The Same Deep Water As You (32/54)

[haikuesque.livejournal.com]

The Same Deep Water As You
by solo____ & jo_lasalle
Pairing: Kamenashi Kazuya / Akanishi Jin
Rating: Explicit
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Alternate Universe fiction. None of this is true.
Warnings: If there are any warnings for this story, you will find them here.
Summary: Kame's got his reasons for seeing prostitutes. Jin's got his reasons for being one. Life is pretty screwed up.
Notes: Story notes, acknowledgements and frantically reiterated disclaimers are here.

Previous chapters | Current chapter

Christmas. For Jin it's going to be a day like any other, and if he's in here or stays at home, he won't even see too much of the sappy decorations.
 

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/___clash/]

Hello understated apprehension, long time no see.

Reading Jin all nervous and fidgety in Ootomo's office made me extremely anxious. I'm not even sure why. It's like I was just waiting for something bad to happen or...

Something. And then it kind of happened - except not really, because it's a lot more subtle than that.

I've been wondering for a while now when Kame would start constantly being reminded of Jin while around his wife. It just felt like he would, at some point, and he seems to be doing quite a lot of it in this chapter. And all that guilt. With Kame trying to focus. Yeah. Such hard work having a wife when you can't keep your mind off... Other people.

And then, "It gives him hope that they can be okay without passion, that friendship and how their lives fit each other will be enough, for both of them." Uh. Sure. Dream on, love. Like that ever works.

And I adored the frog stuff. That's just-- really clever, without being too obvious or contrived or anything. And full of amazingly beautiful lines that were so hard to read because, fuck, I hate that feeling. With a passion.

And, "At least tonight he can try to be a prince for her." I mean, how could I not feel bad for him? I know what he's doing isn't exactly right by social standards but, that. That right there is a feeling I wouldn't wish upon anyone.

And Jin thinking about Christmas presents. About being the Christmas present. That kind of made me go "Gah?!" for a moment there. Something else I wouldn't wish upon anyone. Not a pleasant thought...

And yet it's all so perfectly conveyed...

I really love this chapter, even if, you know, it was kind of unpleasant for me. And now I need to get back to work. But. Just had to tell you that this is definitely one of my favourite chapters so far - even if I sort-of-kind-of hated it, too. That's to be expected, I guess. (^^)

[haikuesque.livejournal.com]

Well, it couldn't remain rainbows and ponies all the time. We still have 2/3 of an epic to go, and their lives are still screwed up. Only now they kind of sort of almost but not quite have each other... and that adds its own complications. Life, why so hard? Nothing to do with cruel authors, oh no.

Kame does work very diligently at having a wife. You can't say that he's not doing his best. :-) Jin just sneaks in there sneakily, in a Jinnish way.

THANK YOU for liking our 'frog stuff'. We were really quite pleased by the way we got that to come together ourselves. And yeah, so sad. :/

And Jin thinking about Christmas presents. About being the Christmas present. That kind of made me go "Gah?!"

We bounced. Thank you! :) 'Gah' is the reaction we were hoping for.

We're really happy this chapter worked for you, we weren't sure how it would be received after all the fluff. Thank you for letting us know. :)

[curiosity-san.livejournal.com]

Another excellent chapter. And you always get so wonderful graphics for the story...

Thanks))))*______*

[haikuesque.livejournal.com]

Yes, we are really lucky to have generous and talented friends! :)

Thank you for telling us you enjoyed this, we really appreciate it.

[agustin1982.livejournal.com]

Yayyyyyy for the New updates XDDDDDDDDDD

[haikuesque.livejournal.com]

Yay for comment. Hope you liked it! :)

[akamaru07.livejournal.com]

somehow this chapter made me sad. esp the ending part ._.

[haikuesque.livejournal.com]

Weeeeellll, it wasn't supposed to be a particularly cheerful chapter. #evilauthors So we guess it did its job. Thank you for letting us know!

[ayalonet.livejournal.com]

This was one of those wake-up-call chapters.
After a tentative euphoria came the fall and emphasized why the fic's title is so fitting.. Kame lives a life of a lie that gnaws at him, and Jin is disillusioned about life.

Somehow it seems like Jin never feels more like a whore then in times when he has to deal with a client like Honda who treats him as a christmas present, even if he does it in the honeymoon suite. Or when he deals with that obnoxious Ootomo who hires him and abuses his power. With kame he has the upper hand now, he takes the lead and he has more self-worth even when he knows perfectly well where they stand with each other.

I still need to understand the reasons behind Jin's actions. Why the change in attitude. Now I think, maybe, jin simply want's kame as a regular. He recognized kame's intrest in him, no matter how obsessive, and saw a potential for a financial security, while Kame just sees Jin as Jin now, or even more.. Idk..

Gloomy chapter :(

[haikuesque.livejournal.com]

Ha, yes, exactly, wake-up call. Thank you for letting us know that that worked!

Jin's under no illusions about his job, really. You could say he had the upper hand with Honda, too, the poor guy really just wanted a sweet evening and he wasn't evil or anything... but you're right, there's a difference when he's dealing with Kame.

As for Jin's motivations... having Kame as a regular would certainly help Jin with financial security. It would even help him get out of the job sooner if he can just keep Kame around for a few years so he can save up properly, and yes, he's aware of that! We don't quite think that's all there is to it, but maybe we were too subtle *woe*.

Thank you for commenting! ♥

[edogawa.livejournal.com]

This chapter almost broke my heart.. it's so sad and at the same time so beautiful..

It's like they are looking for each other, without even knowing. It's very romantic and sad. I think they'll have to walk a long path, to get over a lot of obstacles, in order to be honest with their feelings.

I noticed that Kame compares Jin with Souji, I mean, not with Tatsuya.. so Jin is clearly on another level :))

And of course the more Jin falls in love, the more his whore-style life become a burden.

It's incredible how much I dislike to imagine Kame with a woman.. really strange. It's so unnatural! Not in the story, Midori is lovely.. :)

Thank you once again for this wonderful story!

[haikuesque.livejournal.com]

It's like they are looking for each other, without even knowing. ... I think they'll have to walk a long path, to get over a lot of obstacles, in order to be honest with their feelings.

This made us very happy. :) Yeah, we meant it in the summary about life being screwed up, and it's quite a challenge for them to get to someplace good from where they are.

Nicely observed, re Souji vs. Tatsuya. :) Kame may not even be really aware of it yet, but... yes. *g*

Jin would probably do better if he could just be more dispassionate about the whore thing, but he's not very good at compartmentalizing.

We're glad you like Midori. Not that it wouldn't be easier if she was a bitch. But Kame wouldn't have married a bitch, so now he's stuck with this really nice woman whom he doesn't really want. :/

Thank you for this comment, it made us bounce!

[nitzi.livejournal.com]

I love the bitter-sweetness of this chapter!
And I feel for the lonely guy who booked Jin, his politeness made him appear even more pitiable. :(
So Kame and Jin were both spending their Christmas Evenings in Roppongi... maybe they run into each other on Jin's way home? *hopes are up*
And: Is Otomo expecting that something is off with Jin's behaviour? What happens when an escort falls in love with a client and vice versa?

[haikuesque.livejournal.com]

Oh, we're really pleased to hear you felt for Honda. We are kind of... ambivalent... about clients in general, seeing as they're all exploiting guys for money, but we did figure that they must all have their own stories too, and some might be very sad. The situation sucks for both sides (though admittedly it sucks more for the escorts) so we're happy that that came through.

Ootomo is really quite surprised because Jin was demonstrably afraid of Kamenashi, and there was something demonstrably wrong with the interaction between those two (so wrong that it even had an effect on how Ootomo viewed Kame, who used to have a very good reputation at the club)... so yeah, that's only been two months and a few meetings ago, and Ootomo isn't sure how this can suddenly add up to 'Jin and Kamenashi exchange cell phone numbers'. It's not like he's seriously suspecting that Kame mindwhammied Jin, but he just can't figure it out, and he does feel protective of his escorts, so he's being cautious.

If an escort falls in love with a client... hm, that happened with Tackey and Tsubasa, and Tsubasa left the club because Tackey and he became a couple. But Tackey wasn't married, or famous, or paranoid. >_>

[natsukashi-yume.livejournal.com]

I liked how this chapter contrasted with how Jin and Kame's last time together went. With Jin, Kame finally finally lets go a bit, relaxes and enjoys himself, but with Midori, he seems to want to perform, to "be her prince". With Kame, Jin is the one who pushes for more and cuddles and doesn't mind staying the night, in fact, appreciates Kame's offer to stay. With Honda, everything feels like a chore and he's so disconnected and separate from his emotions... like he's on auto-pilot. It's ironic that they spend such unromantic evenings fulfilling other people's desires for romance.. and in that they're almost playing the same part.

[haikuesque.livejournal.com]

...and in that they're almost playing the same part.

YAY! THANK YOU! #authorglee #ourworkhereisdone

We also very much appreciate your comment on the contrasts - yes, that's what we were hoping to show. But that last line... YAY! ♥♥♥

[souleater-angel.livejournal.com]

Kame's determination to not think about Jin, again, was amusing and adorable as usual. Of course it's sad at the same time because of Midori, who's actually there, who he also loves, but he still can't help but think about Jin. And Kame's hopes that they can make it work even without passion...no Kame, sorry man, but you can't.
And I like Midori honestly; she's funny and sweet, and it just makes it even sadder.

And Jin's night is so depressing. And honestly, I felt bad for the guy that booked him. Having to buy a romantic Christmas Eve, a once a year treat, with someone as beautiful as Jin who he'll most likely never see again. Seriously, really sad. And I felt even worse for Jin, who's spending Christmas being someone's whore (not even Kame's), and remembering being with Naoki and doing things he used to enjoy.

It was of course a great, well-written chapter (the only things you two seem capable of producing xd), but really, quite depressing.

[haikuesque.livejournal.com]

Yes, Kame is a bit deluded in hoping they can make it work without passion. Well, who knows, maybe he's not really deluded, just telling himself the best thing he can. Because he's stuck there, and he feels bad, and he doesn't want to do Midori wrong either, but... he's stuck. Argh.

We're happy you felt bad for both Jin and his client. It's easy to feel bad for Jin, of course, but we did think some of the clients had to be pretty sad guys too, and nice enough at bottom, only... well.

Sorry about the depressing but it was kind of meant to be depressing. Jin has a sucky job, Kame has a sucky marriage to a lovely woman, the lovely woman has a sucky closeted husband, the client has a sucky closeted life where he can only get what he wants once a year... when we set out to write whorefic, we didn't want to pretend it wasn't all sucky, so, uh, here you are. :/

[brindhakrishnan.livejournal.com]

Not that I only want to read Kame and Jin together in every chapter but Kame and Jin lead quite emo lives.
See I haven't seen Midori in awhile...when I read her in this chapter, it kind of felt gloomy. Maybe its just me. And there is this sense of foreboding which gets worse everytime Kame is with Midori. She is friendly with Kame's parents?? Yikes! That is so going to be tough and even though we are still mid-story, I want to know how is Midori and Kame going to end up and what you girls have up your sleeves for the both of them
I felt so nervous for Jin at Ootomo's office. I can totally imagine Ootomo's reaction. But some part of me is thinking that it would have been nicer if Jin hadn't inform Ootomo. It would have been their little secret. But I understand why Jin had to inform Ootomo, its protocol.. :/
I liked how you mention Kame wondering about Jin and whether Jin dances. Firstly because Kame is thinking of Jin even when they're not together. And secondly it was interesting to know that Souji hasn't danced with him. Kame's thinking of novel things to do with Jin.
Thanks for sharing this! See you next chapter...

[haikuesque.livejournal.com]

We're not surprised your foreboding gets worse when Midori appears. She's a very important factor in Kame's life, and still he hides so much from her. But we will keep our mouths shut on where they get from here, sorry about that. ;-) You'll just have to wait and find out! ♥

Jin is very diligent about protocol. He is clinging to this job for all it's worth, and he knows what happened to Uchi when he met with clients and didn't tell Ootomo. Jin is utterly determined not to end up back on the street.

Dancing... it was more that Kame wouldn't dance with Souji, because Kame was too paranoid to go out in public (much) and be actively seen to be... well, with a guy.

Thank you for commenting, as always it's great to hear your thoughts.

[ladyc2]

This chapter was kinda sad - I guess 'cos it's at Xmas time and they're both not really where they'd like to be. Ootomo is also still wary of Kame too - he didn't seem to happy about the swapping of phone numbers.

Looking forward to the next chapter as usual

[haikuesque.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a bit sad... well, their lives are hardly ideal.

Ootomo doesn't quite understand what's going on, poor guy. And how should he, it's not like Jin is telling him much. So he's acting as a responsible manager. As best he can. ;-)

Thank you for commenting!