Since becoming a new member of timelesz, there are things that Teranishi isn’t quite used to yet. Sure, he’s been in this agency for 18 years, and sure, he’s known the original members and Hara for as long as he can remember, but life does just come with surprises sometimes and it keeps tripping him up in one way or another. In a good way, of course.
And thus, this "family." The members (including himself) have truly cemented the idea of being a family to all of their fans and to those who have watched them closely, and it is true, the best part being that Shori, Fuma and So all have personally chosen the new members of this family of theirs.
Being part of a family is a right, but choosing them is a privilege so awarded to few.
For years and years, Teranishi has had glimpses of what being a part of a group feels like and, for years and years, it almost always has led nowhere. Teranishi is so used to it at this point that heartbreak seems inevitable, even if he has eventually learned how to take each setback in stride.
Now, he has a place he can finally go back to, one that he can finally call home.
This thought emerges in his head once again, smiling to himself during the car ride he’s taking with the other members towards some sharehouse.
"By the way," Fuma starts, "We have to share rooms like we did in Hawaii, but technically it hasn’t been decided who’s rooming with who yet."
"Just please don’t let me share a room with Shori-kun," Masaki, in his usual teasing manner, shoots an obviously teasing glare meant to annoy Shori.
"Not like I’d want to room with you, either!" Shori retorts quickly in protest.
Everyone laughs like always.
"I’d be okay with anyone," Hara says earnestly. Teranishi agrees with a wordless nod.
"Would anyone be okay with you?" Fuma, who’s seated next to Hara, nudges him in the same teasing manner.
Truly another thing Teranishi has to get used to. Being in an all-male agency does not make Teranishi a stranger to interactions like this, but in timelesz, the relentless teasing seems to amp up to a million percent.
He starts to suspect that most of it is Fuma’s doing.
Teranishi shrugs at the thought. He’s known the man for 18 years and nothing ever surprises him about Fuma any longer.
…or so he thinks.
They arrive at the rented villa with their small pieces of trolley luggage and backpacks and tote bags of various sizes. This scenario triggers Teranishi’s memories of both the timelesz audition and their time in Hawaii, though he has never stopped wishing he could’ve spent more time in Hawaii than he ended up doing.
He will for sure never live it down, nor will he ever stop feeling a little regretful about it, so he was extremely delighted when Fuma told them that they could do another sharehouse trip—this time they’ll spend all of their time together, "whether they like it or not."
"Don’t threaten us with a good time, Fuma-san," Shino remarked at the time, making Teranishi smile. Indeed.
"Okay," Fuma centers himself in the living room. "Let’s decide roommates for the week. How do you guys want to do this?"
Teranishi looks around the room to discern everyone’s faces. He doesn’t often feel like initiating anything because he’s not the type to impose, unless he’s the one who needs to decide for the group. Which, ultimately, he doesn’t mind. He’s just the type that likes to see what the others think first.
"Hmm, shall we draw lots?" So raises.
"Great idea, So-chan," Fuma shakes his head, "but no."
"Eh, why?" So pouts visibly. Teranishi feels a bit bad, but figures Fuma has a good reason to deny the younger man his wonderfully fine suggestion.
"Might be a little anticlimactic. Sorry, So-chan."
Teranishi still feels bad, so he shoots an assuring look over to So. So gives him a small, grateful smile. Tera makes a mental note to comfort him later.
"Are we choosing on our own then?" Shuto innocently inquires.
"Ah, not a bad idea, Shuto," Fuma’s signature smirk arises. "Let’s have everyone close their eyes and vote instead."
No one protests (to Fuma’s delight, Teranishi imagines).
As everyone closes their eyes, Fuma goes through all the names and asks the members to raise their hand for their preferred roommate. Teranishi actually chooses Fuma since that was already the previous configuration of their Hawaii trip, and he’s terribly frustrated that he didn’t have much time to spend with Fuma then. After all, Fuma also made sure people knew why Teranishi was mostly absent for the MV shoot and he appreciated that so much, despite the endless teasing that came along with it.
Otherwise, So is an extremely close second.
"I see," Teranishi hears Fuma say. "Huh."
"What are you ‘huh’-ing about?" Teranishi voices out, still unable to see anything.
"This is getting interesting, you guys~"
Teranishi can hear Fuma’s smirk getting bigger. What could the big deal be?
"Let us open our eyes!" Hara yells, prompting Masaki to let out a tiny squeal.
"Yoshi-kun, you’re scaring Masaki again," Teranishi warns with a gentle voice.
"S-Sorry, Masaki."
"Alright," Fuma declares with the sound of his hands clapping. "Put down your hands for those still up," he waits a couple of seconds, "And now, you may open your eyes."
The sudden brightness of the sun's rays entering the sharehouse windows surprises Teranishi as he waits for his own eyes to adjust to it. He first sees Shori beside him doing the same with a small comment of "It’s so damn bright" under his breath.
"Apparently, we have a problem," Fuma starts again with the same smirk that has not left his face all this time. "Tera has a lot of admirers, as it turns out."
Everyone’s eyes turn on Teranishi, and he can only squirm under such scrutiny. "Why?!" is the lone word that escapes his mouth.
Fuma shrugs. "Whether outside Taipro or within the group, you’re popular, Teranishi. Not that any of that is surprising."
Teranishi remains terribly confused. He understands he must be likeable in his own right, and he tries to be, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be at the level where they’re fighting to be his roommate, right?
Right?
To be honest, knowing Fuma, it is more likely that he’s just messing with Teranishi, probably for no reason at all than just for the hell of it.
"This has to be a joke right? A prank?" Teranishi then resorts to eyeing the house for some hidden cameras or camera crew.
Fuma being a regular for an extremely popular prank show can sometimes make people close to him, like the members, become a bit more paranoid than usual. Hell, even Fuma gets pranked a lot of the time. So no one can really blame Teranishi for thinking as such, especially with the other members subtly searching for cameras now too as a result.
Fuma scoffs. "I promised y’all a private trip. If it was a prank, I wouldn’t have known as well. And I’m going to be so pissed off."
Teranishi squints at Fuma. There is a limit to how much he can trust Fuma, in spite of everything.
"I don’t believe you, Fuma-kun," Shori interjects, echoing Teranishi’s thoughts almost to a T.
"I mean, you guys voted, I did too," Fuma shrugs. "And these are the results. Y’all believe it can happen right?"
Everyone else again looks at each other, then at Teranishi. He still feels uncomfortable about everything, but, if those are really the results, then why fight it, right?
It’s the "National Ex-Boyfriend" saga all over again.
But now, he knows he should be happy about this. He feels loved. He feels… like he belongs.
"Ahh, but isn’t that amazing, Tera-chan?!" So lands a strong, enthusiastic arm over Tera’s shoulder. "I can so believe this scenario happening to you."
Teranishi, without much thought, shrugs. "I guess."
Fuma raises an eyebrow as he looks at Teranishi. The older man can sense that there’s a meaning behind it, though he cannot figure it out at this moment. And he wants to.
Teranishi has always wanted to figure out his batchmate Fuma.
For as long as he can remember.
"But," Fuma avoids Teranishi’s discerning stare with such an interjection, "I don’t really want to reveal everyone’s vote. So let’s hold an arm-sumo competition!"
A collective "Huh?" resonated around the big living space.
"Fuma-kun just wants to do an arm-sumo competition…" Shori murmurs under his breath, which makes Teranishi snicker. While that seems to be likely the case, why not just reveal the votes for Teranishi and have them fight? Why does it have to be everyone?
Then Shuto begins to chime in, "But I didn't—"
"Mm, we can draw lots on the pairings for the match-ups!" Fuma starts to look for paper to use for said drawing of lots.
Teranishi quickly glances at his dear So-chan, who blurts out, "But I suggested that earlier and you said it was going to be anticlimactic!"
So earns a strong pat on the shoulder from Teranishi. This young man deserves it, out of anyone. "I know, So-chan."
So sighs, that tiny smile resurfacing for Teranishi to see. Tera returns the smile.
As Fuma busies himself with tearing some paper up, Teranishi doesn't forget Shuto's small protest earlier—and he's actually siding with the younger man—if Shuto didn't pick Tera, why make him do the entire arm-sumo contest? Eighteen years on and he still needs to get used to Fuma's thought process. The man can be serious and earnest if he wants to, but he can also turn around the other direction so swiftly and so intensely that it's hard to tell if he's ever serious to begin with.
Fuma is for sure an enigma, but Teranishi isn't afraid of dealing with that possibly daily for the foreseeable future.
He's excited to, as a matter of fact.
"Okay, time to pick your opponent!" Fuma stuffs a few pieces of paper in a mug.
"Fuma-kun," Masaki pipes in, his lips pouting. "Tera-kun isn't participating, is he?"
Fuma simply shakes his head as he started to let the others pick from the mug.
"Then what are we going to do with the extra person?" Masaki questions, but doesn't prevent himself from picking a piece of paper as Fuma passes by him.
"Y'all do a tourney thing, and I'm the bye player, essentially. I'll start participating during the semis."
"That seems a little unfair," Tera says, raising his voice. Shori voices an agreement, at least Teranishi's not the lone sane person here.
"Who wins these?" Fuma confidently states, his stares at Teranishi suddenly full of fiery determination. Teranishi nearly crumbles to it, but decides to keep it cool. (As he does.)
Why is he so adamant… about everything?
No matter how they try to justify it, Fuma is right—he almost always wins these and he would be remiss if he didn't declare it as such.
"Fine," So purses his lips. "Can we start now so we can get this over with?"
Everyone responds with a yes in varying volumes and enthusiasm. In the end, they're just trying to play a fun game. And what is a sleepover if not for the fun games?
As it turns out, the first brackets include Shino vs. Hara, Masaki vs. Shori, and So vs. Shuto.
Hara's strength prevails over Shino's fortitude, while Shori's competitive nature wins over Masaki's similarly stubborn streak. And lastly, So defeats Shuto, who did fight as much as he could, but Tera noticed the kid just didn't give a shit towards the end. After all, he really didn't choose Tera in the first place. He likes that about Shuto.
"Okay!" Fuma clasps his hands together as So is proclaimed to advance to the next round. "Let's move on to the next brackets: Hara will be fighting Shori-"
Both groan as Teranishi smiles to himself. This, he also has to see for himself. He's known both of them since they had entered the agency at the same time, and while Shori debuting earlier meant he couldn't spend much time with his batchmates as juniors, being batchmates always has this kind of bond that cannot be replicated anywhere else.
Teranishi, of all people, should know.
"Wait, does that mean I have to fight you, Fuma-kun?" So says, almost pleading. Tera wants to pat that head so bad, only if So wasn't so far away from him right now.
"Sorry, So-chan," Fuma says for the second time that day, and just as apologetic. "It's the order of the fights that everyone drew earlier."
So sighs. Teranishi cannot help but yell out, "Do your best, So-chan!"
"Thanks, Tera," So gives Teranishi the brightest smile. Once more, Tera returns the gesture but he knows he cannot compete with that idol perfect smile.
"This is so exciting," comments Shino, who's now settled himself beside Teranishi.
"They're batchmates after all—friends and rivals at the same time," Teranishi tries to explain to their youngest, but he knows it doesn't encompass what it means to have a batchmate, a douki. After all, even though Masaki, Shuto and Shino are technically batchmates as well, the circumstances are completely different. They didn't have the years together like Shori and Hara, and he and Fuma, have had.
But he hopes Shino will get to realize how that feels one day, too.
"Hara-san, Shori-san! Do your best!" Shino cheers from the sidelines as Tera grins with pride. He's glad to know these people as his members, as his friends, as his family.
The match starts, and while Hara is physically stronger, Teranishi knows Shori's best trait is his tenacity—the younger man will never back down even if it meant he'd get hurt in the process. And because he already knows the two of them so well, he isn't rooting for anyone in particular. Both of them would be perfectly fine to be Tera's roommate for a couple of days or so.
Shori almost falls in one of Hara's aggressive pushes, but the younger man is limber, too. Shori swiftly recovers, and with one strike pushes Hara off his balance and off the imaginary, arbitrary ring they've determined for themselves in this silly, fun game.
"Shori wins!" Fuma declares, gesturing at the younger man. Everyone's reactions are a mix of laughter from Hara falling and celebratory hoots from Shori winning. Shori does live up to his name often, Teranishi has found.
It's So vs. Fuma now. Tera becomes suddenly nervous, and for good reason—So is much smaller in height and in built compared to Fuma, plus Fuma is a lot more stubborn. While Teranishi isn't rooting for anyone to win in this match-up either, he has always had a soft spot for So, even before joining the group. He's even joked (not really a joke) that So was always his favorite in Sexy Zone.
The match starts, and So starts strong. For a couple of minutes, he can withstand Fuma's sneaky and belligerent attacks, and he's on the defensive for the most part. The cheering gets louder, so much louder that Teranishi can't tell anymore who's cheering for whom.
Even with how So's holding on, in the end he can't really defeat the group's champion. There's a reason Fuma suggested this game, of all the games they could've done.
"Ahhh!" So screams as he falls out of the ring.
Fuma celebrates by merely raising both of his arms with such a smug grin. "Too bad, So-chan. Maybe you'll get your revenge next time."
So sighs, clearly out of breath. He automatically walks over to where Teranishi is standing. "I did my best like you said, Tera-chan."
So-chan's so sweet, Teranishi muses. Almost just as automatically, Tera places a hand over the younger man's head. "You really did. I'm proud of you."
"Thanks," So looks up at Teranishi. "By the way, in my mind I picked you second."
Teranishi's eyes light up. But then, "Wait. You didn't pick me when Fuma asked?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm just used to rooming with Shori, s'all. But you were going to be my second choice in case someone else had picked him."
Teranishi chuckles. "No, don't apologize, So-chan. I was just surprised you didn't pick me, since Fuma said most of you did."
"Oh, right. I think he just wanted an excuse to have an arm-sumo competition, no matter how many actually picked you."
"That's what Shori said," Tera chuckles again. "Oh and I picked you second, too."
So's face brightens up, despite how tired he was earlier. Teranishi really adores it when this happens.
"I picked you first," Hara pipes in. Teranishi didn't see him approach.
"Who?" Teranishi asks.
"You." Hara's stares are always intense—his eyes have always been like that to be fair—but it got more intense when he said that. Teranishi would be concerned but he knows that's just how Hara is, an intense guy with intense eyes.
"Me?" Teranishi points at himself as Hara only nods. Hara's answer doesn't surprise him, but at least he now knows there's at least one person who actually voted to room with him.
"How about you, Masaki?" So asks Masaki, whom Tera also didn't see approach. He must be too much in his head right now.
"I didn't pick Tera-kun," Masaki says matter-of-factly. Masaki's bluntness (despite how kind he actually is) always amuses Teranishi, but that's one more thing he likes about Masaki, among many others. "Sorry, Tera-kun."
With a sincere smile, Tera shakes his head to indicate that he doesn't mind.
"Who did you pick then?" So inquires further.
"Fuma-kun."
Makes sense, Teranishi thinks, Masaki is basically Fuma's shadow at this point with how much time they spend together, not that it means anything negative. Masaki clearly admires the man, and who can blame him?
"I wonder who Fuma-kun picked then," Masaki wonders aloud as they all direct their attention back to the main event: Fuma vs. Shori.
Shortly before the match starts, Shino, who's still beside Teranishi, taps him on the shoulder.
"What's up, Shino?"
"Tera-san," Shino begins, whispering for some reason. "I also didn't happen to pick you but I wanted to win it all anyway."
Teranishi laughs at that. Of course Shino would be that person.
Thus, one of the many reasons he likes Shino.
"We could've been roommates again, Tera-san, like the good ol' days of Taipro," Shino clicks his tongue and snaps his fingers like he's truly devastated he wasn't able to win. Maybe he is, it's endearing either way.
Teranishi puts an arm around Shino. "That's okay, Taiki. There's always next time."
Smiling, Shino nods at that and then focuses on the match-up in front of them, just in time as it's about to start. Teranishi looks on as well.
The fight starts, with Teranishi noticing the feraciouness that the two already possess. Tera knows how headstrong each of them can get and both will equally never back down in a million years—all of this considering that also, this is all simply a silly game that determines who would be roommates with Teranishi. If this is how dynamics in a group normally go, he can definitely enjoy this for a very, very long while.
The entire match lasts absolutely longer than the previous ones, longer than necessary, longer than any of them has anticipated. It's entertaining and amusing for sure, but at some point, Teranishi starts to question how actually serious Fuma and Shori are about the bet.
Not to mention, the cheering of different kinds beside him manages to drown his thoughts and feelings on the matter. The enthusiasm all around the room is contagious, he cannot lie.
As anticlimactic as anticlimactic things go, though, Shori finally gets knocked off the ring after Fuma earns his third win, out of the five grueling rounds. Shori fought hard with two wins under his belt as well, but ultimately, a win is a win.
Shori heaves out heavily after the knock off, "Fuma-kun, if you wanted to be roommates with Tera this badly, you could've just told us!"
"The hell did you say?" Fuma protests, his ears getting redder.
"You could've easily just told us and we wouldn't have said shit."
Teranishi raises an eyebrow as he slowly turns his attention to the man in question, Fuma.
Who simply scoffs in maybe disbelief (of what exactly?) and lowers his head, obviously avoiding any judgmental gaze landing on him. Tera feels for the man, he didn't need to be put into spotlight like this.
"I wouldn't have said anything, either," Teranishi walks towards his batchmate and lands a firm grasp on his shoulder, slightly jolting him. "But, you won fair and square, Fuma. Even though I, too, picked you first."
"I know you did, dumbass. I was the only other person who knew."
Right. Teranishi knew that.
Shori's still huffing as he announces loudly, "You were my first choice too, Tera."
Oh. So that's why Shori was really fighting hard for it. He was doing it with the same exact motivation as Fuma's.
"He did," Fuma chimes in, "I knew he would reach the finals regardless of whom he was going to fight. He wasn't ridiculously competitive for nothing."
It made sense in Teranishi's mind. Sure, Shori can be ridiculously competitive even if there's no reason, just for the hell of it, and this time he really could be, it's the perfect opportunity, but apparently, not this time.
The ridiculousness of everything, as it were, makes Teranishi chuckle.
It is fun to be in timelesz.
"You won, Fuma-kun," Shori sighs once more and wipes a towel on the nape of his neck. "Make the most out of it."
"Sounds like a threat," Fuma remarks and Tera thinks the same, making him laugh again.
"Thanks, Shori," Teranishi says anyway. Shori responds with a smirk and a nod.
"So, what about us?" Shuto asks, genuinely confused.
"You and Masaki, Hara and Shino, Shori and So-chan, done." Fuma declares as he picks up his things and walks to one of the rooms, leaving everyone else behind.
"He could've just said that in the first place," Shuto murmurs, but everyone can hear it and they all burst into laughter.
Smiling, Teranishi shakes his head. He may know Fuma for almost two decades at this point, but that doesn't mean he can decipher the man's every thought.
And to be honest, he's excited to find out for himself.