NEWS Drabble Dump #21
Title: A Little Bit Grown Up
Theme/Topic: Kiss away your tears
Rating: G
Character/Pairing/s: Vaguely KoyaxUchi (mentions of TegoxUchi and Ryo)
Warnings/Spoilers: Sap, OOC, randomness
Word Count: 835
Summary: Uchi has always leaned on Koyama.
Dedication: for the drabble exchange thing crystallekil did on her journal. Except I failed the prompt, but you know.
A/N: It was supposed to be goofier but then it got weird.
Uchi stands at the train platform in nervous, happy anticipation as he waits for the early shinkanen from Tokyo to pull into the station that morning; it's scheduled to arrive at any second now.
Koyama is coming to visit him today. Uchi hasn't seen Koyama in a long time, not since countdown, when Tegoshi had launched himself into Uchi's arms- despite management's insistence that they be subtle- and Koyama had promptly followed suit because in a moment like that, it had been as subtle as any of them could be.
Uchi remembers with some embarrassment that he'd cried about it all afterwards as well, once the cameras weren't on him anymore and it was okay to; he also remembers Koyama's arms around his shoulders in those moments, and the flutter of Koyama's lips against his cheek as the older idol had murmured, "Uchi sounded really good tonight," in his ear. It had felt like a thousand feather-soft kisses on Uchi’s skin, warm and reassuring and infinitely familiar. "Uchi's been working hard all this time, ne."
In that moment it was like nothing had changed except the date; Uchi had suddenly been thrown back into times in years past when he'd been in similar yet completely different situations, times when he'd curled up and whined and cried about his worries, about the stress of being in two groups, about not being able to keep up with it and maybe not wanting to either. Koyama had comforted him back then as well, had listened to his complaints and poured him tea and told him that it would be okay because he wasn't alone; all the members of both groups would do their best to make sure Uchi and Ryo didn't have too much weight on their shoulders.
When he thinks about it like that Uchi can’t help but feel like he’s still the same whining, complaining kid from all those years ago, waiting with tears in his eyes for Koyama or one of the others to comfort him and tell him everything is going to be okay. He's lived a lifetime leaning against his friends, selfishly taking their strength and comfort and never giving anything back.
He doesn't want that anymore, feels like he has to show Koyama something today, about how he's grown up and become stronger in the time he's been gone.
The list of what he’s got planned for them to do today is his proof of all that; today he’ll take charge and take Koyama out and for once, be the one to take care of everything for the older boy.
For once, he wants to show Koyama that Koyama can lean on him in return, too.
The train pulls up a few moments later, when Uchi is in the middle of reviewing his bus schedule and making sure he remembered to bring the amusement park passes and the food coupons and his digital camera and extra sunblock, just in case.
He’s so busy going over his mental check list that he doesn’t notice Koyama standing in front of him right away, at least not until Koyama clears his throat and says, “Uchi, Uchi did you forget something? I have extra sunblock if you need it, ne.”
“No!” Uchi hastens to reply, and nearly drops his bag when he hears Koyama’s voice. He blinks. “Hi. You’re here.”
Koyama smiles. “I’m here!”
Uchi smiles back. “Great!” He tries not to sound too nervous, because this is his day; he’s going to show Koyama that he’s grown up a little since his suspension, that after all this time, he’s become someone who can be relied on. “So yeah. Let’s go, okay?”
Koyama looks excited. “Okay!”
With that he leads Koyama out of the station, hands in his pockets, surreptitiously checking the clocks on the station walls out of the corner of his eye to make sure they won’t miss their transit bus.
Koyama laughs. “Uchi, you seem different today,” he says, and shoulder bumps the younger idol fondly as they walk.
Uchi looks embarrassed. “How’s that?” he asks, trying to sound cool as he absently checks the clocks again. He speeds up a little just in case.
Koyama easily matches his pace, still looking intently at Uchi the whole time. The look on his face is entirely too fond, entirely too knowing.
“What?” Uchi asks, when he can’t take it anymore. “Is there something on my face?”
They arrive to the bus stop just in time.
Koyama just grins. “I was thinking, ne. It looks like Uchi’s gotten even taller in the last few years.”
A moment.
And then Uchi blinks. “Have I?”
Koyama nods. “I’m certain of it.”
The bus arrives then, right on time, and as Uchi pays for both of their fares and leads Koyama to a seat in the back, he looks at his reflection in the window, somehow-inexplicably-comforted by his friend’s casual words.
He thinks that maybe Koyama is right.
He does feel a little bit taller today.
END
Title: A Moment of Doubt
Theme/Topic: NewS ( Gov AU)
Rating: PG
Character/Pairing/s: Kusano (KusanoxNewS, mentions of Tackey)
Warnings/Spoilers: N/A
Word Count: 805
Summary: Follow up to "The Long Road Home"- While in New York, Kusano starts to doubt himself.
Dedication: crystallekil’s request on this week’s drabble meme.
A/N: The request was for Kusano having second thoughts about returning to the agency. There is an alternate ending to this, but for now we’ll just leave it where it is.
The realization occurs to Kusano while he’s in the middle of his physical therapy session one afternoon, when he’s determinedly making his way between the parallel support bars towards his trainer on the other side. He is intent on beating yesterday’s record by at least a tenth of a second, is going as hard and fast as he can to turn the dream into reality.
He thinks he’s going to make it, that he’s going to hit the goal and set a new record for himself to beat tomorrow.
But then his left leg seizes up suddenly and there is an accompanying moment of blinding, searing pain along his back and hips; it’s so intense that he loses his grip on the bars and actually hits the mats before his physical therapist can catch him.
“You have to know your limits,” the doctor berates in concern a moment later, as Kusano lies on the ground, silently trying to will the pain away.
“My limits,” the young agent echoes sorely, and feels something dark and foreboding well up in his stomach when he hears those words. “Will that kind of thing happen often, Doc?”
“It’s your body’s way of telling you that what you’re doing is too much,” the therapist explains. “It shuts down like that so you don’t kill yourself, because now your limits are different from what they used to be. You aren’t the same person anymore, and you have to accept that. Work with it.”
Kusano laughs humorlessly at the reminder.
“I’m not joking, Hiro,” his doctor insists.
“I know," Kusano assures him, and struggles to his feet. “But what if,” he adds after a moment, quietly, “something is happening where I need to kill myself?”
The physical therapist blinks and says it’s-quite frankly- impossible; he instructs Kusano to take the rest of the day off and recuperate from today’s shock so that they can begin again tomorrow.
Admittedly he’s a little bit surprised when Kusano agrees without a single word of protest, the young agent’s jaw clenched in uncharacteristic quiet as he hobbles out of the room.
It’s because Kusano is thinking about his limits.
The word haunts him for the entire remainder of the day, and as he sits alone at the park near his apartment absently feeding pigeons, he wonders if what happened to him earlier could happen in the future as well, when he’s on a mission, when he needs to act in the realm beyond his new limitations because lives are on the line.
When he imagines the possibility of not being fast enough, of not being strong enough or not being able to help or worse, getting in the way, something in his blood runs cold.
Would it make Massu’s job harder? Would Kusano coming back to the team mean a weakness their targets could exploit?
He suddenly remembers the day that got him in this mess in the first place; in those brief moments he’d been able to see the problem and react first, had been able to jump out and draw the sniper’s fire before Massu had because he’s always been faster than Massu simply by nature.
He can’t help but think, if that situation happened right now, I wouldn’t be fast enough to go first. I wouldn’t be able to react and Massu would be the one to jump into the line of fire, not me.
If something like that happened again, Kusano knows that he’ll be the one left to watch the aftermath this time, he’ll be the one crouched on the pavement trying to stop the bleeding, calling the medics, desperately pulling his fallen teammate to cover.
If it’s like this-like he is now- he won’t be able to protect them anymore.
Or worse.
Or worse.
Someone might take a bullet for him.
The thought of that troubles him more than anything; more than the day the doctor had told him about the extent of the tissue damage, even-somehow-more than the day when Tackey had said, “NEWS will be disbanded indefinitely.”
Of all the horrible things in this world Kusano has seen and had to overcome, he refuses to accept the possibility of being an agent who gets his comrades killed.
He doesn’t want to become a burden.
And-more selfishly- he doesn’t want to go through the same thing he put them through first.
I wouldn’t be able to take it. I’m not as strong as they are.
Eventually he runs out of bird feed and leans back against the park bench, looking off into the distance, and an ominously darkening eastern sky.
For the first time in a long time he feels the weight of doubt settle heavily on his shoulders.
He realizes that in the next few months, he has a lot to think about.
END
EDITS?
Wow, Tegoshi was not in this batch. Or Ryo. Though I guess at least they got mentions, unlike some people.
OP Tomorrow.
Theme/Topic: Kiss away your tears
Rating: G
Character/Pairing/s: Vaguely KoyaxUchi (mentions of TegoxUchi and Ryo)
Warnings/Spoilers: Sap, OOC, randomness
Word Count: 835
Summary: Uchi has always leaned on Koyama.
Dedication: for the drabble exchange thing crystallekil did on her journal. Except I failed the prompt, but you know.
A/N: It was supposed to be goofier but then it got weird.
Uchi stands at the train platform in nervous, happy anticipation as he waits for the early shinkanen from Tokyo to pull into the station that morning; it's scheduled to arrive at any second now.
Koyama is coming to visit him today. Uchi hasn't seen Koyama in a long time, not since countdown, when Tegoshi had launched himself into Uchi's arms- despite management's insistence that they be subtle- and Koyama had promptly followed suit because in a moment like that, it had been as subtle as any of them could be.
Uchi remembers with some embarrassment that he'd cried about it all afterwards as well, once the cameras weren't on him anymore and it was okay to; he also remembers Koyama's arms around his shoulders in those moments, and the flutter of Koyama's lips against his cheek as the older idol had murmured, "Uchi sounded really good tonight," in his ear. It had felt like a thousand feather-soft kisses on Uchi’s skin, warm and reassuring and infinitely familiar. "Uchi's been working hard all this time, ne."
In that moment it was like nothing had changed except the date; Uchi had suddenly been thrown back into times in years past when he'd been in similar yet completely different situations, times when he'd curled up and whined and cried about his worries, about the stress of being in two groups, about not being able to keep up with it and maybe not wanting to either. Koyama had comforted him back then as well, had listened to his complaints and poured him tea and told him that it would be okay because he wasn't alone; all the members of both groups would do their best to make sure Uchi and Ryo didn't have too much weight on their shoulders.
When he thinks about it like that Uchi can’t help but feel like he’s still the same whining, complaining kid from all those years ago, waiting with tears in his eyes for Koyama or one of the others to comfort him and tell him everything is going to be okay. He's lived a lifetime leaning against his friends, selfishly taking their strength and comfort and never giving anything back.
He doesn't want that anymore, feels like he has to show Koyama something today, about how he's grown up and become stronger in the time he's been gone.
The list of what he’s got planned for them to do today is his proof of all that; today he’ll take charge and take Koyama out and for once, be the one to take care of everything for the older boy.
For once, he wants to show Koyama that Koyama can lean on him in return, too.
The train pulls up a few moments later, when Uchi is in the middle of reviewing his bus schedule and making sure he remembered to bring the amusement park passes and the food coupons and his digital camera and extra sunblock, just in case.
He’s so busy going over his mental check list that he doesn’t notice Koyama standing in front of him right away, at least not until Koyama clears his throat and says, “Uchi, Uchi did you forget something? I have extra sunblock if you need it, ne.”
“No!” Uchi hastens to reply, and nearly drops his bag when he hears Koyama’s voice. He blinks. “Hi. You’re here.”
Koyama smiles. “I’m here!”
Uchi smiles back. “Great!” He tries not to sound too nervous, because this is his day; he’s going to show Koyama that he’s grown up a little since his suspension, that after all this time, he’s become someone who can be relied on. “So yeah. Let’s go, okay?”
Koyama looks excited. “Okay!”
With that he leads Koyama out of the station, hands in his pockets, surreptitiously checking the clocks on the station walls out of the corner of his eye to make sure they won’t miss their transit bus.
Koyama laughs. “Uchi, you seem different today,” he says, and shoulder bumps the younger idol fondly as they walk.
Uchi looks embarrassed. “How’s that?” he asks, trying to sound cool as he absently checks the clocks again. He speeds up a little just in case.
Koyama easily matches his pace, still looking intently at Uchi the whole time. The look on his face is entirely too fond, entirely too knowing.
“What?” Uchi asks, when he can’t take it anymore. “Is there something on my face?”
They arrive to the bus stop just in time.
Koyama just grins. “I was thinking, ne. It looks like Uchi’s gotten even taller in the last few years.”
A moment.
And then Uchi blinks. “Have I?”
Koyama nods. “I’m certain of it.”
The bus arrives then, right on time, and as Uchi pays for both of their fares and leads Koyama to a seat in the back, he looks at his reflection in the window, somehow-inexplicably-comforted by his friend’s casual words.
He thinks that maybe Koyama is right.
He does feel a little bit taller today.
END
Title: A Moment of Doubt
Theme/Topic: NewS ( Gov AU)
Rating: PG
Character/Pairing/s: Kusano (KusanoxNewS, mentions of Tackey)
Warnings/Spoilers: N/A
Word Count: 805
Summary: Follow up to "The Long Road Home"- While in New York, Kusano starts to doubt himself.
Dedication: crystallekil’s request on this week’s drabble meme.
A/N: The request was for Kusano having second thoughts about returning to the agency. There is an alternate ending to this, but for now we’ll just leave it where it is.
The realization occurs to Kusano while he’s in the middle of his physical therapy session one afternoon, when he’s determinedly making his way between the parallel support bars towards his trainer on the other side. He is intent on beating yesterday’s record by at least a tenth of a second, is going as hard and fast as he can to turn the dream into reality.
He thinks he’s going to make it, that he’s going to hit the goal and set a new record for himself to beat tomorrow.
But then his left leg seizes up suddenly and there is an accompanying moment of blinding, searing pain along his back and hips; it’s so intense that he loses his grip on the bars and actually hits the mats before his physical therapist can catch him.
“You have to know your limits,” the doctor berates in concern a moment later, as Kusano lies on the ground, silently trying to will the pain away.
“My limits,” the young agent echoes sorely, and feels something dark and foreboding well up in his stomach when he hears those words. “Will that kind of thing happen often, Doc?”
“It’s your body’s way of telling you that what you’re doing is too much,” the therapist explains. “It shuts down like that so you don’t kill yourself, because now your limits are different from what they used to be. You aren’t the same person anymore, and you have to accept that. Work with it.”
Kusano laughs humorlessly at the reminder.
“I’m not joking, Hiro,” his doctor insists.
“I know," Kusano assures him, and struggles to his feet. “But what if,” he adds after a moment, quietly, “something is happening where I need to kill myself?”
The physical therapist blinks and says it’s-quite frankly- impossible; he instructs Kusano to take the rest of the day off and recuperate from today’s shock so that they can begin again tomorrow.
Admittedly he’s a little bit surprised when Kusano agrees without a single word of protest, the young agent’s jaw clenched in uncharacteristic quiet as he hobbles out of the room.
It’s because Kusano is thinking about his limits.
The word haunts him for the entire remainder of the day, and as he sits alone at the park near his apartment absently feeding pigeons, he wonders if what happened to him earlier could happen in the future as well, when he’s on a mission, when he needs to act in the realm beyond his new limitations because lives are on the line.
When he imagines the possibility of not being fast enough, of not being strong enough or not being able to help or worse, getting in the way, something in his blood runs cold.
Would it make Massu’s job harder? Would Kusano coming back to the team mean a weakness their targets could exploit?
He suddenly remembers the day that got him in this mess in the first place; in those brief moments he’d been able to see the problem and react first, had been able to jump out and draw the sniper’s fire before Massu had because he’s always been faster than Massu simply by nature.
He can’t help but think, if that situation happened right now, I wouldn’t be fast enough to go first. I wouldn’t be able to react and Massu would be the one to jump into the line of fire, not me.
If something like that happened again, Kusano knows that he’ll be the one left to watch the aftermath this time, he’ll be the one crouched on the pavement trying to stop the bleeding, calling the medics, desperately pulling his fallen teammate to cover.
If it’s like this-like he is now- he won’t be able to protect them anymore.
Or worse.
Or worse.
Someone might take a bullet for him.
The thought of that troubles him more than anything; more than the day the doctor had told him about the extent of the tissue damage, even-somehow-more than the day when Tackey had said, “NEWS will be disbanded indefinitely.”
Of all the horrible things in this world Kusano has seen and had to overcome, he refuses to accept the possibility of being an agent who gets his comrades killed.
He doesn’t want to become a burden.
And-more selfishly- he doesn’t want to go through the same thing he put them through first.
I wouldn’t be able to take it. I’m not as strong as they are.
Eventually he runs out of bird feed and leans back against the park bench, looking off into the distance, and an ominously darkening eastern sky.
For the first time in a long time he feels the weight of doubt settle heavily on his shoulders.
He realizes that in the next few months, he has a lot to think about.
END
EDITS?
Wow, Tegoshi was not in this batch. Or Ryo. Though I guess at least they got mentions, unlike some people.
OP Tomorrow.