Meant to be
Title: Meant to be
Summary: What if the one person you loved was the one person you weren't meant to be with? Confusion of the heart is always hard to deal with, and bears new obstacles as all struggle with the hidden depths of their own hearts.
Rating: PG
Starring: NEWS
Disclaimer: I really don't own them, I swear!
Previous Chapters
Chapter one
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter 6
Koyama blinked, giving Arianna a sidelong glance. The two had been sitting in her living room, he trying to get his mind off of things while trying to help Arianna at the same time.
Arianna however looked on the brink of hysteria.
“Calm down, Ari-chan,” Koyama said softly, taking the tablet she held in her hands and giving it a cursory glance.
The artfully drawn notes were almost hidden beneath the many erase marks, and light cross-outs.
They lyrical content was actually quite beautiful, and Koyama felt his eyes swim across the page drinking in every word.
“I can’t get the melody right!” Arianna said, exasperatedly. “I’ve been working on it for the past two months already, and I still can’t get it!”
Arianna was a very serious student, a trait she shared with Shige, and was quite devoted to her studies. Moreover the fact that she’d chosen a less conventional subject to study she seemed to attack her work more than a normal person would.
“It looks like you got a lot done,” Koyama said kindly, closing the tablet. “So I say you take a small break, it might get your creative juices flowing.”
“I can’t! I need to finish this!” Arianna replied, stubbornly taking the tablet back, and skimming it open to her page.
Koyama stared at her worriedly, she’d been working rather hard lately, and she’d been looking a bit peaky. No matter how many times Arianna fervently rejected Koyama’s many advances in help, Koyama couldn’t help but somehow find some sort of strange inner strength that had him primly taking the tablet right out of her hands and shutting it.
He quickly shuffled it behind the cushions and sat down with a calm expression on his face.
Arianna gaped at him.
“You need a break,” Koyama stated firmly, with the slightest glint of worry in his eye. Arianna was just about ready to argue, but somehow she lost the little fight she’d had left.
Perhaps Koyama was right, besides that she knew he was going through some trying times and the last thing he probably needed to deal with was her pigheadedness.
And the last thing she needed was to have him worry about her, especially when he had a few of his own things to deal with, namely the fact that Yamashita-kun had again managed to unknowingly hurt him.
“You’re right,” she said with a sigh.
Koyama blinked at her. “What did you have in mind?” she asked with a slight smile.
Soon enough she was assaulted by both a smile and the onslaught of arms as Koyama hurriedly pulled her to her feet and half hugged and half tugged her to the door.
Somehow she wondered whether she’d regret the decision later.
* * *
“Did you have to bring that with you?” Ryo complained, eyeing Shige’s camera wearily.
“I just wanted to get a few group shots, we haven’t hung out in a while,” Shige explained. He knew Ryo wasn’t all that fond of his camera.
Ryo looked ready to argue, but was cut short by Yamapi’s arrival, with a rather pretty girl holding lightly to his arm.
“Wow, on time!” Ryo said, with a slight smirk as he gave the girl a cursory glance, obviously trying to get a sense of the girl.
“Shut up,” Yamapi said with a smile, holding the girl a bit closer.
“It really is a surprise, Kei-chan’s not even here yet,” Tegoshi piped up from his spot beside Ryo. He too was staring at the girl.
She was quite pretty, just the type one would expect Yamapi to go for.
There was a slightly awkward silence, that was broken by Yamapi himself. “Guys, I’d like you all to meet Ami-chan,” he said, waving a hand towards the girl holding onto his arm.
“Ami-chan, this is Ryo, Tegoshi, Massu, and Shige,” he said pointing to each in turn.
Ryo gave her a haphazard smile, Tegoshi gave a slightly excited wave, and Masuda gave her a sweet grin.
Shige had mixed emotions about this, but could only really place a light smile on his face, and give a welcoming nod. After all being rude wouldn’t help Koyama all that much, would it?
“It’s very nice to meet you all,” she said with a slight bow.
Shige stared at her, she was quite pretty, with short shoulder-length black hair, and soft brown eyes.
Typical features, but her face seemed anything but typical, with full, protruding lips that were lightly sprinkled with red lipstick, a high forehead, and an aura that reminded of cool intellect.
She smiled at them all, showing white even teeth, and Yamapi could only grin in response.
* * *
“Are you sure about this?” Arianna asked doubtfully.
“Yes, of course,” Koyama replied evenly, briskly taking her hand in his own and leading her straight on.
Arianna let out a sigh, there were things she did for her friends, but this was just pushing it. “Please, Ari-chan, I can’t be there alone,” Koyama whispered earnestly.
Arianna stared back, felling her heart ache as he stared back at her. The sadness hidden in his usually warm and bright brown eyes was enough to make her breathe hitch slightly.
“Alright,” she said quietly, allowing him to lead her down the corridor.
Without so much as a knock Koyama walked in, a wide smile plastered on his face. “Hey, guys, sorry I’m late,” he called as he pulled Arianna in from behind.
“Took you long enough,” Ryo commented, with a crooked smile.
“Sorry, I got kind of sidetracked,” Koyama replied, indicating at Arianna, who looked slightly uncomfortable if not completely shy.
“Ari-chan was having a meltdown about her composition, so I thought it’d be better to give her a break,” Koyama explained lightly.
“I hope I’m not intruding,” Arianna said, an apologetic smile on her lips, as she gave the assembled party a bow in apology.
“’Course not! Ari-chan’s always welcome!” Tegoshi replied, with a bright smile.
Masuda however didn’t quite feel the same way, as he noted the slight change in Shige once Arianna had entered the room.
To say Shige was surprised was a bit of an understatement, but the stricken look in Koyama’s eyes as they landed on Ami-san was enough for him to understand the situation perfectly.
“No fair! You should have given warning, then we all could have brought dates,” Ryo replied, in mock offense.
Koyama blinked, date?
Shige had to fight down a laugh at the look on both Koyama’s and Arianna’s faces.
Within moments the room was buzzing with noise, Tegoshi had taken the first spot to sing, and had settled on a rather loud and power driven number by the Breakerz and had set to imitating Daigo, the lead singer.
There were little words to describe Tegoshi’s failures at impersonations, and this was no exception. Both Shige and Masuda had to fight through their laughter, as both positively rolled around in their seats. Masuda gently gripping his stomach, head leaning slightly upon Shige’s shoulder as he too trembled from laughter.
Once Tegoshi had finished, he turned to his audience with a pout, “was laughing really all that necessary?”
“For that, yes.” Ryo stated through his laughter.
“Ami-chan, you didn’t hate it did you?” Tegoshi asked, turning his wide brown eyes at the woman sitting beside his group’s leader.
Ami smiled slightly, “I thought it sounded very nice,” she replied.
Before Tegoshi could say anything more, the next song started playing and Masuda was thrust to the center and handed the microphone.
He’d chosen a very light ballad number, and seemed to enjoy singing as his big smile hardly left his face. Shige took this opportunity to capture a few snapshots.
Click, click, click
One after another Shige snapped a few candid photos of the group, in particular one of Tegoshi and Ryo lightly fighting over drinks. The ending being Tegoshi triumphantly staking claim to Ryo’s alcoholic beverage.
“So Ami-chan, how did you and Yamapi meet?” Tegoshi asked.
“Oh, I was introduced by a friend of mine,” she replied.
“Love at first sight?” tegoshi prompted.
Ami blushed, “what kind of questions are these,” she said with a laugh.
“Ignore Tegoshi, he doesn’t have a sense of how to properly communicate with new acquaintances,” Shige cut in.
“Not true!” Tegoshi replied, hotly.
Shige gave Tegoshi a rather tired look, he didn’t feel like competing with the younger man, especially on a point that was obviously true.
“I’m sure Tegoshi-san is very eloquent when speaking,” Ami said, quietly, shifting slightly in her position and taking a light hold of Yamapi’s hand.
Apparently she’d need quite a bit of support from her new boyfriend to keep up with the chaos of his group-mates.
The karaoke continued, with a quite a few laughs resulting from Shige’s failure to properly memorize the lyrics to his chosen song, and Yamapi’s embarrassment when Ryo tried to tell Ami a story about one of the adventures he and Yamapi had shared as juniors, concerning sneaking out and ended with Yamapi having apparently broken out into an interesting rash.
Not many seemed to notice Koyama’s lack of liveliness in the gathering. Usually the older man would be at the center of things, undoubtedly encouraging and laughing along with the others.
In this particular instance however he sat on one side of the room, with only Arianna as a companion.
“You should really try and enjoy this a bit more,” Arianna said.
“I am enjoying it, Tegoshi’s been really funny,” Koyama said with a smile as he watched the short man again stake claim to microphone. “I think he’s going for singing the most tonight.”
“Well what about the ‘KoyaShige’ duet Shige says you guys always do, haven’t done that yet, have you?” Arianna persisted.
Although she had consented to tagging along, she’d hoped that Koyama would end up livening up and seamlessly joining with his other bandmates.
“Maybe later,” Koyama replied.
Arianna let out a sigh, “if you don’t do something they’ll know something’s wrong,” she warned.
That seemed to strike a cord in Koyama, he didn’t want to worry anyone. It’s stressful enough worrying himself, but to worry the others?
That simply wouldn’t do.
Instead he resolved himself to act normal, he’d had more than enough practice doing such a thing that it shouldn’t be all that hard to do it anymore.
Besides what was the point in moping around? It wasn’t about to change anything, and he certainly didn’t want to worry anyone.
Moreover this was one of the few precious moments the group was able to get together and just bond, yet here he sat in a corner acting like a little kid.
Their group gatherings happened only once every few months and only if they were lucky, Koyama simply couldn’t waste it.
“Yamapi’s turn!” Tegoshi announced, handing Yamapi the microphone.
The opening chords for 'Daite Senorita‘ resonated in the room, and Yamapi nearly cringed.
“Do I really have to?” He asked, but got to his feet nonetheless.
“Yes you do,” Ryo said.
“Kei-chan will do your back-up,” Tegoshi said, giving them both a wining smile..
All eyes set to Koyama, he glanced around and gave them all a small smile, readying himself for the inevitable chiding he would get if he didn’t get up and sing with Yamapi.
“No, I think Ami-san should sing with Pi,” Ryo cut in, handing the extra microphone to a surprised Ami.
“I’m not too good at karaoke,” Ami began.
“Nonsense, you’ll be fine,” Ryo replied, while Tegoshi gently and rather inappropriately pushed her to stand.
Yamapi looked rather neutral, but broke into a grin when Ami glanced at him.
Soon enough the two were singing, Ami looking rather out of place as she stumbled along and Yamapi looking picture perfect, as he grasped her hand in his.
‘daite daite daite senoriita
tsuyoku tsuyoku tsuyoku hanasanai de
kazatte kakkou tsukezu ni soba ni oide yo
daite daite daite senoriita’
Shige was torn between simply observing the two lovers and wanting to hit Ryo for being so stupid. Although Ryo may not be aware of Koyama’s feelings, Shige was and he was more than willing to stop that sad look on his face.
Undoubtedly Koyama looked like a poor puppy, his eyes looking rather watery and his mouth plucked into a forced smile.
To anyone else, Koyama might look to be behaving like a sappy mother, simply happy that Yamapi was happy.
Koyama was a very good actor.
Looking for something to do, Shige did the only thing he could think of. He took pictures. Focusing his camera at the oblivious few who were happily watching Yamapi and Ami.
Click
A focused picture of Ryo.
Click
A close-up of Tegoshi’s large grin.
Click
Masuda grinned, sheepishly as Shige focused the lens in on the man’s bright face. Heart again doing the most annoying thing and galloping in place.
Shige couldn’t help but grin back, as he casually took a few more shots, before revolving the camera and taking a few candid shots of Koyama and Arianna.
Although he wouldn’t be able to submit any to a magazine or add them to his professional portfolio, he did still think there was a merit to having a few extra pictures of his best friends. Koyama was sure to get a kick out of it.
Finally finishing the duet, Ami and Yamapi sat down, passing the microphone to Ryo.
‘Zuccoke Otokomichi’ started playing and Ryo had to fight a grimace, he never liked singing his own music at karaoke.
“Pay back,” Yamapi said with a grin, as Ryo sluggishly got to his feet and gave his best friend a dirty look.
Yamapi’s only response was to give Ryo a pat on the tush and urge him forward. Ami’s eyes widened, looking rather unbelieving that her boyfriend had actually touched another man’s bottom.
No one else noticed it, except for Arianna.
Her eyes shadowed Ami, not at all trusting of the girl. Arianna instead turned to Koyama, his eyes looked rather dead, he seemed almost defeated.
Clasping his hand tightly in hers, she gave him a squeeze. Koyama glanced up at her and gave her a terse smile.
The misty eyes and forlorn curve in his mouth set Arianna to determining it was time to do something. Koyama wasn’t going to stay looking like a depressed looking boy, not if Arianna had anything to do with it.
Gingerly scooting around, Arianna managed to stake claim on the song book, and rifled through it. She wasn’t quite sure of what she was looking for, but she knew there had to be something of use in it.
Flipping through the pages, past the section of number one hits, past the contemporary songs, past the idol songs, until she reached the foreign hits and found exactly what she needed.
‘Kibattekoo ze Yeah Yeah Yeah
Zukkoke otokomichi’
Ryo finished with a flourish, and Tegoshi happily applauded him.
“Who’s next?” he asked the general room, eyes roving and landing on Shige.
“Me,” Arianna announced, “well Koyama-kun and me.”
Ryo looked pleased, and handed the microphone over with a grin.
Koyama however looked less than agreeable, and was just beginning to shake his head. Arianna was having none of that, sliding up to him, she handed him a microphone.
“You came to have fun, and I’m not taking no for an answer,” she whispered. “Besides, I think you’ll have fun with this song.”
And before Koyama could protest, Arianna had pulled him up and leading him to stand in front of the shiny screen.
Shige hit the play button, and soon enough Koyama was grinning from ear to ear.
‘Hey! Hey! You! You!
I don’t like your girlfriend!
No way! No way!
I think you need a new one
Hey! Hey! You! You!
I could be your girlfriend’
Arianna belted out the chorus in perfect English, while Koyama happily followed along as was usual for him, throwing in his own random ad lib.
Tegoshi, Ryo, Shige and Masuda were laughing hysterically, as the two danced circles around each other, Koyama making one too many exaggerated faces as he continued singing in his usual off-key tone.
Ami looked on rather torn, unknown to her was the song as well as what the four young men found so amusing about watching their older friend sing in a horrible accent. She got little amusement from the performance, and was rather relieved to find Yamapi wasn’t smiling either.
Yamapi held a neutral face, masking the anxiety he was somehow feeling, along with the clawing feeling in his chest that had him wondering just what was going on, and why he seemed to hope Arianna would choke while singing.
The thought startled Yamapi, he never was one to give ill-will to someone, let alone on his friend and group-mates best friend.
The only thing clear to Yamapi was that Koyama was supposed to sing duets with him.
I want to be your girlfriend
No way! No way!
Hey! Hey!
Koyama ended with a flourish that had Ryo practically hunched over on the floor laughing, while Shige swiftly pulled his camera out and took a few shots of the hyper Ryo.
Koyama’s grin simply grew, as he wrapped his arms around Arianna, “Thank you,” he whispered into her hair.
Yamapi let out a cough, he really didn’t need to see that.
.
* * *
A/N: I know, I know, it's been forever since I last updated the fic, but I somehow lost inspiration as Koyama again proved to me how hard he is to characterize. I'm still not quite sure I did it correctly, but after re-writing this a dozen or so times I was mildly satisfied.
So I hope you all liked it, and that it makes ups for the long wait.
Comments and Criticisms are always welcomed =D
Summary: What if the one person you loved was the one person you weren't meant to be with? Confusion of the heart is always hard to deal with, and bears new obstacles as all struggle with the hidden depths of their own hearts.
Rating: PG
Starring: NEWS
Disclaimer: I really don't own them, I swear!
Previous Chapters
Chapter one
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter 6
Koyama blinked, giving Arianna a sidelong glance. The two had been sitting in her living room, he trying to get his mind off of things while trying to help Arianna at the same time.
Arianna however looked on the brink of hysteria.
“Calm down, Ari-chan,” Koyama said softly, taking the tablet she held in her hands and giving it a cursory glance.
The artfully drawn notes were almost hidden beneath the many erase marks, and light cross-outs.
They lyrical content was actually quite beautiful, and Koyama felt his eyes swim across the page drinking in every word.
“I can’t get the melody right!” Arianna said, exasperatedly. “I’ve been working on it for the past two months already, and I still can’t get it!”
Arianna was a very serious student, a trait she shared with Shige, and was quite devoted to her studies. Moreover the fact that she’d chosen a less conventional subject to study she seemed to attack her work more than a normal person would.
“It looks like you got a lot done,” Koyama said kindly, closing the tablet. “So I say you take a small break, it might get your creative juices flowing.”
“I can’t! I need to finish this!” Arianna replied, stubbornly taking the tablet back, and skimming it open to her page.
Koyama stared at her worriedly, she’d been working rather hard lately, and she’d been looking a bit peaky. No matter how many times Arianna fervently rejected Koyama’s many advances in help, Koyama couldn’t help but somehow find some sort of strange inner strength that had him primly taking the tablet right out of her hands and shutting it.
He quickly shuffled it behind the cushions and sat down with a calm expression on his face.
Arianna gaped at him.
“You need a break,” Koyama stated firmly, with the slightest glint of worry in his eye. Arianna was just about ready to argue, but somehow she lost the little fight she’d had left.
Perhaps Koyama was right, besides that she knew he was going through some trying times and the last thing he probably needed to deal with was her pigheadedness.
And the last thing she needed was to have him worry about her, especially when he had a few of his own things to deal with, namely the fact that Yamashita-kun had again managed to unknowingly hurt him.
“You’re right,” she said with a sigh.
Koyama blinked at her. “What did you have in mind?” she asked with a slight smile.
Soon enough she was assaulted by both a smile and the onslaught of arms as Koyama hurriedly pulled her to her feet and half hugged and half tugged her to the door.
Somehow she wondered whether she’d regret the decision later.
* * *
“Did you have to bring that with you?” Ryo complained, eyeing Shige’s camera wearily.
“I just wanted to get a few group shots, we haven’t hung out in a while,” Shige explained. He knew Ryo wasn’t all that fond of his camera.
Ryo looked ready to argue, but was cut short by Yamapi’s arrival, with a rather pretty girl holding lightly to his arm.
“Wow, on time!” Ryo said, with a slight smirk as he gave the girl a cursory glance, obviously trying to get a sense of the girl.
“Shut up,” Yamapi said with a smile, holding the girl a bit closer.
“It really is a surprise, Kei-chan’s not even here yet,” Tegoshi piped up from his spot beside Ryo. He too was staring at the girl.
She was quite pretty, just the type one would expect Yamapi to go for.
There was a slightly awkward silence, that was broken by Yamapi himself. “Guys, I’d like you all to meet Ami-chan,” he said, waving a hand towards the girl holding onto his arm.
“Ami-chan, this is Ryo, Tegoshi, Massu, and Shige,” he said pointing to each in turn.
Ryo gave her a haphazard smile, Tegoshi gave a slightly excited wave, and Masuda gave her a sweet grin.
Shige had mixed emotions about this, but could only really place a light smile on his face, and give a welcoming nod. After all being rude wouldn’t help Koyama all that much, would it?
“It’s very nice to meet you all,” she said with a slight bow.
Shige stared at her, she was quite pretty, with short shoulder-length black hair, and soft brown eyes.
Typical features, but her face seemed anything but typical, with full, protruding lips that were lightly sprinkled with red lipstick, a high forehead, and an aura that reminded of cool intellect.
She smiled at them all, showing white even teeth, and Yamapi could only grin in response.
* * *
“Are you sure about this?” Arianna asked doubtfully.
“Yes, of course,” Koyama replied evenly, briskly taking her hand in his own and leading her straight on.
Arianna let out a sigh, there were things she did for her friends, but this was just pushing it. “Please, Ari-chan, I can’t be there alone,” Koyama whispered earnestly.
Arianna stared back, felling her heart ache as he stared back at her. The sadness hidden in his usually warm and bright brown eyes was enough to make her breathe hitch slightly.
“Alright,” she said quietly, allowing him to lead her down the corridor.
Without so much as a knock Koyama walked in, a wide smile plastered on his face. “Hey, guys, sorry I’m late,” he called as he pulled Arianna in from behind.
“Took you long enough,” Ryo commented, with a crooked smile.
“Sorry, I got kind of sidetracked,” Koyama replied, indicating at Arianna, who looked slightly uncomfortable if not completely shy.
“Ari-chan was having a meltdown about her composition, so I thought it’d be better to give her a break,” Koyama explained lightly.
“I hope I’m not intruding,” Arianna said, an apologetic smile on her lips, as she gave the assembled party a bow in apology.
“’Course not! Ari-chan’s always welcome!” Tegoshi replied, with a bright smile.
Masuda however didn’t quite feel the same way, as he noted the slight change in Shige once Arianna had entered the room.
To say Shige was surprised was a bit of an understatement, but the stricken look in Koyama’s eyes as they landed on Ami-san was enough for him to understand the situation perfectly.
“No fair! You should have given warning, then we all could have brought dates,” Ryo replied, in mock offense.
Koyama blinked, date?
Shige had to fight down a laugh at the look on both Koyama’s and Arianna’s faces.
Within moments the room was buzzing with noise, Tegoshi had taken the first spot to sing, and had settled on a rather loud and power driven number by the Breakerz and had set to imitating Daigo, the lead singer.
There were little words to describe Tegoshi’s failures at impersonations, and this was no exception. Both Shige and Masuda had to fight through their laughter, as both positively rolled around in their seats. Masuda gently gripping his stomach, head leaning slightly upon Shige’s shoulder as he too trembled from laughter.
Once Tegoshi had finished, he turned to his audience with a pout, “was laughing really all that necessary?”
“For that, yes.” Ryo stated through his laughter.
“Ami-chan, you didn’t hate it did you?” Tegoshi asked, turning his wide brown eyes at the woman sitting beside his group’s leader.
Ami smiled slightly, “I thought it sounded very nice,” she replied.
Before Tegoshi could say anything more, the next song started playing and Masuda was thrust to the center and handed the microphone.
He’d chosen a very light ballad number, and seemed to enjoy singing as his big smile hardly left his face. Shige took this opportunity to capture a few snapshots.
Click, click, click
One after another Shige snapped a few candid photos of the group, in particular one of Tegoshi and Ryo lightly fighting over drinks. The ending being Tegoshi triumphantly staking claim to Ryo’s alcoholic beverage.
“So Ami-chan, how did you and Yamapi meet?” Tegoshi asked.
“Oh, I was introduced by a friend of mine,” she replied.
“Love at first sight?” tegoshi prompted.
Ami blushed, “what kind of questions are these,” she said with a laugh.
“Ignore Tegoshi, he doesn’t have a sense of how to properly communicate with new acquaintances,” Shige cut in.
“Not true!” Tegoshi replied, hotly.
Shige gave Tegoshi a rather tired look, he didn’t feel like competing with the younger man, especially on a point that was obviously true.
“I’m sure Tegoshi-san is very eloquent when speaking,” Ami said, quietly, shifting slightly in her position and taking a light hold of Yamapi’s hand.
Apparently she’d need quite a bit of support from her new boyfriend to keep up with the chaos of his group-mates.
The karaoke continued, with a quite a few laughs resulting from Shige’s failure to properly memorize the lyrics to his chosen song, and Yamapi’s embarrassment when Ryo tried to tell Ami a story about one of the adventures he and Yamapi had shared as juniors, concerning sneaking out and ended with Yamapi having apparently broken out into an interesting rash.
Not many seemed to notice Koyama’s lack of liveliness in the gathering. Usually the older man would be at the center of things, undoubtedly encouraging and laughing along with the others.
In this particular instance however he sat on one side of the room, with only Arianna as a companion.
“You should really try and enjoy this a bit more,” Arianna said.
“I am enjoying it, Tegoshi’s been really funny,” Koyama said with a smile as he watched the short man again stake claim to microphone. “I think he’s going for singing the most tonight.”
“Well what about the ‘KoyaShige’ duet Shige says you guys always do, haven’t done that yet, have you?” Arianna persisted.
Although she had consented to tagging along, she’d hoped that Koyama would end up livening up and seamlessly joining with his other bandmates.
“Maybe later,” Koyama replied.
Arianna let out a sigh, “if you don’t do something they’ll know something’s wrong,” she warned.
That seemed to strike a cord in Koyama, he didn’t want to worry anyone. It’s stressful enough worrying himself, but to worry the others?
That simply wouldn’t do.
Instead he resolved himself to act normal, he’d had more than enough practice doing such a thing that it shouldn’t be all that hard to do it anymore.
Besides what was the point in moping around? It wasn’t about to change anything, and he certainly didn’t want to worry anyone.
Moreover this was one of the few precious moments the group was able to get together and just bond, yet here he sat in a corner acting like a little kid.
Their group gatherings happened only once every few months and only if they were lucky, Koyama simply couldn’t waste it.
“Yamapi’s turn!” Tegoshi announced, handing Yamapi the microphone.
The opening chords for 'Daite Senorita‘ resonated in the room, and Yamapi nearly cringed.
“Do I really have to?” He asked, but got to his feet nonetheless.
“Yes you do,” Ryo said.
“Kei-chan will do your back-up,” Tegoshi said, giving them both a wining smile..
All eyes set to Koyama, he glanced around and gave them all a small smile, readying himself for the inevitable chiding he would get if he didn’t get up and sing with Yamapi.
“No, I think Ami-san should sing with Pi,” Ryo cut in, handing the extra microphone to a surprised Ami.
“I’m not too good at karaoke,” Ami began.
“Nonsense, you’ll be fine,” Ryo replied, while Tegoshi gently and rather inappropriately pushed her to stand.
Yamapi looked rather neutral, but broke into a grin when Ami glanced at him.
Soon enough the two were singing, Ami looking rather out of place as she stumbled along and Yamapi looking picture perfect, as he grasped her hand in his.
‘daite daite daite senoriita
tsuyoku tsuyoku tsuyoku hanasanai de
kazatte kakkou tsukezu ni soba ni oide yo
daite daite daite senoriita’
Shige was torn between simply observing the two lovers and wanting to hit Ryo for being so stupid. Although Ryo may not be aware of Koyama’s feelings, Shige was and he was more than willing to stop that sad look on his face.
Undoubtedly Koyama looked like a poor puppy, his eyes looking rather watery and his mouth plucked into a forced smile.
To anyone else, Koyama might look to be behaving like a sappy mother, simply happy that Yamapi was happy.
Koyama was a very good actor.
Looking for something to do, Shige did the only thing he could think of. He took pictures. Focusing his camera at the oblivious few who were happily watching Yamapi and Ami.
Click
A focused picture of Ryo.
Click
A close-up of Tegoshi’s large grin.
Click
Masuda grinned, sheepishly as Shige focused the lens in on the man’s bright face. Heart again doing the most annoying thing and galloping in place.
Shige couldn’t help but grin back, as he casually took a few more shots, before revolving the camera and taking a few candid shots of Koyama and Arianna.
Although he wouldn’t be able to submit any to a magazine or add them to his professional portfolio, he did still think there was a merit to having a few extra pictures of his best friends. Koyama was sure to get a kick out of it.
Finally finishing the duet, Ami and Yamapi sat down, passing the microphone to Ryo.
‘Zuccoke Otokomichi’ started playing and Ryo had to fight a grimace, he never liked singing his own music at karaoke.
“Pay back,” Yamapi said with a grin, as Ryo sluggishly got to his feet and gave his best friend a dirty look.
Yamapi’s only response was to give Ryo a pat on the tush and urge him forward. Ami’s eyes widened, looking rather unbelieving that her boyfriend had actually touched another man’s bottom.
No one else noticed it, except for Arianna.
Her eyes shadowed Ami, not at all trusting of the girl. Arianna instead turned to Koyama, his eyes looked rather dead, he seemed almost defeated.
Clasping his hand tightly in hers, she gave him a squeeze. Koyama glanced up at her and gave her a terse smile.
The misty eyes and forlorn curve in his mouth set Arianna to determining it was time to do something. Koyama wasn’t going to stay looking like a depressed looking boy, not if Arianna had anything to do with it.
Gingerly scooting around, Arianna managed to stake claim on the song book, and rifled through it. She wasn’t quite sure of what she was looking for, but she knew there had to be something of use in it.
Flipping through the pages, past the section of number one hits, past the contemporary songs, past the idol songs, until she reached the foreign hits and found exactly what she needed.
‘Kibattekoo ze Yeah Yeah Yeah
Zukkoke otokomichi’
Ryo finished with a flourish, and Tegoshi happily applauded him.
“Who’s next?” he asked the general room, eyes roving and landing on Shige.
“Me,” Arianna announced, “well Koyama-kun and me.”
Ryo looked pleased, and handed the microphone over with a grin.
Koyama however looked less than agreeable, and was just beginning to shake his head. Arianna was having none of that, sliding up to him, she handed him a microphone.
“You came to have fun, and I’m not taking no for an answer,” she whispered. “Besides, I think you’ll have fun with this song.”
And before Koyama could protest, Arianna had pulled him up and leading him to stand in front of the shiny screen.
Shige hit the play button, and soon enough Koyama was grinning from ear to ear.
‘Hey! Hey! You! You!
I don’t like your girlfriend!
No way! No way!
I think you need a new one
Hey! Hey! You! You!
I could be your girlfriend’
Arianna belted out the chorus in perfect English, while Koyama happily followed along as was usual for him, throwing in his own random ad lib.
Tegoshi, Ryo, Shige and Masuda were laughing hysterically, as the two danced circles around each other, Koyama making one too many exaggerated faces as he continued singing in his usual off-key tone.
Ami looked on rather torn, unknown to her was the song as well as what the four young men found so amusing about watching their older friend sing in a horrible accent. She got little amusement from the performance, and was rather relieved to find Yamapi wasn’t smiling either.
Yamapi held a neutral face, masking the anxiety he was somehow feeling, along with the clawing feeling in his chest that had him wondering just what was going on, and why he seemed to hope Arianna would choke while singing.
The thought startled Yamapi, he never was one to give ill-will to someone, let alone on his friend and group-mates best friend.
The only thing clear to Yamapi was that Koyama was supposed to sing duets with him.
I want to be your girlfriend
No way! No way!
Hey! Hey!
Koyama ended with a flourish that had Ryo practically hunched over on the floor laughing, while Shige swiftly pulled his camera out and took a few shots of the hyper Ryo.
Koyama’s grin simply grew, as he wrapped his arms around Arianna, “Thank you,” he whispered into her hair.
Yamapi let out a cough, he really didn’t need to see that.
.
* * *
A/N: I know, I know, it's been forever since I last updated the fic, but I somehow lost inspiration as Koyama again proved to me how hard he is to characterize. I'm still not quite sure I did it correctly, but after re-writing this a dozen or so times I was mildly satisfied.
So I hope you all liked it, and that it makes ups for the long wait.
Comments and Criticisms are always welcomed =D