Prompt: 078 ~ Notice                                                                                                                                                        May 2011©
Fandom: Alice Nine
Focus: Shou {Tora x Namie}
Word Count: 617

            It was only in the little things, a few tiny things that marked out the big thing, the truly important changes in behavior. It was only in the little things that any real change took place, and no one really noticed the shift. No one really noticed the slow adjustment as the soft pieces all fell into place like silent snowfall, as Tora and Namie became Tora and Namie. They went from being a fanservice pairing, a purely fictional creation of fans writing stories that never really seemed to make sense, to being an inseparable pair as the tour’s back-up singer became a permanent band attachment and the guitarist became her constant companion.

            The band’s other members didn’t track the changes in the friendly bickering between the two as some of the jokes they shared became more and more private. Their inside jokes became so particular that the other members came to realize that they had been distinctly left out of the loop Tora and Namie had created, accidentally, around themselves and their own little world. The bickering between them was more than jokes, more than friendship; it was the result of two strong personalities gravitating towards each other by flinging themselves apart. It was obvious, their connection was inevitable, and like no one notices as gravity pulls them down to earth, no one noticed as 'Tora' and 'Namie' became 'Tora & Namie'.

            The reason no one really noticed the pair becoming a couple was that everyone simply assumed they’d been a couple since day one. From the very beginning they’d been quite the noticeable pair; a perfect set of two that was a little strange in some way, but had always been together, like socks that don’t quite match, but were never meant to. There’s only a slight difference between two socks that go together and a pair that don’t match, and most people never bother with the semantics of defining it.

            Shou was the only member of the band that really noticed anything. The singer was the only one who caught the shift in nuance and adapted to the change.

            When Namie had first joined up with Alice Nine, Shou had included her in the emails that he had fallen into the habit of sending to his bandmates. She’d gotten her own heartfelt bit of encouragement before and after every show the tour had included. She’d been included again when another tour had been called and Shou again fell into sending notes to his bandmates, telling them how much he appreciated them as colleagues, as friends, and as skilled musicians. Every show he sent out five emails to five inboxes; Nao, Saga, Hiroto, Tora, and Namie.

            And then, even as no one really noticed, Shou began sending only four.

            He never got a reply to his little digital letters, but he sent the emails out every time. And even though he never got a formal ‘reply’, Shou got a reaction from his friends. In special smiles and nods, thanks and understanding that didn’t need a word.

            It didn’t matter that no one really noticed. Nothing really changed.

            But as Tora and Namie became Tora & Namie, as a set of socks was folded to become a pair, and as Shou’s five emails became four as lines of communication merged, nothing really changed. Nothing really needed to, because it was only in the little things, like the tone of voice one used when saying ‘and’ or four emails instead of five, two different inboxes that may as well have been one as Tora and Namie began spending far more time together than they did apart, that anyone could notice the changes that made no difference.

            No one really noticed, because as Tora and Namie fell together as a couple, there really wasn’t anything to notice.
                                                                        ♡♥Finite♥♡