Gift fic for carmine_pink
Gift fic for: carmine_pink
From: newsficcon
Title: With All Haste
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Shige/Massu bffery. Appearances from a lot of others in the agency.
Warnings: none.
Summary: In a move unprecedented (at least in Japan), Johnny reinstates the dorms and moves everyone in. Shige is really not pleased.
Notes: for carmine_pink! A hearty thanks goes to my betas, and another great thank you to the mods for being saintly patient with me. ♥
To YOU!
Starting tomorrow, you will all be moving into the brand new dorms I have secured for Johnny's talent. Quite frankly, the cost of ferrying you all back and forth from whatever subpar residence you chose to reside in to your jobs is far too high for my liking. We are in a recession, and costs must be cut where they can be. Plus, all the Koreans are doing it and they haven't killed each other yet. Also, this bodes well for my personal entertainment.
Please be checked in by 8 PM.
That is all,
Johnny K.
At least his roommate is Massu.
That's the only thought keeping him going through this utter mess of a nightmare.
Shige has yet to unpack -- three-fourths of him feels like this must be some stupid joke for an agency-wide dokkiri, and so there's no point in unpacking when he clearly has to pack a few days later. Even so, he still thinks he hears the desperate screams of his co-workers and the sound of nails clawing at deadbolted doors throughout the night -- voices begging to be let out, freed from this place. Shige falls asleep to haunting dreams of misery and, worse yet, semi-public humiliation.
He jolts awake at Massu's alarm clock the next morning and, much to his dismay, he is still in his tiny little bed in their tiny little dorm.
Massu's arm shoots out from a cocoon of blankets on the other bed, fingers questing for the machine before slamming it off and retreating. Shige's ears manages to catch a sniffle through the bedding.
"Are you okay?" Shige asks, blinking up at the ceiling.
"I want to go home," Massu replies in a small voice.
Shige sighs. "Yeah. I do too."
Later on in the week, eyes trained to the night sky outside the window, Shige gets the brilliant idea that maybe they should try to escape. They're idols, damnit. And if they're expected to sing, dance, act, and who knows what else, maybe they should add escapee to that list.
That sort of knowledge is bound to come in handy someday.
Massu spends another week moping over the loss of his mother's cooking, even though she personally delivers a giant package filled with homemade bentos in a slight fit of worry. It ebbs the pain he's going through, at least for a few days, but when it's all gone due to Massu's stress eating, he goes back to moping, which, at this point, just spurs Shige on even more to find a way out of this mess.
Koyama doesn't feel the same, however.
"Massu, it isn't so bad! We're all friends, this is fun!" Koyama says gently.
In fact, Koyama has so much fun with the new arrangement that he declares himself an honorary roommate.
Of everyone.
Shige is rather amazed at how he pulled it all off, honestly. At first, it was just a few people that didn't mind Koyama's presence -- Shige and Massu, for one, then there was Yokoo (and Fujigaya by association), Taguchi and Nakamaru. Shige still doesn't think much of it when Koyama expands his reach to include the talkative half of Kanjani8 and MatsuJun, but when Koyama tries to get into the access restricted juniors section, things get a little dodgy.
"What if they need help with homework?" Koyama asks, trying to convince the guards to give him access to the floor. Shige doesn't want to say --
"Like you're qualified to tutor anybody," Tegoshi pipes up over their shoulders.
-- what Teogshi just said, and really, if Koyama wanted to help anybody, he should at least help his own groupmate first. Massu hasn't eaten in five hours on Shige's last count.
In the midst of the scuffle, there's a banging on the steel door, coming from the other side. "We wouldn't mind," a voice that is distinctively Toma calls out. "Really."
"They still have Toma in there?" Tegoshi asks, half incredulous, half choking on his gurgled laughter.
Koyama manages to get to the button to activate the doors, and they open a smidge before the guards override it and they close again with a resounding bang!, leaving the dismayed cries of Toma and perhaps even Shunsuke behind. However, Shige is equally creeped out at the sight of the juniors wing decorated like a child's nursery, complete with the multi-colored puzzle foam floor.
They establish a routine.
It just happens, almost as natural as breathing. Massu always wakes up earlier, off to use the on-site gym. Shige wakes up half an hour later and makes them breakfast. They take turns showering. Massu picks out an outfit for Shige to wear, blathering on about highlighting Shige's legs and teeny waist and, embarrassingly enough, nice ass; in return, Shige helps him do his hair even though it's no more than smoothing the back down in case Massu missed it, or mussed it up in his styling the other bits. Even when their schedules start to diverge and grow unpredictable, Shige wakes up earlier in case Massu has to, and vice versa. At first it's a little like taking care of a sibling, but as the days drag on, Koyama -- Koyama of all people -- starts calling them 'mom' and 'dad'. Shige burns his eggs out of spite.
"What are you doing?" Shige asks one morning when, out in the little kitchenette, Massu is tending to bread in a pan. His fingers itch to take a picture of Massu in an apron.
"Making French toast. I wiki'd how to," Massu says, carefully nudging the slices of toast around.
"Oh," is all Shige can say.
"Because I figured you're probably sick of making breakfast for me every morning." He scoops out the toast and puts it on a plate, hands it off to Shige, beaming. "Apple or orange juice?"
"Apple." And the French toast is the weirdest French toast he's ever seen, but damn is it good.
Subtlety is key here. Shige takes a few steps, cautiously checking and rechecking to see if anyone's tailing him. It doesn't seem very likely, and if anyone is behind him it's because he's just out in the hallway and everyone can go where they want to go, but Shige is on a mission, and finding help is integral in making his plan a success.
Not that he actually has a plan right now, but it's easier with a variety of people with a variety of skillsets. He already has Massu, so all he really needs now is some more brains and a smidge more brawn. And maybe a little bit of sass, just to round things out.
It takes ten seconds for Shige to acquire Tegoshi's help on account of Massu being a blabbermouth and telling him about it already. He'd actually be a little miffed about it if it weren't for the fact that it saved him lots of time -- efficiency is key.
All right, doing everything in a ninja-like manner is key. Whatever.
He nudges Massu down the hallway, keeping their steps light to avoid any encounters.
"Why are we creeping?" Massu asks, voice hushed. "Everyone's walking around anyway."
True, the floor is active as alcohol flows freely, probably from Nagase's room, but that's not the point right now. Right now, they need to find someone, that someone being Yokoo.
Yokoo is a natural choice. He and Shige go way back since the K.K.Kitty days, and the other is resourceful and has an impeccable affinity for detail, and not to mention calm under stress. The only downfall is that Fujigaya is practically attached at his hip -- not that Shige doesn't like Fujigaya, but they don't need more sass. Tegoshi could out-sass all of Harajuku.
Fujigaya eyes Shige and Massu like they're stealing something precious from him when he asks to speak to Yokoo alone. Yokoo apologizes as the door slams shut and they can hear Fujigaya hollering at Miyata to entertain him, so Shige wastes no time in explaining his vision of getting them all out of there. Just the typical, he informs him.
"Just breaking out of a glorified prison, no big deal," Yokoo echoes, grinning a toothy grin as someone starts banging on the door.
While Massu stays behind to help Yokoo deal with an irate Fujigaya, Shige catches Maruyama alone in the lounge and gets a simple 'yes' from him. Shige tells him that it'll take some time to get everything he needs to ensure that this goes off without a hitch, and Maru merely nods, then the two of them get into a rather heated debate about vampires.
It's not until a week later when Maru knocks and waltzes in, dumping an envelope into Shige's hand containing blueprints and the details of each security guard's patrol detail. As Shige fans out all the information before him, he can't help his bafflement -- he hadn't even gotten close to finding the blueprints anywhere. "How did you get all of this?"
Maru mock salutes, grinning. "Never doubt the typical teenager when they're forced into situations against their will!" He relaxes, putting hands on his hips. "Akito rounded up a few of the more trustworthy Kansai juniors and organized a team to collect it for me in exchange for helping them get out of here, too. They're getting pretty sick of that puzzle floor."
Three months into the living arrangement, SMAP throws them all a homecoming luau.
It's almost a classy affair until the caterers roll out the roasted pig and Nagase gets all manly and amped up on testosterone, tearing into it single-handedly with his hands, still keeping the others at large in mind and piling up the meat neatly onto a platter. As expected, no one has any except Koichi, too used to Nagase's antics (and too weird to notice anything weird with Nagase carving a pig with his hands).
Tegoshi grabs Massu off to hang out with KAT-TUN and Shige takes refuge in a quieter corner of the party. He's pretty deep in a conversation with Yokoo about the possibilities of rappelling down the side of the building when an arm slings itself around his shoulders and Maru's telltale giggle is all up in his ear.
"Shige-chan," Maru giggles, hair sticking into Shige's eyes. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that Maru is just a tiny bit drunk. Over his shoulder, and from what he can see through the forest of dark brown, Miyata comes over and immediately takes hold of Maru's other side, keeping him upright.
"Sorry, I don't know how he got away from me," Miyata apologizes profusely.
"No, it's okay, it's just Maru." Something else piques an interest in Shige's mind, though. "Why are you following him around?"
Miyata blinks, then smiles wide. "Kanjani8 and Kisumai have decided on a senpai-kouhai partner system! Since we're the only ones with seven members, you know."
"I'm aware," Shige says, amused, then takes to checking the room out to see if this is true and maybe he just missed the details, but can't decipher the crowd to see for himself, though Kitayama and Ohkura are huddled over the food table together.
"This means that Miyacchi here has to come with us when we break free! Since, y'know, buddy."
"Yes, okay," Shige hurries, lest Maru start talking even more and reveal his entire plan. He's drunk enough that he doesn't think anyone would listen to him, but better play it safe. Miyata, to his credit, doesn't look affected at all, concentrating on keep Maru upright, so Shige goes back to the original subject. "Watta, who's your buddy?"
"Yokoyama-kun. He's not much trouble when he's with Taguchi, so I'm not so worried." Yokoo shrugs.
Shige has a feeling that Yokoo doesn't know Yoko all that well.
"Shige-chan, will you dance with me?" Maru interjects.
"Uh...sure?" The words are barely out of Shige's mouth when he's being tugged along and gets an armful of Maru as they begin to sway to no music at all, just the din of chatter around them, though that soon winds down when they realize that Shige and Maru are dancing, something Shige doubts he will ever live down. Over Maru's shoulder, Massu watches them with amusement on his cheeks. Shige's cheek flush and he gently swings them around to face the other way.
"So, what are we dancing to?" Shige asks. Just for posterity and all. He might as well know all the details.
"Lady Gaga."
Good enough.
Generally speaking, living with Massu isn't as bad as he thought it would be, despite the other's need for complete cleanliness and organization. They're not perfect roommates, not by any meaning of the phrase, but they make it work.
Most of the time.
"Shige, I told you not to leave your socks around," Massu says, barely keeping the sigh in as he nudges them towards Shige.
"They're not even dirty." Shige shuts his book and leans over his bed, picking them up. He had gotten them out, thinking he wanted to wear sneakers, but went with flip-flops at the last moment.
"I don't know that," Massu argues.
"They're just socks," Shige snipes back, though he knows better than to exacerbate the situation. He's been on the receiving end of Massu's clean lectures, but really, after getting no sleep thanks to whoever playing dubstep until three in the morning, Shige's just not in the mood.
"First it's socks, then it's shoes, then pants, belts, shirts, and soon we won't even have a floor." Massu crosses his arms.
"Yes, because leaving socks on the floor is like some crazy gateway drug to complete and utter chaos." Nevertheless, Shige balls his socks up and tosses them back into their drawer. He really doesn't want to fight, he thinks, as Massu merely stares at him, lips pursing into a frown, brow wrinkled. Shige resolutely opens his book again.
A few minutes later, he hears the door to their room open and slam shut, then the sound of retreating footsteps padding down the hall.
Shige sighs.
The unspoken fight continues for a week and a half with Tegoshi as the go-between, which is plenty annoying in and of itself, but thankfully, it all comes to an equally unspoken end when Massu invites Nakamaru to stay over the night in a gesture to actually let the KAT-TUN member sleep, if even for a little.
"It all started when I woke up to Yoko climbing in through the window..."
Shige couldn't help but look up from his laptop.
"I don't know why he was climbing through the window, and I still don't get it now even after he explained it, but there he was, climbing in through our window. He accidentally stepped on Taguchi's face, which woke him up, and then he explained how Hina was making him feel all sorts of inferior in their dorm because he was all chiseled and hanging out everywhere and how awful his manhood was being affected because of it," Nakamaru continues, laying flat on his stomach on Massu's bed. "Taguchi thought this was a riot, of course, so Yoko's been staying in our room for the past few days."
It didn't sound too horrible but before Shige could pipe up, Nakamaru goes on. "One night, Nagase-senpai and Koki come over and...well, you can imagine how that ended."
Massu looks torn between laughing and cringing. "So what's the situation in your room right now?"
Nakamaru frowns. "We've lost both beds, a lamp, there's some Jell-O permanently stuck to our ceiling, and all we've got to show for it is a lumpy air mattress." A pause. "And a kiddie pool." Another pause. "And I think Nagase-senpai accidentally kicked a hole into the wall when he was chasing after a balloon."
Shige snorts back his laughter as Massu lets his go, laughing so hard that Nakamaru catches it and laughs at the ridiculous predicament he's found himself in. The tension from Massu and Shige's unspoken argument seeps out of the room, mood lifting immediately as Shige catches Massu's eyes for a brief moment, glimmering in mirth. The other's laughter softens a little, quiets down to mere chuckles, but the wide smile is still there and Shige feels better than he has all week.
It could have been so much worse.
Despite all the shenanigans that the building had been under since their dorms had been reinstated, Shige and Massu try their best to have as normal of a life they can. Nakamaru helps and hangs out, but for the most part, they manage to keep their lives relatively...calm. Surprisingly. It helps that they put a ban on any unscrupulous agency members for Thursday night movie night after somebody switched that movie about a talking stray cat out for softcore porn. (As for who that person is, Shige doesn't know, but he has a hunch that it was probably Yoko.)
Of course, this doesn't stop Shige from aspiring to get out of there, and he still thinks it's slightly ridiculous that he's one of the last few that seem to mind this whole thing even now.
"I still don't understand why we're still all living here," Shige sighs.
Massu looks over from his perch reading manga at the desk. "It's not so bad, is it? Besides, it's not like you've gotten any information on how we can leave otherwise."
"None of my spies have proven to be very successful at the whole 'spying' thing." Then again, maybe he shouldn't have sent whimpering juniors to try and collect intel. He'll have to keep that in mind.
"Then maybe we're just stuck here. Do you really hate it though?"
"Well, no, but it's not something that I want to get used to for the long haul."
Massu shrugs. "There's no place like home, I suppose."
"You seem surprisingly okay with this all of a sudden."
"I'm not. I just have some faith that the world will right itself eventually." He pauses. "Plus, if you think for one second that I'd prefer this over my mom's cooking, then you must be a clone of Shige and not the real one."
"What if I was a clone?"
Massu thinks on this for a moment. "Then I'd find the other one, but keep you too. Double the Shige isn't so bad."
"So this is where we're starting -- "
"Where?"
"Here."
"Where?"
"Here, I'm pointing to it!"
"I can't see anything over Massu's hair."
"Sorry."
"Why are the lights so dimmed, anyway?"
"Shige-chan said it was for the mood."
Laughter, then an abrupt pause. "Oh, he was being serious?"
"Can we forget about the lights, we're planning a breakout here!"
"Keep yelling and everyone will know. Jeez."
"I still don't get how the lights being dimmed will help."
"It's not meant to help, it's just for atmosphere -- you know what, nevermind."
"Oooooh, like film moir?"
"What's film moir?"
"Like those movies way back when with private investigators and stuff."
"Dick Tracy! Bang bang!"
"Do we get trenchcoats? Ohhh, can we make it rain?"
"Throw some glitter, make it rain~♪"
"Sure, it's not like there's a shortage of glitter around here."
"Film moir sounds like so much fun..."
"IT'S FILM NOIR."
Afterward, tucked safely back in their dorm room, Massu paces.
"Are we really ready for this?"
Shige watches him for a few seconds before he gets a little dizzy, then reaches out and grasps the other by the shoulders. He turns him to face him, and Shige trains earnest eyes into slightly startled ones. "I promise you, I will get you out of here. I will protect you!"
Massu hugs him, and all is right with the world.
Or rather, it will be, once they're free.
In a strange plot twist, the weird living arrangement comes to an abrupt end when Subaru accidentally lights a bag of popcorn up in flames.
Everyone evacuates as per the protocol, but as the firemen and police come by to check the building out, no one bothers staying, least of all Shige, who immediately hops into a taxi and goes back to his apartment, praying that the agency hadn't done something crazy like break his lease or something. As his taxi drives away, he looks back and watches as a fleet of taxis stop and go, the other members of the agency following suit.
His apartment is just the same as it is, though, much to his relief. There's a layer of dust that would drive Massu crazy, he thinks, as he swipes his fingers over a cabinet. And the thought is a little bittersweet, he admits, and not just because the breakout ended up being a lot less climactic than he thought it would be.
He didn't even get to whisper conspiratorially into Massu's ear.
The Thursday after Shige moves back to his apartment, he gets a text message from Massu.
Movie night tonight?
Shige ponders this.
Yeah...okay.
Massu climbs the steps three floors, then turns and walks down the familiar hall. He stops in front of an equally familiar door and rings the doorbell.
There's no sound for a few moments but just when Massu is about to ring the bell again, there's a brief shuffling, the telltale sound of someone tripping over something, and then the door opens. Shige has his hair all over the place, eyes heavy with sleep still lingering, and Massu just smiles at him -- poking fun at his disheveled state would be too easy, even for him. Shige wordlessly opens the door wider and lets him in, padding back into his living room and flopping onto the couch. Massu carefully toes off his shoes and lines them up neatly by the door.
"Long day?" Massu asks, taking his usual seat on the floor, leaning his back against the sofa. He reaches for the television remote, turning it on and flipping to a variety show.
When Shige speaks, his puffs of air lightly blow against the hair on the back of Massu's head. "Pretty long. Ended earlier than usual, though." He yawns, stretching his back out, lolling his head to the side to focus on Massu and the TV. "How was the meeting for the tour?"
Massu launches into minute details about the next Tegomasu tour, the TV droning on in the background. Shige asks questions and listens, answers questions about where the plot in his next novel is taking him in return; as the sun sets in the sky, the talk dies down and the television takes over for them, but it's nice, the not-awkward silence. Shige doesn't miss living in the dorms, not for a second, but part of him misses having Massu's calming presence around all the time.
He reaches out and takes hold of a few strands of Massu's hair, holding them up to the sunlight, examining its color -- a fading blonde. "Maybe you should go back to red."
"Yeah?" Massu turns to look at Shige properly, making a mental note to never let Shige approach ripped jeans ever again.
"Yeah."
"Okay."
From: newsficcon
Title: With All Haste
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Shige/Massu bffery. Appearances from a lot of others in the agency.
Warnings: none.
Summary: In a move unprecedented (at least in Japan), Johnny reinstates the dorms and moves everyone in. Shige is really not pleased.
Notes: for carmine_pink! A hearty thanks goes to my betas, and another great thank you to the mods for being saintly patient with me. ♥
To YOU!
Starting tomorrow, you will all be moving into the brand new dorms I have secured for Johnny's talent. Quite frankly, the cost of ferrying you all back and forth from whatever subpar residence you chose to reside in to your jobs is far too high for my liking. We are in a recession, and costs must be cut where they can be. Plus, all the Koreans are doing it and they haven't killed each other yet. Also, this bodes well for my personal entertainment.
Please be checked in by 8 PM.
That is all,
Johnny K.
At least his roommate is Massu.
That's the only thought keeping him going through this utter mess of a nightmare.
Shige has yet to unpack -- three-fourths of him feels like this must be some stupid joke for an agency-wide dokkiri, and so there's no point in unpacking when he clearly has to pack a few days later. Even so, he still thinks he hears the desperate screams of his co-workers and the sound of nails clawing at deadbolted doors throughout the night -- voices begging to be let out, freed from this place. Shige falls asleep to haunting dreams of misery and, worse yet, semi-public humiliation.
He jolts awake at Massu's alarm clock the next morning and, much to his dismay, he is still in his tiny little bed in their tiny little dorm.
Massu's arm shoots out from a cocoon of blankets on the other bed, fingers questing for the machine before slamming it off and retreating. Shige's ears manages to catch a sniffle through the bedding.
"Are you okay?" Shige asks, blinking up at the ceiling.
"I want to go home," Massu replies in a small voice.
Shige sighs. "Yeah. I do too."
Later on in the week, eyes trained to the night sky outside the window, Shige gets the brilliant idea that maybe they should try to escape. They're idols, damnit. And if they're expected to sing, dance, act, and who knows what else, maybe they should add escapee to that list.
That sort of knowledge is bound to come in handy someday.
Massu spends another week moping over the loss of his mother's cooking, even though she personally delivers a giant package filled with homemade bentos in a slight fit of worry. It ebbs the pain he's going through, at least for a few days, but when it's all gone due to Massu's stress eating, he goes back to moping, which, at this point, just spurs Shige on even more to find a way out of this mess.
Koyama doesn't feel the same, however.
"Massu, it isn't so bad! We're all friends, this is fun!" Koyama says gently.
In fact, Koyama has so much fun with the new arrangement that he declares himself an honorary roommate.
Of everyone.
Shige is rather amazed at how he pulled it all off, honestly. At first, it was just a few people that didn't mind Koyama's presence -- Shige and Massu, for one, then there was Yokoo (and Fujigaya by association), Taguchi and Nakamaru. Shige still doesn't think much of it when Koyama expands his reach to include the talkative half of Kanjani8 and MatsuJun, but when Koyama tries to get into the access restricted juniors section, things get a little dodgy.
"What if they need help with homework?" Koyama asks, trying to convince the guards to give him access to the floor. Shige doesn't want to say --
"Like you're qualified to tutor anybody," Tegoshi pipes up over their shoulders.
-- what Teogshi just said, and really, if Koyama wanted to help anybody, he should at least help his own groupmate first. Massu hasn't eaten in five hours on Shige's last count.
In the midst of the scuffle, there's a banging on the steel door, coming from the other side. "We wouldn't mind," a voice that is distinctively Toma calls out. "Really."
"They still have Toma in there?" Tegoshi asks, half incredulous, half choking on his gurgled laughter.
Koyama manages to get to the button to activate the doors, and they open a smidge before the guards override it and they close again with a resounding bang!, leaving the dismayed cries of Toma and perhaps even Shunsuke behind. However, Shige is equally creeped out at the sight of the juniors wing decorated like a child's nursery, complete with the multi-colored puzzle foam floor.
They establish a routine.
It just happens, almost as natural as breathing. Massu always wakes up earlier, off to use the on-site gym. Shige wakes up half an hour later and makes them breakfast. They take turns showering. Massu picks out an outfit for Shige to wear, blathering on about highlighting Shige's legs and teeny waist and, embarrassingly enough, nice ass; in return, Shige helps him do his hair even though it's no more than smoothing the back down in case Massu missed it, or mussed it up in his styling the other bits. Even when their schedules start to diverge and grow unpredictable, Shige wakes up earlier in case Massu has to, and vice versa. At first it's a little like taking care of a sibling, but as the days drag on, Koyama -- Koyama of all people -- starts calling them 'mom' and 'dad'. Shige burns his eggs out of spite.
"What are you doing?" Shige asks one morning when, out in the little kitchenette, Massu is tending to bread in a pan. His fingers itch to take a picture of Massu in an apron.
"Making French toast. I wiki'd how to," Massu says, carefully nudging the slices of toast around.
"Oh," is all Shige can say.
"Because I figured you're probably sick of making breakfast for me every morning." He scoops out the toast and puts it on a plate, hands it off to Shige, beaming. "Apple or orange juice?"
"Apple." And the French toast is the weirdest French toast he's ever seen, but damn is it good.
Subtlety is key here. Shige takes a few steps, cautiously checking and rechecking to see if anyone's tailing him. It doesn't seem very likely, and if anyone is behind him it's because he's just out in the hallway and everyone can go where they want to go, but Shige is on a mission, and finding help is integral in making his plan a success.
Not that he actually has a plan right now, but it's easier with a variety of people with a variety of skillsets. He already has Massu, so all he really needs now is some more brains and a smidge more brawn. And maybe a little bit of sass, just to round things out.
It takes ten seconds for Shige to acquire Tegoshi's help on account of Massu being a blabbermouth and telling him about it already. He'd actually be a little miffed about it if it weren't for the fact that it saved him lots of time -- efficiency is key.
All right, doing everything in a ninja-like manner is key. Whatever.
He nudges Massu down the hallway, keeping their steps light to avoid any encounters.
"Why are we creeping?" Massu asks, voice hushed. "Everyone's walking around anyway."
True, the floor is active as alcohol flows freely, probably from Nagase's room, but that's not the point right now. Right now, they need to find someone, that someone being Yokoo.
Yokoo is a natural choice. He and Shige go way back since the K.K.Kitty days, and the other is resourceful and has an impeccable affinity for detail, and not to mention calm under stress. The only downfall is that Fujigaya is practically attached at his hip -- not that Shige doesn't like Fujigaya, but they don't need more sass. Tegoshi could out-sass all of Harajuku.
Fujigaya eyes Shige and Massu like they're stealing something precious from him when he asks to speak to Yokoo alone. Yokoo apologizes as the door slams shut and they can hear Fujigaya hollering at Miyata to entertain him, so Shige wastes no time in explaining his vision of getting them all out of there. Just the typical, he informs him.
"Just breaking out of a glorified prison, no big deal," Yokoo echoes, grinning a toothy grin as someone starts banging on the door.
While Massu stays behind to help Yokoo deal with an irate Fujigaya, Shige catches Maruyama alone in the lounge and gets a simple 'yes' from him. Shige tells him that it'll take some time to get everything he needs to ensure that this goes off without a hitch, and Maru merely nods, then the two of them get into a rather heated debate about vampires.
It's not until a week later when Maru knocks and waltzes in, dumping an envelope into Shige's hand containing blueprints and the details of each security guard's patrol detail. As Shige fans out all the information before him, he can't help his bafflement -- he hadn't even gotten close to finding the blueprints anywhere. "How did you get all of this?"
Maru mock salutes, grinning. "Never doubt the typical teenager when they're forced into situations against their will!" He relaxes, putting hands on his hips. "Akito rounded up a few of the more trustworthy Kansai juniors and organized a team to collect it for me in exchange for helping them get out of here, too. They're getting pretty sick of that puzzle floor."
Three months into the living arrangement, SMAP throws them all a homecoming luau.
It's almost a classy affair until the caterers roll out the roasted pig and Nagase gets all manly and amped up on testosterone, tearing into it single-handedly with his hands, still keeping the others at large in mind and piling up the meat neatly onto a platter. As expected, no one has any except Koichi, too used to Nagase's antics (and too weird to notice anything weird with Nagase carving a pig with his hands).
Tegoshi grabs Massu off to hang out with KAT-TUN and Shige takes refuge in a quieter corner of the party. He's pretty deep in a conversation with Yokoo about the possibilities of rappelling down the side of the building when an arm slings itself around his shoulders and Maru's telltale giggle is all up in his ear.
"Shige-chan," Maru giggles, hair sticking into Shige's eyes. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that Maru is just a tiny bit drunk. Over his shoulder, and from what he can see through the forest of dark brown, Miyata comes over and immediately takes hold of Maru's other side, keeping him upright.
"Sorry, I don't know how he got away from me," Miyata apologizes profusely.
"No, it's okay, it's just Maru." Something else piques an interest in Shige's mind, though. "Why are you following him around?"
Miyata blinks, then smiles wide. "Kanjani8 and Kisumai have decided on a senpai-kouhai partner system! Since we're the only ones with seven members, you know."
"I'm aware," Shige says, amused, then takes to checking the room out to see if this is true and maybe he just missed the details, but can't decipher the crowd to see for himself, though Kitayama and Ohkura are huddled over the food table together.
"This means that Miyacchi here has to come with us when we break free! Since, y'know, buddy."
"Yes, okay," Shige hurries, lest Maru start talking even more and reveal his entire plan. He's drunk enough that he doesn't think anyone would listen to him, but better play it safe. Miyata, to his credit, doesn't look affected at all, concentrating on keep Maru upright, so Shige goes back to the original subject. "Watta, who's your buddy?"
"Yokoyama-kun. He's not much trouble when he's with Taguchi, so I'm not so worried." Yokoo shrugs.
Shige has a feeling that Yokoo doesn't know Yoko all that well.
"Shige-chan, will you dance with me?" Maru interjects.
"Uh...sure?" The words are barely out of Shige's mouth when he's being tugged along and gets an armful of Maru as they begin to sway to no music at all, just the din of chatter around them, though that soon winds down when they realize that Shige and Maru are dancing, something Shige doubts he will ever live down. Over Maru's shoulder, Massu watches them with amusement on his cheeks. Shige's cheek flush and he gently swings them around to face the other way.
"So, what are we dancing to?" Shige asks. Just for posterity and all. He might as well know all the details.
"Lady Gaga."
Good enough.
Generally speaking, living with Massu isn't as bad as he thought it would be, despite the other's need for complete cleanliness and organization. They're not perfect roommates, not by any meaning of the phrase, but they make it work.
Most of the time.
"Shige, I told you not to leave your socks around," Massu says, barely keeping the sigh in as he nudges them towards Shige.
"They're not even dirty." Shige shuts his book and leans over his bed, picking them up. He had gotten them out, thinking he wanted to wear sneakers, but went with flip-flops at the last moment.
"I don't know that," Massu argues.
"They're just socks," Shige snipes back, though he knows better than to exacerbate the situation. He's been on the receiving end of Massu's clean lectures, but really, after getting no sleep thanks to whoever playing dubstep until three in the morning, Shige's just not in the mood.
"First it's socks, then it's shoes, then pants, belts, shirts, and soon we won't even have a floor." Massu crosses his arms.
"Yes, because leaving socks on the floor is like some crazy gateway drug to complete and utter chaos." Nevertheless, Shige balls his socks up and tosses them back into their drawer. He really doesn't want to fight, he thinks, as Massu merely stares at him, lips pursing into a frown, brow wrinkled. Shige resolutely opens his book again.
A few minutes later, he hears the door to their room open and slam shut, then the sound of retreating footsteps padding down the hall.
Shige sighs.
The unspoken fight continues for a week and a half with Tegoshi as the go-between, which is plenty annoying in and of itself, but thankfully, it all comes to an equally unspoken end when Massu invites Nakamaru to stay over the night in a gesture to actually let the KAT-TUN member sleep, if even for a little.
"It all started when I woke up to Yoko climbing in through the window..."
Shige couldn't help but look up from his laptop.
"I don't know why he was climbing through the window, and I still don't get it now even after he explained it, but there he was, climbing in through our window. He accidentally stepped on Taguchi's face, which woke him up, and then he explained how Hina was making him feel all sorts of inferior in their dorm because he was all chiseled and hanging out everywhere and how awful his manhood was being affected because of it," Nakamaru continues, laying flat on his stomach on Massu's bed. "Taguchi thought this was a riot, of course, so Yoko's been staying in our room for the past few days."
It didn't sound too horrible but before Shige could pipe up, Nakamaru goes on. "One night, Nagase-senpai and Koki come over and...well, you can imagine how that ended."
Massu looks torn between laughing and cringing. "So what's the situation in your room right now?"
Nakamaru frowns. "We've lost both beds, a lamp, there's some Jell-O permanently stuck to our ceiling, and all we've got to show for it is a lumpy air mattress." A pause. "And a kiddie pool." Another pause. "And I think Nagase-senpai accidentally kicked a hole into the wall when he was chasing after a balloon."
Shige snorts back his laughter as Massu lets his go, laughing so hard that Nakamaru catches it and laughs at the ridiculous predicament he's found himself in. The tension from Massu and Shige's unspoken argument seeps out of the room, mood lifting immediately as Shige catches Massu's eyes for a brief moment, glimmering in mirth. The other's laughter softens a little, quiets down to mere chuckles, but the wide smile is still there and Shige feels better than he has all week.
It could have been so much worse.
Despite all the shenanigans that the building had been under since their dorms had been reinstated, Shige and Massu try their best to have as normal of a life they can. Nakamaru helps and hangs out, but for the most part, they manage to keep their lives relatively...calm. Surprisingly. It helps that they put a ban on any unscrupulous agency members for Thursday night movie night after somebody switched that movie about a talking stray cat out for softcore porn. (As for who that person is, Shige doesn't know, but he has a hunch that it was probably Yoko.)
Of course, this doesn't stop Shige from aspiring to get out of there, and he still thinks it's slightly ridiculous that he's one of the last few that seem to mind this whole thing even now.
"I still don't understand why we're still all living here," Shige sighs.
Massu looks over from his perch reading manga at the desk. "It's not so bad, is it? Besides, it's not like you've gotten any information on how we can leave otherwise."
"None of my spies have proven to be very successful at the whole 'spying' thing." Then again, maybe he shouldn't have sent whimpering juniors to try and collect intel. He'll have to keep that in mind.
"Then maybe we're just stuck here. Do you really hate it though?"
"Well, no, but it's not something that I want to get used to for the long haul."
Massu shrugs. "There's no place like home, I suppose."
"You seem surprisingly okay with this all of a sudden."
"I'm not. I just have some faith that the world will right itself eventually." He pauses. "Plus, if you think for one second that I'd prefer this over my mom's cooking, then you must be a clone of Shige and not the real one."
"What if I was a clone?"
Massu thinks on this for a moment. "Then I'd find the other one, but keep you too. Double the Shige isn't so bad."
"So this is where we're starting -- "
"Where?"
"Here."
"Where?"
"Here, I'm pointing to it!"
"I can't see anything over Massu's hair."
"Sorry."
"Why are the lights so dimmed, anyway?"
"Shige-chan said it was for the mood."
Laughter, then an abrupt pause. "Oh, he was being serious?"
"Can we forget about the lights, we're planning a breakout here!"
"Keep yelling and everyone will know. Jeez."
"I still don't get how the lights being dimmed will help."
"It's not meant to help, it's just for atmosphere -- you know what, nevermind."
"Oooooh, like film moir?"
"What's film moir?"
"Like those movies way back when with private investigators and stuff."
"Dick Tracy! Bang bang!"
"Do we get trenchcoats? Ohhh, can we make it rain?"
"Throw some glitter, make it rain~♪"
"Sure, it's not like there's a shortage of glitter around here."
"Film moir sounds like so much fun..."
"IT'S FILM NOIR."
Afterward, tucked safely back in their dorm room, Massu paces.
"Are we really ready for this?"
Shige watches him for a few seconds before he gets a little dizzy, then reaches out and grasps the other by the shoulders. He turns him to face him, and Shige trains earnest eyes into slightly startled ones. "I promise you, I will get you out of here. I will protect you!"
Massu hugs him, and all is right with the world.
Or rather, it will be, once they're free.
In a strange plot twist, the weird living arrangement comes to an abrupt end when Subaru accidentally lights a bag of popcorn up in flames.
Everyone evacuates as per the protocol, but as the firemen and police come by to check the building out, no one bothers staying, least of all Shige, who immediately hops into a taxi and goes back to his apartment, praying that the agency hadn't done something crazy like break his lease or something. As his taxi drives away, he looks back and watches as a fleet of taxis stop and go, the other members of the agency following suit.
His apartment is just the same as it is, though, much to his relief. There's a layer of dust that would drive Massu crazy, he thinks, as he swipes his fingers over a cabinet. And the thought is a little bittersweet, he admits, and not just because the breakout ended up being a lot less climactic than he thought it would be.
He didn't even get to whisper conspiratorially into Massu's ear.
The Thursday after Shige moves back to his apartment, he gets a text message from Massu.
Movie night tonight?
Shige ponders this.
Yeah...okay.
Massu climbs the steps three floors, then turns and walks down the familiar hall. He stops in front of an equally familiar door and rings the doorbell.
There's no sound for a few moments but just when Massu is about to ring the bell again, there's a brief shuffling, the telltale sound of someone tripping over something, and then the door opens. Shige has his hair all over the place, eyes heavy with sleep still lingering, and Massu just smiles at him -- poking fun at his disheveled state would be too easy, even for him. Shige wordlessly opens the door wider and lets him in, padding back into his living room and flopping onto the couch. Massu carefully toes off his shoes and lines them up neatly by the door.
"Long day?" Massu asks, taking his usual seat on the floor, leaning his back against the sofa. He reaches for the television remote, turning it on and flipping to a variety show.
When Shige speaks, his puffs of air lightly blow against the hair on the back of Massu's head. "Pretty long. Ended earlier than usual, though." He yawns, stretching his back out, lolling his head to the side to focus on Massu and the TV. "How was the meeting for the tour?"
Massu launches into minute details about the next Tegomasu tour, the TV droning on in the background. Shige asks questions and listens, answers questions about where the plot in his next novel is taking him in return; as the sun sets in the sky, the talk dies down and the television takes over for them, but it's nice, the not-awkward silence. Shige doesn't miss living in the dorms, not for a second, but part of him misses having Massu's calming presence around all the time.
He reaches out and takes hold of a few strands of Massu's hair, holding them up to the sunlight, examining its color -- a fading blonde. "Maybe you should go back to red."
"Yeah?" Massu turns to look at Shige properly, making a mental note to never let Shige approach ripped jeans ever again.
"Yeah."
"Okay."