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haikusocietyTitle: Melting Point
Universe: The Same Deep Water As You
Word count: c. 8,000
Rating: Teen
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction.
Warnings: If there are warnings for this story, you can find them here.
Notes: This is the third of the 'request ficlets' we promised way back when. Many thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
b_akakame for help with the title!
Requested by: This was written forgoosegirl2, who wanted Kame and Yuuya and the hamster and awkwardness. (And various other things, but this was the dominant theme. >_>) We thought that this episode from Jin and Kame's future might fit the bill, though we apologize for working from a realistic expectation of the life span of your average hamster, and point out that this story is set a year and a half after the end of SDW. *cough* Forgive us, Sammi!
( It's unsettling. But, all right, he resigned himself to a weekend of chronic unsettlement when he agreed to come. )
Universe: The Same Deep Water As You
Word count: c. 8,000
Rating: Teen
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction.
Warnings: If there are warnings for this story, you can find them here.
Notes: This is the third of the 'request ficlets' we promised way back when. Many thanks to
b_akakame for help with the title!Requested by: This was written for
goosegirl2, who wanted Kame and Yuuya and the hamster and awkwardness. (And various other things, but this was the dominant theme. >_>) We thought that this episode from Jin and Kame's future might fit the bill, though we apologize for working from a realistic expectation of the life span of your average hamster, and point out that this story is set a year and a half after the end of SDW. *cough* ( It's unsettling. But, all right, he resigned himself to a weekend of chronic unsettlement when he agreed to come. )
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-08 05:14 pm (UTC)Uhm, I still wonder a little bit: is Yuuya's affection towards Jin as a friend, or is it something more? Have I missed some insinuation somewhere? (I'm sorry!)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-14 10:02 am (UTC)Yuuya really cares about Jin as a friend. Jin is good-looking but not his type for a bunch of reasons, but mostly because they have a sort-of-brotherly friendship, and Yuuya is just very fond of him. :-)
Thank you for the comment! <3 Glad you enjoyed the fluff!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-08 09:23 pm (UTC)But for some reason I laughed loudest at "There are some compressed noises, something Kame guesses is, "You coming to get me?" though it might as well be, "The cows have run away."" I don't know why, it was just so random.
I won't quote everything, just know that I enjoy your writing a lot. <3
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-14 10:03 am (UTC)We may have enjoyed making Kame suffer in the not-too-badly kind of way. *g* His little chickens are still coming home to roost occasionally. It was definitely awkward, but Progress Has Been Made.
LOL! Jin is just not very articulate right after waking up. *g*
Thank you for commenting, it's much appreciated! <3
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-09 01:33 am (UTC)He glances at the level of the bottle, just curious, and there is Yuuya, looking at him. His hands go still in Jin's hair, and he almost pulls them back but then he doesn't.
The impression I got from this scene was basically that with the way I'm sure Kame had been looking at Jin, not anyone, even Yuuya, could deny that they were the real deal, that Kame was not faking it. I'll bet it helped ease away some of Yuuya's still lingering doubts.
"I've sometimes wondered what it's like if you're a good actor," Yuuya says, looking at him evenly. "If you end up doing that in real life too. If it's easier to get someone to like you, because you can just play someone who is nice."
Not gonna lie I totally held my breath right there. Kame reacted a lot calmer than I did I'll give him that.
I love how Yuuya is still a little wary and protective of Jin; it shows that he's a good friend. At the same time I'm glad he seems to be gradually trusting Kame, and even if he can't fully trust him yet, he will with more time. I'm sure Kame's list of Mean Things NEVER To Do To Jin is far stricter than even Yuuya's. Or Tomo's.
BUT YOU GUYS KILLED OFF TAKA-CHAN!! I KNOW YOU TRY TO KEEP THINGS REALISTIC BUT WHERE'S YOUR SENSE OF HUMANITY. T_T
Kame and Jin's onsen alone time was adorable, as was Jin's nap wakey wakey time. They both are just so cute together.
Was there a hint in here that Kame and Jin have a house together already?? If so then where's their dog???
And Jin's been on tour in a crappy bus and they have toothbrush fights
even though Kame was the one who brought hello kitty into their lives once if I remember rightand Jin has feels for dumb baby dinos and did I mention they are just SO CUTE??I really really really love these fic
letsguys. Seriously. Feels. Lots of them. Thank you!(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-14 10:10 am (UTC)Yeah, you are very right about Yuuya's observations. The weekend's really given him a chance to see how Kame and Jin interact these days -- both how Kame treats Jin and that Jin takes the way Kame treats him as a given.
Not gonna lie I totally held my breath right there
Heee. It was definitely a key moment! Kame has trained himself very well to be cautious around Yuuya, so he could... handle it. You know, and in a way Yuuya's doing him a favour there because it's the closest they've ever gotten to putting their crap on the table -- Kame's never going to be able to 'defend himself' for what he did back then, not that the wants to, but this is the closest he gets to telling Yuuya he's really not an asshole now.
BUT YOU GUYS KILLED OFF TAKA-CHAN!! I KNOW YOU TRY TO KEEP THINGS REALISTIC BUT WHERE'S YOUR SENSE OF HUMANITY.
T________T but... but... she's a hamster. T__________T we're sorry! she had a very happy life! ;_________;
Apologies for the house confusion, Kame was speaking metaphorically! :-) They both still have their apartments, but Kame rounds up his apartment to 'our house'. Because Jin spends so much time there. *g*
Thank you so much for this lovely comment! <3 The last fic
letshaven't had a big response and we really really appreciate it! :DD(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-14 07:48 pm (UTC)I see then. I thought it could have been you two being all sneaky sneaky again. XD In a way, it's a little surprising that Jin is still keeping his, cuz with the little time I'm sure he's spending there and his thing for not spending money, I'm surprised he hasn't cut that obviously not needed expense. But I also find it cute that Jin stays with Kame so much anyway even though he has his own place. ^^
The last ficlets haven't had a big response
I SERIOUSLY DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY. Checking for a new one of these is literally the first thing I do on Thursday mornings after I wake up. The time in between this and the last one was HORRIBLE I TELL YOU. Maybe some people have just forgotten what happened and need to re-read it, or, the more likely reason, the awesomeness has just left everyone speechless. Yeah, that's probably it.
I love these enough for everyone anyway.
:D
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-15 09:33 pm (UTC)jumping in here, just to add my puzzlement. these are so good. it's like the afterstory you always wanted on that book you love. really hope it picks up, that people realise what they're missing, that they realise they are missing something, and that you keep going as long as you feel there is stuff to story on.
the awesome that is SDWAY deserves it.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-09 07:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-15 04:27 pm (UTC)Thank you for commenting!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-09 08:52 am (UTC)Yuuya must have some reservations over Kame's feelings for Jin. It was made obvious with the double-meaning questions over an innocent cup of coffee. This vacation should have cleared things up for Yuuya.
I was sad to read about Taka-chan, though. He was a good hamster. R.I.P.
*sorry about my all-over-the-place comment. It's just, I missed this 'verse so much, I had to hurry commenting so I could read the fic again. XD
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-15 04:27 pm (UTC)We daresay Yuuya already had a pretty good idea that things were good between Jin and Kame - after all it's been over a year now that they've been together. He'd have been a lot more wary during the first few months. :)
We are sorry about Taka-chan... >_>
Hey, no problem, we like your comments in any shape! :D Thank you, and happy re-reading!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-09 09:46 am (UTC)I really love how talented you are in writing and building up your characters and still keeping them consistent.
I really enjoyed this extra story!
:)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-15 04:27 pm (UTC)despite the dead hamster. Thank you for letting us know! <3(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-09 04:52 pm (UTC)- i read this yesterday, but knew i wouldn't have time to comment. tried to get back to it earlier today. interruptions. am trying again, and ohhhhhh.
- *inelegantjawdrop* for MOI? [ha, goosegirl2 - serves me right for mixing my ID's, lol. but am sticking with sn4 here, as it's FIC STUFF. so..]. i spotted the hamster first time around, and flailed suitably. but thot, nah, they wouldn't. not yet. but you did. YOU DID. wow. thank you kindly ladies. am honoured. it's lovely. really. and this one [too] was a flapping corner.
this will be a rather random mash-up of thinking, but i) i like how you kept yuuya quite ambiguous. cautious. tego is a difficult character for me, beyond the simplistic categorising he can get stuck with. so i'm glad. it took me a few minutes to re-set koki in his place in the SDWAY universe. i haven't re-read it, but that things are so vivid still,despite a really wacky year, shows something of the impact of your writing. *blows confetti your way*. so yuuya, and koki, still both kind of doing their thing. and koki, canny, playing the peacebroker for kame where probably he would never have revisited this. but then again, yuuya is jin's friend.
tbh, i found i was blocking the past images of the horror-show that was that time in the club. especially jin, because it was the worst for him, from my memory, and he took it, whereas yuuya got the 'out'. so, yes, naked in the onsen ->definitely more than awkward for kame. yuuya's comment after re: a good actor - yup, he knows just what he's doing, and what he wants to be reassured about.
and i know i should be flailing more on the hamsters, but, have to run again - will be back... [so sry]
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-11 07:27 am (UTC)-- the 'this is done' feel between these two came well through - at least this bit. glad for them, and jin. corner no longer flapping for sure. ^^
to the HAMSTER ---
we apologize for working from a realistic expectation of the life span of your average hamster, and point out that this story is set a year and a half after the end of SDW
it was hard *sniffs*, and not reading the a/n till the 2nd time around had me, ahhh, then nooo, then ohhh.. so yeah T____T, but i'm being the better man here, and sucking it up. [refer to gg2 'eek inducing' - all things pale in comparison - rl v fic shock].
this was just lovely and squishy having their mentions. and love the implied kame/yuuya building brick. via jin. even if teensy. long live hamster love ^___________________^.
thank you once more, miladies XDDDD
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-15 04:27 pm (UTC)Yes, Yuuya and Koki are still doing their thing. *g* And Yuuya is by now at least willing to engage with Kame again and give him some benefit of the doubt. He's got to figure that if Jin and Kame had problems, he'd have noticed by now from the way Jin acted. He's still cautious, he has known psycho assholes before who had 'nice' phases, but we're sure Kame can slowly redeem himself there. Over the next decade or so. ;)
We're sorry about the hamster. It all seemed very logical while we were planning it, but we confess we were at the end a little ... surprised just how precisely a hamster request turned into *this* story. >_> We're glad you like it anyway! :DDD ♥
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-15 09:42 pm (UTC)this. awesome, and i wish i could have said it earlier. <3
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-16 11:18 pm (UTC)I love the way Kame and Jin are completely at ease with each other now, they've been through so much and for a while even when things were good, there were always those little things that made one or both of them feel awkward, or made Kame tense >_< And that was all awesome and made everything realistic but it's really nice to see that none of that is about their relateionship anymore!
The hamster!!! I'm glad that Taka-chan had a good life and that, by the sounds of it, Kame still got to see her from time to time :) I think just the idea that Yuuya is ok with Kame being involved in his hamsters' lives is a good sign, it shows that he doesn't entirely dis-trust Kame!
But...he, of course, won't ever be able to see Kame as a friend I think. Yuuya is an interesting character, from the few snippets of his history you've given us, it sounds like he's been through a lot and learned some hard lessons from it. So while we know what Kame is thinking, and we know that his feelings for Jin are genuine, I think it'll take a lot more than a weekend away and witnessing some Kame/Jin cuddling for Yuuya to be able to see past the Kame he saw that time.
I love the way you wrote Yuuya ♥ I love the way he's wise beyond his years with life lessons, and that he can be so self-assured despite all that he's experienced. If there's one character I would have loved to find out more about it's definitely Yuuya
ok...and Tatsuya tooMy favourite scene has to be the Kame/Yuuya morning conversation. '"I've sometimes wondered what it's like if you're a good actor," Yuuya says, looking at him evenly. "If you end up doing that in real life too. If it's easier to get someone to like you, because you can just play someone who is nice."' This line. This what I love about Yuuya! I think my heart stopped for a moment >_< And Kame...Kame's response, I was so proud of the way he handled it, with how cautious he still is around Yuuya I was a little worried he might shrink away from the pressure, but it's good that he held his own, I don't mean in a hostile way, just, that he kept his cool.
I love the dynamic between Jin and Tanaka too! It still feels strange to me that the man that was once a potential client to Jin, someone he might have even tried flirting with/seducing back then if he had the confidence to, is now his boss. I like the way that still makes Jin anxious around him sometimes too, and how Tanaka knows it and likes teasing him with it.
I think this may even be my favourite of the ficlets yet ♥ everything about it was perfect! It's great to see Kame and Jin doing so well, and Tanaka and Kame/Jin and Yuuya still keeping up good friendships and of course Kame and Yuuya getting a little closer without some unrealistic 'You were petting his hair so I automatically forgive you for everything I've thought was wrong with you for the past 2 years' kinda scene.
Thank you so much for this incredible world you've created, I don't want this to end T_T
I have no story appropriate icon to use so...it's JunDa again. Also sorry for the long comment, I got a little excited(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-22 10:50 am (UTC):D Yes, it was about time they found a good balance and nobody (KAME! *cough*) worries constantly about putting a foot wrong. At least not with Jin. And Kame is very proud to be involved in Taka-chan's and any other hamster's life. ;)
Yuuya is quite reluctant to trust Kame, but the evidence against his instincts is mounting and mounting. *g* But yes, you're right, he's been through a lot and seen a lot and he doesn't trust easily, particularly somebody whom he's seen in psycho-mode. Plus he feels very protective of Jin. We're happy you like Yuuya, he was a surprise to us in the story, because initially his role was supposed to be quite minor. *g*
The morning conversation was the crucial scene in this story, so we're very pleased that that packed some punch. :)
It still feels strange to me that the man that was once a potential client to Jin, someone he might have even tried flirting with/seducing back then if he had the confidence to, is now his boss.
Oh yes! Well, Jin is probably used enough to it by now that he doesn't think so much about it any more, he sees the guy on a regular basis now and he never had that much to do with him in the club. But it's just as well that they never got together in the club because that would have been... awkward. >_>
Thank you for this lovely comment, it really made us happy! We're very glad you enjoyed it! ♥
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-18 05:03 am (UTC)Anyway, this was lovely. Absolutely lovely. I actually cheered when Jin asked Kame for a blow job. (Which seems like a weird thing to cheer about, but...come on! It's Jin. And Kame.) I mean, I know it’s been like a year and a half since he quit “the profession,” but it’s just so nice to hear, Jin wanting things, asking for them unabashedly, with that eager little puppy dog enthusiasm he has sometimes. And I love the thing about how Jin always used to wake with a start but he doesn’t anymore. It just shows how all the layers of trauma (from the job, from losing his family, from living on the street) are slowly but surely washing away. Jin had a lot of conscious defenses for a long time, and he gave those up one by one as he fell in love with Kame, but the unconscious ones tend to stick around longer. I think it’s very realistic to think that he would still be shedding those after this much time has passed. (And so nice to see it working! ;)
I’ve always liked Yuuya’s character in the Deep Water-verse—sort of the perfect ironic blend of sweetness and shrewdness, which made him both interesting in his own right and a great foil for Jin (who always had a certain innocence about him, despite everything he’d seen and been through. He never really got tough from it, stayed sweet on the inside even if he learned to hide that vulnerability on the outside, which is almost the opposite of Yuuya). I totally get why he stayed wary of Kame for so long even after Jin came to trust him, but I really like seeing him willing to revise that opinion. Not like he and Kame will ever be the best of friends necessarily, but he makes a very logical calculation here—that if Kame’s niceness is the act and the crazy is the reality, he’s really going to extreme lengths to hide the crazy. While Jin was eventually moved to trust Kame because of the kindness Kame showed him and what his gut feeling about that told him, Yuuya’s changing opinion is based on rational judgment and detached observation. I like that. Jin should hang onto him. (Not that he’ll need to be protected from Kame again, but Yuuya’s indifferent rationality might come in handy elsewhere in life.)
I also love the fact that in this story we don’t see the two of them (Jin and Kame) stressing out about or around each other, but together, about other things. Team stressing. The situation is awkward for both of them (mainly Kame, but Jin too sort of by association) for reasons that are outside their relationship and that don’t pose any risk to it—so we just see them sort of leaning on each other and commiserating about it rather than fretting separately. It’s a very couple-ish feeling, and I really like getting to see more of that after all those months of them growing closer while still separated by “how close is too close” questions. (On that note, Jin and Kame in the onsen = love. So sweet.)
And I loved the bit about the dinosaurs. (Nice velociraptor indeed… ;)
Looking forward to the next one! ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-22 10:51 am (UTC)I actually cheered when Jin asked Kame for a blow job. (Which seems like a weird thing to cheer about, but...come on! It's Jin. And Kame.)
Not weird at all! Well, coming from us. Which might be damning in itself. >_> But we looked forward to writing that too. Maybe hard to believe after all the crap we threw at Jin, but for ages even while writing the story, we were looking forward to Jin finally getting over most of his baggage, including the sex baggage, and Kame has been very helpful there too, so... yes. :D
Your analysis of Yuuya (and Yuuya vs Jin) is really excellent and makes us very pleased. And we're glad that his gradual thaw towards Kame seems to work! :-) He really doesn't have any of Jin's innocence (or suckerdom, depending on POV), but he's also not a fanatic who can't be persuaded by evidence. Like you say, rational judgment based on detached observation. :-) And this weekend comes on top of a good chunk of time where Jin generally seemed happy and thriving, and not like a guy who's got an emotionally abusive asshole boyfriend back at home.
Jin will totally hang on to Yuuya! We wondered, for a little bit, if he would, because he cut out the club part of his life so thoroughly otherwise, but when it came to it, Jin wasn't going to give up on one of his closest friends.
LOL team stressing! But yes, that is a great observation. The tension is no longer between them but imposed from outside, and they are a united front. Couples, indeed! :) And it really helps that by now they can just talk about stuff like whether Yuuya hates Kame and it's not the Taboo Subject of Awkward. >_>
We think 'nice velociraptor' is a perfect description for Yuuya in the club: he plays cute and he doesn't set out to hurt anybody, but Do Not Cross Him or the teeth come out.
Thank you for this great comment! ♥