jawsnt

“Hey, watch it!”

Skully mumbled a vague apology, his back hunched over, his hands drawn to his chest. He was having a difficult time breathing, and he could feel blood rushing to his head. In any other situation, he would have mulled over the utter lack of manners of the person who had passed by him, yet that person was only a dime a dozen in this concert hall.

What the hell was he doing here?

Why was he, resident opera singer Jack Skellington fan, doing in a random idol concert hall in a sea of what he could only refer to as a bunch of uncivilized rabid beasts? No–perhaps calling them “beasts” was a little too far, but they definitely did not hold a candle to the refined behavior of the folk who came to watch operas. Skully was used to that. He was used to the stuffy feeling of suits, tactfully avoiding stepping on dresses of ladies passing by, and the grand, yet excitable atmosphere of the opera house.

He was not used to…whatever this was. It was out of his element. But it couldn’t be helped, he had signed up for this, after all. It had all begun when he’d received a dubious notification on his phone, one from Jack Skellington’s official account. He’d always turned his notifications on for Jack, it was the only account he cared to see after all. If Jack posted a photo, an announcement, or even a random post about nothing important in particular (although if it were up to Skully, everything Jack said was important), he would be there to see it.

Any post from Jack could make his day, but this particular one was different. It was crushing news. Devastating. Catastrophic. Absolutely cataclysmic. It was–

–A notice of hiatus.

Jack Skellington, as he’d found out that day, had decided to go on an indefinite hiatus. None knew when he’d be back, and less knew of the reason why. Jack had always been one to make arbitrary decisions, but this was by far the most befuddling of them all. Surely, he had some sort of plan, right? Surely, Jack didn’t call for a hiatus simply because, right? When Jack returned, he’d surely come back with a grand project…surely.

One way or another, Jack had made his decision, and Skully was left wondering what he would do with his life, if not engage in fan activities online. Of course, he could talk about Jack nonstop, whether Jack was active on hiatus or not–but honestly, opera was quite the niche topic. The amount of people Skully could talk to in passing about Jack was low enough already, but with the opera singer’s hiatus, that number may drop even lower. Skully would be left with no one to converse with.

…And if he were being honest, it felt quite lonely already.

Hence, he’d decided to get into boy bands! The people loved boy bands, right? Perhaps he could give it a try, just once to kill his boredom as he awaited his beloved Jack-sama’s return. If he didn’t like it, then he would find something else to get into. Then again, he wasn’t sure that his taste in music would allow him to properly enjoy boy bands, but he certainly wasn’t going down without a fight.

That said, he wasn’t exactly sure what kind of band he should listen to. He vaguely recalled people in his classes raving about bands such as “Heartslabyul” or “Pomefiore”–both bands belonging to the infamous NRC Agency. Although Skully himself was not familiar with the specifics of each band, in this day and age, it was practically impossible to live life without at least knowing of NRC Agency.

They were known for their unconventional idols, idols with characters that were…potentially more or less “idol-like”...or so Skully had heard. He’d vaguely recalled an incident regarding a newly debuted idol being canceled by the internet for his “alleged hostility” towards his bandmate. Which was really quite a funny statement, considering he’d never heard any instance of any of these idols being civil with each other, but whatever.

The idols in question were Sebek Zigvolt and Silver Vanrouge. It was later cleared up that Sebek was generally like that with everyone, it was part of his “character”. He was loud, condescending, and…well, rude to most people that weren’t Lilia or Malleus. That said, he and Silver were clarified to be childhood friends, which speedran him out of canceled territory and shot him (and Silver) straight into the M/M section on AO3.

Once again, whatever.

Skully had no interest in things like shipping or fanfiction. He hardly ever engaged in that side of fandom–he did admit that he found Jack and Sally to be cute together, but only because they were in an official relationship. Otherwise, it felt a little strange to him to ship idols together, no matter how much fanservice they gave the fans. Or maybe he was being a stick in the mud, and that was why he had no friends. Who knows.

But after recalling that incident, he’d decided to check out Diasomnia. Right off the bat, he noticed that their style of music was…actually quite nice. It felt much more refined, much older than the other bands, yet with a modern twist. Although it wasn’t exactly what he was accustomed to, it was something he could imagine himself liking casually–only casually though, for nothing could possibly surpass Jack Skellington.

However, in many such cases, listening to a song led to much more, and before Skully knew it, he was watching Diasomnia gameshow clips with clickbait-y titles. After spending hours poring through video after video, he’d come to two important conclusions.

One, he did not fuck with Sebek’s attitude at all.

And two, despite not caring for Sebek’s behavior, he found himself drawn to the young man like a moth to a flame.

Something about Sebek reminded him of himself, and yet although they were the same, they also couldn’t be more different. Sebek was loud, he lacked tact, but there was something about him that was so endearing, that Skully found that he could not look away. Sebek was someone he could adore, admire, and envy. Although he found himself wanting to think badly of the idol, it was difficult to not smile seeing how genuine he could be.

Soon, Skully found that he could no longer deny it–he was a fan. Or…a sort of fan. Well, he was enough of a fan to get into online arguments defending Sebek’s honor, so that counted as fan behavior, right? Long story short, he’d ended up liking Sebek more than he thought he would, and that led him to buying tickets for Diasomnia’s concert despite having never attended an idol’s concert in his life.

Which led him to here, now. Wandering down a random hall aimlessly after having been shoved left and right by a bunch of Diasomnia fans. If this was how Diasomnia fans behaved–classless and brutish–then he doubted he’d be back for another concert, but for now, it would probably be best to prioritize figuring out where he was going.

The hall was startlingly empty, and he could hear the excited murmurs of the crowd from a direction he could not pinpoint. Perhaps he should keep going further? No, maybe it would be best to backtrack. Somehow, he had a feeling he shouldn’t be here. He could feel a bead of sweat running down his temple, his vision blurring as he held his head.

If he was really in the wrong place, then this was bad. What if security caught him? Would he get in trouble? No, he certainly would. They’d throw him out, and his money would go to waste. He supposed it could be worse though, he could be mistaken as a stalker or something and be banned from all future events. Knowing his luck, it was completely possible.

Millions of what ifs filled his head, and he found himself growing more and more lightheaded by the moment. He shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t have come. This was a mistake. He should find an exit–find an exit, go home, and rewatch Jack’s performances, like he’d done hundreds of times before. It was the safest option, the correct option. That was right…

“What are you doing over there?”

Skully froze, snapped out of his thoughts as he felt a firm hand grasping his shoulder. It was no gentle hand, but it wasn’t terribly forceful either. The person behind him smelled of mint, and his voice had a deep, commanding quality to it, yet he could sense a hint of youthfulness. Something about it grounded Skully–it made him forget his doubts, if temporarily. He didn’t hate it. On the contrary, this person’s voice, their scent, their touch calmed him.

…Or so he’d thought, but upon turning around, he could feel his heart practically exploding, his heart rate soaring into what he could only assume was 100 BPM. There was no way. There was absolutely no way that he’d run into the very guy he came for here.

Thick, sharp brows, neatly gelled minty green hair, and striking golden eyes. He stood tall, his back straight, the perfect image of a guard in all aspects of the word. No matter how potentially off-putting he could be, even Skully had to admit that the young man before him was gorgeous–so much so, that he could attest to the fact that absolutely none of the videos nor images of him online could truly depict his unparalleled beauty in person. Before him, was none other than Diasomnia’s Sebek Zigvolt.

(In hindsight, calling Sebek’s beauty unparalleled may have been a personal bias, but Skully would swear up and down that anyone would describe him in the same way if they were to meet the idol in person as well. He was not being gay, he swore.)

“Hey. I asked a question.” Sebek’s eyebrows furrowed, his lips pulling to a slight frown.

Perhaps he was annoyed with Skully’s silence–Skully would not be surprised if he was. The Sebek that he’d seen in videos was the hot-headed sort, so it would make sense if he were to blow up on Skully now. Or at least that was what Skully had expected, but there was not a flicker of annoyance in Sebek’s eyes, not that he could see.

“Oh.” Clearing his throat, Skully pushed the heat down from his cheeks, forcing a lopsided smile. “My apologies, I assure you that I am not a suspicious figure! I believe that I am…um, lost.” A tinge of embarrassment colored his words, and he glanced away for a moment, adjusting his glasses, “I am certainly not in the concert hall. But I am in a hall. This hall. Wherever this is! With you. Ha. Haha…” In any other situation, perhaps Skully would do a polite bow and offer whoever he was speaking to a kiss upon the hand. It was only the polite thing to do!

Unfortunately, Skully was also 3 seconds short of shitting himself from his current predicament, and he had no real desire to make things any more awkward by kissing the idol he’d come here to see. Furthermore, despite how calmly Sebek seemed to be taking all of this, there was a nonzero chance that Skully would still get decked for attempting to kiss the guy, so maybe it would be best to hold off on it. Jack Skellington would surely not wish for him to get decked in the face for kissing men.

“Stop. The more you speak, the more suspicious you sound.” Sebek shook his head. If it were not for the fact that his makeup was perfectly done, Skully could envision Sebek’s hand massaging his temples in exasperation. “But I did assume you were lost, human. Go back and take a left, and you will end up in the concert hall. I will let you off the hook for this one, but the next time you find yourself lost, it will be security dealing with you, and I doubt they will be quite as generous as I am.”

Speaking of which, Sebek was being…unusually generous. Although Skully did not know him personally, from what he’d seen, he’d expected for Sebek to raise his voice or say something inexplicably rude. Instead, the young man was kindly providing him with directions, not once raising his voice at him. This calmer side of Sebek wasn’t bad either though, Skully mused, “Why are you being so generous? You’re quite different from how you appear on camera, Sebek-san.”

Perhaps he shouldn’t have said that out loud. But it was too late to take it back anyways.

“What are you implying?” Sebek’s eyes narrowed into a glare, yet there was no real malice behind his gaze. “I am the same on and off camera!” Ah, yes. There it was. Sebek’s usual booming voice. “Hmph! I just see no reason to bother yelling at a lost person–let alone a scrawny guy that looked like he would faint at any second. That is just basic decency.”

“...Also, I don’t yell at fans without reason. And besides, Lilia-sama has advised me to treat my own fans kindly. It would reflect badly on the young master if I were to behave without decorum, after all.” Tapping upon the badge pinned to Skully’s coat, Sebek’s lips curled to form an infuriatingly smug, yet proud smirk, “I am willing to overlook your rude behavior. You are here to see me, aren’t you?”

“R-rude?!” Skully sputtered, his face flushing with a feeling he couldn’t quite pinpoint. Never in his life had he ever been referred to as rude–he was the pinnacle of all gentlemanliness! There was no one who could possibly best him in manners. And yet this guy was calling him rude?

As much as he wanted to defend himself, he did have to admit that he’d uttered a somewhat backhanded compliment, but still. To hear it from someone as hot-headed as Sebek was a blow to his ego. Not to mention…

Skully’s cheeks flushed darker as he realized that the pin he was wearing had Sebek’s face plastered all over it. He hadn’t collected much merch yet, but he’d worn enough accessories that upon a glance, one could deduce that he was a fan of Sebek. It was great for flexing his oshi, but not so great when his oshi was in front of his face.

There was really no winning this argument, but if there was something Skully was good at, that would be not giving up. And also fibbing.

“I believe that you are mistaken. Some poor, lovely person realized last minute that they couldn’t make it to the concert, so they handed me their ticket when I was passing by. And these badges…I was given a bunch of freebies on my way in. Come to think of it, I do recall you being the least popular member of Diasomnia–ah, not that I personally looked into that, but you know how quickly news spreads.” He smiled brightly, “Perhaps they couldn’t sell out all your merch, so they gave it to me. Lucky me, right? To run into the real thing as well! I am absolutely delighted to meet you.”

“...”

Ohh…yeah, Sebek was definitely pissed.

“Anyways, I will be on my way now. Thank you for your generous instructions, I do look forward to our next meeting. Ah, good luck with your performance today, I will be watching from the crowd.” Although he’d been so afraid just moments prior, Skully smoothly took Sebek’s hand in his own, pressing a brief kiss upon the idol’s knuckles before slipping away with a wave, “Until next time, my dear Sebek-san.”

As Skully made a mad dash out into the concert hall, he could vaguely hear a distinct scream from behind him, followed by a series of curses. He hadn’t intended on forming this sort of relationship with his new oshi, but…well, at this point he’d have to fake it til he made it.