JE Fic: A Disaster A Day [Ryo/Ueda; PG]
Title: A Disaster A Day
Author: momo (omoshiroina)
Pairing: Ryo/Ueda, slight Akame
Rating: PG
Summary: Continued from the 4th Drabble of Bonanza. Ryo and Ueda suck at actually admitting their feelings, and Jin decides to help. oh hell no
Notes: For Nami, who is not feeling well. :(( I hope this cheers you up?
"You sure you don't want anything, Tat-chan?"
Ueda shook his head distractedly at Jin, looking over his reflection on the large vanity mirror. "No, thanks. I already ate breakfast, guys. Go on without me."
"Okay then," Kame set the latest issue of Myojo down on Ueda's corner of the dressing room, with a piece of paper that probably doubled as a bookmark resting in between the pages. "Here's a magazine if you get bored, ne."
"We'll be back in thirty minutes," Maru assured, nodding at him before closing the door.
Ueda spotted the curling iron lying on Kame's chair, and picked it up. No more than a few minutes passed of him experimenting with the iron when someone burst into the room without warning.
"Kamenashi, where's my - Oh. It's you."
"Nishikido," Ueda greeted, though it wasn't much of a greeting as it was a small acknowledgement of the other's presence.
"Where's everyone? Why are you here?"
"They're at that new restaurant across the building. And I'm here because I happen to be the 'U' of KAT-TUN, and this is KAT-TUN's dressing room, in case you didn't know."
Ryo's eyes narrowed, before his line of vision came to rest on the magazine in front of Ueda. "Ah," he began, "I see you've been reading my issue of Myojo for this month."
Ueda's continued curling his hair, swivelling his chair a bit until only his hair and the hand working the iron was in Ryo's sight.
Ryo stepped forward and grabbed the magazine, immediately opening it to the page where the bookmark was set. "And you've even bookmarked my spreadsheet and interview. How sweet," Ryo cooed, teasing.
Ueda was still ignoring him. Ryo, however, was undeterred as always. "So," Ryo said with a smirk, "are you going to confess your undying love for me or what?"
This got Ueda's pausing. He turned off the iron and lowered it to his lap. "This is so awkward," he started, his voice slightly trembling. Ryo was taken aback, but Ueda continued to speak with his back to him. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way, but yes, you're right. I think seeing that magazine has made me realize how deep my feelings for you are. All these years of being like this to each other, I'm tired of it. When I saw your sincere, smiling face in there - I thought that I've had enough of this pretense and that's it's time for me to come out with the truth."
Ryo was shell-shocked. Did Ueda truly have feelings for him all along? The other man had spoken to him in that utterly vulnerable tone. It sounded like - and he couldn't believe he was thinking this - Ueda's heart was breaking inside. "Ueda," he reached out. "I - I didn't really think that you'd--"
"Be a complete and total moron," Ueda finished, the trembling and the vulnerability gone as he spun his chair around, his eyes sparkling with clear amusement.
Ryo's expression resembled that of a red-faced guppy. He stalked towards Ueda, snatched the magazine out of his hands and stomped out of the room.
Ueda watched his retreating back, and when Ryo was completely out of sight, broke into soft, almost sad laughter. "Idiot," he murmured to himself. "I don't need a magazine to realize what I feel for you."
---
"Oh, man," Jin groans, hands frantically groping every part of himself as if a large insect has bitten him everywhere.
"Oi, Akanishi." Maru grimaces in his direction. "Keep that stuff in concerts, please. Or in the bathroom."
"No, no," Jin whines pitifully. "My wallet isn't here!"
"That's okay!" Koki laughs and slings an arm around his shoulders. "Kame here's loaded enough and is probably willing--"
Kame bops Koki upside the head, and turns to look disparagingly at Jin, like Jin was dropped on his head as a young boy - which he probably was, he could never tell when his mother was being vague or joking. "Go ahead and get it. We'll be waiting here."
"Thank you, thank you, Kameee," Jin bounces once on the balls of his feet and is dashing away in the direction of the elevator in the blink of an eye.
"Uhm," Junno says brightly, "I would have lent him some money."
Kame shoots a tired look at Junno. The smile on Junno's face doesn't fall but he definitely shuts up.
---
Jin isn't naturally a gossip - okay, maybe certain people would beg to differ since Jin had a habit for jumping excitedly around underage juniors whenever they uttered "you know, i heard from a source that so and so..." or something along those lines in his general vicinity. Then scaring said juniors shitless until they whispered hushed pleas for him to not tell Yamashita-senpai that they knew his chest was probably laden with two enormous tumors. Of course Jin tells it to Pi, who in the span of five seconds, goes from laughing hysterically to promising some form of torture to be brought upon the juniors.
After enormous amounts of hairspray, glue and bad hairdye, a smug Yamapi snickering like a drunkard inside KAT-TUN's dressing room plus hearing the shrill voices of screaming teenage juniors, Jin decides that it's fun. But then -
"Akanishi, try to act your age," Kame would admonish, looking distastefully at his messy hair and big grin. There is that too; the distant call of Kame's Akanishi always leaves him feeling cold.
"Oh, Kame." Koki would burst into laughter. "Don't wish for hopeless things. Why don't you wish for something else? Like world peace." Koki is obviously teasing but Jin wants to punch him, anyway.
But this. This is - Jin shuts his eyes, pulls his stomach in tight and bites his tongue. This is a discovery worth telling to the world.
Jin claws at his stomach. He imagines Kame's grimace and Koki's laughing face, and he holds tighter. No, he would not go against his principles!
But - who would have thought the mysterious, I'm-not-interested-in-anyone-sorry Ueda Tatsuya, one of his closest, most trusted friends, would like Nishikido Ryo?
No one. No one would have thought of it. It is sort of weird to Jin at first, because whenever he mentions to them all that he's going out with Ryo for a while, Ueda turns away until his face is hidden from everyone's view. Sometimes he gets all red and Jin assumes he's flushing in anger at bad memories made with Ryo. When all along, it was probably something else entirely.
There is an uncharacteristically loud sigh inside the room, and Jin hears the soft whizz of the curling iron.
"Ah, Damn," Ueda murmurs. He probably only scalded his scalp a bit, but Jin thinks that Ueda still sounds despairing.
"I can't let this happen to Tat-chan," Jin mutters to himself, "I can't let him be this sad."
Jin steps back many paces in the deserted hallway, takes a deep breath and walks towards the room again, making sure to press his heels loudly. When he enters, Ueda isn't suprised at all when he sheepishly tells him he left his wallet. Ueda nods absently, and Jin can tell he is still thinking of someone.
---
"What took you so long, Bakanishi?" Koki chortles as Jin runs towards the group.
"Sorry, guys," Jin pants, "Uebo needed help with something."
Kame bites the inside of his cheek, but Jin pretends not to notice.
---
Jin gets a spectacular idea one day when he comes home and finds Reio with a bunch of flowers on his desk.
"Who are these from?" Jin asks slyly.
"Don't be stupid, aniki," Reio snorts, "That's for Rika-chan."
Rika-chan is, according to badly-lit pictures from Reio's cellphone camera, a petite girl with eyes as huge as an anime character's and a thin waist working at the convenience store a few blocks away from home. Reio has been trying to catch her attention for weeks.
"Oh," Jin says, plucking a small, pink petal out of the many flowers in the bouquet when Reio turns around.
---
The first time Jin brings Ueda peonies and carnations wrapped together in expensive plastic, the whole of KAT-TUN is there. Junno pauses his game to peer at them curiously. Koki's rapping and Maru's beatboxing dims in volume. Kame blinks at them, mascara brush poised in one hand. It feels as if the world has slowed down, and Jin swallows nervously as he hands the flowers to Ueda.
"For you, Tat-chan," he chirps as jovially as he can.
Ueda raises a skeptical eyebrow at him.
"...Is it Ueda's birthday today?" Junno interrupts, eyes growing wide.
"No, that's six months from now," Kame answers dryly, turning back to the vanity mirror and applying another coat of mascara.
"Are those for his mom?" Maru brings his two cents in, and Koki nods at the question.
"These are for Tat-chan, dumbasses," Jin snaps, pushing the flowers in Ueda's face. "Take it!"
Both of Ueda's eyebrows are now raised in suspicion, but he wordlessly takes the bouquet, anyway. Jin smiles hugely for a grand total of ten seconds, before realizing a fatal error.
---
"What the hell am I doing here?" Ryo glares at Jin with enough force to melt an entire planet. "I have my own group to attend to. God knows Yamashita can't function properly without my direction. That goes for Shigeaki, too. And Tegoshi, obviously. And of course--"
"Ryo-chan," Jin pats his arm, smile strained. "Aren't these flowers pretty?"
Ryo looks to the bouquet of pink, yellow and red roses in Jin's lap. "What the hell," he says. "What the hell."
"Guess who I'm giving these to?" Jin whispers, ignoring his small tirade.
Ryo sneers, his answer immediate. "To Kamenashi."
Jin looks at him in what seems to be horror, before his cheeks are dusted a light shade of pink. Ryo knows he is right.
"You are so obvious," Ryo smirks. "I knew it ever since you were fourteen and ugly--"
"These aren't for Kame!" Jin exclaims so suddenly that Ryo is positive that he is lying. "These are for Ueda."
"What. What?" Ryo is incredulous. Jin takes this as a good sign. Maybe hounding a confession out of Ryo is easier than he thought. That is, until Ryo starts laughing. "Please tell me that it's Ueda's birthday," Ryo wheezes out, "because last time I checked you were definitely pining after Kamenashi's skinny ass."
Jin glares at Ryo, and when it doesn't work settles on pouting at him. "I am not pining after Kame's anything. Where did you hear that? I bet some stupid juniors said stuff to you, too!"
"You--" Ryo claps his hands erratically. "Remember that time," he says, waving a shaky, mocking hand in front of Jin's face, "when you and Pi and I went to that bar, and you got so plastered and started moaning Kazu--"
"Wait, hold up!" Things are not going according to plan. Jin is starting to grow frustrated. Ryo is supposed to be the one flustered and blushing and fidgeting and he is supposed to be gloating and demanding eternal thanks. "This isn't about me, Ryo!" he blurts, and he wants to take it back the moment it comes out.
Ryo's guffawing dies down after a while as he absorbs Jin's statement. "...It isn't?" And the narrowed eyes are back. "Then what the fuck am I doing here? I thought I was here for moral support or some shit like that."
"Moral...support?" Jin parrots.
"Yeah, you know," Ryo shrugs, "pointing and laughing at you when Kamenashi rejects your fat butt. Maybe I'll call in Yamashita, too, and it'll be like that night all over again."
They are getting way, way off-topic and Jin wants to howl at Ryo and maybe shove a rose or two in his mouth when, almost as if on cue, Kame and Ueda enter the room.
"Oh, hey, Ryo," Kame greets, and Ryo smiles at him in what Kame interprets as distinctly disturbing.
Ueda, as Jin expects, is indifferent to Ryo's presence and heads straight for the couch.
Jin decides that now is the best time. "Tat-chan," he calls out, walking over to Ueda and shoving the flowers right under his nose. "For you."
"Jin," Ueda sighs, eyebrows furrowing. "What are you getting at here? This is the second time this week."
All eyes in the room are on him. It's similar to the feeling of being on stage. Sort of nerve-wracking, but in the end the thrill of being watched and the subsequent urge to perform even better washes over Jin. "I just thought these suited you, that's all," he declares confidently.
Kame stares at the exchange with an unreadable expression that Jin mentally notes to ask about sometime. But when Ryo starts to snigger softly behind his hand and coughs out something which suspiciously sounds like flower princess, Jin knows there is an error yet again.
---
Jin comes into the dressing room two days later with a box of expensive Belgian chocolates. Ryo trails behind him, arms crossed but lips twitching upwards. Koki and Maru, who are sitting together and discussing their schedule, suddenly jump to their feet and crowd around Jin with exclamations of "ooh" and "aah".
"Take your grubby hands off the chocolate!" Jin screeches, swatting their hands away.
"God, Akanishi," Ryo says acidly. He sits down on Jin's chair with crossed legs, watching the spectacle.
Junno enters the room next, PSP held in one hand. He sees the chocolate and his eyes sparkle. "Are those for us?"
"Dream on, Taguchi!" Jin thumps the box to his chest. "These are for Tat-chan, so I won't have any one of you suckers touching these," he announces, just as Ueda opens the door and groans impercetibly.
"Akanishi," Ueda says stiffly. Jin knows that Ueda only uses the tone whenever he's pissed to the bone. "What is the meaning of this?" he asks, snatching the box from Jin's hands smoothly. "And why is Nishikido here again?"
"You tell me." Ryo only raises a single hand at him in greeting. Ueda's lip curls.
"But Tat-chan," Jin's lower lip begins to wobble, "I just thought you'd like some chocolates from me."
Ueda stares at him as if he's grown another head. "And where did you get that idea?"
"Out of his ass, obviously," Ryo answers loudly.
Ueda whips his head around to glare at Ryo. "And who told you to talk?"
Ryo rises up the seat as if burned. "I can say whatever the hell I want here, pansy. And I'm saying that if Akanishi bought you chocolates then you must be the woman in your sick, twisted relationship," Ryo spits out, his arms in front of his chest. "Aren't I right, Akanishi?"
"Ryo, what the fuck," Jin hisses. Ryo isn't having the right reaction. "Can you please shut up now? You're not making any sense and Tat-chan is--"
"Who cares about making sense and who cares about stupid Tat-chan," Ryo spits out, "when you're the one here bringing stuff to him like some starved puppy longing for affection. I bet Kamenashi isn't putting out--"
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" There is a red-faced Kame standing in front, fists clenched tightly at the sides. Maru, Koki and Junno, huddled together near the rack of costumes, stares at him wide-eyed.
"Tssch," Ryo huffs.
"Ryo," Kame says steadily. "I don't mean to be rude, but can you please get out of our dressing room?"
"Whatever." Ryo pushes past Jin and purposely bumps his shoulder with Ueda's. When he reaches Kame, he taps him heavily on the shoulder. "I pity you, Kamenashi. A bunch of losers for bandmates can't be good for your blossoming career." And Ryo exits without preamble.
Kame sucks in a deep breath, setting his bag down on his chair. "Jin," he says. "We'll be talking later."
Jin has only one thought: this can't be good.
---
Kame pulls Jin aside during their twenty minute break from dance rehearsals. They sit together in a somewhat secluded corner. Jin fingers the hem of his shirt with his head down.
"Akanishi," Kame begins, and Jin flinches. Kame sighs, his tone softening a little bit. "Jin."
"...Yeah?"
"What's going on between you, Ueda and Ryo?"
Jin debates between telling Kame the truth or making something up to appease Kame. But then he doesn't know what will appease Kame in the first place. So what comes out ends up being an odd mixture of both.
"Let me get this straight," Kame says slowly after his long and winding narrative. "You heard Ueda confess to have feelings for someone a week ago. You're trying to find out who it is--"
"No, no, I already know who it is!" Jin corrects. Was Kame getting his point at all? This is probably why they had all these miscommunication problems all the time where Kame screams and Jin screams and their real feelings are lost in a sea of misunderstanding.
"-okay, you already know who it is. So now you're bringing Ueda all these supposedly romantic gifts to show how much you," Kame pauses, eyes turning downcast, "like him yourself?"
"Huh?" Jin looks truthfully lost. "No!"
"What is it then?" Kame frowns. "Isn't it that since you're the one bringing all these gifts to Ueda you're actually the one he likes?"
"Kameee, you weren't listening to the story!" Jin accuses, feet stomping.
"What does all this have to do with Ryo?"
"I told you already. Ueda likes Ryo."
Kame crosses his arms. "Somehow I find that hard to believe."
Jin looks at him in disbelief. "What? You're doubting me?"
Kame runs a hand through his sweaty bangs. "Jin, I don't know what you're saying anymore. One moment you're bringing gifts to Ueda and the next you're saying that Ueda likes Ryo. It doesn't connect. Unless--"
Jin's eyes widen with hope. Maybe Kame is getting it afterall. He doesn't expect however for Kame's eyes to narrow. "Is this one of your pranks on Ryo?"
Jin wants to moan "NOOO" out loud, when Kame abruptly stands up. "Our break is almost over." he says, his eyes on the clock on the wall. "I don't think there's anything left to discuss."
"What - but - Kame!" Jin doesn't understand. Kame is being unusually unreasonable.
Junno and Koki shuffle loudly into the room, but Jin hears Kame's soft question. "Do you love him?"
"I do," Jin croaks out in reply, but Kame is already away and joining Koki and the others. He sees Ueda coming in with Maru, laughing at some faces Maru is making. "I love Tat-chan, because Tat-chan is my friend," he says to no one but himself.
---
Jin resolves to go for the direct approach. He lures Ryo to the set of their new PV with promises of free food for the next week. Ryo is mightily annoyed at the prospect of being with Jin again, but even he couldn't resist the temptation of freebies.
When Ryo is sitting sulkily in one of the long chairs across Ueda's own, Jin decides to go for the kill.
"Hi, Tat-chan," he says, making sure to have the volume up by a few notches. Ryo rolls his eyes and partially turns away from them, but Jin can see he is still watching them in the corner of his vision.
"Hi, Jin," Ueda replies, not looking up from his magazine.
Jin leans closer. "I'll tell you a secret, Tat-chan."
"Mmm," Ueda murmurs, distracted.
"Tat-chan," Jin whispers into the shell of Ueda's ear. Ueda shivers slightly from the contact, but he isn't prepared at all for Jin's tongue travelling oh so slowly across the lobe.
"J - Jin," Ueda says shakily. "What are you doing?"
Ryo is peering at them now with huge, unbelieving eyes.
"I think," Jin murmurs, lips daring to press a butterfly kiss to Ueda's cheek. And then again. And again. "-you know exactly what I'm doing."
"Jin, stop this," Ueda hisses when Jin presses another kiss to the corner of his lips. Jin misses the panic in Ueda's eyes, and when a shadow looms over them Ueda's hands are pushing Jin's shoulders away. "Jin--"
An object collides with the side of Jin's head, making Jin crouch defensively, moaning in pain. When he looks up, Ryo is holding a clipboard on one hand and a mug of hot coffee in the other.
"I'm going to dump this on you if you don't stop being so fucking disgusting," Ryo grits out.
"What right do you have to call him disgusting?" Ueda bites back.
Jin is rubbing his head with one hand and rubbing Ueda's shoulder with the other. "Uhm, it's really okay--"
"Don't you have a sense of dignity, Akanishi?" Ueda snaps. "It's not okay for this monster to call you names you don't deserve. And I thought he was you friend."
"Friends tell each other the truth," Ryo says coolly, calmly setting the coffee down on the wooden edge of the long seat. "And the truth is you're both being disgusting."
Ueda is about to reply when Jin beats him to it. "Ryo, do you think really I'm being disgusting when I'm with Tat-chan, when you're all for it if this was Kame?"
Ryo snorts. "I wouldn't care either way. I'd still think it's disgusting."
"Don't lie to me, Ryo," Jin says, standing up and poking Ryo's chest with a finger. "It makes sense now. You used to make fun of me and Kame and Uchi a lot, but you say that we're actually your best friends--"
"Oh, where did that come from," Ryo says dryly.
"--you make fun of the people you like. And you make fun of Tat-chan the most, so you must like him the most." Jin concludes.
Silence hung in the air for a moment, before Ryo laughs, loud and bitter. "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I said stuff to you and Kame and Uchi before because you were all fucking ugly. But I say stuff to princess here because he's still the ugliest-" Ryo looks down at Ueda, "most emotionally manipulative bastard I've ever had the privelege of meeting."
Jin, had this been any other situation, would have been preening by now at Ryo's indirect admission that he really was hot in his eyes. But he caught a certain phrase that made him curious. "Emotionally manipulative?" he repeats, staring back and forth between a seething Ueda and Ryo.
"Are you so mentally stunted that you can't let go of one stupid incident?" Ueda spits out, standing up and staring directly into Ryo's eyes. "Is it my fault that that magazine happened to be there when you went in the room? Is it my fault that you're such an arrogant asshole who thinks that everyone with a picture of you must be in love with you?"
"Well, aren't you?" Ryo smirks. "What with a confession so sincere."
"Confession?" Jin echoes.
"Shut up!" Ryo yells, and Jin raises both hands.
"No, you're the one who's supposed to be shutting up here!" Ueda retorts with equal force.
It's a miracle that there isn't a punching match right now, Jin thinks, what with the furious faces of his two friends. Jin has a fleeting thought of how nice it would be to see Ryo and Ueda tussle on the floor, rolling around kicking each other and grinding knees and elbows and groins. But he catches his train of thought just in time to step in between them and clasp Ueda's shoulders.
"Tat-chan," Jin says sincerely. "I heard you that day I went back to the room to get my wallet. Why are you still fighting with him?"
Ueda is shell-shocked. Jin...had heard? He is about to comment when Jin does the worst thing possible - he opens his mouth again.
"--when you can do other, better things?" Jin waggles his eyebrows suggestively.
Ueda doesn't think twice; he pushes Jin away with an icy glare. "Get out of here now before I hit you in the face."
Ryo finally intervenes with a loud huff. "See, what did I tell you, Akanishi? Manipulative Bastard."
Ueda scowls, forming a tight fist. "I am two steps away from hitting you, too, Nishikido."
"Oh yeah," Ryo taunts, "come at me, then."
Ueda sees red. He twists his body back and prepares to throw a cold, hard hit to wipe the smug grin off Ryo's face, and in that split second when his fist is about to connect with Ryo's jaw Jin blocks the way with a barely heard "No!". Jin falls to the floor, holding his cheek in one hand.
"Ow, that's the second time today..." Jin groans.
"Oh my god," Ueda gasps. "I'm so sorry, Jin," he says, kneeling in front.
Ryo sighs loudly. "Thanks a lot, princess. I bet Jin here appreciates the gesture." He makes a "tsk" sound in the back of his throat. "I'll go and get some staff."
"No, wait," Ueda calls out, cradling Jin's bruised cheek in one hand. He bites his lip in apprehension. "Call Kamenashi instead."
---
Kame is less than pleased when Jin is left in his care sporting a rather large bruise on his right cheek, courtesy of Ueda of all people. When he hears the story from both Ueda and Ryo (who were alternately yelling at each other and telling him what happened), he doesn't know who to throw out of the building first - Ryo and Ueda for being such children, Jin for being a nosy bastard or himself for having to put up with people supposedly wiser and more mature than him.
"I'm sorry," Jin says, flinching slightly at Kame's touch.
"I'm not mad at you, Jin," Kame answers calmly. "I just wish you'd stop this, messing with other people's lives."
"I know I should." Jin winces at the unintentional press of Kame's fingers. "But I can't stand seeing them like that when you know they could be something else."
Kame thinks that Jin is professing strangely hypocritical words, especially when he catches Jin looking at him like he mattered most.
"The director's gonna going to throw a fit if he sees you like this," Kame says instead, dabbing another layer of ice-cold foundation on Jin's bruise with a small handkerchief.
Jin ignores the stinging sensation and focuses instead on Kame's worried eyes and slightly open mouth. "Kame," he starts, "do you think Uebo and Ryo are going to be okay?"
The corner of Kame's lips curve upwards in a miniscule smile. "They'll be fine," he replies. "Your meddling has to be good for something, even if it was disastrous as all hell."
"Yeah," Jin muses wistfully as Ueda pads into the room with soft eyes and an apologetic smile. "Yeah."
---
"So," Ryo says to Ueda when the other enters the dressing room, "are you done beating the shit out of your own bandmates?"
"Are you done trying to be smart?" Ueda counters, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Look, why don't you just go back-" Ueda waves a hand in dismissal, "-wherever you came from."
Ryo appears to be thinking about it for a moment before replying with a swift and cheeky "No".
Ueda sighs. "I don't want to fight with you again, Nishikido."
Ryo shrugs. "Then don't. I'm just saying that I'm staying. Anything wrong with that?"
Ueda can think of a hundred reasons, but he gives Ryo the benefit of the doubt; he is too tired to argue. "Why?"
"Well," Ryo starts, as if talking to a small child, "because one; Akanishi owes me free food. And two; you owe me an explanation."
Ueda's brows knit together. "What explanation?"
"I don't like it when my feelings are toyed with, Ueda." Ryo is standing now, his eyes fixed firmly on Ueda's face. He comes forward slowly, slowly, and Ueda finds that he can only stand immobilized in that one spot. He tenses visibly when Ryo's breath comes into contact with his cheek. "Don't lie to me."
"I never lied to you--" Ueda growls, but Ryo's fingers are gripping his wrist so tight he is afraid it might bring a bruise almost as bad as Jin's.
"I may be sexy, but I'm not a bimbo," Ryo asserts. "Your acting sucks, Ueda. This is why you're never given any dramas, you know."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Ueda bites back stiffly.
"There you go again - bad acting, I'm telling you." Ryo's chest presses against his arm. "You know it's true. You know you suck at this pretending thing. You know you suck at telling lies, even when you're not facing me."
Ueda feels the blood rushing to his ears. "Stop being so sure of yourself." The statement comes out less forcefully than he wants it to.
"Think about it. If you just admit it Akanishi would stop trying to shove his nose in," Ryo smirks at his flawless logic. "Then the world would thank you for it."
Ueda breaks free from Ryo's bind and whirls around. "I'm not feeding your ego, asshole."
Ryo is sure of his genius. He can tell from the Ueda's heated cheeks and averted gaze, his fingers threading into his jeans, the telltale sign of blue veins peeking out from under pale skin when he forms fists and loosens and forms fists again. With every action Ryo's ego is being fed, and he doesn't need to say anymore and neither does Ueda. When his lips bump into Ueda's in a somewhat awkward yet strangely arousing angle, Ryo does not push for the words to be spoken. He just knows, because Sexy Osaka Men do not let things like priceless opportunities pass them by.
fin
notes: wow, that was...*shakes head*. D:
Author: momo (omoshiroina)
Pairing: Ryo/Ueda, slight Akame
Rating: PG
Summary: Continued from the 4th Drabble of Bonanza. Ryo and Ueda suck at actually admitting their feelings, and Jin decides to help. oh hell no
Notes: For Nami, who is not feeling well. :(( I hope this cheers you up?
"You sure you don't want anything, Tat-chan?"
Ueda shook his head distractedly at Jin, looking over his reflection on the large vanity mirror. "No, thanks. I already ate breakfast, guys. Go on without me."
"Okay then," Kame set the latest issue of Myojo down on Ueda's corner of the dressing room, with a piece of paper that probably doubled as a bookmark resting in between the pages. "Here's a magazine if you get bored, ne."
"We'll be back in thirty minutes," Maru assured, nodding at him before closing the door.
Ueda spotted the curling iron lying on Kame's chair, and picked it up. No more than a few minutes passed of him experimenting with the iron when someone burst into the room without warning.
"Kamenashi, where's my - Oh. It's you."
"Nishikido," Ueda greeted, though it wasn't much of a greeting as it was a small acknowledgement of the other's presence.
"Where's everyone? Why are you here?"
"They're at that new restaurant across the building. And I'm here because I happen to be the 'U' of KAT-TUN, and this is KAT-TUN's dressing room, in case you didn't know."
Ryo's eyes narrowed, before his line of vision came to rest on the magazine in front of Ueda. "Ah," he began, "I see you've been reading my issue of Myojo for this month."
Ueda's continued curling his hair, swivelling his chair a bit until only his hair and the hand working the iron was in Ryo's sight.
Ryo stepped forward and grabbed the magazine, immediately opening it to the page where the bookmark was set. "And you've even bookmarked my spreadsheet and interview. How sweet," Ryo cooed, teasing.
Ueda was still ignoring him. Ryo, however, was undeterred as always. "So," Ryo said with a smirk, "are you going to confess your undying love for me or what?"
This got Ueda's pausing. He turned off the iron and lowered it to his lap. "This is so awkward," he started, his voice slightly trembling. Ryo was taken aback, but Ueda continued to speak with his back to him. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way, but yes, you're right. I think seeing that magazine has made me realize how deep my feelings for you are. All these years of being like this to each other, I'm tired of it. When I saw your sincere, smiling face in there - I thought that I've had enough of this pretense and that's it's time for me to come out with the truth."
Ryo was shell-shocked. Did Ueda truly have feelings for him all along? The other man had spoken to him in that utterly vulnerable tone. It sounded like - and he couldn't believe he was thinking this - Ueda's heart was breaking inside. "Ueda," he reached out. "I - I didn't really think that you'd--"
"Be a complete and total moron," Ueda finished, the trembling and the vulnerability gone as he spun his chair around, his eyes sparkling with clear amusement.
Ryo's expression resembled that of a red-faced guppy. He stalked towards Ueda, snatched the magazine out of his hands and stomped out of the room.
Ueda watched his retreating back, and when Ryo was completely out of sight, broke into soft, almost sad laughter. "Idiot," he murmured to himself. "I don't need a magazine to realize what I feel for you."
---
"Oh, man," Jin groans, hands frantically groping every part of himself as if a large insect has bitten him everywhere.
"Oi, Akanishi." Maru grimaces in his direction. "Keep that stuff in concerts, please. Or in the bathroom."
"No, no," Jin whines pitifully. "My wallet isn't here!"
"That's okay!" Koki laughs and slings an arm around his shoulders. "Kame here's loaded enough and is probably willing--"
Kame bops Koki upside the head, and turns to look disparagingly at Jin, like Jin was dropped on his head as a young boy - which he probably was, he could never tell when his mother was being vague or joking. "Go ahead and get it. We'll be waiting here."
"Thank you, thank you, Kameee," Jin bounces once on the balls of his feet and is dashing away in the direction of the elevator in the blink of an eye.
"Uhm," Junno says brightly, "I would have lent him some money."
Kame shoots a tired look at Junno. The smile on Junno's face doesn't fall but he definitely shuts up.
---
Jin isn't naturally a gossip - okay, maybe certain people would beg to differ since Jin had a habit for jumping excitedly around underage juniors whenever they uttered "you know, i heard from a source that so and so..." or something along those lines in his general vicinity. Then scaring said juniors shitless until they whispered hushed pleas for him to not tell Yamashita-senpai that they knew his chest was probably laden with two enormous tumors. Of course Jin tells it to Pi, who in the span of five seconds, goes from laughing hysterically to promising some form of torture to be brought upon the juniors.
After enormous amounts of hairspray, glue and bad hairdye, a smug Yamapi snickering like a drunkard inside KAT-TUN's dressing room plus hearing the shrill voices of screaming teenage juniors, Jin decides that it's fun. But then -
"Akanishi, try to act your age," Kame would admonish, looking distastefully at his messy hair and big grin. There is that too; the distant call of Kame's Akanishi always leaves him feeling cold.
"Oh, Kame." Koki would burst into laughter. "Don't wish for hopeless things. Why don't you wish for something else? Like world peace." Koki is obviously teasing but Jin wants to punch him, anyway.
But this. This is - Jin shuts his eyes, pulls his stomach in tight and bites his tongue. This is a discovery worth telling to the world.
Jin claws at his stomach. He imagines Kame's grimace and Koki's laughing face, and he holds tighter. No, he would not go against his principles!
But - who would have thought the mysterious, I'm-not-interested-in-anyone-sorry Ueda Tatsuya, one of his closest, most trusted friends, would like Nishikido Ryo?
No one. No one would have thought of it. It is sort of weird to Jin at first, because whenever he mentions to them all that he's going out with Ryo for a while, Ueda turns away until his face is hidden from everyone's view. Sometimes he gets all red and Jin assumes he's flushing in anger at bad memories made with Ryo. When all along, it was probably something else entirely.
There is an uncharacteristically loud sigh inside the room, and Jin hears the soft whizz of the curling iron.
"Ah, Damn," Ueda murmurs. He probably only scalded his scalp a bit, but Jin thinks that Ueda still sounds despairing.
"I can't let this happen to Tat-chan," Jin mutters to himself, "I can't let him be this sad."
Jin steps back many paces in the deserted hallway, takes a deep breath and walks towards the room again, making sure to press his heels loudly. When he enters, Ueda isn't suprised at all when he sheepishly tells him he left his wallet. Ueda nods absently, and Jin can tell he is still thinking of someone.
---
"What took you so long, Bakanishi?" Koki chortles as Jin runs towards the group.
"Sorry, guys," Jin pants, "Uebo needed help with something."
Kame bites the inside of his cheek, but Jin pretends not to notice.
---
Jin gets a spectacular idea one day when he comes home and finds Reio with a bunch of flowers on his desk.
"Who are these from?" Jin asks slyly.
"Don't be stupid, aniki," Reio snorts, "That's for Rika-chan."
Rika-chan is, according to badly-lit pictures from Reio's cellphone camera, a petite girl with eyes as huge as an anime character's and a thin waist working at the convenience store a few blocks away from home. Reio has been trying to catch her attention for weeks.
"Oh," Jin says, plucking a small, pink petal out of the many flowers in the bouquet when Reio turns around.
---
The first time Jin brings Ueda peonies and carnations wrapped together in expensive plastic, the whole of KAT-TUN is there. Junno pauses his game to peer at them curiously. Koki's rapping and Maru's beatboxing dims in volume. Kame blinks at them, mascara brush poised in one hand. It feels as if the world has slowed down, and Jin swallows nervously as he hands the flowers to Ueda.
"For you, Tat-chan," he chirps as jovially as he can.
Ueda raises a skeptical eyebrow at him.
"...Is it Ueda's birthday today?" Junno interrupts, eyes growing wide.
"No, that's six months from now," Kame answers dryly, turning back to the vanity mirror and applying another coat of mascara.
"Are those for his mom?" Maru brings his two cents in, and Koki nods at the question.
"These are for Tat-chan, dumbasses," Jin snaps, pushing the flowers in Ueda's face. "Take it!"
Both of Ueda's eyebrows are now raised in suspicion, but he wordlessly takes the bouquet, anyway. Jin smiles hugely for a grand total of ten seconds, before realizing a fatal error.
---
"What the hell am I doing here?" Ryo glares at Jin with enough force to melt an entire planet. "I have my own group to attend to. God knows Yamashita can't function properly without my direction. That goes for Shigeaki, too. And Tegoshi, obviously. And of course--"
"Ryo-chan," Jin pats his arm, smile strained. "Aren't these flowers pretty?"
Ryo looks to the bouquet of pink, yellow and red roses in Jin's lap. "What the hell," he says. "What the hell."
"Guess who I'm giving these to?" Jin whispers, ignoring his small tirade.
Ryo sneers, his answer immediate. "To Kamenashi."
Jin looks at him in what seems to be horror, before his cheeks are dusted a light shade of pink. Ryo knows he is right.
"You are so obvious," Ryo smirks. "I knew it ever since you were fourteen and ugly--"
"These aren't for Kame!" Jin exclaims so suddenly that Ryo is positive that he is lying. "These are for Ueda."
"What. What?" Ryo is incredulous. Jin takes this as a good sign. Maybe hounding a confession out of Ryo is easier than he thought. That is, until Ryo starts laughing. "Please tell me that it's Ueda's birthday," Ryo wheezes out, "because last time I checked you were definitely pining after Kamenashi's skinny ass."
Jin glares at Ryo, and when it doesn't work settles on pouting at him. "I am not pining after Kame's anything. Where did you hear that? I bet some stupid juniors said stuff to you, too!"
"You--" Ryo claps his hands erratically. "Remember that time," he says, waving a shaky, mocking hand in front of Jin's face, "when you and Pi and I went to that bar, and you got so plastered and started moaning Kazu--"
"Wait, hold up!" Things are not going according to plan. Jin is starting to grow frustrated. Ryo is supposed to be the one flustered and blushing and fidgeting and he is supposed to be gloating and demanding eternal thanks. "This isn't about me, Ryo!" he blurts, and he wants to take it back the moment it comes out.
Ryo's guffawing dies down after a while as he absorbs Jin's statement. "...It isn't?" And the narrowed eyes are back. "Then what the fuck am I doing here? I thought I was here for moral support or some shit like that."
"Moral...support?" Jin parrots.
"Yeah, you know," Ryo shrugs, "pointing and laughing at you when Kamenashi rejects your fat butt. Maybe I'll call in Yamashita, too, and it'll be like that night all over again."
They are getting way, way off-topic and Jin wants to howl at Ryo and maybe shove a rose or two in his mouth when, almost as if on cue, Kame and Ueda enter the room.
"Oh, hey, Ryo," Kame greets, and Ryo smiles at him in what Kame interprets as distinctly disturbing.
Ueda, as Jin expects, is indifferent to Ryo's presence and heads straight for the couch.
Jin decides that now is the best time. "Tat-chan," he calls out, walking over to Ueda and shoving the flowers right under his nose. "For you."
"Jin," Ueda sighs, eyebrows furrowing. "What are you getting at here? This is the second time this week."
All eyes in the room are on him. It's similar to the feeling of being on stage. Sort of nerve-wracking, but in the end the thrill of being watched and the subsequent urge to perform even better washes over Jin. "I just thought these suited you, that's all," he declares confidently.
Kame stares at the exchange with an unreadable expression that Jin mentally notes to ask about sometime. But when Ryo starts to snigger softly behind his hand and coughs out something which suspiciously sounds like flower princess, Jin knows there is an error yet again.
---
Jin comes into the dressing room two days later with a box of expensive Belgian chocolates. Ryo trails behind him, arms crossed but lips twitching upwards. Koki and Maru, who are sitting together and discussing their schedule, suddenly jump to their feet and crowd around Jin with exclamations of "ooh" and "aah".
"Take your grubby hands off the chocolate!" Jin screeches, swatting their hands away.
"God, Akanishi," Ryo says acidly. He sits down on Jin's chair with crossed legs, watching the spectacle.
Junno enters the room next, PSP held in one hand. He sees the chocolate and his eyes sparkle. "Are those for us?"
"Dream on, Taguchi!" Jin thumps the box to his chest. "These are for Tat-chan, so I won't have any one of you suckers touching these," he announces, just as Ueda opens the door and groans impercetibly.
"Akanishi," Ueda says stiffly. Jin knows that Ueda only uses the tone whenever he's pissed to the bone. "What is the meaning of this?" he asks, snatching the box from Jin's hands smoothly. "And why is Nishikido here again?"
"You tell me." Ryo only raises a single hand at him in greeting. Ueda's lip curls.
"But Tat-chan," Jin's lower lip begins to wobble, "I just thought you'd like some chocolates from me."
Ueda stares at him as if he's grown another head. "And where did you get that idea?"
"Out of his ass, obviously," Ryo answers loudly.
Ueda whips his head around to glare at Ryo. "And who told you to talk?"
Ryo rises up the seat as if burned. "I can say whatever the hell I want here, pansy. And I'm saying that if Akanishi bought you chocolates then you must be the woman in your sick, twisted relationship," Ryo spits out, his arms in front of his chest. "Aren't I right, Akanishi?"
"Ryo, what the fuck," Jin hisses. Ryo isn't having the right reaction. "Can you please shut up now? You're not making any sense and Tat-chan is--"
"Who cares about making sense and who cares about stupid Tat-chan," Ryo spits out, "when you're the one here bringing stuff to him like some starved puppy longing for affection. I bet Kamenashi isn't putting out--"
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" There is a red-faced Kame standing in front, fists clenched tightly at the sides. Maru, Koki and Junno, huddled together near the rack of costumes, stares at him wide-eyed.
"Tssch," Ryo huffs.
"Ryo," Kame says steadily. "I don't mean to be rude, but can you please get out of our dressing room?"
"Whatever." Ryo pushes past Jin and purposely bumps his shoulder with Ueda's. When he reaches Kame, he taps him heavily on the shoulder. "I pity you, Kamenashi. A bunch of losers for bandmates can't be good for your blossoming career." And Ryo exits without preamble.
Kame sucks in a deep breath, setting his bag down on his chair. "Jin," he says. "We'll be talking later."
Jin has only one thought: this can't be good.
---
Kame pulls Jin aside during their twenty minute break from dance rehearsals. They sit together in a somewhat secluded corner. Jin fingers the hem of his shirt with his head down.
"Akanishi," Kame begins, and Jin flinches. Kame sighs, his tone softening a little bit. "Jin."
"...Yeah?"
"What's going on between you, Ueda and Ryo?"
Jin debates between telling Kame the truth or making something up to appease Kame. But then he doesn't know what will appease Kame in the first place. So what comes out ends up being an odd mixture of both.
"Let me get this straight," Kame says slowly after his long and winding narrative. "You heard Ueda confess to have feelings for someone a week ago. You're trying to find out who it is--"
"No, no, I already know who it is!" Jin corrects. Was Kame getting his point at all? This is probably why they had all these miscommunication problems all the time where Kame screams and Jin screams and their real feelings are lost in a sea of misunderstanding.
"-okay, you already know who it is. So now you're bringing Ueda all these supposedly romantic gifts to show how much you," Kame pauses, eyes turning downcast, "like him yourself?"
"Huh?" Jin looks truthfully lost. "No!"
"What is it then?" Kame frowns. "Isn't it that since you're the one bringing all these gifts to Ueda you're actually the one he likes?"
"Kameee, you weren't listening to the story!" Jin accuses, feet stomping.
"What does all this have to do with Ryo?"
"I told you already. Ueda likes Ryo."
Kame crosses his arms. "Somehow I find that hard to believe."
Jin looks at him in disbelief. "What? You're doubting me?"
Kame runs a hand through his sweaty bangs. "Jin, I don't know what you're saying anymore. One moment you're bringing gifts to Ueda and the next you're saying that Ueda likes Ryo. It doesn't connect. Unless--"
Jin's eyes widen with hope. Maybe Kame is getting it afterall. He doesn't expect however for Kame's eyes to narrow. "Is this one of your pranks on Ryo?"
Jin wants to moan "NOOO" out loud, when Kame abruptly stands up. "Our break is almost over." he says, his eyes on the clock on the wall. "I don't think there's anything left to discuss."
"What - but - Kame!" Jin doesn't understand. Kame is being unusually unreasonable.
Junno and Koki shuffle loudly into the room, but Jin hears Kame's soft question. "Do you love him?"
"I do," Jin croaks out in reply, but Kame is already away and joining Koki and the others. He sees Ueda coming in with Maru, laughing at some faces Maru is making. "I love Tat-chan, because Tat-chan is my friend," he says to no one but himself.
---
Jin resolves to go for the direct approach. He lures Ryo to the set of their new PV with promises of free food for the next week. Ryo is mightily annoyed at the prospect of being with Jin again, but even he couldn't resist the temptation of freebies.
When Ryo is sitting sulkily in one of the long chairs across Ueda's own, Jin decides to go for the kill.
"Hi, Tat-chan," he says, making sure to have the volume up by a few notches. Ryo rolls his eyes and partially turns away from them, but Jin can see he is still watching them in the corner of his vision.
"Hi, Jin," Ueda replies, not looking up from his magazine.
Jin leans closer. "I'll tell you a secret, Tat-chan."
"Mmm," Ueda murmurs, distracted.
"Tat-chan," Jin whispers into the shell of Ueda's ear. Ueda shivers slightly from the contact, but he isn't prepared at all for Jin's tongue travelling oh so slowly across the lobe.
"J - Jin," Ueda says shakily. "What are you doing?"
Ryo is peering at them now with huge, unbelieving eyes.
"I think," Jin murmurs, lips daring to press a butterfly kiss to Ueda's cheek. And then again. And again. "-you know exactly what I'm doing."
"Jin, stop this," Ueda hisses when Jin presses another kiss to the corner of his lips. Jin misses the panic in Ueda's eyes, and when a shadow looms over them Ueda's hands are pushing Jin's shoulders away. "Jin--"
An object collides with the side of Jin's head, making Jin crouch defensively, moaning in pain. When he looks up, Ryo is holding a clipboard on one hand and a mug of hot coffee in the other.
"I'm going to dump this on you if you don't stop being so fucking disgusting," Ryo grits out.
"What right do you have to call him disgusting?" Ueda bites back.
Jin is rubbing his head with one hand and rubbing Ueda's shoulder with the other. "Uhm, it's really okay--"
"Don't you have a sense of dignity, Akanishi?" Ueda snaps. "It's not okay for this monster to call you names you don't deserve. And I thought he was you friend."
"Friends tell each other the truth," Ryo says coolly, calmly setting the coffee down on the wooden edge of the long seat. "And the truth is you're both being disgusting."
Ueda is about to reply when Jin beats him to it. "Ryo, do you think really I'm being disgusting when I'm with Tat-chan, when you're all for it if this was Kame?"
Ryo snorts. "I wouldn't care either way. I'd still think it's disgusting."
"Don't lie to me, Ryo," Jin says, standing up and poking Ryo's chest with a finger. "It makes sense now. You used to make fun of me and Kame and Uchi a lot, but you say that we're actually your best friends--"
"Oh, where did that come from," Ryo says dryly.
"--you make fun of the people you like. And you make fun of Tat-chan the most, so you must like him the most." Jin concludes.
Silence hung in the air for a moment, before Ryo laughs, loud and bitter. "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I said stuff to you and Kame and Uchi before because you were all fucking ugly. But I say stuff to princess here because he's still the ugliest-" Ryo looks down at Ueda, "most emotionally manipulative bastard I've ever had the privelege of meeting."
Jin, had this been any other situation, would have been preening by now at Ryo's indirect admission that he really was hot in his eyes. But he caught a certain phrase that made him curious. "Emotionally manipulative?" he repeats, staring back and forth between a seething Ueda and Ryo.
"Are you so mentally stunted that you can't let go of one stupid incident?" Ueda spits out, standing up and staring directly into Ryo's eyes. "Is it my fault that that magazine happened to be there when you went in the room? Is it my fault that you're such an arrogant asshole who thinks that everyone with a picture of you must be in love with you?"
"Well, aren't you?" Ryo smirks. "What with a confession so sincere."
"Confession?" Jin echoes.
"Shut up!" Ryo yells, and Jin raises both hands.
"No, you're the one who's supposed to be shutting up here!" Ueda retorts with equal force.
It's a miracle that there isn't a punching match right now, Jin thinks, what with the furious faces of his two friends. Jin has a fleeting thought of how nice it would be to see Ryo and Ueda tussle on the floor, rolling around kicking each other and grinding knees and elbows and groins. But he catches his train of thought just in time to step in between them and clasp Ueda's shoulders.
"Tat-chan," Jin says sincerely. "I heard you that day I went back to the room to get my wallet. Why are you still fighting with him?"
Ueda is shell-shocked. Jin...had heard? He is about to comment when Jin does the worst thing possible - he opens his mouth again.
"--when you can do other, better things?" Jin waggles his eyebrows suggestively.
Ueda doesn't think twice; he pushes Jin away with an icy glare. "Get out of here now before I hit you in the face."
Ryo finally intervenes with a loud huff. "See, what did I tell you, Akanishi? Manipulative Bastard."
Ueda scowls, forming a tight fist. "I am two steps away from hitting you, too, Nishikido."
"Oh yeah," Ryo taunts, "come at me, then."
Ueda sees red. He twists his body back and prepares to throw a cold, hard hit to wipe the smug grin off Ryo's face, and in that split second when his fist is about to connect with Ryo's jaw Jin blocks the way with a barely heard "No!". Jin falls to the floor, holding his cheek in one hand.
"Ow, that's the second time today..." Jin groans.
"Oh my god," Ueda gasps. "I'm so sorry, Jin," he says, kneeling in front.
Ryo sighs loudly. "Thanks a lot, princess. I bet Jin here appreciates the gesture." He makes a "tsk" sound in the back of his throat. "I'll go and get some staff."
"No, wait," Ueda calls out, cradling Jin's bruised cheek in one hand. He bites his lip in apprehension. "Call Kamenashi instead."
---
Kame is less than pleased when Jin is left in his care sporting a rather large bruise on his right cheek, courtesy of Ueda of all people. When he hears the story from both Ueda and Ryo (who were alternately yelling at each other and telling him what happened), he doesn't know who to throw out of the building first - Ryo and Ueda for being such children, Jin for being a nosy bastard or himself for having to put up with people supposedly wiser and more mature than him.
"I'm sorry," Jin says, flinching slightly at Kame's touch.
"I'm not mad at you, Jin," Kame answers calmly. "I just wish you'd stop this, messing with other people's lives."
"I know I should." Jin winces at the unintentional press of Kame's fingers. "But I can't stand seeing them like that when you know they could be something else."
Kame thinks that Jin is professing strangely hypocritical words, especially when he catches Jin looking at him like he mattered most.
"The director's gonna going to throw a fit if he sees you like this," Kame says instead, dabbing another layer of ice-cold foundation on Jin's bruise with a small handkerchief.
Jin ignores the stinging sensation and focuses instead on Kame's worried eyes and slightly open mouth. "Kame," he starts, "do you think Uebo and Ryo are going to be okay?"
The corner of Kame's lips curve upwards in a miniscule smile. "They'll be fine," he replies. "Your meddling has to be good for something, even if it was disastrous as all hell."
"Yeah," Jin muses wistfully as Ueda pads into the room with soft eyes and an apologetic smile. "Yeah."
---
"So," Ryo says to Ueda when the other enters the dressing room, "are you done beating the shit out of your own bandmates?"
"Are you done trying to be smart?" Ueda counters, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Look, why don't you just go back-" Ueda waves a hand in dismissal, "-wherever you came from."
Ryo appears to be thinking about it for a moment before replying with a swift and cheeky "No".
Ueda sighs. "I don't want to fight with you again, Nishikido."
Ryo shrugs. "Then don't. I'm just saying that I'm staying. Anything wrong with that?"
Ueda can think of a hundred reasons, but he gives Ryo the benefit of the doubt; he is too tired to argue. "Why?"
"Well," Ryo starts, as if talking to a small child, "because one; Akanishi owes me free food. And two; you owe me an explanation."
Ueda's brows knit together. "What explanation?"
"I don't like it when my feelings are toyed with, Ueda." Ryo is standing now, his eyes fixed firmly on Ueda's face. He comes forward slowly, slowly, and Ueda finds that he can only stand immobilized in that one spot. He tenses visibly when Ryo's breath comes into contact with his cheek. "Don't lie to me."
"I never lied to you--" Ueda growls, but Ryo's fingers are gripping his wrist so tight he is afraid it might bring a bruise almost as bad as Jin's.
"I may be sexy, but I'm not a bimbo," Ryo asserts. "Your acting sucks, Ueda. This is why you're never given any dramas, you know."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Ueda bites back stiffly.
"There you go again - bad acting, I'm telling you." Ryo's chest presses against his arm. "You know it's true. You know you suck at this pretending thing. You know you suck at telling lies, even when you're not facing me."
Ueda feels the blood rushing to his ears. "Stop being so sure of yourself." The statement comes out less forcefully than he wants it to.
"Think about it. If you just admit it Akanishi would stop trying to shove his nose in," Ryo smirks at his flawless logic. "Then the world would thank you for it."
Ueda breaks free from Ryo's bind and whirls around. "I'm not feeding your ego, asshole."
Ryo is sure of his genius. He can tell from the Ueda's heated cheeks and averted gaze, his fingers threading into his jeans, the telltale sign of blue veins peeking out from under pale skin when he forms fists and loosens and forms fists again. With every action Ryo's ego is being fed, and he doesn't need to say anymore and neither does Ueda. When his lips bump into Ueda's in a somewhat awkward yet strangely arousing angle, Ryo does not push for the words to be spoken. He just knows, because Sexy Osaka Men do not let things like priceless opportunities pass them by.
fin
notes: wow, that was...*shakes head*. D: