"Welcome to Friday Music Night!" shouted the young host enthusiastically. "Today we have some very special guests for you who will make your hearts beat faster."
The studio audience, largely made up of young women, shrieked. The stage behind the host was shrouded in complete darkness. "And here is our first guest. Join me in welcoming DEKUUUU!!!"
Several spotlights bathed the stage in glistening light. On the middle one of the three lounge chairs sat a young man with unmistakable green fuzzy mane that every 2nd girl in Japan dreamed of stroking her fingers through once. The shrieking of the audience took on a deafening volume. Some even stamped their feet.
The host raised her hands placatingly. "Calm down. I know you're all excited, but let's not just fawn over our handsome guest, let's let him have his say, shall we?"
The cheers swelled one more time before they finally died down and silence returned to the TV studio. In the meantime, the host had gone on stage to her guest and sat down in one of the two empty chairs.
"Deku, how nice of you to be our guest today," she said.
"Thank you so much for having me," the singer replied politely.
"How are you feeling?" the host asked.
"A little tired, actually." Izuku smiled shyly, whereupon languorous sounds were heard from the audience.
"No wonder, after all, your new song just came out last week. You must have a busy schedule then."
"Yeah ... I guess that's true, but that's totally okay. After all, I love what I do," the singer replied.
"Love, a good keyword!" the host interjected. "Are the rumors true that you and Uravity are a couple?"
Izuku scratched his cheek in embarrassment. "Ura and I are just friends."
"Really? It looked different in the photos the other day, though." The anchorwoman wiggled her eyebrows meaningfully.
"Really," he confirmed, forcing himself to smile. Izuku would have preferred to roll his eyes, but he pulled himself together so that his image would not be damaged. The pop idol was his best friend, but not more than that. In said photos, they had met for coffee. He had helped Ochako into her jacket afterwards and hugged her - that's it!
"That means you're single?"
"Yes," he answered curtly.
The host sighed theatrically. "Yet your songs are soo soulful. How can you write something like that without having a muse?"
Izuku raised an eyebrow. "Who says I don't have one?"
A screech went through the crowd and the host's heavily made-up eyes grew wide. Yes, he would live to regret that remark ... But at least it had been the truth this time, not like the question before.
"Who is the lucky girl?" the presenter asked excitedly.
"That will remain my secret."
"Do we get a hint?"
Izuku shook his head with a grin. After all, this was about his personal life, not a Christmas present.
"Spoilsport," his counterpart replied, artificially pouting. The singer remained iron-fisted. "Well, that doesn't stop us from listening to your new song and wondering who you might have had in mind. This is Deku with Delicate!"
Izuku stood up to the cheers of the crowd and walked to the part of the stage where everything was ready for him. Next to a bar stool with a microphone in front of it, his guitar was draped on a stand. The singer grabbed the guitar by the neck and sat down.
After playing a few notes to check that it was in tune, he played the first notes of his song. He sang the lyrics full of emotions and lost himself in the music. His surroundings were almost forgotten. Instead, he thought of his inspiration for the song and was filled with longing. They hadn't seen each other in far too long. The song ended and Izuku returned to reality.
The stage spotlights dazzled him, the audience went wild and the presenter uttered more inanities. The singer put the guitar back and made his way to his chair. Another ten minutes or so of interviewing and he would have done this gig. Hopefully the woman would think of some more creative questions now.
"That was terrific!" the moderator exclaimed.
Deku silently accepted the praise.
"Now let's welcome our next guest," she introduced.
Izuku had no idea who else was on the guest list today. He had had too much on his plate to care.
"Welcome DYNAMIIIGHT!!!"
The crowd went wild. The noise was deafening. Izuku's eyes widened at the name and he and everyone else looked toward the side entrance of the stage.
With his head held high, the punk singer entered the stage and briefly waved to the audience. As soon as the women noticed his outfit, the shrieking got even louder. The blond was wearing tight leather pants, boots, lots of accessories and a jacket - nothing else. Izuku swallowed hard.
Dynamight crossed the stage and dropped into the chair next to the greenette. There he lolled into the backrest, sitting with his legs wide apart. So far he had not given Izuku a glance. No wonder, it was common knowledge that the two singers didn't get along and regularly fought for placement in the charts.
Depending on what the producers of the show wanted to achieve, they were either invited together for more potential conflict or avoided meeting to make the show quieter.
The green-haired man probably should have read the guest list beforehand after all. But the sleep in the car on the way here had been more important. Since the new release, he had to use every short break to catch up on sleep.
"How nice that you could make it today, Dynamight." The host let her eyes roam over the punk's naked torso.
Yes, the guy had a six-pack ... And a V-line. Was that a reason to drool in public? Probably not!
The young woman apparently remembered her job again. "How are you? "
Dynamight grinned smugly. "Fucking fantastic since the latest chart rankings came out today."
Izuku bit the inside of his cheek and forced himself to keep smiling as well. Still, he felt the muscle on his left eye twitch. Stay calm ... Don't let him get to you!
"Congratulations on your new entry straight to No. 1," the anchorwoman crooned. "How did you react when you heard about it? Did you celebrate?"
"Of course, I assumed that I would be number one. There wasn't really any competition that week."
Exfuckingcuse me?!
Izuku lost control of his facial features, and he wasn't the only one who noticed.
The host laughed nervously and tried to save the situation. "Well, Deku's song came in second just behind it. In between, it was a real head-to-head race."
Dynamight just snorted. "A win is a win, even if it was a close one. In the end, that's all that matters."
Now the greenette couldn't keep it together. "Probably has less to do with talent than there seems to be something to sex sells after all."
"Maybe you should take off your clothes sometime, too. Then it might be enough for 1st place." The blonde was visibly unimpressed by the comment.
"Good cue!" the host quickly interjected.
The two singers interrupted their eye duel and looked to her, perplexed.
"Dynamight, your new song is insanely sexy - not only the lyrics, but also the video. Where did the inspiration for it come from?"
The punk pulled up one corner of his mouth. "Where do you think?"
The audience whistled and clapped.
The moderator leaned forward. "I'd like to say I'm not the only one with the question, "What's she like?" burning under my nails."
The smile on Dynamight's face looked almost genuine. "Quite sweet and well-behaved on the outside, but once we're in bed a real wild thing."
"Wow, you really care about the inside." Izuku couldn't help the sarcasm this time.
"After all, I don't just make little girls' panties wet with my drivel, I reach adults too."
"Still better than selling not only music, but your body at the same time."
The interview was about to get out of hand, and the moderator straddled it. "Dynamight, what do you want to say to the people who think that punk and similar genres are not real music at all?" The young woman put the end of the sentence in imaginary quotation marks.
The blond glared at her. "Who are these people you're talking about? Such clueless windbags as our little musical genius here? They should pull the stick out of their asses first, then maybe they'll loosen up and realize there's more to music than classical and cuddly rock." He had emphasized the word musical genius as if it was an insult.
It wasn't Izuku's choice to be called that ... He had a flair for notes and compositions, that was all. It wasn't his fault if others saw that as something special. He just wanted to make music - that's all.
"Better a musical genius with a sense for rhythm than someone who yells all the time and then calls it music," Izuku muttered in a huff.
Dynamight raised an eyebrow. "What was that, nerd?"
Izuku sighed. "You heard me. Or do I have to yell as well for you to hear me?"
A collective "Ohhhh!!!" could be heard from the audience.
The presenter held a finger to her ear and listened for the announcement from the control room. She stood up and smiled broadly - though it seemed a bit pained - before the punk could launch into a retort. The young woman looked at the camera closest to her. "Unfortunately, we have to say goodbye to Deku now, as he has another appointment in a moment. But no need to mourn, because after the commercial break Dynamight will perform his new song Middle of the Night live for us. Thank you so much for being there and playing for us, Deku."
Then the host addressed the studio audience, "We're going to take a little break now, and then we can look forward to Dynamight's performance once everything is changed over." This comment would be edited out for the evening and was intended solely for the on-site audience that attended the recording of the show. Although the show was called Friday Music Night, the recording was already taking place in the afternoon.
Izuku got up from his chair and said goodbye to the presenter and the audience. He hurriedly left the stage and made his way to his dressing room.
Once there, he closed the door, grabbed a water bottle, which he drank almost in one go, and sat down at the wide dressing table. He took a deep breath. Public appearances were sometimes a challenge for him. Even more so when he had to smile cheerfully the whole time, even if he wanted to give a mean answer.
The door to his dressing room was opened without the person having thought it necessary to knock first.
Izuku watched the intruder through the vanity mirror. A smug grin adorned his visitor's far too attractive face. "Hey nerd!"