for @bsdgenweek 2026 day 5 | music/band au: nikolai, mushitarô & the nikoplushie
“I’ve got something for you, Mushimushi.” Nikolai told him straight away upon walking through the door, holding a colorful bag which gave zero clues about what was inside. Not like him wanting to keep it a surprise was (funnily enough) a surprise in itself; his friend might as well live and breathe to get reactions out of people and relish in them once achieved.
“And what is it?” Mushitarô swiftly replied, following along with what surely would be a bit of a charade.
“Oh, but where’s the fun in telling you?” And there it was. “Besides, you’re going to see it soon enough, right? Unless you’re planning on not opening it up until I’m gone, of course.” He then added, handing him the bag. “But you wouldn’t do that to me.”
No, Mushitarô wouldn’t; first because there was no way he would deny his friend seeing his own reaction to the gift, and second because trying would also mean he had to contain ever-growing levels of curiosity and therefore such an attempt was bound to fail even if he wanted to try at all. Or, in other words… The bag had barely gotten settled in his hands when Mushitarô moved onto taking its content out.
Inside he found the gift, yes, wrapped with equally colorful paper because of course it wasn’t going to be that easy.
“You really wanted to create suspense, huh?” Mushitarô then said, starting to remove the paper. Nikolai giggling in response already spoke volumes, and even more so when under that paper layer there was another one.
In fact, it wasn’t until he got rid of three when the actual gift could be seen: a plushie of Nikolai himself, and not just any plushie since that specific one was from a limited batch of the newest Decay merch. Mushitarô would know, given how he had been one of the first people outside the band lucky enough to see both the designs and how the final products looked like a VIP.
“Last there was in the store I checked.” Nikolai added, grinning with the smugness of someone who had pulled off an amazing feat. Knowing how fast those flew off the shelves, he indeed had.
“Well, thanks.” Mushitarô also said, smiling too. “Now I can hang out with him while you’re on tour.” He then tapped his chin, not really absent-mindedly. “Though I’d better not take him out to the street, or he might get kidnapped by a fan who didn’t get one.”
That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to brag about it via social media pictures.
