[Fic] Daffodil
Characters: Naoto, Naoki, Tetsuya, Kenchi. Cameo by Makidai.
Rating: G
Pairings: If you really read into it, there be Naobros and Yokosuka pair in here.
A/N: Idek why I'm revisiting old fics, but I have a really weird plot bunny that pops in and out with half-baked prompts. This is set in the same verse as Zinnia, occurring after Lavender by aoi_nahani. Looks like this might just become a test subject for joint fics. This is what my plot bunny brought home, that little bugger.
=======================The next day, a pre-schedule meeting was held at LDH to update members on ongoing company projects.
Everything had been fine at the start, the usual jibes being thrown back and forth among members, Naoto making small talk with the other members.
"Good morning!”
If he did not know any better, Matsu would have found the sight comical: Naoto had frozen mid-speech, eyes widening a tiny fraction, easy grin slipping off his face.
There was a brief pause during the exchange of customary greetings when the newcomer reached the latter.
“Naoto.”
“… Tetsuya.”
“Alright everyone, please take a seat. We’re about to begin."
Silently thanking Hiro for starting the meeting early, Naoto hurriedly sunk into the seat next to Naoki, which conveniently happened to be as far away from Tetsuya as he could get.
=======================
The atmosphere in the meeting room was awkward, to say the least.
More than once, Naoki caught his co-leader staring blankly at the projector screen, at the table, hands fidgeting without pause.
When Naoto all but bolted out of the room during their break, he hurriedly excused himself as well.
He found the shorter man in the pantry, blowing at a scalding hot can of cocoa.
“Naoto-san, this isn’t like you at all.”
“I don’t get what you mean.”
“You’re usually so focused during meetings…”
“I just can’t concentrate today, alright.”
“Is it because Tetsuya-san-”
“Don’t.” For the first time ever since the breakup, Naoto met his gaze head on without flinching.
“... I’m sorry.”
Just then, Makidai strolled around the corner, coins jingling in his hand. Raising an eyebrow at the two silent men, the DJ remarked drily, “Don’t mind me; just here to get a drink. Do carry on.”
“It’s nothing important.” Naoto’s calm tone was not fooling his companion in the slightest.
“If you say so.” Makidai bent down to retrieve the canned drink from the vending machine, before popping the tab and taking a swig from it.
The aroma of coffee wafted across the small alcove.
A dull thunk was heard as Naoto dropped his drink can into the bin and left the pantry, leaving Naoki alone with their senior, whose eyebrow had, if possible, crept even closer to his hairline.
Naoto’s drink had barely been touched.
=======================
For the rest of the day, there was nothing but tension between the two.
On Tetsuya’s part, he seemed to be trying all ways and means to speak with Naoto alone.
Naoto, however, seemed to be trying all ways and means to avoid him.
Naoki rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily and traded a look with Kenchi.
This was getting ridiculous.
From the expression on his face, Kenchi seemed to agree.
=======================
“How can you just sit there reading?"
“Hmm?” Kenchi’s eyes never left his novel.
“I came over only because you invited me.”
“Keiji had something on tonight.”
“Reading isn’t a social activity. If you wanted to enjoy your book in peace you shouldn’t even have asked people over."
“I’m good at multitasking.”
“I should have gone to Usa’s place instead.”
“If you did, you’d be working right now. By the way, I’ll thank you if you stop wearing holes in my carpet.”
“I’m not even on the carpet.” Tetsuya scowled at the taller man before his pacing resumed with renewed vigour.
For a while, only Tetsuya’s footsteps could be heard, punctuated with an occasional rustle of paper. Deciding that he could find out the identity of the person who stuck that knife in the protagonist’s girlfriend later, Kenchi heaved a resigned sigh and snapped his book shut.
“You know, Keiji told me that Naoto’s pretty down about all this.”
“Of course he is,” Tetsuya ran a frustrated hand through his hair, “He always takes things too harshly on himself.”
“Did you even explain the sorry excuses that you’re passing off as reasons?”
“Shut it. You know that I’ve tried. Everyone knows that I’ve tried. He won’t even look at me, much less stay voluntarily in the same room as me for longer than two minutes. And that’s before he has exhausted everything that he can busy himself with.”
“Looking at how you broke it off, I’m not surprised. Tell me, have you ever heard of this thing called ‘tact’?”
“I don’t want to hear that coming from you,” Tetsuya retorted, slumping into the sofa beside his host.
Kenchi smiled inwardly; Tetsuya was taking the bait a little more readily than usual.
Might as well speed up the venting process.
“Apparently, you needed to hear it from somebody.”
=======================
Both men were sprawled on opposite ends of the sofa, slightly out of breath from their heated showcase of borderline offensive words from their vocabulary.
“Thanks.”
“For?”
“Tonight.”
“Taken out of context, that would have sounded terribly suggestive.”
“Oh shut up, I’m tired, and you know perfectly well what I meant. Not everyone can take it as well as they can dish it out. Keiji’s a lucky fellow.” Tetsuya leaned back over the armrest, looking at a particularly interesting spot on the ceiling.
Kenchi chuckled.
“I don’t mean to sound conceited, but I suppose he was.”
Tetsuya’s head snapped forward so fast that Kenchi was surprised that he did not suffer from whiplash.
“Was? Wait a minute-”
“Yeah we called it off some time back. It was mutually beneficial anyway; all the better for my diet (GOD his cooking is heavenly), and a hundred times better for his blood pressure.”
Seeing the other’s shocked expression, Kenchi could not resist leaning forward and lacing his fingers through Tetsuya’s.
“Yes, I’m single and available. Care for a date tomorrow evening, darling?”
Tetsuya yelped and jerked his hand away.
“Thank you for the offer, but I’m not volunteering to be your rebound.”
Kenchi just grinned and leant back on the sofa cushions.
=======================
In another apartment across the city, the only source of light came from a glowing laptop screen on the dining table. A man sat in front of it, fingers busy scrolling through page after page.
He started when the doorbell rang.
Composing himself quickly, he padded to the door, opening it only to see a tall, lithe man holding two takeout bags in his hands.
“Naoto-san, may I come in?”
Naoto stepped to the side after a brief hesitation, giving Naoki enough space to pass.
“At least this time you asked.”
=======================
“Naoto-san, have you eaten? This isn’t much, but have some.” Two takeout boxes were taken out from one of the bags and placed on the dining table.
“It’s ok, I’m not hungry anyway.” Naoto flicked the light switches on, blinking for a moment to adjust to the sudden illumination.
“Didn’t you always say that you have to eat regular, proper meals to keep up your strength?” Naoki started clearing the clutter from the table to make way for the food. As he moved the laptop, his thumb brushed against its touchpad, making the screen light up once again.
While Naoki was trying to decide if his eyes were playing tricks on him, Naoto’s hand appeared out of nowhere, slamming the laptop shut. Amazingly, Naoki held on to the device despite his crushed thumb.
“... Naoto-san-”
“I know what it looks like-”
“Looking through Tetsuya-san’s blog isn’t going to make things easier-”
“I need some closure-”
“You’ve been running away from it!"
“It’s not like that, I swear-”
“You have GOT to move on!” Naoki’s raised voice echoed through the room.
“... Naoki-”
“I know I’m repeating myself, but you don’t seem to have listened at all! You of all people know how difficult it is to start out in the entertainment industry. Are you going to let Sandaime J Soul Brothers down because you couldn’t get over him? And what about Exile? You’re one of our members, aren’t you? You carry the very name of the group! Are you going to let him affect your performance, your very professionalism that you pride yourself on?"
Naoki paused for breath, only to see Naoto’s contrite expression directed at the floor. A twinge of guilt made him calm down, just enough to lower his voice.
“You’re worth much more than that, Naoto-san.”
The smaller man fidgeted at the sudden change of tone, remaining uncharacteristically silent. Naoki inwardly marvelled at how this man could be older than him, and yet behave like such a child at times.
“Just... think carefully about what I said. Come on, let’s have supper.”
Naoki placed the laptop on the coffee table, before he continued setting the table. Between the rustling of plastic and clinking of ceramic on glass, he almost missed Naoto’s mumbled words.
“Sorry about, you know, your thumb."
Rating: G
Pairings: If you really read into it, there be Naobros and Yokosuka pair in here.
A/N: Idek why I'm revisiting old fics, but I have a really weird plot bunny that pops in and out with half-baked prompts. This is set in the same verse as Zinnia, occurring after Lavender by aoi_nahani. Looks like this might just become a test subject for joint fics. This is what my plot bunny brought home, that little bugger.
=======================The next day, a pre-schedule meeting was held at LDH to update members on ongoing company projects.
Everything had been fine at the start, the usual jibes being thrown back and forth among members, Naoto making small talk with the other members.
"Good morning!”
If he did not know any better, Matsu would have found the sight comical: Naoto had frozen mid-speech, eyes widening a tiny fraction, easy grin slipping off his face.
There was a brief pause during the exchange of customary greetings when the newcomer reached the latter.
“Naoto.”
“… Tetsuya.”
“Alright everyone, please take a seat. We’re about to begin."
Silently thanking Hiro for starting the meeting early, Naoto hurriedly sunk into the seat next to Naoki, which conveniently happened to be as far away from Tetsuya as he could get.
=======================
The atmosphere in the meeting room was awkward, to say the least.
More than once, Naoki caught his co-leader staring blankly at the projector screen, at the table, hands fidgeting without pause.
When Naoto all but bolted out of the room during their break, he hurriedly excused himself as well.
He found the shorter man in the pantry, blowing at a scalding hot can of cocoa.
“Naoto-san, this isn’t like you at all.”
“I don’t get what you mean.”
“You’re usually so focused during meetings…”
“I just can’t concentrate today, alright.”
“Is it because Tetsuya-san-”
“Don’t.” For the first time ever since the breakup, Naoto met his gaze head on without flinching.
“... I’m sorry.”
Just then, Makidai strolled around the corner, coins jingling in his hand. Raising an eyebrow at the two silent men, the DJ remarked drily, “Don’t mind me; just here to get a drink. Do carry on.”
“It’s nothing important.” Naoto’s calm tone was not fooling his companion in the slightest.
“If you say so.” Makidai bent down to retrieve the canned drink from the vending machine, before popping the tab and taking a swig from it.
The aroma of coffee wafted across the small alcove.
A dull thunk was heard as Naoto dropped his drink can into the bin and left the pantry, leaving Naoki alone with their senior, whose eyebrow had, if possible, crept even closer to his hairline.
Naoto’s drink had barely been touched.
=======================
For the rest of the day, there was nothing but tension between the two.
On Tetsuya’s part, he seemed to be trying all ways and means to speak with Naoto alone.
Naoto, however, seemed to be trying all ways and means to avoid him.
Naoki rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily and traded a look with Kenchi.
This was getting ridiculous.
From the expression on his face, Kenchi seemed to agree.
=======================
“How can you just sit there reading?"
“Hmm?” Kenchi’s eyes never left his novel.
“I came over only because you invited me.”
“Keiji had something on tonight.”
“Reading isn’t a social activity. If you wanted to enjoy your book in peace you shouldn’t even have asked people over."
“I’m good at multitasking.”
“I should have gone to Usa’s place instead.”
“If you did, you’d be working right now. By the way, I’ll thank you if you stop wearing holes in my carpet.”
“I’m not even on the carpet.” Tetsuya scowled at the taller man before his pacing resumed with renewed vigour.
For a while, only Tetsuya’s footsteps could be heard, punctuated with an occasional rustle of paper. Deciding that he could find out the identity of the person who stuck that knife in the protagonist’s girlfriend later, Kenchi heaved a resigned sigh and snapped his book shut.
“You know, Keiji told me that Naoto’s pretty down about all this.”
“Of course he is,” Tetsuya ran a frustrated hand through his hair, “He always takes things too harshly on himself.”
“Did you even explain the sorry excuses that you’re passing off as reasons?”
“Shut it. You know that I’ve tried. Everyone knows that I’ve tried. He won’t even look at me, much less stay voluntarily in the same room as me for longer than two minutes. And that’s before he has exhausted everything that he can busy himself with.”
“Looking at how you broke it off, I’m not surprised. Tell me, have you ever heard of this thing called ‘tact’?”
“I don’t want to hear that coming from you,” Tetsuya retorted, slumping into the sofa beside his host.
Kenchi smiled inwardly; Tetsuya was taking the bait a little more readily than usual.
Might as well speed up the venting process.
“Apparently, you needed to hear it from somebody.”
=======================
Both men were sprawled on opposite ends of the sofa, slightly out of breath from their heated showcase of borderline offensive words from their vocabulary.
“Thanks.”
“For?”
“Tonight.”
“Taken out of context, that would have sounded terribly suggestive.”
“Oh shut up, I’m tired, and you know perfectly well what I meant. Not everyone can take it as well as they can dish it out. Keiji’s a lucky fellow.” Tetsuya leaned back over the armrest, looking at a particularly interesting spot on the ceiling.
Kenchi chuckled.
“I don’t mean to sound conceited, but I suppose he was.”
Tetsuya’s head snapped forward so fast that Kenchi was surprised that he did not suffer from whiplash.
“Was? Wait a minute-”
“Yeah we called it off some time back. It was mutually beneficial anyway; all the better for my diet (GOD his cooking is heavenly), and a hundred times better for his blood pressure.”
Seeing the other’s shocked expression, Kenchi could not resist leaning forward and lacing his fingers through Tetsuya’s.
“Yes, I’m single and available. Care for a date tomorrow evening, darling?”
Tetsuya yelped and jerked his hand away.
“Thank you for the offer, but I’m not volunteering to be your rebound.”
Kenchi just grinned and leant back on the sofa cushions.
=======================
In another apartment across the city, the only source of light came from a glowing laptop screen on the dining table. A man sat in front of it, fingers busy scrolling through page after page.
He started when the doorbell rang.
Composing himself quickly, he padded to the door, opening it only to see a tall, lithe man holding two takeout bags in his hands.
“Naoto-san, may I come in?”
Naoto stepped to the side after a brief hesitation, giving Naoki enough space to pass.
“At least this time you asked.”
=======================
“Naoto-san, have you eaten? This isn’t much, but have some.” Two takeout boxes were taken out from one of the bags and placed on the dining table.
“It’s ok, I’m not hungry anyway.” Naoto flicked the light switches on, blinking for a moment to adjust to the sudden illumination.
“Didn’t you always say that you have to eat regular, proper meals to keep up your strength?” Naoki started clearing the clutter from the table to make way for the food. As he moved the laptop, his thumb brushed against its touchpad, making the screen light up once again.
While Naoki was trying to decide if his eyes were playing tricks on him, Naoto’s hand appeared out of nowhere, slamming the laptop shut. Amazingly, Naoki held on to the device despite his crushed thumb.
“... Naoto-san-”
“I know what it looks like-”
“Looking through Tetsuya-san’s blog isn’t going to make things easier-”
“I need some closure-”
“You’ve been running away from it!"
“It’s not like that, I swear-”
“You have GOT to move on!” Naoki’s raised voice echoed through the room.
“... Naoki-”
“I know I’m repeating myself, but you don’t seem to have listened at all! You of all people know how difficult it is to start out in the entertainment industry. Are you going to let Sandaime J Soul Brothers down because you couldn’t get over him? And what about Exile? You’re one of our members, aren’t you? You carry the very name of the group! Are you going to let him affect your performance, your very professionalism that you pride yourself on?"
Naoki paused for breath, only to see Naoto’s contrite expression directed at the floor. A twinge of guilt made him calm down, just enough to lower his voice.
“You’re worth much more than that, Naoto-san.”
The smaller man fidgeted at the sudden change of tone, remaining uncharacteristically silent. Naoki inwardly marvelled at how this man could be older than him, and yet behave like such a child at times.
“Just... think carefully about what I said. Come on, let’s have supper.”
Naoki placed the laptop on the coffee table, before he continued setting the table. Between the rustling of plastic and clinking of ceramic on glass, he almost missed Naoto’s mumbled words.
“Sorry about, you know, your thumb."