Title: Share House - A new Shed!
Author: Coolohoh
Length: One Shot, around 3.8k words.
Rating: PG
Summary: Arashi never fails to celebrate the birthday of their dear leader…
Theme: Birthday
Disclaimer: There MAY be SOME facts in the story, but this is merely a work of fiction. Self beta-ed. Forgive me if there's any spelling or grammar mistakes.
November was a busy month. It was the start of their Popcorn concert, and concerts had always been deeply fulfilling and loads of fun, but it kept the members really busy as well. And this year, it meant even more for Ohno Satoshi. The main choreography for the concert. Ohno's first time ever being in charge of so many songs for the entire group. He always did his own dance, so it wasn’t a question of ability, but it had been ages since he last choreographed a dance for everyone. Choreography for 5 was really different dreaming up his own dance, and it had been one hell of a ride. LIke waking up at 8am to choreograph a song from pretty much just vague inspirations in his mind when he had to 'hand up' his work and teach the members the dance that very day at 1pm. Ohno was astonished in his own confidence at times. Maybe he just worked better under pressure. He was really glad to be in Arashi. To have members as understand as the four of them. They just laughed when he forgot the dance steps he came up with less then a week before and had to check on the video recordings… Ohno was sure J would have flared up long ago if it was someone else. It was great to have understanding members like that. Even when he didn’t have any inspiration and was merely skating around in the studio… the members merely teased him and asked him to be careful. "We're not going to save you if you get blisters from those skates, are you sure they even fit you?" Nino had said, rolling his eyes non-stop. "Who's skates were those anyway?" J had asked wearily. When Ohno replied that they were just random skates lying on the studio floor, Sho looked at him wide eyed. "And they fit you? You are going to get blisters from ill-fitting skates you know, and are you sure you won't get some fugal infection form wearing dirty skates?" Sho was worrying too much as always. "Its alright, plus I'm wearing socks!" Ohno had replied, exasperated. And he thought the members would be worried that they wouldn’t have enough time to learn the dance at the rate he was going. IF he could even come up with anything at all for that matter. Ohno was also glad that the members were so willing to try out all sorts of crazy ideas he came up with. Like tossing J in the air for Tokei… though that didn’t work out in the end. It gave him confidence as a choreographer, something he really needed.
Everything was fine now, the first 3 days of the concert had gone by splendidly and they'll soon be heading to Sapporo for the second of the five dome tour. Ohno hummed happily to himself as he rolled around on the sofa. They had several meetings and discussions after the first concert, to check if there's anything that needed changing or fine-tuning. Ohno was glad that was settled fast though. J had been very efficient, as always. Ohno stretched as he got up from bed (i.e., the sofa). He was greeted by Nino, who was already tucking into the Gyu Don (beef with rice) breakfast Aiba had made.
"Where's Aiba?" Ohno asked, looking around the house for signs of the energetic man. He was surprised when he saw the pile of bowls by the sink. One, two, three bowls?
"Ah, the rest have already gone out." Nino replied when he saw Ohno looking at the dishes.
"Eh? Already?" It was 9:30am in the morning, not THAT early, but still, J was not know to be a morning person. "All three of them? Together?" Ohno probed again.
"Un" Nino nodded. "You know Aiba, he has to eat yakiniku after concerts… and you know Sakurai also like yakiniku so he went along… then Aibaka woke J up with his 'celebrations', and J insisted on going with them...." Nino stopped and smirked at the confused+irritated+sad look on Ohno's face, probably thinking how they could have left him out of their usual after concert yakiniku celebrations.
"In case Aiba buys the wrong type of meat home that sort of thing" Nino finished.
"Ah….! I thought they forgot about me…" Ohno mumbled.
"You baka! How could we forget about this sleepy head taking up the entire sofa! Aiba wants to eat at home this time. Plus, I'm still here too ain't I?"
"Yeah true" Ohno grinned.
"I'll set up my game consoles so we can play!" Nino grinned back, as he put his dishes in the sink. "Ah this…" Nino waved his hand over the mess in the sink, "Yoroshiku ne?" Nino winked as Ohno let out a groan. "Serves you right for waking up so late!" He chuckled as he climbed the stairs to his bedroom to bring down the games. He'd very much rather to leave them all in the living room, but Sho and Jun would have none of it. It would make the living room too messy, the two perfectionists had insisted.
Ohno went to join Nino with his games after washing the dishes.
Elsewhere in Tokyo…
Jun was in the market, shopping for the yakiniku ingredients. He was the one who insisted on buying the food, but now he was starting to regret his decision. Practically the whole market was staring at the top idol buying food in the wet market (the meat there is fresher than those in the supermarket). No matter how he tried to conceal his identity, he still always got recognised in an instant. He gave up and took off his sunglasses altogether. Luckily, for him, the older fans in the market were content with smiling and waving at him. No crazy fangirls busy snapping photos. Matsumoto gave a bright smile as he approached the stall he was looking for. Maybe he could turn this to his advantage.
He ended up leaving the market with a lot more food than he intended to buy. The stall holders had given him an extra large helping for meat for half the usual price. And the veggies? The kindly old women from the vegetables stall was so delighted to see him that she insisted on giving him the veggies for free. Being an idol has its perks sometimes. He checked his watch. It was still early… maybe he should give Sho a hand, he thought as he packed the meat neatly into the icebox.
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Aiba was driving to the port to meet the captain. Not that leader who wanted to be called captain. The REAL captain. Of a REAL boat. That leader always goes fishing with. He had managed to contact the captain to ask if he could sell them some fish, or anything that Ohno likes… or something (althought he knew very well what Ohno likes). He still wasn't too sure why he actually called the captain, but he was surprised when the captain delightfully told Aiba he could come have some of his catch for their BBQ.
The captain was a happy and easy going man. No wonder leader liked him so much. He helped Aiba carry the huge ice box to the car. "Uwah, this is heavy! Just what is inside captain? Can I see?"
"Ah… there's a lot of ice, that's why its heavy." The captain explained.
Aiba eagerly lifted the lid and checked out the goodies the captain packed for them.
"Ah this, Ohno likes this fish a lot ne? And we caught some lobsters yesterday too, then ah some shellfish, Sakurai like this ne? Leader always says that…" The captain went on as he dug out the contents of the box and showed them to Aiba.
"Wah this is a lot, thank you very much!"
"Tell Ohno happy birthday for me" The captain smiled before sending Aiba off with a wave.
'We are going to have a great fest later!' Aiba thought happily. It was only then that he realised he hasn't paid the captain yet. Or more like, he didn't even offer to pay. 'Opps!' Aiba thought. He'll have to pay back the captian next time.
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When Jun entered Ohno's house, Sho couldn’t say how relieved enough he was. They really should have came and fetch Ohno's art stuff earlier, but repainting and redecorating the shed had kept them busy enough. On top of all the concerts and rehearsals. He had tried coming to pack once, but that was a few weeks back so he didn’t dare do much - least Ohno should return to his house and find things misplaced. Sho regretted not checking carefully just how much art supplies Ohno had. He thought it was just everything in that cupboard, but he didn’t realise the entire storeroom was FILLED with random art stuff here and there… and Ohno's completed and half done works. He was really glad that their shared house had a huge shed.
Jun realised they were in deep shit the moment he saw the storeroom. "Change of plans! I'll call Aiba to come and help, and I'll bring both the meat and the fish back first. And get Ohno to help me prepare the fish while Nino comes and help with the moving!" Jun looked at his watch. 10am. He'll help out with the packing first and see how far they can go by noon. For once he was glad for Aiba's heavy breakfast. They were going to have a late lunch today.
Three men working together proved more efficient than they expected, but still, they had a huge part of the storeroom left to pack at noon. "Ah… I think I have to go back first with the food!" Matsumoto exclaimed. Good thing there was tons of ice in both cooler box.
"Tell them me and Aiba went to get the beer! And don't ask Nino to come, we'll finish up!"
"But there's still so much left! And beer? How can we explain that we took so long to get the food and still have not gotten the beer?"
"Ah… but we really didn’t get the beer! Say we took really long to find the captain or something… anything… I bet leader knows we are up to something already… And no don't get Nino to come, if Nino leaves Ohno will instantly start demanding for an answer! At least we packed all of Ohno's works in the car already. The art supplies are easier to pack. We have to worry about breaking them at least..." Sho replied, wiping the sweat of his brow.
"Ne… how are we going to get all these in the shed later?" Aiba asks.
"I don't know…" J shrugged. "We'll try and come up with something to distract leader…"
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At the house…
Ohno stared wide-eyed as Nino and Jun struggled to get the huge icebox through the door.
"Can you stop standing there like an idiot and come and help!" Nino yelled.
"There's still more in the car!" J said as he and Nino put the icebox on the floor and started pushing it into the kitchen.
Ohno placed the smaller icebox and bags of veggie on the kitchen floor. All the while not taking his eyes off that huge white styrofoam cartoon.
"What's that?" Ohno asked.
"… fish…" Jun replied, after some hesitation. He was exhausted from carrying and pushing that huge box (and packing up at Ohno's place), plus, he wasn't exactly sure what was in the box himself. Aiba was the one who went to pick it up after all.
"Fish? For yakiniku?" Ohno asked, surprise and confused.
"From the captain."
"Eh? Why did he?"
"Ah… ano… Aiba ne? He wanted to see the port that you always go to fish, so since we have so much time after buying the groceries we drove over to the port, then the captain recognised us and gave us all that. Actually, after hearing that we were going to have yakiniku he just disappeared somewhere and came back with the whole box, so I don't really know what's inside as well…" Jun lied smoothly. He was surprised that he managed to make up such a story right there and then. Nino's lying skills must have rubbed off to him.
"Ah so… wait… where's Sho and Aiba?" Ohno asked, even more bewildered this time.
"They went to get beer." Ohno continued to stare at Jun. "There's a new supermarket that opened and they wanted to check it out…"
"Huh? New supermarket? Where?"
"Sensei! Are you going to prepare the fish or not! I'm hungry!" Nino cut in, saving Jun from making up even more stories.
"Hai hai hai… let's prepare the food!" Jun announced, grateful for the change in topic. He started unpacking the meat to marinate them. Instead of yakiniku, they'll end up doing a barbecue ON TOP of the yakiniku… with the amount of meat and seafood they'd gotten. Ohno was soon engrossed with preparing the seafood, and helping J. He didn’t notice when Nino slipped out of the house.
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Behind the kitchen, Aiba and Nino were trying to be as quiet as possible while unpacking Ohno's art supplies. They were trying their best to organise the all of Ohno's art works and tools, all the while keeping in mind that there's a lot more coming in Car No. 2. It was already 2pm when Sho finally arrived, after packing every single one of Ohno's art related item into his car, AND going to the supermarket to buy a cartoon of beer (not a newly opened one though). Aiba took the cartoon of beer from Sho. "Ano… choto… go help Nino, I'll say that the rest of us are starting the barbecue fire." Aiba said, motioning Sho towards the direction of the shed with his head. Aiba let out a huge sigh of relief as he placed cans of beer in the fridge. Half the plan was complete. Hopefully they'll be able to finish up smoothly.
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3pm.
Aiba had successfully started the fire, and the food was ready. All five members gathered in the front yard and the barbecue started. After a while, Nino complained something about needing a bath, and excused himself from the cooking. Of course, instead of the bathroom, Nino sneaked into the shed that was now piled up with several boxes of art supplies. He groaned. Just how the hell were they going to finish packing! Nino managed to unpack one box in 30 minutes… hopefully Ohno hasn't missed his presence too much. He was glad for the cool weather, otherwise, he'd be all sweaty and flustered and would REALLY be in need of a bath then. He hurried up to his room to change his clothes before joining the rest just as the food was ready.
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"So, happily bathing while we were cooking for you huh?" J accused. Nino gave the rest a guilty look as he sat down. "I'm sorry." He replied half heartedly as the rest of the members laughed.
"Ah… its pretty chilly out here. Why don't we bring the food into the living room and eat?" Nino suggested. So they carried all the food indoors and settled by the huge coffee table in from of the TV. Nino promptly settled down beside Ohno on the main sofa.
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The food was delicious. The seafood was extremely fresh, the meat was tender and juicy… Exclamations of 'Umai' fill the air. As Aiba was getting more beer from the fridge though, Nino turned around and started motioning to Aiba. Something about '3' and pointing to the front door.
"What's wrong, Nino?" Ohno turned around to look at the gesturing Nino.
"Ah… I was trying to tell Aiba that there's 3 more pieces of meat left and I'm asking him to cook it."
"Oh 3 pieces?" Ohno frowned.
"More than 3 actually. A lot more than 3. The granny gave me a lot! You guys want more? Me and Aiba will go cook!" Jun covered for Aiba smoothly. He'd understood Nino's message. "Hurry up, there's 3 more boxes to unpack!" Jun whispered into Aiba's ear as he dragged the taller man out. And so they took turns like that for the rest of the barbecue. Two of them pretending to be doing the barbecue when in fact only one of them were cooking while the other was busying unpacking the last 3 boxes. Ohno had offered to help with the cooking, but Nino promptly objected by lying onto Ohno's lap, demanding to be fed like a baby. Ohno was surprised be complied anyway. It was a while since Nino last acted so childishly with him, and it felt kind of nostalgic. Onlooker Sho was throughly amused. As much as he found it unfair that Nino got the least physically exhausting work of the four, he had to admit that he just had a way with Ohno. "Sho, why don't you help Masaki and J with the food, they are taking such a long time…!"
"Maybe the fire died out and Aiba's trying to restart it?" Ohno asked.
"Could be, go help him out Sho!" Nino smirked as he chased Sho out. That'll teach Sho for laughing at them. He'll keep Ohno all to himself.
"My my… Kazu is so naughty." Ohno chilled.
"Hmm…" Nino got up from Ohno's lap and gave Ohno a kiss. Ohno smiled and shifted to lie down on the sofa, hugging Nino from behind and resting his head on the crook of Nino's neck. The two of them just laid there together. No saying a single word, satisfied in each other's presence. Nino couldn’t be sure how long they spent like this, but when the other three finally returned with the food, it was already half past six.
"Yay its dinner time!" AIba happily announced, choosing to ignore the way Ohno and Nino were stuck together.
"Oh, so you guys finally cooked finish?" Nino asked, raising his eyebrows and looking at J for an indication while slowly sitting up on the sofa, still with Ohno stuck behind him. Ohno was now resting his arms on Nino's shoulders.
"Yeah yeah yeah… we finally finished cooking everything. Aiba insisted that we cook finish ALL the food so that we can have it for dinner." J replied, assuring Nino that the unpacking was finished.
"And supper!" Aiba chirped in, oblivious to the conversation that was going on between Nino and Jun.
"Hmm… since the five of us are finally here, I want to play a song… ne leader can you get it for me?" Nino asked, nudging the Ohno who was still stuck on him like a barnacle. It was amusing, normally he was the one stuck on Ohno like a barnacle, he'd never image that sometimes the roles would be switched too.
"Hmm… why me?" Ohno whined.
"Because you didn’t help with the cooking!"
"But that's because you didn’t let me…" Ohno pouted.
"Can you guys stop it already!" It was just too much for Sho to take. Especially after Nino had chased him out earlier like that…
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Ohno made a sad face as he got off the sofa (and Nino) and started going up the stairs to their room.
"Ohno-san, where are you going?" Nino mocked when Ohno just reached the top of the stairs, amused.
"Didn’t you ask me to get your guitar? To play music?"
"Yes I did say I wanted to play something, but I didn’t say I wanted to play my guitar."
"Than what do you want?" Ohno frowned.
"I feel like playing the keyboard today."
Ohno's frown got even deeper.
Nino continued. "Yes keyboard. I think its in the shed."
Ohno sighed, lamenting "You could have just told me from the beginning right?"
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Ohno sauntered to the shed, wondering why Nino's keyboard would be kept there. It had been quite a while since he last entered the shed. He fumbled around for the light switch.
He was shocked. There, on the table, was the magnificent set of art pens that he had been admiring for the shop since several months ago. He looked around the room and realised that the shelves were filled with his drawings and other creations… and then his art supplies were lined up neatly in the shelves and in the glass cabinet. He was vaguely aware of the other members coming in, pulled party poppers, and sung him a birthday song as the confetti was falling. He was still in shock when Sho came back with the birthday cake. Sho stole a kiss on Ohno's red cheeks as he set down the cake on the table beside the birthday boy.
"Do you like the pens?" Sho asked, while the rest looked bewildered.
It took a while before Ohno could compose himself enough to ask "How did you know?"
"I followed you to the art shop one day and saw you looking at it!" Sho proudly declared.
"You mean, you stalked him."
"Sho looked embarrassed as Ohno looked at him with loving eyes.
'Chikushou! I lost to Sho!' Nino thought. But that thought was soon forgotten when Aiba loudly declared "Group hug!" and pulled them all together.
"Just long how long have you guys been hiding this away from me!" Ohno asked as he admired the room. It wasn’t just the fact they all his art stuff was moved over, they also go new furniture for the shed - shelves, cabinets, tables, chairs… even the lighting was newly installed, and they had made sure it was 1) bright enough and 2) white all, so that he can work on his art properly. It seemed like every detail was taken into consideration.
"Well if you mean like the shed in its current state…" Nino frowned. "About five minutes? Or ten?"
"Yes I was the last to finish packing up." Sho nodded vigourously. "Planing wise, I came up with it when it we moved into the house!" Sho declared, putting his arm across leader's shoulders, triumphant at his presumed victory over Nino. Nino rolled his eyes while Aiba and Jun tried their best to hold back their laughter at the 'rivalry' between Sho and Nino. 'Victory is all mine!' Sho thought, as Ohno gave Sho a hug and rested his head oh Sho's shoulder with a blissful look on his face. "Thank you so much Sho, for the pens… I really love it! You gave me… so much… inspiration." Ohno whispered into Sho's ear.
That night, as Nino and Sho were cleaning up the remains of the BBQ in the front yard (J and Aiba were cleaning the living room), it was Nino who started the conversation.
"So, it looks like we both lost."
"So it seems…" Sho sighed. "But I still think my gift is better."
"But I was the one who kept him company!"
"I could have done that just as well thank you very much!" Sho huffed.
Both man were convinced that they'd be able to get Ohno to spend the night in their rooms but…
Ohno was happily humming to himself in the shed. He could tell that the unpacking was done in the haste, and thinking back on the day's events he gathered that they only had time to bring all his stuff over today… he was really touched that the members cared so much about him. He had once lamented that all his art stuff were still in his apartment, but he didn’t expect that they had been planning this all along. No wonder they all ignored him when he asked for help with bringing his art supplies over. He looked proudly at the shelves. He'll have to rearrange the supplies later so that it'll be more convenient for him when he works, but for now its alright. He continued humming as he dug out his sketchbook and started sketching with the new pens. It's been a while since he had so much inspiration.
Elsewhere in the house, two men sighed. They were going to have to try harder next time.
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Yay! Happy birthday to our dear leader! And yes, Nino and Sho love rivalry battle… that was won by Ohno! I hope the ending didn’t disappoint you, it just felt so right to me since… Ohno is Ohno.
For Yama pair lovers... I did write a side story but its NC-17 so you'll have to
vist my LJ for it... Its not locked anyway.
Ohmiya lovers gomen ne... I wanted to write something but just didn’t have the time... maybe next time when the plot bunnies come pouncing