Fic for elanielyn
Title: Shining
Author: buzzbird
Pairing: Akame
Word count: 2,971
Rating: PG
Warnings: Artistic license taken with KT junior history and logistics of certain events.
Notes:Dear Ale, I loved writing for you, even if it kicked my butt in terrible ways (which I won't recount here). I hope you enjoy this ♥
Summary: Kame often thinks about his former best friend Jin.
Neither of them remembers, but the first time Kame and Jin met was in the hallways of one of the office buildings.
It wasn´t anything out of the ordinary, Jin was in a vocal training session when Kame walked past the group of harmonizing boys. Their eyes only met for the briefest of seconds. Neither one of them remembers that moment, but from that time on their fates were intertwined.
--
The first memory Kame has of Jin is when they sat side by side as their sempai decided who they wanted to be the background dancers for their next concert. Kame and Jin were the last two to be picked. When Kame glanced to the side to gauge the other boy´s reaction, he was met with a blinding smile so bright, Kame had to look away. It wouldn´t be the last time Kame felt as if he was staring straight into the sun. Memories after that moment have become a big blur of dance rehearsals, singing rehearsals, concerts, hotel rooms and some more dance rehearsals. Kame and Jin spent every waking moment together. Because they were chosen last together, they took care of each other and somehow they made it through on the other side. They were soon joined by four other boys. Kame and Jin promised each other they would be best friends for as long as they carried the K and A of KAT-TUN.
--
Today on the 6th anniversary of their debut, Kame is out, drinking alone and taken back in time by all these memories, and before he knows it, his phone is dialling a number listed as "HE HAS TO CALL YOU FIRST" but, the call goes straight to voicemail. Disappointed, Kame ends the call. He decides hanging out with Jin again - today of all days - would probably just be really really awkward anyway, and he calls Nakamaru instead.
"Ahwww," Nakamaru answers the phone, confusing Kame.
"Yucchi?" he asks. He hears voices on the other side of the line and recognizes Koki's voice when he yells: "Hey! No fair, I wasn't done saying hi to Ran-chan yet! Give him back you tall freak!"
Kame hears Nakamaru sigh. "Uhm, you guys are at my house?" Kame asks Nakamaru, confused.
"Ahh, uhm, yes," Nakamaru replies, clearly distracted.
"Okay, why?" Kame asks, smiling now.
"Well, uhh, we sent you an email. Didn't you get it? We sent it over an hour ago!"
Kame checks his screen, about to say there are no now messages when suddenly his screen lights up a bit brighter, informing him he has '1 new message.' He ends the call telling Nakamaru he'll be right over if Nakamaru promises to make sure Junno and Koki don't do anything silly like playing tug-of-war with Jelly.
They spend the night drinking and bitching about how Ueda and Junno are unloyal assholes for leaving early to spend their free time with their girlfriends instead of their bandmates. And they reminisce endlessly. About how they met, and how the first few years were like a rollercoaster that never seemed to end. Jin's departure is acknowledged but not discussed because, according to Koki, there's nothing left to say about that whole mess.
Later that night though, when Koki has fallen asleep on Kame's shoulder and Nakamaru is drunk-texting that Chinese exchange student he met last year, Kame can't help but hear a woman's voice in his head, informing him over and over that he's reached the voicemail of Jin Akanishi. Kame thinks of all the things he still has left to say.
--
Among the whirlwind of memories there's a single memory of Jin that stands out for Kame. He and Jin were spending the weekend in the mountains. Jin's grandmother had told them to go pray for their debut to go well at a shrine that had once fulfilled a wish for her. At night, Jin and Kame decided to take a walk to a place clear of trees, where they could watch the stars.
Lying down on the slightly wet grass, close next to each other, Jin suddenly started talking. He talked and talked without stopping and Kame felt himself growing colder with every word. Jin told Kame he wanted to explore the words, see things, learn languages. He told Kame of his dreams of studying English in the U.S. and of maybe even learning to speak Spanish someday. Jin seemed full of longing for so many things then. Longing for his music to be heard, longing for love, but mostly longing to keep moving. Kame couldn't help feeling Jin wanted to move away from Kame too. Sometimes Kame still feels like that, but then he reminds himself that he's no longer important enough for Jin to even care about that.
--
"Kame," Junno touches his shoulder, "the choreographer asked me to tell you our break finished 5 minutes ago."
Kame puts out his cigarette and looks at Junno excitedly bouncing up and down, waiting for him. Kame knows the happy bouncy act is for his benefit, nobody is actually that energetic after 3 hours of hard dance practice. With a sigh he gets up from the floor and follows Junno back inside.
Kame was the only one to keep drinking until sunrise yesterday, and now he's paying the price. He notices the choreographer getting increasingly frustrated with his sluggish, distracted moves, but it's not something Kame can bring himself to care about at the moment. He's much more worried about how Jin is suddenly at the forefront of his mind at every second. Especially when there's no specific reason he should be.
When everyone but Kame and Ueda is sent home he starts getting slightly frustrated with himself, too. He wants to be able to do this so he can go home. He wants to take a nice hot bath and maybe eat something and then crawl into bed. He tells the choreographer he's not feeling very well - which isn't a complete lie - and that he'll work on it on his own before their next session in two days. The choreographer asks them to both work harder next time, before giving them a grim smile and leaving the room.
"Well that could have gone better," Ueda remarks dryly, "stayed up late with the guys last night?"
Kame sighs, "Yeah, you know how there's always that point where you stop caring how many drinks you've had?"
Ueda shakes his head, but smiles sympathetically.
"Well," Kame checks his phone (no missed calls or new messages), "it was one of those nights."
"Wanna check out that new tempura place?" Ueda asks, with a lopsided grin.
Enthusiastically Kame nods, before remembering that moving is bad and his head starts hurting again. He walks off to grab his things and decides that he doesn't need Jin to call him back. He hasn't needed Jin to call him back for a very long time. Why should now be any different?
--
There's another memory from a few weeks ago that's etched into Kame's brain. Sometimes it even seeps into his subconscious, giving him nightmares. What's weird is that it's not even a memory of time spent with Jin, or something Jin said or did. The memory is of a time when Kame was overwhelmed by how much his new movie script reminded him of Jin.
Kame was cast for the role of emperor in a movie adaptation of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. But when he read the script, he couldn't help but picture a shining prince where the script described a shining princess. He couldn't help but picture Jin's bright smile.
Up until his departure, Jin had been like the sun to Kame. That hadn't meant they'd always had blue skies, but even on colder, darker days, Kame had always known Jin was there and would eventually reappear to warm him right up again. Reading the script Kame came to realize Jin was actually more like the moon now. Still shining brightly, but not bright enough to light up Kame's entire world anymore. And colder, so much colder. Most importantly, these days Jin will only show himself at night, in Kame's nightmares.
--
Or at his doorstep, apparently.
Kame takes in Jin's appearance. He's leaning back against Kame's front door, drowning in his clothes. He's clearly dressed for anonymity, though Kame thinks that is actually the most counter-productive thing he could have done. The black beanie and sunglasses have become just as famous as the face hiding behind them.
"Hey," Kame calls out, causing Jin to shriek.
"Don't sneak up on people like that," Jin gets out, clutching his chest, "you're going to give someone a heart attack one of these days."
Kame smirks. "It's your own fault for wearing sunglasses at night."
"No, you're just really creepy."
"Oh just move already."
Jin steps aside to let Kame open the door as they bicker and tease some more.
"Do you want coffee too?" Kame asks as he kicks off his shoes and heads for the kitchen.
"Oh god yes," Jin replies, leaving his sunglasses on the side table by the door, next to Kame's favorite pair of sunglasses.
Kame's kitchen isn't particularly small or big, it's just a regular, if somewhat modern kitchen. The colors are simple, mocha colored cabinets against creamy white walls. When Kame turns around to see Jin poking around the herbs by the kitchen window though, it's just like old times, Jin's curious expression lighting everything up from the inside, and putting a smile on Kame's face.
They take the coffee into the living room and despite the late hour they decide to watch a movie. Or at least, they put the movie on, but talk through most of it, because it's one they've both seen a million times already.
When Jin isn't there in the morning when Kame wakes up, it's the coldest he's ever felt. Everything felt so natural and smooth last night that Kame completely forgot to scold Jin for not calling him back. He never even thought to ask why Jin came by in the first place. Kame knows this will turn into another painful memory later, but he can't bring himself to think about that right now. Instead he decides to go for some more dance practice. There's no point to staying in bed when it's this cold.
Especially since Jin wasn't actually there to warm Kame up to begin with.
--
A little while later, different scenarios spin through Kame's head as he's working through the choreography with Ueda. Last night's daydream eventually turned into actual dreams and now Kame can't stop thinking about what it would be like to see Jin again, to laugh with Jin again. He's angry at himself for wanting something so far out of reach and it shows in his moves.
"Hey!" Ueda yells at him for the third time, "watch yourself, you might actually punch Koki if you move like that when we're on stage."
Kame takes a deep breath, grabs his stuff and walks out the door, leaving an exasperated Ueda behind. He's made up his mind.
--
The most painful memory Kame has of Jin is also the one he remembers least clearly. There are certain parts that stand out, but mostly Kame only remembers how he felt at the time: like the sun would never shine again.
Kame remembers the look on Jin's face. He wasn't happy about the ultimatum the old man had given him either. Kame knew Jin would have preferred to have both a solo career and KAT-TUN as his home base. Everything he said later on about not matching the band anymore was nonsense. KAT-TUN was never about uniformity. Still at the time Kame couldn't help but blame Jin. He told Jin he'd always known he would do this to them (to him) someday. That he was a good-for-nothing backstabber who just didn't want to work hard.
When Kame thinks back of that moment outside of Johnny's office, Ueda's arms holding him in place so he wouldn't be able to hurt Jin, he can only feel shame.
At the time nobody had expected Kame to react any differently. Being emotional about parting ways with his best friend was a logical reaction. But not the most rational. Or the most professional. Jin had earned the right to at least get that. So that night Kame decided he would never lose his temper like that again. He would be professional.
And so, true to his nature, Kame kept to his decision. Kame was never anything but professional to Jin ever again.
--
Which explains why Jin is now staring at him. Kame hadn't even taken the time to change out of his old (designer) exercise clothes and went straight from the dance studio to Jin's apartment. Not exactly the height of professionalism.
"H-hi," Jin stammers, automatically fidgeting with his tie.
"Jin," Kame starts, "do yo-"
"Wanna come inside?" Jin interrupts him, "I have reporters watching my every move at the moment."
Jin moves aside so Kame can come inside and quickly closes the door behind him.
They stand in the hallway awkwardly while Kame unties his shoes. They walk straight to Jin's home studio/office without either of them saying a word.
Jin invites Kame to take the seat on the other opposite side of Jin's desk.
"So, what brings you here?" Jin asks politely.
Kame wants to reply but suddenly he has no idea how to tell Jin about wanting to be friends again. He prepared this whole speech on the way to Jin's apartment, ready to gush out every word the moment Jin opened the door, but now that he's sitting here across from a very professional Jin, he doesn't know where to start. After he's dismissed a couple of really cheesy lines he decides to just be straightforward. That was always the best way to explain things to Jin anyway.
Kame takes a deep breath. "Jin… do you think we can be friends again?"
What follows is nothing like Kame imagined. There is no yelling or sneering or even crying. Jin doesn't laugh at Kame for even suggesting it and he also doesn't demand that Kame takes back the things he once said. Neither of them decides to run off and get into a terrible traffic accident. Nobody storms in yelling at Kame about how the hell he dares ask something like that from Jin. Jin doesn't try to kill Kame. And hey, Kame doesn't kill himself either.
Instead, Jin shoves a piece of paper in Kame's direction. It's sheet music.
"Can you take a look at the part I pencilled in? I'm not entirely sure it fits the mood of the scene," Jin says, walking over to Kame's side of the desk and pulling out a chair for himself. "You see this part here is where the emperor first sees the princess, but I don't want it to be too cheesy, you know?"
Kame stares at Jin.
"You're writing the music for my new movie," Kame gets out, not entirely able to process the current turn of events.
"Well yeah," Jin grins at him (Jin grins at him!), "I was talking to Yokoyama when the old man asked me if I was up for the job and Yokoyama tried to convince him he was way better suited for that sort of thing."
Kame sniggers at the thought of Yoko telling Johnny flat-out he should pick him over Jin.
"But you know, that guy is actually really good at writing music, so I was afraid the old man would agree with him!" Jin continues his story, not paying attention to Kame's little moment of hysterics, "But I love this story you know, I mean you told it to me a million times right? So I said no way, I'm doing this and that's that. And then Yokoyama started doing that creepy laughing thing so I went home and I, uhm, kind of got started on it right away. So what do you think?"
Kame releases a breath he didn't know he was holding and takes a look at the part Jin is pointing at. He looks up and smiles at Jin, and Jin smiles back at Kame too and it's nothing like the sun or the moon or anything poetic like that. It's just Jin. The Jin that Kame has always known. It's the Jin who is grinning at him like a complete dork even though he's wearing an expensive looking suit.
"Jin…"
Jin responds by taking both of Kame's hands into his.
"You were always my friend, Kazuya."
--
Years later, when Kame looks back at this period in his life he'll think about the happiest memory he has of Jin. The two of them reconciling is first by a landslide, but the second place is taken by a memory of not just the two of them. It's a memory he shares with all of KAT-TUN, and indirectly, all of its fans.
It's a song they record for the movie, with all six of them. At first it's something they do just for fun. To remind themselves that just because they're not in a band together anymore, that doesn't mean they can't make music together. Somehow though, after Yoko and Hina hang out with them during their own break, the recorded song finds its way into Johnny's office and onto the Oricon charts. They even end up making a PV for the song and performing the song on several music shows. It almost feels like old times. Except that Kame now knows, even in the deepest and darkest parts of his soul, that Jin will always be there to help him carry the K and the A.
Even if he can't be in the bright spotlights with them.
Author: buzzbird
Pairing: Akame
Word count: 2,971
Rating: PG
Warnings: Artistic license taken with KT junior history and logistics of certain events.
Notes:Dear Ale, I loved writing for you, even if it kicked my butt in terrible ways (which I won't recount here). I hope you enjoy this ♥
Summary: Kame often thinks about his former best friend Jin.
Neither of them remembers, but the first time Kame and Jin met was in the hallways of one of the office buildings.
It wasn´t anything out of the ordinary, Jin was in a vocal training session when Kame walked past the group of harmonizing boys. Their eyes only met for the briefest of seconds. Neither one of them remembers that moment, but from that time on their fates were intertwined.
--
The first memory Kame has of Jin is when they sat side by side as their sempai decided who they wanted to be the background dancers for their next concert. Kame and Jin were the last two to be picked. When Kame glanced to the side to gauge the other boy´s reaction, he was met with a blinding smile so bright, Kame had to look away. It wouldn´t be the last time Kame felt as if he was staring straight into the sun. Memories after that moment have become a big blur of dance rehearsals, singing rehearsals, concerts, hotel rooms and some more dance rehearsals. Kame and Jin spent every waking moment together. Because they were chosen last together, they took care of each other and somehow they made it through on the other side. They were soon joined by four other boys. Kame and Jin promised each other they would be best friends for as long as they carried the K and A of KAT-TUN.
--
Today on the 6th anniversary of their debut, Kame is out, drinking alone and taken back in time by all these memories, and before he knows it, his phone is dialling a number listed as "HE HAS TO CALL YOU FIRST" but, the call goes straight to voicemail. Disappointed, Kame ends the call. He decides hanging out with Jin again - today of all days - would probably just be really really awkward anyway, and he calls Nakamaru instead.
"Ahwww," Nakamaru answers the phone, confusing Kame.
"Yucchi?" he asks. He hears voices on the other side of the line and recognizes Koki's voice when he yells: "Hey! No fair, I wasn't done saying hi to Ran-chan yet! Give him back you tall freak!"
Kame hears Nakamaru sigh. "Uhm, you guys are at my house?" Kame asks Nakamaru, confused.
"Ahh, uhm, yes," Nakamaru replies, clearly distracted.
"Okay, why?" Kame asks, smiling now.
"Well, uhh, we sent you an email. Didn't you get it? We sent it over an hour ago!"
Kame checks his screen, about to say there are no now messages when suddenly his screen lights up a bit brighter, informing him he has '1 new message.' He ends the call telling Nakamaru he'll be right over if Nakamaru promises to make sure Junno and Koki don't do anything silly like playing tug-of-war with Jelly.
They spend the night drinking and bitching about how Ueda and Junno are unloyal assholes for leaving early to spend their free time with their girlfriends instead of their bandmates. And they reminisce endlessly. About how they met, and how the first few years were like a rollercoaster that never seemed to end. Jin's departure is acknowledged but not discussed because, according to Koki, there's nothing left to say about that whole mess.
Later that night though, when Koki has fallen asleep on Kame's shoulder and Nakamaru is drunk-texting that Chinese exchange student he met last year, Kame can't help but hear a woman's voice in his head, informing him over and over that he's reached the voicemail of Jin Akanishi. Kame thinks of all the things he still has left to say.
--
Among the whirlwind of memories there's a single memory of Jin that stands out for Kame. He and Jin were spending the weekend in the mountains. Jin's grandmother had told them to go pray for their debut to go well at a shrine that had once fulfilled a wish for her. At night, Jin and Kame decided to take a walk to a place clear of trees, where they could watch the stars.
Lying down on the slightly wet grass, close next to each other, Jin suddenly started talking. He talked and talked without stopping and Kame felt himself growing colder with every word. Jin told Kame he wanted to explore the words, see things, learn languages. He told Kame of his dreams of studying English in the U.S. and of maybe even learning to speak Spanish someday. Jin seemed full of longing for so many things then. Longing for his music to be heard, longing for love, but mostly longing to keep moving. Kame couldn't help feeling Jin wanted to move away from Kame too. Sometimes Kame still feels like that, but then he reminds himself that he's no longer important enough for Jin to even care about that.
--
"Kame," Junno touches his shoulder, "the choreographer asked me to tell you our break finished 5 minutes ago."
Kame puts out his cigarette and looks at Junno excitedly bouncing up and down, waiting for him. Kame knows the happy bouncy act is for his benefit, nobody is actually that energetic after 3 hours of hard dance practice. With a sigh he gets up from the floor and follows Junno back inside.
Kame was the only one to keep drinking until sunrise yesterday, and now he's paying the price. He notices the choreographer getting increasingly frustrated with his sluggish, distracted moves, but it's not something Kame can bring himself to care about at the moment. He's much more worried about how Jin is suddenly at the forefront of his mind at every second. Especially when there's no specific reason he should be.
When everyone but Kame and Ueda is sent home he starts getting slightly frustrated with himself, too. He wants to be able to do this so he can go home. He wants to take a nice hot bath and maybe eat something and then crawl into bed. He tells the choreographer he's not feeling very well - which isn't a complete lie - and that he'll work on it on his own before their next session in two days. The choreographer asks them to both work harder next time, before giving them a grim smile and leaving the room.
"Well that could have gone better," Ueda remarks dryly, "stayed up late with the guys last night?"
Kame sighs, "Yeah, you know how there's always that point where you stop caring how many drinks you've had?"
Ueda shakes his head, but smiles sympathetically.
"Well," Kame checks his phone (no missed calls or new messages), "it was one of those nights."
"Wanna check out that new tempura place?" Ueda asks, with a lopsided grin.
Enthusiastically Kame nods, before remembering that moving is bad and his head starts hurting again. He walks off to grab his things and decides that he doesn't need Jin to call him back. He hasn't needed Jin to call him back for a very long time. Why should now be any different?
--
There's another memory from a few weeks ago that's etched into Kame's brain. Sometimes it even seeps into his subconscious, giving him nightmares. What's weird is that it's not even a memory of time spent with Jin, or something Jin said or did. The memory is of a time when Kame was overwhelmed by how much his new movie script reminded him of Jin.
Kame was cast for the role of emperor in a movie adaptation of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. But when he read the script, he couldn't help but picture a shining prince where the script described a shining princess. He couldn't help but picture Jin's bright smile.
Up until his departure, Jin had been like the sun to Kame. That hadn't meant they'd always had blue skies, but even on colder, darker days, Kame had always known Jin was there and would eventually reappear to warm him right up again. Reading the script Kame came to realize Jin was actually more like the moon now. Still shining brightly, but not bright enough to light up Kame's entire world anymore. And colder, so much colder. Most importantly, these days Jin will only show himself at night, in Kame's nightmares.
--
Or at his doorstep, apparently.
Kame takes in Jin's appearance. He's leaning back against Kame's front door, drowning in his clothes. He's clearly dressed for anonymity, though Kame thinks that is actually the most counter-productive thing he could have done. The black beanie and sunglasses have become just as famous as the face hiding behind them.
"Hey," Kame calls out, causing Jin to shriek.
"Don't sneak up on people like that," Jin gets out, clutching his chest, "you're going to give someone a heart attack one of these days."
Kame smirks. "It's your own fault for wearing sunglasses at night."
"No, you're just really creepy."
"Oh just move already."
Jin steps aside to let Kame open the door as they bicker and tease some more.
"Do you want coffee too?" Kame asks as he kicks off his shoes and heads for the kitchen.
"Oh god yes," Jin replies, leaving his sunglasses on the side table by the door, next to Kame's favorite pair of sunglasses.
Kame's kitchen isn't particularly small or big, it's just a regular, if somewhat modern kitchen. The colors are simple, mocha colored cabinets against creamy white walls. When Kame turns around to see Jin poking around the herbs by the kitchen window though, it's just like old times, Jin's curious expression lighting everything up from the inside, and putting a smile on Kame's face.
They take the coffee into the living room and despite the late hour they decide to watch a movie. Or at least, they put the movie on, but talk through most of it, because it's one they've both seen a million times already.
When Jin isn't there in the morning when Kame wakes up, it's the coldest he's ever felt. Everything felt so natural and smooth last night that Kame completely forgot to scold Jin for not calling him back. He never even thought to ask why Jin came by in the first place. Kame knows this will turn into another painful memory later, but he can't bring himself to think about that right now. Instead he decides to go for some more dance practice. There's no point to staying in bed when it's this cold.
Especially since Jin wasn't actually there to warm Kame up to begin with.
--
A little while later, different scenarios spin through Kame's head as he's working through the choreography with Ueda. Last night's daydream eventually turned into actual dreams and now Kame can't stop thinking about what it would be like to see Jin again, to laugh with Jin again. He's angry at himself for wanting something so far out of reach and it shows in his moves.
"Hey!" Ueda yells at him for the third time, "watch yourself, you might actually punch Koki if you move like that when we're on stage."
Kame takes a deep breath, grabs his stuff and walks out the door, leaving an exasperated Ueda behind. He's made up his mind.
--
The most painful memory Kame has of Jin is also the one he remembers least clearly. There are certain parts that stand out, but mostly Kame only remembers how he felt at the time: like the sun would never shine again.
Kame remembers the look on Jin's face. He wasn't happy about the ultimatum the old man had given him either. Kame knew Jin would have preferred to have both a solo career and KAT-TUN as his home base. Everything he said later on about not matching the band anymore was nonsense. KAT-TUN was never about uniformity. Still at the time Kame couldn't help but blame Jin. He told Jin he'd always known he would do this to them (to him) someday. That he was a good-for-nothing backstabber who just didn't want to work hard.
When Kame thinks back of that moment outside of Johnny's office, Ueda's arms holding him in place so he wouldn't be able to hurt Jin, he can only feel shame.
At the time nobody had expected Kame to react any differently. Being emotional about parting ways with his best friend was a logical reaction. But not the most rational. Or the most professional. Jin had earned the right to at least get that. So that night Kame decided he would never lose his temper like that again. He would be professional.
And so, true to his nature, Kame kept to his decision. Kame was never anything but professional to Jin ever again.
--
Which explains why Jin is now staring at him. Kame hadn't even taken the time to change out of his old (designer) exercise clothes and went straight from the dance studio to Jin's apartment. Not exactly the height of professionalism.
"H-hi," Jin stammers, automatically fidgeting with his tie.
"Jin," Kame starts, "do yo-"
"Wanna come inside?" Jin interrupts him, "I have reporters watching my every move at the moment."
Jin moves aside so Kame can come inside and quickly closes the door behind him.
They stand in the hallway awkwardly while Kame unties his shoes. They walk straight to Jin's home studio/office without either of them saying a word.
Jin invites Kame to take the seat on the other opposite side of Jin's desk.
"So, what brings you here?" Jin asks politely.
Kame wants to reply but suddenly he has no idea how to tell Jin about wanting to be friends again. He prepared this whole speech on the way to Jin's apartment, ready to gush out every word the moment Jin opened the door, but now that he's sitting here across from a very professional Jin, he doesn't know where to start. After he's dismissed a couple of really cheesy lines he decides to just be straightforward. That was always the best way to explain things to Jin anyway.
Kame takes a deep breath. "Jin… do you think we can be friends again?"
What follows is nothing like Kame imagined. There is no yelling or sneering or even crying. Jin doesn't laugh at Kame for even suggesting it and he also doesn't demand that Kame takes back the things he once said. Neither of them decides to run off and get into a terrible traffic accident. Nobody storms in yelling at Kame about how the hell he dares ask something like that from Jin. Jin doesn't try to kill Kame. And hey, Kame doesn't kill himself either.
Instead, Jin shoves a piece of paper in Kame's direction. It's sheet music.
"Can you take a look at the part I pencilled in? I'm not entirely sure it fits the mood of the scene," Jin says, walking over to Kame's side of the desk and pulling out a chair for himself. "You see this part here is where the emperor first sees the princess, but I don't want it to be too cheesy, you know?"
Kame stares at Jin.
"You're writing the music for my new movie," Kame gets out, not entirely able to process the current turn of events.
"Well yeah," Jin grins at him (Jin grins at him!), "I was talking to Yokoyama when the old man asked me if I was up for the job and Yokoyama tried to convince him he was way better suited for that sort of thing."
Kame sniggers at the thought of Yoko telling Johnny flat-out he should pick him over Jin.
"But you know, that guy is actually really good at writing music, so I was afraid the old man would agree with him!" Jin continues his story, not paying attention to Kame's little moment of hysterics, "But I love this story you know, I mean you told it to me a million times right? So I said no way, I'm doing this and that's that. And then Yokoyama started doing that creepy laughing thing so I went home and I, uhm, kind of got started on it right away. So what do you think?"
Kame releases a breath he didn't know he was holding and takes a look at the part Jin is pointing at. He looks up and smiles at Jin, and Jin smiles back at Kame too and it's nothing like the sun or the moon or anything poetic like that. It's just Jin. The Jin that Kame has always known. It's the Jin who is grinning at him like a complete dork even though he's wearing an expensive looking suit.
"Jin…"
Jin responds by taking both of Kame's hands into his.
"You were always my friend, Kazuya."
--
Years later, when Kame looks back at this period in his life he'll think about the happiest memory he has of Jin. The two of them reconciling is first by a landslide, but the second place is taken by a memory of not just the two of them. It's a memory he shares with all of KAT-TUN, and indirectly, all of its fans.
It's a song they record for the movie, with all six of them. At first it's something they do just for fun. To remind themselves that just because they're not in a band together anymore, that doesn't mean they can't make music together. Somehow though, after Yoko and Hina hang out with them during their own break, the recorded song finds its way into Johnny's office and onto the Oricon charts. They even end up making a PV for the song and performing the song on several music shows. It almost feels like old times. Except that Kame now knows, even in the deepest and darkest parts of his soul, that Jin will always be there to help him carry the K and the A.
Even if he can't be in the bright spotlights with them.