[One Shot] What is Happiness?
Title: What is Happiness?
Pairing: Juntoshi
Rating: G, PG for language
Length: ~3.3k words
Author: Biohazard Geeky Nutcracker coolohoh
Beta: jheili
Summary: Ohno and Jun were having trouble with the concert planning and choreography. Thankfully, they have each other to rely on.
A/N: Written for the 2016 fishing_mj fic exchange. I hope you like this Junmai! You asked for Arashi friendship, and this is what I came up with! :P
Ohno stared blankly into the mirror.
His reflection stared blankly at him.
Behind him, the stereo was blasting songs from their latest album. Suddenly, the songs felt too noisy.
Are you happy?
"No, I'm not!" Ohno huffed.
He was almost tempted to smash something into the mirrors - the speakers perhaps. He was not fucking happy and being pissed off was not helpful in terms of getting inspiration for the choreography.
"Calm down, Ohno, calm down," he thought to himself.
He's a veteran now, at choreography. For Arashi that is. He can either choreograph for 5 people, or for 1 (i.e., himself). Nothing more, nothing less. It all started in... 2012 perhaps? Arafes was it? Or Popcorn? When he started doing a lot of choreography. Either way, he was an old experienced man and coming up with a few dance moves shouldn't be a problem for him. Or maybe that was precisely the problem. That he was getting old. He recalled the time he choreographed his solo in just 20 minutes on a train ride home. Now that was fast...
What should he do? He remembered the time that he skated a few hundred rounds around the studio till he got tired and went home. Or when he fell asleep on the sofa and got woken up because he thought up the choreography of Super Fresh. But there was no sofa in the dance studio (duh!) and the roller blades were gone too.
"Mou!" Ohno groaned as he turned the music off. He sat on the floor as he yawned sleepily. Maybe he should take a nap... Who knows, maybe he might just get inspiration from sleeping... He grabbed his waist pouch and used it as a pillow…
The next thing that Ohno was aware of, was that the ground was vibrating.
Buzzzzzzz.
Ohno tried to go back to sleep but the vibrating wouldn't stop. He finally rubbed his eyes and rolled over to investigate the cause of the earthquake.
His phone flashed and buzzed like an angry bee when it was finally released from the trappings of his pouch.
Ohno was greeted by a picture of a sleepy, ‘I-need-my-morning-coffee’ Jun. He smiled in spite of his own sleepiness. The perks of being in Arashi - you get first dibs at taking the most unglamourous shots of Arashi.
“Moshi moshi,” Ohno’s voice crackled into the phone.
“Ohno-kun, where are you? Are you still in the studio? How is the choreography coming along?” Jun’s voice floated in over the phone, firing one question right after another.
Choreography. Hearing the word made Ohno feel like weeping. The deadline drew closer by the second and yet he still had nothing. Jun needed to know what the dance would look like so he could plan out the lighting… The costumes had to be designed and made… Back dancers had to be gathered and trained. Of course, Arashi needed to learn the choreography too. Thank goodness they were fast learners.
“Ehhh… Erm… Yeah I’m in the studio…” Ohno stammered.
He felt like a kid once more, being questioned by the teacher as to the reason for not having finished his homework.
“I just finished a meeting with the staff… Let’s go for dinner?” Jun asked.
"Uhuh…” Ohno hummed after much hesitation.
As much as he was scared of stoic Jun, speaking with Jun actually helped him a lot last year when choreographing songs for their Japonism concert. And considering the dire situation he was in, he’d be needing all the help he could possibly get. Also, his stomach decided to start growling at the mention of food so…
“What time is it anyway?” Ohno blurted his thoughts out loud.
“It’s 10:30 pm already…”
“...”
“You fell asleep in the studio again didn’t you?” Jun finally said with a sigh.
"Can't you even look after yourself without your manger?" Jun continued, raising his eyebrows with a frown.
Ohno’s face flushed red with embarrassment. He was so glad Jun wasn’t around to see him except…
The door of the dance studio creaked open and said man stepped in.
“Geez ridda! Can’t you like… Go home to sleep or something? Sleeping on the floor is not good for you! What if you catch a cold! Have you even had dinner?” Jun clucked his tongue in annoyance.
Good question. Dinner…. He had a really late lunch and decided to have dinner later. Then he fell asleep.
Ohno shook his head, embarrassed.
“Have YOU had dinner?” Ohno turned the question around at Jun.
It was Jun’s turn to blush.
“Well... I was busy!" Jun protested.
"Well, I was busy too!" Ohno retorted as he broke out into a cheeky smile.
Jun rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, you were busy sleeping… How did it go? Ah forget it, you probably didn't come up with anything and therefore ended up sleeping right? Come on, let’s go. I know a nice place to eat.” Jun said as he swung his bag over his shoulders and headed towards to the studio door, leaving Ohno to scramble to his feet and pack his belongings.
"So... Are we going to one of the mysterious bars where all the artists and idols go to?" Ohno finally spoke.
He was riding shotgun beside Jun, and it certainly felt weird. Despite Arashi’s close relationships, they don't actually bug each other all that much in their private lives. Personal space (both time wise and physically) outside of work was well respected within Arashi, and Jun in particular hated having his private space violated. In fact, after all their years as members, this was probably Ohno's first time in Jun's car. And he'd have to thank his manager's family emergency (and Jun's surrogate mother tendencies) for that.
Jun narrowed his eyes thoughtfully for a moment before replying.
"We can go there if you want... But I thought somewhere quieter and more private would be nice... So you know... We can talk...? About... The concert?" Jun stated.
Truth to be told, Jun didn't seek out leader for anything but his own selfish reasons. Ok, it was Arashi work related reasons so it wasn't exactly selfish. But still. He had finished up the 6 hour long discussion with various members of the staff but was still at a loss what to do. The initial planning stages were always the hardest. He had a vision for what the concert should look like. Kind of. Like... A vague vision, a vague idea. And trying to hash out the details was always the hardest. He had to explain the vision to the rest of the staff members, make them see what he sees, bring them on the same page... While at the same time working out all the technical difficulties of whatever he'd envisioned. Reconciling dreams and reality was hard, and he'd come to learn a lot about the technical aspects of creating a production as large as their concert, but there were still a lot of things he was ignorant of. They'd hit a snag when one of the new technologies he thought they'd be able to employ this year was apparently still not ready for prime time. And he'd hoped he could rant to Ohno about it, and maybe come up with some drunkenly good ideas about how to overcome the problem. That, and he was sure Ohno could use some discussion and inspiration to speed up his choreography process too.
Ohno merely hummed in response. Some place where they could talk was good. And he was sure that whichever place Jun picks, the food would be good.
Jun parked the car in a small alleyway beside a row of shophouses.
Ohno chuckled as he caught their reflection in the glass of a closed barber shop. What a contrast. Jun looking like a million bucks in his leather jacket, sunglasses, and sleek black pants - even the mask covering his face could not dull the shine of the idol. On the other hand, Ohno looked like a tired middle aged man who woke up at the wrong time of the night. He was wearing a plain t-shirt, a worn out pair of jeans, and his worn out but comfy dance sneakers. He hadn't even bothered to put on a mask. Who would notice him anyway? When there's a shining MatsuJun around to draw away all air in the surroundings.
He walked a few steps behind Jun, letting the younger man lead the way.
It was a classy Japanese styled ryotei (traditional Japanese restaurant) that Jun had picked. Ohno almost felt out of place (he was certainly under dressed for the occasion.) He'd been to similar fancy places before, but *usually* that happened during TV filming. (He did attempt to go to a classy bar in Ginza with Aiba once over a decade ago, but he ended up getting cold feet halfway and ran off without footing the bill, but that's another story.)
The waitress showed them into a small private room without Jun even have to speak a word.
Ohno wondered how many times Jun had visited the place already.
As if reading his mind, Jun casually remarked as they got seated in the private room.
"I like coming to this restaurant when I want to discuss about work... The walls are pretty... well insulated." Jun said as he waved his hands towards the walls.
Ohno nodded. He was just glad that the room was small and cozy. Much better than the huge 10 person table he found himself at when he went out with Jun some time back.
Working in their industry, especially as a Johnny's, there were many things that had better not be mentioned in pubs or bars where ears were listening everywhere. Not so much of gossips per say, but straightforward things like ideas for their next album or concert. They take their work seriously and didn't like it if all the fans knew what the concert would be like before it even started. Like, where's the fun and surprise right? That's also why they like to vary things a little between the performances in each venue. Improving as they go along and making the concert more enjoyable, and also making things more exciting for fans who attend multiple concert sessions. Sometimes, Ohno liked to pretend that he was some sort of businessman with some company secret to protect, or maybe a baker with a secret bread recipe…
"Oh-chan, what would you like to eat?" Jun asked as he passed Ohno the menu, breaking his train of thoughts.
He settled on an unagi don and asari miso soup in an effort to look classy.
Jun ordered a beef misoyaki and matsutake dobinmushi, and picked out some sake for the both of them. Once again, out classing Ohno in every imaginable way. Ohno cursed inwardly at himself.
They just sat there in silence as they waited for the food to arrive, each man deep in their own thoughts (though Ohno was mostly thinking about how cool Jun was, and how he was not).
It was Jun who first broke the silence.
"So... Do you have any idea what to do with the choreography yet?" A measured and neutral statement.
Jun had long given up on pushing Ohno. As close as things were getting to the deadline... Jun had learned to trust the older man to deliver (that, and to set the deadline earlier). Jun’s nagging had never done any good anyway.
Ohno looked down and picked at the table.
"No..." He finally sighed.
Ohno was tired, exasperated even. He wondered how Jun felt.
"It's... Hard. The songs this time are so... Different. Even my own solo... I don't know what to do...." Ohno muttered.
"What is it supposed to look like? Happy? Deep? Cheeky? What?" Ohno blurted out.
"What is happiness? What kind of happiness are we trying to portray? What kind of feelings are we going with this theme? Is it going to be just fun, or will it be more serious?" Ohno continued.
The waitress came in with their food and they were silent again.
“Oh no! It’s Sho-kun’s NewsZero now!” Ohno exclaimed.
No wonder he’d been having a nagging sensation that he was missing something. Watching the news (and Sho) every Monday night had became a routine already, and he grimaced inwardly for having forgotten that. He looked around the room. Nope, no TV. Why would you have a TV in a ryotei anyway? Ohno sighed.
“Yeah Zero…” Jun sighed.
“What is happiness? Happiness is being the newscaster on Zero every Monday night.” Jun said to himself.
“Uhuh,” Ohno nodded as he picked up his chopsticks.
“Itadakimasu!” They said in unison, more out of habit than of deliberate attempt at synchronisation.
“Umai!” Jun exclaimed as he tasted a piece of beef.
He pour a cup of sake for himself and leader.
“Kanpai!” Cups clinked and Jun downed his sake in one gulp.
Nothing like good sake to end a tough day.
“So… What sort of happiness are we going to talk about?” It was Jun who asked this time.
“One, what is your happiness. Two, what is your dream. Three, who are your real people?” Ohno chanted, imitating Sho’s speech in the concert.
The duo broke out laughing.
“Oh god Ohno, you only had one cup but you’re already drunk!” Jun gasped between laughs.
Ohno was too busy clutching his stomach on the floor laughing to answer.
“No seriously… What kind of idea should we go for the concert?” Jun persisted when they both recovered from the laughing episode.
“Aren’t YOU supposed to be the one who tell us? Producer-san?” Ohno retorted, raising his eyebrows.
“Haven’t we always discussed it together?” Jun shot back.
“Yeah… I guess…? Yeah why haven’t we discussed this together yet?” Ohno questioned.
Jun clucked his tongue in annoyance.
“Well, we did. But you couldn’t make it due to your filming schedule. And because of my filming schedule… In the end only me, Nino, and Aiba were there.” Jun answered.
“Oh! Oh…! That meeting… I see…” Ohno chuckled.
Now that Jun mentioned it he did remember some sort of discussion of that effect that took place on LINE. But as usual, he didn’t pay the chat much attention.
“Like seriously Ohno? How could you have ignored us in chat! This is important! It concerns you since you’re doing choreography right? That, and that you’re a part of Arashi…” Jun voice trailed off as he gave Ohno the killer glare.
Ohno tried to look embarrassed.
“So… What was the conclusion of that meeting?” Ohno asked innocently, ducking instinctively at the whack he knew Jun would be sure to throw.
Jun merely shrugged and snorted.
“Nothing! We couldn’t come up with anything. Not with Aiba suggesting crazy moonshots all the time, and Nino playing DS. I wonder why I even wasted my time with them!” Jun threw his hands up in despair as he downed more sake between mouthfuls of rice.
“Ahhh miso umai wa!” Ohno sighed in bliss as he drank the soup.
“Say, why don’t we get out real people here to help?” Ohno casually remarked.
“Nino and Aiba are free tonight after all and Sho can come after Zero… What time does this place close? They do all nighters here?” Ohno asked.
Jun shrugged.
“It’s a bar ryotei mix after all, that’s why I picked this place. And since there’s no VS filming tomorrow…”
“Uhuh… We can talk all night!” Ohno exclaimed happily as he reached into his waist pouch for his phone.
“If we don’t get drunk first…” Jun muttered.
Crap. His car. Darn. He’ll have to get one of those people to help him drive his car back home then… Or he can cab back and pick up his car tomorrow…
“Ok, I’m texting them…” Ohno muttered as he squinted at his phone display like an 80 year old man.
Geez. He sure types slowly. Jun thought as he waited for Ohno’s message to appear on the group chat.
“To my homies, let’s discuss the concert concept. Junnie where are we? :)”
Jun laughed in spite of himself. He quickly typed out the restaurant name and address into the chat.
Already, he could see Nino and Aiba starting to type out responses. Whatever they would say, he was sure they would show up. Because leader asked. And because they were his ‘real people’, whatever Sho meant by that.
His mind wandered back to year 2000 again, shortly after their debut. When they gathered around at night in the hotel wondering what kind of image they should portray, what kind of idol group they should become… How time flies. 16 years had since passed and they were way past the stage of having to define themselves. He still remembered the conclusion they came to that night. Nothing. They decided on absolutely nothing. But in the end it all worked out anyway. Them just being who they were. Being true to themselves and to their fans. It worked. And perhaps… That was exactly what they should do now.
“You know what… Forget about what is happiness. Happiness is too broad and too big a concept for us to handle. Happiness can be anything to anyone, depending on their circumstances. We don’t know what their happiness is. We’ll never know. But we know what OUR happiness is and let’s just stick with that, because that’s what we know.” Jun said.
“Fishing.”
“Pardon?” Jun asked.
“Fishing. And art. And RC cars and hoverboards maybe,” Ohno continued.
Jun nodded in agreement.
“Yes yes! Exactly that! We can put that in the pamphlet or something.” Jun exclaimed.
Finally, they were getting somewhere.
“How about those doodles, we have those pop doodles or whatever about what we like?” Ohno asked.
“That sounds perfect! Maybe… The embossing too? On the cover.” Jun added to happy nods from Ohno.
“Say, are we going to use the same logo?” Ohno asked, a light bulb going off in his head.
“Probably? I mean, it’s out trademark now right? We can just modify it a little?” Jun answered, tilting his head as he wondered what Ohno has in mind.
Ohno gave a little smirk as he showed Jun a selfie Aiba had sent him sometime back. In it, Aiba held up a mug of beer and had a big foam mustache.
“Eh! Nani! Why didn’t that rascal send me this gosh! Why do you have all the good photos leader!” Jun protested as he doubled over in laughter.
Ohno shrugged.
“Because Mr. Perfect is too stoic to send goofy photos of himself to others and therefore gets none in return?” Ohno smirked.
This time, he earned a big smack on the side of his head.
“Gosh. It’s decided then. Logo-san will have a mustache this time.” Jun declared.
“Where are the others? Are they still coming? They better be here soon or we’d have decided everything already!” Jun gasped as he recovered from the laughing.
The night was turning out to be a good one.
“Well, we should get everyone to write down what makes them happy, and get the rest to contribute too.” Ohno suggested.
“Sounds good…” Jun agreed.
“And I’m going to nominate ‘bonsai’ for you J!” Ohno happily cut Jun off.
“What? Bonsai? Why that!” Jun protested.
“Because you’ve been going bonsai this bonsai that day in and day out in the greenroom. Stop denying your feelings for that little potted plant!” Ohno teased.
“Geez whatever you say captain!” Jun laughed.
Ohno was too busy laughing to grace Jun with a reply.
Their concert was going to turn out just fine.
Pairing: Juntoshi
Rating: G, PG for language
Length: ~3.3k words
Author: Biohazard Geeky Nutcracker coolohoh
Beta: jheili
Summary: Ohno and Jun were having trouble with the concert planning and choreography. Thankfully, they have each other to rely on.
A/N: Written for the 2016 fishing_mj fic exchange. I hope you like this Junmai! You asked for Arashi friendship, and this is what I came up with! :P
Ohno stared blankly into the mirror.
His reflection stared blankly at him.
Behind him, the stereo was blasting songs from their latest album. Suddenly, the songs felt too noisy.
Are you happy?
"No, I'm not!" Ohno huffed.
He was almost tempted to smash something into the mirrors - the speakers perhaps. He was not fucking happy and being pissed off was not helpful in terms of getting inspiration for the choreography.
"Calm down, Ohno, calm down," he thought to himself.
He's a veteran now, at choreography. For Arashi that is. He can either choreograph for 5 people, or for 1 (i.e., himself). Nothing more, nothing less. It all started in... 2012 perhaps? Arafes was it? Or Popcorn? When he started doing a lot of choreography. Either way, he was an old experienced man and coming up with a few dance moves shouldn't be a problem for him. Or maybe that was precisely the problem. That he was getting old. He recalled the time he choreographed his solo in just 20 minutes on a train ride home. Now that was fast...
What should he do? He remembered the time that he skated a few hundred rounds around the studio till he got tired and went home. Or when he fell asleep on the sofa and got woken up because he thought up the choreography of Super Fresh. But there was no sofa in the dance studio (duh!) and the roller blades were gone too.
"Mou!" Ohno groaned as he turned the music off. He sat on the floor as he yawned sleepily. Maybe he should take a nap... Who knows, maybe he might just get inspiration from sleeping... He grabbed his waist pouch and used it as a pillow…
The next thing that Ohno was aware of, was that the ground was vibrating.
Buzzzzzzz.
Ohno tried to go back to sleep but the vibrating wouldn't stop. He finally rubbed his eyes and rolled over to investigate the cause of the earthquake.
His phone flashed and buzzed like an angry bee when it was finally released from the trappings of his pouch.
Ohno was greeted by a picture of a sleepy, ‘I-need-my-morning-coffee’ Jun. He smiled in spite of his own sleepiness. The perks of being in Arashi - you get first dibs at taking the most unglamourous shots of Arashi.
“Moshi moshi,” Ohno’s voice crackled into the phone.
“Ohno-kun, where are you? Are you still in the studio? How is the choreography coming along?” Jun’s voice floated in over the phone, firing one question right after another.
Choreography. Hearing the word made Ohno feel like weeping. The deadline drew closer by the second and yet he still had nothing. Jun needed to know what the dance would look like so he could plan out the lighting… The costumes had to be designed and made… Back dancers had to be gathered and trained. Of course, Arashi needed to learn the choreography too. Thank goodness they were fast learners.
“Ehhh… Erm… Yeah I’m in the studio…” Ohno stammered.
He felt like a kid once more, being questioned by the teacher as to the reason for not having finished his homework.
“I just finished a meeting with the staff… Let’s go for dinner?” Jun asked.
"Uhuh…” Ohno hummed after much hesitation.
As much as he was scared of stoic Jun, speaking with Jun actually helped him a lot last year when choreographing songs for their Japonism concert. And considering the dire situation he was in, he’d be needing all the help he could possibly get. Also, his stomach decided to start growling at the mention of food so…
“What time is it anyway?” Ohno blurted his thoughts out loud.
“It’s 10:30 pm already…”
“...”
“You fell asleep in the studio again didn’t you?” Jun finally said with a sigh.
"Can't you even look after yourself without your manger?" Jun continued, raising his eyebrows with a frown.
Ohno’s face flushed red with embarrassment. He was so glad Jun wasn’t around to see him except…
The door of the dance studio creaked open and said man stepped in.
“Geez ridda! Can’t you like… Go home to sleep or something? Sleeping on the floor is not good for you! What if you catch a cold! Have you even had dinner?” Jun clucked his tongue in annoyance.
Good question. Dinner…. He had a really late lunch and decided to have dinner later. Then he fell asleep.
Ohno shook his head, embarrassed.
“Have YOU had dinner?” Ohno turned the question around at Jun.
It was Jun’s turn to blush.
“Well... I was busy!" Jun protested.
"Well, I was busy too!" Ohno retorted as he broke out into a cheeky smile.
Jun rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, you were busy sleeping… How did it go? Ah forget it, you probably didn't come up with anything and therefore ended up sleeping right? Come on, let’s go. I know a nice place to eat.” Jun said as he swung his bag over his shoulders and headed towards to the studio door, leaving Ohno to scramble to his feet and pack his belongings.
"So... Are we going to one of the mysterious bars where all the artists and idols go to?" Ohno finally spoke.
He was riding shotgun beside Jun, and it certainly felt weird. Despite Arashi’s close relationships, they don't actually bug each other all that much in their private lives. Personal space (both time wise and physically) outside of work was well respected within Arashi, and Jun in particular hated having his private space violated. In fact, after all their years as members, this was probably Ohno's first time in Jun's car. And he'd have to thank his manager's family emergency (and Jun's surrogate mother tendencies) for that.
Jun narrowed his eyes thoughtfully for a moment before replying.
"We can go there if you want... But I thought somewhere quieter and more private would be nice... So you know... We can talk...? About... The concert?" Jun stated.
Truth to be told, Jun didn't seek out leader for anything but his own selfish reasons. Ok, it was Arashi work related reasons so it wasn't exactly selfish. But still. He had finished up the 6 hour long discussion with various members of the staff but was still at a loss what to do. The initial planning stages were always the hardest. He had a vision for what the concert should look like. Kind of. Like... A vague vision, a vague idea. And trying to hash out the details was always the hardest. He had to explain the vision to the rest of the staff members, make them see what he sees, bring them on the same page... While at the same time working out all the technical difficulties of whatever he'd envisioned. Reconciling dreams and reality was hard, and he'd come to learn a lot about the technical aspects of creating a production as large as their concert, but there were still a lot of things he was ignorant of. They'd hit a snag when one of the new technologies he thought they'd be able to employ this year was apparently still not ready for prime time. And he'd hoped he could rant to Ohno about it, and maybe come up with some drunkenly good ideas about how to overcome the problem. That, and he was sure Ohno could use some discussion and inspiration to speed up his choreography process too.
Ohno merely hummed in response. Some place where they could talk was good. And he was sure that whichever place Jun picks, the food would be good.
Jun parked the car in a small alleyway beside a row of shophouses.
Ohno chuckled as he caught their reflection in the glass of a closed barber shop. What a contrast. Jun looking like a million bucks in his leather jacket, sunglasses, and sleek black pants - even the mask covering his face could not dull the shine of the idol. On the other hand, Ohno looked like a tired middle aged man who woke up at the wrong time of the night. He was wearing a plain t-shirt, a worn out pair of jeans, and his worn out but comfy dance sneakers. He hadn't even bothered to put on a mask. Who would notice him anyway? When there's a shining MatsuJun around to draw away all air in the surroundings.
He walked a few steps behind Jun, letting the younger man lead the way.
It was a classy Japanese styled ryotei (traditional Japanese restaurant) that Jun had picked. Ohno almost felt out of place (he was certainly under dressed for the occasion.) He'd been to similar fancy places before, but *usually* that happened during TV filming. (He did attempt to go to a classy bar in Ginza with Aiba once over a decade ago, but he ended up getting cold feet halfway and ran off without footing the bill, but that's another story.)
The waitress showed them into a small private room without Jun even have to speak a word.
Ohno wondered how many times Jun had visited the place already.
As if reading his mind, Jun casually remarked as they got seated in the private room.
"I like coming to this restaurant when I want to discuss about work... The walls are pretty... well insulated." Jun said as he waved his hands towards the walls.
Ohno nodded. He was just glad that the room was small and cozy. Much better than the huge 10 person table he found himself at when he went out with Jun some time back.
Working in their industry, especially as a Johnny's, there were many things that had better not be mentioned in pubs or bars where ears were listening everywhere. Not so much of gossips per say, but straightforward things like ideas for their next album or concert. They take their work seriously and didn't like it if all the fans knew what the concert would be like before it even started. Like, where's the fun and surprise right? That's also why they like to vary things a little between the performances in each venue. Improving as they go along and making the concert more enjoyable, and also making things more exciting for fans who attend multiple concert sessions. Sometimes, Ohno liked to pretend that he was some sort of businessman with some company secret to protect, or maybe a baker with a secret bread recipe…
"Oh-chan, what would you like to eat?" Jun asked as he passed Ohno the menu, breaking his train of thoughts.
He settled on an unagi don and asari miso soup in an effort to look classy.
Jun ordered a beef misoyaki and matsutake dobinmushi, and picked out some sake for the both of them. Once again, out classing Ohno in every imaginable way. Ohno cursed inwardly at himself.
They just sat there in silence as they waited for the food to arrive, each man deep in their own thoughts (though Ohno was mostly thinking about how cool Jun was, and how he was not).
It was Jun who first broke the silence.
"So... Do you have any idea what to do with the choreography yet?" A measured and neutral statement.
Jun had long given up on pushing Ohno. As close as things were getting to the deadline... Jun had learned to trust the older man to deliver (that, and to set the deadline earlier). Jun’s nagging had never done any good anyway.
Ohno looked down and picked at the table.
"No..." He finally sighed.
Ohno was tired, exasperated even. He wondered how Jun felt.
"It's... Hard. The songs this time are so... Different. Even my own solo... I don't know what to do...." Ohno muttered.
"What is it supposed to look like? Happy? Deep? Cheeky? What?" Ohno blurted out.
"What is happiness? What kind of happiness are we trying to portray? What kind of feelings are we going with this theme? Is it going to be just fun, or will it be more serious?" Ohno continued.
The waitress came in with their food and they were silent again.
“Oh no! It’s Sho-kun’s NewsZero now!” Ohno exclaimed.
No wonder he’d been having a nagging sensation that he was missing something. Watching the news (and Sho) every Monday night had became a routine already, and he grimaced inwardly for having forgotten that. He looked around the room. Nope, no TV. Why would you have a TV in a ryotei anyway? Ohno sighed.
“Yeah Zero…” Jun sighed.
“What is happiness? Happiness is being the newscaster on Zero every Monday night.” Jun said to himself.
“Uhuh,” Ohno nodded as he picked up his chopsticks.
“Itadakimasu!” They said in unison, more out of habit than of deliberate attempt at synchronisation.
“Umai!” Jun exclaimed as he tasted a piece of beef.
He pour a cup of sake for himself and leader.
“Kanpai!” Cups clinked and Jun downed his sake in one gulp.
Nothing like good sake to end a tough day.
“So… What sort of happiness are we going to talk about?” It was Jun who asked this time.
“One, what is your happiness. Two, what is your dream. Three, who are your real people?” Ohno chanted, imitating Sho’s speech in the concert.
The duo broke out laughing.
“Oh god Ohno, you only had one cup but you’re already drunk!” Jun gasped between laughs.
Ohno was too busy clutching his stomach on the floor laughing to answer.
“No seriously… What kind of idea should we go for the concert?” Jun persisted when they both recovered from the laughing episode.
“Aren’t YOU supposed to be the one who tell us? Producer-san?” Ohno retorted, raising his eyebrows.
“Haven’t we always discussed it together?” Jun shot back.
“Yeah… I guess…? Yeah why haven’t we discussed this together yet?” Ohno questioned.
Jun clucked his tongue in annoyance.
“Well, we did. But you couldn’t make it due to your filming schedule. And because of my filming schedule… In the end only me, Nino, and Aiba were there.” Jun answered.
“Oh! Oh…! That meeting… I see…” Ohno chuckled.
Now that Jun mentioned it he did remember some sort of discussion of that effect that took place on LINE. But as usual, he didn’t pay the chat much attention.
“Like seriously Ohno? How could you have ignored us in chat! This is important! It concerns you since you’re doing choreography right? That, and that you’re a part of Arashi…” Jun voice trailed off as he gave Ohno the killer glare.
Ohno tried to look embarrassed.
“So… What was the conclusion of that meeting?” Ohno asked innocently, ducking instinctively at the whack he knew Jun would be sure to throw.
Jun merely shrugged and snorted.
“Nothing! We couldn’t come up with anything. Not with Aiba suggesting crazy moonshots all the time, and Nino playing DS. I wonder why I even wasted my time with them!” Jun threw his hands up in despair as he downed more sake between mouthfuls of rice.
“Ahhh miso umai wa!” Ohno sighed in bliss as he drank the soup.
“Say, why don’t we get out real people here to help?” Ohno casually remarked.
“Nino and Aiba are free tonight after all and Sho can come after Zero… What time does this place close? They do all nighters here?” Ohno asked.
Jun shrugged.
“It’s a bar ryotei mix after all, that’s why I picked this place. And since there’s no VS filming tomorrow…”
“Uhuh… We can talk all night!” Ohno exclaimed happily as he reached into his waist pouch for his phone.
“If we don’t get drunk first…” Jun muttered.
Crap. His car. Darn. He’ll have to get one of those people to help him drive his car back home then… Or he can cab back and pick up his car tomorrow…
“Ok, I’m texting them…” Ohno muttered as he squinted at his phone display like an 80 year old man.
Geez. He sure types slowly. Jun thought as he waited for Ohno’s message to appear on the group chat.
“To my homies, let’s discuss the concert concept. Junnie where are we? :)”
Jun laughed in spite of himself. He quickly typed out the restaurant name and address into the chat.
Already, he could see Nino and Aiba starting to type out responses. Whatever they would say, he was sure they would show up. Because leader asked. And because they were his ‘real people’, whatever Sho meant by that.
His mind wandered back to year 2000 again, shortly after their debut. When they gathered around at night in the hotel wondering what kind of image they should portray, what kind of idol group they should become… How time flies. 16 years had since passed and they were way past the stage of having to define themselves. He still remembered the conclusion they came to that night. Nothing. They decided on absolutely nothing. But in the end it all worked out anyway. Them just being who they were. Being true to themselves and to their fans. It worked. And perhaps… That was exactly what they should do now.
“You know what… Forget about what is happiness. Happiness is too broad and too big a concept for us to handle. Happiness can be anything to anyone, depending on their circumstances. We don’t know what their happiness is. We’ll never know. But we know what OUR happiness is and let’s just stick with that, because that’s what we know.” Jun said.
“Fishing.”
“Pardon?” Jun asked.
“Fishing. And art. And RC cars and hoverboards maybe,” Ohno continued.
Jun nodded in agreement.
“Yes yes! Exactly that! We can put that in the pamphlet or something.” Jun exclaimed.
Finally, they were getting somewhere.
“How about those doodles, we have those pop doodles or whatever about what we like?” Ohno asked.
“That sounds perfect! Maybe… The embossing too? On the cover.” Jun added to happy nods from Ohno.
“Say, are we going to use the same logo?” Ohno asked, a light bulb going off in his head.
“Probably? I mean, it’s out trademark now right? We can just modify it a little?” Jun answered, tilting his head as he wondered what Ohno has in mind.
Ohno gave a little smirk as he showed Jun a selfie Aiba had sent him sometime back. In it, Aiba held up a mug of beer and had a big foam mustache.
“Eh! Nani! Why didn’t that rascal send me this gosh! Why do you have all the good photos leader!” Jun protested as he doubled over in laughter.
Ohno shrugged.
“Because Mr. Perfect is too stoic to send goofy photos of himself to others and therefore gets none in return?” Ohno smirked.
This time, he earned a big smack on the side of his head.
“Gosh. It’s decided then. Logo-san will have a mustache this time.” Jun declared.
“Where are the others? Are they still coming? They better be here soon or we’d have decided everything already!” Jun gasped as he recovered from the laughing.
The night was turning out to be a good one.
“Well, we should get everyone to write down what makes them happy, and get the rest to contribute too.” Ohno suggested.
“Sounds good…” Jun agreed.
“And I’m going to nominate ‘bonsai’ for you J!” Ohno happily cut Jun off.
“What? Bonsai? Why that!” Jun protested.
“Because you’ve been going bonsai this bonsai that day in and day out in the greenroom. Stop denying your feelings for that little potted plant!” Ohno teased.
“Geez whatever you say captain!” Jun laughed.
Ohno was too busy laughing to grace Jun with a reply.
Their concert was going to turn out just fine.