First day of Christmas, 2008!
Dec. 24th, 2008 11:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ciircee>.< So apparently I get to go visit my sister-in-law for Christmas. As in I get to wake up early and drive for eight hours after two straight days of snow. And while I'm gone, we're supposed to get snow and sleet! This is, of course, after I've finished all the little packing duties that--when involving four kids--actually amounts to a huge amount of work.
I can live with miserable sister-in-law and seeing my own family (who will nag me about all sorts of other issues!) because I have awesome people in my life. I'm really sort of pissed off about the short notice and the whole thing were I was going to do the 12 Days of Christmas. I'll probably end up backdating and hoping that I actually finish (I get to lose at least three days of working time--I have vague outlines, but everything I do for 12 Days is actually written on the day of posting orz).
So this is today's story, a prompt I picked up from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
waxrose. 'Jun never knows what to get Aiba for his birthday'. It's a great prompt but I don't know that I'm happy with what I did with it. I'm sure my mood is to blame either way. But at least, she says, at least I DIDN'T KILL ANYBODY.
A day that only comes once a year
Eleven months out of the year, Jun wonders why it's so hard to find something that's right for Aiba's birthday. For some reason Jun never knows what to get Aiba for his birthday. It's not that he's bad at gifts—he's usually very good at them—but every year he struggles for the better part of a month to find something for Aiba Masaki's birthday.
One month out of the year Jun is too busy looking to give it much thought.
Jun never has to work hard to find a gift at any other time of the year; it's easy to find the perfect thing for a spur-of-the-moment gift—it's always the present that catches his eye and makes him think of the person to whom he's going to give it (like Nino's 'I ♥ Game' pin or the ring he found for Sho recently). Souvenirs are practically a no-brainer (unless they're together, in which case they get the stupidest things they can possibly find). They don't do Christmas gifts, or Arashi-anniversary gifts, and they haven't needed to do wedding gifts for each other yet. They just do birthdays and, for at least a month before Aiba's birthday rolls around, Jun blows through store after shop after stall after mall trying to find something and not sure why nothing is right.
On the 24th of December, standing in front of Aiba's open apartment door, he gets it.
"Hey, MatsuJun," Aiba says, sleepily shoving his hair away from his face.
Stepping through the door that Aiba swings wide open for him, Jun shoves the present he's holding at its intended owner. "Hey. Did I wake you? I'm sorry."
Aiba waves off his instinctive apology. "I wasn't asleep yet, just reading."
He gets it.
Aiba looks tired and rumpled and so very soft. He looks as soft as Jun's favorite, most comfortable, threadbare t-shirt. He looks like the feeling of taking a nap in the summer shade. Aiba's not 'on' and so his brilliant sparkle is a diffuse glow, something that never goes out, only rarely goes dim. He looks like he's somebody that Jun loves beyond words and definitely beyond reason, somebody that Jun is damn grateful to have in his life. It's hard to find a gift to convey that feeling.
"Are you going to open that any time before your birthday ends?" Jun asks, heading for Aiba's kitchen and some coffee.
"Hmm," Aiba sounds thoughtful, serious. Also: like he's trying to sound thoughtful and serious and not like he's about to burst into giggles. "Is it…new golf gloves?" he guesses.
"Fuck you." Jun pours a cup of coffee for both of them. "You're hard to shop for."
Aiba does giggle and it mixes with the sound of tearing wrapping paper. "Oh!" he says, sounding very surprised and very pleased. "New golf gloves!"
"Kiss my ass," Jun grumbles, sipping. "It's not like you're not going to use them."
"MatsuJun is so bad with birthday presents," Aiba says, grinning as he sets the new gloves on the countertop. "Leader always gets art supplies and Sho-chan always gets newspaper subscriptions, and Nino always gets a gift certificate to his favorite game shop…"
"I was going to get Nino fifty-two decks of cards but you beat me to it," he reminds Aiba, relaxing back against the cabinets.
"And I always get golf gloves," Aiba finishes, unperturbed.
"Hey," Jun says uncomfortably. He's not mad that Aiba is implying he's crap at picking out presents; it's that he doesn't want Aiba to notice this. "They're good gifts."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Aiba apologizes with a little smile. He comes to Jun with a half-step and Jun sets his coffee down automatically as Aiba fits them together in a sprawling sort of embrace. "They're really nice gloves," he says obediently. His breath is warm against Jun's temple as he talks. "I will wear them every time I go golfing and all my friends who golf will be totally jealous of my super-cool new golf gloves that I got from Matsumoto Jun."
Jun lets his arms close around Aiba, hands light at Aiba's waist while his heart gives one good, hard thump in his chest. "You know," he says softly, "next to Ninomiya, you are the person who, when asked about, I can never find a good reason for why I hang out with you."
"Next to Nino and Oguri Shun," Aiba says agreeably. "Because if you divide by the number of interviews and shows you've done with me versus the ones you've done with him, he's way more concentrated than I am."
Jun pulls back to look at Aiba.
Aiba smiles. "I had Sho-chan do the math."
He shifts enough so that he can see his watch. "It's not your birthday anymore," he says. "Technically I'm allowed to drown you in your bathtub."
In the morning, Jun wakes up in Aiba's bed to the sounds of Aiba and Nino in Aiba's kitchen. They are talking about just why it is that Jun's so bad with birthday presents and hitting uncomfortably close to something that might (or might not) be the truth. Jun forces himself out of bed to tell them to shut the hell up (and also to make sure they're not unsupervised) but he snaps his mouth shut before he can even say a single word.
"Good morning, MatsuJun!" says Aiba, apparently totally at peace with the fact that Nino has somehow tied the new golf gloves onto a dishcloth and that he, himself, is wearing them like reindeer antlers.
Jun takes the coffee that Nino holds out to him and wonders just why it is that he never knows what to get Aiba for his birthday.
I can live with miserable sister-in-law and seeing my own family (who will nag me about all sorts of other issues!) because I have awesome people in my life. I'm really sort of pissed off about the short notice and the whole thing were I was going to do the 12 Days of Christmas. I'll probably end up backdating and hoping that I actually finish (I get to lose at least three days of working time--I have vague outlines, but everything I do for 12 Days is actually written on the day of posting orz).
So this is today's story, a prompt I picked up from
waxrose. 'Jun never knows what to get Aiba for his birthday'. It's a great prompt but I don't know that I'm happy with what I did with it. I'm sure my mood is to blame either way. But at least, she says, at least I DIDN'T KILL ANYBODY.A day that only comes once a year
Eleven months out of the year, Jun wonders why it's so hard to find something that's right for Aiba's birthday. For some reason Jun never knows what to get Aiba for his birthday. It's not that he's bad at gifts—he's usually very good at them—but every year he struggles for the better part of a month to find something for Aiba Masaki's birthday.
One month out of the year Jun is too busy looking to give it much thought.
Jun never has to work hard to find a gift at any other time of the year; it's easy to find the perfect thing for a spur-of-the-moment gift—it's always the present that catches his eye and makes him think of the person to whom he's going to give it (like Nino's 'I ♥ Game' pin or the ring he found for Sho recently). Souvenirs are practically a no-brainer (unless they're together, in which case they get the stupidest things they can possibly find). They don't do Christmas gifts, or Arashi-anniversary gifts, and they haven't needed to do wedding gifts for each other yet. They just do birthdays and, for at least a month before Aiba's birthday rolls around, Jun blows through store after shop after stall after mall trying to find something and not sure why nothing is right.
On the 24th of December, standing in front of Aiba's open apartment door, he gets it.
"Hey, MatsuJun," Aiba says, sleepily shoving his hair away from his face.
Stepping through the door that Aiba swings wide open for him, Jun shoves the present he's holding at its intended owner. "Hey. Did I wake you? I'm sorry."
Aiba waves off his instinctive apology. "I wasn't asleep yet, just reading."
He gets it.
Aiba looks tired and rumpled and so very soft. He looks as soft as Jun's favorite, most comfortable, threadbare t-shirt. He looks like the feeling of taking a nap in the summer shade. Aiba's not 'on' and so his brilliant sparkle is a diffuse glow, something that never goes out, only rarely goes dim. He looks like he's somebody that Jun loves beyond words and definitely beyond reason, somebody that Jun is damn grateful to have in his life. It's hard to find a gift to convey that feeling.
"Are you going to open that any time before your birthday ends?" Jun asks, heading for Aiba's kitchen and some coffee.
"Hmm," Aiba sounds thoughtful, serious. Also: like he's trying to sound thoughtful and serious and not like he's about to burst into giggles. "Is it…new golf gloves?" he guesses.
"Fuck you." Jun pours a cup of coffee for both of them. "You're hard to shop for."
Aiba does giggle and it mixes with the sound of tearing wrapping paper. "Oh!" he says, sounding very surprised and very pleased. "New golf gloves!"
"Kiss my ass," Jun grumbles, sipping. "It's not like you're not going to use them."
"MatsuJun is so bad with birthday presents," Aiba says, grinning as he sets the new gloves on the countertop. "Leader always gets art supplies and Sho-chan always gets newspaper subscriptions, and Nino always gets a gift certificate to his favorite game shop…"
"I was going to get Nino fifty-two decks of cards but you beat me to it," he reminds Aiba, relaxing back against the cabinets.
"And I always get golf gloves," Aiba finishes, unperturbed.
"Hey," Jun says uncomfortably. He's not mad that Aiba is implying he's crap at picking out presents; it's that he doesn't want Aiba to notice this. "They're good gifts."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Aiba apologizes with a little smile. He comes to Jun with a half-step and Jun sets his coffee down automatically as Aiba fits them together in a sprawling sort of embrace. "They're really nice gloves," he says obediently. His breath is warm against Jun's temple as he talks. "I will wear them every time I go golfing and all my friends who golf will be totally jealous of my super-cool new golf gloves that I got from Matsumoto Jun."
Jun lets his arms close around Aiba, hands light at Aiba's waist while his heart gives one good, hard thump in his chest. "You know," he says softly, "next to Ninomiya, you are the person who, when asked about, I can never find a good reason for why I hang out with you."
"Next to Nino and Oguri Shun," Aiba says agreeably. "Because if you divide by the number of interviews and shows you've done with me versus the ones you've done with him, he's way more concentrated than I am."
Jun pulls back to look at Aiba.
Aiba smiles. "I had Sho-chan do the math."
He shifts enough so that he can see his watch. "It's not your birthday anymore," he says. "Technically I'm allowed to drown you in your bathtub."
In the morning, Jun wakes up in Aiba's bed to the sounds of Aiba and Nino in Aiba's kitchen. They are talking about just why it is that Jun's so bad with birthday presents and hitting uncomfortably close to something that might (or might not) be the truth. Jun forces himself out of bed to tell them to shut the hell up (and also to make sure they're not unsupervised) but he snaps his mouth shut before he can even say a single word.
"Good morning, MatsuJun!" says Aiba, apparently totally at peace with the fact that Nino has somehow tied the new golf gloves onto a dishcloth and that he, himself, is wearing them like reindeer antlers.
Jun takes the coffee that Nino holds out to him and wonders just why it is that he never knows what to get Aiba for his birthday.
