As Fate Would Have It
Title: As Fate Would Have It (part 1 of 2)
Pairing: tackey x tsubasa
Rating: PG
Summary: semi-canon fic starting from their audition. awkward!tsubasa and young lust love!
As things tend to go in life, there wasn't really a moment or an event that Tsubasa could point to as being the one that "started it all" but if pressed, he might attribute it to that phone call. If you were particularly persistent, he might admit that the cascade of subsequent events was first triggered on April 23, 1995.
**
Tsubasa clutched the straps of his bookbag, pulling at them unconsciously until they grew slick with sweat in his clammy hands. He licked his lips nervously and looked around the room slowly, eying the crowd with the apprehension of a small fish in a big pond. This was ridiculous - he didn't belong here at all. Anxiety wrapped her cold fingers around his chest and he focused on his breathing until it came in even, measured beats again. Heck, he didn't even want to be here. It was all his sister's fault and her dumb TOKIO obsession that got him into this mess in the first place. Just wait until he got out of this crummy audition, he grumbled to himself - he'd make her pay triple, no, quadruple the amount of pudding she had promised and find a way to guilt-trip her into getting him that new baseball glove he had been eyeing.
Never mind that. Right now, he felt like he was about to puke.
It was then that another boy around his own age, a flurry of motion, caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't help but smirk to himself - now that was someone who looked happy to be here, in fact, over eagerly ecstatic. The other boy's hair was parted perfectly down the middle and slicked down with what looked like enough hair wax to withstand a minor tsunami without so much as one strand of hair moving out of place. The only things more ridiculous looking on him were the equally precise creases down his pant legs and the bright, cheery grin plastered across his face that made him look as well-scrubbed and wholesome as his starched shirt. Tsubasa groaned to himself. The other boy exemplified the kind of over-the-top cheesiness and charm that the judges probably gobbled up; there was no doubt in his mind that he was a shoo-in.
He stared wide-eyed as the boy attempted another spin, nearly crashing into three other applicants in the process. Instead of frowning, the judges merely laughed and patted the boy indulgently on the back who was, by now, smiling sheepishly.
Okay, and it somewhat helped that he was kind of cute, Tsubasa admitted to himself.
**
Tsubasa snapped his cellphone closed and stared at it. That was just plain weird.
"Hello, hello. Earth to Tsubasa!" Sho waved his hand rapidly back and forth in front of Tsubasa's eyes.
Tsubasa blinked and pushed Sho's hand away good-naturedly. "Yes, Sho-sama?" he said with a smile.
"Something wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost." Sho smiled back at him but Tsubasa could see the concern in his eyes.
"Near about," Tsubasa snorted. "That was Takizawa; he wants me to do a duet with him at the next junior's concert."
Sho promptly came dangerously close to sliding straight off his stool. He picked himself up and dug his spoon back in his bowl of icecream. "Well, that's..." Sho's eyes wavered visibly as he searched for the right word, "interesting. Are you going to do it?"
Tsubasa nodded and reached over to grab Sho's spoon to snag a spoonful of the icecream for himself. "It's interesting all right."
--
Tsubasa played and replayed his conversation with Takizawa over and over again until all the pieces got jumbled in his head and he lost track of what was fact and fiction.
A duet.
A what?!
Well, I know this is rather sudden but I think it'd be a good change of pace if we sang a song together.
I...
It's okay if you don't want to; I didn't mean to put you on the spot.
No, I'll do it.
What in the world had he gotten himself into? Why did he agree to it? He lay on his back and sighed, staring at the crack in the ceiling as if it would give him the answer. He rolled over onto his stomach and squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to ignore the queasiness in his stomach and go to sleep.
--
Nothing had changed and everything had changed since they first joined the jimusho. Takizawa Hideaki still had the innate ability to command everyone's attention when he walked into a room. For a time, Tsubasa himself had been one of his satellites, content to stay in the background and revolve around the jimusho's brightest new star. They were even friends, of sort, the kind that grew attached to each other by circumstance and common surroundings. But the more they worked together, the more it became obvious that if Takizawa was the sun, then Tsubasa was the moon. Initially, neither was particularly talented with a microphone or a drama script in his hand but after being pushed continuously and given numerous opportunities by Johnny-san who recognized frog princes when he saw one, Takizawa grew by leaps and bounds whereas Tsubasa continued to stumble clumsily over lines that fell wooden from his lips; whereas Tsubasa took immediately to new dance routines like a fish to water, Takizawa got chased around the room by Sanche-san's stick and his mug of coffee. Both being highly competitive by nature, they began to regard the other with a bit of childish resentment - after all, their shortcomings felt all the more painful when confronted constantly with the ease with which the other performed at their weakness. Thus, even though they had started out as friends, it had been a couple of years since the two had willingly cooperated on anything.
--
And what in the world would their collaboration look like anyway? What would they sing? What about the choreography? What were Takizawa's intentions in even suggesting the idea? As it turned out, whereas Tsubasa had absolutely no clue, Takizawa seemed to have all the answers. If Tsubasa had realized from observing from a distance that Takizawa had grown up to become a consummate, perfect idol from that overly perky boy he first encountered several years ago, the image was only magnified when they actually worked together towards a common goal. Well, worked together was a tad generous way of putting it.
"We'll sing SMAP-san's Run, Run, Run - okay with you? I already cleared it with Nakai-kun and Kimura-kun."
Takizawa was looking at him from across the table and tapping the point of his pencil lightly against his pad of paper. Tsubasa glanced down at the page reflexively and blanched. It was impressively full of scribbles and numbers galore in various colored ink and pencil. "Of course," he said hastily. Really, there wasn't a proper way that they could decline to sing their sempai's song after Takizawa had already gone to the trouble of requesting it specifically. He hadn't known what to expect but he didn't anticipate that Takizawa would've already put so much thought into it only two days after he had agreed to do a duet with him. He hesitated. "About the choreography?" he ventured.
Takizawa picked up his notepad and frowned at some of his scribbles. "Nothing too complicated would be best since there are dance numbers immediately before and after on the schedule with a costume change to boot. Let's just run around the arena for the main part of the song. We'll start from the main stage and then swoop outwards in two circles. Fits with the lyrics that way too, don't you think?" He flipped the page and quickly sketched out a diagram, holding it up for Tsubasa's approval.
Tsubasa found himself nodding agreeably. When Takizawa put it that way, it did sound so much better than anything that he might have had in mind. He had wanted to be helpful and offer ideas, but without meaning to, Tsubasa had found himself swept up by Takizawa's suggestions.
--
After he got over the initial resentment he had felt at being caught up as a pawn in Takizawa's "produce a concert" game, Tsubasa slowly came to understand that Takizawa really did have the best intentions of the juniors in mind and that if he came across as a bit overbearing in his approach, it was because he was struggling to figure out the weight of his responsibility. Now that he was watching, he could see it in the way Takizawa made neat annotations and changes in his trusty notepad after a meeting with the staff, lips drawn thin and close to his teeth with grim determination and he could see it in how Takizawa sat rigidly behind a table as he assigned songs and roles to the other juniors for the upcoming concert and also in every time he flinched at the subsequent barely concealed grumbles from discontent juniors. At these moments, Tsubasa's heart ached and went out to him - it couldn't have been easy, but Takizawa never complained. Well! Takizawa-Hideaki-the-idol wasn't so perfect after all, and that made him an awfully lot more interesting, Tsubasa mused.
**
"Hey, you still like baseball, don't you?"
Tsubasa eyed Takizawa warily. If he didn't know better, he would think that Takizawa was purposely trying to throw him off-kilter with a question that just came out of the blue from nowhere. "Sure," he said cautiously.
"I got that new N64 game, that that..."
Tsubasa leaned forward excitedly. "Ken Griffey, Jr.'s Slugfest?" He held his breath - it couldn't possibly be that game. It was the most anticipated sports game of the year for N64 and practically impossible to find; he had tried calling half a dozen game stores yesterday to see if they could locate a copy.
"Yep, that's the one." Takizawa grinned. "Want to come over to my place sometime to play?"
"Yes," Tsubasa said immediately without hesitation.
"How about tomorrow after rehearsal?"
Tsubasa ran his schedule through his mind. "It'll be too late," he said regretfully. "We won't get out until at least 10pm and then we have a 6am rehearsal the next day."
Takizawa shrugged. "Then just sleep over."
--
It all made perfect sense at the time which is why the next night, Tsubasa found himself clutching a pillow while watching as a whistling Takizawa laid out a futon next to the bed. Takizawa patted the quilt down one last time. "Welcome to Hotel Takizawa, where our guests' comfort is our number one priority."
Tsubasa rolled his eyes. "Sorry to trouble you," he added.
"Not a bother at all," Takizawa said through a yawn. "Shall we turn in for the night then?"
Tsubasa nodded and they switched spots. Takizawa hopped into his bed and stretched his hand out to switch off the lamp while Tsubasa squirmed around on the unfamiliar bedding, trying to find a comfortable way to settle down.
"Hey."
Takizawa's voice was soft but it might as well have been as loud as gunshot; Tsubasa took a sharp breath through his nose. "What is it?"
"It's nice isn't it?" Takizawa poked his head over the edge of the bed and smiled down at Tsubasa who blinked back at him. "Being friends now," he clarified.
"Yea, it's nice." To his surprise, Tsubasa found that it was the truth. This was the first time that Takizawa had explicitly referenced the fact that just a short few months ago, they were anything but friends. It was kind of weird that they were friends, but he supposed that's what they were - friends slept over at each other's apartments and enjoyed spending time together and that was definitely true of him and Takizawa now. He stretched out and felt his shoulders relaxing; albeit brief, Takizawa's words did much to calm his vague uneasiness and now he just felt overwhelmingly tired. "Night, Takizawa," he mumbled, feeling himself drifting off to sleep.
"Night, Tsubasa," Takizawa whispered back and withdrew in a rustling of quilts.
A few seconds later, Takizawa popped his head over the side of the bed again. "Do you mind if I call you Tsubasa?"
Tsubasa opened his eyes reluctantly and raised an eyebrow wearily. "Isn't that what you've been calling me anyway?"
Takizawa laughed and Tsubasa felt all funny in his stomach again. "I thought I'd check anyway."
"You woke me up to ask me that?" Tsubasa whined.
"You weren't asleep anyway." Takizawa's grin was infectious and Tsubasa smiled back.
"Good night," Tsubasa said while rolling his eyes, pointedly turning his back. They did have to wake up early tomorrow after all. "I'll see you in the morning. Hide-kun."
The last thing Tsubasa heard before falling asleep was Hideaki's cheery voice saying "Night!" back.
--
It was easy to continue going over to Hideaki's apartment after that initial night. They had started to spend more time together, each moment cementing their fledgling friendship deeper. They already shared much of the same work schedule and they liked most of the same foods so they usually grabbed a bite to eat together after work. Then, since Tsubasa lived further away from the jimusho buildings, it was a no-brainer that he slept over at Hideaki's to save on the commute time in the morning.
As much as they had in common though, Tsubasa couldn't understand for the life of him, Hideaki's obsession with pro-wrestling. Wrestling was okay - he had liked it well enough when he was a kid himself. It's just that they were adults now and pro-wrestling with its tacky masks and hideously unattractive spandex was well, childish.
"I have a hero complex," Hideaki explained again for the umpteenth time. "There's always a hero and a villain in any fight. Actually, the storylines can get quite complex." He leaned forward eagerly, obviously excited at the opportunity to deliver yet another monologue on the merits of his favorite pro-wrestler of the week.
From experience, Tsubasa recognized all the warning signs. "Really. Great." He turned his attention back to his sketchbook hastily and examined his latest drawing. It would be fun to be able to design his own costumes for his own concerts one day. Now that was a worthwhile ambition and hobby. It was utterly unfathomable to him what could be so interesting about a bunch of sweaty guys doing their best to smash each other's faces into pulp. Plus, if you were talking about heroes, he quite preferred the shining prince on a white horse character type.
He glanced up at Hideaki and tried not to laugh too loudly when he was met with a disgruntled frown.
--
Just for giggles, Tsubasa decided to challenge Hideaki to a fight. Of course, it wouldn't be as fun if he challenged him directly (what with Hideaki going on and on all the time about wrestling storylines) so he decided to take his chances one day and be the villain. He pounced on Hideaki while he was sitting on the couch, dragging him down and pinning him onto the ground.
Hideaki yelped and Tsubasa grinned. His victory was brief; a mere few seconds later, Hideaki had flipped him neatly onto his back and was pressing him into the wooden floor with the weight of his body and pinning his arms down. Tsubasa wriggled around in protest, attempting to kick him off, and then froze abruptly in place.
Oh.
Hideaki's mouth was slightly parted and he was panting slightly, a sheen of sweat breaking on his forehead. Tsubasa's eyes widened in panic.
Ohhh.
He loosened a hand and jabbed Hideaki in the ribs. "Get off me before you crush my lungs."
Hideaki rolled off obediently and not a second too early. Tsubasa sat up and busied himself with re-adjusting his clothes. Maybe... maybe wrestling wasn't so bad after all.
Notes: I started writing this an astonishing six months ago so I'm posting part 1 to force myself to finish part 2 without taking another six months. Actually, I've been wanting to write a Tsubasa pov early canon-fic ever since I finished writing Sleeping Habits over a year ago and this was supposed to be a very similar remix but it didn't quite work out that way. Oh well :3 Surprisingly, in these six months, I still haven't bothered to come up with a title that I like so this may change when I post part 2 up -____-;;
There really was a Ken Griffey Jr. baseball game. No idea if it was popular though as my research only extended to looking up a baseball video game in 1999 from google^^;;
Pairing: tackey x tsubasa
Rating: PG
Summary: semi-canon fic starting from their audition. awkward!tsubasa and young lust love!
As things tend to go in life, there wasn't really a moment or an event that Tsubasa could point to as being the one that "started it all" but if pressed, he might attribute it to that phone call. If you were particularly persistent, he might admit that the cascade of subsequent events was first triggered on April 23, 1995.
**
Tsubasa clutched the straps of his bookbag, pulling at them unconsciously until they grew slick with sweat in his clammy hands. He licked his lips nervously and looked around the room slowly, eying the crowd with the apprehension of a small fish in a big pond. This was ridiculous - he didn't belong here at all. Anxiety wrapped her cold fingers around his chest and he focused on his breathing until it came in even, measured beats again. Heck, he didn't even want to be here. It was all his sister's fault and her dumb TOKIO obsession that got him into this mess in the first place. Just wait until he got out of this crummy audition, he grumbled to himself - he'd make her pay triple, no, quadruple the amount of pudding she had promised and find a way to guilt-trip her into getting him that new baseball glove he had been eyeing.
Never mind that. Right now, he felt like he was about to puke.
It was then that another boy around his own age, a flurry of motion, caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't help but smirk to himself - now that was someone who looked happy to be here, in fact, over eagerly ecstatic. The other boy's hair was parted perfectly down the middle and slicked down with what looked like enough hair wax to withstand a minor tsunami without so much as one strand of hair moving out of place. The only things more ridiculous looking on him were the equally precise creases down his pant legs and the bright, cheery grin plastered across his face that made him look as well-scrubbed and wholesome as his starched shirt. Tsubasa groaned to himself. The other boy exemplified the kind of over-the-top cheesiness and charm that the judges probably gobbled up; there was no doubt in his mind that he was a shoo-in.
He stared wide-eyed as the boy attempted another spin, nearly crashing into three other applicants in the process. Instead of frowning, the judges merely laughed and patted the boy indulgently on the back who was, by now, smiling sheepishly.
Okay, and it somewhat helped that he was kind of cute, Tsubasa admitted to himself.
**
Tsubasa snapped his cellphone closed and stared at it. That was just plain weird.
"Hello, hello. Earth to Tsubasa!" Sho waved his hand rapidly back and forth in front of Tsubasa's eyes.
Tsubasa blinked and pushed Sho's hand away good-naturedly. "Yes, Sho-sama?" he said with a smile.
"Something wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost." Sho smiled back at him but Tsubasa could see the concern in his eyes.
"Near about," Tsubasa snorted. "That was Takizawa; he wants me to do a duet with him at the next junior's concert."
Sho promptly came dangerously close to sliding straight off his stool. He picked himself up and dug his spoon back in his bowl of icecream. "Well, that's..." Sho's eyes wavered visibly as he searched for the right word, "interesting. Are you going to do it?"
Tsubasa nodded and reached over to grab Sho's spoon to snag a spoonful of the icecream for himself. "It's interesting all right."
--
Tsubasa played and replayed his conversation with Takizawa over and over again until all the pieces got jumbled in his head and he lost track of what was fact and fiction.
A duet.
A what?!
Well, I know this is rather sudden but I think it'd be a good change of pace if we sang a song together.
I...
It's okay if you don't want to; I didn't mean to put you on the spot.
No, I'll do it.
What in the world had he gotten himself into? Why did he agree to it? He lay on his back and sighed, staring at the crack in the ceiling as if it would give him the answer. He rolled over onto his stomach and squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to ignore the queasiness in his stomach and go to sleep.
--
Nothing had changed and everything had changed since they first joined the jimusho. Takizawa Hideaki still had the innate ability to command everyone's attention when he walked into a room. For a time, Tsubasa himself had been one of his satellites, content to stay in the background and revolve around the jimusho's brightest new star. They were even friends, of sort, the kind that grew attached to each other by circumstance and common surroundings. But the more they worked together, the more it became obvious that if Takizawa was the sun, then Tsubasa was the moon. Initially, neither was particularly talented with a microphone or a drama script in his hand but after being pushed continuously and given numerous opportunities by Johnny-san who recognized frog princes when he saw one, Takizawa grew by leaps and bounds whereas Tsubasa continued to stumble clumsily over lines that fell wooden from his lips; whereas Tsubasa took immediately to new dance routines like a fish to water, Takizawa got chased around the room by Sanche-san's stick and his mug of coffee. Both being highly competitive by nature, they began to regard the other with a bit of childish resentment - after all, their shortcomings felt all the more painful when confronted constantly with the ease with which the other performed at their weakness. Thus, even though they had started out as friends, it had been a couple of years since the two had willingly cooperated on anything.
--
And what in the world would their collaboration look like anyway? What would they sing? What about the choreography? What were Takizawa's intentions in even suggesting the idea? As it turned out, whereas Tsubasa had absolutely no clue, Takizawa seemed to have all the answers. If Tsubasa had realized from observing from a distance that Takizawa had grown up to become a consummate, perfect idol from that overly perky boy he first encountered several years ago, the image was only magnified when they actually worked together towards a common goal. Well, worked together was a tad generous way of putting it.
"We'll sing SMAP-san's Run, Run, Run - okay with you? I already cleared it with Nakai-kun and Kimura-kun."
Takizawa was looking at him from across the table and tapping the point of his pencil lightly against his pad of paper. Tsubasa glanced down at the page reflexively and blanched. It was impressively full of scribbles and numbers galore in various colored ink and pencil. "Of course," he said hastily. Really, there wasn't a proper way that they could decline to sing their sempai's song after Takizawa had already gone to the trouble of requesting it specifically. He hadn't known what to expect but he didn't anticipate that Takizawa would've already put so much thought into it only two days after he had agreed to do a duet with him. He hesitated. "About the choreography?" he ventured.
Takizawa picked up his notepad and frowned at some of his scribbles. "Nothing too complicated would be best since there are dance numbers immediately before and after on the schedule with a costume change to boot. Let's just run around the arena for the main part of the song. We'll start from the main stage and then swoop outwards in two circles. Fits with the lyrics that way too, don't you think?" He flipped the page and quickly sketched out a diagram, holding it up for Tsubasa's approval.
Tsubasa found himself nodding agreeably. When Takizawa put it that way, it did sound so much better than anything that he might have had in mind. He had wanted to be helpful and offer ideas, but without meaning to, Tsubasa had found himself swept up by Takizawa's suggestions.
--
After he got over the initial resentment he had felt at being caught up as a pawn in Takizawa's "produce a concert" game, Tsubasa slowly came to understand that Takizawa really did have the best intentions of the juniors in mind and that if he came across as a bit overbearing in his approach, it was because he was struggling to figure out the weight of his responsibility. Now that he was watching, he could see it in the way Takizawa made neat annotations and changes in his trusty notepad after a meeting with the staff, lips drawn thin and close to his teeth with grim determination and he could see it in how Takizawa sat rigidly behind a table as he assigned songs and roles to the other juniors for the upcoming concert and also in every time he flinched at the subsequent barely concealed grumbles from discontent juniors. At these moments, Tsubasa's heart ached and went out to him - it couldn't have been easy, but Takizawa never complained. Well! Takizawa-Hideaki-the-idol wasn't so perfect after all, and that made him an awfully lot more interesting, Tsubasa mused.
**
"Hey, you still like baseball, don't you?"
Tsubasa eyed Takizawa warily. If he didn't know better, he would think that Takizawa was purposely trying to throw him off-kilter with a question that just came out of the blue from nowhere. "Sure," he said cautiously.
"I got that new N64 game, that that..."
Tsubasa leaned forward excitedly. "Ken Griffey, Jr.'s Slugfest?" He held his breath - it couldn't possibly be that game. It was the most anticipated sports game of the year for N64 and practically impossible to find; he had tried calling half a dozen game stores yesterday to see if they could locate a copy.
"Yep, that's the one." Takizawa grinned. "Want to come over to my place sometime to play?"
"Yes," Tsubasa said immediately without hesitation.
"How about tomorrow after rehearsal?"
Tsubasa ran his schedule through his mind. "It'll be too late," he said regretfully. "We won't get out until at least 10pm and then we have a 6am rehearsal the next day."
Takizawa shrugged. "Then just sleep over."
--
It all made perfect sense at the time which is why the next night, Tsubasa found himself clutching a pillow while watching as a whistling Takizawa laid out a futon next to the bed. Takizawa patted the quilt down one last time. "Welcome to Hotel Takizawa, where our guests' comfort is our number one priority."
Tsubasa rolled his eyes. "Sorry to trouble you," he added.
"Not a bother at all," Takizawa said through a yawn. "Shall we turn in for the night then?"
Tsubasa nodded and they switched spots. Takizawa hopped into his bed and stretched his hand out to switch off the lamp while Tsubasa squirmed around on the unfamiliar bedding, trying to find a comfortable way to settle down.
"Hey."
Takizawa's voice was soft but it might as well have been as loud as gunshot; Tsubasa took a sharp breath through his nose. "What is it?"
"It's nice isn't it?" Takizawa poked his head over the edge of the bed and smiled down at Tsubasa who blinked back at him. "Being friends now," he clarified.
"Yea, it's nice." To his surprise, Tsubasa found that it was the truth. This was the first time that Takizawa had explicitly referenced the fact that just a short few months ago, they were anything but friends. It was kind of weird that they were friends, but he supposed that's what they were - friends slept over at each other's apartments and enjoyed spending time together and that was definitely true of him and Takizawa now. He stretched out and felt his shoulders relaxing; albeit brief, Takizawa's words did much to calm his vague uneasiness and now he just felt overwhelmingly tired. "Night, Takizawa," he mumbled, feeling himself drifting off to sleep.
"Night, Tsubasa," Takizawa whispered back and withdrew in a rustling of quilts.
A few seconds later, Takizawa popped his head over the side of the bed again. "Do you mind if I call you Tsubasa?"
Tsubasa opened his eyes reluctantly and raised an eyebrow wearily. "Isn't that what you've been calling me anyway?"
Takizawa laughed and Tsubasa felt all funny in his stomach again. "I thought I'd check anyway."
"You woke me up to ask me that?" Tsubasa whined.
"You weren't asleep anyway." Takizawa's grin was infectious and Tsubasa smiled back.
"Good night," Tsubasa said while rolling his eyes, pointedly turning his back. They did have to wake up early tomorrow after all. "I'll see you in the morning. Hide-kun."
The last thing Tsubasa heard before falling asleep was Hideaki's cheery voice saying "Night!" back.
--
It was easy to continue going over to Hideaki's apartment after that initial night. They had started to spend more time together, each moment cementing their fledgling friendship deeper. They already shared much of the same work schedule and they liked most of the same foods so they usually grabbed a bite to eat together after work. Then, since Tsubasa lived further away from the jimusho buildings, it was a no-brainer that he slept over at Hideaki's to save on the commute time in the morning.
As much as they had in common though, Tsubasa couldn't understand for the life of him, Hideaki's obsession with pro-wrestling. Wrestling was okay - he had liked it well enough when he was a kid himself. It's just that they were adults now and pro-wrestling with its tacky masks and hideously unattractive spandex was well, childish.
"I have a hero complex," Hideaki explained again for the umpteenth time. "There's always a hero and a villain in any fight. Actually, the storylines can get quite complex." He leaned forward eagerly, obviously excited at the opportunity to deliver yet another monologue on the merits of his favorite pro-wrestler of the week.
From experience, Tsubasa recognized all the warning signs. "Really. Great." He turned his attention back to his sketchbook hastily and examined his latest drawing. It would be fun to be able to design his own costumes for his own concerts one day. Now that was a worthwhile ambition and hobby. It was utterly unfathomable to him what could be so interesting about a bunch of sweaty guys doing their best to smash each other's faces into pulp. Plus, if you were talking about heroes, he quite preferred the shining prince on a white horse character type.
He glanced up at Hideaki and tried not to laugh too loudly when he was met with a disgruntled frown.
--
Just for giggles, Tsubasa decided to challenge Hideaki to a fight. Of course, it wouldn't be as fun if he challenged him directly (what with Hideaki going on and on all the time about wrestling storylines) so he decided to take his chances one day and be the villain. He pounced on Hideaki while he was sitting on the couch, dragging him down and pinning him onto the ground.
Hideaki yelped and Tsubasa grinned. His victory was brief; a mere few seconds later, Hideaki had flipped him neatly onto his back and was pressing him into the wooden floor with the weight of his body and pinning his arms down. Tsubasa wriggled around in protest, attempting to kick him off, and then froze abruptly in place.
Oh.
Hideaki's mouth was slightly parted and he was panting slightly, a sheen of sweat breaking on his forehead. Tsubasa's eyes widened in panic.
Ohhh.
He loosened a hand and jabbed Hideaki in the ribs. "Get off me before you crush my lungs."
Hideaki rolled off obediently and not a second too early. Tsubasa sat up and busied himself with re-adjusting his clothes. Maybe... maybe wrestling wasn't so bad after all.
Notes: I started writing this an astonishing six months ago so I'm posting part 1 to force myself to finish part 2 without taking another six months. Actually, I've been wanting to write a Tsubasa pov early canon-fic ever since I finished writing Sleeping Habits over a year ago and this was supposed to be a very similar remix but it didn't quite work out that way. Oh well :3 Surprisingly, in these six months, I still haven't bothered to come up with a title that I like so this may change when I post part 2 up -____-;;
There really was a Ken Griffey Jr. baseball game. No idea if it was popular though as my research only extended to looking up a baseball video game in 1999 from google^^;;