Chocolate Fic for koneho
To: koneho
From: fivethreerin
Title: Step to Start
Pairing: Kotani Nobuko / Kusano Akira (Nobuta wo Produce)
Rating: G
Summary: Akira is clueless and Nobuta is quietly conscientious.
A/N: Many thanks to K for the beta.
A few months before their graduation, Akira announced to Shuji (and half of the class who were unfortunately in the classroom at that moment) that he was going to America.
“What?” Shuji frowned, chopstick with a piece of sausage in it midway to his mouth.
“I’m going to America!” he stated cheerfully, before tossing his arms up into the air and turning to the rest of his classmates. “When I get there, you’re all invited!”
None of them paid any attention to him.
“What are you talking about? We promised Nobuta, remember? We’re going to the same university together,” Shuji said, returning to his lunch.
“Ah, you see, there’s just this tiny little problem,” Akira dragged a chair over and sat on it the other way round, leaning on the back. “My Dad wants me to go to this American university. And he’s not taking ‘no’ for an answer.”
The sausage fell off Shuji’s chopsticks and rolled onto the floor.
***
Nobuta took the news surprisingly well.
“Where is it?”
“Eh?” Shuji asked as he shoved a stack of tissues into Akira’s face, who was crying over how crushed he was that the news did not affect Nobuta like it did Shuji (“Your sausage rolled off the desk, Shuji.”). “What did you say?”
“… I meant… where is Akira going?”
Akira jumped up at Nobuta’s mention of his name. “America!” he crowed.
“Shut up, she means where in America you’re going, idiot,” Shuji said.
A short pause. Shuji watched the lines on Akira’s forehead twitch from the exertion of thinking too much, and sighed. “You have no idea, right?”
“Right!”
“Akira… should know where he’s going, right?”
“Don’t worry,” Shuji sighed. “I’ll find out.”
***
Mariko called two months later, just as the boys were planning to go back to visit Nobuta during break. She confessed that it had been a day, but Nobuta was in the hospital. Shuji had to physically hold Akira back from running out the door there and then, and promised Mariko they would be back in Tokyo as soon as they could.
They arrived by bullet train the next day, and Akira started yelling for Nobuta as soon as he got to the hospital, hollering her name at the nurse (who had no idea who “Nobuta” was) at the top of his lungs. Shuji calmly pulled him to the right floor, and they managed to arrive at the ward before Shuji lost his patience.
Shuji slid the door open and kicked Akira into the room.
“Nobuta!” Akira wailed, arms stretched out wide as he lay on the ground. “Please don’t die!”
There was a burst of giggles, and Akira finally, finally, realized he was in a public place, and the ladies in the beds next to Nobuta were all giggling. He got up, grinned sheepishly and bowed in apology as Shuji walked over to her.
“We got here as soon as we could. How are you?” Shuji asked.
Nobuta looked back. Her face was pale and she looked a lot thinner than she did the last time they saw her. “I’m okay,” she managed to say before she was attacked by the rolling ball of mass called Akira, asking her if she was okay and checking if there were any injuries.
“Ah, you came!”
“Mariko,” Shuji said, as he detached himself from Akira and walked over towards her. He let out an exclamation at the sight of the bouquet of flowers in Mariko’s arms, snapping his fingers together. “That’s what we forgot,” he said, before turning back to Akira. “Akira, we forgot about flowers.”
“Flowers!” the other boy yelled, and in a second he was out the door and down to the gift shop.
Shuji let out a sigh of relief, and then watched as Mariko handed Nobuta the flowers and sat on the visitor’s chair. “Are you feeling better?”
“Lots,” Nobuta nodded.
Mariko smiled warmly at her friend, then at Shuji, before turning back to Nobuta. “I’m sure they want to know why you’re here, and if you don’t want to tell Akira… won’t you let Shuji know?”
Nobuta frowned. She looked up at Mariko, who gave her a confident nod, and reached into the drawer next to her for her bankbook. She held it out to Shuji, who took it with a confused look. “What is…” his eyes turned wide at the amount of money that was in that bank account. “How did you…”
“She overworked herself,” Mariko sighed, busying herself with Nobuta’s blanket.
Shuji looked up, with a questioning look.
“I…” Nobuta stammered, before the door slid open with a slam and Akira arrived with enough flowers for everyone in the ward. He handed them out to the ladies, and Shuji turned back to Nobuta and saw the small smile on her face. He had never seen Nobuta smile like that, not even…
Akira ran over and shoved the biggest bouquet of mixed flowers Shuji had ever seen in Nobuta’s face. “For you!”
Nobuta nodded. “Thank you,” she took the flowers with a soft smile, holding them close to her.
And suddenly, Shuji understood.
***
“I’m not hungry,” Akira declared. It was the day of their graduation and Akira dragged Shuji out to a family restaurant to celebrate.
“You could have said that before you ordered half the menu,” Shuji sighed. He reached for a fork and stabbed a boiled mini carrot. Might as well start with the vegetables first.
“Shuji, why? My chest aches,” Akira said dramatically, before he got up from his seat, reached for Shuji’s hand and held the back of it to his forehead. “Am I sick?”
“Yes, you are,” Shuji muttered, shaking his hand away.
“I am?!” Akira looked defeated as he collapsed back onto his seat. He clutched his chest painfully, wincing at what Shuji was sure was more of a mental than physical pain. “Shuji, it hurts,” he whined.
Shuji sighed and shoved a plateful of fries at Akira. “Eat something. It’ll make you feel better.”
***
On March 14, Kusano Akira, 18-year-old, English vocabulary limited to “Yes”, “No” and “This is a pen”, prepared to step on a plane to New York, America. Shuji spent the entire week before that helping him pack, but still found himself the night before replacing party hats and hula-hoop with English phrasebooks and cup ramen.
Akira’s father left him in Shuji’s care, and arranged for a car to pick them up and drive them to Narita. His only request for Shuji was to watch Akira and make sure he did not run off, and Shuji made sure of that, dragging Akira away from dubious rest stop cafes and hideous souvenir displays.
When they got to Narita, Shuji was beginning to think he might be glad to see Akira go.
“Shuji, Shuji, we never called Nobuta!” Akira realised, when they stepped into the airport.
“We told her when you were leaving, remember? The last time we were on the phone with her,” Shuji said, pushing Akira along towards the check in counters.
Akira became strangely quiet after he checked in. They sat near the departure gates, solemn for once, and Shuji was not quite sure what to say. He was going to miss Akira, in ways he could not explain, and now certainly it did not feel like the right time to say such a thing.
“Hey, giant hot dogs, remember?” Shuji grinned.
“I’ll miss tofu. And soya milk,” Akira sighed, looking sad. “And Shuji’s father’s croquettes, and Koji, and SHUUUUUJII,” he moaned, draping himself over the other boy.
“That’s all?” Shuji grinned wider.
“No,” Akira shook his head. He placed his hand over his heart and clutched the fabric of his shirt over his chest. “Akira will miss Nobuta. Nobuta, Nobuta, Nobuta.”
Shuji snorted. “That took you a while.”
“I’m going to find her!” Akira stood up suddenly, nearly knocking Shuji off balance and making a move to walk away…
“No, wait, Akira!” Shuji laughed.
“Find Nobuta!” Akira exclaimed, punching his fist into his air. Shuji panicked, he grabbed Akira by the waist and held him back and Akira was just about to kick him in the shin when…
“I’m sorry, we’re late!”
They both looked up, and it was Mariko running towards them, Nobuta running close behind her.
“That was close,” Shuji mumbled, letting Akira go. The other boy starred dumbly at the girls, and Shuji sighed before pushing him over. “Go on.”
Akira swallowed and walked over to them. Mariko grinned and stepped aside, pushing Nobuta towards Akira. Nobuta looked up once before turning away. Shuji took a deep breath, and Mariko clutched his arm nervously.
“Nobuta,” Akira said solemnly. “I like you.”
Nobuta blushed, and it felt like an age before she nodded. She looked up, and her eyes sparkled with a strange light that none of them had ever seen before as she said, “I like Akira too.”
She reached into her pockets and pulled out a boarding pass and her passport, holding them out for Akira to see.
“Nobuta…?” he asked.
“Let’s…” she said, looking down on the ground but her hands still holding out her boarding pass. “Let’s work hard. Together.”
Akira turned to Shuji, who grinned. “Your father knows. Her father knows too. They don’t think you’ll get into trouble together so…”
“SHUJI!!” Akira wailed, reaching over to hug the other boy. “You’re the best, best best best bestbestbest friend in the WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD!”
Mariko started giggling as Shuji pushed him away. “Idiot! You’re not supposed to be hugging me now!”
Nobuta put her hands down and smiled.
***
Three weeks later, Akira sent Shuji a letter with a picture of Nobuta and himself posing in front of the Statue of Liberty wearing silly hats.
I AM THE HAPPIEST MAN IN THE WORLD.
- AKIRA
Shuji-kun, everything is exciting here everyday, because Akira is around. Come and visit us soon.
- Nobuta
From: fivethreerin
Title: Step to Start
Pairing: Kotani Nobuko / Kusano Akira (Nobuta wo Produce)
Rating: G
Summary: Akira is clueless and Nobuta is quietly conscientious.
A/N: Many thanks to K for the beta.
A few months before their graduation, Akira announced to Shuji (and half of the class who were unfortunately in the classroom at that moment) that he was going to America.
“What?” Shuji frowned, chopstick with a piece of sausage in it midway to his mouth.
“I’m going to America!” he stated cheerfully, before tossing his arms up into the air and turning to the rest of his classmates. “When I get there, you’re all invited!”
None of them paid any attention to him.
“What are you talking about? We promised Nobuta, remember? We’re going to the same university together,” Shuji said, returning to his lunch.
“Ah, you see, there’s just this tiny little problem,” Akira dragged a chair over and sat on it the other way round, leaning on the back. “My Dad wants me to go to this American university. And he’s not taking ‘no’ for an answer.”
The sausage fell off Shuji’s chopsticks and rolled onto the floor.
***
Nobuta took the news surprisingly well.
“Where is it?”
“Eh?” Shuji asked as he shoved a stack of tissues into Akira’s face, who was crying over how crushed he was that the news did not affect Nobuta like it did Shuji (“Your sausage rolled off the desk, Shuji.”). “What did you say?”
“… I meant… where is Akira going?”
Akira jumped up at Nobuta’s mention of his name. “America!” he crowed.
“Shut up, she means where in America you’re going, idiot,” Shuji said.
A short pause. Shuji watched the lines on Akira’s forehead twitch from the exertion of thinking too much, and sighed. “You have no idea, right?”
“Right!”
“Akira… should know where he’s going, right?”
“Don’t worry,” Shuji sighed. “I’ll find out.”
***
Mariko called two months later, just as the boys were planning to go back to visit Nobuta during break. She confessed that it had been a day, but Nobuta was in the hospital. Shuji had to physically hold Akira back from running out the door there and then, and promised Mariko they would be back in Tokyo as soon as they could.
They arrived by bullet train the next day, and Akira started yelling for Nobuta as soon as he got to the hospital, hollering her name at the nurse (who had no idea who “Nobuta” was) at the top of his lungs. Shuji calmly pulled him to the right floor, and they managed to arrive at the ward before Shuji lost his patience.
Shuji slid the door open and kicked Akira into the room.
“Nobuta!” Akira wailed, arms stretched out wide as he lay on the ground. “Please don’t die!”
There was a burst of giggles, and Akira finally, finally, realized he was in a public place, and the ladies in the beds next to Nobuta were all giggling. He got up, grinned sheepishly and bowed in apology as Shuji walked over to her.
“We got here as soon as we could. How are you?” Shuji asked.
Nobuta looked back. Her face was pale and she looked a lot thinner than she did the last time they saw her. “I’m okay,” she managed to say before she was attacked by the rolling ball of mass called Akira, asking her if she was okay and checking if there were any injuries.
“Ah, you came!”
“Mariko,” Shuji said, as he detached himself from Akira and walked over towards her. He let out an exclamation at the sight of the bouquet of flowers in Mariko’s arms, snapping his fingers together. “That’s what we forgot,” he said, before turning back to Akira. “Akira, we forgot about flowers.”
“Flowers!” the other boy yelled, and in a second he was out the door and down to the gift shop.
Shuji let out a sigh of relief, and then watched as Mariko handed Nobuta the flowers and sat on the visitor’s chair. “Are you feeling better?”
“Lots,” Nobuta nodded.
Mariko smiled warmly at her friend, then at Shuji, before turning back to Nobuta. “I’m sure they want to know why you’re here, and if you don’t want to tell Akira… won’t you let Shuji know?”
Nobuta frowned. She looked up at Mariko, who gave her a confident nod, and reached into the drawer next to her for her bankbook. She held it out to Shuji, who took it with a confused look. “What is…” his eyes turned wide at the amount of money that was in that bank account. “How did you…”
“She overworked herself,” Mariko sighed, busying herself with Nobuta’s blanket.
Shuji looked up, with a questioning look.
“I…” Nobuta stammered, before the door slid open with a slam and Akira arrived with enough flowers for everyone in the ward. He handed them out to the ladies, and Shuji turned back to Nobuta and saw the small smile on her face. He had never seen Nobuta smile like that, not even…
Akira ran over and shoved the biggest bouquet of mixed flowers Shuji had ever seen in Nobuta’s face. “For you!”
Nobuta nodded. “Thank you,” she took the flowers with a soft smile, holding them close to her.
And suddenly, Shuji understood.
***
“I’m not hungry,” Akira declared. It was the day of their graduation and Akira dragged Shuji out to a family restaurant to celebrate.
“You could have said that before you ordered half the menu,” Shuji sighed. He reached for a fork and stabbed a boiled mini carrot. Might as well start with the vegetables first.
“Shuji, why? My chest aches,” Akira said dramatically, before he got up from his seat, reached for Shuji’s hand and held the back of it to his forehead. “Am I sick?”
“Yes, you are,” Shuji muttered, shaking his hand away.
“I am?!” Akira looked defeated as he collapsed back onto his seat. He clutched his chest painfully, wincing at what Shuji was sure was more of a mental than physical pain. “Shuji, it hurts,” he whined.
Shuji sighed and shoved a plateful of fries at Akira. “Eat something. It’ll make you feel better.”
***
On March 14, Kusano Akira, 18-year-old, English vocabulary limited to “Yes”, “No” and “This is a pen”, prepared to step on a plane to New York, America. Shuji spent the entire week before that helping him pack, but still found himself the night before replacing party hats and hula-hoop with English phrasebooks and cup ramen.
Akira’s father left him in Shuji’s care, and arranged for a car to pick them up and drive them to Narita. His only request for Shuji was to watch Akira and make sure he did not run off, and Shuji made sure of that, dragging Akira away from dubious rest stop cafes and hideous souvenir displays.
When they got to Narita, Shuji was beginning to think he might be glad to see Akira go.
“Shuji, Shuji, we never called Nobuta!” Akira realised, when they stepped into the airport.
“We told her when you were leaving, remember? The last time we were on the phone with her,” Shuji said, pushing Akira along towards the check in counters.
Akira became strangely quiet after he checked in. They sat near the departure gates, solemn for once, and Shuji was not quite sure what to say. He was going to miss Akira, in ways he could not explain, and now certainly it did not feel like the right time to say such a thing.
“Hey, giant hot dogs, remember?” Shuji grinned.
“I’ll miss tofu. And soya milk,” Akira sighed, looking sad. “And Shuji’s father’s croquettes, and Koji, and SHUUUUUJII,” he moaned, draping himself over the other boy.
“That’s all?” Shuji grinned wider.
“No,” Akira shook his head. He placed his hand over his heart and clutched the fabric of his shirt over his chest. “Akira will miss Nobuta. Nobuta, Nobuta, Nobuta.”
Shuji snorted. “That took you a while.”
“I’m going to find her!” Akira stood up suddenly, nearly knocking Shuji off balance and making a move to walk away…
“No, wait, Akira!” Shuji laughed.
“Find Nobuta!” Akira exclaimed, punching his fist into his air. Shuji panicked, he grabbed Akira by the waist and held him back and Akira was just about to kick him in the shin when…
“I’m sorry, we’re late!”
They both looked up, and it was Mariko running towards them, Nobuta running close behind her.
“That was close,” Shuji mumbled, letting Akira go. The other boy starred dumbly at the girls, and Shuji sighed before pushing him over. “Go on.”
Akira swallowed and walked over to them. Mariko grinned and stepped aside, pushing Nobuta towards Akira. Nobuta looked up once before turning away. Shuji took a deep breath, and Mariko clutched his arm nervously.
“Nobuta,” Akira said solemnly. “I like you.”
Nobuta blushed, and it felt like an age before she nodded. She looked up, and her eyes sparkled with a strange light that none of them had ever seen before as she said, “I like Akira too.”
She reached into her pockets and pulled out a boarding pass and her passport, holding them out for Akira to see.
“Nobuta…?” he asked.
“Let’s…” she said, looking down on the ground but her hands still holding out her boarding pass. “Let’s work hard. Together.”
Akira turned to Shuji, who grinned. “Your father knows. Her father knows too. They don’t think you’ll get into trouble together so…”
“SHUJI!!” Akira wailed, reaching over to hug the other boy. “You’re the best, best best best bestbestbest friend in the WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD!”
Mariko started giggling as Shuji pushed him away. “Idiot! You’re not supposed to be hugging me now!”
Nobuta put her hands down and smiled.
***
Three weeks later, Akira sent Shuji a letter with a picture of Nobuta and himself posing in front of the Statue of Liberty wearing silly hats.
I AM THE HAPPIEST MAN IN THE WORLD.
- AKIRA
Shuji-kun, everything is exciting here everyday, because Akira is around. Come and visit us soon.
- Nobuta