[Masuda] To The Beat of a Heart
To the Beat of a Heart
Masuda Takahisa (NEWS)
1061 words
Author’s note: massu-thon prompt #2 pocketful of sunshine. Un-betaed
To the Beat of a Heart
by rin
It’s a long slow beautiful dance
To the beat of a heart
- Long Slow Beautiful Dance / Rascal Flatts
When Takahisa was born, his sister hated him. Everyone else loved him- from their parents to the neighbours and even strangers in the street. Takahisa was a beautiful baby, and their grandmother used to say he would break hearts when he grew older.
In their early childhood days, all her memories of Takahisa were of him being pampered by their relatives. It made her feel unwanted/unloved- as though she was the accident that happened before the perfect child came along.
Until one day she dared Takahisa to go to the park one train station away and stay there for the whole night- and he really did not come home.
Crying, she confessed to her parents, who got into a taxi and drove to the park immediately to find Takahisa hidden in the jungle gym, armed with a bun and juice box he had saved from lunch, a blanket he had stolen out of the house and his father’s good flashlight.
“Takahisa!” their mother exclaimed, as their father pulled him out of the jungle gym and checked him for any injuries. “Are you all right?”
He looked put out. Pouting and crossing his arms over his chest, he said, “I was having an adventure!”
Their parents laughed, and she was never punished for daring him to stay away from home. The two children giggled and whispered to each other in the car on the way home and suddenly, they were best friends, and she figured out the best advantage of having him around was using him whenever mother was angry- shove Takahisa into the picture and everything would be forgiven.
Once, when she was in high school, she invited a friend over to dinner and after they went up to her room, her friend asked her if she could have Takahisa’s picture.
“Ehh? Why would you want his picture for?” she exclaimed.
“Ne, haven’t you even thought your little brother is really cute?” her friend grinned.
“Ehhhhh…” she frowned, thinking about his penchant to cry whenever he did not get what he wanted and how he was always a wimp in front of dogs (albeit it’s not his fault, a dog did bite him before) and shook her head. “No, I don’t think he’s cute.”
“Anyway,” her friend waved her arms in the air, knowing she would not understand. “Just give me his picture? One where he’s smiling, ne? Please? Please???”
“All right, but I still don’t get it…” she frowned, before trudging out to get a picture from the photo albums.
The picture she gave her friend was one where Takahisa was celebrating his eleventh birthday- the family was in Tokyo Dome Park, and he was grinning stupidly at the camera, his grin so wide his eyes were nearly wiped out. She had picked that picture because she was half in it- laughing at his silly grin and the sunshine beating down on the two of them, illuminating their happy faces.
A few months later her mother received a phone call from Johnny’s Jimusho, and Takahisa was invited to go down to their offices for an audition.
Takahisa knew about Johnny’s- she liked SMAP after all, and gamely decided to go for the audition. Later, when he was accepted and started to go for training camps, she asked him why he went for the audition, at which he replied simply with- “You sent the application form, ne? So I went!”
She laughed and ruffled his hair affectionately and told him to work hard.
Years later, she finished high school, college and started her first job. Takahisa grew up from a chubby faced baby to a young man right in front of her eyes, and she saw the work he put into being a Johnny’s- the sleepless nights- the stress- the constant training.
Unlike other siblings, they hardly fought- maybe it was because when she was home, he would be working, and if he was home, she would be in school or hanging out with her friends. When NEWS debuted, it felt strange, suddenly to be a sister to this big celebrity, but people would not know if she did not tell them, and so she went on with life as normal, and it felt as though there was not any major difference at all.
When she got married, Takahisa took time off work to attend the civil ceremony, dressed in a sharp black suit and nearly causing the lady who processed her wedding certificate to faint because she obviously recognised him. She teased him about it mercilessly as they stood outside the reception hall, and he turned to her and said seriously, “Congratulations, Oneesan.”
She felt a little prick of tears in her eyes and shook her head, punching him lightly on the arm. “Silly boy,” she said. “I’m not going to be around to take of you now, so you’d better take care of yourself. And Mom and Dad,” she added, realising suddenly that she was really leaving the house she grew up in- to be with the man that she loved, and maybe, maybe she had missed out on a lot of her little brother, and maybe, she should have paid a little more attention to his work all these years.
He smiled, and the smile on his face reminded her of the picture of him she had handed to her high school friend, his grin so wide his eyes were almost shut, and all of her worries dissipated.
Her little brother had not changed much at all.
When NEWS held their first Tokyo Dome concert, Takahisa invited her along to watch. After the concert when he asked her how she thought he had done, she only told him she felt he was out of step in one of the dances and nearly blew her eardrums off in another song. Takahisa grinned and said thank you, and she worried about it for months until he went on a television show with Tegoshi Yuya and said, “Well, my sister points out where I went wrong, but she doing it means she watches me very carefully.”
Two days later when Takahisa came over to visit, she taught him how to hold her son properly, and laughed as she watched her younger brother danced with her baby around the living room, the sunlight spilling through the French windows filtering their shadows on the walls.
Author’s Note: It was easy to write- I have a little brother. I took liberties with Massu’s sister’s life, really. And I vaguely remember Massu saying something like that on a TV show but I really don’t remember who and when and which show… so maybe it’s my imagination too! Haha!
Masuda Takahisa (NEWS)
1061 words
Author’s note: massu-thon prompt #2 pocketful of sunshine. Un-betaed
To the Beat of a Heart
by rin
It’s a long slow beautiful dance
To the beat of a heart
- Long Slow Beautiful Dance / Rascal Flatts
When Takahisa was born, his sister hated him. Everyone else loved him- from their parents to the neighbours and even strangers in the street. Takahisa was a beautiful baby, and their grandmother used to say he would break hearts when he grew older.
In their early childhood days, all her memories of Takahisa were of him being pampered by their relatives. It made her feel unwanted/unloved- as though she was the accident that happened before the perfect child came along.
Until one day she dared Takahisa to go to the park one train station away and stay there for the whole night- and he really did not come home.
Crying, she confessed to her parents, who got into a taxi and drove to the park immediately to find Takahisa hidden in the jungle gym, armed with a bun and juice box he had saved from lunch, a blanket he had stolen out of the house and his father’s good flashlight.
“Takahisa!” their mother exclaimed, as their father pulled him out of the jungle gym and checked him for any injuries. “Are you all right?”
He looked put out. Pouting and crossing his arms over his chest, he said, “I was having an adventure!”
Their parents laughed, and she was never punished for daring him to stay away from home. The two children giggled and whispered to each other in the car on the way home and suddenly, they were best friends, and she figured out the best advantage of having him around was using him whenever mother was angry- shove Takahisa into the picture and everything would be forgiven.
Once, when she was in high school, she invited a friend over to dinner and after they went up to her room, her friend asked her if she could have Takahisa’s picture.
“Ehh? Why would you want his picture for?” she exclaimed.
“Ne, haven’t you even thought your little brother is really cute?” her friend grinned.
“Ehhhhh…” she frowned, thinking about his penchant to cry whenever he did not get what he wanted and how he was always a wimp in front of dogs (albeit it’s not his fault, a dog did bite him before) and shook her head. “No, I don’t think he’s cute.”
“Anyway,” her friend waved her arms in the air, knowing she would not understand. “Just give me his picture? One where he’s smiling, ne? Please? Please???”
“All right, but I still don’t get it…” she frowned, before trudging out to get a picture from the photo albums.
The picture she gave her friend was one where Takahisa was celebrating his eleventh birthday- the family was in Tokyo Dome Park, and he was grinning stupidly at the camera, his grin so wide his eyes were nearly wiped out. She had picked that picture because she was half in it- laughing at his silly grin and the sunshine beating down on the two of them, illuminating their happy faces.
A few months later her mother received a phone call from Johnny’s Jimusho, and Takahisa was invited to go down to their offices for an audition.
Takahisa knew about Johnny’s- she liked SMAP after all, and gamely decided to go for the audition. Later, when he was accepted and started to go for training camps, she asked him why he went for the audition, at which he replied simply with- “You sent the application form, ne? So I went!”
She laughed and ruffled his hair affectionately and told him to work hard.
Years later, she finished high school, college and started her first job. Takahisa grew up from a chubby faced baby to a young man right in front of her eyes, and she saw the work he put into being a Johnny’s- the sleepless nights- the stress- the constant training.
Unlike other siblings, they hardly fought- maybe it was because when she was home, he would be working, and if he was home, she would be in school or hanging out with her friends. When NEWS debuted, it felt strange, suddenly to be a sister to this big celebrity, but people would not know if she did not tell them, and so she went on with life as normal, and it felt as though there was not any major difference at all.
When she got married, Takahisa took time off work to attend the civil ceremony, dressed in a sharp black suit and nearly causing the lady who processed her wedding certificate to faint because she obviously recognised him. She teased him about it mercilessly as they stood outside the reception hall, and he turned to her and said seriously, “Congratulations, Oneesan.”
She felt a little prick of tears in her eyes and shook her head, punching him lightly on the arm. “Silly boy,” she said. “I’m not going to be around to take of you now, so you’d better take care of yourself. And Mom and Dad,” she added, realising suddenly that she was really leaving the house she grew up in- to be with the man that she loved, and maybe, maybe she had missed out on a lot of her little brother, and maybe, she should have paid a little more attention to his work all these years.
He smiled, and the smile on his face reminded her of the picture of him she had handed to her high school friend, his grin so wide his eyes were almost shut, and all of her worries dissipated.
Her little brother had not changed much at all.
When NEWS held their first Tokyo Dome concert, Takahisa invited her along to watch. After the concert when he asked her how she thought he had done, she only told him she felt he was out of step in one of the dances and nearly blew her eardrums off in another song. Takahisa grinned and said thank you, and she worried about it for months until he went on a television show with Tegoshi Yuya and said, “Well, my sister points out where I went wrong, but she doing it means she watches me very carefully.”
Two days later when Takahisa came over to visit, she taught him how to hold her son properly, and laughed as she watched her younger brother danced with her baby around the living room, the sunlight spilling through the French windows filtering their shadows on the walls.
Author’s Note: It was easy to write- I have a little brother. I took liberties with Massu’s sister’s life, really. And I vaguely remember Massu saying something like that on a TV show but I really don’t remember who and when and which show… so maybe it’s my imagination too! Haha!