[junno/kame, kat-tun] zoom zoom
Apr. 1st, 2012 10:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
songbirdspeaksTitle: Zoom Zoom
Pairings/Characters: Junno/Kame; features NTT friendship and appearances from all members + Jin
Rating: PG
Word count: 2709
Warnings: Possibly confusing stock car racing terminology??
Summary: Junno starts work at a new garage, and on a new driver.
Notes: The crew chief in stock car racing is the guy who has the headset; he's directly responsible for the conduct of a racer, and they are responsible for directing the pit crew. Car chiefs are responsible for the car outside of races. A pit crew is a group of mechanics that change tires and refill gas tanks, etc, during 'pit stops'. I've kept it vague so hopefully this isn't confusing. For![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
krysyuy for FTF 2012.
Akanishi Jin's announcement of his retirement from the world of racing comes as abruptly as his meteoric rise to the championship had been, a press conference between one race and the next. As his crew chief and a close friend, Junno's been aware of his feelings of wanting to try something else, something new, for a long time, and when Jin sat his crew down to tell them he's quitting to start an F-1 career, all heads turned toward Junno for an explanation he'd smiled off giving. It's been a month since then--most of the garage has packed up and gone elsewhere, taking employment in garages that had been their competition not two weeks before--and Junno's finally settled his accounts at his old garage.
"You're sure you didn't want to captain for the guy they were going to start sponsoring?" Koki asks, over dinner at the end of the week.
Junno shakes his head, plucking a piece of meat from the pot between them. "It felt wrong to be wearing the old colors and not be talking to Jin," he says, "I need to try someplace new."
Koki nods between bites of food. He's been Junno's friend for a long time--since just after high school, when Junno found himself tinkering with Jin's street racing hot rod and Koki was still a driver himself--and he's always been behind Junno when it counted. There's a flurry of movement at the entrance to the restaurant, and Junno looks up in time to see the third point of their little triangle approaching, dragging a heavy briefcase over one arm and a textbook under the other. "Yucchi!" he calls, and Koki whirls around to wave hello.
"Shut up, Taguchi," Nakamaru says, automatically, and settles heavily on the chair at the end of their booth.
"Yucchi," Koki says, and Nakamaru smiles easily at him, before reaching for his chopsticks and joining the battle for the last pieces of meat.
"Don't eat them all," Nakamaru curses, just in time to catch Junno sneaking a piece off of the plate between Koki's elbows. "You either!"
"It's a party for me!" Junno says, between bites, "find a new job and you can steal all the meat you'd like."
"You never told us where you were working, now, by the way," Koki says, plainly leading and doing a bad job of it.
"You're looking at the new car chief for Kamenashi Kazuya," Junno announces, watching the bomb drop with more than a little glee.
The reaction is nearly instantaneous; Koki spits food all over Nakamaru, who groans in disgust, and then they both turn shocked faces toward Junno. "He hasn't kept a crew chief for more than a year at a time," Koki says, "what makes you think being his car chief is going to turn out well--hell, it'll probably be worse, we've all heard how bitchy he is about that thing! If you wanna retire, just say so, damn."
"I don't want to retire, is the thing," Junno says, watching Koki pick up napkins and begin wiping down Nakamaru's food-covered sweatervest with more care than his yakuza-style jacket would suggest to passers-by. "And trying out a garage where I don't know anyone'll be so much more interesting than working for Jin!"
"I give you a week," Koki says, "why couldn't you go into a normal career, like Yucchi here?"
"Nakamaru teaches high school biology--wait, do you think I should try teaching high school? I bet I'd be good at it!"
"No," Nakamaru and Koki say at the same time, sending Junno into a fit of laughter and earning him a pair of slaps to the head.
---
"Good morning!" Junno says, as he enters the garage. Kamenashi's crew are only half-assembled, and the ones that are around (and awake, there are two guys asleep on benches near the entrance to the blockyard where the car will be) glance up quickly to catch a look at Junno. He'd come around a week before to speak to the crew who'd be answering to him, to see if he'd be a good fit in the high-stress environment of Kamenashi's crew. They'd laughed weakly at his jokes and seemed professional, rolling with Junno's often rapid commands and getting their work done quickly. Junno's looking forward to working with them.
"No, Kame, you can't fire him, it's the middle of the season."
"But Ueda--"
"No. Where the hell are you going to find a new crew chief now?"
Junno turns, and catches Kamenashi and his agent, the attractive but terrifying Ueda Tatsuya, walking through the front doors. The whole garage seems to get chillier at the sight of Kamenashi in jeans and a red KAMENASHI RACING t-shirt, but Junno merely smiles. "Good morning," he greets, and bows at the waist.
"
Good morning," Kamenashi says, briskly, "are you a reporter?"
"No," Junno says, surprised, "no, I'm your new car chief! Taguchi Junnosuke, nice to meet you." Junno sticks his hand out, wondering if Kamenashi is like Jin and likes Western greetings.
Kamenashi takes his hand, after a moment, and shakes it; his grip is strong, and Junno likes it in the brief moment before they both pull away.
"You were Akanishi's crew chief," Kamenashi says, eyes narrowed.
"Yes," Junno says, "Jin and I were a team before we joined the racing scene! We were a team when we joined the racing scene, too, of course, but a different kind. Anyway, I'm on your team now! Your racing team." He's babbling, probably, but Kamenashi's lips are quirked at the corners.
"Are you always this chatty?" Kamenashi asks.
"Basically," Junno admits, easily.
Kamenashi turns to Ueda with triumph written over his mouth. "Look who found himself a new crew chief! And he even has credentials, unlike the current one, who can barely count to ten with both hands and his toes. Please? I want to win, Ueda. We all want to win. And it looks bad for you if I don't."
Ueda's eyes turn on Junno, and Junno jerks to attention. "Can you help him win?" Ueda asks.
"Absolutely," Junno says. From his grip alone he's sure Kamenashi has what it takes to steal the championship right out from under everyone's noses.
---
It turns out things at the garage are in worse condition than they told Junno before they hired him. Kamenashi's sponsors have begun limiting their spending, probably because Kamenashi's stiffly professional public image and excellent but not championship record don't always sell well. The money's still there--when Junno orders half of Kamenashi's engine replaced, it's not a problem for the garage--but after another season Junno's not sure that it will still be.
That said, Kamenashi's in a good position to snag the cup. He's always had good numbers, but with Jin killing the rankings and his ever-changing crew chiefs doing varying jobs of strategizing and ordering the crew--most of them varying degrees of bad, when Junno listens to the crew talk about them--he's fallen short at the last minute. After three weeks of near constant practicing and tweaking, the crew is finally starting to become a team, and with it Junno and Kamenashi are, too.
"My first crew chief's name was Nino," Kamenashi says, one night, watching Junno check the oil. He's sitting on a tool table, his jumpsuit stripped down to his waist and his legs dangling off the floor. "He was the best chief I've ever had, but he decided he wanted to go into filmmaking instead."
"Do you still talk?" Junno asks, leaning forward into the guts of the machine.
"Yeah," Kamenashi says, and he sounds nostalgic.
"I'm going to be better than him," Junno says, as he stands up, "because I have something he didn't."
"Which is?" Kamenashi asks.
"I know what it's like to win, and I don't like giving up that feeling," Junno says, "and I'm not going to leave you for some other dream until you know it, too."
Kamenashi's eyes are dark and round under the fluorescent of the garage's lights, and his smile flickers a little before it spreads, wide, across his face.
Junno likes it. "Kazuya," he says, testing out the name he's never gotten permission to use, "we're going to win." It feels right in his mouth, he decides, letting it bounce around for a minute, 'Kazuya, Kazuya, Kazuya'. He smiles around it.
"Taguchi," Kamenashi breathes, and then colors, coughing low in his throat. "Yeah," he says. "Yeah, we are."
When Junno gets home, his phone reminds him 'First race in two days!'.
---
"Are you coming to the first race of the season?" Junno asks Nakamaru, when he's at the weekly N-T-T meal (nicknamed by Junno, but Koki had picked it up, despite his mutterings about it).
"Do you think I'd miss your crew chief debut in the Kamenashi red?" Nakamaru asks, "after, what, five years of Akanishi blue? Never."
"And what about my debut in Nagase yellow?" Koki demands.
"You're pit crew, no one cares about you," Nakamaru teases.
"I care about you," Junno pipes up, "about beating you, anyway."
"Why am I friends with you assholes?" Koki howls.
'Race tomorrow!' Junno's phone says at midnight.
---
Junno's phone rings with an unfamiliar number, and Junno lets it ring twice before he picks up. "Taguchi Junnosuke," he greets, sticking his phone under his chin and grabbing his Gamecube controller from where he'd set it on his knee.
"Junno, it's Kame," Kame says, "I, uh, I had dinner plans, but they fell through. Do you wanna meet up?"
Junno thinks about that for a moment. "Do you want to come over instead?" he asks.
Silence for a moment; Junno thinks maybe Kame has hung up. Then, Kame speaks again. "What's your address?"
He arrives twenty minutes later, in black slacks and a red button down. "Hot date?" Junno asks.
"Last minute pre-race interview with Tegoshi Yuya," Kame says, expression stormy, "he thinks just because we went to college together he can stand me up, the little--" Kame freezes when Junno drops a long arm about his shoulders and steers him gently into the living room, toward the couch.
"You can get all that rage out with cartoon violence," Junno advises, and hands Kame a controller.
Kame's terrible at first, but he picks it up quickly enough. Junno lets him win once or twice, toward the end, though once Kame figures that out he beats Junno with a pillow for nearly five minutes. Laughing, Junno catches the pillow at last, and sets it aside. "Kazuya," he says.
Kame breathes, turning his face up toward Junno's. Junno brushes some of the hair that's settled out of Kame's carefully coiffed hairdo back with a brush of his fingertips, and afterward settles his fingers gently on Kame's shoulder. "Feeling better?" Junno asks.
"Yeah," Kame says, strain evident in his voice. He leans into Junno's fingertips after a moment, and Junno rubs them over the fabric there.
"I'm glad," Junno says, and then pulls away.
"I'd better go home," Kame says, quietly, after fifteen minutes more of video games.
"I'll see you in the morning," Junno says, watching Kame leave from his doorway.
'Race today!' Junno's phone declares.
---
There's nothing like race day, or at least there isn't to Junno. The air in the pits is as electrifying as it is cramped and muggy, and Junno is rueful once again about the fact that his chosen profession is so frustrating for tall people. He'd stopped by the van to take one last look at Kame's engine, a million plans and contingency plans and contingency plans for the contingency plans running through his head. This is the race that will set the tone for the rest of Kame's season, in many ways.
There are about a million familiar faces outside the pits, many of them people from Jin's old garage, and Junno greets them all cheerfully (including Koki, who looks like a chicken in the yellow uniform of Nagase's team, a fact Junno is happy to point out and receive his lumps for). There are reporters Junno recognizes scattered about, doing interviews with racing association types and other important, visible people. Junno's glad to ignore them all as he ducks into the pits to run his hands over the tires sitting ready in the pits.
"We're moving the car in in ten," Junno says, into the headpiece clipped over his head.
He gets an avalanche of 'okay's from his crew, and then he goes back to checking parts. It's easy, a mechanical familiarity that keeps his mind off of the twitch of Kame's fingers over Junno's knee the night before between rounds of Super Smash Brothers.
---
"Are you ready?" Junno asks, when Kame is sitting ready at the start line.
"Seriously?" Kame asks, sounding tense, "you have to do this now?"
"There's no better time than this," Junno says, "calm down. We've practiced every day. You're ready. And so am I--to give you the best car I can for races. She'll run for you, Kazuya. You just have to believe it."
"I just--" Kame cuts off. "Never mind."
"No, tell me," Junno urges.
"I'll tell you after I get back," Kame says, finally.
"I have something to tell you, too," Junno says, "but only if you win. And I really want to tell you, so you should try to win, all right?"
"Yeah," Kame says, and Junno can hear him take a long breath in his earpiece.
"You're going to win," Junno says, low.
Silence. Then, Kame snorts.
"Of course I am," he says.
---
Kame wins, but Junno can't see him right away, too busy packing and delegating and checking the car over before he sends it off.
Someone pokes at his elbow and directs him out of the pit, where Kame is talking to Tegoshi, a sports reporter. "It's all thanks to Taguchi, really," Kame is saying, "he's an excellent crew chief. He knows how to keep people calm."
"I'm just used to strung-out racers," Junno says, breaking into the interview with a wide smile, "Jin always got tense right before a race, too. Kazuya's problem is he psyches himself out--when he stays calm he can work miracles, like you saw today."
Tegoshi's mouth flickers in a smile, and Junno offers it back before he turns his energy on a flushed Kame. "So," Junno says, "I have to tell you something."
"Shoot," Kame says, looking nervous.
"I really think we need to change our colors from red to purple," Junno says, solemn.
Kame rolls his eyes so violently Junno thinks they're going to pop from his skull.
---
They're the last people left in the garage after the last check up. Kame is sorting tools into their bins as a thank you to his crew, and Junno is looking over burnt-out pistons with a careful eye before tossing them in one of two boxes.
He's just finished when hands settle on his shoulders, and Junno looks up to see Kame looking down at him.
"Thank you for believing in me," Kame says, and then leans down to kiss him.
---
"I think I came out of that one the winner," Junno says, when he recounts the story to his friends three days later. Kame elbows him, violently, but Junno retaliates by sliding his fingers between Kame's.
Koki's gaze flickers between the two of them, suspicion written all over his face. "Don't fuck with Junno," he says, finally, "he's an idiot, but he's our idiot." Nakamaru nods vigorously along.
Ueda's been rolling his eyes since they invited him along for dinner. "Don't fuck with the public," he warns, "if I wake up and find this all over the headlines, it's your heads on the line."
"I'd pay to see Taguchi's head on the line," a voice comes from the booth behind them, and then Jin's puffy head pops up over it to stare down at them all. "It'd get him to shut up for five minutes."
---
"So that went well," Junno says, when they get into (his) car. Kame blinks.
"That was well?" he asks, "I'd hate to see your definition of bad."
"There are usually a lot more explosions when things go bad in my world, Kazuya," Junno says.
Pairings/Characters: Junno/Kame; features NTT friendship and appearances from all members + Jin
Rating: PG
Word count: 2709
Warnings: Possibly confusing stock car racing terminology??
Summary: Junno starts work at a new garage, and on a new driver.
Notes: The crew chief in stock car racing is the guy who has the headset; he's directly responsible for the conduct of a racer, and they are responsible for directing the pit crew. Car chiefs are responsible for the car outside of races. A pit crew is a group of mechanics that change tires and refill gas tanks, etc, during 'pit stops'. I've kept it vague so hopefully this isn't confusing. For
krysyuy for FTF 2012.Akanishi Jin's announcement of his retirement from the world of racing comes as abruptly as his meteoric rise to the championship had been, a press conference between one race and the next. As his crew chief and a close friend, Junno's been aware of his feelings of wanting to try something else, something new, for a long time, and when Jin sat his crew down to tell them he's quitting to start an F-1 career, all heads turned toward Junno for an explanation he'd smiled off giving. It's been a month since then--most of the garage has packed up and gone elsewhere, taking employment in garages that had been their competition not two weeks before--and Junno's finally settled his accounts at his old garage.
"You're sure you didn't want to captain for the guy they were going to start sponsoring?" Koki asks, over dinner at the end of the week.
Junno shakes his head, plucking a piece of meat from the pot between them. "It felt wrong to be wearing the old colors and not be talking to Jin," he says, "I need to try someplace new."
Koki nods between bites of food. He's been Junno's friend for a long time--since just after high school, when Junno found himself tinkering with Jin's street racing hot rod and Koki was still a driver himself--and he's always been behind Junno when it counted. There's a flurry of movement at the entrance to the restaurant, and Junno looks up in time to see the third point of their little triangle approaching, dragging a heavy briefcase over one arm and a textbook under the other. "Yucchi!" he calls, and Koki whirls around to wave hello.
"Shut up, Taguchi," Nakamaru says, automatically, and settles heavily on the chair at the end of their booth.
"Yucchi," Koki says, and Nakamaru smiles easily at him, before reaching for his chopsticks and joining the battle for the last pieces of meat.
"Don't eat them all," Nakamaru curses, just in time to catch Junno sneaking a piece off of the plate between Koki's elbows. "You either!"
"It's a party for me!" Junno says, between bites, "find a new job and you can steal all the meat you'd like."
"You never told us where you were working, now, by the way," Koki says, plainly leading and doing a bad job of it.
"You're looking at the new car chief for Kamenashi Kazuya," Junno announces, watching the bomb drop with more than a little glee.
The reaction is nearly instantaneous; Koki spits food all over Nakamaru, who groans in disgust, and then they both turn shocked faces toward Junno. "He hasn't kept a crew chief for more than a year at a time," Koki says, "what makes you think being his car chief is going to turn out well--hell, it'll probably be worse, we've all heard how bitchy he is about that thing! If you wanna retire, just say so, damn."
"I don't want to retire, is the thing," Junno says, watching Koki pick up napkins and begin wiping down Nakamaru's food-covered sweatervest with more care than his yakuza-style jacket would suggest to passers-by. "And trying out a garage where I don't know anyone'll be so much more interesting than working for Jin!"
"I give you a week," Koki says, "why couldn't you go into a normal career, like Yucchi here?"
"Nakamaru teaches high school biology--wait, do you think I should try teaching high school? I bet I'd be good at it!"
"No," Nakamaru and Koki say at the same time, sending Junno into a fit of laughter and earning him a pair of slaps to the head.
---
"Good morning!" Junno says, as he enters the garage. Kamenashi's crew are only half-assembled, and the ones that are around (and awake, there are two guys asleep on benches near the entrance to the blockyard where the car will be) glance up quickly to catch a look at Junno. He'd come around a week before to speak to the crew who'd be answering to him, to see if he'd be a good fit in the high-stress environment of Kamenashi's crew. They'd laughed weakly at his jokes and seemed professional, rolling with Junno's often rapid commands and getting their work done quickly. Junno's looking forward to working with them.
"No, Kame, you can't fire him, it's the middle of the season."
"But Ueda--"
"No. Where the hell are you going to find a new crew chief now?"
Junno turns, and catches Kamenashi and his agent, the attractive but terrifying Ueda Tatsuya, walking through the front doors. The whole garage seems to get chillier at the sight of Kamenashi in jeans and a red KAMENASHI RACING t-shirt, but Junno merely smiles. "Good morning," he greets, and bows at the waist.
"
Good morning," Kamenashi says, briskly, "are you a reporter?"
"No," Junno says, surprised, "no, I'm your new car chief! Taguchi Junnosuke, nice to meet you." Junno sticks his hand out, wondering if Kamenashi is like Jin and likes Western greetings.
Kamenashi takes his hand, after a moment, and shakes it; his grip is strong, and Junno likes it in the brief moment before they both pull away.
"You were Akanishi's crew chief," Kamenashi says, eyes narrowed.
"Yes," Junno says, "Jin and I were a team before we joined the racing scene! We were a team when we joined the racing scene, too, of course, but a different kind. Anyway, I'm on your team now! Your racing team." He's babbling, probably, but Kamenashi's lips are quirked at the corners.
"Are you always this chatty?" Kamenashi asks.
"Basically," Junno admits, easily.
Kamenashi turns to Ueda with triumph written over his mouth. "Look who found himself a new crew chief! And he even has credentials, unlike the current one, who can barely count to ten with both hands and his toes. Please? I want to win, Ueda. We all want to win. And it looks bad for you if I don't."
Ueda's eyes turn on Junno, and Junno jerks to attention. "Can you help him win?" Ueda asks.
"Absolutely," Junno says. From his grip alone he's sure Kamenashi has what it takes to steal the championship right out from under everyone's noses.
---
It turns out things at the garage are in worse condition than they told Junno before they hired him. Kamenashi's sponsors have begun limiting their spending, probably because Kamenashi's stiffly professional public image and excellent but not championship record don't always sell well. The money's still there--when Junno orders half of Kamenashi's engine replaced, it's not a problem for the garage--but after another season Junno's not sure that it will still be.
That said, Kamenashi's in a good position to snag the cup. He's always had good numbers, but with Jin killing the rankings and his ever-changing crew chiefs doing varying jobs of strategizing and ordering the crew--most of them varying degrees of bad, when Junno listens to the crew talk about them--he's fallen short at the last minute. After three weeks of near constant practicing and tweaking, the crew is finally starting to become a team, and with it Junno and Kamenashi are, too.
"My first crew chief's name was Nino," Kamenashi says, one night, watching Junno check the oil. He's sitting on a tool table, his jumpsuit stripped down to his waist and his legs dangling off the floor. "He was the best chief I've ever had, but he decided he wanted to go into filmmaking instead."
"Do you still talk?" Junno asks, leaning forward into the guts of the machine.
"Yeah," Kamenashi says, and he sounds nostalgic.
"I'm going to be better than him," Junno says, as he stands up, "because I have something he didn't."
"Which is?" Kamenashi asks.
"I know what it's like to win, and I don't like giving up that feeling," Junno says, "and I'm not going to leave you for some other dream until you know it, too."
Kamenashi's eyes are dark and round under the fluorescent of the garage's lights, and his smile flickers a little before it spreads, wide, across his face.
Junno likes it. "Kazuya," he says, testing out the name he's never gotten permission to use, "we're going to win." It feels right in his mouth, he decides, letting it bounce around for a minute, 'Kazuya, Kazuya, Kazuya'. He smiles around it.
"Taguchi," Kamenashi breathes, and then colors, coughing low in his throat. "Yeah," he says. "Yeah, we are."
When Junno gets home, his phone reminds him 'First race in two days!'.
---
"Are you coming to the first race of the season?" Junno asks Nakamaru, when he's at the weekly N-T-T meal (nicknamed by Junno, but Koki had picked it up, despite his mutterings about it).
"Do you think I'd miss your crew chief debut in the Kamenashi red?" Nakamaru asks, "after, what, five years of Akanishi blue? Never."
"And what about my debut in Nagase yellow?" Koki demands.
"You're pit crew, no one cares about you," Nakamaru teases.
"I care about you," Junno pipes up, "about beating you, anyway."
"Why am I friends with you assholes?" Koki howls.
'Race tomorrow!' Junno's phone says at midnight.
---
Junno's phone rings with an unfamiliar number, and Junno lets it ring twice before he picks up. "Taguchi Junnosuke," he greets, sticking his phone under his chin and grabbing his Gamecube controller from where he'd set it on his knee.
"Junno, it's Kame," Kame says, "I, uh, I had dinner plans, but they fell through. Do you wanna meet up?"
Junno thinks about that for a moment. "Do you want to come over instead?" he asks.
Silence for a moment; Junno thinks maybe Kame has hung up. Then, Kame speaks again. "What's your address?"
He arrives twenty minutes later, in black slacks and a red button down. "Hot date?" Junno asks.
"Last minute pre-race interview with Tegoshi Yuya," Kame says, expression stormy, "he thinks just because we went to college together he can stand me up, the little--" Kame freezes when Junno drops a long arm about his shoulders and steers him gently into the living room, toward the couch.
"You can get all that rage out with cartoon violence," Junno advises, and hands Kame a controller.
Kame's terrible at first, but he picks it up quickly enough. Junno lets him win once or twice, toward the end, though once Kame figures that out he beats Junno with a pillow for nearly five minutes. Laughing, Junno catches the pillow at last, and sets it aside. "Kazuya," he says.
Kame breathes, turning his face up toward Junno's. Junno brushes some of the hair that's settled out of Kame's carefully coiffed hairdo back with a brush of his fingertips, and afterward settles his fingers gently on Kame's shoulder. "Feeling better?" Junno asks.
"Yeah," Kame says, strain evident in his voice. He leans into Junno's fingertips after a moment, and Junno rubs them over the fabric there.
"I'm glad," Junno says, and then pulls away.
"I'd better go home," Kame says, quietly, after fifteen minutes more of video games.
"I'll see you in the morning," Junno says, watching Kame leave from his doorway.
'Race today!' Junno's phone declares.
---
There's nothing like race day, or at least there isn't to Junno. The air in the pits is as electrifying as it is cramped and muggy, and Junno is rueful once again about the fact that his chosen profession is so frustrating for tall people. He'd stopped by the van to take one last look at Kame's engine, a million plans and contingency plans and contingency plans for the contingency plans running through his head. This is the race that will set the tone for the rest of Kame's season, in many ways.
There are about a million familiar faces outside the pits, many of them people from Jin's old garage, and Junno greets them all cheerfully (including Koki, who looks like a chicken in the yellow uniform of Nagase's team, a fact Junno is happy to point out and receive his lumps for). There are reporters Junno recognizes scattered about, doing interviews with racing association types and other important, visible people. Junno's glad to ignore them all as he ducks into the pits to run his hands over the tires sitting ready in the pits.
"We're moving the car in in ten," Junno says, into the headpiece clipped over his head.
He gets an avalanche of 'okay's from his crew, and then he goes back to checking parts. It's easy, a mechanical familiarity that keeps his mind off of the twitch of Kame's fingers over Junno's knee the night before between rounds of Super Smash Brothers.
---
"Are you ready?" Junno asks, when Kame is sitting ready at the start line.
"Seriously?" Kame asks, sounding tense, "you have to do this now?"
"There's no better time than this," Junno says, "calm down. We've practiced every day. You're ready. And so am I--to give you the best car I can for races. She'll run for you, Kazuya. You just have to believe it."
"I just--" Kame cuts off. "Never mind."
"No, tell me," Junno urges.
"I'll tell you after I get back," Kame says, finally.
"I have something to tell you, too," Junno says, "but only if you win. And I really want to tell you, so you should try to win, all right?"
"Yeah," Kame says, and Junno can hear him take a long breath in his earpiece.
"You're going to win," Junno says, low.
Silence. Then, Kame snorts.
"Of course I am," he says.
---
Kame wins, but Junno can't see him right away, too busy packing and delegating and checking the car over before he sends it off.
Someone pokes at his elbow and directs him out of the pit, where Kame is talking to Tegoshi, a sports reporter. "It's all thanks to Taguchi, really," Kame is saying, "he's an excellent crew chief. He knows how to keep people calm."
"I'm just used to strung-out racers," Junno says, breaking into the interview with a wide smile, "Jin always got tense right before a race, too. Kazuya's problem is he psyches himself out--when he stays calm he can work miracles, like you saw today."
Tegoshi's mouth flickers in a smile, and Junno offers it back before he turns his energy on a flushed Kame. "So," Junno says, "I have to tell you something."
"Shoot," Kame says, looking nervous.
"I really think we need to change our colors from red to purple," Junno says, solemn.
Kame rolls his eyes so violently Junno thinks they're going to pop from his skull.
---
They're the last people left in the garage after the last check up. Kame is sorting tools into their bins as a thank you to his crew, and Junno is looking over burnt-out pistons with a careful eye before tossing them in one of two boxes.
He's just finished when hands settle on his shoulders, and Junno looks up to see Kame looking down at him.
"Thank you for believing in me," Kame says, and then leans down to kiss him.
---
"I think I came out of that one the winner," Junno says, when he recounts the story to his friends three days later. Kame elbows him, violently, but Junno retaliates by sliding his fingers between Kame's.
Koki's gaze flickers between the two of them, suspicion written all over his face. "Don't fuck with Junno," he says, finally, "he's an idiot, but he's our idiot." Nakamaru nods vigorously along.
Ueda's been rolling his eyes since they invited him along for dinner. "Don't fuck with the public," he warns, "if I wake up and find this all over the headlines, it's your heads on the line."
"I'd pay to see Taguchi's head on the line," a voice comes from the booth behind them, and then Jin's puffy head pops up over it to stare down at them all. "It'd get him to shut up for five minutes."
---
"So that went well," Junno says, when they get into (his) car. Kame blinks.
"That was well?" he asks, "I'd hate to see your definition of bad."
"There are usually a lot more explosions when things go bad in my world, Kazuya," Junno says.
