Main
Journey to the Stars
(or the Idiotic Love Story of Tegoshi and his Boyband) 3/12 by Tha Wrecka
See part 0 for details.
3.
The truth was, Tegoshi entered Johnny's with a bit of a crush on Yamashita Tomohisa and he never really get over it. Working with Yamapi didn't change it - in some ways that just made it worse. Being around his cool and good-looking sempai all the time was just amazing, there was so much to learn from Yamapi and so much he could gain just from being around him.
In the beginning Tegoshi would get a rush just from seeing Yamapi in the change rooms. He would smile and then Yamapi would smile (even if he looked a little confused) and that would just make Tegoshi smile more and want to blush and hide his face. Later it became about the rush of having the talented and very cool Yamashita Tomohisa as not only a colleague but also a little bit of a friend. Tegoshi wasn't under the illusion that Yamapi cared too much about their companionship, not when he had so many cool people his own age around him all the time, but it meant a lot to know that Yamapi would guide him when he needed help and laugh at his jokes.
Tegoshi was very glad for all the people he got to be in a group with.
He didn't mind so much when they told him to do stupid things. Sometimes, in their early days, Shige would take him aside and tell him that he didn't have to obey their every command and that if they ever told him to do something bad he should say no and tell somebody. Shige could be such a worrywart. Tegoshi trusted that his many cool sempai wouldn't hurt him and even if, sometimes, the things they got him to do made his stomach want to plummet out of his body, it was all worth it for the way they would smile at him and ruffle his hair afterwards. Nobody could stay mad at Tegoshi, anyway - with how easily he found it to smile his way out of trouble he was pretty sure of that.
It's not like he found Koyama particularly intimidating for long, after all. The tall boy was silly and mummy-ish and always giving in to both him and Shige. He didn't really act much older than they were at all, which was kind of nice. Kei-chan was so sweet and funny that it made Tegoshi want to cling to him and, even when he did, Kei-chan's anger about it wasn't particularly scary. If anything, it was kind of funny.
Plus, half the group was within a year or two of Tegoshi's own age. Shige might not look it - or act it - but he was about the same age as Tegoshi, and Massu was fun and easy to be around (it was like friendship at first sight with Masuda, if such a thing could exist).
By the time a third of the group had been slowly picked off Tegoshi was fairly comfortable in his own talent and his place within the group. He didn't freeze up when the terribly cool and manly Nishikido-kun entered the room any more, even if part of him kind of wanted to. He was mostly not too obvious about worshipping the very ground Yamashita-kun walked on. He knew, even if he didn't want to admit it, that he was the best singer in the group. He had nothing to worry about, no matter how much Shige seemed to think worrying was an exciting and important pastime.
Yet, somehow, there were a myriad of tiny little things attacking him when they returned as six.
Their eyes met across the room and instantly Tegoshi felt himself fill with warmth. Yamashita looked so cool. Tegoshi could feel himself starting to blush and suddenly remembered he'd been in the middle of changing his shirt.
"He's staring at you again," Ryo hissed to Yamapi.
"Shut up," Yamapi replied.
"Oh, Yamashita-kun, you're so good looking," Ryo mocked.
"Jealous, Ryo-chan? I can't help it that I'm so much cooler than you mere mortals," Yamapi teased.
"Hardly. Doesn't it kind of freak you out that he's obsessed with you?"
"I don't know. It's weird, but do you think I could get him to do stuff?"
"Stuff? What do you mean?"
"He looks up to me, right? If we asked him to do something do you think he'd do it?"
"Probably."
"Do you think I could get him to buy me snacks?"
"Maybe. I bet you could get him to do cooler stuff than that."
"I could get him to brush my hair!"
"You could make him cook you lunch."
"But what if he can't cook?"
"Then you could make him get on his knees and apologise."
"I could make him clean my shoes."
"You could make him clean your room. You could even make him do it in a dress."
"Or a French Maid outfit."
"You could make him do your homework."
"I'd probably start getting better grades than I do now."
"I think Koyama's already getting Tegoshi to do his course work."
"That must be why he's getting good marks."
"He better not be putting Tegoshi in a dress, too. You're the one the kid's freakishly obsessed with. You get first rights."
He knew they were only joking but Yamapi wondered whether he really could get Tegoshi to do those sorts of things if he tried and just how far he could go. It was almost tempting to try to get Tegoshi to do something kind of wrong just because he could.
The thoughts of what he could do settled low in his stomach and made him feel a little unwell. He shouldn't even have been considering it.
Guy talk. The endless discussion of the positives of girl parts, bodily fluids. Yamapi was complaining. "I haven't been on a date in ages."
"If you're that hard up for it you could always make Tegoshi give it up for you. He's practically gagging for it, anyway," Ryo said in a low, snide voice and snickered.
"That's disgusting," Yamapi said and pushed Ryo away from him.
He looked across the room to where Tegoshi was following Koyama around, big-eyed and bony, and felt like he wanted to be sick.
The thought didn't leave him, swirling around in his head and low in his stomach, all the things he could make Tegoshi do. It nagged at him for days and in and out of weeks until one day he just couldn't contain it any more.
"Tegoshi," Yamapi called out.
"Yes, Yamashita-kun," Tegoshi said, looking over all hopeful.
"Make me a cup of tea," Yamapi ordered.
"Yes," Tegoshi said and scurried away happily to do so.
Ryo looked viciously amused. He and Uchi looked at each other and whispered, for a moment, like a couple of girls, before Uchi burst out laughing.
Koyama looked affronted. Yamapi looked at the floor.
Koyama cornered him later, his usually amiable face twisted into anger.
"You shouldn't do that again," he hissed.
"Definitely not! Tegoshi is terrible at making tea," Yamapi replied.
Most of the time Koyama's eyes look soft and sleepy but in that moment they looked sharp and furious. "Don't take advantage of the way he thinks of you. It's not right."
"I won't!" Yamapi protested. "You shouldn't either!"
"What?" Koyama looked panicked. "Who told you I was?"
"Ryo-chan may have mentioned something about you making Tegoshi do your assignments..."
"I'll kill him," Koyama declared, once again looking as comically ineffectual as usual.
Tegoshi had faith in the fact that he'd changed, gotten more mature and less embarrassing to his elders. He didn't do a lot of the really uncool things he used to do and he'd learned to be quieter about his idol worship of Yamapi.
Seeing Yamapi shirtless across the changing room still had the power to knock the breath out of him sometimes. Tegoshi just hoped he was less obvious about it. It was kind of embarrassing when people caught him staring.