Shortcakes And Other Poisons, part 1
Jun. 29th, 2010 05:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
awesomechick15title: Shortcakes And Other Poisons
author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
awesomechick15
pairing: Akanishi Jin/Kamenashi Kazuya
rating: R
genre: slice of life, humor, fluff, romance
disclaimer: I don't own Akanishi Jin, Kamenashi Kazuya, Yamashita Tomohisa or any other JE-dude you see jumping around in this fic. But, as an exception, I do own everyone you can't recognize to be JE. This means mostly characters' families.
warnings: -
summary: Jin and Yamapi are best friends who live together. When Yamapi gets an opportunity study in an appreciated university, he of course accepts - but he also has to move closer to his new school, leaving Jin without a roommate. Meanwhile Kame is just moving to Tokyo with big dreams and hopes, his only place to stay a dirty, creepy motel and the floor of an old friend. Things happen. (Also part of this 'verse.)
prologue
The sea of sounds was ringing in his ears. The rhythm was felt as vibrations in the floor, and he wasn't sure, if he could even hear his own thoughts. He felt like dancing and actually moved his hips a few times experimentally, trying to take in as much of the rhythm as he could. He stopped soon; the whole dancing thing was keeping him from work. Music had a nasty side effect of taking your thoughts away from the things you really should have focused on.
Jin's head hurt. He could only see colorful lights and dim figures. Work, work, work. He should focus now or else he'd be doing nothing but the thing they paid him to do for rest of the day. But the beat was so good...
Ah, fuck it. Jin grimaced and straightened himself, turning around and marching to the counter. With one, smooth movement he pressed on the oh-so-famous 'stop' button, making the whole room go silent like dead, like someone had just pressed the 'mute' button instead. Some customers and even a colleague looked at him a bit confused; at least Akane had looked like her drive had really been on.
”Sorry,” Jin said, smiling apologetically, ”I couldn't focus on work with that on.”
”Kill-joy,” Akane mumbled loudly and made many customers – including Jin – laugh.
His head was still hurting. Mixing hair dye made him feel dizzy, but he couldn't say no to a task either. It was a normal Tuesday afternoon and he was, again, working at one of the best hair salons of his area, Solitaire (the name was a complete mystery to him, but so was the owner). That day didn't appear any different from others, but for some reason Jin still felt a bit anxious. He could name tons of reasons to that, but didn't want to think properly any of them. Unfortunately Akane, who turned to look at him, brought up one of the biggest and most depressing ones.
”So, have you already written an announcement in the newspaper?” she asked curiously while coming to get hair dyes Jin had just mixed. Different shades of honey blonde, not a bad choice at all. He smiled at her submissively.
”I have written it, yes, but... well, he's still in my apartment, right? Why should I hurry? It's not like I need a roommate immediately or anything,” Jin answered, searching for his words. He was convinced his logic worked – and it did, on some level. Carpe diem, don't think about tomorrow. Obviously Akane's thoughts didn't match his, because her answer came back sharp and fast like a tennis ball.
”He will leave, Jin,” she said slowly like Jin was a little child. ”In only a month. And you know you can't pay everything yourself, unless you go and start whoring or something.”
Jin could have easily taken it as an insult, but he knew Akane better than that and just moaned.
”But there will be only some weird freaks,” he whined and pouted a bit. ”They'll eat me. I don't want a new roommate, I want Yamapi.”
”Well, Yamapi is going to move in his own apartment anyway. It would be crazy to miss this opportunity just because you're still a brat,” Akane stated and snorted. ”Get on with it.”
Even though he didn't say anything, Jin didn't really agree with her thoughts. Instead of saying so he just shrugged and raised his head as a loud bang was heard on the other side of the salon. Someone had come in from so-called 'backstage', the manager's office. Jin wasn't really that surprised to find out by looking that it was a curly-haired, grinning young man with a good-looking face and eyebrows like walrus's mustache; this man walked with a relaxed style, greeting customers while going and finally stopped in front of Jin.
”I think I've got a solution,” he suddenly announced and made Jin almost choke in his own breath.
”A solution? To what?” he asked, more or less suspicious. This man was Matsumoto Jun, and even though he was a nice-enough guy, it was known by everyone he didn't offer anything without wanting something in exchange. Jun wasn't a person for charity. Whenever he came up with solutions – help with money, work, relationships, anything, he expected to be given something back. Rumors said it was mostly drugs, but Jin didn't believe it.
”Your little roommate problem,” Jun smiled, looking like he was waiting for his employee to burst in cheers and flails. This made Jin more confused than happy.
Wait, how did Jun even know?
”Um,” he started, looking for fitting words that wouldn't be too insulting, ”can I ask you... Why are you trying to help me with finding a roommate? I don't even need one.”
”Yes, you do,” Jun said, grinning like he was a small, electric-powered sun prototype. ”I'd like to quote Akane with this one. He will leave, and let's face it – you don't have the money to pay for everything yourself.”
”You eavesdropped on us?!”
”I'd like to call it 'watching over my employees',” Jun said, smile not shattering a bit. ”I think you're happy to hear I've got just the perfect roommate for you. He's house trained, polite and new in town.”
”You mean some diva friend of yours decided to move his clothing collection in Tokyo and you need an masochistic idiot to lodge him,” Jin sighed, but didn't get a straight answer. Jun only placed a firm hand on his shoulder and started a speech stolen from mouth of a salesman.
Oh dear.
× × ×
“I'm not sure this is a good idea,” Reiko said slowly as she watched Ryo go through a drawer with obviously twisted enthusiasm. “I mean, it's his private stuff and all.”
“I don't care,” Ryo spat and threw some scratch pads on her lap. “Just hold those. We're going to find this out sooner or later.”
“Ryo, with all my perverse and conditional love to you, this isn't healthy. You're going through someone's private stuff – and that certain someone is my little brother, mind you.”
“Oh, come on, don't admit you're not interested in the depths of his soul,” Ryo said dramatically and finally pulled out a thick, seemingly innocent note book. “Ha! I knew I'd find it!”
“You've seen it before?” Reiko asked curiously, twirling her hair.
“Once. He hid it immediately when I came in, but I saw he was writing something.”
At that moment the door was kicked open and they both flinched, looking for a minute like two deers caught in headlights. Ryo almost dropped his book in shock. They were facing a confused young man with light brown, curly hair and plump lips.
“... Hey,” he finally said hesitantly after a moment of silence, “what are you doing in here?”
That woke Ryo up. The black-haired, short man collected himself and glared Yamapi with critical eyes, rising his eyebrow like he was looking at something exceptionally disgusting or suspicious.
“What are you doing here? This is Jin's room,” he sneered.
“If I remember correctly, I still live here,” Yamapi snorted. “What are you holding? Wait-- what, you're taking Jin's diary?”
Both Ryo and Reiko glanced around themselves like they were afraid walls were going to hear them and then shushed Yamapi violently.
“Don't be so loud!”
“Why? He's at work.”
“But someone will hear us anyway! It always happens in the movies, someone hears what we are doing or he just magically finds out and then we're all screwed and--”
“What the fuck are you doing?”
All three turned to look at the fourth person standing on the doorway, looking at them suspiciously. He was frowning, and dark, slightly messy curls were framing his face as he bit his bottom lip in thought. The only noise in the room was Ryo's difficult swallow. At least for a second, until the newcomer's eyes filled up with realization. And anger.
“What the hell are you doing with my diary?!”
“This isn't a movie! You're at work!”
“No, Matsumoto got freaky again and forced me home! What the fuck do you think you're doing? Nishikido, you drop that book right now or I'm going to kick your ass from here to Saturn!”
“Bye,” Reiko smiled awkwardly and stood up, slim figure and hips swaying as she walked towards Jin, attempting to bypass him normally. His brother didn't seem to think the same way, and stopped her by grabbing her shoulder with an iron fist.
“And you. You're staying here too.”
They were screwed.
× × ×
Kame wasn't an experienced traveler. His family had gone to Okinawa on holidays. They had visited Nara, Mount Fuji, Hokkaido and Miyajima Island. But he had always lived in the same town with the same people, even though it wasn't really that small – he had never moved before, if renting his own studio apartment for a few years didn't count. It didn't, actually, because he had been close to his family even then. But this was Tokyo, a completely different city. His family was almost 3 hours drive away, and he didn't know anyone from his new home. Except Matsumoto Jun, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing.
He had been in Tokyo for five days now and was already ready to go back home. His motel had turned out to be filled with unpleasant staff, filthy and too far away from public transports. As a plus his room was kind of small for him and all of his stuff. It didn't have a window either. That was why after two nights Kame had decided to take Jun's offer and just move to his living room floor until he would find an apartment.
Finding it had turned out to be more difficult than Kame could have imagined. Somehow he had thought Tokyo would be filled with different opportunities – like it was, but none of those opportunities were good for him. Kame didn't think he had a strict criterion. All he wanted was a nice apartment close to his new school and public transports, possibly clean and enough room for his stuff. He didn't exactly mind a roommate either, if the person wasn't too creepy and he would have locks on his room door. Oh, and it shouldn't be too expensive. How hard could it be to find a place like that?
Very hard, apparently. During his five days Kame had been searching apartments from newspapers, real estate firms and internet, checking out everyday multiple places at least from outside. But there was always something wrong. It turned out the plumbering suck and no one was to fix it, or half of the apartment had mold in it. Sometimes the price turned out to be too high, sometimes his landlord or roommate was just too creepy or seemed to try to feel him up.
That was why he felt, as unnatural as it was when it was about Jun, sheer joy when his pushy host stormed in a big smile on his face. Jun's appearance was glowing with enthusiasm, and that alone gave some hope. At that time Kame was sitting on his living room floor, futon neatly set against the wall, looking at the central page of that day's newspaper.
“Guess what?” Jun chirped as he banged the door shut.
He wasn't exactly that Japanese with his habits, Kame had noted. Especially with what came to silence.
“Tell me,” Kame said, trying not to form a smile too early: it was always a bad idea to step on Jun's loony train if there wasn't a real reason.
“I think I've found you an apartment,” Jun announced, smiling. “Isn't that great?”
Now Kame broke into a smile. He stood up and ruffled his hair.
“Really? Where? What kind?”
“Well, I overheard at work when my employee, Jin, was talking about his problems with his apartment. Apparently his roommate is moving and he needs a new one soon. He's a nice guy, I've been to his place once, it's cool and if I remember correctly, the room you'd get is tolerable. Rent wouldn't be too high, and the place isn't that far from Bunka if you know which trains to take.”
It was a long explanation, but made definitely Kame's day brighter.
“Can I see it?”
“I discussed that with Jin. You're free tonight, right?”
× × ×
To admit it, Jin was nervous. Actually the word 'nervous' didn't describe his state well. He was a wreck.
Last time he had shown his apartment for strangers with the point of renting a room, it hadn't turned out that great. Eventually Yamapi had moved in and he never had to bother actually meeting someone new and living with them. But now the situation was different.
Kind of. Jun's friend, whoever it was, was coming over. They didn't know each other, but at least they had a friend link. If Jun had considered this person appropriate, Jin would too, right?
Oh, screw that. For Jun it was appropriate to wear pink leather hot pants and a Backstreet Boys T-shirt in broad daylight. In fact there was a high possibility this person would be a wacko too. If Jun also liked him, there was a chance he would be a mental patient.
After Jin had driven Ryo and Yamapi out of his place (and made them promise through pain they would never step in his room again, pinky swear), he had started cleaning. Nevertheless he had to make his apartment look like an actual human being could live there, or else he would never get a new roommate. Jin had even sorted his video games in their shelf by genre. He had vacuum-cleaned, wiped off dust, picked off laundry, taken the trash and so on, trying to make the apartment look as good as possible.
And now it was the time. He was sitting on the couch, palms sweating a little and eyes staring at the door. Any minute now, unless Jun's friend was tardy type. Jin had even changed his clothes to something more representative (a shirt blouse with a few buttons open, some jewelry and a pair of good-looking jeans that actually fit for a change). If he had to rent his apartment because his roommate thought he was a great piece of ass, he would most certainly do it. The last thing he wanted was to put an announcement on newspaper(s) or online. All the freaks he'd have to meet after that... oh dear.
Suddenly the doorbell rang, cutting in Jin's thoughts and making him jump. Panic flooded in him as he stood up vigorously, almost running to the door, stumbling on his own feet. Before opening the door he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. It would be okay. He would just be his usual carefree self and see how it went. If it wouldn't work, then so what, he would just do what a man had to do. Announce.
Jin conjured up a charming smile and opened the door. And then he was looking at something he definitely hadn't expected.
It was a young man. Well, that he really had expected, but the rest didn't match his thoughts. He had thought he'd meet a creepy, overwhelmingly diva-ish or otherwise just Jun person. Someone who resembled more a pride parade than a person, or someone who had other significant features someone else might consider not normal. But this person, he was... He was something entirely else.
For first call, he was handsome. Like, really handsome. Of course Jun was good-looking too, but this person was almost something Jin would call beautiful. He was thin, and had brown hair framing his face. His crooked nose didn't match his soft feature or his almond eyes, but somehow made him look even better. He was dressed completely normally, black jacket and white V-neck shirt under it clinging to his features. And from his eyes Jin could find an emotion matching his own. Sheer terror over something new.
“Hey,” Jin said, feeling like smacking himself immediately. “I'm Akanishi. You're the guy Jun told me about, I presume?”
“Yeah,” the man answered, looking slightly uneasy. “My name is Kamenashi. Kamenashi Kazuya.”
Turtles. Very interesting. Kame-chan, Jin summed up in his head and repaired his fluttering smile.
“Come on in,” he said and stepped on the right so Kamenashi could pass him, motioning towards hallway.
And after that started what Jin liked to call the neverending merry-go-round of awkwardness. It wasn't that he didn't know how to handle or talk to people. No, far away from it. It was just that the situation itself was already making him nervous – and when you added in someone extremely attractive he simply couldn't flirt with, it became unbearable. Kamenashi could be his future roommate. You didn't flirt with roommates.
At first Jin helped Kamenashi's jacket off (it was a polite action, not anything else, he told himself) and started showing him around the apartment. Hallway, living room, kitchen, bathroom. They didn't have a balcony, but one big window had a sill wide enough to sit on it properly. View was nice, it was Jin's favorite place for morning coffee and cigarette. This he didn't say aloud, though.
“And this is my room,” Jin motioned towards a closed door. “I'm pretty messy, so you might not want to go in there. But that door there goes to your room. You can look at it, my ex-roommate's stuff is still in there.”
“When is he moving?” Kamenashi asked rather curiously as he walked to the door Jin had shown last and opened it.
“His school starts soon, so I'd say in a week or two,” Jin informed, “in fact some of his stuff is already gone. He's a bit of a hoarder, so you don't really notice the difference unless you've seen his room before.”
“I see,” Kamenashi smiled and turned to look at Jin.
That was Jin saw it. Well, he didn't exactly know what it was, but he saw many things. A glimpse of a lonely earring, shining as it reflected light from lamps, an enchanting curve of a smile and skin exposed under Kamenashi's shirt. It wasn't really a visual, it was a realization.
Whatever Kamenashi would decide on the apartment, Jin was going to have a crush for a long time. And if this was his new roommate, things would get more difficult he could ever imagine.
A/N: AAAHAHAAHAH IT'S FINALLY HERE AND LET'S PRETEND IT DIDN'T TAKE ME TWO MONTHS OKAY. :---( ♥
Oh btw, meet Reiko. As information, in the fic Jin has two siblings - Reio, who we already (ofc) know and Reiko, whom I made up. You're going to see her kind of a lot in the fic(s). As a short ref sheet, she's Jin's older sister, around 28. She loves her brothers and also torturing them. Reiko is a chef, just starting out her own restaurant. Because the genes in the Akanishi family have already appeared to be made of pixie dust that makes everyone seem attractive, she has lots of guys around her. Right now she's dating a guy called Take you might or might not hear from. They've been together for over six months now, long time for Reiko.
Say hello. Wait, did I have more original side charas? No? Or well, Kame's family, but they're going to have a fic of their own.
Updates are coming soon. Sooner than in two months, pinky promise. :D
author:
awesomechick15 pairing: Akanishi Jin/Kamenashi Kazuya
rating: R
genre: slice of life, humor, fluff, romance
disclaimer: I don't own Akanishi Jin, Kamenashi Kazuya, Yamashita Tomohisa or any other JE-dude you see jumping around in this fic. But, as an exception, I do own everyone you can't recognize to be JE. This means mostly characters' families.
warnings: -
summary: Jin and Yamapi are best friends who live together. When Yamapi gets an opportunity study in an appreciated university, he of course accepts - but he also has to move closer to his new school, leaving Jin without a roommate. Meanwhile Kame is just moving to Tokyo with big dreams and hopes, his only place to stay a dirty, creepy motel and the floor of an old friend. Things happen. (Also part of this 'verse.)
prologue
The sea of sounds was ringing in his ears. The rhythm was felt as vibrations in the floor, and he wasn't sure, if he could even hear his own thoughts. He felt like dancing and actually moved his hips a few times experimentally, trying to take in as much of the rhythm as he could. He stopped soon; the whole dancing thing was keeping him from work. Music had a nasty side effect of taking your thoughts away from the things you really should have focused on.
Jin's head hurt. He could only see colorful lights and dim figures. Work, work, work. He should focus now or else he'd be doing nothing but the thing they paid him to do for rest of the day. But the beat was so good...
Ah, fuck it. Jin grimaced and straightened himself, turning around and marching to the counter. With one, smooth movement he pressed on the oh-so-famous 'stop' button, making the whole room go silent like dead, like someone had just pressed the 'mute' button instead. Some customers and even a colleague looked at him a bit confused; at least Akane had looked like her drive had really been on.
”Sorry,” Jin said, smiling apologetically, ”I couldn't focus on work with that on.”
”Kill-joy,” Akane mumbled loudly and made many customers – including Jin – laugh.
His head was still hurting. Mixing hair dye made him feel dizzy, but he couldn't say no to a task either. It was a normal Tuesday afternoon and he was, again, working at one of the best hair salons of his area, Solitaire (the name was a complete mystery to him, but so was the owner). That day didn't appear any different from others, but for some reason Jin still felt a bit anxious. He could name tons of reasons to that, but didn't want to think properly any of them. Unfortunately Akane, who turned to look at him, brought up one of the biggest and most depressing ones.
”So, have you already written an announcement in the newspaper?” she asked curiously while coming to get hair dyes Jin had just mixed. Different shades of honey blonde, not a bad choice at all. He smiled at her submissively.
”I have written it, yes, but... well, he's still in my apartment, right? Why should I hurry? It's not like I need a roommate immediately or anything,” Jin answered, searching for his words. He was convinced his logic worked – and it did, on some level. Carpe diem, don't think about tomorrow. Obviously Akane's thoughts didn't match his, because her answer came back sharp and fast like a tennis ball.
”He will leave, Jin,” she said slowly like Jin was a little child. ”In only a month. And you know you can't pay everything yourself, unless you go and start whoring or something.”
Jin could have easily taken it as an insult, but he knew Akane better than that and just moaned.
”But there will be only some weird freaks,” he whined and pouted a bit. ”They'll eat me. I don't want a new roommate, I want Yamapi.”
”Well, Yamapi is going to move in his own apartment anyway. It would be crazy to miss this opportunity just because you're still a brat,” Akane stated and snorted. ”Get on with it.”
Even though he didn't say anything, Jin didn't really agree with her thoughts. Instead of saying so he just shrugged and raised his head as a loud bang was heard on the other side of the salon. Someone had come in from so-called 'backstage', the manager's office. Jin wasn't really that surprised to find out by looking that it was a curly-haired, grinning young man with a good-looking face and eyebrows like walrus's mustache; this man walked with a relaxed style, greeting customers while going and finally stopped in front of Jin.
”I think I've got a solution,” he suddenly announced and made Jin almost choke in his own breath.
”A solution? To what?” he asked, more or less suspicious. This man was Matsumoto Jun, and even though he was a nice-enough guy, it was known by everyone he didn't offer anything without wanting something in exchange. Jun wasn't a person for charity. Whenever he came up with solutions – help with money, work, relationships, anything, he expected to be given something back. Rumors said it was mostly drugs, but Jin didn't believe it.
”Your little roommate problem,” Jun smiled, looking like he was waiting for his employee to burst in cheers and flails. This made Jin more confused than happy.
Wait, how did Jun even know?
”Um,” he started, looking for fitting words that wouldn't be too insulting, ”can I ask you... Why are you trying to help me with finding a roommate? I don't even need one.”
”Yes, you do,” Jun said, grinning like he was a small, electric-powered sun prototype. ”I'd like to quote Akane with this one. He will leave, and let's face it – you don't have the money to pay for everything yourself.”
”You eavesdropped on us?!”
”I'd like to call it 'watching over my employees',” Jun said, smile not shattering a bit. ”I think you're happy to hear I've got just the perfect roommate for you. He's house trained, polite and new in town.”
”You mean some diva friend of yours decided to move his clothing collection in Tokyo and you need an masochistic idiot to lodge him,” Jin sighed, but didn't get a straight answer. Jun only placed a firm hand on his shoulder and started a speech stolen from mouth of a salesman.
Oh dear.
× × ×
“I'm not sure this is a good idea,” Reiko said slowly as she watched Ryo go through a drawer with obviously twisted enthusiasm. “I mean, it's his private stuff and all.”
“I don't care,” Ryo spat and threw some scratch pads on her lap. “Just hold those. We're going to find this out sooner or later.”
“Ryo, with all my perverse and conditional love to you, this isn't healthy. You're going through someone's private stuff – and that certain someone is my little brother, mind you.”
“Oh, come on, don't admit you're not interested in the depths of his soul,” Ryo said dramatically and finally pulled out a thick, seemingly innocent note book. “Ha! I knew I'd find it!”
“You've seen it before?” Reiko asked curiously, twirling her hair.
“Once. He hid it immediately when I came in, but I saw he was writing something.”
At that moment the door was kicked open and they both flinched, looking for a minute like two deers caught in headlights. Ryo almost dropped his book in shock. They were facing a confused young man with light brown, curly hair and plump lips.
“... Hey,” he finally said hesitantly after a moment of silence, “what are you doing in here?”
That woke Ryo up. The black-haired, short man collected himself and glared Yamapi with critical eyes, rising his eyebrow like he was looking at something exceptionally disgusting or suspicious.
“What are you doing here? This is Jin's room,” he sneered.
“If I remember correctly, I still live here,” Yamapi snorted. “What are you holding? Wait-- what, you're taking Jin's diary?”
Both Ryo and Reiko glanced around themselves like they were afraid walls were going to hear them and then shushed Yamapi violently.
“Don't be so loud!”
“Why? He's at work.”
“But someone will hear us anyway! It always happens in the movies, someone hears what we are doing or he just magically finds out and then we're all screwed and--”
“What the fuck are you doing?”
All three turned to look at the fourth person standing on the doorway, looking at them suspiciously. He was frowning, and dark, slightly messy curls were framing his face as he bit his bottom lip in thought. The only noise in the room was Ryo's difficult swallow. At least for a second, until the newcomer's eyes filled up with realization. And anger.
“What the hell are you doing with my diary?!”
“This isn't a movie! You're at work!”
“No, Matsumoto got freaky again and forced me home! What the fuck do you think you're doing? Nishikido, you drop that book right now or I'm going to kick your ass from here to Saturn!”
“Bye,” Reiko smiled awkwardly and stood up, slim figure and hips swaying as she walked towards Jin, attempting to bypass him normally. His brother didn't seem to think the same way, and stopped her by grabbing her shoulder with an iron fist.
“And you. You're staying here too.”
They were screwed.
× × ×
Kame wasn't an experienced traveler. His family had gone to Okinawa on holidays. They had visited Nara, Mount Fuji, Hokkaido and Miyajima Island. But he had always lived in the same town with the same people, even though it wasn't really that small – he had never moved before, if renting his own studio apartment for a few years didn't count. It didn't, actually, because he had been close to his family even then. But this was Tokyo, a completely different city. His family was almost 3 hours drive away, and he didn't know anyone from his new home. Except Matsumoto Jun, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing.
He had been in Tokyo for five days now and was already ready to go back home. His motel had turned out to be filled with unpleasant staff, filthy and too far away from public transports. As a plus his room was kind of small for him and all of his stuff. It didn't have a window either. That was why after two nights Kame had decided to take Jun's offer and just move to his living room floor until he would find an apartment.
Finding it had turned out to be more difficult than Kame could have imagined. Somehow he had thought Tokyo would be filled with different opportunities – like it was, but none of those opportunities were good for him. Kame didn't think he had a strict criterion. All he wanted was a nice apartment close to his new school and public transports, possibly clean and enough room for his stuff. He didn't exactly mind a roommate either, if the person wasn't too creepy and he would have locks on his room door. Oh, and it shouldn't be too expensive. How hard could it be to find a place like that?
Very hard, apparently. During his five days Kame had been searching apartments from newspapers, real estate firms and internet, checking out everyday multiple places at least from outside. But there was always something wrong. It turned out the plumbering suck and no one was to fix it, or half of the apartment had mold in it. Sometimes the price turned out to be too high, sometimes his landlord or roommate was just too creepy or seemed to try to feel him up.
That was why he felt, as unnatural as it was when it was about Jun, sheer joy when his pushy host stormed in a big smile on his face. Jun's appearance was glowing with enthusiasm, and that alone gave some hope. At that time Kame was sitting on his living room floor, futon neatly set against the wall, looking at the central page of that day's newspaper.
“Guess what?” Jun chirped as he banged the door shut.
He wasn't exactly that Japanese with his habits, Kame had noted. Especially with what came to silence.
“Tell me,” Kame said, trying not to form a smile too early: it was always a bad idea to step on Jun's loony train if there wasn't a real reason.
“I think I've found you an apartment,” Jun announced, smiling. “Isn't that great?”
Now Kame broke into a smile. He stood up and ruffled his hair.
“Really? Where? What kind?”
“Well, I overheard at work when my employee, Jin, was talking about his problems with his apartment. Apparently his roommate is moving and he needs a new one soon. He's a nice guy, I've been to his place once, it's cool and if I remember correctly, the room you'd get is tolerable. Rent wouldn't be too high, and the place isn't that far from Bunka if you know which trains to take.”
It was a long explanation, but made definitely Kame's day brighter.
“Can I see it?”
“I discussed that with Jin. You're free tonight, right?”
× × ×
To admit it, Jin was nervous. Actually the word 'nervous' didn't describe his state well. He was a wreck.
Last time he had shown his apartment for strangers with the point of renting a room, it hadn't turned out that great. Eventually Yamapi had moved in and he never had to bother actually meeting someone new and living with them. But now the situation was different.
Kind of. Jun's friend, whoever it was, was coming over. They didn't know each other, but at least they had a friend link. If Jun had considered this person appropriate, Jin would too, right?
Oh, screw that. For Jun it was appropriate to wear pink leather hot pants and a Backstreet Boys T-shirt in broad daylight. In fact there was a high possibility this person would be a wacko too. If Jun also liked him, there was a chance he would be a mental patient.
After Jin had driven Ryo and Yamapi out of his place (and made them promise through pain they would never step in his room again, pinky swear), he had started cleaning. Nevertheless he had to make his apartment look like an actual human being could live there, or else he would never get a new roommate. Jin had even sorted his video games in their shelf by genre. He had vacuum-cleaned, wiped off dust, picked off laundry, taken the trash and so on, trying to make the apartment look as good as possible.
And now it was the time. He was sitting on the couch, palms sweating a little and eyes staring at the door. Any minute now, unless Jun's friend was tardy type. Jin had even changed his clothes to something more representative (a shirt blouse with a few buttons open, some jewelry and a pair of good-looking jeans that actually fit for a change). If he had to rent his apartment because his roommate thought he was a great piece of ass, he would most certainly do it. The last thing he wanted was to put an announcement on newspaper(s) or online. All the freaks he'd have to meet after that... oh dear.
Suddenly the doorbell rang, cutting in Jin's thoughts and making him jump. Panic flooded in him as he stood up vigorously, almost running to the door, stumbling on his own feet. Before opening the door he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. It would be okay. He would just be his usual carefree self and see how it went. If it wouldn't work, then so what, he would just do what a man had to do. Announce.
Jin conjured up a charming smile and opened the door. And then he was looking at something he definitely hadn't expected.
It was a young man. Well, that he really had expected, but the rest didn't match his thoughts. He had thought he'd meet a creepy, overwhelmingly diva-ish or otherwise just Jun person. Someone who resembled more a pride parade than a person, or someone who had other significant features someone else might consider not normal. But this person, he was... He was something entirely else.
For first call, he was handsome. Like, really handsome. Of course Jun was good-looking too, but this person was almost something Jin would call beautiful. He was thin, and had brown hair framing his face. His crooked nose didn't match his soft feature or his almond eyes, but somehow made him look even better. He was dressed completely normally, black jacket and white V-neck shirt under it clinging to his features. And from his eyes Jin could find an emotion matching his own. Sheer terror over something new.
“Hey,” Jin said, feeling like smacking himself immediately. “I'm Akanishi. You're the guy Jun told me about, I presume?”
“Yeah,” the man answered, looking slightly uneasy. “My name is Kamenashi. Kamenashi Kazuya.”
Turtles. Very interesting. Kame-chan, Jin summed up in his head and repaired his fluttering smile.
“Come on in,” he said and stepped on the right so Kamenashi could pass him, motioning towards hallway.
And after that started what Jin liked to call the neverending merry-go-round of awkwardness. It wasn't that he didn't know how to handle or talk to people. No, far away from it. It was just that the situation itself was already making him nervous – and when you added in someone extremely attractive he simply couldn't flirt with, it became unbearable. Kamenashi could be his future roommate. You didn't flirt with roommates.
At first Jin helped Kamenashi's jacket off (it was a polite action, not anything else, he told himself) and started showing him around the apartment. Hallway, living room, kitchen, bathroom. They didn't have a balcony, but one big window had a sill wide enough to sit on it properly. View was nice, it was Jin's favorite place for morning coffee and cigarette. This he didn't say aloud, though.
“And this is my room,” Jin motioned towards a closed door. “I'm pretty messy, so you might not want to go in there. But that door there goes to your room. You can look at it, my ex-roommate's stuff is still in there.”
“When is he moving?” Kamenashi asked rather curiously as he walked to the door Jin had shown last and opened it.
“His school starts soon, so I'd say in a week or two,” Jin informed, “in fact some of his stuff is already gone. He's a bit of a hoarder, so you don't really notice the difference unless you've seen his room before.”
“I see,” Kamenashi smiled and turned to look at Jin.
That was Jin saw it. Well, he didn't exactly know what it was, but he saw many things. A glimpse of a lonely earring, shining as it reflected light from lamps, an enchanting curve of a smile and skin exposed under Kamenashi's shirt. It wasn't really a visual, it was a realization.
Whatever Kamenashi would decide on the apartment, Jin was going to have a crush for a long time. And if this was his new roommate, things would get more difficult he could ever imagine.
A/N: AAAHAHAAHAH IT'S FINALLY HERE AND LET'S PRETEND IT DIDN'T TAKE ME TWO MONTHS OKAY. :---( ♥
Oh btw, meet Reiko. As information, in the fic Jin has two siblings - Reio, who we already (ofc) know and Reiko, whom I made up. You're going to see her kind of a lot in the fic(s). As a short ref sheet, she's Jin's older sister, around 28. She loves her brothers and also torturing them. Reiko is a chef, just starting out her own restaurant. Because the genes in the Akanishi family have already appeared to be made of pixie dust that makes everyone seem attractive, she has lots of guys around her. Right now she's dating a guy called Take you might or might not hear from. They've been together for over six months now, long time for Reiko.
Say hello. Wait, did I have more original side charas? No? Or well, Kame's family, but they're going to have a fic of their own.
Updates are coming soon. Sooner than in two months, pinky promise. :D
