[Sakumoto Fic]: Thunderstorms and Tempest Cloud 5.1: The Weather Vane Spins
Pairing: Sakumoto, Matsumiya (friendship)
Rating: G
Word Count: 3,258 words
Genre: Romance, angst
Disclaimer: Purely a figment of my imagination; the fic, that is. Not them, of course. :)
Summary: So the truth about Sho’s memories will come to light. How will Jun react? Are our two going to face up to the situation?
A/N: Anyone still remember this fic? Most apologetic for the LONG, LONG wait for this next part. If anyone is still interested and bothering to read this author’s note, I really do feel apologetic. Been a crazy half year since the last update, some pleasant, while others less so. I survived, so that’s all that counts… to me, that is. Sorry for the long note, but more relevant to the fic itself, I’ve kept some RL bits, but mostly going to be canon cos I realise the time lag between updates made it difficult for continuity issues. A shout-out to the sub from ao_no_michi of the Ousama no Brunch promo clip for Himitsu SP on 20101004. Alright, enough blustering from me J. As always, comments are love ©.
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[ Prologue] | [ Chapter 1] | [ Chapter 2.1] | [ Chapter 2.2] | [ Chapter 3] | [ Chapter 4.1] | [ Chapter 4.2]
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The rhythmic pounding of his steps were all Jun could concentrate on. As his feet flew him down the corridor, all that registered in his mind was that things would be cleared up once he got there.
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*When did you last speak to Sho?*
*Why?*
*Not a hard question Jun.*
*Shouldn’t you be busy practising so that I don’t embarrass you when I beat you later?*
*Why are you avoiding my question?*
*Why are you wasting my messages when you’re right beside me?*
*Didn’t hear you complaining when you were busy messaging Aiba on the last PV filming.*
*THAT was different.*
*So you’d rather I just ask you out loud?*
Jun scrolled up and stared at the original message for a beat before throwing a hooded glance at the man seated a short distance away from him on the dark blue sofa. Absorbed in the screen of his own cellphone, Nino appeared for all intents and purposes to be isolated in his own little bubble.
The two of them had started on the Mario Kart game earlier, transfixed by the brilliant colours and minutely-detailed new graphics before filming was set to begin. However, the game was put it on hold when Nino was constantly bombarded by phone messages that arrived intermittently, interrupting their onscreen combat.
Jun had moved over to the other end of the couch to give the other some privacy, although he could not help but notice - to his mildly-sadistic enjoyment - that every few instances, Nino let slip uncharacteristic miniscule, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it expressions of irritation, a faint crease in his forehead or crinkle of his brow appearing every once in a while as he punched in responses on his handphone. On one occasion, he had caught Nino’s eye when the man happened to throw his head back mid-groan. The gamer seemed a little taken aback to note that Jun was watching him. Giving him a weak smile, Nino’s teeth had pulled back with a slight hiss as he resumed the flurry of activity on his mobile.
A flurry that had come to a halt with the innocuous message that had appeared on Jun’s handphone. Glancing about to check that everyone else was preoccupied with setting up for the filming of the CM, Jun inched closer to the sharp-eyed man who looked barely older than the day of their debut eleven years ago.
Settling himself a little closer to Nino, yet giving the slighter-built man some personal space, Jun wondered if he was out of his mind to consider his next course of action. He was still trying to wrap his brain around the fact that he had had a bizarre - yet admittedly insightful - analysis with Aiba of all people, and had come to the conclusion that he wanted... no, NEEDED... to have a proper face-to-face with Sho. He’d rolled over their recent conversations, and figured that he hadn’t jumped to any wrong conclusions… at least none that the obsessive personality in him could detect.
However, he couldn’t help the grumbling discordance within. Something kept harping at him that he was overlooking something… something important. Added to that, much as he wanted to have the sit-down, the question was HOW he was going to do it; it had given him no solace to recall how their last conversation had ended.
There were already too many uncontrollable variables. He couldn’t believe that he was actually considering adding Nino into the mix. Like the way he played his Wii, the gamer was far too perceptive for his liking, a trait that would only serve to unnerve him right now, when even he couldn’t figure things out. And yet… Jun had to admit: Nino’s ability to see things holistically was the very thing he needed for a clearer direction to pursue… if he survived Nino’s ribbing.
It was, hence, with some trepidation that Jun cleared his throat to get hold of Nino’s attention. To any ears that might have been listening, Jun’s question would not have raised any eyebrows. “What are your dinner plans?”
The harried expression previously occupying Nino’s countenance broke into an almost blinding grin as the impish face turned to face Jun. “Whatever you’re feeling generous to treat me to.”
Stifling a little groan, Jun made a quick mental calculation of how much it would take to satisfy Nino. The slighter-built man did not eat much, but Jun suspected that he’d likely owe Nino more than in just monetary terms in the immediate future. A fact that the perceptive gamer was likely to leverage on to his advantage.
Still, he had not been prepared to almost choke at Nino’s candidness. Jun could at least credit him with waiting till the serving staff left their drinks and exiting before he’d dropped his bomb. They’d barely warmed their seats in the private room reserved at Jun’s favourite steak restaurant, when Nino’s direct statement caused Jun’s heart to plummet.
“Something’s wrong with Sho.”
“What?! What’s wrong?” Even if Jun was worried that Nino suspected there was more between himself and their favourite newscaster, the fear blooming in his chest overrode any concerns of the members questioning the underlying estrangement in the duo’s recent encounters.
“Er… Jun, I’d appreciate retaining the use of my hand and arm.”
Flushing, Jun forced himself to relinquish the death grip he’d placed on Nino, pulling shaky breaths through his suddenly parched throat. “Sorry. What- What’s wrong with Sho?” he asked with a little more restraint.
The calm but scrutinizing look in Nino’s eyes made Jun want to squirm, but the gamer did not seem to want to taunt him for his unusual behaviour. The few moments in which Nino chewed thoughtfully on his lower lip silently regarding Jun did little to still the younger man’s nerves. They only gave fuel to Jun’s overactive imagination to dwell on what Nino might have meant by “something wrong”: he’d already noticed Sho almost tripping on his words during his Zero broadcast when discussing trends hinting of increasing questionable morals in the entertainment industry, Sho trying to squeeze himself into a pair of pants for their photoshoot only to realise - to his chagrin, and Aiba’s loud amusement - that he’d grabbed Jun’s pants in his haste, and other incidents in varying degrees of embarrassment and peril.
While mostly unnoticeable except to those closest to the five of them, they had been hints to Jun’s watchful eye. Hints that something was clearly not right with someone who prided himself on having a handle on whatever he was tasked with, big or small. That he played a part in the man’s roiling emotional confusion gave him some shame… but did little to lessen the anger he’d felt at the snub.
Still, if he’d been any part of the reason for why there was something wrong with Sho…
Nino was almost nonchalant as he nibbled on the complimentary appetizer from the restaurant. “Nothing physical… of course,” Jun felt his breath slow down before his heartbeat started drumming out a staccato tap-tap at Nino’s following words, “The guy’s as fit as a fiddle even if we do rib him on his ‘air’ muscles, though…”
The prolonged hesitation in his voice was unusual enough that even Jun felt the increased tension in the atmosphere.
“Kazu. No need to beat about the bush okay? You know there’s something wrong between Sho and myself. Heck, I wouldn’t have suggested dinner if I really wanted to avoid talking it over with you.”
The slightly defensive stance Nino had been armed with since leaving the filming visibly deflated. “That makes our job easier then.”
“Our?”
“Aiba-chan and I figured it out.”
“Wait… Masaki know what’s wrong?”
Nino’s quirked lips spoke volumes of how much he agreed with Jun’s sentiment. “Okay. Even I had to almost throw in the towel, but our miracle boy isn’t called that for nothing… Jun,” Nino took a breath to slow down his own thoughts before looking pointedly at the other guy. “Sho’s the problem here, even though he doesn’t know it.”
The puzzled frown on Jun’s face must have spurred Nino on to clarify his words. “See, as methodical and responsible as he is, our Keio-chipmunk doesn’t have good retention powers when imbibed.”
“But he wasn’t drunk when when we wer-…Oh. Oh no.”
Jun began to feel the starting of a headache coming on as snatches of past conversations filtered through his brain.
"How did you do it?"
"Do what?"
"You know... Making sure everything had its own place? Nothing spilling into something else? That you didn't mix Hanadan scripts with those smiling ones?"
Smiling ones?
The almost playful tone that Jun had taken for relief from finishing with drama filming…
"Now I find myself in the same situation, and I get it Jun… And now, I think... I think I feel the exact same way. Ganbarimasu, right?! There's nothing these sloping shoulders can't support!"
The words that he thought showed him a side Sho normally kept well-shadowed from the eyes of the public… and even from his fellow group members.
“Change my mind? That night… Excuse? Jun, I’m not following what you’re saying!”
The confusion that Jun had assumed to be Sho regretting their conversation and his attempt to indirectly let down his feelings.
Jun felt a wave of self-recrimination threatening to engulf him; he had suspected that something was off, but it hadn’t really occurred to him that it would be anything like this. Sho’s past history had suggested nothing of the kind, but then again past history hadn’t put them in situations where matters of such import had been discussed during bouts of drunkenness.
“So what you’re saying is that… Sho forgot… whatever was said when drunk? How do you even know this for sure?” Still struggling to come to terms with the revelation, Jun sought clarification in Nino’s logic, not wanting to make any further assumptions when his own logic had clearly backfired, putting them in this current state of affairs.
“We went for drinks after Shukudai filming and we talked about… stuff. He seemed upset and I gave him some advice.”
“He was upset?” Jun didn’t try to hide the obvious note of unease over Sho’s emotions after their fallout in the stairwell.
“Yeah. He seemed all for it, but the next time I spoke to him, he couldn’t even remember behaving like an elementary grade-schooler who’d lost his best friend.”
For a moment, an unwitting smile stole across Jun’s face at the thought of how Sho would have looked then, before his sensibility caught up with what Nino’s words implied. His indecision must have showed on his face when Nino elbowed him lightly in the side.
“What are you thinking?” Nino’s voice was gently cajoling, none of the typical sarcastic wit evident.
“Just… Sho’s always been the dependable one. He had… has always been the sensible mother hen, the one looking out for us. We’ve never had to worry about him, not like this.”
“Well… he isn’t the only one,” Nino’s quick glance at Jun out of the corner of his eye would have passed the younger one right by, had he not turned his head at Nino’s soft words.
“What do you mean?”
“We all do look out for one another in our own ways, but you and Sho…” Nino trailed off, leaving Jun to fill in the blanks himself.
Nino took a deep breath before turning to face Jun completely. “Talk to him Jun. Don’t think too much and start second-guessing yourself.” At Jun’s attempt to protest otherwise, Nino held up his hand. “I KNOW you. You’ve probably built up the scenarios in your head of what you’ll say, and what he’ll say in response to what you’ve said, and so forth and so forth. To the point where you’re worried you’ll lose whatever it is between the two of you if you say the wrong thing. To the point you decide it’s best just not to say anything. Don’t try to deny it.”
This was the very reason he’d wanted and dreaded Nino’s intervention: Jun’s words died on his lips, knowing what Nino said to be true. He’d already psyched himself out once, walking away from a befuddled Sho in the stairwell. It didn’t escape his notice that Nino deliberately avoided naming the attachment between Sho and himself, and truth be told, he didn’t want to jump to any conclusions himself, not with the way things were. Not with suppositions that were turning out to be untrue, as likely as they were to be true.
With the arrival of the food, Jun’s reticent ponderings left conversation a little one-sided, though admittedly, Nino’s mood was definitely on the upswing. When his cellphone began to beep incessantly - most likely with messages from Aiba demanding an update - Jun even found himself stifling his grins to see Nino’s pseudo-disgruntlement at having to pacify their easily-excited miracle-worker.
By the time he and Nino had their fill, Jun had come to the decision that he really couldn’t afford to hold back. Not if he wanted to mend the rift between Sho and himself. And as much as he wanted to get their relationship on the mend, a quick check with his watch showed that it was probably more reasonable to wait till he met Sho the following afternoon for the group’s filming activities.
After that… they would talk after that.
It was with that final pleasant thought that Jun went to bed that night.
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Click here for Cloud 5.2.