Gift fic for orangegreenlove
Intergroup Gold for orangegreenlove
from beltenebra
Title: Relationships… and so is your face
Pairings/Groups: Yokoo and Koyama friendship; Yokoo/Nikaido and background KoyaShige
Rating: PG
Warnings: awkward boys, adolescent humor
Summary: Yokoo wonders if he is being the best boyfriend he can be, lucky for him, he has a friend who wrote the book on member-ai.
Notes: I hope you like this orangegreenlove! I tried to include some of your favorites. Many thanks to my especially patient beta and partner in crime.
Yokoo was sitting in a cafe, enjoying a practice-free afternoon and looking forward to having lunch with Koyama. Their schedules didn’t match up often, but on the rare occasions they could make it work, it was worthwhile. He was pretty sure that most fans had completely forgotten that he had shared a group with Koyama and Kato once upon a time. As much fun as they had all had in KKKity, he had long ago reached the conclusion that things had worked out for the best.
Koyama and Shige had always been close and they got to stay together and had KKKity been debuted, he never would have gotten to be Kisumai’s ‘Y’. He looked on his old group with the fond memories of a bunch of friends he got to hang out with but Kisumai was a family to him. Well, mostly. His lips twisted up in a fond smirk, there are definitely things he did with some of his group members that he wouldn’t do with real relatives. Without Kisumai, he’s sure he wouldn’t have gotten a chance to work with Nika.
Yokoo had always been inordinately fond of Nikaido. Ever since he first joined, an adorable kid who put up a gruff exterior to cover his nerves, Yokoo had just wanted to ruffle his hair and tell him to relax, to remind him that there is a difference between wanting to work hard and feeling like he needed to prove himself. But somewhere along the line the group had really gelled. And he and Nika... well, they’d reached some kind of understanding.
Months of flirting and dancing around each other led to fooling around and eventually casual sex became less casual and mutual affection grew into something a little deeper. Neither of them were the type to talk about it but they had more or less been dating for a while now.
Koyama flew through the door and flung himself down across the table with a wide smile, his customary fifteen minutes late. “Sorry, Wata! I lost track of time.”
He smiled back, “I think you had to have ever had track of time in order to lose it, Koyama.”
His friend leaned back in a gesture of mock offense, “So mean! Have you been getting pointers from Shige? What ever happened to my cute little kouhai?”
“Speaking of Shige, is he coming?”
“No, he asked me to send along his apologies.” Koyama’s eyes sparkled as he leaned forward, chin propped on one hand. “His next essay is due in just a few hours and I left him scrambling to finish it. I think he’s had so much free time recently that he forgot what it was like to be busy. But that’s ok, I’ve got a nice surprise planned for him tonight.”
Yokoo raised an eyebrow, “Dare I ask?”
The older man grinned, “Nothing like that. I found a really neat place on the outskirts of the city where they have a stocked pond and you can catch your own fish and they’ll cook it for you.”
It was exactly the kind of thing Shige would enjoy, fresh fish and some relaxing time spent fishing in a beautiful setting. Koyama was well-known around the company for being an incredibly considerate friend and co-worker, seems it extended to being a great boyfriend too.
The realization brought his thoughts to a halt. Would it occur to him to do that kind of thing for Nika? Set up a surprise dinner just because? Did he even know what sort of situation Nika would like best? They spent a lot of time together but it was mostly hanging out, playing video games or watching TV. They’d grab quick meals together or go out with the other guys. Yokoo usually paid for their take-out or late-night snacks but not really because he felt like it was a good-boyfriendly thing to do; it was mostly because he was older and Nika was a brat. They never really went out on dates. Yokoo was sure ramen followed by fooling around on his couch while the latest inane variety show blared in the background didn’t count.
“Am I a bad boyfriend?”
He didn’t even realize that he had said it out loud until Koyama responded to him, concern in his voice. “Wata, is something wrong?”
Maybe? He and Nika had sort of fallen into their relationship and it was comfortable but maybe that wasn’t all it was supposed to be. Luckily, he was good friends with someone he knew could give him some excellent pointers.
“Koyama, I need some advice.”
*
His groupmates and some of A.B.C.-Z were already in their assigned practice studio warming up for a day of learning new choreography. Which really meant that Kawai, Goseki, and Taipi were gossiping in front of the mirror while Taipi attempted to tame his hair into a ponytail and Nika and Senga giggled their way through their ritual morning game of Monster Hunter on the end of the couch not taken up by a softly snoring Kitayama. Miyata and Tamamori were actually stretching, although Tama-chan was quietly rebuking his recalcitrant shoelace as he did so.
Yokoo nodded silent greetings as he crossed the room to dump his bag along the wall and change his shoes. He half-consciously registered the chatter filtering through his pre-coffee fog.
“I heard we’re getting new costumes for next month’s Shokura.” Yokoo wondered sleepily if that meant new costumes for them too.
“Yeah, don’t get too excited. I saw some of the sketches and they are ugly,” Kawai cautioned.
“So’s your face!” Nika and Senga cackled in unison from the couch. They snickered at their joke and high-fived without even looking up from their DS screens.
Kawai just rolled his eyes. “We have got to teach the children better standards for insult material.” He turned and elbowed a chuckling Goseki in the ribs, “Quit laughing, you’re just encouraging them.”
A few minutes later, just before they started getting down to business, Nika caught Yokoo by the sleeve and gave him one of those private hello smiles that made Yokoo’s heart pound. Despite his nerves, he smiled back, gently running his hand along the line of Nika’s shoulders as he passed.
Today was the day he had picked to start improving their relationship. He could still hear Koyama’s earnest words in his mind. When you think something nice about him, tell him! Nobody hates compliments and it’s a simple way to start showing someone how much you care. Plus, it’ll be good for Nika-chan’s self-esteem. Yokoo was pretty sure that Nika and his habitual self-satisfied smirk were doing pretty well for themselves in the self-esteem department but he did ask Koyama for advice. He shouldn’t give up before he tried it.
He kept his voice a low murmur lest one of the more loud-mouthed group members, which honestly could be any of them, overhear. He didn’t really feel like being the subject of mockery when there was still an entire day of rehearsal ahead of them. He simply nudged Nika’s shoulder as they sauntered to positions in front of the choreographer, “Hey, you look nice today.”
Nika looked at him like he had managed to concuss himself in the last five minutes without anyone noticing.
“Ummm, I mean... your hair? Looks good, I guess?” Oh yeah, really complimentary. Man, he was bad at this game.
Now the look had shifted closer to ‘Wata’s gotten into the crazy juice’. He decided to drop it for now. Besides which, Nika looked like everyone else in the room, hair raked back with a headband and dressed in ratty, old sweats. Yokoo happened to think that Nika looked pretty good under any circumstances, including these ones, but it seemed weird even to him to pick now to say that Nika looked nice. He should wait and try again with a compliment that would mean more to Nika.
The new routine was intricate and tricky, incorporating tumbling passes and some faux tapping and a smattering of everything from their collective bag of tricks. They were all panting and sweaty when the instructor broke them into smaller groups to teach the breakaway sections.
Hasshi huffed and raked his bangs off his face, looking up at the ceiling from his position on the floor where he had ended up after failing to execute a complicated spin kick and tripping over his own legs (for the third time in a row). “Man, that sequence is hard!”
Without missing a beat Nika and Senga, from opposite sides of the room, caroled “So’s your face!”
The youngest craned his neck back to pout at them. “That doesn’t even make sense.”
Hasshi caught Yokoo’s eye so he turned his quiet chuckle into a cough and shrugged. He must like Nika pretty well if he was starting to find his moronic humor amusing.
Yokoo forced his attention back to his appointed task. Hasshi wasn’t wrong, the steps were difficult but it seemed like Nika had them mostly down. He could totally use that. He sidled up to where Nika was running a sequence in front of the mirror, checking his form. “Hey.”
Nika gave him a distracted half-nod, “Hey.”
“Do you mind if I go through those steps with you?”
That got him a small smile, “Never.”
But that was ordinary, could have been any day. He needed to say something more obvious.
“Because practicing with you is always helpful.... because you're such a great dancer.” He couldn’t actually look at his boyfriend but he flicked his eyes up at Nika’s dumbfounded expression in the mirror. He didn’t seem to be feeling complimented yet. Yokoo swallowed audibly. “...and all-around cool guy.”
Nika stopped altogether, turning and laying a hand across Yokoo’s forehead like he was checking his temperature. “Are you feeling ok, Wata? Did you lose some kind of bet to Miyata that forced you to take over his weirdo duties today or something?”
He knew he was blushing. He shoved at Nika’s hand and muttered, “No. Never mind. I’m fine.”
The younger man clearly didn’t believe him. “Ooookay.”
“Let’s just drop it.” Mercifully, Nika actually did what he asked for once. Yokoo vowed not to pull any more boyfriend crap at practice. The rest of the day was a pleasant blur of complicated dance moves, eight counts, and sore muscles.
*
Yokoo couldn’t tell you exactly what the drink was Koyama had ordered for him beyond that it was extremely foamy and sprinkled delicately with something. He curled his hand around the mug, waiting for it to cool and worried.
“Honestly, Kei-chan, I am total crap at saying nice things. Which is terrible! If I can’t say nice things to the person I like the most, what good am I?”
Koyama patted his arm comfortingly, “Calm down, it doesn’t come naturally for some people. I mean, look at Ryo-chan-”
Yoko tried to avoid looking directly at Nishikido if he could avoid it. He knew Nishikido’s moods weren’t as bad as rumor made them out to be but Yokoo didn’t like to take chances.
“-it took him years to figure out how to compliment people in a way that wasn’t completely backhanded. But it doesn’t have to be all about what you say. You can do something nice instead. A romantic gesture is worth a thousand words, sort of a thing,” Koyama finished with a grin.
He was pretty sure Koyama was taking liberties with adages but he was willing to let it slide if it meant that he could pass on any future verbal humiliation. “So what’s next, sempai?” he asked teasingly.
“Take him somewhere nice. Out to dinner, everyone needs to eat, right?”
Nika did like food. It probably couldn’t go too badly. “Right. Dinner is a great idea, thanks Kei-chan.”
*
He had sent Nikaido an address and a time and no other information. He had spent weeks considering, checking restaurant reviews, looking over menus, he had even sent a message through Kame asking Matsumoto-sempai where he liked to go for Italian. Yokoo was pretty sure he had never put so much thought into a single dinner before in his life.
He was a good half hour early, eager to make sure everything went smoothly. He stood outside the place, hands in the pockets of his crisp, new blazer, rocking a little on his heels. Nika strolled up at eight on the dot. Yokoo’s grin faded as he took in the younger man’s clothing. He was dressed in a t-shirt with some English slogan, fading from years of laundering, his favorite jeans, the ones that were full of holes but Nika refused to throw out because they were perfectly worn in, and bright red sneakers.
Nika cocked his head and raised an eyebrow at Yokoo’s new jacket and proper dress shoes and creased slacks. Yokoo panicked. He can’t believe he had forgotten to tell Nika to dress up for dinner. He had agonized over how to word the e-mail so that it wouldn’t give away too much of the surprise. In his planning he must have failed to actually send the e-mail.
His boyfriend looked at him, then at the tasteful glass window offering a glimpse of snowy tablecloths and polished silver flatware. Crystal caught the soft light of the small oil lamps on the tables and threw spangled light onto subtly patterned cream wallpaper. Classy but cosy, elegant but inviting, it should have been the perfect restaurant. Nikaido looked surprised, all right.
“So... when you said to meet you for dinner... you meant here?”
Yokoo tried smiling again but he was aware of the slightly frantic edge it must have. “Yeah, I guess I wanted to take you somewhere nice for a change.”
The younger man sighed, Yokoo tried to gauge his mood, if he had to guess he would go with ‘exasperated’. “Wata, they have a wine list. They’re not going to let me in. Why do you want to go to a super fancy restaurant anyway?”
He could feel his frown, he tried not to sound disappointed. “It was supposed to make you feel appreciated.”
Nika chuckled, totally oblivious to his distress at the holes in perfect plan. “I would appreciate if we could maybe go to Mosburger,” Nika replied as he whipped out his phone, swiftly tapping out a message.
“What are you doing?”
His boyfriend continued blithely, ignoring the edge of petulance in Yokoo’s question. “Texting Senga. He agrees that you’re being weird.”
Yokoo felt completely justified in a full out pout at this point. He loved Senga but he didn’t need another smartass mocking him. “Tell Senga he can butt out.”
Nika was still looking down at his screen but his lips curled up at the edges and even though Yokoo was put out, it was still cute. “Senga says your face can butt out.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. Burgers it is.” So much for romance. Nika was probably right about getting in though, the analytical voice in the back of his head noted as he noticed the hostess standing just inside eyed Nika’s jeans with a slightly horrified expression.
The younger man grinned happily and Yokoo couldn’t help but smile back, wide and warm, the way Nika always managed to tease out of him. Burgers wouldn’t be so bad.
*
Koyama was perfectly understanding about the flaws in his dinner plans, his warm support only slightly dimmed through the phone. “It’s ok! There are other things you can do. We’ll go with the absolutely foolproof technique.”
Although he was starting to think that maybe he and Nika were a lost cause at this point, he couldn’t very well tell Koyama that. “Ok, Kei-chan, what’s this technique?” He also managed to keep any comments about Nika’s ability to throw a wrench into any ‘foolproof’ plan to himself.
“Buy him a present. It doesn’t need to be something big or fancy or expensive, just something that will make him think of you when he looks at it.”
Yokoo could hear the fond smile in Koyama’s bubbly voice as he continued, “Something like matching phone charms! I’ve gotten Shige and me matching phone charms a few times.”
He chuckled softly to himself at the image of Shige smiling and clipping another cute charm onto his phone next to the other three matching charms Koyama had already given him.
He considered it, but he didn’t think something cute and matching was really Nika’s style. As he turned the corner a flash of gold caught his eye. He entered the shop and bent low over the glass case to survey his options, narrating his shopping to Koyama who wholehearted approved of his choice.
*
Yokoo sauntered into their morning meeting feeling confident. Nika was half passed out on the couch when Yokoo slumped down next to him. A quick survey of the room said that his timing was perfect. Kitayama was passed out in the chair in the corner and no one else was here yet. Which meant fewer people to mock him. Excellent.
While he was loath to disturb Nika when he was cuddled sleepily against Yokoo’s shoulder like a puppy, he knew that his boyfriend’s lack of sleep was due to a late-night Halo marathon with Senga rather than overwork, so he didn’t feel too bad about nudging Nika awake.
When Nika’s dark eyes fluttered open, Yokoo dropped the small, white bag on his lap with a smile. “It’s a present. For you,” he replied in response to Nika’s soft, questioning noise.
Nika hauled himself more upright with a low groan. “Ok... what did you do? Did you ruin my laundry again? I told you not to touch my laundry.”
He looked back at Yokoo’s dumbstruck expression with a cynically raised eyebrow. “Or my bag. You didn’t reorganize it, did you? I still can’t find everything from the last time-”
Yokoo cut him off with a noise of irritation and a hand pressed to Nika’s mouth. “I didn’t touch any of your stuff, I’ve learned my lesson there, thanks. There are no strings attached to this. I really just wanted to give you a present!”
Nika pried his hand up and gave him a small smile. “Ok, Wata. Calm down.” The younger man pulled out the small box and opened it and just sat there looking at it for a few silent, eternal moments.
“Well, what do you think?”
His boyfriend held up the gold ID bracelet with a lopsided grin. “First of all, I think everyone who knows us knows that we’re together, you don’t have to like label me. Secondly, I’m not a girl so I don’t really...” He held the bracelet between his finger and thumb like it was covered in something slightly distasteful and possibly slimy, “do this sort of thing. I’m sorry.”
Yokoo couldn’t really blame him. He had known even when he was still in the store that it wasn’t really Nika’s taste. It’s probably a good thing he didn’t get matching phone charms, Nika probably would have whipped it at his face.
*
Two days later he found Koyama and Nakamaru chatting amiably in a resting room backstage at Shokura.
Koyama greeted him with a cheerful smile. “Wataru-kun! How did it go? Did Nikaido-kun like your present?”
“Not exactly. I appreciate all of your help, Kei-chan but I don’t think Nika and I are cut out for this boyfriend thing.”
The older man’s shock was palpable. “You can’t break up because of an ID bracelet! It was my suggestion, I feel terrible!”
Nakamaru hid his smile behind a hand and Yokoo shook his head and made soothing sounds, “Nothing like that, don’t worry. I’ve just come to the conclusion that things are probably good enough the way they are.”
“Ok. As long as you’re all right with it.”
Yokoo smiled and realized that he actually was. “Yeah. Thanks, Kei-chan.”
After Yokoo had headed off towards wardrobe Koyama turned to Nakamaru. “What about you? What do you do to keep your girlfriend happy?”
Nakamaru just shook his head slightly and shrugged, “Honestly, I have no idea. My girlfriend just likes me, I’m not sure why. I endeavour not to question it.”
“Hmmmm.” They lapsed into thoughtful silence. Koyama pulled out his phone and sent Shige a text asking how his day was going.
*
A few days later found Yokoo and Nika in their habitual spots, curled up on Yokoo’s couch in front of the TV. Nika was turning the case of the new DS game Yokoo had left in his bag this morning over in his hands and looking uncharacteristically pensive.
“Wata, you know that I like you, right?”
He assumed that Nika liked him. Otherwise he probably wouldn’t spend so much time with him. Or let him kiss him, or put his hands all over him, or- okay, off topic. “Yeah, of course.”
Nika was still looking down at his hands, a slight blush painting his cheeks. “Good. I just- I want you to know that you don’t have to do all of that stuff, the fancy dinners or presents, stuff like that. Those aren’t the reasons I like you. And I do, a lot.”
Yokoo smiled, “I like you too. I’ll stop trying so hard.” Maybe he and Nika just worked, no special gestures required. It seemed like cheating, like they were getting away with something. “Relationships are weird.”
Nika snorted, not bothering to look up, “Your face is weird.”
“Yeah.” Yokoo grinned and poked Nika in the cheek. “But you like it.” Nika just curled his mouth up and slumped a little closer. The comfortable silence was more than enough confirmation for both of them.