yasu spoke. Clearly it had meant something to both of them that he didn’t choose to split up the band, test or no test.

Any further conversation was interrupted by the sound of Yasu’s phone ringing. Fishing it out of his pocket, the boy’s eyes widened. “Oh shit, Hachin, we gotta go, we’ve been here way longer than we told the guys we were going to.” He quickly excused himself with a small bow to both the adults, grabbing Hachin by the shoulder as he picked up the call to urge him to come with him. “Yeah, sorry Joe, we’ll be right there. Fifteen minutes, max.”

As he hung up, Hachin collected their dishes to put in the sink. “Sorry to run off, we were only supposed to be here for like five minutes. I promise we won’t tell anyone about you!” He waved at Shu after giving Rom a quick one-armed hug.

And just as suddenly as they came, they were gone again, leaving Rom and Shu in stunned silence.

For a moment they just looked at each other, until Shu broke the silence.

“You know their principal is the owner of Judas, right?”

Rom did in fact not know that, a loud ‘what’ heard throughout the apartment. Shu, ready for the outburst, managed to cover his ears just in time. “You’re fucking with me, right?”

“Not even a little bit.”

Rom dragged a hand down his face, groaning in frustration. Things could never be simple, could they? “Do I need to get a lawyer if he ever tries to sign a contract with them?”

“I would recommend you do that regardless of the agency, really. You’re not a legal expert. But in case you’re worried about shady business, Judas’ contracts are always laid out very openly to whoever signs them. There’s a lot of pages of course, but he isn’t underhanded.” At the look Rom gave him, he quickly added “other than poaching other bands members, of course. Legally speaking everything is above board.”

“Legally speaking could mean a lot of things, Shu.”

“Which is why you should always get a lawyer to look over big things like this. I know you just signed on with your agency without looking into them that deeply, but I wouldn’t sign up with anybody I wouldn’t trust to get me where I wanted. And I think your boys have quite the potential. If BRR doesn’t sign them on I know Judas will. I’m just not sure why they haven’t already.”

“You’re saying he’s planning something, that principal guy.”

“Oh absolutely. I only know if he’s waiting, there has to be a good reason, and he’s trusting that they won’t get snatched up by anyone else in the meantime.”

As he feared; things just had to get complicated. Nothing was ever easy.

Rom stood up, coming to a stop behind Shu’s chair. The idol leaned his head back, looking up at him. Something about the twinkle in his eyes made Rom lean down, one hand around Shu’s jaw, both their now empty coffee cups in his other. He kissed him, deep and slow, ignoring the awkward angle. When he pulled back, Shu’s cheeks were flushed. “I was really mad at you when you left,” he started, staring into Shu’s eyes, “but if you hadn’t we wouldn’t have been where we are today, so I forgive you. No matter how messy everything is.”

“Ah, but the hatesex could’ve been fenomenal!” Shu teased, spinning around in his seat to face him properly, elbows on the back of the chair, chin in his open palms. “Just think of the ways you could’ve manhandled me.”

Rolling his eyes, Rom grinned as he filled the sink with water. “I’ll manhandle you any way you want me to anyway, now get your ass up and help me out here.”

“So bossy.”

He got up anyway, the soft sound of his bare feet against the floor coming closer to him. The remaining dishes were set down on the counter right next to the sink, and with practiced ease Shu found a towel to dry the first plate he was handed.

It felt familiar and foreign at the same time. They’d been right here, hundreds of times before, but the context was brand new. It felt like a whole new level of domestic that Rom could get used to.

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