title: building sandcastles in may
rating: pg (only for some curse words)
pairings: ohkura tadayoshi / yasuda shota
characters: kanjani 8, a mention of aiba masaki
genre: sightly sad with a healthy dose of friendship and a little romance.
summary: when ohkura celebrates his birthday, he and shota make sandcastles.
disclaimer: i don't own johnnys entertainment.
notes: so this is ohyass, because ohyass is alive only subtle and omg they are cute okay? :( it's so weird that i can always write *~omgtruluv~* with ohyass. it's probably because they're so cute and fluffy and nice but not overbearing? this is written for ohkura's upcoming birthday. also, there's friendship here too. ;)



* * *

All of a sudden, what seemed so incredibly vast and huge had turned into a place you could circle around in with just four steps. What had seemed like the universe to four year old Tadayoshi was now only four steps wide and long. This was his small sandbox, the place where he could make grandiose castles with elaborate moats under the summer sun, without having to fear the crashing of violent sea waves to destroy his kingdom.

He stands in the center of it, the spring wind in his face as he stares at his shoes beneath the late afternoon sky. He stands in the center of his previous universe, a playground with monkey bars and slides.

"Yer a little architect aren't you, Tadayoshi?" He remembers his grandfather tell him, hand on Ohkura's head-- ruffling his hair. "Building castles an' stuff."

Ohkura's grandfather is but a mere ghost of his past now, but his image in Ohkura's mine is still strong-- every crease on his aged face is embedded into his imagination.
Ohkura looks up to the fading sun and sighs, his palms are sweaty from hiding inside his pockets for too long.

"There you are." Someone calls out, Ohkura turns around and Yasuda Shota. Their relationship is summarized as friend, bandmate and coworker. But sometimes, it seems to be more than that. Ohkura doesn't know what it is though-- it's a long running mystery that he's kept to himself and has silently tried to solve on his own.

Yasuda Shota is almost half a foot shorter than he is, scalar opposites is what some of their friends tease them with. Shota smiles, all colorful and bright as he waves his right hand. Shota walks towards him, shoving his hands inside his pockets.

"Reminiscing?" Shota grins.

"Just a little." Ohkura replies. "I used to play here when I was a kid. My grandfather took me here all the time." He lowers his head and chuckles.

"In the sandbox?" Shota points at the sandbox Ohkura is standing on.

"I used to make sandcastles on my own and he'd just sit in a nearby bench, watching me. When I think about it, he just sat there looking at me with kind eyes. I guess he was really happy because I was his first grandson."

Shota squats, disappearing from Ohkura's line of sight. When Ohkura sees Shota squatting beside his four cornered sandbox, Ohkura squats as well. He watches Shota's calloused fingers bury themselves under the soft beige colored sand. Shota scoops up a handful of sand, but lets the sand slip through his fingers a little while later.

The sand slips like water, water slips like time.

"Why don't we make a sand castle today?" Shota looks around for an unused plastic bucket and shovel, Ohkura just stares at him-- almost confused.

"Is it, because it's my birthday? We have to make sand castles because it's my birthday?"

"No." Shota answers back, picking up a random abandoned red colored plastic shovel. "We're doing this because I feel like it." He reasons out.

"Oh." Ohkura nods. "I see."

"So, help me out-- will you?" Shota pleads in a joking manner. Ohkura smiles and picks up a pail to help Shota build a new castle, one that stands larger than anything he used to make as a child. Ohkura wants to make a castle that will beat anything else his imagination can come up with. He's going to make a castle so grandiose that he'll never have to make another sand castle for the rest of his life, ever.

He and Shota make the sandcastle under the fading sun like four year olds. The red and purple color of the sunset sets the whole place awash with an orange color, something about this hour feels soft and warm. Something about it almost makes it feel like a dream. Shota occassionally breaks the silence with a joke, something like 'Aren't we a little too old for this?'. Ohkura usually ends up chuckling at Shota's jokes, a shy and flustered smirk on his face lighting up his visage.

"Let's go drinking with everyone else later, okay?" Shota suddenly requests Ohkura, peeking behind two sandcastle towers. "Because it's your birthday, Subaru and the guys thought we should have barbeque and something special."

"Something special?" Ohkura is quite curious, his eyes round and large.

"It's not beer this time."

"Well, I hope I don't get raped."

Shota laughs. "No, no you won't. I'm the only one Subaru molests every time I celebrate my birthday."

"Tell me about it." Ohkura sighs. "It's great to be chummy and clingy but sometimes I can't eat when someone's drunk and his crotch is rubbing against my face."

"You can say that again." The smaller man agrees, eyes disappearing as he heartily giggles. Shota occassionally breaks out into giggles rather than chuckles or laughs.

A half an hour later, the castle seems close to it's completion. It was huge and bulky but not very detailed. But still, Ohkura believes that this is so much better than his four year old self can ever create.

Ohkura stands up, admiring their work. His shoes are filled with sand and his hands are dirty, some of the sand has managed to hide under his fingernails and some managed to get on his face. But it doesn't matter. Ohkura believes that this is truly one admirable piece of work standing before him.

"It looks like a real castle." Ohkura murmurs, mouth gaping as he continues to admire the solitary castle standing in the middle of the sand box. "It looks really good."

"That's great." Shota comments, his hands refining the cone shaped top of a supposed tower where a princess is held captive. "It'll be the best castle ever."

As Ohkura watches Shota work on the finishing touches of their magnum opus-- his mind starts to drift off to a certain place where he can ask an unseen diety any kind of question he wished to inquire. With his hands inside his pockets, he stares at Shota with gentle, thoughtful eyes-- his lips curved into a soft, vague yet dreamy kind of smile.

Ohkura then asks-- is it alright, if just once...his birthday wish would be a wish for someone else. As he watches Shota continue with the sand castle,Ohkura deeply wished for the happiness of the person who built this sandcastle with him during the colorful spring this year.

* * *

"Ohkuuurrrrraaaaaaa!" Subaru screams at the top of his lungs, Hina tells him to keep it down or the neighbors will throw a fit (In the universe of Kanjani8, things are decided by Jankenpon more often that people think, and since Hina lost today it was deemed that his place was going to be used to celebrate their drummer's birthday). Subaru doesn't seem to care though, he's too busy calling Ohkura over to sit beside him.

There's a huge liquor bottle in the center of the table, it's unfamiliar though. Ohkura squints at it, Shota sighs and grabs Ohkura's arm-- dragging him towards Subaru.

"Hey,hey, Ohkura-- look at this-- this-- is a one of a kind drink we've got here for you." Yoko pops it open, already drunk. Ryo is already sprawled across the counter, sobbing over Sousuke, unfairness and how he should stop beating his non-existent girlfriend because it's wrong. Maru is still chugging his drink down like a machine and Hina is busying preparing the barbeque. Ohkura looks around and somehow, he ends up looking for Uchi. It happens all the time, before he realizes that 'Oh, yeah-- he's not supposed to be here.'

"We were supposed to call Uchi over but you know--" Subaru scratches his neck. "Osen."

Ohkura nods. Yoko puts down a tall glass and pours the drink and throws in some ice. "Here is what you call Lambanog, Aiba went to the Philippines right?" Yoko sniffs. "He told me some guys were getting piss drunk in Chavit's place-- and well, he was introduced to this little beauty." Yoko kisses the bottle and nestles it.

"Is it strong?" Ohkura looks nervous.

"I don't know." Yoko stares at him, apathetic.

"Yoko, you're drunk..."

"Why are you asking me then?" Yoko growls. Ohkura is left no choice but to drink, at first it seems to zip through his insides like Speed Racer but soon enough he gets the hang of it and actually starts to like it.

He finds himself smiling again, staring at Shota.

Shota doesn't drink too much, just enough to know how it tastes-- he prefers to chat idly with Hina who complains about bad barbeque meat.

"Ohkura." Subaru licks his lips before it touches the cold rim of his drinking glass.

"Hm?"

Subaru wrinkles his nose. "Happy Birthday, okay?"

Ohkura bows once. "Yeah, thanks."

"Oh and--" Subaru grins. "--Stop staring at my Yasu."

It's not so bad, Ohkura thinks. This is a 'not so bad' birthday party.