#saegoku

Food

-As normal friends, they subconsciously start sharing their drinks in a totally no homo way. Want a piece of my snack? Need a sip? Thing is, others do really notice that they end up matching their orders and that they occasionally go out eating together.

-Sae trying to feed Sen urchins under the guise that it is his lucky food for the day and that it will improve his motion vision. Sen is disgusted by the thing, but he'll manage at least two bites just for Sae's sake.

-During college days, Sen lives on takeout and noodles because of time management. Sae jumps in frequently to cook him some grub and reminds him to take care of himself, even if Sen is a bit too stubborn to admit it.

-Sae taking Sen to a fancy cafe as a relax day during his accounting finals, forcefeeding him cake so that Sen will have a good chub layer and glucose level to survive the harsh winter and finals. Sen notices Sae's intention and protests, but it's nice to get fawned over once in a while.

-During their adult-post-college days, Sae is usually the one who cooks stuff for Sen who unfortunately has long work days. It’s not uncommon for Sae to have left before Sengoku on the weekdays, as he has to travel a lot for his work. He's not all too good at it, frequently forgetting that sometimes you need spice on whatever bland meat he puts into Sen's lunchbox, but he does write the gross messages or soy sauce art (which gets wiped out during the metro). Luckily, both of them are satisfied with bland meals.

-When they're both too lazy to cook, they go to Icchan's for a quick meal. If they don't feel like traveling, they'll get a quick meal at the combi. And if Sae isn't home, Sen will order takeout.

-Sae will involve urchins during valentines day. Somehow, Sen isn't pleased.

-As a model, Sae probably gets a lot of valentine chocolates from hidden admirers (or fellow models) but he rejects them politely. If they smack him and run away, he'll keep the chocolates so he and Sen can snack on them at home.

-When Sen cooks for Sae, he will occasionally put a plate with only carrots on it. Sae understands. For Sen, it's a way of dealing with that one day when Sae refused to eat his mom's moon cakes for his diet and instead ate one carrot. It's good for the eyes.

-They both don't cook all that much overall, but when they do, it's filled with lots of love.

Chores

-Sae does the dishes, bathroom, cooking and small repairs. Sen has to change the sheets, do laundry, vacuum and dust off the furniture,  because Sae won’t touch anything that might kill Sen’s crystals. Besides, Sen has always been better at finding lost items, so he won’t get on Sen’s cranky side because he accidentally misplaced something. As for why Sae refuses to vacuum; he hates the sound that it makes when the vacuum starts. Sen proposed multiple time that Sae just gets a noiseless vacuum, but he always forgets.

-As Sen does the laundry, he has to make sure that Sae isn’t in the near vicinity, because he will run to steal freshly dried hot, toasty blankets, despite his protests. When Sae gets ahold of those good fuzzy things, he won’t let go, and rip Sen if he tries to remove the coccoon from Sae’s eternally cold body. It’s okay, Sae shares (if the heat has worn off and he needs a living recharge).

-Both of them are good with spiders, so it doesn’t really matter who puts them outside. Deepi inside they’re too kind to squash the little buggers. Now for centipedes, Sen thinks they are good luck and just wants one little corner for them to hang out. Sae isn’t really sure what to think of it.

-They once had a faulty faucet. It took them a week of Sae banging his head on all kind of tubes before they called Davide. Sen doesn’t let him get over it.

Daily living

-When they first move in together, away from their parents, they’re a bit unsure, as most couples. There are small discussions about Sen leaving his junk everywhere, and literally everywhere (crystals on the toilet seat aren’t fun for my butt Kiyosumi!), Saeki pouring sand from every cloth orifice on his body whenever he returns home (were you taking walks on the beach again!) and general getting used to these annoyances. The positive part is that they now have the privacy to do whatever they want, and boy they’re going to make use of that.

-Something that Sen knew but not fully understood was Sae’s bad, very bad morning habits. He can sleep through a LOT of alarms and he is super grumpy. It makes him wonder how he’s never late when Sae has to leave early to catch a train. If per chance Sen has to leave earlier, he makes an extra cup of coffee and leaves it in the thermos for Sae, accompanied with a slice of lemon.

-Being the flashy kids they are, Sen and Sae would still dye their hairs until well into adulthood. After a while, it might not be worth it much more, but Sae still switches a lot between all hues of blonde to brown, adjusting to whatever is currently popular. Sengoku doesn’t mind that he’s super jimmi, he kind of grew into the role and is more comfortable with letting Sae don the giant peacock image. This doesn’t mean he isn’t insecure about it, but he takes Sae’s words to heart when he says that Sen doesn’t have to force himself to be something he isn’t.

-Since Sae’s college schedule is different from Sen’s, they have frequent periods where one of them is busy and the other one starving for attention. If Sen is literally dying between his stacks of very fat books with a lot of numbers that don’t seem to mean anything to Sae, Sae will drape himself over him. Sen doesn’t really like that extra headache, so he usually throws Sae out of the window, but he knows that Sae cares, and when he wakes up with his papers stacked, glasses folded and blanket on his shoulders, he keeps in mind to do his best.

The tale of the shaman and the merman

“He?”

“Me?”

“In a Boys Love movie?”

Koharu had only announced the concept, but the two participating parties were already heavily objecting. When they were promised a surprise at the end of their practice session, they didn’t expect this.

“Look, Sengoku recently turned twenty, and we’re going to make use of that,” Koharu explained. “Besides, if this goes well, you’ll have a lot more publicity in girl-populated niches.”

“But why does it have to be with…him!” Sengoku frantically asked, pointing to his fellow bandmate Saeki. “Couldn’t they have asked like…a stranger?”

“If you’re professional, you should be able to handle this without any difficulty,” Koharu said. “Besides, you’re not even going to be the main couple. It’s an anthology which features multiple story-lines, so the chance that this will leave a permanent stain on your record  is insignificant.”

“So, we don’t really have to do a lot of scenes right? No passionate kissing, just handholding and cuddling?” Saeki said as he stared at the script in front of him.

“I know, it’s a pity, but you don’t need much to make a girl’s heart move~” Koharu swooned.

“Well, if you guys have any trouble, I don’t mind teaching the secrets of fanservice,” Shiraishi said, butting into the conversation.

“Yours was a girls lo-love, no I mean, normal, like, boy-and-girl thing! And it was only for an advertisement!” Sengoku yelled. “This is something entirely different!”

“Huh, but there’s no difference in showing affection to girls or boys,” Shiraishi continued. He vaguely gestured towards Saeki, who had only been staring at them. “Just pretend he’s a girl.”

“I can’t pretend that he’s a girl!” Sengoku protested. “Look at him!”

“I can put on a wi-“

“Okay, we know you’re blatantly heterosexual, but beggars can’t be choosers and you’re still the lowest ranking member of SK3 according to our latest poll,” Koharu said, taking the latest print from Yuuji.

“Really!?”

“I thought those were supposed to be secret.”

“I’m still number one!”

Koharu sighed and ripped the paper from Saeki’s hands, cutting along his index finger.

“Owch,” Saeki exclaimed pulling back his hand.

“Don’t worry, you will go through much worse. Rehearsal’s at Saturday, the director likes bonbons. Dismissed.”

Koharu left the room, leaving the others speechless. Shiraishi broke the silence. “Saeki, shouldn’t you get that cleaned up?” he asked.

“Oh, it’s just a cut. You guys can go, I’ll close off the venue,” Saeki said, watching the liquid drip down his finger. He saw Sengoku pacing back and forward, looking at the script, looking away, and looking at it again, as if the contents would have changed during the small time gap.

“If you say so. See ya,” Shiraishi said, leaving the room, Sengoku trailing wide-eyed behind him.

Saeki waved both of them off and went to the small kitchen, to clean his finger. After he made sure that both his colleagues were out of sight, he screamed.

“This hurts aaaargh!” he yelled, tears streaming down his face. He was not good with blood, not at all, and Icchan was the only one who knew about his cool facade. But Icchan wasn’t there right now, and he had to clean up his mess himself.

He bowed over the faucet and used his clean hand to splash the water on his finger. He felt himself getting dizzy when the blood washed away to reveal his clear rosy skin, that amply covered the new gushing redness. Closing his eyes, he started mumbling to himself so he could remove the paper cut from his thoughts.

“It’s only a paper cut. I won’t die. It’s only a paper cut. It hurts like hell! But I won’t die. I’m not going to die.”

“What are you doing?” a voice called out from behind him.

Saeki turned around and saw Sengoku glaring at his pathetic behaviour.

“Just, cleaning this cut. That’s all,” he sniffed.

“You’re...crying...and you were yelling. I think Shiraishi could’ve heard that.”

“I’m not crying.”

“You are.”

“No.”

Sengoku slowly took his phone out of his pocket.

“Okay, I was, but this really hurts!” Saeki whimpered as Sengoku came closer to take a good look.

“It’s so tiny Sae,” he observed. “What are you crying for?”

“It. Still. Hurts!”

Sengoku sighed. As  if he did not have enough worries, he also had to deal with the sensitivity of his future partner.

“Do you need a band aid?” Sengoku asked, glaring at Saeki’s stupid face. Taking a picture of him was useless, as he still looked dashingly handsome. It was kind of disgusting. His fans would love it.

“Please?”

Sengoku left the room and searched for the med kit backstage. He knew it was a stupid idea to let Shiraishi of all people store it, it was not a prop container, but Shiraishi begged to differ. And now that someone actually needed it, it was gone.

A roll of duct tape innocently fell from a stack of scripts. Sengoku resisted the temptation.

“Why did you come back?” Saeki asked as he saw Sengoku coming over to him with a single flesh-coloured strip.

“Forgot my scarf,” Sengoku answered. “Here.”

Sengoku threw the band aid on the counter.

“...”

“...”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I can’t apply a band aid with one hand.”

If Sengoku didn’t have patience, Saeki’s finger wouldn’t be the only part of him that would bleed.

“Are you serious.”

“Like, yeah, totally serious.”

Sengoku inhaled deeply. This was surely a test bestowed upon him by the gods. He was going to pass it, but not before running impure and violent thoughts through his brain.

“Give me your finger,” he said abrupt.

Saeki slowly extended his hand, gauging Sengoku’s intentions.

“Just...stay still will you,” Sengoku said as he took hold of Saeki’s hand. The cut was shallow. Just like Saeki. In a quick motion, he stuck the plaster on his skin.

“There you go. Do you also want some candy?” Sengoku said dryly.

“Do you have some?”

“No.”

Saeki stared at him sheepishly. “Thanks.”

“Don’t fret about it. Let’s go,”  Sengoku said, wrapping his scarf around his neck.

Saeki put one glove on and joined Sengoku, making sure that the lights were off and the venue locked. The chilly breeze that blasted in his face from outside made him wince.

“Shit weather huh,” Sengoku commented. Saeki nodded and puffed up his collar. The shift of temperature made his finger sting, but the bloody part was over at least.

“You have anything to do today?” Sengoku asked.

“Yeah, I was going to turn in early,” Saeki answered. As an idol, he had to preserve his face, and lately he felt the consequences of staying up late to practice singing dawn upon him.

“Kay,” Sengoku said.

“Is there something?” Saeki asked, turning to face Sengoku.

“Not really, I was just planning to have some yakiniku,” Sengoku mumbled.  His original plan was to ask Shiraishi, but that guy had already disappeared on the metro. And well, Saeki was better than no one.

“Want me to join?” Saeki asked. “I’m up for some hot meal right now.”

Whether it was because Saeki was genuinely hungry, or he was simply being nice, Sengoku felt a bit relieved that he proposed it. Maybe they could talk things over, concerning their upcoming roles.

“Sure,” Sengoku said as he turned the corner.

Their dinner was pretty quiet, and neither of them wanted to start a conversation. Saeki beckoned for Sengoku to lean over the table and take a selfie.

“Won’t it be weird if Shiraishi isn’t included?” Sengoku asked after Saeki took it.

“Oh, that’s right,” Saeki answered as he put his phone on the table, “I won’t post it.”

Sengoku wondered how Shiraishi must have felt at the announcement. Probably very lucky, but maybe a little bit...isolated? If Shiraishi and Saeki had been cast instead...

Vivid images of Saeki and Shiraishi being lovers appeared in his head, and Sengoku unconsciously twisted his face to express disgust.

“Sengoku, are you okay?” Saeki asked.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” Sengoku quickly responded.

“Are you worried about Saturday?”

Saeki was staring down at his food, absentmindedly shoving one or two pieces from the small platter in his mouth. He had to watch out for his weight after all.

“I guess,” Sengoku said, tongue in cheek.

“Let’s just be professional,” Saeki said, through his chewing. He decided that it would be the best for both if they set their friendship aside and instead focused on the performance itself, no matter how awkward or hard it would become.

Sengoku glanced at Saeki’s downcast eyes. While he did not look like it, deep inside, Saeki was definitely a professional. Shiraishi had no qualms about hiding his hardworking persona, Sengoku didn’t like showing his plain side, but Saeki was a different case. He never strived for the perfect choreography or pitch like Shiraishi did. He didn’t strive for the most fun and flashy persona like Sengoku did. He was utterly plain.

Sometimes, he felt like Saeki was a complete stranger.

The aforementioned  looked up to find Sengoku staring at him.  The beef hanging half from his mouth, he gave Sengoku a quizzical stare.

“Sae, what’s your deal actually?” Sengoku asked. “Why are you in this whole idol business.”

“To make girls happy of course,” Saeki answered.

“C’mon, we both know it isn’t like that,” Sengoku said. “What’s your real reason?”

“It is my real reason, honestly,” Saeki continued. “What else could there be?”

Sengoku remained silent and tried to observe Saeki’s reaction. As usual, he couldn’t read him at all. No wonder his palm reading failed so horribly on him, cold reading was horrible with types like Saeki.

“Are you trying to stare the answer out of me? That’s my tactic,” Saeki said.

Sengoku grumbled. He would get his answer somehow.

“I just feel like we should get to know each other better, since we’re going to have to act together,” Sengoku explained.

“Isn’t being an idol already plenty of acting?” Saeki asked.

“By popular fan demand, we’d like to ask this last question to finish the show,” the MC said, flashing a smile to the camera. The three boys sat relaxed on their chairs, fiddling a bit with their clothes and happily nodded.

“If you had to date someone of your teammates, who would it be?”

Loud gasps filled the room, and they could feel the eyes of the audience piercing them from afar. Koharu had stressed to not mess up the show, but even the calmest of them could feel the pressure. They were handed the large white sketchbooks, upon which they were supposed to write their answers. Time had started yet again.

Saeki was the most composed of the three. Memorizing lines and actions came easy to him, and he remembered that these kind of questions were frequently asked in the idol world. The correct answer for him had to be Sengoku, as they were taught to always announce the member younger than them, unless they were a big group that worked in pairs. Jotting down his kanji, Saeki was confident that the other three would follow his lead. And it was not like the answer was entirely theorized.

Shiraishi had refined every single rule of idol behaviour. He remembered vaguely that he always had to pick the younger one. That answer would have to be Saeki, Yukimura had told him right before he went on stage. As to why he had only told him, Shiraishi didn’t know yet, but he was going to make the best of it.

Sengoku was in a deadlock. How was he supposed to answer this? Firstly, it seemed so, so wrong to date anyone in his group. Secondly, no matter which answer he would give, it would look like he actually considered dating them, but he wasn’t attracted to them in that way at all! Sure, he and Saeki got along the “best”, if best meant being from provinces that were both close to each other in culture, chatting amongst themselves, sharing weird interests, being the youngest of the group, looking out for each other and... well if Sengoku was a girl he would definitely choose Saeki, even if Sengoku got thrown in the mix. But none of that mattered!

He glanced over at the others and watched them effortlessly write a name. He had to act quick if he didn’t want to seem suspicious, but right now, it was a tossup between Shiraishi and Saeki on equal footing. Were they using a strategy? Or were they not worried at all about their image. Sengoku took a deep breath and gambled.

“Time’s up! Are you guys ready to reveal your answers?” the announcer boomed through his microphone.

Sengoku had faith in his answer.

The three of them flipped the board. A ruckus rode through the audience like a wave. The boys found themselves sneaking a peek at the other boards. When Sengoku realized what he had done, and what his answer should have been, he reddened and hid behind his paper.

“Well well well, Saeki! You sure are very loved aren’t you?”

Saeki looked at the two Sae-sans that were written on the boards. Sengoku had messed up majorly, but Saeki didn’t mind.

“Well, I guess being the lead has its perks,” Saeki smiled at the camera. Whispers flowed through the room.

“Fancied by both your senior and your junior. How do you feel about that?”

“I am truely flattered, Shiraishi, and Sengoku,” Saeki said politely. Deep inside, he could feel Koharu’s punishment coming.

“And these two here match each other!” the man said, walking over between Sengoku and Saeki, grabbing both of their shoulders, forcing Sengoku to drop his board and reveal his flushed face.

“Oh my Sengoku, are you that excited that your senior likes you back?”

The tumult in the audience was ear-deafening. Judging by the amount of cameras and the popularity of the show, Koharu was going to have a very difficult time trying to delete the footage.

“I-I had to choose one of them, but I like both o-of them equally!” Sengoku protested. “After all, I like the cute girls in the audience way more!”

Shiraishi sighed. Sengoku was not saving himself with his stuttering.

“Then, Saeki, why did you choose Sengoku instead of Shiraishi? You don’t seem like the type to admire someone, but, Shiraishi is a firm young man as well!”

Saeki awkwardly smiled. “Well, my type are cute people, and I think Sengoku has a more...boyish charm.” It was a great adlib, but Saeki regretted having told the public so.

“The freshness of youth, wonderful! Then, let’s go to our lone ranger here. What do you feel about all this?”

Shiraishi laughed. Deep inside, he should have known that this would eventually be the outcome, and while he did not really feel jealous, he thought they were quite adorable in their own ways, how they shared snacks, training towels and always went to the conbi together, but he felt a bit left out. Sure it was a mishap, but he knew that this kind of connection would continue well into  the backstage. It made him a bit sad.

“I’m happy that they have each other!” he laughed. Sengoku got off his chair and was preparing to sucker punch Shiraishi from the back, while Saeki kicked his legs a few times.

“Let’s not have lover quarrels now!” the MC interjected. “After all, you are SK3!”

Recognizing the scripted line, the three boys gathered themselves and prepared for their closing song.

“It’s true,”

“We shouldn’t fight,”

“Because after all,”