Work Text:
Meguro sensed this was going to be an unlucky day for him. He didn't hear the alarm clock in the morning, so he woke up twenty minutes later than he should have. He took a bath in a hurry, but his shower was broken, so the water was freezing cold. Also, while running to get into his manager's car, he tripped and almost hit his face.
At least, he arrived in the Jimusho and reached Snow Man’s dressing room, thinking it was finally safe. But when he opened the door, the last words he heard were "Meme, mistletoe", before he was suddenly hugged by Raul, and kissed on the cheek by him.
"What the hell, Raul??"
"Mistletoe" was Raul's immediate answer, pointing to a weird plant hanging in the door frame of their dressing room. The younger boy then dashed off, laughing and saying something about buying some sweets from the vending machine on the second floor.
Upon seeing Meguro's confused expression, Juri - who was sitting with Nabe seeing a magazine with some gravure model on the front cover - clarified: "mistletoe is some sort of Christmas decoration that is hung on door frames and such... if two people get under it at the same time, they have to kiss. It's a European or American tradition… Not sure"
"But we live in Japan... and it's March".
"Jesse recently visited his dad's family in Las Vegas, and apparently he thought it was hilarious. I guess it was just an excuse to kiss Kochi too. Anyway, he spread a lot of those around the Jimusho, so be careful where you decide to walk".
Meguro thought that Jesse didn't really need any excuses to kiss Kochi, considering how much he was always kissing or touching people, but he guessed it was his way of having fun. Also, he had seen weirder things happening in this building since he entered the J&A (7 Men Samurai getting glued and taped together, Nakamura Kaito from Travis Japan walking around in a golden tight suit, Juri filming himself butt naked, Raul playing with people’s nipples…), so this wasn't anything extraordinary.
"Was I the last one to arrive?" asked Meme, sitting beside Fukka.
"Abe-chan is running late, seems like his manager had some problems with the car. But he must be arriving soon".
Juri sighed, looking at his watch. "Well, guess it's time to get back to work. Bye guys! Shoppi, don't forget we promised to go to that lamen shop tonight".
As Juri was going through the door, Abe came running from outside. The result was them colliding, and Abe almost going to the floor, being held by Juri just in time.
"Ouch, sorry Juri... hey, what is this thing hanging in the door? I think I've seen this before... something related to Christmas…?"
"Oh yeah... well, excuse me, Abebe". Juri then held Abe's face in his hands and gave a quick peck on his forehead.
Meguro didn't even realize he had gotten up from his seat until hearing Fukka snickering beside him and muttering "Calm down, Meme".
Abe looked with a confused face to Juri, who just said "it’s called a mistletoe". Abe's expression changed to one of understanding, and he replied "oh, yeah, I remember reading about it... it's a Christmas tradition, right? The couple caught under it have to kiss... but it's not even December".
Juri shrugged, "Jesse’s idea", he simply commented, and Abe nodded, as if everything made sense now.
"Bye guys... Meguro, don't kill me", Juri said with a devilish smile on his face.
"Why would you kill Juri?" asked Abe, intrigued. Meguro just coughed and said it was nothing, just a joke.
Everyone knew that Meguro had a crush on Abe - well, everyone except Abe himself. Even people who weren't from Snow Man - like the members of SixTONES - had realized Meguro's feelings. He thought about confessing a hundred times, but he never found a good time. Besides, Abe-chan would probably just gently refuse him, so he didn't want to make the mood in the group awkward... but at the same time, he felt like he would explode because of his hidden feelings one day... especially seeing people always getting so close to his senpai... well, no wonder, he was so cute, and today he was specially pretty, with his cheeks still a bit red, probably for running to the dressing room, or because of Juri's kiss earlier... Meguro stopped this train of thought.
Thankfully, Hikaru chose that moment to usher then to get changed already, so they started to work already.
When exiting the dressing room, Sakuma and Abe ended up going through the door at the same time, so Sakuma quickly gave a peck in Abe's cheek, who just laughed.
This made Meguro immediately pull out the ornament and ask out loud "why are you guys so committed to following this tradition? I mean, we are japanese..."
"Jesse said it was bad luck to refuse it", was Date-san's answer.
"And you guys believed it?"
"Not really, but it's interesting to see how people are reacting to it". Date-san tapped his shoulder. "Good luck protecting yourself... or rather, protecting a specific member of our group".
Meguro groaned. Well, if just SixTONES and Snow Man knew about it, it wouldn't do too much harm, right?
***
Maybe it really was Meguro's unlucky day.
Because not only Jesse had spread those fucking objects everywhere in the building, he apparently had told every single Johnny working that day at the jimusho about that fucking tradition. Some of them seemed really afraid of getting cursed, and others were just having fun, apparently, but every single one was kissing others when getting under a mistletoe.
(Of course, there were those who seemed to be purposefully going under those things, dragging someone with them... like Daigo from Naniwa Danshi, who just rushed to go kiss his fellow member Ryusei when the latter was innocently standing under one in the corridor).
(Meguro tried really hard to not envision himself with anyone else... or Abe-chan, for that matter).
But Meguro couldn't understand how Abe seemed to just get under every mistletoe in the Jimusho without noticing. One time, they were sitting in a common room of the Jimusho while waiting for the staff to organize the props that would be used for the Youtube video they were recording. Abe sat in a random chair near the wall. Exactly at that time, the whole crew of the Jyanino channel decided to show up to greet Snow Man. Abe stood up to greet them, in the exact spot that a mistletoe was placed. Fuma noticed it and didn't hesitate to go straight to Abe and give a peck in his cheek.
Abe took some steps back, surprised, and almost hit his head on the wall behind him, prompting a big laugh from Fuma.
"What the hell, Fuma!"
"I'm sorry, the mistletoe rules, can't ignore it"
"But you weren't under it, it was just me, you could have just stayed away from me, no need to get closer to kiss me under it".
"Ahhh sorry I think Jesse didn't explain clearly to us how this works" Fuma answered with an innocent look on his face. “My bad”.
Yamada, Maru and Nino were clearly having fun with the situation.
(Of course, Fuma also took the opportunity, when they were leaving, to push Nakamaru and kiss him on the cheek under the mistletoe. He was kicked for it, but it was worth the price).
The other time, when Abe went to the toilet (Meguro decided to follow along to make sure that people wouldn't molest him), he crossed paths with Noel from Travis Japan, who stopped to thank Abe for the opportunity to work together again in the Miracle 9 TV show. It was at that moment that Meguro noticed that there was another one of those freakin’ things hanging in the bathroom door frame. Thankfully, the two of them didn't notice - it was Meguro's last thought before Ninomiya-senpai came walking down the corridor singing loudly “Abe and Noel kissing under a mistletoe~~”.
It was proof that J&A had a strong hierarchy system, the fact that Meguro simply didn’t land a punch right into Nino’s face in that exact instant.
Noel had gotten red from head to toes. Abe was simply smiling, as if he was finding it funny.
“Well… Errr, Abe-kun…”, Noel was slowly getting closer to his senpai, but Meguro intervened and put a hand in the Travis Japan member, gently and sweetly saying “Noel-kun, you don’t really believe in this kind of stuff, right? You, who is a part of the ‘intellectual group’ inside Johnny’s…”, his words came out softly, but he guessed his eyes couldn’t hide his murderous intentions…
Noel audibly gulped.
“Yeah, I think I need to go back to our dance choreography training… Excuse me, Abe-kun… Meguro-kun…”
Meguro sighed. Well, at least one danger was averted.
“Are you okay, Meme?” “Yeah, yeah, everything is fine”.
***
The worst part, however, was when Ukisho Hidaka from Bishounen stormed into their dressing room holding a mistletoe above his head, startling all Snow Man members.
“What are you doing, Ukisho-kun?” was Abe’s question.
However, Ukisho looked even more puzzled. “Isn’t this the Sexy Zone dressing room?”
“Well, as you clearly can see… no”
“Eh???? I was looking for Nakajima-kun”
“And you’re holding a mistletoe because…”
“I guess you can imagine the reason, senpai…”, Ukisho turned to Abe to answer, still holding the plant above him.
Raul was the first to react exclaiming “Ah!”
Ukisho realized what he had done too, because his eyes wandered between the mistletoe in his hand and Abe in front of him.
“Oh! Oh, I’m sorry, senpai! Hmmm I don’t want Abe-kun to have bad luck, so…”, and before Meguro could pronounce a single word, Ukisho planted a chaste kiss in Abe’s lips.
“Well, I’m gonna look for Nakajima-senpai then! Sorry for the inconvenience! Sorry Abe-kun! Bye bye~~”.
And with that, Ukisho disappeared, leaving a dumbfounded Abe and a paralyzed Meguro behind.
It took a few minutes for Meguro to recover: “Abe-chan, your guard is, like, totally non-existent. How much of an airhead can you be?"
Abe scoffed. "Well, it's not like I walk around with a 'kiss me' sign tattooed on my forehead".
Before the atmosphere got worse, the staff called Abe - it was his turn for the photoshoot.
As soon as Abe was out, Shoppi slapped his hand on the table."Meguro. Dude. Instead of following Abe around with a constipated look on your face, why don't you act already?!
Raul nodded. "That's right, Meme! The best defense is the attack! What about YOU go kiss Abe-chan?"
"What?! I couldn't possibly... this is disrespectful... He is a senpai. Besides, I wouldn't like to kiss the person I like just because of a stupid tradition..."
No one emitted a sound for some seconds. Then, Fukka said, "well, if Meguro isn't going to do it, I'm gonna kiss Abe-chan then."
"What.The. Hell??"
"I mean, Abe-chan is looking so cute today, don't you guys think? Besides, seeing so many people smooching him made me want to smooch him too" Fukka retorted, smirking.
"Now that you said it, Abe IS looking more handsome these days... and I kinda got jealous seeing all those guys getting closer to him" Hikaru also said, a thoughtful look on his face.
"Guys, guys... what are you..."
"Also, I don't think we should let Abe's lips be defiled by Ukisho-kun's... we have the moral obligation to cleanse his lips now" was Date-san's solene remark.
"Yeah! I have a mistletoe here!" Out of nowhere, Koji raised his hand, showing one of those Christmas ornaments.
"Stop, STOP!" Meguro rushed to Koji and pulled the plant from his hand. "No one else is going to smooch Abe-chan". As in a clue, Abe returned from the photoshoot in that exact second.
"What's happening here?"
Before anyone could say anything, Meguro ordered "Everyone. Out. Please. I need to talk to Abe-chan alone".
The seven members immediately headed to the door, but not before Fukka winked at Meguro, and Hikaru gave a supportive pat on his back. After Raul closed the door behind him, Meguro locked it and then expectantly directed his gaze to Abe-chan, who waited in silence the entire time while the other members left.
Now that they were alone, Abe glanced to Meguro's right hand, which still held the mistletoe, and asked: "Are you planning to kiss someone with this, just like Ukisho-kun, Meme?"
Meguro stared at his own hand for a moment, before decidedly throwing the mistletoe away.
"I am planning to kiss someone, indeed". He stepped closer to Abe. "But not because of some foreign Christmas tradition". Another step. "But because I want to". He didn't avert his eyes from Abe, nor did the other. "And only if the other person wants as well".
Of course, even an airhead as Abe-chan should get the clue at this point, right? Meguro was so close to the other that he thought Abe could probably hear his heartbeat.
Abe smiled. "Seems like I didn't need this after all", he said, while pulling another mistletoe from his pocket. "It was my last resource, since standing under various mistletoes throughout the entire day didn't work with the only person I wanted to kiss me…"
Meguro lifted his brows. "So you did it on purpose? The entire time?!"
Abe blushed, lowering his eyes. "Well, I thought it was a good strategy? But I didn't think other Johnnys would enter Jesse's game, 'cuz it's so dumb and it isn't even Christmas, and besides - hmmph" Meguro interrupted his babbling, crushing his lips on Abe's mouth.
A tiny part of his brain thought that maybe this wasn't an unlucky day after all. And another even tinier part at the back of his mind thanked Jesse for the whole thing - although it would take months before he could forgive Ukisho-kun.
But, of course, most of his brain and body and heart were now screaming with joy with the happiness of finally being able to hold his beloved person, tugging Abe as tight as he could, while his arm circled his waist and the other hand caressed his scalp. And Abe seemed to be enjoying it as well, a hand in Meguro’s hair, and the other on his neck.
When they pulled apart for air, Meguro could feel himself trembling a bit; and considering the glint in his eyes and the adorable flush on his cheeks, he bet Abe had been as affected as him.
“Well… This was the best kiss I received today… Or as long as I can remember, should I say”. Abe looked so radiant and overjoyed, Meguro wanted to go for a second round or go even deeper, but a knock on the door reminded him of their place, and that the other Snow Man members probably needed to use the dressing room as well.
He went for a tender kiss on Abe’s cheek. “I hope… I can give you as many kisses as you want for as long as you want me… If you accept me…” this should count as a confession, right?
His smile got even bigger. “Yes, I like you too, Meme…”.
“I NEED TO GET CHANGED AND ADJUST MY MAKEUP GUYS, SO ALL OF US CAN FINISH WORK AND GO BACK HOME, AND YOU CAN MAKE OUT AS MUCH AS YOU WANT IN YOUR OWN HOUSEEEES! So let me in!” they could hear Shoppi’s voice outside the room.
***
Maybe Jesse was right, and mistletoes did bring luck after all.