Ueda didn't expect it to happen at first. He had almost taken for granted that Junno’s jokes were the lamest in the world, and yet he knew a joke had to be too hard to make him laugh.

Anyway, the circumstances weren’t anything special.

As many days, Junno arrived almost late, so hyper and with red-eyes because of staring at some screen for too long. Everybody tried to ignore him as he shouted “Good morning, my friends” with his sharpened English accent.

“Who are you calling your friend?” Jin answered, glaring at him.

Junno smiled and started babbling about the game he had been playing all night, without realizing anybody was paying attention to him. Instead, he got more and more excited – imitating the moves of some characters - as the rest of his band mates, one by one, left the room. At the end, he was alone with Ueda.

“…I had only eight points left to kill it and get to the top of the castle, and then…”

Junno showed some weird pose, his hands up stalking Ueda like a monster’s claws while he was retouching his hairdo in front of the mirror. Ueda turned around just in time to have Junno shouting “Groarg!” on his face. He didn’t move nor react in any way.

“I was killed.” Junno continued explaining, decided to tell him everything till the end. “And then I woke up and noticed my play station was still on, and I had saved the game” Junno was constantly blocking Ueda’s field of vision, so he didn’t see it when somebody came back into the room. “–so I can beat that huge monster when I arrive home tonight.”

It’d have been less strange for him to laugh at Junno’s not being able to tell reality from dreams, but unfortunately that wasn’t what made Ueda crack a smile. That was when Junno gave him a graphic explanation of how he was going to end his mission.

“Groarg!” he screamed once more, this time falling slowly to the floor and making odd sounds, trying to hold back the laughter.

Ueda suddenly laughed out loud. It was short, but clear. And it surprised Junno, Nakamaru – who was heading for the door – and himself. He hadn’t laughed because of Junno’s freak, geek behaviour, but because he was actually funny.

Ueda hadn’t thought like that until that crazy day.

He never thought it was going to be that seriously embarrassing. He actually didn’t think his recently – he still didn’t know why – acquired ability to get amused by Junno’s jokes would be that awkward.

Damn it, that time he looked like an idiot in front of hundreds of people – even more idiot than Junno himself.

Junno was staring at the camera, kind of frowning at the audience, his shoulders shrugged. Everyone was looking at him, expecting one of those lame impressions he always made, and Ueda got slightly nervous as Nakamaru glanced at him.

‘Bakayaro!’ Taguchi exclaimed, and his voice ridiculously raised when he had to lower his tone. He burst out laughing.

Ueda felt strange.

As he felt what was similar to a tickling in his stomach, fast running up to his mouth, he coughed to hide a little laughter. Too bad Jin was looking in his direction at that moment.

“Have you just coughed to hide you were about to laugh?” he said.

Ueda shook his head, coughing once again. He could hear Junno squeaking “Uepi!” as he clapped his hands.

“Yeah, he did! He was chuckling!” Koki screamed. “Let’s see it once more”

Ueda couldn’t hide it anymore when a still image of his lips -curved and showing a little his teeth- appeared on the screen. Junno just stared at him, his eyes and mouth wide opened. Then, he spoke proudly of himself.

“I’m just awesome,” he announced, incapable of hiding a big smile. “I might have a show for myself. I’m no longer unsure I’m funny”

No doubt. He had made Ueda laugh, after all. Although they all knew about it now, nobody could find a good explanation for that. That was all about Junno and Ueda – or maybe it was just about Ueda.

“It’s indeed the first time that one of us laughed at Junno’s jokes” Nakamaru explained to their guest. “—well, not mentioning what happened yesterday in the dressing room.”

Ueda had a quick look at what Junno was doing, and he felt relieved when he believed that his Game Boy would keep him busy enough not to joke around with everything.

Although they were sent together to shoot at that famous restaurant, he wasn’t actually in the mood to speak to him, I mean, bear him.

They were alone in the car, apart from the driver, and that made him feel better. However, there was the fact that the staff could have placed small cameras somewhere inside to see if anything interesting happened. In that case, he had to try and hide his face and be quiet if that stupid giggle came to attack him without control.

While his mate was focused on catching ‘em all, Ueda though of how Junno behaved during the years he had known him. He was always making a fool of himself, no matter what others would say, all the time. He was like a clown to them, every day, every shooting, and every concert.

Junno was definitely a dork –a HUGE dork.

Wait, how did he know that? All of a sudden, he realized he hadn’t spent that many times alone with him. He only knew half of Junno’s personality. And he had never been interested in the other part, until then.

Anyway, that wasn’t his business at that time. He had to survive another day next to Junno without laughing out loud as a dork. Yes, he was so not like Junno. He was quite a serious person, and something really unusual was happening to him.

And then, he had the opportunity to check that something wrong again. The driver announced they had almost arrived to the place, and so Junno stopped looking at his Game Boy to speak to Ueda.

“Last round… to the restaurant!” he said, with his great pronunciation. “Yeah, let’s fight!”

Oh, no, not again.

By this time, Ueda was thinking of going to the doctor’s. He guffawed at almost every joke Junno said, sometimes even at some things that weren’t intended to be jokes. He came to thought that it was an illness and he was going to die, or else the world was about to end.

He became more confused after falling to that. Too sad for him, some of his band mates thought. Everybody knew it didn’t work unless you were a girl and met Junno for the first time – or you were a Junno fan.

Ueda didn’t consider himself in one of those groups, though he acted in a similar way. Some people tended to think he was kind of a Junno fan. Ueda wondered if this could be true after this time.

They were making a PV. Ueda, indeed, had learned to hold himself back, and he was proud not to appear bursting out laughing because of Junno’s jokes in front of the cameras, although it was hard when they were together in the dressing room, or anywhere else. At least, he could keep his public image right this way.

The thing was that Junno, typical of him, had fallen asleep on a chair while waiting for his turn to appear. When Jin arrived, he put his hands on his arms and shook him to wake him up.

“Hey, Taguchi, that’s my seat!” he told him, as Junno opened his eyes and looked around.

“Iriguchi-Deguchi-TAGUCHI DESU!” he joked, shouting at the end with a high-pitched voice, “BANG!”

And then Ueda had a fit of the giggles. Just like a silly teenager. He found Jin, and then the rest of the members of the band staring at him while he couldn’t hold it anymore. He suddenly felt bad and decided to sneak out as silently as possible.

“How do you know it’s your chair?” Junno asked as Ueda disappeared mysteriously behind the set. “Does it have your name on it?”

“It does”, Jin answered, “it’s on the back, idiot”.

And he was right.

For Junno, being part of KAT-TUN also meant having to bear other five people laughing at all about him. But, before that, Ueda had never even thought of becoming his accomplice. However, this made him think that perhaps it wasn’t that bad – he could be only becoming friends with Junno, instead of fancying him or something worse.

Like all the stuff that happened before, this was also unforeseen.

This joke was very special. Its real name was How Junno realized his jokes weren’t funny, but he insisted in calling it Junno’s revenge. Anyway, it meant that his turn had come.

They were on a coach, going on a journey to the city in which the next concert in their tour would be held. Junno, at that moment, was completely absent. Not playing games, nor listening to music or anything – just absent.

“Hey, Taguchi!” Kame caught his attention, while glancing to Koki. The rest of the band looked at them. “Come and talk with us!”

Junno didn’t answer. In fact, he wasn’t listening to what he said, but it looked like he was a bit upset about something. He just blinked slowly, and a brief smile was drawn in his face.

Nakamaru stood up and went for a camera to start filming. He focused himself and turned it on.

“This is KAT-TUN’s journey! It’s 9.30 p.m., and we’ve almost arrived at the next city we’re visiting in our tour.”

He slightly moved the camera to film Ueda, who was sitting next to him, somehow staring at Junno. When he noticed Nakamaru’s camera was focused on him, he quickly turned it around.

“They’re there.” He explained, pointing the rest or their band mates, who were trying to guess why Junno wasn’t as cheerful as always.

“C’mon, Junno, make one of your jokes” Koki suggested. Kame and Jin nodded.

“Dajare?” Junno asked, touching his hair as he thought of something.

The three of them waited anxiously for a few seconds, but then Junno remained quiet. Nakamaru zoomed in to keep the faces of his amazed friends.

“His mind has gone blank!” Jin laughed, clapping his hands.

Kame showed a little smile and looked at Koki once again.

“We were thinking of letting it go as usual”, he explained to Junno, “but this deserves a punishment, Taguchi”.

Junno began to laugh, apparently doubting between believing them or not. However, when he saw Jin –who would usually observe the road through the window, just like anything had happened- leaning forward for Kame to whisper something on his ear, he knew they were serious.

“Go and sit in that corner” Kame sentenced, showing him the seats at the bottom of the bus. “You won’t have friends in the next five minutes”. Junno continued grinning while Koki and Jin pushed him to make him stand up and go there. “And don’t dare even to speak to us, have you heard me?” Kame added, still laughing.

“Are you serious?” Ueda asked, watching behind the camera with Nakamaru, who couldn’t stop his laughter.

Junno turned round and give a wave to the camera, just like he was on a holiday trip to the beach. Jin and Kame burst out laughing again, and Junno found Koki about to kick his butt with a shoe which had a gum stuck on its sole. Nakamaru, in amazement, filmed Koki’s foot like he was the only person in the world owning something like that, as he showed it proud of its immediate effect.

Junno, sighing, resigned himself to walk slowly towards his new punishment zone. But, before that, he quickly smirked and winked at Ueda.

“He’s really doing it!” Ueda exclaimed as Junno sat down.

Nakamaru hurried up to immortalize that moment, while Junno struggled to carry on with his farce.

“What are your last words for the world, Taguchi?”

Junno tried to glare at the camera and turned it down with a rude gesture.

~

“C’mon, Taguchi, I’ve already said I’m sorry”, Koki repeated for the umpteenth time. “…but it’s been funny to everyone!”

“You’re solving it…” Kame remarked.

“Guys, we’re here!” Nakamaru called them from outside the bus.

“C’mon, Taguchi, we’ll allow you to carry our luggage” Jin joked, catching his bag.

Junno just stared at the window. He wasn’t angry at all, but he found his mates’ attitude so nice compared to their normal behaviour that he didn’t want to ruin it. Koki shook his head and went out with Kame and Jin without saying anything more.

When they left Junno alone, he burst into laughter.

“You’ve decided to make it longer, haven’t you?” Ueda asked, searching for a bag he had left in an overhead compartment.

“Do me a favour”, Junno whispered, sticking the palms of his hands. “Don’t say anything yet”.

Ueda considered it for a few seconds, but he couldn’t help nodding and smiling to Junno.

~

Junno’s ultimate joke lasted until dinner time. They got a place reserved for the band, so they were having dinner alone, without fans disturbing around. Junno arrived a few minutes late, and Jin – the camera was now in his hands – started filming him. Junno forced himself to frown and sat down, banging hard his fist on the table.

If he had made that on purpose and without trying to save his napkin from falling to the ground, the result would have been less realistic.

Kame put his hand on Koki’s shoulder and he stood up, maybe regretting a little. Ueda approached Nakamaru and whispered something to him, which made part of his drink to fall over the tablecloth.

“Koki, Taguchi is still angry. Apologize to him once more”, Kame said, as Jin turned on the camera.

“Eh?! Why me?” Koki grumbled, slightly smiling. “This was your idea!”

Kame raised his eyebrows as if he knew anything about that. Junno leaned his head on his hand and sighed. Ueda tried not to show he was laughing out loud, the same as Nakamaru, and Jin smacked his lips without moving the camera away.

“Okay, okay”, Koki finally said, lowering his head. “If that hurt you, Taguchi, I’m sorry”.

Junno let it out after an awkward silence.

“Ha!” he laughed, almost crying. “I made it all up, and you guys have fallen for it!”

His band mates looked at each other, surprised at how stupid was Junno. What did he get doing that? It wasn’t even funny –actually, he had really worried them.

However, Junno enjoyed himself a lot. And that was the fifth time Ueda found one of his jokes not only funny, but hilarious.

At that moment, Ueda realized two weird things: Junno looked kind of sad or disappointed, and he was walking right towards him without thinking. But then someone called him to go inside the room. All the other members of KAT-TUN had had their photo shoots done, and there were only Junno and Ueda left.

Ueda wondered what the hell he was doing after leaning his back on the wall, next to the door of the room Junno had gone into. He admitted that he couldn’t resist anymore to Junno’s jokes, but there was still no reason for it. He just felt more and more stupid, over and over again.

And there was something more. Something that was even stranger for him, clearer than before.

After a while, Junno suddenly popped out with a silly smile on his lips, though he quickly erased it.

“Anything to tell?” Ueda asked without looking at him.

Junno kept quiet. Ueda knew he didn’t think of him as someone who would offer his help to anyone, especially when it was about listening to others’ problems, and more when it was about people he didn‘t usually talk to. Junno was right, though it was mostly because Ueda had never spoken to him that way. After all, both of them felt a little awkward.

“I’m KAT-TUN‘s clown, aren’t I?” Junno suddenly muttered.

Ueda held back the laughter as he first thought it was another joke, but then realized Junno was speaking seriously. He sighed and answered him after a while.

“Who cares? I’m actually supposed to be KAT-TUN’s emo boy”, he said. “And I’m not constantly crying down on my knees”.

“But I’m always doing lame jokes” Junno remarked. “And you, recently… have come to like them, haven’t you?”

“Sort of” Ueda mumbled. He would never admit it in front of the joker. “Anyway, what I want to…”

“I don’t regret it. I was just thinking of it, and I felt like telling you” Junno interrupted him, with his cute smile back on, as usual. Ueda felt relieved, somehow. “I’m not gonna change, you know. Though I don‘t always smile sincerely, I can’t help it”.

Suddenly, Ueda did something he so much regretted later. More than that, he prayed for no one to have seen him, and more for Junno not to tell it to anybody -though Ueda already knew nobody would believe him.

“Right, down, left -Ueda desu!” he exclaimed, pointing above at the end.

Junno pretended not having heard it, but eventually he couldn’t help but laughing. Then, he smirked and looked at Ueda, who was still trying to guess where that reckless joke had come from. Ueda nodded.

“You’re nicer when you speak this seriously about things, Junno. You don‘t have to act always as a clown.” he told him.

 Junno stepped forward and clumsily embraced Ueda. It wasn’t a manly embrace, not even one of those a friend would give to another who made a great favour to him. It was full of gratitude, and a high esteem. Instead of giving once or twice a pat on Ueda’s back, Junno softly caressed it for what seemed a long time - though it only lasted for several seconds - and then he moved apart.

But right before it ended, Ueda felt something wet, gently kissing him on his forehead -Junno’s lips.

“Thank you for taking the time to understand me, Uepi!” he whispered.

And then he left.

Before going into the room after being called, Ueda finally got it. What was funny about Junno was that he always kept smiling at every moment, despite looking sometimes like an idiot or being ridiculous. Ueda realized he could indeed be the strongest among the six of the band, living through everything that way -which seemed very hard to Ueda. He had learnt it during the time he shared with him since he found he actually liked his band mate’s jokes. And then he thought that Junno wasn’t only funny - he was lovely, too.

He loved the way Junno was.

When he got his photo shoot made, Ueda found Junno waiting outside for him, holding an umbrella because it was raining. He walked up to him, surprised.

“Hadn’t you gone home?” Ueda asked.

Junno shrugged, pushing Ueda to come under the umbrella, putting his arm around his shoulders.

“I went to pee, and-”

Ueda silenced him by putting a finger on his lips.

“Ok, ok, no need for a further explanation”.

He is just like a kid, he thought, shaking his head.