ter his incident as the Jimusho so euphemistically called his drunk and disorderly - very disorderly - arrest, Tsuyoshi found himself confined to his own apartment. Not that he minded. He liked being alone, reading and learning Korean on his off days but with every forced break, this particular break really got on Tsuyoshi's nerves. For days he had not seen anyone apart from his manager-san's personal assistant who had brought him provisions. No alcohol mind you, but then again he had had enough of that already, being responsible for his current fall from grace.

Tsuyoshi looked around his spotless apartment and sighed. For half of the day he had cleaned and scrubbed and straightened an already impeccable apartment but at least the strenuous work had made him comfortably sleepy. He would sleep tonight at last, he thought and was pulled out of his reverie when his cell phone started to ring. The first notes of a Kylie Minogue song came from somewhere behind or beneath his sofa so he scrambled over, looking and searching, eager to get to his cell phone before it turned the call to voice mail.

"Moshi?" he asked breathlessly and waited with baited breath. His band members had not called for days but he knew they were far too angry at the moment to talk to him. Especially Nakai and Kimura. No scratch that, especially Kimura who would give him quite an earful as soon as he was allowed to come back. He just didn't know when this time would come. He had heard nothing from his band members or the higher ups and it made him feel edgy.

"How is my Tsuyopon today, ne?" a voice inquired in a cheerful tone and Tsuyoshi grinned for the first time in days, his mood considerably lighter when he recognized the voice.

"Shingo-kun," he replied and for a moment he had to get his bearings. Sudden tears gathered in his eyes and with a sigh he sat down on his couch, almost on the brink of bawling into the phone.

"Don't get all girly on me, Tsuyopon," Shingo breathed, his voice catching. "I'm at work, so let's be manly about this," he tried to sound sternly, but Tsuyoshi heard that Shingo was just as concerned and scared like he was himself. "So, how is your apartment? Squeaky clean and polished? Did you soak your plants and dust them off lovingly?"

Grinning despite the tears, Tsuyoshi grunted in the affirmative. "The apartment is done, and I was about to soak the plants."

Shingo clucked his tongue. "Good thing I didn't put a wager on it, I had thought you'd start with the plants, potting them all anew and then cleaning your apartment."

Tsuyoshi wiped at the traiterous wetness in his eyes and forced a laugh. Trust Shingo to know what he would do. He knew him so well.

"I potted them only around New Year's," Tsuyoshi provided and swallowed hard. For moments both men remained silent until Tsuyoshi sighed. "Thank you, Shingo." He could hear a scratching sound and he just imagined that Shingo had nodded in reply.

"You are welcome, Tsu," he said and made a distracted sound when someone close-by talked to him. "They need me for shooting. I'll call you tomorrow, okay? And don't forget, we are SMAP! It's five guys, not four ... and we ALL know that, okay?"

"Okay ..."

After they had disconnected, Tsuyoshi sat on the couch for a long time. While he was overwhelmed and tears still threatened to well, he also felt strangely comforted and relieved, knowing that Shingo kept into contact with him. He could just imagine Shingo calling Kimura right now, telling him how Tsuyoshi was managing and when he hit the reply button and got the busy sign, he smiled. They might all be angry at him now, but he knew their friendship was still going strong.

- end -