Emotion, Chapter 3: Pain
Title: Emotion
Chapter: 3 of 5
Pairing: Masuda Takahisa x Tegoshi Yuya (eventutally); featuring the other NEWS members
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The tension between the two finally becomes too much.
Disclaimer: Same as always.
A/N: Ummm.... this one is one my favorite chapters because it's dramatic. And probably not what you all are expecting. >:) But forgive me if it's bad because I usually don't write dramatic stuff. Some parts are supposed to be a bit choppy to show how Massu is seeing things/feeling.
And I am aware that the chapter names are not exactly emotions (though they were intended to be), but whatever.
Chapter 3: Pain
Despite Koyama's advice, Tegoshi was reluctant to confront Massu first. His stubborn side told him that he had done nothing wrong; and therefore, Massu should be the one to make the first move and apologize.
But Massu didn't. Whenever they passed each other in the hall, they would act like strangers. If they happened to arrive at work at the same time, one would make a detour to the bathroom, even if he didn't need to use it.
It was the third day since their argument-three days of carefully avoiding each other. It was almost time for lunch when Massu's phone rang. Everyone was wrapping up to go on a break, so they paid no attention as Massu snuck out of the room to answer the call. By outward appearances, Tegoshi also seemed to be unbothered by it-but he secretly watched Massu leave out of the corner of his eye.
The call was from Sachi. From the other side of the line, her voice sounded hesitant. "Hello... um, Masuda-san? Your sister gave me your number, I hope you don't mind-"
"No, it's fine. She gave me your number too, and I was planning on calling you. Teshima-san, right?"
Her voiced brightened a bit. "Yes." There was an awkward pause. "So..."
He glanced at his watch. "I'm just about to get on my lunch break, so-"
"Oh! You're at work? I didn't interrupt you, did I? I thought that since it was Saturday, you wouldn't be..."
Massu smiled a little. "No no, we were getting ready to break anyway." He quickly checked his watch again. "Would you like to go to lunch with me? That way we can actually meet in person."
"Oh-um, yes, that sounds great! Where should I meet you?"
"Just come to the Johnny's building and wait in the lobby. I can show you around for a bit if you'd like." He recited the address of the building to her before hanging up and stepping back into the practice room, changing into his street clothes and going downstairs to wait for Sachi.
* * *
As soon as she walked in, he could tell that he might like her. She had a cute, slightly rounded face with hair styled in soft waves. She was also just around the right height for him. He met up with her near the back of the lobby, his hands stuffed in his pockets, suddenly feeling a bit shy.
"Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too."
There was another awkward silence before Massu gestured towards the door leading to the stairs. "Here, let me show you around before we go."
"Are you sure it's okay? I don't want you to get in trouble for having me here..."
"It's fine. Follow me." He opened the door for her and led her to the first floor, showing her all the practice and meeting rooms. "A lot of fans have this fantasy that if they ever came inside of the Johnny’s building, they'd find themselves in a giant room full of handsome guys," he explained, laughing a little as they walked through the halls. "But everyone's got their own agenda. Different units have different things to do. We don't hang out with other groups during work too often unless we're practicing a routine together."
Sachi nodded, looking at frames and plaques hanging on the wall as they walked past them. "It is a lot quieter than I imagined."
"Well, that may be because everyone’s taking their lunch break right now." He smiled and opened one of the doors. "This is NEWS's practice room. We were just learning a new dan-oh." He stopped. Tegoshi was still there, at the far side of the room, putting on his jacket. He had turned his head when he heard Massu's voice at the door and was now staring at the two people looking in on him.
"N-nice to meet you!" Sachi bowed, blushing in embarrassment from barging in on Tegoshi.
"Teshima-san, this is Tegoshi. Tegoshi, this is Teshima," Massu said a little stiffly. As he looked back and forth between the two, it suddenly occurred to him why his sister had said that Sachi was "totally his type." She could have passed as Tegoshi’s sister, or at least his cousin. Their features shared a chilling resemblance; except, Massu realized, Tegoshi’s nose was a little more perfectly shaped, his eyes a bit bigger, and when he smiled, he looked cuter-NO. You did NOT just think that. This realization was too much for Massu to take. He needed to get away from Tegoshi. "Sorry to barge in on you. We were just about to go to lunch." He swiftly closed the door, shutting Tegoshi's shocked expression from his vision.
Ignoring the revelation he had just made, Massu quickly led Sachi down the hall and they begin to climb the stairs again. His appetite had suddenly left him (for what was perhaps the first time ever), but he still managed to say, "We can grab a bite to eat somewhere around here. Just let me get my stuff from the locker rooms."
He heard a door open from somewhere below them and Tegoshi appeared from where they had just come. "Massu, wait. We need to talk." He quickly caught up to Massu; Sachi had been a couple steps ahead of Massu, but she paused at the door of the next floor to wait for him.
Tegoshi grabbed Massu’s arm and spoke in a low voice into his ear so that she could not hear what he was saying. "What do you think you're doing? Bringing a girl to work? This is just as bad-no, probably worse than what I did."
"We'll talk about this later," Massu said loudly, trying to proceed up the stairs. But Tegoshi wouldn't let go of his arm.
"No, we are going to talk about this now. Massu, just apologize to me and then you won't be such a hypocri-"
"I said that we'll talk about this later!" He shook Tegoshi’s hand off of his arm roughly, turning around to give him a hard look in the eyes.
For a split second he saw Tegoshi's eyes go wide in astonishment. Massu had flung his hand away from him with such force that he had lost his footing on the steps. He seemed to fall in slow motion; his body curving back in an arc, his hands reaching out for something to grab on to. The look in his eyes seemed to say, "You’ve betrayed me." Massu tried to catch him by the wrist but he missed-and suddenly everything sped up again. Tegoshi hit the stairs with a sickening smack-Sachi let out a shriek behind him but all Massu could hear was Tegoshi’s cry of pain-he was still falling, unable to stop himself from rolling ungracefully down the stairs until he hit the landing below, where he lay silent and unmoving.
Massu could suddenly hear his own ragged breathing as he stared at Tegoshi's still form at the bottom of the stairs. He wanted to move, to check to see if he was okay, to call for help-but his throat and limbs were stopped. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god.
Before he knew it, the door that Sachi had been standing next to opened and the other NEWS members were coming down, talking and laughing with each other. They noticed Sachi standing there and looked at her, puzzled-until Ryo suddenly shouted Tegoshi's name and rushed down the stairs to crouch next his motionless group mate. The others were quick to follow, and the stairway was soon filled with their shouts.
Massu was still rooted to the spot. It seemed like a dream; a dream where he didn't exist, and all he could do was watch. Everything seemed too surreal to be true.
"I'll get one of the managers!" Shige yelled, running back up the stairs and past Massu. Koyama was pulling a handkerchief from his bag and trying to dab some blood from Tegoshi’s face.
There was a loud gasp and Tegoshi was conscious again, crying out in pain. He was sobbing while trying to say something unintelligible. Massu finally made out "I can’t take it anymore, make it stop!"
"Hang in there," one of them said to him in a shaky voice, and then Yamapi had lifted him up in his arms. Tegoshi was crying uncontrollably and buried his face against Yamapi's shirt, his eyes shut in pain. Massu could see his arm dangling uselessly. The sight sent a cold shiver down his back-he found that he had control of his body again. He turned to Sachi.
"I think it's best for you to go home," he said to her in a surprisingly calm voice. "Call me and I'll make it up to you later." She stared back at him, her face pale, and vanished down the hall. Massu blankly watched her disappear before turning to look at the scene below him again. It was too late for him to do anything. Some of the managers had appeared and they were leading Yamapi, with Tegoshi in his arms, out to the hallway of the first floor.
"We have an emergency vehicle waiting at the back exit," one of them was saying. "We have to draw as little attention to this as possible. We don't want anyone catching wind of this before we get it under control..." The manager’s voice faded away, but Tegoshi's sobs could still be heard as they disappeared down the hall.
The remaining NEWS members lingered at the landing, looking at each other in shock. He could feel them glancing at him every once in while. He turned and rushed up the stairs, heading towards the locker room.
* * *
He stood there for a long time, staring unseeingly at his bag sitting in a heap at the bottom of his locker. Ten minutes later, the others filtered in-the accident had diverted their appetites and all they could think to do in their distress was gather and talk to each other in quick, hushed voices.
Yamapi came in half an hour after the rest. "He broke his arm," he announced to the room, assuming his position as leader of the group. It was something he rarely ever did, which only emphasized the situation. "They said he had a minor concussion when his head hit the floor but he should be okay." His eyes skimmed over each member in the room, pausing a little longer on Massu. "Our manager asked him what happened after he had calmed down a little. Tegoshi said that he was just being careless and his foot slipped when he was climbing the stairs."
"He was just being careless?" Ryo repeated. He was sitting on the couch with his arms crossed; perhaps surprisingly, he still looked the most shaken out of all of them. "He had to have been really distracted to hurt himself that badly."
"Don't you think he would have been able to catch himself at least halfway?" Shige thought out loud, "But instead he fell all the way down the stairs."
"No use dwelling over it, you guys," Koyama said tensely. He was sitting down, holding his head in his hands. "It's already happened. I'm just glad he only broke his arm-"
Massu slammed his locker shut, clenching his fist and punching it against the metal door, letting out a yell of frustration. For a moment he put his forehead against the locker, trying to suppress a sob before leaving the room. He desperately wanted to just wake up, and realize that he and Tegoshi had never had a fight in the first place.
He did not get very far before their manager stopped him. "Masuda. We need to talk."
We need to talk. That's what Tegoshi had said. If he had only listened, then Tegoshi definitely wouldn't be in the hospital right now... "Talk about what?" Massu asked flatly.
"Tegoshi-kun said that he hurt himself from his own carelessness." He looked steadily at Massu. "I think we know better than to believe that."
Massu kept his eyes averted and said nothing.
"The others said that you were there before they found him. You, and a girl that none of them had seen before... could she have had anything to do with this?"
"She didn't do anything," Massu said abruptly. "She... she was just a friend that I was going to have lunch with. Tegoshi... Tegoshi and I had an argument earlier and he was insisting that we talk about it. I got impatient with him and I-" He had to stop and take a deep, shuddering breath. "I tried to shake him off of me... a little too hard." He licked his dry lips and rubbed his eyes with one hand, keeping it there to cover his eyes.
"Masuda... we've never had problems with you losing your temper before."
"I know," Massu said miserably, clenching and unclenching his jaw.
"Especially not on Tegoshi-kun. If you two are having problems getting along, to the extent that it results in physical harm..." Massu let out a choked sound. The manager was trying to talk to him gently, but it only made him hurt even more. "... Then we might have to reconsider letting the two of you continue to work together as a unit. Namely, as Tegomasu." He finished, and Massu inhaled sharply. He lowered his hand from his face.
"Please," he said, trying to keep his voice steady. "Don't start taking any actions to end Tegomasu. This is a one-time only thing. It won't happen again."
"It shouldn't have even happened once," the manager said sadly. He touched Massu's shoulder and left him alone in the empty hallway.
Chapter: 3 of 5
Pairing: Masuda Takahisa x Tegoshi Yuya (eventutally); featuring the other NEWS members
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The tension between the two finally becomes too much.
Disclaimer: Same as always.
A/N: Ummm.... this one is one my favorite chapters because it's dramatic. And probably not what you all are expecting. >:) But forgive me if it's bad because I usually don't write dramatic stuff. Some parts are supposed to be a bit choppy to show how Massu is seeing things/feeling.
And I am aware that the chapter names are not exactly emotions (though they were intended to be), but whatever.
Chapter 3: Pain
Despite Koyama's advice, Tegoshi was reluctant to confront Massu first. His stubborn side told him that he had done nothing wrong; and therefore, Massu should be the one to make the first move and apologize.
But Massu didn't. Whenever they passed each other in the hall, they would act like strangers. If they happened to arrive at work at the same time, one would make a detour to the bathroom, even if he didn't need to use it.
It was the third day since their argument-three days of carefully avoiding each other. It was almost time for lunch when Massu's phone rang. Everyone was wrapping up to go on a break, so they paid no attention as Massu snuck out of the room to answer the call. By outward appearances, Tegoshi also seemed to be unbothered by it-but he secretly watched Massu leave out of the corner of his eye.
The call was from Sachi. From the other side of the line, her voice sounded hesitant. "Hello... um, Masuda-san? Your sister gave me your number, I hope you don't mind-"
"No, it's fine. She gave me your number too, and I was planning on calling you. Teshima-san, right?"
Her voiced brightened a bit. "Yes." There was an awkward pause. "So..."
He glanced at his watch. "I'm just about to get on my lunch break, so-"
"Oh! You're at work? I didn't interrupt you, did I? I thought that since it was Saturday, you wouldn't be..."
Massu smiled a little. "No no, we were getting ready to break anyway." He quickly checked his watch again. "Would you like to go to lunch with me? That way we can actually meet in person."
"Oh-um, yes, that sounds great! Where should I meet you?"
"Just come to the Johnny's building and wait in the lobby. I can show you around for a bit if you'd like." He recited the address of the building to her before hanging up and stepping back into the practice room, changing into his street clothes and going downstairs to wait for Sachi.
* * *
As soon as she walked in, he could tell that he might like her. She had a cute, slightly rounded face with hair styled in soft waves. She was also just around the right height for him. He met up with her near the back of the lobby, his hands stuffed in his pockets, suddenly feeling a bit shy.
"Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too."
There was another awkward silence before Massu gestured towards the door leading to the stairs. "Here, let me show you around before we go."
"Are you sure it's okay? I don't want you to get in trouble for having me here..."
"It's fine. Follow me." He opened the door for her and led her to the first floor, showing her all the practice and meeting rooms. "A lot of fans have this fantasy that if they ever came inside of the Johnny’s building, they'd find themselves in a giant room full of handsome guys," he explained, laughing a little as they walked through the halls. "But everyone's got their own agenda. Different units have different things to do. We don't hang out with other groups during work too often unless we're practicing a routine together."
Sachi nodded, looking at frames and plaques hanging on the wall as they walked past them. "It is a lot quieter than I imagined."
"Well, that may be because everyone’s taking their lunch break right now." He smiled and opened one of the doors. "This is NEWS's practice room. We were just learning a new dan-oh." He stopped. Tegoshi was still there, at the far side of the room, putting on his jacket. He had turned his head when he heard Massu's voice at the door and was now staring at the two people looking in on him.
"N-nice to meet you!" Sachi bowed, blushing in embarrassment from barging in on Tegoshi.
"Teshima-san, this is Tegoshi. Tegoshi, this is Teshima," Massu said a little stiffly. As he looked back and forth between the two, it suddenly occurred to him why his sister had said that Sachi was "totally his type." She could have passed as Tegoshi’s sister, or at least his cousin. Their features shared a chilling resemblance; except, Massu realized, Tegoshi’s nose was a little more perfectly shaped, his eyes a bit bigger, and when he smiled, he looked cuter-NO. You did NOT just think that. This realization was too much for Massu to take. He needed to get away from Tegoshi. "Sorry to barge in on you. We were just about to go to lunch." He swiftly closed the door, shutting Tegoshi's shocked expression from his vision.
Ignoring the revelation he had just made, Massu quickly led Sachi down the hall and they begin to climb the stairs again. His appetite had suddenly left him (for what was perhaps the first time ever), but he still managed to say, "We can grab a bite to eat somewhere around here. Just let me get my stuff from the locker rooms."
He heard a door open from somewhere below them and Tegoshi appeared from where they had just come. "Massu, wait. We need to talk." He quickly caught up to Massu; Sachi had been a couple steps ahead of Massu, but she paused at the door of the next floor to wait for him.
Tegoshi grabbed Massu’s arm and spoke in a low voice into his ear so that she could not hear what he was saying. "What do you think you're doing? Bringing a girl to work? This is just as bad-no, probably worse than what I did."
"We'll talk about this later," Massu said loudly, trying to proceed up the stairs. But Tegoshi wouldn't let go of his arm.
"No, we are going to talk about this now. Massu, just apologize to me and then you won't be such a hypocri-"
"I said that we'll talk about this later!" He shook Tegoshi’s hand off of his arm roughly, turning around to give him a hard look in the eyes.
For a split second he saw Tegoshi's eyes go wide in astonishment. Massu had flung his hand away from him with such force that he had lost his footing on the steps. He seemed to fall in slow motion; his body curving back in an arc, his hands reaching out for something to grab on to. The look in his eyes seemed to say, "You’ve betrayed me." Massu tried to catch him by the wrist but he missed-and suddenly everything sped up again. Tegoshi hit the stairs with a sickening smack-Sachi let out a shriek behind him but all Massu could hear was Tegoshi’s cry of pain-he was still falling, unable to stop himself from rolling ungracefully down the stairs until he hit the landing below, where he lay silent and unmoving.
Massu could suddenly hear his own ragged breathing as he stared at Tegoshi's still form at the bottom of the stairs. He wanted to move, to check to see if he was okay, to call for help-but his throat and limbs were stopped. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god.
Before he knew it, the door that Sachi had been standing next to opened and the other NEWS members were coming down, talking and laughing with each other. They noticed Sachi standing there and looked at her, puzzled-until Ryo suddenly shouted Tegoshi's name and rushed down the stairs to crouch next his motionless group mate. The others were quick to follow, and the stairway was soon filled with their shouts.
Massu was still rooted to the spot. It seemed like a dream; a dream where he didn't exist, and all he could do was watch. Everything seemed too surreal to be true.
"I'll get one of the managers!" Shige yelled, running back up the stairs and past Massu. Koyama was pulling a handkerchief from his bag and trying to dab some blood from Tegoshi’s face.
There was a loud gasp and Tegoshi was conscious again, crying out in pain. He was sobbing while trying to say something unintelligible. Massu finally made out "I can’t take it anymore, make it stop!"
"Hang in there," one of them said to him in a shaky voice, and then Yamapi had lifted him up in his arms. Tegoshi was crying uncontrollably and buried his face against Yamapi's shirt, his eyes shut in pain. Massu could see his arm dangling uselessly. The sight sent a cold shiver down his back-he found that he had control of his body again. He turned to Sachi.
"I think it's best for you to go home," he said to her in a surprisingly calm voice. "Call me and I'll make it up to you later." She stared back at him, her face pale, and vanished down the hall. Massu blankly watched her disappear before turning to look at the scene below him again. It was too late for him to do anything. Some of the managers had appeared and they were leading Yamapi, with Tegoshi in his arms, out to the hallway of the first floor.
"We have an emergency vehicle waiting at the back exit," one of them was saying. "We have to draw as little attention to this as possible. We don't want anyone catching wind of this before we get it under control..." The manager’s voice faded away, but Tegoshi's sobs could still be heard as they disappeared down the hall.
The remaining NEWS members lingered at the landing, looking at each other in shock. He could feel them glancing at him every once in while. He turned and rushed up the stairs, heading towards the locker room.
* * *
He stood there for a long time, staring unseeingly at his bag sitting in a heap at the bottom of his locker. Ten minutes later, the others filtered in-the accident had diverted their appetites and all they could think to do in their distress was gather and talk to each other in quick, hushed voices.
Yamapi came in half an hour after the rest. "He broke his arm," he announced to the room, assuming his position as leader of the group. It was something he rarely ever did, which only emphasized the situation. "They said he had a minor concussion when his head hit the floor but he should be okay." His eyes skimmed over each member in the room, pausing a little longer on Massu. "Our manager asked him what happened after he had calmed down a little. Tegoshi said that he was just being careless and his foot slipped when he was climbing the stairs."
"He was just being careless?" Ryo repeated. He was sitting on the couch with his arms crossed; perhaps surprisingly, he still looked the most shaken out of all of them. "He had to have been really distracted to hurt himself that badly."
"Don't you think he would have been able to catch himself at least halfway?" Shige thought out loud, "But instead he fell all the way down the stairs."
"No use dwelling over it, you guys," Koyama said tensely. He was sitting down, holding his head in his hands. "It's already happened. I'm just glad he only broke his arm-"
Massu slammed his locker shut, clenching his fist and punching it against the metal door, letting out a yell of frustration. For a moment he put his forehead against the locker, trying to suppress a sob before leaving the room. He desperately wanted to just wake up, and realize that he and Tegoshi had never had a fight in the first place.
He did not get very far before their manager stopped him. "Masuda. We need to talk."
We need to talk. That's what Tegoshi had said. If he had only listened, then Tegoshi definitely wouldn't be in the hospital right now... "Talk about what?" Massu asked flatly.
"Tegoshi-kun said that he hurt himself from his own carelessness." He looked steadily at Massu. "I think we know better than to believe that."
Massu kept his eyes averted and said nothing.
"The others said that you were there before they found him. You, and a girl that none of them had seen before... could she have had anything to do with this?"
"She didn't do anything," Massu said abruptly. "She... she was just a friend that I was going to have lunch with. Tegoshi... Tegoshi and I had an argument earlier and he was insisting that we talk about it. I got impatient with him and I-" He had to stop and take a deep, shuddering breath. "I tried to shake him off of me... a little too hard." He licked his dry lips and rubbed his eyes with one hand, keeping it there to cover his eyes.
"Masuda... we've never had problems with you losing your temper before."
"I know," Massu said miserably, clenching and unclenching his jaw.
"Especially not on Tegoshi-kun. If you two are having problems getting along, to the extent that it results in physical harm..." Massu let out a choked sound. The manager was trying to talk to him gently, but it only made him hurt even more. "... Then we might have to reconsider letting the two of you continue to work together as a unit. Namely, as Tegomasu." He finished, and Massu inhaled sharply. He lowered his hand from his face.
"Please," he said, trying to keep his voice steady. "Don't start taking any actions to end Tegomasu. This is a one-time only thing. It won't happen again."
"It shouldn't have even happened once," the manager said sadly. He touched Massu's shoulder and left him alone in the empty hallway.