Fun and Games

By Ju

“Remind me again why we’re doing this,” Ogata said flatly.

He was barely able to be heard over the blasting music, the grinding of the machines and the din of the crowd, but his companion turned and sent him a delighted smile.  This placated Ogata’s irritation somewhat, because despite his cold façade, nothing pleased him more than making Ashiwara happy.  However, amusement parks just weren’t his thing, and even though they’d only arrived a moment ago, he was already beginning to wonder when they could leave.

Suddenly, a screaming kid bumped into his legs, mashing ice-cream and snot all over his formerly spotless chinos.

As the stupid brat ran away, still shrieking his head off, Ogata looked down at his pants, then up at Ashiwara, who was trying valiantly not to laugh.  He glowered.  “Remind me again why we’re doing this.”

Unable to stop the smile from spreading into a grin, Ashiwara replied cheerfully, “Because Shindo-kun suggested it.”

“And remind me why the hell I listened to Shindo in the first place?”

“Because Akira’s been feeling a little down ever since Touya-sensei and Touya-san left for China.”

“And why would I care whether Akira’s happy or not?” Ogata grumbled, although they both knew that he did.

“Because,” Ashiwara sighed, “You were appointed Akira’s temporary guardian during his parents’ absence.  Now, is there anything else you’d like me to remind you about, old man, or can we go and find something fun to do?”

“Fun,” Ogata muttered grumpily, pointedly ignoring the gibe about his age.  “Yeah, this’ll be fun, listening to snot-nosed kids screaming at the top of their lungs all day long.”

In spite of his grumblings, though, Ashiwara managed to drag the older man to a restroom – where they had to wait in a fifteen minute-long queue – so that Ogata could clean the mess from his trousers.  Finally, when all that remained was a slight stain and undiminished annoyance on Ogata’s part, they began to wander around the amusement park.

Shindo, being Shindo and therefore incapable of doing anything in moderation, had of course decided on the largest, brightest, loudest and most expensive of all the parks, and Ogata found himself again cursing his apparent inability to say ‘no’ when faced with three pairs of wide, hopeful eyes.  Ashiwara was twenty-three, and Shindo and Touya were already sixteen, but Ogata often had the feeling that he was the only adult in the group.

He walked with his hands in his pockets and his head down, and so it took him several moments to realise that Ashiwara was no longer beside him, tugging on his arm every few seconds and pointing at everything they passed.  Upon lifting his head and glancing around, though, he discovered the younger man standing at a booth ten metres back, transfixed at the sight of something.

Ogata sighed, then backtracked.  “What?”

Ashiwara blinked, as if snapping out of a trance, then grabbed Ogata’s arm with both hands and shook it wildly.  “Seiji!  Seiji, I want that!  Win that for me!”

Ogata sighed again.  He knew that when Ashiwara was in one of these moods, nothing and no one would be able to stop him until he got what he wanted.  Obediently following the younger man’s pointing finger with his eyes, Ogata’s gaze fell on a bright pink, stuffed hippopotamus, then moved on.  A green and yellow turtle, a pair of glittery fairy wings, a bubble-blowing set…

“Let me guess,” Ogata muttered, hoping fervently that he was wrong.  “You want to dress up as a fairy and blow bubbles, with a turtle strapped to your back.”

Ashiwara stared at the other man blankly for a few seconds, then scolded, “Don’t be silly, Seiji.  Of course I don’t want to dress up as a fairy!  I just want that fat pink hippo.”

“Of course,” Ogata murmured dryly.  “I should know better.”

He then quickly surveyed the stand, taking in the water guns lined up on the table and the revolving targets several feet away.  No problem; he could handle this.  After paying the girl behind the table an exorbitant fee, he picked up a water pistol and began to aim.  He could feel Ashiwara’s fingers digging anxiously into the back of his shirt, and just imagining the expression that was surely on the younger man’s face was amusing enough to distract Ogata momentarily, causing him to miss the first shot.

“Seiji!”  The fingers dug in deeper, and the pout in Ashiwara’s voice was plain to hear.  Ogata had to hide a smirk, before lining up to take his second shot.  He still had four more opportunities to hit three of the targets, which was what was needed to win the stuffed toy.  However, after concentrating and calculating precisely, he only needed three more attempts, and minutes later Ogata could be seen in the company of a beaming Ashiwara and a large, ridiculously pink hippopotamus.

“Thank you, Seiji!” Ashiwara exclaimed, still beaming.

The blond man had an exasperated expression on his face, though, as he demanded, “Remind me again why I just won you that stupid stuffed animal.”

“It’s not stupid!” Ashiwara leapt to his new friend’s defence, stroking its head comfortingly.  “And you did it because you love me, of course,” he grinned, then gave Ogata a quick peck on the cheek before skipping ahead to the food stands.

Ogata watched him go, a finger rubbing absently at the tingling skin of his cheek, and he repeated softly, “Of course.”

When he finally caught up again, it was to discover that Shindo and Touya had rejoined them too.  And, hugged tightly in Touya’s arms, was a bright green hippopotamus.

“Not you too,” Ogata groaned, only just resisting the impulse to run a hand through his immaculate hair in frustration.  He glared at the toy as if it were the cause of world hunger, then delivered an equally scathing look at its twin, wrapped in Ashiwara’s protective arms.

“What?” Touya asked defensively, shielding his hippo from Ogata’s wrath with his own body.  “Hikaru won it for me.  I happen to think it’s cute.”

Ashiwara beamed at Touya, nodding in absolute agreement.  Shindo was unusually quiet as he stared covetously at the ramen stand.

“If Shindo won you a ball of wool, you’d think it was cute,” Ogata muttered, but fell silent when two pairs of eyes and two hippos turned towards him as one.  Touya was frowning, and Ashiwara looked reproachful.  Suddenly feeling strangely discomfited, Ogata glanced around, looking for a distraction.  The unmistakable sound of Shindo’s rumbling stomach was almost a relief.

“Why don’t we get something to eat?” Ogata suggested quickly.  Then, taking his present company into consideration, he added resignedly, “My treat.”

“Great!” Shindo immediately declared, as Ogata had known he would.  The boy had a stomach like a vacuum cleaner.

And that was more obvious than ever, when, half an hour and three bowls of ramen later, Shindo finally sighed in repletion.  Touya had finished eating much earlier, and had been watching his boyfriend attempt to put a serious dent in Ogata’s wallet.  He sat with his chin in his hand, and a small smile came to his face as he murmured, “You should weigh two hundred pounds, Hikaru.”

“I have an extremely fast metabolism,” Shindo smirked, then waggled his eyebrows suggestively.  “Besides, you know I always need plenty of energy when I spend time with you, Akira…”

“Ooh, really?  I want details,” Ashiwara teased, unsuccessfully trying to hold back a giggle.

Touya turned bright red, while Ogata paled.

“Please,” the blond man grated, desperately wishing to erase the words from his traumatised mind.  “I just ate.”

But Shindo, the cheeky brat, just smirked at him, too.  Then he grabbed Touya’s hand, jumped up from the table and was already disappearing into the crowd as he threw over his shoulder, “Thanks for lunch, Ogata-sensei!  We’ll meet up with you guys later!  Bye!”

Ogata stared at their vanishing backs, then at the stack of empty bowls before him.  His eyes narrowed behind his glasses as they travelled over a still-giggling Ashiwara, before they focused on the absurdly pink hippopotamus.  He sighed, then shook his head in quiet disbelief.

“Remind me again why we’re doing this?”

:: Owari ::