ciircee | I am not productive but I did write some Sho-and-Yoko?

Seriously, I am the worst.

The Method

Yoko isn't used to being looked after. The Eight are a pretty rowdy bunch, a rough-and-tumble crowd. They have their moments but not like this. He wouldn't give up Kanjani8 for anything but he might just be willing to be in two groups (hell, it hasn't killed Ryo yet, right?) if it means getting to nap with his head pillowed cozily in Sakurai Sho's lap whenever he wants to. He thinks he wouldn't even mind all the 'really gay' gay rumors that follow Arashi around if he could just do this and have Sho's knee right there in reaching distance. Sho's knee is somehow the most comforting thing in the world to pat and stroke and just curl his hand over. Kamiyama has nice pants.

And Sho has really great hands.

"Feel better?" Sho asks in his quiet, rock-steady voice. His fingers are brushing hair away from Yoko's face, his ear, his neck so that he has absolutely zero hair-itching going on anywhere.

"Mmm," Yoko hums.

Sho pets him. "We're almost done with filming," he says. "Just keep doing your best for a little while longer, okay?"

"Okay," Yoko agrees and he…well, Yoko melts. But if anybody ever asks, this was all Aiba's idea and he is just being a good friend. To Aiba.

"Ne, Yoko…" Aiba looked at him over their bowls of hot and sour soup. His eyes were wide and hopeful and so very earnest.

Yoko set his soup down because there were good odds that, by the end of whatever the 'ne, Yoko' was about, he'd want to bang his head on the table. Aiba's head, not his own. "'sup?" he asked casually.

"You and Sho-kun are going to do that new drama together, right?"

"I'm not doing it," Yoko said.

"Sho—what? Not doing what?"

"Whatever it is that Nino is asking you to ask me to do. I have a band to think about and being dead isn't a good move for us."

"It's not that." Aiba's face lit up with a smile before dimming. "Sho-kun," Aiba let out a breath that blew his bangs out of his eyes. "Sho-kun is really a little bit shy and he gets nervous and he's not very good at relaxing so we're all worried about him."

He did not have a good feeling about where this was going. "Ah."

"So…so help him relax if you can, okay? Because we think he'll pick you out of everybody. You're Johnny's."

"…" said Yoko. "I am not blowing him."

Aiba choked on his soup, coughing and wheezing and pounding on his chest, eyes watering. "Ew, Yoko! EWW."

It had taken two days before he'd figured out what Aiba had meant by 'pick you'. He was too terrified to actually talk much to Sho the first day, beyond the usual greetings and the 'let's do our best'ing that went with crank-in. He hadn't really seen the shy or the nerves that Aiba had mentioned. He'd been a little in awe of how easily Sho talked to absolutely everybody—cast and crew alike.

But the next day of filming had started with Sho seeking him out, carrying a steaming cup of something that smelled vile and looked like tea. "Uh," he said, totally unsure of what to say around his senpai. It might not have been a problem with somebody like Nagase but Sakurai Sho did News Zero and had been chosen for the main personality for the Olympics and had anchored 24hr television twice. Plus Tanaka Koki idolized the guy. There were several levels of 'don't want to screw up' to be found.

Sho took the initiative. "I brought you this," he said, handing over the cup. "Your voice sounded hoarse yesterday so I asked Matsujun about herbal teas that would be good for that."

"You—" he said. And then, "You've got more lines so wouldn't it be best if you—?" It wasn't that he didn't want to drink the tea (not just) but seriously, Sho was the one with most of the lines and all of the screaming. And Yoko felt fine. He'd had recording last night, but everybody had given him crap about his singing which was entirely normal. "You should drink this."

"I already have a regime in place," he said proudly. "Matsujun and I set it up weeks ago," and he offered the cup again.

"Ah…thank you," Yoko said, bowing slightly as he took the cup. "Thanks very much."

The tea tasted worse than it smelled.

A lot worse.

"This will help with the soreness," Sho said, holding out another cup, one he'd had hidden behind his back. Yoko felt like kicking him in the shin because this was really more like Maru's sort of joke and even if this DID make Sho somewhat more approachable, there was only so much nasty tea that Yoko wanted to drink. Sho smiled at him putting the new cup in his hand. "It's honey and hibiscus," he said.

It was sweet and refreshing. And, Yoko discovered, it really did soothe the pain in his throat that he hadn't even noticed. "Thank you," he said, startled.

Sho's smile was warm, like sunlight.

"I ordered you lunch," Sho told him as he walked off set. "Since you were filming when they were taking them, I picked for you."

Yoko resigned himself to whatever it was. Everybody knew that Arashi had a very strange relationship with food. "That's great, thanks."

Sho beamed, leading the way to the resting rooms. Sho's lunch appeared to be pasta. The lunch he'd ordered for Yoko, however…it was sushi rice, topped with shredded egg, and mushrooms and peas, bamboo shoots and a prawn. There was also an assortment of pickles, savory tamagoyaki, small fried fish, bamboo shoots, fish balls, lotus root and a sweet konnyaku jelly. "Wow," he said.

"You've got recording, right? And a PV filming and concerts. You need to eat more so that you can keep your energy up."

He was pretty sure that Sho has the same workload plus some. "You're losing weight for this part, aren't you?" It had been impossible to miss Nino's outraged growling about it, actually. Sometimes Yoko hated being on Nino's jweb filter.

Sho, however, nodded happily. "It's all right, though; I've got a regime all set up to deal with it."

"Right," Yoko nodded in acknowledgement. He took a bite of lunch and stopped in mid chew, looking at Sho as he began chewing again—slowly. This wasn't any ordinary—or slightly more than ordinary—lunch. This lunch tasted like home.

Sakurai Sho was looking at him searchingly. "Is it all right?"

"It's great," Yoko answered as nostalgic flavors spread smoothly in his mouth

Sho looked delighted as he finally began to eat his own lunch, talking about getting tickets for Kanjani's next concert.

It had taken two days to figure out the 'pick you' but it was several weeks in before Yoko understood.

The day had been long to start with and it was running even longer as filming dragged. The director kept giving them their scene an NG no matter what they did. He kept saying 'it's me, it's me' but Yoko couldn't help feeling that what the director meant was 'it's YOU'. The stress was making Yoko a little tense but it was nothing to the way Sho was going tight, every line of him unhappy. He was beginning to get snappish. Not his words or even his tone but Yoko had been in the business long enough to see just how close Sho was getting to that idol-bright edge.

There was nothing he could do to help. He didn't know Sho well enough. Aiba had never said anything about what he should do if Sho needed to relax. This was all Aiba's fault.

But…he liked Sho. Really liked him. He had to do something. So he joined him over in the corner away from the playback monitors. It was well away from where their director was talking to the lighting and sound guys and gesturing at the set. "So," he said gamely, "this is really frustrating the shit out of me."

Sho's eyes came up and Yoko braced for it. Sho had been a strict senior and everybody knew it. "Are you stressed?" Sho asked.

Since he hadn't specified what was stressing him out in particular, Yoko nodded. "Yeah."

Oh, shit, he thought when Sho reached out for him, purposeful and firm. He nearly flinched back but Sho's hands settled harmlessly—and very strangely—over his ears. "I learned this from having to deal with Nino," Sho was saying, his voice the only thing Yoko could hear outside of Sho's muffling hands. He went when Sho pulled him closer, barely even going rigid when one of Sho's hands slid around to the back of his neck, tucking him close. "Close your eyes," Sho said, his hands settling again.

Yoko had done some crazy stuff for the company but standing in a corner with Arashi's Sakurai Sho, resting his head against the man's chest while the other guy covered his ears was probably one of the weirdest. Sho was as tense as a wire at the breaking point and none of this felt very safe, either. Still, he closed his eyes. "Okay," he muttered.

"Now just breathe," Sho said. "Nice, steady, even breaths. Listen."

Breathing deeply and evenly it was STILL weird. But it was also dark and quiet and it smelled like incense. He felt himself start to relax thinking how it was maybe okay after all and then realized something important. Sho had relaxed. Somewhere in the middle of Yoko's breathing, Sho had let go of his tension and was now talking quietly about something Yoko couldn't hear very clearly. His voice was soothing and all of the irritation had drained away.

What the hell? thought Yoko.

"Feel better?" Sho asked a moment later.

"Yeah," Yoko said, pulling back as Sho turned him loose. "Yeah I—"

Sho was smiling at him, looking pleased with himself and with Yoko and the world in general.

Yoko was very strongly reminded of his mother and the way she looked at his younger brothers whenever they did something totally cute. Oh, he thought. Sho was one of those people—one of those mother-hen types who needed a chick to look after.

Well no WONDER why Aiba had spat out his soup when he'd brought up the blowjob thing.

After that, Yoko kept tabs on what Sho was doing for him and offering him. He tried to think up new ways for Sho to feel accomplished about his babying. Drinking the curry-flavored ramune had sent Sho running for a napkin and an antacid. Getting that paper-cut had brought him a plaster and an antibiotic wipe. Fussing about his hair had brought out a nail-scissors that neatened up his ends just the tiniest (less annoying) bit.

Slumping against Sho's side and announcing that he was tired, completely worn out, got him shifted around until he was snuggled comfortably on the crappy resting-room couch with a surprisingly nice pillow made out of man-thigh. It also netted him a ten minute nap and a much more refreshed-looking Sho.

"Thanks for taking care of me," Yoko told him after every incident.

"It's nothing," Sho replied warmly.

Whatever worked for a guy, right?

Neither one of them is really getting to know the rest of the cast very well and it's probably a little rude, Yoko reflects as he plays his fingers over the way Sho's kneecap curves just right to fit into the palm of his hand. "I'm probably going to drink too much at the after-party," he says. "I'm like that."

Sho's hand stops and rests warmly against Yoko's hair. "That's all right. I'll drive you home if you do."

Yoko falls asleep wondering if—if he asked nicely enough and begged hard enough—if he and Sho would be allowed to form a temporary group of some sort. Just for a little while.

Maybe just for a year or two.

This just goes to prove that, if given an hour to use doing something I really mean to do, I will WASTE IT UTTERLY and then inflict the results upon you.

ETA: Prompt was from here. For the lazy (because I AM. I SO am.): Who: Yoko and Sho
What: Yoko is Sho's new target for his mothering. Yoko likes it.
Rating: I don't mind if it's on the cute side.

I just can't make smut out of Sho's mothering.