[JE] Enlightenment drabbles
A few drabbles brought on by Enlightenment. gothicauthor commented that it was unusual to have a mood ring (lightbulb) that was actually accurate, so naturally, I got to writing about what would happen when the bulb was wrong.
Kame and Jin shop for a chair (gothicauthor's idea)
"What do you think of that one?" Kame asked, indicating a sturdy pine chair. "I know it won't match anything I own, but it looks comfortable and I can always paint it."
"You don't have time to paint it," Jin pointed out. "You don't even have time to go furniture shopping. I told you I'd be happy to pick something out for you."
"And if I'd wanted a recliner, a waterbed, a winerack and a couch big enough to seat seven all delivered to my apartment, I'd have agreed to let you do it. But all I want is a chair, Jin."
"Waterbeds are fun," Jin muttered, and turned away to look at cushions. They'd only been shopping for twenty minutes and he was already bored. The mood lightbulb hovering over his head had been a cheerful yellow when they'd arrived, but it was starting to turn red, a sure sign that Jin was beginning to feel irritable.
Kame grinned. "So are chairs," he said. "Especially ones like this." He ran his hand over a stylish piece in white oak, letting his fingers slip between the delicate curlicues carved into the back. "Isn't it beautiful?"
"It's lovely. Just buy it so we can get out of here, will you? I'm starving."
"You just a- Jin!"
"What? Is there a reporter behind me?" Jin looked around frantically, hoping he wasn't going to end up plastered all over the pages of Friday under the headline 'AkaKame furnishing their apartment???!!!'
"No, it's..." Kame was staring over Jin's head, somehow managing to look both innocently joyful and lecherous as hell at the same time. "You finally..."
Jin looked up, saw the glowing purple lightbulb, and felt his stomach begin to churn. Could Kame really believe...?
"It's obviously not working right," Jin protested. "I don't like chairs, Kame. In fact, I'm never going near them again. I'll sit on the floor for the rest of my life."
Kame didn't seem to hear him. "This is so amazing," he said. "All this time you've been hiding your true feelings, and now you have to be honest with me. Do you realise what this means?"
"That you're a freak who needs to see someone about his chair fetish and is delusional enough to think that I share it?"
"No, it means," Kame sidled up close enough to whisper, "you and I are going shopping for a loveseat."
-----
When Koki hits on Kame, Jin's lightbulb is supposed to turn green - not purple!
It was absolutely maddening. Jin thought that if it went on much longer, he might explode, lashing out in a jealous rage. Koki, damn him, loved to play, to watch the lightbulb all lit up like a Christmas tree and push it as far as he could, invading Kame's personal space with careless ease and leering at him as though he belonged to Koki.
Which he didn't, of course. Kame was always friendly, not at all averse to touching and being touched by his friends, but he was much more than that to Jin, and therefore Jin was the only one who should be allowed to drape himself all over Kame like that, or watch him lovingly as he told an amusing story.
"...and Koki walked in just in time to critique Kawai's impersonation of him!" Kame finished, flashing a smile at Koki as he related another one his his 'behind the scenes at Dream Boys' tales.
Koki returned the smile with interest and let his arm fall from the back of the couch to lie round Kame's shoulders. "His impersonation of you was much better," he said. "I don't know where he found that schoolgirl's outfit but-"
"Enough!" Laughing, Kame shushed Koki by covering his mouth with one hand. "They don't need to hear that one."
Koki peeled Kame's hand away but refused to let go, returning it palm-down to his own lips to press a teasing kiss to the skin.
Jin snapped, rising so fast that he almost knocked Ueda over. He stormed the few steps across to the couch, which Kame had refused to let him squeeze onto on the grounds that he'd end up sprawling over the whole thing and leaving no room for anyone else, and made a grab for Kame to save him from Koki's twisted clutches.
"It's so easy to push your buttons now you've got tha..." Koki trailed off mid-sentence, gazing in disbelief at the lightbulb hovering over Jin's head. "That's...not green."
"If you can't beat them, join them?" Ueda suggested, making Jin take a look up at the bulb.
It shone with a rich, lustrous purple far brighter than even an Arashi costume.
"It must be broken," Jin insisted, batting at the bulb as if he could fix it the same way he did his television, only with less success. There was no way he'd be attracted to Koki, and especially not to the idea of Koki making out with Kame. "Ignore it."
"And miss out on all the fun I could have with both of you at the same time?" Kame reached out with his legs, wrapping them around the back of Jin's knees to bring Jin crashing down onto the couch. "I think not."
Jin couldn't brace himself in time. He landed half on Kame, half on Koki, but they didn't seem to care that they were getting flattened, reaching for him with playful fingers and tickling him till he squirmed.
"Um," Nakamaru piped up from the corner, where he'd been showing some photos to Junno, "I'm glad you guys are trying to work through your jealousy issues...but can you please get out of my lounge?"
-----
And when Jin actually wants the bulb to be purple...
Perhaps it wasn't so bad, Jin thought, that Kame kept stopping to check the lightbulb. Sure, it meant that it took longer for them to get anywhere, but when they finally did, it was definitely worth the wait. Kame used the depth of the purple as a measure of how much Jin wanted him, liked to tease him to the point of desperation before letting him find release.
But of course, sometimes it was just irritating.
"Would you cut that out?" Jin complained after Kame had abandoned the slow, sensous trail he'd been kissing down Jin's chest to sneak a peek at the bulb. "I'm going to have to blindfold you or something."
"You can if you want," Kame said. "I don't mind."
Jin might've taken him up on the offer, but he was far too lazy to get up and find something suitable to use and with both of them already naked down to the waist, there was no convenient clothing to hand. "Maybe next time."
"You're just impatient."
"Am not. Now quit stalling."
Kame laughed at him and obeyed, working his way back along Jin's body till he reached his belt, which took him all of three seconds to remove and discard. "Fast enough for you?"
Jin arched his back as Kame's hands worked on his jeans, wriggling to get the busy fingers where he wanted them; Kame complied, exploring freely but never quite lingering long enough to do more than tantalise. The air grew warm between them from the heat and excitement radiating from flushed skin; from short, gasping breaths and soft, drawn-out moans.
Kame hooked his fingers through Jin's belt-loops and began to tug them down, then stopped, detaching himself and drawing back so that he was no longer straddling him.
"Now what?" Jin whined.
Kame studied the lightbulb carefully. "Do you have a headache or something?"
"Huh?"
"The bulb's gone orange, Jin." He began to rub soothing circles on Jin's thighs. "If you're feeling sick, we'll stop."
Orange?
Jin looked for himself, not at all amused to discover that Kame was right. The bulb, no longer purple, was a garish, gaudy orange and getting brighter by the second.
"Stupid thing's malfunctioning again," he mumbled. "I feel fine." A little giddy, maybe, but that was Kame's fault anyway.
"You don't have to pretend for my sake," Kame said. "You know, you're actually looking kind of ill."
"Possibly because I'm frustrated, irritated and aroused enough that if you don't do anything about it soon I'm going to have to take matters into my own hands!"
Kame shook his head. "You're obviously delirious. Just lie still, okay? I'm going to find a thermometer."
Jin sat up sharply, only to be pushed back against the pillows by Kame. "I'm not sick!"
Kame wasn't listening, too busy rearranging the covers round Jin's legs and muttering to himself about how he hoped it wasn't contagious because they couldn't afford to miss rehearsals, not with the tour starting soon.
"I'm not contagious - I'm not even ill!"
"Just try to stay calm," Kame said. "All this excitement's no good for you when you're sick." He placed a hand on Jin's forehead and frowned. "You're definitely running a fever."
Enough was enough. Jin caught Kame round the waist and pulled him back down to the bed, rolling them over so that there would be no finding of thermometers, calling of doctors, or fetching of ice. Unfortunately, he forgot that Kame had tucked him in, and ended up burying them both in bedding.
"If you didn't want me to go get a thermometer, you could just have said so." Kame fought his way free from the blanket that was threatening to cut off his air supply, shedding a little more clothing in the process, and settled himself comfortably on the sheets. "I'm always happy to indulge the patient."
-----
Quite possibly the first time Jin has been scared of chocolate...
It wasn't Kame's normal choice of dessert by any means. Jin could see chocolate chip brownie, chocolate mousse, chocolate pudding, ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles, all heaped together in one glorious dessert that put the rest of the meal to shame. Yamapi had recommended the restaurant, said Jin should drag Kame there when his boyfriend was looking particularly skinny, and Jin figured that with all Pi's food issues, he should know.
With that in mind, Jin had ordered for both of them. Only, since he was under orders to shift a few pounds himself before the tour began, he had, as much as it went against the grain, not ordered a dessert of his own.
That didn't stop him from looking enviously at Kame's, though.
"Are you sure you don't want some of this?" Kame said. "We could ask for another spoon."
Jin watched ice cream drip slowly down the inside of the glass dish, licking his lips, positive that the lightbulb hovering over his head must be bright green by now.
Kame leaned forward and murmured, "You realise that when you do things like that, you're endangering my dessert? You'll melt everything in here."
"Eat faster?" Jin suggested. He was doing his best not to make a grab for Kame's spoon and delve into the dish, so he held onto his car keys so tightly that his hands shook.
"You have no self-restraint at all," Kame said through a mouthful of chocolate. "I bet your bulb is gree- oh."
Jin groaned. He wasn't sure he liked the sound of that. His mood lightbulb had been misbehaving itself recently, getting him into all sorts of trouble by completely misrepresenting his feelings. He didn't want to see its latest effort.
"I can't bring myself to look."
"Scared."
"The thought of what might be showing terrifies me, yes," Jin said, utterly deadpan.
"No, I mean, you're scared. I haven't seen it that grey since we went through the Haunted Mansion." Kame scooped up an enormous spoonful of brownie with all the trimmings, making sure it was so heavily laden that there was no possible way to eat it without making a mess, then waved it under Jin's nose. "Why are you frightened of my dessert?"
Jin did the only thing he could, under the circumstances, and swallowed the lot.
Kame and Jin shop for a chair (gothicauthor's idea)
"What do you think of that one?" Kame asked, indicating a sturdy pine chair. "I know it won't match anything I own, but it looks comfortable and I can always paint it."
"You don't have time to paint it," Jin pointed out. "You don't even have time to go furniture shopping. I told you I'd be happy to pick something out for you."
"And if I'd wanted a recliner, a waterbed, a winerack and a couch big enough to seat seven all delivered to my apartment, I'd have agreed to let you do it. But all I want is a chair, Jin."
"Waterbeds are fun," Jin muttered, and turned away to look at cushions. They'd only been shopping for twenty minutes and he was already bored. The mood lightbulb hovering over his head had been a cheerful yellow when they'd arrived, but it was starting to turn red, a sure sign that Jin was beginning to feel irritable.
Kame grinned. "So are chairs," he said. "Especially ones like this." He ran his hand over a stylish piece in white oak, letting his fingers slip between the delicate curlicues carved into the back. "Isn't it beautiful?"
"It's lovely. Just buy it so we can get out of here, will you? I'm starving."
"You just a- Jin!"
"What? Is there a reporter behind me?" Jin looked around frantically, hoping he wasn't going to end up plastered all over the pages of Friday under the headline 'AkaKame furnishing their apartment???!!!'
"No, it's..." Kame was staring over Jin's head, somehow managing to look both innocently joyful and lecherous as hell at the same time. "You finally..."
Jin looked up, saw the glowing purple lightbulb, and felt his stomach begin to churn. Could Kame really believe...?
"It's obviously not working right," Jin protested. "I don't like chairs, Kame. In fact, I'm never going near them again. I'll sit on the floor for the rest of my life."
Kame didn't seem to hear him. "This is so amazing," he said. "All this time you've been hiding your true feelings, and now you have to be honest with me. Do you realise what this means?"
"That you're a freak who needs to see someone about his chair fetish and is delusional enough to think that I share it?"
"No, it means," Kame sidled up close enough to whisper, "you and I are going shopping for a loveseat."
-----
When Koki hits on Kame, Jin's lightbulb is supposed to turn green - not purple!
It was absolutely maddening. Jin thought that if it went on much longer, he might explode, lashing out in a jealous rage. Koki, damn him, loved to play, to watch the lightbulb all lit up like a Christmas tree and push it as far as he could, invading Kame's personal space with careless ease and leering at him as though he belonged to Koki.
Which he didn't, of course. Kame was always friendly, not at all averse to touching and being touched by his friends, but he was much more than that to Jin, and therefore Jin was the only one who should be allowed to drape himself all over Kame like that, or watch him lovingly as he told an amusing story.
"...and Koki walked in just in time to critique Kawai's impersonation of him!" Kame finished, flashing a smile at Koki as he related another one his his 'behind the scenes at Dream Boys' tales.
Koki returned the smile with interest and let his arm fall from the back of the couch to lie round Kame's shoulders. "His impersonation of you was much better," he said. "I don't know where he found that schoolgirl's outfit but-"
"Enough!" Laughing, Kame shushed Koki by covering his mouth with one hand. "They don't need to hear that one."
Koki peeled Kame's hand away but refused to let go, returning it palm-down to his own lips to press a teasing kiss to the skin.
Jin snapped, rising so fast that he almost knocked Ueda over. He stormed the few steps across to the couch, which Kame had refused to let him squeeze onto on the grounds that he'd end up sprawling over the whole thing and leaving no room for anyone else, and made a grab for Kame to save him from Koki's twisted clutches.
"It's so easy to push your buttons now you've got tha..." Koki trailed off mid-sentence, gazing in disbelief at the lightbulb hovering over Jin's head. "That's...not green."
"If you can't beat them, join them?" Ueda suggested, making Jin take a look up at the bulb.
It shone with a rich, lustrous purple far brighter than even an Arashi costume.
"It must be broken," Jin insisted, batting at the bulb as if he could fix it the same way he did his television, only with less success. There was no way he'd be attracted to Koki, and especially not to the idea of Koki making out with Kame. "Ignore it."
"And miss out on all the fun I could have with both of you at the same time?" Kame reached out with his legs, wrapping them around the back of Jin's knees to bring Jin crashing down onto the couch. "I think not."
Jin couldn't brace himself in time. He landed half on Kame, half on Koki, but they didn't seem to care that they were getting flattened, reaching for him with playful fingers and tickling him till he squirmed.
"Um," Nakamaru piped up from the corner, where he'd been showing some photos to Junno, "I'm glad you guys are trying to work through your jealousy issues...but can you please get out of my lounge?"
-----
And when Jin actually wants the bulb to be purple...
Perhaps it wasn't so bad, Jin thought, that Kame kept stopping to check the lightbulb. Sure, it meant that it took longer for them to get anywhere, but when they finally did, it was definitely worth the wait. Kame used the depth of the purple as a measure of how much Jin wanted him, liked to tease him to the point of desperation before letting him find release.
But of course, sometimes it was just irritating.
"Would you cut that out?" Jin complained after Kame had abandoned the slow, sensous trail he'd been kissing down Jin's chest to sneak a peek at the bulb. "I'm going to have to blindfold you or something."
"You can if you want," Kame said. "I don't mind."
Jin might've taken him up on the offer, but he was far too lazy to get up and find something suitable to use and with both of them already naked down to the waist, there was no convenient clothing to hand. "Maybe next time."
"You're just impatient."
"Am not. Now quit stalling."
Kame laughed at him and obeyed, working his way back along Jin's body till he reached his belt, which took him all of three seconds to remove and discard. "Fast enough for you?"
Jin arched his back as Kame's hands worked on his jeans, wriggling to get the busy fingers where he wanted them; Kame complied, exploring freely but never quite lingering long enough to do more than tantalise. The air grew warm between them from the heat and excitement radiating from flushed skin; from short, gasping breaths and soft, drawn-out moans.
Kame hooked his fingers through Jin's belt-loops and began to tug them down, then stopped, detaching himself and drawing back so that he was no longer straddling him.
"Now what?" Jin whined.
Kame studied the lightbulb carefully. "Do you have a headache or something?"
"Huh?"
"The bulb's gone orange, Jin." He began to rub soothing circles on Jin's thighs. "If you're feeling sick, we'll stop."
Orange?
Jin looked for himself, not at all amused to discover that Kame was right. The bulb, no longer purple, was a garish, gaudy orange and getting brighter by the second.
"Stupid thing's malfunctioning again," he mumbled. "I feel fine." A little giddy, maybe, but that was Kame's fault anyway.
"You don't have to pretend for my sake," Kame said. "You know, you're actually looking kind of ill."
"Possibly because I'm frustrated, irritated and aroused enough that if you don't do anything about it soon I'm going to have to take matters into my own hands!"
Kame shook his head. "You're obviously delirious. Just lie still, okay? I'm going to find a thermometer."
Jin sat up sharply, only to be pushed back against the pillows by Kame. "I'm not sick!"
Kame wasn't listening, too busy rearranging the covers round Jin's legs and muttering to himself about how he hoped it wasn't contagious because they couldn't afford to miss rehearsals, not with the tour starting soon.
"I'm not contagious - I'm not even ill!"
"Just try to stay calm," Kame said. "All this excitement's no good for you when you're sick." He placed a hand on Jin's forehead and frowned. "You're definitely running a fever."
Enough was enough. Jin caught Kame round the waist and pulled him back down to the bed, rolling them over so that there would be no finding of thermometers, calling of doctors, or fetching of ice. Unfortunately, he forgot that Kame had tucked him in, and ended up burying them both in bedding.
"If you didn't want me to go get a thermometer, you could just have said so." Kame fought his way free from the blanket that was threatening to cut off his air supply, shedding a little more clothing in the process, and settled himself comfortably on the sheets. "I'm always happy to indulge the patient."
-----
Quite possibly the first time Jin has been scared of chocolate...
It wasn't Kame's normal choice of dessert by any means. Jin could see chocolate chip brownie, chocolate mousse, chocolate pudding, ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles, all heaped together in one glorious dessert that put the rest of the meal to shame. Yamapi had recommended the restaurant, said Jin should drag Kame there when his boyfriend was looking particularly skinny, and Jin figured that with all Pi's food issues, he should know.
With that in mind, Jin had ordered for both of them. Only, since he was under orders to shift a few pounds himself before the tour began, he had, as much as it went against the grain, not ordered a dessert of his own.
That didn't stop him from looking enviously at Kame's, though.
"Are you sure you don't want some of this?" Kame said. "We could ask for another spoon."
Jin watched ice cream drip slowly down the inside of the glass dish, licking his lips, positive that the lightbulb hovering over his head must be bright green by now.
Kame leaned forward and murmured, "You realise that when you do things like that, you're endangering my dessert? You'll melt everything in here."
"Eat faster?" Jin suggested. He was doing his best not to make a grab for Kame's spoon and delve into the dish, so he held onto his car keys so tightly that his hands shook.
"You have no self-restraint at all," Kame said through a mouthful of chocolate. "I bet your bulb is gree- oh."
Jin groaned. He wasn't sure he liked the sound of that. His mood lightbulb had been misbehaving itself recently, getting him into all sorts of trouble by completely misrepresenting his feelings. He didn't want to see its latest effort.
"I can't bring myself to look."
"Scared."
"The thought of what might be showing terrifies me, yes," Jin said, utterly deadpan.
"No, I mean, you're scared. I haven't seen it that grey since we went through the Haunted Mansion." Kame scooped up an enormous spoonful of brownie with all the trimmings, making sure it was so heavily laden that there was no possible way to eat it without making a mess, then waved it under Jin's nose. "Why are you frightened of my dessert?"
Jin did the only thing he could, under the circumstances, and swallowed the lot.