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ninoexchange2016-06-21 05:59 am
nino-mod.livejournal.com) wrote in ninoexchange2016-06-21 05:59 am
Entry tags:
fic for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
clipsie
For: clipsie
From:lotus
Title: the team that plays together, slays together
Pairing/Focus: Gen, Aimiya friendship, Arashi friendship, mentions of other Johnny’s friendships
Rating: PG-13 for some (but not much) language
Warnings: None that I can think of
Summary: Absolute Loot Gaming hadn’t originally been intended to be more than just a casual thing. But now, it’s going to have it’s own live show.
Notes: Phew. Apparently I didn’t realize that writing about people playing video games was going to be such a daunting task. But when I saw clipsie’s first prompt, I really desperately wanted to write it. I’m a huge fan of Achievement Hunter myself, and this fic is based off of their Let’s Play Live event and the documentary that went with it. I hope you enjoy it, even though there’s not as much focus on games as I wish I could’ve put in there! Also, big love and kisses to my beta and my cheering squad who consistently reassured me that I would get through this, and a gigantic thank you to the mod for being so lovely and wonderful about the exchange, as always!
Nino is twenty minutes into his game when Yuto- thankfully- interrupts.
“I can come back,” he offers politely, which is part of why Nino hired him, but then he goes on to add, “but I’d rather not.”
Which is another part of the reason Nino hired him, honestly.
“At least one of us is working,” Nino snips, “but no, come on in.”
Yuto grins and pulls a chair up, observing from his side. “Ohh, is this next for Watch Together?”
“I said come in, not hover over my shoulder,” Nino hums, but there’s even less bite in this statement than the previous one. The company is nice, since the game- a frightening number about a man investigating the paranormal occurrences in his home- is putting Nino on edge. “I’m considering it. It’s between this and the one about the crazy painter. Audiences love to watch us scream, after all.”
“That’s true, they do,” Yuto agrees, his tone wistful. Nino thinks he’s probably remembering a recently filmed Watch Together that had been highly reviewed- a video that Yuto may have shed tears during. He shakes it off and Nino smirks, choosing not to tease him about it, and then they sit in companionable silence for a bit while Nino continues his play.
It’s only when Yuto grows fidgety, ruining Nino’s focus, that he thinks to question why he’d joined him in the first place. “Is there something you’d like to talk about? Or are you trying not to piss yourself over here?” Nino laughs, eyebrows raised, and Yuto scowls in response before letting out a noisy sigh.
“I’ve got this idea, I thought I’d bring it up in case it’s something you’d be interested in doing,” he begins, slowly. Nino exits his game, saving the rest for filming, to give Yuto his full attention. He motions for him to go on and Yuto fiddles absently with a pen laying on Nino’s desk. “So, people love to watch us play, right? We put out a video every day, and subscribers just wait for it, they’re so excited. And we get thousands of views within an hour. But how can we, the Absolute Loot crew, connect with them on a more personal level?”
“Have you been working on this pitch?” Nino asks, suspiciously, nudging Yuto’s foot with his own. He certainly sounds rehearsed, but also nervous, his eyes jumping around the small office space, at the various Nintendo posters.
He clears his throat. “Yes, and you taking advantage of the break in my script is really throwing me off. Anyway, look, we pride ourselves on doing whatever we can to be close to our subscribers. They really got us here, after all, and it’s because of them that we have one of those.” He jerks his thumb at the shelf behind him; it has a few game collectibles on it along with a Shorty Award for Best in Gaming from the previous year. “So I thought, why don’t we put on some kind of a live event?”
“Like a convention? That’ll be expensive, Yuto. Not just for us to run an event like that, but because of the costs, it’d probably be expensive for fans to even get to,” Nino points out, but despite his objections, there’s a leap in his chest at the idea. He unconsciously taps on the calculator he keeps at the edge of his desk, his mind running, thrumming with questions.
Yuto seems to recognize his tone and brightens, his tense edges softening out. “Well, I was thinking on a smaller scale- a full-out convention would be expensive, but I thought maybe we could do a live show of Play Together. It’d still be costly, especially with the equipment we would need, but it’s smaller than a convention and it’d be like our subscribers watching a video except they’ll be right there with us instead! Like a concert, but with games! We can even have a meet and greet with them after the show, or do a Q and A.”
His excitement is contagious; Nino immediately swings around to his computer, bringing up his search engine to find out what sort of a location they would need to rent for an event like this, and how much it would cost. “I can’t make any promises- I mean, do you really think people would come to something like this? I don’t want to be in the hole here.”
“I can drop a few hints on Twitter, gauge reactions, see if anyone bites,” Yuto considers, his voice rising animatedly. He shoves his chair back so hard that it wobbles. “And, and Sakurai-san can help you crunch some numbers, right? Check out the costs of renting a space and equipment, and transporting the things we need from the office?”
Nino is already nodding, one hand on the mouse to scroll through his search results and the other on his phone, typing out a text to one of his best friends (and the financial manager of his company), Sakurai Sho. “Let’s both do our research,” he says, trying to put on his best I’m-The-Boss voice, “and tomorrow, we’ll discuss it at the morning huddle with everyone. But until then, try not to get too carried away- and don’t go making any premature announcements.”
Yuto salutes him, looking a bit euphoric, and then leaves him to do his research.
***
Absolute Loot Gaming hadn’t originally been intended to be more than just a casual thing. Nino started his channel when he was young, and it was mostly to review Nintendo games, something he’d just planned to do in his spare time for fun. But the more videos that he posted, the more people came to know him as Neentendo, the snarky, sarcastic vlogger that yelled at his best friend a lot during Mario Kart. It took off from there- Aiba, said best friend that usually took the verbal thrashing, began to get more heavily involved with the videos, taking the time to edit them and create his own sub channel which he called Positive (v)Aibs.
The first video on Aiba’s channel was of him shouting encouragement at Nino while Nino played a few levels of Super Mario. It wasn’t an immediate hit, but the viewer count still grows steadily day by day, mostly for all of the hilarious shouting about distractions that Nino did in return. They’re both pretty satisfied with the result.
Their friendship built the company from the ground up. Nino loves to play games, any and all sorts of games, and he especially enjoys playing them with Aiba, despite all of the shouting (or perhaps because of all of the shouting). It began with them, but as the channel began to blossom into its popularity, Nino also began putting his money from his savings and his part-time job into creating a company, discovering some of the most popular gamers on the internet, selling merchandise and subscriptions to their website with exclusive videos.
He called Sho and offered him a position, helping him keep track of all of his spending and income. Sho had hesitated- they’d gone to school together as kids, and though Sho is a bit older, they’d become friends. Nino had never given Sho a reason not to trust him or his opinion but he’d also never asked Sho for anything like this before. Once Sho had watched a few videos and saw their subscriber count, though, he had a little more faith and took Nino up on his offer.
The group of gamers that Nino had gathered over the years- Aiba and Yuto included, Yuto being one of the youngest ones- had been hand-picked and offered permanent positions. They became a family, and now they play together every day, teasing each other and fighting and laughing. The chemistry they have as a team contributes to their success, and Nino is proud of that all the time.
Nonetheless, Yuto’s idea, while exciting, requires a certain amount of finesse. Nino knows it’s something they could pull off, given the time and effort to plan. He knows they’ve got the money for it, and he’s even fairly certain that people would attend. But he also knows that people might not.
“It’s like planning a wedding,” Sho sighs over the phone. Nino can hear him typing in the background, presumably doing the same sort of research that Nino himself is doing as well. “Finding a venue is just the first part- we’ll also have to figure out a hotel where we can get group rates or discounts or something for fans from other areas of Japan. I can look into that once we pick a place.”
“A wedding is a good comparison, I didn’t realize you were ready to take it to that level yet. Don’t tell Aiba, he’ll be so jealous,” Nino says, laughing. He listens to Sho snort on the other end, secretly grateful that he’d called despite the lateness of the hour (and the early meeting they both have scheduled).
“Oh,” Sho murmurs, suddenly, the laughter gone. “Nino, I think I’ve got something. It’s a theatre and it’s affordable, we won’t have to overcharge for tickets to the event. Plus, I have a contact there that might be able to get us a deal. Do you want me to send them an e-mail and see if they’ll be available and what sort of sound and screen equipment they have?”
Nino nods to himself. “Yeah, and see if it costs extra to rent that stuff. Send me the link before you go to bed. But then go to bed, seriously, because you have to be up to run a meeting in four hours! What are you thinking, staying up so late on a work night, Sho-chan?” He teases, and Sho makes a huffing sound like he’s sticking his tongue out before Nino finds himself alone on the line.
***
Their “morning huddles” usually don’t start until around 11 but Nino calls everyone in as soon as they arrive the following morning. Yuto is first to come in, already grinning widely, self-satisfaction radiating off of him in waves. Yamada Ryosuke, Yuto’s other half in the gaming world, stumbles in after him, yawning. Sho enters a few moments later, looking ever professional with a pile of folders, and behind him are Maruyama Ryuhei and Yokoyama Yuu. They’re talking animatedly about a new MMO that they’re all scheduled to record for Play Together in the afternoon.
Aiba tries to sneak in quietly during the distraction, as if Nino wouldn’t know that he’s late, but Nino’s been waiting for him. He kicks the chair beside him out from under the table and raises his eyebrows, motioning to it. Grinning, Aiba drops into it.
“Good morning, Nino-chan,” he says, cheerfully, poking Nino in the cheeks until Nino bats his hands away. “I’m surprised you wanted to have a huddle so early! Is something going on?”
“Hm, guess you’ll have to find out,” Nino sing-songs, kicking his feet up onto the table. Sho nudges his legs back down to the ground as he passes by.
“Okay, guys, I know you all want to get playing,” Sho begins, the way he usually does, “but Nino and I have something we want to go over with everyone today, get some thoughts about. I’ll hand the floor over to him first.”
There’s very little fanfare about the whole thing; Nino goes over the conversation that he and Yuto had had in his office the previous day, with Yuto jokingly standing up to take a bow at the mention of his name. He and Sho present the theatre that they’ve contacted, the information that had been sent to them in reply, all of the costs and the necessary equipment. They simply go over the facts, asking that any questions be held until the end of their presentation, which is when everyone begins to speak at once.
“Okay, okay! One person at a time!” Nino barks, and hands shoot up around the table. He rubs his temples, feeling like a grade school teacher, and Aiba laughs at him. “I…Yuu, go on, yes?”
All the hands go down when Yuu, eyebrows raised skeptically, asks, “Are people even going to come?”
Nino’s a little relieved- everyone is looking to him for the answer, but he’s had an evening to think this over. He’s never gone so far as to suggest they do something that he himself didn’t believe in, and he’s never gotten carried away with ideas before. Even putting his savings into Absolute Loot had been an idea well-picked over before being put into action. “I can’t make any promises,” he admits, after a long moment, “but I think it’ll be fun for all of us to do. I mean, we all sit around the office and play videos games for people to watch- they watch us for a reason. Let’s take it to the next stage.”
“Literally,” Aiba adds, giving the group a thumbs-up. “It does sound like fun! I think we should try it.”
“I posted yesterday on Twitter without releasing any real details, just kind of as a hypothetical, to see if anyone else thought it’d be cool to watch a Play Together live and we got a pretty good reaction,” Yuto points out. “We could make it all concert-like!”
Aiba sits forward suddenly, eyes comically wide. “We could get MatsuJun to produce it!”
Nino grins, clapping him on the shoulder. “We sure could. That’s why I already texted him to ask for help. So, is everyone cool with this? Any more arguments to make? Because I’d really like to get to work sometime today, and kick some ass in Overwatch.”
“Yeah, okay, more like get your ass kicked,” Yamada teases, and they all laugh while Nino pouts.
The meeting dissolving into excited chatter and the group, save for Aiba and Nino, retreat to the main play room. Sho leaves to his own personal office, presumably to confirm their booking with the theatre and work out dates.
“So,” Aiba starts, spinning his chair around in slow circles while Nino dodges his long, swinging legs, “I’m surprised you want to leave the office long enough for something like this. You hate having to do things that involve…not being in your office, basically.”
Nino kicks at his chair, speeding his spinning up until Aiba shouts. Nino ignores it, plopping down on the tabletop. “You’re right, I do. But these guys are great. We’re all great, even though they would argue that. People like us. Shouldn’t we try to keep being better at what we do?”
Aiba escapes his chair by pushing away and stumbles dizzily to his feet, wincing. He feels along the wall until Nino relents and hops back down, grabbing his arm to steady him. “Now you sound like MatsuJun,” Aiba says, finally, once he’s gotten his bearings back. “So is he going to help us? Producer Matsumoto?”
“He is, but it’s going to cost me. Apparently. But I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. In the meantime, let’s put something on the main Twitter about it. Something like ‘Details coming soon! Come see us try to kill each other in person!.’” Swinging an arm around Aiba’s shoulders, Nino drags them towards the play room while Aiba snorts at his wording. “I don’t know! You’re good at that stuff. I know you’ll figure something out.”
***
They decide on: The team that plays together, slays together. LIVE. Details coming soon. Aiba’s pretty proud of it, especially because the reaction is so immediate and positive. Nino has notifications for the main account turned off on his phone, but Aiba doesn’t, and it buzzes like crazy during their whole first round of Overwatch.
It’s the most enlightening distraction that Nino’s had in a while.
***
“Okay, we’re definitely not putting your name up in lights on the front of the building. Not only is that not a part of the contract that you signed with the theatre, it’s also extremely expensive and not a good show of teamwork, something that you always brag about.”
Nino pouts magnificently but Matsumoto Jun just continues to give him the most exasperated look he can manage. He has incredibly expressive eyebrows, something that Nino often compliments him for, so the look is a little bit more threatening than it’s meant to be. “But I’ve been such a good boy this year,” he sighs.
Jun has known him long enough to know he’s joking, but the teasing is fun anyway. He continues going over the lighting and graphics as if Nino hadn’t spoken in the first place. The two of them, along with Sho and Aiba, have been hard at work planning the Absolute Loot Live Play Together for the past month. They’ve had daily meetings, gained valuable input from the rest of the crew, contacted nearby hotels for group discounts, and finally- most excitingly- begun to sell tickets.
Nino recruited Jun to help produce the show because it’s what Jun does for a living. He’s produced various short videos that Yuu and Maru have created for their company, and they’ve worked pretty closely with him for years. It helps that Nino and Jun had been neighbors when they were children; Jun is the cheapest (but also the most talented) person for the job. He’d offered to do it for free, but ticket sales had started to increase over the last couple of weeks, and Nino isn’t fond of the idea of not paying him at all. Jun is dedicated to his work, and Absolute Loot Live is only a side project for him- he’s really doing them a favor by devoting so much time and energy to it.
It’s late- almost midnight- and it’s just the four of them in the office but Nino’s roommate, Ohno, shuffles into the meeting room with a pizza. He’s been watching from the sidelines, just there to keep them company, really, and Nino is grateful that he thought to order them food. He doesn’t remember if he’d eaten dinner.
“Ohno-san is the best,” Aiba says, happily, munching on a slice.
Ohno grins around his own mouthful of food. “I figured you guys would be hungry. It’s really interesting to watch, but tiring.”
Nino puts his feet up into Ohno’s lap, poking at his stomach until he grunts. “You could join. You’re probably better than Maru.”
“Nino,” Aiba scolds, wiping the grease from his chin. Maru and Yuu had played together on their own before Absolute Loot- Aiba had been the one to contact them, and Nino’s glad they’re a part of the team, but it’s definitely fun to tease them.
“I’m only good at mobile games,” Ohno says, “and Wii bowling.”
“Yeah, you’re not good at that either,” Nino objects, leaning forward to pat his shoulder sympathetically. “Sorry.”
“You should be nicer to Maru,” Sho says, starting in on his second piece as he absently makes some notes in the margin of his page. “He thinks you’re great.”
“He has a lock of Nino’s hair in his journal,” Ohno frowns, eyebrow together. Jun chokes on his food and Sho turns slowly to peer at Nino.
Jun takes a moment to swallow his food, shaking his head. “Did you know about this, Nino?”
“Know about it?” Aiba chuckles. “He sold it to him.”
They all laugh at that, a groaning laughter, while Nino smirks and stretches in his seat. His phone goes off beside him and he glances at it, then does a double take, nearly kicking Ohno in the stomach. He reads the notification slowly, Aiba leaning into his space to see what has him distracted.
“We sold out,” Aiba breathes, his fingers clamping around Nino’s wrist. Their eyes meet and then Aiba jumps up, whooping excitedly. “We sold out! We sold out! Nino, hundreds of people are going to come watch us play video games!”
“Well, it sounded better until you said that,” Nino points out, smacking him lightly, but his mouth hurts with how wide his smile is.
“Congrats! Now, since you’re going to have so many people there to see you, how about we make this an amazing show?” Jun is grinning, a glint in his eye that makes Nino shrink back in surprise. “Because I just had a great idea, and I think your audience is going to love it.”
***
Okada Junichi, Sho’s contact at the theatre, calls Nino a few days before the show. Nino likes him immensely- they’ve been in contact for the last couple of months, working out the details of the stage setting and rental equipment, and he’s been extremely helpful.
“So you guys are going to have a full house,” Okada tells him, “from what I hear, you’re pretty popular.”
“But you’ve never heard of us before this, I take it,” Nino assumes, laughingly “You better get with the program before the show. Also, speaking of, how does the program look?”
“Well, Ohno sent me designs last week and we have them printed and ready to go. Are you ready to go? That Mario Kart thing is going to be…interesting.” Okada sounds doubtful, but Nino knows his team- they’re ready. Especially Aiba, after hearing what Jun had planned for them.
He tells Okada as much, confidently, but mostly trying to have faith in his team and their fans. “They paid good money to be there,” he points out, “also, it’s part of your job to make sure everything runs smoothly, right? So don’t mess up, and we’ll be all set!”
Okada snorts, disbelievingly. “Oh good, I’m glad you’re ready to take responsibility for anything that goes wrong.”
Nino thinks about that for a long moment. That odd, creeping feeling of what-if is finding its way back into the rear of his mind and he tries to push it away. His team- his friends- are counting on him to keep his head on straight. So that’s what he’s going to do. “We’ll be okay,” he reassures, talking as much to himself as to Okada, “J is a really great producer so he’s planned for everything that could go wrong. I hope. And we have you! It’ll be great.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Okada says.
They agree to meet up the next day and go over the stage set up and schedule with Jun. Nino hangs up, knowing he’ll feel more like success is on their side soon enough.
***
He’s talked about video games hundreds upon hundreds of times, to thousands of people over the years. But it’s always been through the medium of the internet. Needless to say, Nino’s chest is tight as he pokes his head around the curtain.
There are a lot of people.
“It’s going to be great, boss,” Maru tries to comfort him, “we’re just going to do what we do every day.”
“In front of a lot of people. Live,” Yuu adds, unhelpfully, and receives an exasperated glance from Nino and Maru at once. “What? I can’t be nervous too?”
“It’s fine,” Yamada interjects, “I mean, it’s going to be fun. So let’s get this party started.” He pushes at Nino until Nino frowns and knocks his hand away, taking a deep breath and squaring his shoulders.
Aiba joins him, a familiar and soothing presence at his side. He flashes him a grin and a peace sign and Nino nods, signaling Jun on the other side of the stage to turn the lights down. The audience falls silent as the theatre dims and Okada sneaks up beside them, handing them each a microphone.
“Go play some video games!” He hisses excitedly, as if he really has any idea what’s about to happen, and then he sneaks back off to make sure that all the systems are hooked up properly and ready to go.
Nino flicks his mic on and begins.
***
Their stations are set up in a line across the stage with their consoles, all hooked up to a projector that shows a split-screen image on the large theater-style screen behind them. A lot of planning had gone into moving the equipment and powering it (more than six game consoles, six PCs, six monitors- Nino’s not even sure how they did it, but Jun figured it out). People cheer when he greets them, and they gasp appreciatively when the curtains pull aside to reveal their rig. Even Nino is impressed- he didn’t realize it’d look this good with the spotlights on it.
Nino and Aiba are in the middle; five minutes into their first game of Overwatch, the yelling begins. It’s a surprise that it took that long in the first place, but the audience is cracking up, loving every curse word and raised tone. No one has Nino’s back, and while that’s not necessarily a new concept, he’s still shouting at Aiba to cover him anyway. When he dies, he kicks Aiba’s chair halfway across the stage, resulting in Aiba’s immediate on-screen death as well.
It’s better than filming. Nino can see their faces, hear their groans when someone dies, their laughter when Maru yells a final battle cry as their team falls. Yuto is throwing the blame right away, first at Yamada, and then at Nino, claiming, “I thought you were supposed to be good at video games!”
They play a couple more games of Overwatch with the same energy, winning two out of three, and their wins have the whole theatre applauding and whooping. After their second win, Nino decides now is as good a time as any to move onto a different game- while they’re still doing well.
The group argues about it for a bit, but it’s mostly for show, since Jun had meticulously planned their schedule out. Even the fans know it’s for sure, since the program has some idea of what games they’ll play and how long they’ll play for.
Minecraft is next. A building competition leads to a teasing argument between Yuu and Maru, until Nino finds out that they’re both building a monument of him and trying to tear each other’s down. He’s blushing at the attention but he uses TNT to blow up both in the end.
“We should get Sakurai-san up here to make an unbiased opinion on the winner,” Yamada says, but he’s the only one who hasn’t built something completely inappropriate, so Nino just declares him the winner.
They play a few more different games before Nino announces that they’ll take a quick break to set up something very special. Okada drops the curtains and they push their stations back; it had been Jun’s idea to put everything on wheels, to make it easier to move, especially after he’d come up with the idea for their finale. The next station that they set up is a heavy, and it takes all of them as a group to move it around and to hook up the systems.
It’s worth it, though, when they pull the curtains aside and the crowd, realizing what they’re looking at, roars happily as one.
Jun’s idea had been brilliant, really- it’s all about taking Absolute Loot back to its roots, back to Nino and Aiba playing Mario Kart in Nino’s cramped bedroom, drinking beer and filming for fun. Back to no expectations and Nino’s job at the combini and Aiba sleeping over every night, making himself breakfast in Nino’s kitchen. Back to why they even started playing video games in the first place- because they’re best friends, and it’s fun for them to play together.
It’d been a little out of their budget, but Jun had managed to find a couple of old go-karts for sale. They’d repainted them, one with Nino’s name emblazoned across the side and the other with Aiba’s. Where the engines had been, they’d created a glass case to put their consoles, and taken off the real steering wheels to replace with the Wii ones.
“This is sure going to be interesting,” Nino announces, accepting a beer from Yuto’s offering hand. “I mean, we even have helmets for this. Do you think you can race with this thing on, Aiba-san?” He pulls his own out of the seat of his go-kart; it’s big and clunky and when he puts it on his head, it falls over his eyes. “Okay, I mean, because I can’t. Are we really going to get drunk and race with these things on?”
“I thought you said it would be fun,” Aiba pouts, putting his own helmet on. It fits him better than Nino’s does.
“How am I going to drink with this on?!” Nino realizes a moment later, the lip of his beer can hitting his helmet as he tries to take a sip.
“You shouldn’t be drinking and driving anyway!” Yuu says, helping him into his go-kart. “Kids, don’t try this at home. Any of it. Seriously, not even with video games.”
Aiba’s knees stick out to the sides of his kart, his legs too long to fit in properly, but Nino looks equally ridiculous with beer already splatter on his too-big helmet. They turn their consoles on and connect, arguing over which races to pick. Aiba is halfway through his first beer by the time they decide on their Grand Prix. Nino hasn’t been able to actually drink any of his, so he’s already feeling confident about his performance.
But when they rev their engines at the beginning of the first race, he remembers the helmet as it slides down over his eyes again just as the light turns green. His kart spins out, his little Yoshi waving his arms desperately, before Nino rights himself and shoves his helmet out of the way. “This thing is going to have to come off!”
“Don’t be a sore loser, Nino,” Aiba chides, already in first place and spitting banana peels left and right as his Luigi effortlessly glides around turns. “You can do it! You can do it!”
“I don’t need to hear that from you!” Nino laughs, but the crowd is shouting his name too, and Aiba’s too, and it’s so much more fun than he ever knew Mario Kart could even be. He gets a lightning bolt and runs over three people to make his way closer to Aiba. They’re only on the second lap; he knows he’ll catch him.
He does, but only in the first race -it’s a close call, but Aiba wins the Grand Prix. Nino’s defeat is assured when he falls off of Rainbow Road six times in a road before finally throwing his helmet to the side, sweaty hair sticking up in different directions.
It’s a good race though, and they laugh their way through the whole competition. Maru and Yuto (willingly in one case, and begrudgingly in the latter) are rooting for him while Yamada and Yuu are on Aiba’s side. In the end, Yamada holds his hand out and Maru smacks a 1,000 yen bill into it, sighing sadly.
“It’s okay, boss,” Maru says, as Yuto holds onto Nino’s elbow to steady him on his jelly-like cramped legs as he climbs from the kart, “I don’t mind that you cost me a bet. You’re worth the money.”
“Gee, thanks,” Nino snorts. Then he addresses the crowd. “But in all honesty, I want to thank everyone for coming. We didn’t think this was going to work- well, some of us did, but some of us secretly weren’t so sure- and I know we’re all grateful that you guys were willing to come here and watch us do what we do basically for fun, and pay money to see it. We wanted to be closer to you, and feel like more than just a team of six- we’re a team of many. You’re all on our team, and we’re glad you could be here today.” He looks around the theatre, at the smiling, happy faces of people he’s never seen before, people who traveled to be here, who took time out of their lives to see them. Nino turns to look at his crew, at the pride on their faces, and knows it mirrors his own. He offers a thumbs-up to Jun, Sho, Ohno and Okada, who were all watching the show stage-side, looking satisfied to have pulled it off. Then he says, “Okay, we’re going to open the floor up to answer a few questions. There’s mic stands at the end of each aisle, so if you have something to ask, make your way over there.”
Nino watches people scramble to line up and leans back against his kart, offering a high-five to Aiba. “What a good speech,” Aiba says, “for someone who just got his ass beaten in Mario Kart in front of hundreds of people.”
“I wouldn’t say beaten. I put up a pretty good fight. I think.”
“Oh, is that what you call your temper tantrum during the last race?” Aiba laughs, and Nino sticks his tongue out. “It’s okay, Nino-chan, maybe next time. I’ll shout some encouragement at you from first place.” It earns him a punch to the shoulder, but there’s a lot of love behind it.
Nino turns back to the audience. Once he’s decided that everyone is ready, he points at the first person in the first line. It’s a young boy of about ten, and he looks both extremely nervous and overflowing with excitement. Nino offers him a soothing smile. “Yes, your question?”
“Hi, Nino,” the boy begins, “I was just wondering…are you guys planning on doing this again next year?”
Nino grins. “I hope we’ll plan on doing this as many years as we can.”
clipsieFrom:
lotusTitle: the team that plays together, slays together
Pairing/Focus: Gen, Aimiya friendship, Arashi friendship, mentions of other Johnny’s friendships
Rating: PG-13 for some (but not much) language
Warnings: None that I can think of
Summary: Absolute Loot Gaming hadn’t originally been intended to be more than just a casual thing. But now, it’s going to have it’s own live show.
Notes: Phew. Apparently I didn’t realize that writing about people playing video games was going to be such a daunting task. But when I saw clipsie’s first prompt, I really desperately wanted to write it. I’m a huge fan of Achievement Hunter myself, and this fic is based off of their Let’s Play Live event and the documentary that went with it. I hope you enjoy it, even though there’s not as much focus on games as I wish I could’ve put in there! Also, big love and kisses to my beta and my cheering squad who consistently reassured me that I would get through this, and a gigantic thank you to the mod for being so lovely and wonderful about the exchange, as always!
Nino is twenty minutes into his game when Yuto- thankfully- interrupts.
“I can come back,” he offers politely, which is part of why Nino hired him, but then he goes on to add, “but I’d rather not.”
Which is another part of the reason Nino hired him, honestly.
“At least one of us is working,” Nino snips, “but no, come on in.”
Yuto grins and pulls a chair up, observing from his side. “Ohh, is this next for Watch Together?”
“I said come in, not hover over my shoulder,” Nino hums, but there’s even less bite in this statement than the previous one. The company is nice, since the game- a frightening number about a man investigating the paranormal occurrences in his home- is putting Nino on edge. “I’m considering it. It’s between this and the one about the crazy painter. Audiences love to watch us scream, after all.”
“That’s true, they do,” Yuto agrees, his tone wistful. Nino thinks he’s probably remembering a recently filmed Watch Together that had been highly reviewed- a video that Yuto may have shed tears during. He shakes it off and Nino smirks, choosing not to tease him about it, and then they sit in companionable silence for a bit while Nino continues his play.
It’s only when Yuto grows fidgety, ruining Nino’s focus, that he thinks to question why he’d joined him in the first place. “Is there something you’d like to talk about? Or are you trying not to piss yourself over here?” Nino laughs, eyebrows raised, and Yuto scowls in response before letting out a noisy sigh.
“I’ve got this idea, I thought I’d bring it up in case it’s something you’d be interested in doing,” he begins, slowly. Nino exits his game, saving the rest for filming, to give Yuto his full attention. He motions for him to go on and Yuto fiddles absently with a pen laying on Nino’s desk. “So, people love to watch us play, right? We put out a video every day, and subscribers just wait for it, they’re so excited. And we get thousands of views within an hour. But how can we, the Absolute Loot crew, connect with them on a more personal level?”
“Have you been working on this pitch?” Nino asks, suspiciously, nudging Yuto’s foot with his own. He certainly sounds rehearsed, but also nervous, his eyes jumping around the small office space, at the various Nintendo posters.
He clears his throat. “Yes, and you taking advantage of the break in my script is really throwing me off. Anyway, look, we pride ourselves on doing whatever we can to be close to our subscribers. They really got us here, after all, and it’s because of them that we have one of those.” He jerks his thumb at the shelf behind him; it has a few game collectibles on it along with a Shorty Award for Best in Gaming from the previous year. “So I thought, why don’t we put on some kind of a live event?”
“Like a convention? That’ll be expensive, Yuto. Not just for us to run an event like that, but because of the costs, it’d probably be expensive for fans to even get to,” Nino points out, but despite his objections, there’s a leap in his chest at the idea. He unconsciously taps on the calculator he keeps at the edge of his desk, his mind running, thrumming with questions.
Yuto seems to recognize his tone and brightens, his tense edges softening out. “Well, I was thinking on a smaller scale- a full-out convention would be expensive, but I thought maybe we could do a live show of Play Together. It’d still be costly, especially with the equipment we would need, but it’s smaller than a convention and it’d be like our subscribers watching a video except they’ll be right there with us instead! Like a concert, but with games! We can even have a meet and greet with them after the show, or do a Q and A.”
His excitement is contagious; Nino immediately swings around to his computer, bringing up his search engine to find out what sort of a location they would need to rent for an event like this, and how much it would cost. “I can’t make any promises- I mean, do you really think people would come to something like this? I don’t want to be in the hole here.”
“I can drop a few hints on Twitter, gauge reactions, see if anyone bites,” Yuto considers, his voice rising animatedly. He shoves his chair back so hard that it wobbles. “And, and Sakurai-san can help you crunch some numbers, right? Check out the costs of renting a space and equipment, and transporting the things we need from the office?”
Nino is already nodding, one hand on the mouse to scroll through his search results and the other on his phone, typing out a text to one of his best friends (and the financial manager of his company), Sakurai Sho. “Let’s both do our research,” he says, trying to put on his best I’m-The-Boss voice, “and tomorrow, we’ll discuss it at the morning huddle with everyone. But until then, try not to get too carried away- and don’t go making any premature announcements.”
Yuto salutes him, looking a bit euphoric, and then leaves him to do his research.
***
Absolute Loot Gaming hadn’t originally been intended to be more than just a casual thing. Nino started his channel when he was young, and it was mostly to review Nintendo games, something he’d just planned to do in his spare time for fun. But the more videos that he posted, the more people came to know him as Neentendo, the snarky, sarcastic vlogger that yelled at his best friend a lot during Mario Kart. It took off from there- Aiba, said best friend that usually took the verbal thrashing, began to get more heavily involved with the videos, taking the time to edit them and create his own sub channel which he called Positive (v)Aibs.
The first video on Aiba’s channel was of him shouting encouragement at Nino while Nino played a few levels of Super Mario. It wasn’t an immediate hit, but the viewer count still grows steadily day by day, mostly for all of the hilarious shouting about distractions that Nino did in return. They’re both pretty satisfied with the result.
Their friendship built the company from the ground up. Nino loves to play games, any and all sorts of games, and he especially enjoys playing them with Aiba, despite all of the shouting (or perhaps because of all of the shouting). It began with them, but as the channel began to blossom into its popularity, Nino also began putting his money from his savings and his part-time job into creating a company, discovering some of the most popular gamers on the internet, selling merchandise and subscriptions to their website with exclusive videos.
He called Sho and offered him a position, helping him keep track of all of his spending and income. Sho had hesitated- they’d gone to school together as kids, and though Sho is a bit older, they’d become friends. Nino had never given Sho a reason not to trust him or his opinion but he’d also never asked Sho for anything like this before. Once Sho had watched a few videos and saw their subscriber count, though, he had a little more faith and took Nino up on his offer.
The group of gamers that Nino had gathered over the years- Aiba and Yuto included, Yuto being one of the youngest ones- had been hand-picked and offered permanent positions. They became a family, and now they play together every day, teasing each other and fighting and laughing. The chemistry they have as a team contributes to their success, and Nino is proud of that all the time.
Nonetheless, Yuto’s idea, while exciting, requires a certain amount of finesse. Nino knows it’s something they could pull off, given the time and effort to plan. He knows they’ve got the money for it, and he’s even fairly certain that people would attend. But he also knows that people might not.
“It’s like planning a wedding,” Sho sighs over the phone. Nino can hear him typing in the background, presumably doing the same sort of research that Nino himself is doing as well. “Finding a venue is just the first part- we’ll also have to figure out a hotel where we can get group rates or discounts or something for fans from other areas of Japan. I can look into that once we pick a place.”
“A wedding is a good comparison, I didn’t realize you were ready to take it to that level yet. Don’t tell Aiba, he’ll be so jealous,” Nino says, laughing. He listens to Sho snort on the other end, secretly grateful that he’d called despite the lateness of the hour (and the early meeting they both have scheduled).
“Oh,” Sho murmurs, suddenly, the laughter gone. “Nino, I think I’ve got something. It’s a theatre and it’s affordable, we won’t have to overcharge for tickets to the event. Plus, I have a contact there that might be able to get us a deal. Do you want me to send them an e-mail and see if they’ll be available and what sort of sound and screen equipment they have?”
Nino nods to himself. “Yeah, and see if it costs extra to rent that stuff. Send me the link before you go to bed. But then go to bed, seriously, because you have to be up to run a meeting in four hours! What are you thinking, staying up so late on a work night, Sho-chan?” He teases, and Sho makes a huffing sound like he’s sticking his tongue out before Nino finds himself alone on the line.
***
Their “morning huddles” usually don’t start until around 11 but Nino calls everyone in as soon as they arrive the following morning. Yuto is first to come in, already grinning widely, self-satisfaction radiating off of him in waves. Yamada Ryosuke, Yuto’s other half in the gaming world, stumbles in after him, yawning. Sho enters a few moments later, looking ever professional with a pile of folders, and behind him are Maruyama Ryuhei and Yokoyama Yuu. They’re talking animatedly about a new MMO that they’re all scheduled to record for Play Together in the afternoon.
Aiba tries to sneak in quietly during the distraction, as if Nino wouldn’t know that he’s late, but Nino’s been waiting for him. He kicks the chair beside him out from under the table and raises his eyebrows, motioning to it. Grinning, Aiba drops into it.
“Good morning, Nino-chan,” he says, cheerfully, poking Nino in the cheeks until Nino bats his hands away. “I’m surprised you wanted to have a huddle so early! Is something going on?”
“Hm, guess you’ll have to find out,” Nino sing-songs, kicking his feet up onto the table. Sho nudges his legs back down to the ground as he passes by.
“Okay, guys, I know you all want to get playing,” Sho begins, the way he usually does, “but Nino and I have something we want to go over with everyone today, get some thoughts about. I’ll hand the floor over to him first.”
There’s very little fanfare about the whole thing; Nino goes over the conversation that he and Yuto had had in his office the previous day, with Yuto jokingly standing up to take a bow at the mention of his name. He and Sho present the theatre that they’ve contacted, the information that had been sent to them in reply, all of the costs and the necessary equipment. They simply go over the facts, asking that any questions be held until the end of their presentation, which is when everyone begins to speak at once.
“Okay, okay! One person at a time!” Nino barks, and hands shoot up around the table. He rubs his temples, feeling like a grade school teacher, and Aiba laughs at him. “I…Yuu, go on, yes?”
All the hands go down when Yuu, eyebrows raised skeptically, asks, “Are people even going to come?”
Nino’s a little relieved- everyone is looking to him for the answer, but he’s had an evening to think this over. He’s never gone so far as to suggest they do something that he himself didn’t believe in, and he’s never gotten carried away with ideas before. Even putting his savings into Absolute Loot had been an idea well-picked over before being put into action. “I can’t make any promises,” he admits, after a long moment, “but I think it’ll be fun for all of us to do. I mean, we all sit around the office and play videos games for people to watch- they watch us for a reason. Let’s take it to the next stage.”
“Literally,” Aiba adds, giving the group a thumbs-up. “It does sound like fun! I think we should try it.”
“I posted yesterday on Twitter without releasing any real details, just kind of as a hypothetical, to see if anyone else thought it’d be cool to watch a Play Together live and we got a pretty good reaction,” Yuto points out. “We could make it all concert-like!”
Aiba sits forward suddenly, eyes comically wide. “We could get MatsuJun to produce it!”
Nino grins, clapping him on the shoulder. “We sure could. That’s why I already texted him to ask for help. So, is everyone cool with this? Any more arguments to make? Because I’d really like to get to work sometime today, and kick some ass in Overwatch.”
“Yeah, okay, more like get your ass kicked,” Yamada teases, and they all laugh while Nino pouts.
The meeting dissolving into excited chatter and the group, save for Aiba and Nino, retreat to the main play room. Sho leaves to his own personal office, presumably to confirm their booking with the theatre and work out dates.
“So,” Aiba starts, spinning his chair around in slow circles while Nino dodges his long, swinging legs, “I’m surprised you want to leave the office long enough for something like this. You hate having to do things that involve…not being in your office, basically.”
Nino kicks at his chair, speeding his spinning up until Aiba shouts. Nino ignores it, plopping down on the tabletop. “You’re right, I do. But these guys are great. We’re all great, even though they would argue that. People like us. Shouldn’t we try to keep being better at what we do?”
Aiba escapes his chair by pushing away and stumbles dizzily to his feet, wincing. He feels along the wall until Nino relents and hops back down, grabbing his arm to steady him. “Now you sound like MatsuJun,” Aiba says, finally, once he’s gotten his bearings back. “So is he going to help us? Producer Matsumoto?”
“He is, but it’s going to cost me. Apparently. But I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. In the meantime, let’s put something on the main Twitter about it. Something like ‘Details coming soon! Come see us try to kill each other in person!.’” Swinging an arm around Aiba’s shoulders, Nino drags them towards the play room while Aiba snorts at his wording. “I don’t know! You’re good at that stuff. I know you’ll figure something out.”
***
They decide on: The team that plays together, slays together. LIVE. Details coming soon. Aiba’s pretty proud of it, especially because the reaction is so immediate and positive. Nino has notifications for the main account turned off on his phone, but Aiba doesn’t, and it buzzes like crazy during their whole first round of Overwatch.
It’s the most enlightening distraction that Nino’s had in a while.
***
“Okay, we’re definitely not putting your name up in lights on the front of the building. Not only is that not a part of the contract that you signed with the theatre, it’s also extremely expensive and not a good show of teamwork, something that you always brag about.”
Nino pouts magnificently but Matsumoto Jun just continues to give him the most exasperated look he can manage. He has incredibly expressive eyebrows, something that Nino often compliments him for, so the look is a little bit more threatening than it’s meant to be. “But I’ve been such a good boy this year,” he sighs.
Jun has known him long enough to know he’s joking, but the teasing is fun anyway. He continues going over the lighting and graphics as if Nino hadn’t spoken in the first place. The two of them, along with Sho and Aiba, have been hard at work planning the Absolute Loot Live Play Together for the past month. They’ve had daily meetings, gained valuable input from the rest of the crew, contacted nearby hotels for group discounts, and finally- most excitingly- begun to sell tickets.
Nino recruited Jun to help produce the show because it’s what Jun does for a living. He’s produced various short videos that Yuu and Maru have created for their company, and they’ve worked pretty closely with him for years. It helps that Nino and Jun had been neighbors when they were children; Jun is the cheapest (but also the most talented) person for the job. He’d offered to do it for free, but ticket sales had started to increase over the last couple of weeks, and Nino isn’t fond of the idea of not paying him at all. Jun is dedicated to his work, and Absolute Loot Live is only a side project for him- he’s really doing them a favor by devoting so much time and energy to it.
It’s late- almost midnight- and it’s just the four of them in the office but Nino’s roommate, Ohno, shuffles into the meeting room with a pizza. He’s been watching from the sidelines, just there to keep them company, really, and Nino is grateful that he thought to order them food. He doesn’t remember if he’d eaten dinner.
“Ohno-san is the best,” Aiba says, happily, munching on a slice.
Ohno grins around his own mouthful of food. “I figured you guys would be hungry. It’s really interesting to watch, but tiring.”
Nino puts his feet up into Ohno’s lap, poking at his stomach until he grunts. “You could join. You’re probably better than Maru.”
“Nino,” Aiba scolds, wiping the grease from his chin. Maru and Yuu had played together on their own before Absolute Loot- Aiba had been the one to contact them, and Nino’s glad they’re a part of the team, but it’s definitely fun to tease them.
“I’m only good at mobile games,” Ohno says, “and Wii bowling.”
“Yeah, you’re not good at that either,” Nino objects, leaning forward to pat his shoulder sympathetically. “Sorry.”
“You should be nicer to Maru,” Sho says, starting in on his second piece as he absently makes some notes in the margin of his page. “He thinks you’re great.”
“He has a lock of Nino’s hair in his journal,” Ohno frowns, eyebrow together. Jun chokes on his food and Sho turns slowly to peer at Nino.
Jun takes a moment to swallow his food, shaking his head. “Did you know about this, Nino?”
“Know about it?” Aiba chuckles. “He sold it to him.”
They all laugh at that, a groaning laughter, while Nino smirks and stretches in his seat. His phone goes off beside him and he glances at it, then does a double take, nearly kicking Ohno in the stomach. He reads the notification slowly, Aiba leaning into his space to see what has him distracted.
“We sold out,” Aiba breathes, his fingers clamping around Nino’s wrist. Their eyes meet and then Aiba jumps up, whooping excitedly. “We sold out! We sold out! Nino, hundreds of people are going to come watch us play video games!”
“Well, it sounded better until you said that,” Nino points out, smacking him lightly, but his mouth hurts with how wide his smile is.
“Congrats! Now, since you’re going to have so many people there to see you, how about we make this an amazing show?” Jun is grinning, a glint in his eye that makes Nino shrink back in surprise. “Because I just had a great idea, and I think your audience is going to love it.”
***
Okada Junichi, Sho’s contact at the theatre, calls Nino a few days before the show. Nino likes him immensely- they’ve been in contact for the last couple of months, working out the details of the stage setting and rental equipment, and he’s been extremely helpful.
“So you guys are going to have a full house,” Okada tells him, “from what I hear, you’re pretty popular.”
“But you’ve never heard of us before this, I take it,” Nino assumes, laughingly “You better get with the program before the show. Also, speaking of, how does the program look?”
“Well, Ohno sent me designs last week and we have them printed and ready to go. Are you ready to go? That Mario Kart thing is going to be…interesting.” Okada sounds doubtful, but Nino knows his team- they’re ready. Especially Aiba, after hearing what Jun had planned for them.
He tells Okada as much, confidently, but mostly trying to have faith in his team and their fans. “They paid good money to be there,” he points out, “also, it’s part of your job to make sure everything runs smoothly, right? So don’t mess up, and we’ll be all set!”
Okada snorts, disbelievingly. “Oh good, I’m glad you’re ready to take responsibility for anything that goes wrong.”
Nino thinks about that for a long moment. That odd, creeping feeling of what-if is finding its way back into the rear of his mind and he tries to push it away. His team- his friends- are counting on him to keep his head on straight. So that’s what he’s going to do. “We’ll be okay,” he reassures, talking as much to himself as to Okada, “J is a really great producer so he’s planned for everything that could go wrong. I hope. And we have you! It’ll be great.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Okada says.
They agree to meet up the next day and go over the stage set up and schedule with Jun. Nino hangs up, knowing he’ll feel more like success is on their side soon enough.
***
He’s talked about video games hundreds upon hundreds of times, to thousands of people over the years. But it’s always been through the medium of the internet. Needless to say, Nino’s chest is tight as he pokes his head around the curtain.
There are a lot of people.
“It’s going to be great, boss,” Maru tries to comfort him, “we’re just going to do what we do every day.”
“In front of a lot of people. Live,” Yuu adds, unhelpfully, and receives an exasperated glance from Nino and Maru at once. “What? I can’t be nervous too?”
“It’s fine,” Yamada interjects, “I mean, it’s going to be fun. So let’s get this party started.” He pushes at Nino until Nino frowns and knocks his hand away, taking a deep breath and squaring his shoulders.
Aiba joins him, a familiar and soothing presence at his side. He flashes him a grin and a peace sign and Nino nods, signaling Jun on the other side of the stage to turn the lights down. The audience falls silent as the theatre dims and Okada sneaks up beside them, handing them each a microphone.
“Go play some video games!” He hisses excitedly, as if he really has any idea what’s about to happen, and then he sneaks back off to make sure that all the systems are hooked up properly and ready to go.
Nino flicks his mic on and begins.
***
Their stations are set up in a line across the stage with their consoles, all hooked up to a projector that shows a split-screen image on the large theater-style screen behind them. A lot of planning had gone into moving the equipment and powering it (more than six game consoles, six PCs, six monitors- Nino’s not even sure how they did it, but Jun figured it out). People cheer when he greets them, and they gasp appreciatively when the curtains pull aside to reveal their rig. Even Nino is impressed- he didn’t realize it’d look this good with the spotlights on it.
Nino and Aiba are in the middle; five minutes into their first game of Overwatch, the yelling begins. It’s a surprise that it took that long in the first place, but the audience is cracking up, loving every curse word and raised tone. No one has Nino’s back, and while that’s not necessarily a new concept, he’s still shouting at Aiba to cover him anyway. When he dies, he kicks Aiba’s chair halfway across the stage, resulting in Aiba’s immediate on-screen death as well.
It’s better than filming. Nino can see their faces, hear their groans when someone dies, their laughter when Maru yells a final battle cry as their team falls. Yuto is throwing the blame right away, first at Yamada, and then at Nino, claiming, “I thought you were supposed to be good at video games!”
They play a couple more games of Overwatch with the same energy, winning two out of three, and their wins have the whole theatre applauding and whooping. After their second win, Nino decides now is as good a time as any to move onto a different game- while they’re still doing well.
The group argues about it for a bit, but it’s mostly for show, since Jun had meticulously planned their schedule out. Even the fans know it’s for sure, since the program has some idea of what games they’ll play and how long they’ll play for.
Minecraft is next. A building competition leads to a teasing argument between Yuu and Maru, until Nino finds out that they’re both building a monument of him and trying to tear each other’s down. He’s blushing at the attention but he uses TNT to blow up both in the end.
“We should get Sakurai-san up here to make an unbiased opinion on the winner,” Yamada says, but he’s the only one who hasn’t built something completely inappropriate, so Nino just declares him the winner.
They play a few more different games before Nino announces that they’ll take a quick break to set up something very special. Okada drops the curtains and they push their stations back; it had been Jun’s idea to put everything on wheels, to make it easier to move, especially after he’d come up with the idea for their finale. The next station that they set up is a heavy, and it takes all of them as a group to move it around and to hook up the systems.
It’s worth it, though, when they pull the curtains aside and the crowd, realizing what they’re looking at, roars happily as one.
Jun’s idea had been brilliant, really- it’s all about taking Absolute Loot back to its roots, back to Nino and Aiba playing Mario Kart in Nino’s cramped bedroom, drinking beer and filming for fun. Back to no expectations and Nino’s job at the combini and Aiba sleeping over every night, making himself breakfast in Nino’s kitchen. Back to why they even started playing video games in the first place- because they’re best friends, and it’s fun for them to play together.
It’d been a little out of their budget, but Jun had managed to find a couple of old go-karts for sale. They’d repainted them, one with Nino’s name emblazoned across the side and the other with Aiba’s. Where the engines had been, they’d created a glass case to put their consoles, and taken off the real steering wheels to replace with the Wii ones.
“This is sure going to be interesting,” Nino announces, accepting a beer from Yuto’s offering hand. “I mean, we even have helmets for this. Do you think you can race with this thing on, Aiba-san?” He pulls his own out of the seat of his go-kart; it’s big and clunky and when he puts it on his head, it falls over his eyes. “Okay, I mean, because I can’t. Are we really going to get drunk and race with these things on?”
“I thought you said it would be fun,” Aiba pouts, putting his own helmet on. It fits him better than Nino’s does.
“How am I going to drink with this on?!” Nino realizes a moment later, the lip of his beer can hitting his helmet as he tries to take a sip.
“You shouldn’t be drinking and driving anyway!” Yuu says, helping him into his go-kart. “Kids, don’t try this at home. Any of it. Seriously, not even with video games.”
Aiba’s knees stick out to the sides of his kart, his legs too long to fit in properly, but Nino looks equally ridiculous with beer already splatter on his too-big helmet. They turn their consoles on and connect, arguing over which races to pick. Aiba is halfway through his first beer by the time they decide on their Grand Prix. Nino hasn’t been able to actually drink any of his, so he’s already feeling confident about his performance.
But when they rev their engines at the beginning of the first race, he remembers the helmet as it slides down over his eyes again just as the light turns green. His kart spins out, his little Yoshi waving his arms desperately, before Nino rights himself and shoves his helmet out of the way. “This thing is going to have to come off!”
“Don’t be a sore loser, Nino,” Aiba chides, already in first place and spitting banana peels left and right as his Luigi effortlessly glides around turns. “You can do it! You can do it!”
“I don’t need to hear that from you!” Nino laughs, but the crowd is shouting his name too, and Aiba’s too, and it’s so much more fun than he ever knew Mario Kart could even be. He gets a lightning bolt and runs over three people to make his way closer to Aiba. They’re only on the second lap; he knows he’ll catch him.
He does, but only in the first race -it’s a close call, but Aiba wins the Grand Prix. Nino’s defeat is assured when he falls off of Rainbow Road six times in a road before finally throwing his helmet to the side, sweaty hair sticking up in different directions.
It’s a good race though, and they laugh their way through the whole competition. Maru and Yuto (willingly in one case, and begrudgingly in the latter) are rooting for him while Yamada and Yuu are on Aiba’s side. In the end, Yamada holds his hand out and Maru smacks a 1,000 yen bill into it, sighing sadly.
“It’s okay, boss,” Maru says, as Yuto holds onto Nino’s elbow to steady him on his jelly-like cramped legs as he climbs from the kart, “I don’t mind that you cost me a bet. You’re worth the money.”
“Gee, thanks,” Nino snorts. Then he addresses the crowd. “But in all honesty, I want to thank everyone for coming. We didn’t think this was going to work- well, some of us did, but some of us secretly weren’t so sure- and I know we’re all grateful that you guys were willing to come here and watch us do what we do basically for fun, and pay money to see it. We wanted to be closer to you, and feel like more than just a team of six- we’re a team of many. You’re all on our team, and we’re glad you could be here today.” He looks around the theatre, at the smiling, happy faces of people he’s never seen before, people who traveled to be here, who took time out of their lives to see them. Nino turns to look at his crew, at the pride on their faces, and knows it mirrors his own. He offers a thumbs-up to Jun, Sho, Ohno and Okada, who were all watching the show stage-side, looking satisfied to have pulled it off. Then he says, “Okay, we’re going to open the floor up to answer a few questions. There’s mic stands at the end of each aisle, so if you have something to ask, make your way over there.”
Nino watches people scramble to line up and leans back against his kart, offering a high-five to Aiba. “What a good speech,” Aiba says, “for someone who just got his ass beaten in Mario Kart in front of hundreds of people.”
“I wouldn’t say beaten. I put up a pretty good fight. I think.”
“Oh, is that what you call your temper tantrum during the last race?” Aiba laughs, and Nino sticks his tongue out. “It’s okay, Nino-chan, maybe next time. I’ll shout some encouragement at you from first place.” It earns him a punch to the shoulder, but there’s a lot of love behind it.
Nino turns back to the audience. Once he’s decided that everyone is ready, he points at the first person in the first line. It’s a young boy of about ten, and he looks both extremely nervous and overflowing with excitement. Nino offers him a soothing smile. “Yes, your question?”
“Hi, Nino,” the boy begins, “I was just wondering…are you guys planning on doing this again next year?”
Nino grins. “I hope we’ll plan on doing this as many years as we can.”