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As idols, rumors surrounded MORE MORE JUMP! constantly, especially since they were little more than high school students right now. One such thing consistently on their fans’ radars were their love lives: everyone wants to know their favorite idol’s tastes in people, after all—would they be up to their standards?
So when Haruka ended up solidifying her relationship with Aoyagi Toya, she knew they’d have to keep it low. She was up-front with him about such, and he understood and agreed—he himself had no interest in making their relationship a grandiose thing anyways. However, if her boyfriend was two things, it would be that he was kind and he could be a menace.
MMJ was streaming in their new location that day, showing More More House around to their viewers. People flooded the chat with comments, cooing over every little thing the idols pointed out to them, and even the things they didn’t. As Minori took the camera away from Airi, Haruka glanced down at her buzzing phone. Opening it up, she couldn’t help but smile.
> Hope the stream’s going well. We don’t have practice today, so I’m going to swing by that cafe you like.
> Do the others want anything? I’m happy to drop it off at the House.
Haruka’s smile grew, unconsciously typing back her order along with the others’. They’d frequented that cafe quite a lot since it had good options for the idols’ diets, and Haruka was often the one ordering for… a variety of reasons. She tucked her phone away after confirming her boyfriend’s message of “be there in 30,” just in time for the camera to come back around to her.
“Haruka-chan~!” Minori pouted. “Tell our fans that I’m not clumsy!”
Haruka could only nervously laugh, quickly weighing her options. She glanced past Minori and the camera to see Airi grinning deviously and Shizuku with a confused yet warm smile. Haruka sighed good-naturedly, then, bravely, faced Minori and their viewers again.
The stream continued without much fanfare, the group getting into dance practice in their new studio. The door to downstairs opened as Shizuku and Minori were going over a section that Shizuku was having trouble with, followed by steps ascending the stairs.
“Hm? Is someone here?” Airi glanced into the main room. Her eyes bulged when she saw the tall, dual-colored blue head of Toya making their way into the House.
“I should’ve expected you to be on time,” Haruka laughed quietly, approaching him. He moved to the little kitchen, setting the bag of drinks on the counter.
“I did say thirty minutes, right?” Toya gave her a confused and worried look. She patted him on the back, telling him to ignore her mumblings.
“Hey, Minori, keep that pointed down!” Airi’s voice echoed through the house; Haruka and Toya both looked over to see the trio rushing over, their streaming phone taken out of its stand and in Minori’s hands. Dutifully, the camera was pointed down, but Haruka could just imagine the questions flooding their chat.
“I’m surprised to see you here, though— are those drinks?” Airi stared at the bag of drinks.
“Ah, I swung by the cafe Haruka likes, and she told me your orders, so…” Toya trailed off. Haruka peeked into the plastic bag, pulling out drinks one-by-one and calling them out. Each idol took their drink, sighing happily. Finally, she pulled out a small cup of what she could only assume was—
“—and a coffee, black, for you.”
Toya hummed, accepting the offered coffee. Haruka smiled as he savored his favorite beverage with a content smile on his face.
“Are you going to stay, or do you have somewhere to be?” Haruka asked her boyfriend. He thought for a moment.
“I’ll hang here for a little while, if you’d like. But don’t let me interrupt your stream,” he replied, giving Haruka a soft smile.
“U-uhm! Excuse me!” Minori interrupted, bringing her free hand to her chest. “Would you mind helping me with a routine?”
Toya hesitated, and Haruka gave him an odd look. This wasn’t the first time he’d hesitated about being in front of a camera full of people—when they’d first started dating and Haruka had mentioned him appearing on stream at some point, he’d gotten like this too. She placed her hand on top of his, gently intertwining their fingers.
“You don’t have to appear in front of our viewers; you can help Minori from behind the camera.”
“...Would I be of help?” Toya turned to her.
“The routine is similar to your style, so I think you’d understand it. Plus, you understand choreographies in a different way than us idols, so it would be a new way of seeing things,” she explained with a smile. Toya nodded along, then agreed. Airi took the camera from Minori and went with Shizuku to put it back (and do damage control, most likely). Minori thanked Toya again, bowing low, before darting off into their practice room.
Haruka glanced at her boyfriend, and couldn’t help but let out a silent sigh of relief at his relaxed posture. His silver eyes caught her own pair of aquamarine ones, and gave her a soft smile he’d only ever seen him give Akito or his siblings.
“Are you alright with this?” Haruka asked anyway. He nodded.
“Don’t worry, I know my boundaries. Hanasato-san didn’t overstep.”
“You can call her Minori, you know.” Haruka walked into the practice room, Toya trailing after her.
“...I’ll think about it.” She could hear the teasing in his voice, and chuckled. Minori waved at them excitedly as Airi suggested they run through what they had at the moment so Toya could see. They all agreed, and started up their practice once again.
Toya had been referred to as “drink boy” from then on. His appearance on their streams at the House had become near-routine, with their streamers always ecstatic to see “drink boy.” Of course, with his appearance, rumors circulated like crazy . Most assumed (correctly) that Toya was dating someone in MMJ, although opinions differed on who it may be.
One day, Haruka was streaming alone in the House, a much quieter and calmer stream than the long stream of appearances they’d been doing. Reading off chat, she couldn’t help but let out a huff at one person’s question.
“‘Where is drink boy?’ Drink boy’s still in school—he got held up by his committee, I think.” Haruka couldn’t help but roll her eyes (affectionately!) at the chat.
“Actually I wanted to surprise you.” Toya’s voice replied, his head poking in soon after. Haruka let out a screech, jumping ten feet in the air. Her shaky breaths turned into chuckles as she registered the situation.
“Oh, you scared me.” She stood up, a grin on her face.
“Sorry about that,” he replied, but the sparkle in his eye told her he wasn’t that sorry. He leaned down to peck her on the forehead, making her melt a little. “Anyways, I got you a pack of those sweets you like.”
“You didn’t have to.” She took the offered box of sweets. They were just low-calorie enough that she could enjoy them on a semi-regular basis.
“But I wanted to,” Toya huffed, giving her a look . It wasn’t often Toya got snarky with anyone , so Haruka couldn’t help but both feel amused and patronized.
“Thank you, then.” She gave him another hug. “Are you staying?”
“I can if you’d like. No one else here?”
“No, they’re all busy with other things.” Haruka moved to the camera and began adjusting it. She gestured for Toya to sit down on the bean bag Minori had insisted they have (and Haruka had, secretly, backed) and managed to get it adjusted so his legs and part of his torso were in the frame but nothing more. Then she sat down on the couch, fully in frame, and smiled at the camera. “Well, here’s ‘drink boy.’”
“Hello there.” Toya waved in frame, a canned coffee now in his hands. “Have I been nicknamed ‘drink boy,’ now?”
“Yes, that is what they like to call you.” Haruka opened her pack of sweets with a smile. She looked at the live chat feed, noticing a recurring question. She turned to Toya and asked, “Can I tell them?”
He stared back at her with a blank expression, then a lightbulb went off over his head. “Oh! Sure.”
She turned back to the chat. “Yes, ‘drink boy’ and I are dating.”
Their viewers were ecstatic. And not in the way Haruka had thought.
Her initial reaction was that they would eat up the news that their idol was dating someone mostly for the sheer drama behind it. However, she was pleasantly surprised to learn that instead, they were genuinely happy she’d found someone to be with.
…That did not stop them from calling him ‘drink boy.’ Or Toya from living up to such a title.
“My group doesn’t do streaming like this,” Toya commented once, viewing the chat on his phone. “We do music as well, but not in the same style as MMJ.”
Toya was lovely with their chat, always interacting with them. If he didn’t actively avoid the camera and already had obligations with Vivid BAD SQUAD, Haruka was sure he’d make a perfect idol if he wanted to. Some point down the line, Haruka had learned the mortifying knowledge that Toya put whatever they were on—whether their own streams or appearances elsewhere—as he did work or walked to practice, catching them live if he could; when he couldn’t, he’d always made sure to watch the VODs.
Then, one day, something… strange happened.
It was another solo stream of hers—Airi was supposed to be there, but had come down sick at the last minute, so only Haruka it was—and Toya had swung by once again, bringing a box of those sweets Haruka likes. Haruka, midway through their conversation, excused herself to go to the bathroom. She wasn’t gone more than a minute , and yet when she came back Toya looked like a cat that got the cream, and chat was positively terrified .
“What happened between you and chat?” she asked her boyfriend. He simply kept up his smug smile and refused to answer. She dropped it, but resolved to watch the VOD of that stream later.
“Later” ended up being “that night” since Toya insisted upon taking her out for a date after her stream—a very lovely one, mind you, she enjoyed every second of it and was hopelessly in love with this man—but finally she sat down to discover what happened.
Fast-forwarding until where she left, she slowed it back down and watched with rapt attention. Only a second or two after she’d left the room, Toya cleared his voice.
“...Let’s talk, chat.” His voice had turned serious to a degree she’d only ever heard from him when speaking about surpassing RAD WEEKEND—but then, his voice had been full of fire. Here, it felt like a winter storm had suddenly descended upon the stream. “I’ve seen some of the stuff you say to Haruka. I’ve been watching you all. So let me be clear here for a moment: Haruka is my girlfriend, and I will not tolerate some of the intrusive things you say about and to her. She may laugh it off, but I will not .”
Chat, appropriately, grew terrified and bent to his demands quickly. Her past self came back into frame only a few seconds later, looking just as confused as she had been earlier that day.
Haruka let out a breath, flush rising to her cheeks. She grabbed her phone and immediately opened her texts with her boyfriend; then, she spent minutes typing, deleting, then retyping her message over and over again. Finally, she settled on:
> …You’re very hot when you threaten my viewers over me.
Toya left her on read for a few minutes before he sent her a barely coherent reply.
This went on for eight months total. “Drink boy,” as the MMJ fans had thus dubbed him (and that no one, including the man himself, had bothered to correct them on), Kiritani Haruka’s boyfriend, had become something of a legend in the idol community in general. It was a little terrifying in Haruka’s opinion, but Toya seemed nothing more than highly amused by this situation so she counted it as a win.
Ironically, it was thanks to Toya that Haruka understood their fans even better. The stereotype of idol fans had become twisted as the industry itself became more twisted and brutal—but here their fans were: highly supportive of her relationship, of her boyfriend’s wish to stay off-camera, and of his “warnings” towards anyone who tried to cozy up to Haruka in the wrong way.
Then, it had all blown up in the most anticlimactic way possible.
Toya arrived, as always, with drinks—MMJ would break to receive their drinks, and chat would be delighted that their favorite idol partner had appeared (his continued presence for the stream was up-for-debate, as sometimes he just swung by to drop drinks off before practice, but the community stayed ever hopeful).
While in the middle of making small talk with Toya before he left to go hang out with his siblings, a super chat suddenly echoed through the room:
<hey, isn’t that aoyagi toya from vivid bad squad? lol>
All conversation stopped as the four idols stared at the phone in shock. Haruka immediately opened her mouth to do damage control before her boyfriend began chuckling—then laughing, then having to hold onto the counter so he wouldn’t collapse onto the floor. They stared at him in disbelief; Haruka couldn’t help but smile after a few moments.
“Sorry, I just… I didn’t expect it to be so… blunt. ” Toya calmed down, a smile on his face. “Yes, I am, it’s nice to meet you.”
Haruka peeked at the chat open on Toya’s phone. It was moving at a breakneck speed she’d very rarely seen out of them.
<oh cool! i thought you sounded familiar. i listen to vbs a lot, didn't expect you over here tho>
“Well… dating an idol has its perks I suppose.”
“Toya, dear,” Haruka put a hand on his bicep, “please stop breaking chat.”
It went over surprisingly well, considering the fact that “Drink boy” was a member of Shibuya’s fastest-growing street music group. And was dating a member of MORE MORE JUMP! Actually, they probably broke two sets of fans with that info.
Toya appeared on the next stream, face and all, still slightly nervous about showing his face on stream but with Minori’s encouragement put himself out there. They’d set a stream dedicated just to the couple, discussing all the mundane things and the abnormal things.
“Aoyagi-kun, if you don’t mind me asking, why were you so apprehensive about coming onto the camera? Or, still are, I guess,” Shizuku asked with the tone that said that he was free to decline to answer.
Toya glanced away, took a deep breath, then turned back to the mint-haired idol. “Some of you may know my upbringing, but for those who don’t: I was raised in classical, but grew so sick of it I ran away and began doing street music to annoy my father. There’s more after that, but where I'm going with this is that because my family valued classical music so highly, I often had to do professional performances in front of hundreds of people. I was probably… no older than six.”
Airi let out a horrified breath as Toya continued: “Because of that, I was often in front of large crowds of people, forced to be perfect and stand up to everyone’s expectations; when I reached my breaking point with classical, I also grew… fearful, I suppose, of the camera. That fear ended up translating into these streams, as although I had no expectations placed upon me by others, I felt I had that pressure as a member of Vivid BAD SQUAD.
“So when I started appearing on streams, I didn’t want to be known as ‘Aoyagi Toya.’ Being ‘Drink Boy’ was good for me, because it meant I could make a relationship with everyone that had no strings attached.” Toya grabbed Haruka’s hand, lacing their fingers together.
“It’s the same for us idols, isn’t it?” Minori spoke up after a beat of silence. “Making friendships when you’re a well-known figure is difficult, especially when it comes to making true friendships. But as idols, we can make friends with the people who watch us, and spread hope to them!”
The others smiled and nodded. “I think everyone here would’ve accepted you regardless of if you were Aoyagi Toya or ‘Drink Boy,’” Haruka gave her boyfriend’s hand a squeeze, “but I’m glad you’re comfortable with this.”
Toya smiled in response, pecking a kiss to her forehead. Haruka blushed as Airi cackled, Shizuku and Minori grinning. The veteran idol glanced at chat and saw the messages moving quickly once more, and couldn't help but smile.
“Please continue to support us!” Haruka declared. “We’ll all continue to move forward as singers and idols.”
“You won’t want to miss out,” Toya smirked, falling into his stage persona. “Vivid BAD SQUAD will surpass that legendary event.”
“And MORE MORE JUMP! will make it all the way to the Dome!” Minori cheered. The other two nodded, determined looks on their faces.
Haruka watched chat send supportive messages to both groups, some even expressing interest in following VBS’ journey. Then and there, Haruka knew they had something unusual—unusually special— in their fans.
<toya-kun you’ll come on stream more and support your girlfriend right?>
… Even if they were a little too devious for their own good.