Meant to be [Chapter Two]
Title: Meant to be
Summary: What if the one person you loved was the one person you weren't meant to be with? Confusion of the heart is always hard to deal with, and bears new obstacles as all struggle with the hidden depths of their own hearts.
Rating: PG
Starring: NEWS
Beta-reader: carmine_pink
Disclaimer: I really don't own them, I swear!
Previous Chapter
Chapter one
Chapter Two
“Shut up! You know that it was mine to begin with!” Ryo said, brandishing the brush over his head.
“But I need it!” Tegoshi cried, his eyes widening so that Ryo faltered, and within moments Tegoshi victoriously held the brush in his palm. The dressing room atmosphere always did seem reminiscent of a school playground.
He pranced over to Masuda, who was currently occupied with staring at the man that was making his heart go ‘dokidokidoki’. He was eating…something, not that it really mattered. What interested Masuda was the delicate curve of Shige’s lips as he slowly inserted a morsel of gyoza into his mouth. The chewing made his mouth move about in ways that shouldn’t be allowed. Shige licked his lips, apparently savoring the sauce that had dripped off, leaving the sweetly pink lips glistening with the warm saliva that had just been tumbling about with his tongue.
Masuda had been enjoying the spectacle, not really enjoying, more along the lines of torturing himself. Yes, it was rather torturous to stare as the one person you wished to be lip-locked with, was busily enjoying gyoza.
Shige paused in his eating and turned to Masuda, who quickly felt his face turning red. He swiftly turned to Tegoshi and pretended to be very interested in his hairbrush.
Shige glanced at Masuda and smiled. He put the chopsticks away, and made his way towards the Tegomass duo. “Hey, Massu?”
Masuda nearly jumped in his skin. “Hmm?” he managed to say.
“Do you want some of the gyoza? Ari-chan gave me some this morning, but I forgot to bring the extras for you guys,” Shige said, looking a bit embarrassed, as he held the nearly full container out to Masuda.
Masuda blushed to the roots of his hair, he’d been caught staring and Shige just assumed it was because he wanted food.
“Eh? Ari-chan gave you some?” Koyama piped up, hurrying over. “Why didn’t she give me any?” Koyama tried to take a bit, but Shige slapped his hand away lightly.
“Because you ate about half of what she made yesterday,” Shige replied. “And this is for Massu,” he added, giving the container to Masuda, and pushing a pouting Koyama to the other side of the room.
“I want some now too, though,” Koyama said.
“Too bad,” Shige replied, “besides you can always go visit again after rehearsal today.”
“Yeah! I’ll go visit again today,” Koyama replied, with a smile.
“Ari-chan made this?” Masuda asked, as he sniffed at the container. It did smell good.
“Mmmmm,” Tegoshi said, taking a sniff. Masuda held the container out to him, allowing him to take a piece.
Tegoshi bit into it, it was different from the usual gyoza they had. Usually gyoza had a lot of flavored cabbage and meat in it, but this particular one seemed to be bursting with vegetables and a sauce that he couldn’t quite place. “UMAI!” Masuda cried, after the first bite.
“Good?” Shige asked, with a knowing smile.
Masuda quickly swallowed the bit in his mouth before giving him a wide smile, and a nod. “Yeah, it’s really good, thank you.”
Shige shook his head. “No big deal, I’m just sorry I forgot to bring the rest today, I was in a hurry and forgot it this morning,” he said. “And she had it all nicely packed too,” Shige added embarrassedly.
“Baka,” Koyama said, flicking one of Shige’s ears.
Masuda watched the two continue their light fight, they usually only bantered about for 10 minutes out of each day.
He glanced down at the container, he somehow felt a bit depressed eating it. Not because it wasn’t good, it really was, but for some reason he felt almost hollow.
He’d had feelings for Shige for quite a while now, it was strange, but he had at times found himself jealous of the dumbest things really.
‘Ari-chan’ happened to be one of Shige’s and Koyama’s closest friends, and Masuda had found himself growing increasingly jealous of the girl every day. She not only was on good terms with Shige, but was also one of his neighbors.
Strange wasn’t it? Not just that Masuda was in love with another man, but that he was jealous of a woman to boot. It was while Masuda was lost in his musings about men and women, that Tegoshi eyed him, as he continued to munch on the gyoza, that Masuda had held forgotten in his hands.
“What’s wrong?” he whispered.
“Nothing,” Masuda replied absently.
“Then why did you just stop eating?” Tegoshi asked, taking full possession of the container.
Masuda blinked, and couldn’t come up with a proper response, other than to smack Tegoshi lightly on the head and take claim of the food again.
“Mmm, smells good,” Ryo said, taking a whiff of the food.
Masuda held it closer, “it’s mine,” he said, a stubborn twitch to his mouth, that immediately held Ryo at bay.
“Shige gave it to him,” Tegoshi said, meaningfully, only resulting in confusing Ryo.
“Hang on, Shige only gave food to you?” Ryo asked, slightly annoyed, typical he’d be the one left out of food distribution.
“No, he just forgot ours,” Tegoshi implied, with a shrug. “Besides he didn’t make it, he got it from his neighbor,” Tegoshi added, as an afterthought.
“EH?!” Ryo exclaimed, staring at the plastic container, rather stricken. “I want some! She makes the best food!” Ryo cried, staring at Masuda longingly.
Tight-lipped, Masuda allowed Ryo to take a bit, before carefully taking the rest back.
Ryo was a strange fanatic for home-cooked foods, which is why Masuda suspected the older man may have a thing for Shige’s friend, more for the fact that she could cook rather than any of her other qualities. Not that Masuda knew much about them.
Once Ryo was sufficiently satisfied, he moved his attention to his phone. Tegoshi too turned his attention away from his Masuda and preoccupied himself with combing his hair.
It was when Tegoshi decided to ask Shige if he could style it for him that Masuda began to vocalize his worry.
“Do you think he likes her?” Masuda asked quietly.
Tegoshi paused, the suddenly serious expression on Masuda’s face catching him by surprise. “I don’t think so,” Tegoshi muttered.
* * *
“Ari-chan! We’re here!” Koyama hollered, as he knocked on the door. Moments later the door opened and allowed both Koyama and Shige access to the apartment.
“And here I thought I’d seen the last of you yesterday when I gave you food,” the girl said, as she let them in and led them to the living room.
“Oi! You make it sound like you really don’t like us!” Koyama said with a pout.
Arianna smiled and said, “It’s called sarcasm.”
Shige snorted, while Koyama’s pout grew bigger.
“So guys, what’s up?” she asked, once they’d settled into their seats.
“Nothing much, but Koyama’s here to bug you for food again,” Shige explained, as he stretched himself out on the couch, and caused Koyama to turn a bit pink.
“Oh, and here I was thinking you guys really needed to talk, since you know, you had rehearsals around certain people,” she said, giving them a both a pointed look, before she got up and headed to the kitchen.
Shige blushed deeply, while Koyama merely shrugged.
“I think I’m over it,” Koyama whispered.
“And onto what now?” Shige asked, quizzically.
“I’m not sure,” Koyama replied, vaguely.
Arianna returned a few moments later, with a large plate, and three cups balanced precariously in her hands.
“Ah, the waitressing skills kick in!” Shige proclaimed.
“Yep,” Arianna replied simply, handing a cup to each of them, and placing the plate in between the two.
Shige again took the time to admire the cups she had, well perhaps not really admire but just stare at. Arianna was a very strange person, not just by Japanese standards but in general. Of course it could always just be chocked up to the fact that she was really only ½ Japanese, and racially mixed on her fathers side.
The cups she’d given were very oddly shaped, Shige’s looking like a deformed tear-drop, while Koyama’s looked like a cross between an ‘x’ and a ‘y’, if that were at all possible.
“I still can’t get over your cups,” Shige said, as he took a sip of the tea she’d given him.
She smiled, “I told you my older brother likes to blow glass, it’s an artistic outlet.”
“Great outlet,” Koyama said, “Now I want to know who made what I’m drinking, it’s really good!”
Shige blinked at him, it was pretty obvious the tea had come from a convenience store, it was just like the brand they’d just promoted last year, Koyama couldn’t have forgotten it already.
“Lawson,” she replied simply, before taking a sip of it herself. “I’m sure you can give your compliments the next time you end up doing a promotion for them.”
After eating a bit, Koyama left giving Shige a half-hearted hug and giving Arianna a pinch to the cheek. “Ja ne!” he called, leaving the two alone.
“That was kind of weird,” she commented, “did something happen at work?” she asked, concerned.
“Pi got a new girlfriend,” Shige replied quietly.
“WHAT?! ANOTHER ONE?” she exclaimed. “Is he blind? Or just in denial?” She looked ready to start on a rant, and one that could last for hours. Arianna wasn’t the type that could generally keep quiet about things like this, something many people found disagreeable, and something Shige thought was quite funny.
“Maybe,” Shige replied, vaguely.
Arianna let out a frustrated sigh, before allowing herself to flop onto the couch beside Shige. “Really, you would think that Koyama has made his feelings obvious enough and that Yamashita-san would open his eyes and see them!”
“Well, Pi can be a little slow when it comes to love, I mean, I think we all kinda are,” Shige explained.
She threw a glance at him, “I noticed,” leading to a blush on Shige’s part. “Although, it’s more stubbornness on your part than anything else.”
Shige felt himself go red. It wasn’t as though he ever had any interest in love; in fact he was almost always reprimanded by the rest of the group for his overly truthful answers on his view of love. He didn’t have any interest in it, and at the time, couldn’t even really see himself falling in love, or even in any sort of romantic relationship.
However at this moment Shige found himself in quite a predicament; he was in love, and to make matters worse he was in love with a man, and worse than that, this man was long time friend and co-worker, Masuda Takahisa.
Of all the people he could have possibly fallen for it was really just his luck he ended up falling for ½ of the Tegomass duo.
And it wasn’t like he had much of a chance with the older man, it was quite plain to anyone with eyes that if Masuda was to be in any kind of non-traditional relationship with someone it most certainly wouldn’t be Shige, rather it’d be the shortest and youngest member of the group, Tegoshi.
After all, it wasn’t as though many could resist his charms; man or woman, none could really stand against the androgynous hormones that Tegoshi could give.
“You need to suck it up and just confess, it’ll be better for both you and him,” Arianna stated, matter-of-factly.
“Easier said than done,” Shige said, burying his head in her shoulder, allowing her dark hair to shroud him in warmth.
Many would find their friendship strange; heck, even he thought it was strange sometimes, but it worked. Yes, perhaps there were times when there was more affection than normal in a platonic relationship, but being around Arianna calmed him. Being able to hold her close, hug her, kiss her cheek without running the risk of heartbreak nor the risk of losing anything.
Now it wasn’t as though they were friends with benefits or any of the sort; Shige would never dream of being in any relationship like that, and would die of embarrassment if Arianna ever found out that he’d even had the idea. Their friendship was just, different.
“Don’t be a baby,” Arianna muttered, patting Shige lightly on the head, “get it over with, before someone sneaks in there under you, like everyone seems to do to Kei-chan.”
“There’s already someone there,” Shige muttered, unwilling to move from his very comfortable spot of hiding his head in her shoulder, she was quite warm.
Arianna let out a sigh, why was it that she’d ended up best friends with a pair of idols? “At least finish your homework. If I do rightly remember, you did say you just needed two more of these classes before you graduated?”
Shige groaned, but sat up and searched through his messenger bag looking for his books. While Arianna took the opportunity to clear the coffee table, and get her own work out, most of it consisting of the musical compositions her professor had set.
She sat on the carpeted floor, a pencil stuck behind one ear, and a pen stuck behind the other. She was quite a comical sight, looking like one of the nerds one would see in a movie.
It wasn’t until quite late that the two had finished their work, although it mostly consisted of Shige peeking at her work over her shoulder and offering advice on how best to tweak her musical composition.
“After all, I do know how to write a proper composition,” he said, marking down a high note, that Arianna must have somehow missed.
Musical theory was really quite precise after all.
After nearly pushing Shige over to his apartment, insisting he couldn’t sleep in hers as his was just down the hallway. “It doesn’t make any sense,” she declared sternly. “You’re not five, so you’re sleeping in your place.”
Shige unwillingly left, with his messenger bag hanging on his shoulder as he drooped into his apartment, hating the silence that resonated within it. Usually Nana would be around to bark up a storm, but his mother had taken Nana with her on a trip of some sort, a dog-lover convention. It didn’t make any sense to Shige, but he wasn’t one to argue with his mother, and so had grudgingly agreed to have her take Nana for two weeks. He toppled into bed, and allowed bliss to overwhelm his senses in the form of sleep.
* * *
“This man!” Arianna muttered to herself the next morning. After having prepared herself for the day, fully intent on punching out the final product for her musical theory class, she’d stumbled over a few large law books sitting innocently behind the couch.
“He’s supposed to be organized,” she said, as she pulled them up, and decided to run over to his apartment and hand them to him with a long lecture about responsibility.
However, once she’d managed to head over to his apartment she found herself knocking for 5 minutes before realizing that he wasn’t home. She let out a frustrated groan; she knew for a fact he had classes on that day, they’d just talked about them the night before.
She wracked her brain trying to figure out where he could be, until her memory finally caught up with her, he was at the jimusho. Rehearsals for the morning, and classes in the early afternoon. She stared at the heavy books for a moment contemplating, until she came to the decision that she did have the morning free.
And with a resolute nod to herself she headed back to her own apartment, gathered her things for the day and left.
Once she was sure she had all her things she swiftly exited the apartment and headed to the closest train station, hoping she’d make it in time to catch the right train.
Luck was on her side, at least she thought it was, and she arrived to her destination within a half-hour. It was times like these that Arianna had a tendency to reflect on things that had no real importance, at least not to the big picture. This time her musing was about the metro system in Tokyo, how vastly different and efficient it was in comparison to any other transportation system used elsewhere, and she would know, having lived in about a dozen different countries over the span of her 20 years of life.
It was when she was just outside the jimusho that she realized she really had no luck, as the security guard nearly sprinted out towards her with a clipboard in hand and a long stick, looking just about ready to strike her.
“Hold on just one second there, girl!” the guard yelled, a bit too loudly for Arianna’s taste. “We cannot allow you past this point miss, I’m very sorry, but we have to keep this area locked up nice and tight,” he said nodding his head impressively.
“Ummm,” Arianna began, unsure of how to state her case, perhaps she could ask him to call Shige out?
“Would it be possible to call Kato Shigeaki out?” she asked politely. “It’s just that he left some of his books at my house, and I know he needs them for his classes later today,” she began but was cut off rather rudely.
“I’ll give them to him,” he said tersely, getting ready to walk away, without the books.
“Actually I’d feel a lot better if I could actually give them to him myself,” she said, as politely as she could. She really didn’t trust him to track the 22-year-old down.
“I’m sorry, that’s impossible,” the guard said, shaking his head.
“Right,” Arianna said, before she decided enough was enough. She gingerly reached for her phone, she’d just flipped it open and was quickly scrolling through her contact list, ready to call Shige herself, but the guard somehow managed to pull the phone out of her hands.
“Phones aren’t allowed to be used within this compound,” he said. “I’m confiscating this.”
“What?” Arianna cried, “you can’t just confiscate it, this isn’t even a school for goodness sake!” What she said made perfect sense to her, however it only gave the guard a headache.
“Look lady, don’t think you can come in here claiming to know one of these guys, and just get in. Lots of girls come in with the same trick!”
Arianna was annoyed and confused, what the hell was this man saying? And how was it he still had her phone?
“Sir, may have my phone back? I’ll just go around the corner and call him to get his things,” Arianna said, calmly.
The guard gave her an annoyed look, before glancing down at her, and apparently seemed to notice her rather short stature. “I’ll tell you what, if you can reach up and grab it, I’ll let you have the phone back.”
This was just getting better and better, Arianna thought to herself, as she struggled to maintain her calm composure. “Sir, we both know how inappropriate that would be, so I’ll ask you again, nicely, please give me my phone back.”
The guard looked offended. “How would you know what was appropriate you stupid gaijin*?!” he sneered at her, “How do you know we don’t do this as a pastime here?” he asked, his face coming closer to hers.
She stiffly pulled away, trying to hide her disgust. “Eh gaijin?!” he sneered, coming closer.
Arianna took another step back, clutching the books to her chest, trying to stay calm, trying to refrain from the temptation of using her long honed judo skills against the idiotic guard that was tormenting her with both his offensive words, and obscene use of body language.
She clenched her fists, as he took another step closer. He was close enough that she could smell the miso soup he’d undoubtedly eaten for breakfast emitting from his breath.
“OI!”
The guard took an immediate step back, and regained his impressive posture of a straight back and calm expression.
Arianna turned in the direction the voice had called from, and was a bit surprised to see the rather hard look the new arrival possessed.
“Good morning,” the guard began, clearly intent on showing a calm front.
Arianna somehow doubted it would be good enough.
* * *
*Gaijin- From what I've learned is a rather rude name given to foreiners, it's also supposed to mean 'outsider'. From what I've found, it's meant to be derrogatory, and in this context it is. I hope it's right, it's what I've picked up on and actually searched around for the proper meaning.
Author's Note: And there we have it, I've finally managed to post the second chapter. I hope you all liked it.
Again, I'd really like to give a big thanks to carmine_pink for beta-ing for me, and giving me really great suggestions. Sadly I doubt I was able to fully incorporate all of it, just because lots is coming from the next chapter.
Either way, I hope everyone liked it.
Comments, and critisicsms would be great. And a special request as to what you think of my OC thus far, please.
Summary: What if the one person you loved was the one person you weren't meant to be with? Confusion of the heart is always hard to deal with, and bears new obstacles as all struggle with the hidden depths of their own hearts.
Rating: PG
Starring: NEWS
Beta-reader: carmine_pink
Disclaimer: I really don't own them, I swear!
Previous Chapter
Chapter one
Chapter Two
“Shut up! You know that it was mine to begin with!” Ryo said, brandishing the brush over his head.
“But I need it!” Tegoshi cried, his eyes widening so that Ryo faltered, and within moments Tegoshi victoriously held the brush in his palm. The dressing room atmosphere always did seem reminiscent of a school playground.
He pranced over to Masuda, who was currently occupied with staring at the man that was making his heart go ‘dokidokidoki’. He was eating…something, not that it really mattered. What interested Masuda was the delicate curve of Shige’s lips as he slowly inserted a morsel of gyoza into his mouth. The chewing made his mouth move about in ways that shouldn’t be allowed. Shige licked his lips, apparently savoring the sauce that had dripped off, leaving the sweetly pink lips glistening with the warm saliva that had just been tumbling about with his tongue.
Masuda had been enjoying the spectacle, not really enjoying, more along the lines of torturing himself. Yes, it was rather torturous to stare as the one person you wished to be lip-locked with, was busily enjoying gyoza.
Shige paused in his eating and turned to Masuda, who quickly felt his face turning red. He swiftly turned to Tegoshi and pretended to be very interested in his hairbrush.
Shige glanced at Masuda and smiled. He put the chopsticks away, and made his way towards the Tegomass duo. “Hey, Massu?”
Masuda nearly jumped in his skin. “Hmm?” he managed to say.
“Do you want some of the gyoza? Ari-chan gave me some this morning, but I forgot to bring the extras for you guys,” Shige said, looking a bit embarrassed, as he held the nearly full container out to Masuda.
Masuda blushed to the roots of his hair, he’d been caught staring and Shige just assumed it was because he wanted food.
“Eh? Ari-chan gave you some?” Koyama piped up, hurrying over. “Why didn’t she give me any?” Koyama tried to take a bit, but Shige slapped his hand away lightly.
“Because you ate about half of what she made yesterday,” Shige replied. “And this is for Massu,” he added, giving the container to Masuda, and pushing a pouting Koyama to the other side of the room.
“I want some now too, though,” Koyama said.
“Too bad,” Shige replied, “besides you can always go visit again after rehearsal today.”
“Yeah! I’ll go visit again today,” Koyama replied, with a smile.
“Ari-chan made this?” Masuda asked, as he sniffed at the container. It did smell good.
“Mmmmm,” Tegoshi said, taking a sniff. Masuda held the container out to him, allowing him to take a piece.
Tegoshi bit into it, it was different from the usual gyoza they had. Usually gyoza had a lot of flavored cabbage and meat in it, but this particular one seemed to be bursting with vegetables and a sauce that he couldn’t quite place. “UMAI!” Masuda cried, after the first bite.
“Good?” Shige asked, with a knowing smile.
Masuda quickly swallowed the bit in his mouth before giving him a wide smile, and a nod. “Yeah, it’s really good, thank you.”
Shige shook his head. “No big deal, I’m just sorry I forgot to bring the rest today, I was in a hurry and forgot it this morning,” he said. “And she had it all nicely packed too,” Shige added embarrassedly.
“Baka,” Koyama said, flicking one of Shige’s ears.
Masuda watched the two continue their light fight, they usually only bantered about for 10 minutes out of each day.
He glanced down at the container, he somehow felt a bit depressed eating it. Not because it wasn’t good, it really was, but for some reason he felt almost hollow.
He’d had feelings for Shige for quite a while now, it was strange, but he had at times found himself jealous of the dumbest things really.
‘Ari-chan’ happened to be one of Shige’s and Koyama’s closest friends, and Masuda had found himself growing increasingly jealous of the girl every day. She not only was on good terms with Shige, but was also one of his neighbors.
Strange wasn’t it? Not just that Masuda was in love with another man, but that he was jealous of a woman to boot. It was while Masuda was lost in his musings about men and women, that Tegoshi eyed him, as he continued to munch on the gyoza, that Masuda had held forgotten in his hands.
“What’s wrong?” he whispered.
“Nothing,” Masuda replied absently.
“Then why did you just stop eating?” Tegoshi asked, taking full possession of the container.
Masuda blinked, and couldn’t come up with a proper response, other than to smack Tegoshi lightly on the head and take claim of the food again.
“Mmm, smells good,” Ryo said, taking a whiff of the food.
Masuda held it closer, “it’s mine,” he said, a stubborn twitch to his mouth, that immediately held Ryo at bay.
“Shige gave it to him,” Tegoshi said, meaningfully, only resulting in confusing Ryo.
“Hang on, Shige only gave food to you?” Ryo asked, slightly annoyed, typical he’d be the one left out of food distribution.
“No, he just forgot ours,” Tegoshi implied, with a shrug. “Besides he didn’t make it, he got it from his neighbor,” Tegoshi added, as an afterthought.
“EH?!” Ryo exclaimed, staring at the plastic container, rather stricken. “I want some! She makes the best food!” Ryo cried, staring at Masuda longingly.
Tight-lipped, Masuda allowed Ryo to take a bit, before carefully taking the rest back.
Ryo was a strange fanatic for home-cooked foods, which is why Masuda suspected the older man may have a thing for Shige’s friend, more for the fact that she could cook rather than any of her other qualities. Not that Masuda knew much about them.
Once Ryo was sufficiently satisfied, he moved his attention to his phone. Tegoshi too turned his attention away from his Masuda and preoccupied himself with combing his hair.
It was when Tegoshi decided to ask Shige if he could style it for him that Masuda began to vocalize his worry.
“Do you think he likes her?” Masuda asked quietly.
Tegoshi paused, the suddenly serious expression on Masuda’s face catching him by surprise. “I don’t think so,” Tegoshi muttered.
* * *
“Ari-chan! We’re here!” Koyama hollered, as he knocked on the door. Moments later the door opened and allowed both Koyama and Shige access to the apartment.
“And here I thought I’d seen the last of you yesterday when I gave you food,” the girl said, as she let them in and led them to the living room.
“Oi! You make it sound like you really don’t like us!” Koyama said with a pout.
Arianna smiled and said, “It’s called sarcasm.”
Shige snorted, while Koyama’s pout grew bigger.
“So guys, what’s up?” she asked, once they’d settled into their seats.
“Nothing much, but Koyama’s here to bug you for food again,” Shige explained, as he stretched himself out on the couch, and caused Koyama to turn a bit pink.
“Oh, and here I was thinking you guys really needed to talk, since you know, you had rehearsals around certain people,” she said, giving them a both a pointed look, before she got up and headed to the kitchen.
Shige blushed deeply, while Koyama merely shrugged.
“I think I’m over it,” Koyama whispered.
“And onto what now?” Shige asked, quizzically.
“I’m not sure,” Koyama replied, vaguely.
Arianna returned a few moments later, with a large plate, and three cups balanced precariously in her hands.
“Ah, the waitressing skills kick in!” Shige proclaimed.
“Yep,” Arianna replied simply, handing a cup to each of them, and placing the plate in between the two.
Shige again took the time to admire the cups she had, well perhaps not really admire but just stare at. Arianna was a very strange person, not just by Japanese standards but in general. Of course it could always just be chocked up to the fact that she was really only ½ Japanese, and racially mixed on her fathers side.
The cups she’d given were very oddly shaped, Shige’s looking like a deformed tear-drop, while Koyama’s looked like a cross between an ‘x’ and a ‘y’, if that were at all possible.
“I still can’t get over your cups,” Shige said, as he took a sip of the tea she’d given him.
She smiled, “I told you my older brother likes to blow glass, it’s an artistic outlet.”
“Great outlet,” Koyama said, “Now I want to know who made what I’m drinking, it’s really good!”
Shige blinked at him, it was pretty obvious the tea had come from a convenience store, it was just like the brand they’d just promoted last year, Koyama couldn’t have forgotten it already.
“Lawson,” she replied simply, before taking a sip of it herself. “I’m sure you can give your compliments the next time you end up doing a promotion for them.”
After eating a bit, Koyama left giving Shige a half-hearted hug and giving Arianna a pinch to the cheek. “Ja ne!” he called, leaving the two alone.
“That was kind of weird,” she commented, “did something happen at work?” she asked, concerned.
“Pi got a new girlfriend,” Shige replied quietly.
“WHAT?! ANOTHER ONE?” she exclaimed. “Is he blind? Or just in denial?” She looked ready to start on a rant, and one that could last for hours. Arianna wasn’t the type that could generally keep quiet about things like this, something many people found disagreeable, and something Shige thought was quite funny.
“Maybe,” Shige replied, vaguely.
Arianna let out a frustrated sigh, before allowing herself to flop onto the couch beside Shige. “Really, you would think that Koyama has made his feelings obvious enough and that Yamashita-san would open his eyes and see them!”
“Well, Pi can be a little slow when it comes to love, I mean, I think we all kinda are,” Shige explained.
She threw a glance at him, “I noticed,” leading to a blush on Shige’s part. “Although, it’s more stubbornness on your part than anything else.”
Shige felt himself go red. It wasn’t as though he ever had any interest in love; in fact he was almost always reprimanded by the rest of the group for his overly truthful answers on his view of love. He didn’t have any interest in it, and at the time, couldn’t even really see himself falling in love, or even in any sort of romantic relationship.
However at this moment Shige found himself in quite a predicament; he was in love, and to make matters worse he was in love with a man, and worse than that, this man was long time friend and co-worker, Masuda Takahisa.
Of all the people he could have possibly fallen for it was really just his luck he ended up falling for ½ of the Tegomass duo.
And it wasn’t like he had much of a chance with the older man, it was quite plain to anyone with eyes that if Masuda was to be in any kind of non-traditional relationship with someone it most certainly wouldn’t be Shige, rather it’d be the shortest and youngest member of the group, Tegoshi.
After all, it wasn’t as though many could resist his charms; man or woman, none could really stand against the androgynous hormones that Tegoshi could give.
“You need to suck it up and just confess, it’ll be better for both you and him,” Arianna stated, matter-of-factly.
“Easier said than done,” Shige said, burying his head in her shoulder, allowing her dark hair to shroud him in warmth.
Many would find their friendship strange; heck, even he thought it was strange sometimes, but it worked. Yes, perhaps there were times when there was more affection than normal in a platonic relationship, but being around Arianna calmed him. Being able to hold her close, hug her, kiss her cheek without running the risk of heartbreak nor the risk of losing anything.
Now it wasn’t as though they were friends with benefits or any of the sort; Shige would never dream of being in any relationship like that, and would die of embarrassment if Arianna ever found out that he’d even had the idea. Their friendship was just, different.
“Don’t be a baby,” Arianna muttered, patting Shige lightly on the head, “get it over with, before someone sneaks in there under you, like everyone seems to do to Kei-chan.”
“There’s already someone there,” Shige muttered, unwilling to move from his very comfortable spot of hiding his head in her shoulder, she was quite warm.
Arianna let out a sigh, why was it that she’d ended up best friends with a pair of idols? “At least finish your homework. If I do rightly remember, you did say you just needed two more of these classes before you graduated?”
Shige groaned, but sat up and searched through his messenger bag looking for his books. While Arianna took the opportunity to clear the coffee table, and get her own work out, most of it consisting of the musical compositions her professor had set.
She sat on the carpeted floor, a pencil stuck behind one ear, and a pen stuck behind the other. She was quite a comical sight, looking like one of the nerds one would see in a movie.
It wasn’t until quite late that the two had finished their work, although it mostly consisted of Shige peeking at her work over her shoulder and offering advice on how best to tweak her musical composition.
“After all, I do know how to write a proper composition,” he said, marking down a high note, that Arianna must have somehow missed.
Musical theory was really quite precise after all.
After nearly pushing Shige over to his apartment, insisting he couldn’t sleep in hers as his was just down the hallway. “It doesn’t make any sense,” she declared sternly. “You’re not five, so you’re sleeping in your place.”
Shige unwillingly left, with his messenger bag hanging on his shoulder as he drooped into his apartment, hating the silence that resonated within it. Usually Nana would be around to bark up a storm, but his mother had taken Nana with her on a trip of some sort, a dog-lover convention. It didn’t make any sense to Shige, but he wasn’t one to argue with his mother, and so had grudgingly agreed to have her take Nana for two weeks. He toppled into bed, and allowed bliss to overwhelm his senses in the form of sleep.
* * *
“This man!” Arianna muttered to herself the next morning. After having prepared herself for the day, fully intent on punching out the final product for her musical theory class, she’d stumbled over a few large law books sitting innocently behind the couch.
“He’s supposed to be organized,” she said, as she pulled them up, and decided to run over to his apartment and hand them to him with a long lecture about responsibility.
However, once she’d managed to head over to his apartment she found herself knocking for 5 minutes before realizing that he wasn’t home. She let out a frustrated groan; she knew for a fact he had classes on that day, they’d just talked about them the night before.
She wracked her brain trying to figure out where he could be, until her memory finally caught up with her, he was at the jimusho. Rehearsals for the morning, and classes in the early afternoon. She stared at the heavy books for a moment contemplating, until she came to the decision that she did have the morning free.
And with a resolute nod to herself she headed back to her own apartment, gathered her things for the day and left.
Once she was sure she had all her things she swiftly exited the apartment and headed to the closest train station, hoping she’d make it in time to catch the right train.
Luck was on her side, at least she thought it was, and she arrived to her destination within a half-hour. It was times like these that Arianna had a tendency to reflect on things that had no real importance, at least not to the big picture. This time her musing was about the metro system in Tokyo, how vastly different and efficient it was in comparison to any other transportation system used elsewhere, and she would know, having lived in about a dozen different countries over the span of her 20 years of life.
It was when she was just outside the jimusho that she realized she really had no luck, as the security guard nearly sprinted out towards her with a clipboard in hand and a long stick, looking just about ready to strike her.
“Hold on just one second there, girl!” the guard yelled, a bit too loudly for Arianna’s taste. “We cannot allow you past this point miss, I’m very sorry, but we have to keep this area locked up nice and tight,” he said nodding his head impressively.
“Ummm,” Arianna began, unsure of how to state her case, perhaps she could ask him to call Shige out?
“Would it be possible to call Kato Shigeaki out?” she asked politely. “It’s just that he left some of his books at my house, and I know he needs them for his classes later today,” she began but was cut off rather rudely.
“I’ll give them to him,” he said tersely, getting ready to walk away, without the books.
“Actually I’d feel a lot better if I could actually give them to him myself,” she said, as politely as she could. She really didn’t trust him to track the 22-year-old down.
“I’m sorry, that’s impossible,” the guard said, shaking his head.
“Right,” Arianna said, before she decided enough was enough. She gingerly reached for her phone, she’d just flipped it open and was quickly scrolling through her contact list, ready to call Shige herself, but the guard somehow managed to pull the phone out of her hands.
“Phones aren’t allowed to be used within this compound,” he said. “I’m confiscating this.”
“What?” Arianna cried, “you can’t just confiscate it, this isn’t even a school for goodness sake!” What she said made perfect sense to her, however it only gave the guard a headache.
“Look lady, don’t think you can come in here claiming to know one of these guys, and just get in. Lots of girls come in with the same trick!”
Arianna was annoyed and confused, what the hell was this man saying? And how was it he still had her phone?
“Sir, may have my phone back? I’ll just go around the corner and call him to get his things,” Arianna said, calmly.
The guard gave her an annoyed look, before glancing down at her, and apparently seemed to notice her rather short stature. “I’ll tell you what, if you can reach up and grab it, I’ll let you have the phone back.”
This was just getting better and better, Arianna thought to herself, as she struggled to maintain her calm composure. “Sir, we both know how inappropriate that would be, so I’ll ask you again, nicely, please give me my phone back.”
The guard looked offended. “How would you know what was appropriate you stupid gaijin*?!” he sneered at her, “How do you know we don’t do this as a pastime here?” he asked, his face coming closer to hers.
She stiffly pulled away, trying to hide her disgust. “Eh gaijin?!” he sneered, coming closer.
Arianna took another step back, clutching the books to her chest, trying to stay calm, trying to refrain from the temptation of using her long honed judo skills against the idiotic guard that was tormenting her with both his offensive words, and obscene use of body language.
She clenched her fists, as he took another step closer. He was close enough that she could smell the miso soup he’d undoubtedly eaten for breakfast emitting from his breath.
“OI!”
The guard took an immediate step back, and regained his impressive posture of a straight back and calm expression.
Arianna turned in the direction the voice had called from, and was a bit surprised to see the rather hard look the new arrival possessed.
“Good morning,” the guard began, clearly intent on showing a calm front.
Arianna somehow doubted it would be good enough.
* * *
*Gaijin- From what I've learned is a rather rude name given to foreiners, it's also supposed to mean 'outsider'. From what I've found, it's meant to be derrogatory, and in this context it is. I hope it's right, it's what I've picked up on and actually searched around for the proper meaning.
Author's Note: And there we have it, I've finally managed to post the second chapter. I hope you all liked it.
Again, I'd really like to give a big thanks to carmine_pink for beta-ing for me, and giving me really great suggestions. Sadly I doubt I was able to fully incorporate all of it, just because lots is coming from the next chapter.
Either way, I hope everyone liked it.
Comments, and critisicsms would be great. And a special request as to what you think of my OC thus far, please.