FIC FOR REIICHARU
For: reiicharu
From: prologuesized
Title: YOU will grow that hair back!
Pairings/Characters: KAT-TUN and some mild Kame/Ueda
Rating: PG
Warnings: Lame attempts of humour and eccentric KAT-TUN members who aim to please help.
Notes: Here you go, reiicharu! Truth be told, this assignment was completely out of my comfort zone. I tried my best with it, and in the end I actually had a lot of fun writing it. I hope the final result is something you will enjoy!
Summary: When KAT-TUN hears about Ueda having to shave his hair off for his drama role, they decide it’s time for ruthless damage control.
“Wait, what?”
Ueda runs his fingers anxiously through his locks maybe for the thousandth time since he recently received the confirmation call from his agent about his upcoming drama role in Runaway. His bandmates are staring at him with looks of disbelief and shock on their faces. It’s these days Ueda really remembers that the members of KAT-TUN are bad at actually listening to what the others are saying. It seems that no one’s listened to him lately at all.
“It’s going to get shaved off,” he shrugs irritably and crosses his arms. “I’m going to be acting a prisoner, isn’t it a given that I can’t keep my hair long for the role?”
“What’s up with him?” Koki hisses at Kame with his brows furrowed. “He’s not pulling our leg, is he?”
“I can hear you just fine,” Ueda mumbles as he sits on the creaking plastic chair in their dressing room and uncaps his water bottle. The members of KAT-TUN are exchanging uneasy looks, and it’s just ridiculous, because it’s not like Nakamaru wouldn’t have almost always had short hair himself, even if it was longer than what his would soon be. KAT-TUN has been sporting several short hairstyles lately, so it shouldn’t be that big of a deal.
His co-workers don’t agree with his reasoning, though. “But your hair is your charm point and you’re planning to shave it off! You won’t be just cropping it short, you’re really going to… How do you even know you look good bald!” Koki objects loudly, sounding like he’s about to burst into laughter with the mere mental image. Ueda scowls - it’s not like he wouldn’t have issues with shaving his hair, quite the opposite. It’s just that he’s professional enough for this. It’ll be interesting.
He could use some support now, though. Support he doesn’t seem to be receiving.
“When Kame showed up with short hair none of you were at his throat about it!” Ueda defends himself. Kame starts unconsciously curling one of his now longer locks around his finger thoughtfully while Junno snorts.
“Maybe you should ask Johnny to put you in Dream Boys. You could turn it into a nice Dream Bozu~”
“Idiot,” Kame cuts in and whacks the back of Junno’s head lightly. Ueda can see that his brains are working, processing the situation and how to overcome it with minimal losses for their band. Even though Kame is the youngest out of the five of them, he’s always had the talent of seeing the industry from several viewpoints. He instinctively knows what works and how to overcome troubling issues.
Workaholic.
“Well, it’s too late to cry over spilt milk,” Kame ponders aloud, tugging lightly on Ueda’s hair. “The hair is coming off. What we need now is damage control.” He takes a deep, dramatic breath and makes sure to meet everyone’s eyes before continuing. Ueda gets the creeps. “We must make it grow back as fast as possible.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Nakamaru nods, a slight flush on his face. “I’ll look it up online and ask around. There have to be some tips.”
“We all should look it up,” Junno agrees humbly. “Let’s do our best, won’t we?”
Ueda fidgets on his chair, studying his friends who have fallen deep in thought. All of this because of one haircut. Maybe he should’ve put more thought into this before auditioning for the role, even though the production sounded cool.
“Come on, guys, hair grows fast,” he attempts to sympathise with his bandmates even though his tone ends up being quite nagging and voice shaky, as it usually is when he’s unsure of himself. “I barely had hair when I auditioned for JE. It’s going to be cool.”
“’Bald is good’,” Nakamaru comfortingly quotes Johnny’s words from Ueda’s audition. Ueda purses his lips and bumps his fist in the man’s forearm before grabbing his sports bag, muttering his goodbyes and heading out of the door.
Knowing the stubborn members of KAT-TUN, he’s going to be in for a tough ride. Better start carrying his music player and massive earphones with him to make them back off.
--
He can’t remember ever cutting this much hair off at once. Locks that used to be attached to his scalp pool around his feet and drop on his lap, just like some girl’s. Sure, he’s always been somewhat aware of the importance his hair has to him - the entertainment industry does make people develop all kinds of shallow and weird obsessions, like Kame and his cupboards full of facial washes and creams. To him, like his bandmates have noted, one of the biggest parts in the creation of his image has been his hair.
Not anymore. Now he’s going to have to do without, bare and vulnerable. Criticism is bound to be on its way, and he doesn’t have the pretty and cute outlook to hide behind anymore. He’s out in the open and god, his face looks completely different without his locks framing it. It’s all bumpy and awkward.
“Quite the makeover,” Kame grimaces to him sympathetically and starts making a lot of noise with the blender. Ueda’s brooding with his elbows on the man’s table, still quite disbelieving about his current outlook.
A tall glass with orange mush is gently put on the table before him. Ueda looks up at Kame questioningly, wondering what the trick is. Kame smirks at him and pats his nearly bare head. It’s a miracle he’s still up on his two feet - it’s closer to 4 in the morning and he’s had a long day with Dream Boys and Going! Sports & News. He looks a bit slumped and Ueda feels kind of guilty just butting in like this, even if Kame insisted.
“It’s a smoothie. Rich on proteins, vitamins and fatty acids. A healthy nutrition is important for healthy hair growth,” Kame announces proudly, paying no heed to Ueda’s silence. “Made by yours truly. Now, drink up!”
His eye bags make him look so pitiful that Ueda can’t help but growl in misery and hide his face with his palm as he follows the order. He can be weak today, as long as he’s going to pick himself up tomorrow morning again. For now he can just mourn and hang on to Kame’s know-it-all glory of proper self-maintenance. They’ve gotten by with less sleep anyway.
--
He’s just fine, slumped in his chair and humming their upcoming single’s lyrics quietly - until he’s disturbed by the weirdest sensation of thumbs pressing against the back of his head. He turns around with a wary look and glares at Nakamaru who raises his hands up in the air. Junno and Koki are snickering in the corner. Kame has made himself scarce soon after the hasty meeting.
Ueda removes his earphones with pouting lips and tries to decipher what the hell is going on. “You know, if you’re so interested in touching my bald head, you can just ask. That’s just creepy.”
“No, that’s not it!” Nakamaru attempts to defend himself while Koki wails in the corner with tears in his eyes and Junno squeezing his shaking shoulders to keep his snickering as inaudible as possible. “I have been browsing the internet and it said there that scalp massages help the blood flow in your head and it’s good for hair growth because it stimulates the hair follicles -”
“You want to massage my head?” Ueda asks him bluntly, quite uncertain how he should feel about it. Koki’s biting down on his lip and Junno is whispering something which sounds very much like “He’s so dead!” and it makes Ueda’s cheeks flush faintly.
“I thought it would be helpful,” Nakamaru nods, rubs his sweating palms together anxiously and fidgets.
He thinks about it and purposefully lengthens the tense silence in the air. He’s not exactly into people touching him unless it’s all professional, but he could really use this opportunity. His muscles have been aching horribly for ages.
So in the end he smirks contently, straightens himself up a bit in his chair and stretches his neck quickly. “Sure, go on.”
It’s not the best massage he’s ever gotten, but it’s not so bad to be pampered. It’s nice to be special, even if it’s just until his hair grows fully back.
In the end Nakamaru gives him a gift card to a professional masseuse too. He knows it’s not that big of a deal with their salaries, but it’s quite a nice gesture anyway.
Moments like these he really enjoys being a part of the gang.
--
“Good evening, thank you for letting me in…”
“I’m not... hey!” Ueda tries to object as Koki pushes past him to the foyer and kicks his shoes off with a teasing grin. “What’s up with you?” Ueda tries to interrogate him but the man kneels happily as Ueda’s golden retrievers rush to greet him, howling and barking excitedly.
“Jerk,” Ueda snorts and kicks his bandmate lightly in the back as he walks past him. “Do you want something or did you just feel like dropping by?”
“Since the other guys seem to have put some effort into this, I thought I’d join the fun,” Koki announces proudly and gets up on his feet, tossing his huge rucksack against the wall. “We might as well make this fun, right? So I thought about it and you know what, we’re going to have a sleepover now!”
Ueda stares at his friend blankly, wondering how on earth his bandmates come up with all of these absurd ideas. It’s not often they actually have sleepovers with each other - they’re adults already and even though they’re in the same band, their schedules differ drastically. Their paths usually cross for a few hours here and there during meetings, magazine appearances and TV performances. They often end up recording the singing parts for their songs individually during completely different times.
“What does a sleepover have to do with anything?” he asks warily and Koki laughs, pats his shoulder and wipes a pretentious tear from his eye.
“Sleep is good for your cells, mate,” Koki tells him languidly and stretches, demonstrating how relaxed he feels. If Ueda were to ask him to explain, he’s pretty sure Koki wouldn’t be able to. “Besides, rest is good. Our schedules are hectic nowadays. I’m completely worn out with all the musical stuff!”
“Hmm, I guess it’s tough if you don’t exercise regularly,” Ueda sympathises and absently ruffle’s one of the insistent and whining dogs behind the ear. “We do a lot of running on the set, but it’s not so bad. Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Bodybuilder,” Koki scoffs and grabs Ueda by his arm, ignoring his objections. “Now we’re going to bed! I’m completely worn out, I swear I could fall asleep standing.”
“It’s not even late yet!” Ueda struggles against his friend’s advances but Koki drags him to bed, pushes him down and slumps beside him, an arm wrapped around him to keep him put. “What the hell, get off!”
“I’m doing this for KAT-TUN,” Koki murmurs happily with his eyes closed. His face looks a bit tense, probably from the amount of force he’s putting in keeping him down. “You know I’d do anything for the band, so you just try to wiggle out of this, I won’t let you. We’re going to have a good night’s sleep, Ueda~”
Ueda shoves the man off the bed and bounces up, grimacing angrily. “It’s barely nine o’clock, the lights are on and I still need to feed the dogs and take them out for a walk. Don’t get ahead of things, you weirdo. Try to bully someone of your own level, maybe you’ll have more success.”
“Uedaaaaaaaaaa,” Koki wails as Ueda slams the bedroom door behind him and starts massaging his temples. He can’t wait to have his hair back, just so he can be left in peace again.
--
“Bad boy,” Junno scolds him and swats his hand away when he’s about to push some coins into a coffee machine. Ueda groans and covers his face in his hands, feeling exhausted, annoyed and desperate. Sometimes, he thinks, special treatment isn’t that nice.
“Why!?” he demands to know, getting close to throwing a temper tantrum. “But I really need it! Whatever your problem is, one cup can’t hurt!”
“Caffeine weakens the body. If you want energy, you need to get some proper energy. Eat some veggies or something, I’m sure Kame knows what could work, he’s the cooking freak.”
Ueda comes very close to punching him square in the face, and were he to do that, he doubts he’d regret it. There’s a limit to how far he allows others to push him around. The members of KAT-TUN are rapidly crossing the line.
“Are you talking about me?” Kame’s voice chimes in, his tone innocent and adorable. He’s feeling bouncy today, humming his drama’s opening theme more often than not and obsessing over his character Bem. He’s even changed his favourite colour from black or red to green because of the colour of Bem’s blood. Sometimes, Ueda thinks, Kame takes his fixations too far.
“I stopped him from getting coffee,” Junno declares proudly and Kame high fives him with a smirk. Ueda snaps and jabs his elbow in Junno’s side, making the man wince. “Now, now, don’t be so morose, we have a photoshoot soon,” Kame chuckles at him and Ueda rolls his eyes, unimpressed. This is bound to go to hell.
“Intrusive jerks. And you call yourselves my friends.”
“We’re doing it for your own good!” Kame insists, although it’s clear that Ueda’s good is a subcategory of KAT-TUN’s good. It’s miraculous how much drama one haircut can produce.
“I hate you guys,” Ueda groans and looks up at the ceiling to calm himself down, hands jammed in his pockets. Kame smiles at him empathetically and starts going through his bag. He hands over a lunchbox which Ueda accepts warily. Junno whistles.
“It’s no trouble, I was cooking anyway,” Kame insists, although it sounds like a lot of bullshit. It’s funny how even with his self-confidence, he can turn out to be so modest at times. “It’ll be good for you. Vitamin rich. There’re proteins too, since you’re working out so much.”
“Oh. Thanks,” Ueda mumbles, taken aback by the sudden kind gesture. He knows how busy Kame is - it’s a miracle if the man gets more than four hours of sleep during the night. He often takes short naps wherever he can without looking unprofessional. This… is huge. “Seriously. You don’t have to do this.”
“It’s nothing,” Kame insists and shakes his head dismissively. “It’s pretty much just leftovers from what I ate yesterday. I’ll go back to the others now, though. Don’t get coffee!” he barks accusatively and starts backing off with a playful grin. “You’ll get a monster after you if you do!”
“Maybe he’s monstruating,” Junno yelps humorously and Ueda kicks him in the shin.
--
KAT-TUN is resilient when they choose to be. The nearly bald cast of Runaway becomes a really enjoyable and relaxed company to hang out with during the shootings, compared to them. He’s really grateful for all the nice stuff, sure - Kame’s cooking is delicious whenever he manages to get one across to him from his workload and Junno makes it a habit to drop by a few mornings a week to go for a run with him. It doesn’t make it all okay, though. It’s annoying how Koki keeps pulling on the short strands of hair that are growing and chuckling madly to himself, and if he’s going to have to accept one more herb bag from Nakamaru he’s going to slip something nasty in the man’s next cup of tea.
When his birthday comes knocking on his door, he’s truthfully terrified of meeting the others. Usually he doesn’t care much, but he’s seriously been getting a lot of stuff he’d rather not fill his cupboards with from the others free of charge lately, so a little special extra doesn’t sound all too appealing. Still, he forces himself to take a deep breath, hide under the hood of his jacket and stroll to the break room before the dance practice for their upcoming single promotion performances.
“Look who’s here~” Koki’s head perks up immediately when he pushes past the doorframe. Ueda glares at him but the others are beaming already, reaching for their bags clumsily. Kame stretches languidly, taking his sweet time as the others push towards Ueda.
“The pharmacy sells this stuff if you’re interested in stocking up,” Koki announces proudly with his chin up high. “It shouldn’t be much of a bother either.”
“So it has something to do with my hair,” Ueda snarls unappreciatively and earns a smack at his head. He rips the god-awful colourful wrappers away and exposes a scented shampoo bottle. Well, it could be worse. When he uncaps it and sniffs at the scent warily, he finds out that it’s actually quite pleasant.
“Okay, I forgive you,” he decides and slips it in his bag. Koki whistles in victory and does a high-five with a laughing Kame. Ueda rolls his eyes but can’t help smiling a little - the atmosphere is catchy, and there is a tiny fruitcake sitting on the plain white table at the centre of the room. He hopes his bandmates haven’t expected them to dig in before dance practice, though.
He receives a gift card to a sports shop from Junno, and unexpectedly a vase with some kind of a plant and a blanket from Kame. “It’s cute!” Kame insists stubbornly with a pout on his face when the others bully him. “It’s a cold winter, he can have the blanket with him on set or something! It takes very little space but it’s really warm, I have one too and it’s really useful!”
“Yeah, thanks,” Ueda snorts and pats Kame’s forehead with an exaggeratedly long sigh. Koki howls maliciously and Kame pulls on his shirt to push him around a little to make him quiet down, but fails in his attempt. Ueda turns to Nakamaru and extends his hand.
“Just let me have it, whatever it is,” he encourages the short man and receives a neat gift bag. He peers into it, grimaces and tilts his head in question. “Um.”
“It’s tea tree oil,” Nakamaru pipes nervously and rubs his hands together. “Some people say it’s good for hair growth, but it’s not really a proven fact. It’s pretty useful in many ways, actually, it works against dandruff, acne, fungus, athlete’s foot -”
“DO I LOOK LIKE I HAVE DANDRUFF AND ACNE TO YOU!?” Ueda roars and Nakamaru shields himself with his arms.
“Now, now!” Junno laughs shakily and comes between them to protect Nakamaru from the thunder’s way.
Ueda sees red. “WHAT THE HELL!”
“I didn’t mean that!” Nakamaru tries to insist over Ueda’s overreaction. “It’s not only that! I mean, it’s good for a cold! It’ll help a sore throat and everything!”
“THEN WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY THAT FIRST!”
“Let’s have cake, shall we?” Koki tries to interrupt the argument. Kame’s grinning amusedly, holding back his laughter as he tugs on Nakamaru’s sleeve to guide him out of Ueda’s way a little. Nakamaru is all flushed and sweaty.
“Cake!” Junno yells happily and shoots his hands up in the air to lift the mood.
“I’ll get you anti-age creams for your birthday, old man,” Ueda scoffs at Nakamaru half-heartedly as he pushes past him. Koki smacks his head playfully and pushes him down on his chair.
--
“I won’t bring you lunchboxes anymore,” Kame announces one day. Ueda raises his eyebrows in question - it’s not that he minds per se, because it is kind of weird and it puts a lot of extra pressure on Kame, but he’s a bit curious about the reason. Kame smiles playfully and runs his fingers through the short strands of Ueda’s hair.
“There are cameras around, you know,” Ueda reminds him - they’re preparing for the BIRTH PV filming, as they’re ready with their costumes and make-up. Kame pokes his forehead playfully and grins. “Flirt,” Ueda accuses him uncaringly and brushes his hand off.
“Don’t you want to know why I won’t bring you lunchboxes anymore?” Kame tries to tempt him, his head tilted. Today, for some reason, he’s full of child-like energy. Ueda thinks it might be thanks to his drama set. It’s good for Kame.
“Should I?”
“Short hair looks so nice on you.” It’s a sudden and unexpected compliment. Ueda has to admit that he’s been growing quite fond of his growing hair and he’s really missed it, so now that it’s starting to return he’s probably the most ecstatic about it. Short hair itself, however, is still something he feels a bit unsure about. “I don’t want your hair to grow anymore. This style is nice. It’s much better than the blond.”
“Oh shut it,” Ueda scoffs and elbows Kame. The man dodges his assault and shields himself joyously.
“I’m serious, it looks great. If it didn’t, Johnny wouldn’t let you do even one PV without a wig,” he winks and Ueda scrunches up his nose. He’s not really looking forward to having to deal with an itchy wig for an entire day full of dancing. They get sweaty so easily. “Believe it or not, I think you’re quite accepted with that hair. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to cut it.”
“You should believe in me more,” Ueda accuses Kame who bows humbly in apology and laughs. “You all made such a big fuss about nothing.”
“We care about you,” Kame insists, his smile wide and bright. His eyes are almost twinkling as he faces Ueda confidently, like the idol he is.
“Mostly you care about KAT-TUN,” Ueda tries to correct Kame but the man whacks him childishly before jogging to the door and turning over to peek back into the room.
“Of course we care about KAT-TUN, our asses are on the line too,” he admits mischievously. “But we’ve got a bond between us, you know. We’re not watching anyone go down. You’d do just the same for us.”
“I wouldn’t,” Ueda claims but Kame smirks knowingly before he disappears from his sight. Ueda’s heart rams in his chest as he runs after the guy. “I wouldn’t! I definitely wouldn’t! It was like you would’ve been taunting me!”
Kame’s laughter rings in the air as he heads towards the staircase to get to the studio where they’ll do some of the filming. “Liar,” he yells at Ueda and makes him blush involuntarily.
Maybe he is, Ueda thinks. It doesn’t mean he wouldn’t enjoy the tinge of sadism in a similar kind of situation, should it ever come up. Revenge, he decides, is sweet and cold.
From: prologuesized
Title: YOU will grow that hair back!
Pairings/Characters: KAT-TUN and some mild Kame/Ueda
Rating: PG
Warnings: Lame attempts of humour and eccentric KAT-TUN members who aim to please help.
Notes: Here you go, reiicharu! Truth be told, this assignment was completely out of my comfort zone. I tried my best with it, and in the end I actually had a lot of fun writing it. I hope the final result is something you will enjoy!
Summary: When KAT-TUN hears about Ueda having to shave his hair off for his drama role, they decide it’s time for ruthless damage control.
“Wait, what?”
Ueda runs his fingers anxiously through his locks maybe for the thousandth time since he recently received the confirmation call from his agent about his upcoming drama role in Runaway. His bandmates are staring at him with looks of disbelief and shock on their faces. It’s these days Ueda really remembers that the members of KAT-TUN are bad at actually listening to what the others are saying. It seems that no one’s listened to him lately at all.
“It’s going to get shaved off,” he shrugs irritably and crosses his arms. “I’m going to be acting a prisoner, isn’t it a given that I can’t keep my hair long for the role?”
“What’s up with him?” Koki hisses at Kame with his brows furrowed. “He’s not pulling our leg, is he?”
“I can hear you just fine,” Ueda mumbles as he sits on the creaking plastic chair in their dressing room and uncaps his water bottle. The members of KAT-TUN are exchanging uneasy looks, and it’s just ridiculous, because it’s not like Nakamaru wouldn’t have almost always had short hair himself, even if it was longer than what his would soon be. KAT-TUN has been sporting several short hairstyles lately, so it shouldn’t be that big of a deal.
His co-workers don’t agree with his reasoning, though. “But your hair is your charm point and you’re planning to shave it off! You won’t be just cropping it short, you’re really going to… How do you even know you look good bald!” Koki objects loudly, sounding like he’s about to burst into laughter with the mere mental image. Ueda scowls - it’s not like he wouldn’t have issues with shaving his hair, quite the opposite. It’s just that he’s professional enough for this. It’ll be interesting.
He could use some support now, though. Support he doesn’t seem to be receiving.
“When Kame showed up with short hair none of you were at his throat about it!” Ueda defends himself. Kame starts unconsciously curling one of his now longer locks around his finger thoughtfully while Junno snorts.
“Maybe you should ask Johnny to put you in Dream Boys. You could turn it into a nice Dream Bozu~”
“Idiot,” Kame cuts in and whacks the back of Junno’s head lightly. Ueda can see that his brains are working, processing the situation and how to overcome it with minimal losses for their band. Even though Kame is the youngest out of the five of them, he’s always had the talent of seeing the industry from several viewpoints. He instinctively knows what works and how to overcome troubling issues.
Workaholic.
“Well, it’s too late to cry over spilt milk,” Kame ponders aloud, tugging lightly on Ueda’s hair. “The hair is coming off. What we need now is damage control.” He takes a deep, dramatic breath and makes sure to meet everyone’s eyes before continuing. Ueda gets the creeps. “We must make it grow back as fast as possible.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Nakamaru nods, a slight flush on his face. “I’ll look it up online and ask around. There have to be some tips.”
“We all should look it up,” Junno agrees humbly. “Let’s do our best, won’t we?”
Ueda fidgets on his chair, studying his friends who have fallen deep in thought. All of this because of one haircut. Maybe he should’ve put more thought into this before auditioning for the role, even though the production sounded cool.
“Come on, guys, hair grows fast,” he attempts to sympathise with his bandmates even though his tone ends up being quite nagging and voice shaky, as it usually is when he’s unsure of himself. “I barely had hair when I auditioned for JE. It’s going to be cool.”
“’Bald is good’,” Nakamaru comfortingly quotes Johnny’s words from Ueda’s audition. Ueda purses his lips and bumps his fist in the man’s forearm before grabbing his sports bag, muttering his goodbyes and heading out of the door.
Knowing the stubborn members of KAT-TUN, he’s going to be in for a tough ride. Better start carrying his music player and massive earphones with him to make them back off.
--
He can’t remember ever cutting this much hair off at once. Locks that used to be attached to his scalp pool around his feet and drop on his lap, just like some girl’s. Sure, he’s always been somewhat aware of the importance his hair has to him - the entertainment industry does make people develop all kinds of shallow and weird obsessions, like Kame and his cupboards full of facial washes and creams. To him, like his bandmates have noted, one of the biggest parts in the creation of his image has been his hair.
Not anymore. Now he’s going to have to do without, bare and vulnerable. Criticism is bound to be on its way, and he doesn’t have the pretty and cute outlook to hide behind anymore. He’s out in the open and god, his face looks completely different without his locks framing it. It’s all bumpy and awkward.
“Quite the makeover,” Kame grimaces to him sympathetically and starts making a lot of noise with the blender. Ueda’s brooding with his elbows on the man’s table, still quite disbelieving about his current outlook.
A tall glass with orange mush is gently put on the table before him. Ueda looks up at Kame questioningly, wondering what the trick is. Kame smirks at him and pats his nearly bare head. It’s a miracle he’s still up on his two feet - it’s closer to 4 in the morning and he’s had a long day with Dream Boys and Going! Sports & News. He looks a bit slumped and Ueda feels kind of guilty just butting in like this, even if Kame insisted.
“It’s a smoothie. Rich on proteins, vitamins and fatty acids. A healthy nutrition is important for healthy hair growth,” Kame announces proudly, paying no heed to Ueda’s silence. “Made by yours truly. Now, drink up!”
His eye bags make him look so pitiful that Ueda can’t help but growl in misery and hide his face with his palm as he follows the order. He can be weak today, as long as he’s going to pick himself up tomorrow morning again. For now he can just mourn and hang on to Kame’s know-it-all glory of proper self-maintenance. They’ve gotten by with less sleep anyway.
--
He’s just fine, slumped in his chair and humming their upcoming single’s lyrics quietly - until he’s disturbed by the weirdest sensation of thumbs pressing against the back of his head. He turns around with a wary look and glares at Nakamaru who raises his hands up in the air. Junno and Koki are snickering in the corner. Kame has made himself scarce soon after the hasty meeting.
Ueda removes his earphones with pouting lips and tries to decipher what the hell is going on. “You know, if you’re so interested in touching my bald head, you can just ask. That’s just creepy.”
“No, that’s not it!” Nakamaru attempts to defend himself while Koki wails in the corner with tears in his eyes and Junno squeezing his shaking shoulders to keep his snickering as inaudible as possible. “I have been browsing the internet and it said there that scalp massages help the blood flow in your head and it’s good for hair growth because it stimulates the hair follicles -”
“You want to massage my head?” Ueda asks him bluntly, quite uncertain how he should feel about it. Koki’s biting down on his lip and Junno is whispering something which sounds very much like “He’s so dead!” and it makes Ueda’s cheeks flush faintly.
“I thought it would be helpful,” Nakamaru nods, rubs his sweating palms together anxiously and fidgets.
He thinks about it and purposefully lengthens the tense silence in the air. He’s not exactly into people touching him unless it’s all professional, but he could really use this opportunity. His muscles have been aching horribly for ages.
So in the end he smirks contently, straightens himself up a bit in his chair and stretches his neck quickly. “Sure, go on.”
It’s not the best massage he’s ever gotten, but it’s not so bad to be pampered. It’s nice to be special, even if it’s just until his hair grows fully back.
In the end Nakamaru gives him a gift card to a professional masseuse too. He knows it’s not that big of a deal with their salaries, but it’s quite a nice gesture anyway.
Moments like these he really enjoys being a part of the gang.
--
“Good evening, thank you for letting me in…”
“I’m not... hey!” Ueda tries to object as Koki pushes past him to the foyer and kicks his shoes off with a teasing grin. “What’s up with you?” Ueda tries to interrogate him but the man kneels happily as Ueda’s golden retrievers rush to greet him, howling and barking excitedly.
“Jerk,” Ueda snorts and kicks his bandmate lightly in the back as he walks past him. “Do you want something or did you just feel like dropping by?”
“Since the other guys seem to have put some effort into this, I thought I’d join the fun,” Koki announces proudly and gets up on his feet, tossing his huge rucksack against the wall. “We might as well make this fun, right? So I thought about it and you know what, we’re going to have a sleepover now!”
Ueda stares at his friend blankly, wondering how on earth his bandmates come up with all of these absurd ideas. It’s not often they actually have sleepovers with each other - they’re adults already and even though they’re in the same band, their schedules differ drastically. Their paths usually cross for a few hours here and there during meetings, magazine appearances and TV performances. They often end up recording the singing parts for their songs individually during completely different times.
“What does a sleepover have to do with anything?” he asks warily and Koki laughs, pats his shoulder and wipes a pretentious tear from his eye.
“Sleep is good for your cells, mate,” Koki tells him languidly and stretches, demonstrating how relaxed he feels. If Ueda were to ask him to explain, he’s pretty sure Koki wouldn’t be able to. “Besides, rest is good. Our schedules are hectic nowadays. I’m completely worn out with all the musical stuff!”
“Hmm, I guess it’s tough if you don’t exercise regularly,” Ueda sympathises and absently ruffle’s one of the insistent and whining dogs behind the ear. “We do a lot of running on the set, but it’s not so bad. Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Bodybuilder,” Koki scoffs and grabs Ueda by his arm, ignoring his objections. “Now we’re going to bed! I’m completely worn out, I swear I could fall asleep standing.”
“It’s not even late yet!” Ueda struggles against his friend’s advances but Koki drags him to bed, pushes him down and slumps beside him, an arm wrapped around him to keep him put. “What the hell, get off!”
“I’m doing this for KAT-TUN,” Koki murmurs happily with his eyes closed. His face looks a bit tense, probably from the amount of force he’s putting in keeping him down. “You know I’d do anything for the band, so you just try to wiggle out of this, I won’t let you. We’re going to have a good night’s sleep, Ueda~”
Ueda shoves the man off the bed and bounces up, grimacing angrily. “It’s barely nine o’clock, the lights are on and I still need to feed the dogs and take them out for a walk. Don’t get ahead of things, you weirdo. Try to bully someone of your own level, maybe you’ll have more success.”
“Uedaaaaaaaaaa,” Koki wails as Ueda slams the bedroom door behind him and starts massaging his temples. He can’t wait to have his hair back, just so he can be left in peace again.
--
“Bad boy,” Junno scolds him and swats his hand away when he’s about to push some coins into a coffee machine. Ueda groans and covers his face in his hands, feeling exhausted, annoyed and desperate. Sometimes, he thinks, special treatment isn’t that nice.
“Why!?” he demands to know, getting close to throwing a temper tantrum. “But I really need it! Whatever your problem is, one cup can’t hurt!”
“Caffeine weakens the body. If you want energy, you need to get some proper energy. Eat some veggies or something, I’m sure Kame knows what could work, he’s the cooking freak.”
Ueda comes very close to punching him square in the face, and were he to do that, he doubts he’d regret it. There’s a limit to how far he allows others to push him around. The members of KAT-TUN are rapidly crossing the line.
“Are you talking about me?” Kame’s voice chimes in, his tone innocent and adorable. He’s feeling bouncy today, humming his drama’s opening theme more often than not and obsessing over his character Bem. He’s even changed his favourite colour from black or red to green because of the colour of Bem’s blood. Sometimes, Ueda thinks, Kame takes his fixations too far.
“I stopped him from getting coffee,” Junno declares proudly and Kame high fives him with a smirk. Ueda snaps and jabs his elbow in Junno’s side, making the man wince. “Now, now, don’t be so morose, we have a photoshoot soon,” Kame chuckles at him and Ueda rolls his eyes, unimpressed. This is bound to go to hell.
“Intrusive jerks. And you call yourselves my friends.”
“We’re doing it for your own good!” Kame insists, although it’s clear that Ueda’s good is a subcategory of KAT-TUN’s good. It’s miraculous how much drama one haircut can produce.
“I hate you guys,” Ueda groans and looks up at the ceiling to calm himself down, hands jammed in his pockets. Kame smiles at him empathetically and starts going through his bag. He hands over a lunchbox which Ueda accepts warily. Junno whistles.
“It’s no trouble, I was cooking anyway,” Kame insists, although it sounds like a lot of bullshit. It’s funny how even with his self-confidence, he can turn out to be so modest at times. “It’ll be good for you. Vitamin rich. There’re proteins too, since you’re working out so much.”
“Oh. Thanks,” Ueda mumbles, taken aback by the sudden kind gesture. He knows how busy Kame is - it’s a miracle if the man gets more than four hours of sleep during the night. He often takes short naps wherever he can without looking unprofessional. This… is huge. “Seriously. You don’t have to do this.”
“It’s nothing,” Kame insists and shakes his head dismissively. “It’s pretty much just leftovers from what I ate yesterday. I’ll go back to the others now, though. Don’t get coffee!” he barks accusatively and starts backing off with a playful grin. “You’ll get a monster after you if you do!”
“Maybe he’s monstruating,” Junno yelps humorously and Ueda kicks him in the shin.
--
KAT-TUN is resilient when they choose to be. The nearly bald cast of Runaway becomes a really enjoyable and relaxed company to hang out with during the shootings, compared to them. He’s really grateful for all the nice stuff, sure - Kame’s cooking is delicious whenever he manages to get one across to him from his workload and Junno makes it a habit to drop by a few mornings a week to go for a run with him. It doesn’t make it all okay, though. It’s annoying how Koki keeps pulling on the short strands of hair that are growing and chuckling madly to himself, and if he’s going to have to accept one more herb bag from Nakamaru he’s going to slip something nasty in the man’s next cup of tea.
When his birthday comes knocking on his door, he’s truthfully terrified of meeting the others. Usually he doesn’t care much, but he’s seriously been getting a lot of stuff he’d rather not fill his cupboards with from the others free of charge lately, so a little special extra doesn’t sound all too appealing. Still, he forces himself to take a deep breath, hide under the hood of his jacket and stroll to the break room before the dance practice for their upcoming single promotion performances.
“Look who’s here~” Koki’s head perks up immediately when he pushes past the doorframe. Ueda glares at him but the others are beaming already, reaching for their bags clumsily. Kame stretches languidly, taking his sweet time as the others push towards Ueda.
“The pharmacy sells this stuff if you’re interested in stocking up,” Koki announces proudly with his chin up high. “It shouldn’t be much of a bother either.”
“So it has something to do with my hair,” Ueda snarls unappreciatively and earns a smack at his head. He rips the god-awful colourful wrappers away and exposes a scented shampoo bottle. Well, it could be worse. When he uncaps it and sniffs at the scent warily, he finds out that it’s actually quite pleasant.
“Okay, I forgive you,” he decides and slips it in his bag. Koki whistles in victory and does a high-five with a laughing Kame. Ueda rolls his eyes but can’t help smiling a little - the atmosphere is catchy, and there is a tiny fruitcake sitting on the plain white table at the centre of the room. He hopes his bandmates haven’t expected them to dig in before dance practice, though.
He receives a gift card to a sports shop from Junno, and unexpectedly a vase with some kind of a plant and a blanket from Kame. “It’s cute!” Kame insists stubbornly with a pout on his face when the others bully him. “It’s a cold winter, he can have the blanket with him on set or something! It takes very little space but it’s really warm, I have one too and it’s really useful!”
“Yeah, thanks,” Ueda snorts and pats Kame’s forehead with an exaggeratedly long sigh. Koki howls maliciously and Kame pulls on his shirt to push him around a little to make him quiet down, but fails in his attempt. Ueda turns to Nakamaru and extends his hand.
“Just let me have it, whatever it is,” he encourages the short man and receives a neat gift bag. He peers into it, grimaces and tilts his head in question. “Um.”
“It’s tea tree oil,” Nakamaru pipes nervously and rubs his hands together. “Some people say it’s good for hair growth, but it’s not really a proven fact. It’s pretty useful in many ways, actually, it works against dandruff, acne, fungus, athlete’s foot -”
“DO I LOOK LIKE I HAVE DANDRUFF AND ACNE TO YOU!?” Ueda roars and Nakamaru shields himself with his arms.
“Now, now!” Junno laughs shakily and comes between them to protect Nakamaru from the thunder’s way.
Ueda sees red. “WHAT THE HELL!”
“I didn’t mean that!” Nakamaru tries to insist over Ueda’s overreaction. “It’s not only that! I mean, it’s good for a cold! It’ll help a sore throat and everything!”
“THEN WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY THAT FIRST!”
“Let’s have cake, shall we?” Koki tries to interrupt the argument. Kame’s grinning amusedly, holding back his laughter as he tugs on Nakamaru’s sleeve to guide him out of Ueda’s way a little. Nakamaru is all flushed and sweaty.
“Cake!” Junno yells happily and shoots his hands up in the air to lift the mood.
“I’ll get you anti-age creams for your birthday, old man,” Ueda scoffs at Nakamaru half-heartedly as he pushes past him. Koki smacks his head playfully and pushes him down on his chair.
--
“I won’t bring you lunchboxes anymore,” Kame announces one day. Ueda raises his eyebrows in question - it’s not that he minds per se, because it is kind of weird and it puts a lot of extra pressure on Kame, but he’s a bit curious about the reason. Kame smiles playfully and runs his fingers through the short strands of Ueda’s hair.
“There are cameras around, you know,” Ueda reminds him - they’re preparing for the BIRTH PV filming, as they’re ready with their costumes and make-up. Kame pokes his forehead playfully and grins. “Flirt,” Ueda accuses him uncaringly and brushes his hand off.
“Don’t you want to know why I won’t bring you lunchboxes anymore?” Kame tries to tempt him, his head tilted. Today, for some reason, he’s full of child-like energy. Ueda thinks it might be thanks to his drama set. It’s good for Kame.
“Should I?”
“Short hair looks so nice on you.” It’s a sudden and unexpected compliment. Ueda has to admit that he’s been growing quite fond of his growing hair and he’s really missed it, so now that it’s starting to return he’s probably the most ecstatic about it. Short hair itself, however, is still something he feels a bit unsure about. “I don’t want your hair to grow anymore. This style is nice. It’s much better than the blond.”
“Oh shut it,” Ueda scoffs and elbows Kame. The man dodges his assault and shields himself joyously.
“I’m serious, it looks great. If it didn’t, Johnny wouldn’t let you do even one PV without a wig,” he winks and Ueda scrunches up his nose. He’s not really looking forward to having to deal with an itchy wig for an entire day full of dancing. They get sweaty so easily. “Believe it or not, I think you’re quite accepted with that hair. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to cut it.”
“You should believe in me more,” Ueda accuses Kame who bows humbly in apology and laughs. “You all made such a big fuss about nothing.”
“We care about you,” Kame insists, his smile wide and bright. His eyes are almost twinkling as he faces Ueda confidently, like the idol he is.
“Mostly you care about KAT-TUN,” Ueda tries to correct Kame but the man whacks him childishly before jogging to the door and turning over to peek back into the room.
“Of course we care about KAT-TUN, our asses are on the line too,” he admits mischievously. “But we’ve got a bond between us, you know. We’re not watching anyone go down. You’d do just the same for us.”
“I wouldn’t,” Ueda claims but Kame smirks knowingly before he disappears from his sight. Ueda’s heart rams in his chest as he runs after the guy. “I wouldn’t! I definitely wouldn’t! It was like you would’ve been taunting me!”
Kame’s laughter rings in the air as he heads towards the staircase to get to the studio where they’ll do some of the filming. “Liar,” he yells at Ueda and makes him blush involuntarily.
Maybe he is, Ueda thinks. It doesn’t mean he wouldn’t enjoy the tinge of sadism in a similar kind of situation, should it ever come up. Revenge, he decides, is sweet and cold.