5WIRL + Wanderer COLLAB!!!

Chapter 16: The Grand Finale

  Heizou smiled, "you guys ready for the dress rehearsal?!"
  Everyone was in costume, on set, and ready to perform everything perfectly. The actual live wasn't until the next day, but they wanted to be super prepared. This live had to be perfect with all the hype for it online.
  And so, they went through the whole live about three times before everyone was too exhausted to go again.
  They all sat backstage, staring off into space. Kunikuzushi was blankly staring at his watch, watching the lone jump up and down.
  Kazuha looked over, but couldn't catch the number on it before Kuni turned his wrist away. He took a deep breath in and let out a long sigh.
  "Are you nervous?..." Kazuha asked.
  Kuni nodded, "a little... about the last song. Well, the last song I'm in, anyways."
  Kazuha nodded, "it's normal to be nervous. It's a big show... I know we'll do great."
Kunikuzushi agreed, "I know... it just feels like I'm debuting again... I haven't done any lives as Wanderer..."
  "Ah, I see," Kazuha smiled, "you're showing the new you to the world for the first time."
  "Yeah..."
  "Your newer music is already very well-received. Your fans are loyal," he chuckled. "I'm sure they'll support you no matter what."
  Kunikuzushi began to smile, "thanks..."
  "Anything for my beloved," Kazuha put his arms around Kuni.
  Aether, Heizou, Venti, and Xiao all looked over when Kazuha said that.
  Kunikuzushi got pink and turned his face away. Kazuha didn't notice and didn't care.
  Everyone stared. They had seen Kazuha and Kunikuzushi be affectionate with each other... but they'd never heard any pet names being used.
  "Kazuha..." Kunikuzushi whispered, "now everyone is staring at us..."
  "So let them," Kazuha snuggled closer, putting his face in Kuni's neck.
  Kunikuzushi pursed his lips, "but..."
  "But what? They're just peanut butter and jealousy sandwiches."
  Kuni laughed, "what?!"
  Kazuha giggled, "that's something Beidou used to say all the time..." now that he was thinking about Beidou, her previous advice came to mind. Kazuha asked in almost a whisper, "may I kiss you?"
  Kunikuzushi got tense and he didn't say anything for a long moment. He could feel how close Kazuha's lips were to his skin and wasn't entirely comfortable with it. "Not... there... That feels like too much..."
  Kazuha nodded, "I understand. We haven't even had an official first kiss yet, anyways. I'm getting ahead of myself." He chuckled.
  Kuni shifted his weight, "now they're whispering to each other..."
  Aether, Heizou, Venti, and Xiao were, indeed, whispering to each other and remarking how cute Kazuha and Kuni were. And talking about how they should just kiss already and how it was surprising that Kazuha hadn't exploded and kissed him yet.
  Kazuha sighed in contentment, "does it matter? It's not like we can stop them from talking. And they're all lovey-dovey around us all the time, too. They don't have much room to judge."
  "Right," Kuni nodded slowly.
  Kazuha sighed deeply, this time in an almost whining way. "Kuni, I love you so much..."
  Kunikuzushi snorted, "I know. You must be really tired now, too. Do you need a ride home? I can have Nahida take us both."
  Kazuha paused, "Beidou drives... but I want to spend more time with you..."
  Kunikuzushi chuckled, "you can stay for dinner, then. But be prepared to be teased about everything you do. That's just how Miko is."
  Kazuha nodded, "I'll be prepared..." He was blushing so hard, he was glad Kunikuzushi couldn't see his face!
  Kuni sighed, "we're going to get made fun of for literally everything..."
  Kazuha felt like he could never be close enough to Kunikuzushi. He held him tighter, still. "That's alright... we just need to remember that their opinions don't matter..."

——————

  Miko froze. She was just about to greet Nahida and Kunikuzushi as they walked in, but she spotted a third person. She gasped very loudly, then yelled over her shoulder. "Ei, we have a guest!!!"
  Nahida giggled, "good luck, I'm off to start cooking."
  Kunikuzushi sighed, "don't be weird, Miko."
  Miko smiled brightly, "what? What are you talking about?? It's so nice to see you again Kazuha."
  Kazuha waved nervously, "it's good to see you, too..."
  "You know, from what I've seen of your practices, you and Kuni dance together really really well-"
  Kunikuzushi took Kazuha's hand and started pulling him towards the kitchen, completely ignoring Miko.
  Miko followed them cheerily, "so how was the rehearsal???"
  "Uhm, good," Kazuha smiled nervously. He found Miko very intimidating...
  "Wonderful! Are you feeling confident with both songs???"
  "Uh, yeah..." Kazuha was forced by Kuni to sit down at the counter. "We've been working hard, so I'm sure it'll be just as good as everyone's hoping."
  Miko nodded, "of course it will!"
  Ei made her way in, "oh. I didn't think Kuni would-"
  "This is all perfectly normal!" Kunikuzushi started setting the table to keep himself busy. "There's nothing weird or extraordinary about Kazuha being here!"
  "Nobody said otherwise," Miko laughed, "Kuni, you're the only one making it seem like that!"
  Kuni frowned, his cheeks pink.
  Ei smiled warmly at Kazuha, "we haven't officially met. I'm Ei, Kuni's... mother."
  "It's nice to meet you," Kazuha smiled.
  Ei closed her eyes, "I've heard lots of great things about you... but if you hurt Kuni you might not be waking up in the morning."
  Kunikuzushi sighed heavily from across the room, rolling his eyes. "Stop that, Miko scares him enough."
  "Me?" Miko gasped, "but I'm so sweet!"
  "You wish," Kuni grumbled.
  "Be nice or Kazuha is the only one who's going to eat," Nahida pointed at them all with a ladle.
  Miko pressed her hand to her heart, "I haven't done one mean thing!"
  Kazuha smiled nervously. He had know that meeting Kuni's family would be stressful, but he didn't think it would be *this* chaotic...
  Kunikuzushi finished setting the table and sat down at the counter next to Kazuha. "Ignore them. Do you need anything?"
  Kazuha shook his head, "no, I'm alright." In truth, he didn't *need* anything. He *wanted* to hold Kuni's hand and stuff... but he didn't know what he was allowed to do in front of these weirdos... He was sure that Nahida wouldn't really care, but the other two seemed rather over the top about everything...
  Kuni sighed, closing his eyes, "I'm so tired..."
  "From what~?" Miko asked with an almost sinister smile.
  Kunikuzushi buried his face in his arms, "I'm not talking to you anymore."
  Kazuha's face got very red, "rehearsal was a little intense... Heizou wants everything to be as perfect as possible."
  Miko giggled, "he doesn't look like a perfectionist, I'm surprised by the effort he's putting into this live."
  "Well, he feels responsible because the Collab was his idea..." Kazuha carefully put his hand on Kunikuzushi's head and start running his fingers through his beloved's hair.
  "Ah, that makes sense," Miko's smile spread as she watched him.
  Kazuha felt like he was being hunted for sport by the two women who wouldn't stop staring at him.
  Kunikuzushi sat up abruptly, "Nahida, how long until dinner is ready?"
  Nahida was standing on a step stool over the stove, "roughly twenty minutes."
  "Okay," Kuni stood up and took Kazuha's hand. "Come on," he started pulling Kazuha out of the kitchen.
  "Oh, and we were just getting to the good part," Miko sighed.
  Kazuha was blushing very hard. Firstly, he didn't know where Kuni was taking him. And Secondly, he was ecstatic to be in his house. Then he started to feel bad because that sounded like a creepy thought to have...
  Kunikuzushi took Kazuha down a hallway, still moving quite quickly. He opened a door and hauled Kazuha inside before closing the door behind them. Then he let go of Kazuha's hand with a long sigh. "They seriously don't know how to mind their own business."
  Kazuha looked around nervously, "it's alright..." Then he realized where they must be. This was Kunikuzushi's room... He was in Kunikuzushi's room. He instantly got about three shades more red.
  The room itself was clean, but all the surfaces were cluttered, except one. The desk in the room was quite clean, housing a computer, monitor, keyboard, and microphone. That must be where Kuni does his recording. Wait, why would he do that at home?
  "You don't have a studio?" Kazuha asked.
  Kunikuzushi shook his head, "no, it felt weird to go somewhere to record when it was just me..."
  "That's fair," Kazuha took a tentative step in. He didn't want to disturb anything, this seemed like Kuni's safe place... Kazuha got *even more* red. Kunikuzushi took him to his safe place... He felt so honored.
  Sure, Kunikuzushi has been in Kazuha's room before, too, but that was before they were dating and it was only for a few seconds.
  Kunikuzushi sat down on his bed heavily, "I could just pass out right now..."
  Kazuha slowly approached, "is that another side-effect of your heart condition?"
  "Hm? What do you mean?"
  "Well, you get tired out so easily..." Kazuha answered as he carefully sat down beside his boyfriend. They had been dating for several weeks and had only gone on two or three dates. Kazuha had been getting better about asking before doing things and Kunikuzushi had been getting better at saying yes... And yet Kazuha still couldn't help but blush at everything Kuni did.
  Kunikuzushi heaved another sigh, leaning his head against Kazuha's shoulder.
  Kazuha slowly put his arm around Kunikuzushi, "you can take a quick nap if you want..."
  "No, I've gotta be a good host and entertain you or something," Kuni shook his head.
  Kazuha chuckled, "I really don't mind."
  "Are you sure?" Kuni asked.
  Kazuha nodded, gently squeezing him, "I'm certain."
  Kunikuzushi only sighed again.
  Kazuha paused for a long moment. He didn't know what to do... Was Kunikuzushi comfortable? Was Kazuha being too compliant again? What did everyone else think?! Did they know Kazuha was in Kuni's room?! What did they think they were doing?!
  Kazuha felt impossibly red as he sat there tensely. Then he slowly put his hands on Kunikuzushi's shoulders and started laying him down.
  Kuni opened his eyes, "what are you doing?"
  Kazuha froze, whispering, "I was just letting you lay down... so you can be more comfortable..." Then he realized that from Kunikuzushi's point of view it didn't look like that at all. "Sorry!" He got progressively more red as he let go.
  Kunikuzushi blinked up at the ceiling. "Oh."
  "I'm sorry," Kazuha covered his blushing face.
  "No, it's okay..." Kunikuzushi readjusted his position and got comfortable. "I know you're... used to..."
  "That's not what I was doing!" Kazuha shook his head profusely, "I swear!!!"
  Kunikuzushi pursed his lips as Kazuha peeked through his fingers. "Okay..." Kuni finally said. Then he closed his eyes again.
  Kazuha felt like screaming! He felt like such a horrible person! It was a long moment of silence before he let his hands down and breathed out deeply. He looked over at Kunikuzushi only to be punched in the gut with the sudden urge to kiss him.
  Kazuha wanted to look anywhere else! He wanted to think anything else! But he just couldn't tear his eyes away!
  Kunikuzushi just had the most kissable face Kazuha had ever seen... It wasn't fair.
  Kazuha reluctantly laid down beside him. He and Kuni had never really cuddled with each other... hadn't they been together long enough for that?...
  Kazuha hesitantly slid one of his arms under Kunikuzushi's neck and put the other over his chest. He moved closer, holding him gently. He whispered, "I love you, Kuni..."
  He felt like he could never say it enough. He pressed his eyes into his darling's shoulder, "I love you so much..."
  It was a long while that he stayed like that. Kazuha was content with just holding him, though he had to work hard to ignore his intrusive thoughts.
  Kazuha brushed Kuni's hair out of his face, his fingertips lingering. His conversation with Beidou about kissing someone while they were sleeping came back to his mind.
  Kazuha shook his head. He couldn't do that... Kunikuzushi wasn't ready to go that far yet and Kazuha needed to respect that. He hardened his resolve and put his hand back around Kunikuzushi's abdomen. He could wait.
  Then the door clicked open. Kazuha immediately closed his eyes and froze.
  "Oh," Nahida's voice whispered.
  "What is it?" Miko asked.
  "They fell asleep,"
  "I need a picture of this," Miko giggled.
  "Hm? What for?" Ei asked.
  "So I can put it in their wedding video," Miko said like it was obvious.
  Kazuha held as still as possible, fearing for his life. Was Miko already scheming a wedding?!