"Stage performances will surely be affected as the group will lose their popularity and will have a smaller budget for their activities," Juri groaned as he tossed the latest tabloid onto the couch, the headline screaming in white: "SixTONES on the Verge of Disbanding: Matsumura and Kyomoto have settled a truce?"
Hokuto rolled his eyes. "I swear, if I read one more article about how much I hate Kyomoto, I will lose it."
"Right?" Taiga grumbled from the corner, scrolling through his phone with a frown. "Like, they're acting like we're about to throw fists any second. It's exhausting."
Juri leaned back, grinning, and it was obvious that he had an idea. A dangerous idea. "Well, you know... we could always convince them otherwise."
Shintaro, sitting cross-legged on the floor with his chin in his hands, perked up. "Huh? What are you thinking?"
Juri's grin widened. "Simple. We give them what they want. But with a twist."
Taiga raised an eyebrow. "A twist?"
"Yeah, you Kyomo and Hokuto go out. I mean, not like out-out. But a nice dinner, super public, laughing, having the time of your life. The paparazzi will surely catch you, and tabloids will make news about it."
Taiga raised an eyebrow again. "You mean to pretend to be best friends? In front of the world?"
Hokuto's mouth dropped open, and he looked horrified. "That sounds like the worst idea I've ever heard in my life."
Jesse laughed from the couch where he was lying down. "C'mon, it'd be hilarious! The ultimate power move."
"Yeah, I think it's actually a great idea!" Kochi joined, waving his phone in his hand in their direction. "Think about it. Otherwise, you're stuck with that stupid rumor forever. People will think you're plotting each other's downfall everywhere you go."
Taiga shook his head. "Absolutely not. There's no way I'd--"
"Then enjoy living with the rumors!" Juri chirped, "Maybe next week it'll be a knife fight in the rehearsal room."
Hokuto and Taiga exchanged a look. The kind of look that said seriously? Unfortunately, the members kind of had a point there.
Shintaro's eyes twinkled. "Do it for the team, guys."
Hokuto sighed. "Okay, fine for me. But if it turns into a disaster, I'm blaming all of you."
Everyone turned their look to Taiga. Until Taiga raised his arms defeatedly.
"Fine then. We'll go and have a dinner together. There you go, are you satisfied?"
"Very," Juri grinned.
Fast forward to the evening, and Taiga and Hokuto found themselves at a yakiniku restaurant, which, under normal circumstances, should've been such a fun place. But to Taiga, it felt more like they were in a courtroom.
They sat across from each other at the small table, the grill in the center glowing warmly. It was a painfully awkward contrast to the ice-cold atmosphere.
Taiga stared at the wall, suddenly fascinated by the framed photo of beef cuts. Here we are now, he thought and mentally calculating how long they'd have to stay here before they could flee.
Hokuto tapped his fingers on the table, his eyes travelling everywhere except at Taiga. "So… uh… how was your day?"
Taiga blinked. "My day?"
"Yeah. Your day. What did you do?"
Taiga stared at him blankly. "You were literally with me the whole day."
Hokuto nodded slowly. "Right. Yeah. Of course."
The silence that followed was awkward. They both glanced around the room, as if hoping the walls would throw them a lifeline.
"So," Hokuto cleared his throat, obviously desperate to fill the void. "What kind of meat do you like?"
Taiga blinked again. "What?"
"Yeah," Hokuto muttered and pointed at the menu on the table. "You know, like... beef, pork, chicken?"
"Wow. Riveting stuff, Hokuto," Taiga chuckled mockingly. "I mean... beef, I guess?"
"Beef's good," Hokuto nodded. "Nice. Classic."
"Yeah," Taiga agreed, poking at the side of the grill with the tongs. "Solid choice."
Cue more silence. But luckily, a waiter came to their rescue soon to put the plates in front of them. Finally, for a moment, they had something they could focus on.
Then they started preparing the food. The sound of sizzling meat was the only thing keeping them company as both of them stared at it like it might do something interesting.
Taiga sighed, leaning back in his chair. "This is probably the dumbest thing we've ever done."
"Oh, definitely," Hokuto agreed. "But it beats sitting around while everyone thinks we're mortal enemies."
Taiga chuckled, a real one this time. "True."
As the meat sizzled, Taiga couldn't help but glance at Hokuto. Something about the dim lighting made Hokuto's features look softer than usual. Taiga paid attention to how the warm glow highlighted the sharp line of Hokuto's jaw and how his hair fell casually over his eyes.
Wait. What am I even thinking? Taiga quickly looked away, feeling his cheeks heat up.
Hokuto raised an eyebrow, probably sensing Taiga's ogling. "What's up?"
"What? Nothing," Taiga hurried to say. He shoved a piece of beef onto Hokuto's plate, his hands moving faster than his brain. "Eat."
Hokuto chuckled. "Okay."
The silence that followed felt a little less heavy, though. They both started eating, the awkwardness slowly giving way to a more relaxed atmosphere. They started talking about Taiga's music project, and Taiga had lots of stuff he wanted to share about it. To Taiga’s surprise, Hokuto turned out to be an ideal listener. He kept asking thoughtful questions that showed genuine interest. This made Taiga talk even more, appreciating the rare chance to dive deep into the details of his work. The conversation eventually shifted to Hokuto’s next movie, and Taiga couldn’t resist asking about his experience filming with the legendary Matsu Takako. Hokuto’s stories were both fascinating and funny, and Taiga even brought up an old lame joke he had about her, which made Hokuto laugh.
"You know," Hokuto said after a moment, this time actually looking into Taiga's eyes, "you're definitely not as bad as the tabloids make it sound."
Taiga choked on his water. "Excuse me?"
"I'm just saying," Hokuto continued. "They make you sound like you're always angry and awkward with me. But you're… actually kind of cute. And funny. I’ve said it before but I’m saying it again.”
Taiga felt his face heat up even more. He opened his mouth to retort but found himself oddly speechless.
"Don't get used to that," Taiga muttered. The weird flush kept spreading on his face and neck.
Hokuto laughed softly, his eyes staying on Taiga just a little longer than necessary. "Noted."
As the night went on, their conversations became less and less forced and their laughter started coming out more easily as they bantered. Taiga couldn't help teasing Hokuto about his grilling technique while Hokuto shot back by making fun of Taiga's inability to handle spicy food.
"Seriously? You can't handle even this level of spice?" Hokuto smirked, watching Taiga struggle with a particularly fiery bite of beef.
Taiga wiped his mouth, his eyes watering slightly. "It's fine. I've got this."
"Sure you do," Hokuto laughed.
Somewhere between the conversations, Taiga realized Hokuto wasn't a bad and awkward company at all. In fact, there was something about him that was, well, kind of fascinating. Taiga found himself stealing more glances at Hokuto, and his heart stupidly skipped a beat each time.
Seriously? Get it together, he scolded himself.
By the end of the meal, they were both leaning back in their seats. Taiga was feeling full and surprisingly content.
Then Taiga moved to the other side of the table, sat down next to Hokuto on the couch, and snapped a quick selfie of them. It was the kind of candid shot that would look like they'd been best friends all along. But as he studied the photo for a moment, he realized it didn't look fake at all.
"See?" Hokuto said, leaning over to look at the photo. "We actually look like we're having fun."
"Yeah," Taiga murmured, feeling his face warm again, but maybe it was just because of the grill. "We kind of are."
When they finally walked out of the restaurant to the warm summer evening, Taiga found himself smiling. Maybe this had been more than just a PR stunt.
"Next time," Hokuto said, "you can pick the place."
"Why do you think there would be a next time?" Taiga asked, pretending to be annoyed but failing to hide his smile. "We'll see."
As they walked side by side, Taiga couldn't shake the feeling that maybe Hokuto wasn't bad at all indeed. Maybe he was only a little bit dangerous.
Dangerous to Taiga's heart.