During the Night
Apr. 15th, 2016 01:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matsu1ninoPairing: Matsumiya
Genre: Gen/Fluff
Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own Arashi
Summary: Cracking under the pressure of their debut, Nino unintentionally discovers the perks of sharing a room with Arashi's youngest member.
Author's Note: This is my first Arashi oneshot.
Now he was stuck on the island of Hawaii, forced to smile for the cameras and pretend as though he wouldn’t rather be anywhere else. To make things even worse he had been informed by management that he would be sharing a hotel room with Arashi’s youngest, Matsumoto Jun. It wasn’t that Nino didn’t like Jun. Quite the opposite actually; they’d been friends for years. Over that time he’d gotten to know just how passionate the younger boy was and knew how perfectly suited he was to the idol lifestyle they’d recently entered. Nino had been impressed when he heard Jun had gotten into Johnny’s without an audition, but what struck him most about the kid was how hard he worked to prove his place there. Nino didn’t think anyone deserved to debut more than Jun did, and now that they had he was forced to either suppress his own happiness and desires by staying or leave and be the one to bring Jun’s dreams crashing down.
Caught in his lamenting thoughts, Nino had yet to realize he had already reached the door to their room and had been standing there blankly for at least a few minutes. He finally managed to shake his headache full of ‘which is worse’ scenarios out of his mind long enough to open the door. Jun turned to look at him from where he was unpacking clothing from a suitcase on the bed at the far end of the room. He greeted his roommate with a bright smile.
“I figured you’d prefer the bed furthest from the window in case the ocean smell made your stomach feel worse” he said as Nino slumped down on the other bed reserved for him. “You looked pretty sick today when we arrived. Are you feeling any better?”
The level of concern in his voice almost made Nino groan. It was just like Jun to look out for him. He did his best to smile in return while muttering an unconvincing, “I’m fine.”
In the context of their conversation it wasn’t a lie. His seasickness had died down relatively quickly once they were off the boat and back on dry land, but he was anything but fine. The thought of sharing a room with Jun for the next week scared the hell out of him. He was a good actor, enough so to be able to fool people into believing he was excited about all this when the cameras were on him or when the five of them were all together, but being isolated with Jun every evening couldn’t possibly end well. The younger was not an idiot. Nino had discovered, after their first awkward encounter which had him lying about having a brother in the Jimusho, Jun was no longer so easily fooled by him. Since learning of his lie, Jun had developed a tendency to overanalyse everything Nino did and said.
Nino rolled over on the bed so that he wouldn’t have to face Jun, already feeling a narrowed gaze burning into his back. He shut his eyes and hoped in vain that there would be no questioning from the him. He had no such luck. Shuffling of feet could be heard as Jun moved across the room, sitting on the end of Nino’s bed.
“Are you going to talk or were you planning on ignoring me the whole week?” he asked with mostly curiosity, though there was a sharp hint to his tone.
Nino pressed his face into the bed and grunted. “What do you think?” There was a long sigh that sounded, with enough sadness to make Nino open his eyes.
“I think you don’t want to be here” Jun whispered so softly that Nino almost didn’t hear it. He wished he hadn’t when he picked up on the genuine pain in his voice. The slightly older boy dared to sit up. He caught sight of Jun sitting turned away from him, head lowered almost to his chest as he stared blankly at the floor.
Nino smirked forcefully. “Idiot. What are you talking about? Of course I want to be here. What Johnny’s doesn’t dream of debuting?”
Jun spun around and Nino’s breath caught at suddenly having to meet his gaze. Jun had always had intense features and it seemed they were only becoming more defined as he grew older. It sometimes made it difficult for Nino to maintain eye contact with him for too long.
“You don’t have to lie, Kazu” Jun’s voice was barely more than a whisper. “You shouldn’t force yourself. If you don’t want to be here…” The sentence trailed off and Nino wasn’t sure if even Jun knew what he was going to say next.
An uncomfortable silence filled the room and seemed to form an uneasy distance between them. Nino wanted to tell Jun that he was wrong and he wanted to stay, but he knew there would be no point. Jun would see right through his lie in a heartbeat anyway. He sighed softly, shuffling around on the bed to sit right beside his friend.
“You’re right” he admitted. “I didn’t want to be here.” He didn’t miss the flash of pain that flickered across Jun’s expression. Nino stretched his arm across his friend’s lap to take Jun’s hand in his. “But I’m here now and I won’t be going anywhere…at least for a while. I don’t want to let anyone down just yet.”
“So you’ll stay?”
Nino grinned, managing a real smile for the first time since he’d heard about becoming a part of Arashi. “I’ll stay.”
Jun smiled back at him just as widely and brightly as Nino was used to seeing, an overwhelming sensation of glee filling his chest at the decision he’d made. He couldn’t yet say for sure if it was the right decision but he would keep his word. He would give this thing a try for Jun, for Arashi, for everyone else that was counting on him.
Jun glanced briefly at their adjoining hands, his wide smile retracting into a much shyer form. Nino shied away as well but couldn’t help but think the look on his face was rather cute.
------
The following morning Nino awoke to a sense of comfort. He smiled sleepily in his half-conscious state of mind, burying his face deeper into the pillow he was holding. It was strange. He didn’t usually cuddle pillows when he slept. He could vaguely recall memories of last night, waking at some early hour in the morning to reach over and snatch the pillow away from the sleeping figure strewn across the bed beside him. He remembered waking a second time later that night to the warm feeling suddenly surrounding around his middle.
Nino’s eyes flew open upon realizing the familiar warmth from what he was certain had been a dream was still present even though he was now awake. He glanced down at the arms wrapped around his waist, his body fitted against another’s. He twisted his head, being careful to ensure his movements did not wake his companion. Jun was still fast asleep, hugging him to his chest in the same way Nino had seen him do with pillows whenever they’d stayed at each other’s houses during their days as juniors.
It was an unexpected wakeup call. Nino knew he should free himself from the younger’s embrace, preferably before Jun woke and found them in their current position, but instead he merely remained where he was. The feeling was nice, being held in such a way that made him feel needed, wanted. He didn’t want that feeling to end. Jun was a heavy sleeper in the mornings anyway, Nino told himself. He had time.
------
Nino wandered down the hallway of the hotel with a smirk lightly gracing his lips. Arashi had just finished the second night of their 15th anniversary concert. How weird it felt to be back in Hawaii, their place of debut, after fifteen years. So many things had changed—their reputation, their career opportunities, their attitudes towards being idols—and yet it felt like so much had remained the same. Being back here especially made it seem as though they hadn’t changed at all.
The smile on Nino’s face didn’t waver as he approached the hotel room. Management’s budget had certainly improved since their debut days. It was rare for them to have to share rooms any more. At the very worst they would be allocated adjoining rooms for the duration of their stay, not that any of the members minded that so much. They’d spend entire nights after concerts talking in their leader’s room only to wake up the next day in a disarranged jumble of limbs on the floor. It was usually safe to bet the crowded and somewhat painful sleeping arrangement their managers found them in the following morning were a result of excessive celebratory drinking, concert adrenaline and Aiba’s declared lovefest towards Arashi.
Nino wasn’t heading towards Ohno’s room though, not after the back trouble he received this morning from waking up lying across Sho with his legs stretched up either side of the bed in a painful version of the splits. The five of them had an agreement to not do back-to-back post-concert talks to prevent injury and scandalous gossip from the staff.
It was hard to keep his grin in check as Nino turned the handle of the door and strutted into the room, already knowing with full confidence that it would be unlocked and the man inside would be awaiting him.
“Would it kill you to knock once in a while?” Jun asked from where he was relaxed on the bedspread, manga in hand with his black-rim glasses sliding halfway down his nose. He didn’t even look up as Nino removed his shoes by the door and practically pranced across the room to jump up onto the bed beside him.
“And run the risk of missing catching you getting changed?” Nino responded, feigning shock as though Jun’s request was the most outrageous thing possible to ask for.
Jun rolled his eyes, finishing reading the page he was on before putting his book on the bedside table along with his glasses. “You see me get changed every day, brat.”
“In the green room” Nino pointed out with a deliberate whine. “Or backstage. It’s not the same when you know I’m there. I prefer to surprise you.”
“Maybe I ought to start locking my door then” Jun challenged. Nino grinned, somehow maintaining his look of innocence despite the devilish gleam in his eye.
“You wouldn’t” he called his bluff. “Then you’d have no one to hug at night.”
Jun gave him an affectionate hit upside the head but was already pulling him into an embrace that contradicted any argument he’d been trying to make. Nino snuggled closer as Jun’s hand moved through his hair in relaxed strokes. He nuzzled against the younger’s chest and inhaled the subtle scent of the honeysuckle body wash that clung to his clothing. Nino used his nose to push the V-neck of the shirt down further, his tongue darting out just a little. Jun’s hand stopped in his hair, gripping it firmly enough to gain his attention without necessarily hurting him.
“Don’t push your luck.” There was a teasing grin on Jun’s face even as he said it.
Nino said nothing in return and simply smiled up at him with innocence sparkling in his eyes, deciding that he would take the advice of the younger man. He wouldn’t push his luck. At least for now he wouldn’t.
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no subject
Date: 2016-05-20 09:23 pm (UTC)I love all the real facts, Nino lying to Jun, Jun using nino as his hugging-pillow, that's my fav Arashi anecdote from all times! xD I love it!!
But the end is like an open-end (or maybe I just want Nino to push his luck x//DD)
no subject
Date: 2016-05-22 12:43 pm (UTC)Thanks for commenting! I'm really glad that you liked the fic. I was very deliberate in adding those real facts, esepcially the nino-pillow hugging as it is also my favourite ^^ I also wanted to keep the end open for readers to decide how they wanted to view the nino/jun relationship.
no subject
Date: 2016-05-23 05:29 pm (UTC)