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The atmosphere in the dressing room was tense.
The tension wasn't between the members but between the group and the absence of Nino, without whom everything was far too quiet. Even Aiba was subdued, eating his fried chicken with no audible displays of excitement.
Ohno reached into his pocket and pulled out a DS. The beeps and trills filled the room as he began to play but almost immediately the sad, game-over music came upon him. Sho chuckled involuntarily. Jun painted his nails, refusing to look over.
Ohno started the game over and lasted about as long as the first time. Aiba tossed his leftovers aside and came over to lean over Ohno's shoulder.
"Ah, Leader, you need to go through that tunnel, not try and fly over it."
Jun snorted.
***
Ohno held out two mitts to Aiba, one of which was filled by a baseball.
"There's a grassy field out back," he said happily.
Aiba looked at the mitts, bemused. "Leader, you hate baseball."
"No, no," Ohno tried.
"And you are really bad at it."
Ohno huffed. "Do you want to play or not?"
Twenty minutes later, Ohno was dirty and sweaty and tired, and Aiba complained his face hurt from laughing so much.
***
When Ohno came in early the next morning and found Sho all alone he put on his best long-suffering face and began to whine.
"Sho-chan, why do I even have to be here?"
Sho looked up, utterly at sea. "It's... oh, you don't remember what we're here for, Leader?"
"Of course I remember what we're here for, I'm not an idiot, but why can't they just make all the decisions and tell me what to do? They don't need me at all, I could be playing my new game, or... or, uh, I could be practicing my magic on pretty girls at a bar somewhere. Or sleeping, at home. I like my home, Sho-chan."
He then collapsed onto Sho, clinging to him tightly and making discontent noises.
When Aiba came in, Sho excused himself and fled to the bathroom while Ohno chuckled.
"Being Nino is kind of fun."
***
Ohno cast a sidelong look at Jun, who was absorbed in a magazine.
"I'm sick," he said, and gave a spluttering, obviously fake cough. "And my back hurts, too, and I didn't sleep all last night."
Jun peered at him. "You are obviously not sick. You don't look tired at all. What the hell?"
"I think I need some of your special herbal remedies. Maybe a backrub? Or..." Ohno cast about wildly. "My hair, it's all wrong. Um, you could fix it?"
Jun's face was covered by his hands, and he was taking deep, deliberate breaths. "Is this what you think Nino and I do together?"
"I am going to play games all through the meeting," Ohno said desperately. "I am not going to listen at all!"
"YOU ARE NOT TO PLAY GAMES THROUGH THE MEETING," Jun snapped.
Ohno pulled him into a hug and patted him on the back. "There, there. Nino will be home soon," he soothed.
"I don't understand why this is happening," Jun said, hugging Ohno back.
***
"Oh-chan, what the hell, is that what you think I'm like?"
Ohno shrugged, still clutching Nino to himself as if he weren't going to let go any time soon. "I could have done a better job if you'd been here to collaborate on the script."
Nino squeezed Ohno from where he was holding on just as tightly. "Next week you should be Aiba-chan."
"UWAAAA," Ohno cried. "Fried chicken!"
"Hey," Aiba said, arms encompassing both of them. "Fried chicken is delicious."