Valentine's Chocolate
Title: Valentine's Chocolate
Pairing: Tegoshi/Koki (no, i'm not kidding)
Word Count: 1,451.
Rating: totally safe.
A/N: IDEK what this is. For the 24-hour Valentine's Day fic challenge. Totally not beta'd (though i did run it through spell check once) and the tenses go everywhere, but. Thanks to grunhilda for the pairing suggestion. my best attempt at a T-GOCHI appearance for 4_03_am, and RyoKoyaJin references for nihongofrancais.
Here's everyone else's:
acchikocchi | agirlcalledkil | anamuan | devetir | honooko | imwahyou | iverin | jackoweskla | jadedfrenzy | jnessap | ky_rin | mousapelli | pearljemz | peroxidepest17 | procreational | shatteredinu | soucieux | thawrecka | tinyangl | tokyostory
Koki never got chocolate for Valentine's Day in school. Not confession chocolate. Not love chocolate. Sometimes his female friends got together and gave all the guys in their group little 'let's stay friends ne~' chocolate, and sometimes his nicer classmates would give everyone in the homeroom chocolate, just because they didn't want anyone to feel left out.
Once in middle school, Koki found a small box of chocolate behind his shoes in the cubby in the hallway. He put the shoes back when he saw it, pulled them back out slowly, checking to make sure the box was still there. It was. Disbelieving, ecstatic, he reached in and pulled out the chocolate. Opening the box slowly, Koki savoured the moment, basked in the expectation. Inside there was a note, folded over. He was going to ask this girl out, as soon as he knew who it was.
He unfolded the note with shaking hands, nervous now. "BAKA," it read. And through the roaring of his hopes crumbling, he heard Tamaki and Kimiko roaring with laugher over their joke. He knows they didn't mean anything by it and that it's kind of stupid, but Koki's never really gotten over it.
It's better now--or so he tells himself--now that he's an idol, now that KAT-TUN's debuted and their singles fly hot off the shelves whenever a new one drops. Staff-san give chocolate to all the boys they work with; Koki's a bit of a favourite, because, under his THUG RHYME attitude, he's a sweetheart and he doesn't cause a lot of trouble. They really appreciate the fact that he's not a lot of trouble. The female staff-san give him almost as much chocolate as some of the cuter baby juniors get just for being tiny and adorable.
Fans send chocolate too, and while getting chocolate from strangers isn't the same as getting chocolate from a girlfriend, it does make Koki feel a little bit less insignificant in the grand scheme of things. He tries not to count and compare, tries not to make the boxes of chocolates piled up in the dressing room into a competition (if only for his peace of mind), but it is a competition on some level; who's more popular than whom, who's big now, whose popularity is growing. It translates to costumes and solos and parts, to who gets to stand where on stage and who gets considered for commercials.
Combining traumatic childhood experiences and the more recent stresses the implications the holiday has on his career, Valentine's Day is Koki's least favourite day of the year. He's cranky for about a month leading up to it, as soon as the Valentine interviews and photo shoots start up, but Valentine's itself is always a little anti-climactic. A lot of negative build-up, and nothing really awful happens. He comes into work like usual, and gets his thanks-chocolate from the staff, and sees his pile of chocolate sorted out on the table and it's like it's all been decided already so why worry about it. He'll eat a little bit of chocolate with lunch after voice training, and then go to dance practice, and during breaks they'll all read the letters to each other.
***
Koki's out in the hall getting water on a break when Tegoshi comes by with his own water bottle and carrying a small box of chocolate. He stops when he sees Koki, nods a greeting and hands the box to Koki so he can fill up the bottle from the fountain. Koki tries to give it back when Tegoshi's got a hand free again, but Tegoshi waves him off.
"Keep it. It's for you," Tegoshi smiles. "Gotta get back to practice. See you later."
Koki looks at the box in his hands. It's got Tegoshi's name written carefully on the store wrapping paper. Koki wonders how much chocolate the boy got, to be handing it out randomly in the hallway. Even if it's from a stranger, it seems a little rude to give it away to other people. But that was the way Tegoshi is sometimes. He doesn't really think about the implications of his actions, what they'll mean to other people; he just does things as he thinks of them and deals with it later. Sometimes Koki wishes he could do that too, but figures he isn't cute enough to get away with it.
Koki shrugs mentally. Might as well eat it, he thinks, and peels a corner of the paper back. It's good stuff, high-end stuff, imported from Europe and wrapped with all the precision of a certain kind of high-end department store. Careful with the paper, Koki slides the box out the side, and pulls it open. Nestled inside is a note. Please go out with me. It's not signed.
Koki sighs. Tegoshi really shouldn't give out recycled chocolate like that. At the very least, he should check inside first. Koki tucks the note into the pocket on his hoodie to return to Tegoshi later. He doesn't have time now; he'll try and catch him after practice. He's keeping the chocolate though. It's his favourite kind.
***
Finding Tegoshi more work than Koki thought it would be. He thought he could just drop by NewS's dressing room, pass the note back and make a joke about Tegoshi needing to go through his mail before he passed it along. He didn't think he'd have to wait twenty minutes for Tegoshi to get out of a meeting with his manager. The joke wasn't worth that much effort, really, but he'd asked Koyama where Tegoshi was and Koyama suggested they all grab something to eat afterward and Koki didn't have a reason not to go. He needed to eat too.
Koyama was off trying to coerce other stragglers at the jimusho into coming along too when Tegoshi finally finished up, and walked back into the dressing to grab his bag. He didn't look like he was expecting to see Koki sprawled across their couch.
"Finally!" Koki bounced up, stretching his arms over his head and twisting a little from side to side. "I've been waiting forever."
"Um. Ok. For what?" Tegoshi looked more amused than surprised now.
"You. Dinner." Koki swung his arms in a circle back down, and then stuck them into the pouch at the front of his sweatshirt, fingers brushing paper. Right. Tegoshi's lost love-note.
"Oh. Ok. Are we going to go eat?" Tegoshi smiled, easy-going.
"Koyama says we are." Koki pulled the note out of his pocket. "By the way, you forgot this in that chocolate. If you're going to give it away, you should really check and take out the notes first. It's embarrassing."
"I didn't forget it. I left it. It's for you." Tegoshi started, and then Koyama came back, trailing Shige and Nakamaru behind him.
"Alright! Tegoshi's done," Koyama grinned around at everyone. "Everyone's ready; let's go!" he said. He adjusted the shoulder strap of his bag and headed out the door.
"Hold on! What's the rush?" Shige called after him, as Nakamaru helped him shove things into his bag.
"Hurry, hurry!" came Koyama's impatient reply, as Shige and Nakamaru followed after him at a slower pace.
"You're so impatient!" Shige scolded.
"He must have a date with Jin and Ryo later." Nakamaru's laughter floated back in from the hallway.
Tegoshi grabbed his bag and headed for the door. Koki hadn't moved. "What do you mean, 'You left it. It's for me?'"
Tegoshi stopped in the doorway, turned around. "What I said. When I opened it, I saw it was your favourite, so I thought I should give it to you."
"With a note inside?" Koki's face was screwed up funny; he could feel it.
"Well, I like you. You can answer later. Come on, already. I'm hungry." Tegoshi bounced from one foot to the other.
"Are you two coming, or what?" Koyama shouted from the hallway, and Koki came unstuck.
"Coming! Wait for us!" Tegoshi yelled back, as Koki caught up with him by the door.
Koki wasn't sure how Tegoshi could be so cavalier about the whole thing, but Tegoshi was like that sometimes. He didn't really think about the implications of his actions; he just did things as he thought of them and dealt with it later.
"Do you really like me?" Koki asked in the hallway.
"Fo shizzle, my nizzle," Tegoshi replied, grinning.
Koki shoved him playfully on the shoulder. "Do you even know what that means?"
"Yup." Tegoshi said. His eyes sparkled with mischief; Koki wasn't convinced.
"...How did you know this was my favourite kind of chocolate?" Koki asked instead.
"Come on, boo, let's roll."
"That doesn't answer my question!"
Pairing: Tegoshi/Koki (no, i'm not kidding)
Word Count: 1,451.
Rating: totally safe.
A/N: IDEK what this is. For the 24-hour Valentine's Day fic challenge. Totally not beta'd (though i did run it through spell check once) and the tenses go everywhere, but. Thanks to grunhilda for the pairing suggestion. my best attempt at a T-GOCHI appearance for 4_03_am, and RyoKoyaJin references for nihongofrancais.
Here's everyone else's:
acchikocchi | agirlcalledkil | anamuan | devetir | honooko | imwahyou | iverin | jackoweskla | jadedfrenzy | jnessap | ky_rin | mousapelli | pearljemz | peroxidepest17 | procreational | shatteredinu | soucieux | thawrecka | tinyangl | tokyostory
Koki never got chocolate for Valentine's Day in school. Not confession chocolate. Not love chocolate. Sometimes his female friends got together and gave all the guys in their group little 'let's stay friends ne~' chocolate, and sometimes his nicer classmates would give everyone in the homeroom chocolate, just because they didn't want anyone to feel left out.
Once in middle school, Koki found a small box of chocolate behind his shoes in the cubby in the hallway. He put the shoes back when he saw it, pulled them back out slowly, checking to make sure the box was still there. It was. Disbelieving, ecstatic, he reached in and pulled out the chocolate. Opening the box slowly, Koki savoured the moment, basked in the expectation. Inside there was a note, folded over. He was going to ask this girl out, as soon as he knew who it was.
He unfolded the note with shaking hands, nervous now. "BAKA," it read. And through the roaring of his hopes crumbling, he heard Tamaki and Kimiko roaring with laugher over their joke. He knows they didn't mean anything by it and that it's kind of stupid, but Koki's never really gotten over it.
It's better now--or so he tells himself--now that he's an idol, now that KAT-TUN's debuted and their singles fly hot off the shelves whenever a new one drops. Staff-san give chocolate to all the boys they work with; Koki's a bit of a favourite, because, under his THUG RHYME attitude, he's a sweetheart and he doesn't cause a lot of trouble. They really appreciate the fact that he's not a lot of trouble. The female staff-san give him almost as much chocolate as some of the cuter baby juniors get just for being tiny and adorable.
Fans send chocolate too, and while getting chocolate from strangers isn't the same as getting chocolate from a girlfriend, it does make Koki feel a little bit less insignificant in the grand scheme of things. He tries not to count and compare, tries not to make the boxes of chocolates piled up in the dressing room into a competition (if only for his peace of mind), but it is a competition on some level; who's more popular than whom, who's big now, whose popularity is growing. It translates to costumes and solos and parts, to who gets to stand where on stage and who gets considered for commercials.
Combining traumatic childhood experiences and the more recent stresses the implications the holiday has on his career, Valentine's Day is Koki's least favourite day of the year. He's cranky for about a month leading up to it, as soon as the Valentine interviews and photo shoots start up, but Valentine's itself is always a little anti-climactic. A lot of negative build-up, and nothing really awful happens. He comes into work like usual, and gets his thanks-chocolate from the staff, and sees his pile of chocolate sorted out on the table and it's like it's all been decided already so why worry about it. He'll eat a little bit of chocolate with lunch after voice training, and then go to dance practice, and during breaks they'll all read the letters to each other.
***
Koki's out in the hall getting water on a break when Tegoshi comes by with his own water bottle and carrying a small box of chocolate. He stops when he sees Koki, nods a greeting and hands the box to Koki so he can fill up the bottle from the fountain. Koki tries to give it back when Tegoshi's got a hand free again, but Tegoshi waves him off.
"Keep it. It's for you," Tegoshi smiles. "Gotta get back to practice. See you later."
Koki looks at the box in his hands. It's got Tegoshi's name written carefully on the store wrapping paper. Koki wonders how much chocolate the boy got, to be handing it out randomly in the hallway. Even if it's from a stranger, it seems a little rude to give it away to other people. But that was the way Tegoshi is sometimes. He doesn't really think about the implications of his actions, what they'll mean to other people; he just does things as he thinks of them and deals with it later. Sometimes Koki wishes he could do that too, but figures he isn't cute enough to get away with it.
Koki shrugs mentally. Might as well eat it, he thinks, and peels a corner of the paper back. It's good stuff, high-end stuff, imported from Europe and wrapped with all the precision of a certain kind of high-end department store. Careful with the paper, Koki slides the box out the side, and pulls it open. Nestled inside is a note. Please go out with me. It's not signed.
Koki sighs. Tegoshi really shouldn't give out recycled chocolate like that. At the very least, he should check inside first. Koki tucks the note into the pocket on his hoodie to return to Tegoshi later. He doesn't have time now; he'll try and catch him after practice. He's keeping the chocolate though. It's his favourite kind.
***
Finding Tegoshi more work than Koki thought it would be. He thought he could just drop by NewS's dressing room, pass the note back and make a joke about Tegoshi needing to go through his mail before he passed it along. He didn't think he'd have to wait twenty minutes for Tegoshi to get out of a meeting with his manager. The joke wasn't worth that much effort, really, but he'd asked Koyama where Tegoshi was and Koyama suggested they all grab something to eat afterward and Koki didn't have a reason not to go. He needed to eat too.
Koyama was off trying to coerce other stragglers at the jimusho into coming along too when Tegoshi finally finished up, and walked back into the dressing to grab his bag. He didn't look like he was expecting to see Koki sprawled across their couch.
"Finally!" Koki bounced up, stretching his arms over his head and twisting a little from side to side. "I've been waiting forever."
"Um. Ok. For what?" Tegoshi looked more amused than surprised now.
"You. Dinner." Koki swung his arms in a circle back down, and then stuck them into the pouch at the front of his sweatshirt, fingers brushing paper. Right. Tegoshi's lost love-note.
"Oh. Ok. Are we going to go eat?" Tegoshi smiled, easy-going.
"Koyama says we are." Koki pulled the note out of his pocket. "By the way, you forgot this in that chocolate. If you're going to give it away, you should really check and take out the notes first. It's embarrassing."
"I didn't forget it. I left it. It's for you." Tegoshi started, and then Koyama came back, trailing Shige and Nakamaru behind him.
"Alright! Tegoshi's done," Koyama grinned around at everyone. "Everyone's ready; let's go!" he said. He adjusted the shoulder strap of his bag and headed out the door.
"Hold on! What's the rush?" Shige called after him, as Nakamaru helped him shove things into his bag.
"Hurry, hurry!" came Koyama's impatient reply, as Shige and Nakamaru followed after him at a slower pace.
"You're so impatient!" Shige scolded.
"He must have a date with Jin and Ryo later." Nakamaru's laughter floated back in from the hallway.
Tegoshi grabbed his bag and headed for the door. Koki hadn't moved. "What do you mean, 'You left it. It's for me?'"
Tegoshi stopped in the doorway, turned around. "What I said. When I opened it, I saw it was your favourite, so I thought I should give it to you."
"With a note inside?" Koki's face was screwed up funny; he could feel it.
"Well, I like you. You can answer later. Come on, already. I'm hungry." Tegoshi bounced from one foot to the other.
"Are you two coming, or what?" Koyama shouted from the hallway, and Koki came unstuck.
"Coming! Wait for us!" Tegoshi yelled back, as Koki caught up with him by the door.
Koki wasn't sure how Tegoshi could be so cavalier about the whole thing, but Tegoshi was like that sometimes. He didn't really think about the implications of his actions; he just did things as he thought of them and dealt with it later.
"Do you really like me?" Koki asked in the hallway.
"Fo shizzle, my nizzle," Tegoshi replied, grinning.
Koki shoved him playfully on the shoulder. "Do you even know what that means?"
"Yup." Tegoshi said. His eyes sparkled with mischief; Koki wasn't convinced.
"...How did you know this was my favourite kind of chocolate?" Koki asked instead.
"Come on, boo, let's roll."
"That doesn't answer my question!"