[fic] The Things We Can't Control - Chapter 34 ~The Club~
Title: The Things We Can't Control
Author:
prettyorianna
Pairing: Akame. Others to be added later.
Rating: NC-17.
Genre: crime drama au
Beta by: my cat Gemma. okay, seriously, nobody
Disclaimer: I don't own KAT-TUN, any of its members, any other JE people. I write this for fun and for other fans of these fine folks. But don't steal my plots, mmkay? I put a great deal of time into them except for when I'm randomly spastically spitting words onto a page. But I value those too...
Summary: Two criminals with vastly different styles meet by chance one day. Can they work together or will they end up destroying each other?
Author's Note: Here you go. Kame's first morning working at the twins' club. Enjoy!
BANNER BY DESHISORABA!!
Warning: This gets graphic often occasionally, containing at the very least foul language, character death, nefarious crimes, rape, etc etc.
The Master Posts:
On my journal - The Things We Can't Control Master Post
On the akame_ Community - The Things We Can't Control Master Post
On the akame_fanfics Community - The Things We Can't Control Master Post
On the je_kamenashi Community - The Things We Can't Control Master Post
On the kattun_fanfics Community - The Things We Can't Control Master Post
On the jin_fics Community - The Things We Can't Control Master Post
Chapter 34 ~The Club~
When Akira and Aoi got home from the club, they found Kame crying in the laundry room. Apparently he really had slept a long time in that bath and that along with the time it took to put his clothes through the wash had eaten up the four hours faster than he realized.
It was embarrassing, being caught crying like that. It was stupid, anyway. Crying because he was wearing warm clothes was ridiculous and he’d been caught doing it so he couldn’t pretend it didn’t happen.
But neither Akira nor Aoi (well, he was mostly assuming on Aoi’s part, since he still hadn’t learned how to understand him) said anything about it.
Instead, Akira looked thoughtful.
“Do you know a good place to go shopping for clothing, Kame?” Akira asked him.
Well, there was that first place Ryuichi took him to. But it was over two hour away on foot and took him entirely too close to the stroll. “No, not really… The past few years, my father bought all my clothes and then… I don’t want to risk going where Ryuichi brought me before.”
“Well, you can’t wear the same clothes every day, not when you have a job. You said you have money?”
Kame nodded.
“Tomorrow, Aoi will take you clothes shopping then, while I find a place to keep your clothes…”
It was first problem to be addressed during the two days leading to Kame’s first day of work, but it certainly wasn’t the last. Akira emptied a drawer in the dresser in the bedroom for him to put his new clothes in and then cleared out one of the locked cabinets and gave Kame the key to it, so that he could lock up anything he wanted to as well.
Well, okay, it turned out that everyone in the house could pick the locks on the cabinets whenever they wanted to, but it wasn’t about that. The locks were a sign of respect. They were a statement that sometimes people are allowed to have secrets and that others should recognize that right and give them room to have them.
Akira and Kame also had a discussion about money. Apparently when you worked a job, the government took some of it away from you as income tax. Every bit of your financial life is supposed to be in plain view for the government. But there were a few problems with that.
Firstly, Kame was underage. Akira had asked him about his age and birthday (Kame couldn’t remember if he’d ever actually told them how old he was or not). When he told them he was only fifteen and that his birthday wasn’t until February 23, Akira explained how some jobs could legally be held by a fifteen-year-old but it was generally only with parental consent and a job in a club that has sexual activities and alcohol involved was definitely not on that list.
Secondly, that sort of income was too easily traceable when Kame so obviously was in hiding from his father. Public records were distressingly public, it seemed.
Every time Akira mentioned his father, Kame’s whole body sort of locked for a moment before relaxing. All the twins knew was that he had a bad father. They didn’t know who his father really was. They couldn’t. If they had figured it out… wouldn’t they have turned him over? Twenty-five thousand dollars was a lot of money. It was definitely more than he should be worth…
Not that he didn’t trust them. As much as he was able to trust anyone anymore, he trusted them. It was foolish, perhaps, but… well, he couldn’t help it. He didn’t know them well enough yet to know if they truly were good people (well, they were criminals, weren’t they?) but he did know them well enough to feel like they were the least-bad people he’d met thus far.
But still on the subject of his payment for working the club, Akira said they could pay him in unreported cash but cash was the easiest to lose. It could be stolen or destroyed and there was no way to recover it.
They finally decided to set up a fake identity (they were really good at that; it was one of the many things they did with the stuff Kame and Ryuichi sold them before). They could write out paychecks to the fake identity and deposit them in a debit account set up in that name. Then Kame could carry a fake ID claiming to be eighteen and a debit card, both in that name. Mostly he’d just have to enter a PIN number to use the debit card and the ID card would be useless at the bank itself, but it was the best they could come up with.
So Tuesday evening, Aoi and Akira put together the fake identity and made the photo ID for him as well.
Despite the fact that the nightmares he used to have mostly died down, the memory of waking up in handcuffs at that man Daisuke’s house brought them crashing back down into his life. Oh, he was fine the first night. Maybe he was just too tired to dream that night? All he knew was that by the third night, the one right before his first day of work, they were back.
First thing Wednesday morning, Akira asked him, “Do you dream about it often?”
Oh. They must have heard him crying himself back to sleep. Honestly, he was mostly fine. “Not… not for a while… but waking up in the… handcuffs… cold metal…” and he trailed off. He didn’t want to go to work his first day dwelling on the past. This was a new start for him and he didn’t want to let that sadistic man who tortured him taint his new life like he cut into his old one.
“Ah…” was all Akira said in return. Kame saw the twins exchange significant glances with each other but he didn’t want to talk about it and they didn’t push further, so they finished breakfast mostly in silence after that. Though when Kame went to take a shower, Akira teased him lightly, saying, “You’re going to triple our water bill if you keep showering two or three times a day.”
Hmm… he’d hoped they hadn’t noticed. It was just, the hot water felt so good and after nearly six months on the streets, he just couldn’t get clean enough. But he was pretty sure Akira was teasing. Mostly sure. Probably.
Besides, after he adjusted to his new life, he probably wouldn’t take so many showers. At least, he didn’t think he would.
The three of them piled into the twins’ blue Taurus and took off for the club. When Kame asked what the name of their place was, Akira shrugged and said, “Oh, it’s just the club. Don’t worry about it.”
But Kame felt like he was missing the joke, because both of the twins were having trouble keeping a straight face. When they pulled into the parking lot about ten minutes later, though, he got the joke.
The sign above the door said “The Club” in very lovely cursive lettering.
As the three of them walked, Akira explained, “The Club is open from ten in the morning until one the next morning. The kitchen staff only stay until eleven at night, but security shift run twenty-four seven, just to keep an eye on the place. We came early because I want to introduce you to the staff. I figured we’d start you on the morning shift because it’s much less busy and you can learn the job that way.”
“I don’t know if I can ever thank you enough for what you’ve done for me… for what you’re doing…” but Kame had to stop talking. His eyes were tearing up and he didn’t want to walk into The Club crying on his very first day. Luckily, he was able to blink the tears away before they gave him away.
Once they were inside, they introduced Kame to the security guard near the entrance, a man by the name of Matsumoto Jun. A tag on his uniform said “Arashi Security Consulting” which actually seemed vaguely familiar though Kame couldn’t remember where he’d seen it before at all. But the man, aside from coming off as pretty arrogant, was a nice enough guy and the twins seemed to trust him so Kame would just have to hope they read other people as well as they seemed to read him.
Next he was introduced to the morning bartender who had arrived maybe five minutes ahead of them, a man who insisted Kame call him Yassan. The kitchen staff didn’t come until later, around two in the afternoon so Kame’s shift would overlap theirs by an hour.
Akira told Kame to go out into the main area of the club and look around. He said to explore the building, downstairs and upstairs, while he talked to Yassan and Matsumoto-san. It really was a nice place. Everything downstairs looked really comfortable. Everything upstairs looked… well, really uncomfortable. Except for the beds. The beds did look rather soft. But everything else… the chains on the wall, the display cases with… he wasn’t even sure what half of those things were for and he wasn’t sure his poor mind could survive trying to come up with something. Those things were downright scary.
But, fortunately for him, he didn’t have to know. It wasn’t part of his job. As Akira had explained it, all he had to do was carry food and drink orders to people and chat. They encouraged him to be friendly and speak with confidence but to always be polite and unafraid to turn down offers for… extras.
Akira also assured him that the staff would know he was hands-off, to help out if he needed. And for Kame’s first day, though they normally only stayed a few hours at whatever time of day they decided to show up, they promised to stay for his whole five-hour shift so they could introduce him to regulars and stress that though he wouldn’t mind casual conversational company, he was definitely not on the menu.
And Yassan from the bar told him that the place was generally very laid back so it was possible to actually spend time chatting with customers as long as you kept an ear and eye out for other people wanting to place orders. Kame would be the only morning waiter. Business was so slow in the mornings that it only required one waiter and the other one had been rescheduled so Kame could learn the job.
Kame was really nervous as time went on and the place officially opened for the day.
But everyone Akira introduced him to was very friendly, though he wasn’t sure how to answer half of their questions (what was he supposed to tell them, anyway? That until three days ago he was turning tricks and living in an alleyway?) but Akira would just laugh lightly and make a small joke about it being his first day and not to overwhelm him.
It really was a very relaxed atmosphere.
Maybe when it got really busy it wouldn’t be anymore. But for learning the job, this seemed like just the right pace. Kame’s confidence increased as the five hours wore on. And then suddenly the five hours were over and Akira had Aoi drive him back home.
Yes… back home. Because, despite being there only a few days, the twins’ place was already more like a home than anything he’d ever had in his life.
He had a home!
Ah, there were those annoying tears of gratitude again. But he knew Aoi wouldn’t say anything about it, so he just let them fall.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
The story continues:
Chapter 35 ~An Awkward Moment~
A/N: Well, there you go. Past!Kame and his first morning of work. Yay! And he has clothes and his own drawer in the dresser in the bedroom and he has his own locked cabinet if he wants to put things in there. They're really making him feel welcome.