[drabble] Picture Perfect

[dreamweavernyx]

Title: Picture Perfect

Author: Luna (dreamweavernyx)

Pairing: Noeru x Yasui

Genre: Fluff

Rating: G

Summary: AU. They will always be the perfect team.

Notes: For ceeri. Ended up straying quite far from the prompt, but nevertheless I hope you enjoy it!
Many thanks to Jess for beta-ing.
Tabidachi no Hi ni is a common graduation song in Japan.

~

I:

They first meet on Noeru’s first day of school.

The clubs are all putting on a mini-fair to attract new first-year students. Noeru wanders around, not particularly attracted by anything, until his eyes land on the Yearbook booth.

There is only one person at the booth, and it happens to be a short senpai with dyed brown hair, completely engrossed in a book. Noeru has never thought of Yearbook as a legitimate club activity, but he does have an interest in photography, so he decides to ask for more information.

“You’re interested in Yearbook?” the senpai asks curiously when Noeru nervously asks for more information. “That’s rare.”

“I like photography,” Noeru squeaks, suddenly nervous for no reason. “But I’m not terribly brilliant at it yet,” he adds quickly.

The senpai laughs, and Noeru can’t help but notice he has rather pretty eyes that sparkle with mirth.

“In Yearbook nobody’s an expert,” he says cheerfully. “All are welcome to join, and we’re not very demanding unless we’re cutting close to deadlines. We’re short on photographers at the moment, since Kato-senpai left a couple of years ago. You’ll be welcomed with open arms.”

Noeru nods slowly, strangely more interested in the sound of the senpai’s voice than what he’s actually saying.

“I’ll think about it, senpai.”

He gets another cheerful laugh in return.

“My name’s Yasui. Yasui Kentaro.”

II:

He ends up joining Yearbook, where - true to Yasui’s word - he is welcomed heartily.

Soon, he learns that Yearbook runs on a mentor system. A third year student usually mentors a first year one for the first six months, to let them learn the ropes.

Noeru ends up paired up with Yasui by some twist of fate. Yasui says it’s because they only have one third year photographer, and he’s already been assigned to another first year named Kyomoto.

“I’ve had some experience in photography, so it’s fine,” Yasui says, grinning.

“Wait,” Noeru interjects, suddenly thinking of something. “Yasui-senpai, what do you do in Yearbook?”

“Me?”

Noeru nods, and Yasui smiles.

“I write articles. We’ll be a great pair - you can take the photos and I’ll write the article.”

Noeru’s heart flutters at the smile, though he is not exactly sure why.

“Sounds like a good deal,” he says, smiling back.

III:

Noeru has a camera of his own, but it’s just a simple three-year-old digital camera.

“I’d love a more professional one,” he tells Yasui. “But I have to save up for one, and I don’t have enough yet.”

Yasui grins, petting Noeru’s hair though he’s shorter than Noeru.

“A digital one is fine for Yearbook,” he says. “You’re all set.”

IV:

The first event they go to together to report on is an inter-school debate organized by the English Culture Society.

Noeru snaps five dozen pictures of the whole event, including about ten of their school’s ‘secret weapon’ - a first year named Anderson who easily breezes past the competition and earns the Best Speaker Award.

“Be sure to photograph the award ceremony as well,” Yasui says absently, concentrating on scribbling notes on his clipboard, to turn into a proper report when he gets back to the Yearbook room.

“Sure thing, Yasui-senpai,” Noeru says cheerfully.

When he thinks Yasui isn’t looking, he secretly snaps an additional shot of Yasui’s side profile as well.

V:

Somewhere near the end of May, he and Yasui are asked to go report on the school’s strings ensemble concert. It’s held at night, at a small concert hall, so by the time Yasui and Noeru board the chartered bus to get back to school Noeru is already extremely tired.

He falls asleep pretty quickly, and his head unconsciously ends up on Yasui’s shoulder.

Noeru never notices Yasui’s slight smile at that, nor feels Yasui’s slim fingers stroking his hair gently.

VI:

He’s become good friends with Kyomoto and Uekusa, the two other first years in Yearbook. Uekusa is a sports junkie, and generally goes to report on all the sports events. This results in him looking like he suffers from chronic insomnia, and he often falls asleep at lunch.

Today’s lunch is no different, and Kyomoto idly fools around with Uekusa’s fluffy hair while he is fast asleep, leaning against the pillar next to their lunch table.

“Hey, Kawashima-kun,” Kyomoto says in between bites of a tomato. “Is there something going on between you and Yasui-senpai?”

Noeru chokes on his egg mayonnaise sandwich, and shoots Kyomoto a very confused look.

“No,” he says, sounding confused.

Kyomoto shrugs.

“Ah. I thought there was. Never mind, then.”

The lunch bell rings, and Kyomoto walks off for History, heaving Uekusa along with him.

Noeru slowly wanders off to class, Kyomoto’s words ringing in his mind.

VII:

Noeru has never been a fan of shoujo manga, but somehow or other he finds himself buying a shoujo manga magazine secretly from a bookstore.

He pores over it at home.

As he turns the pages of Kimi ni Todoke, he inadvertently remembers the fluffy feeling in his heart when Yasui smiles, and can only come to one conclusion:

Somehow, he’s already begun falling long before he realized it - ever since their first meeting.

VIII:

July comes, and Noeru remembers that Yasui’s birthday is around the corner.

He texts Yasui, asking if he’s free on the day before his birthday to go out for dinner or something. Yasui’s reply is a simple Sure~ :) and Noeru can’t help but smile.

On that night, he meets Yasui at the Hachiko statue, and they go to a soba shop to eat. They finish their soba slowly, and Yasui is about to go call for the bill before Noeru remembers that he’s brought along a surprise present.

He fishes out the lone cupcake from a box, and sticks a candle in it before passing it to Yasui.

“Happy early birthday, Yasui-senpai,” he says shyly.

Yasui beams brightly at him, eyes full of gratitude, and Noeru feels his heart skip another beat.

IX:

A little later, they leave the soba shop and stroll around a nearby park.

“Thanks for the cake,” Yasui says softly. “Usually only my family celebrates my birthday.”

“No problem.”

They walk along in silence for a while, until Yasui notices the time.

“I think I should go,” Yasui says. “You should, too.”

Noeru nods, and Yasui turns to walk away.

Suddenly, Noeru remembers what he originally wanted to do, what he’d mustered up courage for an entire week to do. Before Yasui can walk away, he quickly shoots out his hand and grabs hold of Yasui’s wrist.

Yasui turns back to him, a puzzled look on his face.

“Yes?”

Steeling himself, Noeru slides his hand down a little lower, until his own hand is grasping Yasui’s, fingers half-interlocking.

“I…” he trails off nervously.

Yasui nods encouragingly, squeezing Noeru’s fingers gently.

“I…I want to hold Yasui-senpai’s hand like this. Not just tonight, but…from now on,” Noeru mumbles, feeling his cheeks heat up.

Yasui is silent for a while, and Noeru is struck by sudden panic. He begins preparing himself mentally for a rejection, when Yasui smiles slightly, adjusting his hand so that their fingers interlock properly.

“If you’re fine with keeping it a secret from everybody else,” Yasui says softly, “then alright.”

X:

Noeru doesn’t mind keeping his newfound relationship under wraps - he knows his parents aren’t ready to accept the idea that their son is gay just yet.

In school they act like friends and nothing more. Their relationship is mainly a text-message one, though on occasion Noeru finds himself spending hours on the phone talking to Yasui about nothing in particular.

He doesn’t mind this very much, though he still hopes one day they don’t need to keep their relationship in the shadows any longer.

XI:

On his birthday in November, Yasui appears on his doorstep with a medium-sized box in his arms.

Later on that night, Noeru unwraps it to discover a Nikon DSLR camera sitting inside the box.

XII:

Soon enough, the third years all stop coming for club activities to focus on university entrance exams. Noeru is pretty much fine with this, considering he can still see Yasui regularly, but Yearbook suddenly becomes a lot emptier.

Thankfully, not even Kyomoto or Uekusa notice Noeru’s sudden lethargy in the Yearbook room. He is left alone, sorting through thousands of photos for the nicest ones to actually use in the yearbook.

He comes across a photo of a sleeping Yasui, taken on their way back from a choir concert.

He can’t help but grin at the innocent face, and transfers the photo to his thumbdrive.

XIII:

The finished yearbook is a beautifully-bound volume, with a simple matte black cover and pages full of photos and short articles.

“We did a good job, didn’t we?” Yasui muses, flipping through the book with Noeru at lunchtime.

“You were right, we were an amazing team together,” Noeru replies, smiling.

Laughing, Yasui rests his hand on top of Noeru’s as he continues to look through the book.

“The perfect team.”

XIV:

Graduation comes, and the strains of Tabidachi no Hi ni by popular boyband SMAP can be heard all over the school grounds.

Noeru is appointed to take photos of the ceremony, along with Kyomoto and a second year named Takada.

At the end of the ceremony, Noeru sneaks off to find Yasui.

“I’ll miss you,” he says, after congratulating Yasui on graduating.

Yasui grins.

“I’m sure we’ll still get to see each other.”

Noeru nods, fiddling with the camera in his hands.

“Which university are you going to?” he asks curiously.

“I’m going overseas,” Yasui says cheerfully. “I got a scholarship.”

Noeru’s face falls a little, and Yasui notices.

“Silly, we’ll still keep in touch. There’s Skype and stuff, after all.”

“I guess,” Noeru mumbles.

Deciding to change topic, Noeru holds up his camera.

“Let’s get a picture of you in that graduation gown,” he says, and Yasui agrees amiably, flashing a peace sign and a smile for the camera.

Click.

Epilogue:

Noeru gets his application as an intern at Asahi News accepted, so over his university summer break he begins the first work experience of his life.

“We’ll be assigning you to another intern, who has been here longer than you,” Sakurai-san says, leading Noeru around. “Since you’re a photographer and he’s a writer, you’ll be able to cooperate on articles together.”

They stop in front of a cubicle, and Sakurai-san tiptoes to peer in.

“Yasui-kun,” he calls. “Here’s the new intern I told you about yesterday.”

A familiar face pokes out - their last Skype conversation was only a month ago - and Yasui grins at Noeru.

“Yo, partner,” he says cheerfully, and Noeru’s breath catches in his throat.

He grins back.

fin.