Ah.
By Wormmonsoul (who didn't sleep well last week and can't come up with a decent name ^^;;;)
"In here!"
"Where?"
"Here."
"Where?!"
"In HERE!!!"
"Okay, but where do we put him?"
"On the sofa?"
"I wanna… bathroom… please…" this new voice sounded timidly among the loud orders of cameramen and reporters. The two men, one definitely a manager judging by his expensive black suit and a high-tech cel, dragged the blonde inside a small studio and dropped him off on the sofa. That blonde head slumped against my hip and I felt a tremor pass through my leg: those trademark blonde strands – advertising so many fashionable shampoos – of one of the Japan's most favourable rock star were touching my new jeans!
Just because I got a close up eyeful of his hair I happened to notice that it was dirty. This was not the Yamato I knew from my childhood.
"Yagami-san!" the manager's authoritative voice blew into my ear. Careful! I wanted to shush him, he shouldn't disrupt the sleep of this blonde-(dirty but oh well)-haired beauty on my hip, but I gave it up without trying because there was so much noise in my little studio it was scary how Yamato managed to sleep through it at all. I wondered if he were still alive.
"Yagami-san!"
"Yes… Minamoto-san?" I never really remembered the names of Yamato's managers.
"When do we start shooting?"
"Oh… 20 minutes, I believe."
"Do you have coffee?"
"Excuse me?.. Ah… It's over there." I fluttered my hand in the direction of the small crowd of men and cameras on tripods, my other hand helplessly pointing at the blonde precious's head on my hip. Of course, I couldn't get up without disturbing him.
"I just wanna use the bathroom…" the timid voice said again – into my hip. I started. The manager roughly shook Yamato by his shoulder, shouting to him that they were going to be on air in 20 minutes. I couldn't believe it was Yamato's voice. I mean, everyone knows his voice, he is after all a rock star, delusions of grandeur and the world-recognition, and all that. But I never expected it to be so weary and hoarse.
Yamato asked to be taken to bathroom for the third time. So I stood up, hoisted him to my shoulder, and much in the manner of his manager, dragged him across the studio into the bathroom.
He splashed his face with cold water and finally opened his eyes. Then he proceeded to do everything that is usually done in a bathroom… Okay, I kept silent, only wondering a little how I was supposed to interview him when he was in that disheartening state. When I found courage to say hello to him, a noisy crowd of people I absolutely didn't know, pushed through the doors and surrounded Yamato.
"Hel…" and I was left standing with my mouth open.
"Fifteen minutes left!" came a bellow outside of the bathroom. I was pushed to the wall by a woman armed with a shampoo. Yamato's head was shoved down the sink and all I could see afterwards was foam. In the next few minutes the men's bathroom was magically turned into a hair saloon, a dressmaker's and a make-up laboratory.
"Watch out!"
I ducked just in time to see a pair of dirty socks smack into the wall above my head.
"Get Okinawa here! Which shade of blue is it?! And a tad of powder…"
"Bring the other shirt! I mean not this, the other! Are you an idiot?!"
"DAMMIT ALL! WHERE'S MY COFFEE!"
I squeezed past the bodyguards and out of this mayhem. The manager flew into me, nearly splashing everything around with hot black coffee… Not exactly it. It was a cup filled with black powder and a few drops of water floating on its surface. It smelled like a whole coffee plantation.
I found a safe place on the sofa under the eye of the camera and quickly read through the questions I had to ask the famous rock star. Who happened to be my childhood friend, but nobody should know that, thank you.
Taichi: Hi folks, your favourite DJ is back with you. And he has some tasty things to offer you today. Ishida Yamato, the hottest blonde in the nowadays Japan. Welcome to MTV, Yamato..
Yamato: Hi, MTV, hi, you. So what's your name again, DJ? Are you that cool?
Taichi: Taichi and yeah, I'm the coolest. Ever dreamed to be an MTV star, Yamato?
Yamato: Sure enough, you?
Taichi: You bet. Gimme five! Yeah, let's take a peek on you life now, Yamato?
Crap. That was my script. That was my script for today's show featuring Yamato! Some jerk of a guy wrote it when high on caffeine or something!
The manager appeared by my side and I rose from my seat only to have a lifeless form of Yamato lowered onto my arms.
"Sit him where you please," said the manager matter-of-factly and there was a cry again in the backstage that FIVE minutes were left until the show started.
I put the blonde doll on the sofa beside me. He had his eyes closed, had his hair perfectly brushed, had his face made-up a bit and he was dressed in clothes I would cut your throat for, Dolce&Gabbana, no doubt. Well, I do read Vogue out of the blue. One has to develop a fashion sense when one gets a well-paid job on MTV. Though all that entertainment business is just crap.
And just in case you don't know – I'm gay. So all your wrong ideas about me reading Vogue are a good guess.
"We arrived in Tokyo two hours ago – just as the j-rockers' concert in Osaka finished. Lucky us, had a truck with clothes and stuff with, otherwise Yamato would have had to pose naked – not that he'd minded – but modeling for GQ is not something that should be taken lightly…"
"This is some time-table, isn't it? And after the interview?"
"He is invited to a big Award-giving Ceremony in the Capitol Tokyo Hotel in Chiyoda-ku."
"Can I have an autograph?"
"After the show only!"
An assistant glued the mic to my shirt just as the same was done to Yamato's.
"Nervous, Taichi?" the cameraman breathed a long smoke into my face and grinned.
"Damn, I'm okay. What about Yamato? Is he alive?" I asked. The cameraman – what's his name, anyway? – prodded Yamato's shoulder with his index and shrugged. The blonde was asleep or whatever.
"Three minutes! Get the fucking outta the stage, bastards!"
I was about to cry for ambulance when a heavy form slumped over my shoulder and a warm voice asked,
"You got anything to eat?"
I nearly jumped out of my trousers. Okay, after staring for some precious ten seconds on the blonde man in front of me, who had the cutest sleepy eyes, I rummaged in the table before the sofa and fished out a chocolate bar. I've never seen a chocolate bar diminished with such a speed. Well, maybe, Daisuke was an exception, but Yamato was a real rara avis in speed-eating chocolate bars. This man had to have been starved for months!!
"ONE MINUTE!!"
The noise began to subside as the guards pushed everyone out into the hall. The cameras targeted us. A lady ran up to ruffle Yamato's hair in a proper way.
"Hey, you wouldn't mind?" said the blonde rock star when Aki, my assistant, was counting on his fingers backwards from twenty behind the camera.
"Yamato?" I turned to him. He leant close to me and placed a kiss on my lips. My heart leapt as if it was break-dancing on the streets. He pulled away, his thumb smearing his lipstick across my lips.
"Go!" shouted the cameraman.
I turned to the TV screen and gave a cheeky smile that I absolutely didn't feel on my face.
"Hi folks, your favourite Yamato is with you," I knew I said something wrong just as I said it. "Heck, and by his side is no other but me, your DJ!" I peeked at the TV screen with running script, "Ishida Yamato, the hottest blonde in the nowadays Japan. Welcome to MTV, Yamato.."
Crap, I thought.
"Hi, MTV, hi, you. So what's your name again, DJ? Are you that cool?" Yamato was charming. There was no trace of sleep in his eyes or voice – thanks to make up, of course, but there was something mesmerizing in the gestures of his hands… his kiss…
"Or are you just a hot chick?" I heard Yamato say. It wasn't in the script!
"Yeah, I'm the coolest. And the hottest. The name's Taichi. Remember all the girls that were fawning on me in high school, Yamato?"
My assistant was doing something crazy behind the cameras with his hands and hair. The blonde had a puzzling look into his eyes – but the next moment he laughed with the laughter reserved for public. When you're in entertainment business you learn to notice such things. I bet tons of fan girls were squealing now before TV screens.
"Ah, you seem to be more popular than me, let me interview you then?" the blonde smirked. With somewhat late surprise, I realized he didn't recognize me. Me, Yagami Taichi, his best friend, his partner, was not the man he was looking at now.
"Duh… Ever dreamed to be an MTV star, Yamato?"
"Sure enough, you?"
"You bet. Gimme five! Yeah, let's take a peek on you life now, Yamato?"
"Ad break!"
He indulged me into a heavy make-out session for the next three minutes. Then there were stupid questions again about his music, his best things in life, his awards, his seiyuu debut… He replied according to what was written on the screen, nothing much. With his erratic time-table, growing popularity and lack of food (and sex – he obviously didn't have time for a girl..err.. boyfriend, as I found out during the ad breaks, and he wrote down my phone number, WOW!), I could understand that all he wanted to do now was to go to sleep. The interview was coming to the end.
"Ten seconds left," supplied my ear mic. I watched Yamato's eyes wander drowsily over the posh magazines with his photos on the table. I hurried the end of the interview. The fans would obviously like it and with that mine and Yamato's job was over.
"Done!"
Yamato slumped against the back of the sofa, whispering that he had a headache. His manager, bodyguards pulled him from the sofa and led to the MTV staff who wanted his autograph. My assistant came up and smacked me with a paper folder over the head. I'm okay, really, because of my thick hair I could land on my head and feel nothing.
I caught Yamato on his way out – or rather, on his bodyguard's way out who happened to be carrying the blonde outside. He woke up long enough to ask what my name was again.
"Yagami Taichi."
"I have to write it down," he said.
"Yamato… I am Ya ga mi Ta i chi, your best childhood friend. Back in Odaiba? Digiworld? Gabumon?"
His smile lingered on his lips before it disappeared. He realized I was talking seriously. He was wide awake.
"TAICHI?!!!"
Suddenly he glomped me.
"I haven't seen you for ages! Gee, you changed! I missed you! How have you been?"
I sighed.
"Yamato? The guy on the sofa you were kissing half an hour ago? That was me."
Yamato got his hand into his blonde tousled hair and pressed his lips into a thin line.
"Uh oh…"
"Uhu."
"Ah… Damn. So you're not coming over tonight for fun?"
"Of course I will," I grinned.
Fin.
a/n It probably doesn't matter but I've watched too much Love Hina, so I'm just crazy. There is a girl named Taichi (last name)… Yay!