Charisma
Charisma
pg. 2112. Nishikido Ryo, Horikita Maki (Ohkura Tadayoshi, Yamashita Tomohisa)
“It’s my first time working together with Horikita and I’m going to have to put everything I have into this role, so that I won’t lose to her overwhelming charisma.”
Written for dalampasigan in light of the recent Ryo & Maki movie news with the prompt, "RYO, MAKI, AND MAKI'S OVERWHELMING CHARISMA." Because clearly Ryo was asking for this to be done.
Also unbeta’d (though it should be beta’d) and barely edited and probably questionable and weird at times but I am behind on GYWO and just glad I am writing and Miss Reen wanted this posted so here we go! I'll try to edit it one day;;;
The first thing Ryo does when he gets the call from his manager about Kenchou Omotenashi Ka is panic a little, just a little. It’s not that he’s so freaked out about a movie role-he already has one under his belt, after all, and his biggest fear then was if the movie became a complete flop and he was never given another opportunity to star in a movie again. It’s not even that he’s starring with a high-profile actress, because he’s done that before, too. Has already had to match his acting with some of the elites and although he’s failed on occasion, he’s been trying harder to improve-which, he thinks and hopes, has shown.
But what really startles him about the movie role is the fact that he will be acting alongside Horikita Maki, he’s tempted to say The Horikita Maki, which is silly because she’s just a girl-woman-four years his junior even, and while she’s very talented she’s not exactly, with her giant doe eyes and tiny pink smile and five-foot-something frame, not in the least bit intimidating-looking. It’s just that she’s already worked with so many of his colleagues and peers, so many of his sempai, so many other talented actors and actresses; four years his junior but he’s sure she has double, maybe even three times his filmography.
Horikita Maki always just seemed so-unreachable.
*
He asks Yamapi casually, over lunch, what to expect when working with her. Yamapi pauses mid-bite and something flickers in his eyes, stays and lingers as he sets his fork down and purses his lips. “That’s right, I heard you were filming a movie with her.” He blinks and the haze is gone. “Maki-chan is really nice, quiet at first until you get to know her. Kind of like you I guess.” And then he resumes eating.
“That’s it?”
“Well, what else do you want to know? It’s a weird question.”
“I guess.” Ryo says, slightly off put. Maybe it was kind of a stupid question in hindsight. She was just fifteen then (and then sixteen and then eighteen), just at the precipice of her career and popularity and, well, adulthood.
“You’ll like working with her.” And it’s there again, that strange little flicker.
“Why do you look like that when you talk about her?”
“Like what?”
“Like-” Ryo gestures helplessly with his hands. He’s not so good of an actor to think he can imitate that exact look.
Yamapi smiles with one corner of his mouth and it almost, if Ryo’s not mistaken, looks like loss. “She’s just-there’s just something about her.”
*
“Charisma,” Ohkura describes it matter-of-factly. “It’s like, everyone knows her, obviously. She’s famous. She’s pretty, but she’s not like, you know-”
“Small boobs?” Subaru asks sympathetically.
“No, well yeah I guess, but they’re not bad-wait, I mean, NOT THAT I WAS LOOKING,” Ohkura yells before Hina can open his mouth. He coughs. “Anyway, it boils down to charisma. She could totally be one of those diva-types, but she’s not. She’s nice to literally everyone and-”
“And she even bought you a book for your birthday, right?” Ryo finishes, having heard this story several times too many. One present and one year later he is still a smitten mess of goo.
“Oh, stop showing off already,” Yoko grumbles from the corner.
*
Horikita Maki breezes into the studio with the sunniest smile at six in the morning, says hello and how do you do and greets each and every member of the staff and cast as if they are a dear old friend. So perfectly hospitable. “Good morning, Nishikido-kun.” She inclines her head as she speaks and her eyes look inhumanly large and inhumanly, sickeningly cute.
Charisma, whispers Ohkura’s voice in his ear, but Ryo swats it away impatiently.
“Good morning.”
He won’t lose to her charisma.
*
It’s an uphill battle, or maybe, technically, a downhill one. Kakemizu Fumitaka’s fate is sealed like the cinematic rest; boy meets girl, boy fights with girl, boy inevitably falls in love with girl, and then boy and girl live hospitably ever after. And Taki would be a very fine girl to live hospitably ever after with.
Fucking charisma.
*
Her birthday is in October. Almost exactly one month before his. He spends the whole day engrossed in the script, trying to keep his lines straight. It’s not until they’re singing “Happy Birthday, Maki-chan” and literally wheeling a giant sheet cake directly under his nose that he understands what’s going on. Maki doesn’t seem surprised in the least, just has a gentle smile on her face like she’s used to it, which she probably is. He wonders how many birthdays she’s worked during. He wonders if it outnumbers his.
“Happy birthday,” he says when she offers him a thick slice of cake. Then, “Wait, shouldn’t anyone but you be the one to pass out cake?”
Maki just laughs and Ryo has an inexplicable urge to smear frosting on her nose.
So he does.
To the shock of pretty much everyone in the room, including himself. Maki, still wide-eyed, wipes the frosting off on one finger and sticks it in her mouth in a fairly unfair manner before smiling. “It’s good Nishikido-kun, you should try some,” she says sweetly, before tilting his piece of cake into his chin.
It’s the shortest time he’s ever taken to get from outraged to laughing.
*
Two, almost three, weeks pass before Ryo wakes up one morning and realizes: I need to buy Horikita Maki a present. Because filming ends at the end of November. And his birthday is November third. And he’s pretty sure she will get him a gift because she’s just that kind of insufferably nice person who will remember birthdays ahead of time and buy suitably lovely gifts and Ryo does not want to feel like he owes her something or something. Something Yamapi’s voice echoes and Ryo groans and dials up Ohkura. “Get dressed, we’re going to a bookstore.”
*
“So why are we at a bookstore today?”
“Because I don’t read.”
“Okay, so, again, why are we at a bookstore today?”
“Because you do.”
Ohkura scratches his ear. “Um?”
“Horikita Maki’s birthday. I figured I would get her a book. You like books right? So you can help me buy a book.”
“Okay sure.” He pauses like he wants to ask another question, probably why are you even buying her a present and Ryo has at least a few rehearsed answers that don’t sound dumb prepared. “Why do you always refer to her as Horikita Maki?”
“Shut up and pick out a smart book, nerd.”
*
Ryo spends ten minutes studying cards while Ohkura runs about the bookshelves with barely contained glee. “You better not be looking for yourself,” Ryo mutters as Ohkura passes him by, a pile of books in his arms. Ohkura winks and disappears again, leaving Ryo to choose between a card with a cake on the cover with and a simple “Happy Birthday” on the inside and a glittery pink card with “Happy Birthday” written on the front and nothing on the inside. He goes with the first option because all he has to do is sign his name. With card in hand he finds Ohkura sitting on the floor in-between bookshelves, snickering to himself at a copy of Dirty English Phrases.
“What did I tell you?”
“No, this is for Maki-chan, I swear.” The thin line of red dripping from his nose makes this highly unlikely.
“Let me see what you picked out so far. Hmm, Fifty Shades of Masochism? Pink and Gray? Karma Sutra for the Flat-Chested?! What-are you actually trying to help me?”
“Nope!” Ohkura says with big smile on his face, planting the Dirty English Phrases book into Ryo’s hands before making a giggling beeline for the R-rated section behind the curtain.
*
Ryo arrives home with only a card, briefly wonders if it would seem too old-man-like to just slip her 2000 yen before dialing Yoko’s number. “Hey, I know you’re a big fan of Horikita Maki so I was wondering what you think might be a good gift for her.”
“What did I tell you about showing off?” Yoko huffs before there is a click and a dial tone. Ryo sighs and this time considers 5000 yen before dialing Yamapi’s number.
*
“She got me a toy water gun for my birthday during Kurosagi filming,” Yamapi mentions, playing with the straw of his drink. “You know, the catch phrase and all. Bang!” He demonstrates this with his index finger and thumb. “I think Kame gave her a KAT-TUN DVD before.”
“That’s stupid. Kame’s stupid. Who would give that kind of embarrassing thing to anyone they know in real life?”
“Then just get her something she might like.”
“But I have no idea what she likes.”
“Why do you care so much?” Yamapi asks, and there’s that strange look in his eyes again.
“I-” Ryo growls and sets his chin on the tabletop and remembers cream and cake and the sound of her laughter and he shuts his eyes against Yamapi’s inquiring stare. “Charisma. Overwhelming charisma.”
*
October rolls into November and Ryo still has a unsigned birthday card on his desk. Only on the envelope has he written, “To: Horikita Maki-san.” It mocks him on his way out to filming every morning. At this rate, when and if he ever found something to get for her, he would have to mail it.
*
He spends almost every day engrossed in trying to think up a decent present for her that it’s not until they’re singing “Happy Birthday” and wheeling a large sheet cake directly in front of him that he realizes: it’s his birthday. Mere seconds after he blows out the candles, she appears in front of him with a hefty piece of cake in her hands and a smile on her face. “Happy birthday, Nishikido-kun. Don’t worry, this time your face is safe!” And he thinks, this is it, here is where she will give him a thoughtful and generous present and make him look the worst person ever in front of everyone else because Horikita Maki is so thoughtful and kind and cute because she remembers her co-star’s birthday, even when they are grumpy little men from Osaka trying to act like a genuine Kochi man and probably failing and-and she’s off handing out slices of cakes to everyone else in the studio.
He doesn’t know whether he’s more relieved or annoyed.
*
By the end of November and the end of filming he’s just annoyed. She gets him all riled up and guilty for not thinking about her birthday and spends ages trying to find something she might like and she gets Yamapi and Ohkura gifts for their birthdays and what, are they better than he is and how come she didn’t get him a gift. Then he reflects and thinks this is stupid because she did nothing to him except maybe breathe and exist and that’s not really her fault.
But he’s still somehow frustrated.
So when the last scene is finished and the staff brings out bouquets of flowers and Maki comes up to him with a big smile on her face and says, “It was nice working with you, Nishikido-kun,” he blurts out, “Why didn’t you get me a birthday gift?”
He brings his flowers to cover his horrified mouth and stutters, “I mean-that’s not-I didn’t think-”
“To be honest,” Maki says, smiling sheepishly and rubbing the back of her neck. “I was having trouble thinking of something you would really like. It was getting to the point where I figured I would just mail you the present if I finally thought of something.”
It’s the shortest time he’s ever taken to go from shocked to appalled to-well, he’s not sure what it is exactly. But it’s at least the first time he’s really thought of her as just a girl-woman-four years his junior, just Maki with her giant doe eyes and tiny pink smile and, at this distance, with four inches on her, she really doesn’t seem the least bit intimidating. Almost reachable.
“Dinner?” he asks, mouth working faster than his brain. “We can, um, pay for each other. For completely birthday gift-giving purposes, of course.”
“Of course,” she says, and then reaches over and touches her fingers against his lips. When he blinks furiously at her she gives him another sheepish smile and holds up something tiny and pink. “S-sorry. Flower petal.”
Fucking overwhelming charisma.