Gift Fic for miscetera
To: miscetera
From: getyourzexion
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Title: Special Snowflake
Pairing/Group: Arashi - Matsumiya (Matsumoto Jun/Ninomiya Kazunari)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Attempted humour? Yes, I think it needs a warning.
Notes: My attempts to write Aiba/Jun…crashed and burned, to be perfectly honest. Sorry! Still, I hope you like this anyway! Also, thanks to my beta for putting up with my incessant shrieking at her. :x
Summary: Clearly, letting Arashi attempt to film their own Christmas Special was not one of the staff’s better ideas, in retrospect.
Scores of trees lined the horizon, all dusted with the same fine white snow that obscured any and all distinguishing features of the nearby landscape. For all intents and purposes, it looked as if the five young men stepping off of the bus had accidentally blundered into a picturesque Christmas card setting.
“Do you ever get the feeling that we’ve pissed off Johnny somehow?” Nino asked, almost immediately, gingerly stepping off of the bus that Arashi had been all but bodily bundled into earlier that day with no prior explanation.
“I get that feeling every time we get handed our concert costumes.” Sho muttered bitterly - sometimes, he woke up in the middle of the night, and all he could see was rhinestones everywhere, as if Jun had been let loose with a Bedazzler. It was all rather traumatic.
There was a loud slam behind them as the door to the bus was closed, all five members of Arashi jumping slightly in surprise - before staring aghast as the only visible means of transport disappeared out of sight.
“Oh, he’s definitely annoyed at us.” Jun confirmed, frowning in displeasure at the wet slush slowly seeping into his shoes, “What did you do this time, Nino?”
Nino whirled around to glare at Jun indignantly, a fact that the other man ignored completely, a talent learned after so many years of having to put up with his band mates.
“Why do you automatically assume it’s due to me?” Nino exclaimed, “I learnt my lesson after irritating that girl in wardrobe!”
“Oh, was that the one who made you wear a dress?” Aiba beamed, seemingly unaffected by the cold, or the fact that they had just been abandoned in the middle of a field with nothing but several feet of snow and a few sparse uninhabited cabins for company.
“Oh no, I picked that out by myself to piss Jun off.” Nino looked delighted at the scowl that flickered across Jun’s face, “Oh good. It worked.”
“Brat.” Jun muttered under his breath, casting an inauspicious glance around at their surroundings. “What exactly are we supposed to be doing?”
“Filming.” Ohno supplied, holding out the camcorder that Staff-san had pressed into his hands before hastily retreating back into the bus and driving off into the distance.
“Oh, I know!” Aiba said, realisation dawning, “This is for the Christmas special that Manager-san had mentioned a few weeks ago, right?”
There was a few groans of comprehension and muttered agreements, nobody sounding particularly thrilled about the prospect - after all, Manager-san had never mentioned this.
The only question was - what exactly were they supposed to film?
---
Eventually, it became apparent that the nearby log cabin that the members had been unceremoniously dumped by was to be their residence for the next week. The staff had at least been thoughtful enough to make sure that their idols weren’t about to freeze or starve to death, which, admittedly, was a welcome change. However, they were not thoughtful enough to get a cabin with more than two bedrooms, which, naturally, was bound to cause some problems.
“I am not sharing with you.” Jun snapped as soon as Nino appeared in the doorway.
“The feeling’s mutual, Jun-chan~” Nino sing-songed, dumping his bag down on the unoccupied bed, “But Sho refused to share a room with both myself and Leader, and we’d rather not have to find a replacement for Aiba-chan, if we put him in here with you.”
From across the room, Jun raised a sceptical eyebrow, but chose not to mention the fact that he was just as likely to kill Nino, if not more so. Jun suppressed a groan as he spotted the camcorder resting atop Nino’s bag.
“Can’t you give that thing to someone else?” Jun grumbled, gesturing towards the device with barely concealed derision.
“Of course not.” Nino replied loftily, rolling his eyes as if Jun had asked the most ridiculous question known to man, “I think the fans would love to see what the great Matsumoto Jun looks like without his hair products.”
Ah yes, another helpful gesture by Staff-san - All members of Arashi had been given their own bags, filled with clothes and all essentials (Their own, oddly enough. Jun didn’t want to know how they had managed to get into his house) that the staff had deemed necessary. Unfortunately for Jun, his hair products didn’t seem to make the cut. He was not best pleased, as one might imagine.
“Smile!”
Jun levelled his best death glare at the camcorder, or more specifically, the person behind it, and wished - not for the first time that day - that looks could actually kill.
---
“This is fun?” Jun questioned, voice considerably muffled by the scarf and thick coat he had managed to swaddle himself in once he had learned that they would at some point have to go outside, “Tell me, what part of this is fun?”
“…We all get to spend time together.” Ohno supplied earnestly, effectively making Jun feel completely awful.
“Yeah, Jun. Don’t you want to spend time with us?” Nino grinned over Ohno’s shoulder, far too happy for someone who had been elected to go and hunt down the nearest store for supplies.
Jun hunched his shoulders and merely scowled in response, jamming his hands even further into his coat and settling into a comfortable sulk.
“I still don’t see why I have to get dragged along with you two.” he muttered, sullenly staring down the snow covered road, resolutely trying not to think about the damage that his suede boots were enduring at that precise moment.
“Yes, yes,” Nino said patronizingly, “Of course you shouldn‘t have to. You’re a very special snowflake, Jun.”
Jun did not feel the slightest bit guilty about putting a handful of just as special snowflakes down the back of Nino’s shirt after that.
---
That night, the air grew colder still, the chill leaving behind a intricate pattern of frost across the window. Outside, the snow had started up again, a fresh layer coating the ground, erasing all evidence of the footprints and the large indentation where Jun had shoved Aiba into the nearest snowdrift he could find.
However, inside, the fire crackled in the hearth, stacked with firewood that Sho had found stockpiled in one of the cupboards. Nino and Sho had managed to start the fire going - and subsequently, Jun had managed to keep Aiba away from said process, just to make sure.
It still wasn’t exactly what one could class as ‘warm’, however - Aiba and Sho had blankets wrapped around them, and Jun was as close to the fire as humanly possible, without actually setting himself alight. Nino had managed to wrap himself around Ohno - who was watching the snow drift from the window, but nobody was sure if that was for warmth or out of sheer habit.
“You know…I feel so lucky to have debuted with Arashi.” Aiba spoke up, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled on the cabin.
“Ten years…” Sho mused thoughtfully, tugging the blanket around himself even tighter still, “I still can’t believe we’ve stayed together for so long.”
“Especially with us being so different.” Jun remarked, leaning against the heated stone of the fireplace.
“That’s what makes us special! We’re unique!”
“Like snowflakes.” Everyone turned to glance at Ohno, who hadn’t even seemed to realise he’d spoken up, until Nino laid his head on Ohno’s shoulder and laughed softly.
“We didn’t even realise you were listening, Oh-chan.”
“You’d think after ten years they’d stop dumping us into situations like this, at least.” Jun groused and shuffled a few centimetres closer to the fire, as if it would make all the difference.
“Speaking of special snowflakes…”
Jun’s gaze lifted from the fire as he realised with a sort of clawing dread that Nino’s voice was no longer coming from over by the window, but distressingly much, much closer-
“Uargh, get off of me!” Jun protested, albeit rather weakly - although, he assured himself, it was only due to the fact that Nino was exceptionally warm. Really.
The camcorder whirred quietly in the middle of the room, lens capturing the snow steadily building up on the windowsill.
---
It was somewhat depressing that the phrase ‘Where are your pants?’ was now a part of Sho’s daily vocabulary.
And really, only Aiba could make the response of ‘I am soaking them in water, Sho-chan’ sound like the most obvious and reasonable explanation that ever existed.
A beat of silence.
“Okay, fine, I’ll ask.” Jun sighed in exasperation, hefting the camcorder on his shoulder and seeing that Sho wasn’t about to offer a reply any time soon, “Why?”
Aiba immediately lit up and began to excitedly explain - “Well, it’s cold enough outside to freeze water, right?”
Sho nodded warily, he’d nearly managed to take one of his eyes out on a rather vicious icicle hanging from the roof of the cabin, earlier, but he wasn‘t exactly sure he was going to like the direction this conversation was heading in.
“So, if a person was wearing wet trousers - would their body heat dry them first, or would they still freeze?”
Another beat of silence.
“And you want to go and test this?” Sho ventured, already knowing the answer but fervently hoping that he’d somehow got it wrong.
“Yes.” Aiba nodded, grinning and clearly not seeming to see the problem of going outside in freezing cold weather in wet clothing. Sho shot a beseeching look at Jun, who already looked as if there wasn’t enough aspirin in the world for the headaches Aiba caused him.
“I see. And are you also going to time how long it takes for you to develop hypothermia?” Jun sighed, grabbing hold of Aiba’s shoulders and steering him away from the sink, despite the other’s protests that they had to do something for the special, “No. That something will not be you getting frostbite.”
---
Despite the members best efforts to try and keep Aiba inside the cabin at all times, it became clear that was a futile effort.
“Hey guys!” Aiba exclaimed, bursting through the front door, face flushed with either excitement or cold, it was difficult to tell, “Guess what I’ve found!”
“Oh god.” Sho went pale, “Please tell me you’ve not befriended a bear or something.”
“No, no, not yet.” Aiba shook his head, and everyone wisely chose not to comment on the ‘yet’ in his statement, “I found a sled! We should do an experiment!”
Sho wasn’t sure if that was any better.
Especially when he was presented with a tea tray and a bright grin.
“You…want me to use a tea tray.” Sho asked, just to make sure he was hearing Aiba correctly, “And go down THAT hill?”
‘That hill’ was in fact more of a ski slope more than anything, and the other members of Arashi were looking at the incline with much the same trepidation.
“Yes! We need to test which is faster,” Aiba explained patiently, “It’ll be fine, I’ll be going with you!”
“Okay, no.” Jun spoke up, taking a step backwards, “There is no way in hell you are getting me to go down that hill on a death trap.”
Jun’s resolve promptly crumbled when he looked across at Aiba’s disappointed face.
“…Anything but a tea tray.” he sighed, caving in.
Aiba beamed, taking a hold of Jun’s arm and dragging him over to Nino and the sled. Jun wondered if it wasn’t a better idea just to throw himself down the slope instead.
“Hey! Watch your hands!” Jun snapped, twisting in his seat in the front of the sled to glare at Nino over his shoulder.
“I’m going to need to hold onto something, Jun.” Nino replied, resting his chin on Jun’s shoulder.
“Your hands were much lower than my waist.” Jun muttered sourly, turning back to face the front with a grimace.
Nino grinned.
---
If Jun was going to be completely honest - he did not just dislike winter, he hated it with a passion. It was too cold, wet and there was just a general feeling of everyone being miserable.
“You’re going to need to look at me sometime, you know.”
Or maybe it was just Nino that invoked that last sentiment, it was difficult to tell.
“You’d be surprised.” Jun muttered, pulling the duvet over his head in an attempt to block out Nino. He knew it was futile, in all his years of knowing Nino, the other had an infuriating way of worming his way into every part of Jun’s life, invited or not.
“I’m about 5 seconds away from crawling in there with you.” Nino remarked, and Jun didn’t need to even look at him to tell that a smug grin was working it’s way across Nino’s face.
“You wouldn’t dare.” Jun growled, but even to his own ears, he knew he sounded wary.
“You’re right. I wouldn’t.” Nino conceded, “But I’d go get Aiba, and you know he would. And he’d cuddle. In actual fact, I think I will go get h-”
“I’m up.” Jun snapped, hauling himself out of the bed and glaring at Nino, who looked completely unaffected hiding behind the camcorder.
“You’re also naked.” Nino remarked, moving the camcorder away from his face and raising an eyebrow appreciatively.
“Get out!” Jun roared, shoving Nino backwards out the door, knowing fine well that an embarrassed flush had spread across his face and down his neck and that Nino had definitely seen it. Fuck.
---
All things considered, Jun shouldn’t really have been surprised when a snowball collided with the side of his face, swiftly followed by a cry of triumph by an all-too familiar voice.
“NINOMIYA.” Jun raged, eyes narrowing with fury and turning to face Nino, who took one look at Jun’s face before doubling over in laughter. Which…wasn’t exactly the reaction Jun was going for, if he was going to be honest.
“You really don’t look all that intimidating with slush dripping down the side of your face, Jun.” Nino grinned, clearly having little regard for his own well-being as he slung an arm across Jun’s shoulders, leaning heavily against him.
“Is there something you wanted? Other than irritating me beyond all human capabilities, of course.”
“Aiba told me to do something.” Nino shrugged, “It was either this or rugby-tackle you to the ground and force you to make snow angels. Which we could still do, if you’d li-”
“No.” Jun interrupted, feeling his face colour - clearly the cold was getting to him after being outside for so long. He shrugged off Nino’s arm and stalked over to the rest of the group, totally missing Nino’s look of exasperation that he shot at Jun‘s back.
“YOU CAN’T FILM THAT!” Jun winced as he heard Sho’s exclamation and saw him made a frantic grab for the camcorder in Ohno’s hands. Aiba was happily continuing with his task for making snowmen - The subject of Ohno’s filming. Jun raised an eyebrow incredulously and made his way over to Aiba, briefly registering Nino joining Ohno in the game of keep-away from Sho.
“Aiba. Is there any reason in particular that you’re making the snowmen anatomically correct?” Jun asked, unsure if he actually wanted to know the answer.
---
“What a surprise to find you in here.” Nino drawled, leaning on the doorframe leading into Jun and Nino’s shared room, “And why is Jun-chan not playing with the rest of the children?”
“Nino.” Jun’s tone clearly conveyed that this was Not A Good Time, but Nino had never really paid any attention to Jun’s barely concealed warnings before, and he wasn’t about to start anytime soon.
“No, don’t make excuses.” Nino pushed himself off of the doorframe, crossing the room quickly to stand directly in front of Jun, who was doing his utmost to meld himself with the chair he was currently slumped in.
“You are one of the most infuriating, obnoxious, and downri-” Jun’s mini-tirade was abruptly halted by Nino’s hand covering his mouth.
“Do you ever stop, Matsumoto?” Nino asked, raising an eyebrow, cautiously lifting his hand away from Jun’s mouth, ready to replace it swiftly if the other man was about to start up again.
Jun’s irritation with the entire situation quickly deflated and withered away, realising that he seemed to be the only one of them to be annoyed with the circumstances - everyone else was making the most of it. Suddenly feeling ridiculous, Jun opened his mouth to apologise, only to find himself completely unable to do so.
Gripping Jun’s shoulders firmly, Nino had pushed himself upwards, pressing his lips against the other man’s and finally, finally getting him to shut up for good.
Jun fisted his hand in the front of Nino’s shirt, dragging Nino even closer, his other hand carding through Nino’s hair.
Before Jun suddenly realised what the hell he was doing and wrenched away from Nino with a jerk.
“Wha- What the fuck was that!?”
“I didn’t think you were that inexperienced, Jun.” Nino grinned, with the air of one who hadn’t just grabbed one of his best friends and tried to suck their face off.
“Not that, you dick.“ Jun snapped, “Why the fuck did you do it?”
“Hey now. It takes two.” Nino defended, “I wasn’t the only one doing the kissing there.”
Jun blanched at the word kissing, and Nino rolled his eyes in exasperation - honestly, how old were they supposed to be?
“Are you completely oblivious or what?” Nino asked, “Have you completely missed what I’ve been trying to do this entire weekend?”
“I…just. What.” Apparently Jun’s brain and mouth didn’t really feel like co-operating with each other at this precise moment in time, and he eventually settled for making a confused gesture in Nino’s general direction.
“How very eloquent, Jun.” Reaching out, Nino grabbed one of Jun’s wrists and forced the other man to look at him, “Just…stop over thinking it. And don’t say you’re not - I know you are.”
Pause.
“Oh my god.” Jun raised a hand to his forehead, “I hate you.”
“Hate me later, Snowflake.”
Nino didn’t hide the smile as he leant forward and kissed Jun again - this time with no objections.
Neither one paid any attention to the blinking red light of the camcorder, lying haphazardly discarded on the table.
---
“Are you trying to tell me that you got no footage whatsoever?!”
“Well…We did. But…I don’t think you’d like it.” Aiba hazarded, looking fairly reluctant to hand over the camcorder.
“We did an experiment.” Ohno mentioned, “But…we forgot the camera.”
“Anything is better than nothing.” Their manager snapped, grabbing the camcorder out of Aiba’s hands and flipping open the view screen, taking no heed to the grimaces on the member‘s faces.
---
There never was a Christmas Special, in the end.
From: getyourzexion
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Title: Special Snowflake
Pairing/Group: Arashi - Matsumiya (Matsumoto Jun/Ninomiya Kazunari)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Attempted humour? Yes, I think it needs a warning.
Notes: My attempts to write Aiba/Jun…crashed and burned, to be perfectly honest. Sorry! Still, I hope you like this anyway! Also, thanks to my beta for putting up with my incessant shrieking at her. :x
Summary: Clearly, letting Arashi attempt to film their own Christmas Special was not one of the staff’s better ideas, in retrospect.
Scores of trees lined the horizon, all dusted with the same fine white snow that obscured any and all distinguishing features of the nearby landscape. For all intents and purposes, it looked as if the five young men stepping off of the bus had accidentally blundered into a picturesque Christmas card setting.
“Do you ever get the feeling that we’ve pissed off Johnny somehow?” Nino asked, almost immediately, gingerly stepping off of the bus that Arashi had been all but bodily bundled into earlier that day with no prior explanation.
“I get that feeling every time we get handed our concert costumes.” Sho muttered bitterly - sometimes, he woke up in the middle of the night, and all he could see was rhinestones everywhere, as if Jun had been let loose with a Bedazzler. It was all rather traumatic.
There was a loud slam behind them as the door to the bus was closed, all five members of Arashi jumping slightly in surprise - before staring aghast as the only visible means of transport disappeared out of sight.
“Oh, he’s definitely annoyed at us.” Jun confirmed, frowning in displeasure at the wet slush slowly seeping into his shoes, “What did you do this time, Nino?”
Nino whirled around to glare at Jun indignantly, a fact that the other man ignored completely, a talent learned after so many years of having to put up with his band mates.
“Why do you automatically assume it’s due to me?” Nino exclaimed, “I learnt my lesson after irritating that girl in wardrobe!”
“Oh, was that the one who made you wear a dress?” Aiba beamed, seemingly unaffected by the cold, or the fact that they had just been abandoned in the middle of a field with nothing but several feet of snow and a few sparse uninhabited cabins for company.
“Oh no, I picked that out by myself to piss Jun off.” Nino looked delighted at the scowl that flickered across Jun’s face, “Oh good. It worked.”
“Brat.” Jun muttered under his breath, casting an inauspicious glance around at their surroundings. “What exactly are we supposed to be doing?”
“Filming.” Ohno supplied, holding out the camcorder that Staff-san had pressed into his hands before hastily retreating back into the bus and driving off into the distance.
“Oh, I know!” Aiba said, realisation dawning, “This is for the Christmas special that Manager-san had mentioned a few weeks ago, right?”
There was a few groans of comprehension and muttered agreements, nobody sounding particularly thrilled about the prospect - after all, Manager-san had never mentioned this.
The only question was - what exactly were they supposed to film?
---
Eventually, it became apparent that the nearby log cabin that the members had been unceremoniously dumped by was to be their residence for the next week. The staff had at least been thoughtful enough to make sure that their idols weren’t about to freeze or starve to death, which, admittedly, was a welcome change. However, they were not thoughtful enough to get a cabin with more than two bedrooms, which, naturally, was bound to cause some problems.
“I am not sharing with you.” Jun snapped as soon as Nino appeared in the doorway.
“The feeling’s mutual, Jun-chan~” Nino sing-songed, dumping his bag down on the unoccupied bed, “But Sho refused to share a room with both myself and Leader, and we’d rather not have to find a replacement for Aiba-chan, if we put him in here with you.”
From across the room, Jun raised a sceptical eyebrow, but chose not to mention the fact that he was just as likely to kill Nino, if not more so. Jun suppressed a groan as he spotted the camcorder resting atop Nino’s bag.
“Can’t you give that thing to someone else?” Jun grumbled, gesturing towards the device with barely concealed derision.
“Of course not.” Nino replied loftily, rolling his eyes as if Jun had asked the most ridiculous question known to man, “I think the fans would love to see what the great Matsumoto Jun looks like without his hair products.”
Ah yes, another helpful gesture by Staff-san - All members of Arashi had been given their own bags, filled with clothes and all essentials (Their own, oddly enough. Jun didn’t want to know how they had managed to get into his house) that the staff had deemed necessary. Unfortunately for Jun, his hair products didn’t seem to make the cut. He was not best pleased, as one might imagine.
“Smile!”
Jun levelled his best death glare at the camcorder, or more specifically, the person behind it, and wished - not for the first time that day - that looks could actually kill.
---
“This is fun?” Jun questioned, voice considerably muffled by the scarf and thick coat he had managed to swaddle himself in once he had learned that they would at some point have to go outside, “Tell me, what part of this is fun?”
“…We all get to spend time together.” Ohno supplied earnestly, effectively making Jun feel completely awful.
“Yeah, Jun. Don’t you want to spend time with us?” Nino grinned over Ohno’s shoulder, far too happy for someone who had been elected to go and hunt down the nearest store for supplies.
Jun hunched his shoulders and merely scowled in response, jamming his hands even further into his coat and settling into a comfortable sulk.
“I still don’t see why I have to get dragged along with you two.” he muttered, sullenly staring down the snow covered road, resolutely trying not to think about the damage that his suede boots were enduring at that precise moment.
“Yes, yes,” Nino said patronizingly, “Of course you shouldn‘t have to. You’re a very special snowflake, Jun.”
Jun did not feel the slightest bit guilty about putting a handful of just as special snowflakes down the back of Nino’s shirt after that.
---
That night, the air grew colder still, the chill leaving behind a intricate pattern of frost across the window. Outside, the snow had started up again, a fresh layer coating the ground, erasing all evidence of the footprints and the large indentation where Jun had shoved Aiba into the nearest snowdrift he could find.
However, inside, the fire crackled in the hearth, stacked with firewood that Sho had found stockpiled in one of the cupboards. Nino and Sho had managed to start the fire going - and subsequently, Jun had managed to keep Aiba away from said process, just to make sure.
It still wasn’t exactly what one could class as ‘warm’, however - Aiba and Sho had blankets wrapped around them, and Jun was as close to the fire as humanly possible, without actually setting himself alight. Nino had managed to wrap himself around Ohno - who was watching the snow drift from the window, but nobody was sure if that was for warmth or out of sheer habit.
“You know…I feel so lucky to have debuted with Arashi.” Aiba spoke up, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled on the cabin.
“Ten years…” Sho mused thoughtfully, tugging the blanket around himself even tighter still, “I still can’t believe we’ve stayed together for so long.”
“Especially with us being so different.” Jun remarked, leaning against the heated stone of the fireplace.
“That’s what makes us special! We’re unique!”
“Like snowflakes.” Everyone turned to glance at Ohno, who hadn’t even seemed to realise he’d spoken up, until Nino laid his head on Ohno’s shoulder and laughed softly.
“We didn’t even realise you were listening, Oh-chan.”
“You’d think after ten years they’d stop dumping us into situations like this, at least.” Jun groused and shuffled a few centimetres closer to the fire, as if it would make all the difference.
“Speaking of special snowflakes…”
Jun’s gaze lifted from the fire as he realised with a sort of clawing dread that Nino’s voice was no longer coming from over by the window, but distressingly much, much closer-
“Uargh, get off of me!” Jun protested, albeit rather weakly - although, he assured himself, it was only due to the fact that Nino was exceptionally warm. Really.
The camcorder whirred quietly in the middle of the room, lens capturing the snow steadily building up on the windowsill.
---
It was somewhat depressing that the phrase ‘Where are your pants?’ was now a part of Sho’s daily vocabulary.
And really, only Aiba could make the response of ‘I am soaking them in water, Sho-chan’ sound like the most obvious and reasonable explanation that ever existed.
A beat of silence.
“Okay, fine, I’ll ask.” Jun sighed in exasperation, hefting the camcorder on his shoulder and seeing that Sho wasn’t about to offer a reply any time soon, “Why?”
Aiba immediately lit up and began to excitedly explain - “Well, it’s cold enough outside to freeze water, right?”
Sho nodded warily, he’d nearly managed to take one of his eyes out on a rather vicious icicle hanging from the roof of the cabin, earlier, but he wasn‘t exactly sure he was going to like the direction this conversation was heading in.
“So, if a person was wearing wet trousers - would their body heat dry them first, or would they still freeze?”
Another beat of silence.
“And you want to go and test this?” Sho ventured, already knowing the answer but fervently hoping that he’d somehow got it wrong.
“Yes.” Aiba nodded, grinning and clearly not seeming to see the problem of going outside in freezing cold weather in wet clothing. Sho shot a beseeching look at Jun, who already looked as if there wasn’t enough aspirin in the world for the headaches Aiba caused him.
“I see. And are you also going to time how long it takes for you to develop hypothermia?” Jun sighed, grabbing hold of Aiba’s shoulders and steering him away from the sink, despite the other’s protests that they had to do something for the special, “No. That something will not be you getting frostbite.”
---
Despite the members best efforts to try and keep Aiba inside the cabin at all times, it became clear that was a futile effort.
“Hey guys!” Aiba exclaimed, bursting through the front door, face flushed with either excitement or cold, it was difficult to tell, “Guess what I’ve found!”
“Oh god.” Sho went pale, “Please tell me you’ve not befriended a bear or something.”
“No, no, not yet.” Aiba shook his head, and everyone wisely chose not to comment on the ‘yet’ in his statement, “I found a sled! We should do an experiment!”
Sho wasn’t sure if that was any better.
Especially when he was presented with a tea tray and a bright grin.
“You…want me to use a tea tray.” Sho asked, just to make sure he was hearing Aiba correctly, “And go down THAT hill?”
‘That hill’ was in fact more of a ski slope more than anything, and the other members of Arashi were looking at the incline with much the same trepidation.
“Yes! We need to test which is faster,” Aiba explained patiently, “It’ll be fine, I’ll be going with you!”
“Okay, no.” Jun spoke up, taking a step backwards, “There is no way in hell you are getting me to go down that hill on a death trap.”
Jun’s resolve promptly crumbled when he looked across at Aiba’s disappointed face.
“…Anything but a tea tray.” he sighed, caving in.
Aiba beamed, taking a hold of Jun’s arm and dragging him over to Nino and the sled. Jun wondered if it wasn’t a better idea just to throw himself down the slope instead.
“Hey! Watch your hands!” Jun snapped, twisting in his seat in the front of the sled to glare at Nino over his shoulder.
“I’m going to need to hold onto something, Jun.” Nino replied, resting his chin on Jun’s shoulder.
“Your hands were much lower than my waist.” Jun muttered sourly, turning back to face the front with a grimace.
Nino grinned.
---
If Jun was going to be completely honest - he did not just dislike winter, he hated it with a passion. It was too cold, wet and there was just a general feeling of everyone being miserable.
“You’re going to need to look at me sometime, you know.”
Or maybe it was just Nino that invoked that last sentiment, it was difficult to tell.
“You’d be surprised.” Jun muttered, pulling the duvet over his head in an attempt to block out Nino. He knew it was futile, in all his years of knowing Nino, the other had an infuriating way of worming his way into every part of Jun’s life, invited or not.
“I’m about 5 seconds away from crawling in there with you.” Nino remarked, and Jun didn’t need to even look at him to tell that a smug grin was working it’s way across Nino’s face.
“You wouldn’t dare.” Jun growled, but even to his own ears, he knew he sounded wary.
“You’re right. I wouldn’t.” Nino conceded, “But I’d go get Aiba, and you know he would. And he’d cuddle. In actual fact, I think I will go get h-”
“I’m up.” Jun snapped, hauling himself out of the bed and glaring at Nino, who looked completely unaffected hiding behind the camcorder.
“You’re also naked.” Nino remarked, moving the camcorder away from his face and raising an eyebrow appreciatively.
“Get out!” Jun roared, shoving Nino backwards out the door, knowing fine well that an embarrassed flush had spread across his face and down his neck and that Nino had definitely seen it. Fuck.
---
All things considered, Jun shouldn’t really have been surprised when a snowball collided with the side of his face, swiftly followed by a cry of triumph by an all-too familiar voice.
“NINOMIYA.” Jun raged, eyes narrowing with fury and turning to face Nino, who took one look at Jun’s face before doubling over in laughter. Which…wasn’t exactly the reaction Jun was going for, if he was going to be honest.
“You really don’t look all that intimidating with slush dripping down the side of your face, Jun.” Nino grinned, clearly having little regard for his own well-being as he slung an arm across Jun’s shoulders, leaning heavily against him.
“Is there something you wanted? Other than irritating me beyond all human capabilities, of course.”
“Aiba told me to do something.” Nino shrugged, “It was either this or rugby-tackle you to the ground and force you to make snow angels. Which we could still do, if you’d li-”
“No.” Jun interrupted, feeling his face colour - clearly the cold was getting to him after being outside for so long. He shrugged off Nino’s arm and stalked over to the rest of the group, totally missing Nino’s look of exasperation that he shot at Jun‘s back.
“YOU CAN’T FILM THAT!” Jun winced as he heard Sho’s exclamation and saw him made a frantic grab for the camcorder in Ohno’s hands. Aiba was happily continuing with his task for making snowmen - The subject of Ohno’s filming. Jun raised an eyebrow incredulously and made his way over to Aiba, briefly registering Nino joining Ohno in the game of keep-away from Sho.
“Aiba. Is there any reason in particular that you’re making the snowmen anatomically correct?” Jun asked, unsure if he actually wanted to know the answer.
---
“What a surprise to find you in here.” Nino drawled, leaning on the doorframe leading into Jun and Nino’s shared room, “And why is Jun-chan not playing with the rest of the children?”
“Nino.” Jun’s tone clearly conveyed that this was Not A Good Time, but Nino had never really paid any attention to Jun’s barely concealed warnings before, and he wasn’t about to start anytime soon.
“No, don’t make excuses.” Nino pushed himself off of the doorframe, crossing the room quickly to stand directly in front of Jun, who was doing his utmost to meld himself with the chair he was currently slumped in.
“You are one of the most infuriating, obnoxious, and downri-” Jun’s mini-tirade was abruptly halted by Nino’s hand covering his mouth.
“Do you ever stop, Matsumoto?” Nino asked, raising an eyebrow, cautiously lifting his hand away from Jun’s mouth, ready to replace it swiftly if the other man was about to start up again.
Jun’s irritation with the entire situation quickly deflated and withered away, realising that he seemed to be the only one of them to be annoyed with the circumstances - everyone else was making the most of it. Suddenly feeling ridiculous, Jun opened his mouth to apologise, only to find himself completely unable to do so.
Gripping Jun’s shoulders firmly, Nino had pushed himself upwards, pressing his lips against the other man’s and finally, finally getting him to shut up for good.
Jun fisted his hand in the front of Nino’s shirt, dragging Nino even closer, his other hand carding through Nino’s hair.
Before Jun suddenly realised what the hell he was doing and wrenched away from Nino with a jerk.
“Wha- What the fuck was that!?”
“I didn’t think you were that inexperienced, Jun.” Nino grinned, with the air of one who hadn’t just grabbed one of his best friends and tried to suck their face off.
“Not that, you dick.“ Jun snapped, “Why the fuck did you do it?”
“Hey now. It takes two.” Nino defended, “I wasn’t the only one doing the kissing there.”
Jun blanched at the word kissing, and Nino rolled his eyes in exasperation - honestly, how old were they supposed to be?
“Are you completely oblivious or what?” Nino asked, “Have you completely missed what I’ve been trying to do this entire weekend?”
“I…just. What.” Apparently Jun’s brain and mouth didn’t really feel like co-operating with each other at this precise moment in time, and he eventually settled for making a confused gesture in Nino’s general direction.
“How very eloquent, Jun.” Reaching out, Nino grabbed one of Jun’s wrists and forced the other man to look at him, “Just…stop over thinking it. And don’t say you’re not - I know you are.”
Pause.
“Oh my god.” Jun raised a hand to his forehead, “I hate you.”
“Hate me later, Snowflake.”
Nino didn’t hide the smile as he leant forward and kissed Jun again - this time with no objections.
Neither one paid any attention to the blinking red light of the camcorder, lying haphazardly discarded on the table.
---
“Are you trying to tell me that you got no footage whatsoever?!”
“Well…We did. But…I don’t think you’d like it.” Aiba hazarded, looking fairly reluctant to hand over the camcorder.
“We did an experiment.” Ohno mentioned, “But…we forgot the camera.”
“Anything is better than nothing.” Their manager snapped, grabbing the camcorder out of Aiba’s hands and flipping open the view screen, taking no heed to the grimaces on the member‘s faces.
---
There never was a Christmas Special, in the end.