Arashi fic
Jul. 9th, 2008 10:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ciirceeStupid storms. If Cid would accept the idea of actually STORING POWER IN HIS BATTERY they would not be a problem. But no. Cid refuses to charge his battery and every time the power goes out (as it does in any strong storm we have) Cid freaks out for days at a time.
>.< What follows is what I wrote over the Fourth of July weekened in between graduation parties and driving insanely long distances. I blame Meg for the idea of Arashi doing Tanabata together but there is nobody to blame for the suck and the lame but me! Seriously? It's probably not good. I wrote it in bursts, I typed it between storms, and it's, you know, sort of crack. Bail if you have to, people. Send hate mail if you need to. I just thought 'it's six pages, double sided, in this notebook and the hell if I am going to trash it'. And then I inflicted it on you!
Scenes from an Arashi Tanabata
Wink-Up was nothing if not a seeding ground for bad ideas.
"But they asked us, Sho-chan," Aiba was saying. "They asked us about Tanabata…"
"Wishes," Sho cut in. "They asked us about our wishes, not our plans and—"
"So we should make plans," Aiba said earnestly. "I want to do Tanabata together with Sho-chan and MatsuJun and Nino and Leader. It's right after the tour ends and HYD comes out and very right after Maou starts and before you go to Beijing so it'll be like celebrating Arashi. Wouldn't that be nice?" Aiba asked, his eyes wide and sweet and guileless and anybody who knew Sho knew he'd never hold out against the combination of Aiba, Arashi, and member-ai. "I want to celebrate us. We're like the story, aren't we?"
"We're not at all like the story," Jun said, who had been watching Aiba charm Sho over the top of a prospective script. "Idiot."
Nino squirmed into Jun's personal space, still focused on his DS. "His brains and your good moods are like that," he said.
Sho ignored them both. "We could see if Johnny's would host a festival," he said, thinking of being recognized and hounded. "That way everybody could—"
"I am NOT spending Tanabata with KAT-TUN," Jun said. Nino shuddered and leaned against Jun's shoulder.
"You guys—" Sho sighed. He flipped down the game screen and pushed down the script. "If we want to have a party without getting recognized it'll have to be an industry party or a company thing. It's only practical."
"What's practical?" Ohno wandered into the room, hair and make-up already done.
"Captain! Sho wants to spend Tanabata with KAT-TUN!"
"I do not! I said Johnny's could host a festival. Everybody would be there NOT just us and KAT-TUN. K8 would be there, TOKIO, Kinki Kids, SMAP, Hey! Say—" he broke off, wincing as Nino rounded on him, eyes like lasers.
"I am not spending Tanabata with that home-wrecker," Nino said, leaning away from Jun and in to Ohno. "Or KAT-TUN," he added as an afterthought.
"I said," Sho protested, "that it's not about KAT-TUN. And quit calling Chinen that."
"He likes it."
"It makes him cry."
"Well, he'd like it if Captain said that HE did so blame Captain for making him cry." Nino looked at Ohno. "You're mean, Oh-chan; you should let him down more gently. Let me tell him, okay?"
"Sendai," Aiba said suddenly, his face smoothing out. "They have a big festival and we're going to be coming back from Sapporo, right? So that'll be perfect. And we can use the yukata from Time or maybe from that shoot we did for Po—"
Jun let out an indignant hiss. "The hell we will."
Sho nodded, lifting one hand to Jun. "That's one of the better ways to get recognized."
"They're ugly," Jun corrected. "Leave the clothes to me." Jun looked at all of them with a faint scowl that grew steadily darker as he considered them. "Really."
"I like blue," Ohno said affably.
"I like cheap," Nino added.
"I give up," muttered Sho.
Aiba patted his leg comfortingly. "Think of it as an A no Arashi," he said soothingly. "Tanabata no Arashi! Like T no Arashi only not boring!"
"…really, really give up…"
"Hey!"
"Ow!" Aiba ducked away before Nino could swat him again. "What was that for?"
Nino scowled darkly. "Tanabata is my only day off for two weeks, that's what for."
Aiba smiled at him. "It's great that we're gonna spend it together, huh?"
"I don't buy the idiot act all the time, Masaki," Nino told him.
Aiba beamed at him. "I'm not selling anything else at this time," he chirruped as the dressing room door opened. "Please take the free idiot act and make room for the next customer."
"…" said Sho. Then, "I don't even want to know."
Matsumoto Jun armed with a pencil, a notepad and retractable seamstress tape was abuse waiting to happen and every single person at Fuji TV knew it.
"Ah, Sho-kun," said Jun.
Sho was so used to being thrown to the proverbial wolves that he didn't even notice the AD shove him at his bandmate. "Yes?"
Jun flicked the end of the measuring tape at him with a wicked little smile. "I need your measurements."
He followed Jun without question into an empty costume room and stood on the tailoring stool that Jun kicked in his direction without a word. He held out his arms when instructed to so do and watched Jun circle him, measuring and making marks on his notepad.
"You don't have to do this," he said to the top of Jun's head when it was level with his zipper.
Jun shot him an arched look. "I do what I have to do," he said. "Now spread your legs for me."
Obediently, Sho spread. "Why are you even measuring there?" he asked as Jun's hands edged up the insides his legs. "That's a little weird, isn't it?"
"I just did this with Nino," Jun muttered in a low, cranky voice.
Sho looked at Jun's hands on his thighs. He knew, absolutely, that Nino was a champion whiner and that Tanabata was going to eat up their day off. There could be no doubt that Jun had heard all of Nino's complaints about it while getting measured. "Doing it with Nino is a little weird, too," he said with an innocent look that never fooled anybody because Sho was never devious enough to pull off the look of an angel.
Jun glared at him and reversed the direction of the tape measure. "Keep it up," he warned, "and it'll retract right into your pride."
Sho studied Jun intently. "You'd do it, huh?" he asked.
Jun nodded.
Sho hobbled out of the costume room to find Ohno standing outside of it, looking both aware and interested. Sho grinned at him. "It was worth it," he said.
"What was?" Aiba demanded, rounding the corner just in time to see Sho touching the tender part of his anatomy.
Ohno looked at Sho.
Sho jerked a thumb at the costume room. "MatsuJun is taking measurements for the yukata," he said and then tugged at his inseam.
Aiba's eyes lit up. "Me next," he said to Ohno and slid past Sho into the room.
Sho looked back at Ohno expectantly.
"Sometimes," Ohno said, "sometimes you do things like this and I think 'we did that to him, Nino and me' and it's kind of hot."
"It's…" said Sho.
"Wanna go find Nino and do it with him in a coat closet?"
"…" Sho said.
"My nuts hurt," Nino complained, coming gingerly around the corner.
Ohno's face fell.
"It's gonna be boring," Nino said.
Ohno added water to the paper-maché paste and hummed slightly under his breath.
"Tanabata," Nino went on. "It's just a bunch of streamers and snot-nosed kids running around."
"Hm," said Ohno.
"I mean, if you were there with a girlfriend," said Nino. "A girlfriend, that would be something. But it's the five of us."
"Ma-kun loves us like that," Ohno said vaguely, slapping two strips of newspaper together.
"Not in public," Nino said in tempered agreement. "Which is another boring thing. Sho would throw a fit if he tried and MatsuJun would… I don't even want to think what Jun would do."
"Us," said Ohno, adding a third strip of paper. "Hard and from behind." He blinked at Nino placidly when Nino pushed up on his elbows to give him a disbelieving stare. "You know he loves surprises."
Nino snorted and flopped back down. "Yeah, but not in public. It's going to be boring. I have a new game I could play that day and…what are you making?" he broke off to ask.
In answer, Ohno laid his creation delicately over Nino's mouth and tapped it down firmly. "Let that dry," he requested.
"If he complains about the geta even more time, I swear—" Jun hissed.
"Get in line," Sho mumbled.
"Okay, and everybody has their ornament, right? I've got the kimono," Aiba said, staring up at the bamboo pole beside him. "And Nino has the purse, right? And Sho-kun showed me the crane he made. And MatsuJun was gonna do a trashbag and Captain…hey, where is Leader?"
Nino put his arms around Sho and dug his chin into his shoulder. "I wanna know too. He's late."
Sho patted Nino. "We've been calling him and—"
"That's no good," Nino said. "He won't answer if it's you. I'm gonna call. Aiba-chan, you've got the brains of a monkey so you climb up and hang mine, too."
"I'm going to hit him!" Aiba announced, hanging his paper kimono. "As soon as I get down."
"Wait until he talks to Captain, first," Jun sighed.
Aiba stepped back and beamed at his contribution and then frowned over at Jun. "Huh? No, no, not hard. Just—" he knocked Jun's shoulder lightly with his fist. "That. Because he's being silly. He's having fun too, right?"
Sho and Jun shared a look.
Aiba looked back and forth between them and Nino, who was frowning into his cell phone. "Why am I the only one who looks like I'm having fun?"
"Because Nino is a bitch, Sakurai is having a breakdown, and Leader is lost somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle which makes me a little testy," Jun answered.
"I am not having a breakdown."
"He's not answering," Nino said, wandering back over to them.
"Who's not answering?" Ohno asked.
"You," Nino replied. "You're not answering your cell phone."
Ohno frowned. "It hasn't rung. And it's right in the secret pocket of the yukata so I would have heard it."
"If you were wearing the yukata," Jun said waspishly. "Obviously your mother didn't dress you before you left the house."
Everybody looked at Ohno in his tattered sneakers and faded blue-jeans. His shirt had obviously fresh resin stains as did his hands and arms. Ohno dragged one hand through his hair. "Ahh. I was running late." He looked hopefully at Aiba, saying, "I made a net to hang so let's go have fun!"
Jun snagged Ohno by the collar. "Aiba," he said over Ohno's head, "give me your car keys."
"I have my car keys," Nino said, dragging his out from a fold in his obi. "I'll take him to get changed."
"We'd never see either of you again and we know it. Aiba, keys."
Aiba handed over the keys. "It's for Tanabata, Nino," he said regretfully. "I'm sure," he said as Jun hauled Ohno away, "that MatsuJun will be quick about molesting him."
Sho sighed. "You mean helping him change."
Aiba and Nino looked at Sho like he was crazy. "No. Molesting," they said together, Aiba with a smile and Nino with a dark glower.
"Nino," Sho said as affectionately as possible through gritted teeth, "if you keep whining I am going to point at you and scream 'oh my god, it's Arashi' as loudly as possible and then I am going to grab Aiba and we will leave you stranded here."
Nino wound himself around Aiba and considered Sho with careful eyes. After a long moment he said, "Buy me a pack of cards and I'll show you a magic trick?"
"If they were made of solid gold and ruined me financially for the rest of my life as long as they made you shut up," Sho promised.
Nino smiled angelically at him. "I love you best," he said.
"What the hell," Jun said. "You bought him a present for being a brat?"
"No," said Sho.
"Yep," said Nino. "He cracked about five minutes after you left. Hi, Oh-chan; you look very clean."
Ohno, scrubbed pink, ducked his head meekly and scurried to hide behind Nino as much as possible. "I didn't know water got that hot," he said, wrapping both arms around Nino's waist. "Also, Jun-kun carries a nail brush in his pocket at all times."
"Scary," Nino said distractedly. "Okay, Aiba, put your card back in the deck now."
"Anywhere?"
"Anywhere at all."
"Sho-kun," Ohno slid over to Sho and under the arm that Sho lifted for him. "Tanabata is scary this year."
Sho gave Ohno a light squeeze. "Well, it could be worse?" he offered. "We could be spending it with KAT-TUN?"
Ohno's response to that was to give Jun a betrayed look. "I've done worse," he said in a wounded, yet very pointed, voice.
"Okay," Sho said, patting Ohno again. "Okay. Let's go have fun now that Jun and Satoshi are back. There are carnival rides."
"Nino will barf," Aiba said. "Especially if we put him on the Tilt-a-whirl."
Jun smiled happily. "What are we waiting for?"
"I'll sit with you," Nino warned him. "I'll sit riiiiiight next to you."
"Seriously, he'll barf all afternoon from just one ride. We did New Years together when we were juniors and my mom never got the smell out."
"Rides are out," Sho said in agreement.
"I want to snuggle up to Jun-kun on the rides," Nino objected.
"Out."
"He can hold our stuff," Jun said graciously, "while we go on the rides."
"Watching doesn't make him sick but I don't trust him."
"You guys, I said out. Satoshi, tell them."
Ohno looked at the others. "Sho-kun's blood pressure says no rides," he said sadly. "And we need him for the Stadium." His face brightened suddenly. "Oh! They have the fishing game!"
"Weak for Leader," Nino muttered, winding his fingers into the sleeve of Jun's yukata.
"Yeah," Jun sighed. "Masaki? Sho?"
"Yes."
"Yay!"
"It's been three hours! I hate this game!" Nino whined.
"Shh, I almost have him!"
"I'm bored!"
"I'm with Nino."
"Satoshi, just what are we going to do with thirty-six goldfish?"
"I don't know about fish," said Aiba, "but I found something to do with all the balloon yo-yos!"
"…oh JESUS," said Sho.
"I'm with Sho."
"Me too."
"Nice boobs," said Nino. "If you grew your hair longer, you could be a pretty cute girl. Don't you think, Junnosuke? That Ma-chan would be a cute girl? He makes such cute faces!"
"Shut UP," said Jun.
"I'm hungry. There's food. Can we eat?"
"That's not food that's…something."
"It's a deep-fried twinkie," Aiba said, reading the sign. "I want one!"
"That's not FOOD, Masaki," Jun said, leading him away.
"Deep-fried Oreos," read Nino. "Hey, Aiba! They've got it in a cookie form."
"Nino," sighed Sho.
Ohno rubbed his cheek against one of the plastic bags of goldfish and then peered at Sho through the water inside. "It's full of calories," he said in a small voice.
Jun whipped around to stare at Ohno. "No," he said hopelessly. "No, it isn't."
"Look," Ohno went on piteously, "it's got 'nutritional information' right here. See?"
Sho looked at the card on the booth and then at the vendor. "We'll take six."
"Six?" Aiba wandered over. "I got a deep-fried banana. Why six? Is MatsuJun going to get two?"
"Yes," Sho said blissfully, "MatsuJun is going to eat two." Then he blinked. "Deep-fried banana?"
Aiba shoved most of it into his mouth to free up his hands for his cookie and then pointed. Nino's smile was shark-like as he linked an arm through Jun's. "Leader," he called, "Leader, look there's fruit. Let's get some for everybody."
Ohno's smile was, if possible, scarier than Nino's as he linked with Jun's other arm. "That's healthy. MatsuJun loves fruit."
"I'm going to join NEWS," Jun said even as he let himself be dragged over to the booth Aiba had pointed at.
Sho nodded, putting an arm around Aiba. "As soon as you finish your deep-fat-fried snacks," he called after him. To Aiba he said, "What else can you find that'll put some weight on him?"
Aiba leaned in to Sho, watching Jun with Nino and Ohno. "We could see what happens if we deep-fry candyfloss," he suggested.
The grass was in need of cutting and full of the sounds of nighttime insects but they ignored it.
"Waahh," Aiba moaned, flopping down. "This is the best place to see the fireworks."
Nino flopped down beside him. "Uh-huh. That's why we're the only ones here."
"It's actually that nobody is supposed to be back behind the temple," Jun said, settling in on Aiba's other side. "Sho and I bribed the guy guarding it to let us come here."
"You're all chipping in for that," Sho added, taking the spot next to Nino and pulling Ohno down between himself in Jun so that they were splayed in a circle together.
"I'll rob Nino's wallet for you next time he leaves it open," Ohno promised.
"Oi!" Nino reached into the center of the circle to slap at Ohno. "I'm not a cheapskate!" He paused. "But we could watch the fireworks by the river for free. Ow! Captain! Jun's hitting with his rings on!" he tattled as Jun reached across the circle to chastise him.
"Quit picking on the baby," Sho said, catching Jun's hand. "The slightly-older-than-you-baby, I mean."
"Hey!"
Aiba giggled. "I'm having fun," he said. "Admit it, we're having fun. Aren't you glad we came?"
"No."
"Not really."
"Just shut up now."
"Sorry."
"Me too," said Aiba. He reached over his head into the middle of the circle they made. There was a tangle of long, cool grass and warm, familiar fingers and, overhead, the first of the summer fireworks went off in a rainbow of colors.
**********************
And next up, more Kamen Rider Kabuto retardary, I think. Chelle-sama is irked by my love of Arashi (well, I'm SORRY but they have STUFF going on and NEW CDS coming out) and so I thought a nice break to the guys in rubber suits would be good for everybody.
>.< What follows is what I wrote over the Fourth of July weekened in between graduation parties and driving insanely long distances. I blame Meg for the idea of Arashi doing Tanabata together but there is nobody to blame for the suck and the lame but me! Seriously? It's probably not good. I wrote it in bursts, I typed it between storms, and it's, you know, sort of crack. Bail if you have to, people. Send hate mail if you need to. I just thought 'it's six pages, double sided, in this notebook and the hell if I am going to trash it'. And then I inflicted it on you!
Scenes from an Arashi Tanabata
Wink-Up was nothing if not a seeding ground for bad ideas.
"But they asked us, Sho-chan," Aiba was saying. "They asked us about Tanabata…"
"Wishes," Sho cut in. "They asked us about our wishes, not our plans and—"
"So we should make plans," Aiba said earnestly. "I want to do Tanabata together with Sho-chan and MatsuJun and Nino and Leader. It's right after the tour ends and HYD comes out and very right after Maou starts and before you go to Beijing so it'll be like celebrating Arashi. Wouldn't that be nice?" Aiba asked, his eyes wide and sweet and guileless and anybody who knew Sho knew he'd never hold out against the combination of Aiba, Arashi, and member-ai. "I want to celebrate us. We're like the story, aren't we?"
"We're not at all like the story," Jun said, who had been watching Aiba charm Sho over the top of a prospective script. "Idiot."
Nino squirmed into Jun's personal space, still focused on his DS. "His brains and your good moods are like that," he said.
Sho ignored them both. "We could see if Johnny's would host a festival," he said, thinking of being recognized and hounded. "That way everybody could—"
"I am NOT spending Tanabata with KAT-TUN," Jun said. Nino shuddered and leaned against Jun's shoulder.
"You guys—" Sho sighed. He flipped down the game screen and pushed down the script. "If we want to have a party without getting recognized it'll have to be an industry party or a company thing. It's only practical."
"What's practical?" Ohno wandered into the room, hair and make-up already done.
"Captain! Sho wants to spend Tanabata with KAT-TUN!"
"I do not! I said Johnny's could host a festival. Everybody would be there NOT just us and KAT-TUN. K8 would be there, TOKIO, Kinki Kids, SMAP, Hey! Say—" he broke off, wincing as Nino rounded on him, eyes like lasers.
"I am not spending Tanabata with that home-wrecker," Nino said, leaning away from Jun and in to Ohno. "Or KAT-TUN," he added as an afterthought.
"I said," Sho protested, "that it's not about KAT-TUN. And quit calling Chinen that."
"He likes it."
"It makes him cry."
"Well, he'd like it if Captain said that HE did so blame Captain for making him cry." Nino looked at Ohno. "You're mean, Oh-chan; you should let him down more gently. Let me tell him, okay?"
"Sendai," Aiba said suddenly, his face smoothing out. "They have a big festival and we're going to be coming back from Sapporo, right? So that'll be perfect. And we can use the yukata from Time or maybe from that shoot we did for Po—"
Jun let out an indignant hiss. "The hell we will."
Sho nodded, lifting one hand to Jun. "That's one of the better ways to get recognized."
"They're ugly," Jun corrected. "Leave the clothes to me." Jun looked at all of them with a faint scowl that grew steadily darker as he considered them. "Really."
"I like blue," Ohno said affably.
"I like cheap," Nino added.
"I give up," muttered Sho.
Aiba patted his leg comfortingly. "Think of it as an A no Arashi," he said soothingly. "Tanabata no Arashi! Like T no Arashi only not boring!"
"…really, really give up…"
"Hey!"
"Ow!" Aiba ducked away before Nino could swat him again. "What was that for?"
Nino scowled darkly. "Tanabata is my only day off for two weeks, that's what for."
Aiba smiled at him. "It's great that we're gonna spend it together, huh?"
"I don't buy the idiot act all the time, Masaki," Nino told him.
Aiba beamed at him. "I'm not selling anything else at this time," he chirruped as the dressing room door opened. "Please take the free idiot act and make room for the next customer."
"…" said Sho. Then, "I don't even want to know."
Matsumoto Jun armed with a pencil, a notepad and retractable seamstress tape was abuse waiting to happen and every single person at Fuji TV knew it.
"Ah, Sho-kun," said Jun.
Sho was so used to being thrown to the proverbial wolves that he didn't even notice the AD shove him at his bandmate. "Yes?"
Jun flicked the end of the measuring tape at him with a wicked little smile. "I need your measurements."
He followed Jun without question into an empty costume room and stood on the tailoring stool that Jun kicked in his direction without a word. He held out his arms when instructed to so do and watched Jun circle him, measuring and making marks on his notepad.
"You don't have to do this," he said to the top of Jun's head when it was level with his zipper.
Jun shot him an arched look. "I do what I have to do," he said. "Now spread your legs for me."
Obediently, Sho spread. "Why are you even measuring there?" he asked as Jun's hands edged up the insides his legs. "That's a little weird, isn't it?"
"I just did this with Nino," Jun muttered in a low, cranky voice.
Sho looked at Jun's hands on his thighs. He knew, absolutely, that Nino was a champion whiner and that Tanabata was going to eat up their day off. There could be no doubt that Jun had heard all of Nino's complaints about it while getting measured. "Doing it with Nino is a little weird, too," he said with an innocent look that never fooled anybody because Sho was never devious enough to pull off the look of an angel.
Jun glared at him and reversed the direction of the tape measure. "Keep it up," he warned, "and it'll retract right into your pride."
Sho studied Jun intently. "You'd do it, huh?" he asked.
Jun nodded.
Sho hobbled out of the costume room to find Ohno standing outside of it, looking both aware and interested. Sho grinned at him. "It was worth it," he said.
"What was?" Aiba demanded, rounding the corner just in time to see Sho touching the tender part of his anatomy.
Ohno looked at Sho.
Sho jerked a thumb at the costume room. "MatsuJun is taking measurements for the yukata," he said and then tugged at his inseam.
Aiba's eyes lit up. "Me next," he said to Ohno and slid past Sho into the room.
Sho looked back at Ohno expectantly.
"Sometimes," Ohno said, "sometimes you do things like this and I think 'we did that to him, Nino and me' and it's kind of hot."
"It's…" said Sho.
"Wanna go find Nino and do it with him in a coat closet?"
"…" Sho said.
"My nuts hurt," Nino complained, coming gingerly around the corner.
Ohno's face fell.
"It's gonna be boring," Nino said.
Ohno added water to the paper-maché paste and hummed slightly under his breath.
"Tanabata," Nino went on. "It's just a bunch of streamers and snot-nosed kids running around."
"Hm," said Ohno.
"I mean, if you were there with a girlfriend," said Nino. "A girlfriend, that would be something. But it's the five of us."
"Ma-kun loves us like that," Ohno said vaguely, slapping two strips of newspaper together.
"Not in public," Nino said in tempered agreement. "Which is another boring thing. Sho would throw a fit if he tried and MatsuJun would… I don't even want to think what Jun would do."
"Us," said Ohno, adding a third strip of paper. "Hard and from behind." He blinked at Nino placidly when Nino pushed up on his elbows to give him a disbelieving stare. "You know he loves surprises."
Nino snorted and flopped back down. "Yeah, but not in public. It's going to be boring. I have a new game I could play that day and…what are you making?" he broke off to ask.
In answer, Ohno laid his creation delicately over Nino's mouth and tapped it down firmly. "Let that dry," he requested.
"If he complains about the geta even more time, I swear—" Jun hissed.
"Get in line," Sho mumbled.
"Okay, and everybody has their ornament, right? I've got the kimono," Aiba said, staring up at the bamboo pole beside him. "And Nino has the purse, right? And Sho-kun showed me the crane he made. And MatsuJun was gonna do a trashbag and Captain…hey, where is Leader?"
Nino put his arms around Sho and dug his chin into his shoulder. "I wanna know too. He's late."
Sho patted Nino. "We've been calling him and—"
"That's no good," Nino said. "He won't answer if it's you. I'm gonna call. Aiba-chan, you've got the brains of a monkey so you climb up and hang mine, too."
"I'm going to hit him!" Aiba announced, hanging his paper kimono. "As soon as I get down."
"Wait until he talks to Captain, first," Jun sighed.
Aiba stepped back and beamed at his contribution and then frowned over at Jun. "Huh? No, no, not hard. Just—" he knocked Jun's shoulder lightly with his fist. "That. Because he's being silly. He's having fun too, right?"
Sho and Jun shared a look.
Aiba looked back and forth between them and Nino, who was frowning into his cell phone. "Why am I the only one who looks like I'm having fun?"
"Because Nino is a bitch, Sakurai is having a breakdown, and Leader is lost somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle which makes me a little testy," Jun answered.
"I am not having a breakdown."
"He's not answering," Nino said, wandering back over to them.
"Who's not answering?" Ohno asked.
"You," Nino replied. "You're not answering your cell phone."
Ohno frowned. "It hasn't rung. And it's right in the secret pocket of the yukata so I would have heard it."
"If you were wearing the yukata," Jun said waspishly. "Obviously your mother didn't dress you before you left the house."
Everybody looked at Ohno in his tattered sneakers and faded blue-jeans. His shirt had obviously fresh resin stains as did his hands and arms. Ohno dragged one hand through his hair. "Ahh. I was running late." He looked hopefully at Aiba, saying, "I made a net to hang so let's go have fun!"
Jun snagged Ohno by the collar. "Aiba," he said over Ohno's head, "give me your car keys."
"I have my car keys," Nino said, dragging his out from a fold in his obi. "I'll take him to get changed."
"We'd never see either of you again and we know it. Aiba, keys."
Aiba handed over the keys. "It's for Tanabata, Nino," he said regretfully. "I'm sure," he said as Jun hauled Ohno away, "that MatsuJun will be quick about molesting him."
Sho sighed. "You mean helping him change."
Aiba and Nino looked at Sho like he was crazy. "No. Molesting," they said together, Aiba with a smile and Nino with a dark glower.
"Nino," Sho said as affectionately as possible through gritted teeth, "if you keep whining I am going to point at you and scream 'oh my god, it's Arashi' as loudly as possible and then I am going to grab Aiba and we will leave you stranded here."
Nino wound himself around Aiba and considered Sho with careful eyes. After a long moment he said, "Buy me a pack of cards and I'll show you a magic trick?"
"If they were made of solid gold and ruined me financially for the rest of my life as long as they made you shut up," Sho promised.
Nino smiled angelically at him. "I love you best," he said.
"What the hell," Jun said. "You bought him a present for being a brat?"
"No," said Sho.
"Yep," said Nino. "He cracked about five minutes after you left. Hi, Oh-chan; you look very clean."
Ohno, scrubbed pink, ducked his head meekly and scurried to hide behind Nino as much as possible. "I didn't know water got that hot," he said, wrapping both arms around Nino's waist. "Also, Jun-kun carries a nail brush in his pocket at all times."
"Scary," Nino said distractedly. "Okay, Aiba, put your card back in the deck now."
"Anywhere?"
"Anywhere at all."
"Sho-kun," Ohno slid over to Sho and under the arm that Sho lifted for him. "Tanabata is scary this year."
Sho gave Ohno a light squeeze. "Well, it could be worse?" he offered. "We could be spending it with KAT-TUN?"
Ohno's response to that was to give Jun a betrayed look. "I've done worse," he said in a wounded, yet very pointed, voice.
"Okay," Sho said, patting Ohno again. "Okay. Let's go have fun now that Jun and Satoshi are back. There are carnival rides."
"Nino will barf," Aiba said. "Especially if we put him on the Tilt-a-whirl."
Jun smiled happily. "What are we waiting for?"
"I'll sit with you," Nino warned him. "I'll sit riiiiiight next to you."
"Seriously, he'll barf all afternoon from just one ride. We did New Years together when we were juniors and my mom never got the smell out."
"Rides are out," Sho said in agreement.
"I want to snuggle up to Jun-kun on the rides," Nino objected.
"Out."
"He can hold our stuff," Jun said graciously, "while we go on the rides."
"Watching doesn't make him sick but I don't trust him."
"You guys, I said out. Satoshi, tell them."
Ohno looked at the others. "Sho-kun's blood pressure says no rides," he said sadly. "And we need him for the Stadium." His face brightened suddenly. "Oh! They have the fishing game!"
"Weak for Leader," Nino muttered, winding his fingers into the sleeve of Jun's yukata.
"Yeah," Jun sighed. "Masaki? Sho?"
"Yes."
"Yay!"
"It's been three hours! I hate this game!" Nino whined.
"Shh, I almost have him!"
"I'm bored!"
"I'm with Nino."
"Satoshi, just what are we going to do with thirty-six goldfish?"
"I don't know about fish," said Aiba, "but I found something to do with all the balloon yo-yos!"
"…oh JESUS," said Sho.
"I'm with Sho."
"Me too."
"Nice boobs," said Nino. "If you grew your hair longer, you could be a pretty cute girl. Don't you think, Junnosuke? That Ma-chan would be a cute girl? He makes such cute faces!"
"Shut UP," said Jun.
"I'm hungry. There's food. Can we eat?"
"That's not food that's…something."
"It's a deep-fried twinkie," Aiba said, reading the sign. "I want one!"
"That's not FOOD, Masaki," Jun said, leading him away.
"Deep-fried Oreos," read Nino. "Hey, Aiba! They've got it in a cookie form."
"Nino," sighed Sho.
Ohno rubbed his cheek against one of the plastic bags of goldfish and then peered at Sho through the water inside. "It's full of calories," he said in a small voice.
Jun whipped around to stare at Ohno. "No," he said hopelessly. "No, it isn't."
"Look," Ohno went on piteously, "it's got 'nutritional information' right here. See?"
Sho looked at the card on the booth and then at the vendor. "We'll take six."
"Six?" Aiba wandered over. "I got a deep-fried banana. Why six? Is MatsuJun going to get two?"
"Yes," Sho said blissfully, "MatsuJun is going to eat two." Then he blinked. "Deep-fried banana?"
Aiba shoved most of it into his mouth to free up his hands for his cookie and then pointed. Nino's smile was shark-like as he linked an arm through Jun's. "Leader," he called, "Leader, look there's fruit. Let's get some for everybody."
Ohno's smile was, if possible, scarier than Nino's as he linked with Jun's other arm. "That's healthy. MatsuJun loves fruit."
"I'm going to join NEWS," Jun said even as he let himself be dragged over to the booth Aiba had pointed at.
Sho nodded, putting an arm around Aiba. "As soon as you finish your deep-fat-fried snacks," he called after him. To Aiba he said, "What else can you find that'll put some weight on him?"
Aiba leaned in to Sho, watching Jun with Nino and Ohno. "We could see what happens if we deep-fry candyfloss," he suggested.
The grass was in need of cutting and full of the sounds of nighttime insects but they ignored it.
"Waahh," Aiba moaned, flopping down. "This is the best place to see the fireworks."
Nino flopped down beside him. "Uh-huh. That's why we're the only ones here."
"It's actually that nobody is supposed to be back behind the temple," Jun said, settling in on Aiba's other side. "Sho and I bribed the guy guarding it to let us come here."
"You're all chipping in for that," Sho added, taking the spot next to Nino and pulling Ohno down between himself in Jun so that they were splayed in a circle together.
"I'll rob Nino's wallet for you next time he leaves it open," Ohno promised.
"Oi!" Nino reached into the center of the circle to slap at Ohno. "I'm not a cheapskate!" He paused. "But we could watch the fireworks by the river for free. Ow! Captain! Jun's hitting with his rings on!" he tattled as Jun reached across the circle to chastise him.
"Quit picking on the baby," Sho said, catching Jun's hand. "The slightly-older-than-you-baby, I mean."
"Hey!"
Aiba giggled. "I'm having fun," he said. "Admit it, we're having fun. Aren't you glad we came?"
"No."
"Not really."
"Just shut up now."
"Sorry."
"Me too," said Aiba. He reached over his head into the middle of the circle they made. There was a tangle of long, cool grass and warm, familiar fingers and, overhead, the first of the summer fireworks went off in a rainbow of colors.
**********************
And next up, more Kamen Rider Kabuto retardary, I think. Chelle-sama is irked by my love of Arashi (well, I'm SORRY but they have STUFF going on and NEW CDS coming out) and so I thought a nice break to the guys in rubber suits would be good for everybody.
