In Passing -ryoda-

Title: In Passing
Rating: K
Pairing: Ryo x Ueda

"Through my breathing, I could hear him, breathing, losing breath, breathing, losing breath.
Allan Gurganus in Adult Art



<It's cold Nishikido pushed his gloved hands hastily back into his pockets, watching white mist rise up in front of his face.  His nose felt chilled,  at least more chilled then the rest of him, and he knew, instinctively, that he'd end up regretting going out in the middle of winter.

It looked so nice. Of course it had looked enticing from the inside.  The play of weak sunlight through dampening clouds and the pure radiance that the snow gave everything.  Now all Ryo could think about was stopping his walk short, and heading back to the warmth of a stove and heater.  Maybe a nice thick blanket and cup of instant ramen to warm him up from the inside as well.

Shaking lose hair out of his eyes, he sighed, causing more mist to rise up.  Hopefully, he prayed, my instincts are wrong.

They weren't.  The next morning found Nishikido Ryo sniffling and miserable, culled under his blankets and wishing he were dead.  It took everything in him to get up the energy to make it to the shower, and even more to make it out the door to get to work.

No one would be able to call Ryo a slacker.  Nose red and dripping, sinuses clogged, the whole of News wished he was less of a hard worker.  "Go back."  Yamashita sighed, safely on the other side of the room.  "I don't want your sickness."  The rest of News nodded back, hovering just out of coughing range.  A past time Ryo had taken up during the last few hours.  Personally, he wasn't enjoying his new hobby all that much.

"There's a shoot."  Ryo searched the room with his eyes.  His pockets were full of used tissues, and he was in desperate need of a new one.  His band-mates rolled their eyes, and Ryo felt like rolling them back.  Why couldn't they see that skipping even a day could damage his reputation, and set back both his groups?  Ok, so maybe it wasn't that imperative he show up, but still, he prided himself on his impeccable attendance…he was secretly going for a record.

"Ah! Ah ah ah.." Yamapi shook his head and winced as his friend coughed into the scarf tied over his mouth, "You, are going home.  Right now.  And We," he gestured to the group, "Will inform Kanjani Eight that you, regrettably, will not be able to make it in today due to having contracted the plague."  Ryo looked about to argue, and really, he was weighing the pro's and con's of expending that much energy-- "Do I have to walk you out of here?"

A cold was something he did not want, but he'd risk it if only for the good of the rest of the group.  Ryo finally slumped in defeat.  He really didn't think he would be of much use to anyone in the state.  His head was foggy, nose constantly clogged, and his body was currently attempting to get rid of a lung or two.  Really, what good were lungs anyway.  They didn't do anything but make him breathe.  Which hurt now that he thought about it.  Nodding, he turned towards the door way.  He wasn't sure how, exactly, he was going to make it back, but a taxi sounded most plausible.  Waving briefly behind him, Ryo made his way through the corridors, not really paying attention to his surroundings.

It was in this state of obliviousness, that Ueda literally ran across one Nishikido .  He was, in a word, late, thus the running.  He knew that Koki would tease him for his tardiness, and Jin would be just as bad in not worse, and thus the only way to make it bearable was to be as not-late as possible... At least that was the reasoning.  They really had no tact, and it took the person he was currently smashing into the floor, moaning , to make him realize why he was face to face with the linoleum.

"Ah, sorry, sorry!"  he scrambled backwards, awkward because he wasn't sure exactly who he had mauled over.  Ryo looked up with bleary eyes, the scarf fallen down around his neck, and face faintly flushed.

"uhn."  Nishikido didn't bother to move anymore than his eyes.  Besides the throbbing headache he could feel building up behind his eyes from the head to floor contact, he felt perfectly comfortable on the nice cool floor; thank you very much.

"Nishikido…?"  Ueda was looking down at him with concern.  Apparently, some kind of response was warranted, but he hadn't been paying attention, and couldn't even recall hearing the other's voice.  How humiliating, being found by Ueda of all people.

He grunted again, before attempting to elevate the top half of himself.  "What?"  It wasn't the most eloquent of questions, but it would do.  He thought it was pretty good for all that the walls were starting to swim.

"I asked if you were ok."  Ryo exhaled loudly, breath making that ugly wet sound it was prone to, when mucus started dripping backwards into his throat.

There were so many witty comebacks he could have spouted…so many.  And none of them came to mind. "Mm fine." He finally answered, having gotten the hang of using his abdominals again.

Tatsuya raised an eyebrow in obvious reproach. "Fine…" The demure answer from his normally combative rival just proved how not fine Nishikido was.  "You're stupid, coming in like that.  What did you hope to accomplish?" He held out a hand, which Ryo ignored, simply because he was having trouble enough focusing on the KAT-TUN member's words rather than on his actions.  He pushed himself on the floor, dusting off the imaginary grime he had accumulated on the floor.

"I'm a workaholic," he muttered, "not stupid."  He eyed the feminine face in front of him, "You're the stupid one…with your stupid pretty face."  The comeback wasn't his best, and he'd attribute the use of "pretty," to the delusions of a feverish constitution later.

Tatsuya raised the other brow to match.  "Right,"  he moved again to walk around the singer, then turned back. "You're going home then?"  The fact that Nishikido was roaming the halls rather than with the rest of News was indicator enough, but..

Ryo sniffled again and rubbed at his raw nose with the sleeve of his jacket, a sight which Tatsuya Ueda found strangely endearing, "Yamapi kicked me out."

Normally, this would have amused the hell out of the KAT-TUN member, but seeing Ryo so dejected and vulnerable before him, was doing strange things to his mind.  He felt…concerned or all things.  Ryo had more than proven that he was capable of taking care of himself, and Tatsuya Ueda was the last person that should have felt any sort of kind emotion for his one-time nemesis.

He must have a fever, Ueda reasoned.  He'd heard the fever's made some people look sexier than they were normally. "Get better soon then."

Ryo turned his head to cough into his bicep, nodding absently.  "Definitely part of the plan." He intoned listlessly, swaying.

For the whole of Ryo's sickness, Ueda felt strangely fixated on his absence.  While normally KAT-TUN and Ryo's group's didn't cross paths, suddenly they were meeting around every corner, as if mocking Tatsuya with the lack of jeers and borderline friendly banter.  He felt, dare he think it, lonely without Nishikido.  He couldn't get the sound of Ryo's harsh breathing out of his mind, the way it caught in his throat and the painful coughing that set his own throat on fire just hearing it.

Maybe, I'm losing my mind. Ueda turned in bed.  It was always a trial to get to bed now a days, as when he closed his eyes, his mind wandered over to the flushed face of Nishikido Ryo.  They'd known each other for years in passing, and not one of those encounters had left Tatsuya Ueda with the feelings he had now. Definitely losing my mind, he concluded, watching the snow fall outside his window and feeling his eyes grow heavy with the  promise of sleep.

As his breath evened out, turning even; he dreamed that there was someone else breathing with him, easy and hot against his neck, without a catch or cough to be heard.



1383 words