Because every fandom
needs a
Highlander crossover. This is an excerpt from an unfinished longer
story that may one day be finished.
Highlander: The Sparkly Years.
It's just a stupid thing, really – nothing more than a loose bit of
fake fur that drops off of Jin's costume when he does the scooting
turn-and-jump thing in the middle of the first chorus. Everyone down
below ducks to the sides and Junno is right on the beat when he takes a
running start and flips end over end down to the lower stage,
controlled and balanced and ready to twist into the sideways turn and
reverse –
And his foot comes down on something that slides and the momentum is
too powerful and there is no way he can catch himself although he
tries, tries to twist and then everything goes blinding white and black
and soundless
And then the pain hits and Junno tries to groan and tries not to move,
and neither works. But the pain recedes after a moment and turns almost
bearable, pooling in his chest and his leg.
He can't breathe right, and when he opens his eyes there's something
over his face.
What…?
He sits up and flails a little and the something falls away – it was a
blanket. And he's lying on the cot in the medical service room, and
there's some kind of commotion in the corridor outside that really
isn't doing Junno's headache any good.
Wasn't he just on the stage a moment ago? He must have hit his head
pretty badly…
Junno feels gingerly along the back and sides of his skull, but nothing
hurts.
"I'm sorry, I just – you shouldn't," says an unfamiliar voice, clearly
audible even through the wood of the door. "I don't think you really
want to do this to yourselves, it's –"
"But we want to see him," says Koki. Koki sounds really weird, like he
has a bad cold all of a sudden.
Junno slides off the cot and just stays there for a moment while the
dizziness and the almost painfully intense prickling in his legs and
arms and all over passes. It seems that every single one of his limbs
fell asleep, which is a first, and his mouth is all gummy and tastes
like the inside of Jin's fridge, and he's freezing. Whoever
covered him with the blanket sure had the right idea. Maybe they were
trying to keep his nose from catching frostbite or something.
He tugs open the door to a crowded corridor. All of the guys are
hanging around, as well as a double serving of juniors plus assorted
personnel. Every single member of the small crowd is staring at Junno
with the identical wide-eyed, glassily fixed expression.
The burly paramedic that has been blocking the door turns around and
gives a weird little squawk.
Junno has to clear his dust-dry throat twice before any sound will come
out. "Hey, guys – what's going on?"
Jin screams at the top of his lungs, long and high-pitched, and turns
and runs away. A clutch of juniors follow him, all but falling over
each other. Koki – already pale and red-eyed – bursts into messy,
inelegant tears, and Kame is opening and closing his mouth like a fish,
not a single word coming out.
"Uh," Junno says uncertainly, and tries a sheepish smile. "So, I guess
I kind of messed up the concert, huh?"
+++
"Interesting," says Johnny.
Junno ducks his head guiltily and huddles deeper into his nice, warm
blanket, clutching his supersized mug of hot tea.
"Interesting?" squeaks Jin, over from where he's pressed into the far
corner. "Interesting?"
Ueda pokes Junno in the back of the head. Junno eyes him reproachfully,
but doesn't say anything – it hasn't helped the first two dozen times,
after all.
"Alright," Johnny amends his earlier assessment of the situation. "Very
interesting. You, uhm. You!"
"Taguchi Junnosuke," Junno supplies automatically, while Johnny hardly
interrupts the flow of his speech, merely nodding impatiently.
"Right, Taguchi. You managed to break your neck and die on stage in the
middle of a concert – which is highly unprofessional, by the way – and
then came back to life almost two hours later, after the concert was
over. I've seen a lot of talents in my life, but that has to be one of
the most remarkable ones. Let me make a phone call."
And he does.
Nakamaru brings Junno more tea while they wait; the others watch him
with varying amounts of wariness and fascination. Jin shows no signs of
wanting to budge from his corner any time soon.
But – wait a minute. "After the concert was over...?" Junno says
faintly. "Hang on. I died
and you didn't cancel the concert?"
"Uh, well," says Kame, rather guiltily. "The show must go on?"
"It's policy." Johnny snaps his phone shut and waves an impatient hand.
"Insurance would kick up a huge fuss about refunding the tickets. It's
hard to be sure how serious an injury is until a throrough examination
has taken place. We can't interrupt a concert for every twisted ankle."
"I broke my neck!"
Next to Junno, Koki breaks into a renewed attack of sobs, sounding like
an asthmatic walrus. Junno tries not to be too obvious about gently
extracting his hand from Koki's vise-like grip and carefully wiping off
the tears and the snot.
+++
Johnny calls Junno the next morning, and – for the first time ever –
remembers his name. "Nothing to worry about, Taguchi," he says. "It's
all arranged for. Can you do kendo?"
This seems like just one more in a long line of typically weird Johnny
questions until a couple of weeks later, when a madman with a sword
tries to take Junno's head off when he's just popping out for a minute
to buy some instant ramen at the conbini.
Luckily, Junno is really twisty and nimble, and has really long legs,
too.