Fic - Towards a Dream
Fandom: KAT-TUN
Characters: Kame, Jin
Pairings: Akame
Genre: Humour, slice-of-life
Rating: PG-13, yaoi, rps
Status: Complete
Dedication: solo____
A/N: Written for solo____, who won the bidding for me during the help_haiti auction. Many thanks to razberrycreme for the beta and plot help. :)
October, 2009
When Kame opens his door, the first thing he sees are the battered sneakers thrown haphazardly next to his neat rows of shoes. He’s smiling when he walks into the living room.
“Hey,” Kame says when he finds Jin deeply immersed in his cell phone. He’s answered by a non-committal grunt. “How long have you been here?”
“Not long,” Jin answers, then fiddles with his cell phone some more before placing it on the table. “Shiro-san dropped me off on the way, so I haven’t had dinner yet.”
Kame nods, rubs his face. “What are you thinking for tonight, then?” he asks, lazily trying to remember the groceries he currently has in the fridge.
“I bought apple, onions, carrots, beef, garlic and rice.”
Kame jerks his head down to stare at Jin, who has adopted a smug expression, and starts laughing. “If you wanted curry, you could’ve just said.”
Jin grins and lies back comfortably. “What’s the fun in that?”
Kame’s still snickering as he heads into the kitchen.
Kame brings the chopping board and veggies to the dining table like usual and Jin comes over to help chop until only the onions are left. Which is when Jin takes a seat on the far seat of the couch. Kame’s too used to Jin wimping out over chopping onions to mind, especially when their conversation turns to Jin’s plans for the new year. Jin has talked to Kame once or twice before about his desire for a solo live, but Kame has never given it any thought besides that it would be in the vague future. He’s largely quiet when Jin talks about what he’d use in a con if he had the chance, content to let Jin think aloud. It’s when Jin mentions meeting Johnny that Kame clues back in.
“When did you meet with Johnny-san?” he asks, checking on the rice.
“I told you, last week,” Jin replies. “He’s going to tell me about his decision later this week, he said. I’m thinking of February. What do you think?”
“February sounds good. You’ll be done promoting for Bandage by then, right?” Kame nods back at Jin, reaching for a stray apple piece on the far edge of the table. “So you’re sure that you want to do this, after all?”
Maybe some of Kame’s hesitance must have shown in his voice, because when Kame looks up from the apples, Jin is sitting up straight on the couch, eyes narrowed and lips thinned.
“What, you think I can’t do it?”
Kame leans back against the counter and reaches for the towel, looking up at Jin. “It’s not that I don’t think you can do it,” Kame starts, choosing his words carefully. “It’s just that doing a solo show is not the same as doing a concert with five other people-”
“I know that,” Jin interrupts, waving an impatient hand. “I know. It’s not like I haven’t seen Ueda and Nakamaru prepare.” He raises his chin and folds his hands in his lap. “You just don’t think I’ll be able to do it properly without the rest of you guys,” he accuses, challenge woven in every syllable.
Kame stills for a moment, eyes dropping to half-mast, taking in the sight of Jin in front of him, tensing up and defensive. There’s a beat or two of silence before Kame looks away from Jin, turning his gaze towards the window.
“It’s not that I think you’re not good enough to do a show without the rest of us, Jin,” he murmurs, staring unseeingly at the square patch of blue sky, remembering the loud, gawky teenager Jin had been off-camera, and the change that would come over him when the spotlights switched on, even at that young age. Jin had been born to perform, and it was still as true now as it had been all those years ago when Kame used to look at Jin with stars in his eyes.
“It’s not that,” Kame repeats, voice quiet, but no less firm. He looks back at Jin, and sees some of the hardness in the almond eyes fade. “I’ve never thought that,” Kame reiterates, voice softening. Jin is quiet, eyes still and set on Kame’s, searching his eyes for the hint of a lie, relaxing when he doesn’t find any. Kame lets the silence stretch on for a couple of seconds before he lowers his eyes and feels his lips curving up even as he continues speaking. “I just think it’ll be very, very difficult.”
Jin tries, but still cannot suppress a hoot of laughter. Kame smiles to himself as he takes out another carrot, stealing glances at Jin every few seconds as Jin snickers, collapsed on the couch. Kame tries to keep his attention on the vegetables, but can’t stop himself from watching the way the smile transforms Jin’s face, like the warmth of sunlight after a dreary, wet day. Jin eventually composes himself, but there’s still a tiny smile on his lips when he shifts over to sit cross-legged, balancing his hands on the cushion in his lap. “And people say I’m the arrogant one.”
Kame turns his attention back to the carrots, hums neutrally. “I’m sure I have no idea what you mean,” he says with a straight face, and focuses on getting the sizes of the carrots exactly right.
“Oh, fuck you,” Jin retorts, and he’s actually grinning by now, Kame can hear the laughter in his voice. “Just wait, my show’s gonna be the best out of everyone’s.”
Kame snorts. “Don’t you think you’re getting a bit ahead of yourself here?” He moves the diced carrots into a bowl and starts on the onions. “Johnny-san hasn’t even agreed to it yet.”
Jin scoffs, gives a dismissive shrug. “He’ll agree. Why wouldn’t he?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Kame murmurs, shooting a mischievous glance at Jin; “will you give him a guarantee to not catch a cold for the whole month?”
“Keep talking, and you’ll find out just how cold your nights can be when you’re alone in bed for a whole month,” Jin shoots back sweetly. Kame laughs and goes back to the onions.
---
True to his word, Jin gets Johnny to agree to his solo con, and makes plans to celebrate with Pi and Yuu later. Though he’s still a bit miffed that Johnny basically echoed what Kame had said to him the week before. Jin tried but couldn’t stop himself from getting somewhat affronted when Johnny made doubtful noises in response to his request that the show continue for a month and raised the question of whether Jin would be able to keep doing the show without exhausting himself.
“Kame does it every year,” Jin points out. “And so does Koichi-sempai. Me doing it for one month for one year shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Yes, for them, probably not. But you, Akanishi-kun, aren’t Kamenashi or Koichi... for all our sins,” Johnny mutters under his breath, and Jin falls back in his chair, grumbling.
*
“So?” Ueda asks when he finds Jin hunched over his phone in the dressing room, “Taken successful advantage of the old man’s senility yet?”
Jin looks up and grins. Ueda shakes his head, flings his bag on a chair and sits down next to Jin. “Well, if you need any pointers-”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll come to yo-”
“-ask Nakamaru.”
Jin makes a fake-anguished face and makes a fist above his heart. “Oh, ow. That hurts me right here, Tat-chan.”
Ueda wriggles in his chair till he’s comfortable, leans his head back and closes his eyes, smiles. “Maybe you should write a song about it then. Bound to be better than all the bitches and hoes you wail about nowadays.”
“If you were jealous of my creative process, Uebo, you only needed to say so,” Jin says archly. “I am willing to help you out of your slump from the goodness of my heart-”
Ueda flings out a fist, eyes still closed, and manages to catch Jin on a shoulder. “Go find someone else to collaborate with on your crude English lyrics and come back when you’re ready to get back to your rock roots.”
Jin rolls his eyes. “See if I ever help you with any of your English lyrics anymore.”
“No worries. The way you are right now, if I ask you about sunsets, I’ll probably end up with strobe lights.”
Jin throws his towel at Ueda, laughing.
---
Despite all the teasing he’s forced to endure, Jin knows exactly what he wants to show in his solo live. He doesn’t have the songs yet, but he does know how it’s going to be structured, has a definite idea of some, if not all of the special effects he wants, some of the topics he wants to write lyrics about (paparazzi rant, check, that time Pi had spilled his drink on the girl Jin had been working on all night, check), who he wants to have as his dancers... It’s not easy to sit and iron out the details, but he’s pleased to discover that it isn’t the mountain of uncertainty that he’d been dreading, either. Sure, it’s harder when there aren’t five more heads at the table, offering opinions and ideas, but the lack of wiseass remarks and disparaging comments is definitely something he can get used to.
Jin declares that he wants the male American dancers who were in the Rescue PV in his live, and that he wants to bring some of his friends in, along with some of the female back dancers KAT-TUN have worked with previously. It’s a testament to how much and how long KAT-TUN have been pestering the management with their uncompromising ideals that the two project managers who’ve been assigned to the project barely even react to Jin’s demands. They agree to most of Jin’s ideas, no matter how ridiculous - they nod even when Jin said that he wanted pictures of himself with cash and condoms, just for the hell of it. Jin walks away from the meeting with a feeling of happy accomplishment.
---
November, 2009
It’s late when Jin finally lets himself into the apartment, closer to the morning than the night. Jin had stayed in late at work, trying to finish off the song he was working on, and then had met with Yamapi for a late dinner after. Yamapi has been so busy with his drama that they’d been communicating mostly through texts that month, and so had a lot to catch up on. They stayed at the restaurant for longer than planned; time always had a way of passing quickly when the two of them were together. It was only when Yamapi started yawning every two minutes that they had given up and decided to call it a night.
Jin finds Kame sprawled all over the bed, dead to the world. Jin tries to be quiet when he showers, but he knows from past experience that it really doesn’t matter - Kame will wake up exactly at the hour that he’d decided to wake up at when he went to sleep, and not a minute before. Sometimes Jin thinks that Kame is the most efficient human in the world, half evolved to a robot; but he reconsiders when he glimpses the miles of bare skin on show when Jin slips between the sheets and cuddles in. No robot could ever feel so warm, could ever make Jin feel the jolt of contentment that runs through him when he curls into Kame’s sleepy warmth. And Jin’s assumption holds true - Kame doesn’t stir, not even when Jin burrows his freezing toes into Kame’s warm calves.
Jin is still awake after two hours, somehow unable to sleep, even though he can feel the exhaustion of the day pressing in on him. He eyes Kame’s sleeping figure with no small amount of envy and manfully resists the urge to prod him awake. He thinks instead of the song he had failed to finish that day, wonders if he needs to change the chorus a bit to make it more catchy, or if the melody should be tweaked instead.
Sometime later, Jin finds himself in that dreamlike state between sleep and wakefulness when even the most absurd thoughts seem logical and realistic. He’s in the middle of drowsily detailing his plans of turning the stage into a lake and asking Josh if he thinks Ueda-fireworks or Pi-fireworks would be cooler when Junno suddenly interrupts and insists on Jin wearing a pink t-shirt with ribbons. He’s in the middle of a tussle with Taguchi when his eyes blink open and he realizes that the t-shirt he’s been pulling on is the blanket, and there are vague stirrings next to him which means that Kame’s probably starting to wake.
Jin resists the urge to look at the time; he doesn’t have to be at work today, and his plans of finishing the song can be done at home. The realization that he can sleep in makes him smile fuzzily as he burrows back into the blankets and allows himself to fall into his dreams.
He wakes up late in the day, and stumbles blearily into the kitchen to find that Kame’s left him breakfast - rice and miso soup, and next to it, prominently displayed, are jars of radish pickle and chili oil. Jin snickers in spite of himself. Ever since Jin had made the dish and eaten it with the omurice Kame had cooked for lunch once, Kame has taken it as a personal affront. After that incident, Kame started trying out a variety of new, spicy dishes, with the goal of making sure that Jin would never need to make any other side dish when eating Kame’s cooking, and Jin’s definitely not complaining. He realizes that he shouldn’t be surprised anymore at the lengths Kame will go to for absolutely everything, but he still can’t stop the amusement from spilling out when he sees, or even thinks of Kame taking out the chili oil and pickle jars for him with that expression of muted disgust and outrage that are displayed on his face every time Jin asks for it.
He has a lazy day. He heads out to his apartment before lunch and spends a few hours working on the song. He doesn’t know what changed, but the music seems to be coming easier than the day before. He doesn’t question why, just goes with the flow and manages to finish the song before six, much to his satisfaction. He only stops working when he receives a mail from Kame, and drives back to Kame’s apartment with take-out, as per Kame’s request. The apartment is empty when he arrives, and when he checks his phone, he has yet another mail from Kame, apologizing for the fact that he’d be late; apparently there was a last minute get-together for the Yamanade production that he couldn’t miss. Kame expects to stay for an hour, at most; Jin has no such notion - he knows from experience that Kame will not be home for another two hours, at least, if not more. He also knows that Kame will be incapable of saying no when Tegoshi and the others ask him out for karaoke after or something, and then he’ll come home smashed after having flirted the night away with people who are not Jin.
And this, Jin thinks rebelliously, with an unhappy set to his lips, is what Kame has the nerve to do after he made Jin get dinner, too, for which Jin had actually declined Josh’s offer of clubbing. Jin snorts with mild disgust, directed at both himself and Kame, and whirls around to the dining table; he doesn’t see why Kame being late is a reason for him not to eat the hot dinner he’s bought, after all. He’s not going to starve himself just because Kame thinks work is more important than everything else. Or Jin.
Jin has dinner alone and blows off some of his annoyance with the help of Kame’s Xbox and a can of beer. He looks at the clock when he switches to the TV - it has been an hour and a half since Kame’s email and he’s still not home. He knew it. Jin sighs as he changes channels; it figures that this is one of the few times he’s right, and he can’t even bring himself to enjoy it. He perks up when he finally finds an anime that seems interesting; Jin wants to keep awake and wait for Kame, but finds himself pleasantly droopy after a short while. He tries to wait, but in the end he gives up and yawns his way into the bedroom, flinging himself down on the bed.
Jin wakes up to hands sliding over his back, but stubbornly keeps his eyes closed, burrowing deeper into his pillow. He doesn’t move when he feels one hand moving down to skate over the band of his boxers, and the other trailing over the nape of his neck.
“You didn’t wait up.”
Jin shivers when the hand teasingly slips into his boxers, and turns his head so his cheek rests on the pillow. He sees Kame’s dim outline next to the bed; Kame hasn’t turned on the lights, and the only light in the room is the faint beams of moonlight streaming through the gaps in the curtains.
“You were late,” Jin says, sleep-roughened voice grudgingly sliding out of his throat when Kame shifts over to switch the bedside lamp on. The dim glow casts a muted cone of illumination around the bed, and Jin turns his head against the faint light.
Kame hums, shifts closer. “Not that late,” he counters, and there’s a laugh in his voice when he says: “and I apologized already.”
Jin can feel his sleep slipping away with every light touch of Kame’s hands on him, but remembers that he was kind of pissed at Kame. He tries to hold on to the anger but it’s increasingly hard to concentrate on anything other than the feelings Kame’s touches evoke. Jin opens his eyes and quirks his lips when he peeks up, hearing another smothered laugh.
“Are you drunk?” Jin asks, his smile pressed against the pillow. “All that amount of time spent with Tegoshi finally too much for you?” He hides his grin, closing his eyes and biting his lips when Kame’s fingers flick against his back. Jin exhales and turns over, running his hands up Kame’s arms to loosely grasp his shoulders.
“Well, I did drink,” Kame admits, leaning down to run his tongue over the long line of Jin’s neck, “but no, I’m not drunk,” Kame replies, a grin in his voice.
“So how was it?” Jin asks, making a satisfied noise and arching his neck when Kame presses kisses down his throat. “Hope it was worth sacrificing dinner.”
“It went well,” Kame answers, and gasps when Jin trails his hands under Kame’s shirt, warm fingers pressing against his chest. “Was interesting.”
Jin tugs Kame’s head up, his other hand curling around Kame’s waist to press him closer as their lips meet. Kame takes his time, tongue brushing against Jin’s, slow and sweet. Jin tastes the bitter tang of alcohol, laced with something vaguely fruity; Kame’s been at the cocktails again. Kame’s smiling as he pulls back, and there’s a slow, kindling heat in his eyes that makes any remaining thoughts in Jin’s head scatter like leaves on a windy day. It’s some time before Jin can remember where they left off in their conversation. He winds an arm around Kame’s neck, pulls him down, his other hand trailing down Kame’s chest. Kame’s sighing against Jin’s neck when Jin starts speaking again.
“Interesting, how?”
Kame huffs out a laugh against Jin’s skin that makes him shiver. “Well, Miyao-kun was there today.”
“Who?” Jin asks, more focused on the way Kame’s hands are brushing against his boxers than the words coming out of his mouth; he feels Kame bite his lips against another laugh.
“Miyao Shuntaro,” Kame explains. “Remember, the ballet dancer? He plays Ranmaru.”
“That’s the cool one, right? With the girlfriend?” Jin thinks, trying to remember the details from the cursory skim he’d given the manga after Kame left a few volumes at his place.
“No, that’s Uchi,” Kame corrects, pressing butterfly kisses along Jin’s jawline. “Ranmaru’s the playboy.”
Jin snickers, tilting his head to give Kame more access. “Wow, talk about miscasting.”
Kame laughs in his ear, low and amused, and Jin shudders in response. “I’m sure both of them will be fine,” Kame defends loyally, biting gently on Jin’s earlobe.
“I guess,” Jin gasps, arching when he feels Kame’s hand slipping into his boxers. “So how is he? The ballet guy?” Despite himself, Jin is curious. He’s never met a professional ballet dancer before. He wonders if he can get to meet the guy when he drops Kame off when shooting starts or something.
“He’s very nice,” Kame murmurs, and licks Jin’s ear in the same, slow rhythm that he’s tugging on Jin’s cock. “If a bit out of his depth at the beginning. But that’ll fade soon enough.” His voice takes on an impish note. “He’s also very cute.”
Jin blinks his eyes open in surprise, struggles out of the languor Kame’s sending him into. “Haaa?”
Kame snickers into Jin’s ear. “And tall. And actually pretty hot.”
Jin tries to glare. About as much as he can when he’s got Kame sprawled on top of him with his hand on Jin’s cock, anyway.“If you’re seriously perving on your co-star when you’re feeling me up, I’ll kick you. In the balls.”
Kame giggles and lifts his head so Jin can see the laughter dancing in his eyes. “I was just informing you. In a very unbiased and educational way.”
Jin snorts. “Uh huh. And what, he can lift his leg all the way to his arms?”
“Higher,” Kame says, but his voice is about two octaves lower, and smugly satisfied, and Jin knows Kame is baiting him, but he can’t help but fall for it. Again.
“How the hell -ah- do you know that?” Jin gasps, when Kame does that thing with his hand that always manages to reduce Jin into an incoherent mess.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Kame murmurs, and he’s smirking, Jin doesn’t even need to look at him to know. Jin figures Kame saw the guy when he was stretching or something. Knowing all this theoretically does not help Jin, because he still gets riled up when Kame acts like the shameless tease he is. And Kame knows this fact as well as Jin, the twinkle in his eyes getting more pronounced when Jin glares half-heartedly at him.
“He’s very, very... mm, flexible,” Kame says conversationally, and Jin wonders, half-delirious from the effects of Kame’s touches, if maybe Kame’s being innocent, and if Jin is the one with the dirty mind... and then he feels Kame’s fingers curling around his wrist, while simultaneously grinding down with his hips, holding Jin’s hand down and licking into Jin’s mouth when Jin arches up and chokes on a wordless moan.
Yeah, right. And tomorrow he’d see pigs flying south for the winter.
And then there are kisses and gasps and touches with intent; Kame tangling his fingers in the curls at Jin’s nape and tugging, and Jin mouthing Kame’s collarbones and raking his nails down Kame’s back; and there are no thoughts in their heads for a while.
Jin sighs in contentment during a lull when Kame slips to the side to get out of his jeans, and Jin rolls around to watch him. His breath comes out quicker when he sees the miles of golden skin exposed to view in the dim light. Kame tilts his head, smiles at him, and Jin remembers where their conversation had been going. “Flexible, huh...” he muses, wriggling out of his boxers. “Maybe you should take some lessons from him,” he says, trying to gain some ground and only realizing how it sounds a couple of seconds after he says it.
Kame instantly bursts out into laughter, collapsing next to Jin. “Really?” he asks, grinning and raising himself on his elbow and resting his head on his palm. “You wouldn’t mind?” He punctuates the question with a wide grin and impish eyebrow waggling.
Jin groans and wrestles himself on top of Kame. “God, you are such a pervert.”
Kame laughs and lies back, runs a finger from Jin’s collarbone to his navel. “You love it.”
Jin shakes his head in exasperation, but doesn’t deny it when he leans down to capture Kame’s lips with his own.
*
“So how are the preparations going?”
“Well.” Jin is lying on his back, basking in the afterglow, and while the last thing that Jin wants to think about is work, Kame, as always, seems to have switched back on to ‘awake and energetic’ mode.
“Songs going well?” Kame persists, and Jin gives up. It’s easier to give in early to a determined Kame than prolong it just for the hell of it and ending up doing what Kame wants anyway.
“I just finished a song today, actually,” Jin says. “I don’t remember the words, now, though,” he laughs, and hums a few bars of the song to Kame, who’s lying still and silent beside him. When he finishes, he looks at Kame expectantly.
“Sounds good,” Kame nods at him, and then grins wryly. “I have a feeling I’ll like it better without the words anyway.” Jin rolls his eyes and pushes at Kame in return.
The silence that descends between them is comfortable, and Jin finds himself thinking about the live and all the things he’s been procrastinating on; the song he and Ryo made together, the talk he needs to have with Joey about the choreography-
“What song is that, again?”
Jin breaks off his mental dialogue and blinks up at Kame, who is peering up at him, sleepy and curious.
“What?” he asks, confused. “Which song?”
“The one you were singing just now.”
Jin frowns. “I was singing?”
Kame laughs a little and shifts closer, hums the melody. Jin makes an approving noise about three seconds in and nods at Kame. “That’s one of the songs in the movie; it’s called Hatachi no Sensou. I might sing it for my live too. What do you think?”
Kame shifts till he’s on his side, head pillowed on his arm, looking right at Jin. “Sing it, then.”
Jin blinks intelligently. “What?”
“I can’t decide till I hear the whole thing, can I?” Kame points out, then adds with a twinge of humour: “try not to forget your lyrics for once, Akanishi.”
Jin laughs under his breath, sitting up against the headboard. “You’re an audience of one, you don’t count.”
Kame says nothing, just waits for Jin to begin. Jin shoots a long look at Kame that belies his previous statement, and takes a moment to compose himself. It’s been a while since he’s sung to Kame; in some ways, it’s so much easier than when he sings at work, what with the lack of screaming fans, cameras, and uncomfortable stage lights. But on the other hand, there’s something about singing while looking straight into Kame’s soft eyes that makes him feel more nervous than normal, breathless like he’s teetering right on the edge of a building.
Jin gives a crooked smile at Kame’s encouraging look, takes a deep breath, and starts to sing.
Jin has his eyes closed when he holds the last note, lets it fade away. He’s so immersed in the song that he doesn’t open his eyes immediately. It’s more than a few seconds and a couple of very deep breaths later until his eyes flutter open. Jin licks his lips with some nervousness as he turns his head towards Kame, who’s lying utterly still, looking right at Jin. Jin can feel the breath stop in his throat when their eyes lock together; the way Kame is looking unblinkingly at him makes his nervousness increase and a flush rise up his face. He can’t tell what Kame is thinking at all, and Jin fights the urge to fidget. They stare at each other for a timeless moment before Jin clears his throat and tilts his head; a question in his eyes. Kame blinks at the sound, and seems to come back to himself.
“So?” Jin asks after a moment, when it seems Kame has no intentions of breaking the silence. “What do you thi-”
Jin’s question is unceremoniously cut off by Kame, who swoops down on him in the space of two seconds and captures his lips in a long, ardent kiss, his tongue taking shameless and immediate advantage of Jin’s open mouth. Jin’s eyes widen with shocked surprise before his eyes fall shut and he relaxes into the kiss. Jin doesn’t know exactly how long they stay there, just kissing, minutes or maybe hours, but he’s breathless and sensitive when he comes back to himself and their mouths part, his heart flooding with nameless emotion when he gazes into Kame’s expressive eyes above him.
“So I’m guessing you liked it,” he says, voice breathy and low, smiling when he lifts his head up to catch Kame’s lower lip in his teeth, one hand blindly searching for Kame’s and fingers entangling. Kame laughs deep in his throat, kissing back and pushes forward. His eyes are sparkling when they break the kiss, their foreheads resting together.
“You’ll have to learn all the songs for Olympos sometime, right?”
Jin stills, an incredulous smile flooding his face. “Kame, you-”
“Well.” Kame grins, and adds: “let’s just say I know exactly what I want you to do for me on Valentine’s Day this year.”
---
January, 2010
Kame is on a half-hour break when he checks his phone. He stifles a smile when he discovers six unread messages from Jin. Ever since Yamanade started filming and the promotions for Bandage had started to die down, Jin had started mailing Kame a lot more than normal, just as he had during the last Dreamboys run. Kame is typing out a reply when there is a blur of motion to his left; he looks up and sees the rest of the cast come in and wave. He waves back, and wonders absently if he should thank Tegoshi for the sudden increase of Jin’s attentions towards him.
It’s not like he doesn’t know that Tegoshi isn’t Jin’s favourite person - the both of them are a bit too alike for their own good, and that time when Yamapi had sung praises of the vocal ability of his group’s youngest member hadn’t helped. Kame figures Jin is doing his best to make sure Kame doesn’t convert to the other side - the fit Jin had pitched when he saw Tegoshi hug Kame during a promo had been very telling; Kame had to promise a lot of things before Jin would look him in the face again. Tantrums or not, though, Kame finds the whole thing endlessly amusing. Not that he’d ever tell Jin that.
Now he looks down at Jin’s messages and resists the urge to sigh.
When are you done? I’m alone. And bored.
Kame messages back that shooting would finish in two hours. He doesn’t expect Jin to wait that long, he’ll probably end up going clubbing with Pi or something. It doesn’t really matter, though; all Kame does nowadays is drive home and fall right into bed. Five seconds later, a beep from his phone announces another message.
You suck. Come to my place, I cooked dinner. Be late at your peril.
Kame sighs and wonders for the hundredth time why Jin finds it impossible to admit that he misses Kame instead of always sending mails with dire threats. Kame shrugs philosophically - after this long, it’s something Kame’s used to. He is initially surprised that Jin’s staying in for the night, but then remembers about the live - Kame’s schedule is too full with the drama and the single promotions to notice, but Jin’s schedule must have picked up considerably, what with February being around the corner.
“Kamenashi-kun, you’re up in five!”
Kame nods a thank you at the attendant and hurriedly types out a response to the mail. He stretches as he walks to the set and flips through the script one more time. He nods agreeably to the director and they both exchange pleasantries as they walk to the set together. Kame is drawn in to the conversation about their next scene, and looks up at the set only when they reach it, and then his mouth falls open.
The set is of the interior of a house, and the whole location is plastered almost end-to-end with Kame’s photos. And his photos on various objects that are prominently displayed all over the room. Kame’s eyes are wide when he walks gingerly over to the couch and stares. The Kames on the cushions grin cheerfully back at him.
“Wow,” he whispers, kind of dazed. He’s never seen so many pictures of himself in one place before. It’s simultaneously flattering and embarrassing. The director laughs and claps him on the back as he leaves Kame to check on the lighting.
“It’s definitely something, isn’t it?”
Kame turns around to see the actress who plays his stalker walk up to him.
“My character is very thorough.” She says, grinning.
“I’ll say,” Kame agrees, shaking his head at all the items in the room. “It’s kind of cool, though.” His voice peters out as he walks towards all the photos on the wall.
“Kamenashi-kun is surprisingly narcissistic,” she says on a giggle, and Kame snorts and turns around, shaking his head. “It’s great, but I wonder how long it took for some poor soul to make all this. They must be sick of my face by now,” he says wryly.
“It’s okay, Kamenashi-kun,” she says, smiling, “At least I now know what to give you on Valentine’s Day,” she says, with a pointed look at one of the Kame-pillows.
Kame bites his lips to keep from laughing and replies that he would treasure it always. They both have to work to keep their faces straight when the director calls for the shoot to begin.
It’s only after the shoot is over that Kame remembers the conversation and is struck by inspiration. He’s putting on his jacket when he reminds himself to remember the pit-stop he has to make before he leaves for the day - he doesn’t think he’ll have any trouble convincing the set director to let him have the body pillow.
Considering that he’s making Jin give him a personal mini-live for Valentine’s Day, he does regret that his gift isn’t good enough. Kame frowns as he thinks. Maybe he could couple that with chocolates... or pickles and chili oil if all else fails. He shakes his head over Jin’s strange food preferences, then sighs. He might as well pick up some aloe ice, too, and hope for the best; at least he can say he tried. And if Jin is still unimpressed... Kame grins and lowers his gaze to the ground. Well, in that case, he can definitely think of some better uses for the ice; he doubts Jin will remain unimpressed for long.
---End.
Characters: Kame, Jin
Pairings: Akame
Genre: Humour, slice-of-life
Rating: PG-13, yaoi, rps
Status: Complete
Dedication: solo____
A/N: Written for solo____, who won the bidding for me during the help_haiti auction. Many thanks to razberrycreme for the beta and plot help. :)
October, 2009
When Kame opens his door, the first thing he sees are the battered sneakers thrown haphazardly next to his neat rows of shoes. He’s smiling when he walks into the living room.
“Hey,” Kame says when he finds Jin deeply immersed in his cell phone. He’s answered by a non-committal grunt. “How long have you been here?”
“Not long,” Jin answers, then fiddles with his cell phone some more before placing it on the table. “Shiro-san dropped me off on the way, so I haven’t had dinner yet.”
Kame nods, rubs his face. “What are you thinking for tonight, then?” he asks, lazily trying to remember the groceries he currently has in the fridge.
“I bought apple, onions, carrots, beef, garlic and rice.”
Kame jerks his head down to stare at Jin, who has adopted a smug expression, and starts laughing. “If you wanted curry, you could’ve just said.”
Jin grins and lies back comfortably. “What’s the fun in that?”
Kame’s still snickering as he heads into the kitchen.
Kame brings the chopping board and veggies to the dining table like usual and Jin comes over to help chop until only the onions are left. Which is when Jin takes a seat on the far seat of the couch. Kame’s too used to Jin wimping out over chopping onions to mind, especially when their conversation turns to Jin’s plans for the new year. Jin has talked to Kame once or twice before about his desire for a solo live, but Kame has never given it any thought besides that it would be in the vague future. He’s largely quiet when Jin talks about what he’d use in a con if he had the chance, content to let Jin think aloud. It’s when Jin mentions meeting Johnny that Kame clues back in.
“When did you meet with Johnny-san?” he asks, checking on the rice.
“I told you, last week,” Jin replies. “He’s going to tell me about his decision later this week, he said. I’m thinking of February. What do you think?”
“February sounds good. You’ll be done promoting for Bandage by then, right?” Kame nods back at Jin, reaching for a stray apple piece on the far edge of the table. “So you’re sure that you want to do this, after all?”
Maybe some of Kame’s hesitance must have shown in his voice, because when Kame looks up from the apples, Jin is sitting up straight on the couch, eyes narrowed and lips thinned.
“What, you think I can’t do it?”
Kame leans back against the counter and reaches for the towel, looking up at Jin. “It’s not that I don’t think you can do it,” Kame starts, choosing his words carefully. “It’s just that doing a solo show is not the same as doing a concert with five other people-”
“I know that,” Jin interrupts, waving an impatient hand. “I know. It’s not like I haven’t seen Ueda and Nakamaru prepare.” He raises his chin and folds his hands in his lap. “You just don’t think I’ll be able to do it properly without the rest of you guys,” he accuses, challenge woven in every syllable.
Kame stills for a moment, eyes dropping to half-mast, taking in the sight of Jin in front of him, tensing up and defensive. There’s a beat or two of silence before Kame looks away from Jin, turning his gaze towards the window.
“It’s not that I think you’re not good enough to do a show without the rest of us, Jin,” he murmurs, staring unseeingly at the square patch of blue sky, remembering the loud, gawky teenager Jin had been off-camera, and the change that would come over him when the spotlights switched on, even at that young age. Jin had been born to perform, and it was still as true now as it had been all those years ago when Kame used to look at Jin with stars in his eyes.
“It’s not that,” Kame repeats, voice quiet, but no less firm. He looks back at Jin, and sees some of the hardness in the almond eyes fade. “I’ve never thought that,” Kame reiterates, voice softening. Jin is quiet, eyes still and set on Kame’s, searching his eyes for the hint of a lie, relaxing when he doesn’t find any. Kame lets the silence stretch on for a couple of seconds before he lowers his eyes and feels his lips curving up even as he continues speaking. “I just think it’ll be very, very difficult.”
Jin tries, but still cannot suppress a hoot of laughter. Kame smiles to himself as he takes out another carrot, stealing glances at Jin every few seconds as Jin snickers, collapsed on the couch. Kame tries to keep his attention on the vegetables, but can’t stop himself from watching the way the smile transforms Jin’s face, like the warmth of sunlight after a dreary, wet day. Jin eventually composes himself, but there’s still a tiny smile on his lips when he shifts over to sit cross-legged, balancing his hands on the cushion in his lap. “And people say I’m the arrogant one.”
Kame turns his attention back to the carrots, hums neutrally. “I’m sure I have no idea what you mean,” he says with a straight face, and focuses on getting the sizes of the carrots exactly right.
“Oh, fuck you,” Jin retorts, and he’s actually grinning by now, Kame can hear the laughter in his voice. “Just wait, my show’s gonna be the best out of everyone’s.”
Kame snorts. “Don’t you think you’re getting a bit ahead of yourself here?” He moves the diced carrots into a bowl and starts on the onions. “Johnny-san hasn’t even agreed to it yet.”
Jin scoffs, gives a dismissive shrug. “He’ll agree. Why wouldn’t he?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Kame murmurs, shooting a mischievous glance at Jin; “will you give him a guarantee to not catch a cold for the whole month?”
“Keep talking, and you’ll find out just how cold your nights can be when you’re alone in bed for a whole month,” Jin shoots back sweetly. Kame laughs and goes back to the onions.
---
True to his word, Jin gets Johnny to agree to his solo con, and makes plans to celebrate with Pi and Yuu later. Though he’s still a bit miffed that Johnny basically echoed what Kame had said to him the week before. Jin tried but couldn’t stop himself from getting somewhat affronted when Johnny made doubtful noises in response to his request that the show continue for a month and raised the question of whether Jin would be able to keep doing the show without exhausting himself.
“Kame does it every year,” Jin points out. “And so does Koichi-sempai. Me doing it for one month for one year shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Yes, for them, probably not. But you, Akanishi-kun, aren’t Kamenashi or Koichi... for all our sins,” Johnny mutters under his breath, and Jin falls back in his chair, grumbling.
*
“So?” Ueda asks when he finds Jin hunched over his phone in the dressing room, “Taken successful advantage of the old man’s senility yet?”
Jin looks up and grins. Ueda shakes his head, flings his bag on a chair and sits down next to Jin. “Well, if you need any pointers-”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll come to yo-”
“-ask Nakamaru.”
Jin makes a fake-anguished face and makes a fist above his heart. “Oh, ow. That hurts me right here, Tat-chan.”
Ueda wriggles in his chair till he’s comfortable, leans his head back and closes his eyes, smiles. “Maybe you should write a song about it then. Bound to be better than all the bitches and hoes you wail about nowadays.”
“If you were jealous of my creative process, Uebo, you only needed to say so,” Jin says archly. “I am willing to help you out of your slump from the goodness of my heart-”
Ueda flings out a fist, eyes still closed, and manages to catch Jin on a shoulder. “Go find someone else to collaborate with on your crude English lyrics and come back when you’re ready to get back to your rock roots.”
Jin rolls his eyes. “See if I ever help you with any of your English lyrics anymore.”
“No worries. The way you are right now, if I ask you about sunsets, I’ll probably end up with strobe lights.”
Jin throws his towel at Ueda, laughing.
---
Despite all the teasing he’s forced to endure, Jin knows exactly what he wants to show in his solo live. He doesn’t have the songs yet, but he does know how it’s going to be structured, has a definite idea of some, if not all of the special effects he wants, some of the topics he wants to write lyrics about (paparazzi rant, check, that time Pi had spilled his drink on the girl Jin had been working on all night, check), who he wants to have as his dancers... It’s not easy to sit and iron out the details, but he’s pleased to discover that it isn’t the mountain of uncertainty that he’d been dreading, either. Sure, it’s harder when there aren’t five more heads at the table, offering opinions and ideas, but the lack of wiseass remarks and disparaging comments is definitely something he can get used to.
Jin declares that he wants the male American dancers who were in the Rescue PV in his live, and that he wants to bring some of his friends in, along with some of the female back dancers KAT-TUN have worked with previously. It’s a testament to how much and how long KAT-TUN have been pestering the management with their uncompromising ideals that the two project managers who’ve been assigned to the project barely even react to Jin’s demands. They agree to most of Jin’s ideas, no matter how ridiculous - they nod even when Jin said that he wanted pictures of himself with cash and condoms, just for the hell of it. Jin walks away from the meeting with a feeling of happy accomplishment.
---
November, 2009
It’s late when Jin finally lets himself into the apartment, closer to the morning than the night. Jin had stayed in late at work, trying to finish off the song he was working on, and then had met with Yamapi for a late dinner after. Yamapi has been so busy with his drama that they’d been communicating mostly through texts that month, and so had a lot to catch up on. They stayed at the restaurant for longer than planned; time always had a way of passing quickly when the two of them were together. It was only when Yamapi started yawning every two minutes that they had given up and decided to call it a night.
Jin finds Kame sprawled all over the bed, dead to the world. Jin tries to be quiet when he showers, but he knows from past experience that it really doesn’t matter - Kame will wake up exactly at the hour that he’d decided to wake up at when he went to sleep, and not a minute before. Sometimes Jin thinks that Kame is the most efficient human in the world, half evolved to a robot; but he reconsiders when he glimpses the miles of bare skin on show when Jin slips between the sheets and cuddles in. No robot could ever feel so warm, could ever make Jin feel the jolt of contentment that runs through him when he curls into Kame’s sleepy warmth. And Jin’s assumption holds true - Kame doesn’t stir, not even when Jin burrows his freezing toes into Kame’s warm calves.
Jin is still awake after two hours, somehow unable to sleep, even though he can feel the exhaustion of the day pressing in on him. He eyes Kame’s sleeping figure with no small amount of envy and manfully resists the urge to prod him awake. He thinks instead of the song he had failed to finish that day, wonders if he needs to change the chorus a bit to make it more catchy, or if the melody should be tweaked instead.
Sometime later, Jin finds himself in that dreamlike state between sleep and wakefulness when even the most absurd thoughts seem logical and realistic. He’s in the middle of drowsily detailing his plans of turning the stage into a lake and asking Josh if he thinks Ueda-fireworks or Pi-fireworks would be cooler when Junno suddenly interrupts and insists on Jin wearing a pink t-shirt with ribbons. He’s in the middle of a tussle with Taguchi when his eyes blink open and he realizes that the t-shirt he’s been pulling on is the blanket, and there are vague stirrings next to him which means that Kame’s probably starting to wake.
Jin resists the urge to look at the time; he doesn’t have to be at work today, and his plans of finishing the song can be done at home. The realization that he can sleep in makes him smile fuzzily as he burrows back into the blankets and allows himself to fall into his dreams.
He wakes up late in the day, and stumbles blearily into the kitchen to find that Kame’s left him breakfast - rice and miso soup, and next to it, prominently displayed, are jars of radish pickle and chili oil. Jin snickers in spite of himself. Ever since Jin had made the dish and eaten it with the omurice Kame had cooked for lunch once, Kame has taken it as a personal affront. After that incident, Kame started trying out a variety of new, spicy dishes, with the goal of making sure that Jin would never need to make any other side dish when eating Kame’s cooking, and Jin’s definitely not complaining. He realizes that he shouldn’t be surprised anymore at the lengths Kame will go to for absolutely everything, but he still can’t stop the amusement from spilling out when he sees, or even thinks of Kame taking out the chili oil and pickle jars for him with that expression of muted disgust and outrage that are displayed on his face every time Jin asks for it.
He has a lazy day. He heads out to his apartment before lunch and spends a few hours working on the song. He doesn’t know what changed, but the music seems to be coming easier than the day before. He doesn’t question why, just goes with the flow and manages to finish the song before six, much to his satisfaction. He only stops working when he receives a mail from Kame, and drives back to Kame’s apartment with take-out, as per Kame’s request. The apartment is empty when he arrives, and when he checks his phone, he has yet another mail from Kame, apologizing for the fact that he’d be late; apparently there was a last minute get-together for the Yamanade production that he couldn’t miss. Kame expects to stay for an hour, at most; Jin has no such notion - he knows from experience that Kame will not be home for another two hours, at least, if not more. He also knows that Kame will be incapable of saying no when Tegoshi and the others ask him out for karaoke after or something, and then he’ll come home smashed after having flirted the night away with people who are not Jin.
And this, Jin thinks rebelliously, with an unhappy set to his lips, is what Kame has the nerve to do after he made Jin get dinner, too, for which Jin had actually declined Josh’s offer of clubbing. Jin snorts with mild disgust, directed at both himself and Kame, and whirls around to the dining table; he doesn’t see why Kame being late is a reason for him not to eat the hot dinner he’s bought, after all. He’s not going to starve himself just because Kame thinks work is more important than everything else. Or Jin.
Jin has dinner alone and blows off some of his annoyance with the help of Kame’s Xbox and a can of beer. He looks at the clock when he switches to the TV - it has been an hour and a half since Kame’s email and he’s still not home. He knew it. Jin sighs as he changes channels; it figures that this is one of the few times he’s right, and he can’t even bring himself to enjoy it. He perks up when he finally finds an anime that seems interesting; Jin wants to keep awake and wait for Kame, but finds himself pleasantly droopy after a short while. He tries to wait, but in the end he gives up and yawns his way into the bedroom, flinging himself down on the bed.
Jin wakes up to hands sliding over his back, but stubbornly keeps his eyes closed, burrowing deeper into his pillow. He doesn’t move when he feels one hand moving down to skate over the band of his boxers, and the other trailing over the nape of his neck.
“You didn’t wait up.”
Jin shivers when the hand teasingly slips into his boxers, and turns his head so his cheek rests on the pillow. He sees Kame’s dim outline next to the bed; Kame hasn’t turned on the lights, and the only light in the room is the faint beams of moonlight streaming through the gaps in the curtains.
“You were late,” Jin says, sleep-roughened voice grudgingly sliding out of his throat when Kame shifts over to switch the bedside lamp on. The dim glow casts a muted cone of illumination around the bed, and Jin turns his head against the faint light.
Kame hums, shifts closer. “Not that late,” he counters, and there’s a laugh in his voice when he says: “and I apologized already.”
Jin can feel his sleep slipping away with every light touch of Kame’s hands on him, but remembers that he was kind of pissed at Kame. He tries to hold on to the anger but it’s increasingly hard to concentrate on anything other than the feelings Kame’s touches evoke. Jin opens his eyes and quirks his lips when he peeks up, hearing another smothered laugh.
“Are you drunk?” Jin asks, his smile pressed against the pillow. “All that amount of time spent with Tegoshi finally too much for you?” He hides his grin, closing his eyes and biting his lips when Kame’s fingers flick against his back. Jin exhales and turns over, running his hands up Kame’s arms to loosely grasp his shoulders.
“Well, I did drink,” Kame admits, leaning down to run his tongue over the long line of Jin’s neck, “but no, I’m not drunk,” Kame replies, a grin in his voice.
“So how was it?” Jin asks, making a satisfied noise and arching his neck when Kame presses kisses down his throat. “Hope it was worth sacrificing dinner.”
“It went well,” Kame answers, and gasps when Jin trails his hands under Kame’s shirt, warm fingers pressing against his chest. “Was interesting.”
Jin tugs Kame’s head up, his other hand curling around Kame’s waist to press him closer as their lips meet. Kame takes his time, tongue brushing against Jin’s, slow and sweet. Jin tastes the bitter tang of alcohol, laced with something vaguely fruity; Kame’s been at the cocktails again. Kame’s smiling as he pulls back, and there’s a slow, kindling heat in his eyes that makes any remaining thoughts in Jin’s head scatter like leaves on a windy day. It’s some time before Jin can remember where they left off in their conversation. He winds an arm around Kame’s neck, pulls him down, his other hand trailing down Kame’s chest. Kame’s sighing against Jin’s neck when Jin starts speaking again.
“Interesting, how?”
Kame huffs out a laugh against Jin’s skin that makes him shiver. “Well, Miyao-kun was there today.”
“Who?” Jin asks, more focused on the way Kame’s hands are brushing against his boxers than the words coming out of his mouth; he feels Kame bite his lips against another laugh.
“Miyao Shuntaro,” Kame explains. “Remember, the ballet dancer? He plays Ranmaru.”
“That’s the cool one, right? With the girlfriend?” Jin thinks, trying to remember the details from the cursory skim he’d given the manga after Kame left a few volumes at his place.
“No, that’s Uchi,” Kame corrects, pressing butterfly kisses along Jin’s jawline. “Ranmaru’s the playboy.”
Jin snickers, tilting his head to give Kame more access. “Wow, talk about miscasting.”
Kame laughs in his ear, low and amused, and Jin shudders in response. “I’m sure both of them will be fine,” Kame defends loyally, biting gently on Jin’s earlobe.
“I guess,” Jin gasps, arching when he feels Kame’s hand slipping into his boxers. “So how is he? The ballet guy?” Despite himself, Jin is curious. He’s never met a professional ballet dancer before. He wonders if he can get to meet the guy when he drops Kame off when shooting starts or something.
“He’s very nice,” Kame murmurs, and licks Jin’s ear in the same, slow rhythm that he’s tugging on Jin’s cock. “If a bit out of his depth at the beginning. But that’ll fade soon enough.” His voice takes on an impish note. “He’s also very cute.”
Jin blinks his eyes open in surprise, struggles out of the languor Kame’s sending him into. “Haaa?”
Kame snickers into Jin’s ear. “And tall. And actually pretty hot.”
Jin tries to glare. About as much as he can when he’s got Kame sprawled on top of him with his hand on Jin’s cock, anyway.“If you’re seriously perving on your co-star when you’re feeling me up, I’ll kick you. In the balls.”
Kame giggles and lifts his head so Jin can see the laughter dancing in his eyes. “I was just informing you. In a very unbiased and educational way.”
Jin snorts. “Uh huh. And what, he can lift his leg all the way to his arms?”
“Higher,” Kame says, but his voice is about two octaves lower, and smugly satisfied, and Jin knows Kame is baiting him, but he can’t help but fall for it. Again.
“How the hell -ah- do you know that?” Jin gasps, when Kame does that thing with his hand that always manages to reduce Jin into an incoherent mess.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Kame murmurs, and he’s smirking, Jin doesn’t even need to look at him to know. Jin figures Kame saw the guy when he was stretching or something. Knowing all this theoretically does not help Jin, because he still gets riled up when Kame acts like the shameless tease he is. And Kame knows this fact as well as Jin, the twinkle in his eyes getting more pronounced when Jin glares half-heartedly at him.
“He’s very, very... mm, flexible,” Kame says conversationally, and Jin wonders, half-delirious from the effects of Kame’s touches, if maybe Kame’s being innocent, and if Jin is the one with the dirty mind... and then he feels Kame’s fingers curling around his wrist, while simultaneously grinding down with his hips, holding Jin’s hand down and licking into Jin’s mouth when Jin arches up and chokes on a wordless moan.
Yeah, right. And tomorrow he’d see pigs flying south for the winter.
And then there are kisses and gasps and touches with intent; Kame tangling his fingers in the curls at Jin’s nape and tugging, and Jin mouthing Kame’s collarbones and raking his nails down Kame’s back; and there are no thoughts in their heads for a while.
Jin sighs in contentment during a lull when Kame slips to the side to get out of his jeans, and Jin rolls around to watch him. His breath comes out quicker when he sees the miles of golden skin exposed to view in the dim light. Kame tilts his head, smiles at him, and Jin remembers where their conversation had been going. “Flexible, huh...” he muses, wriggling out of his boxers. “Maybe you should take some lessons from him,” he says, trying to gain some ground and only realizing how it sounds a couple of seconds after he says it.
Kame instantly bursts out into laughter, collapsing next to Jin. “Really?” he asks, grinning and raising himself on his elbow and resting his head on his palm. “You wouldn’t mind?” He punctuates the question with a wide grin and impish eyebrow waggling.
Jin groans and wrestles himself on top of Kame. “God, you are such a pervert.”
Kame laughs and lies back, runs a finger from Jin’s collarbone to his navel. “You love it.”
Jin shakes his head in exasperation, but doesn’t deny it when he leans down to capture Kame’s lips with his own.
*
“So how are the preparations going?”
“Well.” Jin is lying on his back, basking in the afterglow, and while the last thing that Jin wants to think about is work, Kame, as always, seems to have switched back on to ‘awake and energetic’ mode.
“Songs going well?” Kame persists, and Jin gives up. It’s easier to give in early to a determined Kame than prolong it just for the hell of it and ending up doing what Kame wants anyway.
“I just finished a song today, actually,” Jin says. “I don’t remember the words, now, though,” he laughs, and hums a few bars of the song to Kame, who’s lying still and silent beside him. When he finishes, he looks at Kame expectantly.
“Sounds good,” Kame nods at him, and then grins wryly. “I have a feeling I’ll like it better without the words anyway.” Jin rolls his eyes and pushes at Kame in return.
The silence that descends between them is comfortable, and Jin finds himself thinking about the live and all the things he’s been procrastinating on; the song he and Ryo made together, the talk he needs to have with Joey about the choreography-
“What song is that, again?”
Jin breaks off his mental dialogue and blinks up at Kame, who is peering up at him, sleepy and curious.
“What?” he asks, confused. “Which song?”
“The one you were singing just now.”
Jin frowns. “I was singing?”
Kame laughs a little and shifts closer, hums the melody. Jin makes an approving noise about three seconds in and nods at Kame. “That’s one of the songs in the movie; it’s called Hatachi no Sensou. I might sing it for my live too. What do you think?”
Kame shifts till he’s on his side, head pillowed on his arm, looking right at Jin. “Sing it, then.”
Jin blinks intelligently. “What?”
“I can’t decide till I hear the whole thing, can I?” Kame points out, then adds with a twinge of humour: “try not to forget your lyrics for once, Akanishi.”
Jin laughs under his breath, sitting up against the headboard. “You’re an audience of one, you don’t count.”
Kame says nothing, just waits for Jin to begin. Jin shoots a long look at Kame that belies his previous statement, and takes a moment to compose himself. It’s been a while since he’s sung to Kame; in some ways, it’s so much easier than when he sings at work, what with the lack of screaming fans, cameras, and uncomfortable stage lights. But on the other hand, there’s something about singing while looking straight into Kame’s soft eyes that makes him feel more nervous than normal, breathless like he’s teetering right on the edge of a building.
Jin gives a crooked smile at Kame’s encouraging look, takes a deep breath, and starts to sing.
Jin has his eyes closed when he holds the last note, lets it fade away. He’s so immersed in the song that he doesn’t open his eyes immediately. It’s more than a few seconds and a couple of very deep breaths later until his eyes flutter open. Jin licks his lips with some nervousness as he turns his head towards Kame, who’s lying utterly still, looking right at Jin. Jin can feel the breath stop in his throat when their eyes lock together; the way Kame is looking unblinkingly at him makes his nervousness increase and a flush rise up his face. He can’t tell what Kame is thinking at all, and Jin fights the urge to fidget. They stare at each other for a timeless moment before Jin clears his throat and tilts his head; a question in his eyes. Kame blinks at the sound, and seems to come back to himself.
“So?” Jin asks after a moment, when it seems Kame has no intentions of breaking the silence. “What do you thi-”
Jin’s question is unceremoniously cut off by Kame, who swoops down on him in the space of two seconds and captures his lips in a long, ardent kiss, his tongue taking shameless and immediate advantage of Jin’s open mouth. Jin’s eyes widen with shocked surprise before his eyes fall shut and he relaxes into the kiss. Jin doesn’t know exactly how long they stay there, just kissing, minutes or maybe hours, but he’s breathless and sensitive when he comes back to himself and their mouths part, his heart flooding with nameless emotion when he gazes into Kame’s expressive eyes above him.
“So I’m guessing you liked it,” he says, voice breathy and low, smiling when he lifts his head up to catch Kame’s lower lip in his teeth, one hand blindly searching for Kame’s and fingers entangling. Kame laughs deep in his throat, kissing back and pushes forward. His eyes are sparkling when they break the kiss, their foreheads resting together.
“You’ll have to learn all the songs for Olympos sometime, right?”
Jin stills, an incredulous smile flooding his face. “Kame, you-”
“Well.” Kame grins, and adds: “let’s just say I know exactly what I want you to do for me on Valentine’s Day this year.”
---
January, 2010
Kame is on a half-hour break when he checks his phone. He stifles a smile when he discovers six unread messages from Jin. Ever since Yamanade started filming and the promotions for Bandage had started to die down, Jin had started mailing Kame a lot more than normal, just as he had during the last Dreamboys run. Kame is typing out a reply when there is a blur of motion to his left; he looks up and sees the rest of the cast come in and wave. He waves back, and wonders absently if he should thank Tegoshi for the sudden increase of Jin’s attentions towards him.
It’s not like he doesn’t know that Tegoshi isn’t Jin’s favourite person - the both of them are a bit too alike for their own good, and that time when Yamapi had sung praises of the vocal ability of his group’s youngest member hadn’t helped. Kame figures Jin is doing his best to make sure Kame doesn’t convert to the other side - the fit Jin had pitched when he saw Tegoshi hug Kame during a promo had been very telling; Kame had to promise a lot of things before Jin would look him in the face again. Tantrums or not, though, Kame finds the whole thing endlessly amusing. Not that he’d ever tell Jin that.
Now he looks down at Jin’s messages and resists the urge to sigh.
When are you done? I’m alone. And bored.
Kame messages back that shooting would finish in two hours. He doesn’t expect Jin to wait that long, he’ll probably end up going clubbing with Pi or something. It doesn’t really matter, though; all Kame does nowadays is drive home and fall right into bed. Five seconds later, a beep from his phone announces another message.
You suck. Come to my place, I cooked dinner. Be late at your peril.
Kame sighs and wonders for the hundredth time why Jin finds it impossible to admit that he misses Kame instead of always sending mails with dire threats. Kame shrugs philosophically - after this long, it’s something Kame’s used to. He is initially surprised that Jin’s staying in for the night, but then remembers about the live - Kame’s schedule is too full with the drama and the single promotions to notice, but Jin’s schedule must have picked up considerably, what with February being around the corner.
“Kamenashi-kun, you’re up in five!”
Kame nods a thank you at the attendant and hurriedly types out a response to the mail. He stretches as he walks to the set and flips through the script one more time. He nods agreeably to the director and they both exchange pleasantries as they walk to the set together. Kame is drawn in to the conversation about their next scene, and looks up at the set only when they reach it, and then his mouth falls open.
The set is of the interior of a house, and the whole location is plastered almost end-to-end with Kame’s photos. And his photos on various objects that are prominently displayed all over the room. Kame’s eyes are wide when he walks gingerly over to the couch and stares. The Kames on the cushions grin cheerfully back at him.
“Wow,” he whispers, kind of dazed. He’s never seen so many pictures of himself in one place before. It’s simultaneously flattering and embarrassing. The director laughs and claps him on the back as he leaves Kame to check on the lighting.
“It’s definitely something, isn’t it?”
Kame turns around to see the actress who plays his stalker walk up to him.
“My character is very thorough.” She says, grinning.
“I’ll say,” Kame agrees, shaking his head at all the items in the room. “It’s kind of cool, though.” His voice peters out as he walks towards all the photos on the wall.
“Kamenashi-kun is surprisingly narcissistic,” she says on a giggle, and Kame snorts and turns around, shaking his head. “It’s great, but I wonder how long it took for some poor soul to make all this. They must be sick of my face by now,” he says wryly.
“It’s okay, Kamenashi-kun,” she says, smiling, “At least I now know what to give you on Valentine’s Day,” she says, with a pointed look at one of the Kame-pillows.
Kame bites his lips to keep from laughing and replies that he would treasure it always. They both have to work to keep their faces straight when the director calls for the shoot to begin.
It’s only after the shoot is over that Kame remembers the conversation and is struck by inspiration. He’s putting on his jacket when he reminds himself to remember the pit-stop he has to make before he leaves for the day - he doesn’t think he’ll have any trouble convincing the set director to let him have the body pillow.
Considering that he’s making Jin give him a personal mini-live for Valentine’s Day, he does regret that his gift isn’t good enough. Kame frowns as he thinks. Maybe he could couple that with chocolates... or pickles and chili oil if all else fails. He shakes his head over Jin’s strange food preferences, then sighs. He might as well pick up some aloe ice, too, and hope for the best; at least he can say he tried. And if Jin is still unimpressed... Kame grins and lowers his gaze to the ground. Well, in that case, he can definitely think of some better uses for the ice; he doubts Jin will remain unimpressed for long.
---End.