Coincidence Chapter 8
A whole 20 days and i haven't updated!!!! Gomenasai!
For this reason, i'm posting up a long chapter this time , enjoy!! :)
Title: Coincidence Chap 8/?
Author: tellytelly
Genre: friendship, romance
Rating: PG
Pairing: RyoJin/ Ryopi? Ryoda??characters from NEWS, KAT-TUN
Summary: Pi can't get Ryo out of his head, and Ryo had troubles of his own. Jin is a crazy friend and Ueda comes into the scene??
banner by nishikii
“I asked, he’s taken on 3 jobs to earn more money…” Jin started.
Pi kept quiet, it was sad, not like Ryo was really pathetic or anything, but for themselves and their friends, they never really had much worries about work and money, yet they were still complaining constantly how much they overworked and how they didn’t have enough time for themselves. He felt a bit ashamed and guilty on how easily he made his fortune now, even though there probably wasn’t anything particular he was superior at.
“Ueda seems to want to hire Ryo as his personal assistant.” Jin continued.
Pi widened his eyes in surprise. Half hoping he had thought about this first.
“But I don’t really trust Ueda, so I asked manager-san to find Ryo a job.”
Pi looked up and was suddenly much more optimistic, “So did Takahashi-san find a job for Ryo?”
“Yup!” Jin smiled widely, “An assistant photographer, sounds cool doesn’t it?”
Pi couldn’t suppress his smile.
“Over here Nishikido!” The photographer yelled. “Place the cushions on the couch, fluff them up first for god’s sake!” “Why is this Latte, didn’t I specifically asked for Black?!”
Turns out Ryo was a public assistant, everyone was ordering him around on the set, from setting the props to adjusting lights, holding the reflective boards to buying coffee. Ryo wasn’t complaining though, this was offering a much more impressive pay than stacking books or selling coffee. And he did study photography, at least he was doing something remotely related to what he has learnt, he hoped his parents would be proud of him at least a bit.
Ryo was into the second week on this job, and he was quite amused by the vast numbers of celebrities his “boss” Higashiyama-sensei was photographing. He’s seen Koda Kumi and Kimura Takuya, he didn’t fancy much about the celebrities in Japan, he had heard about these two though, and the star gazing was one additional interest factor.
Today we’ll have Yamashita san, the organizing staff announced, they gave their thanks to Higashiyama-sensei and the team including a man in a black suit and a couple of assistants came out surrounding Yamashita san.
Ryo wasn’t quite alert of the fact that Yamashita san was Yamashita Tomohisa as he was arranging the feathers on the backdrop. Not until Yamapi was on set and directed to the white circular mattress at the centre.
Apparently Yamapi didn’t notice Ryo as well, which was understandable since so many blinding bright lights were shining at him. Yamapi was doing some shoot for a women’s magazine, he was in a pair of washed out pale sky blue jeans and a thin revealing white shirt with only 2 midway buttons done revealing his wide and firm chest. Shoeless, he was supposed to shoot with this sexy blonde model on the mattress doing all sorts of suggestive poses. Yamashita’s hit song “Loveless” was on in the background.
The girl was in a light satin dress wrapping around like a towel, she was sexy and beautiful, Ryo however, had his eyes glued to someone else.
Throughout the few hours of the shoot, Yamapi and the girl rolled around on the mattress, got all touchy touchy and feigned kissing. Ryo rushed around blowing feathers from the side and rearranging the sheets and cushions when the models had their rest. He knew Yamapi wouldn’t notice him but he tried his best to duck and hide his eyes with his bangs. It wasn’t like he was doing anything humiliating but he’d rather Yamashita didn’t see him, and especially, didn’t find out that Ryo was staring at him the whole time.
Yamashita was handsome and really shone like a star, Ryo thought, he was very professional, polite to the staff and did all his poses right to the point, all the photos turned out beautifully, not to mention his nice sensual song repeating in the background. Higashiyama-sensei was examining the photos on the monitor whilst Ryo stood behind focusing on the monitor as well, taking hints as Higashiyama pointed here and there on the places to improve.
Yamapi was very excited about this photo shoot, not like he hasn’t been doing like 10 photo shoots a week for the past n years, he was looking forward especially to today since he was aware of the fact that Ryo was assisting Higashiyama-sensei in shooting him and he hadn’t seen Ryo in some time. He wondered how Ryo was coping with the new job and if he would have gotten any different.
Ryo didn’t seem to recognize him, was he too busy? Of course people were all bossing him around, he was glad to some extent though, since it would have been quite embarrassing doing all those poses in front of someone you knew. He didn’t find any opportunity to talk to Ryo, everytime it was his time to rest, it was Ryo’s busiest time, resetting the props and getting people what they needed. Pi watched Ryo during those periods, Ryo’s slim figure moving swiftly from one place to another, his long dark bangs hovering over his deep orbs. Watching Ryo was like watching the waves on a beach, the smoothness was refreshing and comforting, Pi felt himself being absorbed into a scene where there was only him and Ryo.
“Pi-san,” A voice woke Pi from his daydream, he looked up to the source of the flirtatious voice from the blonde model.
“Nee, let’s go out for a drink tonight.” The girl continued.
“…Sure” Pi faltered. He despised himself for being so pathetic at learning to reject people. The girl was attractive and all, large eyes, large boobs and slim waist. What more could a guy ask for, however, he was not the least bit interested.
“Otsukare sama deshita!” everybody yelled when the shoot was over. Assistants rushed over to Pi and covered his shoulders with a towel, then ushered him back to his rest room. In the end, Pi didn’t find a chance to talk to Ryo, he turned his head one last time to search for Ryo between the gaps of his assistant’s heads. There and then, his eyes met with those of Ryo who was coincidentally peering his way.
The brief moment was as if time had frozen. Both of them starring intently at the other, straight in the other’s eyes. Ryo’s eye were deep as if it held the secrets of the world, his aura was captivating Pi found it impossible to turn away, sounds became blurred, lights were like halos. Pi felt like the moment lasted forever and lasted like a blink. Disappointedly their shared gaze was broken by Pi being continually pushed forward by his assistants to keep the time of his next appointment
*****************
“Clean up the place.” The person left with Ryo to clean up the place instructed.
“Hey, aren’t we supposed to…”
“Just do it, newcomer.” “And be respectful to your seniors!” The older guy ordered and left with the doors slamming behind.
Ryo grunted as he continued to clean the place. It was getting late and alone to clean up the place till it was spotless meant he might make it late for his next job. Ryo sighed, but then he thought about Yamashita and the magical moment they shared, a smile crept over his face as he hummed “Loveless” while he continued cleaning.
“Excuse me! Anybody here?”
Hearing no response, Pi walked further inside the studio. He had loss his ring somewhere some time that day and having searched everywhere from his company van to his assistant’s purses, he decided to come back to the studio to try his luck.
He was shocked to find someone hunching over kneeling on the floor and scrubbing, humming some tune. “Hello… I was searching for…”
The person turned around with a perplexed look on his face, apparently astonished by the sudden intrusion. “Can I help…” the sentenced stopped abruptly upon their mutual realization of their stranger.
Ryo’s eyes widened and a flush of red spread over his face, embarrassed that his singing might have been heard. “Ah… hi Yamashita, what brings you here?”
Pi was just as shocked as Ryo was, and some part of his heart was fluttering uncontrollably. “I was, ah, looking for something I might have dropped here today during the shoot…” “Is it ok for me to be here? ...cause I don’t want to bother you or anything…”
It was an awkward moment, and both of their faces were heating up.
“No…no… definitely not” Ryo raised his hand as if to prohibit Pi from turning around to leave. “Can I help you?”
“It’s a ring…” “It’s very important and I just couldn’t find it…” Ryo’s heart half sank by the word, but managed to maintain a polite smile. “Well, let’s start looking for it.”
They searched everywhere for the said ring Pi described as plain silver with the word “eternity” carved on the inner side. They searched the mattress most thoroughly, between the flaps and lining, and all the cushions, when nothing could be found, they proceeded to places with much larger distance to anywhere Pi was near that day. Ryo was glad there was something to occupy his thoughts as he looked high and low for Pi’s ring, he wasn’t really sure what else he could do if they just continued staring at each other like that. Pi on the other hand, had the mission completely erased from his mind. The ring was just some cheap accessory he got for himself, sentimental only on the account that Pi had saved up some money for it early on when he started out as an idol, it wasn’t any important now that he could emerge in the atmosphere bathed with Ryo’s presence.
They settled down sitting on the floor with their backs resting on the side of the circular bed after an hour long search. Ryo was taking long deep breaths alternating with coughs as if exhausted and short of breath.
“Are you ok?” Yamapi asked worryingly. “Do you need your inhalers?”
Ryo forced a smile as he coughed and shook his hand to indicate he was well. Yamapi scrunched his brows as he sat closer and starting stroking Ryo’s back till his breath was smoother.
“Thanks…” Ryo said quietly. “It’s the dust…”
Ryo was looking straight ahead into space, whilst Pi could only look at Ryo, brooding over his enervated face. Still attractive, but tired and distressed. “I’m sorry I delayed your work…” Pi started. A truly apologetic tone in his voice.
Ryo turned to him and smiled endearingly, Pi was caught off guard by the brightness of it. “Nope, don’t worry about it, sorry I wasn’t of much help.”
“No, you were.” Pi mumbled as he turned his back back to the right position.
“It’s late, I should be leaving now.” Ryo brushed off his bum as he stood up to leave.
“Where’re you going?” There was a bit of frantic in Pi’s voice he hoped Ryo didn’t notice.
“It’s my job, I have to go…” Ryo was already at the door when he pushed down on the bars to the large metal double doors much like those to fire escapes. The studio was a large open space located at the basement of a commercial building.
Pi caught up to the door after a few more attempts Ryo had fidgeting with the handle, “Damn, it won’t budge.” Ryo grumbled as he continued pushing down on the handle.
He looked at his watch, then sighed. “the door is locked from outside.”
“Eh? No way!” Pi tried pushing the door himself, but failed just the same.
They went silent as they contemplated on a dark cold night in the isolated studio, slowly getting back to their seats on the ground near the mattress.
“I’m sorry…”
“… doesn’t matter, I was too tired to work another few hours on the road anyways.”
They fell silent again, Ryo was holding his head low so his bangs were dangling apart from his forehead. He stretched his legs and sighed. Pi turned to peek at Ryo, then turned back to looking front. He felt terribly guilty, but some parts of him were delighted about their circumstances. The peaceful calmness, the isolation, his company.
“Say, what’s so important about this ring?” Ryo suddenly turned to Pi.
“It’s not, thought you’d never ask.” Pi stated rather teasingly.
“What! You’ve got to be kidding? At least tell me it’s from your first love or girlfriend or something, what was I doing there breaking my bones to find it for you!” Ryo said in a tone partially angry and partially teasing.
Pi chuckled. “It’s not anything of that sort, I just liked it I guess. It’s the first thing I bought myself after I got into this job.” “I used to be quite romantic, E-t-e-r-n-i-t-y” Pi spelt out. “I thought it was a cool word…” It’s was Pi’s turn to stare into space as he reminisced his early years as an idol, trying to look kakkoi and appear tasteful.
Ryo laughed. “I get what you mean. But you owe me…”
Pi laughed with Ryo and after that they fell silent again.
“How are you Ryo?” Pi started quietly, after some awkward minutes of silence.
Ryo turned up only after some delayed reaction. “Huh? I’m ok.” Ryo lied.
“You don’t have to forge here, there’s nobody around.”
“What makes you think that?”
“…Jin said you weren’t sleeping well…” Pi retreated a bit at hearing how defensive Ryo had become. “You seem unhappy…”
Ryo turned away from Pi to stare at another part of the room. He had been working hard to escape the misery he was engulfed in, he didn’t want to receive any pity that would tip over his emotions, sacrificing all he had done so far.
“I’ve heard about your family from Jin, I’m sorry Ryo.”
Ryo just turned his head to a further angle, blinking his eyes fervently to spread his tear film so they wouldn’t show. What was Pi trying to do here? Trying to get him to cry? “I’M FINE” Ryo affirmed solidly once he swallowed the back flowing tears. His voice came out however, more like a bullied child trying to hide from his mother.
“…I know you are…” Pi replied quietly as he placed his hand close to Ryo’s outstretched hand resting on the floor, he had wanted to touch Ryo, but was afraid it would scare him so retrieved. Ryo was silently shivering and it broke Pi’s heart to watch. “It’ll be all better if you let it out Ryo…”
“…….”
“I’ll tell you about me!” Pi’s voice became cheerful. “We’ll exchange information about ourselves so we can get to know each other better ok?”
Ryo didn’t turn his head, but just grumbled.
“Well, for me, I have a mother and younger sister, I entered this business when I was eleven, can you believe that? 14 years already… My dad was an awful person and when I was young things came around pretty hard in the family.” Pi continued on talking about how much hardship he endured when he was younger, he hoped it would somehow make Ryo less conscious of his own misfortunes.
Ryo wasn’t looking at Pi, but listened intently to his story.
“I knew Jin from years back when we were both kids, and now we’re still best friends.” Pi smiles as he recalls his memories, “But it was really hard for some years, no producers gave me any work and I was criticized badly by the media for being arrogant….” “Ryo…?”
Ryo bit his lips and turned to Pi, forcing a gentle smile. “It’s great how successful you are now.”
“Now, tell me about you?” Pi urged.
“… There’s nothing to tell about myself.” In the back of Ryo’s mind, Ryo thought about his future and how dim it seemed, he hated how he was always overflowing with self pity.
Pi moved himself closer to Ryo. “It’s your turn, say whatever.”
“…well, I was a spoiled brat, our family moved to America when I was 3, their company was growing big and we were getting rich. I really didn’t have to do anything to please them, they just gave me anything, whatever I wanted. That’s the privilege of an only child I guess…”
“Were you happy?”
“Hell I was, I was proud and I thought everyone had to respect me. When my classmates teased me for being small, I hit them hard. My parents never reprimanded me either, now I think they didn’t really know though.”
“You were small?” Pi laughed. “Weren’t we all small?”
“…Well, I was smaller than average… I think it’s cause of the Japanese meals my mom insists our maid makes, all the kids had potatoes and steak, we always had fish and miso and rice, how’s that supposed to make you grow?” Ryo’s voice was getting withered. “I still looked like 8 years old at 14, when all the other kids were 6 feet tall. It was plain mockery…” “Nobody treated me like a grownup, but I had friends, they let me tag along like a child, but I hated it, especially when no girls took interest…”
Pi was laughing harder now. “Really? Man, I’d like to see your chibi pics.”
“Never in your lifetime!” Ryo howled. “Anyway, it’s over now, I’m well grown…”
Pi laughed and urged Ryo to continue.
Suddenly the main ceiling lights turned off automatically and they both jumped. They settled again soon customizing themselves to the dark surroundings.
“Then I went to college, then my parents died, and now I’m here, that’s all.” Ryo abruptly terminated his autobiography, clearly wanting to skip out a large part Pi was suggesting him to open up to.
“Tell me about college, I never went and I still regretted having missed it.”
“Well, it’s nothing you would miss, it’s just a bunch of people partying everyday they don’t even realize their parents killed themselves.” Ryo stopped short again, guilt in his voice.
Pi noticed Ryo’s anxiety, he raised his hand that was beside Ryo’s and cupped Ryo’s hand, giving it a slight squeeze. “It’s nothing to blame yourself for…”
Ryo was shocked and he turned to Pi, but then he continued “In fact I don’t!” His voice was getting agitated. “It was totally their fault, what was they thinking anyways? Why should I be forced to see that horror scene?”
“They looked gross, and I mean that, when I came back early in the morning that day, I didn’t see my parents in the kitchen like they were usually, so I knocked and entered their room, and there they were, lying side by side, face swollen and contorted, white foam flowing from their mouths, my mother was twitching and her eyes were widely opened whites were seen above and below.” Ryo’s voice was getting quicker as he reminiscence the scene he was all too familiar with. “my dad was still and his eyes were bloodshot, a cigarette dangling from his mouth… the room smelt awful, some weird acidic smell. I just stood there till I was sane again and called the paramedics…” Ryo paused, Pi squeezed his hand again it was comforting.
“You know what?” Ryo chuckled bitterly. “They didn’t know it was gas, and some of the paramedics got sick afterwards too.” Pi knew Ryo was just trying to lighten up the mood to avoid tipping over.
“What about you?” Pi asked.
“…What about me? I collapsed before they came so I didn’t really know what happened. But I thought for a second there I was leaving too, and honestly I wasn’t even scared.” Ryo’s voice was starting to shiver, Pi felt his heart notch at the thought that Ryo might have died as well and he would never have had met him.
“I’m glad you lived.”
Ryo turned his head away again, raising his head so his tears would remain put. “Sometimes… just sometimes, I hope they would have considered asking me to join in…” His voice was choked as he continued. “Why? Why would they leave their only son on earth to suffer?” Ryo was sniffing now and Pi knew he was trying hard not to cry.
Pi wanted to scold Ryo for thinking that way, but decided it was best to keep quiet and let Ryo express himself. He squeezed Ryo’s hand again.
Ryo laughed bitterly. “…I don’t even know why I’m sad, I mean, now I’m free right, no more mother nagging me and dad to boss me around, telling me I was studying shit…”
Ryo’s voice was getting softer and softer, Pi knew he wasn’t meaning what he said.
Ryo continued on, he was eager to convince himself as well what he was saying. “I mean, my girlfriend, my parents, they didn’t mean anything to me really, she was just needy and they were just a pain in the ass.” Ryo chuckled through his nose. “I’m just damn relieved…”
There was a long pause again, in the dim ambience Pi could only guess what Ryo’s expressions were. He could hear though, how Ryo was quietly sobbing. He moved up on his knees till he was in front of Ryo, he looked down at how Ryo was dunking his head lower so his face couldn’t be seen. If there was anything Pi wanted to do now, it was to grab Ryo and kiss him hard and tell him it didn’t matter whoever died cause now they had eachother. Such dorama like scenes though were unrealistic and Pi refrained himself from getting cocky.
He slowly placed his hand on Ryo’s quivering shoulders to calm him and another hand behind his nape to pull Ryo’s face to his tummy. “Cry all you want Ryo, it’s dark here nobody can see or hear you.”
Ryo didn’t pull away, instead he slowly wrapped his arms around Pi’s waist and buried his face in Pi’s firm abs. Slowly, he starting crying out loud, muffling his voice against Pi and wiping his tears with Pi’s shirt.
For a moment Pi felt quite lost, he had never seen a man weep so dolefully and he wondered if he could be of any comfort. His heart was broken by the mere sight and sounds of it all. He slowly kneeled lower down so Ryo’s head could rest on his shoulder, wrapping his strong arms around Ryo’s slim torso, he embraced him stoutly to calm his trembling.
He didn’t know how long time had passed, there was no window for him to keep track. Ryo kept crying and crying on his shoulder he could only feel the tears damping down to his skin. “I miss them so much…” “I don’t know how to live on…” Ryo would say between sobs, Pi tried his best to stroke his back and comfort him.
Ryo’s breathing became regular after a long while, towards the end of it Ryo was losing his voice and could only croak and sniff between sobs. Pi wondered if Ryo had finally cried himself to sleep, he took a peek sideways and indeed Ryo was fast asleep on his shoulder, arms already loosening from Pi’s waist. Slowly and cautiously, Pi picked Ryo up and placed him on the mattress he was modeling on that afternoon. There were still trains of tear tracks on Ryo’s pale face, Pi brushed the hair sticking on Ryo’s forehead, leaning his head on the side of the bed Pi marveled at the tranquility and serene of Ryo’s face. It was the third time he had seen Ryo sleeping, a different situation each time, but none failed to make his heart fall deeper and deeper for this man in front of him. Smiling to himself, he recalled how they had met on the plane, how he had detested this impolite guy and how he had come to become so intertwined with Ryo’s matters. It felt like fate and who was Pi to fight fate.
He had decided he would try once and for all to let Ryo know how he felt about him.
****************************************************************************************************
So, how was it ? Finally some Ryopi action :)
i miss NEWS and Ryopi tooo much, tho hearing that they went out recently was quite encouraging, it's not enough!!! (i'm a needy fangirl ><'')
Hope we can see some real NEWS action soon .
Love reading your comments, pls do write whatever!!
For this reason, i'm posting up a long chapter this time , enjoy!! :)
Title: Coincidence Chap 8/?
Author: tellytelly
Genre: friendship, romance
Rating: PG
Pairing: RyoJin/ Ryopi? Ryoda??characters from NEWS, KAT-TUN
Summary: Pi can't get Ryo out of his head, and Ryo had troubles of his own. Jin is a crazy friend and Ueda comes into the scene??
banner by nishikii
“I asked, he’s taken on 3 jobs to earn more money…” Jin started.
Pi kept quiet, it was sad, not like Ryo was really pathetic or anything, but for themselves and their friends, they never really had much worries about work and money, yet they were still complaining constantly how much they overworked and how they didn’t have enough time for themselves. He felt a bit ashamed and guilty on how easily he made his fortune now, even though there probably wasn’t anything particular he was superior at.
“Ueda seems to want to hire Ryo as his personal assistant.” Jin continued.
Pi widened his eyes in surprise. Half hoping he had thought about this first.
“But I don’t really trust Ueda, so I asked manager-san to find Ryo a job.”
Pi looked up and was suddenly much more optimistic, “So did Takahashi-san find a job for Ryo?”
“Yup!” Jin smiled widely, “An assistant photographer, sounds cool doesn’t it?”
Pi couldn’t suppress his smile.
“Over here Nishikido!” The photographer yelled. “Place the cushions on the couch, fluff them up first for god’s sake!” “Why is this Latte, didn’t I specifically asked for Black?!”
Turns out Ryo was a public assistant, everyone was ordering him around on the set, from setting the props to adjusting lights, holding the reflective boards to buying coffee. Ryo wasn’t complaining though, this was offering a much more impressive pay than stacking books or selling coffee. And he did study photography, at least he was doing something remotely related to what he has learnt, he hoped his parents would be proud of him at least a bit.
Ryo was into the second week on this job, and he was quite amused by the vast numbers of celebrities his “boss” Higashiyama-sensei was photographing. He’s seen Koda Kumi and Kimura Takuya, he didn’t fancy much about the celebrities in Japan, he had heard about these two though, and the star gazing was one additional interest factor.
Today we’ll have Yamashita san, the organizing staff announced, they gave their thanks to Higashiyama-sensei and the team including a man in a black suit and a couple of assistants came out surrounding Yamashita san.
Ryo wasn’t quite alert of the fact that Yamashita san was Yamashita Tomohisa as he was arranging the feathers on the backdrop. Not until Yamapi was on set and directed to the white circular mattress at the centre.
Apparently Yamapi didn’t notice Ryo as well, which was understandable since so many blinding bright lights were shining at him. Yamapi was doing some shoot for a women’s magazine, he was in a pair of washed out pale sky blue jeans and a thin revealing white shirt with only 2 midway buttons done revealing his wide and firm chest. Shoeless, he was supposed to shoot with this sexy blonde model on the mattress doing all sorts of suggestive poses. Yamashita’s hit song “Loveless” was on in the background.
The girl was in a light satin dress wrapping around like a towel, she was sexy and beautiful, Ryo however, had his eyes glued to someone else.
Throughout the few hours of the shoot, Yamapi and the girl rolled around on the mattress, got all touchy touchy and feigned kissing. Ryo rushed around blowing feathers from the side and rearranging the sheets and cushions when the models had their rest. He knew Yamapi wouldn’t notice him but he tried his best to duck and hide his eyes with his bangs. It wasn’t like he was doing anything humiliating but he’d rather Yamashita didn’t see him, and especially, didn’t find out that Ryo was staring at him the whole time.
Yamashita was handsome and really shone like a star, Ryo thought, he was very professional, polite to the staff and did all his poses right to the point, all the photos turned out beautifully, not to mention his nice sensual song repeating in the background. Higashiyama-sensei was examining the photos on the monitor whilst Ryo stood behind focusing on the monitor as well, taking hints as Higashiyama pointed here and there on the places to improve.
Yamapi was very excited about this photo shoot, not like he hasn’t been doing like 10 photo shoots a week for the past n years, he was looking forward especially to today since he was aware of the fact that Ryo was assisting Higashiyama-sensei in shooting him and he hadn’t seen Ryo in some time. He wondered how Ryo was coping with the new job and if he would have gotten any different.
Ryo didn’t seem to recognize him, was he too busy? Of course people were all bossing him around, he was glad to some extent though, since it would have been quite embarrassing doing all those poses in front of someone you knew. He didn’t find any opportunity to talk to Ryo, everytime it was his time to rest, it was Ryo’s busiest time, resetting the props and getting people what they needed. Pi watched Ryo during those periods, Ryo’s slim figure moving swiftly from one place to another, his long dark bangs hovering over his deep orbs. Watching Ryo was like watching the waves on a beach, the smoothness was refreshing and comforting, Pi felt himself being absorbed into a scene where there was only him and Ryo.
“Pi-san,” A voice woke Pi from his daydream, he looked up to the source of the flirtatious voice from the blonde model.
“Nee, let’s go out for a drink tonight.” The girl continued.
“…Sure” Pi faltered. He despised himself for being so pathetic at learning to reject people. The girl was attractive and all, large eyes, large boobs and slim waist. What more could a guy ask for, however, he was not the least bit interested.
“Otsukare sama deshita!” everybody yelled when the shoot was over. Assistants rushed over to Pi and covered his shoulders with a towel, then ushered him back to his rest room. In the end, Pi didn’t find a chance to talk to Ryo, he turned his head one last time to search for Ryo between the gaps of his assistant’s heads. There and then, his eyes met with those of Ryo who was coincidentally peering his way.
The brief moment was as if time had frozen. Both of them starring intently at the other, straight in the other’s eyes. Ryo’s eye were deep as if it held the secrets of the world, his aura was captivating Pi found it impossible to turn away, sounds became blurred, lights were like halos. Pi felt like the moment lasted forever and lasted like a blink. Disappointedly their shared gaze was broken by Pi being continually pushed forward by his assistants to keep the time of his next appointment
*****************
“Clean up the place.” The person left with Ryo to clean up the place instructed.
“Hey, aren’t we supposed to…”
“Just do it, newcomer.” “And be respectful to your seniors!” The older guy ordered and left with the doors slamming behind.
Ryo grunted as he continued to clean the place. It was getting late and alone to clean up the place till it was spotless meant he might make it late for his next job. Ryo sighed, but then he thought about Yamashita and the magical moment they shared, a smile crept over his face as he hummed “Loveless” while he continued cleaning.
“Excuse me! Anybody here?”
Hearing no response, Pi walked further inside the studio. He had loss his ring somewhere some time that day and having searched everywhere from his company van to his assistant’s purses, he decided to come back to the studio to try his luck.
He was shocked to find someone hunching over kneeling on the floor and scrubbing, humming some tune. “Hello… I was searching for…”
The person turned around with a perplexed look on his face, apparently astonished by the sudden intrusion. “Can I help…” the sentenced stopped abruptly upon their mutual realization of their stranger.
Ryo’s eyes widened and a flush of red spread over his face, embarrassed that his singing might have been heard. “Ah… hi Yamashita, what brings you here?”
Pi was just as shocked as Ryo was, and some part of his heart was fluttering uncontrollably. “I was, ah, looking for something I might have dropped here today during the shoot…” “Is it ok for me to be here? ...cause I don’t want to bother you or anything…”
It was an awkward moment, and both of their faces were heating up.
“No…no… definitely not” Ryo raised his hand as if to prohibit Pi from turning around to leave. “Can I help you?”
“It’s a ring…” “It’s very important and I just couldn’t find it…” Ryo’s heart half sank by the word, but managed to maintain a polite smile. “Well, let’s start looking for it.”
They searched everywhere for the said ring Pi described as plain silver with the word “eternity” carved on the inner side. They searched the mattress most thoroughly, between the flaps and lining, and all the cushions, when nothing could be found, they proceeded to places with much larger distance to anywhere Pi was near that day. Ryo was glad there was something to occupy his thoughts as he looked high and low for Pi’s ring, he wasn’t really sure what else he could do if they just continued staring at each other like that. Pi on the other hand, had the mission completely erased from his mind. The ring was just some cheap accessory he got for himself, sentimental only on the account that Pi had saved up some money for it early on when he started out as an idol, it wasn’t any important now that he could emerge in the atmosphere bathed with Ryo’s presence.
They settled down sitting on the floor with their backs resting on the side of the circular bed after an hour long search. Ryo was taking long deep breaths alternating with coughs as if exhausted and short of breath.
“Are you ok?” Yamapi asked worryingly. “Do you need your inhalers?”
Ryo forced a smile as he coughed and shook his hand to indicate he was well. Yamapi scrunched his brows as he sat closer and starting stroking Ryo’s back till his breath was smoother.
“Thanks…” Ryo said quietly. “It’s the dust…”
Ryo was looking straight ahead into space, whilst Pi could only look at Ryo, brooding over his enervated face. Still attractive, but tired and distressed. “I’m sorry I delayed your work…” Pi started. A truly apologetic tone in his voice.
Ryo turned to him and smiled endearingly, Pi was caught off guard by the brightness of it. “Nope, don’t worry about it, sorry I wasn’t of much help.”
“No, you were.” Pi mumbled as he turned his back back to the right position.
“It’s late, I should be leaving now.” Ryo brushed off his bum as he stood up to leave.
“Where’re you going?” There was a bit of frantic in Pi’s voice he hoped Ryo didn’t notice.
“It’s my job, I have to go…” Ryo was already at the door when he pushed down on the bars to the large metal double doors much like those to fire escapes. The studio was a large open space located at the basement of a commercial building.
Pi caught up to the door after a few more attempts Ryo had fidgeting with the handle, “Damn, it won’t budge.” Ryo grumbled as he continued pushing down on the handle.
He looked at his watch, then sighed. “the door is locked from outside.”
“Eh? No way!” Pi tried pushing the door himself, but failed just the same.
They went silent as they contemplated on a dark cold night in the isolated studio, slowly getting back to their seats on the ground near the mattress.
“I’m sorry…”
“… doesn’t matter, I was too tired to work another few hours on the road anyways.”
They fell silent again, Ryo was holding his head low so his bangs were dangling apart from his forehead. He stretched his legs and sighed. Pi turned to peek at Ryo, then turned back to looking front. He felt terribly guilty, but some parts of him were delighted about their circumstances. The peaceful calmness, the isolation, his company.
“Say, what’s so important about this ring?” Ryo suddenly turned to Pi.
“It’s not, thought you’d never ask.” Pi stated rather teasingly.
“What! You’ve got to be kidding? At least tell me it’s from your first love or girlfriend or something, what was I doing there breaking my bones to find it for you!” Ryo said in a tone partially angry and partially teasing.
Pi chuckled. “It’s not anything of that sort, I just liked it I guess. It’s the first thing I bought myself after I got into this job.” “I used to be quite romantic, E-t-e-r-n-i-t-y” Pi spelt out. “I thought it was a cool word…” It’s was Pi’s turn to stare into space as he reminisced his early years as an idol, trying to look kakkoi and appear tasteful.
Ryo laughed. “I get what you mean. But you owe me…”
Pi laughed with Ryo and after that they fell silent again.
“How are you Ryo?” Pi started quietly, after some awkward minutes of silence.
Ryo turned up only after some delayed reaction. “Huh? I’m ok.” Ryo lied.
“You don’t have to forge here, there’s nobody around.”
“What makes you think that?”
“…Jin said you weren’t sleeping well…” Pi retreated a bit at hearing how defensive Ryo had become. “You seem unhappy…”
Ryo turned away from Pi to stare at another part of the room. He had been working hard to escape the misery he was engulfed in, he didn’t want to receive any pity that would tip over his emotions, sacrificing all he had done so far.
“I’ve heard about your family from Jin, I’m sorry Ryo.”
Ryo just turned his head to a further angle, blinking his eyes fervently to spread his tear film so they wouldn’t show. What was Pi trying to do here? Trying to get him to cry? “I’M FINE” Ryo affirmed solidly once he swallowed the back flowing tears. His voice came out however, more like a bullied child trying to hide from his mother.
“…I know you are…” Pi replied quietly as he placed his hand close to Ryo’s outstretched hand resting on the floor, he had wanted to touch Ryo, but was afraid it would scare him so retrieved. Ryo was silently shivering and it broke Pi’s heart to watch. “It’ll be all better if you let it out Ryo…”
“…….”
“I’ll tell you about me!” Pi’s voice became cheerful. “We’ll exchange information about ourselves so we can get to know each other better ok?”
Ryo didn’t turn his head, but just grumbled.
“Well, for me, I have a mother and younger sister, I entered this business when I was eleven, can you believe that? 14 years already… My dad was an awful person and when I was young things came around pretty hard in the family.” Pi continued on talking about how much hardship he endured when he was younger, he hoped it would somehow make Ryo less conscious of his own misfortunes.
Ryo wasn’t looking at Pi, but listened intently to his story.
“I knew Jin from years back when we were both kids, and now we’re still best friends.” Pi smiles as he recalls his memories, “But it was really hard for some years, no producers gave me any work and I was criticized badly by the media for being arrogant….” “Ryo…?”
Ryo bit his lips and turned to Pi, forcing a gentle smile. “It’s great how successful you are now.”
“Now, tell me about you?” Pi urged.
“… There’s nothing to tell about myself.” In the back of Ryo’s mind, Ryo thought about his future and how dim it seemed, he hated how he was always overflowing with self pity.
Pi moved himself closer to Ryo. “It’s your turn, say whatever.”
“…well, I was a spoiled brat, our family moved to America when I was 3, their company was growing big and we were getting rich. I really didn’t have to do anything to please them, they just gave me anything, whatever I wanted. That’s the privilege of an only child I guess…”
“Were you happy?”
“Hell I was, I was proud and I thought everyone had to respect me. When my classmates teased me for being small, I hit them hard. My parents never reprimanded me either, now I think they didn’t really know though.”
“You were small?” Pi laughed. “Weren’t we all small?”
“…Well, I was smaller than average… I think it’s cause of the Japanese meals my mom insists our maid makes, all the kids had potatoes and steak, we always had fish and miso and rice, how’s that supposed to make you grow?” Ryo’s voice was getting withered. “I still looked like 8 years old at 14, when all the other kids were 6 feet tall. It was plain mockery…” “Nobody treated me like a grownup, but I had friends, they let me tag along like a child, but I hated it, especially when no girls took interest…”
Pi was laughing harder now. “Really? Man, I’d like to see your chibi pics.”
“Never in your lifetime!” Ryo howled. “Anyway, it’s over now, I’m well grown…”
Pi laughed and urged Ryo to continue.
Suddenly the main ceiling lights turned off automatically and they both jumped. They settled again soon customizing themselves to the dark surroundings.
“Then I went to college, then my parents died, and now I’m here, that’s all.” Ryo abruptly terminated his autobiography, clearly wanting to skip out a large part Pi was suggesting him to open up to.
“Tell me about college, I never went and I still regretted having missed it.”
“Well, it’s nothing you would miss, it’s just a bunch of people partying everyday they don’t even realize their parents killed themselves.” Ryo stopped short again, guilt in his voice.
Pi noticed Ryo’s anxiety, he raised his hand that was beside Ryo’s and cupped Ryo’s hand, giving it a slight squeeze. “It’s nothing to blame yourself for…”
Ryo was shocked and he turned to Pi, but then he continued “In fact I don’t!” His voice was getting agitated. “It was totally their fault, what was they thinking anyways? Why should I be forced to see that horror scene?”
“They looked gross, and I mean that, when I came back early in the morning that day, I didn’t see my parents in the kitchen like they were usually, so I knocked and entered their room, and there they were, lying side by side, face swollen and contorted, white foam flowing from their mouths, my mother was twitching and her eyes were widely opened whites were seen above and below.” Ryo’s voice was getting quicker as he reminiscence the scene he was all too familiar with. “my dad was still and his eyes were bloodshot, a cigarette dangling from his mouth… the room smelt awful, some weird acidic smell. I just stood there till I was sane again and called the paramedics…” Ryo paused, Pi squeezed his hand again it was comforting.
“You know what?” Ryo chuckled bitterly. “They didn’t know it was gas, and some of the paramedics got sick afterwards too.” Pi knew Ryo was just trying to lighten up the mood to avoid tipping over.
“What about you?” Pi asked.
“…What about me? I collapsed before they came so I didn’t really know what happened. But I thought for a second there I was leaving too, and honestly I wasn’t even scared.” Ryo’s voice was starting to shiver, Pi felt his heart notch at the thought that Ryo might have died as well and he would never have had met him.
“I’m glad you lived.”
Ryo turned his head away again, raising his head so his tears would remain put. “Sometimes… just sometimes, I hope they would have considered asking me to join in…” His voice was choked as he continued. “Why? Why would they leave their only son on earth to suffer?” Ryo was sniffing now and Pi knew he was trying hard not to cry.
Pi wanted to scold Ryo for thinking that way, but decided it was best to keep quiet and let Ryo express himself. He squeezed Ryo’s hand again.
Ryo laughed bitterly. “…I don’t even know why I’m sad, I mean, now I’m free right, no more mother nagging me and dad to boss me around, telling me I was studying shit…”
Ryo’s voice was getting softer and softer, Pi knew he wasn’t meaning what he said.
Ryo continued on, he was eager to convince himself as well what he was saying. “I mean, my girlfriend, my parents, they didn’t mean anything to me really, she was just needy and they were just a pain in the ass.” Ryo chuckled through his nose. “I’m just damn relieved…”
There was a long pause again, in the dim ambience Pi could only guess what Ryo’s expressions were. He could hear though, how Ryo was quietly sobbing. He moved up on his knees till he was in front of Ryo, he looked down at how Ryo was dunking his head lower so his face couldn’t be seen. If there was anything Pi wanted to do now, it was to grab Ryo and kiss him hard and tell him it didn’t matter whoever died cause now they had eachother. Such dorama like scenes though were unrealistic and Pi refrained himself from getting cocky.
He slowly placed his hand on Ryo’s quivering shoulders to calm him and another hand behind his nape to pull Ryo’s face to his tummy. “Cry all you want Ryo, it’s dark here nobody can see or hear you.”
Ryo didn’t pull away, instead he slowly wrapped his arms around Pi’s waist and buried his face in Pi’s firm abs. Slowly, he starting crying out loud, muffling his voice against Pi and wiping his tears with Pi’s shirt.
For a moment Pi felt quite lost, he had never seen a man weep so dolefully and he wondered if he could be of any comfort. His heart was broken by the mere sight and sounds of it all. He slowly kneeled lower down so Ryo’s head could rest on his shoulder, wrapping his strong arms around Ryo’s slim torso, he embraced him stoutly to calm his trembling.
He didn’t know how long time had passed, there was no window for him to keep track. Ryo kept crying and crying on his shoulder he could only feel the tears damping down to his skin. “I miss them so much…” “I don’t know how to live on…” Ryo would say between sobs, Pi tried his best to stroke his back and comfort him.
Ryo’s breathing became regular after a long while, towards the end of it Ryo was losing his voice and could only croak and sniff between sobs. Pi wondered if Ryo had finally cried himself to sleep, he took a peek sideways and indeed Ryo was fast asleep on his shoulder, arms already loosening from Pi’s waist. Slowly and cautiously, Pi picked Ryo up and placed him on the mattress he was modeling on that afternoon. There were still trains of tear tracks on Ryo’s pale face, Pi brushed the hair sticking on Ryo’s forehead, leaning his head on the side of the bed Pi marveled at the tranquility and serene of Ryo’s face. It was the third time he had seen Ryo sleeping, a different situation each time, but none failed to make his heart fall deeper and deeper for this man in front of him. Smiling to himself, he recalled how they had met on the plane, how he had detested this impolite guy and how he had come to become so intertwined with Ryo’s matters. It felt like fate and who was Pi to fight fate.
He had decided he would try once and for all to let Ryo know how he felt about him.
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So, how was it ? Finally some Ryopi action :)
i miss NEWS and Ryopi tooo much, tho hearing that they went out recently was quite encouraging, it's not enough!!! (i'm a needy fangirl ><'')
Hope we can see some real NEWS action soon .
Love reading your comments, pls do write whatever!!