Rain Dance (Juntoshi)
Title: Rain Dance
Pairing/Group: Juntoshi
Rating: PG-15
Beta: avya7x
Genre: romance, some complicated feelings, AU-ish (because Ohno can make it rain with his voice. And I assume that in real life that isn't quite the case ^^)
Summary: Ohno can't remember when it started. He knows it’s not always been like that because the shock that came with the first raindrop falling down on them because he sang, he will never forget.
Note: This is a one-shot I worked quite long for and I'm almost a bit proud of the outcome. I hope you'll enjoy reading it!
The first raindrop hits Ohno’s forehead like it wants to mock him, wants to point the finger at him and laugh. “Well-“Aiba is the first to recover and reach for an umbrella. “Good that we are outside.” A few seconds later the rain basically pouring down on them like there is no tomorrow, like it’s hunting them, chasing them. Singing A day in our life with these awfully high notes and all those emotions has always had the worst outcome. They all know that by now, have experimented with all their songs to check which one Ohno could sing without a dark cloud full of rain forming above them.
Jun basically escapes the wrath of the sky now and joins Aiba under his umbrella while Nino and Sho try to find some protection under the small branches of a birch. Neither the umbrella nor the tree is able to protect them though, it’s like the rain is coming down from all sides. Just Ohno stays where he is, his hands clenched into fists, his lips tight. Fucking rain! Stupid, fucking, idiotic, pathetic, shithead, mother-f-
“It’s okay.” Jun interrupts his not so pretty trail of thoughts and grabs his hand. He pulls him under the umbrella.
It’s. Not. Okay.
~~~
Ohno can’t remember when it started. He seriously has no image of something like that happening, no memory as a child. His childhood days were pretty normal and random. Even in his teen years, he is sure, he has never made it rain. It had to be something that started later, even a lot after Arashi’s debut. Precisely around 2010. They stick to open-air concerts for exactly that reason.
He knows it’s not always been like that because the shock that came with the first raindrop falling down on them because he sang, he will never forget. They had practised Monster for the first time, right in their usual rehearsal room. He even remembers clearly that Jun was standing to his right, Aiba to his left. Sho next to Jun. And Nino was still warming up, not joining them yet. It was all normal, as usual, Jun even helped Nino a little with loosening a cramp in his leg and Aiba and Sho were playing a stupid random play on words, where they had to build a new word with the last syllable of the previous one, when suddenly a raindrop fell on Ohno’s hand. He believed it was a sweat drop from his forehead maybe, nothing unusual for such a hot day and exhausting training, until there was the second drop, against his neck this time. He even turned around to face Nino then - had to be one of his stupid pranks - but so-said guy was looking equally puzzled, eyes squeezed, eyebrows furrowed, looking up at the ceiling.
“A problem with the pipes maybe?” Jun suggested into the silence.
“Probably.” Sho agreed.
Their singing instructor gave a call to the secretary to check on what’s going on in the floor above them and naturally they just went back to singing. A few notes, until they reached the chorus. Ohno has closed his eyes, his heart overflowing with images and feelings - he loves this song so much, particularly this part. Boku no kioku ga subete kietemo. Umare kawattara Mata kimi wo sagasu.
It’s so strong, so beautiful-
This time though it wasn’t a single drop interrupting them, no problem with the pipes or something similar either, but a full-hearted, honest rainfall, right inside their freaking rehearsal room.
They were drenched, wet to their bones and the rehearsal studio was in need of some professional craftsmen to pump out the water.
A few years later the problem is still here.
~~~
Sho chews on his pen when they are going through the tracklist. They have waited for the rain to pass and hurried back to the holiday estate of Sho’s family. It’s pretty far away from any other city and it’s their little hideaway for when they are dealing with this little problem, as Aiba tends to call it. Basically it means that they are studying a new song and don’t know yet if it’s a Satoshi-rain-song or not. Aiba is diplomatic and nice, Ohno not. He calls this issue the catastrophe most of the time.
“We could sing Your Eyes.” Jun suggests. “We only sung it once, didn’t we? Although it’s such a beautiful song.” He throws a towel over his head, drying his hair a little.
“But Your Eyes is the worst.” Nino points out. “The last time we preformed it Satoshi’s voice even let a thunderstorm appear. That’s never happened before.”
“Could have been a coincidence.” Jun intervenes carefully but it’s pretty obvious that he isn’t too convinced by it. He glances to the floor a little, side-ways, and doesn’t look in Ohno’s direction.
“Yes. Right.” Nino snorts. “You know, I don’t mind the rain - call it coincidence as much as you like, but we should avoid a thunderstorm. Period.”
When Jun opens his mouth to say something, Sho intervenes. Ohno is pretty thankful for that, the last thing he wants is his friends fighting because of him.
~~~
Ohno warms up his vocal chords, lets his voice come out slowly first, singing each note after another. It sounds a little stupid, but then all exercises to warm up one’s voice are. To prevent any damage he sits down on the cold stone tiles of his veranda, right next to the rubber plant that Jun gave to him last week. It won’t matter that much if it’s going to rain here, it’s outside after all. Inside his apartment it would be a catastrophe though. The only thing he wouldn’t mind getting into the rain and hence being broken is this weird ceramic vase - a present from Sho. The perfect excuse to get rid of it. However, the negative aspects of making it rain inside his apartment would definitely overweight that one positive point.
He leans back a little, eyeing the sunny sky. There is not one single cloud, it’s just full and bright sunshine. He is trying it with Your Eyes now, the most difficult one of all songs. He likes it, sincerely does, and he is thankful that his friends still keep joking about his rain producing voice, because he himself is already pretty frustrated. He doesn’t even know why it’s this song that makes it rain immediately. It’s neither the most difficult, nor the most passionate nor the song with the highest notes.
He tries not to feel anything when he sings it, tries to keep his mind blank and his voice not filled with too much passion. But still, as soon as the first lines of it slip his mouth, his voice filling the space around him, carrying the notes to the air, it starts raining. Heavily. He stops immediately, already seeing how a little bolt lights up the area above his balcony. The people on the street look up in surprise and Ohno swiftly returns to this apartment.
He gets drunk that evening.
~~~
“You know-“Jun taps a little with his shoe. They have met in a little café because Jun has decided that Ohno just needs to leave his apartment for once and have some fun. The others agreeing heavily on that. “I don’t mind the rain.”
“Yes you do.” Ohno interrupts him. “Isn’t it really inconvenient? I’m too much work, really. No matter how many doctors I consult, no one can help. Not even that stupid weather scientist. I should probably leave Arashi or-“
“Hey.” Jun interrupts him and points at him with his fork. He looks angry. The kind of angry with a hint of sadness and disappointment that makes Ohno feel a little guilty because it’s not only directed at him but also evoked by him. “If you ever say that again, I’ll hit you. And believe me, I’m not kidding!”
It’s this look in Jun’s eyes that makes Ohno forget where he is, the way he sounded so honest and straight-forward. It’s these honest words and the thankfulness Ohno feels for a moment. It’s all due to these elements, otherwise he would have never done it! It’s the situation and Jun’s words that make him hum the first notes of PARADOX. Just a mere freaking instinct! It’s only seconds later that he realizes what he is doing, that it dawns on him that he sits in a normal cafeteria. Fuck. He closes his mouth immediately. Stops the humming.
For a moment nothing happens and he is almost allured to feel safe again. But then, there it is. A raindrop. It falls directly into his coffee, it’s like he can see it in slow-motion, how it falls, and little circles of coffee waves surround it. Of course it could be a coincidence, it could be a drop of water that condensed on the ceiling because it’s a hot humid day. It could be- The hell with it. Ohno knows the signs already. “Out.” he mumbles without explaining anything to Jun. The latter probably has guessed already what’s going on by the tensed tone of his voice. “Let’s hurry to the veranda.”
The moment they are outside he continues the humming, goes for Your Eyes even, wants it to rain here and not inside, wants to distract the clouds a little and pull them with him.
Gladly it works and thick raindrops are suddenly falling down on them. Jun shakes his hair a little, it’s already getting wet, and opens an umbrella. He is always prepared it seems. For a while none of them says anything, then Jun coughs. “We probably should pay for our coffee.” he says and points at the restaurant. “I’m going back inside. Wait for me?”
“Hm.” Ohno says, so frustrated with himself that he wants to bang his head against the wall.
Jun touches his shoulder. “Satoshi-kun-“ he starts, but Ohno shakes his head.
“Don’t.” he mumbles and pulls away a bit. By the look in Jun’s eyes he knows that he is hurt. “Don’t say anything now.”
~~~
“You know-“ Aiba muses randomly when they are sitting outside of their rehearsal room, waiting for the craftsmen to get rid of the water again - hell, by now, the whole agency is prepared, it seems.
It’s like it’s nothing new anymore that Ohno can make it rain with his voice. There is a certain alarm one of them or one of their dance or voice instructors needs to press once they feel the rain approaching. Even the recording studio has waterproofed equipment by now. “I don’t mind the rain much.” He lets his wet shirt drop to the floor and changes into a dry one, like all of them are doing now. “But please don’t make a thunderstorm appear.”
“I can’t control it.” Ohno explains miserably.
“Hm-“ Nino sighs a little. “It’s just so weird that it’s an up and down. I mean, it would be more logical if it was always the same. But sometimes you can sing and it won’t rain, and then you just need to go through the first notes and we already have a thunderstorm approaching.”
“Nino is right.” Sho agrees. “I wonder what it depends on. It can’t be the high notes anymore like I thought at the beginning. I mean, why Your Eyes? Why Face Down? Why not Endless Game? It makes no sense. It might not only be related to your voice.”
Something in Ohno’s ears start ringing. Not related to the voice alone but… to the songs? But why? How? It makes no sense!
~~~
It’s probably their last talk in the cafeteria and the fact that Ohno makes it rain more often now makes Jun a little nervous and hence particularly attentive towards Ohno. One part of Ohno does feel a little thankful for that, because Jun is so wonderfully loyal. He knows he means well but with him being so attentive it makes Ohno even tenser, even more stressed, the control slips from his fingers. And when Jun keeps being friendly, like there is nothing off, even when they are getting flooded again by him singing along to the lines of Bittersweet, even though it’s not even been his own solo part, he can’t help but feel mostly gloomy and very annoyed.
“Well-“ Nino snorts at one point when they escape to another, empty rehearsal room. No singing here at all!, their instructor has told them before he left to organize everything. “Maybe we should travel to the desert once in a while. Or a country that’s in desperate need of water. We could become God-like. Bringing rain and stuff.”
Aiba grins. “You know, it’s even funnier that Riida has a solo called Rain. You ever thought of that? It’s like a joke in itself.”
For a moment the others blink at that discovery, none of them has ever seen the weird connection between Ohno’s crazy superpower and the meaning of the title of that song. A song that was written way before Ohno could make it rain. All of a sudden Nino and Aiba start snickering and giggling madly.
It’s not making anything better right now, Ohno thinks, though he is normally all in for his friends making fun of his problem. As long as they can laugh about it, it’s still alright, but damn it, he feels so much like a burden, that - fuck!
He stares up to the ceiling bitterly, before he turns his glance towards the glass wall next to them. He can see into their original rehearsing room directly, watching how the raindrops get thicker and fall down on the floor and against the glass with force. “Don’t worry too much.” Jun says calmly, like he doesn’t care that his perfectly new skinny jeans are all soaked and he will have a hard time getting out of them.
“But I do worry.” Ohno says bitterly.
Jun smiles a little. “We’ll make it through that easily. We’ll find the reason for that problem - and a solution. It’s not your fault.” When he pats Ohno’s shoulder to underline his sympathy, Ohno has had it.
“You are just making it worse!” He bursts in sudden anger. He is only realizing what he said when it’s already too late.
“What?”
There is no taking it back anymore, Ohno realizes, when Jun pulls his hand back like he has touched a hot plate. He knows it’s probably not Jun he is mad at but himself and his own pathetic super-powers. Couldn’t it at least be something cool like flying or mind-reading or - whatever - growing stupid flowers!? No one is bothered by flowers after all, unlike by rain! “The more you are around me, the more it stresses me out!” Ohno answers angrily. It comes out a little off and pretty unfriendly. He has not particularly planned for it to sound like that - still, even to him, that excuse sounds a little cheap. “I can’t concentrate when you are trying to be nice and pretend it doesn’t matter to you. So could you please just fuck off!?”
Awesome, that’s basically exactly what he shouldn’t have said. He knows as much by the way Jun stares at him by now.
“Fine, whatever you want, Leader.” Jun huffs. He looks hurt and pretty pissed and Ohno wishes to just tell him he is sorry. But Jun retreats fast and joins Aiba and Nino at the other side of the room. They gladly were so preoccupied with their jokes that they didn’t witness Ohno’s mind slipping on the wet ground.
Sho has heard him though and throws him a reproachful glance. The fact alone that it comes from Sho out of all, the king of Non-Diplomacy when it’s about their bandmates, makes it even worse. The fuck-off sentence was originally used by him after all - and directed towards Jun as well, years ago. Well, Sho at least has the decency not to say anything.
~~~
Damn it. Ohno stares at the ceiling of his bedroom. He has cooled down a little and to say that he regrets how he snapped at Jun would be a high understatement. He doesn’t just regret it, he wishes he could turn back time. Now that would be an awesome power! Why again does it have to be rain?
Wild at Heart indeed, he mumbles out loud.
He will later blame it on his half-sleeping, pretty shaken state of mind that he sings a few lines of the song because the outcome is the obvious, the one to be expected.
He calls the agency five minutes later, begging them to send the by now special-craftsmen-team for Arashi-rain-emergency-cases to his place. His bedroom is basically 15 centimetres under water.
~~~
Monday morning feels pretty awful. Not the way every Monday morning feels, its worse this time. Well, not like his Sunday was any better, but still- The fact that he needs to go to a meeting with his bandmates before rehearsals start, right around lunch, is already pretty exhausting, especially after he drunk all night because of this very specific incident with his bedroom and the rain. Not to mention the fact that half of his furniture is either ruined or still needs to dry and that he decided to sleep on the balcony for now.
When he pads into the main building of the agency, his mobile phone lights up a little. A message. Aiba is sick. He won’t make it. When Ohno meets the others in the awfully crowded canteen which he hates so much just two minutes later, he sees how Nino looks at his phone as well. “Masaki is sick.” he says.
“Hm. I know” Ohno nods and drops down on an empty chair right next to Sho. “Where is Jun?” Ohno asks when the younger one is nowhere to be seen. He is already pretty late himself, no way Jun would be even later.
Sho sighs. “Won’t make it. Seems like he forgot an important appointment.”
Ohno nods, tries to keep up his pokerface, while in reality he is pretty sure that Jun doesn’t have another appointment. He is probably just not coming because he doesn’t want to spend more time with him than necessary.
“We could perform Wild at Heart.” Ohno suggests half-heartedly when they discuss the tracklist once more. It’s always the most work to decide on it. Out of obvious reasons. “Right now it doesn’t really matter what we sing. It always rains. We could even try Your Eyes.” When he says the title he lets his voice vibrate slightly. It’s only when he recognizes the slight glint of horror in Sho’s eyes while he looks up to the ceiling that he knows what’s going to happen.
“Can’t be.” Ohno presses out helplessly. “I didn’t even sing! Not really. It doesn’t count!” he tries desperately, like he wants to beg to whoever sends the rain not to make it happen. Convince him it was an accident.
Nino nods. “You are right. You didn’t sing. Damn it, it doesn’t count - it’s not fair!”
All three of them stare up to the ceiling now. But Ohno knows there is no helping it, it’s not been a false alarm, he knows that by now.
“It’s raining!” one guy suddenly calls from the other side of the canteen, horror in his voice. It sounds remotely like Nagano-kun, whatever he is doing here at such a time.
There is no time to think about it now though because just like always it starts raining like crazy the next moments. If it were only a few drops, it wouldn’t matter that much. But it’s never just a few tiny raindrops.
Ohno somewhat recognizes one of the younger Sexy Zone kids running out of the room, hiding his head under his jacket, with some others following him. Some of them look curious, some of them a little panicked.
“Didn’t I say clearly that Arashi isn’t allowed to practice anywhere else than in their own room?” Julie-san squeals while she hurries outside too.
Most of the guys stop once they leave the canteen, eyeing inside curiously. Ohno however has to give props to Sho and Nino for remaining at his side with stoic expressions like nothing unusual is happening. Nino even has the nerves to ask the guy at the canteen for one bowl of ramen. He sounds so casual and normal that the poor man looks a little flustered and puzzled, like he is losing his mind and just imagining the cold wet dropping down on him.
Ohno pretty much loathes self-pity and it’s actually not really self-pity he feels now. It’s more like self-anger, self-annoyance, self-disappointment, self-anything-but-a-good-feeling.
“If you cry now, it’s not going to help. It won’t make anything better.” He is sincerely surprised when Jun is standing next to him all of a sudden and opens an umbrella. His words sounded a little harsh but he is right. Ohno takes a few breaths and nods.
“Doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you.” Jun adds and Ohno can’t help but to smile.
A few moments later the rain suddenly stops. Faster than usual.
~~~
Are you still mad?
Ohno holds his mobile phone - waterproofed of course! - tightly and stretches a little. His body is covered under a thick blanket while he looks up at the sky. He has decided to continue sleeping on the balcony for the next days as well. Just to be safe. It’s not all that bad because he can see the sky - well, there are no stars to be seen, like mostly in Tokyo. And there is the traffic noise. Plus the neon lights from the streets even though he is not living in a busy, fancy shopping area.
Jun doesn’t answer his message first and Ohno is almost entrapped to believe that he has a) not seen it yet or b) doesn’t want to answer. It’s pretty much possible that he won’t answer it at all, even once he has seen it. However, he hasn’t taken c) he is for sure going to write back a little later into account because Jun does answer, right when Ohno is about to put his phone aside and get some sleep.
Told you I am!
Ohno has to grin a bit at that answer. Well, does that mean you won’t be talking to me?
I am obviously talking now…
Obviously, yes, or maybe not. Well, how long are you going to stay mad at me?
Jun’s message arrives a few minutes later. How long will it take you to buy that new Burberry bag?
Ohno sits up a bit, looking at the message in amusement. He wonders where Jun learned his tricks from. Nino? Or from Sho’s several guilt trips? Or maybe he just discovered it on his own? Does online shopping count? he types and adds a smiling emoticon, thankful that Aiba forced this stupid emoticon app on him even though he complained about it just two days ago.
Jun’s answer only takes a few seconds. Yes.
It takes Ohno around ten minutes to go to the Burberry homepage and buy the promised bag. He knows which one Jun has been talking about because he showed him a picture of it last week, planning on buying it himself. Since he is already at it, he adds two scarfs as well - one for him, even though he can already imagine Nino’s teasing comments about his new-discovered-fashion addiction and how it doesn’t fit Ohno at all, and one for Jun. Oh, an umbrella! He grins a little when he puts it in his virtual shopping basket too and proceeds to the payment. Loosely he wonders if he should get something for Sho’s birthday as well but then he remembers the stupid ceramic vase. No, he is going to get something a little less useful for his friend, definitely.
Okay, bought it.
He laughs a little when he receives Jun’s messages. He has thought that much already but it’s still fun to read it: Are you nuts!!!!!!????? It was a joke, idiot!
Well, now you don’t have an excuse anymore to stay mad. Ohno types and sends the message away. Then he gives himself a mental kick in the butt and sends one more. I’m sorry, Jun.
I know. It’s okay. Jun has put a smiling emoticon in his message. Ohno sighs in relief. So it is okay, for real.
Well then. Ohno grabs his pillow and his blanket and retreats into his apartment. He decides to take the risk and sleep in his bed - otherwise he will be totally without strength and sleep during the next days. And if he has learned one thing than that being tired and exhausted is not particularly helpful for his problem. He is pretty sure he won’t be singing in his sleep anyway. And if he feels like humming a song, he is going to pick one from L’Arc~en~Ciel - they have nothing to do with Arashi or the agency or something else in Ohno’s life. He just likes the songs.
~~~
“You know-“ Jun smiles a bit. He has just dropped by Ohno’s place unannounced. “You need to make it stop at one point. Or learn to control it.”
Ohno knows immediately what he means. Jun sounds a bit upset despite the smile on his face. Most likely because he has just discovered Ohno’s former sleeping place on the balcony. He wasn’t fast enough with cleaning it up completely and hiding all the traces that he has indeed been sleeping there. The only way to diffuse Jun’s anger and distract him was to force the Burberry bag on him. Now he looks at it a little fascinated, like he is in love. “Don’t fancy it that obviously.” Ohno teases and laughs when Jun blushes a bit.
Jun coughs now and puts the bag aside, not without keeping it close to him though. “It wasn’t necessary, Satoshi-kun, to buy it. You know that, don’t you?”
“Yes, I know.” Ohno joins Jun on the sofa, with a drink in his hand. “But I wanted to trick you into showering me with forgiveness.”
When Jun takes the drink out of his hands, he is surprised. He thinks first that he wants to tell him something so important that he might spill his drink when he hears it, but to his surprise Jun smirks a bit. “You are not drinking today.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s only 11 AM and we are going out now.” Jun explains casually. “Driving to the beach. I know a good place - I talked to Sho before and he has made sure that no one is going to be there.”
There are various questions Ohno could ask now. Like: Why did no one ask me if I want to? Or when the hell did Sho get the power to control a part of the beach? Or, what do you want to do there? For now he sticks to the obvious though: “And why can’t I have a drink?” he asks while he points at Jun’s hand, which is holding a drink.
“We are taking your car, Riida. No way I’m taking mine and letting it get soaked with rain!” Jun teases and it feels almost good to hear him make a joke about it for once.
Still- “I don’t have a car.”
“Buy one!”
By now he got pretty much used to all of his bandmates’ weird antics, may it be Sho’s weird attraction to anything that’s either traditional or a gay club, which he got dragged into as well. Or Nino’s gaming addiction which gets particularly bad when a new game gets released and leads to I need the Collector’s Edition and half of them lining up for a special release event at midnight. Jun’s styling victimness and the way he could just seriously act like a mother hen sometimes. Plus Aiba coming up with the weirdest ideas for their TV-shows, with a hint of madness sometimes glinting in his eyes, and his weird addiction to shirts with motto-prints.
However, Jun’s suggestion now takes him aback. That’s new. “You want me to do what?”
“I’ve already talked to several car dealers.” Jun explains mercilessly. “Do you rather prefer Mercedes or Audi?”
“Jun-kun.” Ohno interrupts him firmly. “You want me to buy a car? Don’t be ridiculous! Why should I?”
“So, you are saying you want to keep depending on my kindness and let me play your chauffeur all the time?” the other says sweetly. The kind of sweetness that’s particularly dangerous because it just hits a freaking painful point.
“Car-dealer for used cars!” Ohno demands. “And I might consider buying one.”
“What? Used? No way!”
“Jun.” Ohno says firmly. “A used car! End of discussion.”
Jun lets out a sigh like he is talking to a 5-year old and shrugs. “Fine. I kinda knew you would say something like that.” He throws a very judgemental glance towards Ohno, like so often when he is annoyed by one of them. Nino calls it the remains of his Hana Yori Dango times and is mostly highly amused by it, but then, Jun hardly directs this look towards him, so Nino is not one who should make comments about it. “So, I’ve looked up a good place.”
~~~
The car dealer Jun drags him to is basically very similar to a place where Sho or Jun would buy their cars from, but it has also a touch of what Ohno likes. “Not a bad place.” he says and Jun looks a little happy at that compliment.
It’s only one hour later that Ohno realises that he probably got a little too excited over this place and spent a little too much money. But this freaking red vintage truck, apparently triple the size of a normal car, just captured his heart! There were even some old stickers to it from some beach clubs and the sales assistant told him that it belonged to a professional fisherman who even won a competition.
“I fell in love with a stupid car.” Ohno sighs in annoyance when he drives out of the city, Jun sitting next to him. Gladly the latter doesn’t say anything teasing, he just chuckles slightly. They have only returned to Ohno’s place for a moment to pack some bags and decided on staying at Sho’s beach place overnight.
“Doesn’t this little gem vibrate just lovingly below your butt?” Jun comments lazily after Ohno has continued his rant. He sounds so unusually dirty that Ohno has to burst into laughter.
“I would rather prefer something else, with less expense, to vibrate, if you get what I mean.” he retorts.
Jun chuckles. “Good that we stay overnight. For that kind of talk we might need to be drunk.”
“Obviously, yes.” Ohno agrees light-heartedly, slowly feeling his good mood kicking in. He hasn’t felt that relaxed in ages.
~~~
“We are all alone here?” Ohno asks when they open the door to the little villa Sho’s family owns here.
“Yes.” Jun throws his bag into a corner in the living room, unlike his normal oh-so-tidy self. “So hot.” He complains and tugs a little at his shirt. “Sho-kun said he has basically made it clear that no one is around. We are all alone. Meet at the beach in ten minutes?”
“That’s fine with me.”
Ohno only takes five minutes to check out his room, switch into his bathing clothes and grab a towel. By the time Jun arrives at the beach, he has already set up the sunshade and put some towels on the ground. Jun carries a freezer with beer and vodka, apparently he has taken Ohno’s suggestion to get drunk pretty serious.
First things come first though. “I’m going into the water.” Jun says. “Are you joining?”
Naturally Ohno does. He has always loved the ocean though he prefers being on a boat over being stuck to only one place at the beach. It’s when they both are a little tired and exhausted that they pad out of the water and Ohno finally realizes why Jun has brought him to this place.
“Let’s sing, Satoshi-kun.”
“What?” he blinks, surprised. First he believes that Jun means a random summer song, but when Jun adds Wild at heart, he knows his friend is very serious. “Do you really think that’s a good idea?” Ohno wants to know.
Jun shrugs. “We are alone here. No one is getting on our nerves and there is no one watching. I think it’s one of my best ideas up to now, though I had some pretty good ideas in general during the last years.”
Only Jun can say something like that and not sound too full of himself, Ohno thinks not without respect. He plays complies with Jun’s wish, because the other has gone that far just to make him feel comfortable.
Wild at Heart. Of course it rains. But Jun doesn’t seem to mind, just stretches out his hands and his neck and lets the rain drop down on him.
Ohno stops the singing. “What are you doing here?” he asks.
Jun grins a little. “It’s hot and the rain feels good. I’m enjoying my time. Having fun! You remember? The moment when one laughs and thoroughly enjoys being somewhere or doing something.”
“I know what fun is.” Ohno says in a sulky voice. He is getting a bit too prissy lately.
“Really?” Jun pulls his eyebrows up in amusement. “Then show me and sing even more. And finally enjoy it for once. It gets a bit frustrating to see you down all the time.”
Ohno likes a good challenge, so that’s probably why he decides to do it. He finishes Wild at Heart with Jun, continues with Rain alone, forces Jun to join him for Bittersweet, before they drink approximately three beers each. Then Jun starts his Shake it performance, which Ohno loves a little too much, so he just tugs along and joins. When they finally end with Your Eyes the rain has stopped.
Ohno lies at the wet sand next to Jun, panting heavily while he watches the sun re-appear behind the clouds. They are sweaty and covered in disgusting wet sand, but he wants to wait for the waves and the ocean to calm down again before he takes a bath. When he looks at Jun for a moment, he is surprised to see how his eyes are closed, his breath going regularly. “Are you sleeping, Jun?”
No answer. Ohno smiles a bit, before he stretches out his hand and touches the latter’s face carefully. The back of his hand moves over Jun’s cheek tenderly. It’s almost an instinctive gesture, he just wants to feel Jun’s skin beneath his fingertips, wants to touch his eyebrows and his lips.
“Damn it.” Ohno mumbles in shock when he realizes what he is doing and pulls his hand back. He doesn’t wait for the ocean to warm up again, just hurries into the water to cool himself down a bit.
~~~
“How long can we stay?” Ohno asks later that day when Jun has finally woken up again and taken a bath in the now warm ocean.
“Definitely till tomorrow.” Jun dries his body with a towel. Gladly they were focused enough to place their towels under the sunshade before they did their little rain experiment. “Maybe two days if we can bribe Sho.”
Ohno nods and Jun joins him right next to a palm tree and sits down there too. “Want to try it again?”
Ohno smiles carefully and hums the melody of A day in our life. With a poisonous glance he stares at the sky and the first thick raindrop hits him. He stops the humming. “FUCK, Jun. Seriously, I can’t take it anymore.” he blurts out despite his normally not particularly dramatic attitude. But he just has to let it out for once “I hate it, I hate the rain, I hate my voice, I hate that I-“
Jun’s hand is suddenly grabbing his shoulder, then there is his face - so close that Ohno can’t even react properly. Jun kisses him. Basically shuts him up like that. It comes so much as a surprise that Ohno’s mind goes completely blank. The other’s fingers tickle his neck slightly before they grab his face tightly. Jun is probably too good at this, too skilled as a kisser, but Ohno doesn’t mind the comparison. He is pretty good too and he is going to show it to Jun. It’s five minutes later that they draw apart a little and Ohno realizes that there is no rain. It was just this one single raindrop.
“What was that?” Ohno asks a little breathless. “Are you nuts?”
“Are you?’” Jun answers calmly. “What was with you touching my face only two hours ago?” When Ohno stares at him in utter shock, Jun’s lips tug a little, turning into a teasing smile. “Did you really think I wouldn’t notice it?”
Ohno stays silent for a while, for a pretty long while to be specific, in which Jun keeps looking at him, not turning away his glance. The hell with it, Ohno thinks, and just kisses him again. He doesn’t ask any questions like Why? How? What?, just lets his hands roam over Jun’s waist, up his chest until he brushes over his long neck. He doesn’t ask Jun anything like Is it okay? either, he has never been a man of many words anyway. And Jun doesn’t stop him, just lets him do whatever he wants to. He is surprised by how willingly Jun allows him to turn him on his back, how he helps him to get rid of their bathing clothes, how he wraps his legs around Ohno’s waist teasingly, how he lets Ohno set the speed, how he even moves on his knees and palms because all they have for lubrication is some sun crème and it’s easier in that position.
“Now you should probably let it rain.” Jun says at one point and his voice sounds hoarse, his back vibrating slightly against Ohno’s chest. He doesn’t really mean it, Ohno is sure about that, because he moves his head around to be able to kiss Ohno.
But maybe, yes. Maybe he should let it rain to make them stop before it’s too late. But he doesn’t want to. And he is sure that the rain might not stop them today anyway. Damn it. Jun has a nice neck. And an even nicer body. And the way he says Satoshi now, over and over again, drips down on Ohno like normally the rain does, makes his whole body tingle. This personal rain of his feels good.
~~~
What happens at the beach stays at the beach, Ohno tells himself over and over again. He doesn’t dare to ask Jun about whatever happened between them, doesn’t want to know his reasons. He is probably a little afraid of the answer. Not too sure what he expects and wants the answer to be.
It’s an up and down with the rain the next couple of days. It might not only depend on your voice, Sho said a while ago. Slowly Ohno starts to understand the meaning behind these words.
~~~
They are back home, back in reality, back at rehearsals, practising PARADOX again and the images are oh-so-present in Ohno’s head. He sees Jun in front of him, sees how he dances, how he spins around, how he swings these perfect hips of his, he remembers how he looked in the rain at the beach, how he laughed, how his sleepy face looked like, how his body was pressed against his only one week ago, how his breath was all tingly and teasing against Ohno’s skin, how he called out Satoshi over and over again. He also remembers how they first recorded this song, how Jun looked like at that day, remembers how he smiled at Sho during their first time recording this, remembers how he and Sho had laughed unusually close. Only slightly Ohno wonders why the hell he thinks of Sho and Jun together right now.
The first raindrop falls. It’s not that much of a surprise anymore. He almost doesn’t realize how Nino scrambles under the table together with their dance instructor and how Aiba and Sho squeeze under the doorframe, because they both forgot their umbrellas. Stupid of them for forgetting the most important item by now.
Ohno is about to stop the signing when Jun is suddenly next to him, a smug grin on his face. He throws an arm around Ohno’s shoulder and grins like a stupid 16-year old. Ohno has to chuckle at that because it’s so unlike Jun and because he is sure that his own face has pretty much the same expression.
He forgets about the rain, about his friends hiding under the table and the door frame. He doesn’t mind. It’s only when he hears the others’ voices joining them in the chorus that he realizes it’s not started to rain.
When they finished the song, it’s deadly silent, until Sho clears his throat. “So, Jun-kun is the antidote?”
“Yeah.” Jun sounds so sarcastic that even a glass of milk would get sour immediately by the tone in his voice. In this case the glass of milk is Sho and he really throws an annoyed glance at Jun. “Did you never realize I let the sun shine?” Jun says and sounds even more teasing and a little cheeky.
“Yeah, fine.” Sho huffs. “Sorry for commenting on the only possible conclusion.”
“You can think whatever you want to.” Jun replies calmly. The kind of calm that Ohno knows pisses Sho off only more.
He feels weirdly content by that.
~~~
Jun feeds Ohno with ice-cream lazily. It’s freaking hot, almost 40 degrees and 96% humidity. They have settled down at Ohno’s veranda and Jun fetched a cup with lemon sorbet from the freezer.
“Can’t you let it rain?” Jun complains and tugs a little at his shirt to fan some air.
Ohno takes the spoon out of Jun’s hand and takes some of the ice-cream with it. He moves the spoon towards Jun now. Reversed roles. “It’s not working when you are around.”
“Does it help when I get mad at you and yell?”
“That would probably help.” Ohno agrees, smiling slightly. “Are you? Angry?”
“Hm-“ Jun lets go of his shirt and finally takes it off. Then he takes the cup with ice-cream and presses it against his chest. A relaxed sigh escapes his lips. “Depends on your answer.”
“Answer to which question?” Ohno asks, a little surprised.
“Why did you have sex with me?” Jun asks and takes the spoon full of ice-cream that Ohno offers him.
“Why did you?” Ohno asks back.
“I asked first.”
“Obviously-” Ohno takes another spoon with ice-cream, planning on eating it himself but Jun grabs his wrist and moves it to his own mouth. “-you are my personal sun against the rain. You are the reason I gain or lose control. I gain control when you are at my side. I lose it when you are not here or when you are angry or hurt.” Or when I’m jealous, he adds and thinks of PARADOX and Your Eyes. He doesn’t plan on telling the last point Jun though.
“Is that all you have to say?” Jun asks after a while when Ohno doesn’t continue.
He only shrugs. “Isn’t that quite a lot already? The more I think and feel about you, the more or less extreme my weird power gets.”
Jun looks somewhat pleased now. “Guess not everyone can say of himself that he works as an antidote.” he muses before he throws Ohno a thoughtful glance. “It is enough.” he adds. “For now. Next time I ask, I want a more distinctive answer.” A pause in which Jun shows him a little smirk. “Besides, it’s not always going to be that easy to get me.”
Ohno smiles. “I like a good challenge.”
Jun laughs.
One day he is probably going to like the rain, Ohno thinks, at one point, he will like it. He can make it rain for Jun after all. And that’s pretty cool.
Pairing/Group: Juntoshi
Rating: PG-15
Beta: avya7x
Genre: romance, some complicated feelings, AU-ish (because Ohno can make it rain with his voice. And I assume that in real life that isn't quite the case ^^)
Summary: Ohno can't remember when it started. He knows it’s not always been like that because the shock that came with the first raindrop falling down on them because he sang, he will never forget.
Note: This is a one-shot I worked quite long for and I'm almost a bit proud of the outcome. I hope you'll enjoy reading it!
The first raindrop hits Ohno’s forehead like it wants to mock him, wants to point the finger at him and laugh. “Well-“Aiba is the first to recover and reach for an umbrella. “Good that we are outside.” A few seconds later the rain basically pouring down on them like there is no tomorrow, like it’s hunting them, chasing them. Singing A day in our life with these awfully high notes and all those emotions has always had the worst outcome. They all know that by now, have experimented with all their songs to check which one Ohno could sing without a dark cloud full of rain forming above them.
Jun basically escapes the wrath of the sky now and joins Aiba under his umbrella while Nino and Sho try to find some protection under the small branches of a birch. Neither the umbrella nor the tree is able to protect them though, it’s like the rain is coming down from all sides. Just Ohno stays where he is, his hands clenched into fists, his lips tight. Fucking rain! Stupid, fucking, idiotic, pathetic, shithead, mother-f-
“It’s okay.” Jun interrupts his not so pretty trail of thoughts and grabs his hand. He pulls him under the umbrella.
It’s. Not. Okay.
~~~
Ohno can’t remember when it started. He seriously has no image of something like that happening, no memory as a child. His childhood days were pretty normal and random. Even in his teen years, he is sure, he has never made it rain. It had to be something that started later, even a lot after Arashi’s debut. Precisely around 2010. They stick to open-air concerts for exactly that reason.
He knows it’s not always been like that because the shock that came with the first raindrop falling down on them because he sang, he will never forget. They had practised Monster for the first time, right in their usual rehearsal room. He even remembers clearly that Jun was standing to his right, Aiba to his left. Sho next to Jun. And Nino was still warming up, not joining them yet. It was all normal, as usual, Jun even helped Nino a little with loosening a cramp in his leg and Aiba and Sho were playing a stupid random play on words, where they had to build a new word with the last syllable of the previous one, when suddenly a raindrop fell on Ohno’s hand. He believed it was a sweat drop from his forehead maybe, nothing unusual for such a hot day and exhausting training, until there was the second drop, against his neck this time. He even turned around to face Nino then - had to be one of his stupid pranks - but so-said guy was looking equally puzzled, eyes squeezed, eyebrows furrowed, looking up at the ceiling.
“A problem with the pipes maybe?” Jun suggested into the silence.
“Probably.” Sho agreed.
Their singing instructor gave a call to the secretary to check on what’s going on in the floor above them and naturally they just went back to singing. A few notes, until they reached the chorus. Ohno has closed his eyes, his heart overflowing with images and feelings - he loves this song so much, particularly this part. Boku no kioku ga subete kietemo. Umare kawattara Mata kimi wo sagasu.
It’s so strong, so beautiful-
This time though it wasn’t a single drop interrupting them, no problem with the pipes or something similar either, but a full-hearted, honest rainfall, right inside their freaking rehearsal room.
They were drenched, wet to their bones and the rehearsal studio was in need of some professional craftsmen to pump out the water.
A few years later the problem is still here.
~~~
Sho chews on his pen when they are going through the tracklist. They have waited for the rain to pass and hurried back to the holiday estate of Sho’s family. It’s pretty far away from any other city and it’s their little hideaway for when they are dealing with this little problem, as Aiba tends to call it. Basically it means that they are studying a new song and don’t know yet if it’s a Satoshi-rain-song or not. Aiba is diplomatic and nice, Ohno not. He calls this issue the catastrophe most of the time.
“We could sing Your Eyes.” Jun suggests. “We only sung it once, didn’t we? Although it’s such a beautiful song.” He throws a towel over his head, drying his hair a little.
“But Your Eyes is the worst.” Nino points out. “The last time we preformed it Satoshi’s voice even let a thunderstorm appear. That’s never happened before.”
“Could have been a coincidence.” Jun intervenes carefully but it’s pretty obvious that he isn’t too convinced by it. He glances to the floor a little, side-ways, and doesn’t look in Ohno’s direction.
“Yes. Right.” Nino snorts. “You know, I don’t mind the rain - call it coincidence as much as you like, but we should avoid a thunderstorm. Period.”
When Jun opens his mouth to say something, Sho intervenes. Ohno is pretty thankful for that, the last thing he wants is his friends fighting because of him.
~~~
Ohno warms up his vocal chords, lets his voice come out slowly first, singing each note after another. It sounds a little stupid, but then all exercises to warm up one’s voice are. To prevent any damage he sits down on the cold stone tiles of his veranda, right next to the rubber plant that Jun gave to him last week. It won’t matter that much if it’s going to rain here, it’s outside after all. Inside his apartment it would be a catastrophe though. The only thing he wouldn’t mind getting into the rain and hence being broken is this weird ceramic vase - a present from Sho. The perfect excuse to get rid of it. However, the negative aspects of making it rain inside his apartment would definitely overweight that one positive point.
He leans back a little, eyeing the sunny sky. There is not one single cloud, it’s just full and bright sunshine. He is trying it with Your Eyes now, the most difficult one of all songs. He likes it, sincerely does, and he is thankful that his friends still keep joking about his rain producing voice, because he himself is already pretty frustrated. He doesn’t even know why it’s this song that makes it rain immediately. It’s neither the most difficult, nor the most passionate nor the song with the highest notes.
He tries not to feel anything when he sings it, tries to keep his mind blank and his voice not filled with too much passion. But still, as soon as the first lines of it slip his mouth, his voice filling the space around him, carrying the notes to the air, it starts raining. Heavily. He stops immediately, already seeing how a little bolt lights up the area above his balcony. The people on the street look up in surprise and Ohno swiftly returns to this apartment.
He gets drunk that evening.
~~~
“You know-“Jun taps a little with his shoe. They have met in a little café because Jun has decided that Ohno just needs to leave his apartment for once and have some fun. The others agreeing heavily on that. “I don’t mind the rain.”
“Yes you do.” Ohno interrupts him. “Isn’t it really inconvenient? I’m too much work, really. No matter how many doctors I consult, no one can help. Not even that stupid weather scientist. I should probably leave Arashi or-“
“Hey.” Jun interrupts him and points at him with his fork. He looks angry. The kind of angry with a hint of sadness and disappointment that makes Ohno feel a little guilty because it’s not only directed at him but also evoked by him. “If you ever say that again, I’ll hit you. And believe me, I’m not kidding!”
It’s this look in Jun’s eyes that makes Ohno forget where he is, the way he sounded so honest and straight-forward. It’s these honest words and the thankfulness Ohno feels for a moment. It’s all due to these elements, otherwise he would have never done it! It’s the situation and Jun’s words that make him hum the first notes of PARADOX. Just a mere freaking instinct! It’s only seconds later that he realizes what he is doing, that it dawns on him that he sits in a normal cafeteria. Fuck. He closes his mouth immediately. Stops the humming.
For a moment nothing happens and he is almost allured to feel safe again. But then, there it is. A raindrop. It falls directly into his coffee, it’s like he can see it in slow-motion, how it falls, and little circles of coffee waves surround it. Of course it could be a coincidence, it could be a drop of water that condensed on the ceiling because it’s a hot humid day. It could be- The hell with it. Ohno knows the signs already. “Out.” he mumbles without explaining anything to Jun. The latter probably has guessed already what’s going on by the tensed tone of his voice. “Let’s hurry to the veranda.”
The moment they are outside he continues the humming, goes for Your Eyes even, wants it to rain here and not inside, wants to distract the clouds a little and pull them with him.
Gladly it works and thick raindrops are suddenly falling down on them. Jun shakes his hair a little, it’s already getting wet, and opens an umbrella. He is always prepared it seems. For a while none of them says anything, then Jun coughs. “We probably should pay for our coffee.” he says and points at the restaurant. “I’m going back inside. Wait for me?”
“Hm.” Ohno says, so frustrated with himself that he wants to bang his head against the wall.
Jun touches his shoulder. “Satoshi-kun-“ he starts, but Ohno shakes his head.
“Don’t.” he mumbles and pulls away a bit. By the look in Jun’s eyes he knows that he is hurt. “Don’t say anything now.”
~~~
“You know-“ Aiba muses randomly when they are sitting outside of their rehearsal room, waiting for the craftsmen to get rid of the water again - hell, by now, the whole agency is prepared, it seems.
It’s like it’s nothing new anymore that Ohno can make it rain with his voice. There is a certain alarm one of them or one of their dance or voice instructors needs to press once they feel the rain approaching. Even the recording studio has waterproofed equipment by now. “I don’t mind the rain much.” He lets his wet shirt drop to the floor and changes into a dry one, like all of them are doing now. “But please don’t make a thunderstorm appear.”
“I can’t control it.” Ohno explains miserably.
“Hm-“ Nino sighs a little. “It’s just so weird that it’s an up and down. I mean, it would be more logical if it was always the same. But sometimes you can sing and it won’t rain, and then you just need to go through the first notes and we already have a thunderstorm approaching.”
“Nino is right.” Sho agrees. “I wonder what it depends on. It can’t be the high notes anymore like I thought at the beginning. I mean, why Your Eyes? Why Face Down? Why not Endless Game? It makes no sense. It might not only be related to your voice.”
Something in Ohno’s ears start ringing. Not related to the voice alone but… to the songs? But why? How? It makes no sense!
~~~
It’s probably their last talk in the cafeteria and the fact that Ohno makes it rain more often now makes Jun a little nervous and hence particularly attentive towards Ohno. One part of Ohno does feel a little thankful for that, because Jun is so wonderfully loyal. He knows he means well but with him being so attentive it makes Ohno even tenser, even more stressed, the control slips from his fingers. And when Jun keeps being friendly, like there is nothing off, even when they are getting flooded again by him singing along to the lines of Bittersweet, even though it’s not even been his own solo part, he can’t help but feel mostly gloomy and very annoyed.
“Well-“ Nino snorts at one point when they escape to another, empty rehearsal room. No singing here at all!, their instructor has told them before he left to organize everything. “Maybe we should travel to the desert once in a while. Or a country that’s in desperate need of water. We could become God-like. Bringing rain and stuff.”
Aiba grins. “You know, it’s even funnier that Riida has a solo called Rain. You ever thought of that? It’s like a joke in itself.”
For a moment the others blink at that discovery, none of them has ever seen the weird connection between Ohno’s crazy superpower and the meaning of the title of that song. A song that was written way before Ohno could make it rain. All of a sudden Nino and Aiba start snickering and giggling madly.
It’s not making anything better right now, Ohno thinks, though he is normally all in for his friends making fun of his problem. As long as they can laugh about it, it’s still alright, but damn it, he feels so much like a burden, that - fuck!
He stares up to the ceiling bitterly, before he turns his glance towards the glass wall next to them. He can see into their original rehearsing room directly, watching how the raindrops get thicker and fall down on the floor and against the glass with force. “Don’t worry too much.” Jun says calmly, like he doesn’t care that his perfectly new skinny jeans are all soaked and he will have a hard time getting out of them.
“But I do worry.” Ohno says bitterly.
Jun smiles a little. “We’ll make it through that easily. We’ll find the reason for that problem - and a solution. It’s not your fault.” When he pats Ohno’s shoulder to underline his sympathy, Ohno has had it.
“You are just making it worse!” He bursts in sudden anger. He is only realizing what he said when it’s already too late.
“What?”
There is no taking it back anymore, Ohno realizes, when Jun pulls his hand back like he has touched a hot plate. He knows it’s probably not Jun he is mad at but himself and his own pathetic super-powers. Couldn’t it at least be something cool like flying or mind-reading or - whatever - growing stupid flowers!? No one is bothered by flowers after all, unlike by rain! “The more you are around me, the more it stresses me out!” Ohno answers angrily. It comes out a little off and pretty unfriendly. He has not particularly planned for it to sound like that - still, even to him, that excuse sounds a little cheap. “I can’t concentrate when you are trying to be nice and pretend it doesn’t matter to you. So could you please just fuck off!?”
Awesome, that’s basically exactly what he shouldn’t have said. He knows as much by the way Jun stares at him by now.
“Fine, whatever you want, Leader.” Jun huffs. He looks hurt and pretty pissed and Ohno wishes to just tell him he is sorry. But Jun retreats fast and joins Aiba and Nino at the other side of the room. They gladly were so preoccupied with their jokes that they didn’t witness Ohno’s mind slipping on the wet ground.
Sho has heard him though and throws him a reproachful glance. The fact alone that it comes from Sho out of all, the king of Non-Diplomacy when it’s about their bandmates, makes it even worse. The fuck-off sentence was originally used by him after all - and directed towards Jun as well, years ago. Well, Sho at least has the decency not to say anything.
~~~
Damn it. Ohno stares at the ceiling of his bedroom. He has cooled down a little and to say that he regrets how he snapped at Jun would be a high understatement. He doesn’t just regret it, he wishes he could turn back time. Now that would be an awesome power! Why again does it have to be rain?
Wild at Heart indeed, he mumbles out loud.
He will later blame it on his half-sleeping, pretty shaken state of mind that he sings a few lines of the song because the outcome is the obvious, the one to be expected.
He calls the agency five minutes later, begging them to send the by now special-craftsmen-team for Arashi-rain-emergency-cases to his place. His bedroom is basically 15 centimetres under water.
~~~
Monday morning feels pretty awful. Not the way every Monday morning feels, its worse this time. Well, not like his Sunday was any better, but still- The fact that he needs to go to a meeting with his bandmates before rehearsals start, right around lunch, is already pretty exhausting, especially after he drunk all night because of this very specific incident with his bedroom and the rain. Not to mention the fact that half of his furniture is either ruined or still needs to dry and that he decided to sleep on the balcony for now.
When he pads into the main building of the agency, his mobile phone lights up a little. A message. Aiba is sick. He won’t make it. When Ohno meets the others in the awfully crowded canteen which he hates so much just two minutes later, he sees how Nino looks at his phone as well. “Masaki is sick.” he says.
“Hm. I know” Ohno nods and drops down on an empty chair right next to Sho. “Where is Jun?” Ohno asks when the younger one is nowhere to be seen. He is already pretty late himself, no way Jun would be even later.
Sho sighs. “Won’t make it. Seems like he forgot an important appointment.”
Ohno nods, tries to keep up his pokerface, while in reality he is pretty sure that Jun doesn’t have another appointment. He is probably just not coming because he doesn’t want to spend more time with him than necessary.
“We could perform Wild at Heart.” Ohno suggests half-heartedly when they discuss the tracklist once more. It’s always the most work to decide on it. Out of obvious reasons. “Right now it doesn’t really matter what we sing. It always rains. We could even try Your Eyes.” When he says the title he lets his voice vibrate slightly. It’s only when he recognizes the slight glint of horror in Sho’s eyes while he looks up to the ceiling that he knows what’s going to happen.
“Can’t be.” Ohno presses out helplessly. “I didn’t even sing! Not really. It doesn’t count!” he tries desperately, like he wants to beg to whoever sends the rain not to make it happen. Convince him it was an accident.
Nino nods. “You are right. You didn’t sing. Damn it, it doesn’t count - it’s not fair!”
All three of them stare up to the ceiling now. But Ohno knows there is no helping it, it’s not been a false alarm, he knows that by now.
“It’s raining!” one guy suddenly calls from the other side of the canteen, horror in his voice. It sounds remotely like Nagano-kun, whatever he is doing here at such a time.
There is no time to think about it now though because just like always it starts raining like crazy the next moments. If it were only a few drops, it wouldn’t matter that much. But it’s never just a few tiny raindrops.
Ohno somewhat recognizes one of the younger Sexy Zone kids running out of the room, hiding his head under his jacket, with some others following him. Some of them look curious, some of them a little panicked.
“Didn’t I say clearly that Arashi isn’t allowed to practice anywhere else than in their own room?” Julie-san squeals while she hurries outside too.
Most of the guys stop once they leave the canteen, eyeing inside curiously. Ohno however has to give props to Sho and Nino for remaining at his side with stoic expressions like nothing unusual is happening. Nino even has the nerves to ask the guy at the canteen for one bowl of ramen. He sounds so casual and normal that the poor man looks a little flustered and puzzled, like he is losing his mind and just imagining the cold wet dropping down on him.
Ohno pretty much loathes self-pity and it’s actually not really self-pity he feels now. It’s more like self-anger, self-annoyance, self-disappointment, self-anything-but-a-good-feeling.
“If you cry now, it’s not going to help. It won’t make anything better.” He is sincerely surprised when Jun is standing next to him all of a sudden and opens an umbrella. His words sounded a little harsh but he is right. Ohno takes a few breaths and nods.
“Doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you.” Jun adds and Ohno can’t help but to smile.
A few moments later the rain suddenly stops. Faster than usual.
~~~
Are you still mad?
Ohno holds his mobile phone - waterproofed of course! - tightly and stretches a little. His body is covered under a thick blanket while he looks up at the sky. He has decided to continue sleeping on the balcony for the next days as well. Just to be safe. It’s not all that bad because he can see the sky - well, there are no stars to be seen, like mostly in Tokyo. And there is the traffic noise. Plus the neon lights from the streets even though he is not living in a busy, fancy shopping area.
Jun doesn’t answer his message first and Ohno is almost entrapped to believe that he has a) not seen it yet or b) doesn’t want to answer. It’s pretty much possible that he won’t answer it at all, even once he has seen it. However, he hasn’t taken c) he is for sure going to write back a little later into account because Jun does answer, right when Ohno is about to put his phone aside and get some sleep.
Told you I am!
Ohno has to grin a bit at that answer. Well, does that mean you won’t be talking to me?
I am obviously talking now…
Obviously, yes, or maybe not. Well, how long are you going to stay mad at me?
Jun’s message arrives a few minutes later. How long will it take you to buy that new Burberry bag?
Ohno sits up a bit, looking at the message in amusement. He wonders where Jun learned his tricks from. Nino? Or from Sho’s several guilt trips? Or maybe he just discovered it on his own? Does online shopping count? he types and adds a smiling emoticon, thankful that Aiba forced this stupid emoticon app on him even though he complained about it just two days ago.
Jun’s answer only takes a few seconds. Yes.
It takes Ohno around ten minutes to go to the Burberry homepage and buy the promised bag. He knows which one Jun has been talking about because he showed him a picture of it last week, planning on buying it himself. Since he is already at it, he adds two scarfs as well - one for him, even though he can already imagine Nino’s teasing comments about his new-discovered-fashion addiction and how it doesn’t fit Ohno at all, and one for Jun. Oh, an umbrella! He grins a little when he puts it in his virtual shopping basket too and proceeds to the payment. Loosely he wonders if he should get something for Sho’s birthday as well but then he remembers the stupid ceramic vase. No, he is going to get something a little less useful for his friend, definitely.
Okay, bought it.
He laughs a little when he receives Jun’s messages. He has thought that much already but it’s still fun to read it: Are you nuts!!!!!!????? It was a joke, idiot!
Well, now you don’t have an excuse anymore to stay mad. Ohno types and sends the message away. Then he gives himself a mental kick in the butt and sends one more. I’m sorry, Jun.
I know. It’s okay. Jun has put a smiling emoticon in his message. Ohno sighs in relief. So it is okay, for real.
Well then. Ohno grabs his pillow and his blanket and retreats into his apartment. He decides to take the risk and sleep in his bed - otherwise he will be totally without strength and sleep during the next days. And if he has learned one thing than that being tired and exhausted is not particularly helpful for his problem. He is pretty sure he won’t be singing in his sleep anyway. And if he feels like humming a song, he is going to pick one from L’Arc~en~Ciel - they have nothing to do with Arashi or the agency or something else in Ohno’s life. He just likes the songs.
~~~
“You know-“ Jun smiles a bit. He has just dropped by Ohno’s place unannounced. “You need to make it stop at one point. Or learn to control it.”
Ohno knows immediately what he means. Jun sounds a bit upset despite the smile on his face. Most likely because he has just discovered Ohno’s former sleeping place on the balcony. He wasn’t fast enough with cleaning it up completely and hiding all the traces that he has indeed been sleeping there. The only way to diffuse Jun’s anger and distract him was to force the Burberry bag on him. Now he looks at it a little fascinated, like he is in love. “Don’t fancy it that obviously.” Ohno teases and laughs when Jun blushes a bit.
Jun coughs now and puts the bag aside, not without keeping it close to him though. “It wasn’t necessary, Satoshi-kun, to buy it. You know that, don’t you?”
“Yes, I know.” Ohno joins Jun on the sofa, with a drink in his hand. “But I wanted to trick you into showering me with forgiveness.”
When Jun takes the drink out of his hands, he is surprised. He thinks first that he wants to tell him something so important that he might spill his drink when he hears it, but to his surprise Jun smirks a bit. “You are not drinking today.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s only 11 AM and we are going out now.” Jun explains casually. “Driving to the beach. I know a good place - I talked to Sho before and he has made sure that no one is going to be there.”
There are various questions Ohno could ask now. Like: Why did no one ask me if I want to? Or when the hell did Sho get the power to control a part of the beach? Or, what do you want to do there? For now he sticks to the obvious though: “And why can’t I have a drink?” he asks while he points at Jun’s hand, which is holding a drink.
“We are taking your car, Riida. No way I’m taking mine and letting it get soaked with rain!” Jun teases and it feels almost good to hear him make a joke about it for once.
Still- “I don’t have a car.”
“Buy one!”
By now he got pretty much used to all of his bandmates’ weird antics, may it be Sho’s weird attraction to anything that’s either traditional or a gay club, which he got dragged into as well. Or Nino’s gaming addiction which gets particularly bad when a new game gets released and leads to I need the Collector’s Edition and half of them lining up for a special release event at midnight. Jun’s styling victimness and the way he could just seriously act like a mother hen sometimes. Plus Aiba coming up with the weirdest ideas for their TV-shows, with a hint of madness sometimes glinting in his eyes, and his weird addiction to shirts with motto-prints.
However, Jun’s suggestion now takes him aback. That’s new. “You want me to do what?”
“I’ve already talked to several car dealers.” Jun explains mercilessly. “Do you rather prefer Mercedes or Audi?”
“Jun-kun.” Ohno interrupts him firmly. “You want me to buy a car? Don’t be ridiculous! Why should I?”
“So, you are saying you want to keep depending on my kindness and let me play your chauffeur all the time?” the other says sweetly. The kind of sweetness that’s particularly dangerous because it just hits a freaking painful point.
“Car-dealer for used cars!” Ohno demands. “And I might consider buying one.”
“What? Used? No way!”
“Jun.” Ohno says firmly. “A used car! End of discussion.”
Jun lets out a sigh like he is talking to a 5-year old and shrugs. “Fine. I kinda knew you would say something like that.” He throws a very judgemental glance towards Ohno, like so often when he is annoyed by one of them. Nino calls it the remains of his Hana Yori Dango times and is mostly highly amused by it, but then, Jun hardly directs this look towards him, so Nino is not one who should make comments about it. “So, I’ve looked up a good place.”
~~~
The car dealer Jun drags him to is basically very similar to a place where Sho or Jun would buy their cars from, but it has also a touch of what Ohno likes. “Not a bad place.” he says and Jun looks a little happy at that compliment.
It’s only one hour later that Ohno realises that he probably got a little too excited over this place and spent a little too much money. But this freaking red vintage truck, apparently triple the size of a normal car, just captured his heart! There were even some old stickers to it from some beach clubs and the sales assistant told him that it belonged to a professional fisherman who even won a competition.
“I fell in love with a stupid car.” Ohno sighs in annoyance when he drives out of the city, Jun sitting next to him. Gladly the latter doesn’t say anything teasing, he just chuckles slightly. They have only returned to Ohno’s place for a moment to pack some bags and decided on staying at Sho’s beach place overnight.
“Doesn’t this little gem vibrate just lovingly below your butt?” Jun comments lazily after Ohno has continued his rant. He sounds so unusually dirty that Ohno has to burst into laughter.
“I would rather prefer something else, with less expense, to vibrate, if you get what I mean.” he retorts.
Jun chuckles. “Good that we stay overnight. For that kind of talk we might need to be drunk.”
“Obviously, yes.” Ohno agrees light-heartedly, slowly feeling his good mood kicking in. He hasn’t felt that relaxed in ages.
~~~
“We are all alone here?” Ohno asks when they open the door to the little villa Sho’s family owns here.
“Yes.” Jun throws his bag into a corner in the living room, unlike his normal oh-so-tidy self. “So hot.” He complains and tugs a little at his shirt. “Sho-kun said he has basically made it clear that no one is around. We are all alone. Meet at the beach in ten minutes?”
“That’s fine with me.”
Ohno only takes five minutes to check out his room, switch into his bathing clothes and grab a towel. By the time Jun arrives at the beach, he has already set up the sunshade and put some towels on the ground. Jun carries a freezer with beer and vodka, apparently he has taken Ohno’s suggestion to get drunk pretty serious.
First things come first though. “I’m going into the water.” Jun says. “Are you joining?”
Naturally Ohno does. He has always loved the ocean though he prefers being on a boat over being stuck to only one place at the beach. It’s when they both are a little tired and exhausted that they pad out of the water and Ohno finally realizes why Jun has brought him to this place.
“Let’s sing, Satoshi-kun.”
“What?” he blinks, surprised. First he believes that Jun means a random summer song, but when Jun adds Wild at heart, he knows his friend is very serious. “Do you really think that’s a good idea?” Ohno wants to know.
Jun shrugs. “We are alone here. No one is getting on our nerves and there is no one watching. I think it’s one of my best ideas up to now, though I had some pretty good ideas in general during the last years.”
Only Jun can say something like that and not sound too full of himself, Ohno thinks not without respect. He plays complies with Jun’s wish, because the other has gone that far just to make him feel comfortable.
Wild at Heart. Of course it rains. But Jun doesn’t seem to mind, just stretches out his hands and his neck and lets the rain drop down on him.
Ohno stops the singing. “What are you doing here?” he asks.
Jun grins a little. “It’s hot and the rain feels good. I’m enjoying my time. Having fun! You remember? The moment when one laughs and thoroughly enjoys being somewhere or doing something.”
“I know what fun is.” Ohno says in a sulky voice. He is getting a bit too prissy lately.
“Really?” Jun pulls his eyebrows up in amusement. “Then show me and sing even more. And finally enjoy it for once. It gets a bit frustrating to see you down all the time.”
Ohno likes a good challenge, so that’s probably why he decides to do it. He finishes Wild at Heart with Jun, continues with Rain alone, forces Jun to join him for Bittersweet, before they drink approximately three beers each. Then Jun starts his Shake it performance, which Ohno loves a little too much, so he just tugs along and joins. When they finally end with Your Eyes the rain has stopped.
Ohno lies at the wet sand next to Jun, panting heavily while he watches the sun re-appear behind the clouds. They are sweaty and covered in disgusting wet sand, but he wants to wait for the waves and the ocean to calm down again before he takes a bath. When he looks at Jun for a moment, he is surprised to see how his eyes are closed, his breath going regularly. “Are you sleeping, Jun?”
No answer. Ohno smiles a bit, before he stretches out his hand and touches the latter’s face carefully. The back of his hand moves over Jun’s cheek tenderly. It’s almost an instinctive gesture, he just wants to feel Jun’s skin beneath his fingertips, wants to touch his eyebrows and his lips.
“Damn it.” Ohno mumbles in shock when he realizes what he is doing and pulls his hand back. He doesn’t wait for the ocean to warm up again, just hurries into the water to cool himself down a bit.
~~~
“How long can we stay?” Ohno asks later that day when Jun has finally woken up again and taken a bath in the now warm ocean.
“Definitely till tomorrow.” Jun dries his body with a towel. Gladly they were focused enough to place their towels under the sunshade before they did their little rain experiment. “Maybe two days if we can bribe Sho.”
Ohno nods and Jun joins him right next to a palm tree and sits down there too. “Want to try it again?”
Ohno smiles carefully and hums the melody of A day in our life. With a poisonous glance he stares at the sky and the first thick raindrop hits him. He stops the humming. “FUCK, Jun. Seriously, I can’t take it anymore.” he blurts out despite his normally not particularly dramatic attitude. But he just has to let it out for once “I hate it, I hate the rain, I hate my voice, I hate that I-“
Jun’s hand is suddenly grabbing his shoulder, then there is his face - so close that Ohno can’t even react properly. Jun kisses him. Basically shuts him up like that. It comes so much as a surprise that Ohno’s mind goes completely blank. The other’s fingers tickle his neck slightly before they grab his face tightly. Jun is probably too good at this, too skilled as a kisser, but Ohno doesn’t mind the comparison. He is pretty good too and he is going to show it to Jun. It’s five minutes later that they draw apart a little and Ohno realizes that there is no rain. It was just this one single raindrop.
“What was that?” Ohno asks a little breathless. “Are you nuts?”
“Are you?’” Jun answers calmly. “What was with you touching my face only two hours ago?” When Ohno stares at him in utter shock, Jun’s lips tug a little, turning into a teasing smile. “Did you really think I wouldn’t notice it?”
Ohno stays silent for a while, for a pretty long while to be specific, in which Jun keeps looking at him, not turning away his glance. The hell with it, Ohno thinks, and just kisses him again. He doesn’t ask any questions like Why? How? What?, just lets his hands roam over Jun’s waist, up his chest until he brushes over his long neck. He doesn’t ask Jun anything like Is it okay? either, he has never been a man of many words anyway. And Jun doesn’t stop him, just lets him do whatever he wants to. He is surprised by how willingly Jun allows him to turn him on his back, how he helps him to get rid of their bathing clothes, how he wraps his legs around Ohno’s waist teasingly, how he lets Ohno set the speed, how he even moves on his knees and palms because all they have for lubrication is some sun crème and it’s easier in that position.
“Now you should probably let it rain.” Jun says at one point and his voice sounds hoarse, his back vibrating slightly against Ohno’s chest. He doesn’t really mean it, Ohno is sure about that, because he moves his head around to be able to kiss Ohno.
But maybe, yes. Maybe he should let it rain to make them stop before it’s too late. But he doesn’t want to. And he is sure that the rain might not stop them today anyway. Damn it. Jun has a nice neck. And an even nicer body. And the way he says Satoshi now, over and over again, drips down on Ohno like normally the rain does, makes his whole body tingle. This personal rain of his feels good.
~~~
What happens at the beach stays at the beach, Ohno tells himself over and over again. He doesn’t dare to ask Jun about whatever happened between them, doesn’t want to know his reasons. He is probably a little afraid of the answer. Not too sure what he expects and wants the answer to be.
It’s an up and down with the rain the next couple of days. It might not only depend on your voice, Sho said a while ago. Slowly Ohno starts to understand the meaning behind these words.
~~~
They are back home, back in reality, back at rehearsals, practising PARADOX again and the images are oh-so-present in Ohno’s head. He sees Jun in front of him, sees how he dances, how he spins around, how he swings these perfect hips of his, he remembers how he looked in the rain at the beach, how he laughed, how his sleepy face looked like, how his body was pressed against his only one week ago, how his breath was all tingly and teasing against Ohno’s skin, how he called out Satoshi over and over again. He also remembers how they first recorded this song, how Jun looked like at that day, remembers how he smiled at Sho during their first time recording this, remembers how he and Sho had laughed unusually close. Only slightly Ohno wonders why the hell he thinks of Sho and Jun together right now.
The first raindrop falls. It’s not that much of a surprise anymore. He almost doesn’t realize how Nino scrambles under the table together with their dance instructor and how Aiba and Sho squeeze under the doorframe, because they both forgot their umbrellas. Stupid of them for forgetting the most important item by now.
Ohno is about to stop the signing when Jun is suddenly next to him, a smug grin on his face. He throws an arm around Ohno’s shoulder and grins like a stupid 16-year old. Ohno has to chuckle at that because it’s so unlike Jun and because he is sure that his own face has pretty much the same expression.
He forgets about the rain, about his friends hiding under the table and the door frame. He doesn’t mind. It’s only when he hears the others’ voices joining them in the chorus that he realizes it’s not started to rain.
When they finished the song, it’s deadly silent, until Sho clears his throat. “So, Jun-kun is the antidote?”
“Yeah.” Jun sounds so sarcastic that even a glass of milk would get sour immediately by the tone in his voice. In this case the glass of milk is Sho and he really throws an annoyed glance at Jun. “Did you never realize I let the sun shine?” Jun says and sounds even more teasing and a little cheeky.
“Yeah, fine.” Sho huffs. “Sorry for commenting on the only possible conclusion.”
“You can think whatever you want to.” Jun replies calmly. The kind of calm that Ohno knows pisses Sho off only more.
He feels weirdly content by that.
~~~
Jun feeds Ohno with ice-cream lazily. It’s freaking hot, almost 40 degrees and 96% humidity. They have settled down at Ohno’s veranda and Jun fetched a cup with lemon sorbet from the freezer.
“Can’t you let it rain?” Jun complains and tugs a little at his shirt to fan some air.
Ohno takes the spoon out of Jun’s hand and takes some of the ice-cream with it. He moves the spoon towards Jun now. Reversed roles. “It’s not working when you are around.”
“Does it help when I get mad at you and yell?”
“That would probably help.” Ohno agrees, smiling slightly. “Are you? Angry?”
“Hm-“ Jun lets go of his shirt and finally takes it off. Then he takes the cup with ice-cream and presses it against his chest. A relaxed sigh escapes his lips. “Depends on your answer.”
“Answer to which question?” Ohno asks, a little surprised.
“Why did you have sex with me?” Jun asks and takes the spoon full of ice-cream that Ohno offers him.
“Why did you?” Ohno asks back.
“I asked first.”
“Obviously-” Ohno takes another spoon with ice-cream, planning on eating it himself but Jun grabs his wrist and moves it to his own mouth. “-you are my personal sun against the rain. You are the reason I gain or lose control. I gain control when you are at my side. I lose it when you are not here or when you are angry or hurt.” Or when I’m jealous, he adds and thinks of PARADOX and Your Eyes. He doesn’t plan on telling the last point Jun though.
“Is that all you have to say?” Jun asks after a while when Ohno doesn’t continue.
He only shrugs. “Isn’t that quite a lot already? The more I think and feel about you, the more or less extreme my weird power gets.”
Jun looks somewhat pleased now. “Guess not everyone can say of himself that he works as an antidote.” he muses before he throws Ohno a thoughtful glance. “It is enough.” he adds. “For now. Next time I ask, I want a more distinctive answer.” A pause in which Jun shows him a little smirk. “Besides, it’s not always going to be that easy to get me.”
Ohno smiles. “I like a good challenge.”
Jun laughs.
One day he is probably going to like the rain, Ohno thinks, at one point, he will like it. He can make it rain for Jun after all. And that’s pretty cool.