Prompt 4: One day you’re in and the next you’re out - Team AU (cont)

[games_referee]

Despite his exhaustion, Nakamaru had a very strange dream. Only vague remnants of it clouded his senses when he awoke, but all the sensations that had run in and out of his entire frame were as real as the sunlight peaking in through their sunscreen-streaked window pane. He was being cradled, held by strong arms, enfolded in a frightening security as someone fingered through his hair, massaging his scalp. Even something like a liquid burn ran down the back of his head and he felt himself lifted out of the suffocation he felt. The sensation was a whisper, almost precise, but barely tangible in his dream-like state. Yet he could hear it, crooning and almost persistent. Yuichi! Yuichi!

“Yuichi! Oi! Yuichi!”

Nakamaru’s head nearly hit the shelf above him as he bolted upright. A punctuated banging made him start as the cabin’s front door shook.

“YUICHI!”

A mere move to get out of bed made his head felt like a constricting vice of broken glass and twine. Moaning a little, he flopped back down, pulling his sleeping bag over his head. “Go away!” he croaked out delicately. The banging merely persisted. Not quite sure what to think and in a sufficient amount of pain, Maru moved with the intention of sitting upright and getting out of bed, but once again his head protested resulting in something like a sideways roll to the floor. Almost desperately at that point, Maru dragged himself to the door, wincing as the sunlight broke in around the figure standing there.

“God Dammit, you were still sleeping?! I…”

Nakamaru gingerly forced his eyes open and locked gazes with Koki, who was staring at him in what seemed to be either awe or dismay. He’d known Koki since high school, but despite the other man’s overall dismissive attitude and off-putting thug-like behaviour, Maru had never received such a blatant look of disparaging judgement.

“What? What is it?”

Koki’s mouth opened, his eyes narrowed, and then he shut it again. Finally, after a few moments of this, “Nothin’. Arashi-san has been ringing for you all effin day from the office hall! It’s almost four and I’m supposed to be on a hike. What the hell have you been doing!?”

“Arashi-san…” Maru repeated faintly. “For me?”

“Yeah, something about that transfer everyone’s talking about…”

His throat was suddenly dry. This was horrible. He had at least hoped he’d have had the chance to speak with the Camp Head before they thought of introducing the topic. He was done for. Ignoring Koki, he shuffled back into his cabin puttering around fretfully for a clean regulation polo shirt.

“You know the bulletin says Arashi-san is closing the office in an hour today, right?”

This stopped him in his tracks. How long had he slept? He didn’t even remember going to sleep and more than all that, his head was near splitting with each serious thought. Also, Koki appeared to have resumed staring at him as if he’d sprouted another nose.

Pulling the polo on hurriedly, he brushed past Koki. He hadn’t even had the time to check whether or not he looked precisely the way he felt, but if Arashi-san had been ringing for him all day without reply, the condition of his face wasn’t likely to improve his chances.

The Main Registrar’s Hall was a large two-story establishment tucked just on the far end of the camp. The top floor overlooked the entire grounds stretching to the lake’s edge, which meant that Maru had to jog up the camp’s trail a little ways in order to reach the thick oak stairway a bit quicker.

Truthfully, among the six of them only Kame and Jin had been up to Arashi-san’s office. If administration was ever in demand, there were usually channels one was expected to pass before managing so much as a glimpse of the rarely spotted Camp Head. The fact that Nakamaru was being rung in personally was enough to make him see that his case was hopeless even before he could make one.

The doors were, like almost everything else at Camp Janīzu, crafted out of expensive wood and polished with some form of lacquer. Already fearing the absolute worst kept him from observing any niceties as he pushed the door open. A hallway stood before him, lined with a light grey carpet and potted plants above which there were gilded portraits of older men; probably former camp leaders. Maru made for the door at the end of the hall, ominous and lacquered as the rest of the building.

He paused just outside. He’d never met anyone with such an odd name as Arashi-san and whenever he’d demanded some details from Jin, he’d been gifted with ambiguity and bitter smiles. Rumour had it that the camp had never run so smoothly until Arashi-san had been put in charge and there was much worry from the corporate reps as to who would take over when said Camp Leader chose to retire. Maru expected something altogether frightening and horrible on the other side of that door.

Nakamaru leaned his ear lightly on the thick wood.

Nothing.

He rapped his knuckles against it gingerly.

“Enter.”

Maru hesitated. It must be some mistake. He couldn’t possibly have just heard a chorus of voices say that simultaneously in the same vocal timbre. His knuckles were white as he pushed the door latch down.

It was mid-afternoon and the sun was low, sneaking in through the blinders at the back of the office. Maru squinted at five silhouettes, still as anything, clearly looking back at him. One was seated behind a desk flanked by two others standing on either side There was one right by the window, holding what looked like a clipboard and one more on an armchair beside the desk, his long legs propped up precariously near a telephone.

“Have a seat please, Yuichi-kun,” a low voice to the right said.

Nakamaru coughed, still squinting against the glare. “Umm, thank you.” He looked at his immediate surroundings where a leather seated stool was positioned. Not giving it much thought, he plopped down, but his hand shook as he tried to shade his eyes. The silhouettes, on the other hand, retained their obscurity.

“We’ve been waiting for some time today, you realise?”

He wasn’t sure which of the figures had said it, but the voice was cold. Nakamaru swallowed. “Yes, I’m sorry. I…”

“Perhaps next time there is a summons for you, you would respond immediately…”

“I’m sure you know our time is important too.”

“Of course he knows. You’d have to be really dumb to think what we do is easy.”

A shudder ran down Maru’s spine, though the room had become suddenly very warm. “Uh…y-yes, I do understand. I’m sorry for not being here right away.”

“Excuses won’t be necessary. Shall we move on?”

At first Maru thought the question had been posed to him, but then he heard various words of agreement from the other four figures. When he squinted enough, he could almost make out the one seated behind the desk. He was small, probably shorter than Maru, but that might have been due to the fact that he was slouching, his thin shoulders permanently affecting a comfortable laxity.

“So…” He saw the one with the clipboard flip through some papers a bit dismissively. “As you know, we’ve had to do some evaluation this summer for a possible transfer to Camp Kanjanīzu. Our records state that you’ve been here for close to four years now not including the three years you spent as a junior.”

One of the figures beside the slouching one in the middle snickered a little. “Haven’t you had enough of this place?”

“Nino…” Four other voices chimed warningly.

Maru realised that he very much wanted out of that office.

“To get to the point, Yuichi-kun. We need to make a transfer because we’re expecting a new counsellor next summer and we seem to have more than enough people at work here, leaving most of you with a great deal of free time, it seems.”

“A celebrity counsellor,” murmured the silhouette they called Nino. “I’m guessing we’ll be overpaying that one.”

“Nino…”

“It’s a matter of budgeting! Don’t tell me you haven’t thought it yet!”

The clipboard figure went quiet.

“Putting money matters aside for the moment, can we stay focused?” That seemed to be coming from the figure opposite the Nino-silhouette. His distinguishing feature seemed to be a coiffeur of delicately managed wavy hair. Maru wiped the moisture from his nose, feeling his stress levels begin to peak. Which one of them was Arashi-san? If it was the one in the middle, then why wasn’t he speaking?

“Right. So, in the effort to cut down on labour without laying anyone off, we have deliberated on this issue and found that Kanjanīzu could use someone of your particular…”

“Sho-chan~” whined the one in the armchair suddenly. “I want to go to town. Can we speed this up?”

Maru lowered his head. He couldn’t even think of what to say to stop this from happening.

“Thank you, Aiba. Uh…yes. OK, so we wanted to present you with this new opportunity.”

“If you manage the pay well, you could be making more at Kanjanīzu anyway.”

“Ninomiya!”

Clipboard figure sighed. “Anyway, we’ve spoken to Kamenashi-kun this morning and he claims you have a better suggestion.”

Nakamaru stared helplessly at those faceless figures. Kame would speak to them about it. There’s no doubt he was still mad about his and Jin’s collective Yamapi poster. He patted his pockets in hopes that he had a handkerchief handy.

“How is your new partner Taguchi?” the coiffed figure queried laconically.

Maru wet his lips. Perhaps if they’d asked yesterday morning…

“We’d be frank to say that as he is a new counsellor, his transfer won’t bring much trouble. However, as he is your partner, you are responsible for him.”

“Hm, though it’s a shame since this is his first year.”

“Please, it’d be like clean break. One day in, the next day out.”

The words sunk in, and Maru could only nod, but then subsequently shake his head.

All dark figures seemed to wait politely and Maru squeezed his hands together in his lap.

“Why…”

Everyone in the room seemed to start at the sound of the one voice. The figure in the middle shifted, cleared his throat and leaned forward out of the glare. Maru stared silently into a pair of warm almond eyes blinking at him sleepily.

“What was that, Leader?” It would probably never not be creepy the way they could all speak on cue like that.

“Why…don’t we close the blinds?”

With those mere words, four figures jumped toward the blinder cord in a second resulting in what could otherwise be considered a comical crash of shadowy arms, legs and torsos. Four figures hit the window-bending the blinders-and subsequently the floor.

“Dammit, Nino…your elbow!”

“Your disgusting hair just got in my mouth! I don’t need any part of Matsujun in my mouth!”

“Hahaha! That tickles, you guys; don’t wiggle!”

“Who has the cord?! The string’s wrapped around my wrist! Ah! Aiba, don’t pull! It hurts!”

Nakamaru would later consider it an unfortunate thing that the telephone chose then to ring. Both he and their sleepy Leader eyed it for a moment as the mesh of bodies near the floor flailed about. A pale, skinny arm shot out and grabbed the receiver as three other hands grabbed at him.

“Yeah?”

“Nino, phone etiquette!”

“As if he knows what that is…”

The coiffed figure somehow managed to disentangle himself, pulling the cord. The blinders shut and the room was bathed in an abrupt shade. Maru realised he’d been holding his breath. He wiped at his temple with his wrist. As he raised his head, he locked eyes with the Leader again and saw what was indeed a small man, but his whole aura seemed to emit reassurance at the same time as making Maru feel vaguely sleepy himself.

“Ah, OK. Yeah, I gotcha,” Nino, who Maru realised looked about the same age as a HeySay only a bit more sickly. “Cool. I’ll tell ‘em.”

They waited as he hung up.

Nino surveyed the room, a quirky smile brightening his features. “HQ says we gotta build a new cabin…”

Nothing could’ve prepared Maru for the resulting outcry. Four voices all at once, starting sentences, finishing them, pacing and gesticulating wildly. As the man with the clipboard-Sho-chan?-moved for the file cabinet, papers flew. Matsujun picked up the telephone, dialled and began shouting both into the receiver and at those in the room. Nino reached into the desk drawer and unearthed a calculator and spreadsheet. The one formerly on the armchair remained on the floor, but this did not fail to make him very vocal.

“We’ll have to get this done by September, so we have time for…”

“We have to restructure the ground plan, then!”

“Not before the petting zoo blue prints are presented! You all promised me!”

“And that’s why…”

“This is going to take up so much of our time; it’s-“

“Is it new registration? Who’s going to pay those people?”

“The pay will be handled, but we need to ensure the new recruits are…”

“No! Confirm the costs first!”

“Do you realise….”

“Of course we do, just take those forms out!”

“Already done; get Leader to sign…”

“Nino, give him your…!”

“Give him Sho-chan’s pen!”

“Matsujun, call that company with the…”

“They’ve got me on hold, dammit!”

Maru watched their quiet Leader sign the papers handed to him, wondering vaguely if he’d missed his cue to leave.

“What’s the deadline, then?”

“We’re looking at five days for the reports to be sent in and eight weeks for the processing. We might have a permit for construction in which we…”

“Oh! We could fit in the petting zoo on the west end, right?”

“Exactly!”

“YES!”

Maru was then treated to watching a grown man perform a victory dance while twirling about the room. Aforementioned grown man made the grave mistake of twirling a bit too close to the one called Matsujun. The receiver was knocked from his hand, flying sideways, but pulled back by its cord, hitting Leader in the shoulder.

“Aiba, sit the fuck down!”

Aiba shuffled back to his armchair, looking cowed.

It was a shrill to pass even Kame’s highest shrill and Maru backpedalled mentally, realising that he needed to be out of there immediately.

“Umm, excuse me?” he piped up only to realise a millisecond afterward that this was the worst idea known to man. Matsujun’s dark and narrow gaze zeroed in on him. There were probably chambers in hell that sentenced certain people to be on the receiving end of that very same look.

It seemed the whole room held its breath. Maru looked to Leader for some relief, but the small man was examining his fingers, his brows knit.

“You know,” Matsujun began slowly, his tone dripping with unadulterated scorn. “I initially thought it was the lighting, but I see I was wrong. That hairstyle is atrocious and there are people who would hang you for it.”

Nino snickered, ducking behind Leader’s chair.

“The idea that that hair is intentional is appalling.”

Maru shrunk back, unsure how to reply. He’d never been so out and out insulted; he could feel his ears burning.

Sho-chan set down his clipboard. “Jun-kun, stop that. Don’t be unprofessional. Anyway, when you were young didn’t you once have highlights?”

“I kept it classy…but I would never have bleached my hair like that.”

All of Maru’s thoughts skidded to a world-crashing halt. As Matsujun’s wildfire insults had spilled over him, he’d had some small modicum of comfort knowing that whatever the well-groomed man was willing to say regarding his hair, he knew that he had a sensible hairstyle. However the turn which the conversation had taken made him extremely uneasy.

“I…” he heard himself, somewhere faraway saying. “I…should be going. I’ll…I’ll be in t-touch, I…”

“Oh no… Jun-kun, look what you’ve done now…”

Conversation faded from him as Maru pushed away from his seat and fled out the doors, running hands through his short hair. He walked blindly down the hallway. His breath had quickened as he considered the possibilities. He stopped in front of one portrait, the gleam from a distant window revealing his reflection in almost full clarity.

There was no mistake. His mind wandered back to what had been a half-forgotten dream. Hands in his hair…

He’d been naïve enough to give those hands a name, naïve enough to smile at the thought in the back of his mind.

And now, staring him in the face: a hyperventilating man in his twenties with a shock of platinum blonde sitting on his head. He rested his palms on either side of the portrait, not daring to believe that those kids had gone so far.

He was only barely himself as he pushed away from the wall to stumble toward the front doors, small words of disbelief trickling out as he gasped for air that didn’t seem to exist. His hands pushed the doors open of their own accord as he hurried down the steps, not sure if he was sobbing or making unfamiliar sounds of pure horror.

“Well, now you show up. Did you spend the whole day holed up in your cabin?”

Nakamaru looked up. Kame was stalking toward him, hands on his hips with Jin not far behind. He said nothing.

“Just so you know, Jin and I had to buy that poster off a very high priced forum; I’m expecting full reimbursement by the end of this summer…”

“Kame,” Maru began softly.

“And you may think you’re the only one going through shit at this camp, but there’s a hell of a lot the others have to deal with too. You need to figure out a way to suck it up or there’s no reason for you to put up with it.”

“Kame…” Maru repeated, curling his fingers into his palms. He glanced at Jin about two metres away, taking his time in coming toward them.

“Jin’s gotta deal with his weak immune system, Ueda’s girlfriend doesn’t get the restrictions that come with being a camp counsellor so he has to sneak her in here every evening, you know Koki’s really just a big baby and he hates that all the kids are scared of him…”

“KAME! PLEASE!” Nakamaru cried. “JUST…please make an attempt to get over yourself!”

Kame’s mouth went slack and Jin stopped in his tracks.

“I get it! I get that you’re so on top of everything and that’s just fan-fucking-tastic! But if you could at least for once stop making it sound like such a long-suffering chore then maybe, just maybe the rest of us wouldn’t have such a hard time appreciating what you do! That’s why you’re on edge all the time; that’s why we’re all sitting here waiting for the day when you snap! I’m sick of listening to you give people crap for the flaws you’re afraid that you have! If somebody doesn’t do things the way you wish they would, chill the fuck out! It’s not going to reflect on you!”

Kame stared, one long sculpted brow rising. “Ah, so…that’s how you feel…”

Maru closed his eyes against the tremble in the other boy’s tone. He felt guilty already, and it wasn’t as if he was angry with Kame in particular. Everything was just so ugly right now. Jin walked forward, smiling grimly. “OK, I think it might be a good idea for you to give one of these a go.” He reached into the pocket where he usually kept Kame’s pills. His hand came out empty. Looking puzzled, Jin patted the rest of his pockets.

“Ah, seems we’re having that kind of day.”

Kame glanced at Jin. “What?”

Jin nodded back toward the cabins. “When we were in Ueda’s cabin just now, I think I left the bottle there.”

Maru expelled a full and heavy breath. He didn’t want to argue anymore and he didn’t care what Kame or Jin would say to him later about it. He just needed to find a solution to all that was making him miserable currently. In all specifics, things like hair that would make Taguchi jealous on his usually properly trimmed and sensible black head. He stomped off.

His intention had been to go to his cabin to find a hat or a toque, anything to hide the horror on his head. Instead, he happened upon a group of the usual HeySay cabin boys perched near the entrance to Ueda’s cabin. They looked over at him, then at his hair. All of them in a chorused rush ducked their heads to avoid showing their mirth. Maru was at the last string of whatever patience he’d thought he had.

“Something funny?”

They all turned to face him and shook their heads hurriedly. At the time, he didn’t really think there’d be anything that would put his mind at ease more than telling these kids just precisely what he thought of them. He no longer cared if it got him kicked out especially next to the possible guilt he’d have to endure from being the one to send the only truly sincere counsellor left of their generation packing. There just was something not quite right about the idea that Arashi-san (whoever that may have been among the five men sitting in that room) dismissing someone’s dedicated work in favour of profits and reputation.

There were seven of them sitting there, looking up at him waiting for whatever words he was about to spew. He took a deep breath and choked when a pair of wide thin hands settled on either of his shoulders. He jumped, twisting around to meet a pair of pale brown eyes.

“What are you doing?” Taguchi’s tone was incredulous.

“E-eh?”

The other man glanced around at the on looking teens. “Ugh. Come along. Let’s get out of here.”

Maru allowed himself to be lead away, barely mindful of the other man’s hand on the small of his back. Taguchi’s other hand closed around his wrist, pulling him somewhere behind one of the cabins. Once they were a sufficient distance from any prying eyes, Taguchi finally blinked at him. “Something’s different.”

Nakamaru sighed in the closest thing to despair. “Just, let’s not talk about my hair…please.”

Taguchi shrugged, still eyeing Maru’s head with what he was horrified to observe might very well be approval . “Anyway, what happened back there? I saw you blow up at Kamenashi-kun. That wasn’t like you.”

Maru shook his head, turning away to take some deeper breaths. “It’s not like you know me all that much, Taguchi. I don’t need you telling me what’s not like me.”

“That isn’t fair.”

There could never be any doubt that the blonde was just unnaturally odd, but sometimes he was just beyond words. “What?”

Taguchi chewed his lip for a length of time, just looking at Maru decisively. “Maybe… maybe I think you were one of the really good things about this place…maybe…” He paused and it may have been the first time Nakamaru saw any hint of uncertainty in Taguchi’s smile. He was riveted.

“Maybe I asked to be your partner even though I was supposed to be paired up with Tanaka Koki and I got to be around you and you were even more…”

Maru stared at him, a little speechless. Everything that occurred within the last hour was completely forgotten in favour of this strange, nameless moment.

“I like you. A lot. I’m not the type of guy that likes to do the back and forth sort of thing, and there’s something nice in your laugh when I get to hear it, and there’s something that hurts me a little when you’re mad. You’re just…you’re just really excellent.”

“Umm…”

“And if you could just see that, all that, maybe you’d smile more and this whole miserable thing you’re doing to yourself can stop. Right?”

The words were once again, like many other things about Taguchi, lively and intense and so very, very lame. Almost mad when you really thought about it. Maru looked around, hoping no one else was hearing this. When he turned back, however, Taguchi had moved forward, his entire lanky frame eclipsing Maru’s personal space.

“L-listen, Taguchi, not that I don’t appreciate how nice you’re…”

Taguchi was focussed, his eyes unblinking. His long fingers reached up, running lightly, ghosting along the curve of his ear. Maru tried to swallow, but nothing went down. His gasp must’ve sent the other man some unwritten signal because seconds later a pair of lips settled on his, pressing hard enough to tilt his head back. It was remarkable how the involuntary shudder seemed to come upon him only as Taguchi aligned himself with him. Hands traced the contours of his back and without thinking, he was fisting his hand against Taguchi’s polo, feeling everything all at once that he’d secretly imagined and so many brand new things he’d never even thought of. It took some persistence before he parted his lips, but a harsh electricity was arcing up his back in knife-like interviews. He hated how this was exactly what he’d wanted, so even with Taguchi’s tongue sneaking past his lips, it only made him pull closer.

And yet, all it took was a daring brushing touch along his hipbone for him to remember where he was and how he wasn’t supposed to let this happen.

“Augh! No….ah, God. Fuck, no….what are you doing?!” He pushed him away, back pedalling several steps. He could feel the suffocation and his chest constricting as he began to panic again.

“Nakamaru-kun?” Taguchi said faintly, still with that unblinking burning expression. He looked just as surprised as Maru felt.

This was an official panic attack and despite the fact that they were outside, something outside himself was closing in and nothing was ever going to be normal for him again. He thought of the times he’d wished for this to happen with Kei-chan, something secret and tender like this and it was so far away that he was safe. Now the time had come for him to face it and it was more frightening than leaping off any height.

“I have to…I’m gonna go.”

He started walking, feeling only as his feet began to move the tightness in his middle swirling and twisting. Maybe he did need to take Jin’s advice and try one of Kame’s pills. It was a long shot, but he hated this feeling and so much was happening all at once. What he needed was peace, even in artificial form so he could pretend that this perpetual state of chaos he’d found himself in was a distant, fake existence.

Thank goodness Ueda’s cabin door was unlocked. The walls were papered with posters and scrolls of different bands and unidentifiable concepts. He was able to identify Koki’s side of the room by the mess and the collection of folded wife-beaters all aligned by his window. Ueda’s side of the room was pristine, almost army-clean. All but for a little bit of a cluttered mess on the top of a desk including bandages and boxing gloves. If Jin would leave the Xanax in there, it would probably be on there.

The door opened suddenly, and Taguchi stepped in uncertainly. He didn’t seem to have adjusted to the idea that a person walking away after you try to kiss them usually meant you leave them alone. “Nakamaru-kun, I didn’t mean to surprise you like that. I thought it would be OK…”

“Taguchi, let’s…not do this now.” Maru turned away to begin looking for that small prescription bottle. He was a bit worried that Jin had already come to retrieve it.

“I know you’re probably the shy type, so…”

The desk was really such a mess of papers and strange little bottles. He wasn’t seeing Kame’s familiar little container.

“…and I’ve seen how you are around Akanishi…well, I won’t deny that does sort of makes me nervous.”

Maru sighed. “Taguchi…”

“Junno.”

“What?” he said, turning in some level irritation only to find once again that his personal bubble was being ignored.

“I said call me Junno; that’s my name…”

He was being pushed back against the desk, and it was all he could do not to start freaking out again. He pressed his palms firmly against Taguchi’s shoulders in order to get by. He really couldn’t deal with that new look in the other man’s eyes.

He picked up a bottle to distract himself, vaguely examining the label. Resin Formula. What the hell would Ueda need that for?

“Please, Yuu-kun; listen to me.”

Maru cleared his throat, setting the bottle aside. He was going to have to reject him, but he’d do it kindly. “Now, look here, Taguchi, I…”

Taguchi didn’t show any sign of intending to hear this rejection. Instead, he crossed the miniature empty space between them and rested his hands at Maru’s waist, his thumbs making slow circles along the bare skin underneath his polo. Nakamaru stopped being able to make words as Taguchi descended on his throat, dropping little feather-light, moist kisses down to his collarbone. “I won’t beg you, Yuu-kun. I know I’m not stealing your virtue.”

“Taguchi!” he practically hissed. Moving away had resulted in the other man hauling him up to sit on the desk.

Now settled between his legs, Taguchi actually looked at him. He was smiling that crazy, familiar sunshine smile. And Maru felt near blinded by its sincerity. Their eyes met, and for all of Maru’s instant and automatic protests, he was soon clutching Taguchi with his own fingers winding into the fabric of Taguchi’s shirt. “I said call me Junno,” Taguchi murmured.

“I…”

Taguchi leaned forward, pressing his thumb along Maru’s jaw, turning his head and laying ardent kisses along his neck. It was almost impossible not to settle into this feeling. A strange and heavy tension was swallowing up his insides as he leaned back against the wall, and Taguchi’s lips brushed down along the unbuttoned opening of his polo. His entire body, down to his legs went numb and fuzzy with just the simple fact that Taguchi was touching him. It was fearless and certainly scared him all the same, but that familiar feeling of intensity from yesterday afternoon, being held down underwater, only distinguishing the younger man’s heartbeat and the floating sensation of skin on skin.

He gasped, and turned his head to the side as Taguchi raised his shirt, administering new kisses to his stomach. He looked blankly at the mess he was sort of sitting on now and hoped to high heaven that Ueda and Koki were still off on their hike. Whatever Ueda was using these formulas and… sponges…or saran wrap, (and wasn’t that his hairbrush?) for, he certainly wouldn’t want what was happening to happen here in particular. It was such a strange mix of stuff that didn’t merit any sensible scientific venture. One of the bigger dark bottles on the desk there caught his eye. He looked closely, still on the receiving end of kisses that were slowly driving him mad. The bottle had a pretty large label.

Peroxide…

He jumped as Taguchi’s fingers began deftly untying the drawstring on his shorts. Nakamaru looked at Junno, stunned.

“You’re not paying attention, Nakamaru-san,” the other man said poignantly, pulling up one string with some vehemence.

“Sorry…” he couldn’t help saying as his shorts loosened. “But, I just realised…”

Junno’s smile returned, but Maru only knew that because it was pressed against his stomach, a laugh escaping in a tickling breath on his skin. He shuddered. “Let’s leave those realisations for another moment. If I’m not quick enough, somebody else will probably come along soon to take you away from me.”

“Umm… I don’t know if that’s a problem.”

Junno straightened. “You really have no idea what’s going on around you, do you?”

Maru looked wearily at the peroxide bottle and the other tools used to make him miserable these last three weeks. “You might be right…” The random banality of the conversation didn’t appear to deter his now fellow blonde as he pulled Maru by the waist closer to him.

“I am right,” Junno returned contentedly, fitting them tightly together as he pulled Maru in for a proper kiss. Why was this so wonderful? Every bit of his dignity was crumbling Maru wound his legs comfortably against Taguchi’s hips, pulling him in with just as much intent.

And of course the door would choose then to open. The look of utter surprise on Ueda’s face would go unrivalled. He stopped in his tracks, looking at the two of them. His surprise fled for something blank and enigmatic, a long reading look at Maru before he looked to the desk and the bottles right by Maru’s thigh. Ueda looked once more at them, and clearly their position before turning on his heel and stepping out again.

Taguchi laughed, a lot louder than necessary. “That was so~ embarrassing.”

Maru sighed. “More disturbing than embarrassing, I’d say.” He made to get off the desk and gather himself together, but Taguchi held him in place.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

He hesitated, surprised at the still jovial tone in those words. “Well, this is someone else’s cabin, and I don’t know what you think was going to happen here, but-“

Clearly, there was nothing better to silence awkward, embarrassed ramblings than someone’s
hand down one’s pants among other things.

“I should probably tell you now that I don’t ever really want much from people, but what I do want, I don’t actually have to beg for.”

Nakamaru couldn’t quite work out whether he was supposed to be frightened about this or not.

It was perhaps several minutes later, they were on the floor. Junno was sprawled over him, his head still buried in at Maru’s collar. Nakamaru stared at the ceiling, thinking of Arashi-san. The transfer seemed unfathomable and awful all at once. He kept trying to come up with something to do in order to fix it. The warmth of Junno’s steady breath on his throat was enough for him to know he didn’t want to leave and that he didn’t want this idiotic, pushy, unbelievably clueless human being to leave.

“Tagu…Junno…”

“Mm?” Maru received a soft, deep kiss as Junno shifted upwards.

He pulled away. “I…uh…I spoke to Arashi-san, and you know how they’re talking about transferring someone to Kanjanīzu, right?”

“Mhmm?”

“They…it seems like they will be sending either one of us. I…don’t know what they think of me, but they mentioned that you would be a more convenient transfer since you only just started this summer.”

“Ah, really?” The kisses paused for a moment.

Nakamaru shifted so that he was sitting upright and Junno followed suit. “So what’ll you do?”

Junno’s already round eyes widened. “What’ll I do?” he echoed. “Well, nothing, if I can help it…”

“What?”

“It isn’t a big deal, Nakamaru. Things like this happen, you know.”

The subsequent tightening in his throat made Maru wonder if he was beginning to develop abandonment issues. This was ridiculous. “You’re not…you don’t want to leave, do you?”

“Well, I like this place. But if Arashi-san says I have to go, then I’ll go. It’d be just silly to throw a tantrum over it.”

“But you just started this year…”

“Yeah but like you said, it’s easier than in and out….iriguchi, deguchi…”

Maru didn’t get it.

“….iriguchi, deguchi, Taguchi…” He chuckled to himself for a bit over that.

Nakamaru really hated this type of conversation, but he’d avoided it for years with Kei-chan and it all blew up in his face. “What is this about?” He paused, more embarrassed than he could ever admit. “Like, the reason this happened. Y-you said you liked me, didn’t you?”

He’d been expecting a yes or a no, but he certainly didn’t expect the younger man to burst out laughing. He clapped a little, bowing his head and laughing freely. Maru watched, incredulous.

“Na~ka~ma~ru~ you know, my leaving won’t have anything to do with you. If you want me to come and visit, then I’ll visit. And you and I will get to talk more, and get to know each other. I’ll give you my mail address and it’ll be like a drama, won’t it? Exchanging long letters…”

Maru didn’t really have any words for that. Even though in all its lameness, the prospect made him secretly happy.

As the next few days followed, Maru waiting for the instructions to come, and Junno forgetting that he was about to be sent somewhere altogether unfamiliar. The younger man was more than fine with pouncing on him every evening as soon as they had a moment alone. Nakamaru had little to complain about regarding this since he’d come to learn that Junno, wherever he was from, had picked up quite a lot in his time.

Still, even during a time like dinner as he looked around at the kitchen hall, Taguchi’s arm loped over his shoulders, all the juniors laughing and talking, Koki and Ueda pushing more tables out as they waited for the rest of the counsellors, he hated that he hadn’t found some form of adjustment sooner, that he’d spent so much time being miserable about something that wasn’t really his to be miserable about. Though he did occasionally wind up making eye contact with Ueda, whose quick and easy smiles didn’t exactly make it easy to confront. It appeared that the pranks had stopped, which was just as well since it wouldn’t have fazed him all the much now that he knew a group of fifteen year olds weren’t actually ever out to get him.

“Nakamaru,” someone said coldly.

He glanced up, Kame was standing over him with a smug expression. Jin took his seat across the table, glancing with some amusement at Junno’s arm around Maru.

“This came for you from Arashi-san.”

Freezing, he looked down at the envelope Kame was proffering.

“F-for me?”

Taguchi dropped his arm and leaned close to get a good look.

He wasn’t all that sure what to do. After his short “interview” with Arashi-san, he’d been quite certain they’d implied that it was Taguchi that they’d transfer. He stopped breathing as he tore at the paper. A short sheet of paper fell out.

Nakamaru-kun,
Thank you for coming to see me the other day. As we talked about, there’s a celebrity counsellor coming next summer and because of this we were worried about there being too little work for the remaining counsellors. I’m sorry about all the things that were said during that meeting, and I don’t want you to think that we care any less about those that we work with. And I’m sure you six will be the very same when you become Camp Leader. The truth is that I have good news. There is still going to be the new counsellor coming in, but word has gotten out that he’s coming and that means over forty new juniors will be enrolling for next summer. We’ll be needing both you and Taguchi to remain. We are so sorry for frightening you like that, and I hope you come up and visit again soon.
-Ohno Satoshi, Leader.

Nakamaru stared down at the page, gazing at the simple print written in that humble, sleepy tone. Ueda and Koki came over from where the juniors were already eating.

“That hat makes you look cool, Yuichi,” Ueda remarked, passing by and patting his shoulder.

“Yeah, baseball caps suit your oval head!” Koki laughed.

“I bet you’re ecstatic, right?” Kame’s smug smile had since widened, and Maru considered replacing his Yamapi poster somehow.

“So, this new counsellor…” Jin began, tilting on the back legs of his chair, his honest brown eyes shining. “He’s a celebrity, you know.”

Ueda looked up, curious. Taguchi started laughing loudly. “What kind of celebrity would want to come work here?”

“Yamashita Tomohisa! Eeee~!” said Kame, his voice ringing with something never before heard. Maru stared at him.

Jin looked quietly happy as he cracked open his energy drink. “They’ll let anyone work here, won’t they?” he murmured, glancing at Nakamaru.

Taguchi stopped laughing.

Maru smiled as he looked back at the letter. You six will be the very same when you become Camp Leader. If he’d read these words a week ago, he’d have begun another route to panic, but in this situation where he pictured the very calm and well-taken care of Leader seated at that wide desk with all his friends around him, he hoped that maybe this was true.

Poll Team AU