Kirakira
Rating: PG
Characters/People involved: Nakagauchi Masataka, Baba Toru
Word Count: 1463
Summary: There are a lot of things that we can perceive to be kirakira.
Notes: Written in Baba's POV. First ever RPS-ish fic but I'm pretty glad about how this came out ^o^ Enjoy and leave a comment please!
Kirakira.
There are lots of things that people perceive to be kirakira, or what you call sparkling in English. Some even call tissue kirakira but really, that, in a sense, is weird. When I first heard of that, I spent quite some time staring at Kleenex, trying to find out why someone would call tissue kirakira. But I guess we’ve all got our own definitions of kirakira or at least, I’ve got my own definition of kirakira.
To me, kirakira would be that ridiculously beautiful smile that I see when I go to work. And I guess that kind of inspires me. But then again, I don’t just go to work to see him smile that enchanting smile of his. I still work and have fun, and try my best at whatever I do but seeing that smile coming from him just felt so…fulfilling. It sort of inspired me in a way.
And there are times when I’m the one who makes him grin and that just makes me happy. One of those times is when I’m the losing end of a bet and I have to treat him out to yakiniku.
“Told you we’d get out of work earlier than usual! Now you’re the one who has to treat me to yakiniku. Bow down to my awesome, Ba-chon! Or at least, hurry up so we can go eat some yakiniku. I’m starving!”
“Fine, for this time, you win. But the next time, I’m going to make sure that I’m definitely not losing!”
I sighed as I grabbed my bag and Masa, being Masa, just went ahead and grabbed my hand screaming yakiniku. Wait, he grabbed…my hand?
We were already out but Masa continued holding on to my hand and smiling. People continued on with their daily lives but some started staring and I became somewhat uncomfortable with that.
“Hey Masa…”
“Yep?”
“…Do you really have to hold onto my hand?”
“If I don’t, Ba-chon could get his chance to escape and that would leave me with no dinner so yes, I have to.”
And another smile just made its way to his face and I couldn’t help but stare and sort of zone out.
“Anything wrong, Ba-chon?”
“No, nothing at all.”
This guy, though he was three years my senior, was completely oblivious to how holding hands appeared to most people. Was he really this clueless? Will I really have to say it out loud, even if it’s going to turn out to probably be one of the most embarrassing moments of my life?
“You seem stressed, Ba-chon. You’re not in the mood for yakiniku today?”
“It’s not that. It’s-“
“Oh! I want to try this restaurant out. Come on!”
And he finally let go of my hand as we got in and took a seat at one of the tables. Masa continued staring at me, a smile still plastered on his face.
“I’m so glad Ba-chon eats dinner with me even if it gets tiring to go eat dinner out especially after a rehearsal. It gets lonely eating dinner at home alone sometimes. Well, not sometimes but a lot.”
“Uh Masa-“
“If it gets too tiring for you or anything, can we still eat dinner but at my house if it’s fine with you? You could even sleep over if you want to! I think your parents are going to be fine with it anyways.”
The waitress brought over some meat and we started grilling and Masa was now the one who started spacing out. His meat seemed like it was going to end up burnt and wasted anytime so I turned it over for him.
“Oi, keep an eye on your meat will you?” I told him and he instantly snapped out of it.
“I’m sorry. I was just thinking, since we don’t have to wake up early tomorrow since we have the day off, you want to sleep over at my house? You could call your parents. I could lend you my clothes, and it’s going to be less tiring for you since I live nearby this place anyway, or at least my house is nearer than yours.”
“I’ll go call my parents after we eat.”
Masa shook his head.
“Give me your phone! I’ll talk to them!”
“Stop being ridiculous and asking permission for me, Masa. I can talk to my own parents.”
“Phone. Now. Who lost the bet again, Ba-chon?”
“You user. This wasn’t even included in the bet!”
Masa just stuck out his tongue and grinned.
I handed over my phone and he started jabbing at the buttons and pressed dial. If he were a stranger, he wouldn’t even know what name I gave for my parents in my phone but he was Masa and he grabs my phone from me whenever he can because he says he enjoys the games on my phone. I told him to download it for himself but he says it doesn’t work on his phone.
“Oh okaa-san!”
Okaa-san? Are you serious? When did that happen?
“Ba-chon says he wants to sleep over at my house. I’ll take care of him for you tonight. Is that okay, okaa-san? Really? Awesome! See you tomorrow then, okaa-san!”
“I’m guessing I’ll be sleeping over at your house tonight…”
Masa’s grin just got bigger. We both continued eating and soon enough, we finished up and I paid for everything, because of the bet.
“Um…Can I just ask?”
I looked up to see the waitress, looking a bit nervous.
“Yes?”
“Are the two of you…together, if you know what I mean?”
“Eh?” If it was even possible, Masa looked even happier than he already did.
“Oh, I guess you’re…”
“No, we’re not,” Masa answered for me.
The waitress smiled. “Ah, I see. Well, I hope you have a good night then!”
So he isn’t so oblivious after all. We both got up and walked out of the restaurant. Masa mentioned something about how his apartment was only approximately a ten minute walk from the place and he rambled on about how practice was tiring and how he just wanted to fall asleep because we really don’t do much for this musical.
This time, he kept his hands inside of his pocket even if we were walking side by side. And I also only noticed now how cold it was. For some reason, I found myself looking for Masa’s hand because it was warm. The place we were in now was also sort of desolate. I guess it was somewhat safe.
“Here, Ba-chon.”
Masa took out gloves from his bag and handed them over to me.
“You seem cold. I think you’ll need it more than I would.”
“But Masa, they’re yours!”
“I can lend them to you. It looks like your hands are going to freeze if you’ll have to last through this for another five minutes.”
I laughed and this time it was my turn to take his hand. He looked a bit surprised but he just laughed it off as well and we walked back to his house grinning and partly freezing like idiots.
- - -
It was moments like these that I liked remembering. We were trying to figure out where the both of us would sleep and he told me he could take the floor and I could have the bed but I told him the bed seemed big enough for the both of us. So we decided that we should both stay on the bed. And here he was, his face being lit by nothing other than the moonlight from outside, sleeping the night away. Meanwhile, I was also here, lying down beside him, and just staring.
Being Masa, he was unconsciously hugging me in his sleep but I didn’t really mind since it was sort of cold. That night, I couldn’t sleep for some reason. It wasn’t because of Masa and how he moved a lot in his sleep. I was used to that.
But I found it weird how I was starting to notice more things about him, just staring at him like this. He seemed calmer and quiet and not very Masa-like but still he was Masa. It was as if this was another side to him that he’s never shown before. But I still liked it.
That was when I realized; kirakira wasn’t Kleenex nor was it the stars that dotted the sky. It wasn’t newly polished silverware or cake. To me, kirakira wasn’t just Masa’s smile but rather it was Masa himself. Kirakira was when Masa danced, smiled, talked, ate, laughed or did whatever he did. He always shone and sparkled in his own way and it makes me happy how he was my friend and he brought this kirakira into my life.