[fic] Miso Soup for the Soul
Title: Miso Soup for the Soul
Author/Artist: fencer_x
Permalink: @ ChickLit
Warnings/Rating: PG
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Tsujimoto Yuuki/Takasaki Shouta
Summary: Tsuji-kun's sick, and the only cure is constant mothering from Shouta.
NNWM wordcount: 7582
"Here." Shouta held out the bowl of steaming miso soup expectantly, waving it under Tsujimoto's nose so that he couldn't ignore it. "Come on. You're the sick one, don't you want to get better?"
Tsujimoto let his head fall back against his pillow with a long-suffering sigh, setting his DS to the side with a whine. "I'm not hungry."
"You haven't eaten since I got here. Five hours ago. Now take the damn thing or I'm gonna dump it in your lap."
Tsujimoto scrambled to clear away the magazines and his script he had scattered around himself. "Sheesh, fine fine."
Shouta frowned. "Don't 'fine fine' me--I'm doing you a favor, you know." He lifted a brow. "My life could be in danger--what if you're actually infected with some deadly virus that's going to eradicate all mankind, making me its first victim? Then I bet you wouldn't be 'fine fine'."
Tsujimoto stifled a smile, gingerly accepting the proffered bowl. "It's a cold. I don't even need you here, really--I'm pretty sure the only reason my mom isn't here is because she's a three-hour bullet train ride away."
Shouta's frown only deepened. "Some thanks I get."
"I--" Tsujimoto spluttered, mouth gaping open when he realized how far he'd shoved his foot inside. "I didn't mean--I just--" He sighed, stirring the miso soup with the large spoon. "Thanks..."
Shouta threw himself down onto the bed, making himself quite comfortable sprawled out next to Tsujimoto, and he flicked a piece of hair from his eyes. "Shut up and drink your soup. It was this or responding to that mountain of fan mail left over from Hard to Hold."
Tsujimoto smiled at the thought that his friend would rather risk getting infected with a nasty cold than pen another hundred letters responding the their fans' enthusiasm over their particularly racy roles. "You've gotta do it some time."
"Well I feel like I might be coming down with something," Shouta mused absently, and when Tsujimoto glanced over, he wriggled his eyebrows mischievously, giggling. "Anyways, what about you? You're in no state to be hanging out in Akiba or anything with me and Baba-chan. Gonna get caught up on your fan mail?"
Tsujimoto blew on the soup. "I'm obviously in no condition to strain myself, can't you see?"
Shouta just rolled his eyes, then reached forward to tug at a stray thread hanging from the hem of Tsujimoto's overly large pajama top. "...You need to hurry up and get better."
A laugh, and Tsujimoto swallowed with some effort. "Why, so you don't have to take time out of your busy day which would otherwise have been spent playing pranks on Toshi at rehearsals instead coming to babysit me?"
Shouta brushed away the thread he'd managed to untangle. "...So we can do fun things again."
Tsujimoto nearly choked on his soup, coughing up some vile combination of miso and phlegm and not sounding attractive at all. "Oh I get it now." Shouta smiled, not looking up. "This is all just part of your clever plan to get me happy and healthy and indebted to you."
"Mmm, I'd settle for just happy and healthy at this point--but having you owe me would be nice, too, I admit."
"I'm sure." He took another sip of soup. "So what exactly would you have me do to work off this debt, Takasaki-kun?"
Shouta rolled over onto his back, hands behind his head and staring up at the ceiling. "Hmm, tough one..." He pursed his lips in thought. "First...a massage, definitely. Wait--no, first a bath. With some Lush--that you bought--and then a massage. Wait wait no! A bath while you give me a massage. Yeah."
Tsujimoto rolled his eyes; this was going to be a long one. "And then?"
"And then, assuming I didn't just fall asleep right then, you'd have to make me dinner. And nothing from the conbini or delivery. A good dinner. Like...homemade takoyaki. And sushi. And stir-fry. And curry."
"All at once?!" Tsujimoto sputtered incredulously, and Shouta nodded, smiling superiorly. "Sheesh. And then?"
"Well you'd hand-feed me my delicious dinner first. And then you'd have to wash all the dishes right then, or else they'd stink up the room."
"Uh huh."
"And then we'd watch whatever DVD I wanted to watch--and you couldn't say anything about it. Even if it was something you didn't like."
"This is sounding awfully unfair, just so you know--it's not like I was dying and you gave me a miracle cure or anything--"
"And then--and then...hmmm..." He trailed off in thought, and Tsujimoto half considered that maybe he'd run out of demands, until he started giggling to himself. Tsujimoto glanced down, and when he noticed Shouta staring back up at him with a coy smile, he rolled his eyes again, fighting back his own smile.
"You know you don't have to wait til I owe you something for that." He set the nearly-empty bowl on the floor beside his bed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Mmm, I know. It was just the next logical step in my dastardly plan to make you wait on me."
"Logical, huh? An obvious progression from bath to dinner to movies?"
"Isn't that how all good dates are supposed to end? Dinner and a movie and then karaoke with Baba-chan?"
A pause. "....What?"
"Karaoke. Maybe Big Echo, or Karaoke-kan? You know Baba-chan would never--" Shouta's brows furrowed. "...Why? Were you--oooohhh." Tsujimoto just pulled the covers up further, frowning as he smoothed out a few wrinkles. He knew Shouta liked to play stupid sometimes, but it didn't stop it from being annoying. "Tsuji-kun were you thinking of something else?" Shouta flipped himself over onto his stomach, propping himself up on his elbows and lolling his head to one side, curious. "You're blushing."
"You weren't talking about karaoke before."
"Was too." Tsujimoto gave him a look, and he sighed. "...Okay fine, I'd totally jump you after you gave me a massage and made me dinner and sat through a few Ghibli movies with me."
"Thank you."
Shouta pushed himself up, leaning back on his knees and settling his palms on his thighs. "Want anything else?" He nodded to the empty bowl on the floor. "I could make another batch if you want."
"Nah," Tsujimoto waved him off. "I'm really not hungry, just tired mostly. And all this talking probably isn't helping." Shouta nodded, looking a bit self-conscious that he hadn't considered Tsujimoto's sore throat being connected to their recent play run as much as with the swiftly changing seasons. "Not that being a little raspy isn't worth getting you to regale me with the fascinating tale of just how I'm going to make all this up to you."
Shouta smiled softly, then glanced away. "So...maybe I could make you feel better...?" He made brief eyecontact again before losing his nerve and laughing at himself, scratching his neck. "Just--I have to go soon, so I thought--"
"Ahahah--ah, no I mean, it's not--really, I mean, I'm really gross right now, kissing would--"
"I wasn't talking about kissing, Tsuji-kun." He leaned forward, placing his hands on either side of Tsujimoto's torso and stretching himself out longways. "But don't worry, I wouldn't take advantage of an invalid." He smiled, cocking his head to the side.
Tsujimoto raised his eyebrows. "Even...if the invalid asked? Nicely?"
"Invalids don't know what's best for them," Shouta reasoned matter-of-factly, smoothing the blanket around Tsujimoto before reaching forward to push his bangs to the side like a mother hen. "Besides--absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that."
"My heart's fond enough," Tsujimoto complained with a whine, tugging on Shouta's shirt--he hadn't really been in the mood before, but Shouta'd started getting him worked up and now he kinda wanted some compensation, dammit. "Just a little?"
Shouta pasted on a frown for show, pausing to consider the request and wrestling with priorities--when a soft, muffled buzzing horned in on their silent little bubble, and suddenly Shouta's frown wasn't just for show anymore. He whined an annoyed grunt, heaving himself over to feel around inside his bag for his phone. Confused, Tsujimoto protested, "Oi--just let it go to voicemail--!"
But Shouta had already fished out the device, passing a glance over the caller's name flashing on the screen before pressing the "talk" button, ignoring Tsujimoto. "I'm two stations away, I swear." A pause, and Shouta rolled his eyes. "I know we said 8:30, I'm really sorry. But Lati-kun wouldn't pee when we went on a walk, and I couldn't just leave the house then, so--" Another pause. "10 more minutes, I promise. Okay. Okay, bye." He cut the connection, sighing as he flipped the cover shut. "Sorry...sometimes it feels like I've got a girlfriend instead of a manager."
"Mmm, girlfriends can be nice, too, though." Tsujimoto leaned back, making himself comfortable--it sounded like Shouta had bigger things to worry about than showing him a good time right now.
"Yeah..." He tossed the phone between his hands. "I guess I should head out then--" He glanced down quickly to Tsujimoto's midsection, licking his lips. "Sorry, about--I really was going to--"
Tsujimoto jerked his head. "Go meet your manager. I'll be back at rehearsals tomorrow probably. Maybe Ueshima-sensei will let me take it easy for a couple of days if I at least show up."
Shouta shook his head, smiling. "Like that'll fly--he'll assume that if you're there, you're as healthy as the rest of us and put you right to work."
"Yeah, probably," Tsujimoto laughed with him. "Anyways, you'd better go. You're so not '10 minutes' from Shibuya." He pushed on Shouta's shoulder to make him move off the bed and was met with an annoyed grunt.
Shouta brushed his shirt free of wrinkles, and bent down to pick up his bag, pocketing his cellphone. He gave a soft, "Yosh" when he seemed to have put himself back together, then twisted around abruptly to grab Tsujimoto's chin in one hand and bring their lips together before the other boy could react.
After allowing himself a moment to enjoy the warm, now-familiar contact, he pushed Shouta away at the shoulder, covering his mouth with his free hand, and frowned. "I'm sick, idiot."
"I know. Still wanted to do it." A shrug. "You can owe me when I get sick now."
Author/Artist: fencer_x
Permalink: @ ChickLit
Warnings/Rating: PG
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Tsujimoto Yuuki/Takasaki Shouta
Summary: Tsuji-kun's sick, and the only cure is constant mothering from Shouta.
NNWM wordcount: 7582
"Here." Shouta held out the bowl of steaming miso soup expectantly, waving it under Tsujimoto's nose so that he couldn't ignore it. "Come on. You're the sick one, don't you want to get better?"
Tsujimoto let his head fall back against his pillow with a long-suffering sigh, setting his DS to the side with a whine. "I'm not hungry."
"You haven't eaten since I got here. Five hours ago. Now take the damn thing or I'm gonna dump it in your lap."
Tsujimoto scrambled to clear away the magazines and his script he had scattered around himself. "Sheesh, fine fine."
Shouta frowned. "Don't 'fine fine' me--I'm doing you a favor, you know." He lifted a brow. "My life could be in danger--what if you're actually infected with some deadly virus that's going to eradicate all mankind, making me its first victim? Then I bet you wouldn't be 'fine fine'."
Tsujimoto stifled a smile, gingerly accepting the proffered bowl. "It's a cold. I don't even need you here, really--I'm pretty sure the only reason my mom isn't here is because she's a three-hour bullet train ride away."
Shouta's frown only deepened. "Some thanks I get."
"I--" Tsujimoto spluttered, mouth gaping open when he realized how far he'd shoved his foot inside. "I didn't mean--I just--" He sighed, stirring the miso soup with the large spoon. "Thanks..."
Shouta threw himself down onto the bed, making himself quite comfortable sprawled out next to Tsujimoto, and he flicked a piece of hair from his eyes. "Shut up and drink your soup. It was this or responding to that mountain of fan mail left over from Hard to Hold."
Tsujimoto smiled at the thought that his friend would rather risk getting infected with a nasty cold than pen another hundred letters responding the their fans' enthusiasm over their particularly racy roles. "You've gotta do it some time."
"Well I feel like I might be coming down with something," Shouta mused absently, and when Tsujimoto glanced over, he wriggled his eyebrows mischievously, giggling. "Anyways, what about you? You're in no state to be hanging out in Akiba or anything with me and Baba-chan. Gonna get caught up on your fan mail?"
Tsujimoto blew on the soup. "I'm obviously in no condition to strain myself, can't you see?"
Shouta just rolled his eyes, then reached forward to tug at a stray thread hanging from the hem of Tsujimoto's overly large pajama top. "...You need to hurry up and get better."
A laugh, and Tsujimoto swallowed with some effort. "Why, so you don't have to take time out of your busy day which would otherwise have been spent playing pranks on Toshi at rehearsals instead coming to babysit me?"
Shouta brushed away the thread he'd managed to untangle. "...So we can do fun things again."
Tsujimoto nearly choked on his soup, coughing up some vile combination of miso and phlegm and not sounding attractive at all. "Oh I get it now." Shouta smiled, not looking up. "This is all just part of your clever plan to get me happy and healthy and indebted to you."
"Mmm, I'd settle for just happy and healthy at this point--but having you owe me would be nice, too, I admit."
"I'm sure." He took another sip of soup. "So what exactly would you have me do to work off this debt, Takasaki-kun?"
Shouta rolled over onto his back, hands behind his head and staring up at the ceiling. "Hmm, tough one..." He pursed his lips in thought. "First...a massage, definitely. Wait--no, first a bath. With some Lush--that you bought--and then a massage. Wait wait no! A bath while you give me a massage. Yeah."
Tsujimoto rolled his eyes; this was going to be a long one. "And then?"
"And then, assuming I didn't just fall asleep right then, you'd have to make me dinner. And nothing from the conbini or delivery. A good dinner. Like...homemade takoyaki. And sushi. And stir-fry. And curry."
"All at once?!" Tsujimoto sputtered incredulously, and Shouta nodded, smiling superiorly. "Sheesh. And then?"
"Well you'd hand-feed me my delicious dinner first. And then you'd have to wash all the dishes right then, or else they'd stink up the room."
"Uh huh."
"And then we'd watch whatever DVD I wanted to watch--and you couldn't say anything about it. Even if it was something you didn't like."
"This is sounding awfully unfair, just so you know--it's not like I was dying and you gave me a miracle cure or anything--"
"And then--and then...hmmm..." He trailed off in thought, and Tsujimoto half considered that maybe he'd run out of demands, until he started giggling to himself. Tsujimoto glanced down, and when he noticed Shouta staring back up at him with a coy smile, he rolled his eyes again, fighting back his own smile.
"You know you don't have to wait til I owe you something for that." He set the nearly-empty bowl on the floor beside his bed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Mmm, I know. It was just the next logical step in my dastardly plan to make you wait on me."
"Logical, huh? An obvious progression from bath to dinner to movies?"
"Isn't that how all good dates are supposed to end? Dinner and a movie and then karaoke with Baba-chan?"
A pause. "....What?"
"Karaoke. Maybe Big Echo, or Karaoke-kan? You know Baba-chan would never--" Shouta's brows furrowed. "...Why? Were you--oooohhh." Tsujimoto just pulled the covers up further, frowning as he smoothed out a few wrinkles. He knew Shouta liked to play stupid sometimes, but it didn't stop it from being annoying. "Tsuji-kun were you thinking of something else?" Shouta flipped himself over onto his stomach, propping himself up on his elbows and lolling his head to one side, curious. "You're blushing."
"You weren't talking about karaoke before."
"Was too." Tsujimoto gave him a look, and he sighed. "...Okay fine, I'd totally jump you after you gave me a massage and made me dinner and sat through a few Ghibli movies with me."
"Thank you."
Shouta pushed himself up, leaning back on his knees and settling his palms on his thighs. "Want anything else?" He nodded to the empty bowl on the floor. "I could make another batch if you want."
"Nah," Tsujimoto waved him off. "I'm really not hungry, just tired mostly. And all this talking probably isn't helping." Shouta nodded, looking a bit self-conscious that he hadn't considered Tsujimoto's sore throat being connected to their recent play run as much as with the swiftly changing seasons. "Not that being a little raspy isn't worth getting you to regale me with the fascinating tale of just how I'm going to make all this up to you."
Shouta smiled softly, then glanced away. "So...maybe I could make you feel better...?" He made brief eyecontact again before losing his nerve and laughing at himself, scratching his neck. "Just--I have to go soon, so I thought--"
"Ahahah--ah, no I mean, it's not--really, I mean, I'm really gross right now, kissing would--"
"I wasn't talking about kissing, Tsuji-kun." He leaned forward, placing his hands on either side of Tsujimoto's torso and stretching himself out longways. "But don't worry, I wouldn't take advantage of an invalid." He smiled, cocking his head to the side.
Tsujimoto raised his eyebrows. "Even...if the invalid asked? Nicely?"
"Invalids don't know what's best for them," Shouta reasoned matter-of-factly, smoothing the blanket around Tsujimoto before reaching forward to push his bangs to the side like a mother hen. "Besides--absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that."
"My heart's fond enough," Tsujimoto complained with a whine, tugging on Shouta's shirt--he hadn't really been in the mood before, but Shouta'd started getting him worked up and now he kinda wanted some compensation, dammit. "Just a little?"
Shouta pasted on a frown for show, pausing to consider the request and wrestling with priorities--when a soft, muffled buzzing horned in on their silent little bubble, and suddenly Shouta's frown wasn't just for show anymore. He whined an annoyed grunt, heaving himself over to feel around inside his bag for his phone. Confused, Tsujimoto protested, "Oi--just let it go to voicemail--!"
But Shouta had already fished out the device, passing a glance over the caller's name flashing on the screen before pressing the "talk" button, ignoring Tsujimoto. "I'm two stations away, I swear." A pause, and Shouta rolled his eyes. "I know we said 8:30, I'm really sorry. But Lati-kun wouldn't pee when we went on a walk, and I couldn't just leave the house then, so--" Another pause. "10 more minutes, I promise. Okay. Okay, bye." He cut the connection, sighing as he flipped the cover shut. "Sorry...sometimes it feels like I've got a girlfriend instead of a manager."
"Mmm, girlfriends can be nice, too, though." Tsujimoto leaned back, making himself comfortable--it sounded like Shouta had bigger things to worry about than showing him a good time right now.
"Yeah..." He tossed the phone between his hands. "I guess I should head out then--" He glanced down quickly to Tsujimoto's midsection, licking his lips. "Sorry, about--I really was going to--"
Tsujimoto jerked his head. "Go meet your manager. I'll be back at rehearsals tomorrow probably. Maybe Ueshima-sensei will let me take it easy for a couple of days if I at least show up."
Shouta shook his head, smiling. "Like that'll fly--he'll assume that if you're there, you're as healthy as the rest of us and put you right to work."
"Yeah, probably," Tsujimoto laughed with him. "Anyways, you'd better go. You're so not '10 minutes' from Shibuya." He pushed on Shouta's shoulder to make him move off the bed and was met with an annoyed grunt.
Shouta brushed his shirt free of wrinkles, and bent down to pick up his bag, pocketing his cellphone. He gave a soft, "Yosh" when he seemed to have put himself back together, then twisted around abruptly to grab Tsujimoto's chin in one hand and bring their lips together before the other boy could react.
After allowing himself a moment to enjoy the warm, now-familiar contact, he pushed Shouta away at the shoulder, covering his mouth with his free hand, and frowned. "I'm sick, idiot."
"I know. Still wanted to do it." A shrug. "You can owe me when I get sick now."