Dress Blues (Final Chapter)
Title: Dress Blues (Final Chapter)
Author: keeconk
Pairing: TaDaiki
Rating: PG
Word count: 4,518
Disclaimer: Arisa is mine~.
Summary: After all of the bizarreness he had faced since he met Takaki, this would be how Arioka Daiki ended up all those and moved on with his life. Even a model had his priority.
A.N.: AU setting. Cross dressing. Unbeta'ed.
( Chapter 1: An Epic start )
( Chapter 2: The Holiday )
( Chapter 3: Oops! )
( Chapter 4: Unguarded )
( Chapter 5: Nature of Facts )
( Chapter 6: The Truth )
( Chapter 7: Dramatise )
-----------
Life had never been good for Arioka Daiki. For the past twenty seven years of his life, he never thought that his life would end like this. Who would have thought that after all this time of weird career choice, he would end up being in this TV station, working as variety show director. It was rather unbelievable especially for someone that had his career crumbling down right before his eyes just a few years back.
“It was ridiculous. How did you come out with such idea, Dai-chan? Damn, it feels almost like you are meant to do this!” Hikaru exclaimed, swaying his chopstick around as his eyes sparkled to Daiki.
“I’m just genius~,” Daiki replied contently.
“To be honest, I’m a fan of your variety show! You can be rich doing this shit for the rest of your life, you know!” Hikaru added.
“I already am!” Daiki laughed.
Despite of his career changing, things like this never changed. Inoo still the so godly gorgeous model that was really professional when it came to his work. He never looked this good in his late twenties and a couple of producer had show several interest in getting him into some drama. Hikaru, being such a clown himself, had made himself a regular guest in a variety show. He was even considering being a full time MC and stopped being a model. But knowing Hikaru, he might end up doing both.
Of course, their togetherness was the only thing that managed to make Daiki able to go through everything. The way that the three of them always tried to find time to have dinner together kept him insane and realising that life went on despite of everything that had happened.
“So you guys keep it a secret until now?” Daiki asked randomly.
“Keep what a secret?” Inoo tilted his head to the youngest among the three.
“This. This,” Daiki rolled his eyes, finger making a circular movement before Inoo and Hikaru that was sitting next to each other.
His question was greeted with a burst of laughter from the other two, followed by his very own pout because he just couldn’t understand why it was something worth being laughed at. “What?! There was nothing wrong with my question!”
“You see, first of all… we never made out relationship a big announcement or anything,” Hikaru noted, trying his best not to laugh.
“Not my fault, Takaki was the one that just announced it even when it wasn’t true!” Daiki defended himself.
“Secondly, we never kissed each other in public, let alone making out,” Hikaru pointed out again.
“That wasn’t me! He kissed me first!”
“You kissed him back~,” Inoo whacked Daiki’s head lightly. “It was also you of course!”
Ignoring Daiki’s pout, Hikaru continued, “Thirdly, we don’t cross dress as girls at work~.”
“In case you forgot I did quit!”
“Not my problem. Still got found out~.”
“I didn't quit because they found out!”
“Don’t care~” Hikaru stuck his tongue out.
A little bit insane indeed, but Daiki had to say that without the craziness from these two bestfriends of his, he wouldn’t be able to go through his days at all. But really, at the age of twenty seven, Daiki couldn’t be more happy with what he had at the moment; a good job, a loving boyfriend, and two wicked best friends.
Once they paid for their food, the three buddies walked out from the dinner with laughter. Daiki gave both of his best friends a big warm hug before walking to a black sedan that came not long before the three of them got out. A smile curved on his face as he walked to the car. It had been years, but each time he stepped into this car, he could literally hear hundreds of shutter clicks and dazzling flashes blinded his vision.
“I told you to wear sunglasses,” a grin greeted him as he sat down to the front passenger seat.
“I’m not you. I don’t wear sunglasses in the middle of the night,” Daiki replied.
“Well, you have to be me because this is the life of a super star.”
“I’m not a super star. I don’t sing like you do,” Daiki rolled his eyes, turning his face to the person sitting on the driver seat.
“You’re a variety shows director! You are a super star!”
“Just drive, Yuya,” Daiki nudged his boyfriend’s arm, a small pout on his lips.
Takaki laughed, starting the car after he gave Daiki a small kiss on the lips. This had been his life for the past few years. He had his career in the TV station, meeting up with his best friends, and living with his loved one.
"I bought a puppy by the way~," Takaki added.
Turning his head to Takaki, Daiki's eyes widened up. "YOU BOUGHT A WHAT?!!"
------
So this was how this happened. Since the newspaper headline on Takaki's and Arisa's brother's bonding thingy, Daiki's life had somehow become awefully miserable. People found out about his real name, his university, and even his soccer club!! It wasn't so disturbing at first, at least not until they started to ask him about Arisa, about where she's studying, or about something as simple as where she usually hung out with her friends.
He had to hide under his hoodie at times, or use the back gate to go out from his university because he didn't want to be 'attacked' by random paparazzi on his way out. It didn't only affect his life, but also some of his classmates that were suddenly asked about anything on Daiki or Arisa.
"By time, they would find out that there wasn't any Arisa to begin with!" Daiki said as he walked around in circle right in the middle of the living room, his hands were crossed against his chest and his eyebrows were furrowed closely to each other.
It had been bugging him how much the press already knew about his real life, and on how close they were from kiilling the only career he had. Not to mention how they had been bugging Takaki about it. The two of them couldn't go out in peace like they used to anymore, it doesn't matter if it were Takaki with Arisa, or it were Takaki and Daiki. The reporters would ask them about anything.
"Maybe it's time for us to come clean to the press?" Takaki commented at the end, his head was already giving him headache because his eyes were so tired from watching his very own boyfriend walking in circles for hours.
"That would ruin both of our careers!" Daiki exclaimed, stopping his little circular ritual as he wiggled like a small kid not getting what he wanted.
"You still have your university degree, you'll find a better job," Takaki replied.
"I know. But what about you? This is all you have," Daiki rolled his eyes, not contented with what his boyfriend's 'everything's gonna be okay' logic.
"I don't really mind. If they like my music, then they'll keep on listening to it."
"No! I don't care. There must be another way out."
This wasn't the first time they had this kind of conversation since the press found out about Daiki's existence. Daiki didn't understand just why on earth Takaki had to give up so easily on this, especially after all the effort they had invested to make Takaki's and Arisa's relationship as real as possible - it seemed to be such a waste for him. He knew that Takaki was tired of hiding. He had been hiding about his true self since the day he made music his career.
"Aren't you tired of being who you aren't?" Takaki asked, crossing one leg over the other before strumming back to his guitar. It was just random melodies that he had in his head, but it felt so familar to Daiki because Takaki always did this when the older guy had so many things in his head - a habit that Daiki had learned after all this time being the other's boyfriend.
"I am still who I am. You among all people should know that," Daiki defended himself, walking over to the couch and settling himself down next to his boyfriend.
"I know..." Takaki started. "... but you don't act like who you are when we're in public. You're too precious to be hiding in all those girly outfits and long wig of yours?"
"Too... precious?" Daiki blinked, only to then burst into laughter, making the other guy to frown at him unamusedly.
"Why are you laughing?!"
"Because it's too cheesy!! It's like those songs you made. For serious, keep it to your music obsession really. It made me shiver to hear you saying it out to me," Daiki laughed, a small amount of amused tears piling up at the corner of his eyes because he was laughing so hard.
"Oh shut up," Takaki shook his head as he ruffled Daiki's hair.
And this would be how the conversation end, it always ended with one of them cracking a joke and they never came out with a conclusion of what to do at the end of the day. Of course Daiki still thought about it from time to time, even more, it got a lot more often as the days went by. If Daiki had to be honest, there were indeed times where he got so tired and almost decided to just let everything go, so that he could just sit back without worrying of the next lie he had to tell the press the next time he went out.
But yeah, he felt like such a coward because he always hesitated to do so.
------
“An offer?” Daiki blinked, trying to make sure that he heard his manager correctly.
“What kind of offer?” Hikaru bugged in.
“Photoshoot? Or another agency want to buy Arisa?” Inoo asked just as curiously as Hikaru.
Shaking his head, their manager took a piece of document from his briefcase and put in on the table - his expression looked pretty unsure. “It’s for Arioka-kun…” he mumbled. The smile that he was putting on his face was obviously fake, causing Daiki to feel a little bit anxious about what this document would be all about.
“Creative team?” Daiki tilted his head as he read through the paper. “Plus a directing training?” he frowned, tilting his head even more when as he went further with his reading.
Looking up, he twinkled to his manager, totally didn't understand a single thing of what he was reading. So it said that it was an offer to be part of TV Asashi’s variety show creative team with on-job directing training for the same show. The thing that didn’t make any sense to him was the fact that it was addressed to Arioka Daiki, not Arisa.
“How did it come to this?” Daiki asked.
“Well…” their manager started. “Remember my notebook that you doodled on not long ago? So I was having meeting with Sawamura-san from TV Asashi the other day. He saw my notebook laying around after the meeting ended because I forgot to put it back to my bag,” he explained.
“So?”
“Well, he read through your game doodled inside it, and all of your weird Arioka’s Show that you always use on every company’s trip was in it too.”
Daiki tilted his head, still blinking because he had no idea how on earth that would be the reason of why he ended up getting this offer. He made that game long ago before Arisa was even famous. It started with him finding it hard to blend in. When he worked for the first time with Hikaru and Inoo, he tried his best to get along with them, wanting to lessen the gap that they had between them, thus the creation of this game.
And now some variety show’s producer from TV Asashi had a look at it and decided that it would be a good idea to have it on television screen. This was too confusing even for Daiki!! Standing up, Daiki stared down to their manager, then to Hikaru and Inoo. “I’ll… t-think about it.”
With that, the youngest among them left the lounge, heading to his dressing room. What should he do about this? This was… big. Something different, something that he could see himself doing for a long time - no hiding, no faking, and it would only be him being who he really was.
“Takaki…?” he asked as he put his phone loudspeaker, resting his chin on his dressing room’s table, lips were pouted penguin-like while eyes staring at his video call.
“A video call? That’s rare,” answered the other line. There, on his screen, Takaki was sitting lazily in his studio - a pencil rested on his ear and Daiki could see how messy the studio was. “What’s up?”
“Nothing. Just bored,” Daiki lied. “What are you doing now?”
“Work, obviously? You do realise where I am right now, don’t you?” Takaki frowned, shaking his head at Daiki’s question.
“I do. Still… just feel like asking,” Daiki grinned.
Imitating Daiki’s position, Takaki put his phone on his desk before then rested his chin on his palm that was against the wooden surface. Takaki didn’t do anything, just staring at his phone’s screen, head was slightly tilted as a small meaningful smile crept its way to his face.
“I got an offer…” was what Daiki said next.
“Job offer? Where this time? Would it be long?”
“Not modelling offer…” Daiki continued.
“Eh?” Takaki sat up, the pencil that was slid on his ear fell as he did so. “Acting then?” Takaki asked again.
“No.”
“So?”
Daiki sighed, shifting closer to his phone while staring at Takaki’s expression - expecting it to change anytime soon. Yet, it didn’t. As much as Daiki was staring at him, all Takaki did was stare at him back even though Daiki could hear people walking in and out the studio room, people chatting about music arrangement and all, basically about things that Daiki had no idea about.
“People would notice…” Daiki said at the end.
“Notice about what?”
“That you’re staring at some dude on your phone’s screen as if you wanted to rape him alive?” Daiki pointed out.
Takaki laughed, straightened up his body as he turned his head around to check who was around at that very moment. “Neah~. Don’t care,” Takaki answered at the end. “There’s nothing wrong staring at you anyway.”
“It’s kind of creepy because they don't know that I’m your boyf--… well, you know,” Daiki rolled his eyes.
“That aside,” Takaki chuckled. “So what is this offer about?”
“Oh… right…”
He couldn’t remember when he developed this habit; a habit where he would call Takaki each time he had to decide on something. The older guy never really helped, in fact, most of the time, Takaki would just stare at Daiki and tell him that all decision was in his hands.
“It’s a job offer… to the awesome Arioka Daiki, and NOT Arisa,” Daiki continued.
“Eh?” Takaki blinked.
“Yeah. So it’s like being in a creative team and then I will get some sort of directing training and all,” Daiki added.
He was expecting Takaki to tell that it was a great idea, that he totally had to take it because this kind of chance wouldn’t come twice in his life and all. But instead, Takaki blinked and tilted his head to Daiki.
“So?”
“What do you mean by so?!” Daiki frowned. “I was expecting you to help me decide!”
“But it’s your career, not mine! Why should I help you decide,” Takaki replied, frowning back to Daiki.
“Well because it would end up about us too at the end! Like… if I take this job, Aris--… I mean, she would no longer exist because I wouldn’t have time for her,” Daiki said, noticing that people were still in the studio with Takaki, wishing that they would just go out so he didn’t have to censor his words.
“But you will still exist either way…” Takaki mumbled.
Pausing, some sense finally hit him. True. It wouldn’t matter which job he would have because to Takaki, it was Daiki that he was having a relationship with, not Arisa. He knew that at first it was supposed to be Takaki and Arisa but he also knew that as the two of them got closer, it was no longer the case.
“I’ll call you back later tonight,” said Daiki before he pressed the red button of his phone.
------
Staring at the TV screen, Daiki felt like throwing the cushion that he was holding to it. It was early morning and the sun was hurting his sleepy eyes, so obviously seeing this kind of news first thing in the morning got to his nerves badly. He knew it would come into this and he had told himself to be prepared about it, but being dragged out of bed forcefully by Hikaru and Inoo wasn’t on his plan.
“Wow, you made such a big news, Dai-chan,” Hikaru commented, shifting on the couch to make himself more comfortable.
“And all this time I thought Hikaru and I were a lot more popular than you,” Inoo nodded in agreement.
“Can’t help it that I’m that awesome,” Daiki frowned sleepily.
“Maybe it’s because people are still curious about what you’re hiding in your knee length socks or leggings. A model that never showed her legs doesn’t come everyday,” Hikaru commented.
“Or maybe it was the awesome wig that we bought for him, Hikaru!” Inoo exclaimed.
“No, no, no. It’s because he’s dating me~,” Takaki bugged in.
“Shoo Takaki! No outsider is allowed in this conversation!” Inoo turned his head to the kitchen where Takaki was, shooting the taller guy that was sipping to his orange juice a glare.
“This is my apartment! I can kick you and your boyfriend out any time I want!” Takaki protested.
Ignoring Takaki, Inoo dragged his eyes back to the TV screen. There was a footage from the night before in the morning news, the one that had Arisa as the main speaker in it. She was sitting right in the middle of the room; her brown hair was down elegantly and her make up was so simple yet classy. At least about a hundred people attended, bright camera’s flashes were filling the room as the model spoke. Yes, the night before was the night where Arisa announced her retirement from modelling.
“People would think you’re insane, Dai-chan. Retiring before you even turned twenty,” Hikaru commented.
“Technically, Arisa’s age is unknown,” Daiki answered.
“They might think that Takaki got her pregnant!” Inoo exclaimed, stealing a hateful glare to Takaki - still somehow had some sort of personal grudge on the other male, causing Takaki to yell out fair skinned guy’s name in annoyance.
“Technically, Arisa is not a girl,” Daiki answered again.
“If Takaki got her pregnant, it would be the end of my career,” the person who was sitting on the only armchair in the living room finally spoke up. “I would never able to become something more than a manager because I failed to make sure that the person that I’m in charge in didn’t do anything stupid,” Yabu added.
“True, true, Yabu-san. You might end up being the company’s driver,” Hikaru nodded.
“Why are you even here, Yabu!” Takaki protested.
“They called me saying that they need a lift?” Yabu cocked his head to Takaki, putting on an innocent face.
Daiki groaned, standing up as he stretched up his arms. He walked over Hikaru’s legs that were resting on the coffee table, passing Yabu on his way to the kitchen, and literally throwing his arms around Takaki. “Boooo. Your friends and your manager are being noisy on my first day being unemployed. Kick them out,” Daiki complained to Takaki. “I just want a long, long sleep before I had to start my new job next week.”
“They’re your friends!!” Takaki whacked him.
------
To be honest, Daiki couldn’t remember what happened next. Images were blurry in his head, things happened too fast for his little, slightly incapable brain to process. But he certainly knew that he finally got to where he was then. A good, steady job. His training was doing really well and he was coping nicely with the heavy workload he had to do, not to mention that he got the chance to become an assistant director a couple of times a week. It might seem to be a labour work compare to modelling, but it gave him a better sense of accomplishment.
After two years of being in the creative team and finally graduated from uni, Daiki got his first directing job in TV Asashi’s new variety show. It felt glorious to sit behind the screens on the top room, ordering the cameramen from his mic, telling the AD to do whatever he wanted to as the cameras were rolling, and working sleeplessly with his very own creative team.
Things went pretty well, so to say, until one day he received a brown envelope on his desk - no return address, no sender’s name, nothing. He almost choked on his coffee when he opened it. Inside, there were photos - loads of photos. It surprised him greatly how the sender got all these. There were photos in the airport when he left for Thailand a couple of years back, photos of him taking his wig off when he was in Thailand with Takaki on the blur side of the lens - closing the room’s curtain. There was also a series of photo where Hikaru, Inoo, and he were entering their van; but he never came out, instead instead of Arioka Daiki, Arisa came out after Hikaru and Inoo got off.
He panicked. It had been two years, and he didn’t know why this had to happen after he actually had a decent, stable job. He didn’t understand why whoever took these photos had to wait till he switched his career, until he had nothing to do with modelling industry.
“What should I do?” Daiki buried his face to his palm. “They might be taking photos as we speak, Yuya! I no longer have any appetite to even eat this teriyaki don!”
“Gosh, Dai-chan. Chill. Everyone knows that we hang out with each other a lot even after the so called bad break up between Arisa and I.”
“But those photos change everything. People might start to think differently each time we hang out with each other if they got to see it! You do know what paparazzi can do with their rumours,” Daiki frowned.
Takaki put down his chopstick, turning his head to Daiki while sighing, his single lidded eyes were staring at Daiki’s big irises. “Dai-chan… We’ve been having the same conversation for the past three years. It’s time to agree?” he spoke up softly.
“Stupid. This time we have both of our careers at stake! I’m not gonna let this ruin any of our careers,” Daiki frowned again.
“Then what do you want to with it? Hiding like always? I thought we’re done with that?”
Shoving his rice to his mouth, Daiki chewed on his food quiet as he let Takaki bored his disapproving stare to Daiki, knowing this one side of the older boy better than anyone else. “That wasn’t what I wanted to do. It’s just…” Daiki started. “…are you really gonna risk it?”
“Three years of relationship… of course I would,” Takaki shook his head, reaching out for Daiki’s cheek to pinch it playfully.
------
Back to the beginning of how this chapter had started, life had never been good for Arioka Daiki. For the past seven years of his life, he never thought that his life would end like this. Steady career, loving boyfriend, and best friends for eternety. And now… a puppy.
“I’m naming it Pocky~,” Takaki grinned, poking the belly of this newly bought beagle puppy.
“What?! Why?”
“Because it’s gonna remind me of you,” Takaki reasoned out.
“Excuse me, but apparently I live with you,” Daiki protested.
“Doesn’t really matter because he seems to like it~,” the older one among the two took the little puppy to his hand, shoving it to Daiki with a big wide grin smile on his face. “Try to call his name? Say Pocky, Dai-chan~.”
Daiki hesitate for a while. They had been together for years now, and not even once there was any talk about getting a puppy! Not even when they decided to just let the press be and do whatever they wanted. Holding hands in public, giving the other’s a ‘good-bye’ or ‘hi there’ kiss, or hugging like it was nobody’s business; and the list kept going.
They did get into some sort of problem at first. Daiki was called by his producer, being interviewed about all those weird rumours that started to spread around since they just acted like they didn’t care that their photos were being captured on their every single move. His producer was also questioning him whether he was Arisa or not. It took Daiki quite a hell of convincing job to assure his producer that what he did in the past wouldn’t affect his job performance, and he felt he was quite lucky to have a rather less uptight producer because if he didn’t, he would be sitting on the couch lazily with newspaper on his lap, trying to find a new job.
It wasn’t so hard on Takaki surprisingly. Most of those people that worked with him gave him a “ah~, I knew it” or “now things make sense” answer, nothing really extravagant that would cost his job. Apparently according to Yabu, these people had been noticing it since even before Takaki and Arisa got together. Takaki was a little bit too polite to women, and he was often too awkward when he was around them - unless when he knew them for ages. And some were even, “To be honest, I thought you were faking it with Arisa.”
Surprise, surprise indeed.
Anyway, Daiki could only stare at the dog, hating it for its pair of big dark eyes that were begging Daiki to just call its name already. He took a glance at Takaki, who was still waiting for him to say the name, then back to the little brown puppy that was in his boyfriend’s hands.
“Pocky?” he said at the end.
Much to his surprise, Pocky did answer back with a very cute bark. Blinking, Daiki took the dog to his hands, eyeing Takaki in disbelief, and secretly cursing that Takaki might have already named the puppy with Pocky before he brought it home. “Why on earth… really…?” Daiki sighed.
“He knows who his mummy is~. Right, Pocky?” Takaki laughed. “Daddy is proud of you.”
Kicking Takaki lightly, Daiki just laughed along as he sat back to the couch.
A dog, huh?
Their new chapter had only started.
-------
It's done :) That was a long year. I hope you guys enjoyed the entire fic and it's sad that I have to end it before it got too draggy :'(
I'll get the beta done when I'm not lazy.
P.S. When couples getting a dog or something, it means they're getting really serious with each other.
Author: keeconk
Pairing: TaDaiki
Rating: PG
Word count: 4,518
Disclaimer: Arisa is mine~.
Summary: After all of the bizarreness he had faced since he met Takaki, this would be how Arioka Daiki ended up all those and moved on with his life. Even a model had his priority.
A.N.: AU setting. Cross dressing. Unbeta'ed.
( Chapter 1: An Epic start )
( Chapter 2: The Holiday )
( Chapter 3: Oops! )
( Chapter 4: Unguarded )
( Chapter 5: Nature of Facts )
( Chapter 6: The Truth )
( Chapter 7: Dramatise )
-----------
Life had never been good for Arioka Daiki. For the past twenty seven years of his life, he never thought that his life would end like this. Who would have thought that after all this time of weird career choice, he would end up being in this TV station, working as variety show director. It was rather unbelievable especially for someone that had his career crumbling down right before his eyes just a few years back.
“It was ridiculous. How did you come out with such idea, Dai-chan? Damn, it feels almost like you are meant to do this!” Hikaru exclaimed, swaying his chopstick around as his eyes sparkled to Daiki.
“I’m just genius~,” Daiki replied contently.
“To be honest, I’m a fan of your variety show! You can be rich doing this shit for the rest of your life, you know!” Hikaru added.
“I already am!” Daiki laughed.
Despite of his career changing, things like this never changed. Inoo still the so godly gorgeous model that was really professional when it came to his work. He never looked this good in his late twenties and a couple of producer had show several interest in getting him into some drama. Hikaru, being such a clown himself, had made himself a regular guest in a variety show. He was even considering being a full time MC and stopped being a model. But knowing Hikaru, he might end up doing both.
Of course, their togetherness was the only thing that managed to make Daiki able to go through everything. The way that the three of them always tried to find time to have dinner together kept him insane and realising that life went on despite of everything that had happened.
“So you guys keep it a secret until now?” Daiki asked randomly.
“Keep what a secret?” Inoo tilted his head to the youngest among the three.
“This. This,” Daiki rolled his eyes, finger making a circular movement before Inoo and Hikaru that was sitting next to each other.
His question was greeted with a burst of laughter from the other two, followed by his very own pout because he just couldn’t understand why it was something worth being laughed at. “What?! There was nothing wrong with my question!”
“You see, first of all… we never made out relationship a big announcement or anything,” Hikaru noted, trying his best not to laugh.
“Not my fault, Takaki was the one that just announced it even when it wasn’t true!” Daiki defended himself.
“Secondly, we never kissed each other in public, let alone making out,” Hikaru pointed out again.
“That wasn’t me! He kissed me first!”
“You kissed him back~,” Inoo whacked Daiki’s head lightly. “It was also you of course!”
Ignoring Daiki’s pout, Hikaru continued, “Thirdly, we don’t cross dress as girls at work~.”
“In case you forgot I did quit!”
“Not my problem. Still got found out~.”
“I didn't quit because they found out!”
“Don’t care~” Hikaru stuck his tongue out.
A little bit insane indeed, but Daiki had to say that without the craziness from these two bestfriends of his, he wouldn’t be able to go through his days at all. But really, at the age of twenty seven, Daiki couldn’t be more happy with what he had at the moment; a good job, a loving boyfriend, and two wicked best friends.
Once they paid for their food, the three buddies walked out from the dinner with laughter. Daiki gave both of his best friends a big warm hug before walking to a black sedan that came not long before the three of them got out. A smile curved on his face as he walked to the car. It had been years, but each time he stepped into this car, he could literally hear hundreds of shutter clicks and dazzling flashes blinded his vision.
“I told you to wear sunglasses,” a grin greeted him as he sat down to the front passenger seat.
“I’m not you. I don’t wear sunglasses in the middle of the night,” Daiki replied.
“Well, you have to be me because this is the life of a super star.”
“I’m not a super star. I don’t sing like you do,” Daiki rolled his eyes, turning his face to the person sitting on the driver seat.
“You’re a variety shows director! You are a super star!”
“Just drive, Yuya,” Daiki nudged his boyfriend’s arm, a small pout on his lips.
Takaki laughed, starting the car after he gave Daiki a small kiss on the lips. This had been his life for the past few years. He had his career in the TV station, meeting up with his best friends, and living with his loved one.
"I bought a puppy by the way~," Takaki added.
Turning his head to Takaki, Daiki's eyes widened up. "YOU BOUGHT A WHAT?!!"
------
So this was how this happened. Since the newspaper headline on Takaki's and Arisa's brother's bonding thingy, Daiki's life had somehow become awefully miserable. People found out about his real name, his university, and even his soccer club!! It wasn't so disturbing at first, at least not until they started to ask him about Arisa, about where she's studying, or about something as simple as where she usually hung out with her friends.
He had to hide under his hoodie at times, or use the back gate to go out from his university because he didn't want to be 'attacked' by random paparazzi on his way out. It didn't only affect his life, but also some of his classmates that were suddenly asked about anything on Daiki or Arisa.
"By time, they would find out that there wasn't any Arisa to begin with!" Daiki said as he walked around in circle right in the middle of the living room, his hands were crossed against his chest and his eyebrows were furrowed closely to each other.
It had been bugging him how much the press already knew about his real life, and on how close they were from kiilling the only career he had. Not to mention how they had been bugging Takaki about it. The two of them couldn't go out in peace like they used to anymore, it doesn't matter if it were Takaki with Arisa, or it were Takaki and Daiki. The reporters would ask them about anything.
"Maybe it's time for us to come clean to the press?" Takaki commented at the end, his head was already giving him headache because his eyes were so tired from watching his very own boyfriend walking in circles for hours.
"That would ruin both of our careers!" Daiki exclaimed, stopping his little circular ritual as he wiggled like a small kid not getting what he wanted.
"You still have your university degree, you'll find a better job," Takaki replied.
"I know. But what about you? This is all you have," Daiki rolled his eyes, not contented with what his boyfriend's 'everything's gonna be okay' logic.
"I don't really mind. If they like my music, then they'll keep on listening to it."
"No! I don't care. There must be another way out."
This wasn't the first time they had this kind of conversation since the press found out about Daiki's existence. Daiki didn't understand just why on earth Takaki had to give up so easily on this, especially after all the effort they had invested to make Takaki's and Arisa's relationship as real as possible - it seemed to be such a waste for him. He knew that Takaki was tired of hiding. He had been hiding about his true self since the day he made music his career.
"Aren't you tired of being who you aren't?" Takaki asked, crossing one leg over the other before strumming back to his guitar. It was just random melodies that he had in his head, but it felt so familar to Daiki because Takaki always did this when the older guy had so many things in his head - a habit that Daiki had learned after all this time being the other's boyfriend.
"I am still who I am. You among all people should know that," Daiki defended himself, walking over to the couch and settling himself down next to his boyfriend.
"I know..." Takaki started. "... but you don't act like who you are when we're in public. You're too precious to be hiding in all those girly outfits and long wig of yours?"
"Too... precious?" Daiki blinked, only to then burst into laughter, making the other guy to frown at him unamusedly.
"Why are you laughing?!"
"Because it's too cheesy!! It's like those songs you made. For serious, keep it to your music obsession really. It made me shiver to hear you saying it out to me," Daiki laughed, a small amount of amused tears piling up at the corner of his eyes because he was laughing so hard.
"Oh shut up," Takaki shook his head as he ruffled Daiki's hair.
And this would be how the conversation end, it always ended with one of them cracking a joke and they never came out with a conclusion of what to do at the end of the day. Of course Daiki still thought about it from time to time, even more, it got a lot more often as the days went by. If Daiki had to be honest, there were indeed times where he got so tired and almost decided to just let everything go, so that he could just sit back without worrying of the next lie he had to tell the press the next time he went out.
But yeah, he felt like such a coward because he always hesitated to do so.
------
“An offer?” Daiki blinked, trying to make sure that he heard his manager correctly.
“What kind of offer?” Hikaru bugged in.
“Photoshoot? Or another agency want to buy Arisa?” Inoo asked just as curiously as Hikaru.
Shaking his head, their manager took a piece of document from his briefcase and put in on the table - his expression looked pretty unsure. “It’s for Arioka-kun…” he mumbled. The smile that he was putting on his face was obviously fake, causing Daiki to feel a little bit anxious about what this document would be all about.
“Creative team?” Daiki tilted his head as he read through the paper. “Plus a directing training?” he frowned, tilting his head even more when as he went further with his reading.
Looking up, he twinkled to his manager, totally didn't understand a single thing of what he was reading. So it said that it was an offer to be part of TV Asashi’s variety show creative team with on-job directing training for the same show. The thing that didn’t make any sense to him was the fact that it was addressed to Arioka Daiki, not Arisa.
“How did it come to this?” Daiki asked.
“Well…” their manager started. “Remember my notebook that you doodled on not long ago? So I was having meeting with Sawamura-san from TV Asashi the other day. He saw my notebook laying around after the meeting ended because I forgot to put it back to my bag,” he explained.
“So?”
“Well, he read through your game doodled inside it, and all of your weird Arioka’s Show that you always use on every company’s trip was in it too.”
Daiki tilted his head, still blinking because he had no idea how on earth that would be the reason of why he ended up getting this offer. He made that game long ago before Arisa was even famous. It started with him finding it hard to blend in. When he worked for the first time with Hikaru and Inoo, he tried his best to get along with them, wanting to lessen the gap that they had between them, thus the creation of this game.
And now some variety show’s producer from TV Asashi had a look at it and decided that it would be a good idea to have it on television screen. This was too confusing even for Daiki!! Standing up, Daiki stared down to their manager, then to Hikaru and Inoo. “I’ll… t-think about it.”
With that, the youngest among them left the lounge, heading to his dressing room. What should he do about this? This was… big. Something different, something that he could see himself doing for a long time - no hiding, no faking, and it would only be him being who he really was.
“Takaki…?” he asked as he put his phone loudspeaker, resting his chin on his dressing room’s table, lips were pouted penguin-like while eyes staring at his video call.
“A video call? That’s rare,” answered the other line. There, on his screen, Takaki was sitting lazily in his studio - a pencil rested on his ear and Daiki could see how messy the studio was. “What’s up?”
“Nothing. Just bored,” Daiki lied. “What are you doing now?”
“Work, obviously? You do realise where I am right now, don’t you?” Takaki frowned, shaking his head at Daiki’s question.
“I do. Still… just feel like asking,” Daiki grinned.
Imitating Daiki’s position, Takaki put his phone on his desk before then rested his chin on his palm that was against the wooden surface. Takaki didn’t do anything, just staring at his phone’s screen, head was slightly tilted as a small meaningful smile crept its way to his face.
“I got an offer…” was what Daiki said next.
“Job offer? Where this time? Would it be long?”
“Not modelling offer…” Daiki continued.
“Eh?” Takaki sat up, the pencil that was slid on his ear fell as he did so. “Acting then?” Takaki asked again.
“No.”
“So?”
Daiki sighed, shifting closer to his phone while staring at Takaki’s expression - expecting it to change anytime soon. Yet, it didn’t. As much as Daiki was staring at him, all Takaki did was stare at him back even though Daiki could hear people walking in and out the studio room, people chatting about music arrangement and all, basically about things that Daiki had no idea about.
“People would notice…” Daiki said at the end.
“Notice about what?”
“That you’re staring at some dude on your phone’s screen as if you wanted to rape him alive?” Daiki pointed out.
Takaki laughed, straightened up his body as he turned his head around to check who was around at that very moment. “Neah~. Don’t care,” Takaki answered at the end. “There’s nothing wrong staring at you anyway.”
“It’s kind of creepy because they don't know that I’m your boyf--… well, you know,” Daiki rolled his eyes.
“That aside,” Takaki chuckled. “So what is this offer about?”
“Oh… right…”
He couldn’t remember when he developed this habit; a habit where he would call Takaki each time he had to decide on something. The older guy never really helped, in fact, most of the time, Takaki would just stare at Daiki and tell him that all decision was in his hands.
“It’s a job offer… to the awesome Arioka Daiki, and NOT Arisa,” Daiki continued.
“Eh?” Takaki blinked.
“Yeah. So it’s like being in a creative team and then I will get some sort of directing training and all,” Daiki added.
He was expecting Takaki to tell that it was a great idea, that he totally had to take it because this kind of chance wouldn’t come twice in his life and all. But instead, Takaki blinked and tilted his head to Daiki.
“So?”
“What do you mean by so?!” Daiki frowned. “I was expecting you to help me decide!”
“But it’s your career, not mine! Why should I help you decide,” Takaki replied, frowning back to Daiki.
“Well because it would end up about us too at the end! Like… if I take this job, Aris--… I mean, she would no longer exist because I wouldn’t have time for her,” Daiki said, noticing that people were still in the studio with Takaki, wishing that they would just go out so he didn’t have to censor his words.
“But you will still exist either way…” Takaki mumbled.
Pausing, some sense finally hit him. True. It wouldn’t matter which job he would have because to Takaki, it was Daiki that he was having a relationship with, not Arisa. He knew that at first it was supposed to be Takaki and Arisa but he also knew that as the two of them got closer, it was no longer the case.
“I’ll call you back later tonight,” said Daiki before he pressed the red button of his phone.
------
Staring at the TV screen, Daiki felt like throwing the cushion that he was holding to it. It was early morning and the sun was hurting his sleepy eyes, so obviously seeing this kind of news first thing in the morning got to his nerves badly. He knew it would come into this and he had told himself to be prepared about it, but being dragged out of bed forcefully by Hikaru and Inoo wasn’t on his plan.
“Wow, you made such a big news, Dai-chan,” Hikaru commented, shifting on the couch to make himself more comfortable.
“And all this time I thought Hikaru and I were a lot more popular than you,” Inoo nodded in agreement.
“Can’t help it that I’m that awesome,” Daiki frowned sleepily.
“Maybe it’s because people are still curious about what you’re hiding in your knee length socks or leggings. A model that never showed her legs doesn’t come everyday,” Hikaru commented.
“Or maybe it was the awesome wig that we bought for him, Hikaru!” Inoo exclaimed.
“No, no, no. It’s because he’s dating me~,” Takaki bugged in.
“Shoo Takaki! No outsider is allowed in this conversation!” Inoo turned his head to the kitchen where Takaki was, shooting the taller guy that was sipping to his orange juice a glare.
“This is my apartment! I can kick you and your boyfriend out any time I want!” Takaki protested.
Ignoring Takaki, Inoo dragged his eyes back to the TV screen. There was a footage from the night before in the morning news, the one that had Arisa as the main speaker in it. She was sitting right in the middle of the room; her brown hair was down elegantly and her make up was so simple yet classy. At least about a hundred people attended, bright camera’s flashes were filling the room as the model spoke. Yes, the night before was the night where Arisa announced her retirement from modelling.
“People would think you’re insane, Dai-chan. Retiring before you even turned twenty,” Hikaru commented.
“Technically, Arisa’s age is unknown,” Daiki answered.
“They might think that Takaki got her pregnant!” Inoo exclaimed, stealing a hateful glare to Takaki - still somehow had some sort of personal grudge on the other male, causing Takaki to yell out fair skinned guy’s name in annoyance.
“Technically, Arisa is not a girl,” Daiki answered again.
“If Takaki got her pregnant, it would be the end of my career,” the person who was sitting on the only armchair in the living room finally spoke up. “I would never able to become something more than a manager because I failed to make sure that the person that I’m in charge in didn’t do anything stupid,” Yabu added.
“True, true, Yabu-san. You might end up being the company’s driver,” Hikaru nodded.
“Why are you even here, Yabu!” Takaki protested.
“They called me saying that they need a lift?” Yabu cocked his head to Takaki, putting on an innocent face.
Daiki groaned, standing up as he stretched up his arms. He walked over Hikaru’s legs that were resting on the coffee table, passing Yabu on his way to the kitchen, and literally throwing his arms around Takaki. “Boooo. Your friends and your manager are being noisy on my first day being unemployed. Kick them out,” Daiki complained to Takaki. “I just want a long, long sleep before I had to start my new job next week.”
“They’re your friends!!” Takaki whacked him.
------
To be honest, Daiki couldn’t remember what happened next. Images were blurry in his head, things happened too fast for his little, slightly incapable brain to process. But he certainly knew that he finally got to where he was then. A good, steady job. His training was doing really well and he was coping nicely with the heavy workload he had to do, not to mention that he got the chance to become an assistant director a couple of times a week. It might seem to be a labour work compare to modelling, but it gave him a better sense of accomplishment.
After two years of being in the creative team and finally graduated from uni, Daiki got his first directing job in TV Asashi’s new variety show. It felt glorious to sit behind the screens on the top room, ordering the cameramen from his mic, telling the AD to do whatever he wanted to as the cameras were rolling, and working sleeplessly with his very own creative team.
Things went pretty well, so to say, until one day he received a brown envelope on his desk - no return address, no sender’s name, nothing. He almost choked on his coffee when he opened it. Inside, there were photos - loads of photos. It surprised him greatly how the sender got all these. There were photos in the airport when he left for Thailand a couple of years back, photos of him taking his wig off when he was in Thailand with Takaki on the blur side of the lens - closing the room’s curtain. There was also a series of photo where Hikaru, Inoo, and he were entering their van; but he never came out, instead instead of Arioka Daiki, Arisa came out after Hikaru and Inoo got off.
He panicked. It had been two years, and he didn’t know why this had to happen after he actually had a decent, stable job. He didn’t understand why whoever took these photos had to wait till he switched his career, until he had nothing to do with modelling industry.
“What should I do?” Daiki buried his face to his palm. “They might be taking photos as we speak, Yuya! I no longer have any appetite to even eat this teriyaki don!”
“Gosh, Dai-chan. Chill. Everyone knows that we hang out with each other a lot even after the so called bad break up between Arisa and I.”
“But those photos change everything. People might start to think differently each time we hang out with each other if they got to see it! You do know what paparazzi can do with their rumours,” Daiki frowned.
Takaki put down his chopstick, turning his head to Daiki while sighing, his single lidded eyes were staring at Daiki’s big irises. “Dai-chan… We’ve been having the same conversation for the past three years. It’s time to agree?” he spoke up softly.
“Stupid. This time we have both of our careers at stake! I’m not gonna let this ruin any of our careers,” Daiki frowned again.
“Then what do you want to with it? Hiding like always? I thought we’re done with that?”
Shoving his rice to his mouth, Daiki chewed on his food quiet as he let Takaki bored his disapproving stare to Daiki, knowing this one side of the older boy better than anyone else. “That wasn’t what I wanted to do. It’s just…” Daiki started. “…are you really gonna risk it?”
“Three years of relationship… of course I would,” Takaki shook his head, reaching out for Daiki’s cheek to pinch it playfully.
------
Back to the beginning of how this chapter had started, life had never been good for Arioka Daiki. For the past seven years of his life, he never thought that his life would end like this. Steady career, loving boyfriend, and best friends for eternety. And now… a puppy.
“I’m naming it Pocky~,” Takaki grinned, poking the belly of this newly bought beagle puppy.
“What?! Why?”
“Because it’s gonna remind me of you,” Takaki reasoned out.
“Excuse me, but apparently I live with you,” Daiki protested.
“Doesn’t really matter because he seems to like it~,” the older one among the two took the little puppy to his hand, shoving it to Daiki with a big wide grin smile on his face. “Try to call his name? Say Pocky, Dai-chan~.”
Daiki hesitate for a while. They had been together for years now, and not even once there was any talk about getting a puppy! Not even when they decided to just let the press be and do whatever they wanted. Holding hands in public, giving the other’s a ‘good-bye’ or ‘hi there’ kiss, or hugging like it was nobody’s business; and the list kept going.
They did get into some sort of problem at first. Daiki was called by his producer, being interviewed about all those weird rumours that started to spread around since they just acted like they didn’t care that their photos were being captured on their every single move. His producer was also questioning him whether he was Arisa or not. It took Daiki quite a hell of convincing job to assure his producer that what he did in the past wouldn’t affect his job performance, and he felt he was quite lucky to have a rather less uptight producer because if he didn’t, he would be sitting on the couch lazily with newspaper on his lap, trying to find a new job.
It wasn’t so hard on Takaki surprisingly. Most of those people that worked with him gave him a “ah~, I knew it” or “now things make sense” answer, nothing really extravagant that would cost his job. Apparently according to Yabu, these people had been noticing it since even before Takaki and Arisa got together. Takaki was a little bit too polite to women, and he was often too awkward when he was around them - unless when he knew them for ages. And some were even, “To be honest, I thought you were faking it with Arisa.”
Surprise, surprise indeed.
Anyway, Daiki could only stare at the dog, hating it for its pair of big dark eyes that were begging Daiki to just call its name already. He took a glance at Takaki, who was still waiting for him to say the name, then back to the little brown puppy that was in his boyfriend’s hands.
“Pocky?” he said at the end.
Much to his surprise, Pocky did answer back with a very cute bark. Blinking, Daiki took the dog to his hands, eyeing Takaki in disbelief, and secretly cursing that Takaki might have already named the puppy with Pocky before he brought it home. “Why on earth… really…?” Daiki sighed.
“He knows who his mummy is~. Right, Pocky?” Takaki laughed. “Daddy is proud of you.”
Kicking Takaki lightly, Daiki just laughed along as he sat back to the couch.
A dog, huh?
Their new chapter had only started.
-------
It's done :) That was a long year. I hope you guys enjoyed the entire fic and it's sad that I have to end it before it got too draggy :'(
I'll get the beta done when I'm not lazy.
P.S. When couples getting a dog or something, it means they're getting really serious with each other.