Requested drabbles batch #15-16
This is the third post with drabbles in answer to prompts from this post. I appreciate that drabbles are, in theory, 100 words and none of these are that length, some of them overstepping the mark by a great deal, but okay, whatever, I fail at drabbles.
Bulk disclaimer: Not mine, damnit.
Rating: Anywhere up to PG unless explicitly stated otherwise.
#15 - Prompt from iris_aya: Cooking Akame. It can be sweets, meals, etc choose whatever you want. You can use whichever Akame version you'd like, or even one of your own universe's Akame couple.
#15: How to Make a Chocolate Kiss
Jin doesn't cook much, because when he's home he's mostly asleep, and when he's not asleep he's busy doing more important things, but sometimes he gets the urge to try making things for himself - especially when they're sweet. It's not like he couldn't pop down to the nearest convenience store for something far too delicious to be healthy, or to a department store or even a restaurant for something in a higher price range. He's got plenty of options.
But those options aren't as much fun as showing up at Kame's apartment with a bag of ingredients and a recipe for chocolate brownies.
"Just because we have the afternoon off doesn't mean I'm going to let you play in my kitchen," Kame says, but he lets Jin through the door anyway. "What is it this time?"
"Not another Christmas dinner," Jin assures him. "This won't be nearly as complicated. Or hot." The chicken, which had been covered with the contents of Kame's spice rack and heavily dosed with Jin's favourite chilli oil, had almost cost them their tastebuds.
"Then I'll risk it."
Kame sticks an Eric Clapton CD in the player so they have music to work to while Jin rummages around for an apron. He's done this so often now that Kame keeps one just for him, a hot pink number featuring a poodle in sunglasses, stilettos and a party dress, stubbing out her cigarette on the words 'Classy Bitch'. Jin's pretty sure Kame bought the apron for him as a joke and hopes Ryo never finds out about it.
Music on, aprons donned, hands washed, they set to work. It takes them all of ten seconds to have their first argument.
"It's not safe to let you measure out the chocolate," Kame says. "Look, you've already started the one bar."
Jin gives him a sheepish smile. "I had to check it was edible. It was just one block!"
"How far wrong can you go with dark chocolate? We're going to melt it in, anyway - it's not for eating, so get your hands away from that bar." Kame takes out a set of scales, starts breaking the bar up into chunks. He'll make the measurements exact, even if he has to slice individual blocks into pieces.
Jin can't complain when he knows the end result would be worth it, but that doesn't stop him looking longingly at the final remaining square. Kame agrees to compromise and slices it in half - barely enough for a taste; Jin sticks out his tongue, gets the chocolate delivered between chopsticks - not quite what he'd had in mind, though he likes that Kame then uses the same chopsticks to pick up his own half.
While Kame's been breaking blocks, Jin's been busy measuring out the margarine into a bowl and is all ready to add the chocolate. "The recipe says we're supposed to melt these together over heat," he says.
Kame looks doubtfully at his hob and Jin knows he's remembering what happened there the last time they cooked together, when they steamed up the kitchen for reasons that had nothing to do with food. Kame had been annoyed afterwards and insisted on inspecting the hob for damage, but he hadn't been complaining at the time - his mouth had been otherwise engaged.
"Microwave," Kame decides in the end. He melts the margarine and chocolate together, stopping every so often for Jin to attack the bowl with a spoon and stir the golden margarine into thick, dark swirls until the two have merged completely.
"Lick the spoon and I'll kill you," Kame warns.
Jin pulls a face; he doesn't fancy a taste of this particular mixture. Not till they've finished making the dough, anyway. He checks the recipe. "We need a large bowl for the eggs and sugar."
Fortunately, Kame's impulsive shopping habit means he has an amazing stock of kitchen equipment. He buys anything that takes his fancy, whether he knows how to use it or not - and since he tends not to read the manuals, it's not often he learns. He produces a large white bowl and mixer set, covered in fetching pink stripes.
"Don't tell me," Jin says. "You bought it because it matched your nails at the time."
"My shirt, actually." Kame flashes him a quick, embarrassed smile and cracks three eggs into the bowl, one after another, all one-handed.
"Show-off."
"Some of us cook to feed ourselves instead of leeching off everyone else or going out all the time. Are you going to use that measuring jug or are you just waving it in time to the music?"
"Don't think I didn't see you playing air guitar with a wooden spoon, Kame."
Jin measures out one and a half cups of sugar, adds it to the eggs, and sets to work with the mixer. Kitchen gadgets are fun - at least when they're in Kame's kitchen and he's got Kame right beside him, watching the eggs-and-sugar mixture with an eagle eye to decide when it's had enough.
When the contents of the bowl are suitably light and fluffy, they add the chocolate mixture and a teaspoon of vanilla essence, and Jin takes control of the mixer again. He knows it's driving Kame crazy, not doing it himself, which is part of what makes it so much fun. Kame's spooned up behind him now, hands poised ready to take over if Jin falters for an instant.
Kame's intervention is unnecessary, however. Jin manages to avoid splattering brownie dough all over the walls, though he does spill a little of the flour when he pours it into the measuring jug. Less than five seconds later, an exasperated Kame is sweeping flour off the counter. Jin tips the jug into the bowl and goes for the mixer again, but Kame stops him.
"We fold the flour in by hand." Kame indicates the line on the recipe. "Use this."
Jin can't resist strumming on the wooden spoon the way he'd seen Kame do earlier to 'Layla'; Kame laughs and tells him it's out of tune and he'd be better off using it as a microphone.
"I thought you didn't want me to play in your kitchen?"
"Depends what you're playing."
But brownie dough doesn't mix itself, so Jin carefully folds in the flour (if he spills any over the edges of the bowl, Kame will feel obliged to clean it up immediately). Meanwhile, Kame preps a square baking pan and preheats the oven. They always share the work when they cook together, though Kame jokingly complains that Jin treats him like his own personal chef, and sometimes Jin's attempts to help don't quite measure up to Kame's standards and Kame insists on taking over a task himself.
Jin pours the brownie dough into the prepared pan, scrapes most of the remainder off the sides of the bowl, and steps back to give Kame room to open the oven and slide the pan inside. The recipe says they've got a half-hour wait ahead of them.
"You could've got more out of that," Kame says.
"I could've, but..." Jin opens the cutlery drawer - knows it like the back of his hand - and without looking, fishes out another spoon, this one for Kame. "I figured we could kill some of the wait by licking the bowl."
It might be a childish thing to do, but they've been children together - well, teenagers - and no matter how much growing up they've done, they can still be kids with each other when there are no cameras around to see. There's no audience to watch them sharing chocolate-smeared grins, no crowd of fans screaming when Kame cleans the dough from Jin's lips with his tongue and throws the spoon somewhere in the general vicinity of the sink just to free up his hands.
It's an hour before they remember the oven is still on. The brownies get burned beyond all hope of salvation.
-----
#16 - Prompt from lineelu2001: The prompt is a translation found here, and But by the end of the day, Junno is always there to catch him if he falls.
And yes, I do know how to spell 'cat'.
#16: Kats Over Kittens
Jin's not as strong as everyone thinks but he's stronger than anyone knows, and it's the love and support of his friends and family that make him that way. He hadn't known, back when he'd signed that contract, that it meant signing away his freedom, signing away any chance he'd ever had at a normal life. If he'd caught himself young enough, walked away early enough, he might've gotten out for good.
Not now. Now his desire to create freely, to do things his way, clashes at every turn with what the agency wants. And even when he does get the things he wants, they come at a cost.
Star in a movie? Play in a rock band? Record songs with other artists and perform them live on the stage? All exciting, fresh and new, and while Jin finds it awkward, at first, getting used to all the strangers around him, he knows how to deal with that. A stranger's only a stranger till you make them your friend, and Jin has plenty of those now, the familiar faces smiling when they see him.
But when solo work begins to cut into his work with KAT-TUN, his own smile starts to fade. Jin freely admits he's not suited to all the trappings of an idol - he could do without the ruffles, for one thing, and being humiliated on television in the name of entertainment isn't his thing either - but it's the industry causing him problems, not his bandmates, and he worries, sometimes, that they'll move on without him while he's busy being someone else. Someone who isn't KAT-TUN's 'A'.
"You'll always be our 'A'," Junno says when he finds Jin moping in the corner of the dressing room, clutching a message from his manager about possibly doing another song with Crystal Kay. "You can't pronounce 'KAT-TUN' properly without it." He tries it out a few times for size, ending up with "kitten".
"Koneko," Jin translates. "A baby cat."
"We could all perform with pointy ears and tails," Junno says, and the mental image makes Jin smile just a little bit.
"I wouldn't mind missing that. I can just about get away with the tengu masks - do you have any idea how much teasing I'd have to take if I went out there as a catboy?"
"Nya-o idea," Junno says in a bad American accent; part-English, part-atrocious pun. "But it would make a great tale to tell your kids if the agency ever lets you have any."
Jin tries to figure out if the English 'tale/tail' was another attempt at a joke, and groans anyway. "I think I liked your sense of humour better before you started picking up random English."
"I'm starting French lessons next week; maybe you'll like it better then?"
"Seriously?"
Junno grins and starts stretching to warm himself up for the evening performance. "We've got five shows next week - where do you think I'm going to find the time?"
"Right." Jin looks away, wonders if he should tell Junno - tell all of them - that he might be doing another song with Crystal Kay, this time with an actual CD release. It wouldn't be like Shuuji to Akira, wouldn't be a betrayal...would it? The message was light on the details, but what if it turned out to be a single? What if he had to go promote it? What happened if there was a scheduling clash?
His manager has made it quite clear: solo work comes first. If there is a conflict, Jin will simply be excused from participating in KAT-TUN activities.
Okay, so that might not be a bad thing if it gets him out of more "dates" with Morisanchuu, but Jin doesn't want to be left out again. What if KAT-TUN release another single and he's not there for it? Will he even get to sing?
"Why are you trying to crush that piece of paper?" Junno asks. "Did you squash an insect in it?"
Jin shudders; his dislike of creepy-crawlies is well known. "Some news, that's all."
"Bad news?" Junno stops stretching, drops down beside Jin on the couch. "Good news?"
"Good news, I think?" Jin still isn't sure. "But maybe...difficult news?"
"Difficult?"
It doesn't look like Junno's about to give up. Jin explains the message, what it might mean for him, trying to keep his voice neutral because the last thing he needs right before a live is a group who've become his family over the last decade shutting him out because they've concluded he thinks his solo career is more important.
"Difficult news," Junno agrees when Jin's done. "But it's a good thing, right? Didn't you enjoy collaborating last time?"
"I loved it. I was really proud of the song we created together."
"Then you'll do something you can be proud of this time, too, and we'll all be proud of you for doing it."
Jin tightens his grip on the crumpled paper, wondering if he can crush it out of existence. "Even if it means I might not be able to work with you guys for a bit?"
Junno shrugs. "It's not like you're quitting. We're six individuals who put ourselves first - we take our own careers as far as we can, and when we join together, we've got all that power behind us. I don't think it's a bad thing to be a group like that. It's better than being so attached to each other that we're not strong enough to do anything alone."
It's costing Junno something to say that; Jin's not sure how much but there's a bitterness in his eyes when he talks about solo work. Junno's never had his own stage show, or solo concert, or a movie role, and it makes Jin feel a little guilty about fretting for having too much on his plate.
"We're the ones you can always return to, remember?" Junno continues. "We might not wait for you, but we'll always help you catch up. So you shouldn't worry about doing the things you want to do. And as for the things you don't want to do...well...you've never had a problem expressing how you feel about those."
He has a point. Jin can't fake his emotions, so when he's annoyed or upset, he can't hide it. It's earned him a few lectures. He's still not happy about being told he doesn't have a choice, even if having a choice would make things more difficult, and he can't act like he's thrilled about how much control he doesn't have over his life.
On the other hand, he loves making music, and any opportunity for that is something to be happy about.
"You're not helping at all," Jin says, pretending to grumble, but they both know he doesn't mean it. How he deals with the events in his life is up to him and that's a choice no one else can make.
"Isn't that normal?" Junno says. "We've got a pretty good routine going here; no need to change it."
KAT-TUN change all the time: learning, growing, improving. They've matured, become able to deal with the world on adult terms, adapted their work to suit their own styles. But their personalities don't change, not really, and Jin can predict his bandmates' responses to his news.
He's still not sure how he feels about it himself - a mixture of too many emotions to count. But it's good to know that whatever happens, he's always got the support of his friends.
Bulk disclaimer: Not mine, damnit.
Rating: Anywhere up to PG unless explicitly stated otherwise.
#15 - Prompt from iris_aya: Cooking Akame. It can be sweets, meals, etc choose whatever you want. You can use whichever Akame version you'd like, or even one of your own universe's Akame couple.
#15: How to Make a Chocolate Kiss
Jin doesn't cook much, because when he's home he's mostly asleep, and when he's not asleep he's busy doing more important things, but sometimes he gets the urge to try making things for himself - especially when they're sweet. It's not like he couldn't pop down to the nearest convenience store for something far too delicious to be healthy, or to a department store or even a restaurant for something in a higher price range. He's got plenty of options.
But those options aren't as much fun as showing up at Kame's apartment with a bag of ingredients and a recipe for chocolate brownies.
"Just because we have the afternoon off doesn't mean I'm going to let you play in my kitchen," Kame says, but he lets Jin through the door anyway. "What is it this time?"
"Not another Christmas dinner," Jin assures him. "This won't be nearly as complicated. Or hot." The chicken, which had been covered with the contents of Kame's spice rack and heavily dosed with Jin's favourite chilli oil, had almost cost them their tastebuds.
"Then I'll risk it."
Kame sticks an Eric Clapton CD in the player so they have music to work to while Jin rummages around for an apron. He's done this so often now that Kame keeps one just for him, a hot pink number featuring a poodle in sunglasses, stilettos and a party dress, stubbing out her cigarette on the words 'Classy Bitch'. Jin's pretty sure Kame bought the apron for him as a joke and hopes Ryo never finds out about it.
Music on, aprons donned, hands washed, they set to work. It takes them all of ten seconds to have their first argument.
"It's not safe to let you measure out the chocolate," Kame says. "Look, you've already started the one bar."
Jin gives him a sheepish smile. "I had to check it was edible. It was just one block!"
"How far wrong can you go with dark chocolate? We're going to melt it in, anyway - it's not for eating, so get your hands away from that bar." Kame takes out a set of scales, starts breaking the bar up into chunks. He'll make the measurements exact, even if he has to slice individual blocks into pieces.
Jin can't complain when he knows the end result would be worth it, but that doesn't stop him looking longingly at the final remaining square. Kame agrees to compromise and slices it in half - barely enough for a taste; Jin sticks out his tongue, gets the chocolate delivered between chopsticks - not quite what he'd had in mind, though he likes that Kame then uses the same chopsticks to pick up his own half.
While Kame's been breaking blocks, Jin's been busy measuring out the margarine into a bowl and is all ready to add the chocolate. "The recipe says we're supposed to melt these together over heat," he says.
Kame looks doubtfully at his hob and Jin knows he's remembering what happened there the last time they cooked together, when they steamed up the kitchen for reasons that had nothing to do with food. Kame had been annoyed afterwards and insisted on inspecting the hob for damage, but he hadn't been complaining at the time - his mouth had been otherwise engaged.
"Microwave," Kame decides in the end. He melts the margarine and chocolate together, stopping every so often for Jin to attack the bowl with a spoon and stir the golden margarine into thick, dark swirls until the two have merged completely.
"Lick the spoon and I'll kill you," Kame warns.
Jin pulls a face; he doesn't fancy a taste of this particular mixture. Not till they've finished making the dough, anyway. He checks the recipe. "We need a large bowl for the eggs and sugar."
Fortunately, Kame's impulsive shopping habit means he has an amazing stock of kitchen equipment. He buys anything that takes his fancy, whether he knows how to use it or not - and since he tends not to read the manuals, it's not often he learns. He produces a large white bowl and mixer set, covered in fetching pink stripes.
"Don't tell me," Jin says. "You bought it because it matched your nails at the time."
"My shirt, actually." Kame flashes him a quick, embarrassed smile and cracks three eggs into the bowl, one after another, all one-handed.
"Show-off."
"Some of us cook to feed ourselves instead of leeching off everyone else or going out all the time. Are you going to use that measuring jug or are you just waving it in time to the music?"
"Don't think I didn't see you playing air guitar with a wooden spoon, Kame."
Jin measures out one and a half cups of sugar, adds it to the eggs, and sets to work with the mixer. Kitchen gadgets are fun - at least when they're in Kame's kitchen and he's got Kame right beside him, watching the eggs-and-sugar mixture with an eagle eye to decide when it's had enough.
When the contents of the bowl are suitably light and fluffy, they add the chocolate mixture and a teaspoon of vanilla essence, and Jin takes control of the mixer again. He knows it's driving Kame crazy, not doing it himself, which is part of what makes it so much fun. Kame's spooned up behind him now, hands poised ready to take over if Jin falters for an instant.
Kame's intervention is unnecessary, however. Jin manages to avoid splattering brownie dough all over the walls, though he does spill a little of the flour when he pours it into the measuring jug. Less than five seconds later, an exasperated Kame is sweeping flour off the counter. Jin tips the jug into the bowl and goes for the mixer again, but Kame stops him.
"We fold the flour in by hand." Kame indicates the line on the recipe. "Use this."
Jin can't resist strumming on the wooden spoon the way he'd seen Kame do earlier to 'Layla'; Kame laughs and tells him it's out of tune and he'd be better off using it as a microphone.
"I thought you didn't want me to play in your kitchen?"
"Depends what you're playing."
But brownie dough doesn't mix itself, so Jin carefully folds in the flour (if he spills any over the edges of the bowl, Kame will feel obliged to clean it up immediately). Meanwhile, Kame preps a square baking pan and preheats the oven. They always share the work when they cook together, though Kame jokingly complains that Jin treats him like his own personal chef, and sometimes Jin's attempts to help don't quite measure up to Kame's standards and Kame insists on taking over a task himself.
Jin pours the brownie dough into the prepared pan, scrapes most of the remainder off the sides of the bowl, and steps back to give Kame room to open the oven and slide the pan inside. The recipe says they've got a half-hour wait ahead of them.
"You could've got more out of that," Kame says.
"I could've, but..." Jin opens the cutlery drawer - knows it like the back of his hand - and without looking, fishes out another spoon, this one for Kame. "I figured we could kill some of the wait by licking the bowl."
It might be a childish thing to do, but they've been children together - well, teenagers - and no matter how much growing up they've done, they can still be kids with each other when there are no cameras around to see. There's no audience to watch them sharing chocolate-smeared grins, no crowd of fans screaming when Kame cleans the dough from Jin's lips with his tongue and throws the spoon somewhere in the general vicinity of the sink just to free up his hands.
It's an hour before they remember the oven is still on. The brownies get burned beyond all hope of salvation.
-----
#16 - Prompt from lineelu2001: The prompt is a translation found here, and But by the end of the day, Junno is always there to catch him if he falls.
And yes, I do know how to spell 'cat'.
#16: Kats Over Kittens
Jin's not as strong as everyone thinks but he's stronger than anyone knows, and it's the love and support of his friends and family that make him that way. He hadn't known, back when he'd signed that contract, that it meant signing away his freedom, signing away any chance he'd ever had at a normal life. If he'd caught himself young enough, walked away early enough, he might've gotten out for good.
Not now. Now his desire to create freely, to do things his way, clashes at every turn with what the agency wants. And even when he does get the things he wants, they come at a cost.
Star in a movie? Play in a rock band? Record songs with other artists and perform them live on the stage? All exciting, fresh and new, and while Jin finds it awkward, at first, getting used to all the strangers around him, he knows how to deal with that. A stranger's only a stranger till you make them your friend, and Jin has plenty of those now, the familiar faces smiling when they see him.
But when solo work begins to cut into his work with KAT-TUN, his own smile starts to fade. Jin freely admits he's not suited to all the trappings of an idol - he could do without the ruffles, for one thing, and being humiliated on television in the name of entertainment isn't his thing either - but it's the industry causing him problems, not his bandmates, and he worries, sometimes, that they'll move on without him while he's busy being someone else. Someone who isn't KAT-TUN's 'A'.
"You'll always be our 'A'," Junno says when he finds Jin moping in the corner of the dressing room, clutching a message from his manager about possibly doing another song with Crystal Kay. "You can't pronounce 'KAT-TUN' properly without it." He tries it out a few times for size, ending up with "kitten".
"Koneko," Jin translates. "A baby cat."
"We could all perform with pointy ears and tails," Junno says, and the mental image makes Jin smile just a little bit.
"I wouldn't mind missing that. I can just about get away with the tengu masks - do you have any idea how much teasing I'd have to take if I went out there as a catboy?"
"Nya-o idea," Junno says in a bad American accent; part-English, part-atrocious pun. "But it would make a great tale to tell your kids if the agency ever lets you have any."
Jin tries to figure out if the English 'tale/tail' was another attempt at a joke, and groans anyway. "I think I liked your sense of humour better before you started picking up random English."
"I'm starting French lessons next week; maybe you'll like it better then?"
"Seriously?"
Junno grins and starts stretching to warm himself up for the evening performance. "We've got five shows next week - where do you think I'm going to find the time?"
"Right." Jin looks away, wonders if he should tell Junno - tell all of them - that he might be doing another song with Crystal Kay, this time with an actual CD release. It wouldn't be like Shuuji to Akira, wouldn't be a betrayal...would it? The message was light on the details, but what if it turned out to be a single? What if he had to go promote it? What happened if there was a scheduling clash?
His manager has made it quite clear: solo work comes first. If there is a conflict, Jin will simply be excused from participating in KAT-TUN activities.
Okay, so that might not be a bad thing if it gets him out of more "dates" with Morisanchuu, but Jin doesn't want to be left out again. What if KAT-TUN release another single and he's not there for it? Will he even get to sing?
"Why are you trying to crush that piece of paper?" Junno asks. "Did you squash an insect in it?"
Jin shudders; his dislike of creepy-crawlies is well known. "Some news, that's all."
"Bad news?" Junno stops stretching, drops down beside Jin on the couch. "Good news?"
"Good news, I think?" Jin still isn't sure. "But maybe...difficult news?"
"Difficult?"
It doesn't look like Junno's about to give up. Jin explains the message, what it might mean for him, trying to keep his voice neutral because the last thing he needs right before a live is a group who've become his family over the last decade shutting him out because they've concluded he thinks his solo career is more important.
"Difficult news," Junno agrees when Jin's done. "But it's a good thing, right? Didn't you enjoy collaborating last time?"
"I loved it. I was really proud of the song we created together."
"Then you'll do something you can be proud of this time, too, and we'll all be proud of you for doing it."
Jin tightens his grip on the crumpled paper, wondering if he can crush it out of existence. "Even if it means I might not be able to work with you guys for a bit?"
Junno shrugs. "It's not like you're quitting. We're six individuals who put ourselves first - we take our own careers as far as we can, and when we join together, we've got all that power behind us. I don't think it's a bad thing to be a group like that. It's better than being so attached to each other that we're not strong enough to do anything alone."
It's costing Junno something to say that; Jin's not sure how much but there's a bitterness in his eyes when he talks about solo work. Junno's never had his own stage show, or solo concert, or a movie role, and it makes Jin feel a little guilty about fretting for having too much on his plate.
"We're the ones you can always return to, remember?" Junno continues. "We might not wait for you, but we'll always help you catch up. So you shouldn't worry about doing the things you want to do. And as for the things you don't want to do...well...you've never had a problem expressing how you feel about those."
He has a point. Jin can't fake his emotions, so when he's annoyed or upset, he can't hide it. It's earned him a few lectures. He's still not happy about being told he doesn't have a choice, even if having a choice would make things more difficult, and he can't act like he's thrilled about how much control he doesn't have over his life.
On the other hand, he loves making music, and any opportunity for that is something to be happy about.
"You're not helping at all," Jin says, pretending to grumble, but they both know he doesn't mean it. How he deals with the events in his life is up to him and that's a choice no one else can make.
"Isn't that normal?" Junno says. "We've got a pretty good routine going here; no need to change it."
KAT-TUN change all the time: learning, growing, improving. They've matured, become able to deal with the world on adult terms, adapted their work to suit their own styles. But their personalities don't change, not really, and Jin can predict his bandmates' responses to his news.
He's still not sure how he feels about it himself - a mixture of too many emotions to count. But it's good to know that whatever happens, he's always got the support of his friends.