Ficlet/Drabble Dump
I don't beta. Edits would be nice.
Title: Somewhere in My Genetic Make Up
Word count: 600+
Summary: Akanishi insists that he’s pure Human.
Notes: AU? Sci-Fi? WTF-ness? I don’t even know… Please forgive me; I’m not sure what’s wrong with me. Could be because NO ONE IS ONLINE TO TALK TO ME! =( I need new friends.
“You know what sucks? Being the last pure human and having no one to breed with. What ever happened to the repopulation plans they concocted hundreds of thousands of years ago?”
“Akanishi, no one has been pure for thousands of years,” Kato says, eyes not tearing away from the monitor before him as he inputs the coordinates for the next closest nebula.
“I’m completely human-organic!” Akanishi squawks.
“Stop deluding yourself.”
“No, really, I am!” Akanishi insists, kicking away from his station and hovering next to Kato as he proceeds to explain. “My dad was a descendent of Tokugawa Ieyasu, and my mom was from the first line of Nymphs that were sent into space.”
Kato gives Akanishi an unimpressed stare. “Because the Nymphs were pure human.”
“That’s right! See? I’m 100% human.”
Kato sighs and doesn’t bother correcting Akanishi.
*
“I’m from Earth you know,” Akanishi tells Masuda over lunch at the canteen. “Well, I’m not from there, but my heritage is Earth. I’m an Earthian.”
“Really? I’m from Hermes. It’s this huge metropolitan planet located two galaxies over from the Milky Way. I hear that Earth looked like it a long time ago… you know, before radioactive decay set in from Earth War VII.”
Akanishi beams, “Yep, we were like that before Hermes even existed. Pretty spiffy right?”
“Well, Hermes existed, we’re just not completely sure life was sustainable at the time. I studied Earth History before I signed on with Johnny’s,” Masuda smiles, and Akanishi feels blinded for a moment, because the smile does not look earthly at all. “Your ancient civilization was amazing. I mean, to go forwards in medicine, and then backwards, and then forwards again? How bizarre is that?”
Akanishi has no idea what Masuda’s talking about, but he figures if he nods and pretend he does, he won’t lose credibility being the Earth Specialist and all.
“I’m amazed that Humans survived that long without destroying themselves first. Some of the other organisms were smarter and got out of there quicker. Like the Nymphs,” Masuda says, sticking a fork of greens into his mouth, “Tegoshi’s a descendent of them actually. That’s part of the reason why he’s so cute and doesn’t seem to age… and why he looks like a girl.”
Akanish’s eyes light up at the information, “Really? He’s a Nymph?”
“Yep.”
“I am too!”
Masuda stares because he doesn’t believe him, but nods along as Akanishi goes into details about his family tree and how his Nymph ancestors colonized Junopiter on the outskirts of the Milky Way galaxy.
*
“Tat-chan, have I ever told you that I’m related to Nymphs and Tokugawa Ieyasu?” Akanishi asks.
“Somewhere in my genetic make up, I’m related to Oberon and Titania,” Ueda says.
Akanishi’s eyes widen, “What? Seriously?”
Ueda gives him a look, “Sure.”
Akanishi can’t tell if Ueda’s lying.
*
“Shige, Shige! Guess what? I’m finding a lot of humans on board,” Akanishi excitedly informs the other man. “I don’t mean part humans like you, but like me whose family came from the earth! Like Tegoshi!”
“Tegoshi’s not human, he’s Nymph.”
“Nymphs are human because they’re from Earth!”
Kato frowns, “You realize that just because you’re from Earth doesn’t mean you’re human, right?”
“What? You’ve got it backwards, Shige. If you’re from Earth, you have to be human. Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense, see?” Akanishi explains, gesturing in his hands wildly, “Because Humans come from Earth.”
“So do the trees, but that doesn’t mean they’re human,” Kato points out.
Akanishi blinks before crossing his arms and huffing, “You don’t get it.”
Kato shakes his head because Akanishi always gets like this when he loses an argument. He is also kind of amazed that sort of thought process isn’t already weeded out of the reproduction pool yet.
***
The rest don't need explaination...
Because Host Life Isn’t Glamorous | 500+ words
Notes: I wrote this for the workingman!Shige-thon (which was super awesome)... so I'm kind of reposting to my LJ.
It started as a side job; a quick way to make money to pay tuition for school and it was a good system that melded perfectly with his schedule. He worked at night and went to school during the day, his hours were booked to the minute, the second even, and he slept when he could. All together, he was making more than enough for school and rent, and could even afford expensive brand clothing.
All he had to do was entertain the clients, tell them they were cute or pretty, listen to them bitch, gain regulars, and drink a hell of a lot of alcohol. The best part was that he didn't have to sleep with them so he technically wasn't prostituting himself. The only thing he really couldn't handle was the drinking, and once he'd learn to throw up the expensive champagnes the clients paid for, it become less of a problem and more of another skill.
The problems surfaced when Shige started falling asleep in class because he had gone directly to class after work, his hair and Armani suit still smelling of alcohol, cigarettes, and Ralph Lauren cologne. When he slept through his first exam, he shrugged it off because the lowest grade was dropped anyway.
And then he fucked up the second exam and he needed to have a perfect score on his final and all his other assignments to even get a passing grade.
But he couldn't mind it, didn't want to think about it, because the host club was training new recruits and Shige couldn't afford to lose his customers. So he continued to wear expensive clothes and perfume, waste his nights in a hazy cloud of smoke, chatting about things that didn't matter, playing games that made no sense, drinking bottle after bottle of bitter alcohol, and retching into a bucket in the back room again and again and again.
It was a week before his final exams, and Shige was at the host club early, his notes spread out on the bar as he highlighted, underlined, and tried his best not to succumb to the sweetness that was sleep.
"Why do you still bother?" Number one host, Akanishi Jin asked as he scrutinized one of Shige's pages. "Punitive damages? What the hell is this crap?"
"My future," Shige told him, snatching the sheet back from the other man. "I'm going to fail this class if I don't get a perfect score on the final."
"I meant why do you still bother going to school. It's a waste of money and time. I barely finished high school and look where it's got me? Number one host, Kid."
"I want to be a lawyer."
"You look more like a host to me," Akanishi shrugged.
Shige looked at Akanishi, the man he's admire since day one for being their number one host, and for the first time, he actually saw him. He saw the tired bags under the man's eyes, concealed by make up. He saw the man's sunken cheeks as if he hadn't eaten in years. He saw the yellow of his teeth from purging one too many times; and then Shige looked at himself in the mirror behind the bar and realized with fascinated horror that he looked like that too.
***
In the Little Things | ShigePi | 700+ words
Notes: Because I love ShigePi and wish more people would write it without angst.
"Yamashita-kun, follow Kato-kun's example and smile for the camera."
Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
Yamapi yelps because Shige suddenly pokes him on the side, and the younger of the two is cackling because he knows Yamapi is sensitive there.
"Smile for the camera, Yamapi," Shige tells him. Yamapi shakes his head, half laughing because it's impossible for him to pose smiling.
"Come on, the camera thinks you're cool and manly," Shige is trying his best to keep a straight face. And Yamapi hearing Koyama and Tegoshi cackling off-set, he can't help the laughter that spills from his mouth too.
"Boys, as much as we like your candid moments, you're supposed to look this way at least once," the photographer tells them.
"Sorry! We'll do it right now," Shige apologizes, but he's still trying to calm his laughter. "Yamashita-kun, look at the sexy camera. One, two, three, smile!"
Yamapi laughs and slings an arm around Shige's shoulder grinning purposefully to the camera for the first time since his junior days. Shige makes a 'V' sign as he leans against Yamapi, hardly noticable by others, but Yamapi felt Shige press closer, just barely and he can't help but smile wider.
Sometimes, I think others can see how much I like being near you. But I like believing that they don't because then it's a secret just between you and me.
Even though Yamapi thinks the pictures turned out really badly, Shige tells him that he looks alive and that he likes it. Yamapi continues to fret because he thinks the fans won't like it, that it isn't cool enough, and that it looks terrible because he's smiling and baring his teeth. He doesn't remember the last time he smiled for a magazine shoot.
"Ryo, what do you think of the pictures?" Shige asks.
Ryo looks at the pictures, smirks, and says, "Awkward."
"Ryo!”
Massu looks at the pictures and tells him that they are cute. Shige thinks it proves his point but Yamapi still wants to do a reshoot.
Even though I'm popular, I still have self-doubt, so I sometimes have to rely on you too.
Shige invites Yamapi out to dinner, and he agrees even though he has a radio interview to get to later in the evening. Because Ryo overhears, he starts whining about being left out so Shige invites him too. Since Ryo is coming along, Shige figures he ought to ask Koyama as well. And somehow, it turns out that all six of them go out for dinner.
They're lively and having fun just hanging out, and Yamapi thinks that in the last few years, they all got to know each other a little better. And even though they're not really friends, the potential is there as long as they try.
And then Shige nudges him in the arm. "Yamashita-kun, your head is in the clouds again."
"Leader's always thinking about something, isn't he," Massu says, his grin affectionate.
"Yeah, he is," Tegoshi brightly adds, "I sometimes wonder what you're thinking about that you don't pay attention to anything else."
"Yamapi's busier than any of us, of course he'd have a lot to think about," Koyama chides.
"That's not true. I'm sure Nishikido-kun is really busy too," Massu says reasonably, glancing at Ryo.
"It's true," Ryo sighs dramatically, "I am busy. I shouldn't even be here I'm so busy."
And they all laugh because real life is funny sometimes, especially when it's true. But Yamapi has more work, so he stands and waves his farewells.
I have to go. I'll see you later.
Shige is already asleep when Yamapi gets back. Feeling too tired to do anything but sleep, Yamapi strips down to his boxers and crawls into bed. It's nice that the sheets are already warm and it's nicer when Shige blindly finds Yamapi's hand under the blankets and wraps his arm around his waist.
"Go to sleep," Shige mumbles sleepily.
Yamapi smiles as he presses closer to Shige.
Goodnight.
Under the sheets in the dim morning light, Yamapi can't tell where Shige ends and he begins. He untangles himself from the mass of limbs and rolls to his side, propping himself up on an arm as he stares at the younger man. His eyes trace Shige's eyes, nose, and mouth. Shige blinks sleepily at him and asks, "What?" Yamapi just grins and shakes his head.
Shige half-frowns and half-smiles as he presses, "What? Why are you smiling like that? I'm not making you breakfast if that's what the look is for."
Yamapi chuckles, and kisses the corner of Shige's mouth.
Nothing. I'm just happy.
Title: Somewhere in My Genetic Make Up
Word count: 600+
Summary: Akanishi insists that he’s pure Human.
Notes: AU? Sci-Fi? WTF-ness? I don’t even know… Please forgive me; I’m not sure what’s wrong with me. Could be because NO ONE IS ONLINE TO TALK TO ME! =( I need new friends.
“You know what sucks? Being the last pure human and having no one to breed with. What ever happened to the repopulation plans they concocted hundreds of thousands of years ago?”
“Akanishi, no one has been pure for thousands of years,” Kato says, eyes not tearing away from the monitor before him as he inputs the coordinates for the next closest nebula.
“I’m completely human-organic!” Akanishi squawks.
“Stop deluding yourself.”
“No, really, I am!” Akanishi insists, kicking away from his station and hovering next to Kato as he proceeds to explain. “My dad was a descendent of Tokugawa Ieyasu, and my mom was from the first line of Nymphs that were sent into space.”
Kato gives Akanishi an unimpressed stare. “Because the Nymphs were pure human.”
“That’s right! See? I’m 100% human.”
Kato sighs and doesn’t bother correcting Akanishi.
*
“I’m from Earth you know,” Akanishi tells Masuda over lunch at the canteen. “Well, I’m not from there, but my heritage is Earth. I’m an Earthian.”
“Really? I’m from Hermes. It’s this huge metropolitan planet located two galaxies over from the Milky Way. I hear that Earth looked like it a long time ago… you know, before radioactive decay set in from Earth War VII.”
Akanishi beams, “Yep, we were like that before Hermes even existed. Pretty spiffy right?”
“Well, Hermes existed, we’re just not completely sure life was sustainable at the time. I studied Earth History before I signed on with Johnny’s,” Masuda smiles, and Akanishi feels blinded for a moment, because the smile does not look earthly at all. “Your ancient civilization was amazing. I mean, to go forwards in medicine, and then backwards, and then forwards again? How bizarre is that?”
Akanishi has no idea what Masuda’s talking about, but he figures if he nods and pretend he does, he won’t lose credibility being the Earth Specialist and all.
“I’m amazed that Humans survived that long without destroying themselves first. Some of the other organisms were smarter and got out of there quicker. Like the Nymphs,” Masuda says, sticking a fork of greens into his mouth, “Tegoshi’s a descendent of them actually. That’s part of the reason why he’s so cute and doesn’t seem to age… and why he looks like a girl.”
Akanish’s eyes light up at the information, “Really? He’s a Nymph?”
“Yep.”
“I am too!”
Masuda stares because he doesn’t believe him, but nods along as Akanishi goes into details about his family tree and how his Nymph ancestors colonized Junopiter on the outskirts of the Milky Way galaxy.
*
“Tat-chan, have I ever told you that I’m related to Nymphs and Tokugawa Ieyasu?” Akanishi asks.
“Somewhere in my genetic make up, I’m related to Oberon and Titania,” Ueda says.
Akanishi’s eyes widen, “What? Seriously?”
Ueda gives him a look, “Sure.”
Akanishi can’t tell if Ueda’s lying.
*
“Shige, Shige! Guess what? I’m finding a lot of humans on board,” Akanishi excitedly informs the other man. “I don’t mean part humans like you, but like me whose family came from the earth! Like Tegoshi!”
“Tegoshi’s not human, he’s Nymph.”
“Nymphs are human because they’re from Earth!”
Kato frowns, “You realize that just because you’re from Earth doesn’t mean you’re human, right?”
“What? You’ve got it backwards, Shige. If you’re from Earth, you have to be human. Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense, see?” Akanishi explains, gesturing in his hands wildly, “Because Humans come from Earth.”
“So do the trees, but that doesn’t mean they’re human,” Kato points out.
Akanishi blinks before crossing his arms and huffing, “You don’t get it.”
Kato shakes his head because Akanishi always gets like this when he loses an argument. He is also kind of amazed that sort of thought process isn’t already weeded out of the reproduction pool yet.
***
The rest don't need explaination...
Because Host Life Isn’t Glamorous | 500+ words
Notes: I wrote this for the workingman!Shige-thon (which was super awesome)... so I'm kind of reposting to my LJ.
It started as a side job; a quick way to make money to pay tuition for school and it was a good system that melded perfectly with his schedule. He worked at night and went to school during the day, his hours were booked to the minute, the second even, and he slept when he could. All together, he was making more than enough for school and rent, and could even afford expensive brand clothing.
All he had to do was entertain the clients, tell them they were cute or pretty, listen to them bitch, gain regulars, and drink a hell of a lot of alcohol. The best part was that he didn't have to sleep with them so he technically wasn't prostituting himself. The only thing he really couldn't handle was the drinking, and once he'd learn to throw up the expensive champagnes the clients paid for, it become less of a problem and more of another skill.
The problems surfaced when Shige started falling asleep in class because he had gone directly to class after work, his hair and Armani suit still smelling of alcohol, cigarettes, and Ralph Lauren cologne. When he slept through his first exam, he shrugged it off because the lowest grade was dropped anyway.
And then he fucked up the second exam and he needed to have a perfect score on his final and all his other assignments to even get a passing grade.
But he couldn't mind it, didn't want to think about it, because the host club was training new recruits and Shige couldn't afford to lose his customers. So he continued to wear expensive clothes and perfume, waste his nights in a hazy cloud of smoke, chatting about things that didn't matter, playing games that made no sense, drinking bottle after bottle of bitter alcohol, and retching into a bucket in the back room again and again and again.
It was a week before his final exams, and Shige was at the host club early, his notes spread out on the bar as he highlighted, underlined, and tried his best not to succumb to the sweetness that was sleep.
"Why do you still bother?" Number one host, Akanishi Jin asked as he scrutinized one of Shige's pages. "Punitive damages? What the hell is this crap?"
"My future," Shige told him, snatching the sheet back from the other man. "I'm going to fail this class if I don't get a perfect score on the final."
"I meant why do you still bother going to school. It's a waste of money and time. I barely finished high school and look where it's got me? Number one host, Kid."
"I want to be a lawyer."
"You look more like a host to me," Akanishi shrugged.
Shige looked at Akanishi, the man he's admire since day one for being their number one host, and for the first time, he actually saw him. He saw the tired bags under the man's eyes, concealed by make up. He saw the man's sunken cheeks as if he hadn't eaten in years. He saw the yellow of his teeth from purging one too many times; and then Shige looked at himself in the mirror behind the bar and realized with fascinated horror that he looked like that too.
***
In the Little Things | ShigePi | 700+ words
Notes: Because I love ShigePi and wish more people would write it without angst.
"Yamashita-kun, follow Kato-kun's example and smile for the camera."
Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
Yamapi yelps because Shige suddenly pokes him on the side, and the younger of the two is cackling because he knows Yamapi is sensitive there.
"Smile for the camera, Yamapi," Shige tells him. Yamapi shakes his head, half laughing because it's impossible for him to pose smiling.
"Come on, the camera thinks you're cool and manly," Shige is trying his best to keep a straight face. And Yamapi hearing Koyama and Tegoshi cackling off-set, he can't help the laughter that spills from his mouth too.
"Boys, as much as we like your candid moments, you're supposed to look this way at least once," the photographer tells them.
"Sorry! We'll do it right now," Shige apologizes, but he's still trying to calm his laughter. "Yamashita-kun, look at the sexy camera. One, two, three, smile!"
Yamapi laughs and slings an arm around Shige's shoulder grinning purposefully to the camera for the first time since his junior days. Shige makes a 'V' sign as he leans against Yamapi, hardly noticable by others, but Yamapi felt Shige press closer, just barely and he can't help but smile wider.
Sometimes, I think others can see how much I like being near you. But I like believing that they don't because then it's a secret just between you and me.
Even though Yamapi thinks the pictures turned out really badly, Shige tells him that he looks alive and that he likes it. Yamapi continues to fret because he thinks the fans won't like it, that it isn't cool enough, and that it looks terrible because he's smiling and baring his teeth. He doesn't remember the last time he smiled for a magazine shoot.
"Ryo, what do you think of the pictures?" Shige asks.
Ryo looks at the pictures, smirks, and says, "Awkward."
"Ryo!”
Massu looks at the pictures and tells him that they are cute. Shige thinks it proves his point but Yamapi still wants to do a reshoot.
Even though I'm popular, I still have self-doubt, so I sometimes have to rely on you too.
Shige invites Yamapi out to dinner, and he agrees even though he has a radio interview to get to later in the evening. Because Ryo overhears, he starts whining about being left out so Shige invites him too. Since Ryo is coming along, Shige figures he ought to ask Koyama as well. And somehow, it turns out that all six of them go out for dinner.
They're lively and having fun just hanging out, and Yamapi thinks that in the last few years, they all got to know each other a little better. And even though they're not really friends, the potential is there as long as they try.
And then Shige nudges him in the arm. "Yamashita-kun, your head is in the clouds again."
"Leader's always thinking about something, isn't he," Massu says, his grin affectionate.
"Yeah, he is," Tegoshi brightly adds, "I sometimes wonder what you're thinking about that you don't pay attention to anything else."
"Yamapi's busier than any of us, of course he'd have a lot to think about," Koyama chides.
"That's not true. I'm sure Nishikido-kun is really busy too," Massu says reasonably, glancing at Ryo.
"It's true," Ryo sighs dramatically, "I am busy. I shouldn't even be here I'm so busy."
And they all laugh because real life is funny sometimes, especially when it's true. But Yamapi has more work, so he stands and waves his farewells.
I have to go. I'll see you later.
Shige is already asleep when Yamapi gets back. Feeling too tired to do anything but sleep, Yamapi strips down to his boxers and crawls into bed. It's nice that the sheets are already warm and it's nicer when Shige blindly finds Yamapi's hand under the blankets and wraps his arm around his waist.
"Go to sleep," Shige mumbles sleepily.
Yamapi smiles as he presses closer to Shige.
Goodnight.
Under the sheets in the dim morning light, Yamapi can't tell where Shige ends and he begins. He untangles himself from the mass of limbs and rolls to his side, propping himself up on an arm as he stares at the younger man. His eyes trace Shige's eyes, nose, and mouth. Shige blinks sleepily at him and asks, "What?" Yamapi just grins and shakes his head.
Shige half-frowns and half-smiles as he presses, "What? Why are you smiling like that? I'm not making you breakfast if that's what the look is for."
Yamapi chuckles, and kisses the corner of Shige's mouth.
Nothing. I'm just happy.