Title: Singing, Acting, Eating And Doing The Hip Roll Together
Fandom: JE, NEWS, KAT-TUN
Characters: Jin, Massu (plus Yamapi, Ryo, the rest of NEWS, Nakamaru, the Shirota brothers, and mentions of the rest of KAT-TUN and Jin's brother)
Notes: For the Massu-thon, even if it is more about Jin than Massu. It involves a little bit of every prompt with Jin in it, but it started as a response to nº16 Jin tries to teach Massu how to dance.


- "YOU, work together!"

"Huh?"
"This is still a preliminary talk, there's nothing official about it yet, but Johnny-san seems quite convinced that this will work perfectly for the both of you."
Jin still can't take his eyes off the managers. He folds his arms and frowns.
"You're shitting me."
KAT-TUN's manager coughs and ignores the curse.
"We're being serious, Akanishi-kun. We're looking for the right project for the two of you and once that's done the unit will be announced. If you have suggestions until then they'll be well received."
Jin takes his eyes off his manager to look at the boy next to him. He's smiling happily, like there's nothing wrong with all this!
"He already has a unit!" Jin exclaims, pointing at him.
"When that has that ever stopped anyone here?" retorts dryly the other manager. He's NEWS' manager.
"True." Jin doesn't know what else to say.
It isn't so much that he's against it, but he doesn't understand the point behind it all. Does this mean he'll have to act fluffy and cute for the next two or three months?
"Wait. What are you gonna call us?" he asks, alarmed. All the possible variations of mixing up their names come up in his head and nothing sounds right. He'll die first than let the managers call them 'MASSIN'. He can picture Ryo quite easily laughing his ass off after hearing about all this. Damn it.
How a unit between sexy playboy Akanishi Jin and sweet, innocent Masuda Takahisa is ever going to work?


- NEWS

When Pi and the rest of NEWS find out, Ryo laughs so hard he falls off his chair.
Jin's mood is going down pretty fast. He wants Pi to make it all better, but doesn't want to deal with Ryo. It isn't fair.
"It's completely fair. This was your exact reaction when you saw the PV for 'It's My Soul'!" Ryo exclaims, once he calms down and Pi helps him getting up. "The boss is clearly lacking better ideas if he wants to pull this off."
"I think it's great. It helps groups have a closer relationship!" says Koyama, patting Jin in the back, smiling. "Now we'll have a closer relationship with KAT-TUN."
Jin forces himself to smile back. It's a nice thought, but he remembers how everyone reacted when Kame went off to work with Pi in Shuuji To Akira. Pi's relationship with KAT-TUN didn't improve after that. Units aren't perceived as good ideas to his bandmates, but as opportunities to show off and leave the others behind.
"I don't like it." Tegoshi finally speaks. The younger boy looked deep in thought before, and a little hurt. "There's something wrong with TegoMass? Why are they moving Massu with Akanishi-kun?"
"Because he needs it," Ryo explains, pointing at Jin. "Not Massu, or you," he says, ignoring Jin's attempt to protest. "He's probably pissing off the boss again and now he's forced to work on a sweet and nice image for a while."
"Johnny-san could have him working with TegoMass instead of just Massu," Tegoshi insists.
"You have exams coming up next month,” Kato interrupts. "You should be grateful Johnny-san is giving you room to study."
Tegoshi's going to keep protesting, and so is Jin, because he has not done anything wrong (this time) and he doesn't deserve any punishment, but his eyes meet Pi, and his best friend is smiling.
"Just give your best," Pi says, with the confidence of been there, done that, and Jin figures it is as good a reason as any to be confident. "You'll do just fine. Don't worry so much."
Jin sighs and looks back to his new bandmate.
Massu keeps smiling like the situation isn't weird at all.


- KAT-TUN

"So, Masuda told me about the unit."
Nakamaru comes to find him before meeting the rest of the group. Today they are going to be informed about the new development. Right after that Jin has another meeting and this time, he hopes they'll tell him what exactly are they suppose to do.
"Did you tell the others?" Jin doesn't know what's worse, having the group prepared to express their anger or let them improvise in the middle of the meeting. "How mad are you?"
Nakamaru blinks, looking a little confused.
"I haven't talk to anyone," he says. "And I'm not mad... I'm just worried."
"About what?" Now Jin is confused.
"Well, you and Masuda don't have a lot in common." Nakamaru looks down, a little embarrassed. "Masuda's a cool guy, OK? Just, be patient with him."
He doesn't say more and goes inside the meeting room. Jin gets a few more seconds to prepare for whatever reaction the others will come up with.


- Past Tense

"I heard the KAT-TUN meeting was quite an event this morning."
"Oh, shut up."
Jin wants to keep reading the magazine in his hands, but Pi's in a teasing mood.
"I heard that was exactly the problem," Pi insists. "No one said anything!"
Jin moves away from the couch when Pi sits next to him.
"It went just fine. Drop it."
"I will when you understand why I'm making fun of you." Pi becomes serious. Jin has to stop acting like he's busy with something else. "You do know, right?"
"Because I was a pain in the ass when Shuuji To Akira was formed," he finally admits.
"And you've been acting like the world is out to get you now because..."
Jin sighs.
"Because," he pauses, passes a hand through his hair, "I was afraid everyone would treat me like crap just like we did with Kame."
"And me," Pi adds. "Your group wasn't that nice to me around that time either."
He doesn't need to voice that their friendship wasn't much of a friendship back then either.
Units make life difficult. That's what Jin thinks. He doesn't want to be in anything but KAT-TUN.
"They didn't treat you like crap this time, though," Pi reasons.
"But it was worse! They acted like they were OK with it when they weren't, I could tell." Everyone was uncomfortable with the subject, even Kame. It brought bad memories. "The only one to say anything was Nakamaru and he only said that Massu's a cool guy and I should be patient. I don't know what that means!"
Pi moves closer to Jin and places his hands on Jin's shoulders, trying to calm him down. Then he makes Jin sit next to him in the couch again.
"Have you talked to Massu about all this?" he asks. "Cus, you know, you should have started from there. See how you two can work something out."
He hasn't. He has been freaking out about his group and how all this was not going to work because he doesn't sing cutie pie songs anymore. It's been two days and he hasn't have a decent conversation with the guy he's gonna be working with, like it or not, for the next few months. That isn't fair to Massu.
"You have his phone number?"


- Bonding Over Food

One of the few things Jin actually knows of Massu for sure is that the younger guy likes food. Jin himself is very fond of food so maybe they can start the necessary bonding there. He invites Massu to eat.
"Nagano-kun told me to ask for the house specialty the last time we were here. It was pretty good."
"You get along with Nagano-kun?"
"A little. He knows a lot about food."
OK, so food is the right way to go, it seems. Now what?
Silence. Except for a few comments about food the two of them share, Jin can't find another good topic of conversation. He can't read Massu to know if he's comfortable or not.
When the food finally comes and Massu smiles, he decides to get to the point.
"Um, I know I haven't show the best disposition to work on this unit..."
"Yeah, you seemed a little upset when they told us."
Jin has to laugh at that. Yeah, he was a little upset. He acted like a brat, but Massu doesn't look too troubled about it.
"My group doesn't deal with change very well," is his excuse.
Massu doesn't answer to that because he's busy eating. Jin wonders if this is going to be it, because he doesn't know what else to say about it. So he decides to do the same and eat.
"Wow," he manages, once he tries the shabushabu Massu suggested for him. He remembers eating ox in America somewhere, but it tastes really different here. "This is delicious!" he exclaims, and then eats some more.
"I know!" Massu nods, and shows he's enjoying his plate too.
They don't say more for the rest of the main course. Now, though, Jin understands that Massu really likes food, and that he's having a good time enjoying the food, so the silence doesn't bother him. Jin's like that sometimes when he goes out with Pi and Yuu and they are too tired to talk, they just buy something tasty and eat like the world is about to end. Ryo comes with them sometimes, but he doesn't seem to get it the same way. He's glad he at least has one good thing in common with Massu for real.
"So," he starts again, once they ask for some dessert. "What do you think of all this?"
Massu takes his time to answer. Jin wonders if maybe he hasn't thought about it at all. He hasn't hear Massu voice his opinion on anything that has been discussed this past two days.
"I don't know how our voices will sound together."
Jin blinks. "Our voices?"
"Yeah. Your voice has a wider range than mine, right? Like Tegoshi's, a little bit, but yours can be more raspy, I guess," Massu starts moving his hands to explain what he was saying, and it looks weird because his hands are exemplifying voices. "I've been wondering what would be like if instead of going with high notes like I usually try with Tegoshi, we get a song with a lower sound. I think it would be fun because I don't do it often but I don't really know if I can do it right with you just yet."
Jin's following the hand gestures, but then he goes back to Massu's face and his smile and realizes he hasn't thought about all that at all. About the music. He thought about the image, the interaction, what everyone else is going to say about it. He actually thought about the lyrics and how they are probably gonna be sweet and innocent, but not about the sound of it. He knows that's because the music has never been an issue. He sings songs he like and songs he doesn't like and most of the time he nails them and everyone praise him because his voice is great. The only times KAT-TUN's voice coach pays any attention to him is when the group sings together and they can't seem to harmonize to save their lives, but that's (almost) never his fault.
But Massu has been giving it some thought. He has been thinking about making good music for them to enjoy doing it.
Except for listening to 'Miso Soup' in the countdowns, Jin has never pay much attention to TegoMass. The songs aren't his style. Maybe that has to change.
"You wanna go to karaoke after this?"
Massu gives him a blinding smile.


- Storytelling

They finally get a script for a drama two days later. It seems the script was an old project for some other unit that was never formed (Jin doesn't have the courage to ask what happened there), and it looks like the screenwriter is available to work in the plot once more. The story looks simple at first, but once he finishes what's the outline for the pilot episode Jin is left wondering if he has the acting skills to pull it off.
At the beginning the story shows Jin's character and the care-free life he lives in Hakone. Then he gets in a car accident and meets Massu's character, a newcomer to the town. Their friendship doesn't spark anything particularly different, though Massu's character seems to be hiding something. Then everything changes and Jin's character starts to see ghosts because of his accident. That reminds Jin of something he once watched with Okada-kun and Nagase when they were younger. It wasn't that good of a drama, that one, but it got both Okada-kun and Nagase were they are now, so maybe it can be kind of cool. But then, things change again in the script, because Massu's character gets killed, and he has no idea who killed him or how he die, so Jin's character has to help him out. The big question is, why does all this happens in the first place?
"You'll have to ask the screenwriter that," suggests Yuu, after Jin gets all his friends into reading the script so they could help him out. "It got us wondering, though. That's good."
"Massu's character is very Massu-like," Pi comments. "But, you know, dead."
"And hiding something," Ryo adds. "I may actually watch this. Even if it has you both on it." As close as reassurement from Ryo, Jin guesses.
"So you're singing the ending of this?" Asks Jun, after everyone gets a suggestion on what, exactly, could have happened to Massu's character.
"Usually they use whatever song we've been working on at the time for the drama one of us in KAT-TUN is gonna act in, but I don't know how this is gonna go," he admits.
Ryo snorts.
"This means for once they're doing it right!" he explains. "You guys can work on a song that makes sense with the story."
"Probably a slow song." Yuu assumes. "It won't be too corny, at least." He pats Jin in the back.
"It won't be slutty, though," says Jun, and with a little cynic smile he adds. "I don't think you'll get a hip roll opportunity. Poor you."
Jin feels his world crashing down.


- The Hip Issue

The next day there's another meeting and the unit's single is discussed. They are going to record two songs, actually. The main one is for the drama, and, as Yuu said, it's a slow song about faith and lost love. The second one, that gets Jin's complete attention, is going to be a special treat to keep the unit going a little longer, it has dance steps and the lyrics are more provocative. This second song's going to be part of the regular edition of the single, because the limited is going to have a bigger booklet and maybe a DVD if everything works fine. Another two songs will be added from a list of old songs they have sang in concerts before.
The meeting ends informing them that next week they are going to be full on working on their vocalization and they have a trip to Hakone planned to see the shooting location for the drama, so they better enjoy their last free sunday for a while.
Jin decides not to lose any time and invites Massu over to his house. His parents are out of town and he kicks Reio out with the excuse that he's needed at Jun's store. On a sunday. Yes, he isn't the only 'Bakanishi' of the family.
After Massu lets him know he cares about their voices working together, Jin starts thinking of every technical issue he usually ignores because he doesn't have a problem with it in KAT-TUN or because someone else solves it for him. Going to karaoke with Massu twice helps them both to get familiar with their voices, and they manage to sing pretty decent versions of several Kinki Kids songs.
But what concerns him the most is the dance. Ryo told him Massu's a little freaky in that respect, because he can remember complicated dance moves like he just made them up. This is fine by Jin, but it doesn't mean Massu can dance the way Jin wants them to dance.
So he decides to teach Massu the hip roll.
"Is not that hard, if you let yourself go." He tries to explain. He knows he isn't that good of a teacher, most of the stuff he's good at come naturally, but Massu's paying attention, so maybe he isn't doing it wrong. "If Kame can do it, being as stiff as he can be, I think everyone can."
"You have a great sense of rhythm." Massu compliments him, once he demonstrates his awesome hip roll with music.
"Thanks. Now, come here." He makes Massu stand in front of him, and he looks from head to toe at his new bandmate without feeling any sexiness emanating from him. Jin sighs. "OK, smile."
Massu give him his best winning smile, because he seems to be having fun, but that doesn't work for Jin.
"Not so much." And Massu tries to, but he still looks like the sweet guy he is. "See, when a song has provocative lyrics, you either act cool and intense and then you don't need to smile, or you do like me and do smile, but not..." he pauses for the right words, "not like you smile."
Massu frowns.
"There's something wrong with my smile?" he asks, a little alarmed.
"No! I'm just asking if you have another type of smile."
Massu now looks confused. Jin decides to move on.
"OK, forget that. Lets try the hip roll."
Jin presses play on his radio again and places himself behind Massu so they can move at the same time. Every time he has ever try to teach the hip roll (because he's a good guy like that), people freak out having him so close with his hand on their hips. Massu, though, seems quite comfortable. So they move, and move, one side, the other...
Until Massu starts laughing.
"Sorry, I'm a little ticklish."
Jin tries to get into position again. The moment his hands touch Massu's skin when his t-shirt meets his pant while they were moving, Massu start laughing again.
"It's just that, when you do this," Massu lets himself into position next to Jin, and without the help of Jin's hands, he moves his hips with a rapid twist. Jin has to move back, because that caused friction from Massu's low back to his... um. There. "It tickles."
That's one way to put it.
"I think you can try without me guiding you," Jin suggests, and takes another step back.
Massu turns himself to be looking right at Jin, and for the first time shows his nervousness. He's biting his lower lip.
Bu then he does it. The hip roll. Once. Twice.
"Um," Jin feels the urge to cough, "I think you got it."
Massu stops biting his lip and smiles one of his big, white smiles.
"Really? I was thinking of playing the hula hoop, you know? The way you were moving before, it looked like that." And Massu does the hip roll again.
Jin takes a third step back. He decides to look anywhere but at Massu.
"Yeah, that looks about right. Er," he pauses. He's getting more uncomfortable. "I have to go to the bathroom. Get yourself something to eat in the meanwhile, OK?" And he flees to the other room.
He hears Massu give his thanks and Jin realizes that even if the dance issue is resolved, the result is maybe going to cause a bigger problem.

- The Name

Monday comes and the announcement is made.
"You guys finally have a name," their managers tell them.
"Please let it not be MASSIN," Jin murmurs under his breath.
The managers seem to have listen him anyway, because they exchange looks.
"MASSIN? Now, why didn't we think of that?"


The End