Wanderlust is for Fools
TITLE: Wanderlust is for Fools
PAIRING: Ryo/Shige
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: Shige plays savior.
WORD COUNT: 3,418
Shige does not have the most exciting of social lives. He barely has a social life at all. He's busy with school, and with his part-time job, and after a long day of either one, he rarely has the energy to go out drinking, or spend hours at karaoke, screaming into a microphone. It's all too exhausting. Usually, he goes back to the apartment, and hangs out. The closest thing he has that can really be considered a social life, are the little non-dates he goes on with Ryo. To the cafe down the street, tagging along when Ryo feels like buying something new and expensive, going grocery shopping.
Ryo, on the other hand, has the kind of social life that most people would either die for, or die to get out of. There are always people calling him, wanting to hang out, get some drinks, hit the clubs. Stay out all night, wake up in a hotel somewhere, not completely remember what happened. And by Ryo's standards - that is a social life. He doesn't even consider the non-dates to be a part of his social life, they're simply his life.
As would be expected of two people with vastly different concepts of fun and what 'early' is, Shige and Ryo generally don't go out on the town together. Shige's insecure about it, and has had some bad experiences, so he's happy to stay in the apartment, and spend the night alone. Ryo always feels a little guilty doing that, and inevitably will feign some sudden illness, or emergency, and ditch out of hanging with his friends to go back to the apartment ‘early’.
-- -- --
Ryo's out, drinking probably, and Shige's curled up in bed, lights off, nearly about to fall asleep when his phone starts buzzing on the table. He debates ignoring it, but then realizes that the only people who have his number are his parents and Ryo. Shige groans, reaches for the phone and doesn't look at the LCD screen before he answers it.
"Mph."
"Hi, Shige!"
He perks up a little, not recognizing the voice, pulls the phone away and looks at the screen. Unknown Caller.
"Who is this?"
"Eh? You can't tell from my voice? It's Tegoshi!"
Shige blinks and swears to himself. Tegoshi. Has his phone number. Wonderful. He'd forgotten about that.
"What do you want, Tegoshi-kun?"
"Well, to be honest...," Tegoshi sounds a little sheepish, and is quiet. "I'm with Ryo-chan right now. At a friend's house. And I think he'd like it if you came over."
Shige frowns. "No."
"Why not? We never get to hang out, Shige! You should come out with Ryo-chan more often."
"No, Tegoshi-kun. Just tell Ryo to get a taxi or something."
There's shouting on the other side of the phone, and Shige can hear the phone get pulled away from Tegoshi.
"Shige! It's Yasu! How are you?"
Shige debates hanging up.
"Hey, Shige, you should come over!"
"No, that's okay. Really."
"It would make Ryo-chan happy."
Shige pinches the bridge of his nose. "Can you put him on the phone?"
"Sure!" Yasu chirps, and keeps talking to Shige while he hunts down Ryo.
-- -- --
Ryo is on the veranda. With Yamapi. And Jin.
Pi is the only one talking, blabbering on about nothing, because if he doesn't talk, Ryo and Jin sure as hell won't. Yamapi never really found out - from Jin or Ryo - what happened that night in the club. All he knows is that Katou left the table, then Jin, then Ryo. A minute later, he sees Ryo and Katou leaving the club, both looking upset. Jin comes back nearly half-an-hour later, talking about the hot chick he'd been dancing with. Yamapi isn't stupid. He knows something happened, and that is probably involved Katou, but that's it.
Jin and Ryo never really settled that dispute from earlier. From before Shige and Ryo were a set couple, and Jin was drunk and thought the world was his for the taking. They're tense now. The job dictates that they act friendly with one another, and as much as Jin would like to make up, he knows it's not that simple, and that Ryo is still pissed about it. Pi tries to keep the three of them together - they've been friends for so long now, and he hopes that will see them though. But he's not entirely confident.
The sliding glass door opens, and Yasu holds a phone out. "It's for you, Ryo-chan."
He grumbles and takes the phone, scowling a little bit. "Who is this?"
"Ryo-chan."
Ryo turns away from Yamapi and Jin. "Hey. What's up?"
"Please don't let your friends call me in the middle of the night."
"Sorry. The party's really big, and I hadn't realized-"
"I wasn't asleep. But still."
"It was Tegoshi, wasn't it?"
"Yeah. He wanted me to come over."
"Like that would happen."
"I know."
"Good night, Shige."
"'Night."
Ryo closes Tegoshi’s phone and turns back to Yamapi and Jin. Pi looks curious, but not about to ask what happened on Shige's side of the conversation. And Jin just looks kind of awkward. Ryo pockets the phone and goes to find more beer.
-- -- --
It's sometime in the night. Three am. Maybe four. Shige's not sure. But his phone is buzzing again, and the LCD screen is flashing 'Ryo'.
"Nng."
"Um, Katou-kun?"
It's not Ryo's voice, and Shige, even considering how tired he is, takes note of that.
"This is Yamashita. I'm not sure if you remember me, but-"
"I remember."
"Oh, good. I'm sorry to bother you at such a time, but Ryo-chan wa- I know. I know, Ryo-chan. I'm on the phone with him right now."
Shige rolls over. "What's going on?"
"Ryo-chan's pretty gone. And we're not sure how to get him home."
"Can't you just get him a hotel room or something?"
There's talking on the other side, and then Yamashita says, "I don't think it's a good idea for him to be alone right now. And he really wants to go home. He really-"
There are sounds like grappling, or something odd like that, and then, "Shiiiiiiiiige."
Shige sighs. "How drunk are you?"
"V'ry. I wanna g' home."
"Where are you?"
Shige can hear Ryo lean away from the mouthpiece of the phone. "Pi! Wher're we?.... Shige, Odaiba. I'm in Odaiba, Shige."
Shige groans.
"Ther's money in my black bag. Call a taxi."
"And come get you."
"An’ come get me."
Suddenly, Yamashita is back on the line, giving Shige directions to the house in Odaiba where the party is wrapping up.
-- -- --
When the taxi pulls up to the house in Odaiba, Shige nearly has a double take, and even checks the address again. As Shige walks up the path to the front door, the driver rolls down his window and says, "I'll be waitin' here. And remember - the meter never stops."
He rings the doorbell and no one answers for a long time, until an irritated-looking young man opens the door.
"Are you here for Nishikido?"
"Y-yes."
"Come in, then."
Shige takes off his shoes and is led down hallways as wide as his old apartment, walls covered with expensive-looking paintings. They arrive at what the young man calls "the sitting room." - two overly plushy-looking couches and several matching chairs, vases and small statues on tables.
"You can find your way back to the front door?"
"Yes... Thank you."
And the young man leaves.
Shige steps further into the room, and that's when a door on the far side opens, a cold draft comes into the room, and Ryo stumbles through the doorway, Yamapi half holding him up. Ryo's pale, and his movements sluggish, and Shige's a little shocked, because he's never seen him this drunk before, and had always sort of though Ryo had more self-control than that.
Yamapi deposits Ryo in one of the chairs and turns, seeing Shige for the first time.
"I'm so glad you've finally arrived, Katou-kun." He wipes some sweat off his brow. "I'm going to get Ryo-chan some more water. You'll keep an eye on him?"
Shige nods, and Yamapi leaves the room. He takes a few careful steps towards Ryo, unsure of how exactly to treat the situation, having never been in it before. He leans over Ryo, brushing hair of his face, and frowning at the bitter scent of alcohol and bile on his breath.
Ryo's face twitches and he opens his eyes, taking a moment to register Shige's presence, before smiling.
"Hi."
"You look awful, Ryo-chan."
Ryo laughs quietly and nods. "Yeah."
"Yamashita-san went to get you some water, and then we'll head home."
Ryo makes an affirmative noise, and then reaches out, taking Shige's hand, holding it very lightly in his.
The door creaks, and Shige turns his head expecting to see Yamashita with the water, but instead, it's Akanishi Jin, holding a bag that Shige knows is Ryo's.
Shige tenses, his eyes go wide, breath shortens and he takes an instinctive step backwards; away from Akanishi, closer to Ryo, who hasn't yet taken note of Akanishi’s presence in the room and just thinks it's Shige being affectionate. Akanishi is looking at Shige like he doesn't belong, like he shouldn't be in this house at all, and he shouldn't be holding hands with Ryo.
He tosses Ryo's bag onto one of the couches. "All his stuff is in there."
Shige nods.
Akanishi takes a deep breath. "That time. A while back. When I- When I was drunk and-"
Shige tightens his grip on Ryo's hand without even thinking about it, and can feel his legs start shaking a little bit.
"I was drunk and got out of hand. Sorry."
The back of his throat is burning, and Shige doesn't know whether he wants to curl up little in a ball on the floor or break the other man's nose.
"Don't," Shige swallows. "Don't say something like that so casually. Not after what you did."
Akanishi shrugs. "I have to ask you something though, for Ryo-chan's sake - Are you serious?"
Shige can hear Yamashita in the hallway, walking, humming, and when he enters the room, he nearly drops the glass.
"Jin! Get out!"
He sets his face. "I'm not done. Are you serious, Katou? Do you think this is realistic?"
Shige opens his mouth, about to reply something, anything even remotely lucid sounding, when a hoarse, "Fuck you, Akanishi," comes from behind him, and Shige is being gently pushed to the side so that Ryo can stand up.
"Ryo-chan, we're idols."
He completely ignores Jin, instead waving over Yamapi - still holding the water and standing barely inside of the doorway - and picking up his bag from the couch. Shige doesn't move from the side of the chair, weary of getting anywhere near the other side of the room. When he's finished the water, Ryo meanders back over to Shige, takes his hand once more, and leads him out. In the doorway, Ryo turns back for a second.
"Don't fuck with me, Jin," he says. "It's serious."
"Ryo, it's-"
"None of your business."
And then Ryo turns back to the hall, and leaves the house with Shige.
-- -- --
In the backseat, Ryo is leaning his head against Shige’s shoulder and the driver, without even being asked, is taking corners a little more slowly and being careful to drive smoothly. Ryo’s bag is on the other side of Shige on the bench seat, and every few minutes he can feel Ryo’s cell phone buzz with a message or a missed call, or something, but Shige isn’t concerned about it, and neither is Ryo, if he’s even awake right now. He still smells awful, and Shige wonders if there’s a way to get him into the bath before going to bed. The city lights are bright, even at this hour, and Ryo shifts, pressing his face further into Shige’s shoulder.
-- -- --
Ryo is still pretty drunk when they arrive back at the apartment. Shige sits down on the step from the genkan into the apartment and lets Ryo balance himself on Shige’s shoulders while Shige carefully unlaces Ryo’s shoes and slips them off.
Shige looks up at Ryo. “Do you want to take a shower?”
He doesn’t say anything, just keeps looking at Shige.
“You… you smell a little bit. And a shower might make you feel better.”
Ryo burps and nods slowly, looking sad.
Shige helps Ryo to the bathroom and gently pulls off his clothes, and settles him on the stool in the shower. Ryo turns and looks at Shige, opens his mouth, but no sound comes out.
“What is it?” Shige kneels down next to Ryo. “Do you need anything?”
Ryo is still and silent before he shakes his head, and reaches for the soap. Shige watches for a few seconds before he strips off his shirt, and reaches for the showerhead and shampoo.
-- -- --
Once Ryo is clean-smelling and dressed in sweatpants, he starts sobering up. But only a little bit. His words are still slurred, and his sentence structure leaves something to be desired and keeps a hand on Shige’s shoulder for the balance check. Shige leaves him at the table and goes to the fridge to get Ryo a sports drink.
Shige twists off the top, and hands it to Ryo. “Drink this. It’ll help you feel better.”
He takes it, muttering ‘thanks.’
They’re both silent while Ryo drinks, sitting at the table. After he’s done, they go into the bedroom and settle - finally - into bed.
“Wake me up if you need anything, alright?”
Ryo nods and Shige can feel it.
Sometime later - Shige’s not sure how long, since Ryo’s body is blocking the clock - Ryo shakes his shoulder.
“Shige?”
“Mmph?”
Ryo sits up in bed, and looks down at Shige silently for a long moment, until he says in a whisper, “I really like you.”
Shige rubs his eyes and Ryo moves a hand, placing it on Shige’s thigh.
“I think I love you.”
Shige perks up. “Ryo-“
“Even though it could be disastrous for my career, I don’t care. I’m really serious about this. About you.”
Shige’s still, breathing deeply, and wonders idly if maybe he’s dreaming. But Ryo leans down, pressing his forehead against Shige’s, and he jerks back into reality with that touch, and throws his arms over Ryo’s back.
-- -- --
As would be expected, Ryo wakes up with a nasty hangover and Shige spends the better part of the day bringing him water and making weak miso soup, so as to not upset Ryo’s stomach. Ryo didn’t mean at all to get as drunk as he did - mostly because he has a radio show that night he has to host.
The blankets are thrown over his head and Ryo’s muttering into the pillow, “Call me in sick. I can’t do this.”
Shige’s next to the bed with the aspirin bottle. “You’re not sick.” He holds out two pills to Ryo. “And I’m sure you’ve been more hung over than this and still did your little idol things. Take these.”
A hand reaches out and takes the medicine. “I want an orange.”
“No.” Shige puts the bottle on the table next to the bed. “The citric acid won’t be good for your stomach. I’ll bring you a banana.”
-- -- --
At 7:30pm, Shige has to nearly drag Ryo out of bed so he can get dressed and head out to the radio station. Some how, Ryo ends up back on the edge of the bed, eyes squinted, comforter wrapped around his shoulders, directing Shige to the top left shelf of the closet, the blue sweater. No, not the navy one - the sky-blue one. And the black-wash jeans in the second-to-the-bottom drawer of the dresser. And grab that white belt on the floor, it’ll look good.
Bundled up and with a hat pulled low over his face, Ryo sits on the couch, waiting for the call from his manager signaling that he’s downstairs waiting with a car. Shige puts a little bag of senbei in Ryo’s bag and makes sure he has an extra dose of aspirin.
When he gets to the radio station, the producer takes one look at Ryo and turns down not only the lights, but also the volume on the headset.
-- -- --
A week later, Ryo is eating lunch with Murakami and Ohkura in the agency’s cafeteria when Jin, with much purpose, strides over sits down across from Ryo and says very bluntly, “We need to talk.”
“The jilted lover returns!” Murakami whispers, loudly.
Jin frowns, but doesn’t say anything.
“Then go on,” Ryo mutters.
“In private.”
Ryo looks down at his curry and then back at Jin, before taking another bite. Jin waits for Ryo to finish and when he finally does, they leave, and find an empty room.
“I don’t know if you remember, but I apologized to Katou-kun.”
Ryo sits down in a chair. “That doesn’t mean either of us have forgiven you.”
“Hey.” Jin’s tone sounds confrontation. “I stuck up for the both you when that scandal broke.”
Ryo looks away and swears.
Jin takes a deep breath, and then steps back, leaning against a table. “Regardless of what you think, I still think of you as a friend, Ryo-chan, and even if you don’t like it, I’m going to look out for you.”
“What are you getting at?”
“I don’t want to see you make a horrible mistake and pay for it with your career.”
“Are you implying-“
“Yes. And you can’t have both. It’s one or the either, and I think you know that too.”
Ryo jumps up, fists tight at his side, but he doesn’t say anything.
“You have to make a choice, Ryo-chan. You can’t have both your career and,” Jin pauses here, like he doesn’t even want to say it. “Katou-kun.”
“Says who?”
“Says reality! Don’t throw away everything you’ve worked so hard for!”
“You know absolutely nothing.”
“Be reasonable!”
Ryo turns, goes straight for the door and opens it.
“Don’t tell me,” Jin says. “Please don’t tell me you’ve already made your decision.”
His hand rests on the doorknob, body completely still before Ryo turns, a glint in his eyes. “I’ll have both, Jin. Just watch me.”
And Ryo steps out of the room, closing the door behind him.
-- -- --
Nishikido 8 Ranger
200x0418
It struck me today, that there are lots of people who help me out all the time, and I never express my gratitude to them with anything more than a ‘Thanks’.
To all those people: I’m sorry for not being more considerate. Please allow me to express my thanks via this cell phone blog.
Mr. Doorman,
Thank you for always greeting me with a smile, no matter the weather or time of day. When I see your face, I always think, “Almost home…” and I get a new surge of energy. It’s all thanks to you.
To Mom & Dad,
Haha, you two should have been first, huh? But Mr. Doorman is important too!
You guys have put up with me more than any one else, and I have you to thank for everything.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
To YamaPi,
My first Tokyo friend, you’ve always supported me, even when we were in different cities. You’d send me dumb little emails and pictures of your dogs, but those always made me really happy. Please keep sending me that garbage.
To Kanjani8,
You guys are practically my brothers. You definitely suffer from my moods a lot! Sorry about that. But I’m very thankful that I get to work with you guys; that no matter where I go in Japan, I’m still with the boys from Kansai.
To K-san,
No, no, that’s all wrong. S-san.
…
……
No, that’s wrong too. Some how, you just don’t fit with honorifics.
Regardless, you know who you are.
Maybe, more than any one else, you’ve helped me. When we met, I think we were both kind of lost, but some how, we found the correct path together, didn’t we?
It sounds cheesy and lame, but…. When I think about what my life would be life if we had never met, I get really sad.
Please continue to support me in that special you-like method.
It’s like no one else’s.
------
a/n:
1) I want you guys to know, that I really try to reply to every comment, but it's difficult sometimes. Usually, I end up falling behind and then life catches up with me and I have very little free time for a while. But know that I find time to read all the comments and I appriciate everything you guys write ♥
2) I just watched KAT-TUN's PV for One Drop and I LOL'd. So hard. Just thinking about it makes me smile and laugh a little to myself. KAT-TUN always has some horrible English lyrics. And Nakamaru's lips are looking very pouty recently. Collagen?
PAIRING: Ryo/Shige
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: Shige plays savior.
WORD COUNT: 3,418
Shige does not have the most exciting of social lives. He barely has a social life at all. He's busy with school, and with his part-time job, and after a long day of either one, he rarely has the energy to go out drinking, or spend hours at karaoke, screaming into a microphone. It's all too exhausting. Usually, he goes back to the apartment, and hangs out. The closest thing he has that can really be considered a social life, are the little non-dates he goes on with Ryo. To the cafe down the street, tagging along when Ryo feels like buying something new and expensive, going grocery shopping.
Ryo, on the other hand, has the kind of social life that most people would either die for, or die to get out of. There are always people calling him, wanting to hang out, get some drinks, hit the clubs. Stay out all night, wake up in a hotel somewhere, not completely remember what happened. And by Ryo's standards - that is a social life. He doesn't even consider the non-dates to be a part of his social life, they're simply his life.
As would be expected of two people with vastly different concepts of fun and what 'early' is, Shige and Ryo generally don't go out on the town together. Shige's insecure about it, and has had some bad experiences, so he's happy to stay in the apartment, and spend the night alone. Ryo always feels a little guilty doing that, and inevitably will feign some sudden illness, or emergency, and ditch out of hanging with his friends to go back to the apartment ‘early’.
-- -- --
Ryo's out, drinking probably, and Shige's curled up in bed, lights off, nearly about to fall asleep when his phone starts buzzing on the table. He debates ignoring it, but then realizes that the only people who have his number are his parents and Ryo. Shige groans, reaches for the phone and doesn't look at the LCD screen before he answers it.
"Mph."
"Hi, Shige!"
He perks up a little, not recognizing the voice, pulls the phone away and looks at the screen. Unknown Caller.
"Who is this?"
"Eh? You can't tell from my voice? It's Tegoshi!"
Shige blinks and swears to himself. Tegoshi. Has his phone number. Wonderful. He'd forgotten about that.
"What do you want, Tegoshi-kun?"
"Well, to be honest...," Tegoshi sounds a little sheepish, and is quiet. "I'm with Ryo-chan right now. At a friend's house. And I think he'd like it if you came over."
Shige frowns. "No."
"Why not? We never get to hang out, Shige! You should come out with Ryo-chan more often."
"No, Tegoshi-kun. Just tell Ryo to get a taxi or something."
There's shouting on the other side of the phone, and Shige can hear the phone get pulled away from Tegoshi.
"Shige! It's Yasu! How are you?"
Shige debates hanging up.
"Hey, Shige, you should come over!"
"No, that's okay. Really."
"It would make Ryo-chan happy."
Shige pinches the bridge of his nose. "Can you put him on the phone?"
"Sure!" Yasu chirps, and keeps talking to Shige while he hunts down Ryo.
-- -- --
Ryo is on the veranda. With Yamapi. And Jin.
Pi is the only one talking, blabbering on about nothing, because if he doesn't talk, Ryo and Jin sure as hell won't. Yamapi never really found out - from Jin or Ryo - what happened that night in the club. All he knows is that Katou left the table, then Jin, then Ryo. A minute later, he sees Ryo and Katou leaving the club, both looking upset. Jin comes back nearly half-an-hour later, talking about the hot chick he'd been dancing with. Yamapi isn't stupid. He knows something happened, and that is probably involved Katou, but that's it.
Jin and Ryo never really settled that dispute from earlier. From before Shige and Ryo were a set couple, and Jin was drunk and thought the world was his for the taking. They're tense now. The job dictates that they act friendly with one another, and as much as Jin would like to make up, he knows it's not that simple, and that Ryo is still pissed about it. Pi tries to keep the three of them together - they've been friends for so long now, and he hopes that will see them though. But he's not entirely confident.
The sliding glass door opens, and Yasu holds a phone out. "It's for you, Ryo-chan."
He grumbles and takes the phone, scowling a little bit. "Who is this?"
"Ryo-chan."
Ryo turns away from Yamapi and Jin. "Hey. What's up?"
"Please don't let your friends call me in the middle of the night."
"Sorry. The party's really big, and I hadn't realized-"
"I wasn't asleep. But still."
"It was Tegoshi, wasn't it?"
"Yeah. He wanted me to come over."
"Like that would happen."
"I know."
"Good night, Shige."
"'Night."
Ryo closes Tegoshi’s phone and turns back to Yamapi and Jin. Pi looks curious, but not about to ask what happened on Shige's side of the conversation. And Jin just looks kind of awkward. Ryo pockets the phone and goes to find more beer.
-- -- --
It's sometime in the night. Three am. Maybe four. Shige's not sure. But his phone is buzzing again, and the LCD screen is flashing 'Ryo'.
"Nng."
"Um, Katou-kun?"
It's not Ryo's voice, and Shige, even considering how tired he is, takes note of that.
"This is Yamashita. I'm not sure if you remember me, but-"
"I remember."
"Oh, good. I'm sorry to bother you at such a time, but Ryo-chan wa- I know. I know, Ryo-chan. I'm on the phone with him right now."
Shige rolls over. "What's going on?"
"Ryo-chan's pretty gone. And we're not sure how to get him home."
"Can't you just get him a hotel room or something?"
There's talking on the other side, and then Yamashita says, "I don't think it's a good idea for him to be alone right now. And he really wants to go home. He really-"
There are sounds like grappling, or something odd like that, and then, "Shiiiiiiiiige."
Shige sighs. "How drunk are you?"
"V'ry. I wanna g' home."
"Where are you?"
Shige can hear Ryo lean away from the mouthpiece of the phone. "Pi! Wher're we?.... Shige, Odaiba. I'm in Odaiba, Shige."
Shige groans.
"Ther's money in my black bag. Call a taxi."
"And come get you."
"An’ come get me."
Suddenly, Yamashita is back on the line, giving Shige directions to the house in Odaiba where the party is wrapping up.
-- -- --
When the taxi pulls up to the house in Odaiba, Shige nearly has a double take, and even checks the address again. As Shige walks up the path to the front door, the driver rolls down his window and says, "I'll be waitin' here. And remember - the meter never stops."
He rings the doorbell and no one answers for a long time, until an irritated-looking young man opens the door.
"Are you here for Nishikido?"
"Y-yes."
"Come in, then."
Shige takes off his shoes and is led down hallways as wide as his old apartment, walls covered with expensive-looking paintings. They arrive at what the young man calls "the sitting room." - two overly plushy-looking couches and several matching chairs, vases and small statues on tables.
"You can find your way back to the front door?"
"Yes... Thank you."
And the young man leaves.
Shige steps further into the room, and that's when a door on the far side opens, a cold draft comes into the room, and Ryo stumbles through the doorway, Yamapi half holding him up. Ryo's pale, and his movements sluggish, and Shige's a little shocked, because he's never seen him this drunk before, and had always sort of though Ryo had more self-control than that.
Yamapi deposits Ryo in one of the chairs and turns, seeing Shige for the first time.
"I'm so glad you've finally arrived, Katou-kun." He wipes some sweat off his brow. "I'm going to get Ryo-chan some more water. You'll keep an eye on him?"
Shige nods, and Yamapi leaves the room. He takes a few careful steps towards Ryo, unsure of how exactly to treat the situation, having never been in it before. He leans over Ryo, brushing hair of his face, and frowning at the bitter scent of alcohol and bile on his breath.
Ryo's face twitches and he opens his eyes, taking a moment to register Shige's presence, before smiling.
"Hi."
"You look awful, Ryo-chan."
Ryo laughs quietly and nods. "Yeah."
"Yamashita-san went to get you some water, and then we'll head home."
Ryo makes an affirmative noise, and then reaches out, taking Shige's hand, holding it very lightly in his.
The door creaks, and Shige turns his head expecting to see Yamashita with the water, but instead, it's Akanishi Jin, holding a bag that Shige knows is Ryo's.
Shige tenses, his eyes go wide, breath shortens and he takes an instinctive step backwards; away from Akanishi, closer to Ryo, who hasn't yet taken note of Akanishi’s presence in the room and just thinks it's Shige being affectionate. Akanishi is looking at Shige like he doesn't belong, like he shouldn't be in this house at all, and he shouldn't be holding hands with Ryo.
He tosses Ryo's bag onto one of the couches. "All his stuff is in there."
Shige nods.
Akanishi takes a deep breath. "That time. A while back. When I- When I was drunk and-"
Shige tightens his grip on Ryo's hand without even thinking about it, and can feel his legs start shaking a little bit.
"I was drunk and got out of hand. Sorry."
The back of his throat is burning, and Shige doesn't know whether he wants to curl up little in a ball on the floor or break the other man's nose.
"Don't," Shige swallows. "Don't say something like that so casually. Not after what you did."
Akanishi shrugs. "I have to ask you something though, for Ryo-chan's sake - Are you serious?"
Shige can hear Yamashita in the hallway, walking, humming, and when he enters the room, he nearly drops the glass.
"Jin! Get out!"
He sets his face. "I'm not done. Are you serious, Katou? Do you think this is realistic?"
Shige opens his mouth, about to reply something, anything even remotely lucid sounding, when a hoarse, "Fuck you, Akanishi," comes from behind him, and Shige is being gently pushed to the side so that Ryo can stand up.
"Ryo-chan, we're idols."
He completely ignores Jin, instead waving over Yamapi - still holding the water and standing barely inside of the doorway - and picking up his bag from the couch. Shige doesn't move from the side of the chair, weary of getting anywhere near the other side of the room. When he's finished the water, Ryo meanders back over to Shige, takes his hand once more, and leads him out. In the doorway, Ryo turns back for a second.
"Don't fuck with me, Jin," he says. "It's serious."
"Ryo, it's-"
"None of your business."
And then Ryo turns back to the hall, and leaves the house with Shige.
-- -- --
In the backseat, Ryo is leaning his head against Shige’s shoulder and the driver, without even being asked, is taking corners a little more slowly and being careful to drive smoothly. Ryo’s bag is on the other side of Shige on the bench seat, and every few minutes he can feel Ryo’s cell phone buzz with a message or a missed call, or something, but Shige isn’t concerned about it, and neither is Ryo, if he’s even awake right now. He still smells awful, and Shige wonders if there’s a way to get him into the bath before going to bed. The city lights are bright, even at this hour, and Ryo shifts, pressing his face further into Shige’s shoulder.
-- -- --
Ryo is still pretty drunk when they arrive back at the apartment. Shige sits down on the step from the genkan into the apartment and lets Ryo balance himself on Shige’s shoulders while Shige carefully unlaces Ryo’s shoes and slips them off.
Shige looks up at Ryo. “Do you want to take a shower?”
He doesn’t say anything, just keeps looking at Shige.
“You… you smell a little bit. And a shower might make you feel better.”
Ryo burps and nods slowly, looking sad.
Shige helps Ryo to the bathroom and gently pulls off his clothes, and settles him on the stool in the shower. Ryo turns and looks at Shige, opens his mouth, but no sound comes out.
“What is it?” Shige kneels down next to Ryo. “Do you need anything?”
Ryo is still and silent before he shakes his head, and reaches for the soap. Shige watches for a few seconds before he strips off his shirt, and reaches for the showerhead and shampoo.
-- -- --
Once Ryo is clean-smelling and dressed in sweatpants, he starts sobering up. But only a little bit. His words are still slurred, and his sentence structure leaves something to be desired and keeps a hand on Shige’s shoulder for the balance check. Shige leaves him at the table and goes to the fridge to get Ryo a sports drink.
Shige twists off the top, and hands it to Ryo. “Drink this. It’ll help you feel better.”
He takes it, muttering ‘thanks.’
They’re both silent while Ryo drinks, sitting at the table. After he’s done, they go into the bedroom and settle - finally - into bed.
“Wake me up if you need anything, alright?”
Ryo nods and Shige can feel it.
Sometime later - Shige’s not sure how long, since Ryo’s body is blocking the clock - Ryo shakes his shoulder.
“Shige?”
“Mmph?”
Ryo sits up in bed, and looks down at Shige silently for a long moment, until he says in a whisper, “I really like you.”
Shige rubs his eyes and Ryo moves a hand, placing it on Shige’s thigh.
“I think I love you.”
Shige perks up. “Ryo-“
“Even though it could be disastrous for my career, I don’t care. I’m really serious about this. About you.”
Shige’s still, breathing deeply, and wonders idly if maybe he’s dreaming. But Ryo leans down, pressing his forehead against Shige’s, and he jerks back into reality with that touch, and throws his arms over Ryo’s back.
-- -- --
As would be expected, Ryo wakes up with a nasty hangover and Shige spends the better part of the day bringing him water and making weak miso soup, so as to not upset Ryo’s stomach. Ryo didn’t mean at all to get as drunk as he did - mostly because he has a radio show that night he has to host.
The blankets are thrown over his head and Ryo’s muttering into the pillow, “Call me in sick. I can’t do this.”
Shige’s next to the bed with the aspirin bottle. “You’re not sick.” He holds out two pills to Ryo. “And I’m sure you’ve been more hung over than this and still did your little idol things. Take these.”
A hand reaches out and takes the medicine. “I want an orange.”
“No.” Shige puts the bottle on the table next to the bed. “The citric acid won’t be good for your stomach. I’ll bring you a banana.”
-- -- --
At 7:30pm, Shige has to nearly drag Ryo out of bed so he can get dressed and head out to the radio station. Some how, Ryo ends up back on the edge of the bed, eyes squinted, comforter wrapped around his shoulders, directing Shige to the top left shelf of the closet, the blue sweater. No, not the navy one - the sky-blue one. And the black-wash jeans in the second-to-the-bottom drawer of the dresser. And grab that white belt on the floor, it’ll look good.
Bundled up and with a hat pulled low over his face, Ryo sits on the couch, waiting for the call from his manager signaling that he’s downstairs waiting with a car. Shige puts a little bag of senbei in Ryo’s bag and makes sure he has an extra dose of aspirin.
When he gets to the radio station, the producer takes one look at Ryo and turns down not only the lights, but also the volume on the headset.
-- -- --
A week later, Ryo is eating lunch with Murakami and Ohkura in the agency’s cafeteria when Jin, with much purpose, strides over sits down across from Ryo and says very bluntly, “We need to talk.”
“The jilted lover returns!” Murakami whispers, loudly.
Jin frowns, but doesn’t say anything.
“Then go on,” Ryo mutters.
“In private.”
Ryo looks down at his curry and then back at Jin, before taking another bite. Jin waits for Ryo to finish and when he finally does, they leave, and find an empty room.
“I don’t know if you remember, but I apologized to Katou-kun.”
Ryo sits down in a chair. “That doesn’t mean either of us have forgiven you.”
“Hey.” Jin’s tone sounds confrontation. “I stuck up for the both you when that scandal broke.”
Ryo looks away and swears.
Jin takes a deep breath, and then steps back, leaning against a table. “Regardless of what you think, I still think of you as a friend, Ryo-chan, and even if you don’t like it, I’m going to look out for you.”
“What are you getting at?”
“I don’t want to see you make a horrible mistake and pay for it with your career.”
“Are you implying-“
“Yes. And you can’t have both. It’s one or the either, and I think you know that too.”
Ryo jumps up, fists tight at his side, but he doesn’t say anything.
“You have to make a choice, Ryo-chan. You can’t have both your career and,” Jin pauses here, like he doesn’t even want to say it. “Katou-kun.”
“Says who?”
“Says reality! Don’t throw away everything you’ve worked so hard for!”
“You know absolutely nothing.”
“Be reasonable!”
Ryo turns, goes straight for the door and opens it.
“Don’t tell me,” Jin says. “Please don’t tell me you’ve already made your decision.”
His hand rests on the doorknob, body completely still before Ryo turns, a glint in his eyes. “I’ll have both, Jin. Just watch me.”
And Ryo steps out of the room, closing the door behind him.
-- -- --
Nishikido 8 Ranger
200x0418
It struck me today, that there are lots of people who help me out all the time, and I never express my gratitude to them with anything more than a ‘Thanks’.
To all those people: I’m sorry for not being more considerate. Please allow me to express my thanks via this cell phone blog.
Mr. Doorman,
Thank you for always greeting me with a smile, no matter the weather or time of day. When I see your face, I always think, “Almost home…” and I get a new surge of energy. It’s all thanks to you.
To Mom & Dad,
Haha, you two should have been first, huh? But Mr. Doorman is important too!
You guys have put up with me more than any one else, and I have you to thank for everything.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
To YamaPi,
My first Tokyo friend, you’ve always supported me, even when we were in different cities. You’d send me dumb little emails and pictures of your dogs, but those always made me really happy. Please keep sending me that garbage.
To Kanjani8,
You guys are practically my brothers. You definitely suffer from my moods a lot! Sorry about that. But I’m very thankful that I get to work with you guys; that no matter where I go in Japan, I’m still with the boys from Kansai.
To K-san,
No, no, that’s all wrong. S-san.
…
……
No, that’s wrong too. Some how, you just don’t fit with honorifics.
Regardless, you know who you are.
Maybe, more than any one else, you’ve helped me. When we met, I think we were both kind of lost, but some how, we found the correct path together, didn’t we?
It sounds cheesy and lame, but…. When I think about what my life would be life if we had never met, I get really sad.
Please continue to support me in that special you-like method.
It’s like no one else’s.
------
a/n:
1) I want you guys to know, that I really try to reply to every comment, but it's difficult sometimes. Usually, I end up falling behind and then life catches up with me and I have very little free time for a while. But know that I find time to read all the comments and I appriciate everything you guys write ♥
2) I just watched KAT-TUN's PV for One Drop and I LOL'd. So hard. Just thinking about it makes me smile and laugh a little to myself. KAT-TUN always has some horrible English lyrics. And Nakamaru's lips are looking very pouty recently. Collagen?