Prompt 8: Living in a Dream World - Team Present
Title: Living in a Dream World
Rating: PG13 for Shige being an idiot. (and one f-bomb)
Pairing: TegoShige?
Summary: Shige has a problem he can’t seem to solve no matter how smart he is. (Lame, I know…)
Prompt: Parallel World by Question?
Warnings: Fail Shige being an idiot.
Notes: I’ve been kinda out of the NEWS fandom for about 4 month (I knew I should’ve started writing it as soon as I got my assignment) so it’s pretty lame due to lack of NEWSpirations. It’s kind of rushed and the prompt might be really subtle in there. Sorry. I know that will hurt the points in that section, but it’s the way I liked using it… so yeah…
Kato Shigeaki was smart. Everyone knew that. How else would he be able to manage being an idol and a Law student at the same time? Sure Sakurai Sho did a degree in Economics while being an idol, but Law school, that was supposed to be really hard for a regular person, not to mention an idol. So Shige couldn’t understand why he was smart enough to do well in school (most of the time) and be a good idol (no matter what Nishikido says to the contrary) at the same time, but wasn’t smart enough to figure out what was going on inside his own mind. He would’ve gone to NEWS’ resident psychology major for mental help, but he couldn’t seeing as said psych major was the primary problem he was having.
When did what Tegoshi was doing start bothering Shige so much? And why? He’d never really cared that much what the self-centered Prince(ss) was doing before. Not saying he didn’t care at all. Shige cared very much about everyone in NEWS, thank you very much (okay maybe not Nishikido so much, but everyone else). But Tegoshi hanging on everyone and sitting in people’s laps had never bothered him before. So why did it matter now? Did Shige get transported to some awkward alternate universe that Tegoshi was the center of? (“Well,” Shige thought, “that wouldn’t be some much different than this universe…”)
All Shige knew was that having Tegoshi Yuya as the primary subject of his thoughts was getting extremely annoying and he wanted it to stop. Too bad he didn’t see that happening anytime soon since NEWS had just started a new tour. Tours meant even more Tegoshi. Tours also meant more of Tegoshi hanging off everyone.
When Shige walked into the dressing room from an intense study session to see Tegoshi napping on the couch, his head resting on Nishikido’s thigh, he was a bit peeved (okay, maybe more than a bit). He wasn’t really sure what he was so peeved about, but Shige, being Shige, rationalized it as he was just mad Tegoshi could nap when Shige had to study hard. Why did Tegoshi get it so easy? He was in school too.
“You’re not fooling anyone,” A voice, which a second later Shige registered as Koyama’s, said over his shoulder.
“What are you talking about Kei-chan?” Shige responded hoping he didn’t sound too eager to change Koyama’s mind, whatever he was thinking.
“You’re mad that Tego spends more time with Ryo-chan than he does with you. Don’t worry about it. Tego is like that, he still loves you just as much,” Koyama stated in a very motherly tone.
“What do you mean, he still loves me as much?” Shige asked with a nervous laugh scratching the back of his neck.
Koyama rolled his eyes, “Tegoshi loves everyone in his own special way. You’ll figure it out. Eventually.” He patted Shige on the shoulder and walked off to fix his hair.
Shige was even more confused now than he was before. What was Koyama talking about and why did his heart speed up when Tegoshi loving him was mentioned? Seriously, what was happening to Shige and why? Nothing made sense anymore.
As the tour continued Shige tried to act normal. He pretended like nothing abnormal was going on and still tried to hang around with Koyama and Tegoshi (he had apparently taken a liking to KoyaShige over TegoMasu this tour), but it was getting more difficult by the day. Tegoshi had recently taken to hanging on him more often than he used to and that was making it harder for him to concentrate on anything. Shige thought maybe if he ignored Tegoshi it would go away. But how was he going to manage that. There were only five other people in his group. Purposely ignoring one of them would be completely obvious. Maybe he could just hang out with Tegoshi less? Yeah, that would fix it.
“Shige~ Wanna come help me with my hair? Please~,” whined Tegoshi in that voice he used whenever he wanted to get something from one of his band mates.
“Do your own hair! I need to study. You’re a big kid now, you can figure it out,” Shige snapped, although he hadn’t meant it to be so harsh sounding. He was just stressed out and Tegoshi only made it worse.
“Fine. You don’t have to be such a jerk, Shige. Just say you are busy. What happened to nice Shige?” muttered Tegoshi angrily as he marched out of the room.
“Nice going, stupid, now you’ve gone and upset him. You do know we have a concert in an hour, right? If we suck today, I’m blaming you. Maybe then Yamapi will be able to convince Johnny to remove you from the group.”
“Fuck you, Nishikido.” Shige yelled as he stormed out of the room. What had he done? He needed to find Tegoshi and apologize or he probably wouldn’t be able to live with himself (assuming Nishikido let him live at all).
Shige searched all the nearby rooms and had almost given up when he heard a teary sounding voice around the corner. The voice belonged Tegoshi that was for sure and the guilt he was feeling multiplied by about ten thousand. Shige decided to peak around the corner to see if it was safe. He saw Tegoshi sitting on the floor with his knees pulled up to his chest and Massu sitting next to him.
“I don’t know why he has been so on edge to me recently, Massu.” Tegoshi mumbled while fiddling with the skull ring he always wore. “We used to hang out and have fun all the time. He’s never said something like that to me when I ask him to help me with my hair or something.”
“I know… Maybe he is just stressed with school or something. I’m sure he didn’t mean it. Come here,” Massu said in a comforting tone as he pulled crying Tegoshi into his arms. Massu stroke Tegoshi’s hair and it looked like he was whispering some form of comforting words to Tegoshi. When Tegoshi stopped crying Massu leaned down and kissed him.
“Come on let’s go back. We have a concert to put on tonight.” Massu smiled as he got himself and Tegoshi up. Shige slipped into the janitor’s closet that was next to him as he saw them come his way.
What was that, Shige thought to himself, did Massu just kiss Tegoshi? Why? That’s not right only I should be able to kiss Tegoshi. Wait, WHAT?! Shige didn’t know why he’d just thought that. Did he like Tegoshi? Was that what this was? No, that’s not right. He shouldn’t like his band members like that. On top of that were Tegoshi and Massu together? If they were, why didn’t they tell anyone? (Not like it’s uncommon in their field of work) And why did they act so distant from each other recently if they were together? That made no sense, but the fact that the idea of them being together made Shige’s heart hurt made even less sense to him. When did he fall for Tegoshi? And now how was he going to deal with these newly realized feelings.
“SHIGE! There you are! We have half an hour before the concert starts. You need to get ready or Ryo-chan might kill you.” Koyama’s frantic voice startled Shige from his thoughts and he ran to get ready. It was going to be a long night.
Shige surveyed the beach he was sitting on. It was a really nice day. Perfect day for a beach picnic with someone you loved, he thought. He looked over at Tegoshi sitting next to him. Yeah, it was perfect.
“Its such a nice day isn’t it, Shige?” Tegoshi asked in a somewhat rhetorical fashion. Shige smiled (one of his genuine smiles) in response.
Tegoshi put his head on Shige’s shoulder and wrapped him arms around Shige’s waist and sighed. “I’m glad I get to spend it with Shige because I really do love him a lot,” Tegoshi said before kissing Shige lightly on the cheek and jumping up, holding out his hand for Shige to get up too.
“Come on we’ve got to go meet Koyama. Today we get to meet his pickle jar.” Tegoshi urged while smiling like he didn’t just say something really strange.
“What are you talking about his pickle jar? What does that even mean?” questioned Shige as he was getting up.
“Isn’t it a cool shaped pickle jar?!” Koyama’s excited voice was far too loud as Shige jolted awake. Well, that was a strange dream.
“Yeah that is a cool pickle jar!!!” Massu yelled from across the table next to the couch in the dressing room.
“Where did you get it? Oh Hey Shige is awake. What’s wrong Shige? You look really confused.”
“Nothing. I just had a really strange dream. I’m going to the bathroom,” Shige muttered as he walked out of the room. What was that dream about. Tegoshi didn’t really love him (he probably only loved Massu) and Tegoshi would definitely never kiss him. Shige thought he would never be that lucky. But it all seemed so real (until the pickle jar part).
Shige was too deep in thought to watch where he was walking when he suddenly bumped into someone. “Sorry,” he said as he looked up to see a bright-eyed perky Tegoshi smiling back at him.
“It’s okay if it’s Shige,” Tegoshi sang back at Shige. Tegoshi had since forgiven Shige for his rude dressing room outburst. Although Shige was still mostly avoiding Tegoshi, so he couldn’t be entirely sure. “What’s wrong Shige? You look a bit flushed. You’re not getting sick are you? Should I go tell Koyama to come check on you?”
“I’m fine Tegoshi. It's nothing. I’m just a little warm…from practicing…” Shige lied. Why couldn’t he control himself better? Shige probably didn’t have a snowflakes chance in hell at being with Tegoshi, so he really needed to stop his body from reacting to the other boy. He needed to figure this out and stop it before he ended up in the hospital for no reason with a worried Koyama at his side, he thought as he went to get ready for the show. He could do it. There were only a few weeks left in the tour then everything would be easier.
After the tour ended things only became slightly easier for Shige. Tegomasu were promoting their new single, so NEWS wasn’t together as a full unit as often as they usually were. Shige still seemed to have problems when they were together though, although he thought that maybe he was doing better. If he kept himself busy for a bit longer maybe be would get over this whole thing.
Shige was sitting on his couch when someone knocked on the door. Although he had no idea who it could’ve been he went to answer it and was surprised to find Tegoshi standing in his door way.
“What are you doing here Tegoshi?” Shige questioned. He got no answer; instead he was shocked as he was suddenly pushed back into his apartment. Tegoshi slammed the door shut and trapped Shige against the wall.
“I want you, Shige.” Tegoshi said as his eyes darkened. A second later Tegoshi was kissing him more intensely than Shige had ever thought was possible. Shige melted into the kiss as he wrapped his arms around Tegoshi’s waist. This was the best surprise visit he’d ever gotten.
Shige woke up with a start to his cell phone blaring at him. He picked it up and turned it off. He was in no state to talk to anyone right now. Not after that dream. He got up and walked to the bathroom feeling the need for a very cold shower. He wasn’t going to be able to face Tegoshi now. Not after that. This needed to stop. Maybe if he talked to someone about it they could help him. But whom would he be able to talk to about it. Getting out of the shower he decided he would talk to Koyama about his problem. He knew at least that Koyama wouldn’t laugh in his face and tell him to get real.
When he got to Koyama’s apartment complex he saw Nakamaru walking out of it. They said hello quickly and went on their ways. As Shige knocked on Koyama’s door said man opened the door and seeing Shige he looked slightly shocked, but quickly covered it with a smile.
“Hey Shige.” Greeted Koyama.
“Hey… What was Nakamaru doing here this early on a day off?”
“Nothing. We were just doing Shokura things last night and it got late. Anyway, What’s up? What’re you doing here this early?” walking into his kitchen as Shige took his shoes off and followed him in.
“I really needed to talk to someone and you were the first person that came to mind.”
“Aw, that’s sweet. I’m glad Shige can trust me. What’s the problem?” Koyama inquired, putting on his motherly understanding face and making some tea for the two of them.
“Well… I… My friend, he has this problem. See, recently he realized he had feelings for this other friend of ours, but it was only after he saw that friend get kissed by another friend and now my friend doesn’t know what to do, but he has to do something because he keeps having these really weird dreams involving the friend he realized he liked.”
Koyama handed Shige a cup of tea, which Shige sipped quietly, and sat down next to him, “So, you realized you like Tegoshi and now you don’t know what to do about it?”
“Yes. WAIT! What?! How did you know?! I said it was my friend’s problem.” Shige almost spilled his tea and glared at Koyama. He didn’t think he was that easy to read.
“Kei-chan knows all, Shige. I’ve just been waiting for you to figure it out. Stop glaring at me it’s unbecoming. So what’s this you say about Tegoshi getting kissed and dreams?”
“You remember that day when I yelled at Tegoshi to do his own hair, right? Well I went to look for him to apologize and when I found him Massu was already comforting him and then I saw Massu kiss him. That’s when I realized I liked him and since then every night I’ve been having dream with Tegoshi in them. Dreams where we are together and it’s like we are from a different world. In that world he confessed to me and we are always so happy. But they are getting worse and worse. I don’t know what to do anymore.”
“Why don’t you confess to him? That will probably fix it.” Easier said than done, Shige thought.
“I can’t do that… What if he and Massu really are dating? Then I will just look stupid.”
“Don’t you think we would know if they were dating, Shige? We spend about 80% of our lives in the same building, if not room, as those two. Anyway, if they were, why would they keep it a secret from us? Everyone knows TegoMasu is special in their own strange hyperactive way.”
“Surprisingly, this isn’t making me feel any better, nor is it helping,” Shige sighed. “Even if they aren’t dating, what if I do confess and he rejects me? That will make the whole group awkward. I think maybe I should just give up. I can live with it in my dream world. It would be better for NEWS anyway.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea at all. Where is smart Shige that can solve any problem at the drop of a hat?” Koyama looked at Shige and saw the look of defeat on his face. He’d really given up, hadn’t he? “Well, if that’s what Shige thinks is best, then I will support him all the way. I’ll always be here for you if you need to talk though”
“Thanks Kei-chan. You’re the best,” Shige smiled as he got up to leave. Yes, this was the best thing to do for him, NEWS, and Tegoshi. And at least he knew he could always come to Koyama if he was having problems.
Shige decided again that avoiding Tegoshi would probably be the best way to get away from his feelings for said boy. Only this time he was really going to avoid him. He didn’t care what the rest of the band thought of it. Maybe if he immersed himself in schoolwork they wouldn’t even notice. The only problem with this plan was that Tegoshi always got his way, so if Tegoshi wanted to hang out with him, Shige was pretty sure he’d end up giving in and hanging out with him. So Shige had to avoid all possible opportunities for Tegoshi to take advantage of.
Avoidance is a messy business, Shige learned (the very hard way). He found himself hiding in Janitor closest whenever he saw Tegoshi walking alone down the hall in his general direction and hiding behind cars in the parking lot if he heard a voice or laugh that sounded anything like Tegoshi’s. Once he even tried to hide behind Koyama when he saw Tegoshi and Nishikido walking their direction in the train station (It didn’t work very well because Koyama is too skinny to hide much of anything, so it just ended in Nishikido making fun of him more).
Always being overly Tegoshi-alert was starting to wear on Shige and it didn’t seem to be helping him get rid of his dreams at all. He was tired and grumpy from this whole fiasco and just wanted to crawl in a hole. Instead he was in the dressing room on break attempting to study for an up coming test and failing miserably. This was not his day (or month… or year for that matter), Shige thought to himself.
“Shige~ you want to come play a card game with Kei-chan, Massu, and me,” Tegoshi asked perkily as Shige jumped slightly. When had Tegoshi snuck up on him like that?
“No! I don’t want to.” Tegoshi looked like he was about to say something, but Shige cut him off, “I have a test to study for. Why don’t you just leave me alone Tegoshi?!”
Tegoshi looked utterly shocked (Shige was shocked himself) as he walked over to the other side of the room where Koyama and Massu were waiting for him.
“What was that about?” Nishikido asked as he sat down at the table next to Shige, who sighed. “What is with you and being jerky to Tegoshi before we perform live?”
“It’s none of your business. Just leave me alone,” Shige pleaded in a small voice.
“Nope. I’m not going to leave you alone. Not when you are obviously avoiding Tegonyan and when you can’t you are just mean to him. You can be a jerk all you want, who knows maybe it will help your sorry Idol image, but not when you’re hurting Tego. That’s when it becomes my business.”
“Just leave me alone, Nishikido, please.” Shige went back to attempting to study.
“I don’t see why he cares about you so much. You’re useless and a jerk. But he cares about you a lot, so maybe you should stop being selfish and think about what you are doing to him,” Nishikido spat as he got up and left the room.
Shige felt like he was going to cry. What had he done? He could live with Nishikido hating him (he had for years), but the idea that he was hurting Tegoshi, if that was true, he didn’t think he could live with himself. He looked over to where Tegoshi was. Tegoshi averted his eyes while Massu and Koyama just glared at him. He’s messed up big time, hadn’t he? Shige needed to fix this. He needed to fix it fast, but they were going to be called on stage any minute. What was he going to do?
Tegoshi had been avoiding Shige for 2 days straight and the rest of NEWS didn’t seem too fond of him either. Tegoshi practically glued himself to Nishikido and every time Shige would approach them Nishikido gave him a death glare that would scare even the most evil of beasts. Shige needed to figure out how to fix this when Tegoshi’s personal body guard wasn’t around, but how was he going to do that?
“He will cool off in a couple day,” Yamapi whispered over Shige’s shoulder. “Just give him a little time and he will stop trying to kill you with his eyes.”
“It’s not him I’m worried about. It’s Tegoshi. I messed up big time, Yamashita-kun,” Shige sighed defeated.
“Yeah, you did, but Tego is a very forgiving person and he does care a lot about you, so you just need to do your part in it and everything will work out.” Yamapi may not say much, but he does observe everyone in his group and so Shige was sure he wasn’t lying about anything.
“How am I supposed fix it though? I don’t know what to do…”
“You’ll figure it out,” Yamapi reassured him. “Come on we need to go get back to practicing. If we all do well maybe we can leave early. Tomorrow we are off and the beach sounds like somewhere I want to be.”
That was it. He could invite Tegoshi to the beach, secretly (so Nishikido couldn’t come glare at him some more), and he could apologize there. What better place than the beach? It was a nice relaxing environment and who didn’t like the beach?
“Thank you, Yamashita-kun!” Shige said as he excitedly rushed off to write a note to Tegoshi.
Shige was sitting on the beach, waiting. He really hoped Tegoshi showed up (alone) or he would feel really silly waiting there. He practiced what he was going to say to Tegoshi over and over in his head. He needed to do this right. He needed to stop hurting Tegoshi. He loved him too much to see him hurting, especially when it was his fault. Shige was lucky that it was such a nice day; hopefully that was a good sign for what was to come.
Shige felt someone sit down next to him and turned to see Tegoshi. Tegoshi didn’t look at him and Shige could tell he was still a little hesitant about being there.
“Hey Tegoshi.” Shige greeted. When he got no answer he continued, “Thanks for coming to meet me. I wanted to apologize for being such at jerk to you recently. It’s not your fault. I’m just having a hard time and I guess I took it out on you. I’m really sorry.”
Tegoshi looked up at Shige’s face for the first time. He seemed to be searching Shige, to see if he was genuinely apologizing.
“Well, I guess it’s okay if it’s Shige.” Tegoshi said as he smiled at Shige for the first time in what seemed like months.
“What do you mean it’s okay if it’s Shige?” puzzled Shige stared at Tegoshi.
“It’s okay if it’s Shige because I love Shige. I love Shige more than anyone in the world.”
“Wait… what? You love me? I thought you were with Massu,” Shige was now completely confused. This was definitely not what he had expected.
Tegoshi laughed, “Why would you think I was with Massu. Yes, he is my best friend, but that’s it.”
“I saw him kiss you after I accidently yelled at you a while ago. Why would he have done that if you weren’t together?”
“Shige saw that?! I had no idea. Well I guess have to explain it now, don’t I?” Tegoshi looked slightly conflicted at the idea of telling Shige whatever it was he was talking about. “Hold on a second, I need to ask someone something,” Tegoshi said pulling out his cell phone and texting someone quickly. After he got a response he sighed and turned back to Shige.
“Okay. So that kiss you saw. That was Massu telling me he would always love me and be there for me if you weren’t.” Tegoshi explained, “it’s kind of why we’ve been distant recently. He confessed to me and I do love Massu, but I don’t love Massu the way I love Shige, so it was hard on our friendship. We’ve worked it out though. Massu will always be there for me and I will always be there for him even if I can’t be there for him in that way.”
“Oh… I guess that makes sense. I like you too, Tegoshi…” Shige mumbled as he looked at the ocean. Tegoshi smiled off to the side. Shy Shige was cute.
“Its such a nice day isn’t it, Shige,” Tegoshi stated as he scooted closer to Shige, put his head on Shige’s shoulder, and wrapped him arms around his waist and sighed. “I’m glad I get to spend it with Shige because I really do love him a lot,” Tegoshi said before kissing Shige lightly on the cheek and jumping up, holding out his hand for Shige to get up too.
“Come on we’ve got to go meet Koyama.” Shige got up thinking this seemed awfully familiar and hoped it wasn’t another one of his dreams. He didn’t want to live in that world anymore. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and got it out to check the text message.
Don’t hurt him, okay?
Massu
Nope, this was definitely not a dream, Shige smiled as he walked of with Tegoshi hand-in-hand.
“So why are we going to meet Koyama?”
“I don’t know. He said something about really awesome pickles…”
~End~
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Poll Team Present - Living in a Dream World
Rating: PG13 for Shige being an idiot. (and one f-bomb)
Pairing: TegoShige?
Summary: Shige has a problem he can’t seem to solve no matter how smart he is. (Lame, I know…)
Prompt: Parallel World by Question?
Warnings: Fail Shige being an idiot.
Notes: I’ve been kinda out of the NEWS fandom for about 4 month (I knew I should’ve started writing it as soon as I got my assignment) so it’s pretty lame due to lack of NEWSpirations. It’s kind of rushed and the prompt might be really subtle in there. Sorry. I know that will hurt the points in that section, but it’s the way I liked using it… so yeah…
Kato Shigeaki was smart. Everyone knew that. How else would he be able to manage being an idol and a Law student at the same time? Sure Sakurai Sho did a degree in Economics while being an idol, but Law school, that was supposed to be really hard for a regular person, not to mention an idol. So Shige couldn’t understand why he was smart enough to do well in school (most of the time) and be a good idol (no matter what Nishikido says to the contrary) at the same time, but wasn’t smart enough to figure out what was going on inside his own mind. He would’ve gone to NEWS’ resident psychology major for mental help, but he couldn’t seeing as said psych major was the primary problem he was having.
When did what Tegoshi was doing start bothering Shige so much? And why? He’d never really cared that much what the self-centered Prince(ss) was doing before. Not saying he didn’t care at all. Shige cared very much about everyone in NEWS, thank you very much (okay maybe not Nishikido so much, but everyone else). But Tegoshi hanging on everyone and sitting in people’s laps had never bothered him before. So why did it matter now? Did Shige get transported to some awkward alternate universe that Tegoshi was the center of? (“Well,” Shige thought, “that wouldn’t be some much different than this universe…”)
All Shige knew was that having Tegoshi Yuya as the primary subject of his thoughts was getting extremely annoying and he wanted it to stop. Too bad he didn’t see that happening anytime soon since NEWS had just started a new tour. Tours meant even more Tegoshi. Tours also meant more of Tegoshi hanging off everyone.
When Shige walked into the dressing room from an intense study session to see Tegoshi napping on the couch, his head resting on Nishikido’s thigh, he was a bit peeved (okay, maybe more than a bit). He wasn’t really sure what he was so peeved about, but Shige, being Shige, rationalized it as he was just mad Tegoshi could nap when Shige had to study hard. Why did Tegoshi get it so easy? He was in school too.
“You’re not fooling anyone,” A voice, which a second later Shige registered as Koyama’s, said over his shoulder.
“What are you talking about Kei-chan?” Shige responded hoping he didn’t sound too eager to change Koyama’s mind, whatever he was thinking.
“You’re mad that Tego spends more time with Ryo-chan than he does with you. Don’t worry about it. Tego is like that, he still loves you just as much,” Koyama stated in a very motherly tone.
“What do you mean, he still loves me as much?” Shige asked with a nervous laugh scratching the back of his neck.
Koyama rolled his eyes, “Tegoshi loves everyone in his own special way. You’ll figure it out. Eventually.” He patted Shige on the shoulder and walked off to fix his hair.
Shige was even more confused now than he was before. What was Koyama talking about and why did his heart speed up when Tegoshi loving him was mentioned? Seriously, what was happening to Shige and why? Nothing made sense anymore.
As the tour continued Shige tried to act normal. He pretended like nothing abnormal was going on and still tried to hang around with Koyama and Tegoshi (he had apparently taken a liking to KoyaShige over TegoMasu this tour), but it was getting more difficult by the day. Tegoshi had recently taken to hanging on him more often than he used to and that was making it harder for him to concentrate on anything. Shige thought maybe if he ignored Tegoshi it would go away. But how was he going to manage that. There were only five other people in his group. Purposely ignoring one of them would be completely obvious. Maybe he could just hang out with Tegoshi less? Yeah, that would fix it.
“Shige~ Wanna come help me with my hair? Please~,” whined Tegoshi in that voice he used whenever he wanted to get something from one of his band mates.
“Do your own hair! I need to study. You’re a big kid now, you can figure it out,” Shige snapped, although he hadn’t meant it to be so harsh sounding. He was just stressed out and Tegoshi only made it worse.
“Fine. You don’t have to be such a jerk, Shige. Just say you are busy. What happened to nice Shige?” muttered Tegoshi angrily as he marched out of the room.
“Nice going, stupid, now you’ve gone and upset him. You do know we have a concert in an hour, right? If we suck today, I’m blaming you. Maybe then Yamapi will be able to convince Johnny to remove you from the group.”
“Fuck you, Nishikido.” Shige yelled as he stormed out of the room. What had he done? He needed to find Tegoshi and apologize or he probably wouldn’t be able to live with himself (assuming Nishikido let him live at all).
Shige searched all the nearby rooms and had almost given up when he heard a teary sounding voice around the corner. The voice belonged Tegoshi that was for sure and the guilt he was feeling multiplied by about ten thousand. Shige decided to peak around the corner to see if it was safe. He saw Tegoshi sitting on the floor with his knees pulled up to his chest and Massu sitting next to him.
“I don’t know why he has been so on edge to me recently, Massu.” Tegoshi mumbled while fiddling with the skull ring he always wore. “We used to hang out and have fun all the time. He’s never said something like that to me when I ask him to help me with my hair or something.”
“I know… Maybe he is just stressed with school or something. I’m sure he didn’t mean it. Come here,” Massu said in a comforting tone as he pulled crying Tegoshi into his arms. Massu stroke Tegoshi’s hair and it looked like he was whispering some form of comforting words to Tegoshi. When Tegoshi stopped crying Massu leaned down and kissed him.
“Come on let’s go back. We have a concert to put on tonight.” Massu smiled as he got himself and Tegoshi up. Shige slipped into the janitor’s closet that was next to him as he saw them come his way.
What was that, Shige thought to himself, did Massu just kiss Tegoshi? Why? That’s not right only I should be able to kiss Tegoshi. Wait, WHAT?! Shige didn’t know why he’d just thought that. Did he like Tegoshi? Was that what this was? No, that’s not right. He shouldn’t like his band members like that. On top of that were Tegoshi and Massu together? If they were, why didn’t they tell anyone? (Not like it’s uncommon in their field of work) And why did they act so distant from each other recently if they were together? That made no sense, but the fact that the idea of them being together made Shige’s heart hurt made even less sense to him. When did he fall for Tegoshi? And now how was he going to deal with these newly realized feelings.
“SHIGE! There you are! We have half an hour before the concert starts. You need to get ready or Ryo-chan might kill you.” Koyama’s frantic voice startled Shige from his thoughts and he ran to get ready. It was going to be a long night.
Shige surveyed the beach he was sitting on. It was a really nice day. Perfect day for a beach picnic with someone you loved, he thought. He looked over at Tegoshi sitting next to him. Yeah, it was perfect.
“Its such a nice day isn’t it, Shige?” Tegoshi asked in a somewhat rhetorical fashion. Shige smiled (one of his genuine smiles) in response.
Tegoshi put his head on Shige’s shoulder and wrapped him arms around Shige’s waist and sighed. “I’m glad I get to spend it with Shige because I really do love him a lot,” Tegoshi said before kissing Shige lightly on the cheek and jumping up, holding out his hand for Shige to get up too.
“Come on we’ve got to go meet Koyama. Today we get to meet his pickle jar.” Tegoshi urged while smiling like he didn’t just say something really strange.
“What are you talking about his pickle jar? What does that even mean?” questioned Shige as he was getting up.
“Isn’t it a cool shaped pickle jar?!” Koyama’s excited voice was far too loud as Shige jolted awake. Well, that was a strange dream.
“Yeah that is a cool pickle jar!!!” Massu yelled from across the table next to the couch in the dressing room.
“Where did you get it? Oh Hey Shige is awake. What’s wrong Shige? You look really confused.”
“Nothing. I just had a really strange dream. I’m going to the bathroom,” Shige muttered as he walked out of the room. What was that dream about. Tegoshi didn’t really love him (he probably only loved Massu) and Tegoshi would definitely never kiss him. Shige thought he would never be that lucky. But it all seemed so real (until the pickle jar part).
Shige was too deep in thought to watch where he was walking when he suddenly bumped into someone. “Sorry,” he said as he looked up to see a bright-eyed perky Tegoshi smiling back at him.
“It’s okay if it’s Shige,” Tegoshi sang back at Shige. Tegoshi had since forgiven Shige for his rude dressing room outburst. Although Shige was still mostly avoiding Tegoshi, so he couldn’t be entirely sure. “What’s wrong Shige? You look a bit flushed. You’re not getting sick are you? Should I go tell Koyama to come check on you?”
“I’m fine Tegoshi. It's nothing. I’m just a little warm…from practicing…” Shige lied. Why couldn’t he control himself better? Shige probably didn’t have a snowflakes chance in hell at being with Tegoshi, so he really needed to stop his body from reacting to the other boy. He needed to figure this out and stop it before he ended up in the hospital for no reason with a worried Koyama at his side, he thought as he went to get ready for the show. He could do it. There were only a few weeks left in the tour then everything would be easier.
After the tour ended things only became slightly easier for Shige. Tegomasu were promoting their new single, so NEWS wasn’t together as a full unit as often as they usually were. Shige still seemed to have problems when they were together though, although he thought that maybe he was doing better. If he kept himself busy for a bit longer maybe be would get over this whole thing.
Shige was sitting on his couch when someone knocked on the door. Although he had no idea who it could’ve been he went to answer it and was surprised to find Tegoshi standing in his door way.
“What are you doing here Tegoshi?” Shige questioned. He got no answer; instead he was shocked as he was suddenly pushed back into his apartment. Tegoshi slammed the door shut and trapped Shige against the wall.
“I want you, Shige.” Tegoshi said as his eyes darkened. A second later Tegoshi was kissing him more intensely than Shige had ever thought was possible. Shige melted into the kiss as he wrapped his arms around Tegoshi’s waist. This was the best surprise visit he’d ever gotten.
Shige woke up with a start to his cell phone blaring at him. He picked it up and turned it off. He was in no state to talk to anyone right now. Not after that dream. He got up and walked to the bathroom feeling the need for a very cold shower. He wasn’t going to be able to face Tegoshi now. Not after that. This needed to stop. Maybe if he talked to someone about it they could help him. But whom would he be able to talk to about it. Getting out of the shower he decided he would talk to Koyama about his problem. He knew at least that Koyama wouldn’t laugh in his face and tell him to get real.
When he got to Koyama’s apartment complex he saw Nakamaru walking out of it. They said hello quickly and went on their ways. As Shige knocked on Koyama’s door said man opened the door and seeing Shige he looked slightly shocked, but quickly covered it with a smile.
“Hey Shige.” Greeted Koyama.
“Hey… What was Nakamaru doing here this early on a day off?”
“Nothing. We were just doing Shokura things last night and it got late. Anyway, What’s up? What’re you doing here this early?” walking into his kitchen as Shige took his shoes off and followed him in.
“I really needed to talk to someone and you were the first person that came to mind.”
“Aw, that’s sweet. I’m glad Shige can trust me. What’s the problem?” Koyama inquired, putting on his motherly understanding face and making some tea for the two of them.
“Well… I… My friend, he has this problem. See, recently he realized he had feelings for this other friend of ours, but it was only after he saw that friend get kissed by another friend and now my friend doesn’t know what to do, but he has to do something because he keeps having these really weird dreams involving the friend he realized he liked.”
Koyama handed Shige a cup of tea, which Shige sipped quietly, and sat down next to him, “So, you realized you like Tegoshi and now you don’t know what to do about it?”
“Yes. WAIT! What?! How did you know?! I said it was my friend’s problem.” Shige almost spilled his tea and glared at Koyama. He didn’t think he was that easy to read.
“Kei-chan knows all, Shige. I’ve just been waiting for you to figure it out. Stop glaring at me it’s unbecoming. So what’s this you say about Tegoshi getting kissed and dreams?”
“You remember that day when I yelled at Tegoshi to do his own hair, right? Well I went to look for him to apologize and when I found him Massu was already comforting him and then I saw Massu kiss him. That’s when I realized I liked him and since then every night I’ve been having dream with Tegoshi in them. Dreams where we are together and it’s like we are from a different world. In that world he confessed to me and we are always so happy. But they are getting worse and worse. I don’t know what to do anymore.”
“Why don’t you confess to him? That will probably fix it.” Easier said than done, Shige thought.
“I can’t do that… What if he and Massu really are dating? Then I will just look stupid.”
“Don’t you think we would know if they were dating, Shige? We spend about 80% of our lives in the same building, if not room, as those two. Anyway, if they were, why would they keep it a secret from us? Everyone knows TegoMasu is special in their own strange hyperactive way.”
“Surprisingly, this isn’t making me feel any better, nor is it helping,” Shige sighed. “Even if they aren’t dating, what if I do confess and he rejects me? That will make the whole group awkward. I think maybe I should just give up. I can live with it in my dream world. It would be better for NEWS anyway.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea at all. Where is smart Shige that can solve any problem at the drop of a hat?” Koyama looked at Shige and saw the look of defeat on his face. He’d really given up, hadn’t he? “Well, if that’s what Shige thinks is best, then I will support him all the way. I’ll always be here for you if you need to talk though”
“Thanks Kei-chan. You’re the best,” Shige smiled as he got up to leave. Yes, this was the best thing to do for him, NEWS, and Tegoshi. And at least he knew he could always come to Koyama if he was having problems.
Shige decided again that avoiding Tegoshi would probably be the best way to get away from his feelings for said boy. Only this time he was really going to avoid him. He didn’t care what the rest of the band thought of it. Maybe if he immersed himself in schoolwork they wouldn’t even notice. The only problem with this plan was that Tegoshi always got his way, so if Tegoshi wanted to hang out with him, Shige was pretty sure he’d end up giving in and hanging out with him. So Shige had to avoid all possible opportunities for Tegoshi to take advantage of.
Avoidance is a messy business, Shige learned (the very hard way). He found himself hiding in Janitor closest whenever he saw Tegoshi walking alone down the hall in his general direction and hiding behind cars in the parking lot if he heard a voice or laugh that sounded anything like Tegoshi’s. Once he even tried to hide behind Koyama when he saw Tegoshi and Nishikido walking their direction in the train station (It didn’t work very well because Koyama is too skinny to hide much of anything, so it just ended in Nishikido making fun of him more).
Always being overly Tegoshi-alert was starting to wear on Shige and it didn’t seem to be helping him get rid of his dreams at all. He was tired and grumpy from this whole fiasco and just wanted to crawl in a hole. Instead he was in the dressing room on break attempting to study for an up coming test and failing miserably. This was not his day (or month… or year for that matter), Shige thought to himself.
“Shige~ you want to come play a card game with Kei-chan, Massu, and me,” Tegoshi asked perkily as Shige jumped slightly. When had Tegoshi snuck up on him like that?
“No! I don’t want to.” Tegoshi looked like he was about to say something, but Shige cut him off, “I have a test to study for. Why don’t you just leave me alone Tegoshi?!”
Tegoshi looked utterly shocked (Shige was shocked himself) as he walked over to the other side of the room where Koyama and Massu were waiting for him.
“What was that about?” Nishikido asked as he sat down at the table next to Shige, who sighed. “What is with you and being jerky to Tegoshi before we perform live?”
“It’s none of your business. Just leave me alone,” Shige pleaded in a small voice.
“Nope. I’m not going to leave you alone. Not when you are obviously avoiding Tegonyan and when you can’t you are just mean to him. You can be a jerk all you want, who knows maybe it will help your sorry Idol image, but not when you’re hurting Tego. That’s when it becomes my business.”
“Just leave me alone, Nishikido, please.” Shige went back to attempting to study.
“I don’t see why he cares about you so much. You’re useless and a jerk. But he cares about you a lot, so maybe you should stop being selfish and think about what you are doing to him,” Nishikido spat as he got up and left the room.
Shige felt like he was going to cry. What had he done? He could live with Nishikido hating him (he had for years), but the idea that he was hurting Tegoshi, if that was true, he didn’t think he could live with himself. He looked over to where Tegoshi was. Tegoshi averted his eyes while Massu and Koyama just glared at him. He’s messed up big time, hadn’t he? Shige needed to fix this. He needed to fix it fast, but they were going to be called on stage any minute. What was he going to do?
Tegoshi had been avoiding Shige for 2 days straight and the rest of NEWS didn’t seem too fond of him either. Tegoshi practically glued himself to Nishikido and every time Shige would approach them Nishikido gave him a death glare that would scare even the most evil of beasts. Shige needed to figure out how to fix this when Tegoshi’s personal body guard wasn’t around, but how was he going to do that?
“He will cool off in a couple day,” Yamapi whispered over Shige’s shoulder. “Just give him a little time and he will stop trying to kill you with his eyes.”
“It’s not him I’m worried about. It’s Tegoshi. I messed up big time, Yamashita-kun,” Shige sighed defeated.
“Yeah, you did, but Tego is a very forgiving person and he does care a lot about you, so you just need to do your part in it and everything will work out.” Yamapi may not say much, but he does observe everyone in his group and so Shige was sure he wasn’t lying about anything.
“How am I supposed fix it though? I don’t know what to do…”
“You’ll figure it out,” Yamapi reassured him. “Come on we need to go get back to practicing. If we all do well maybe we can leave early. Tomorrow we are off and the beach sounds like somewhere I want to be.”
That was it. He could invite Tegoshi to the beach, secretly (so Nishikido couldn’t come glare at him some more), and he could apologize there. What better place than the beach? It was a nice relaxing environment and who didn’t like the beach?
“Thank you, Yamashita-kun!” Shige said as he excitedly rushed off to write a note to Tegoshi.
Shige was sitting on the beach, waiting. He really hoped Tegoshi showed up (alone) or he would feel really silly waiting there. He practiced what he was going to say to Tegoshi over and over in his head. He needed to do this right. He needed to stop hurting Tegoshi. He loved him too much to see him hurting, especially when it was his fault. Shige was lucky that it was such a nice day; hopefully that was a good sign for what was to come.
Shige felt someone sit down next to him and turned to see Tegoshi. Tegoshi didn’t look at him and Shige could tell he was still a little hesitant about being there.
“Hey Tegoshi.” Shige greeted. When he got no answer he continued, “Thanks for coming to meet me. I wanted to apologize for being such at jerk to you recently. It’s not your fault. I’m just having a hard time and I guess I took it out on you. I’m really sorry.”
Tegoshi looked up at Shige’s face for the first time. He seemed to be searching Shige, to see if he was genuinely apologizing.
“Well, I guess it’s okay if it’s Shige.” Tegoshi said as he smiled at Shige for the first time in what seemed like months.
“What do you mean it’s okay if it’s Shige?” puzzled Shige stared at Tegoshi.
“It’s okay if it’s Shige because I love Shige. I love Shige more than anyone in the world.”
“Wait… what? You love me? I thought you were with Massu,” Shige was now completely confused. This was definitely not what he had expected.
Tegoshi laughed, “Why would you think I was with Massu. Yes, he is my best friend, but that’s it.”
“I saw him kiss you after I accidently yelled at you a while ago. Why would he have done that if you weren’t together?”
“Shige saw that?! I had no idea. Well I guess have to explain it now, don’t I?” Tegoshi looked slightly conflicted at the idea of telling Shige whatever it was he was talking about. “Hold on a second, I need to ask someone something,” Tegoshi said pulling out his cell phone and texting someone quickly. After he got a response he sighed and turned back to Shige.
“Okay. So that kiss you saw. That was Massu telling me he would always love me and be there for me if you weren’t.” Tegoshi explained, “it’s kind of why we’ve been distant recently. He confessed to me and I do love Massu, but I don’t love Massu the way I love Shige, so it was hard on our friendship. We’ve worked it out though. Massu will always be there for me and I will always be there for him even if I can’t be there for him in that way.”
“Oh… I guess that makes sense. I like you too, Tegoshi…” Shige mumbled as he looked at the ocean. Tegoshi smiled off to the side. Shy Shige was cute.
“Its such a nice day isn’t it, Shige,” Tegoshi stated as he scooted closer to Shige, put his head on Shige’s shoulder, and wrapped him arms around his waist and sighed. “I’m glad I get to spend it with Shige because I really do love him a lot,” Tegoshi said before kissing Shige lightly on the cheek and jumping up, holding out his hand for Shige to get up too.
“Come on we’ve got to go meet Koyama.” Shige got up thinking this seemed awfully familiar and hoped it wasn’t another one of his dreams. He didn’t want to live in that world anymore. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and got it out to check the text message.
Don’t hurt him, okay?
Massu
Nope, this was definitely not a dream, Shige smiled as he walked of with Tegoshi hand-in-hand.
“So why are we going to meet Koyama?”
“I don’t know. He said something about really awesome pickles…”
~End~
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Poll Team Present - Living in a Dream World