Drabble: [Arashi] 17. Because
Title: 17. Because
Character/Rating: Aiba, G
Word Count: 369
Summary: Aiba can't be disloyal like they want him to be.
Aiba is only eighteen when a reporter from some tabloid corners him in an obscure side-street in Fukuoka. She's friendly and pretty, all cleavage, and she offers him all kinds of things (normal favors in the industry, a service, that hotel is really close, very close) if he tells her a few things about his bandmates. The world kind of whirls around him, his throat jumps like there's a frog in it, his cheeks burn in indignation-- "No."
He manages to stride away maturely, but it's a very near deal.
He's a few years older when he spots a girl who's on the staff paging idly through a magazine. It's another tabloid, and it's the same tabloid that's been writing about Nino for several months now, non-stop and cutting. The girl doesn't notice that Nino is standing in the doorway, his knuckles white. Aiba does, though. When he stands he trips over a bag and windmills straight into the girl's lap going, "Sorry, sorry-- ow! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" In the confusion the magazine's slipped from her fingers, open pages hugging the ground, and one of Aiba's feet sweeps it under the couch. Whoops.
Nino comes in.
And then when Leader's scandal hits, when Nino gets into an accident and they're all banned from driving ("I'll be back, baby," Aiba coos to the Porsche, "don't be lonely!"), when slightly racy private photos are plastered everywhere, when Sho loses his temper at some too-curious fans and it gets in the news, when Matsujun is linked to three different girls in the same time period and the tabloids get downright nasty (actually Matsujun is dating the sarcastic cashier from the little family-owned bookshop by his apartment), it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter what it is at all. Aiba's girlfriend at the time, a model, an actress, a stylist, whatever, will say she doesn't understand why he isn't mad at Nino, because isn't it Nino's fault he can't drive? Isn't he mad at Leader because the scandal affects the whole group? Matsujun? Sho? Aiba will stop what he's doing and say flatly, "If you don't get it, this can't work."
"Why?" she'll ask.
"Because," he'll answer, and wonder why it's so hard to understand.
Character/Rating: Aiba, G
Word Count: 369
Summary: Aiba can't be disloyal like they want him to be.
Aiba is only eighteen when a reporter from some tabloid corners him in an obscure side-street in Fukuoka. She's friendly and pretty, all cleavage, and she offers him all kinds of things (normal favors in the industry, a service, that hotel is really close, very close) if he tells her a few things about his bandmates. The world kind of whirls around him, his throat jumps like there's a frog in it, his cheeks burn in indignation-- "No."
He manages to stride away maturely, but it's a very near deal.
He's a few years older when he spots a girl who's on the staff paging idly through a magazine. It's another tabloid, and it's the same tabloid that's been writing about Nino for several months now, non-stop and cutting. The girl doesn't notice that Nino is standing in the doorway, his knuckles white. Aiba does, though. When he stands he trips over a bag and windmills straight into the girl's lap going, "Sorry, sorry-- ow! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" In the confusion the magazine's slipped from her fingers, open pages hugging the ground, and one of Aiba's feet sweeps it under the couch. Whoops.
Nino comes in.
And then when Leader's scandal hits, when Nino gets into an accident and they're all banned from driving ("I'll be back, baby," Aiba coos to the Porsche, "don't be lonely!"), when slightly racy private photos are plastered everywhere, when Sho loses his temper at some too-curious fans and it gets in the news, when Matsujun is linked to three different girls in the same time period and the tabloids get downright nasty (actually Matsujun is dating the sarcastic cashier from the little family-owned bookshop by his apartment), it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter what it is at all. Aiba's girlfriend at the time, a model, an actress, a stylist, whatever, will say she doesn't understand why he isn't mad at Nino, because isn't it Nino's fault he can't drive? Isn't he mad at Leader because the scandal affects the whole group? Matsujun? Sho? Aiba will stop what he's doing and say flatly, "If you don't get it, this can't work."
"Why?" she'll ask.
"Because," he'll answer, and wonder why it's so hard to understand.