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Journey to the Stars
(or the Idiotic Love Story of Tegoshi and his Boyband) 2/12 by Tha Wrecka
See part 0 for details.
2.
Pi had an array of cool designer shirts. Today he was wearing a really nice black one. Tegoshi loved the way it looked on him, not the least because he sometimes wore the cool leather jacket with it. Seeing Yamapi in that jacket made him happy and brought a host of happy memories and pleasant associations with it. Enough that he almost didn't fantasise about pushing it off Pi's broad shoulders.
Tegoshi was hyped up and ready to go, so excited about rehearsing that he could barely stop bouncing. Koyama compared him to a cartoon animal, which delighted Tegoshi who giggled wholeheartedly.
He just couldn't wait to get started again! The sooner they started the better.
There were so many steps, new steps to remember, old steps that shouldn't be forgotten but that slip out towards the edges of his brain. Sometimes he almost forgot steps in the middle of doing them on a program, thinking too much to let his body do what it should remember to do. Easier, when he was alone, to close his eyes and let his body roll and slide as it wills.
Pi could lose himself in dancing, in the dark, by himself. Let his body take over and shut off his mind.
They practised for hours. Tegoshi felt a little dizzy, though maybe he hadn't eaten or drunk enough yet.
Tegoshi had forgotten how hard the dancing could be, how fast the steps were and how quickly they had to learn them. His body protested his movements but he did his best.
Of course, everyone was impressed that he didn't really suck at dancing any more, even if he still had to work a little harder to make sure he got the steps right and knocked his movements out at the right speed.
He danced. Tegoshi was focusing a little hard on his movements and not on the silly people behind him. Nonetheless, they weren't having the quietest conversation so he did hear when they said his name.
"What are you saying about me?" he yelled back to them.
"You dance a lot better now than you used to."
"Ah, Tegoshi's all sexy now," Koyama teased.
Tegoshi turned to face them and blew them a kiss.
"Ah, you're so grown up!" Koyama said, looking proud.
Tegoshi beamed.
It seemed like Koyama was trying to act brotherly again.
Koyama had said, once or twice, that he thought of Tegoshi somewhat like a little brother. Tegoshi kind of liked that idea, though he was very glad Koyama wasn't his actual brother. (For one thing, that would have made that extended fantasy Tegoshi had about a threesome with Kei-chan and Shige really wrong.)
"You'll be beating the girls off with a stick. In fact, there may be so many girls we'll have to beat the girls off for you," he continued.
"Kei-chan!"
Initially, they practised so much that it made Tegoshi feel like his limbs were turning to glue. His head was a little fuzzy and he suspected that that meant he was dehydrated but he didn't go to get a glass of water, anyway. He had the feeling that if he did he would miss something important, though he couldn't imagine what it would be.
When they were forced to take a small break Massu dragged him into the corner and made him drink from his water bottle. Massu had pretty wrapped lollies in his pocket and he gave Tegoshi two, with a gentle smile.
Tegoshi smiled as he unwrapped them and closed his eyes as the sugar burst on his tongue, infiltrated his mouth. A little happy noise escaped him against his will.
When he opened his eyes Massu looked as if he had been forced to reconcile himself to something a bit unpleasant. Tegoshi paid him no mind.
"Now run through it one more time."
Shige was sick of it already. Doing the same steps over and over had gotten boring and Koyama kept making fun of his movements. He just didn't care enough to do any better by this point.
When the dance instructor finally gave up on them Shige didn't think he could have been more relieved.
Tegoshi was leaning against the wall, face buried in his arm. Yamapi walked over to him, forced him to stand upright.
Pi weaved his fingers through Tegoshi's hair, drew it away from his face, parted it this way and that. He drew his hand down the soft petal skin of the boy's face, slipped his thumb near tired, delicate eyes. Tegoshi looked about ready to droop, his earlier energy nearly completely deflated from him like a hot balloon. Pi bent and picked him up, almost as easy as when he was younger.
"Yamashita-san," Tegoshi gasped.
Pi carried him out of the room.
As soon as he saw it Tegoshi loved the song. He liked that idea, that they were being reborn. That they could shine like stars in the cool night sky, that they could grow in this new direction together, that people can begin again; these thoughts filled him with a humming dreamy feeling he couldn't describe.
He loved performing Hoshi wo Mezashite. It made him happy to sing that song and do that dance and make other people happy with it. Every time they performed it on a music program or in concert it electrified his soul.
He could tell that the more they performed it, the more the rest of the group liked the song, too. He loved the meaning it had, the feeling it gave that NEWS could go on together for a very long time. It felt significant to have that as their first song back from suspension.
Koyama liked to tease that Tegoshi only liked the song because it was on his penguin movie but Tegoshi knew that Kei-chan felt it, too.
Yamapi could feel it growing on him. Sure, at first he'd thought it sounded a little stupid but more and more it felt right, felt like them. A bit dorky, a bit cute and the kind of thing that grew on you until you couldn't understand how you'd ever not loved it - yeah, that was definitely them.
"When we sing this song, when we run through the lyrics or hum the melody, when we do it together I feel like we make magic. I feel like this song is a spell that brings us closer together," Tegoshi spoke, strong and true.
"I feel it, too," Shige said and there was magic between them.
They looked at each other, smiled, and in that moment they knew each other's hearts.
A moment later Massu tripped over Koyama's pants that had been haphazardly thrown somewhere near the middle of the room and Koyama started shrieking, totally ruining the good feeling.