I.M.O ♥ light is soft flickers behind your eyelids.
Title: Waking Up
Chapter: 01 - Soft Light
Pairing: Koyama-centric, with KoyaShige
Rating: G. (It's totally fluff with a little moping, but nothing weird~)
Author: sakustar
Words: 3,756
Summary: Even the best dreams don't last forever. Everyone has to wake up some time, right?
Notes: SO. misticloud is awesome. This is a companion fic to LDD (more like, the same fic, just Koyama's end of things), and although I'm not sure how good mine is, I hope you'll enjoy it, as well as LDD~ -shamelessplug- FIRST CHAPTER IS A MONSTER, YES?
[Soft Light]
I'm driving, and Shige's beside me. It's a comfortable silence we both reside in, and I sneak a few glances at him, but he's deep in thought, staring out the window on his side of the car, so it's alright. We can always talk later; it's early in the morning and Shige looks exhausted.
It's certainly a bright morning, and even though it's not even eight yet the sunlight is strong, almost piercing. No rain today, then? Just my kind of day, and even as such thoughts race through my mind at a mile a minute (all my thoughts are like that, don't worry) I still pay enough attention to the road, noticing that, hey, the light's changing, green to yellow to red, and I brake ever so slowly. Shige's thinking, and I can't bear to interrupt his thoughts. I wonder what he thinks, though, of this outrageously bright morning, of having to get up this early even though I know he's always studying and up half the night, of our friendship, of us.
I wonder what he thinks of us most of all, but it's not like I can ask him. I'm Koyama, after all, and Koyama isn't the kind of person you would share your deepest, darkest secrets with, no matter how good a friend he is. I know myself. I would probably just make their burden heavier, because it's just so obvious when I worry.
He looks like he's not thinking as hard now, so I smile at him. Ah, there, he's noticed it, and he smiles back. Does he know that his smile today looks more like a crossbreed between a muscle twitch and a grimace? Well, not like I mind, not like I mind at all. At least he's paying a little attention.
“Do you want to pick up some breakfast before we arrive?” I ask him, because I know that he probably hasn't eaten anything yet. A Shige this tired is not likely to be a hungry Shige, but he has to take care of himself, still. And if he won't take care of himself, I'll take care of him.
“I...I'm not hungry.”
Ah, of course. Of course he's not hungry. Of course he doesn't need silly old me to take care of him. It's stupid, right? But I still do it anyway.
He still looks tired. It feels slightly awkward, this atmosphere, so I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. “Are you okay? You look so tired this morning.”
“I'm fine.”
It's curt, and I feel just a little hurt, but the light's turning green and I have to drive, so I squash it all down. It's alright, Shige's just grumpy when he doesn't sleep enough. And then he grabs hold of my hand and then I'm all relieved inside, before he continues.
“Stop worrying about me, you know you’re like an old grandmother when you do.”
It's just a little too amusing, so I'm honest, and I laugh, stepping on the gas before the car behind me gets too impatient. “And you should know that it’s impossible for me to ever stop worrying about you!” is my reply, just said a little too jokingly, and I know that I'm forcing myself to be the Koyama that Shige knows.
I know, but I continue anyway.
He releases my hand slowly, and I can feel that he's lingering just a little. It makes me happy. Silly, isn't it, that little things like this can light up my entire day. Then, I look up at the rear view mirror and he's looking at how my hair shimmers in the light, and that makes me even happier.
Now, as before, there is silence, punctuated only by the occasional screech of the brakes and the low rumble of the car engine. It's still comfortable, and I think that it's good if things would just stay that way.
It does, until I look at him again and notice that his thoughts are far, far away.
Right at that moment, I realise that something's wrong. Something's wrong, and it's not something that Shige would share with me.
... ...
When I put my arm around his shoulder Shige doesn't say anything, so I leave it there. I'm glad that he said nothing. I'm glad that he said nothing, that he's saying nothing, because silence is acceptance and acceptance is reassurance and that reassurance means more to me than he will ever know.
We round the bend and he opens the door to the NEWS dressing room, as chilly as ever, and everyone's there already. Well, except Yamapi, but that's normal. I look over across the room and, ah, Massu's eating, as usual, and Tegoshi is type type typing away at his laptop; an essay
"Good morning!”
Massu's voice. Hmm, so NEWS members are more important than food, after all. Massu's showing member-ai, that's good!
“Good morning!” I reply, and I suppose my happiness at having more NEWS member-ai shows in my voice.
Tegoshi looks up, saying something to Shige, and I hear my name so I turn around, catching the last bit of Tegoshi's words.
“...to pick you up.”
Well, I can guess what Tegoshi said, which was probably along the lines of “You're so lucky, Kei-chan picks you up every day.”, and so I reply accordingly.
“I will bring Shige anywhere he wants to go!”
All of a sudden Shige's distracted, yet again. I wonder what is so interesting here, it's just NEWS and all of us minus one Yamapi, after all. So I look around, and Ryo's looking at him. Ryo, who's drinking his tea. Shige then turns his head, abruptly, too abruptly for him to be just distracted by his thoughts, and my hand presses that little bit heavier on his shoulder.
“I wonder what time we'll finish today,” Massu says, breaking the silence.
“I want to watch a movie after this.”
“With who?” I ask. Maybe I'll be able to drag Shige along if Massu doesn't mind us going. He's been too stressed lately, so maybe this will cheer him up.
Wait, maybe Massu never thought of that? His face sure looks like he didn't think of who he wanted to go with.
“I don’t know. Just…anyone I guess.”
Chance!
“I can go with you!” I exclaim hurriedly. “Ne, Shige?”
He's distracted again. Shige must be really tired. He's always distracted whenever I look at him.
“Huh?”
Ahh, how cute, Shige's puzzled.
“Massu wants to go for a movie after this. We can go with him too!”
Shige doesn't look like he wants to go, so I ramble on a little more, just to put him at ease.
“Or we could all go together,” and I pause there, looking from Shige to Massu to the floor and back to Shige again.
“I can’t, I have football practice in the evening,” and that's Tegoshi, Sunday night football practice, as usual, although he sounds sad to have to miss a group movie session.
“After a day of filming? You’re something else.”
That's Ryo, ruffling Tegoshi's hair like he always does, with Massu smiling because everyone's getting along today and that's good.
Tegoshi says something, but I'm not paying attention anymore. Ahh, why's Yamapi so late?
Just then our manager pops in. “Good morning, everyone. Just a head’s up, we’ll be leaving for the studio in half an hour. Where’s Yamashita-san?”
Ah, see? I'm not the only one wondering. “I’ll give him a call,” I tell the manager, and he nods with a smile, before leaving. Manager-san is hardworking, ne? He has better things to worry about other than how to get in contact with a late member.
I take out my hand phone and start flipping through my contacts. “Koki, Kusano, Tegoshi, Ueda, Yamashita, Yamapi...ah, there.”
“What about you, Nishikido-kun? Can you make it for the movie?” Massu asks.
“After this?”
“Yeah, after this!”
“Um…okay. I don’t have anything planned tonight.”
“How unusual!”
Massu's happy, and Ryo's joining in, which is good, although Yamapi isn't picking up, not yet, and I'm not really listening to how their movie outing conversation is going, because I'm calling Yamapi and the ring tone is a really distracting one.
I hear Ryo say that he's going to go for a smoke, but just then Yamapi picks up, and I start asking him on where he is and when can he be here.
“Leader-san, you're always late, that's a bad example, you know?” I tease, and then Shige says, “I'll be back.” I would have asked, but I'm on the phone with Yamapi and it's not nice to start talking to someone else while on the phone, so I just give him a thumbs up and get back to teasing Yamapi. Maybe he'd finally take it to heart and start coming early, or at least not so late that I have to call him.
“Maa, I overslept. Filming went on till quite late yesterday, so. Tell Manager-san I'm sorry? I'm on my way.”
Ahh, so that was it.
“Alright, I'll tell him that for you. Where are you now? We have a photo shoot today, and you know the camera people are notoriously irritable, especially if you make them wait.”
“I'm getting off now, so I'll be there in another ten minutes! Sorry, I'll be there soon for sure, make sure everyone stays put!”
Click, and then I'm faced with the disconnected tone from my handphone.
That was totally Yamapi, and it isn't even the first time he's done that. Hanging up, that is. Totally the most un-leader-like leader ever. But Yamapi is Yamapi, and leader or not he's a good member of NEWS. So, member-ai all around, and I'll forget about his bad habit of cutting off phone calls...for the moment.
Tegoshi...Tegoshi is sneaking bites out of Massu's breakfast, and I laugh. He just looks up, grins in the way that the fangirls swoon over, and then goes back to it, eyes moving from Massu's breakfast to his laptop and back again, often pausing to type a few lines.
Ryo's out, Shige's gone to get something (or maybe just to sleep), Yamapi's on his way, Tegoshi is half-typing, half-eating, Massu is talking to Tegoshi about the movie and it seems they're discussing what to watch. Not that I don't trust them to choose a good movie, but, well, I want to know, anyway, so I walk over and sit beside them.
“But, Tegoshi, the Dark Knight looks really good!”
“Really? I didn't watch the previous installments, but Batman and all the superhero things are fun, anyway.” He looks up and then notices that I've moved to join them. Ahh. That grin. “Ne, ne, Kei-chan, have you watched any of the Batman movies?”
Eh? Batman? I've seen the trailers, and watched one of the DVDs with Shige before, but that was about it.
“I watched...Batman Begins? I think that's it, and then of course I've seen the trailers before, since they're always playing on one of those huge television screens whenever I walk pass them to the Jimusho. Nothing other than that, though. Massu, have you watched any of the past ones?”
Massu nibbles on his lip, thinks for a minute, and then laughs a little hesitantly. “Actually, I haven't watched any of them at all, just that the movie poster looked cool so I wondered and then we're all going so I really wanted to watch it with everyone but Tegoshi can't go so that's sad but we're all going together right? Except that Yamapi doesn't know about it yet. I wonder if he'll go. He's so busy nowadays, poor Yamapi”
The door opens, followed by a, “Ah, hi everyone, sorry I'm late. Where's Shige and Ryo?”
Has it been ten minutes already? Yamapi sure came faster than I thought he would.
“I don't know, Ryo went for a smoke, and Shige went out somewhere. Want me to go look for them?” Tegoshi asks.
“Yamashita-san! There you are,” and there's Manager-san again, looking flustered, face slightly flushed. “Can someone go look for Nishikido and Kato-san? We're behind schedule already, the photoshoot starts at 10 and it's an hour away, the studio.”
“I'll go! I was going to, anyway. Ne, Manager-san, don't worry so much, it'll be alright. Believe, yes?”
“Yes, yes, just go find them. I need to brief all of you on our schedule today, and we don't have much time, so be quick!”
“No problem!” and the door opens and closes again. Ahhh, warmth in the frigid NEWS dressing room. Doesn't anyone ever complain about the temperature? It's always something like 18 degrees Celsius in here, and that's coooooooooold.
Tegoshi will find them soon, I suppose. Now...
“Massu, have you asked Yamapi if he can go to the movies with us?”
... ...
Photo shoots are boring. Utterly, utterly boring. Shige's posing for the camera, and I like looking at him when he's being photographed, but it's rather tiring to just sit here and stare. Tegoshi and Massu are getting their hair done, and Yamapi's eating his breakfast somewhere further off, so it's just me and Ryo, sitting on the ground and looking, looking, looking.
I would think that Ryo has better things to do; emailing his band mates in Kanjani8, playing a game on his PSP, sleeping...anything but what he's doing now.
Looking at Shige, that is (or at least that's what it looks like). And it isn't even the stare of a person who couldn't care less, either. It's more like...how I look at him? Something like that.
When did they become closer, anyway?
“Ryo, how are things between you and Shige? You seem like you're getting along better now.”
He doesn't seem to have heard me, still looking straight at the photo shoot going on, looking straight at...if I didn't know better, I'd say it was Shige. Well, that's alright, if he didn't hear, if he doesn't want to tell me. Ryo isn't the sort of person you get answers easily out of, after all.
“I don't dislike him any more. He's alright, once you get used to him,” he answers, after a bit, and I somehow feel like this isn't everything there is.
What about Shige? What does he think of you? I want to ask all that, and more, but I know that's about all I'm going to get from Ryo for now. Maybe he'll never say anything about it again.
“Oh, and Koya-mama? Don't be such a grandmother about things, we're all getting along just fine, aren't we?”
“Ah. Ah, yes, we are,” and it's me who's embarrassed. What had I been thinking?
It's all uncomfortable silence for a moment until Yamapi flops down beside Ryo and starts talking about his new drama with all the weird things that happen on set. I just rest my chin on my knees and close my eyes for a bit. It's not my turn yet, so it's alright.
...
"Hey, Koyama.”
I look up, and, oh, Shige's done with his shoot, and now it's Massu standing there, a little way off, the photographer sighing at how he's just so full of energy that he can't stay still, and Ryo's...ah, he's not beside me anymore. Probably off to style his hair and change clothes for the shoot, then, since he hadn't before. I pat the spot beside me lightly, and then smile up at Shige, an invitation for him to sit down. He sits down, and we don't talk, because he's immediately engrossed in watching the various poses the photographer has Massu make. Studying again, huh? Shige's always so hardworking.
I wouldn't have disturbed him, but right then I think of something and I have to ask him about it.
“Shige, I’m thinking.”
He looks at me, and blinks a few times. “About?”
“I…” and then Tegoshi pounces onto my lap, cutting off what I had to say. Tegoshi isn't light, you know, despite how slim he looks. Must be heavy bones. But yeah, he just cut off what I wanted to say, and it's annoying, doing things like that.
“Nnphf, Tego, you’re heavy,” I grumble. He should know how annoyed I am.
“It doesn’t matter whether I’m heavy or not, you’re sitting down so the ground is absorbing my weight!”
Tegoshi has weird logic. I feel like I should have known that a long time ago, but he has weird logic.
Then Yamapi laughs, and Shige joins in. I should have known that those two would find this amusing. WELL. I DON'T!
I glare at Shige. He's supposed to be my best friend AND my boyfriend, sheesh. “It is not funny. You are supposed to be helping me get rid of him,” I tell him, but he just tickles me under my chin, and then makes his voice high and squeaky and tells me, “Aw, how can I get rid of him, you’re so cute together!”
“Shige!”
I'm upset. Shige always teases me when Tegoshi takes me as a pillow. SO not fair, since I don't tease him on how he and Ryo banter all the time.
Then Tegoshi props his head on my lap and pats me. I think he supposes it's encouraging. “So go on, what is Kei-chan thinking about?”
“I wasthinking about taking a trip down to Okinawa with Shige.” There. Said it. I wonder if Shige would really agree, though...
“Uwah, so romantic!” Tegoshi says with a grin. “When will we be going?”
We? WE? Um, but I was really just planning to go with Shige!
I smack Tegoshi on the arm. “You’re not included!”
“But I want to go to Okinawa…” Tegoshi pouts. It's hard to say no when he pouts. AND he knows it. And he always uses it.
“Tegoshi-chan,” and that's Ryo, strolling over and sitting down beside Yamapi, somehow managing to sprawl without even trying to. The stylist finally finished with him, I suppose. “If you want to go to Okinawa so much, I can always go with you. Why follow Koyama and Shige and be a neon light?”
Ne-neon light? It's not like that, really! I mean, I didn't want Tegoshi to come, because I wanted to go with Shige, so...wait, he'd actually really be a neon light if he came along with us.
“Thanks very much for voicing out what Koyama and I are too kind to say.” Ahh, Shige. Always good at defusing awkward moments. At least I don't have to say that Tegoshi would have been a neon light.
“Thought you would appreciate it,” Ryo says, and somehow they both refuse to look at each other. What? I thought they were getting along better now, too.
“Will you really come with me, Nishikido-kun?” Tegoshi is all big grins and sparkles. I don't think Ryo can say “No, I was joking.” to this, and, well, he doesn't.
“Just name the date.” Ryo ruffles Tegoshi's hair again, earning a glare from the stylist. I think she wants to scream at him, but this is Nishikido Ryo, so she doesn't, just glares and glares and sulks because she'll have to do Tegoshi's hair AGAIN.
I sympathize. Shige helps Tegoshi style his hair sometimes, and it looks tough.
"Count me in!” Yamapi looks almost ready to jump up from where he's sitting, one arm flailing in the air.
“Group date!”
Everyone starts laughing, and weird ideas are thrown around. Yamapi wants to go to the beach. Tegoshi...well, Tegoshi wants to go to amusement parks (he's twenty already, isn't he?). When Ryo says he wants to visit castles, the Japanese type of castles, of course, I snort, because even though Shige would look right at home there (have you ever seen him in a kimono?), Ryo would just look...tourist-y. As tourist-y as Ryo can get, anyway.
Tegoshi and Yamapi get called over by the photographer, something to do with a bridge and posing with Massu, and then I smile and thank Ryo. He did help me out of that sticky “Tegoshi is a neon light” situation, so I should, well, thank him.
“I wouldn’t have let him go with you anyway, you’d kill him with your sweetness,” and then Ryo smiles. Me? Kill Tegoshi with sweetness? More like, he'd kill me with sweetness. But anyway.
The entire idea of me killing him with sweetness just tickles, though, and I laugh. Somehow Shige manages to get up, mumble some excuse, and slip away.
I don't see him again until after the shoot, when we're going for the movie, and even then he's quiet. Still tired? I guess he really didn't sleep enough last night. Well, that settles it, I'm sending him home later. Massu gets popcorn, we booked the tickets earlier so I go collect them, Shige says he needs to freshen up, and Ryo just leans against a wall and waits.
It's the Dark Knight we end up watching, after all (Massu wanted to, Ryo doesn't really mind, I quite like superhero stuff, and Shige didn't say anything), and as we shuffle into the cinema (we got the back seats, which give the best view, and are also quite private) Ryo ends up on one side of Shige and me on the other.
It's weird, I would have thought that Shige would sit between me and Massu, or something. Well, maybe this is a sign that they're getting along alright, after all.
Massu sort of nudges me and gives me the popcorn box, and then starts rambling about how the movie's going to be awesome. I smile at him, of course. It's going to be nice, I think.
Oh, yes, the Okinawa trip's details.
I lean over, and stage whisper. “Ne, Shige, let’s discuss the Okinawa trip after this, okay? I’ll take you out for oden.” I squeeze him on the shoulder; maybe he'll catch some sleep during the movie? Ryo looks lonely, so I smile at him, one that isn't too big. The lighting's bad, anyway, maybe he won't see it.
Then the cinema darkens and the opening credits roll across the screen. Well, time to concentrate and watch. Massu will need someone to be all enthusiastic with him after it, and the other two...well, they're not likely to do so.
Stealing popcorn from Massu has never been so fun. Even though he lets me.
Chapter: 01 - Soft Light
Pairing: Koyama-centric, with KoyaShige
Rating: G. (It's totally fluff with a little moping, but nothing weird~)
Author: sakustar
Words: 3,756
Summary: Even the best dreams don't last forever. Everyone has to wake up some time, right?
Notes: SO. misticloud is awesome. This is a companion fic to LDD (more like, the same fic, just Koyama's end of things), and although I'm not sure how good mine is, I hope you'll enjoy it, as well as LDD~ -shamelessplug- FIRST CHAPTER IS A MONSTER, YES?
[Soft Light]
I'm driving, and Shige's beside me. It's a comfortable silence we both reside in, and I sneak a few glances at him, but he's deep in thought, staring out the window on his side of the car, so it's alright. We can always talk later; it's early in the morning and Shige looks exhausted.
It's certainly a bright morning, and even though it's not even eight yet the sunlight is strong, almost piercing. No rain today, then? Just my kind of day, and even as such thoughts race through my mind at a mile a minute (all my thoughts are like that, don't worry) I still pay enough attention to the road, noticing that, hey, the light's changing, green to yellow to red, and I brake ever so slowly. Shige's thinking, and I can't bear to interrupt his thoughts. I wonder what he thinks, though, of this outrageously bright morning, of having to get up this early even though I know he's always studying and up half the night, of our friendship, of us.
I wonder what he thinks of us most of all, but it's not like I can ask him. I'm Koyama, after all, and Koyama isn't the kind of person you would share your deepest, darkest secrets with, no matter how good a friend he is. I know myself. I would probably just make their burden heavier, because it's just so obvious when I worry.
He looks like he's not thinking as hard now, so I smile at him. Ah, there, he's noticed it, and he smiles back. Does he know that his smile today looks more like a crossbreed between a muscle twitch and a grimace? Well, not like I mind, not like I mind at all. At least he's paying a little attention.
“Do you want to pick up some breakfast before we arrive?” I ask him, because I know that he probably hasn't eaten anything yet. A Shige this tired is not likely to be a hungry Shige, but he has to take care of himself, still. And if he won't take care of himself, I'll take care of him.
“I...I'm not hungry.”
Ah, of course. Of course he's not hungry. Of course he doesn't need silly old me to take care of him. It's stupid, right? But I still do it anyway.
He still looks tired. It feels slightly awkward, this atmosphere, so I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. “Are you okay? You look so tired this morning.”
“I'm fine.”
It's curt, and I feel just a little hurt, but the light's turning green and I have to drive, so I squash it all down. It's alright, Shige's just grumpy when he doesn't sleep enough. And then he grabs hold of my hand and then I'm all relieved inside, before he continues.
“Stop worrying about me, you know you’re like an old grandmother when you do.”
It's just a little too amusing, so I'm honest, and I laugh, stepping on the gas before the car behind me gets too impatient. “And you should know that it’s impossible for me to ever stop worrying about you!” is my reply, just said a little too jokingly, and I know that I'm forcing myself to be the Koyama that Shige knows.
I know, but I continue anyway.
He releases my hand slowly, and I can feel that he's lingering just a little. It makes me happy. Silly, isn't it, that little things like this can light up my entire day. Then, I look up at the rear view mirror and he's looking at how my hair shimmers in the light, and that makes me even happier.
Now, as before, there is silence, punctuated only by the occasional screech of the brakes and the low rumble of the car engine. It's still comfortable, and I think that it's good if things would just stay that way.
It does, until I look at him again and notice that his thoughts are far, far away.
Right at that moment, I realise that something's wrong. Something's wrong, and it's not something that Shige would share with me.
... ...
When I put my arm around his shoulder Shige doesn't say anything, so I leave it there. I'm glad that he said nothing. I'm glad that he said nothing, that he's saying nothing, because silence is acceptance and acceptance is reassurance and that reassurance means more to me than he will ever know.
We round the bend and he opens the door to the NEWS dressing room, as chilly as ever, and everyone's there already. Well, except Yamapi, but that's normal. I look over across the room and, ah, Massu's eating, as usual, and Tegoshi is type type typing away at his laptop; an essay
"Good morning!”
Massu's voice. Hmm, so NEWS members are more important than food, after all. Massu's showing member-ai, that's good!
“Good morning!” I reply, and I suppose my happiness at having more NEWS member-ai shows in my voice.
Tegoshi looks up, saying something to Shige, and I hear my name so I turn around, catching the last bit of Tegoshi's words.
“...to pick you up.”
Well, I can guess what Tegoshi said, which was probably along the lines of “You're so lucky, Kei-chan picks you up every day.”, and so I reply accordingly.
“I will bring Shige anywhere he wants to go!”
All of a sudden Shige's distracted, yet again. I wonder what is so interesting here, it's just NEWS and all of us minus one Yamapi, after all. So I look around, and Ryo's looking at him. Ryo, who's drinking his tea. Shige then turns his head, abruptly, too abruptly for him to be just distracted by his thoughts, and my hand presses that little bit heavier on his shoulder.
“I wonder what time we'll finish today,” Massu says, breaking the silence.
“I want to watch a movie after this.”
“With who?” I ask. Maybe I'll be able to drag Shige along if Massu doesn't mind us going. He's been too stressed lately, so maybe this will cheer him up.
Wait, maybe Massu never thought of that? His face sure looks like he didn't think of who he wanted to go with.
“I don’t know. Just…anyone I guess.”
Chance!
“I can go with you!” I exclaim hurriedly. “Ne, Shige?”
He's distracted again. Shige must be really tired. He's always distracted whenever I look at him.
“Huh?”
Ahh, how cute, Shige's puzzled.
“Massu wants to go for a movie after this. We can go with him too!”
Shige doesn't look like he wants to go, so I ramble on a little more, just to put him at ease.
“Or we could all go together,” and I pause there, looking from Shige to Massu to the floor and back to Shige again.
“I can’t, I have football practice in the evening,” and that's Tegoshi, Sunday night football practice, as usual, although he sounds sad to have to miss a group movie session.
“After a day of filming? You’re something else.”
That's Ryo, ruffling Tegoshi's hair like he always does, with Massu smiling because everyone's getting along today and that's good.
Tegoshi says something, but I'm not paying attention anymore. Ahh, why's Yamapi so late?
Just then our manager pops in. “Good morning, everyone. Just a head’s up, we’ll be leaving for the studio in half an hour. Where’s Yamashita-san?”
Ah, see? I'm not the only one wondering. “I’ll give him a call,” I tell the manager, and he nods with a smile, before leaving. Manager-san is hardworking, ne? He has better things to worry about other than how to get in contact with a late member.
I take out my hand phone and start flipping through my contacts. “Koki, Kusano, Tegoshi, Ueda, Yamashita, Yamapi...ah, there.”
“What about you, Nishikido-kun? Can you make it for the movie?” Massu asks.
“After this?”
“Yeah, after this!”
“Um…okay. I don’t have anything planned tonight.”
“How unusual!”
Massu's happy, and Ryo's joining in, which is good, although Yamapi isn't picking up, not yet, and I'm not really listening to how their movie outing conversation is going, because I'm calling Yamapi and the ring tone is a really distracting one.
I hear Ryo say that he's going to go for a smoke, but just then Yamapi picks up, and I start asking him on where he is and when can he be here.
“Leader-san, you're always late, that's a bad example, you know?” I tease, and then Shige says, “I'll be back.” I would have asked, but I'm on the phone with Yamapi and it's not nice to start talking to someone else while on the phone, so I just give him a thumbs up and get back to teasing Yamapi. Maybe he'd finally take it to heart and start coming early, or at least not so late that I have to call him.
“Maa, I overslept. Filming went on till quite late yesterday, so. Tell Manager-san I'm sorry? I'm on my way.”
Ahh, so that was it.
“Alright, I'll tell him that for you. Where are you now? We have a photo shoot today, and you know the camera people are notoriously irritable, especially if you make them wait.”
“I'm getting off now, so I'll be there in another ten minutes! Sorry, I'll be there soon for sure, make sure everyone stays put!”
Click, and then I'm faced with the disconnected tone from my handphone.
That was totally Yamapi, and it isn't even the first time he's done that. Hanging up, that is. Totally the most un-leader-like leader ever. But Yamapi is Yamapi, and leader or not he's a good member of NEWS. So, member-ai all around, and I'll forget about his bad habit of cutting off phone calls...for the moment.
Tegoshi...Tegoshi is sneaking bites out of Massu's breakfast, and I laugh. He just looks up, grins in the way that the fangirls swoon over, and then goes back to it, eyes moving from Massu's breakfast to his laptop and back again, often pausing to type a few lines.
Ryo's out, Shige's gone to get something (or maybe just to sleep), Yamapi's on his way, Tegoshi is half-typing, half-eating, Massu is talking to Tegoshi about the movie and it seems they're discussing what to watch. Not that I don't trust them to choose a good movie, but, well, I want to know, anyway, so I walk over and sit beside them.
“But, Tegoshi, the Dark Knight looks really good!”
“Really? I didn't watch the previous installments, but Batman and all the superhero things are fun, anyway.” He looks up and then notices that I've moved to join them. Ahh. That grin. “Ne, ne, Kei-chan, have you watched any of the Batman movies?”
Eh? Batman? I've seen the trailers, and watched one of the DVDs with Shige before, but that was about it.
“I watched...Batman Begins? I think that's it, and then of course I've seen the trailers before, since they're always playing on one of those huge television screens whenever I walk pass them to the Jimusho. Nothing other than that, though. Massu, have you watched any of the past ones?”
Massu nibbles on his lip, thinks for a minute, and then laughs a little hesitantly. “Actually, I haven't watched any of them at all, just that the movie poster looked cool so I wondered and then we're all going so I really wanted to watch it with everyone but Tegoshi can't go so that's sad but we're all going together right? Except that Yamapi doesn't know about it yet. I wonder if he'll go. He's so busy nowadays, poor Yamapi”
The door opens, followed by a, “Ah, hi everyone, sorry I'm late. Where's Shige and Ryo?”
Has it been ten minutes already? Yamapi sure came faster than I thought he would.
“I don't know, Ryo went for a smoke, and Shige went out somewhere. Want me to go look for them?” Tegoshi asks.
“Yamashita-san! There you are,” and there's Manager-san again, looking flustered, face slightly flushed. “Can someone go look for Nishikido and Kato-san? We're behind schedule already, the photoshoot starts at 10 and it's an hour away, the studio.”
“I'll go! I was going to, anyway. Ne, Manager-san, don't worry so much, it'll be alright. Believe, yes?”
“Yes, yes, just go find them. I need to brief all of you on our schedule today, and we don't have much time, so be quick!”
“No problem!” and the door opens and closes again. Ahhh, warmth in the frigid NEWS dressing room. Doesn't anyone ever complain about the temperature? It's always something like 18 degrees Celsius in here, and that's coooooooooold.
Tegoshi will find them soon, I suppose. Now...
“Massu, have you asked Yamapi if he can go to the movies with us?”
... ...
Photo shoots are boring. Utterly, utterly boring. Shige's posing for the camera, and I like looking at him when he's being photographed, but it's rather tiring to just sit here and stare. Tegoshi and Massu are getting their hair done, and Yamapi's eating his breakfast somewhere further off, so it's just me and Ryo, sitting on the ground and looking, looking, looking.
I would think that Ryo has better things to do; emailing his band mates in Kanjani8, playing a game on his PSP, sleeping...anything but what he's doing now.
Looking at Shige, that is (or at least that's what it looks like). And it isn't even the stare of a person who couldn't care less, either. It's more like...how I look at him? Something like that.
When did they become closer, anyway?
“Ryo, how are things between you and Shige? You seem like you're getting along better now.”
He doesn't seem to have heard me, still looking straight at the photo shoot going on, looking straight at...if I didn't know better, I'd say it was Shige. Well, that's alright, if he didn't hear, if he doesn't want to tell me. Ryo isn't the sort of person you get answers easily out of, after all.
“I don't dislike him any more. He's alright, once you get used to him,” he answers, after a bit, and I somehow feel like this isn't everything there is.
What about Shige? What does he think of you? I want to ask all that, and more, but I know that's about all I'm going to get from Ryo for now. Maybe he'll never say anything about it again.
“Oh, and Koya-mama? Don't be such a grandmother about things, we're all getting along just fine, aren't we?”
“Ah. Ah, yes, we are,” and it's me who's embarrassed. What had I been thinking?
It's all uncomfortable silence for a moment until Yamapi flops down beside Ryo and starts talking about his new drama with all the weird things that happen on set. I just rest my chin on my knees and close my eyes for a bit. It's not my turn yet, so it's alright.
...
"Hey, Koyama.”
I look up, and, oh, Shige's done with his shoot, and now it's Massu standing there, a little way off, the photographer sighing at how he's just so full of energy that he can't stay still, and Ryo's...ah, he's not beside me anymore. Probably off to style his hair and change clothes for the shoot, then, since he hadn't before. I pat the spot beside me lightly, and then smile up at Shige, an invitation for him to sit down. He sits down, and we don't talk, because he's immediately engrossed in watching the various poses the photographer has Massu make. Studying again, huh? Shige's always so hardworking.
I wouldn't have disturbed him, but right then I think of something and I have to ask him about it.
“Shige, I’m thinking.”
He looks at me, and blinks a few times. “About?”
“I…” and then Tegoshi pounces onto my lap, cutting off what I had to say. Tegoshi isn't light, you know, despite how slim he looks. Must be heavy bones. But yeah, he just cut off what I wanted to say, and it's annoying, doing things like that.
“Nnphf, Tego, you’re heavy,” I grumble. He should know how annoyed I am.
“It doesn’t matter whether I’m heavy or not, you’re sitting down so the ground is absorbing my weight!”
Tegoshi has weird logic. I feel like I should have known that a long time ago, but he has weird logic.
Then Yamapi laughs, and Shige joins in. I should have known that those two would find this amusing. WELL. I DON'T!
I glare at Shige. He's supposed to be my best friend AND my boyfriend, sheesh. “It is not funny. You are supposed to be helping me get rid of him,” I tell him, but he just tickles me under my chin, and then makes his voice high and squeaky and tells me, “Aw, how can I get rid of him, you’re so cute together!”
“Shige!”
I'm upset. Shige always teases me when Tegoshi takes me as a pillow. SO not fair, since I don't tease him on how he and Ryo banter all the time.
Then Tegoshi props his head on my lap and pats me. I think he supposes it's encouraging. “So go on, what is Kei-chan thinking about?”
“I wasthinking about taking a trip down to Okinawa with Shige.” There. Said it. I wonder if Shige would really agree, though...
“Uwah, so romantic!” Tegoshi says with a grin. “When will we be going?”
We? WE? Um, but I was really just planning to go with Shige!
I smack Tegoshi on the arm. “You’re not included!”
“But I want to go to Okinawa…” Tegoshi pouts. It's hard to say no when he pouts. AND he knows it. And he always uses it.
“Tegoshi-chan,” and that's Ryo, strolling over and sitting down beside Yamapi, somehow managing to sprawl without even trying to. The stylist finally finished with him, I suppose. “If you want to go to Okinawa so much, I can always go with you. Why follow Koyama and Shige and be a neon light?”
Ne-neon light? It's not like that, really! I mean, I didn't want Tegoshi to come, because I wanted to go with Shige, so...wait, he'd actually really be a neon light if he came along with us.
“Thanks very much for voicing out what Koyama and I are too kind to say.” Ahh, Shige. Always good at defusing awkward moments. At least I don't have to say that Tegoshi would have been a neon light.
“Thought you would appreciate it,” Ryo says, and somehow they both refuse to look at each other. What? I thought they were getting along better now, too.
“Will you really come with me, Nishikido-kun?” Tegoshi is all big grins and sparkles. I don't think Ryo can say “No, I was joking.” to this, and, well, he doesn't.
“Just name the date.” Ryo ruffles Tegoshi's hair again, earning a glare from the stylist. I think she wants to scream at him, but this is Nishikido Ryo, so she doesn't, just glares and glares and sulks because she'll have to do Tegoshi's hair AGAIN.
I sympathize. Shige helps Tegoshi style his hair sometimes, and it looks tough.
"Count me in!” Yamapi looks almost ready to jump up from where he's sitting, one arm flailing in the air.
“Group date!”
Everyone starts laughing, and weird ideas are thrown around. Yamapi wants to go to the beach. Tegoshi...well, Tegoshi wants to go to amusement parks (he's twenty already, isn't he?). When Ryo says he wants to visit castles, the Japanese type of castles, of course, I snort, because even though Shige would look right at home there (have you ever seen him in a kimono?), Ryo would just look...tourist-y. As tourist-y as Ryo can get, anyway.
Tegoshi and Yamapi get called over by the photographer, something to do with a bridge and posing with Massu, and then I smile and thank Ryo. He did help me out of that sticky “Tegoshi is a neon light” situation, so I should, well, thank him.
“I wouldn’t have let him go with you anyway, you’d kill him with your sweetness,” and then Ryo smiles. Me? Kill Tegoshi with sweetness? More like, he'd kill me with sweetness. But anyway.
The entire idea of me killing him with sweetness just tickles, though, and I laugh. Somehow Shige manages to get up, mumble some excuse, and slip away.
I don't see him again until after the shoot, when we're going for the movie, and even then he's quiet. Still tired? I guess he really didn't sleep enough last night. Well, that settles it, I'm sending him home later. Massu gets popcorn, we booked the tickets earlier so I go collect them, Shige says he needs to freshen up, and Ryo just leans against a wall and waits.
It's the Dark Knight we end up watching, after all (Massu wanted to, Ryo doesn't really mind, I quite like superhero stuff, and Shige didn't say anything), and as we shuffle into the cinema (we got the back seats, which give the best view, and are also quite private) Ryo ends up on one side of Shige and me on the other.
It's weird, I would have thought that Shige would sit between me and Massu, or something. Well, maybe this is a sign that they're getting along alright, after all.
Massu sort of nudges me and gives me the popcorn box, and then starts rambling about how the movie's going to be awesome. I smile at him, of course. It's going to be nice, I think.
Oh, yes, the Okinawa trip's details.
I lean over, and stage whisper. “Ne, Shige, let’s discuss the Okinawa trip after this, okay? I’ll take you out for oden.” I squeeze him on the shoulder; maybe he'll catch some sleep during the movie? Ryo looks lonely, so I smile at him, one that isn't too big. The lighting's bad, anyway, maybe he won't see it.
Then the cinema darkens and the opening credits roll across the screen. Well, time to concentrate and watch. Massu will need someone to be all enthusiastic with him after it, and the other two...well, they're not likely to do so.
Stealing popcorn from Massu has never been so fun. Even though he lets me.