What Has Always Been There, Coda
title: What Has Always Been There
author: nihongofrancais
genre: RPS, NEWS
pairing: Koyama/YamaPi
rating: overall PG-13 (section of hard R in coda)
words: just under 39,000 words
disclaimer: the boys believe they own themselves; really Johnny owns 'em all. *snicker*
summary: Often, we find we don't realize what we have until it's gone. YamaPi struggles to cope in the aftermath of the announcement of NEWS's hiatus.
author's note: a labor of love in the name of my OTP KoyamaPi, originally inspired by YamaPi's February 2007 appearance on Shounen Club Premium and written over the span of one year from March 2007 through March 2008. Thanks to anamuan for betaing the majority of this monster and tinyangl, 4_03_am and jadedfrenzy for being my test readers. There is love for each and every one of you. ♥
part zero | part one | part two | part three | part four | coda |
June 2006
"LEAN A LITTLE MORE TO YOUR LEFT! TO YOUR LEFT!!"
YamaPi jumped up and down in the shallows of the surf, he himself leaning toward his own left as he coached Koyama on the surfboard, riding a small wave. However, just as Koyama seemed to be getting the hang of it, slowly pulling himself into a standing position on the board, he lost his balance and went down into the salty waters.
Once he saw Koyama's head pop up from underneath the waves and Koyama grab the surfboard, paddling back toward the shore, YamaPi sloshed forward to meet him. "You were so close!" YamaPi insisted once Koyama was within reasonable earshot.
"If you say so," Koyama returned, having rolled off the top of the surfboard now that the water was shallow enough to be walking around in. He ran his free hand through his soaked rust-colored hair, pushing his bangs back away from his forehead. "This is a lot harder than you make it look."
YamaPi shook his head with a bright smile. "It's not hard once you get the hang of it, I promise. I've just been doing it longer, that's all."
As far as YamaPi was concerned, today was perfect. After all the promotion for "Daite Senorita" had died down, all YamaPi had had to contend with was finishing up his schedule for Kurosagi, which he had done just the day before. Today was his first day off in quite some time and he was spending it with Koyama, who also had managed to swing a day off, not completely into the thick of his own drama shooting schedule.
YamaPi brought Koyama to his favorite place-a quiet beach in Chiba where he loved to surf. It was a Wednesday, so even though the weather was absolutely perfect-a break after a few days of overcast skies-there were hardly any beachgoers to be found, save for maybe a dozen or two regulars. With the limited amount of people, the two idols were able to enjoy the day completely, without getting bombarded by fans and spectators who recognized them as "those pretty boys from Johnny's".
So they played. YamaPi rented an extra wetsuit for Koyama and using his own surfboard, tried to teach the other idol the basics of his favorite beach pastime. For lunch, YamaPi had brought along his small, portable charcoal grill and Koyama had brought the meat-not the high-grade Kobe beef that YamaPi had been spoiled with on the Kurosagi set, but somehow the company made up for it much more-and the watermelon, and the two of them feasted like little kids shining in the warm afternoon sunshine.
"Mmmm, I'm tired," Koyama hummed, collapsing on his beach towel splayed out on the sand without even unzipping his wetsuit.
YamaPi chuckled, as he stood above Koyama, pulling the zipper on his own wetsuit up. "Take a break. You can try again when I come back."
"I'm done." As Koyama was lying face down into his towel, YamaPi barely was able to make out his muffled voice over the sounds of the tide and the loud gulls off in the distance.
YamaPi playfully kicked Koyama's butt, grinning. "Not until I say so."
Koyama lifted his pouting face out of the towel to protest, but instead found himself cut off by the simple ringing of a phone. "I don't have a ringtone like that," he remarked, slowly sitting up with a small wince as his beaten body objected.
"It's mine." YamaPi stooped down next to his towel and started rummaging through his bag until he found his cell phone buried at the bottom. "Hello?"
Koyama watched YamaPi carefully over the span of the short three-minute phone call and noted the younger man's complete change of demeanor. At first, he went from squatting to taking a proper seat on his own beach towel. Only giving curt replies of, "Yes," and, "I understand," the brightness in YamaPi's eyes seemed to dim and his carefree features turned serious once more. The idol did not look once in Koyama's direction, staring straight out at the endless horizon of sun and water.
"It's okay, really. One day off is enough for me; I'll be ready for work tomorrow," YamaPi told the voice on the other side of the line. Clearly that person probably believed his words, as YamaPi then gave his farewell and hung up, but Koyama knew very well that YamaPi hardly had meant what he had said.
"I thought you had the next two days off."
"I thought so too." YamaPi tossed his cell phone carelessly into bag, not noticing when he totally missed and the cell phone landed in the sand instead. "But work is work, and I can't put it off."
Koyama peered closely at YamaPi. "It sounded like something suddenly came up that wasn't scheduled."
"Yeah," YamaPi affirmed, looking over at Koyama. "I'm going to be in a unit to promote the Women's Volleyball World Grand Prix this year."
At that, everything made perfect sense to Koyama. "With who? Kamenashi again?"
YamaPi shook his head, sighing. Of all things to bring down his mood… "Two Thai kids that Johnny-san scouted out. They've been popular in Thailand, so he wants to bring them over here to see if they can make an impact."
"And you have to be in a group with them?"
"Well, it's not like I'm busy with NEWS or anything like that, right?"
Koyama frowned at YamaPi's dejected tone. "It's just another unit. Like Shuuji to Akira. It won't last long at all."
YamaPi could not help but feel bad. He knew Koyama was trying to get him to look on the bright side of things, to lift his spirits, but he just could not. "I'm sick of the constant shuffle. The solos, the units… I just want something steady for a little bit," he admittedly heavily, meeting Koyama's empathetic gaze.
Koyama did not reach out to touch YamaPi or even move to sit next to him. He simply nodded. "I think that's what we all want, but it looks like it'll take some time before we can have that."
YamaPi knew without explanation that when Koyama said "we", he was talking about all of NEWS.
*~*~*
December 2006 (section rated hard R)
Koyama giggled girlishly, drunkenly, in the softly lit apartment hallway as he pressed against YamaPi's side, nipping at the other's earlobe before tracing his tongue along the outer shell.
Slightly tipsy himself, YamaPi stumbled against the shut front door, struggling to find the right key amongst his many that fit that simple silver knob. "SHHHHHHH…" Upon finding the correct key and turning the knob, he turned to look at Koyama-who would have been uncomfortably close were they both not intoxicated and horny-and pressed his index finger to his mouth.
Koyama's eyes narrowed on YamaPi's single digit against his lips and YamaPi watched entranced as he did so. Just trying to imagine what Koyama might be concocting in his pretty rust-colored head made the younger idol's jeans feel ridiculously tight.
The two of them barged into the darkened empty apartment, hands grabbing at jackets and scarves, tearing them off each other, seeking the feel of skin on skin. In the fray, Koyama managed to shove the door shut with a good back kick, pulling YamaPi forward by his half-undone scarf, pressing them both against the door once more as they struggled to step out of their shoes. "We can't be improper guests," Koyama giggled again, his warm, alcohol-spiced breath tickling YamaPi's nose.
"He won't be back for four more months," YamaPi gasped out, properly catching Koyama's moist lips in hungry kiss. "He won't even know we were here."
Stepping out of his shoes, Koyama pushed off the door behind him and lunged at YamaPi, causing the other to stumble backwards out of the apartment's entrance, one shoe still on. His hands were all over-forcing YamaPi out of his leather jacket, tugging YamaPi's thin black sweater up and over his head, slipping beneath the cotton of his undershirt-maintaining dominance, and yet giggling the entire time as if the two of them were good little boys sharing a naughty secret.
God, Koyama drunk was such a turn on.
YamaPi tried to give as good as he got, but with the controlling Koyama out in full force, he was having a tough time of it. To the point where by the time his jeans had been ripped off by his boyfriend, YamaPi barely had gotten around to getting Koyama's shirt off him.
They did not make it to the bedroom and YamaPi vaguely wondered what reaction Jin would have when he found out that they had been using his apartment for sex romps when he was gone-YamaPi's apartment was out of the question, seeing as he had been sleeping in the living room as of late, and they had tried once at Koyama's but that had just been a total failure what with the thin futon and his parents in the next room-but that thought soon vanished when he felt Koyama's steady hand wrap around the base of his erection and slid upward, causing his mind to go completely blank. When Koyama repeated the action, YamaPi could only moan from deep in his throat, eyes nearly rolling back into his head from the sheer overload of pleasure.
YamaPi was splayed across the length of the sofa, head lolling back against the leather sofa's arm-fuck, he was going to have to replace this sofa, wasn't he?-and legs spread eagle as Koyama's eager mouth wrapped around his erection, tongue teasing and yet forceful all at once. Threading his fingers through Koyama's rust strands, he tugged slightly at the fast bobbing head, prompting Koyama to look up at him through the darkness, eyes wanton and lustful.
All YamaPi could do after that was to come, uncontrollably jerking as he thrust roughly into Koyama's hungry mouth, letting out the other's name in a breathy cry of release.
When YamaPi's eyes came back into focus, his gaze narrowed on Koyama's lips again as the other crawled over his naked form, blinding groping around on the end coffee table behind YamaPi's head. Koyama's pert, skilled tongue was licking at his lips, obviously trying to clean up (or enjoy) the mess that YamaPi had left. And suddenly, YamaPi wanted that tongue.
Just as Koyama managed to snag the lube he had left on the table the last time they had been there, YamaPi laced his hand into the hairs along the older idol's nape, pulling him down until he was able to crush his lips against Koyama's possessively. A faint tinge of the vodka in that final White Russian, a dash of sweat and sweet, and the recent salty taste of himself overwhelmed YamaPi's senses as he pillaged Koyama's mouth, alternatively sucking and probing.
Koyama giggled ever so slightly into the kiss, and then next thing YamaPi knew, he had been wrestled to the ground-when Koyama wanted something, he always got it-onto his hands and knees. Koyama hovered over him from behind, teasing him with his closeness, nipping at YamaPi's ear with his teeth, brushing his hand down his flank until it came to rest right at his hip with a firm grip.
Even though he had been anticipating it, YamaPi could not help but let out a sharp gasp when Koyama plunged into him with slick fingers, which swiftly gave way to a low, throaty moan as Koyama played him to perfection, hitting all of his sweet spots. When the fingers eventually withdrew after what seemed to have been an eternity to YamaPi, he could not help but whimper at the loss of pleasure. However, YamaPi quickly recovered once Koyama entered him, wasting no time and thrusting into him eagerly, Koyama's hand snaking round and roughly pumping him as well.
Completely under Koyama's will, YamaPi struggled to hold onto coherence, his knuckles near white as he clutched onto handfuls of Jin's shaggy, living room rug beneath him, moaning outright. Just barely above his own raw cries, he could hear Koyama's normally cheerful voice coming in low, near strangled grunts in time with his thrusts and soon enough, he was crying out YamaPi's name loud and clear as he came. It only took a few more wild thrusts from Koyama as he came down from his high and YamaPi also came, completely spent, collapsing against the soft, welcoming rug.
He had no idea what time it was when a faint ringing sound from somewhere in the quiet apartment woke YamaPi from his post-sex nap. As he shifted slightly on the rug to search for the source of the sound, Koyama mumbled against YamaPi's chest, his fingers gently hooking on the curve of YamaPi's collarbone in his sleep. YamaPi would have been content to ignore it and simply return to sleeping with Koyama against him, but the ringing seemed only to get more and more persistent with time. It was probably Jin's alarm clock, YamaPi thought as he carefully maneuvered himself from underneath Koyama, draping the blanket they had been using back over him. Damn, he should have unplugged that thing awhile ago.
Picking up his jeans and pulling them on-it was too cold to be walking around naked, even if that was what YamaPi would have preferred-he wandered into the bedroom to find Jin's bedside digital alarm clock ringing. He glared at it for a moment before yanking its electric cord from its socket, the face flashing 2 AM then completely going dark. "Dammit, Jin," he muttered, sighing as he sat down on the bed.
However, just as YamaPi had rid himself of the annoying alarm clock, another buzzing started. This time, he knew exactly what it was though as he dug into his jeans' pocket, his cell phone vibrating against his leg. Not even glancing at the caller ID, he flipped it open-only a handful of people would be calling him at this time anyway. "Hello?"
"PI! IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU ANSWERED THE PHONE!!!!!!"
YamaPi quickly pulled the cell phone away from his ear to keep from being deafened by his best friend's voice on the other side. "Jin, sane people speak with indoor voices on the phone."
"I know, but you weren't answering your phone!" Jin whined, heeding YamaPi's advice and lowering his voice. "And neither is Koyama!"
"Why were you trying to call Koyama?"
"I think the question is who wasn't trying to call Koyama. And you too! I mean, I'm skipping class to call you!"
"Jin, you always skip class to call me. That's nothing new. But you calling at two in the morning is. Why are you calling?"
"God, I'm supposed to be the one out of the loop because I'm in another country, but you and Koyama having mad, constant sex are more out of the loop than me!"
"Our sex is not mad," YamaPi defended one-sidedly. Though, it certainly was constant given that Jin's apartment was always the setting. Jin was not aware of that part of course. "Would you just tell me what it is you wanted to tell me, so I can go back to sleep maybe?"
He could hear Jin sigh-even imagined the eye-rolling that surely accompanied it-and for a moment, his best friend did not seem all that far away. "NEWS IS COMING BACK! AT COUNTDOWN! RYO SAID SO!"
YamaPi blinked. Well, maybe he was not all that far away after all… "How do you know that?"
"I told you, Ryo told me. He tried calling you like a million times, but when you didn't answer and Koyama didn't answer, he called me instead. He said he didn't want to imagine what you two were doing if you weren't answering your cell phones."
YamaPi was silent for a long time, sitting on Jin's bed. Simply put, he was shocked. "Seriously?" he questioned once more, still skeptical.
"Seriously!" After a beat, when YamaPi did not offer a reply, Jin continued. "You would think after everything you've been through this past year, you'd be happier about NEWS coming back!"
"I am…excited," YamaPi reluctantly answered upon Jin's prodding. "It's just that I kind of need time to process it. I'll call you later, okay?"
With that, NEWS's leader hung up on his best friend and checked his missed calls. Ryo indeed had been calling him repeatedly since nine that evening, and when Ryo's calls seemed to peter out, the missed calls from Jin increased. Interspersed amongst the calls from his friends were calls from Kawano-san, Imaoka-san, and even a call from Johnny-san himself.
If Johnny-san went so far as to call him… It had to be true.
NEWS was coming back. The six of them would be NEWS again. He would be NEWS's Yamashita Tomohisa again. All the work and the waiting, it had paid off. Surreal could not even accurately convey how he was feeling about it all.
YamaPi squatted down on the rug, looking down into Koyama's peaceful sleeping face. He drank in Koyama's features for a long time-the fall of his bangs, the shape of his brow, the line of his lips-admiring each feature in its ability to come together with all the others to make this perfect Koyama before him, a Koyama who had pulled him through the darkest of times, being YamaPi's ray of hope.
He reached out and brushed a tender thumb across Koyama's bare cheek, softly smiling. "Member love, right?"
*~*~*
June 2007
"Well, color me surprised."
"What?" YamaPi set down the plate of appetizing pasta before Koyama as he slid into his seat at the small table. "You know, I can cook for myself. I'm not totally hopeless."
Koyama playfully narrowed his eyes at YamaPi, who moved to the opposite side of the table to sit across from him. "Are you trying to seduce me with fine dining?"
YamaPi glanced up his boyfriend through his bangs with quiet smoldering eyes and a coy smile tugging on his lips. "Is it working?" He returned the question with another. "I was going for convincing you to move in with me, but if it's an effective seduction technique too, I'm not complaining."
Koyama glanced out at the city that expanding beyond them from their veranda view and sighed slightly. "Pi, I haven't talked my mom yet-"
"So, talk to her!"
"I don't want her to feel lonely-"
"She has your dad!" YamaPi interrupted again, rolling the last bit of pasta around his fork and spooning it into his mouth. "Besides, you are twenty-three. It's not unreasonable for you to want to move out of the house."
Koyama was holding his spoon in one hand and his fork in the other, but he still had yet to take a bite of the pasta. "You mean, like you?"
YamaPi nodded, diving into the plate of food once more with his spoon and fork. "Yes, like me. I told my mom and my sister-"
"-that you couldn't sleep with me at Jin's anymore so you needed your own place," Koyama finished off, smirking as YamaPi winced, having bit down on his fork just a little too hard. "What did you tell Jin when he came back anyway?"
"That I took good care of his apartment and all his sheets were washed."
"And?"
"He was mad at me for a day. You know, the standard amount of time Jin holds a grudge against anyone. Well, it probably helped that I bought him that new leather sofa too." YamaPi looked up at Koyama and noted that he had not even touched the masterpiece of a meal he had made. "Stop thinking too much about it and just eat. Look, I'll tell her if you really want me to."
"I never said I needed you to," Koyama insisted, twirling his fork amongst the pasta. "I can do it myself."
The was a long pause, and then YamaPi suddenly set his utensils down against the side of his plate and looked across the table at Koyama, quite serious. "Is there a reason you don't want to move in with me?"
"You sound like a girl, Pi."
"And you look like one."
Koyama blinked at YamaPi's childish comeback and before he could chastise the other, his cell phone began blasting "Best Friend" from the back pocket of his jeans. Startled slightly, he jumped up in his seat, reaching back for the cell phone.
"Just ignore it. It's just Shige." YamaPi half-heartedly returned his attention to the pasta, twirling his fork around, but with no intention of actually eating the pasta he was playing with.
"I would, but Shige knew I was going to be over here this evening, so if he's actually calling me, it might be important," Koyama returned as he opened his cell phone. "Hey, Shige. What's up?"
YamaPi could vaguely hear Shige's muffled voice from the cell phone earpiece and frowned slightly. Everything had been perfect. He had made an early dinner on the veranda just in time to catch the sunset and they were finally alone without interruptions now that he finally had finished filming on Proposal Daisakusen. It was important to him that Koyama agree to move in with him. YamaPi was not exactly sure himself as to why it was so important, but it was important. Koyama was important. More important than he would ever be able to verbalize into words probably.
"WHAT?! Are you serious?!" YamaPi stopped his childish sulking into his food and looked up to see Koyama now standing at attention, clearly surprised by whatever Shige had told him. "This is so great! Two shows?! …we have a meeting tomorrow? Okay, at ten. …right. I'll make sure Pi knows too. …yeah. I'll talk to you later. Bye!"
Though Koyama's conversation with Shige had been short, YamaPi found himself hanging on every word that subsequently followed his boyfriend's outburst and pretty much dying to know the contents of the phone call. "What was that all about?"
Koyama was overflowing with giddiness. His smile was so wide that YamaPi thought the other's face might split in half and he literally was bouncing on the balls of his feet in his house slippers. "TAIWAN!" He blurted out. "We're going to Taiwan!!"
"We are?"
Koyama realized that he was leaving out critical pieces of information because YamaPi was not as excited as he was when he should be. "NEWS is! We're going to be performing two concerts in Taipei in October!"
NEWS? Overseas? They had gone to Taiwan when they were still a temporary unit merely cheering on the Japanese Women's Volleyball team, but this would be completely different. Arashi had done it before them, performing in venues abroad, their name in big lights, the first of all Johnny's groups to officially extend their popularity to outside Japan. And NEWS was to be the next.
Had it not been a year ago when YamaPi had feared for his group's return because of the invasion of two Thai brothers? Now, it was the recharged and redebuted NEWS who was doing the invading.
As the announcement properly sunk in, Koyama's excitement slowly caught and YamaPi found himself smiling as well. "One step closer to world domination!"
"This is a new development." Koyama chuckled, amused. "Since when did you have aspirations of world domination?"
"Since the possibility just popped up two minutes ago." YamaPi glanced out at the horizon, tinged with hopeful oranges and yellows and reds. "Got to take advantage when we've got the chance!"
*~*~*
December 2007
"KEI-CHAN!"
As soon as YamaPi had managed to unlock the door, he was calling out his boyfriend's name, hastily stepping on the backs of his designer shoes so that he could maneuver into his comfy home slippers.
"KEI-CHAN!"
He ran down the little hallway that led into the living room to find Koyama nestled in a corner of the sofa, head propped against the arm, napping. A teeny bit of drool was peeking from the corner of his lips, his mouth slightly ajar. That was why he had not answered. YamaPi softly smiled to himself.
Allowing his eyes to survey the rest of the room, YamaPi discovered that the coffee table that normally sat before the sofa had been moved. It now sat in the corner next to a small Christmas tree, no bigger than four feet in height. Across the glass surface of the table were various Christmas ornaments, candy canes, and shiny gold and silver tinsel.
YamaPi went over to the bare Christmas tree and surveyed it for a moment, poking at the branches. "Ah, it's plastic."
"…okaeri."
NEWS's leader turned to find Koyama slowly sitting up from his napping position on the sofa, blinking blearily at him. "Tadaima," YamaPi returned, watching as Koyama yawned, stretching his long arms above his head and arching his back slightly. Koyama had not noticed the drool yet. "Kei-chan, here." YamaPi motioned on his own face, and Koyama quickly understood, unabashedly wiping at the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.
"What time is it?"
YamaPi glanced at his watch. "It's eight-thirty. I tried to get off as soon as possible because you said you'd be making curry tonight."
"I haven't made it yet," Koyama sheepishly answered, scratching the back of his head. "I fell asleep before I got that far."
"Too busy with the tree?" YamaPi grinned, chucking his thumb in the general direction of the plastic tree.
"That wasn't my idea," Koyama insisted, the haze of sleep clearing. "It was Haruto's."
YamaPi chuckled, amused. "You are blaming your three-year-old nephew for a Christmas tree in our apartment?"
"Why would I buy one on my own? It's not like I've ever had a Christmas tree in my house for Christmas before," the older idol reasoned, shuffling over to where the ornaments were all laid out on the coffee table. He picked up a little reindeer ornament and randomly hung it on the tree. "Since I had the day off, I took Haruto to see the Christmas parade at Disneyland and on the way back, we got into an intense conversation about Christmas and the next thing I know, I was putting up a Christmas tree."
The idea of Koyama and the three-year-old Haruto having an intense conversation seemed somewhat unbelievable, but as someone who had had his own fair share of intense conversations about the yummiest sushi with Haruto, YamaPi believed Koyama. "But why here?"
"Why not here? Haru-kun originally wanted one at home, but I had to convince him that it would be better to have it here; the last thing my sister needs right now is more stuff to deal with." Koyama hung another ornament-a Santa with a bag of presents-higher up on the tree and then turned to YamaPi. "Do you have something against Christmas trees?"
"No. Just that I've never had one either."
"See. Then, it'll be a learning experience for the three of us."
Koyama resumed his decorating of the tree, and YamaPi watched him for a moment before digging into his jacket pocket and thrusting a folded piece of paper in Koyama's direction. "Merry Christmas ten days early."
"A piece of paper?" Koyama questioned, receiving the paper with the slightest amount of skepticism. "You'll have to do better than that, Pi, if-"
The older man found himself silenced as he unfolded the paper and his eyes caught on the header.
"Taiyou no Namida". NEWS' new single. Release date, February 27th.
That was great news alone. But it was the line below it in smaller print is what really put Koyama at a loss for words.
"…Kurosagi's theme song? The movie version?" Koyama looked at YamaPi, his eyes wide.
"Yeah." YamaPi smiled, smiled so hard that his cheeks hurt, but he could not stop. "I've been sending you messages all day long."
"I had my cell phone on vibrate, but it was stuck in my bag, so…" Koyama set the angel ornament aside, darting into the bedroom quickly to retrieve his cell phone.
"I think Ryo may have called you a few times too; we were together when Kawano-san got the confirmation on the song."
"He did," Koyama replied as he walked out of the bedroom, cell phone open as he checked his list of missed calls. "So did Tegoshi. And Massu. And Shige."
"Member love in action," YamaPi chuckled warmly. "See what happens when you take a day off? You miss everything."
Absorbed in sifting through the ridiculous amount of messages he had managed to receive from his band-mates as well throughout the day, Koyama failed to respond to YamaPi's jibe. However, when he suddenly laughed out loud, YamaPi was curious.
"What's so funny?"
Koyama looked up from the small lit up screen and shook his head at his boyfriend. "'I'm dying'?"
"What? I was trying to get your attention!" YamaPi defended himself; Koyama had read the contents of the fifth message YamaPi had sent earlier that afternoon. "I had photo shoots and interviews the rest of the day before I got home, so it was a last ditch effort. And besides, I was dying. Of excitement."
"Dork."
Neither really had to come out and say anything explicit. As always, it was already understood. A project that had been solely YamaPi's-his first leading drama with Kurosagi and his solo debut with "Daite Senorita-was to become NEWS' now with "Taiyou no Namida". The member love that YamaPi has always felt had been shattered by their hiatus was at last complete.
*~*~*
"Kei-chan?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you remember the first time we met?"
"On Shounen Club?"
"No, no. I guess I mean, do you remember the first time we talked?"
"I should hope so. I feel like we've told that story a hundred times in a hundred different ways."
"I was just thinking about it again. It made me nostalgic."
"For when you were a teenager, looked like an alien and no one would date you despite being a hot shot idol?"
"No! God, when did you get to be so damn mouthy like Jin?!"
"He's over here too much clearly; I mean, how did he even know to come over tonight for curry?"
"…I told him."
"Well, see, me sounding like Jin is completely your fault then."
"At least you got some hard labor out of him; we didn't even have to decorate the Christmas tree after he came."
"He should be friends with Haru-kun."
"…being with you, like this, it's comfortable."
"Is it?"
"It feels like it's always been like this."
"It hasn't, you know."
"I know, I know. But, now that we're here, it just feels like it's always been like this."
the end.
ending notes: thank you all for reading so far and getting to the end. As I mentioned in the author's notes, this fanfic was a true labor of love. Lots of time, research, and my undying love for KoyamaPi went into this fic. Lots of anamuan's time as well, as she was constantly my sounding board, reading every scene after I wrote them and telling me when I did good and when I did horrible (and then telling me when to rewrite it in the latter case *grin*). I owe her so much, words cannot say. ♥ (It took her a year to beta-read this thing you guys! XD) Also, my love goes to acchikocchi who has an indirect impact on me. It was after I read her Pin!masterpiece "Marquee" that I had the niggling feeling to do something similar for KoyamaPi and then seeing YamaPi be so honest on Shounen Club Premium really got me going toward this monster of a fanfic. Of course, as I mentioned too, love to my ladies, tinyangl, 4_03_am, and jadedfrenzy for being my test-read audience and liking it even when I thought it might just all be crap. XD
author: nihongofrancais
genre: RPS, NEWS
pairing: Koyama/YamaPi
rating: overall PG-13 (section of hard R in coda)
words: just under 39,000 words
disclaimer: the boys believe they own themselves; really Johnny owns 'em all. *snicker*
summary: Often, we find we don't realize what we have until it's gone. YamaPi struggles to cope in the aftermath of the announcement of NEWS's hiatus.
author's note: a labor of love in the name of my OTP KoyamaPi, originally inspired by YamaPi's February 2007 appearance on Shounen Club Premium and written over the span of one year from March 2007 through March 2008. Thanks to anamuan for betaing the majority of this monster and tinyangl, 4_03_am and jadedfrenzy for being my test readers. There is love for each and every one of you. ♥
part zero | part one | part two | part three | part four | coda |
June 2006
"LEAN A LITTLE MORE TO YOUR LEFT! TO YOUR LEFT!!"
YamaPi jumped up and down in the shallows of the surf, he himself leaning toward his own left as he coached Koyama on the surfboard, riding a small wave. However, just as Koyama seemed to be getting the hang of it, slowly pulling himself into a standing position on the board, he lost his balance and went down into the salty waters.
Once he saw Koyama's head pop up from underneath the waves and Koyama grab the surfboard, paddling back toward the shore, YamaPi sloshed forward to meet him. "You were so close!" YamaPi insisted once Koyama was within reasonable earshot.
"If you say so," Koyama returned, having rolled off the top of the surfboard now that the water was shallow enough to be walking around in. He ran his free hand through his soaked rust-colored hair, pushing his bangs back away from his forehead. "This is a lot harder than you make it look."
YamaPi shook his head with a bright smile. "It's not hard once you get the hang of it, I promise. I've just been doing it longer, that's all."
As far as YamaPi was concerned, today was perfect. After all the promotion for "Daite Senorita" had died down, all YamaPi had had to contend with was finishing up his schedule for Kurosagi, which he had done just the day before. Today was his first day off in quite some time and he was spending it with Koyama, who also had managed to swing a day off, not completely into the thick of his own drama shooting schedule.
YamaPi brought Koyama to his favorite place-a quiet beach in Chiba where he loved to surf. It was a Wednesday, so even though the weather was absolutely perfect-a break after a few days of overcast skies-there were hardly any beachgoers to be found, save for maybe a dozen or two regulars. With the limited amount of people, the two idols were able to enjoy the day completely, without getting bombarded by fans and spectators who recognized them as "those pretty boys from Johnny's".
So they played. YamaPi rented an extra wetsuit for Koyama and using his own surfboard, tried to teach the other idol the basics of his favorite beach pastime. For lunch, YamaPi had brought along his small, portable charcoal grill and Koyama had brought the meat-not the high-grade Kobe beef that YamaPi had been spoiled with on the Kurosagi set, but somehow the company made up for it much more-and the watermelon, and the two of them feasted like little kids shining in the warm afternoon sunshine.
"Mmmm, I'm tired," Koyama hummed, collapsing on his beach towel splayed out on the sand without even unzipping his wetsuit.
YamaPi chuckled, as he stood above Koyama, pulling the zipper on his own wetsuit up. "Take a break. You can try again when I come back."
"I'm done." As Koyama was lying face down into his towel, YamaPi barely was able to make out his muffled voice over the sounds of the tide and the loud gulls off in the distance.
YamaPi playfully kicked Koyama's butt, grinning. "Not until I say so."
Koyama lifted his pouting face out of the towel to protest, but instead found himself cut off by the simple ringing of a phone. "I don't have a ringtone like that," he remarked, slowly sitting up with a small wince as his beaten body objected.
"It's mine." YamaPi stooped down next to his towel and started rummaging through his bag until he found his cell phone buried at the bottom. "Hello?"
Koyama watched YamaPi carefully over the span of the short three-minute phone call and noted the younger man's complete change of demeanor. At first, he went from squatting to taking a proper seat on his own beach towel. Only giving curt replies of, "Yes," and, "I understand," the brightness in YamaPi's eyes seemed to dim and his carefree features turned serious once more. The idol did not look once in Koyama's direction, staring straight out at the endless horizon of sun and water.
"It's okay, really. One day off is enough for me; I'll be ready for work tomorrow," YamaPi told the voice on the other side of the line. Clearly that person probably believed his words, as YamaPi then gave his farewell and hung up, but Koyama knew very well that YamaPi hardly had meant what he had said.
"I thought you had the next two days off."
"I thought so too." YamaPi tossed his cell phone carelessly into bag, not noticing when he totally missed and the cell phone landed in the sand instead. "But work is work, and I can't put it off."
Koyama peered closely at YamaPi. "It sounded like something suddenly came up that wasn't scheduled."
"Yeah," YamaPi affirmed, looking over at Koyama. "I'm going to be in a unit to promote the Women's Volleyball World Grand Prix this year."
At that, everything made perfect sense to Koyama. "With who? Kamenashi again?"
YamaPi shook his head, sighing. Of all things to bring down his mood… "Two Thai kids that Johnny-san scouted out. They've been popular in Thailand, so he wants to bring them over here to see if they can make an impact."
"And you have to be in a group with them?"
"Well, it's not like I'm busy with NEWS or anything like that, right?"
Koyama frowned at YamaPi's dejected tone. "It's just another unit. Like Shuuji to Akira. It won't last long at all."
YamaPi could not help but feel bad. He knew Koyama was trying to get him to look on the bright side of things, to lift his spirits, but he just could not. "I'm sick of the constant shuffle. The solos, the units… I just want something steady for a little bit," he admittedly heavily, meeting Koyama's empathetic gaze.
Koyama did not reach out to touch YamaPi or even move to sit next to him. He simply nodded. "I think that's what we all want, but it looks like it'll take some time before we can have that."
YamaPi knew without explanation that when Koyama said "we", he was talking about all of NEWS.
*~*~*
December 2006 (section rated hard R)
Koyama giggled girlishly, drunkenly, in the softly lit apartment hallway as he pressed against YamaPi's side, nipping at the other's earlobe before tracing his tongue along the outer shell.
Slightly tipsy himself, YamaPi stumbled against the shut front door, struggling to find the right key amongst his many that fit that simple silver knob. "SHHHHHHH…" Upon finding the correct key and turning the knob, he turned to look at Koyama-who would have been uncomfortably close were they both not intoxicated and horny-and pressed his index finger to his mouth.
Koyama's eyes narrowed on YamaPi's single digit against his lips and YamaPi watched entranced as he did so. Just trying to imagine what Koyama might be concocting in his pretty rust-colored head made the younger idol's jeans feel ridiculously tight.
The two of them barged into the darkened empty apartment, hands grabbing at jackets and scarves, tearing them off each other, seeking the feel of skin on skin. In the fray, Koyama managed to shove the door shut with a good back kick, pulling YamaPi forward by his half-undone scarf, pressing them both against the door once more as they struggled to step out of their shoes. "We can't be improper guests," Koyama giggled again, his warm, alcohol-spiced breath tickling YamaPi's nose.
"He won't be back for four more months," YamaPi gasped out, properly catching Koyama's moist lips in hungry kiss. "He won't even know we were here."
Stepping out of his shoes, Koyama pushed off the door behind him and lunged at YamaPi, causing the other to stumble backwards out of the apartment's entrance, one shoe still on. His hands were all over-forcing YamaPi out of his leather jacket, tugging YamaPi's thin black sweater up and over his head, slipping beneath the cotton of his undershirt-maintaining dominance, and yet giggling the entire time as if the two of them were good little boys sharing a naughty secret.
God, Koyama drunk was such a turn on.
YamaPi tried to give as good as he got, but with the controlling Koyama out in full force, he was having a tough time of it. To the point where by the time his jeans had been ripped off by his boyfriend, YamaPi barely had gotten around to getting Koyama's shirt off him.
They did not make it to the bedroom and YamaPi vaguely wondered what reaction Jin would have when he found out that they had been using his apartment for sex romps when he was gone-YamaPi's apartment was out of the question, seeing as he had been sleeping in the living room as of late, and they had tried once at Koyama's but that had just been a total failure what with the thin futon and his parents in the next room-but that thought soon vanished when he felt Koyama's steady hand wrap around the base of his erection and slid upward, causing his mind to go completely blank. When Koyama repeated the action, YamaPi could only moan from deep in his throat, eyes nearly rolling back into his head from the sheer overload of pleasure.
YamaPi was splayed across the length of the sofa, head lolling back against the leather sofa's arm-fuck, he was going to have to replace this sofa, wasn't he?-and legs spread eagle as Koyama's eager mouth wrapped around his erection, tongue teasing and yet forceful all at once. Threading his fingers through Koyama's rust strands, he tugged slightly at the fast bobbing head, prompting Koyama to look up at him through the darkness, eyes wanton and lustful.
All YamaPi could do after that was to come, uncontrollably jerking as he thrust roughly into Koyama's hungry mouth, letting out the other's name in a breathy cry of release.
When YamaPi's eyes came back into focus, his gaze narrowed on Koyama's lips again as the other crawled over his naked form, blinding groping around on the end coffee table behind YamaPi's head. Koyama's pert, skilled tongue was licking at his lips, obviously trying to clean up (or enjoy) the mess that YamaPi had left. And suddenly, YamaPi wanted that tongue.
Just as Koyama managed to snag the lube he had left on the table the last time they had been there, YamaPi laced his hand into the hairs along the older idol's nape, pulling him down until he was able to crush his lips against Koyama's possessively. A faint tinge of the vodka in that final White Russian, a dash of sweat and sweet, and the recent salty taste of himself overwhelmed YamaPi's senses as he pillaged Koyama's mouth, alternatively sucking and probing.
Koyama giggled ever so slightly into the kiss, and then next thing YamaPi knew, he had been wrestled to the ground-when Koyama wanted something, he always got it-onto his hands and knees. Koyama hovered over him from behind, teasing him with his closeness, nipping at YamaPi's ear with his teeth, brushing his hand down his flank until it came to rest right at his hip with a firm grip.
Even though he had been anticipating it, YamaPi could not help but let out a sharp gasp when Koyama plunged into him with slick fingers, which swiftly gave way to a low, throaty moan as Koyama played him to perfection, hitting all of his sweet spots. When the fingers eventually withdrew after what seemed to have been an eternity to YamaPi, he could not help but whimper at the loss of pleasure. However, YamaPi quickly recovered once Koyama entered him, wasting no time and thrusting into him eagerly, Koyama's hand snaking round and roughly pumping him as well.
Completely under Koyama's will, YamaPi struggled to hold onto coherence, his knuckles near white as he clutched onto handfuls of Jin's shaggy, living room rug beneath him, moaning outright. Just barely above his own raw cries, he could hear Koyama's normally cheerful voice coming in low, near strangled grunts in time with his thrusts and soon enough, he was crying out YamaPi's name loud and clear as he came. It only took a few more wild thrusts from Koyama as he came down from his high and YamaPi also came, completely spent, collapsing against the soft, welcoming rug.
He had no idea what time it was when a faint ringing sound from somewhere in the quiet apartment woke YamaPi from his post-sex nap. As he shifted slightly on the rug to search for the source of the sound, Koyama mumbled against YamaPi's chest, his fingers gently hooking on the curve of YamaPi's collarbone in his sleep. YamaPi would have been content to ignore it and simply return to sleeping with Koyama against him, but the ringing seemed only to get more and more persistent with time. It was probably Jin's alarm clock, YamaPi thought as he carefully maneuvered himself from underneath Koyama, draping the blanket they had been using back over him. Damn, he should have unplugged that thing awhile ago.
Picking up his jeans and pulling them on-it was too cold to be walking around naked, even if that was what YamaPi would have preferred-he wandered into the bedroom to find Jin's bedside digital alarm clock ringing. He glared at it for a moment before yanking its electric cord from its socket, the face flashing 2 AM then completely going dark. "Dammit, Jin," he muttered, sighing as he sat down on the bed.
However, just as YamaPi had rid himself of the annoying alarm clock, another buzzing started. This time, he knew exactly what it was though as he dug into his jeans' pocket, his cell phone vibrating against his leg. Not even glancing at the caller ID, he flipped it open-only a handful of people would be calling him at this time anyway. "Hello?"
"PI! IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU ANSWERED THE PHONE!!!!!!"
YamaPi quickly pulled the cell phone away from his ear to keep from being deafened by his best friend's voice on the other side. "Jin, sane people speak with indoor voices on the phone."
"I know, but you weren't answering your phone!" Jin whined, heeding YamaPi's advice and lowering his voice. "And neither is Koyama!"
"Why were you trying to call Koyama?"
"I think the question is who wasn't trying to call Koyama. And you too! I mean, I'm skipping class to call you!"
"Jin, you always skip class to call me. That's nothing new. But you calling at two in the morning is. Why are you calling?"
"God, I'm supposed to be the one out of the loop because I'm in another country, but you and Koyama having mad, constant sex are more out of the loop than me!"
"Our sex is not mad," YamaPi defended one-sidedly. Though, it certainly was constant given that Jin's apartment was always the setting. Jin was not aware of that part of course. "Would you just tell me what it is you wanted to tell me, so I can go back to sleep maybe?"
He could hear Jin sigh-even imagined the eye-rolling that surely accompanied it-and for a moment, his best friend did not seem all that far away. "NEWS IS COMING BACK! AT COUNTDOWN! RYO SAID SO!"
YamaPi blinked. Well, maybe he was not all that far away after all… "How do you know that?"
"I told you, Ryo told me. He tried calling you like a million times, but when you didn't answer and Koyama didn't answer, he called me instead. He said he didn't want to imagine what you two were doing if you weren't answering your cell phones."
YamaPi was silent for a long time, sitting on Jin's bed. Simply put, he was shocked. "Seriously?" he questioned once more, still skeptical.
"Seriously!" After a beat, when YamaPi did not offer a reply, Jin continued. "You would think after everything you've been through this past year, you'd be happier about NEWS coming back!"
"I am…excited," YamaPi reluctantly answered upon Jin's prodding. "It's just that I kind of need time to process it. I'll call you later, okay?"
With that, NEWS's leader hung up on his best friend and checked his missed calls. Ryo indeed had been calling him repeatedly since nine that evening, and when Ryo's calls seemed to peter out, the missed calls from Jin increased. Interspersed amongst the calls from his friends were calls from Kawano-san, Imaoka-san, and even a call from Johnny-san himself.
If Johnny-san went so far as to call him… It had to be true.
NEWS was coming back. The six of them would be NEWS again. He would be NEWS's Yamashita Tomohisa again. All the work and the waiting, it had paid off. Surreal could not even accurately convey how he was feeling about it all.
YamaPi squatted down on the rug, looking down into Koyama's peaceful sleeping face. He drank in Koyama's features for a long time-the fall of his bangs, the shape of his brow, the line of his lips-admiring each feature in its ability to come together with all the others to make this perfect Koyama before him, a Koyama who had pulled him through the darkest of times, being YamaPi's ray of hope.
He reached out and brushed a tender thumb across Koyama's bare cheek, softly smiling. "Member love, right?"
*~*~*
June 2007
"Well, color me surprised."
"What?" YamaPi set down the plate of appetizing pasta before Koyama as he slid into his seat at the small table. "You know, I can cook for myself. I'm not totally hopeless."
Koyama playfully narrowed his eyes at YamaPi, who moved to the opposite side of the table to sit across from him. "Are you trying to seduce me with fine dining?"
YamaPi glanced up his boyfriend through his bangs with quiet smoldering eyes and a coy smile tugging on his lips. "Is it working?" He returned the question with another. "I was going for convincing you to move in with me, but if it's an effective seduction technique too, I'm not complaining."
Koyama glanced out at the city that expanding beyond them from their veranda view and sighed slightly. "Pi, I haven't talked my mom yet-"
"So, talk to her!"
"I don't want her to feel lonely-"
"She has your dad!" YamaPi interrupted again, rolling the last bit of pasta around his fork and spooning it into his mouth. "Besides, you are twenty-three. It's not unreasonable for you to want to move out of the house."
Koyama was holding his spoon in one hand and his fork in the other, but he still had yet to take a bite of the pasta. "You mean, like you?"
YamaPi nodded, diving into the plate of food once more with his spoon and fork. "Yes, like me. I told my mom and my sister-"
"-that you couldn't sleep with me at Jin's anymore so you needed your own place," Koyama finished off, smirking as YamaPi winced, having bit down on his fork just a little too hard. "What did you tell Jin when he came back anyway?"
"That I took good care of his apartment and all his sheets were washed."
"And?"
"He was mad at me for a day. You know, the standard amount of time Jin holds a grudge against anyone. Well, it probably helped that I bought him that new leather sofa too." YamaPi looked up at Koyama and noted that he had not even touched the masterpiece of a meal he had made. "Stop thinking too much about it and just eat. Look, I'll tell her if you really want me to."
"I never said I needed you to," Koyama insisted, twirling his fork amongst the pasta. "I can do it myself."
The was a long pause, and then YamaPi suddenly set his utensils down against the side of his plate and looked across the table at Koyama, quite serious. "Is there a reason you don't want to move in with me?"
"You sound like a girl, Pi."
"And you look like one."
Koyama blinked at YamaPi's childish comeback and before he could chastise the other, his cell phone began blasting "Best Friend" from the back pocket of his jeans. Startled slightly, he jumped up in his seat, reaching back for the cell phone.
"Just ignore it. It's just Shige." YamaPi half-heartedly returned his attention to the pasta, twirling his fork around, but with no intention of actually eating the pasta he was playing with.
"I would, but Shige knew I was going to be over here this evening, so if he's actually calling me, it might be important," Koyama returned as he opened his cell phone. "Hey, Shige. What's up?"
YamaPi could vaguely hear Shige's muffled voice from the cell phone earpiece and frowned slightly. Everything had been perfect. He had made an early dinner on the veranda just in time to catch the sunset and they were finally alone without interruptions now that he finally had finished filming on Proposal Daisakusen. It was important to him that Koyama agree to move in with him. YamaPi was not exactly sure himself as to why it was so important, but it was important. Koyama was important. More important than he would ever be able to verbalize into words probably.
"WHAT?! Are you serious?!" YamaPi stopped his childish sulking into his food and looked up to see Koyama now standing at attention, clearly surprised by whatever Shige had told him. "This is so great! Two shows?! …we have a meeting tomorrow? Okay, at ten. …right. I'll make sure Pi knows too. …yeah. I'll talk to you later. Bye!"
Though Koyama's conversation with Shige had been short, YamaPi found himself hanging on every word that subsequently followed his boyfriend's outburst and pretty much dying to know the contents of the phone call. "What was that all about?"
Koyama was overflowing with giddiness. His smile was so wide that YamaPi thought the other's face might split in half and he literally was bouncing on the balls of his feet in his house slippers. "TAIWAN!" He blurted out. "We're going to Taiwan!!"
"We are?"
Koyama realized that he was leaving out critical pieces of information because YamaPi was not as excited as he was when he should be. "NEWS is! We're going to be performing two concerts in Taipei in October!"
NEWS? Overseas? They had gone to Taiwan when they were still a temporary unit merely cheering on the Japanese Women's Volleyball team, but this would be completely different. Arashi had done it before them, performing in venues abroad, their name in big lights, the first of all Johnny's groups to officially extend their popularity to outside Japan. And NEWS was to be the next.
Had it not been a year ago when YamaPi had feared for his group's return because of the invasion of two Thai brothers? Now, it was the recharged and redebuted NEWS who was doing the invading.
As the announcement properly sunk in, Koyama's excitement slowly caught and YamaPi found himself smiling as well. "One step closer to world domination!"
"This is a new development." Koyama chuckled, amused. "Since when did you have aspirations of world domination?"
"Since the possibility just popped up two minutes ago." YamaPi glanced out at the horizon, tinged with hopeful oranges and yellows and reds. "Got to take advantage when we've got the chance!"
*~*~*
December 2007
"KEI-CHAN!"
As soon as YamaPi had managed to unlock the door, he was calling out his boyfriend's name, hastily stepping on the backs of his designer shoes so that he could maneuver into his comfy home slippers.
"KEI-CHAN!"
He ran down the little hallway that led into the living room to find Koyama nestled in a corner of the sofa, head propped against the arm, napping. A teeny bit of drool was peeking from the corner of his lips, his mouth slightly ajar. That was why he had not answered. YamaPi softly smiled to himself.
Allowing his eyes to survey the rest of the room, YamaPi discovered that the coffee table that normally sat before the sofa had been moved. It now sat in the corner next to a small Christmas tree, no bigger than four feet in height. Across the glass surface of the table were various Christmas ornaments, candy canes, and shiny gold and silver tinsel.
YamaPi went over to the bare Christmas tree and surveyed it for a moment, poking at the branches. "Ah, it's plastic."
"…okaeri."
NEWS's leader turned to find Koyama slowly sitting up from his napping position on the sofa, blinking blearily at him. "Tadaima," YamaPi returned, watching as Koyama yawned, stretching his long arms above his head and arching his back slightly. Koyama had not noticed the drool yet. "Kei-chan, here." YamaPi motioned on his own face, and Koyama quickly understood, unabashedly wiping at the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.
"What time is it?"
YamaPi glanced at his watch. "It's eight-thirty. I tried to get off as soon as possible because you said you'd be making curry tonight."
"I haven't made it yet," Koyama sheepishly answered, scratching the back of his head. "I fell asleep before I got that far."
"Too busy with the tree?" YamaPi grinned, chucking his thumb in the general direction of the plastic tree.
"That wasn't my idea," Koyama insisted, the haze of sleep clearing. "It was Haruto's."
YamaPi chuckled, amused. "You are blaming your three-year-old nephew for a Christmas tree in our apartment?"
"Why would I buy one on my own? It's not like I've ever had a Christmas tree in my house for Christmas before," the older idol reasoned, shuffling over to where the ornaments were all laid out on the coffee table. He picked up a little reindeer ornament and randomly hung it on the tree. "Since I had the day off, I took Haruto to see the Christmas parade at Disneyland and on the way back, we got into an intense conversation about Christmas and the next thing I know, I was putting up a Christmas tree."
The idea of Koyama and the three-year-old Haruto having an intense conversation seemed somewhat unbelievable, but as someone who had had his own fair share of intense conversations about the yummiest sushi with Haruto, YamaPi believed Koyama. "But why here?"
"Why not here? Haru-kun originally wanted one at home, but I had to convince him that it would be better to have it here; the last thing my sister needs right now is more stuff to deal with." Koyama hung another ornament-a Santa with a bag of presents-higher up on the tree and then turned to YamaPi. "Do you have something against Christmas trees?"
"No. Just that I've never had one either."
"See. Then, it'll be a learning experience for the three of us."
Koyama resumed his decorating of the tree, and YamaPi watched him for a moment before digging into his jacket pocket and thrusting a folded piece of paper in Koyama's direction. "Merry Christmas ten days early."
"A piece of paper?" Koyama questioned, receiving the paper with the slightest amount of skepticism. "You'll have to do better than that, Pi, if-"
The older man found himself silenced as he unfolded the paper and his eyes caught on the header.
"Taiyou no Namida". NEWS' new single. Release date, February 27th.
That was great news alone. But it was the line below it in smaller print is what really put Koyama at a loss for words.
"…Kurosagi's theme song? The movie version?" Koyama looked at YamaPi, his eyes wide.
"Yeah." YamaPi smiled, smiled so hard that his cheeks hurt, but he could not stop. "I've been sending you messages all day long."
"I had my cell phone on vibrate, but it was stuck in my bag, so…" Koyama set the angel ornament aside, darting into the bedroom quickly to retrieve his cell phone.
"I think Ryo may have called you a few times too; we were together when Kawano-san got the confirmation on the song."
"He did," Koyama replied as he walked out of the bedroom, cell phone open as he checked his list of missed calls. "So did Tegoshi. And Massu. And Shige."
"Member love in action," YamaPi chuckled warmly. "See what happens when you take a day off? You miss everything."
Absorbed in sifting through the ridiculous amount of messages he had managed to receive from his band-mates as well throughout the day, Koyama failed to respond to YamaPi's jibe. However, when he suddenly laughed out loud, YamaPi was curious.
"What's so funny?"
Koyama looked up from the small lit up screen and shook his head at his boyfriend. "'I'm dying'?"
"What? I was trying to get your attention!" YamaPi defended himself; Koyama had read the contents of the fifth message YamaPi had sent earlier that afternoon. "I had photo shoots and interviews the rest of the day before I got home, so it was a last ditch effort. And besides, I was dying. Of excitement."
"Dork."
Neither really had to come out and say anything explicit. As always, it was already understood. A project that had been solely YamaPi's-his first leading drama with Kurosagi and his solo debut with "Daite Senorita-was to become NEWS' now with "Taiyou no Namida". The member love that YamaPi has always felt had been shattered by their hiatus was at last complete.
*~*~*
"Kei-chan?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you remember the first time we met?"
"On Shounen Club?"
"No, no. I guess I mean, do you remember the first time we talked?"
"I should hope so. I feel like we've told that story a hundred times in a hundred different ways."
"I was just thinking about it again. It made me nostalgic."
"For when you were a teenager, looked like an alien and no one would date you despite being a hot shot idol?"
"No! God, when did you get to be so damn mouthy like Jin?!"
"He's over here too much clearly; I mean, how did he even know to come over tonight for curry?"
"…I told him."
"Well, see, me sounding like Jin is completely your fault then."
"At least you got some hard labor out of him; we didn't even have to decorate the Christmas tree after he came."
"He should be friends with Haru-kun."
"…being with you, like this, it's comfortable."
"Is it?"
"It feels like it's always been like this."
"It hasn't, you know."
"I know, I know. But, now that we're here, it just feels like it's always been like this."
the end.
ending notes: thank you all for reading so far and getting to the end. As I mentioned in the author's notes, this fanfic was a true labor of love. Lots of time, research, and my undying love for KoyamaPi went into this fic. Lots of anamuan's time as well, as she was constantly my sounding board, reading every scene after I wrote them and telling me when I did good and when I did horrible (and then telling me when to rewrite it in the latter case *grin*). I owe her so much, words cannot say. ♥ (It took her a year to beta-read this thing you guys! XD) Also, my love goes to acchikocchi who has an indirect impact on me. It was after I read her Pin!masterpiece "Marquee" that I had the niggling feeling to do something similar for KoyamaPi and then seeing YamaPi be so honest on Shounen Club Premium really got me going toward this monster of a fanfic. Of course, as I mentioned too, love to my ladies, tinyangl, 4_03_am, and jadedfrenzy for being my test-read audience and liking it even when I thought it might just all be crap. XD