Fic ~ Aiba Is Being Managed, But Sakurai...?
As promised, I bring you chapter 03! And Aiba and Sakurai are working together for the first time since the breakup. Less than 24 hours later, in fact. How will they manage? And who exactly is managing them….? Oh, and brownie points to anyone who can tell me what the title of this chapter means. ^_^’
Title: Spiral (Chapter 03 ~ Philos)
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance
Pairing: Sakurai/Aiba
Word Count: 3,000
Type: Multi-Chapter/Series
Summary: Needing to work together, how will the two men cope with the sudden change in their circumstances? And why now - when there is no longer anything to hide - are the sins of their past haunting them?
Prologue - Ouroborus - HERE
Chapter 01 - Parallels - HERE
Chapter 02 - Tempest - HERE
Disclaimer: I don’t own Arashi. I’m just using them to entertain myself. (Just like Jonny) ¬_¬ Neither did I come up with the basic concept of this story; I have simply written it at the request of jenny_desu. I took your idea babe, and I ran with it!
Spiral
Chapter 03 ~ Philos
The unseasonably good weather seemed to irritate the educated Idol as he made his way to work. The warm sun and clear blue sky simply did not fit his grey mood. It felt wrong that a day that promised to be so bad for him personally could be so perfect. However, he was glad for the excuse to keep his cap lowered over his bloodshot eyes.
The man had not slept well the previous night; tossing and turning until dawn had lit the horizon. An extended lukewarm bath and three rare cups of coffee had failed to revive him sufficiently. His eyes were red and ringed with dark circles, his face puffy and his skin pasty with exhaustion. Idly, he felt sorry for the make-up staff; they were going to have a difficult job of making him presentable.
With a remarkable lack of motivation, Sakurai arrived at the venue of the interview and photo-shoot. Just a few days ago he had been looking forward to collaborating with Aiba on this cross-talk. He remembered the sleepy, yet sly grin Satoshi had worn when he had looked Sho directly in the eye and suggested the topic of friendship to the interviewer. He had been pleased then; knowing that the older man had been simultaneously teasing and approving his relationship.
Now that relationship was over - ended by his own hand - and he had to face his former lover and talk to a stranger about their abiding friendship. All he could do was hope that their friendship would indeed endure.
Masaki was already finished with the stylist by the time Sakurai was greeting the reporter. The younger man did not look over, supposedly absorbed in conversation with his manager. On his way to change, Sho greeted him with a tight smile and a nod. He was pleasantly surprised when the man smiled back and gave a small wave. Relived, Sho felt a little better as he sat down and allowed various stylists and make-up artists begin their work.
Truthfully, Aiba had responded automatically at the sight of the other man. Years of being happy to see his friends had conditioned his body to react involuntarily on sight. While he was not unhappy to see Sakurai, he was hardly enthusiastic about it either. Turning self-consciously back to his manager, Masaki tried to return to their conversation, but found himself unable to concentrate on the other mans’ words. In his mind, the events of yesterday replayed repeatedly. He made an effort to focus on something else but it proved hopeless; especially when Sakurai reappeared, fully primped and properly styled by trained professionals.
They were asked to pose for the camera together first and, separately, both men were thankful that for this interview, only a few pictures were needed. Aiba found he could get through it as long as he could pretend the previous day had not happened. It was surprisingly easy to do while Sho stood next to him with a smile and an arm thrown casually around his waist.
For the all too fleeting moments while the camera was trained upon the pair, Masaki could make believe everything was fine. It did not occur to him that Sakurai might feel the same way.
Things became more difficult when it came time to talk. The interviewer was a young woman, at least five years their junior, with too much lipstick and no regard for personal space. Sat entirely too close to men who were uncomfortable enough in each others’ presence - never mind that of a stranger - she smiled and began her ritual interrogation.
“So, Sakurai-kun, Aiba-kun, last time Ohno-kun suggested you two give your thoughts on friendship.” She spoke with the false familiarity that was supposed to make the men feel at ease. “We all know that Arashi is known for being very close, but what are your thoughts on your bond, as a group and individuals?” She sat back slightly then, pen poised over her notebook and waited for one of them to speak.
Aiba was still trying to compose a reasonable answer and work some moisture into his mouth when Sakurai replied: “Obviously, it’s important.” To anyone who did not know him well, Sho’s response seemed normal enough. But Aiba could tell immediately that the older man had gone into ‘news caster’ mode; his voice carefully measured and neutral. “Being friends and supporting each other is just something that happened naturally over time. It’s not that Arashi was formed and we all said to each other ‘let’s all be friends’.”
Knowing he could not stay silent for the whole interview, Masaki forced a grin and nodded enthusiastically. “That’s right. Friends are great, huh? You get to do stuff together and laugh about things.” He did not look at Sakurai as he spoke, but rather, he focused on the strangers’ overly made-up face instead.
“Hmm….” The older man also avoided eye contact with his colleague and contemplated his own hands. “Of course, it’s been said before, but we really weren’t all that close to begin with. I think the best friendships are those that develop slowly over time, rather than trying to force yourself into someone else’s life.”
The woman looked up from busily taking notes. “Clearly Arashi are all very close.” She agreed. “But what about you two? What kind of friends are you? Do you see each other in your private time?”
“What kind-?” Aiba licked his lips nervously, but managed to exchange his apprehension for a breathy laugh before the interviewer could notice. “Just normal friends, I guess.” He answered quickly, praying that the sudden cold sweat upon his brow was not too noticeable. “We have some mutual acquaintances outside of work too, so we do see each other occasionally.” If the woman realised he had spoken more formally than normal, she made no mention of it.
Sho glanced at the man from the corner of his eye and gave an almost imperceptible nod. Masaki had spoken the truth; if not the whole truth and Sakurai wondered just how true that statement would be in the future. Would they still be able to meet casually for dinner or drinks with the friends they shared? He knew it was selfish of him, but he desperately wanted Aiba’s forgiveness. As much as he wished to be away from the younger man at that moment, the thought of being cut out of his life completely scared the rapper silly.
“That’s true.” Sakurai risked looking at the man beside him and found Masaki’s eyes already upon him. “We’ve gone out drinking fairly often, right?”
“Ah, we do, we do.” His whole body shook with nervous tension and Aiba held tight to the seat of the folding metal chair to keep himself planted in place. Turning quickly back to the woman, he continued. “I hang out with Nino-chan a lot too; we’ve played golf and I’ve gone to his house to play games. And I had dinner with Matsujun just yesterday.”
“You did?” Sakurai could not keep the words from tripping from his tongue. While the woman failed to pick up on his incredulous reaction, Masaki did not.
“Yeah…” Aiba hoped that the slight twist at the corner of his mouth would be mistaken for a smirk. “I didn’t have much of an appetite though, so I got scolded by him.”
Laughing politely at what she perceived as just another humorous Arashi anecdote, the woman faced the older man. “What about Sakurai-kun? Is there any member you tend to spend more time with or are especially close to?”
“Uh, um… no, I don’t think so. It’s probably about the same for each person.” His assertion would have been a lie if he had said it just twenty-four hours before. He made it now as a prediction, hoping that he would get to spend at least as much time with Aiba as he did with everyone else in the future. “And clearly, we all see a lot of each other through work anyway.”
“I see, I see.” The young woman nodded earnestly. “Friendship is certainly a precious treasure for Arashi. Well then, I would like to wrap up this short talk with a few questions sent in by our readers.” With the approval of the two men, the woman riffled through her notes and began reading the questions.
Te questions themselves were nothing unusual and, despite their unease, the men were able to respond simply. They had both dealt with such queries so frequently that they were even able to answer for each other. When the final question was directed at Aiba and both men gave the same reply at the same moment, the clueless woman laughed and praised their unwitting synchronisation.
While she uttered some inane closing remarks and ended the short cross-talk, the Idols regarded each other warily. The fragile semi truce they had held during the interview was uncertain. With work now over, neither man was quite sure how to proceed. The weighted silence hung over them until it was broken by the approach of Aiba’s manager.
“Masaki-kun, I just got off the phone with that producer about that drama-”
The businessman was cut short by Sakurai suddenly rising to his feet. “I’m going to change.” He announced to no one in particular and made a beeline for the dressing room.
“Masaki-kun,” the astute young executive addressed his client carefully. “What’s going on?” He had been started by Sakurai’s obvious discomfort and swift retreat and was concerned by the younger mans defeated reaction to it. “You haven’t been yourself all morning and now, Sakurai-kun is acting like a deer caught in the headlights.”
“…Nothing.” The tall man lied unconvincingly. “I guess I’m just tired.” He said after a pause, slowing getting to his feet.
“And I suppose Sakurai-kun is just busy?” His manager scoffed sardonically. “I don’t think so, Masaki. If something has happened that might affect your work, you need to tell me about it.”
“It’s nothing.” The Idol repeated defiantly, moving toward the exit as he spoke. “And it won’t affect my work.”
“It just did.” The man countered evenly, stopping his charge. “Unless you were planning on keeping that outfit and wearing it to the Shimura studio recording we have to be at in less than an hour?”
“Eh?” Glancing down at himself, Aiba grinned sheepishly. “Oh, you’re right.” He took a step towards the dressing room but then hesitated suddenly. “Um… maybe I’ll just wait until Sho-chan is finished changing first.”
The manager stared, his eyebrows raised in disbelief. Closing the distance between them, he spoke in low tones to avoid being overheard by the magazine staff still milling around. “Since when did you ever wait for someone else before barging in? You don’t even wait for an unoccupied stall before going for a shower if it’s just another member.”
Aiba could not dispute this but did not know how to explain his feelings to his manager. He was so confused; he could not even explain his emotions to himself. He wanted to be angry with Sho for breaking up with him without a proper explanation. He wanted to rage at the older man, but did not want to lose his friend at the same time he lost his lover.
He wanted to talk to the man but was afraid of being alone with him. Afraid of what Sakurai might say and afraid that he had left too much left unsaid himself. He had been unspeakably glad to see the rapper that morning and horribly saddened by the reminder of his loss. In his current state, Aiba thought that entering the same room as the half-naked, flustered news caster would just be inviting trouble.
The silence stretched between them as the Idol was lost to his thoughts. He did not know what to say; he had never told his manager about his relationship with Sakurai in the first place. Confessing everything now just seemed pointless.
As if he had read his clients mind, the older man leaned in and whispered conspiratorially close to his ear, making the tall Idol jump. “I know.” Then it was Aiba’s turn to stare. “I know all about you and Sakurai-kun dating.”
Lowering his head, Aiba let out a groan. “We’re not.”
“Please, Masaki-kun,” the man sighed with exaggerated patience. “I probably knew about your relationship before you two even realised you were in one. If you both came up with this performance today to throw me off, you needn’t have bothered.”
“We’re not dating.” Aiba hissed more forcefully.
“You don’t have to deny it to me.” The manager assured his client. “I’m not against it; it’s your private life, after all. As long as it remains private and the pair of you continue to be careful, it’s fine. I’m hardly going to tell the agency and tattle my way out of a job, you know.”
“No, I don’t know. And neither do you.” Speaking in a mumbling monotone, Masaki admitted the truth to the man. “We are not dating, not anymore. Sho-chan ended it.”
Genuinely surprised by this new information, the businessman did not think before he spoke. “Ah, so that’s why-” He blurted. Realising his error, he stopped himself from completing the tactless statement. Taking a breath he asked carefully: “When was this?” He usually prided himself on knowing everything about what was going on in Aiba’s life and he wondered how he could possibly have missed something so important.
“Just yesterday.” The young man clarified.
Unbidden, another question escaped his lips. A single word, he regretted the moment it sounded: “Why?”
“That’s what I would like to know.” From the corner of his eye, he saw Sakurai emerge from the dressing room, having obviously changed quickly. Silently he tracked the mans progress as his left and then, with grim determination, he straightened up. “But I guess it doesn’t really matter. I’m going to change.”
The manager could only look on helplessly as the Idol vanished into the other room. Shaking his head as if to deny the facts he had been given, the man took out his cellular phone. As he hit the speed-dial and brought the device to his ear, he thought about all the good things that came with working for someone like Masaki. The devoted businessman had held his position for ten years and cared a great deal about his job. But he cared about Aiba a great deal more. “It’s me.” He stated without preamble when the other person came on the line. “You and I need to talk.”
* * *
It was the day following the interview and Sakurai Sho felt in much better shape - relatively speaking. As awkward as he had felt at the start of the interview and once it was over, while they had been working, Sakurai felt that things between he and Aiba had been almost normal. It had given him hope that they could still work together and the group would not suffer for his actions.
With this thought to comfort him, Sho had actually slept and was able to look forward to the shoot for Arashi no Shudukai-kun later that day. It was not that he was happy about what he had done, but he was reassured that it had been the right thing to do. Even so, he had been both thankful and hurt by Masaki’s lack of protest to the break-up. The lack of any reaction at all, if fact.
The way Sakurai saw it, Aiba had simply left the room, had dinner with Jun and attended work the next day as if nothing unusual had occurred. But then, the caster reasoned, perhaps for the younger man that was true. It might just be a sign of Masaki’s resilience. Or it was a sign that the younger man had not been as invested as he had thought.
Sakurai did not understand why that thought should be so painful; he had only himself to blame, after all.
His improved sleep had failed to completely clear his mind of these thoughts. Of course, it did not help that he had been woken ridiculously early by a summons from his manager. The middle-aged man had demanded to see him immediately and refused to say what it was about. The Idol had dressed and left his family home just as the sun was rising.
Arriving at the office of his manager, the young rapper was more curious than worried. The capable businessman was normally fairly laid-back and level-headed; the urgent phone call that morning was distinctly out of character. The terse reply Sho received, however, when he knocked on the door, gave him pause. Cautiously entering the office, he hesitated at the sight of the man.
Sitting at the desk with his brow drawn and his mouth a thin, hard line, the man did not seem pleased. His dark hair, sprinkled lightly with grey at the temples, had only been roughly combed in place and his suit was slightly rumpled. He looked as though he had been in too much of a hurry -or was too angry- to care about his usually impeccable appearance. “Sit down.” He commanded shortly, his square, unshaven jaw was clenched tight making his words clipped.
When Sakurai quickly complied, the middle-aged man rose to his own feet and stood over the man from behind his desk. “I was going to talk to you later today about a phone call I got yesterday.” He began his voice ominously low. “But then, when I got up this morning and went to buy my normal cup of coffee….” The man trailed off, casually picking up a magazine from his desk and studying the cover. “Do you know what I saw?” He asked.
Scared now, Sakurai shrugged helplessly. “…No.” He admitted quietly.
“THIS!” The man roared, throwing the magazine onto the desk so that it slid over to his client and into the Idol’s line of sight.
His eyes widened and he paled. He could feel the bile rising in his throat as he saw the headline splashed in bright red across the cover of the tabloid:
[Sakurai Sho of Arashi and his Illicit Affair!?]
The tabloid boasted that pictures could be found within.
Arms crossed and one hip braced on his desk, the furious manager gave his shell-shocked client a hard stare. He made one simple demand: “Explain.”
To be continued…
Chapter 04 HERE
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Ah~ it was actually after writing this chapter that I decided to switch to two updates a week. I decided I wasn’t evil enough to make my lovely readers wait a whole week to find out what happens next. Of course, I am still evil enough to torture Sakuraiba, myself and my readers by writing this in the first place….
Next update on: Friday 14th August. If you want to keep track of this story and its progress, check out my post [ HERE] I’ll keep it updated with any new information.
Comments, criticisms, opinions and ideas are all welcome! ♥