Three Hours, Twenty Minutes and Ten Seconds [RPS; SaiAi, ShiroAi]
title: Three Hours, Twenty Minutes and Ten Seconds
author: yumeyana
fandom: musical tennis no oujisama
characters: saitoh takumi, aiba hiroki, shirota yuu
rating/genre: PG / humor ...and a little drama?
summary: Happiness is not always long-lived. Sometimes, the happiest of moments can happen in a mere few hours. Just ask Saitoh.
[crossposted at tenimyu_slash, saitouxaiba, shirotaxaiba.]
Author’s Notes: The moment I woke up yesterday, Reeza and I had an agreement that we would somehow come up with a Valentine’s special. I didn’t think I would be able to write one since my muse has gone on vacation and I was concentrating on my thesis. But because of a sudden twist of Fate, I found myself face to face with inspiration. That’s why most of the events written below are true.
Belated Happy Heart’s, minna-san~!
Disclaimers: Aiba Hiroki, Saitoh Takumi and Shirota Yuu do not belong to me. They are real people and they have their own lives. The events below, though real, did not in any way happen to them.
Dedication: To you who inspires me and makes me happy. Even for just a few hours.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Three hours, twenty minutes and ten seconds
“Gah! I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!”
Saitoh Takumi laughed, not even bothering to hide his amusement. Nothing was really new with his companion’s statement; he was always hungry and always had the appetite of at least ten people. And by ten people, the Oshitari actor meant ten fully grown men.
“You’re not worming your way into a free dinner, y’know.”
A pout formed in Aiba Hiroki’s lips. It wasn’t that he was expecting a free dinner or anything. No one liked treating him out because of his humongous appetite. Well, no one except Saitoh who reluctantly folded when it came to Aiba’s pleading smiles. He never took advantage of it but the older actor always ended up paying for their food. And despite all his protests, free food was something Aiba never said ‘no’ to.
But tonight was different.
The Fuji actor grinned. “Not tonight, Takumi-kun. Dinner’s on me.”
Saitoh raised an eyebrow, unable to believe what he had just heard. “On you? Are you sure, Aiba-kun?”
“Yup!”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Anything you wanna eat.”
“Aside from horses?”
Aiba stuck his tongue out, making Saitoh grin widely at the childish gesture. He rolled his eyes. He was sure he was with the Oshitari actor and not with Amane’s actor. Jokes like that weren’t supposed to be present in this company. But he would let this one slide.
“Yes, aside from horses,” he said. “So, what do you say, Takumi-kun?”
Saitoh slung an arm across the young actor’s shoulders. “I’d say, I’m in the mood for some pizza.”
Aiba grinned. “Then pizza it is.”
&
True to his reputation, Aiba had ordered one eighteen inch pizza, two chicken pasta plates for both of them, plus one glass of water for the Oshitari actor and a large soda for himself. Saitoh let him do the ordering since he was the one treating the other to dinner and was not really surprised when he found out that the main ingredient for tonight’s dinner was chicken.
“Soda?” Saitoh asked, looking pointedly at Aiba’s drink.
The younger one shrugged. “They didn’t have Tahitian Noni Juice.”
“Oh.”
If this scene played before the Sukitomo taping, Saitoh knew that he would’ve sweat dropped and perhaps even toppled over the way anime characters did whenever something weird happened. But for him, Aiba’s choice of beverage wasn’t as unusual as it might seem to be for someone who didn’t know the young dancer.
“Itadakimasu!”
Aiba sneaked a peek at Saitoh as the latter finished his second slice of pizza. Ok, so his intentions weren’t entirely altruistic when he said he would treat his sempai to dinner. He really wanted to do something to thank Saitoh for always guiding him and treating him out for lunch or dinner but this dinner right now wasn’t it.
“So, what’s the catch?’
The dancer cringed. Trust Saitoh to see through his cover right away. Aiba smiled nervously; previous experiences with his sempai had taught him that when he was caught, all he could do was wave the white flag. Denying wasn’t going to get him anywhere.
“Hehe… Can you go shopping with me?”
“Shopping? Whatever for?”
Aiba brought out his sweetest smile. He would need more than his usual charm for this favor.
&
Saitoh wanted to roll his eyes, let the tired sigh slip from his lips, and just bury his face in his hands.
Damn Aiba and his smile, he thought.
It had been, he checked his watch, exactly an hour since they started shopping. They had gone from one store to the other, searching for something - in Saitoh’s opinion - that was most probably impossible to find.
“What do you think, Takumi-kun: The orange one or the purple one?”
Any normal person would’ve picked neither, he wanted to reply. Oh, scratch normal. Make it sane. Any sane person would never even think of picking from the two.
But then again, who said that the Aiba in front of him was sane?
“Well, I think Shirota-kun would more likely prefer the orange one.”
Aiba blinked, still a little doubtful. “Hm. He does like funky colors, ne?”
Saitoh nodded almost absently. They’ve been doing this for an hour - picking the most insane colored shirts, pants, underwear - from the throng of decent ones. Picking something unstylish was a tough job for people who had a sense of style.
Someone please remind him of the reason why he agreed to do this job?
“Getting bored, Takumi-kun?” Aiba asked, a small nervous smile on his lips.
Saitoh almost glared at himself. Fine. One question answered.
He shook his head, a small smile escaping his lips. “Don’t worry, Aiba-kun. I’m not.”
“But-”
The Oshitari actor patted his back. “I clean my nails when I get bored,” he whispered to the younger one.
Aiba laughed - more like giggled but Saitoh would never say that - the nervousness now out of his system. The older actor was thankful that neither Katoh nor Kamakari was here to roll their eyes. Those two could smell a façade a mile away.
Not that he was bored, really. He was actually having fun watching Aiba get so spazzy about finding the right gift for Shirota. He rarely saw Aiba this spazztic and vigilant about something that was not in any way connected to food.
But of course, there were other more fun ways of watching a spazzy Aiba. Ways that didn’t involve weird-colored mobile phones and Shirota.
“Why are you buying him a gift again?”
“I told you, Takumi-kun. I feel guilty about being too busy and neglecting him.” Aiba turned to him, setting the two hideously designed mobile phones in front of him. “So, I’m going for the orange one?”
“And why are we buying him a mobile phone? Doesn’t he have one already?”
“He does. But somehow he always manages to lose it or break it. And it thought that if I bought him one, well…” Aiba quickly turned away but not so fast that Saitoh didn’t catch that blush on his cheeks.
Even without asking Aiba to continue his statement, he understood. If Aiba bought him a phone, the ever-so-clumsy Shirota would treasure it and never let it out of his sight. It would suddenly be the most important thing in the world.
He watched Aiba pay for the mobile phone, a little happier than he was before they saw it. Could you wrap it, Aiba asked. If this was a normal day, Saitoh thought, the lady wouldn’t probably do so. Last time he checked these kinds of stores didn’t do gift wrapping. But the lady smiled at told Aiba that he was in luck. She disappeared for a minute and came back with wrapping paper.
Aiba smiled. The lady blushed.
Saitoh wanted to roll his eyes.
&
“So Takuya’s coming over your house tomorrow?”
“Yup.”
“And that is what the cake is for?”
Saitoh smiled. “You know how much he loves sweets, don’t you?”
Aiba laughed. “I haven’t forgotten.”
They were walking towards the train station where Aiba would meet with Shirota. After wasting thirty minutes with an obviously flirting lady in the mobile phone store, Saitoh asked if they could pass by a cake shop. Takuya wasn’t originally going to his house tomorrow but, the older actor checked his mobile phone, now he was.
He needed someone to talk to and Katoh wouldn’t permit his darling Takuya to get out of the house this late an hour. Tomorrow would be just fine.
“Aiba-chan!!”
Aiba cringed at the sound of his name being called so affectionately and loudly. He glared at Shirota’s direction, making sure that his sharp eyes were enough to tell the former Tezuka actor that he would get a beating later.
But still, Shirota waved at them enthusiastically.
“He’s pretty happy, ne?” Saitoh said, waving back at his former co-actor.
“Too happy, I’d say.” Aiba shook his head, trying to ignore the loud one a few meters away from him. If Shirota shouted his name like that one more time, he’d consider changing it already. Really, didn’t Shirota remember that they were supposed to be as discreet as possible?
“Aiba-chan! The train’s leaving!”
Aiba sighed. Of course, he didn’t.
“Aiba-kun, lover boy’s waiting.”
The Fuji actor shook his head. “Ja, see you next week, Takumi-kun?”
“Aa. Next week it is.”
“AIBA-CHAAAANNN!!!”
“BAKA! STOP SHOUTING!”
“Eh? But you’re the one shouting.”
Aiba smiled apologetically at Saitoh then gave his sempai a slight bow before running towards Shirota’s open arms. He watched the Fuji actor narrowly miss the crushing hug, punching him while shouting at him for being a stupid nutcase. The girls who saw them giggled, the others laughed because all of them understood what was happening without anyone explaining.
As did Saitoh of course.
He walked away, clutching the boxed cake closer to him. Sometimes, he thought, he hated being so perceptive. There were times he wanted to be as innocent as Date was - never even getting the slightest hint that Kamakari was already making a move on him. He wanted to be that blind so that he could ignore the scene just now and say that Shirota and Aiba were just really close friends.
Blind enough to think that he had a chance to be with Aiba.
But he wasn’t.
He took glanced at the departing train, smiling to himself. Yet for at least a few hours, he pretended to be blind. He walked with Aiba, ate with Aiba, shopped with Aiba. They spent time together as if they were dating. As if there were no hideously designed mobile phones, shirts and pants; no eagerly waving Shirota at the train station.
For at least a few hours, it was only them: Saitoh and Aiba.
For at least a few hours, Aiba was his.
For at least a few hours.
.owari
15Feb07
11:13a
author: yumeyana
fandom: musical tennis no oujisama
characters: saitoh takumi, aiba hiroki, shirota yuu
rating/genre: PG / humor ...and a little drama?
summary: Happiness is not always long-lived. Sometimes, the happiest of moments can happen in a mere few hours. Just ask Saitoh.
[crossposted at tenimyu_slash, saitouxaiba, shirotaxaiba.]
Author’s Notes: The moment I woke up yesterday, Reeza and I had an agreement that we would somehow come up with a Valentine’s special. I didn’t think I would be able to write one since my muse has gone on vacation and I was concentrating on my thesis. But because of a sudden twist of Fate, I found myself face to face with inspiration. That’s why most of the events written below are true.
Belated Happy Heart’s, minna-san~!
Disclaimers: Aiba Hiroki, Saitoh Takumi and Shirota Yuu do not belong to me. They are real people and they have their own lives. The events below, though real, did not in any way happen to them.
Dedication: To you who inspires me and makes me happy. Even for just a few hours.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Three hours, twenty minutes and ten seconds
“Gah! I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!”
Saitoh Takumi laughed, not even bothering to hide his amusement. Nothing was really new with his companion’s statement; he was always hungry and always had the appetite of at least ten people. And by ten people, the Oshitari actor meant ten fully grown men.
“You’re not worming your way into a free dinner, y’know.”
A pout formed in Aiba Hiroki’s lips. It wasn’t that he was expecting a free dinner or anything. No one liked treating him out because of his humongous appetite. Well, no one except Saitoh who reluctantly folded when it came to Aiba’s pleading smiles. He never took advantage of it but the older actor always ended up paying for their food. And despite all his protests, free food was something Aiba never said ‘no’ to.
But tonight was different.
The Fuji actor grinned. “Not tonight, Takumi-kun. Dinner’s on me.”
Saitoh raised an eyebrow, unable to believe what he had just heard. “On you? Are you sure, Aiba-kun?”
“Yup!”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Anything you wanna eat.”
“Aside from horses?”
Aiba stuck his tongue out, making Saitoh grin widely at the childish gesture. He rolled his eyes. He was sure he was with the Oshitari actor and not with Amane’s actor. Jokes like that weren’t supposed to be present in this company. But he would let this one slide.
“Yes, aside from horses,” he said. “So, what do you say, Takumi-kun?”
Saitoh slung an arm across the young actor’s shoulders. “I’d say, I’m in the mood for some pizza.”
Aiba grinned. “Then pizza it is.”
&
True to his reputation, Aiba had ordered one eighteen inch pizza, two chicken pasta plates for both of them, plus one glass of water for the Oshitari actor and a large soda for himself. Saitoh let him do the ordering since he was the one treating the other to dinner and was not really surprised when he found out that the main ingredient for tonight’s dinner was chicken.
“Soda?” Saitoh asked, looking pointedly at Aiba’s drink.
The younger one shrugged. “They didn’t have Tahitian Noni Juice.”
“Oh.”
If this scene played before the Sukitomo taping, Saitoh knew that he would’ve sweat dropped and perhaps even toppled over the way anime characters did whenever something weird happened. But for him, Aiba’s choice of beverage wasn’t as unusual as it might seem to be for someone who didn’t know the young dancer.
“Itadakimasu!”
Aiba sneaked a peek at Saitoh as the latter finished his second slice of pizza. Ok, so his intentions weren’t entirely altruistic when he said he would treat his sempai to dinner. He really wanted to do something to thank Saitoh for always guiding him and treating him out for lunch or dinner but this dinner right now wasn’t it.
“So, what’s the catch?’
The dancer cringed. Trust Saitoh to see through his cover right away. Aiba smiled nervously; previous experiences with his sempai had taught him that when he was caught, all he could do was wave the white flag. Denying wasn’t going to get him anywhere.
“Hehe… Can you go shopping with me?”
“Shopping? Whatever for?”
Aiba brought out his sweetest smile. He would need more than his usual charm for this favor.
&
Saitoh wanted to roll his eyes, let the tired sigh slip from his lips, and just bury his face in his hands.
Damn Aiba and his smile, he thought.
It had been, he checked his watch, exactly an hour since they started shopping. They had gone from one store to the other, searching for something - in Saitoh’s opinion - that was most probably impossible to find.
“What do you think, Takumi-kun: The orange one or the purple one?”
Any normal person would’ve picked neither, he wanted to reply. Oh, scratch normal. Make it sane. Any sane person would never even think of picking from the two.
But then again, who said that the Aiba in front of him was sane?
“Well, I think Shirota-kun would more likely prefer the orange one.”
Aiba blinked, still a little doubtful. “Hm. He does like funky colors, ne?”
Saitoh nodded almost absently. They’ve been doing this for an hour - picking the most insane colored shirts, pants, underwear - from the throng of decent ones. Picking something unstylish was a tough job for people who had a sense of style.
Someone please remind him of the reason why he agreed to do this job?
“Getting bored, Takumi-kun?” Aiba asked, a small nervous smile on his lips.
Saitoh almost glared at himself. Fine. One question answered.
He shook his head, a small smile escaping his lips. “Don’t worry, Aiba-kun. I’m not.”
“But-”
The Oshitari actor patted his back. “I clean my nails when I get bored,” he whispered to the younger one.
Aiba laughed - more like giggled but Saitoh would never say that - the nervousness now out of his system. The older actor was thankful that neither Katoh nor Kamakari was here to roll their eyes. Those two could smell a façade a mile away.
Not that he was bored, really. He was actually having fun watching Aiba get so spazzy about finding the right gift for Shirota. He rarely saw Aiba this spazztic and vigilant about something that was not in any way connected to food.
But of course, there were other more fun ways of watching a spazzy Aiba. Ways that didn’t involve weird-colored mobile phones and Shirota.
“Why are you buying him a gift again?”
“I told you, Takumi-kun. I feel guilty about being too busy and neglecting him.” Aiba turned to him, setting the two hideously designed mobile phones in front of him. “So, I’m going for the orange one?”
“And why are we buying him a mobile phone? Doesn’t he have one already?”
“He does. But somehow he always manages to lose it or break it. And it thought that if I bought him one, well…” Aiba quickly turned away but not so fast that Saitoh didn’t catch that blush on his cheeks.
Even without asking Aiba to continue his statement, he understood. If Aiba bought him a phone, the ever-so-clumsy Shirota would treasure it and never let it out of his sight. It would suddenly be the most important thing in the world.
He watched Aiba pay for the mobile phone, a little happier than he was before they saw it. Could you wrap it, Aiba asked. If this was a normal day, Saitoh thought, the lady wouldn’t probably do so. Last time he checked these kinds of stores didn’t do gift wrapping. But the lady smiled at told Aiba that he was in luck. She disappeared for a minute and came back with wrapping paper.
Aiba smiled. The lady blushed.
Saitoh wanted to roll his eyes.
&
“So Takuya’s coming over your house tomorrow?”
“Yup.”
“And that is what the cake is for?”
Saitoh smiled. “You know how much he loves sweets, don’t you?”
Aiba laughed. “I haven’t forgotten.”
They were walking towards the train station where Aiba would meet with Shirota. After wasting thirty minutes with an obviously flirting lady in the mobile phone store, Saitoh asked if they could pass by a cake shop. Takuya wasn’t originally going to his house tomorrow but, the older actor checked his mobile phone, now he was.
He needed someone to talk to and Katoh wouldn’t permit his darling Takuya to get out of the house this late an hour. Tomorrow would be just fine.
“Aiba-chan!!”
Aiba cringed at the sound of his name being called so affectionately and loudly. He glared at Shirota’s direction, making sure that his sharp eyes were enough to tell the former Tezuka actor that he would get a beating later.
But still, Shirota waved at them enthusiastically.
“He’s pretty happy, ne?” Saitoh said, waving back at his former co-actor.
“Too happy, I’d say.” Aiba shook his head, trying to ignore the loud one a few meters away from him. If Shirota shouted his name like that one more time, he’d consider changing it already. Really, didn’t Shirota remember that they were supposed to be as discreet as possible?
“Aiba-chan! The train’s leaving!”
Aiba sighed. Of course, he didn’t.
“Aiba-kun, lover boy’s waiting.”
The Fuji actor shook his head. “Ja, see you next week, Takumi-kun?”
“Aa. Next week it is.”
“AIBA-CHAAAANNN!!!”
“BAKA! STOP SHOUTING!”
“Eh? But you’re the one shouting.”
Aiba smiled apologetically at Saitoh then gave his sempai a slight bow before running towards Shirota’s open arms. He watched the Fuji actor narrowly miss the crushing hug, punching him while shouting at him for being a stupid nutcase. The girls who saw them giggled, the others laughed because all of them understood what was happening without anyone explaining.
As did Saitoh of course.
He walked away, clutching the boxed cake closer to him. Sometimes, he thought, he hated being so perceptive. There were times he wanted to be as innocent as Date was - never even getting the slightest hint that Kamakari was already making a move on him. He wanted to be that blind so that he could ignore the scene just now and say that Shirota and Aiba were just really close friends.
Blind enough to think that he had a chance to be with Aiba.
But he wasn’t.
He took glanced at the departing train, smiling to himself. Yet for at least a few hours, he pretended to be blind. He walked with Aiba, ate with Aiba, shopped with Aiba. They spent time together as if they were dating. As if there were no hideously designed mobile phones, shirts and pants; no eagerly waving Shirota at the train station.
For at least a few hours, it was only them: Saitoh and Aiba.
For at least a few hours, Aiba was his.
For at least a few hours.
.owari
15Feb07
11:13a