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Journey to the Stars
(or the Idiotic Love Story of Tegoshi and his Boyband) 1/12 by Tha Wrecka
See part 0 for details.
1.
All back and more vibrant than ever, it was strange to realise he missed them all so much when he'd once thought he'd never miss most of them at all. Oh, how they'd changed - different hairstyles, different clothes, different attitudes - and yet how they'd stayed the same, how familiar and wonderful they seemed.
It wasn't like he hadn't seen most of them during the suspension. Ryo-chan was still one of his best friends. It was hard to avoid seeing Koyama - he'd pop out of the strangest places at the weirdest times. Even if he hadn't seen Tegoshi and Masuda a few times on their own he would be able to spot them on TV easily enough and, though he didn't go out of his way to visit Shige, the boy was often where Koyama was. Still, there was something about seeing them all together, being NEWS again, that really uplifted Yamapi.
Koyama and Shige were being silly together, just as they had before the suspension (and, undoubtedly, all the way through the suspension). There was something different about them, though. Koyama seemed to have gotten manlier and Shige seemed better looking. There were probably other things about them that were different but Yamapi couldn't really figure out what they were.
There was something different about Masuda, too, something about the air around him. Yamapi couldn't figure out what that was, either. Ryo-chan was still Ryo-chan, just like he had been last Saturday.
"Yamashita-san," called out a clear voice.
Tegoshi, it seemed, had changed the most of all. The baby looked almost grown up.
Everything was a mess backstage. Groups wandered around, killing time until the show started, shrugging their way into gaudy costumes.
"Ah, I'd forgotten how it felt to dress like a gold-plated hobo," Nishikido said with a smile as he put on his costume.
"My arms barely remember the way this goes," Shige said.
"You'll be fine," Tegoshi said. "Come on!"
It felt exciting, like the first day back at school or the first time seeing a favourite cousin returning from holiday. Tegoshi didn't feel like he could ever stop smiling.
"On in 20!"
They really weren't ready to go on air yet, but they still pushed each other out on stage, making sure they wouldn't miss their cue.
"Come on, Yamashita-san," Tegoshi called out, noticing him dawdling to look around behind them.
Yamapi ran to follow.
There was something truly exhilarating about performing as NEWS again. It felt right, them being together again. Like family they hadn't known they'd wanted until they'd been forced apart and now they got to reunite in front of thousands of people under the bright stage lights.
Shige couldn't stop smiling, where he was standing next to Yamapi. Tegoshi didn't think he'd ever seen Shige that happy before. His smile stretched his face wide.
Koyama was almost as bright. He really seemed happy to be with them again. Before they'd gone on stage he'd hugged Tegoshi so tightly that Tegoshi thought he wouldn't be able to breathe before going on to do exactly the same to Shige. Shige had looked a bit put out by it but not enough to stop beaming like crazy.
Masuda was as bouncy as Tegoshi was and even Nishikido-kun looked pleased to be with them.
Tegoshi caught his eye and smiled then looked back at the crowd. He looked swamped in a brightly-coloured coat but his eyes were bright and his smile was strong. He looked utterly delighted to get to sing and play with his friends again, to entertain the fans, to be the Tegoshi that he can only be in NEWS.
Pi felt a little moved at seeing how vibrant and strong Tegoshi's love for NEWS was. All the group were filled with love, a strong swell of it that Yamapi wasn't sure what to do with.
After they ran off stage Ryo grabbed him.
"What are you thinking?" Ryo asked.
"Everyone got much cuter," Yamapi said.
"Including me?" Ryo asked, turning puppy eyes on Yamapi (and, yet, still smirking).
"Of course, Ryo-chan is the cutest of them all."
They rushed straight back into group work again. It was welcome, if a little dazing. They were presented with an itinerary for the next few days and went through all their various responsibilities with the manager, before going home to pack for a quick trip.
It wasn't too much of a step up in workload for Tegoshi but he did wonder how Shige was taking it. Shige, after all, hadn't done much in the way of work for a while (unless cleaning up after Kei-chan counted as a job).
Tegoshi couldn't fall asleep on the plane. He was too excited. Instead, he watched the fluffy clouds outside the window and the changes of colour in the sky as time zones flew by.
Over the course of the flight Masuda's sleeping head drifted towards his shoulder and then hung down at what had to be an uncomfortable angle. Tegoshi shifted a little and brought Masuda's head up until it actually leaned against his shoulder, hoping that Massu wouldn't have a sore neck by the time the flight was done.
He'd gotten used to sleeping on Massu's shoulder or letting Massu sleep on his shoulder as they spent countless hours on transport. Somehow, it was comfortingly mundane.
The calendar shoot started early, when the sky was still dull and murky. Leaning against things, leaning against each other. Tegoshi wanted to huddle in his coat but that didn't make for good photos so he just had to brave the cool morning air.
It was nice to get back into the swing of posing with the six of them, even if doing magazine shoots with just Massu had been terribly fun.
Tegoshi saw brief glimpses of the city as they moved from place to place for each different set of photos. It was interesting, strange but not as strange as it could have been, the jabber of English all around him so different from home.
Tegoshi tried to copy Pi's expression. Pouted mouth, down-turned eyes. He had a feeling that he looked more like he was scowling and grumpy than looking serious and slightly dangerous in that fairly safe boyband sort of way. Still, he would keep trying until he got it.
Pi raised an eyebrow at him. Tegoshi realised he'd been staring for a while and turned his head to look at the cameraman instead.
There were beach shots on the cards, which Tegoshi was glad of. The whole group liked the beach; the sand, the water, the sun. Tegoshi even liked the way it sounded, the gentle splash of waves on the shore.
"Be fun! Be happy! Be cute!" The photographer called out, as they made their way onto the beach.
The beach was wonderful, bright sun and warm sand under his feet. The sea smelt particularly inviting. All around them were the sounds of waves gently crashing onto the beach and the calls of a few birds flying overhead. Tegoshi could hear the faint jangly noise of laughter.
It was nice to get to do photographs with a cute doggy, too. They were playing, almost not like work at all.
Best of all was laying in a warm pile, head pillowed on Kei-chan's legs. As the four of them lay there in the sun, skin to skin, Tegoshi could feel them all re-bonding, re-affirming their friendship through the flesh.
Shige ended up with sand all through his hair.
Tegoshi felt like he should have been embarrassed. It should have felt weird that one of the first things they got to do after they reunited was pose half naked in a laundromat halfway across the world. Mostly, however, he felt cold.
His nipples felt tight as air rushed through the room. He wasn't thinking about them all being half-naked and sexy. He was thinking that he was really glad that at least it was warmer here than it was at home.
They told him to leave his glasses on as they shot some of the final pictures of the day. Tegoshi felt like he should be self-conscious about them but he couldn't work up the right kind of energy to be anxious and, anyway, if Yamapi could look sexy in glasses then there was no reason Tegoshi shouldn't try his best to make them work for him, too.
Shige seemed like he'd learned to look really sexy while they were on break. Tegoshi was impressed! It gave him hope that Shige might work on his other weaknesses yet, though there was really only so much that could be done about his singing.
The theme park wasn't as fun as Yamapi thought it would be. The roller coaster made him feel a little sick. Every time Koyama yelled something silly right in his ear just made it worse.
He wobbled all over the place as he got off the ride.
"Yamapi looks like he's going to vomit."
He staggered around, breathing deeply and trying to lean on things.
"Make way for Pi so he doesn't get sick on you!" Koyama laughed.
Ryo laughed so Yamapi glared at him.
"Life is so hard for you," Ryo mocked.
Yamapi had to go back early for filming so the rest of them got to play around and go shopping for another day.
Massu got caught up in one shop full of shiny things so they decided to meet him back there later.
Nishikido-kun took him shopping in the early days of the group, once, shoving at him clothes he thought Tegoshi should wear, while Uchi looked on and made the occasional snarky comment.
At the end, Uchi forced Ryo to buy them all ice cream as a reward for sitting through all the poking and prodding.
Tegoshi didn't love clothes when he was younger. He learned to love them and love shopping for them over time, learned to love playing with his look and not just settling for the same old sweaters and jeans. He was so happy that their guidance taught him that, even if Massu still didn't like his outfits half the time. (That was okay, though, because Massu's outfits were worse.)
"Don't buy another thing with skulls on it!" exclaimed Shige.
"But I like skulls," Tegoshi protested. "They're cute."
"No, they're not. I'm sick of them."
"Look, it's sparkly," Tegoshi said, holding it up to the light.
He brought it closer to Shige and wriggled it about, showing off the way the light caught it and sent the colours spinning off in a thousand directions.
"No," Shige said. "You have too many already."
"What are you looking at?" Koyama said, appearing, as if out of nowhere, and draping his arms on Shige's shoulders.
Tegoshi held the item up for his inspection.
"Oh, that's cute," Koyama said.
"No, Tegoshi," Shige said.
"I like it," Tegoshi protested. "I'm going to get it, anyway."
"What is the point of asking my advice if you're just going to buy it, anyway?"
"I wasn't asking anything. I was just showing you how cute it is. You have lots of clothes I don't like that you wear all the time. Why do I have to dress the way you tell me to?"
Tegoshi supposed he was, perhaps, being a bit of a brat. That was the fun part about getting to be the baby of the group.
They went into another shop, full of all sorts of curiosities and exciting knick-knacks. It was kind of cool, though Tegoshi could feel the excitement wearing off quickly.
Tegoshi turned around and saw that Kei-chan was making stupid faces again. Normally Tegoshi didn't mind but the shop assistant was looking at them strangely.
"This very good," Koyama spoke in English, pointing to a hideous statue of a lurid green baby dragon. He made a face as if he was trying to mimic the expression on the statue.
"Stop it, moron," Shige said, smacking Koyama on the shoulder.
"Ow," Koyama said, rubbing his shoulder.
Tegoshi had been paying attention and Shige definitely didn't hit that hard.
"Don't be such a baby, Kei-chan," Tegoshi demanded in a cheerful voice.
He linked his arm through Koyama's, ignoring the way his older friend was pouting. Shige dragged them both out of the store.
They returned to find Massu, still nowhere near finished with that one shop. He decided to try things on while they were there to give him advice and they chose to suffer through it.
Massu could be so indecisive sometimes and never more so than when shopping. He hemmed and hawed whenever he tried something on or looked at something he might like.
Tegoshi liked shopping a lot but even he could get grumpy after hours of it.
"Do you think this looks good on me?" he asked, modelling a t-shirt with some indecipherable slogan.
"Yeah, it looks good," Shige replied.
"Really? Are you sure?"
"It looks fine," Tegoshi said.
"Hmm, I don't know," Masuda said, turning around and looking at himself in the changing room's mirrors again.
"Massu, just hurry up and make a decision!" Tegoshi whined in frustration. "It's not that hard!"
"But I don't know if-"
"Shut up! It looks hot on you, nothing in your wardrobe goes with anything else and I'm sick of this store."
"You don't have to yell, Tegoshi," Koyama scolded him.
Tegoshi pouted and looked off to the side while Massu scurried back into the changing room. It may not have been the best end to that shopping misadventure but at least it got Masuda to buy the top and let them all get out of the store.
He felt a little bad about yelling at Massu but Massu didn't seem to mind at all, even put an arm around him as they left the shop and cuddled him close all the way back to the hotel.