Chapter Text
It's a Monday morning at work. A day where every office worker from a certain company takes their time in finishing their Friday backlogs and new entries for the week. Every printing and fax machine has a line that reaches up to about 10 workers at a time, estimated waiting time for each turn is about 15 minutes or so. And if there's anything else that could add up to that struggle, it's the coffee that they get for free, a hit and miss of being bland and cold at times.
It was never a fun experience, especially if you work under the Color company that is known for having a bad reputation coming from their own employees. And it's just so unfortunate that Mysta and his three other friends had to be working in this said company. However despite the regrettable fate, the group kept their head high, hopeful at least that they are working alongside.
Mysta, Ike, Vox and Luca do all sorts of things, just like a team. Not a day goes by where they aren't together. It all started when they met at a young age, at a playground where parents would leave out their children to experience their own fun and possibly make friends too. There were three kids that refused to engage in such, namely Mysta, Ike and Vox, making them the odd ones out. People have then called them out for being weird, but they didn't seem to care, almost as if they had the mind of an adult already in the making. One day, it all changed when Luca joined in, who immediately befriended almost everyone he encountered and even took the three so-called odd kids out of their shell. Doing so formed a group that they were dedicated to maintaining for who knows how long it would last.
Attending schools and being on the same sections followed until they graduated from High School. They did have to pursue different courses when they enrolled at a University, however, the institute that they applied to was practically the same. They would find time to occasionally hang out and stuff even with their busy schedules, committed to never leave any person in the group alone or behind. Their friendship was always applauded by everyone, even to the point of being envied for how inseparable they were.
They really do all sorts of things together. Even to the point of being single ever since.
Mysta arrived at his station in the office way earlier than he had imagined. He didn't come along with his friends who usually take the same route to get to here. For a reason that he wanted for at least some change in how he usually does things. Last night, he had a lot to think of, and that includes the boys. It's not like he can always stick around with them forever, surely, there'll be a time where they need to go their separate ways and all. Realization dawned over him that he'll be the loneliest if that ever happens so he's trying to train himself now to be independent.
And he had to admit, it's really not that easy knowing he and the group have always been together ever since. If there's just something that he could do that could help make him occupied at all times, to save him from thinking of the boys all the time and stuff. He would take that offer in a heartbeat.
"Eyyy! How's it going, everyone? Today, we received a brand new package to sort from viewers again!" Mysta's train of thoughts were disrupted by the sound coming from his neighbor worker's phone, Uki. He peaked from the side and stared at the other with an unamused look. "Stop watching videos at work."
Uki sides glances at Mysta and shrugs. "For your information, work doesn't start in about 15 minutes. I got time." Uki playfully stuck his tongue out, resuming to watch on his phone.
Mysta couldn't help but groan, burying his fingers to his hair and clutching it. "I get it but could you at least tone down the volume? You're not the only one in this room!" He almost shouts.
Uki pauses the video and turns to Mysta. "Geez, why are you so grumpy today? I get that it's a Monday morning but, damn, chill. Is being a virgin for 24 years getting to you or what?"
Mysta slams his hands to his desk. "That last part was unnecessary!"
They were lucky the other workers around didn't seem to mind their chattering and noise, seemingly just minding their own business to prepare for the start of their shift.
Uki tuts. "You know it's the truth. I still don't get why you and your friends couldn't be bothered to get yourselves some bitches."
Mysta rubs his temple and sighs. "We had no time for such."
Uki scoffs. "Let me guess. You're gay and in love with one of the boys?"
"Hell no." Mysta spat, his eyebrows furrowed.
Uki raises a brow. "Then you're all aromantic?"
Mysta shakes his head. "Not really. I guess.. we just probably don't want any of us to get left behind?" He cites a possibility, since it's true, that's one of the least they'd want to see.
Uki's face winces from Mysta's response. "Psh, really, that's it? You all think so low of yourselves, you guys don't even know how much attention you're fishing out from the girls in the department." Saying so made a few of the female workers in their area jump in their seats. "Hear that? That's your proof."
Mysta rubs his temple once more. "That's probably because we're like the only ones who look sane enough working here? The rest of the dudes here look as dead as zombies!"
Uki almost broke into laughter. "Boy, you make it sound like they don't ever touch grass enough to know any other guys other than the ones in our company!" Uki smacks Mysta's back, earning a glare from the other. "But pff.. you're right about that and I doubt even when those dudes get a week off, they'd still look the same, or probably half dead." Now it was Mysta's turn to stop himself from laughing, he looks away from Uki and covers his mouth, his shoulders shaking.
Uki flips over to his phone again, opening an app that had a video paused. "But, like, if you guys are that worried of the other not having a date, why not just go for a group one then?"
Mysta stops to think. A group date? Seems like a good idea, actually, but would the others agree to it? Surely, at the age of 24, they're also thinking of getting themselves in a relationship, right?
"I'll talk to the boys about it."
Uki chuckles. "About time." He plays back the video he was watching from earlier, acting as if he didn't hear Mysta's complaint earlier about it being loud.
Mysta inhaled an annoyed sigh, turning back to his neighbor worker to give him another word. "Uki, I swear to God, if you don't lower the volume of that video, I will–" His words dissolved in the air when his eyes landed on Uki's phone screen.
The video contains a guy whose dark hair flowed up above his chest, streaks of yellow and purple were at different parts in his hair. Purple eyes had seemed to captivate him, making Mysta unable to tear away from it. He looked oh so pretty, is what Mysta has thought. Currently, he seems to be unboxing a big package that he has received from a viewer, revealing different sorts of items that were up for him to test and review.
"Oh, wow. This is the third time i've received makeup products! Did you guys enjoy my makeup reviews that much?" He chuckles as he takes out an eyeliner from the box, its color at its rarest. "A red eyeliner? Now, that's certainly new, let's put it to the test!" In front of a mirror, he carefully drew a straight thin line over each of his eyes, making them look highlighted and pointed out.
There was excitement all over his face as he finished, showing to the viewers up close his final look. "This looks good! I can even see myself using it everyday!"
Mysta seconded that. They look incredibly good, alright, but pretty is a more suitable term if Mysta says so himself. Mysta then forgot what he was complaining about earlier, whatever it was was now thrown to a bin and forgotten. Instead, he continues to let himself be entertained by this certain person, who keeps making a lot of cute noises and faces as he unravels all sorts of new things.
The black haired man's next product to test was a foundation, to which he applied to his face after applying some moisturizer and primer. Mysta has never been interested in products such as these, but for some reason, he was piqued. He wanted to see more of this guy and he wouldn't give a damn of what he'd do. Mysta just wants to keep seeing him, probably even watch all of his videos in an instance.
"Hey, Uki."
"Yeah?" Uki remained fixed on the video, interested in the next products to be tested.
Mysta was fidgety but he was oh so curious to know. "Care to tell me about that guy?"
Uki pauses the video then turns to Mysta. "Who?"
"Uh, that one you're watching." Mysta clears his throat, his eyes looking away.
Uki blinks then slowly grins as he notices Mysta's troubled expression. "I knew you were gay." He teases before taking out a pen and paper to write down the name of the person in the video, giving it to Mysta afterwards.
"Shut up." Mysta hesitatingly takes the piece of paper.
Shu Yamino
[link to channel]
Mysta appreciates the thought of Uki adding a link to where he could find him, making it way easier to get to where he wanted to be.
And just in time after that is when the buzzing alarm went off, announcing the start of their shift. Mysta slipped the piece of paper to his pocket and booted up his computer. Waiting for the starting up screen to fade away, he can't help but think of Shu and all the cute voices and faces he was making earlier.
Ah, darn. Mysta has never felt this way before. Why would he just suddenly think of someone he recently watched once?
Mysta felt confused but somehow, this made him feel some hope in him.
Maybe this Shu person could actually help occupy his time off from the boys.
.
And so it happened.
At Lunch time, Mysta had managed to escape his three friends once again who were just on their way to fetch him. They usually dine with each other at one specific table in the cafeteria but today, Mysta was out of sight. Instead, he was found all alone at the rooftop, both his ears were plugged with earphones as he watched on his phone a certain vlogger who's testing out yet another batch of things sent to him by his viewers.
Mysta didn't know what hit him, but he was certainly itching to watch Shu since he started working earlier. He couldn't even find himself focused as his mind kept replaying scenes of the dark haired man from the video. It was hard!
The piled up curiosity and interest in him were then unleashed when the buzzing alarm rang as usual, signaling it was time for some break. Which Mysta really needed, but here he was.
Skipping his meal to watch someone he just newly subscribed to: Shu Yamino.
"Woah, who sent me pepsi and milk?" Shu turns to the camera with a confused look. "Am I.. supposed to see how this tastes now? Wow." And so he does what he was requested by combining the two drinks then taking a sip of it. His face contorts with a mix of confusion and satisfaction, making it difficult for his viewers to figure out how the drink actually tastes. "It's OK.. I guess..?" Shu manages to answer after some time.
"I did say you guys could send in ANYTHING but I didn't expect there would be some stuff like these." Shu chugs on the remaining pilk and chuckles. The liquid drips off from the corner of his mouth and down to his chin. When Shu noticed it, Mysta had thought he would just wipe it off but instead, he licked it off.
Shu licked off the liquid and then his lips, a giggle following after as he looked back at the camera. "Sorry about that! It's rare for me to be this messy so I didn't really bring some tissues with me!"
Oh did Mysta feel his heart miss a beat. That was totally uncalled for. He would have been fine if Shu had used his hand to wipe it instead, but no, it was his tongue. And he would have remained sane if Shu hadn't made that expression, that oh so cute bubbly personality of his. It's driving Mysta on edge!
"Agh, how can he be so cute!" Mysta buries his face to his hands, taking in short breaths in an attempt to calm himself.
"Who is?"
Mysta jumps from his seat. He turns around to find his three friends who each were holding a plastic bag in their hands.
"S-Since when did you guys..?!"
"Just now?" Vox places his plastic bag in the ground and takes the seat next to Mysta. "Took us a while to actually look for a fox in hiding."
Ike fought to not roll his eyes. "Exhausting, really." He crouches down as well and sits at the other side of Mysta, now sandwiching him with Vox.
Mysta's sweat trickled down from his back, his hands clawing at his thighs. "I can.. explain."
Luca dives into Mysta and hugs him, making the other yelp. "Unpog! We were so worried about where you've been!" He starts to sniffle as he nuzzles his face to Mysta's chest.
"I know, i'm sorry, okay! I just.." Mysta ruffles Luca's hair, comforting him.
"Mysta." Ike calls him with the usual serious tone of his. "If we did something wrong, please let us know."
Mysta bit his lower lip. Hearing how his friends were absolutely worried and have been looking for him all this day had guilt driven in him. Afterall, he was practically ignoring them right off the bat with no words beforehand as to why, surely they'd think it's their fault that's causing him to act like this.
Obviously, it's not.
They would often get into fights, yes. But it would all be resolved easily with a game and a movie night which Ike and Vox usually propose. This certain scenario isn't even a fight to begin with, just a silly misunderstanding that Mysta failed to make the others know about. And it's not like Mysta is good with that either, he's the quiet person in the group, you see. Going with the flow is his natural thing.
But then, how could even Mysta explain the reason for him distancing from them? Would the group understand and possibly respect his decision that he just wants to learn how to be independent without them? Surely, they would. But Mysta couldn't help but worry this would make them unhappy, and seeing them be that way is something that Mysta would hate.
"Mysta?" Vox waves his hand in front of Mysta, noticing how he's beginning to zone out.
"You okay?" Luca detangles from Mysta and cups his cheek.
Mysta snaps himself out of it when he feels Luca's cold hands pressing to both his cheeks. "Yo! Luca, your hands are freezing!"
Luca blinks, then chuckles. "Yeah? I was carrying our drinks after all!"
"But, seriously, are you okay? Is there something on your mind?" Ike asks.
"No, I.. uh.." Mysta slowly detaches himself from the group for some space. His phone that was in his back pocket slipped out due to his crawling, the screen was still on with a Shu video being paused. Unknowingly, Mysta's fingers press on the play button.
"Okay, up next is.. wait, is this tea and milk? Another taste test?"
Vox blinks. "What's that?"
Mysta looks at his side to see his phone resuming one of Shu's videos to where he left off from earlier. He quickly tries to grab it back but a hand comes before he could.
Ike snatched his phone, curious about what Mysta was actually watching. His eyes that were filled with worry and disappointment transitioned to relief as he realized what it was. "It's not porn, I see."
"Why do you look so disappointed as if not everyone of us has already seen it?" Vox chuckles, crossing his arms.
Luca tilts his head to the side. "Did I hear popcorn?"
Ike looks at Vox. "Not all of us." Pertaining to Luca who seems unaware of what they actually mean.
"Ikey! Give that back!" Mysta flails his arms towards his friend but it is easily blocked with Ike's one hand.
The video in Mysta's phone continues to go on, with Shu making some sudden random sounds that had the others turning their attention to him. Eventually, they found themselves intrigued, to the point of finishing the video and even forgetting they had a meal to eat.
"Cute.." The first words that Ike has said the moment the video ends.
"I second that." Vox heaves a sigh. "I could see myself watching more of him."
"He's pog!" Luca even admits he enjoyed that, already flipping on his phone to search for him.
Mysta was… relieved. Happy, even, that his friends liked the same thing he liked. It was also evident in their faces that they enjoyed it. No lies and pretenses, that's how Mysta had wished in a friendship, and he was given so much more than that.
"Mysta." Ike calls for him again. "Is this perhaps the reason why you were avoiding us?"
Mysta felt cold sweat drop once again. It's definitely not about Shu, of course!
"Did you think we would have thought of you differently?"
There was such a thought, yes. But Mysta already knew that wasn't a problem. It will never be for the boys who would never judge him easily like that and it's one of the reasons why he treasures the boys a lot.
"You guys know me so well."
Luca chuckles at that. "Of course, we do! We loooveeee each other, after all!"
Ike goes ahead to rub on Mysta's head, assuring him. "No matter what, don't be scared of just being you. We love you no matter what."
Vox places a hand on Mysta's shoulder. "And always remember that we will always be there for you, so don't keep everything to yourself."
Mysta bit his lower lip. "You guys are gonna make me cry, stop."
The group laughed together afterwards, with Mysta happily sharing to the others about the new found vlogger that Uki introduced to him from earlier. They listened intently, and sure enough, they were definitely interested.
.
"Oh my God, you guys." Uki almost dropped his sling bag when he came across the group seated at their usual table in the cafeteria, each of them having their phones out playing a video of Shu.
It has already been a week since that day, when Mysta had mindlessly decided to distance himself from the group for some change. It was supposed to actually be like that until he finally learns how to live on his own but.. that didn't go as intended when they all met a certain vlogger: Shu Yamino.
These days, the group has been talking nonstop about Shu as well, saying how he looked amazing and cute in his recent videos. They became up to date with his past uploads in just a span of 3 days and even lost a few hours of sleep because of it. They didn't watch it altogether like how they would usually do for movies. And nobody knows why they insisted that was way better.
Today at lunch, the group is currently replenishing themselves with some food while watching Shu's recently uploaded video from earlier in the morning. If not for a Monday morning, they would have already watched it even during work. So that's another reason to hate this day, it seems.
"These virgins don't even hear me, do they?" Uki asked himself as he looked at each one with earphones on. "It's so rare and funny to just see them watching on their phones and not talking." Uki then decides to go over to sit with them for today, placing his tray of food on the table. He actually didn't expect for one of them to come notice, as they seem to be really busy in watching.
"Hey there, Uki." Ike greets him with a smile. He lowers his phone down and unplugs his earphones.
"Hello, Ike." Uki lays his head in his hand. "It's such a new sight, really, to see you all being busy on your phones and not even minding each other's presence."
Ike blinks. "Is that what you think?" He chuckles as he grabs his fork and intentionally drops it to the floor.
The other three looked up from their phones and looked at Ike, telling him he dropped something. After saying that, Vox reached for the fork quickly and stood up, walking over to a certain section to get it replaced to a new one.
"Pretend I said anything." Uki laughs it off and starts to eat his meal. "Anyway, I noticed you all seemed to have really like that vlogger, huh?"
Ike wasn't to deny what Uki said since it's obvious that they do. "Not even having the effort to hide it, so yes, you could say that." Ike happily takes the new fork that Vox gave him and resumes eating as well.
Uki hums. "Why not send him some stuff to review or test?" Ike perks up. "I'm sending him some stuff this weekend so I can take whatever you guys want to give him."
And with that, the remaining boys have turned their attention to Uki, obviously interested with his offer. Their eyes glittered with excitement, looking forward to actually having what they sent in to be tested by Shu personally.
"Can we send in food?" Mysta asks.
"As long as it will be fine in three days during shipment, maybe."
"Does he play games? Can we send that too?"
Uki hums. "As he always says after his stream or video, you guys can send him anything. He will test it out and give feedback in return."
Vox preens at that. "Anything, you say?"
And oh, did Vox take that seriously.
.
It's a Friday morning when Uki had requested for whatever items the four were planning to give Shu. Ike, Luca and Vox had theirs ready while Mysta came unprepared so he had to quickly think up one before the night arrived. Fortunately, after getting off work in the afternoon, he managed to get himself one item that he's set on sending in to Shu.
During that time, however, Uki has already gone home to pack his own items, to make it in time before the post office closes. Mysta had to rush to his home for his and the boys' prepared items and successfully, he made it just in time.
"Never knew you actually sent him some stuff as well. What do you actually put in your package?" Mysta asks.
Uki takes out a cardboard box from his room and shapes it into a packaged sixed box. "Hmm, some outfits and makeup."
"Outfits...Oh! I think I might have heard your name from his videos actually."
Uki shushes Mysta. "I made my name way longer than it should be but don't ever expose me!"
"Oops." Mysta places both his hands over his mouth.
"Anyways, are these all the things you guys wanted to send in?" Uki sorts the 4 items that were packed in bubble wrap, he tries to study what they actually were but he also wants to surprise himself with what they actually are.
"Yep! Thanks again for helping us in sending him some stuff!"
"No worries. Anyway, I can handle the rest, you can run along now."
Mysta hesitates. "Are you sure? I can carry the box for you on the way to the post office!"
"I can carry it just fine, Mysta." Uki lets out a chuckle. "And my boyfriend is coming over soon, I want some time with him after i'm done with this."
"Of course, you do." Mysta stands up. "Just call me if you ever need help, okay?" Uki nods along as he escorts Mysta to the door. After putting on his shoes, Mysta rushed out of the house, waving a hand goodbye.
Uki waves back, watching as Mysta slowly grows farther from his sight. He checks the time and sees he has about an hour left before the post office closes.
"Shit." Uki dashes back to his room and places every item on his floor in the box. "Hm?" Suddenly, he held one of the items and felt it somehow… suspicious. It was a bit squishy and hard, its length being 6 to over 8 inches? "What even is this?!"
Uki was then reminded of the time. He snapped back to his senses and resumes his packing. He just hopes that whatever that strange item was was just a towel or some sort. He hoped that it was nothing out of the ordinary.
But boy, was he wrong.