JE/NewS- "4 Things That Happen to Kusano If He Never Left NewS & 1 Thing That Happens When He Does"
Title: Four Things That Happen to Kusano If He Never Left NewS and One Thing That Happens When He Does
Universe: JE/NewS
Theme/Topic: Kusano’s birthday
Rating: PG-13
Character/Pairing/s: Kusano+NewS
Warnings/Spoilers: OOC, Crack, WHAT IF.
Word Count: 2,141
Summary: As the title implies: four things that might have happened if Kusano had stayed in NewS and one that happens after he left.
Dedication: iverin- LOVE HIM, he needs it. ryu_no_sora- hope you can push him onto nonbelievers like you did with Uchi. XD
A/N: LOL Talk about last minute, geezus. I should have been more productive today, but at least this is done, as unbetaed and uninspired as it is. I cite the reasons for this as me still trying to recover from YESTERDAY’S fiasco. LOL SORRY KUSANO, HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
Disclaimer: No harm is meant by this!
1.
On Kusano’s nineteenth birthday he stays up until midnight because he can’t sleep; the minute the clock rings in the fifteenth of February his cell phone goes off.
Two messages; one from Tegoshi, one from Koyama. Tegoshi’s comes in first but Koyama’s is more elaborate; Kusano grins and replies to both of their sparkling happy birthday wishes with, “What are you, my girlfriends?”
Two responses almost instantaneously: one that just laughs and sparkles and says, “If I am, should I bring you something special tomorrow, Notti?” and another that also laughs, telling him, “Go to sleep or you’ll be tired for work tomorrow, ne.”
He replies “Yes!” to the first and “Not yet,” to the second; he’s right to do so because at exactly twelve thirty, his phone goes off again. Kusano knows that Shige always makes sure not to send out his birthday text messages before at least one of the other members has because he doesn’t want to be called the girlfriend; he’s smart and waits until he knows Koyama or Tegoshi has done it already.
Shige’s message says: “Happy birthday, I hope being a year older will make you grow up a little.”
Reply: “Shige sounds like an old man on his death bed. See you tomorrow!”
Reply: “Shut up, I do not! It’s already tomorrow; you mean see you later today.”
Kusano is satisfied with his natural ability to bring Shige back down to the level they’re supposed to be at as teenage boys; it’s somewhere around five years old.
He finally goes to sleep after texting Shige thirty heart emojis in a row (in separate messages) and knows that when he wakes up, there will be more birthday wishes waiting for him.
He’s right; at approximately six am Masuda’s text comes in. Kusano blinks blearily at his flashing display and imagines Massu is up three hours early like he always is before work, doing his exercises and taking a shower and eating breakfast at a leisurely pace while gazing out the window and smiling.
Massu’s message says: “Oi! Are you asleep? It’s your birthday! Happy birthday!”
Kusano laughs sleepily and closes his phone; he tells himself he’ll reply when it’s a decent hour.
At eight he gets up feeling fully energized; his reply to Massu says: “Of course I was asleep at that hour. I know it is! What'd you get me?!” The message has a lightning bolt and a heart attached to the end. He sends it off before bouncing down to breakfast. His mom always makes his favorite on his birthday.
~~~~~
At work they film this week’s episode of Ya-Ya-Yah and the whole cast has a cake for him; for presents Tegoshi gives him a yo-yo (which he loves), Shige gives him an etiquette book (which he finds funny), Massu splits his nikuman with him (which is the nicest thing ever, all things considered), and Koyama gives him the three latest volumes of the shoujo manga he’d been reading together with Uchi last year (which is sad and happy all at once).
After work the four of them go out to dinner and he gets a text message from Yamapi, who is busy filming.
“Happy birthday! I’ll take you to yakiniku when we see each other again!”
He replies: “Osu, captain!” and attaches a picture of himself with Tegoshi, Massu, Shige, and Koyama all eating together. It has the caption “Wish you were here!” written under it.
In the middle of dessert his phone chimes again; he takes it and opens it and when he reads it that simultaneously sad and happy feeling wells up in his chest all over again.
Uchi writes: “Happy Birthday. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.”
He replies: “Then do everything. See the world we can’t.”
Koyama drives him home after they’re done eating (and he may or may not get hit with Kusano’s new yo-yo in the car while Kusano is trying to figure out how to do the tricks); when Kusano is safely back in his bedroom and getting ready to sleep instead of hitting his friends with yo-yos, he brushes his teeth while staring at his phone patiently.
It goes off at 11:56. Almost late but not.
The last message is from Ryo.
“Happy birthday. Don’t be stupid.”
Kusano laughs and texts him: “Keep me smart.”
He falls asleep thinking that his nineteenth birthday was really great.
~~~~~
2.
Nakai is incredulous when he hears the news, staring from one kouhai to the next like he expects them to all burst out laughing suddenly and tell him that they’re joking about the whole thing and it’s all a blatant lie.
Except it’s not.
“So…” Nakai starts, slowly, “five out of seven of you are really in college?”
They nod. “Hai.”
He blinks some more, then looks down at what his cards are telling him as he points to Koyama, Yamapi, Shige, Tegoshi, and Kusano in turn. “Meiji, Meiji, Aoyama, Waseda, Hosei?”
They nod again.
A moment.
Then, “Why are you in Johnnies?!” their senpai explodes, standing abruptly and spitting all over an innocent Massu as he does. “Go be politicians! Save the country!”
The audience erupts into laughter as the five members quickly deny that they’re too good for the jimusho. “We’re definitely Johnnies,” Yamapi assures their senpai gently. “We’d be hopeless politicians, ne.”
“But still,” Ishibashi marvels, once Nakai is seated and breathing again, “NewS is pretty amazing, isn’t it?”
Nakai nods, arms crossed like he’s still trying to process the whole thing. “Aah, it hurts my head. Five out of seven… that’s like…” he trails off, blinking. “What is it…”
“Seventy-one point four percent,” Shige and Kusano say, in tandem.
Silence.
Nakai promptly throws his cards at their heads. “Go be politicians!”
A moment.
Then, “What do math and politics have to do with each other?” Koyama and Tegoshi ask.
Kusano would have asked too, but is currently laughing too hard at the look on Nakai’s face to say anything.
Nakai sighs and gives up when Ishibashi tells him to; “You can’t keep up with these kids when they’re so much smarter than you.”
“I wish Kanjani 8 were here,” Nakai grumps, and can’t believe himself when he says it.
~~~~~
3.
“We are going to debut you as a special vocal trio,” management tells Tegoshi, Masuda, and Kusano one morning in late summer.
“Eh?” they all say, and seem nervous. “Why us?”
Management supposes they are cute but stupid, just like all idols before them and after them. “Because you sing well.”
“But what about NewS?”
“You’re still NewS,” one producer insists impatiently.
The other nods, handing out music scores and schedule information. “You will be flying out to Sweden for your international debut and single release next week. Please learn your songs quickly.”
And so, all of a sudden, the three of them aren’t just NewS, but MUsaShi as well.
When they tell their groupmates about it they are nervous and terrified of what might happen, how it might look.
But there’s nothing to worry about; Koyama breaks down into giggles when he hears their unit name while Yamapi congratulates them and Ryo tells them from personal experience that releasing CDs under two different groups isn’t hard as long as you’re cool and sexy like he is.
“Which might mean that you two will have some troubles,” he tells Massu and Kusano with a smirk.
Massu blinks. “But there are three of us.”
Ryo snorts. “Tego-nyan is in a different league from you two idiots.”
Shige, in the meantime, has a hard time getting over the unit name. “Isn’t that needlessly epic for a group that is singing a song about miso soup?” he asks. “It doesn’t make sense.” Pause. “Though I guess a lot of names in the jimusho don’t make sense.”
“Will the three of you really be alright by yourselves in a foreign country?” Koyama asks next, and Tegoshi, Massu, and Kusano are all kind of relieved that this seems to be the other NewS members’ biggest worry when they hear that the three of them are debuting as a subgroup.
“We’ll be okay,” Tegoshi assures them happily. Seeing their worried faces like this, he believes it more than he had five minutes ago.
On the plane to Sweden a week later, Masuda is the one who absently sums it up without trying. “I hope being MUsaShi makes us stronger for NewS,” he says innocently, around a mouthful of the Pocky Koyama had bought for them before their departure.
Kusano laughs and presses his nose to the window of the airplane excitedly. “Fly to high, with NEWS!” he shouts seemingly at random, and gets them strange looks from the other passengers.
As it turns out, MUsaShi is a stupid name and Miso Soup is a stupid song too, but when the three of them return to Japan for the single’s homecoming debut, they all feel a little worldlier and a little more confident in themselves; they know that this experience is something that is going to help make NewS into an even better unit in the future.
They feel like they’ve all powered up.
And that’s what they keep telling themselves, even though Shige can’t stop laughing at them every time they try to sing the lyrics “Come back home anytime” in English.
~~~~~
4.
“Wearing a suit doesn’t fit you at all!” Ryo yells, and swats a cackling Kusano off of him. “It’s even worse for you than it is for Tego-nyan; at least Tego-nyan looks smart. Get off of me.”
Undaunted, Kusano grins, wrapping both arms around Ryo again. “Does this mean I’m fresh and young like Gossi too? Can I sit in your lap now, Ryo-yo?”
Ryo scowls. “No, it just means you’re a moron. Tego-nyan can sit in my lap because he’s cute.”
Kusano laughs. “Aw, but I love you, Suteibo!”
“I will kill you,” Ryo threatens, though he sounds more tired than terrifying now. He even stops smacking Kusano’s hands away from his waist when he realizes it’s probably a futile effort on his part.
“Notti!” Koyama shouts, and rounds the corner with his tie flapping in his face. “Notti, the director wants you on the Sunday set, ne.”
“Thank god,” Ryo grumps.
Kusano grins, letting go of Ryo and pumping his fist. “Hai! I’ll do my best!”
As he sprints off to get ready for his solo portion of the PV shoot, he hears Ryo complaining loudly to Koyama over his shoulder.
“Why does the most annoying one get the most relaxing day of the week?!”
Kusano cackles to himself and happily sings the single’s lyrics out loud with Tesshi right up until they’re ready to go for his first take.
And as the director yells “action!” while the rest of NewS gathers behind the camera to watch him film his portion, Kusano thinks to himself that it’s exactly like their new song says.
When he gets to be together with everyone like this, every day-every moment- is really fun.
He knows he wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.
~~~~~
5.
On Kusano’s twentieth birthday he stays up until midnight because he doesn’t want to sleep just yet; sometimes, when he has too much time to sleep, he dreams about the what ifs and the maybes that his life could have had if things had been different. It’s a little troubling, a little sad. Tonight of all nights he doesn’t want to be troubled; wants to stare at his phone screen and smile.
At exactly 12:00 am the display on his cell begins flashing; two messages have arrived.
The first is from Tegoshi and the second is from Koyama; Tegoshi’s is less elaborate but in the queue before Koyama’s while Koyama’s sparkles with motion text and animated emoji.
He opens them both; “Happy 20th birthday, Notti!” Tegoshi’s says, and has a string of thirty red hearts trailing after the words.
“Happy 20th, Kusano!” Koyama’s message celebrates, and the smiley faces laugh cheerfully at him as confetti erupts in the background.
He grins and replies to both of them with the same message: “What are you, my girlfriends?”
Two responses in less than five minutes: “I would make an excellent girlfriend!” followed by a laughing, “Go to sleep or you’ll be tired for class tomorrow, ne.”
He replies “Yes, you would,” to the first and “Not yet,” to the second.
After that he sits on top of his bed staring at the display of his phone for another half hour, and when a message from Shige arrives unfailingly at 12:30, he smiles to himself and opens it.
“Happy birthday! Now that you are an adult, I hope that you will deign to act a little more grown up.”
He bursts out laughing.
When it’s like this, he thinks it feels like he never left them at all.
END
EDITS PLZ.
Universe: JE/NewS
Theme/Topic: Kusano’s birthday
Rating: PG-13
Character/Pairing/s: Kusano+NewS
Warnings/Spoilers: OOC, Crack, WHAT IF.
Word Count: 2,141
Summary: As the title implies: four things that might have happened if Kusano had stayed in NewS and one that happens after he left.
Dedication: iverin- LOVE HIM, he needs it. ryu_no_sora- hope you can push him onto nonbelievers like you did with Uchi. XD
A/N: LOL Talk about last minute, geezus. I should have been more productive today, but at least this is done, as unbetaed and uninspired as it is. I cite the reasons for this as me still trying to recover from YESTERDAY’S fiasco. LOL SORRY KUSANO, HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
Disclaimer: No harm is meant by this!
1.
On Kusano’s nineteenth birthday he stays up until midnight because he can’t sleep; the minute the clock rings in the fifteenth of February his cell phone goes off.
Two messages; one from Tegoshi, one from Koyama. Tegoshi’s comes in first but Koyama’s is more elaborate; Kusano grins and replies to both of their sparkling happy birthday wishes with, “What are you, my girlfriends?”
Two responses almost instantaneously: one that just laughs and sparkles and says, “If I am, should I bring you something special tomorrow, Notti?” and another that also laughs, telling him, “Go to sleep or you’ll be tired for work tomorrow, ne.”
He replies “Yes!” to the first and “Not yet,” to the second; he’s right to do so because at exactly twelve thirty, his phone goes off again. Kusano knows that Shige always makes sure not to send out his birthday text messages before at least one of the other members has because he doesn’t want to be called the girlfriend; he’s smart and waits until he knows Koyama or Tegoshi has done it already.
Shige’s message says: “Happy birthday, I hope being a year older will make you grow up a little.”
Reply: “Shige sounds like an old man on his death bed. See you tomorrow!”
Reply: “Shut up, I do not! It’s already tomorrow; you mean see you later today.”
Kusano is satisfied with his natural ability to bring Shige back down to the level they’re supposed to be at as teenage boys; it’s somewhere around five years old.
He finally goes to sleep after texting Shige thirty heart emojis in a row (in separate messages) and knows that when he wakes up, there will be more birthday wishes waiting for him.
He’s right; at approximately six am Masuda’s text comes in. Kusano blinks blearily at his flashing display and imagines Massu is up three hours early like he always is before work, doing his exercises and taking a shower and eating breakfast at a leisurely pace while gazing out the window and smiling.
Massu’s message says: “Oi! Are you asleep? It’s your birthday! Happy birthday!”
Kusano laughs sleepily and closes his phone; he tells himself he’ll reply when it’s a decent hour.
At eight he gets up feeling fully energized; his reply to Massu says: “Of course I was asleep at that hour. I know it is! What'd you get me?!” The message has a lightning bolt and a heart attached to the end. He sends it off before bouncing down to breakfast. His mom always makes his favorite on his birthday.
~~~~~
At work they film this week’s episode of Ya-Ya-Yah and the whole cast has a cake for him; for presents Tegoshi gives him a yo-yo (which he loves), Shige gives him an etiquette book (which he finds funny), Massu splits his nikuman with him (which is the nicest thing ever, all things considered), and Koyama gives him the three latest volumes of the shoujo manga he’d been reading together with Uchi last year (which is sad and happy all at once).
After work the four of them go out to dinner and he gets a text message from Yamapi, who is busy filming.
“Happy birthday! I’ll take you to yakiniku when we see each other again!”
He replies: “Osu, captain!” and attaches a picture of himself with Tegoshi, Massu, Shige, and Koyama all eating together. It has the caption “Wish you were here!” written under it.
In the middle of dessert his phone chimes again; he takes it and opens it and when he reads it that simultaneously sad and happy feeling wells up in his chest all over again.
Uchi writes: “Happy Birthday. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.”
He replies: “Then do everything. See the world we can’t.”
Koyama drives him home after they’re done eating (and he may or may not get hit with Kusano’s new yo-yo in the car while Kusano is trying to figure out how to do the tricks); when Kusano is safely back in his bedroom and getting ready to sleep instead of hitting his friends with yo-yos, he brushes his teeth while staring at his phone patiently.
It goes off at 11:56. Almost late but not.
The last message is from Ryo.
“Happy birthday. Don’t be stupid.”
Kusano laughs and texts him: “Keep me smart.”
He falls asleep thinking that his nineteenth birthday was really great.
~~~~~
2.
Nakai is incredulous when he hears the news, staring from one kouhai to the next like he expects them to all burst out laughing suddenly and tell him that they’re joking about the whole thing and it’s all a blatant lie.
Except it’s not.
“So…” Nakai starts, slowly, “five out of seven of you are really in college?”
They nod. “Hai.”
He blinks some more, then looks down at what his cards are telling him as he points to Koyama, Yamapi, Shige, Tegoshi, and Kusano in turn. “Meiji, Meiji, Aoyama, Waseda, Hosei?”
They nod again.
A moment.
Then, “Why are you in Johnnies?!” their senpai explodes, standing abruptly and spitting all over an innocent Massu as he does. “Go be politicians! Save the country!”
The audience erupts into laughter as the five members quickly deny that they’re too good for the jimusho. “We’re definitely Johnnies,” Yamapi assures their senpai gently. “We’d be hopeless politicians, ne.”
“But still,” Ishibashi marvels, once Nakai is seated and breathing again, “NewS is pretty amazing, isn’t it?”
Nakai nods, arms crossed like he’s still trying to process the whole thing. “Aah, it hurts my head. Five out of seven… that’s like…” he trails off, blinking. “What is it…”
“Seventy-one point four percent,” Shige and Kusano say, in tandem.
Silence.
Nakai promptly throws his cards at their heads. “Go be politicians!”
A moment.
Then, “What do math and politics have to do with each other?” Koyama and Tegoshi ask.
Kusano would have asked too, but is currently laughing too hard at the look on Nakai’s face to say anything.
Nakai sighs and gives up when Ishibashi tells him to; “You can’t keep up with these kids when they’re so much smarter than you.”
“I wish Kanjani 8 were here,” Nakai grumps, and can’t believe himself when he says it.
~~~~~
3.
“We are going to debut you as a special vocal trio,” management tells Tegoshi, Masuda, and Kusano one morning in late summer.
“Eh?” they all say, and seem nervous. “Why us?”
Management supposes they are cute but stupid, just like all idols before them and after them. “Because you sing well.”
“But what about NewS?”
“You’re still NewS,” one producer insists impatiently.
The other nods, handing out music scores and schedule information. “You will be flying out to Sweden for your international debut and single release next week. Please learn your songs quickly.”
And so, all of a sudden, the three of them aren’t just NewS, but MUsaShi as well.
When they tell their groupmates about it they are nervous and terrified of what might happen, how it might look.
But there’s nothing to worry about; Koyama breaks down into giggles when he hears their unit name while Yamapi congratulates them and Ryo tells them from personal experience that releasing CDs under two different groups isn’t hard as long as you’re cool and sexy like he is.
“Which might mean that you two will have some troubles,” he tells Massu and Kusano with a smirk.
Massu blinks. “But there are three of us.”
Ryo snorts. “Tego-nyan is in a different league from you two idiots.”
Shige, in the meantime, has a hard time getting over the unit name. “Isn’t that needlessly epic for a group that is singing a song about miso soup?” he asks. “It doesn’t make sense.” Pause. “Though I guess a lot of names in the jimusho don’t make sense.”
“Will the three of you really be alright by yourselves in a foreign country?” Koyama asks next, and Tegoshi, Massu, and Kusano are all kind of relieved that this seems to be the other NewS members’ biggest worry when they hear that the three of them are debuting as a subgroup.
“We’ll be okay,” Tegoshi assures them happily. Seeing their worried faces like this, he believes it more than he had five minutes ago.
On the plane to Sweden a week later, Masuda is the one who absently sums it up without trying. “I hope being MUsaShi makes us stronger for NewS,” he says innocently, around a mouthful of the Pocky Koyama had bought for them before their departure.
Kusano laughs and presses his nose to the window of the airplane excitedly. “Fly to high, with NEWS!” he shouts seemingly at random, and gets them strange looks from the other passengers.
As it turns out, MUsaShi is a stupid name and Miso Soup is a stupid song too, but when the three of them return to Japan for the single’s homecoming debut, they all feel a little worldlier and a little more confident in themselves; they know that this experience is something that is going to help make NewS into an even better unit in the future.
They feel like they’ve all powered up.
And that’s what they keep telling themselves, even though Shige can’t stop laughing at them every time they try to sing the lyrics “Come back home anytime” in English.
~~~~~
4.
“Wearing a suit doesn’t fit you at all!” Ryo yells, and swats a cackling Kusano off of him. “It’s even worse for you than it is for Tego-nyan; at least Tego-nyan looks smart. Get off of me.”
Undaunted, Kusano grins, wrapping both arms around Ryo again. “Does this mean I’m fresh and young like Gossi too? Can I sit in your lap now, Ryo-yo?”
Ryo scowls. “No, it just means you’re a moron. Tego-nyan can sit in my lap because he’s cute.”
Kusano laughs. “Aw, but I love you, Suteibo!”
“I will kill you,” Ryo threatens, though he sounds more tired than terrifying now. He even stops smacking Kusano’s hands away from his waist when he realizes it’s probably a futile effort on his part.
“Notti!” Koyama shouts, and rounds the corner with his tie flapping in his face. “Notti, the director wants you on the Sunday set, ne.”
“Thank god,” Ryo grumps.
Kusano grins, letting go of Ryo and pumping his fist. “Hai! I’ll do my best!”
As he sprints off to get ready for his solo portion of the PV shoot, he hears Ryo complaining loudly to Koyama over his shoulder.
“Why does the most annoying one get the most relaxing day of the week?!”
Kusano cackles to himself and happily sings the single’s lyrics out loud with Tesshi right up until they’re ready to go for his first take.
And as the director yells “action!” while the rest of NewS gathers behind the camera to watch him film his portion, Kusano thinks to himself that it’s exactly like their new song says.
When he gets to be together with everyone like this, every day-every moment- is really fun.
He knows he wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.
~~~~~
5.
On Kusano’s twentieth birthday he stays up until midnight because he doesn’t want to sleep just yet; sometimes, when he has too much time to sleep, he dreams about the what ifs and the maybes that his life could have had if things had been different. It’s a little troubling, a little sad. Tonight of all nights he doesn’t want to be troubled; wants to stare at his phone screen and smile.
At exactly 12:00 am the display on his cell begins flashing; two messages have arrived.
The first is from Tegoshi and the second is from Koyama; Tegoshi’s is less elaborate but in the queue before Koyama’s while Koyama’s sparkles with motion text and animated emoji.
He opens them both; “Happy 20th birthday, Notti!” Tegoshi’s says, and has a string of thirty red hearts trailing after the words.
“Happy 20th, Kusano!” Koyama’s message celebrates, and the smiley faces laugh cheerfully at him as confetti erupts in the background.
He grins and replies to both of them with the same message: “What are you, my girlfriends?”
Two responses in less than five minutes: “I would make an excellent girlfriend!” followed by a laughing, “Go to sleep or you’ll be tired for class tomorrow, ne.”
He replies “Yes, you would,” to the first and “Not yet,” to the second.
After that he sits on top of his bed staring at the display of his phone for another half hour, and when a message from Shige arrives unfailingly at 12:30, he smiles to himself and opens it.
“Happy birthday! Now that you are an adult, I hope that you will deign to act a little more grown up.”
He bursts out laughing.
When it’s like this, he thinks it feels like he never left them at all.
END
EDITS PLZ.