Hikari-chan is seriously being an industrious fic author lately~~
Title: The JUMP House
Author: me!
Genre: Comedy, romance, friendship
Pairing: JUMP x OC
Rating: PG to PG-13
Summary: JUMP finally gets a vacation all to themselves, but they are bidden to make a song for their new album while on vacation. This in mind, witness how JUMP gets the inspiration they need for their own individual songs. <3
Author's Note: I have planned to post this last Christmas, but I fail at timing... but I still think it's pretty good, so please give it a try? :3
Warning: Slow uploads. Random storylines. Confusing and intertwined plotlines.
Chapter Two
Nakajima Yuto crawled under the sofa bed, tears springing into his eyes. One-half of his beloved pair of drumsticks was missing. He can’t play the drums with just one drumstick, and though he could always buy another drumstick, he still wanted, if anything, to find that one drumstick that had been so special to him.
That pair of drumsticks was given to him as a gift by his younger brother on his seventeenth birthday, and he has treasured it so much that he couldn’t use others to play his drums which were in his room. He could just see how disappointed Raiya would be when he knew that his oniichan lost the drumstick. It made Yuto want to cry himself.
He had prided himself on being one of the cleanest JUMP members but he couldn’t remember where he put the drumstick! It was annoying as hell!
Someone knocked on the door and Yuto shouted, “Come in,” while trying to keep his tears at bay. He wasn’t a crybaby, but those drumsticks were from Raiya…
The door opened and Kei entered. “Oh! You’re up! What the deuce are you doing under your bed, Nakajima-kun?” he asked, concerned. They have known each other ever since their J.J. Express days, so Kei was sensitive to Yuto’s quirks.
“I lost one of my drumsticks,” the younger guy mumbled, pushing himself from under the sofa bed, knowing that he looked more melancholic than he ever did in his life.
Kei blinked. He knew how much Yuto loved his drumsticks. At loss for what to do, he said cheerfully, “Um… don’t worry! We’ll all help you look for your drumstick later. Let’s eat breakfast first, okay? We have company coming.”
At the word ‘company’, Yuto perked up. He was a very friendly guy, and he always, always liked to entertain company. “Who’s coming? I thought Manager-san promised that we can have the promised twelve days before we launch our new album?”
Kei smiled, happy that he was able to divert Yuto’s attention from his drumstick to something more cheerful. He’d have to haul the other members look for the drumstick, though. “Oh, don’t worry, it won’t take much work, I promise. The visitors aren’t part of the entertainment industry in any way, so relax.”
“Could it be Aki-chan?”
Inoo Aki was Kei’s younger sister, and has been a frequent visitor to the JUMP House like Yuto’s own brother Raiya.
Kei shivered at the prospect of his sister visiting them. He loved his sister, but still… “Um, no. Not Aki. But still! Go get your breakfast!”
Yuto nodded and straightened up, watching Kei sail out of his bedroom, closing the door behind him. Yuto gave out another despaired sigh. He dusted himself off and straightened his clothes - he was wearing his favourite yellow sweater with his favourite pair of jeans - and proceeded to the door when his phone beeped.
Backtracking to the table which held hid PC, he picked up his white phone and read the mail he just received, smiling a little bit when he found out that it was from Rei Hikari, his closest girl friend. Finally! She hasn’t replied to his texts last night. Not that it really mattered, but still.
From: Hikari
Ohayou, Yutorin~! Have a nice day! Oh, Yama-chan and I have been talking last night, are you up for some hanging out later in the afternoon? :D
Yuto felt something tug at his chest when he read about the part where Hikari said that she has been talking to Yama-chan last night. Heck, he, Yama-chan and the rest of 7 were up, drinking barley tea with BEST until midnight, and they have been playing cards then. Yama-chan couldn’t have possibly texted with Hikari until after their game.
So that meant… they were texting each other until the wee hours of the morning!
Yuto’s brow furrowed. What could they have talked about? And why had Hikari texted Yamada that night, while ignoring to reply to him!
Okay, Yuto, quit being so affected, Yuto told himself as he typed out a response, his irritation melting away as he told Hikari about his story.
After replying, he pushed his phone inside his pocket as he went out of his room to eat breakfast.
No sooner had he got to the dining room-slash-kitchen when his phone beeped again. He eagerly checked the reply.
From: Hikari
Oh, you poor, poor boy! ^^ Are you sure you didn’t misplace them?
He shook his head, as if the girl would know that he was shaking his head. He lingered in the hallway as he typed out the response.
“Ohayou, Yuto-kun!” there was only one guy in the whole JUMP House who called him Yuto-kun, and that was Yamada.
He looked up and beamed, his earlier bad mood gone already. But of course, he was Nakajima Yuto: he was almost never angry or sad!
“Ohayou, Yama-chan! What’s up?”
Yamada smiled at him. “Did Inoo-chan wake you up?”
Yuto blinked. “Uh, no. I was already awake when he knocked on my door. Nande?”
The shorter guy shrugged, making his loose black shirt flutter around him. “Well, he woke me, like he woke almost everybody else here.
Pretty annoying, really. And it’s a day off!”
Yuto laughed. “Hey! Don’t let Inoo-chan hear you say that!” Then his phone beeped. Casually he stretched before reading the mail.
From: Hikari
Aww, you better find it, Yuto~rin! Raiya might kill you! Just kidding. ^^
“If you were so annoyed to get up early, then why did you?” Yuto asked curiously as he was typing out a response. He knew Yamada: he won’t be easily swayed when it came to matters that he has set his mind against. And if it concerned precious sleep (his schedule was damnably busy these days) then Yamada was ten times more protective of his rest time. “I mean, you could always tell him no.”
Yamada beamed. “He promised me that there are lots of strawberries in my waffles today, so I was hooked!” then the older guy took notice of Yuto’s phone, and the way the taller guy was enthusiastically checking it every minute or so. “Who are you texting, anyway? You look like a guard dog on point waiting for a reply! Have you got yourself a girlfriend? Come on, lemme see!” Yamada grabbed the cell phone from Yuto’s hands.
Yuto blushed as he tried to recapture the phone from Yamada. “That’s not it at all! Give it back, Yama-chan!!”
They must have caused quite a ruckus because Yaotome peered from inside the kitchen-slash-dining room and looked at them with his wide curious eyes. “Eh? Why are you two fighting like that? Anything interesting?”
“Yuto-kun has a girlfriend~!” Yama-chan teased.
“That’s not it at all!” Yuto denied hotly, his cheeks reddening. He finally grabbed the phone back from Yamada. “It’s just Hikari-chan.”
Yamada and Hikaru exchanged knowing grins before Hikaru said, “Oookay then. Come on inside. And where are the others? Inoo-chan prepared quite a feast, you know? It would be such a waste if it runs cold.”
When the three entered the kitchen, they found that the breakfast Kei prepared was indeed a feast. The food on the table could feed a family for months!
“Why is Inoo-chan suddenly preparing so much?” asked Yamada, momentarily distracted by the bowl of strawberries on the table.
“He said there’s company,” Yuto said as he checked his inbox for any mail from Hikari. None, and he tucked the phone in his jeans pocket.
Hikaru turned to Yuto. “Oh? What company? I didn’t hear anything about it.”
“If you didn’t hear about it… then did any of BEST?” Yamada asked.
“I sure did not,” Takaki said, entering the kitchen with a big, moose-sized yawn. He had his light brown-dyed hair tied in the Pebbles Flintstone style. He grinned at them and flashed them the peace sign. Then he looked at the food. “Whew, Inoo-chan could really go overboard, huh?”
Yuto nodded silently in agreement. What kind of company was Kei expecting that merited such a variety of food? He loved to eat, Yuto admitted it, but he can’t possibly eat all of those, even with the other eight of the JUMP members and the guests later to help him.
“Oh! Great! I thought Takaki-kun were still in bed,” Kei said as he herded the other JUMP members into the kitchen like Noah herding animals into the ark. In came Yabu, wearing a bright orange shirt and a happy face, Dai-chan with his brown hair hanging over his eyes because he hasn’t had it styled yet, Chinen, who looked impeccable as always, and was wearing a smug smile on his lips, and Keito, wearing a black tank top that exposed his toned arms. “Come on, sit around the table! Company’s coming!” He said, checking his phone. Then he typed out a response before saying, “I’ll just go and take them from the bus stop. No eating yet, okay? Okay? Yabu, can I trust you to look after them? Thanks~!” he said without waiting from the older guy’s response. Then he grinned wide at the members. “I’ll be right back! Oh, and please be nice to the guest, okay? Jaa~!”
The pianist and future architect rushed out of the house before anyone could even protest.
“Ehh?” Yamada blinked. He looked longingly at the bowl of strawberries. “Does that mean I can’t eat those yet?”
“Yep,” Yabu said as he yawned, making his eyes turn into slits on his face again. Then he straightened up. “Ne, I’m really curious about this guest Kei’s prepared so much about.”
“Me, too,” Keito spoke up, sitting on his usual place setting: the spot between Yuto and Hikaru. “I mean, Kei has never taken the bother to wake every one of us up to eat breakfast.”
“And he never bothered to cook this much,” Hikaru complained. “Not even on my birthday!”
They laughed at that, remembering the time that they forgot about Hikaru’s birthday, almost completely, if their manager hasn’t reminded them of that.
-0-0-0-
It was almost a half-hour when the door bell rung. By this time all of the JUMP members were desperate for the food. Yabu and Keito were only bringing out some of the food from the microwave oven when the much-awaited doorbell rang.
“It’s Inoo-chan!” Daiki sprung up. “We can finally eat! Yatta~!”
He rushed toward the front door to open it, shouting “Okaeri” along the way. The JUMP members waited in the kitchen for Kei and his guests and Daiki, so they could finally eat. They heard Kei’s voice saying “Tadaima” in a gentle sort of voice, and their anticipation grew.
Daiki came first, his eyes wide, but smiling. Yamada immediately asked him about the guest but he wasn’t saying anything, so the front man of the group looked impatiently to the kitchen door, waiting for Kei and the guest to go in.
Kei entered the dining room, and Hikaru said in a brash voice, “What took you so long? We were starving…holy moly!”
Tamamori Yuta, one of their fellow talents in the Jimusho, entered with Kei. It was no secret that Kei and Yuta were very good friends, but it was certainly a surprise when two pretty girls entered right after the two boys.
“Tama-chan!” Hikaru rebounded happily enough, but his eyes were on the two girls who looked as though they didn’t really care for the famous people in the room. “Doushita no? Why are you here without warning?”
Tamamori looked at Kei. “I thought---“
“Shh!” Kei snapped and gave the taller one a menacingly meaningful look. Which was a feat, because it was Inoo Kei and his smouldering stares do not count menacing most of the time, but seductive. And it would be weird if Kei gave Yuta seductive glares in front of two very pretty specimens of girls.
“Nani~?” Then it hit Yuta the same time one of the girls repeated his question. “Doushite, Kei-chan?”
The JUMP members’ stares were instantly commanded onto the girl who posed the question. Who was this stranger, and why was she using the familiar “-chan” to call JUMP’s resident princess and pianist? She was of medium height, wearing a loose floral shirt and jean shorts (in the middle of winter! Yamada thought) and sneakers. She had black hair with bangs cut straight and with the rest tied in a ponytail behind her head. She seemed a fun-loving girl, and, if her tan was any indication, she loved to frolic on the beach.
“Ahh… Betsu ni… Nande mo nai!” Kei denied. Then he turned to the JUMP members, who were staring at them like there was no tomorrow, their eyes demanding explanation. He immediately switched to host status. “Ahh~~ omaera, these are Keisuke Tenshii-chan and Momori Yui-chan. They are from Meiji, too, and both are Tamamori’s and my friends.” Then, turning to the girls, Kei pointed out the JUMP guys. “Oh, and though I know you know these guys, I’ll go introduce them to you, anyway. These are Yaotome Hikaru-kun, Yabu Kota-kun, Takaki Yuya-kun, Yamada Ryosuke-kun, Chinen Yuri-kun, Arioka Daiki-kun, Nakajima Yuto-kun and Okamoto Keito-kun.”
“Domo~” the girl with the ponytail, introduced as Keisuke Tenshii, smiled brightly. “Keisuke Tenshii desu.”
The other girl stepped up. She seemed to be Tenshii’s total opposite. She wore a practical thick sweater with a beige turtleneck and jeans and winter boots. She looked a bit foreign, though, with that tinge of gray in her dark eyes. She tucked an errant strand of her light brown hair behind one ear and smiled shyly, bowing slightly in the process. “Momori Yui desu. Yoroshiku.”
Kota smiled at the two girls and at Tamamori, too. “Hajimemashite, Yui-san, Tenshii-san. Please take a seat, and have some breakfast.”
While Tamamori and Takaki, as the second-oldest in JUMP, made sure that the two girls were comfortable, Kota took Kei aside.
“I haven’t heard of this, you know,” Kota said. “Why didn’t you say that you are going to bring in two of your schoolmates, Kei-chan?”
Kei looked down on his feet shyly. He was always like that when he was confronted. “W-well… Tenshii-chan and I definitely are schoolmates, but Yui-chan… well…”
“Well?”
“Don’t say this yet, okay?” Kei said worriedly as he leaned close to Kota to whisper in the older guy’s ear. “Tamamori-kun likes Yui-chan, so he was planning on telling her today. But since Yui-chan is veeeery shy, she can’t go anywhere without her friend Tenshii-chan to accompany her. And since Tenshii-chan and I just finished doing our project last night, we decided, along with Tamamori-kun, that today , and right here, would be the perfect timing and setting for the confession.”
There was a moment of silence between the two.
“Well, you could’ve just told me earlier, so we could’ve told our manager!” Kota hissed silently. “Kei… bringing two girls here… it’s quite dangerous for our careers, you know? You know how strict Kitagawa-sama is, right?”
Kei nodded, head down, like a meek child.
“Okay, then. Guess we can’t do anything about it anymore,” Kota sighed. “Just be really careful, okay? And good luck to Yuta-san.”
Kei nodded, beaming brightly. “Oh, thank you so much, Kota!” he said, turning to tackle the older, taller guy with a hug. They were that close, they weren’t afraid to show their bromance to the world.
“Uhh… Kei-chan?”
Kei instantly pushed himself off from Kota, his cheeks reddening. Tenshii was looking at him with a nonchalant expression, but with a teasing smile on her lips. “Tenshii-chan!” he stuttered.
“You and Kei-chan must be really close,” Tenshii turned to Kota. She was a frank girl most of the time, and today was no exception. “So tell me, Yabu-san, are you and Kei-chan, uhh… lovers?”
There was a moment of dead silence among the three, before Kota laughed. And laughed he did, so hard, that his eyes seemed to have disappeared from his face. When he straightened up, he looked at Tenshii, remnants of his laugh still left on his face. “Ne, Tenshii-chan, do you really care that much for fanservice?”
Kei felt himself want to melt and disappear through the cracks in the floor. If ever there were any. He was that embarrassed. You see, for weeks now, he has been trying to be his best in Tenshii’s eyes. Tenshii was frank to the point of being rude, and Kei knew that if ever Tenshii turns to him with those pretty critical eyes of hers, he would sulk for days. He was that unaccepting of criticisms. What would Tenshii peg him now, a homosexual? What would Tenshii think of him now that Kota made that weird remark, someone who did not choose his friends wisely?
Thinking about these makes his tears spring to his eyes.
Imagine Kei’s surprise when Tenshii laughed. “Well, my younger sister is a fan of yours, and she ships you and Kei so much that she believes that you and Kei are truly involved romantically. But, nope, I don’t really care that much for fanservice,” she concluded with a smile on her mouth.
“Sugoi,” Kota said the moment she finished. “Your younger sister’s a fan? How old is she?”
“She’s fifteen,” Tenshii said. “She’s been a fan since she was ten, for god’s sake,” she laughed, “and she’ll probably die, knowing that I’ve been talking to you right now. You’re her ichiban, you see.”
Yabu laughed again, and Kei felt that he was slowly but steadily being left out of the conversation. That wasn’t fair: he has been friends with Tenshii first!
He must have spaced out with his sulky look on his face when Kota turned to him and smiled gently, that type of smile that was reserved for him, Kota’s best buddy and “fanservice partner”. “Ne, should we all go and eat? I’m sure you haven’t had breakfast yet, and Inoo-chan prepared all the food himself.” Kei forced himself not to breathe a sigh of relief. So Kota had the grace to still let Kei look good to Tenshii. But as was characteristic of childhood friends, Kota had to add his two cents. “He cooks as much as he cares to eat, though.”
Kei felt himself blushing again. Tenshii glanced at him and laughed, playfully mock-punching the pianist on the arm. “Ne, kawaii na, Kei-chan,” she smirked. “At least you don’t seem to gain so much weight,” she added casually, making Kei realize that he was still on her safe side despite Kota’s bullying. “I’m starving. Let’s go eat the food you cooked, ne, Kei-chan?”
Kei nodded and smiled, leading Tenshii to the kitchen, suppressing the sigh of relief still. Kota, you’ll pay for this sometime, he vowed, giving his best friend the evil eye. Kota noticed this and instead smiled brightly at the pale one, unmindful of the murder plans the twenty-two year old was thinking of for him.
=== TO BE CONTINUED ==
So ho was it? I suddenly mustered enough energy and creative juices to come up with the second chapter! <3 It's more than three thousand words up there! So proud~ Yet I feel scared I wasn't able to do such a good job on it~
Comments are loved~! <3