Drabble Collection
Mar. 14th, 2018 10:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matsu1ninoTitle: Drabble Collection
Pairing: Assorted
Genre: Fluff, Angst, Platonic, Crack, AU
Disclaimer: Plot is mine, Arashi is not. Unfortunately.
Summary: A series of drabbles.
Author's Note: Written for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nekom1ya's birthday. Based on prompts by her, of pairings she likes, in AUs she requested. Happy birthday Tama-chan! Sorry for cutting it close with the posting time
Shouldn’t be Good in Goodbye
Their world was dead. All he knew, all that he loved—gone. Nothing remained but the broken ruins of a once thriving city, littered with bodies lost to the infection that had swept through and stripped bare their very existence. It had destroyed everything in the blink of an eye.
He’d been there for Ohno’s death. After succumbing to the virus like so many before him, he tried to keep the others from learning of his fate but eventually the symptoms became too much to hide. His skin paled and flaked, his body grew thinner as his muscles withered away. The process of his demise was torturously slow but Ohno never once asked them to end his pain. Instead he beared the burden alone and in silence until the day death finally claimed him.
Aiba was the next to fall. Fatally wounded in an attack on their base, blood gushed from the stump of severed flesh and bone. The rest of them knew then he would not last the night. He sat trembling in the corner, gripping the shoulder of his amputated arm as he wept for this nightmare to be over. The three of them were able to say their final farewells to their beloved friend before putting him out of his misery.
Neither Nino nor his only companion remaining had made it in time for Sho’s demise. The morning after Aiba’s passing, they found Sho’s body at the bottom of their lookout. It wasn’t clear what had happened. They searched his body thoroughly but found no evidence of the infection. Had his death been deliberate, a moment of folly or insanity in the gruelling aftermath of losing Aiba, or a freak accident attributable to a lack of sleep and poor construction of the post where he’d been keeping watch that evening? They didn’t know. Either way their friend was gone, leaving them alone in this isolating city of devastation.
“It’s time to go.” Jun’s voice sounded close in the darkness. Their hands brushed, their fingers entwining. They needed to leave. This place had too many memories.
Since losing Sho, the two of them hadn’t wandered far from one another. They stayed together; scavenging for food, keeping watch, even sleeping. It was the only way they could survive.
Nino gave a thin smile and squeezed the other man’s hand tightly. Jun was all he had now. Though only small, it gave him a glimmer of hope that somehow, together, they might be able to endure this and make it out alive. If when the time came that Jun too left him, Nino could only pray he would be there alongside him until the moment he took his last breath. The thought of losing another friend without being able to say goodbye was too much to bear.
Roads Untraveled
Sho was quite convinced he losing his mind. For the last week or so there had been a bizarre train of thought occupying his head. It would appear at the most random of times in the middle of their weekly recordings or when he was about to go on air for News Zero. It was a strange and most unusual thought, one that was becoming increasingly concerning when he considered the frequency in which he was allowing himself to think about it.
It had started in that concert, Sho realized as he traced his steps back to when these fantasies first began. Their MC talk had not been anything more absurd than it usually was. He was used to their reiterating of ridiculous anecdotes to the audience and though this particular story had involved him, Sho hadn’t thought much of it at the time. It was undoubtedly embarrassing to have the tale of Ohno offering him lip balm in the form of a kiss be told in front of thousands, but he’d dealt with greater humiliation before. It was only after the concert that this new feeling arose. Tired as the adrenaline began to wear off, Sho went backstage to collect his things after saying his usual words of parting to the staff and other members. That was when he saw it. Sitting on top of his bag was a tiny tube of lip balm. Almost immediately he knew it belonged to Ohno. It was the same brand they had shared before, and the very thing the five of them had talked about on stage. Sho shook it off as nothing more than the other members teasing him, and stuffed it into his pocket before leaving the venue.
It was just lip balm. There was nothing sensual about it. He saw no logical reason for a miniature stick of Vaseline to conjure such provocative images in his mind. Like a recurring nightmare, the thoughts haunted him, growing worse with every passing day. Suddenly he was finding himself inexplicably and subconsciously drawn to Ohno. The shape of the older man’s lips were imprinted in Sho’s mind. The other three were certainly being no help as they quickly caught on to the fact that Sho was quite clearly distracted by their leader, who appeared to be the only one still oblivious. They were relentless in their teasing, asking if Sho was going to “come out” and confess or continue trying in vain to deny the obvious. Despite their affectionate taunts containing no malice whatsoever, Sho couldn’t help being put off by their comments. The longer he tried to ignore these feelings, the stronger he felt it.
After more than a week of these thoughts, Sho was starting to lose hope that he would ever recover his sanity. He sat with his head in his hands in their green room during their short break. He didn’t even want to look up, knowing Ohno was on the other side of the room. He could barely stand to be around the other man anymore, let alone look him in the eye. He’d been completely distracted throughout their entire recording that day. No matter how hard he tried to stay focused on their guest, his gaze always ended up being drawn to Ohno.
Someone called for them from the doorway. Suppressing a sigh, Sho dragged himself to his feet. He froze when a pair of lips caught him unawares the moment he turned to walk out the door. The touch was soft and fleeting. A familiar taste lingered on his lips as the other pulled back and moved away without saying a word.
“Leader?” Sho called out after him, his voice spiking in his shock at what had just occurred.
A tube of lip balm was tossed to Sho, who fumbled to catch it. “You looked like you needed some.” When Sho looked back, he saw the knowing smile on the older man’s face before he left the room. Sho could hear the other three sniggering somewhere behind him.
“Shut up,” he growled over his shoulder, a deep blush colouring his cheeks while his hand clenched around the tube.
Chasing Perfection
Sakura Café was grossly romantic. The design was elegantly simplistic, with an obvious colour scheme of rose, red and black emphasizing the shop’s intended theme. With argyle painted walls embellished with tiny pink swirls and floral patterns that ran up the edge of both the door frame, window panelling and furniture, it was little wonder the café was a hotspot for couples. Even the food was presented in keeping with the overall theme of love. The truffles were adorned with pretty designs while the fondue sets came with chocolate patterns delicately scribbled onto the plate, each one hand drawn and individually crafted in accordance to whoever had ordered it. Nino personally found the unbearably saccharine interior to be enough to turn him off whatever he had ordered when on his break. His lack of appetite wasn’t helped whenever his lunchtime coffee arrived with a heart in the centre of the foam. Nino always made sure to scratch it out before taking a sip.
Yet the first taste of that sinfully delicious coffee would always be enough to spark his hunger. The rich and bitter aroma would engulf his senses and send his mind into a whirlwind of confusion and ecstasy with every avid gulp he took. The immaculate blend of bitterness and sugar was flawless every time, and the balance of heat was never off even in the slightest. The mug would always be warming to hold cupped between his small hands while the steaming dark liquid was hot almost to the point of burning his tongue, enough to truly draw out the intricate flavours of the coffee without destroying his tastebuds. It had always struck him as odd. Despite him never once having asked for it to be that way, his order was always prepared to his exact tastes, as though it had been made especially for him.
By someone who knew him better than himself, Nino thought with a frown. His gaze was carried over to where a young couple was paying for their finished drinks. The boyfriend was throwing daggers at the man behind the counter while the blushing girl beside him fawned over the pretty barista who accepted her compliments of his craft with a winning smile. Eventually her boyfriend grew sick of watching the scene playing out before him. He tossed the money down before dragging his partner towards the door away from his allure.
Nino sauntered over to the counter after collecting the couple’s empty dishes. “Snagged another couple of regulars, J?”
“It would seem so.”
“How do you do it?”
“I’m naturally charming?”
“Not that,” Nino snapped. “I’m talking about the coffee. How do you always know exactly what people like even if they don’t ask for it?”
“It’s called intuition,” said Jun, not looking up as he ground the beans to make a new order. “It’s the mark of any decent barista to be able to read someone and immediately tell their preferences.”
Nino scoffed. “As if it’s that easy.” He wasn’t buying it. He considered himself to be pretty good at reading others but even he knew it would be next to impossible to determine things as detailed as personal taste from a first meeting with someone.
“It is, actually,” Jun interrupted his rationalized thoughts. “A person’s behaviour, traits and personality can reveal a lot about what they like or dislike. Having good intuition is the ability to not only read these individual aspects but to put them in practice, for example…”
Another mug was pushed towards Nino. It was his usual order—he recognized the tantalizing aroma. On the spoon beside it was a small rounded truffle. A tiny red heart was attached to the top of the chocolate ball, almost identical to the heart in his latte art. Nino tentatively reached for the dark coloured sphere and bit into it. Delicately whipped moose oozed into his mouth. Strawberry flavoured, Nino realized as he licked the sweet flecks of red from his lips. His favourite. It tasted different from the other truffles he had tried from the café before. Like those had, it paired well with his choice of coffee and was undeniably delicious, but it lacked the refinement of others he’d tasted. Even the shape was slightly off. The ball was round but not entirely even, though made with much care. It didn’t have the same finishing sheen that Nino was used to seeing on the truffles sold at the café either. It seemed more personal somehow. The little heart on top was surprisingly flawless despite its tiny shape and carried more of a message in its two grams than anything else Nino had received before.
Glancing up at Jun, he saw the other man trying hard not to smile. Nino could see the what looked suspiciously like chocolate stains on his fingers. A pout played on Nino’s lips, deliberately scratching out the coffee art in front of him before drinking.
Trouble is a Four-Letter Word
“Play with me!” begged the puppy. When the black feline in front of him didn’t move from where it lay sprawled out on arm of the couch, he reared up on his hind legs and let out a stream of loud barks until he saw the cat’s slitted eyes open. “Nino, play with me!”
Nino stretched out a paw to swipe at the idiotic dog disturbing his nap. “Go away.”
“But I’m bored,” the dog whined.
Despite sitting back on his hind legs after having Nino swipe his muzzle with sheathed claws, every muscle in his body remained tense. He shuffled his paws and tried hard to contain his energy. A soft whimper sounded from him. If their owners were to hear him, he knew they were likely to misinterpret his behaviour as needing to go out. Then again even that seemed like a better option if meant getting attention from someone. Perhaps they would even play a game with him.
Nino glared at the furry annoyance still in his presence. It wasn’t that he hated Aiba exactly; he just didn’t know what to do with a dog. He did not know what his owners were thinking when they decided to bring home this exhausting ball of fur. It had been so much better for all of them when it was just the two of them and Nino. He could curl up on their laps in the evening, eager for the attention he knew they would give. They fed him whatever he liked three times a day and spoiled him with an assortment of toys he would play with once before deciding they were completely uninteresting any more. It had been a great life.
Now he had to share. It was unfair really. Just because Aiba actually showed he was happy to see them whenever one of their humans walked into a room didn’t mean they had to give him all the attention. Mealtimes were a nightmare now too. Any time Nino went to eat, Aiba would scare the life out of him by coming out of nowhere and beating him to the bowl. Their owners always dragged him away but it left Nino shaken and unwilling to eat. He couldn’t even nap in peace.
“Go play with Jun then,” he growled at the bane of his existence.
Both turned to spy the tiny striped kitten curled up on the deluxe bed in the corner. Aiba didn’t need to be told twice, jumping to his paws with his tail erect and wagging, before rushing over. Nino watched on in mild amusement as Jun was startled awake by the sudden ruckus. His tail fluffed up and he bared his teeth with a threatening hiss at the dog looming over him.
Nino remembered the first time he saw Jun. Having come to the vet for what he assumed was nothing more than a check-up, he watched through the barred door of his carrier as a tiny striped kitten came tumbled out into the reception. His owners were almost immediately taken by the kitten, marvelling at his uniquely striped and spotted pelt. Nino had a sinking feeling in his stomach as he watched his humans converse with the vet while holding the little cat in their hands. The three of them had been made to live together ever since.
Desperate to escape Aiba, Jun jumped up onto the couch and climbed over Nino in his mad scramble to get away from the puppy hot on his tail. Nino hissed a warning at the kitten. He paid no mind when Jun started scratching the top of the sofa as if to vent his indignation. Nino was more than aware doing such a thing would end in consequences but Jun had to learn that for himself.
“Nino! What did you do?” Their owner’s voice sounded only a minute later. Nino blinked his eyes open, seeing one of his two humans standing with their arms crossed and a chastising expression on their face.
Confused, he glanced up at the scratches before looking around. Jun was now on the other side of the room, playfully jumping on Aiba as the puppy rolled about submissively on the floor. While their owner grabbed Nino’s scruff and dragged him off the couch with an ongoing tirade of reprimands, Nino glared at the little kitten. He wouldn’t forget this.
Winner Takes All
“You could try being more social, you know.”
Nino grumbled some incoherent response, not really listening to the scolding tone of his co-star. He shivered slightly as the chilling wind blew against him and drew his legs up to his chest while he buried himself deeper in his heavy overcoat. They were between filming at the moment and while he was glad that meant not having to stand out in the open wearing nothing but skin-tight leather, he also just wanted their scenes for today to be over so he could go home and get out of his freezing weather.
He unconsciously slid over to make room for Yuriko as she sat down next to him. He could feel her leaning over, watching him, but Nino’s focus remained solely on the game he was playing. His fingers were stiff from the cold as he mashed the buttons of his DS to perform the most effective combination moves. Other people were studiously going over their scripts or talking with the director about their upcoming scene, but for Nino getting to the next level of this game was the most crucial thing for him to do before they were called to continue filming. The entire time he could feel Yuriko observing him closely.
“Do you want to try?” he asked after finally beating the level. It wasn’t something he normally offered but she seemed interested enough to give it a go, and honestly with the extra time they still had, Nino thought it might be entertaining to watch her try.
With a smile, she accepted the console and started up a new game. “Is this all you do?” she asked him.
Nino shrugged. It wasn’t that he didn’t do other things in his spare time but playing games always brought him the most enjoyment. He would stay up for hours—the whole night sometimes—completely absorbed in whatever game he was hooked on at that time. He alternated what he played enough to challenge himself on a regular basis and the release of a new game always provided an opportunity for exciting new worlds to be explored.
“When I feel like it,” he settled for telling Yuriko. He didn’t expect her to understand. Sure, she was doing better now than he expected her to and her combination moves were surprisingly impressive for someone who, as far as he knew, had never played before but he brushed that off as being beginner’s luck.
After a couple of minutes, the director called for them to get ready for their next scene. Nino was reluctant to take his warm outer layer off, knowing that first gust of icy wind against his almost naked body would be agony. Distracting by his thoughts of the cold, Nino was taken by surprise when Yuriko handed him back his DS with a smug smile as she walked past.
“I beat your score, by the way.”
In the Stars
Aiba believed they were destined to be together. No matter how many times he’d thought about it, their formation was too miraculous for it not to have been fate. Why the five of them specifically were chosen out of every other junior in the jimusho was something even now he struggled to understand. Sometimes he wondered what his life would be like if things were different.
What if Sho’s family had forced him to quit after learning about his application to the agency? What if Ohno’s scandal had resulted in his resignation? What if Jun had decided to focus on his solo career after the success of Hanadan? What if Nino chose to stay in Hollywood? What if his passport hadn’t been valid when Johnny called him that night so many years ago. Or if his lung collapse had been more serious, what would have happened to Arashi then?
They were questions he didn’t like asking himself when just the thought of what could have been brought tears to his eyes. But sometimes, when he was alone or drunk, he couldn’t help himself from considering all that could or should have interfered with their success as a group.
“Do you ever think about what could have been?” he asked Ohno one evening.
It was just the two of them as they waited patiently for the other three members to arrive. They’d already had a few drinks and were starting to feel a faint buzz in the back of their skull while their vision blurred slightly.
“You mean regret?” Ohno took a moment to ponder the question deeply before shaking his head. “I consider, but I don’t regret.”
“We could have broken up so many times.” Aiba’s voice was a whisper. It trembled with the realization of his own statement. “If things were different…”
“But they’re not.” Ohno reached out to grasp Aiba’s hand gently, running his thumb over the skin to soothe the other man even though he too felt a small catch in his throat. He knew when this night was over he would surely blame it on the alcohol and perhaps even Aiba’s contagiously emotional state, but for now he was happy to let his tears flow if they chose to.
“We’ve come a long way.”
Aiba sniffed, a teary smile making its way onto his face as he leant against his leader’s side. “We have. I hope we’ll always be together.”
“Are you two crying again?”
The question came from the door. The pair turned to see their three missing members standing there, each with an equally amused albeit sympathizing gaze. They closed the door behind them as they walked further into the room to join their emotional members by the bed. As the night went on, fatigue and an indulgence of liquor and nostalgia giving them enough of an excuse to let their emotions run high, sleep eventually engulfed each member.
The next morning’s light poured down through the window to bathe the tangled jumble of limbs on the floor. Five had become one at some unrecallable point in time. They woke on their own, not one of them so much as blinking at the intimate position they found themselves in. It was the way they were. Just like a red string of fate connecting them all, they knew then as they always had, that they were destined to be together.
Touch My Soul
It happened suddenly. Jun felt his heart stop as he gazed down at his wrist and saw the intricate half pattern drawn into his skin illuminated with a faint glow. His soul mate was close.
Every child was born with a distinct symbol drawn on their dominate wrist. It was their soul mark. Each mark was a unique sketch to all but one. Like a scar, it was slightly raised and pale, almost too much to make out. Only when a person was in close enough proximity to their soulmate, an individual whose mark would finally complete their own, would their mark become truly visible. Countless people went their entire life without finding their soulmate. Some didn’t even bother trying while others wasted their lives looking with no success. Ever since he was a child, Jun feared being one of those people. His parents had warned him of the dangers of obsessing over finding completion through one’s soulmate and urged him to live out his own life without letting the anxiety of finding them consume him. He tried to be good and do as he was told.
But eventually his overbearing desire to find unconditional love overpowered his sense of reasoning and the wise words of his parents were lost. He was tired of meaningless dating and shallow relationships with incompatible mates. To find the one person he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with was what he yearned for. He wanted it so badly it hurt. All other aspects of his life lost importance; his job became a mundane way to waste the best years of his life, his friends were a bore and he fell out of contact with his family. He was spiralling into a pit of despair from which he knew there was no return. It was this maddening obsession that his parents warned him of but Jun feared he had slipped past the point of redemption.
Until the day he met him. His work had sent him to the neighbouring prefecture as a representative of their company. The mind-numbing conference had left him in dire need of caffeine and whilst Jun hadn’t thought much about it at the time, his decision to walk across the street to that little café across the road would change his life forever.
He let his mind go blank as the he stepped up to order once the person in front of him received their drink. If not for the strange warmth occurring in his wrist now glowing, Jun was certain he wouldn’t have even realized his soulmate was nearby. His eyes blew wide open when he saw his luminous mark. Whipping around, he scoured the area for anyone with a soul mark like his own. He looked over every person in the café. The barista busy making his coffee, a bubbly waitress serving food, the previous customer walking to the door, a couple by the window, someone with their nose in a book in the corner. No one, Jun thought frustratingly. From the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of light. The customer who’d been in front of him was sipping his coffee as he pushed the door open, a familiar glowing symbol embedded in his left wrist.
Forgetting his own order, Jun ran after him. He called out for the man to stop and watched as the shorter guy turned around with an alarmed expression. It only grew when Jun came forward, unable to keep the excited smile off his face. He grabbed his arm. The panicked man looked ready to throw his coffee at Jun and run off as fast as his legs would carry him but before he could do just that, Jun flipped his wrist and held their marks together. Realization flooded the man’s face.
Jun released his arm and held out his own in greeting. “I’m Jun.”
The man’s upturned lips quirked in a smile as he shook the outstretched hand with a reply of, “Kazunari.”
Afraid of the Dark
“Can you see anything?”
“It’s pitch black, what do you think?”
“I think this was a bad idea.”
“You’re the one who was scared to go to the bathroom on your own.”
“But the lights wouldn’t turn on—what was that?”
“It was probably just the wind…”
A scream cut him off. “Something touched me!”
“Idiot, that was my foot you just stepped on!”
In hindsight, Nino knew watching that movie with Aiba had been a bad idea. When the taller man had come to him and begged to watch with him, Nino went against his better judgement and agreed. How much damage could one horror movie do? Lots, as it turned out. The two of them had been practically hugging one another under the covers for most of the film, jolting and screaming at every jump scare that occurred on screen. By the time the movie ended, Aiba was visibly shaking while all colour had drained from Nino’s face.
“It wasn’t that bad” he tried to brush off the terrifying experience and turned to Aiba with a nervous sounding laugh. “You were so scared!”
“So were you,” Aiba whimpered, stilly hugging the blanket around his trembling form as if it were the only thing keeping him from freezing to death.
Not even an hour after calling it a night, Nino found himself somehow accompanying his petrified friend to the bathroom after the other man had come rushing into his bedroom pleading for him not to make him go alone. Nino wasn’t overly enthused by the idea but he hadn’t been able to sleep with images from the movie flashing so vividly in his mind whenever he closed his eyes. He figured keeping his friend company might at least help calm his nerves enough to make him tired.
The two of them moved slowly down the dark hallway of the second floor in the direction of the bathroom. The light switch was ineffectual. Nino wondered if it was a blown fuse or if Ohno had simply forgotten to replace the bulbs again. The floor creaked beneath their feet with every step that brought them closer to the bathroom.
“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” Aiba whispered.
“Think you can hold it until morning?” When Aiba didn’t reply, Nino clicked his tongue. “Didn’t think so.” He could make out what looked to be the outline of the bathroom door up ahead but swore under his breath when he saw what they needed to pass by first to reach it. “Why did Jun have to buy that god damn mirror?”
The overly elaborate full-length mirror was something Nino always found to be a rather creepy. He hated the way it was angled, always showing their reflection a fraction too early or too late, like a spirit following them. After watching the horror movie, Nino didn’t think he could handle walking in front of it.
A loud creak sounded from ahead of them. They both froze. A second later they were rushing down the stairs, panicked and frightened for their lives. When they reached the bottom of the staircase, Aiba grabbed Nino by the arm and pulled him into the kitchen, throwing him under the table before crawling under himself. They stayed huddled together, their breathing audible in darkness. The creaking grew louder, closing in on them like footsteps.
“Grab the salt,” Aiba hissed.
“Why?”
“Just do it!”
Nino scrambled out, hastily grabbing the salt shaker before diving back under the table to hand it to his friend. Aiba crawled forward and started pouring a ring of salt around their hiding place.
“This will protect us,” he said. “So long as it stays unbroken, but just to be sure…” He poured some more into the palm of his hand before doing the same for Nino.
“I hope you’re right.”
“This was the only way to ward off spirits. Remember the movie?”
There was a clatter from somewhere in the next room. Whatever it was after them, it was getting close.
“On my count,” said Aiba. “One.”
Nino lifted his handful of salt, poised and ready to defend themselves from the evil pursuing them.
“Two.”
The footsteps approached.
“Three!”
Both of them jumped up with a strangled yell and tossed the salt hard at their ghostly assailant. A startled but familiar sounding cry tore from its throat, followed by a bang as it crashed into the wall. Aiba ran over and switched on the kitchen light. Sho lay on the floor between them, his face scrunched up while his hair was dusted with salt.
“Sho-chan!” Aiba exclaimed, crouching by their friend’s side. He glanced back at the dark hallway he’d come from. “What are you doing here? Where’s the spirit?”
Sho blinked his eyes open, his gave moving between the two men and the wonky ring of table salt scattered on the ground. He sighed deeply. “No more horror movies for you two. Ever.”
Demon’s Eye
From the moment he first laid eyes on him, Sho knew he couldn’t trust him. There was something about the way he looked at Nino, with that predatory gaze of his, which evoked the same feeling of protection towards the young man that he’d had since he was twelve. Their families had been close long before either of them were born, and so when Nino was orphaned in a car accident, Sho felt it was only natural for his parents to welcome the young boy into their family with opened arms. Since then Sho had looked out for him like he would a brother. Defending him from bullies in school, helping him with romantic troubles and exchanging secrets only they knew—Sho cared a great deal about Nino.
When Nino first told him he was seeing someone, Sho had been sceptical. He wanted to be happy for his adopted brother but some innate instinct deep inside of him stop his feelings from being genuine. He understood why when he was finally introduced to Jun. It was a name he’d heard on countless occasion as Nino fawned over his new beau like a teenage girl experiencing her first crush. Sho had built up an image in his mind of what this Jun person was like but seeing him in person, he realized just how far off his presumption was. The man was impeccably stylish, adorned with expensive looking accessories and clad in a black V-neck shirt and tight jeans that exhibited his slim figure. With hair coiffed to perfection and thick eyebrows that framed his intense eyes, he could quite easily pass for a model. Sho found he immediately disliked the other man. He’d learnt enough from past experience to know when something or someone seemed to perfect, they usually were.
Though Sho had tried on several occasions to warn Nino of this, the younger simply refused to listen. He was head over heals in love and unwilling to let anyone say a bad word against Jun.
“You want to stop glaring, or are you trying to burn a whole through my back?” Jun asked with an almost challenging tone. A sickening sweetness filled his voice when he turned to Nino to add, “Must your bodyguard always tag along?”
“Just ignore him,” said Nino, glaring at Sho for a moment before returning his attention to Jun as they leaned in close.
Sho huffed indignantly, trying not to gag at the scene in front of him as turned to face away from them. He was there not by invite but out of paranoia that something bad would happen to Nino should he leave him in the company of this demon. He didn’t trust leaving them alone. It was far from the first time he had accompanied them on their dates without consent. He could tell Nino was getting frustrated with him but Sho didn’t care about that. He could be mad at him all he liked, so long as he didn’t end up getting hurt. Under his watch, Sho was sure he could keep that from happening.
“I’ll order us some drinks,” Jun said after a while. When he sauntered over, his gaze met with Sho’s for a moment. Sho was certain he saw something malicious and threatening flicker in their dark depths.
As soon as Jun’s back was turned, Sho dashed over to where Nino was sitting on his own. The love in his eyes twisted into annoyance as soon as he saw the other man.
“What?” he snapped. “Don’t you dare give me that whole ‘Jun’s not trustworthy’ speech again.”
“I wouldn’t have to if you listened to me.”
“Or maybe you should learn to listen to me. Jun is not the sadistic monster you think he is, and if you stopped being so bloody paranoid for two seconds you would see that for yourself.”
“I’ve tried but no matter what I do, I can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong with that guy” Sho stressed. “Please hear me out. You’re too infatuated—”
“I don’t want to hear it!”
“I think we should leave,” he insisted.
“I agree.” Sho stiffened at the return of Jun’s deep voice. He glanced over his shoulder to see the man standing there with two drinks in his hand. He handed one to Nino. “I just checked, and apparently a private room has opened up. Would you like to go?”
Nino didn’t have to respond for both Jun and Sho to know his answer. He rose to his feet in one quick motion and took Jun’s arm. He looked back at Sho. “Don’t follow us.”
Sho watched on helplessly as they walked towards the back of the club. He didn’t know whether it was from the glaring lights above or something else entirely, but he was convinced he saw Jun’s eyes flash red as he stared back at him before disappearing behind the velvet curtain.
Terminal
Nino thought he was dying. His lungs screamed with every breath he tried to take, fighting against the invisible weight bearing down on his chest. The world around him was spinning. Even when he closed his eyes, wincing at the sting, he was overcome by a dizzying spell that had him wanting to throw up. If not for him having already emptied the contents of his stomach close to twenty minutes ago, he was certain he would do just that. He retched when he tasted the bile rising in the back of his throat. Leaning over the bed just as a spasm racked his body, a small amount of coloured saliva dribbled out of his mouth. That was what the bowl down there was for.
He collapsed back against his pillow. He wished sleep would claim his exhausted body already and give him some respite, if only momentary. Every time he closed his eyes, feeling himself starting to drift off before another bout of sickness or pain would drag him back into the aching world of the living, he hoped he might fall into a slumber so deep he would never wake. It was his only chance of relief from this agony.
Weak and trembling, Nino could barely even lift his head. The throbbing in his temple was making it hard to think straight. Peculiar thoughts entered his deranged mind. He wondered if this was what it felt like to be a vegetable, completely paralysed and brain-dead. That was certainly the way he was feeling. His straying thoughts wandered to his family and friends. Would they miss him when he was gone? Had he made enough of an impact on this world for his name to be remembered long after his body was laid to rest? He hoped the other members would honour him. It would be undoubtedly heartbreaking but he trusted the four of them to push through the pain and the tears, and persevere for the sake of their fans.
“Everyone would cry,” Nino rasped, stifling a deep cough. “The whole audience would hold my uchiwa. There’d be a big photo of me on screen as the other members sang in memory of me. Masaki would break down in the middle of the first song, maybe even run off stage. Sho-kun would probably collapse from grief at some point. Oh-chan would lose his voice and be unable to carry on, and J… Jun-kun would force himself to keep going for everyone’s sake despite hurting the most.”
“Stop being so overdramatic would you.” Jun rolled his eyes from where he stood in the doorway. “It’s just the flu.”
He walked into the room and put the tray he was holding down on the bedside table. On it was a bowl of soup, a glass of tap water and a box of prescription medicine. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, being careful not to let his weight shift the mattress and cause Nino any discomfort, Jun leant over to feel his forehead. It was still quite warm but not nearly as much as it had been a few hours ago. A relieved smile graced his lips. At least they knew the medication was having an effect. He reached for the box to pop out two more tablets.
“Open.”
When Nino refused to open his mouth, Jun poked him softly in the stomach. Nino threw his head back with a painful grunt. The younger took the opportunity to slip the tablets past the guard of his now parted lips. He then held the glass to Nino’s mouth, placing a hand behind his head to prop it forward to help him take a small enough sip to swallow the medicine down.
“So unkind,” Nino grumbled. “I thought you’d be nicer to me on my deathbed.”
“You’re not dying,” Jun reminded him.
“Feels like I am.”
Jun didn’t dignify him with a response. Instead he picked up the bowl of soup and gently brought the spoon towards Nino to feed him. Having learnt his lesson, the latter obediently opened his mouth to eat despite his stomach’s protests, urged on by Jun’s gentle coaxing. He could only manage about four spoonfuls before he felt he could consume no more. Jun seemed to sense this even without Nino saying anything and sat the remaining of the soup aside. He rose to his feet soon after, tucking the blanket over Nino’s body and making sure he was as comfortable as he could be.
“Get better soon, we need you,” he murmured.
“J,” Nino called weakly as the other man headed back towards the door. “Would you guys hold a concert in my honour if I died?”
Jun quirked his eyebrow in surprise at the unusual question but his gaze softened only a moment later. “Of course we would.” He flicked the lights off to help Nino sleep but continued to stand in the doorway, his figure silhouetted against the hallway light. “And for the record, I’d be the one most likely to run off stage. Performing would be impossible without you.”
Pairing: Assorted
Genre: Fluff, Angst, Platonic, Crack, AU
Disclaimer: Plot is mine, Arashi is not. Unfortunately.
Summary: A series of drabbles.
Author's Note: Written for
nekom1ya's birthday. Based on prompts by her, of pairings she likes, in AUs she requested. Happy birthday Tama-chan! Sorry for cutting it close with the posting timeShouldn’t be Good in Goodbye
Their world was dead. All he knew, all that he loved—gone. Nothing remained but the broken ruins of a once thriving city, littered with bodies lost to the infection that had swept through and stripped bare their very existence. It had destroyed everything in the blink of an eye.
He’d been there for Ohno’s death. After succumbing to the virus like so many before him, he tried to keep the others from learning of his fate but eventually the symptoms became too much to hide. His skin paled and flaked, his body grew thinner as his muscles withered away. The process of his demise was torturously slow but Ohno never once asked them to end his pain. Instead he beared the burden alone and in silence until the day death finally claimed him.
Aiba was the next to fall. Fatally wounded in an attack on their base, blood gushed from the stump of severed flesh and bone. The rest of them knew then he would not last the night. He sat trembling in the corner, gripping the shoulder of his amputated arm as he wept for this nightmare to be over. The three of them were able to say their final farewells to their beloved friend before putting him out of his misery.
Neither Nino nor his only companion remaining had made it in time for Sho’s demise. The morning after Aiba’s passing, they found Sho’s body at the bottom of their lookout. It wasn’t clear what had happened. They searched his body thoroughly but found no evidence of the infection. Had his death been deliberate, a moment of folly or insanity in the gruelling aftermath of losing Aiba, or a freak accident attributable to a lack of sleep and poor construction of the post where he’d been keeping watch that evening? They didn’t know. Either way their friend was gone, leaving them alone in this isolating city of devastation.
“It’s time to go.” Jun’s voice sounded close in the darkness. Their hands brushed, their fingers entwining. They needed to leave. This place had too many memories.
Since losing Sho, the two of them hadn’t wandered far from one another. They stayed together; scavenging for food, keeping watch, even sleeping. It was the only way they could survive.
Nino gave a thin smile and squeezed the other man’s hand tightly. Jun was all he had now. Though only small, it gave him a glimmer of hope that somehow, together, they might be able to endure this and make it out alive. If when the time came that Jun too left him, Nino could only pray he would be there alongside him until the moment he took his last breath. The thought of losing another friend without being able to say goodbye was too much to bear.
Roads Untraveled
Sho was quite convinced he losing his mind. For the last week or so there had been a bizarre train of thought occupying his head. It would appear at the most random of times in the middle of their weekly recordings or when he was about to go on air for News Zero. It was a strange and most unusual thought, one that was becoming increasingly concerning when he considered the frequency in which he was allowing himself to think about it.
It had started in that concert, Sho realized as he traced his steps back to when these fantasies first began. Their MC talk had not been anything more absurd than it usually was. He was used to their reiterating of ridiculous anecdotes to the audience and though this particular story had involved him, Sho hadn’t thought much of it at the time. It was undoubtedly embarrassing to have the tale of Ohno offering him lip balm in the form of a kiss be told in front of thousands, but he’d dealt with greater humiliation before. It was only after the concert that this new feeling arose. Tired as the adrenaline began to wear off, Sho went backstage to collect his things after saying his usual words of parting to the staff and other members. That was when he saw it. Sitting on top of his bag was a tiny tube of lip balm. Almost immediately he knew it belonged to Ohno. It was the same brand they had shared before, and the very thing the five of them had talked about on stage. Sho shook it off as nothing more than the other members teasing him, and stuffed it into his pocket before leaving the venue.
It was just lip balm. There was nothing sensual about it. He saw no logical reason for a miniature stick of Vaseline to conjure such provocative images in his mind. Like a recurring nightmare, the thoughts haunted him, growing worse with every passing day. Suddenly he was finding himself inexplicably and subconsciously drawn to Ohno. The shape of the older man’s lips were imprinted in Sho’s mind. The other three were certainly being no help as they quickly caught on to the fact that Sho was quite clearly distracted by their leader, who appeared to be the only one still oblivious. They were relentless in their teasing, asking if Sho was going to “come out” and confess or continue trying in vain to deny the obvious. Despite their affectionate taunts containing no malice whatsoever, Sho couldn’t help being put off by their comments. The longer he tried to ignore these feelings, the stronger he felt it.
After more than a week of these thoughts, Sho was starting to lose hope that he would ever recover his sanity. He sat with his head in his hands in their green room during their short break. He didn’t even want to look up, knowing Ohno was on the other side of the room. He could barely stand to be around the other man anymore, let alone look him in the eye. He’d been completely distracted throughout their entire recording that day. No matter how hard he tried to stay focused on their guest, his gaze always ended up being drawn to Ohno.
Someone called for them from the doorway. Suppressing a sigh, Sho dragged himself to his feet. He froze when a pair of lips caught him unawares the moment he turned to walk out the door. The touch was soft and fleeting. A familiar taste lingered on his lips as the other pulled back and moved away without saying a word.
“Leader?” Sho called out after him, his voice spiking in his shock at what had just occurred.
A tube of lip balm was tossed to Sho, who fumbled to catch it. “You looked like you needed some.” When Sho looked back, he saw the knowing smile on the older man’s face before he left the room. Sho could hear the other three sniggering somewhere behind him.
“Shut up,” he growled over his shoulder, a deep blush colouring his cheeks while his hand clenched around the tube.
Chasing Perfection
Sakura Café was grossly romantic. The design was elegantly simplistic, with an obvious colour scheme of rose, red and black emphasizing the shop’s intended theme. With argyle painted walls embellished with tiny pink swirls and floral patterns that ran up the edge of both the door frame, window panelling and furniture, it was little wonder the café was a hotspot for couples. Even the food was presented in keeping with the overall theme of love. The truffles were adorned with pretty designs while the fondue sets came with chocolate patterns delicately scribbled onto the plate, each one hand drawn and individually crafted in accordance to whoever had ordered it. Nino personally found the unbearably saccharine interior to be enough to turn him off whatever he had ordered when on his break. His lack of appetite wasn’t helped whenever his lunchtime coffee arrived with a heart in the centre of the foam. Nino always made sure to scratch it out before taking a sip.
Yet the first taste of that sinfully delicious coffee would always be enough to spark his hunger. The rich and bitter aroma would engulf his senses and send his mind into a whirlwind of confusion and ecstasy with every avid gulp he took. The immaculate blend of bitterness and sugar was flawless every time, and the balance of heat was never off even in the slightest. The mug would always be warming to hold cupped between his small hands while the steaming dark liquid was hot almost to the point of burning his tongue, enough to truly draw out the intricate flavours of the coffee without destroying his tastebuds. It had always struck him as odd. Despite him never once having asked for it to be that way, his order was always prepared to his exact tastes, as though it had been made especially for him.
By someone who knew him better than himself, Nino thought with a frown. His gaze was carried over to where a young couple was paying for their finished drinks. The boyfriend was throwing daggers at the man behind the counter while the blushing girl beside him fawned over the pretty barista who accepted her compliments of his craft with a winning smile. Eventually her boyfriend grew sick of watching the scene playing out before him. He tossed the money down before dragging his partner towards the door away from his allure.
Nino sauntered over to the counter after collecting the couple’s empty dishes. “Snagged another couple of regulars, J?”
“It would seem so.”
“How do you do it?”
“I’m naturally charming?”
“Not that,” Nino snapped. “I’m talking about the coffee. How do you always know exactly what people like even if they don’t ask for it?”
“It’s called intuition,” said Jun, not looking up as he ground the beans to make a new order. “It’s the mark of any decent barista to be able to read someone and immediately tell their preferences.”
Nino scoffed. “As if it’s that easy.” He wasn’t buying it. He considered himself to be pretty good at reading others but even he knew it would be next to impossible to determine things as detailed as personal taste from a first meeting with someone.
“It is, actually,” Jun interrupted his rationalized thoughts. “A person’s behaviour, traits and personality can reveal a lot about what they like or dislike. Having good intuition is the ability to not only read these individual aspects but to put them in practice, for example…”
Another mug was pushed towards Nino. It was his usual order—he recognized the tantalizing aroma. On the spoon beside it was a small rounded truffle. A tiny red heart was attached to the top of the chocolate ball, almost identical to the heart in his latte art. Nino tentatively reached for the dark coloured sphere and bit into it. Delicately whipped moose oozed into his mouth. Strawberry flavoured, Nino realized as he licked the sweet flecks of red from his lips. His favourite. It tasted different from the other truffles he had tried from the café before. Like those had, it paired well with his choice of coffee and was undeniably delicious, but it lacked the refinement of others he’d tasted. Even the shape was slightly off. The ball was round but not entirely even, though made with much care. It didn’t have the same finishing sheen that Nino was used to seeing on the truffles sold at the café either. It seemed more personal somehow. The little heart on top was surprisingly flawless despite its tiny shape and carried more of a message in its two grams than anything else Nino had received before.
Glancing up at Jun, he saw the other man trying hard not to smile. Nino could see the what looked suspiciously like chocolate stains on his fingers. A pout played on Nino’s lips, deliberately scratching out the coffee art in front of him before drinking.
Trouble is a Four-Letter Word
“Play with me!” begged the puppy. When the black feline in front of him didn’t move from where it lay sprawled out on arm of the couch, he reared up on his hind legs and let out a stream of loud barks until he saw the cat’s slitted eyes open. “Nino, play with me!”
Nino stretched out a paw to swipe at the idiotic dog disturbing his nap. “Go away.”
“But I’m bored,” the dog whined.
Despite sitting back on his hind legs after having Nino swipe his muzzle with sheathed claws, every muscle in his body remained tense. He shuffled his paws and tried hard to contain his energy. A soft whimper sounded from him. If their owners were to hear him, he knew they were likely to misinterpret his behaviour as needing to go out. Then again even that seemed like a better option if meant getting attention from someone. Perhaps they would even play a game with him.
Nino glared at the furry annoyance still in his presence. It wasn’t that he hated Aiba exactly; he just didn’t know what to do with a dog. He did not know what his owners were thinking when they decided to bring home this exhausting ball of fur. It had been so much better for all of them when it was just the two of them and Nino. He could curl up on their laps in the evening, eager for the attention he knew they would give. They fed him whatever he liked three times a day and spoiled him with an assortment of toys he would play with once before deciding they were completely uninteresting any more. It had been a great life.
Now he had to share. It was unfair really. Just because Aiba actually showed he was happy to see them whenever one of their humans walked into a room didn’t mean they had to give him all the attention. Mealtimes were a nightmare now too. Any time Nino went to eat, Aiba would scare the life out of him by coming out of nowhere and beating him to the bowl. Their owners always dragged him away but it left Nino shaken and unwilling to eat. He couldn’t even nap in peace.
“Go play with Jun then,” he growled at the bane of his existence.
Both turned to spy the tiny striped kitten curled up on the deluxe bed in the corner. Aiba didn’t need to be told twice, jumping to his paws with his tail erect and wagging, before rushing over. Nino watched on in mild amusement as Jun was startled awake by the sudden ruckus. His tail fluffed up and he bared his teeth with a threatening hiss at the dog looming over him.
Nino remembered the first time he saw Jun. Having come to the vet for what he assumed was nothing more than a check-up, he watched through the barred door of his carrier as a tiny striped kitten came tumbled out into the reception. His owners were almost immediately taken by the kitten, marvelling at his uniquely striped and spotted pelt. Nino had a sinking feeling in his stomach as he watched his humans converse with the vet while holding the little cat in their hands. The three of them had been made to live together ever since.
Desperate to escape Aiba, Jun jumped up onto the couch and climbed over Nino in his mad scramble to get away from the puppy hot on his tail. Nino hissed a warning at the kitten. He paid no mind when Jun started scratching the top of the sofa as if to vent his indignation. Nino was more than aware doing such a thing would end in consequences but Jun had to learn that for himself.
“Nino! What did you do?” Their owner’s voice sounded only a minute later. Nino blinked his eyes open, seeing one of his two humans standing with their arms crossed and a chastising expression on their face.
Confused, he glanced up at the scratches before looking around. Jun was now on the other side of the room, playfully jumping on Aiba as the puppy rolled about submissively on the floor. While their owner grabbed Nino’s scruff and dragged him off the couch with an ongoing tirade of reprimands, Nino glared at the little kitten. He wouldn’t forget this.
Winner Takes All
“You could try being more social, you know.”
Nino grumbled some incoherent response, not really listening to the scolding tone of his co-star. He shivered slightly as the chilling wind blew against him and drew his legs up to his chest while he buried himself deeper in his heavy overcoat. They were between filming at the moment and while he was glad that meant not having to stand out in the open wearing nothing but skin-tight leather, he also just wanted their scenes for today to be over so he could go home and get out of his freezing weather.
He unconsciously slid over to make room for Yuriko as she sat down next to him. He could feel her leaning over, watching him, but Nino’s focus remained solely on the game he was playing. His fingers were stiff from the cold as he mashed the buttons of his DS to perform the most effective combination moves. Other people were studiously going over their scripts or talking with the director about their upcoming scene, but for Nino getting to the next level of this game was the most crucial thing for him to do before they were called to continue filming. The entire time he could feel Yuriko observing him closely.
“Do you want to try?” he asked after finally beating the level. It wasn’t something he normally offered but she seemed interested enough to give it a go, and honestly with the extra time they still had, Nino thought it might be entertaining to watch her try.
With a smile, she accepted the console and started up a new game. “Is this all you do?” she asked him.
Nino shrugged. It wasn’t that he didn’t do other things in his spare time but playing games always brought him the most enjoyment. He would stay up for hours—the whole night sometimes—completely absorbed in whatever game he was hooked on at that time. He alternated what he played enough to challenge himself on a regular basis and the release of a new game always provided an opportunity for exciting new worlds to be explored.
“When I feel like it,” he settled for telling Yuriko. He didn’t expect her to understand. Sure, she was doing better now than he expected her to and her combination moves were surprisingly impressive for someone who, as far as he knew, had never played before but he brushed that off as being beginner’s luck.
After a couple of minutes, the director called for them to get ready for their next scene. Nino was reluctant to take his warm outer layer off, knowing that first gust of icy wind against his almost naked body would be agony. Distracting by his thoughts of the cold, Nino was taken by surprise when Yuriko handed him back his DS with a smug smile as she walked past.
“I beat your score, by the way.”
In the Stars
Aiba believed they were destined to be together. No matter how many times he’d thought about it, their formation was too miraculous for it not to have been fate. Why the five of them specifically were chosen out of every other junior in the jimusho was something even now he struggled to understand. Sometimes he wondered what his life would be like if things were different.
What if Sho’s family had forced him to quit after learning about his application to the agency? What if Ohno’s scandal had resulted in his resignation? What if Jun had decided to focus on his solo career after the success of Hanadan? What if Nino chose to stay in Hollywood? What if his passport hadn’t been valid when Johnny called him that night so many years ago. Or if his lung collapse had been more serious, what would have happened to Arashi then?
They were questions he didn’t like asking himself when just the thought of what could have been brought tears to his eyes. But sometimes, when he was alone or drunk, he couldn’t help himself from considering all that could or should have interfered with their success as a group.
“Do you ever think about what could have been?” he asked Ohno one evening.
It was just the two of them as they waited patiently for the other three members to arrive. They’d already had a few drinks and were starting to feel a faint buzz in the back of their skull while their vision blurred slightly.
“You mean regret?” Ohno took a moment to ponder the question deeply before shaking his head. “I consider, but I don’t regret.”
“We could have broken up so many times.” Aiba’s voice was a whisper. It trembled with the realization of his own statement. “If things were different…”
“But they’re not.” Ohno reached out to grasp Aiba’s hand gently, running his thumb over the skin to soothe the other man even though he too felt a small catch in his throat. He knew when this night was over he would surely blame it on the alcohol and perhaps even Aiba’s contagiously emotional state, but for now he was happy to let his tears flow if they chose to.
“We’ve come a long way.”
Aiba sniffed, a teary smile making its way onto his face as he leant against his leader’s side. “We have. I hope we’ll always be together.”
“Are you two crying again?”
The question came from the door. The pair turned to see their three missing members standing there, each with an equally amused albeit sympathizing gaze. They closed the door behind them as they walked further into the room to join their emotional members by the bed. As the night went on, fatigue and an indulgence of liquor and nostalgia giving them enough of an excuse to let their emotions run high, sleep eventually engulfed each member.
The next morning’s light poured down through the window to bathe the tangled jumble of limbs on the floor. Five had become one at some unrecallable point in time. They woke on their own, not one of them so much as blinking at the intimate position they found themselves in. It was the way they were. Just like a red string of fate connecting them all, they knew then as they always had, that they were destined to be together.
Touch My Soul
It happened suddenly. Jun felt his heart stop as he gazed down at his wrist and saw the intricate half pattern drawn into his skin illuminated with a faint glow. His soul mate was close.
Every child was born with a distinct symbol drawn on their dominate wrist. It was their soul mark. Each mark was a unique sketch to all but one. Like a scar, it was slightly raised and pale, almost too much to make out. Only when a person was in close enough proximity to their soulmate, an individual whose mark would finally complete their own, would their mark become truly visible. Countless people went their entire life without finding their soulmate. Some didn’t even bother trying while others wasted their lives looking with no success. Ever since he was a child, Jun feared being one of those people. His parents had warned him of the dangers of obsessing over finding completion through one’s soulmate and urged him to live out his own life without letting the anxiety of finding them consume him. He tried to be good and do as he was told.
But eventually his overbearing desire to find unconditional love overpowered his sense of reasoning and the wise words of his parents were lost. He was tired of meaningless dating and shallow relationships with incompatible mates. To find the one person he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with was what he yearned for. He wanted it so badly it hurt. All other aspects of his life lost importance; his job became a mundane way to waste the best years of his life, his friends were a bore and he fell out of contact with his family. He was spiralling into a pit of despair from which he knew there was no return. It was this maddening obsession that his parents warned him of but Jun feared he had slipped past the point of redemption.
Until the day he met him. His work had sent him to the neighbouring prefecture as a representative of their company. The mind-numbing conference had left him in dire need of caffeine and whilst Jun hadn’t thought much about it at the time, his decision to walk across the street to that little café across the road would change his life forever.
He let his mind go blank as the he stepped up to order once the person in front of him received their drink. If not for the strange warmth occurring in his wrist now glowing, Jun was certain he wouldn’t have even realized his soulmate was nearby. His eyes blew wide open when he saw his luminous mark. Whipping around, he scoured the area for anyone with a soul mark like his own. He looked over every person in the café. The barista busy making his coffee, a bubbly waitress serving food, the previous customer walking to the door, a couple by the window, someone with their nose in a book in the corner. No one, Jun thought frustratingly. From the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of light. The customer who’d been in front of him was sipping his coffee as he pushed the door open, a familiar glowing symbol embedded in his left wrist.
Forgetting his own order, Jun ran after him. He called out for the man to stop and watched as the shorter guy turned around with an alarmed expression. It only grew when Jun came forward, unable to keep the excited smile off his face. He grabbed his arm. The panicked man looked ready to throw his coffee at Jun and run off as fast as his legs would carry him but before he could do just that, Jun flipped his wrist and held their marks together. Realization flooded the man’s face.
Jun released his arm and held out his own in greeting. “I’m Jun.”
The man’s upturned lips quirked in a smile as he shook the outstretched hand with a reply of, “Kazunari.”
Afraid of the Dark
“Can you see anything?”
“It’s pitch black, what do you think?”
“I think this was a bad idea.”
“You’re the one who was scared to go to the bathroom on your own.”
“But the lights wouldn’t turn on—what was that?”
“It was probably just the wind…”
A scream cut him off. “Something touched me!”
“Idiot, that was my foot you just stepped on!”
In hindsight, Nino knew watching that movie with Aiba had been a bad idea. When the taller man had come to him and begged to watch with him, Nino went against his better judgement and agreed. How much damage could one horror movie do? Lots, as it turned out. The two of them had been practically hugging one another under the covers for most of the film, jolting and screaming at every jump scare that occurred on screen. By the time the movie ended, Aiba was visibly shaking while all colour had drained from Nino’s face.
“It wasn’t that bad” he tried to brush off the terrifying experience and turned to Aiba with a nervous sounding laugh. “You were so scared!”
“So were you,” Aiba whimpered, stilly hugging the blanket around his trembling form as if it were the only thing keeping him from freezing to death.
Not even an hour after calling it a night, Nino found himself somehow accompanying his petrified friend to the bathroom after the other man had come rushing into his bedroom pleading for him not to make him go alone. Nino wasn’t overly enthused by the idea but he hadn’t been able to sleep with images from the movie flashing so vividly in his mind whenever he closed his eyes. He figured keeping his friend company might at least help calm his nerves enough to make him tired.
The two of them moved slowly down the dark hallway of the second floor in the direction of the bathroom. The light switch was ineffectual. Nino wondered if it was a blown fuse or if Ohno had simply forgotten to replace the bulbs again. The floor creaked beneath their feet with every step that brought them closer to the bathroom.
“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” Aiba whispered.
“Think you can hold it until morning?” When Aiba didn’t reply, Nino clicked his tongue. “Didn’t think so.” He could make out what looked to be the outline of the bathroom door up ahead but swore under his breath when he saw what they needed to pass by first to reach it. “Why did Jun have to buy that god damn mirror?”
The overly elaborate full-length mirror was something Nino always found to be a rather creepy. He hated the way it was angled, always showing their reflection a fraction too early or too late, like a spirit following them. After watching the horror movie, Nino didn’t think he could handle walking in front of it.
A loud creak sounded from ahead of them. They both froze. A second later they were rushing down the stairs, panicked and frightened for their lives. When they reached the bottom of the staircase, Aiba grabbed Nino by the arm and pulled him into the kitchen, throwing him under the table before crawling under himself. They stayed huddled together, their breathing audible in darkness. The creaking grew louder, closing in on them like footsteps.
“Grab the salt,” Aiba hissed.
“Why?”
“Just do it!”
Nino scrambled out, hastily grabbing the salt shaker before diving back under the table to hand it to his friend. Aiba crawled forward and started pouring a ring of salt around their hiding place.
“This will protect us,” he said. “So long as it stays unbroken, but just to be sure…” He poured some more into the palm of his hand before doing the same for Nino.
“I hope you’re right.”
“This was the only way to ward off spirits. Remember the movie?”
There was a clatter from somewhere in the next room. Whatever it was after them, it was getting close.
“On my count,” said Aiba. “One.”
Nino lifted his handful of salt, poised and ready to defend themselves from the evil pursuing them.
“Two.”
The footsteps approached.
“Three!”
Both of them jumped up with a strangled yell and tossed the salt hard at their ghostly assailant. A startled but familiar sounding cry tore from its throat, followed by a bang as it crashed into the wall. Aiba ran over and switched on the kitchen light. Sho lay on the floor between them, his face scrunched up while his hair was dusted with salt.
“Sho-chan!” Aiba exclaimed, crouching by their friend’s side. He glanced back at the dark hallway he’d come from. “What are you doing here? Where’s the spirit?”
Sho blinked his eyes open, his gave moving between the two men and the wonky ring of table salt scattered on the ground. He sighed deeply. “No more horror movies for you two. Ever.”
Demon’s Eye
From the moment he first laid eyes on him, Sho knew he couldn’t trust him. There was something about the way he looked at Nino, with that predatory gaze of his, which evoked the same feeling of protection towards the young man that he’d had since he was twelve. Their families had been close long before either of them were born, and so when Nino was orphaned in a car accident, Sho felt it was only natural for his parents to welcome the young boy into their family with opened arms. Since then Sho had looked out for him like he would a brother. Defending him from bullies in school, helping him with romantic troubles and exchanging secrets only they knew—Sho cared a great deal about Nino.
When Nino first told him he was seeing someone, Sho had been sceptical. He wanted to be happy for his adopted brother but some innate instinct deep inside of him stop his feelings from being genuine. He understood why when he was finally introduced to Jun. It was a name he’d heard on countless occasion as Nino fawned over his new beau like a teenage girl experiencing her first crush. Sho had built up an image in his mind of what this Jun person was like but seeing him in person, he realized just how far off his presumption was. The man was impeccably stylish, adorned with expensive looking accessories and clad in a black V-neck shirt and tight jeans that exhibited his slim figure. With hair coiffed to perfection and thick eyebrows that framed his intense eyes, he could quite easily pass for a model. Sho found he immediately disliked the other man. He’d learnt enough from past experience to know when something or someone seemed to perfect, they usually were.
Though Sho had tried on several occasions to warn Nino of this, the younger simply refused to listen. He was head over heals in love and unwilling to let anyone say a bad word against Jun.
“You want to stop glaring, or are you trying to burn a whole through my back?” Jun asked with an almost challenging tone. A sickening sweetness filled his voice when he turned to Nino to add, “Must your bodyguard always tag along?”
“Just ignore him,” said Nino, glaring at Sho for a moment before returning his attention to Jun as they leaned in close.
Sho huffed indignantly, trying not to gag at the scene in front of him as turned to face away from them. He was there not by invite but out of paranoia that something bad would happen to Nino should he leave him in the company of this demon. He didn’t trust leaving them alone. It was far from the first time he had accompanied them on their dates without consent. He could tell Nino was getting frustrated with him but Sho didn’t care about that. He could be mad at him all he liked, so long as he didn’t end up getting hurt. Under his watch, Sho was sure he could keep that from happening.
“I’ll order us some drinks,” Jun said after a while. When he sauntered over, his gaze met with Sho’s for a moment. Sho was certain he saw something malicious and threatening flicker in their dark depths.
As soon as Jun’s back was turned, Sho dashed over to where Nino was sitting on his own. The love in his eyes twisted into annoyance as soon as he saw the other man.
“What?” he snapped. “Don’t you dare give me that whole ‘Jun’s not trustworthy’ speech again.”
“I wouldn’t have to if you listened to me.”
“Or maybe you should learn to listen to me. Jun is not the sadistic monster you think he is, and if you stopped being so bloody paranoid for two seconds you would see that for yourself.”
“I’ve tried but no matter what I do, I can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong with that guy” Sho stressed. “Please hear me out. You’re too infatuated—”
“I don’t want to hear it!”
“I think we should leave,” he insisted.
“I agree.” Sho stiffened at the return of Jun’s deep voice. He glanced over his shoulder to see the man standing there with two drinks in his hand. He handed one to Nino. “I just checked, and apparently a private room has opened up. Would you like to go?”
Nino didn’t have to respond for both Jun and Sho to know his answer. He rose to his feet in one quick motion and took Jun’s arm. He looked back at Sho. “Don’t follow us.”
Sho watched on helplessly as they walked towards the back of the club. He didn’t know whether it was from the glaring lights above or something else entirely, but he was convinced he saw Jun’s eyes flash red as he stared back at him before disappearing behind the velvet curtain.
Terminal
Nino thought he was dying. His lungs screamed with every breath he tried to take, fighting against the invisible weight bearing down on his chest. The world around him was spinning. Even when he closed his eyes, wincing at the sting, he was overcome by a dizzying spell that had him wanting to throw up. If not for him having already emptied the contents of his stomach close to twenty minutes ago, he was certain he would do just that. He retched when he tasted the bile rising in the back of his throat. Leaning over the bed just as a spasm racked his body, a small amount of coloured saliva dribbled out of his mouth. That was what the bowl down there was for.
He collapsed back against his pillow. He wished sleep would claim his exhausted body already and give him some respite, if only momentary. Every time he closed his eyes, feeling himself starting to drift off before another bout of sickness or pain would drag him back into the aching world of the living, he hoped he might fall into a slumber so deep he would never wake. It was his only chance of relief from this agony.
Weak and trembling, Nino could barely even lift his head. The throbbing in his temple was making it hard to think straight. Peculiar thoughts entered his deranged mind. He wondered if this was what it felt like to be a vegetable, completely paralysed and brain-dead. That was certainly the way he was feeling. His straying thoughts wandered to his family and friends. Would they miss him when he was gone? Had he made enough of an impact on this world for his name to be remembered long after his body was laid to rest? He hoped the other members would honour him. It would be undoubtedly heartbreaking but he trusted the four of them to push through the pain and the tears, and persevere for the sake of their fans.
“Everyone would cry,” Nino rasped, stifling a deep cough. “The whole audience would hold my uchiwa. There’d be a big photo of me on screen as the other members sang in memory of me. Masaki would break down in the middle of the first song, maybe even run off stage. Sho-kun would probably collapse from grief at some point. Oh-chan would lose his voice and be unable to carry on, and J… Jun-kun would force himself to keep going for everyone’s sake despite hurting the most.”
“Stop being so overdramatic would you.” Jun rolled his eyes from where he stood in the doorway. “It’s just the flu.”
He walked into the room and put the tray he was holding down on the bedside table. On it was a bowl of soup, a glass of tap water and a box of prescription medicine. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, being careful not to let his weight shift the mattress and cause Nino any discomfort, Jun leant over to feel his forehead. It was still quite warm but not nearly as much as it had been a few hours ago. A relieved smile graced his lips. At least they knew the medication was having an effect. He reached for the box to pop out two more tablets.
“Open.”
When Nino refused to open his mouth, Jun poked him softly in the stomach. Nino threw his head back with a painful grunt. The younger took the opportunity to slip the tablets past the guard of his now parted lips. He then held the glass to Nino’s mouth, placing a hand behind his head to prop it forward to help him take a small enough sip to swallow the medicine down.
“So unkind,” Nino grumbled. “I thought you’d be nicer to me on my deathbed.”
“You’re not dying,” Jun reminded him.
“Feels like I am.”
Jun didn’t dignify him with a response. Instead he picked up the bowl of soup and gently brought the spoon towards Nino to feed him. Having learnt his lesson, the latter obediently opened his mouth to eat despite his stomach’s protests, urged on by Jun’s gentle coaxing. He could only manage about four spoonfuls before he felt he could consume no more. Jun seemed to sense this even without Nino saying anything and sat the remaining of the soup aside. He rose to his feet soon after, tucking the blanket over Nino’s body and making sure he was as comfortable as he could be.
“Get better soon, we need you,” he murmured.
“J,” Nino called weakly as the other man headed back towards the door. “Would you guys hold a concert in my honour if I died?”
Jun quirked his eyebrow in surprise at the unusual question but his gaze softened only a moment later. “Of course we would.” He flicked the lights off to help Nino sleep but continued to stand in the doorway, his figure silhouetted against the hallway light. “And for the record, I’d be the one most likely to run off stage. Performing would be impossible without you.”
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Date: 2018-03-16 11:04 am (UTC)Shouldn't be good in goodbye - this fic made me bawl my eyes out because of many different reasons... first, oh-chan, sho n aiba are dead 😭 Matsumiya only have each other but i can imagine how it will end... second, it hits way too close to home with the Maze Runner as well... especially I've been seeing a lot of TMR content lately so when I read that first fic, I got a bit shocked.. Sho-chan though ugh 💔 That is a really sensitive topic nowadays ne..
Roads Untraveled - oh yama XD so cute and fluffyyyy i dieeeeeee.. of course sho would be having vivid imaginations after being teased for it hehehe and thank you for showing the vid as well, it srsly does give it a lot more context and even tho i still found it cute, i found it even cuter cause of that vid :3 oh oh-chan, he can be so sneaky sometimes but awwwwww yama kissss >///< 💋
Chasing Perfection - GaaaAAAHHHHhhh this one seriously killed me with flufffffff, first of all it gave me the serious kakkoii barista & kawaii waiter feeelsssss we saw in Japan >///< and OMGGG choco-jun tooo!! I just love that last little bit and honestly the way you described it seriously reminds me of the dessert we got there!! And perfect barista Jun of course 💜 Plus the snarky waiter nino heheh 💛
Trouble is a Four-Letter Word - Kaze trio as puppy and kitties!!!! KYAAAAAAAA i knew you would make something awesome with "meow" heheheh ;3 and it's nekomiya!!! My username ^^ poor nino-chan always getting blamed even if it was Jun's fault >< i guess Jun just looks too innocent to be considered a troublemaker heheh and aiba chan soooo kawaiii!!! He's such a jumpy puppy and hyper and cute reminds me so much of kookie 😭❤️
Winner Takes All - this is seriously perfect cause i love NinoYuri most like this!!! Have you been watching Gantz interview with them both cause this is literally what they did during the filming!!! And also the reason why I love this pair so much 😍 I love how you literally writes the scene that I imagined in my head even though I haven't shared anything detailed with you at all!!! you know me too well heheh :3
In the Stars - awww this made me teary 😢 But in a touching way... i love how you take 'destiny' into this <3 you are seriously amazingly talented! And it just made me remember their Hawaii anniversary again when oh-chan actually cried while recalling the same things :') is that an OT5 hint at the end too?? Oh god how can I love you more ><
I seriously do wonder about all the things Aiba thought of too... it really is destiny...
Touch My Soul - because of this fic I now really wish we also have a soulmate mark on my wrist... or anywhere.. but thinking about it again maybe having one would also drive mE crazy like Jun, luckily he found his 😍 I so want a continuation of this ><
Afraid of the Dark - I kid you not, you seriously must have watched some supernatural cause this fic seriously seems like a supernatural au at first... the way you set the atmosphere, settings, and all thT stuff about salt circles and throwing salt at the... ghost (?) 😂😂😂 that's probably the funniest plot twist ever XDDD
Were aimiya watching too much supernatural? 🤣
Gomen it seems the characters exceed the limit so I have to cut it into 2 parts 😂😂😂
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Date: 2018-03-16 11:07 am (UTC)Part 2
Demon’s Eye - I seriously love this fic way too much... each time I scroll down and read a new one I always end up finding a new fave.. you make it so hard for me to be able to choose a favourite @_@ I srsly LOVE sakumoto's sakumiya's n matsumiya's relationship here.. this is how I exactly fantasized it in my head 😍 Protective! sho, Smitten! nino and Mysterious&dangerous! jun ughhhhhhhhh it's like a better ver of twilight XDDD and that bit at the end ughhh u teaseee 😭
Terminal - this fic made me tear up both in sad way and touched way and also hilarious way XD it's sad cause nino is sick 💔 Touched cause jun omg and matsumiya fluffff 💜💛 and hilarious cause i love overdramatic nino :33
But awwww when he was imagining all the members' reactions or actions if he were to... die 😢 Thank god for jUn toenter that moment cause my heart would've been in too much pain... and omg that last sentence is so bittersweet 😭💔
Sorry for the crazy long comment but I seriously feel like I should comment for every single drabble cause they each deserve the consideration and attention that has been made to be put in it.. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! Seriously everytime you keep raising the level of the birthday presents you give to me 😍😍😍😘😘😘💜💛💜💛