AU Yeah! August 7: Famous

(See the end of the chapter for AN)

So. Famous among the famous, she wasn't. No one at the last chic and exclusive party they'd gone to together had wanted to be so shallow as to not know all about the famous medical researcher and surgeon Nishikino Maki. On the other hand, plenty of them had pretended to not recognize Nico. She was familiar with all the games entertainer celebrities played, of course, but she was well into her career. The time to break through to where it would be ridiculous to even pretend she wasn't world famous? Running out rapidly.

So that made the current situation even more puzzling. It was really frustrating — they kept getting broadcasts, but, seemingly, no one could hear them. And what they heard about the plane crash was all Nico, Nico, Nico. Maki being missing was only mentioned as an afterthought. And usually as Nico's partner, to boot. Something about singers (and dancers, in her case) dying young seemed to hit the public harder, still, after generations of such deaths.

"If I could simply get word to my family," Nico muttered. "And if they'd give Maki proper respect ..."

Maki looked up at her. She wasn't in a good mood, but she wasn't going to take it out on Nico, either. "You'd enjoy this?"

"Yeah. Your family, too. And our friends. And right there it becomes an impossible fantasy. And that's assuming it was inevitable our pilot would perish in a crash. I'm not forgetting him."

"You enjoy being more famous than me?"

"Well, it's not about you, it's about me. They're saying nice things. Only nice things. My last single is selling like crazy. And I get to be here with you."

Really, it was a tropical paradise — no ifs, ands or buts.

The first day, burying the pilot because, as Maki had told her bluntly, corpses drew animals and eventually they were a toxic hazard, not knowing if there was any possibility of not dying on this island? That had been a waking nightmare. They didn't even know his religion, so they'd improvised a ceremony with Buddhist, Christian and Shinto prayers. If (when) they were rescued, they'd have to break the news which would get to his family.

But, considering how often they fought, it had amazed Nico how quickly and efficiently they'd adapted. Maki had even repurposed one of the plane's batteries to send out a strong beacon signal, periodically. She even believed it had been picked up — a plane they'd seen one day had come back around, quite obviously. But it must have left before another signal could go off.

They were comfortable, with adequate rations for a couple of months. They'd handled sanitation and cooking, and even had months left to listen to radio, when it came in. Maki told Nico it was something hit-and-miss called "skip" at work. Let's face it: Maki knew everything. And Nico had dominated the news in Japan for over a week. Even outside Japan, if what was reported was true, it had been a top story for a few days. So, Nico really was one of them. Entirely thanks to her originally hidden relationship, she'd come off as an idol with something deeper down. Secretly troubled performers with an element of mystery were much, much more interesting. The ones who cultivated it came off as phony. The ones like Nico, desperately trying to blend in, doing a good job performing, but still somehow being an outsider? Were catnip to the modern audience.

One story upbraided the public for not caring about Maki, and Nico cheered. Her parents claimed that an important figure who'd died recently after a dangerous surgery would be alive if their daughter had been involved. Her research team was asked about her absence and said it would set them back more than a year. Nico looked over at Maki, tentatively.

"I was never upset about this, Nico. I have what I have, satisfaction. And you have the fame. I realize it didn't seem like it at that party with all those jostling elbows out for you, but did you ever consider that all famous people have that? People that can look right into them and see the scared, unconfident person inside they were before they were famous? Feeling like an imposter and all too willing to listen to negative voices outside their heads repeating what they've been hearing inside their heads?"

"Besides ..." and Nico looked at her again. "The songs where I sing with you or do the music always sell the best. Including this one. I am sure the fact that it's from the lost idol couple is part of its draw." And with that, she winked at Nico.

With literally nothing to do every day but sleep, prepare food, and make love, it revitalized their relationship. Maki started to agree with Nico, that the only real shame was the fate of the pilot, and the fact that their loved ones thought they were probably dead.

It wasn't for another two weeks that a plane finally managed to pinpoint their beacon. What he saw when he overflew Nico and Maki ended up in the tabloids, naturally. A few said it was callous of them to enjoy themselves in the face of a tragedy, but Nico's fans and those that admired Maki either as an entertainer or for her career mobbed them with angry letters and posts, and even a protest.

They skipped the next party they were invited to, as it was the day of the funeral for the pilot. Maki dyed her hair black again, and Nico dressed as frumpily as she could and wore thick glasses, and they joined a group coming to the funeral from a parking lot without being noticed, and stayed towards the back.

But after that was another party, with another invitation to both of them. Nico had changed. When asked about their experience she tried to say enough to satisfy them without dwelling on it. After all, it wasn't just a conversational topic. They both could have died. In fact, Maki had had to treat some initial injuries on Nico that she had had to go to the hospital for once they were rescued. And, of course, now that she had withdrawn from the fame battle one hundred percent, she won it by default. Always deferring to everyone else there, she, nonetheless, became the most sought after person there. The second most sought after was Maki. She explained that Nico trusted her memory for what had happened more than her own, and very matter-of-factly related everything but the all-day sex marathons.

As for Nico, she'd already qualified as an assistant nurse before the crash, and by the time she stopped touring a few years later, and switched to acting and a much-reduced singing career, she was a registered nurse, able to spend a lot of the year helping out at Nishikino hospital. At some point, while still a well-known name, she became a B-rank singer and actress. One of the entertainment magazines came to interview her at their house.

"How do you feel about having walked away from fame, Nico?"

Nico thought back to the crash. She thought back to all the wonderful and loving things said about dead her, things she'd never hear while she was alive, no matter how big she made it. She thought back to looking into Maki's eyes and realizing she was the one thing that truly mattered in Nico's life.

"Ara," said Nico, feeling old even as she used that word, "I suppose I did. Well ... when I didn't have it? It was everything to me. It was the only hope my family had, it was my only goal, ever. I don't think there has ever been anything like a #1 Idol, but I came pretty close. Close enough. When I didn't have it, it was everything — but when I did have it?"

"It wasn't all it was cracked up to be?"

"No, no it was not," Nico responded, again feeling like she was slipping into old lady diction. She'd have to work on that, she must be becoming a little too domestic. "But ..." and here she winked at the interviewer. "It was pretty good."

AN

"Do you enjoy being more famous than me?" is a Girlfriend Pop Quiz question. The answer is "no."

Please note that in this story, Nico and Maki help each other move ...

bodies.