RyoDa Fanfiction: That Melody I Love
Title: That Melody I Love
Author: Gaillen’s Mirror
Disclaimer: Uh huh
Pairing: Ryoda (main), others but they are of little importance.
Rating: T
Summary: Ueda Tatsuya and Nishikido Ryo have never truly hated each other. But they’ve never been real friends with each other. It becomes a random meeting, a few words, a lunch, and then something a whole lot more…a melody.
Warnings: None?
Da Capo
Adagio
Early morning sunlight streamed through his windows and into Ueda’s eyes, causing him to blink several times in a vain attempt to block out the unbearable light. With a groan, he lifted his hands and rubbed at his eyes before turning onto his side, the sunlight warming his back. Several seconds passed by in silence as he stared at the green digits of his clock in a sleep-induced haze. When the numbers finally came into focus, Ueda’s eyes widened in surprise and he sat up, tossing the covers away to grab at the small electronic device.
“Ehh!? That’s what time it is!?” Near the foot of the bed, a large golden retriever looked up and started to thump its tail against the floor as Ueda leapt out of his bed and ran to the bathroom.
“Why didn’t the alarm go off? When did I get home last night?” Ueda whined to himself as he turned the knobs of the shower. He started to peel off his clothes, the same ones he had worn yesterday, before stepping into the shower and bathing rapidly.
Stepping out, he dried quickly before darting into his bedroom and pulling out whatever clothes came closest to hand, his hair was still dripping as he pulled his shirt over his head and he could feel the water soaking the collar. Grabbing his glasses from the vanity, he looked into the mirror frowning at the sight of his slightly swollen face and his unruly hair. Usually he had time to style it and apply a light foundation that he never went anywhere without, but today there was simply no time. The golden retriever butted her head against his leg and he scratched her behind her ear, still considering his appearance, before glancing at his clock.
“Oh damn! I’m late, Eri. I’m sorry I can’t take you for a run this morning.” He flipped the mirror down so the reflection was gone and grabbed a hooded jacket from the back of the door. Eri followed him into the kitchen and he pulled out a can of dog food for her, scraping it out with a spoon. Ueda tossed the empty can and the plastic spoon into the trash and ran for the door, grabbing a protein bar from the cabinet as he did so.
Slipping on his shoes, he reached for his half-opened bag and grabbed it wrong, causing the contents to spill out of the bag and scatter across the carpeted floor.
“Damn it!” He knelt, shoving handfuls of items into the bag. As soon as he was sure he had grabbed everything, he zipped it up and ran out the door, barely remembering to lock it behind him. The landlady of the apartment complex was walking up the stairs as he ran down them.
“Hello, Ueda-kun.” She said.
“Morning, Yoko-san. Sorry I can’t talk. I’m late!” He darted past her, not seeing her shake her head and continue on her way up the stairs. Ueda ran down the sidewalk, noting the lack of people he usually saw in the mornings worriedly. He ran up the stairs to the train station and cried out in frustration when he saw his train pull away before dropping down to place his hands against his knees breathing heavily from his mad dash. He glanced up at the station’s clock and groaned.
“I’m so dead.” He whispered as he thought of the countdown organizer and his manager. “So, so dead.”
*Caesura*
Kamenashi Kazuya stepped out of the lift, humming cheerily under his breath, and almost skipped down the hall to KAT-TUN’s ready room. If he knew his band mates, they were all probably lazing about the common room enjoying one of the easiest days they had had in over nine months. They had been given a twenty minute break after the countdown meeting to get rest before the actual practices began and Kame was intent on being lazy too.
About half-way to his destination, he stopped as a door further down the hall opened. It was the door to KAT-TUN’s manager’s office and Ueda walked out of it with a disgruntled sigh. He shut the door a little more firmly than necessary and leant his forehead against the frame, sighing heavily.
“Ueda? Is everything alright?” Ueda raised his head, slightly surprised. He hadn’t realized Kame was in the hall with him or watching him.
“Oh hi, Kame. Yeah, it’s no problem.” Ueda smiled as Kame changed direction and came to stand near him.
“Are you sure? You seem just a little upset.”
“No really, it’s no problem. Just stress I suppose.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.” Ueda nodded and stood up straight. “Hey, why were you late this morning?” Kame asked suddenly.
Ueda blushed with shame. He had nearly forgotten about his tardiness that morning. He had been nearly ten minutes late to the meeting, beating Nakamaru’s record by four minutes, and Hitsumaru, the organizer and Ueda’s personal enemy, had taken it upon him self to make Ueda’s embarrassment as acute as possible. This caused Ueda’s already low opinion of himself to lower even further.
“Yeah, I just overslept. I’m not even sure I had my alarm set or I might have slept through it. I don’t know.” Ueda sighed, running a hand absently over his hair in a vain attempt to brush down the wayward strands.
“I understand, don’t worry about it. Don’t let Hitsumaru-san’s words get you down.” Ueda nodded as Kame smiled endearingly at him. “I know the new single is due for recording this week and all but that doesn’t mean you have to kill yourself to get it finished. You need some down time in your life like the rest of us and I don’t mean boxing.”
“I can’t believe I’m getting advice on rest from the work-a-holic, Kamenashi.” Ueda rolled his eyes, playfully. Kame simply laughed, happy that the boxer was feeling better before heading towards KAT-TUN’s room. Ueda followed with a quiet sigh.
His meeting with Mori-san had not gone as well as he had hoped. It was only after the meeting had started that Ueda had discovered the demo for the new single missing, and he had no idea where it could possibly be. When he had dumped the contents of his bag out that morning he didn’t recall seeing it in the items that had spilt out, but it was possible that he had just left it on his desk. He still was a little foggy on what had happened last night after getting home from his late dinner with Kame.
His manager hadn’t been angry with him, a little disappointed maybe, but Ueda had apologized profusely and promised to find it and bring it in. The recording was scheduled for the day after tomorrow, a date that was extremely quick for new material but because of the Countdown happening in about a week, they wouldn’t have time for a rescheduling and making the deadline was very important. Especially in their line of work.
“Good morning~” Kame called as he opened the door to KAT-TUN’s ready room without knocking. His greeting was returned with varied and, in Nakamaru’s case, slurred responses. Ueda jumped slightly when Koki’s arm was slung over his and Kame’s shoulders and his face pressed between theirs.
“Good morning, dears~” The soft-hearted gangster grinned.
“Good morning, Koki.” Kame said at the same time as Ueda protested: “Who are you calling dear?”
“I expected Yuu-chan to be late, but I never would have pegged our pretty Uepopu as a late riser.” Koki remarked with a smirk as Ueda broke free from his grasp and flopped on the couch next to Taguchi, the newest game in the tall acrobat’s collection playing on his psp.
“I’m not pretty.” Ueda sighed, ignoring Nakamaru’s insulted outcry. “And we’ve all been late at least once before. If I remember correctly I was late most the time when I was a junior.”
“Hey guys, we’ve got to be at the main dance room in three minutes, you might want to change into your practice clothes.” Jin said moving over to the group from the table with his street clothes tucked under one arm. Everyone immediately moved to do so with quiet grumbles but Ueda just sank further into the sofa. He was not looking forward to seeing Hitsumaru-san again or all the groups he had been embarrassed in front of.
“That means you too, leader.” Kame said, offering his hand with a cheeky grin.
“I’m not your leader.” Ueda replied, slapping Kame’s hand away playfully. He shifted through his bag for his practice clothes and took one last glimpse for the elusive manila envelope that should have been there. Not surprisingly it wasn’t.
Jin and Koki, the only two that had changed before hand, waited for them impatiently and as soon as everyone was ready, they moved as a group to the lift. While waiting for the lift to reach them, Taguchi entertained them with a story of their dinner last night involving some girl and Jin. Jin, embarrassedly, kept talking over the taller lad and threatening him with bodily harm if he didn’t shut up much to everyone’s amusement.
The doors of the lift pinged open revealing the members of Hey!Say!7, who promptly moved to give their sempai room in the lift. Ueda bowed his head feeling embarrassed in the face of his kouhai but he felt relieved when none of them made any comment to his tardiness earlier. If the rest of groups were like this, maybe the practices wouldn’t be that bad.
*Caesura*
Ueda knelt down to tie the laces of his sneakers as all around him the members of various Jyanni’s stretched and chatted lively amongst each other. The choreographers and the organizers hadn’t arrived yet, to which Ueda was very glad. He stood up with a sigh and pulled his arm over his head in a stretch.
“I don’t see your point.” Ueda turned his head slightly to look at Kame and Jin arguing…again.
“You are always like this recently.” Jin replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Mr. Perfect.”
“Jin, Kame. Both of you stop it. You shouldn’t be arguing now.” Nakamaru, the peace-maker, warned quietly. Kame looked ready to strangle the A of KAT-TUN but he instantly deflated at Nakamaru’s low words.
“Whatever.” Kame turned, his eyes meeting the curious gaze of Ueda. With the shake of his head, deterring all questions, he went over to Koki who was entertaining the members of Arashi with his rapping or something like that.
“Oi! Jin, over here!” Jin, who was glaring at Kame’s retreating back, turned at Yamapi’s call and immediately brightened running off in the direction of NEWS. Ueda watched him go curiously. Before he turned around, his eyes met Nishikido’s for all of a second but the NEWS member looked away to converse with Jin.
“Ready for practices?” Nakamaru asked. Ueda looked at him over the rim of his glasses.
“No.” Nakamaru laughed and placed a hand on his younger band mate’s shoulder.
“You’ll be fine. Don’t worry about Hitsumaru-san too much.” Ueda’s lips twitched in a faint smile. The organizers choose that moment to enter the room with the choreographers and everyone immediately started falling back into position.
Somehow today isn’t going to be a good day. Ueda thought noticing that Hitsumaru was in the group of organizers.
*Caesura*
Ryo sighed, leaning back against the sofa wearily. Dance practices were always tiring, why couldn’t he just stick with the singing part and leave the dancing to someone else? He looked around the resting room at the only other occupants. It was currently one in the afternoon and almost everyone had gone to lunch.
There were still about ten people from various groups still lazing around the ready room as they rested from a rather vigorous practice. He glanced over at Subaru sleeping soundly on the sofa next to him and took a sip from his can of cold soda. He was hungry but he really didn’t feel like eating anything. Maybe he should follow Subaru’s example and take a power nap.
“Ryo-chan~” Ryo opened his eyes but closed them again once he discovered the identity of the voice’s owner.
“What do you want, Bakanishi?” Ryo tried hard not to growl at his friend.
“Let’s go out to lunch, Ryo-chan~ we haven’t been out together in so long.”
“No. You always make me pay when we go out, why don’t you ask Kamenashi?” Ryo tilted his head back and proceeded to ignore the KAT-TUN member.
“Because you’re more fun.” Jin explained, pulling a face as he looked over at Kame who was so engrossed in his drama script that he didn’t notice. He flopped against the Osakan’s side on the sofa and leaned against him in what he thought was a cute way. Unfortunately for him, he was no Tegoshi.
“I don’t care, go without me.” Ryo snorted. Jin pouted but since Ryo’s eyes were closed he missed the pout and the wicked smile after.
“Thanks for lunch, Ryo-chan~” Jin said.
“Hey! What are you doing!?” Ryo snapped, his eyes opening immediately as Jin’s hand worked it’s way into his pocket. He wasn’t quick enough to stop the other from removing his wallet and trying to jump away from him only made it easier for him. Ryo tried to grab his wallet but Jin dodged out of his way, waving it like it was some kind of trophy.
“Bakanishi! Give that back!” Ryo leapt up from the sofa, causing Subaru to awaken with a snort, as Jin darted for the door. Jin was laughing wildly, so much so that he couldn’t get the door knob to turn. Ryo advanced on him with his soda can in hand.
“I suggest you give it to me now, Jin.” Ryo said holding out his left hand while the right held the can of soda at a dangerous angle. Jin shook his head clutching Ryo’s wallet to his chest and still laughing, even though the imminence of a soda shower was staring him in the face.
“No, you got to take it from me.” Jin squeaked, moving just in time as a stream of soda came at him. The door opened at the same time and Ueda unsuspectingly walked into Ryo and Jin’s mock-fight.
They stood there in several nano-seconds of silence, Ueda’s eyes wide behind his glasses as the soda rolled down his face and dripped from the ends of his rapidly darkening hair. That was until Subaru and MatsuJun’s laughter broke them all out of their shock. Jin squealed and threw Ryo’s wallet at the Osakan before grabbing Ueda’s arm and spinning him around sharply to tug him to the nearest wash room. Ryo was too surprised to catch the wallet thrown at him and he blinked several times, staring at the place that Ueda had once stood.
*Caesura*
The sound of rushing water did nothing to drown out the shaming laughter that was ringing in Ueda’s ears. He lifted his head from the continuous stream as Jin’s hands brushed at his clothes with a napkin.
“Tat-chan, I’m so sorry.” Jin said, hovering over the older male worriedly.
“It’s alright, Jin. No real harm done.” Ueda sighed.
“I apologize for Ryo-chan too. We really shouldn’t have been fooling around in the resting room. I’ll treat you to lunch to make up for it.” Ueda almost rolled his eyes and shook his head before dunking it under the running faucet. He watched the water run brown before he closed his eyes. He felt like crying. His day had been so horrible and it wasn’t even two in the afternoon yet.
“I’ll find you some towels.” He barely heard Jin but he raised a hand in acknowledgement and the younger male left him. With a barely contained sigh, he rubbed at his hair with his fingers until the water ran clear and he lifted his head, closing his eyes against the lukewarm water. He heard the sound of footsteps over the running water and tensed when something dry came into contact with his face.
“Thanks, Jin.” Ueda relaxed reaching up to take the towel but it was moved from his face.
“Sorry, babe, it’s not Bakanishi.” Ueda’s eyes snapped open. The only Johnny’s that called him ‘babe’ were the members of Kanjani 8. It had been started by Subaru during the Dream Boys musical and to that day Ueda had never figured out why the Kanjani 8 leader had given him such a nickname.
“Nishi…kido...?” He stared at Ryo in shock as the younger male draped the towel over Ueda’s head and started rubbing at it not so gently. Ueda was too surprised to move away as Ryo explained.
“Just wanted to…well…it wasn’t really intentional with the whole soda thing, so…” Ryo’s hands stilled on the towel and he looked away, giving Ueda the impression that he was not used to apologizing. “I’m sorry.”
“It…its okay.” Ueda replied, finally getting his body to function as he moved out of Ryo’s reach and eyed the Osakan warily. Really, didn’t this guy know anything of personal space? Ueda fought the shudder that he felt work its way up at the close proximity of the other and why did the room feel cooler when he had moved away from the younger male?
“Okay.” And just like that Ryo left, without much of anything else to announce his departure. Ueda stared after him, bemusedly, until his mind finally registered the sound of running water and he spun around to flick the faucet closed and looked up in the mirror, the towel still draped over his head. His hand shot up to his face in surprise.
He was blushing! Much the same way a school girl would when she was talked to by some unreachable crush, at least that was how he imagined a school girl to blush in that situation. He patted at his face and then rubbed it with the towel desperately. It didn’t appear to be fading; it actually seemed to be getting darker. He breathed in sharply when the door opened but he exhaled in relief when Jin walked through the door carrying the now useless towels…four of them.
“I don’t need that many, Akanishi!”
*Caesura*
Ryo sighed as he packed his stuff into his bag, he was so tired. Practices were over for Countdown and it was time to go home. The other members of NEWS seemed to be in the same situation, every one of them almost drawn to their limits but luckily they had almost a week of rest from their concert. Shige was the first to leave making some statement about homework that he needed to finish and seeing everybody tomorrow.
“Does anybody want to come with me and Tesshi to dinner?” Koyama asked as he stood, sliding his bag over his shoulder.
“Sure I would love to come.” Masuda answered. Yamapi declined saying that he was going out with Jin later.
“How mean~ ditching us for Akanishi.” Tegoshi said. Koyama turned to Ryo.
“What about you Ryo-chan?”
“No thank you, Kei. I think I’ll go home and rest tonight.” Ryo said this with a pointed glare at Yamapi. The NEWS leader looked back in false innocence.
“Okay, see you two tomorrow.” Koyama replied walking towards the door with the two younger NEWS members.
“Bye, Ryo-tan.” Tegoshi called.
“See you tomorrow, Tego-nyan.”
“Ahhh~…Ryo-chan’s such a softie.” Yamapi chuckled, ducking as Ryo threw a wad of tissue at him.
“Go away, Yamashita. Fat Jin’s probably waiting on you.” Yamapi laughed and left after saying good bye or more specifically ‘bye bicycle’. Ryo rolled his eyes and gathered up his sweaty practice clothes, shoving them into a plastic bag and then into his duffel bag. He almost zipped it up but a flash of something yellowish stopped him and he reached in curiously to remove the object.
“Oh…I forgot about this.” He said flipping the manila envelope over to look at the neat kanji printed on the front. He shrugged and shoved it back into his bag.
“I’ll just give it back tomorrow….if I remember.” He left the room and moved towards the lift. If he was lucky the small store near his apartment would still be opened and he could get a get a store-bought bento or ramen or something.
Volti Subito…
Adagio: In music it means “at ease” or “slow”. Usually calls for a slower tempo to the rest of the music.
Glissando
Author: Gaillen’s Mirror
Disclaimer: Uh huh
Pairing: Ryoda (main), others but they are of little importance.
Rating: T
Summary: Ueda Tatsuya and Nishikido Ryo have never truly hated each other. But they’ve never been real friends with each other. It becomes a random meeting, a few words, a lunch, and then something a whole lot more…a melody.
Warnings: None?
Da Capo
Adagio
Early morning sunlight streamed through his windows and into Ueda’s eyes, causing him to blink several times in a vain attempt to block out the unbearable light. With a groan, he lifted his hands and rubbed at his eyes before turning onto his side, the sunlight warming his back. Several seconds passed by in silence as he stared at the green digits of his clock in a sleep-induced haze. When the numbers finally came into focus, Ueda’s eyes widened in surprise and he sat up, tossing the covers away to grab at the small electronic device.
“Ehh!? That’s what time it is!?” Near the foot of the bed, a large golden retriever looked up and started to thump its tail against the floor as Ueda leapt out of his bed and ran to the bathroom.
“Why didn’t the alarm go off? When did I get home last night?” Ueda whined to himself as he turned the knobs of the shower. He started to peel off his clothes, the same ones he had worn yesterday, before stepping into the shower and bathing rapidly.
Stepping out, he dried quickly before darting into his bedroom and pulling out whatever clothes came closest to hand, his hair was still dripping as he pulled his shirt over his head and he could feel the water soaking the collar. Grabbing his glasses from the vanity, he looked into the mirror frowning at the sight of his slightly swollen face and his unruly hair. Usually he had time to style it and apply a light foundation that he never went anywhere without, but today there was simply no time. The golden retriever butted her head against his leg and he scratched her behind her ear, still considering his appearance, before glancing at his clock.
“Oh damn! I’m late, Eri. I’m sorry I can’t take you for a run this morning.” He flipped the mirror down so the reflection was gone and grabbed a hooded jacket from the back of the door. Eri followed him into the kitchen and he pulled out a can of dog food for her, scraping it out with a spoon. Ueda tossed the empty can and the plastic spoon into the trash and ran for the door, grabbing a protein bar from the cabinet as he did so.
Slipping on his shoes, he reached for his half-opened bag and grabbed it wrong, causing the contents to spill out of the bag and scatter across the carpeted floor.
“Damn it!” He knelt, shoving handfuls of items into the bag. As soon as he was sure he had grabbed everything, he zipped it up and ran out the door, barely remembering to lock it behind him. The landlady of the apartment complex was walking up the stairs as he ran down them.
“Hello, Ueda-kun.” She said.
“Morning, Yoko-san. Sorry I can’t talk. I’m late!” He darted past her, not seeing her shake her head and continue on her way up the stairs. Ueda ran down the sidewalk, noting the lack of people he usually saw in the mornings worriedly. He ran up the stairs to the train station and cried out in frustration when he saw his train pull away before dropping down to place his hands against his knees breathing heavily from his mad dash. He glanced up at the station’s clock and groaned.
“I’m so dead.” He whispered as he thought of the countdown organizer and his manager. “So, so dead.”
*Caesura*
Kamenashi Kazuya stepped out of the lift, humming cheerily under his breath, and almost skipped down the hall to KAT-TUN’s ready room. If he knew his band mates, they were all probably lazing about the common room enjoying one of the easiest days they had had in over nine months. They had been given a twenty minute break after the countdown meeting to get rest before the actual practices began and Kame was intent on being lazy too.
About half-way to his destination, he stopped as a door further down the hall opened. It was the door to KAT-TUN’s manager’s office and Ueda walked out of it with a disgruntled sigh. He shut the door a little more firmly than necessary and leant his forehead against the frame, sighing heavily.
“Ueda? Is everything alright?” Ueda raised his head, slightly surprised. He hadn’t realized Kame was in the hall with him or watching him.
“Oh hi, Kame. Yeah, it’s no problem.” Ueda smiled as Kame changed direction and came to stand near him.
“Are you sure? You seem just a little upset.”
“No really, it’s no problem. Just stress I suppose.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.” Ueda nodded and stood up straight. “Hey, why were you late this morning?” Kame asked suddenly.
Ueda blushed with shame. He had nearly forgotten about his tardiness that morning. He had been nearly ten minutes late to the meeting, beating Nakamaru’s record by four minutes, and Hitsumaru, the organizer and Ueda’s personal enemy, had taken it upon him self to make Ueda’s embarrassment as acute as possible. This caused Ueda’s already low opinion of himself to lower even further.
“Yeah, I just overslept. I’m not even sure I had my alarm set or I might have slept through it. I don’t know.” Ueda sighed, running a hand absently over his hair in a vain attempt to brush down the wayward strands.
“I understand, don’t worry about it. Don’t let Hitsumaru-san’s words get you down.” Ueda nodded as Kame smiled endearingly at him. “I know the new single is due for recording this week and all but that doesn’t mean you have to kill yourself to get it finished. You need some down time in your life like the rest of us and I don’t mean boxing.”
“I can’t believe I’m getting advice on rest from the work-a-holic, Kamenashi.” Ueda rolled his eyes, playfully. Kame simply laughed, happy that the boxer was feeling better before heading towards KAT-TUN’s room. Ueda followed with a quiet sigh.
His meeting with Mori-san had not gone as well as he had hoped. It was only after the meeting had started that Ueda had discovered the demo for the new single missing, and he had no idea where it could possibly be. When he had dumped the contents of his bag out that morning he didn’t recall seeing it in the items that had spilt out, but it was possible that he had just left it on his desk. He still was a little foggy on what had happened last night after getting home from his late dinner with Kame.
His manager hadn’t been angry with him, a little disappointed maybe, but Ueda had apologized profusely and promised to find it and bring it in. The recording was scheduled for the day after tomorrow, a date that was extremely quick for new material but because of the Countdown happening in about a week, they wouldn’t have time for a rescheduling and making the deadline was very important. Especially in their line of work.
“Good morning~” Kame called as he opened the door to KAT-TUN’s ready room without knocking. His greeting was returned with varied and, in Nakamaru’s case, slurred responses. Ueda jumped slightly when Koki’s arm was slung over his and Kame’s shoulders and his face pressed between theirs.
“Good morning, dears~” The soft-hearted gangster grinned.
“Good morning, Koki.” Kame said at the same time as Ueda protested: “Who are you calling dear?”
“I expected Yuu-chan to be late, but I never would have pegged our pretty Uepopu as a late riser.” Koki remarked with a smirk as Ueda broke free from his grasp and flopped on the couch next to Taguchi, the newest game in the tall acrobat’s collection playing on his psp.
“I’m not pretty.” Ueda sighed, ignoring Nakamaru’s insulted outcry. “And we’ve all been late at least once before. If I remember correctly I was late most the time when I was a junior.”
“Hey guys, we’ve got to be at the main dance room in three minutes, you might want to change into your practice clothes.” Jin said moving over to the group from the table with his street clothes tucked under one arm. Everyone immediately moved to do so with quiet grumbles but Ueda just sank further into the sofa. He was not looking forward to seeing Hitsumaru-san again or all the groups he had been embarrassed in front of.
“That means you too, leader.” Kame said, offering his hand with a cheeky grin.
“I’m not your leader.” Ueda replied, slapping Kame’s hand away playfully. He shifted through his bag for his practice clothes and took one last glimpse for the elusive manila envelope that should have been there. Not surprisingly it wasn’t.
Jin and Koki, the only two that had changed before hand, waited for them impatiently and as soon as everyone was ready, they moved as a group to the lift. While waiting for the lift to reach them, Taguchi entertained them with a story of their dinner last night involving some girl and Jin. Jin, embarrassedly, kept talking over the taller lad and threatening him with bodily harm if he didn’t shut up much to everyone’s amusement.
The doors of the lift pinged open revealing the members of Hey!Say!7, who promptly moved to give their sempai room in the lift. Ueda bowed his head feeling embarrassed in the face of his kouhai but he felt relieved when none of them made any comment to his tardiness earlier. If the rest of groups were like this, maybe the practices wouldn’t be that bad.
*Caesura*
Ueda knelt down to tie the laces of his sneakers as all around him the members of various Jyanni’s stretched and chatted lively amongst each other. The choreographers and the organizers hadn’t arrived yet, to which Ueda was very glad. He stood up with a sigh and pulled his arm over his head in a stretch.
“I don’t see your point.” Ueda turned his head slightly to look at Kame and Jin arguing…again.
“You are always like this recently.” Jin replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Mr. Perfect.”
“Jin, Kame. Both of you stop it. You shouldn’t be arguing now.” Nakamaru, the peace-maker, warned quietly. Kame looked ready to strangle the A of KAT-TUN but he instantly deflated at Nakamaru’s low words.
“Whatever.” Kame turned, his eyes meeting the curious gaze of Ueda. With the shake of his head, deterring all questions, he went over to Koki who was entertaining the members of Arashi with his rapping or something like that.
“Oi! Jin, over here!” Jin, who was glaring at Kame’s retreating back, turned at Yamapi’s call and immediately brightened running off in the direction of NEWS. Ueda watched him go curiously. Before he turned around, his eyes met Nishikido’s for all of a second but the NEWS member looked away to converse with Jin.
“Ready for practices?” Nakamaru asked. Ueda looked at him over the rim of his glasses.
“No.” Nakamaru laughed and placed a hand on his younger band mate’s shoulder.
“You’ll be fine. Don’t worry about Hitsumaru-san too much.” Ueda’s lips twitched in a faint smile. The organizers choose that moment to enter the room with the choreographers and everyone immediately started falling back into position.
Somehow today isn’t going to be a good day. Ueda thought noticing that Hitsumaru was in the group of organizers.
*Caesura*
Ryo sighed, leaning back against the sofa wearily. Dance practices were always tiring, why couldn’t he just stick with the singing part and leave the dancing to someone else? He looked around the resting room at the only other occupants. It was currently one in the afternoon and almost everyone had gone to lunch.
There were still about ten people from various groups still lazing around the ready room as they rested from a rather vigorous practice. He glanced over at Subaru sleeping soundly on the sofa next to him and took a sip from his can of cold soda. He was hungry but he really didn’t feel like eating anything. Maybe he should follow Subaru’s example and take a power nap.
“Ryo-chan~” Ryo opened his eyes but closed them again once he discovered the identity of the voice’s owner.
“What do you want, Bakanishi?” Ryo tried hard not to growl at his friend.
“Let’s go out to lunch, Ryo-chan~ we haven’t been out together in so long.”
“No. You always make me pay when we go out, why don’t you ask Kamenashi?” Ryo tilted his head back and proceeded to ignore the KAT-TUN member.
“Because you’re more fun.” Jin explained, pulling a face as he looked over at Kame who was so engrossed in his drama script that he didn’t notice. He flopped against the Osakan’s side on the sofa and leaned against him in what he thought was a cute way. Unfortunately for him, he was no Tegoshi.
“I don’t care, go without me.” Ryo snorted. Jin pouted but since Ryo’s eyes were closed he missed the pout and the wicked smile after.
“Thanks for lunch, Ryo-chan~” Jin said.
“Hey! What are you doing!?” Ryo snapped, his eyes opening immediately as Jin’s hand worked it’s way into his pocket. He wasn’t quick enough to stop the other from removing his wallet and trying to jump away from him only made it easier for him. Ryo tried to grab his wallet but Jin dodged out of his way, waving it like it was some kind of trophy.
“Bakanishi! Give that back!” Ryo leapt up from the sofa, causing Subaru to awaken with a snort, as Jin darted for the door. Jin was laughing wildly, so much so that he couldn’t get the door knob to turn. Ryo advanced on him with his soda can in hand.
“I suggest you give it to me now, Jin.” Ryo said holding out his left hand while the right held the can of soda at a dangerous angle. Jin shook his head clutching Ryo’s wallet to his chest and still laughing, even though the imminence of a soda shower was staring him in the face.
“No, you got to take it from me.” Jin squeaked, moving just in time as a stream of soda came at him. The door opened at the same time and Ueda unsuspectingly walked into Ryo and Jin’s mock-fight.
They stood there in several nano-seconds of silence, Ueda’s eyes wide behind his glasses as the soda rolled down his face and dripped from the ends of his rapidly darkening hair. That was until Subaru and MatsuJun’s laughter broke them all out of their shock. Jin squealed and threw Ryo’s wallet at the Osakan before grabbing Ueda’s arm and spinning him around sharply to tug him to the nearest wash room. Ryo was too surprised to catch the wallet thrown at him and he blinked several times, staring at the place that Ueda had once stood.
*Caesura*
The sound of rushing water did nothing to drown out the shaming laughter that was ringing in Ueda’s ears. He lifted his head from the continuous stream as Jin’s hands brushed at his clothes with a napkin.
“Tat-chan, I’m so sorry.” Jin said, hovering over the older male worriedly.
“It’s alright, Jin. No real harm done.” Ueda sighed.
“I apologize for Ryo-chan too. We really shouldn’t have been fooling around in the resting room. I’ll treat you to lunch to make up for it.” Ueda almost rolled his eyes and shook his head before dunking it under the running faucet. He watched the water run brown before he closed his eyes. He felt like crying. His day had been so horrible and it wasn’t even two in the afternoon yet.
“I’ll find you some towels.” He barely heard Jin but he raised a hand in acknowledgement and the younger male left him. With a barely contained sigh, he rubbed at his hair with his fingers until the water ran clear and he lifted his head, closing his eyes against the lukewarm water. He heard the sound of footsteps over the running water and tensed when something dry came into contact with his face.
“Thanks, Jin.” Ueda relaxed reaching up to take the towel but it was moved from his face.
“Sorry, babe, it’s not Bakanishi.” Ueda’s eyes snapped open. The only Johnny’s that called him ‘babe’ were the members of Kanjani 8. It had been started by Subaru during the Dream Boys musical and to that day Ueda had never figured out why the Kanjani 8 leader had given him such a nickname.
“Nishi…kido...?” He stared at Ryo in shock as the younger male draped the towel over Ueda’s head and started rubbing at it not so gently. Ueda was too surprised to move away as Ryo explained.
“Just wanted to…well…it wasn’t really intentional with the whole soda thing, so…” Ryo’s hands stilled on the towel and he looked away, giving Ueda the impression that he was not used to apologizing. “I’m sorry.”
“It…its okay.” Ueda replied, finally getting his body to function as he moved out of Ryo’s reach and eyed the Osakan warily. Really, didn’t this guy know anything of personal space? Ueda fought the shudder that he felt work its way up at the close proximity of the other and why did the room feel cooler when he had moved away from the younger male?
“Okay.” And just like that Ryo left, without much of anything else to announce his departure. Ueda stared after him, bemusedly, until his mind finally registered the sound of running water and he spun around to flick the faucet closed and looked up in the mirror, the towel still draped over his head. His hand shot up to his face in surprise.
He was blushing! Much the same way a school girl would when she was talked to by some unreachable crush, at least that was how he imagined a school girl to blush in that situation. He patted at his face and then rubbed it with the towel desperately. It didn’t appear to be fading; it actually seemed to be getting darker. He breathed in sharply when the door opened but he exhaled in relief when Jin walked through the door carrying the now useless towels…four of them.
“I don’t need that many, Akanishi!”
*Caesura*
Ryo sighed as he packed his stuff into his bag, he was so tired. Practices were over for Countdown and it was time to go home. The other members of NEWS seemed to be in the same situation, every one of them almost drawn to their limits but luckily they had almost a week of rest from their concert. Shige was the first to leave making some statement about homework that he needed to finish and seeing everybody tomorrow.
“Does anybody want to come with me and Tesshi to dinner?” Koyama asked as he stood, sliding his bag over his shoulder.
“Sure I would love to come.” Masuda answered. Yamapi declined saying that he was going out with Jin later.
“How mean~ ditching us for Akanishi.” Tegoshi said. Koyama turned to Ryo.
“What about you Ryo-chan?”
“No thank you, Kei. I think I’ll go home and rest tonight.” Ryo said this with a pointed glare at Yamapi. The NEWS leader looked back in false innocence.
“Okay, see you two tomorrow.” Koyama replied walking towards the door with the two younger NEWS members.
“Bye, Ryo-tan.” Tegoshi called.
“See you tomorrow, Tego-nyan.”
“Ahhh~…Ryo-chan’s such a softie.” Yamapi chuckled, ducking as Ryo threw a wad of tissue at him.
“Go away, Yamashita. Fat Jin’s probably waiting on you.” Yamapi laughed and left after saying good bye or more specifically ‘bye bicycle’. Ryo rolled his eyes and gathered up his sweaty practice clothes, shoving them into a plastic bag and then into his duffel bag. He almost zipped it up but a flash of something yellowish stopped him and he reached in curiously to remove the object.
“Oh…I forgot about this.” He said flipping the manila envelope over to look at the neat kanji printed on the front. He shrugged and shoved it back into his bag.
“I’ll just give it back tomorrow….if I remember.” He left the room and moved towards the lift. If he was lucky the small store near his apartment would still be opened and he could get a get a store-bought bento or ramen or something.
Volti Subito…
Adagio: In music it means “at ease” or “slow”. Usually calls for a slower tempo to the rest of the music.
Glissando