Love Episodes - Episode B: Queer as folk

[yoru-no-hikaru.livejournal.com]

Pairing: KinKi Kids
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Don't own KinKi Kids, or anything JE-related
Warnings: swearing, bit of sex talk
Multi-Chapter



Introduction: I'm not sure about the sitting when it comes to the time-line. Koichi must have been somewhat stable in his "self", so I think at least somewhere in 2003, maybe. But it doesn't really matter. Koichi's a guest in the Kansai show "Chichin Puipui". It's mainly a story that shows how difficult it is for different people to live together.

Notes: I know that this story is very one-sided, but somehow it just turned out this way. I can't help it. I might write something else that has a calmer and more ballanced atmpsphere (but no promises there). First off, this is based on Koichi's occasional "gay bashing" that he does completely out of the blue and for no apparent reason. But what really set me off and had me write this was a discussion I had lately about "This is how gay people have sex". How on earth would "straight" people know something like that? And why should there be any "special" kind of way (other than the obviously different physiques) for "them" to do it? Sorry, stuff like that just upsets me. I mean, it's not like all straight people do it the same. (Sorry, I'm ranting. I'll stop now. -_-  ) Just this: The names and according sexual orientation appointed in the fic were selected completely randomly.

Koichi took a sip from his coffee cup. He hadn’t exactly slept much the night before. Rehearsals had him pretty busy and then, after the recording of Domoto Kyoudai he’d been packed into the next best plane to go straight to Osaka. Tsuyoshi had offered to come with him, but he didn’t really have business there. Thus, they reasonably agreed that they wouldn’t see each other anyway and that Tsuyoshi could get started on his solo studio recordings instead of wasting his time in a random hotel room, wasting away. Still Koichi missed his partner. They had only just started to feel comfortable with each other again and there they had to separate for the entire weekend.

 

“Domoto-san,” a voice ripped Koichi out of his train of thoughts.

Koichi sighed. “Please,” he urged, trying to sound friendly and ignore the fact that he had said this at least a hundred times already, “I’d really appreciate it if you just called me Koichi. I don’t even really react to `Domoto-san´. It’s so… I don’t know – strange. I have to concentrate so much in order to realise when I’m being addressed.”

“I’ll get in trouble if I get too intimate with the guests,” the set manager told him.

Koichi sighed again. “It’s not getting intimate. I’m telling you, that is my work name. So, please…”

 

The guy looked sceptically at Koichi, who tried very hard to look like he didn’t want to strangle him as it was.

“Well, then,” the guy sighed, shrugging, “with your permission, Koichi-kun.”

Koichi nodded at him, feeling relieved.

“Oh, here are the questions,” the guy told him, handing him a small script. “I don’t think we’ll cover all of them. If you want anything scratched…”

 

“If you’ve stuck to the agency’s introductory instructions, there won’t be a problem,” Koichi told him, already putting the papers aside and instead taking another sip from his cup.

“Ano… You don’t even want to take a look?” the guy asked, confused.

“I prefer answering my questions spontaneously,” Koichi explained. “I’ll have more fun that way.”

“Well, that might be common in Tokyo. But we’re a local show, so…” the guy tried to reason, sounding worried.

 

“What’s with that,” Tsumi, the host, interrupted. “Are you bothering our guest, Kudo?”

“N-no, sir,” Kudo stuttered nervously.

“He was merely showing me the plot of the show,” Koichi explained, smiling so sweetly it felt disturbing.

“Well, fine, then,” Tsumi scoffed. “But don’t bother him with your chit-chat stuff.”

“Yes, sir,” Kudo kept muttering, bowing nervously as he retreated, “I mean, no, sir. I… Ano… Yoroshiku, Koichi-kun.”

 

Koichi acknowledged him with a small wave of his hand, nodding politely.

“Right, now,” Tsumi urged agitatedly, “get going already. Don’t you have some more things to do?”

As soon as Kudo was lost in the crowd of people running about randomly, Tsumi sighed.

“I’m sorry,” the show host directed at Koichi, “if he bothered you in any way.”

“No such thing,” Koichi assured him, still smiling, looking more relaxed. “He is very attentive.”

 

“Yes,” Tsumi mumbled, licking his lips. “Very much so. He got too familiar again too.”

Koichi blinked at first, but then just waved his hand dismissively. “Oh, that’s okay. I told him that I prefer being called by my first name.”

“Oh, I see,” Tsumi mused.

“Domoto-san is just strange,” Koichi explained.

“That’s very well,” the host nodded. “But still you should not encourage him.”

Koichi blinked again. “Sorry?”

 

“Well… look, you should be careful about him,” Tsumi explained, lowering his voice slightly.

“What do you mean?” Koichi asked, suddenly feeling anxious.

“Look, I don’t want to freak you now,” Tsumi tried to soothe him, but that only added to Koichi’s distress.

“What is it?”

“Well, he is… you know… like that,” Tsumi explained lowly.

“Eh?” Koichi asked, totally confused. “He’s like what?”

 

“Oh, you know…” Tsumi tried again, licking his lips nervously. “He’s… the special kind.”

When Koichi simply kept blinking at him Tsumi sighed. “Well, he’s… he likes guys.”

The last few words hit Koichi like brick stones. He went totally rigid, trying to stay calm and remaining a foremost “straight” appearance – whatever that might be.

“Oh,” Koichi voiced, trying to sound surprised.

Then he realised that maybe he was rather supposed to sound a bit grossed out, but knew it was too late and wasn’t even sure if he could act that plausibly, so he just left it as it was. Figuring that his best approach would be to fake complete ignorance he went for more information.

 

“Did he tell you, or…” Koichi tried hard to keep his voice even as he went on, “did he approach earlier guests?”

“Oh, no, no, no,” Tsumi immediately waved him off. “He is totally professional.”

His voice and reaction had Koichi question the accuracy of his words, but the singer left those doubts aside.

“But you never know,” Tsumi continued. “I mean, if you act casually about him, even asking to call you by your first name… he might just think you’re trying to give him a hint, you know.”

“A hint?”

Koichi blinked again.

 

“Yeah, you know, that’s how they do it,” Tsumi explained. “They give you little hints to tell you they’re interested. If you do that without realising it… he might get the wrong idea and, you know… try something.”

Koichi was seriously lucky that feeling worked up was appropriate in that situation, or else his cover would have been blown.

“Gay people do that?” he asked, voice sounding pressed.

“Yes, yes,” Tsumi nodded frantically. “When I found out that he’s like that I started to do research.”

 

Research? According to public standards homosexuality is a European disease that is only heard of via oversea's media. Give me a break…

 

“Research,” Koichi unconsciously mumbled out in disbelief.

“Yes, yes,” Tsumi confirmed. “It’s important to know what you’re dealing with. I mean, you never know, with people like that. And they’re sneaky folk.”

 

That’s because we have to be. People like you would probably lock us up together, so we can’t be a danger for society. Honestly, ignorance is… everywhere.

 

But somehow Koichi couldn’t help wanting to know what kind of information was out there about “his kind”, even though it already made him sick.

“How are they sneaky?” he asked. “You know, are there other things to be wary of?”

“Well,” Tsumi mused a bit, then nodded. “Oh yes, don’t wear a ring on your left middle finger. That’s an indicator.”

 

Eh? WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Honestly, who invents such bullshit? People must be seriously bored.

 

“I’ll be careful about that,” Koichi stated. “Gosh, I never knew.”

“Well, it’s not very common,” Tsumi told him. “But in your business you might be well-advised to keep a look around.”

“Probably,” Koichi returned shortly.

“Has nobody ever… I mean, don’t you know such people? At all?”

“Not that I’d know,” Koichi tried carefully.

“Oh, you might not have realised it,” Tsumi analysed. “Watch out more. You want to know when they are like that.”

“Definitely.”

 

So I can warn them about you.

 

“Well, I’ve developed a good eye,” the host continued.

Koichi blinked. “Eh?”

“Looking into the whole matter, I learned what to look for. I can detect them easily,” he told Koichi.

“Just by looking at them?” Koichi asked, sounding baffled, if for a very different reason than Tsumi would have thought.

“If you engage in the matter for a while, it’s easy to catch the patterns.”

 

Okay, I think I’m gonna be sick.

 

“See, I can tell you’re normal,”

 

I’m WHAT?!?!?!

 

“even though you keep doing that fanservice thing. You don’t have any mannerisms that fit.”

Not knowing what else to do Koichi laughed nervously. “Well, thank goodness.”

“But keep a watch on people around you,” Tsumi advised him. “You just might find something."

“Well,” Koichi mused. “If you don’t mind… I mean, since I’m here, do you know… anyone in the agency I should be wary of?”

“Ah, the Jimusho?” Tsumi asked, suddenly sounding nervous.

 

“Yes.”

“Well, that…”

“I’m not gonna use the information against anyone,” Koichi assured him. “I just really want to know. As you said…”

Tsumi sighed a bit. “Okay, well… Be careful with Higashiyama.”

 

Well, he’s an easy hit, at his age no thoughts of quitting the job and advancing to taking over the agency.

 

“Really?” Koichi tried to sound shocked.

“Yes, yes. Then, Joshima-kun,”

 

Miss.

 

“Nagano-kun,”

 

Hit.

 

“Ninomiya-kun,”

 

Miss.

 

“Takizawa-kun,”

 

Miss.

 

“Kamenashi-kun,”

 

Hit.

 

“Nishikido-kun.”

 

Miss.

 

“And that’s it?” Koichi asked when the host didn’t continue.

“As far as I can tell. I might have missed one or two as it is,”

 

Quite.

 

“but I’m absolutely positive about these guys.”

 

Well, your score isn’t too high.

 

“I’ll definitely be more careful now,” Koichi told him in a serious voice.

He couldn’t even take that guy seriously anymore, as disturbing as his views were.

“You should be,” Tsumi agreed. “Also about staff people.”

“Yeah,” Koichi mused. “Just thinking… I mean, when you come to a set you’ll have someone for your clothes, make-up people… just thinking that a guy like that would feel me up…”

“I can absolutely understand you there,” Tsumi told him.

“Yeah, totally gross,” Koichi nodded.

 

“Not to mention, you never know what they might give you…”

At that Koichi tensed again. He just nodded at that.

“I mean… they know absolutely no restraints. They just take everything they want, but don’t care much about being safe. Shit, they don’t even care about consent. Really, I’ve heard this from a colleague who once had to sleep at a friend’s place and he kind of heard… They just… you know, put it in and do their business…”

 

Koichi felt seriously sick.

“Even though the other doesn’t want it?”

“It’s all about who is in,” Tsumi explained to him. “My colleague told me all about it. I mean, nobody would really want to… you know, get it, right? So, if you want it, you just take it and the other will let you – so he can have a go later.”

 

“That is…” Koichi simply couldn’t find another word to express his current feelings, “disgusting.”

“I know,” Tsumi sighed. “But well, it’s not exactly illegal, so there’s little you can do but keep a look around.”

 

Koichi just nodded absentmindedly. A new reality had just crushed down on him – the way in which other people saw… well, him. Never before had he so stingingly felt the fact that when people talked about “queers” they were actually talking about him. All the stupid and totally irrational ideas that people had. That gay men acted girlish, carried diseases, fucked around, didn’t even ask for consent, wore stupid rings, could be detected by sight. All of these ridiculous ideas were very real and in “normal” people’s heads. And sitting there in his chair and waiting for his call onto the show Koichi felt that the thought was certainly disturbing – but not nearly as much as it was scary.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________


Okay, done. Phew. I really let some of my own tension out with this one. Sorry if it's disturbing to some people, but it's a reality that people are confronted this way and to me that is just wrong. One of my friends is gay and I'm having trouble at home concerning that, as even in my family some people have some rather harsh views on that. As far as I'm concerned, I say: Make love. So long as both parties paricipate willingly and are happy with what they have, how is it wrong? Okay, now I'll definitely stop ranting. And next up will be happier chapters. I'm already looking forward to the You story-line. Thanks for reading. ^_^