Messenger
Title: Messenger
Rating: PG-13
Group/Pairing: NEWS - Ryo/Shige, Friendship!RyoPin
Warnings: Language
Summary : Ryo is acting more on edge than usual and Yamapi is determined to find out why.
A/N: Originally written for jent_remix challenge, the original story is Awkward by 0_konayuki_0 enjoy!!
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“Uh…what are you doing?”
Yamapi almost jumped and screamed at the voice that snuck up behind him. He had his ear to the NEWS dressing room door, while watching the members through a small crack between the wood and the doorframe. He wasn’t usually one to eavesdrop but when Yamapi caught that look of distaste on Ryo’s face he knew something was up, and he was determined to find out what.
“Shhh not so loud!” He turned to Koyama, “You don’t want them to hear you. Ryo-chan is really uptight about something; he might bite us if we get too close.”
Surprisingly, Yamapi was completely serious. As bizarre as the concept of Ryo biting people was, it happened before and no one really likes to talk about, but If you look closely on Jin’s arm you can see the faint imprints of where’s Ryo’s teeth sunk in.
Koyama nodded his freshly dyed head and made a zipping motion over his lips. He finds himself a nice spot next to Yamapi to watch Ryo as he shot glares at the blabbering Massu. The inner mother in Koyama wanted to dash into the room and save Massu from the horrible looks, but Yamapi just gripped his shoulder tightly. The younger of the two had his gaze now transfixed on the silent 3rd member of dressing room party.
Kato Shigeaki hadn’t blinked, let alone moved once. They couldn’t see his face well but it looked as if Shige was focusing on a spot above Ryo’s head. Koyama was seconds away from bolting into the room and demanding what was going on. That was until Shige answered Massu’s question.
But Koyama couldn’t hold it any longer. He burst through the room, running straight to hug Shige and Massu while Yamapi took his time before flopping next to Ryo and placing his head on the shorter boy’s shoulder. Yamapi could feel the tension in Ryo’s shoulders. He could hear Ryo’s quick heartbeat and shortened breaths. This wasn’t just anger. If it were just angry he would have pushed Yamapi off by now. No, Ryo still wanted him there.
There was something very wrong.
~~~
“Koyama! Come here!” Yamapi semi-whispered, as he waved to Koyama from his corner of the room. It had been several hours since lunch and Ryo’s mood seemed to have gotten significantly worse. Ryo had begun to lash out at people and rushed through work at a pace that was even faster than normal. Yamapi did, however, know one thing. Ryo’s mood was directly related to Shige, but the latter was far too stoic for him to correctly make any conclusion. Who better than to help him get information on Shige than his best friend?
“What is it?” The older boy whispered back, crouching down into the corner with Yamapi, pretending to help the younger put things in his bag.
“I need Satoshi’s help to uncover the mystery behind Ryo’s moodiness and Shige’s stoicness.” Koyama’s face brightened considerably.
“So Kurosaki, what’s our first order of business?” Yamapi smiled as Koyama so readily agreed to play his game.
“We need to know why Ryo is acting like Oscar the Grouch. The best way to get information is to get him drinking. Why don’t you go over to everyone and ask to go to dinner? That way we might be able to kill two birds with one stone.” Koyama nodded in agreement to the other’s plan.
But it completely flopped, which did not make Yamapi happy. Not at all. Especially since Ryo always bitched about not spending enough private time with NEWS.
Yamapi was just about to throw something hard at Ryo’s head when Shige declined too. Yamapi just let out let out a long sigh before packing the rest of his things and leaving with Koyama and the others. Before Yamapi could tell Ryo goodnight the boy had dashed with not so much of a hair left. Yamapi sighed again earning him a concerned look from Koyama. Yamapi shook his head and smiled.
The four other members had been walking to their respective cars when in passing Yamapi noticed Ryo’s car was still there and what looked to be Ryo sitting in the driver’s seat with his head on the steering wheel. The engine was running as if he wanted to leave, but just couldn’t.
“Something wrong?” Massu asked, also concerned. Yamapi shook his head.
“Not really, just tired. But I think I’m going to take a rain check. I’ll see you tomorrow. G’night!” Massu’s concern lifted as he waved goodbye and continued towards his car. Yamapi made his way towards the Audi, where he was now 100% sure Ryo was its only occupant. He tapped on the window on the driver’s side causing said driver to jump a foot in the air.
“Shit Pi! I almost had a heart attack! What the fuck?!” Ryo asked rolling down the window.
From the dim fluorescent light that reflected Ryo’s face Yamapi could see a significant red tint to his cheeks.
“Ryo-chan...You know if something’s wrong, you can talk to me, right?” Yamapi reached out and wiped the tear tracks off his close friend’s face.
“Ya, I know, but I’m fine,” He looked straight ahead. “I’m fine. It’s over, I just have to let go.” His face suddenly darkened and his grip on the steering wheel got tighter. He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth in an attempt to curb his tears.
“You sure you don’t wanna grab dinner? It can be just the two of us.”
Ryo shook his head. “It’s fine. I’m fine.” Every time he said it Yamapi became less and less convinced and more and more concerned, but pushing one of his closest friends was not a good way to go about it, so he just left Ryo and silently prayed that Ryo got over whatever Shige did to him. Not just for Ryo’s sanity but for group dynamic. Yamapi just left the situation alone for now so Ryo could try and handle.
~~~
Yamapi watched his friend from afar for weeks, still trying to gather enough information to fix the problem. His partner in crime, Koyama, was coming to a dead end over and over and refused to push it further when Shige yelled at Koyama to mind his own business. So both were stuck in a rut that was bigger than the one Ryo and Shige had formed upon putting distance between the other.
With a frustrated scream Yamapi stomped over to his friends as they were packing up their belongings from a particularly long day. They both looked up at their fuming leader with a raised brow.
“Okay, I don’t know what the fuck is going on here but I want answers and I want them now!” he yelled causing even the junior group from down the hall to shiver.
“Uh...well...nothing is really going on other than me asking Nishikido-kun to go for a round of drinks. Would you like to come too, Yamashita-kun?”
Yamapi blinked at Shige’s calm offer but accepted with a goofy grin as he slung an arm around Ryo which the latter insisted was a pain so he plucked it off his shoulder. Shige burst into a fit of laughter, which caused Ryo to smile lightly.
“Shige-chan~” Ryo slurred, reaching across the table to grab the boy’s hand, then took it and ran it over the boy’s face. Ryo’s eyes were slightly sad in contrast to his feather light touches. Shige squirmed next to Yamapi. Shige tried to move Ryo’s hand but the older just pouted.
Shige looked seriously unamused and ended up pushing Ryo away more forcefully than he intended. “Won’t you tell me you love me?” Ryo asked.
“It’s over. I just have to let go.”
That’s when it all clicked in. Yamapi didn’t know why it took him so long to realize. He wanted to smack himself in the head over and over for being such a blind idiot. (He blames Jin mostly). Ryo loved Shige. No correction. Ryo loves Shige, but Shige doesn’t love Ryo anymore. It was almost heartbreaking. Almost because Shige was trying hard to keep what is left of their shattered relationship together. But Ryo isn’t helping. He really wanted to smack Ryo across the face but the latter began opened his mouth instead.
“Because, Shige, I love you,” Ryo paused to hiccup then gave Shige a toothy grin, pointing at him, “You love me!” He then pointed to himself, “We’re a happy family with a great big hug,” and he hugged himself, “and a kiss from me to you,” he kissed his finger then sloppily placed it on Shige’s lips, “won’t you say you love me too?”
Yamapi was sure Shige didn’t catch the desperately sad look in Ryo’s eyes, since the youngest was holding his sides from splitting due to the amount of laughter he was emitting. But Yamapi couldn’t blame Shige since his sides were splitting too. He was incredibly happy he decided to tape this evening on his phone. Jin was definitely going to be happy later.
The night ended with Yamapi taking Ryo home since Ryo’s house was actually in the same direction as his own. Why put Shige through all that trouble?
They took a taxi back, having left their cars at home. Ryo rested his head in Yamapi’s lap as the latter rested his head on the back of the seat, lazily letting his mind absorb the new information from the evening.
“Pi ~” Ryo sleepily called, eyes closed and with a yawn. “Do you think he got my message?”
“I hope so…” Yamapi ran his fingers through Ryo’s hair, just the way he liked it, “I really hope so…”
~~~
He was almost late coming in the next morning. Bed late and up early was an awful schedule but he couldn’t blame anyone but himself. Work started at 10am anyways. Not that bad. It could have been worse.
When he walked into the main lobby he saw Shige getting into the elevator and hurried to catch up with him. With a yawn he wished him a good morning. Shige nodded returning the greeting. It was rare to see Shige this unpunctual but there was some heavy drinking going on. Instantly Yamapi snapped out of his half tired phase.
Ryo.
He had to close the rift between Shige and Ryo. He clutched onto his head as it worked extremely hard to come to a solution.
“Do you think he got my message?”
Oh! That was it!
“Ne, Shige,” he started, Shige’s attention now one hundred percent on Yamapi, “Wanna give Ryo a special present this morning? Y’know maybe serenade him to wake him up?”
Shige raised a brow before the request sank in and he smiled, “Only as long as we complete it with Jazz hands.”
“Of course!”
When they got to the rehearsal room the others were already there. Smiling to each other they made a beeline to where Ryo had lazily plopped himself on the couch, covering his face from the brightness of the room. His head was pounding and he really just wanted to stay home.
“Ryo-chan~” Yamapi called making Ryo groan. “Ryo-chan~” Yamapi called again.
“What?!” Ryo yelled clenching his head as he turned to face a kneeling Yamapi and Shige. A raised brow act as their cue to began to sing.
“I love you,” they pointed directly at Ryo, “You love me,” they pointed at themselves, “We’re a happy family,” they spread their arms to include the rest of NEWS, “with a great big hug,” they hugged each other, “and a kiss from me to you,” they leaned up planting a kiss on each of Ryo’s cheeks, “won’t you say you love me too?” concluding with a wave of their jazz hands.
The room was silent for a moment before Tegoshi burst into laughter and Koyama melted into a puddle from all the member love. But neither Shige nor Yamapi were concerned with anyone other than Ryo who looked like a he belonged on a tomato plant. They burst into laughter too as they got off the floor to put their stuff away when Shige felt himself be tugged back by his belt loop.
“This is the one I gave you isn’t it?” Ryo asked softly into his ear. Shige nodded. Ryo smiled slightly pulling Shige down beside him and wrapping an arm around his waist.
“Nishikido-kun, let go.” Shige said sternly but without anger. As much as Ryo didn’t want to, he let go, letting the other go back to his previous task. Shige sighed softly but then turned back to Ryo with a smile. “Let’s go out drinking again sometime soon, ne. Last night was fun.”
“Ya… for you,” Ryo laughed.
“You had just as much fun. Trust me.” Shige smirked. Yamapi couldn’t help but smile as his friends attempted seriously to bridge the gap between themselves.
From that day on Yamapi noticed a significant difference in the atmosphere. It felt as if they weren’t trying to piece together a puzzle, instead they were plastering their success of a puzzle on the wall for the world to see.
But that puzzle came crashing to the floor on an unexpected day.
Assuming Ryo was just exhausted from a combination of drama filming and dance rehearsals, Yamapi thought nothing of his greeting which was full of cheer and bright smiles with a friendly arm slung over Ryo’s slumped shoulders. Ryo was never one to shrug Yamapi off, but today was an exception.
“Aw c’mon Ryo-chan ~” he whined but Ryo gave Yamapi the look. The same desperate one he gave Shige that night at the bar. But unlike before, today he looked more on the verge of tears.
“Tomohisa… not today, alright?”
This was beyond desperate. It was as if Ryo was drowning and needed to be saved.
At the end of the day’s meeting Yamapi whisked Ryo home with him, sat him down on his leather couch with some miso soup, rice and a beer for afterwards. With a small weary smile, Ryo took the bowl of rice and ate slowly, spending most of his time staring down at the steamed grains and mixed them around in the bowl.
“He said he missed me,” Ryo finally spoke after a solid hour of silence. Yamapi rested his head on Ryo’s shoulder, placing a hand on the smaller boy’s leg. “When I asked him why he broke up with me, he gave me a feeble answer, ‘You and I both know it wasn’t working.’ What kind of excuse is that?! I mean isn’t it obvious I wanted to know what wasn’t working?! I can’t believe he got into law school.”
Ryo was tempted to scream but settled for shoving more food into his mouth instead.
Yamapi still stayed silent, sipping his own beer until the click of the lock on the front door sounded. In stumbled a rather noisy and tipsy Jin who smiled goofily at the occupants of his home. He was clearly too drunk to read the atmosphere, so he just plopped himself between Ryo and Yamapi laughing loudly as he took Ryo’s unopened beer, opened it and drank it.
“Blond was hot. You should have been there. Stupid NEWSSSSS~” he elongated as he rested his head on Yamapi’s shoulder while laughing. Staring at Jin harshly, Yamapi just pushed his friend’s head off his shoulder and made his way towards the kitchen for water. The drunkard watched the ass of his best friend sway from side to side then turned back to look over at Ryo who was now playing with his food.
“Awww Ryo-chan has girl problems doesn’t he?” Both Ryo and Yamapi tensed but Jin kept laughing obviously, “its okay Ryo-chan. No girl has a good enough reason not to love you! So cheer up, tell her how you feel and she’s gotta be an idiot not to say yes.”
Part of Ryo wanted to laugh along with his good friend but the other part of him wanted to punch Jin hard for being so off the mark it made Ryo want to cry.
Ryo ended up doing neither, instead he took the first sip of his cooled miso soup which then led him to chug the rest of the bowl. With a satisfied ‘ah’, Ryo focused on Jin who had his head resting on the back of the couch.
“I’m having guy problems so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call Shige a girl.”
Jin opened a confused eye but shrugged it off. He got up and walked towards his bedroom, crossing paths with Yamapi on the way there and grabbing his glass of water.
“Girl or guy… Shige’s still an idiot for letting you go and you’re an idiot for letting him let you go. So…night Ryo-chan~”
“Night,” Ryo and Yamapi said back softly, as the latter came to sit back down on the couch. Ryo had a small smile carved onto his face for the first time all day and it made Yamapi smile too.
“You don’t mind if I stay here, right?” Ryo asked. Yamapi just shook his head.
“Take my room and I’ll sleep here,” Ryo nodded and had gotten up to take his stuff into the kitchen when he felt something hold him back. It was Yamapi’s hand on his wrist. He turned around to see Yamapi staring back with concern, “Shige’s not an idiot… just… give him some time. I’m sure he’ll want to take it all back. It’s not like he doesn’t love you too, right? Or else he--”
“Pi, I’m tired. Goodnight.” Ryo pulled his hand away before patting Yamapi on the shoulder and heading to bed.
~~~
It had been a week since Ryo had practically fallen into Yamapi’s arms crying. Yet even after their talk, Ryo had seemed to make little progress with Shige on improving their relationship. When Yamapi casually brought it up with Jin at dinner one evening, the latter began to fume and nearly broke the table but insisted that he have a talk with Shige the next day.
And so he did.
“Jin, ouch! Where are you taking me?!” Yamapi asked, being dragged by the arm down the hall by the newly solo Jin Akanishi, who was supposed to be on a plane to LA and not in the Jimusho. Jin just tugged harder on Yamapi’s arm until he stopped suddenly and Yamapi nearly fell to the ground when Jin let go. Stumbling to catch his balance Yamapi then looked at the signed above the door, instantly narrowing his eyes. “I’m not late, why did we run--,” and he was cut off by the loud banging of the door hitting the wall.
“KATO SHIGEAKI!” Jin roared causing not only Yamapi to jump but Shige and Ryo whose heads had popped up from behind the couch in the dressing room. The three members of NEWS watched as Jin stomped over to the couch to where Shige and Ryo were. He pulled Shige off of Ryo only to grab the younger by the collar.
Then it clicked.
Jin looked at the confused younger man, that was not sporting a shirt and then down at Ryo who was clearly sporting a hard on. Jin groaned putting Shige down and walked away as fast as possible out of the room. Just as he was about to leave, he stopped in the door way, “Well, I hope you’re happy. I’m going to be late for my plane now and it’s all your fault. Pi, remind me to never get involved in Ryo’s problems ever again. It’s just as waste of time.” With that, Jin left towards that car that would take him directly to the airport.
Only Yamapi had noticed the smile on Jin’s face. Then the loud footfalls stopped and Jin’s sunglass clad face, poked into the NEWS dressing room once more, “Oh wait, Ryo-chan,” he pulled down his avator shades to the tip of his nose with a smirk, “Next time you want to serenade your boyfriend, make sure you pick a song that wasn’t originally sung by a purple dinosaur. It might be more romantic.”
The rest happened in a flash, as a small blur ran right past Yamapi and chased Jin down the hall with threats of “I’m biting your arm off his time.”
The other two NEWS members laughed lightly, watching the other men dance around each other.
“So,” Yamapi started, leaning against the door frame, “did you get the message, Shige?”
The younger of the two just raised his eyebrow in question but Yamapi just smiled, pushing himself of the door and then laying down on the opposite couch Ryo and Shige were occupying.
“Let’s go to karaoke when Jin comes back from America, okay? Just the four of us?” Yamapi suggested happily and Shige nodded slowly in agreement.
Turning to face the inside of the sofa, Yamapi couldn’t help but feel proud. Relaying message after message he felt as if he were Hermes. If you asked Ryo, he’d say Yamapi was just a meddling kid, but regardless, he would still thank his friend, because he really was a gift from the gods.
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Rating: PG-13
Group/Pairing: NEWS - Ryo/Shige, Friendship!RyoPin
Warnings: Language
Summary : Ryo is acting more on edge than usual and Yamapi is determined to find out why.
A/N: Originally written for jent_remix challenge, the original story is Awkward by 0_konayuki_0 enjoy!!
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“Uh…what are you doing?”
Yamapi almost jumped and screamed at the voice that snuck up behind him. He had his ear to the NEWS dressing room door, while watching the members through a small crack between the wood and the doorframe. He wasn’t usually one to eavesdrop but when Yamapi caught that look of distaste on Ryo’s face he knew something was up, and he was determined to find out what.
“Shhh not so loud!” He turned to Koyama, “You don’t want them to hear you. Ryo-chan is really uptight about something; he might bite us if we get too close.”
Surprisingly, Yamapi was completely serious. As bizarre as the concept of Ryo biting people was, it happened before and no one really likes to talk about, but If you look closely on Jin’s arm you can see the faint imprints of where’s Ryo’s teeth sunk in.
Koyama nodded his freshly dyed head and made a zipping motion over his lips. He finds himself a nice spot next to Yamapi to watch Ryo as he shot glares at the blabbering Massu. The inner mother in Koyama wanted to dash into the room and save Massu from the horrible looks, but Yamapi just gripped his shoulder tightly. The younger of the two had his gaze now transfixed on the silent 3rd member of dressing room party.
Kato Shigeaki hadn’t blinked, let alone moved once. They couldn’t see his face well but it looked as if Shige was focusing on a spot above Ryo’s head. Koyama was seconds away from bolting into the room and demanding what was going on. That was until Shige answered Massu’s question.
But Koyama couldn’t hold it any longer. He burst through the room, running straight to hug Shige and Massu while Yamapi took his time before flopping next to Ryo and placing his head on the shorter boy’s shoulder. Yamapi could feel the tension in Ryo’s shoulders. He could hear Ryo’s quick heartbeat and shortened breaths. This wasn’t just anger. If it were just angry he would have pushed Yamapi off by now. No, Ryo still wanted him there.
There was something very wrong.
~~~
“Koyama! Come here!” Yamapi semi-whispered, as he waved to Koyama from his corner of the room. It had been several hours since lunch and Ryo’s mood seemed to have gotten significantly worse. Ryo had begun to lash out at people and rushed through work at a pace that was even faster than normal. Yamapi did, however, know one thing. Ryo’s mood was directly related to Shige, but the latter was far too stoic for him to correctly make any conclusion. Who better than to help him get information on Shige than his best friend?
“What is it?” The older boy whispered back, crouching down into the corner with Yamapi, pretending to help the younger put things in his bag.
“I need Satoshi’s help to uncover the mystery behind Ryo’s moodiness and Shige’s stoicness.” Koyama’s face brightened considerably.
“So Kurosaki, what’s our first order of business?” Yamapi smiled as Koyama so readily agreed to play his game.
“We need to know why Ryo is acting like Oscar the Grouch. The best way to get information is to get him drinking. Why don’t you go over to everyone and ask to go to dinner? That way we might be able to kill two birds with one stone.” Koyama nodded in agreement to the other’s plan.
But it completely flopped, which did not make Yamapi happy. Not at all. Especially since Ryo always bitched about not spending enough private time with NEWS.
Yamapi was just about to throw something hard at Ryo’s head when Shige declined too. Yamapi just let out let out a long sigh before packing the rest of his things and leaving with Koyama and the others. Before Yamapi could tell Ryo goodnight the boy had dashed with not so much of a hair left. Yamapi sighed again earning him a concerned look from Koyama. Yamapi shook his head and smiled.
The four other members had been walking to their respective cars when in passing Yamapi noticed Ryo’s car was still there and what looked to be Ryo sitting in the driver’s seat with his head on the steering wheel. The engine was running as if he wanted to leave, but just couldn’t.
“Something wrong?” Massu asked, also concerned. Yamapi shook his head.
“Not really, just tired. But I think I’m going to take a rain check. I’ll see you tomorrow. G’night!” Massu’s concern lifted as he waved goodbye and continued towards his car. Yamapi made his way towards the Audi, where he was now 100% sure Ryo was its only occupant. He tapped on the window on the driver’s side causing said driver to jump a foot in the air.
“Shit Pi! I almost had a heart attack! What the fuck?!” Ryo asked rolling down the window.
From the dim fluorescent light that reflected Ryo’s face Yamapi could see a significant red tint to his cheeks.
“Ryo-chan...You know if something’s wrong, you can talk to me, right?” Yamapi reached out and wiped the tear tracks off his close friend’s face.
“Ya, I know, but I’m fine,” He looked straight ahead. “I’m fine. It’s over, I just have to let go.” His face suddenly darkened and his grip on the steering wheel got tighter. He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth in an attempt to curb his tears.
“You sure you don’t wanna grab dinner? It can be just the two of us.”
Ryo shook his head. “It’s fine. I’m fine.” Every time he said it Yamapi became less and less convinced and more and more concerned, but pushing one of his closest friends was not a good way to go about it, so he just left Ryo and silently prayed that Ryo got over whatever Shige did to him. Not just for Ryo’s sanity but for group dynamic. Yamapi just left the situation alone for now so Ryo could try and handle.
~~~
Yamapi watched his friend from afar for weeks, still trying to gather enough information to fix the problem. His partner in crime, Koyama, was coming to a dead end over and over and refused to push it further when Shige yelled at Koyama to mind his own business. So both were stuck in a rut that was bigger than the one Ryo and Shige had formed upon putting distance between the other.
With a frustrated scream Yamapi stomped over to his friends as they were packing up their belongings from a particularly long day. They both looked up at their fuming leader with a raised brow.
“Okay, I don’t know what the fuck is going on here but I want answers and I want them now!” he yelled causing even the junior group from down the hall to shiver.
“Uh...well...nothing is really going on other than me asking Nishikido-kun to go for a round of drinks. Would you like to come too, Yamashita-kun?”
Yamapi blinked at Shige’s calm offer but accepted with a goofy grin as he slung an arm around Ryo which the latter insisted was a pain so he plucked it off his shoulder. Shige burst into a fit of laughter, which caused Ryo to smile lightly.
“Shige-chan~” Ryo slurred, reaching across the table to grab the boy’s hand, then took it and ran it over the boy’s face. Ryo’s eyes were slightly sad in contrast to his feather light touches. Shige squirmed next to Yamapi. Shige tried to move Ryo’s hand but the older just pouted.
Shige looked seriously unamused and ended up pushing Ryo away more forcefully than he intended. “Won’t you tell me you love me?” Ryo asked.
“It’s over. I just have to let go.”
That’s when it all clicked in. Yamapi didn’t know why it took him so long to realize. He wanted to smack himself in the head over and over for being such a blind idiot. (He blames Jin mostly). Ryo loved Shige. No correction. Ryo loves Shige, but Shige doesn’t love Ryo anymore. It was almost heartbreaking. Almost because Shige was trying hard to keep what is left of their shattered relationship together. But Ryo isn’t helping. He really wanted to smack Ryo across the face but the latter began opened his mouth instead.
“Because, Shige, I love you,” Ryo paused to hiccup then gave Shige a toothy grin, pointing at him, “You love me!” He then pointed to himself, “We’re a happy family with a great big hug,” and he hugged himself, “and a kiss from me to you,” he kissed his finger then sloppily placed it on Shige’s lips, “won’t you say you love me too?”
Yamapi was sure Shige didn’t catch the desperately sad look in Ryo’s eyes, since the youngest was holding his sides from splitting due to the amount of laughter he was emitting. But Yamapi couldn’t blame Shige since his sides were splitting too. He was incredibly happy he decided to tape this evening on his phone. Jin was definitely going to be happy later.
The night ended with Yamapi taking Ryo home since Ryo’s house was actually in the same direction as his own. Why put Shige through all that trouble?
They took a taxi back, having left their cars at home. Ryo rested his head in Yamapi’s lap as the latter rested his head on the back of the seat, lazily letting his mind absorb the new information from the evening.
“Pi ~” Ryo sleepily called, eyes closed and with a yawn. “Do you think he got my message?”
“I hope so…” Yamapi ran his fingers through Ryo’s hair, just the way he liked it, “I really hope so…”
~~~
He was almost late coming in the next morning. Bed late and up early was an awful schedule but he couldn’t blame anyone but himself. Work started at 10am anyways. Not that bad. It could have been worse.
When he walked into the main lobby he saw Shige getting into the elevator and hurried to catch up with him. With a yawn he wished him a good morning. Shige nodded returning the greeting. It was rare to see Shige this unpunctual but there was some heavy drinking going on. Instantly Yamapi snapped out of his half tired phase.
Ryo.
He had to close the rift between Shige and Ryo. He clutched onto his head as it worked extremely hard to come to a solution.
“Do you think he got my message?”
Oh! That was it!
“Ne, Shige,” he started, Shige’s attention now one hundred percent on Yamapi, “Wanna give Ryo a special present this morning? Y’know maybe serenade him to wake him up?”
Shige raised a brow before the request sank in and he smiled, “Only as long as we complete it with Jazz hands.”
“Of course!”
When they got to the rehearsal room the others were already there. Smiling to each other they made a beeline to where Ryo had lazily plopped himself on the couch, covering his face from the brightness of the room. His head was pounding and he really just wanted to stay home.
“Ryo-chan~” Yamapi called making Ryo groan. “Ryo-chan~” Yamapi called again.
“What?!” Ryo yelled clenching his head as he turned to face a kneeling Yamapi and Shige. A raised brow act as their cue to began to sing.
“I love you,” they pointed directly at Ryo, “You love me,” they pointed at themselves, “We’re a happy family,” they spread their arms to include the rest of NEWS, “with a great big hug,” they hugged each other, “and a kiss from me to you,” they leaned up planting a kiss on each of Ryo’s cheeks, “won’t you say you love me too?” concluding with a wave of their jazz hands.
The room was silent for a moment before Tegoshi burst into laughter and Koyama melted into a puddle from all the member love. But neither Shige nor Yamapi were concerned with anyone other than Ryo who looked like a he belonged on a tomato plant. They burst into laughter too as they got off the floor to put their stuff away when Shige felt himself be tugged back by his belt loop.
“This is the one I gave you isn’t it?” Ryo asked softly into his ear. Shige nodded. Ryo smiled slightly pulling Shige down beside him and wrapping an arm around his waist.
“Nishikido-kun, let go.” Shige said sternly but without anger. As much as Ryo didn’t want to, he let go, letting the other go back to his previous task. Shige sighed softly but then turned back to Ryo with a smile. “Let’s go out drinking again sometime soon, ne. Last night was fun.”
“Ya… for you,” Ryo laughed.
“You had just as much fun. Trust me.” Shige smirked. Yamapi couldn’t help but smile as his friends attempted seriously to bridge the gap between themselves.
From that day on Yamapi noticed a significant difference in the atmosphere. It felt as if they weren’t trying to piece together a puzzle, instead they were plastering their success of a puzzle on the wall for the world to see.
But that puzzle came crashing to the floor on an unexpected day.
Assuming Ryo was just exhausted from a combination of drama filming and dance rehearsals, Yamapi thought nothing of his greeting which was full of cheer and bright smiles with a friendly arm slung over Ryo’s slumped shoulders. Ryo was never one to shrug Yamapi off, but today was an exception.
“Aw c’mon Ryo-chan ~” he whined but Ryo gave Yamapi the look. The same desperate one he gave Shige that night at the bar. But unlike before, today he looked more on the verge of tears.
“Tomohisa… not today, alright?”
This was beyond desperate. It was as if Ryo was drowning and needed to be saved.
At the end of the day’s meeting Yamapi whisked Ryo home with him, sat him down on his leather couch with some miso soup, rice and a beer for afterwards. With a small weary smile, Ryo took the bowl of rice and ate slowly, spending most of his time staring down at the steamed grains and mixed them around in the bowl.
“He said he missed me,” Ryo finally spoke after a solid hour of silence. Yamapi rested his head on Ryo’s shoulder, placing a hand on the smaller boy’s leg. “When I asked him why he broke up with me, he gave me a feeble answer, ‘You and I both know it wasn’t working.’ What kind of excuse is that?! I mean isn’t it obvious I wanted to know what wasn’t working?! I can’t believe he got into law school.”
Ryo was tempted to scream but settled for shoving more food into his mouth instead.
Yamapi still stayed silent, sipping his own beer until the click of the lock on the front door sounded. In stumbled a rather noisy and tipsy Jin who smiled goofily at the occupants of his home. He was clearly too drunk to read the atmosphere, so he just plopped himself between Ryo and Yamapi laughing loudly as he took Ryo’s unopened beer, opened it and drank it.
“Blond was hot. You should have been there. Stupid NEWSSSSS~” he elongated as he rested his head on Yamapi’s shoulder while laughing. Staring at Jin harshly, Yamapi just pushed his friend’s head off his shoulder and made his way towards the kitchen for water. The drunkard watched the ass of his best friend sway from side to side then turned back to look over at Ryo who was now playing with his food.
“Awww Ryo-chan has girl problems doesn’t he?” Both Ryo and Yamapi tensed but Jin kept laughing obviously, “its okay Ryo-chan. No girl has a good enough reason not to love you! So cheer up, tell her how you feel and she’s gotta be an idiot not to say yes.”
Part of Ryo wanted to laugh along with his good friend but the other part of him wanted to punch Jin hard for being so off the mark it made Ryo want to cry.
Ryo ended up doing neither, instead he took the first sip of his cooled miso soup which then led him to chug the rest of the bowl. With a satisfied ‘ah’, Ryo focused on Jin who had his head resting on the back of the couch.
“I’m having guy problems so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call Shige a girl.”
Jin opened a confused eye but shrugged it off. He got up and walked towards his bedroom, crossing paths with Yamapi on the way there and grabbing his glass of water.
“Girl or guy… Shige’s still an idiot for letting you go and you’re an idiot for letting him let you go. So…night Ryo-chan~”
“Night,” Ryo and Yamapi said back softly, as the latter came to sit back down on the couch. Ryo had a small smile carved onto his face for the first time all day and it made Yamapi smile too.
“You don’t mind if I stay here, right?” Ryo asked. Yamapi just shook his head.
“Take my room and I’ll sleep here,” Ryo nodded and had gotten up to take his stuff into the kitchen when he felt something hold him back. It was Yamapi’s hand on his wrist. He turned around to see Yamapi staring back with concern, “Shige’s not an idiot… just… give him some time. I’m sure he’ll want to take it all back. It’s not like he doesn’t love you too, right? Or else he--”
“Pi, I’m tired. Goodnight.” Ryo pulled his hand away before patting Yamapi on the shoulder and heading to bed.
~~~
It had been a week since Ryo had practically fallen into Yamapi’s arms crying. Yet even after their talk, Ryo had seemed to make little progress with Shige on improving their relationship. When Yamapi casually brought it up with Jin at dinner one evening, the latter began to fume and nearly broke the table but insisted that he have a talk with Shige the next day.
And so he did.
“Jin, ouch! Where are you taking me?!” Yamapi asked, being dragged by the arm down the hall by the newly solo Jin Akanishi, who was supposed to be on a plane to LA and not in the Jimusho. Jin just tugged harder on Yamapi’s arm until he stopped suddenly and Yamapi nearly fell to the ground when Jin let go. Stumbling to catch his balance Yamapi then looked at the signed above the door, instantly narrowing his eyes. “I’m not late, why did we run--,” and he was cut off by the loud banging of the door hitting the wall.
“KATO SHIGEAKI!” Jin roared causing not only Yamapi to jump but Shige and Ryo whose heads had popped up from behind the couch in the dressing room. The three members of NEWS watched as Jin stomped over to the couch to where Shige and Ryo were. He pulled Shige off of Ryo only to grab the younger by the collar.
Then it clicked.
Jin looked at the confused younger man, that was not sporting a shirt and then down at Ryo who was clearly sporting a hard on. Jin groaned putting Shige down and walked away as fast as possible out of the room. Just as he was about to leave, he stopped in the door way, “Well, I hope you’re happy. I’m going to be late for my plane now and it’s all your fault. Pi, remind me to never get involved in Ryo’s problems ever again. It’s just as waste of time.” With that, Jin left towards that car that would take him directly to the airport.
Only Yamapi had noticed the smile on Jin’s face. Then the loud footfalls stopped and Jin’s sunglass clad face, poked into the NEWS dressing room once more, “Oh wait, Ryo-chan,” he pulled down his avator shades to the tip of his nose with a smirk, “Next time you want to serenade your boyfriend, make sure you pick a song that wasn’t originally sung by a purple dinosaur. It might be more romantic.”
The rest happened in a flash, as a small blur ran right past Yamapi and chased Jin down the hall with threats of “I’m biting your arm off his time.”
The other two NEWS members laughed lightly, watching the other men dance around each other.
“So,” Yamapi started, leaning against the door frame, “did you get the message, Shige?”
The younger of the two just raised his eyebrow in question but Yamapi just smiled, pushing himself of the door and then laying down on the opposite couch Ryo and Shige were occupying.
“Let’s go to karaoke when Jin comes back from America, okay? Just the four of us?” Yamapi suggested happily and Shige nodded slowly in agreement.
Turning to face the inside of the sofa, Yamapi couldn’t help but feel proud. Relaying message after message he felt as if he were Hermes. If you asked Ryo, he’d say Yamapi was just a meddling kid, but regardless, he would still thank his friend, because he really was a gift from the gods.
________