shake it shake it
"We are," Ohno agreed.
~
2. Jun, birthday, fic. [G] Foroviparous.
"MATSUJUN," Aiba yelled when Jun opened the door.
Jun shut the door and decided to get breakfast first.
He heard the pit-pat of running flip-flops following him and sighed. It was too early for this. It was barely 10:30. Jun needed time to wake up. He’d only gotten one hour of sleep last night; and the thought of expending unnecessary amounts of energy seemed a grim prospect.
"Jun-kun," Aiba sang, nearly slamming into Jun's back. He grabbed Jun's arm. "Why did you do that? You have to come back, did you see the room --"
"Yes," Jun said succinctly. "It wasn't required."
"You're a party pooper," Aiba whined. "You're like this every year. Don't you think it's fun to celebrate? I love it!"
"I know you do," Jun sighed. "But I'm not you, and I'm going to the cafeteria. Stop following me."
"To the caf?" Aiba asked. "Why? We brought a lot of food."
"It -- it's just too much, right now," Jun said, and walked away, nursing his headache for company.
Jun returned to the room at five to eleven, and was relieved to see that mostly everyone was gone, although the room was far from empty. When Jun noticed Nino in the corner, he'd panicked for a brief instant, but Nino didn't even look up when Jun came in. Jun saw the DS in his hands, and the degree he was slouched in meant that he must be at some high level of his game. Jun felt hope. Nino wasn’t making a big deal of it. Maybe Jun could get through the day after all.
“It’d be easier if you just enjoyed yourself,” Nino told Jun as he sat beside him.
“I’d enjoy myself more if I could get some peace and quiet,” Jun replied, and closed his eyes.
His relief was short-lived. The other three members soon came back, carrying a large white box. Sho noticed Jun in the room and hurriedly pushed Aiba and Ohno back outside.
"Nino, come here," Sho called. Nino sighed and paused his game, sharing a look with Jun before he went to meet the others by the entrance.
"You were supposed to give us a signal if Jun came back inside!" Sho hissed, not at all softly.
"I was busy!" Nino said. "I'm almost done the game!"
"The game can wait!" Aiba scolded. "Now Matsujun's seen us!"
"He doesn't know what's inside. It's a box."
"Are you stupid?" Sho said. "Look at the room! How can he not know what's inside?"
"You guys are making too big of a deal over this, seriously.”
"But today!" Aiba pushed.
"Jun-kun's inside," Ohno piped up quietly. "What should we do?"
"How about you go elsewhere to have your conversation?" Jun asks, raising his voice.
Silence.
"Okay but we'll be back!" Aiba said, and the group of them trooped away, their overlapping voices fading down the hall.
Jun picked a streamer off the ground and snapped it in half. He wondered if he should just go home now, and save himself the trouble.
They mentioned it again, of course, during filming, and Jun smiled, dipping his head in thanks as the staff clapped. Although his bad mood from the morning had lifted, he still wasn't delighted to be at work today. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate the occasion, but he rather believed that he was old enough that he had a say about whether he chose to celebrate it or not. Aiba was enthusiastic as always, and the others were happy to play along, but this year had been so busy for all of them, it seemed a shame to waste energy on an event for a person who was pretty much indifferent to the whole thing. The balloons dotting the ceiling, the steamers all over the furniture, the presents on the table all seemed too lavish, too excessive. Jun hadn't asked for any of it. He just wanted to rest.
"But Matsujun!" Aiba said, after filming had wrapped up and Jun still made no motion to open his gifts. "It's your birthday!"
"Yes," Jun said, kicking a balloon out of his way. "My birthday, to spend how I want. And I want to go home and sleep."
"I don't know how you put on pants in the morning," Nino remarked. "With that stick up your butt. Good thing Sho-chan got you a dress."
"I didn't get you a dress," Sho rushed to say. He paused. "It's a skirt."
Jun stared. He grabbed the red bag off the table and took out the contents. It actually was a summer skirt, frilly and pink in all the right places.
"What. Is this," Jun said. He took the lid off of Ohno's boxed present. It was a make-up kit.
"Mine next!" Nino cried. A plastic pharmacy bag; inside, a box of tampons.
"You guys --" Jun started to say. A camera flashed in his face.
"I got it!" Aiba said gleefully. "I got it and he wasn't blinking or anything and his expression was perfect."
"Oh, awesome," Ohno said, looking at the camera display. "He looks really pissed."
"Scary Jun-kun," Nino laughed.
"No, look at him now," Sho said. "He's really ready to kill us." Aiba snapped another picture.
"I'm going to put these pictures on my door so my brother will be too scared to come in my room,” he said happily.
"I'm going to make his face into a mask," Sho said. "For Halloween."
"Woah, good idea, Sho-san!"
"I'm going to put mine on a post in the garden," Ohno added.
"Like a scarecrow?" Nino asked. "Wow, another great idea."
"WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING," Jun screamed.
"Well Matsujun is always such a pissy drama queen on his birthday," Aiba said, taking another photo. "You totally PMS out. So we decided to make it fun for us, at least."
This wasn't what Jun had wanted. "Couldn't we just not celebrate my birthday? And PMS is not a verb."
"No, and how did you know that?"
"I have a sister!"
"Nino and Captain don't know that, and they have sisters. Right?" Aiba looked at them, and they shook their heads. Sho laughed.
"I hate you all so much right now," Jun said as venomously as he could.
"Which is why!" Aiba said, dashing away to retrieve the white box from earlier. "We got you this!"
And to Jun's surprise, it wasn't a birthday cake, as he had previously thought. It was a small pillow. On its side was a zipper. Jun opened it and inside the pocket found an eye mask and a pair of ear plugs.
"He's smiling!" Sho pointed. "Aiba!"
Aiba took a picture, and Jun slept peacefully on the couch for the rest of the afternoon while the others finished off his birthday food for him.
~
3. Ohno, alert, not really a drabble (350 words), art. [G] Forblueandflawless.
Note for the random picture: in an magazine interview (I forget which one), both Sho and Jun mentioned that Ohno had a green baseball cap where he drew the design of a clock on it.
Somehow they learn that Ohno had extraordinary good luck with fish; he somehow caught every one that bit his line. It was like he had a sixth sense that allowed him to pick up his fishing pole and start reeling before the tip of the line had even started to twitch. Aiba had wondered, how?
Aiba follows Ohno on his boat one day and spends the entire trip observing how Ohno would grab his fishing pole almost simultaneously to the first pull on the lure. Aiba writes theory after theory in his notebook but can't get sufficient evidence for any of them. It's as if Ohno has sort of radar in his head. When a fish approaches his line, something blips in Ohno's brain, letting him know: incoming, incoming. Aiba doodles pictures of submarines while Ohno reels in another massive catch. Aiba used to think that Ohno was most alert while doing art, but Ohno fishing is something else. He seems oblivious to the world, yet he shoots up the moment he recognizes a fish, eyes bright and hands winding the spool furiously. He reacts faster than Aiba; Aiba, who'd kept his eyes on the end of the pole the entire time.
He can't figure it out until he sees Ohno take off his baseball cap to fix his hair, and suddenly Aiba gets it.
He writes a report and presents it to Arashi.
"He has ’fish time’?" Sho says, after Aiba has finished his lecture.
"Yes!" Aiba says, holding up Ohno's cap.
“That’s ridiculous,” Jun says. “There’s no such thing. Plus, that’s a baseball cap.”
“It’s a cap that Captain drew on himself!” Aiba explains. “He made it into a fish sensing cap!”
“How did you do that?” Nino asks Ohno.
“I had no idea about any of this,” Ohno says.
“Then Captain, you explain how you do it!” Aiba suggests.
“I - I just know,” Ohno says awkwardly.
“Exactly,” Aiba nods. “It’s got to be the hat.”
As by the scientific method, they are forced to accept Aiba’s theory until someone presents a better one. No one ever does.
~
part two
~
2. Jun, birthday, fic. [G] Foroviparous.
"MATSUJUN," Aiba yelled when Jun opened the door.
Jun shut the door and decided to get breakfast first.
He heard the pit-pat of running flip-flops following him and sighed. It was too early for this. It was barely 10:30. Jun needed time to wake up. He’d only gotten one hour of sleep last night; and the thought of expending unnecessary amounts of energy seemed a grim prospect.
"Jun-kun," Aiba sang, nearly slamming into Jun's back. He grabbed Jun's arm. "Why did you do that? You have to come back, did you see the room --"
"Yes," Jun said succinctly. "It wasn't required."
"You're a party pooper," Aiba whined. "You're like this every year. Don't you think it's fun to celebrate? I love it!"
"I know you do," Jun sighed. "But I'm not you, and I'm going to the cafeteria. Stop following me."
"To the caf?" Aiba asked. "Why? We brought a lot of food."
"It -- it's just too much, right now," Jun said, and walked away, nursing his headache for company.
Jun returned to the room at five to eleven, and was relieved to see that mostly everyone was gone, although the room was far from empty. When Jun noticed Nino in the corner, he'd panicked for a brief instant, but Nino didn't even look up when Jun came in. Jun saw the DS in his hands, and the degree he was slouched in meant that he must be at some high level of his game. Jun felt hope. Nino wasn’t making a big deal of it. Maybe Jun could get through the day after all.
“It’d be easier if you just enjoyed yourself,” Nino told Jun as he sat beside him.
“I’d enjoy myself more if I could get some peace and quiet,” Jun replied, and closed his eyes.
His relief was short-lived. The other three members soon came back, carrying a large white box. Sho noticed Jun in the room and hurriedly pushed Aiba and Ohno back outside.
"Nino, come here," Sho called. Nino sighed and paused his game, sharing a look with Jun before he went to meet the others by the entrance.
"You were supposed to give us a signal if Jun came back inside!" Sho hissed, not at all softly.
"I was busy!" Nino said. "I'm almost done the game!"
"The game can wait!" Aiba scolded. "Now Matsujun's seen us!"
"He doesn't know what's inside. It's a box."
"Are you stupid?" Sho said. "Look at the room! How can he not know what's inside?"
"You guys are making too big of a deal over this, seriously.”
"But today!" Aiba pushed.
"Jun-kun's inside," Ohno piped up quietly. "What should we do?"
"How about you go elsewhere to have your conversation?" Jun asks, raising his voice.
Silence.
"Okay but we'll be back!" Aiba said, and the group of them trooped away, their overlapping voices fading down the hall.
Jun picked a streamer off the ground and snapped it in half. He wondered if he should just go home now, and save himself the trouble.
They mentioned it again, of course, during filming, and Jun smiled, dipping his head in thanks as the staff clapped. Although his bad mood from the morning had lifted, he still wasn't delighted to be at work today. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate the occasion, but he rather believed that he was old enough that he had a say about whether he chose to celebrate it or not. Aiba was enthusiastic as always, and the others were happy to play along, but this year had been so busy for all of them, it seemed a shame to waste energy on an event for a person who was pretty much indifferent to the whole thing. The balloons dotting the ceiling, the steamers all over the furniture, the presents on the table all seemed too lavish, too excessive. Jun hadn't asked for any of it. He just wanted to rest.
"But Matsujun!" Aiba said, after filming had wrapped up and Jun still made no motion to open his gifts. "It's your birthday!"
"Yes," Jun said, kicking a balloon out of his way. "My birthday, to spend how I want. And I want to go home and sleep."
"I don't know how you put on pants in the morning," Nino remarked. "With that stick up your butt. Good thing Sho-chan got you a dress."
"I didn't get you a dress," Sho rushed to say. He paused. "It's a skirt."
Jun stared. He grabbed the red bag off the table and took out the contents. It actually was a summer skirt, frilly and pink in all the right places.
"What. Is this," Jun said. He took the lid off of Ohno's boxed present. It was a make-up kit.
"Mine next!" Nino cried. A plastic pharmacy bag; inside, a box of tampons.
"You guys --" Jun started to say. A camera flashed in his face.
"I got it!" Aiba said gleefully. "I got it and he wasn't blinking or anything and his expression was perfect."
"Oh, awesome," Ohno said, looking at the camera display. "He looks really pissed."
"Scary Jun-kun," Nino laughed.
"No, look at him now," Sho said. "He's really ready to kill us." Aiba snapped another picture.
"I'm going to put these pictures on my door so my brother will be too scared to come in my room,” he said happily.
"I'm going to make his face into a mask," Sho said. "For Halloween."
"Woah, good idea, Sho-san!"
"I'm going to put mine on a post in the garden," Ohno added.
"Like a scarecrow?" Nino asked. "Wow, another great idea."
"WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING," Jun screamed.
"Well Matsujun is always such a pissy drama queen on his birthday," Aiba said, taking another photo. "You totally PMS out. So we decided to make it fun for us, at least."
This wasn't what Jun had wanted. "Couldn't we just not celebrate my birthday? And PMS is not a verb."
"No, and how did you know that?"
"I have a sister!"
"Nino and Captain don't know that, and they have sisters. Right?" Aiba looked at them, and they shook their heads. Sho laughed.
"I hate you all so much right now," Jun said as venomously as he could.
"Which is why!" Aiba said, dashing away to retrieve the white box from earlier. "We got you this!"
And to Jun's surprise, it wasn't a birthday cake, as he had previously thought. It was a small pillow. On its side was a zipper. Jun opened it and inside the pocket found an eye mask and a pair of ear plugs.
"He's smiling!" Sho pointed. "Aiba!"
Aiba took a picture, and Jun slept peacefully on the couch for the rest of the afternoon while the others finished off his birthday food for him.
~
3. Ohno, alert, not really a drabble (350 words), art. [G] Forblueandflawless.
Note for the random picture: in an magazine interview (I forget which one), both Sho and Jun mentioned that Ohno had a green baseball cap where he drew the design of a clock on it.
Somehow they learn that Ohno had extraordinary good luck with fish; he somehow caught every one that bit his line. It was like he had a sixth sense that allowed him to pick up his fishing pole and start reeling before the tip of the line had even started to twitch. Aiba had wondered, how?
Aiba follows Ohno on his boat one day and spends the entire trip observing how Ohno would grab his fishing pole almost simultaneously to the first pull on the lure. Aiba writes theory after theory in his notebook but can't get sufficient evidence for any of them. It's as if Ohno has sort of radar in his head. When a fish approaches his line, something blips in Ohno's brain, letting him know: incoming, incoming. Aiba doodles pictures of submarines while Ohno reels in another massive catch. Aiba used to think that Ohno was most alert while doing art, but Ohno fishing is something else. He seems oblivious to the world, yet he shoots up the moment he recognizes a fish, eyes bright and hands winding the spool furiously. He reacts faster than Aiba; Aiba, who'd kept his eyes on the end of the pole the entire time.
He can't figure it out until he sees Ohno take off his baseball cap to fix his hair, and suddenly Aiba gets it.
He writes a report and presents it to Arashi.
"He has ’fish time’?" Sho says, after Aiba has finished his lecture.
"Yes!" Aiba says, holding up Ohno's cap.
“That’s ridiculous,” Jun says. “There’s no such thing. Plus, that’s a baseball cap.”
“It’s a cap that Captain drew on himself!” Aiba explains. “He made it into a fish sensing cap!”
“How did you do that?” Nino asks Ohno.
“I had no idea about any of this,” Ohno says.
“Then Captain, you explain how you do it!” Aiba suggests.
“I - I just know,” Ohno says awkwardly.
“Exactly,” Aiba nods. “It’s got to be the hat.”
As by the scientific method, they are forced to accept Aiba’s theory until someone presents a better one. No one ever does.
~
part two