Love Episodes - Episode 22: Let Me Entertain You

[yoru-no-hikaru.livejournal.com]

Pairing: KinKi Kids
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Don't own KinKi Kids, or anything JE-related
Warnings: itsy-bitsy tiny bit dark, some angst
Multi-Chapter


Intro: We're in the middle of "KinKi You" tour. KinKi Kids are having their first summer tour in forever and they realise that it takes a lot from both of them. But KinKi Kids always have a fighting spirit.


Note: As expected, now that I'm working again, I cannot update nearly as often as I would like to. But finally a new chapter is done and the "You" story-line will be finished soon. Looking forward to the Swan Song / J period.

“Okay, everybody,” the stage coordinator called out, “20 minutes. Please, get ready.”

Tsuyoshi took a deep breath, closing his eyes. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Oi,” Koichi exclaimed, startled as well. “Easy. You’ve been jumpy all day. Are you okay?”

Tsuyoshi thought about that for a while, then nodded, smiling.

“I mean,” he said apologetically, “I’m not feeling the most energetic ever, but I’m okay. I am anxious to get out on stage, but in a good way, really. Once I’m out, I’m sure I’ll have fun.”

 

“Okay,” Koichi smiled back. “Let’s do it. If you need anything, call backstage. We’ve got everything you might need.”

“I’m not worried about that,” Tsuyoshi told him.

“Okay, then. Let’s gather everybody for some good cheering.”

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

KinKi Kids always enjoyed their smaller shows. They felt closer to their fans and they could move with more ease. The stage show wasn’t quite as big, but for them it didn’t really matter much. The fans didn’t seem to mind too much either – so long as Koichi and Tsuyoshi shared some love on stage. Fanservice was a strange thing, Koichi found. While he didn’t feel in the least bit disturbed by it (so long as it was with Tsuyoshi), he didn’t feel the kind of excitement that coursed through his body whenever Tsuyoshi touched him in private either. There was nothing even close to sexual about it. It was… work. Simply a few moves to please the fans. The only feel he got out of it for himself was fun. Koichi enjoyed the squealing of the girls, whenever Tsuyoshi advanced him, touched him, jumped him, pinned him, kissed him – it didn’t really matter. Not to mention that Koichi liked getting so much attention.

 

A more necessary than pleasurable pattern of the concert was the MC part – especially when he knew he should keep the main part to himself in order to make Tsuyoshi more at ease. Sure enough, the younger man smiled gratefully at him, when he realised that Koichi had decided to simply involve MA in the MC. He thought it was good that the guys got some attention anyway. And Koichi and MA worked really well together. The MC lasted for almost 45 minutes – even though the MA guys had cut into Koichi’s fawning over Pan and his F1 talk. It was a good MC, Tsuyoshi decided, once MA headed off to get to their positions.

 

“Ok,” Koichi announced happily. “It’s time we continued with the show.”

“Even though you’d rather explain why the roof of Tokyo Dome stays up,” Tsuyoshi grinned.

“I’ll talk about that tomorrow,” Koichi proclaimed. “So, everybody, please come back to hear this important information.”

Laughter went through the audience.

“But now we’ll show you something else,” Koichi declared. “We’ll show you dancing almost at the speed of light.”

“Isn’t that a bit exaggerating?” Tsuyoshi asked, sounding amused.

 

“Well,” Koichi mused, “we were quite young when we did that. So we would have been really fast back then.”

“We were fast,” Tsuyoshi agreed.

“Think we can still do it?” Koichi grinned playfully.

“I’d rather not try,” the younger man retorted warily.

“You never know unless you try,” Koichi said encouragingly. “But then,” he added with a sigh, “we’ve grown to be old men, ne?”

“Talk for yourself,” Tsuyoshi laughed.

 

“Na, minna-san,” Koichi addressed the audience. “This one is quite nostalgic. We already did that before our Single debut. We thought up the steps ourselves and we practiced alone in a mirrored room. It was quite adventurous, wasn’t it?”

“More like chaotic,” Tsuyoshi retorted.

“But it was good fun.”

“Yes, it was fun,” Tsuyoshi agreed.

“So, let’s have fun doing it now.”

“I’ll try,” Tsuyoshi smiled.

 

There was a rumble starting in the audience, small at first, but growing bigger and louder. People kept screaming, encouraging Tsuyoshi to dance full force.

“But…” Tsuyoshi tried to ease everybody back down again, “I’m a 30 year old man today. I cannot do it like a teenager. What are you guys thinking? I still have to sing tonight. And then I’ll have to pamper this spoilt brat backstage,” he explained, pointing at Koichi.

The reaction was immediate, satisfied squeals and hoots waving onto the stage.

 

“Oi,” the older man complained, even though he couldn’t keep himself from laughing. “Tell you what,” he suggested playfully. “You dance for real out here, and then I’ll pamper you backstage, how about that?”

More hoots from the audience. The cheering also started again and Tsuyoshi sighed in defeat.

“I wonder whether I can live up to expectations,” he said sceptically.

“Mah,” Koichi waved him off. “Everybody’s cheering for you. And I’m standing next to you. I’ll give you some of my energy.”

 

“What are you talking about?” Tsuyoshi asked teasingly. “If you give yours away, you’ll faint. Yesterday you fell down half way through,” he related, imitating the action.

Koichi laughed lightly. “Well, then let’s both do it better tonight.”

“Very well,” Tsuyoshi finally proclaimed. “Here we go. Tayori ni shitemasse!”

 

And that was the cue for the band to set in. This was mainly an easy part. They both knew the dance by heart and the audience went totally crazy over the “nostalgic” feel of the song. Even so, Tsuyoshi suddenly felt very uncomfortable with so many eyes on him. He had agreed to dance energetically, but really, he wasn’t used to this kind of thing anymore. He hadn’t done that in forever. No way he could stand up to Koichi – most probably, he couldn’t even meet him in his current state. He couldn’t answer the call, he knew that – and he felt bad about it.

It’s impossible.

Why had he promised? No, he had to try.

Give it your best, your everything, that’s what Koichi always says – is Koichi ahead? Am I too slow?

Was that turn okay and

when on earth do we spin again?

It was

Step, tap, kick, step, stomp, tap, spin

He made the spin. But once he stopped, the room did not, but kept spinning in his head.

20 seconds.

He got ready for the final pose, panting harshly. As the beat came to an end, Tsuyoshi more slipped than moved into his position and once the music was done, he let himself fall onto the floor. He didn’t faint, or collapse, but he was heaving desperately, which immediately caught Koichi’s attention and that of several staff members who jumped out to offer water. Tsuyoshi grabbed one of the bottles and sipped, but what he lacked was not water, it was air.

 

“Backstage,” he managed to rasp out and Koichi nodded.

“Okay,” the older man said anxiously. “It seems we’ve been giving it too much, so Tsuyoshi got really exhausted. He’ll take just a short break to catch his breath.”

“I’m sorry,” Tsuyoshi managed to blow into his mic without sounding too beaten. “I’ll do better next time,” he promised as two staff members accompanied him backstage.

“Well,” Koichi addressed the audience once they were gone, “it’s a really exhausting dance. Tsuyoshi was really giving it his all, so please credit it accordingly.”

A round of applause followed that statement and Koichi smiled appreciatively.

 

“Well,” he mused, “we’ll have to fill a few minutes, ne? Ano… MA, come here and let’s report what we did last night after the show.”

The MA boys appeared obediently. However, Machida looked at Koichi with a confused expression on his face.

“But,” he muttered out, “last night after the show we went back to the hotel. You wanted to see the F1 summary.”

“Ah,” Koichi sighed out happily, “that’s right.”

 

And so Koichi started to relate how they got back to the hotel, how he had to fight with Tsuyoshi over the remote control, he talked about the summary, about the race, F1 cars, F1 courses, why tires will enable you to take corners, how the room service guy who had brought his dinner had joined him for a few minutes, back to the fascination of tires and the way they spin. And then something completely unexpected happened. Something that had been unheard of until that day. Koichi just stopped in his tracks, fishing for words for a few moments.

“So,” he finally muttered out, “now you guys say what you did once we got back. I’ll go, check what’s going on backstage.”

 

With that Koichi turned his mic off and left the stage. The poor MA guys kept blinking at each other desperately for a few seconds, but then Machida took up his mic.

“Okay, I’ll now make a very exclusive interview,” he declared. “Yonehana-kun,” he called his group member, “please come here and tell us what kind of movie you watched last night before going to sleep.”

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Backstage Koichi was almost bursting with anxiety. Once he found Tsuyoshi sitting lazily on a big chair, he jumped to his side immediately.

“Are you okay?”

Tsuyoshi just nodded vaguely. “’bout fine,” he mumbled without drive. Then his head shot up and he blinked at Koichi. “Wait – who’s on stage?”

“MA. Not to worry, they can cover a few minutes,” Koichi waved him off. “I’m worried about you now. Why didn’t you say you weren’t feeling well?”

“Well, with all those people cheering, it’s hard to just deny them, saying that I won’t try. Plus, I didn’t feel so bad before. But once we started dancing…”

 

Koichi just shook his head. “I should have known it’s a bad idea. You weren’t feeling all that well from the beginning.”

“Come now,” Tsuyoshi tried to calm him. “You couldn’t have seen this coming. I didn’t even see it coming. I’m sorry for troubling you.”

Koichi just shook his head. “Don’t worry about that. Is it better now? Can you breathe? Did you get oxygen? Pills?”

 

“Koichi, relax,” Tsuyoshi interrupted him. “It’s okay. I was just a little bit quivery. And then the dance was exhausting. I thought I was getting off pace and my thoughts started to spin and then the room started to spin. I got water and oxygen and I’m feeling better.”

“Can you finish the show?”

“The show must go on – isn’t that your sentence?” Tsuyoshi asked, with a weak grin.

“Stop fooling around,” Koichi demanded. “The show will go on, I just want to know whether you’ll be in it.”

“I will be in it,” Tsuyoshi informed him.

 

“Are you sure it’s okay?” Koichi asked, his voice sounding worried.

“You just watch out,” Tsuyoshi told him. “Give me five more minutes and I’ll blow you back here once I start singing for real,” he teased, winking.

“Okay,” Koichi sighed. “Sarcasm is okay, so I guess we’ll make it.”

“You bet,” Tsuyoshi confirmed.

“Very well,” the older man nodded, “then I had better get back out there and prepare your return.”

Tsuyoshi laughed at that. “Please do.”

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Koichi sighed as he flopped down onto the sofa. Pan, who had been chasing him ever since he came through the door, immediately followed, jumping on and demanding attention.

“Oi, Pan,” Koichi complained. “I’m really tired. Can we just rest?”

Tsuyoshi chuckled as he watched the scene. “The little baby girl wants attention.”

“She’s not so little anymore,” Koichi groaned out, but yet raised a hand to pet his demanding dog.

 

Pan licked his hand appreciatively.

Tsuyoshi still watched, amused. “Well, a lesson I learned myself. And the hard way.”

“Eh?” Koichi made lazily.

“If you spoil them while they’re young, they’ll get demanding and bitch and pout whenever they don’t get what they want.”

“Ken-chan is a well-behaved dog, though,” Koichi mused.

“Well,” Tsuyoshi said, grinning, “this rule doesn’t only apply for pets. It goes for juniors, friends and lovers.”

 

“You like spoiling me,” Koichi retorted softly.

“You like spoiling your little princess too,” Tsuyoshi grinned.

“True,” the older man agreed as he got into a more upright position, pulling Pan closer and petting her more enthusiastically.

That was the cue for Kenshiro to approach Tsuyoshi and demand some attention of his own.

“Yes, yes,” the younger man sighed. “I’ll just get changed quickly, ne? Then I’m all yours.”

 

 _________________________________________________________________________________________________

Only a few minutes later both men were stretched out on the couch, each having a dog on their lap, petting them and teasing playfully.

“What a concert,” Koichi finally sighed out.

“I’m sorry,” Tsuyoshi said again. “I should have noticed sooner.”

“Well, it’s something we cannot really foresee,” Koichi stated.

“Please,” the younger man said desperately, “don’t get too worked up about it. It’s really nothing serious. Even the doctor said I’m actually fine. It was just a very small lapse. It can happen. It did before. Just never on stage.”

 

“Stop babbling,” Koichi cut in. “If you keep doing that, I’ll only be more afraid of you running out of breath again.” He sighed. “I’ve accepted that we can’t really be a one hundred percent sure. Your condition is stable for the main part, but sometimes, and completely out of the blue, these things will happen. Of course, that scares me. Because we never know when it’ll happen and how bad it’s gonna be, but… I think we’ve managed so far and I really think we’ll manage from here too.”

 

“So,” Tsuyoshi asked warily, “you won’t watch over me like crazy?”

Koichi laughed a bit at that. “No, it’s okay. I trust you,” he stated simply. When his partner merely blinked at him he smiled. “I trust you to know your limits,” he explained. “I trust you to not let me down. I’m lost without you, so you won’t leave me. You promised to always protect me and I trust you to keep that promise.”

Tsuyoshi laughed nervously at that. “You sound like Sanzo*.”

“Well, the concept isn’t all that bad,” Koichi retorted.

 

The younger man nodded. “Very well, I know what’s expected of me. So, don’t you worry. No matter how often I might break down, I’ll always get up again to stand by your side.”

Koichi nodded at him encouragingly. “And hey, I mean, it’s not like you’re the only guy with such problems. Look at Gakkun. They have to carry him off stage practically after every show. That too might well be an after effect of his illness. But really, he’s doing fine enough.”

“You can say that again,” Tsuyoshi agreed. “He’s one hell of a guy.”

 

“We should invite him again,” Koichi mused.

“He was on the show only a few months ago,” the younger man opposed.

“But there’s always something interesting to report about him. Plus, Fukada-kun loves him a lot.”

“Goodness,” Tsuyoshi sighed, rolling his eyes, “will you ever stop teasing her? I can’t hear that bug-thing anymore either.”

“But it’s fun,” Koichi pouted.

“Whatever.”

 

“Hey.”

“Hm?”

“Wanna have sex?”

“Not tonight.”

“Okay, we can wait 10 more minutes, then it’s tomorrow morning.”

“Koichi…”

“Yes?”

“Not tonight.”

“Moooooouuu~”

 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

*Genjo Sanzo is a Manga character of the very famous series “Gensomaden Saiyuki” by Minekura Kazuya. He is a priest that follows his very own philosophy that goes along the lines of what Koichi says.

Okay, done. Well, I guess the break-down and how they deal with it was the main part of this story line, so I will happily soon move on. But before I do that, of course, the "not tonight" issue has to be solved. ^_~  Hope you liked. I'll try to update sooner. Comments and requests always wecome. ^_^