A treat for debrogliewave
A treat for: debrogliewave
Cooked up by: A Friendly Chef
Title: Round the Bend
Characters/Groups: Yokoyama/Kanjani8
Genre: Angst, Member Love
Rating: PG
Warnings: K8 is not my usual playground, so please forgive any OOC ♥ Other than that, just a little reality angst.
Author's Notes: debrogliewave, I hope you don’t mind that I used all of your prompts. >.> Thanks to Milk & Cookies for being delicious. ;)
Who is Yuu? that voice echoes in the back of his mind. What happened to you?
The words echo in Yoko’s mind even days later, when he’s back in Tokyo and supposed to be rehearsing with the rest of his group for their upcoming drama theme. ‘Supposed to’ being the operative phrase here, as anytime Eito are in the same room it’s no different than Friday night at the bar, only possibly more sober. It’s one of the things he loves about them.
He loves a lot of things about them, none of which he could think of when he was blindsided by a blast from the past in his hometown. Considering how small of a population it has, he’s surprised that he hasn’t run into her before. It had been fourteen years since he’s seen her, almost half of his life, and he can’t say he’s missed her at all.
You’re almost thirty and still singing your songs. You used to be so ambitious.
It stung because fourteen years ago, Yokoyama Kimitaka thought he could take over the world. He had goals and dreams that didn’t involve singing and dancing on stage. He knew he wasn’t that smart and they didn’t have a lot of money but he was very quick at learning things, very enthusiastic and had the biggest heart of anyone he knew. He fully believed that if he did his best, good things would happen.
And they did happen, at least as far as he’s concerned. Apparently she begged to differ when she gave him the same look she’d given him when he broke up with her. A how could you do something so stupid? look. The one that told him that he’d made the right decision to choose Johnny’s over her.
He may not think that he’s the most popular member of Eito, but he still belongs there. This is his home, his second family. He’s never once doubted that, not when Subaru tells everyone who will listen how awesome Yoko is and Hina is practically attached to his hip at every waking moment (and some non-waking). The younger four look up to him even though Yoko has no idea why; he’s just as immature as they are and everything he knows about life and the real world he’s learned with them. Even Uchi still texts him for advice, whether it’s difficult work-related decisions or whether or not to hit on the cute girl at the hair salon/grocery store/mechanic. (No, the answer is always no!)
Is this really what you’re going to do for the rest of your life?
Yoko looks around the room and wonders what the future holds. They’re doing well enough, putting out singles and albums along with their individual acting roles and other solo work. He himself just finished his second solo concert not long ago. He would say he’s pretty stable right now, much more than if he were working some salaryman gig and supporting a family of his own.
A family, well. He still has plenty of time for that. For now he has his group, who are kind of like a bunch of kids except that he’s one of them too. In fact if he were to pick which one of them was the most adult-like, it certainly wouldn’t be him.
“What are you doing?” Hina calls over to Yasu and Maru, who instantly close Yasu’s laptop and grin innocently. “You’re not watching fanvideos on YouTube again, are you?”
“No,” Yasu and Maru chorus, and Yoko snickers because he can see over their shoulders and knows that they’re lying.
“At least they weren’t Photoshopping my head onto AV stars’ bodies again,” Ohkura speaks up. “I would fall over if my boobs were that big.”
“Because he’s playing a nurse,” Yasu explains, and next to him Subaru lets out an “ah” of understanding.
Hina looks helplessly at Yoko, who shrugs and earns a punch in the side from the remaining member of the group who had been using his shoulder as a pillow. Yoko lets him get away with it because he had told him once that Yoko’s secretly his favorite.
(“He says that to everybody to get what he wants,” Ohkura said later, but he’s just bitter.)
“You okay?” Hina asks Yoko now, tilting his head at whatever he sees in Yoko’s eyes. “You look thoughtful.”
“It’s nothing,” Yoko tries, but everyone’s attention is already on him. (Except Ryo, who has gone back to sleep.) “I mean, I just met up with an old girlfriend the last time I was home.”
“Not...” Hina starts, eyes widening as Yoko nods. “I hope you didn’t believe anything she said!”
“Who? What?” Maru asks, suddenly interested. “What’s this about a girl?”
“I was fifteen,” Yoko says defensively. “She was really... not supportive about me joining Johnny’s.”
“She was a bitch,” Hina adds simply. “A mindfucking, pride-stealing bitch.”
“Tell me how you really feel,” Subaru says to him seriously, and Hina shoves him in jest (mostly).
Yoko sighs. “She hasn’t changed.”
“Kimi,” Hina says, and Yoko only cringes a little. “You let her get to you, didn’t you?”
“I...” Yoko starts, but he knows better than to even try and lie. They can always see right through him. “I guess so, I’m sorry.”
Within seconds he has five people trying to hug him, the sixth one whining in his sleep because he’s getting squished.
“What the hell,” Ryo grumbles, pushing his hair straight up as he makes a face at the goings on in front of him.
“Yoko is feeling worthless,” Ohkura announces. “Hug him.”
What Yoko gets is a sleepy punch to the arm, the one spot where he isn’t hidden by another Eito member. He has Subaru and Yasu in his lap, Ohkura and Maru draped behind him and Hina off to the side but covering the most ground with his arms around Yoko’s waist and his forehead pressed firmly into his shoulder. Yoko tends to forget that when he gets upset, it doesn’t only affect him.
Then Ryo shoves them away enough to reclaim his pillow, and rehearsal waits another ten minutes until Yoko is no longer uncertain that he’s on the right path, doing the right thing with the people who matter the most to him.
You’ll get old and then who will you have? Crying alone, then dying alone.
What does she know, Yoko thinks as he blinks back a tear.
His family never liked her anyway.