Love wo Produce - Chapter 1: A Dog's Life

[yoru_no_hikaru]

Pairing: Shuji to Akira (Pikame)
Characters: Kusano Akira (Yamashita Tomohisa), Kiritani Shuji (Kamenashi Kazuya), Mr. Honeybutt, OC, probably others
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Don't own them, just love them ^^
  --> Add: I don't think I can be accurate about any kind of accent, so please just take it as it is. It means nothing in particular, I just had that idea.
--> Add 2: I realize that the title is totally not original. I've debated with myself and thought about it for a very long time, but in the end I decided that this story has to have exactly this title. I'm pretty sure that something like this is probably out there already. Be assured that it's not my intension to steal - I just wasn't able to find a better one.
Setting: drama
Warnings: Probably a chaotic story-line
Multi-Chapter

Notes: To my dearest yukitsubute , I hope you enjoy it. <3

Intro: Let's take a look at what life is like for Shuji and Akira after school's out and they're starting their lives as students at university. Are they still stuck together?


~ “Hey, let’s live together.”

“Eh? Oh… okay.” ~

________________________________________________________________________________________

“Whatever was I thinking?” Shuji grumbled out in an annoyed voice. “To agree to this? Living together…”

“Well, you agreed anyway,” Akira merely shrugged.

“But not…” Shuji bit his lip. Then he sighed, shaking his head. “Look, I know you’re always a bit… well, special and I’ve kind of learned to live with it. But there are lines, you know.”

“I totally don’t see what’s wrong with this,” Akira pouted. “Give me one good explanation and he will go.”

“Okay,” the younger man stated, “how about that thing is bigger than the couch in here?”

“Hey,” Akira complained, “he’s got feelings, you know.” He petted the dog that was lying half on his lap half on the floor. “And his name is Mr. Honeybutt.”

Shuji took another good look at the animal that was occupying the bigger part of their shared living room. He wasn’t an expert with dogs, so he couldn’t tell what kind it might have been. He did see, though, that it was a huge specimen with long black fur that was filthy and smelled bad.

“You cannot simply pick a stray dog from the street and bring it here,” Shuji insisted. “It’s huge, it’s… filthy.”

“We can wash him,” Akira argued.

“Yes, and feed him and walk him,” Shuji counted, rolling his eyes. He could see the other’s face falling. “Look,” he tried to reason. “This flat is just too small. We’re merely two students and I already have trouble supplying myself, let alone such a big dog.”

“I’ll pay for him,” the older one tried once more.

“Akira,” Shuji said, a smile coming to his face, “try to be reasonable. If you like him, why don’t you find a good place for him to stay?”

“Why can’t he stay here?”

“We can’t take care of him. Think about it. We’re rarely here anyway. He’d be lonely.”

Akira bit his lip. Then he nodded. “Okay.”

“Listen,” Shuji suggested, “why don’t we take him down to the restaurant and ask Miyagi-san to take care of him for a while? He’s got a yard and I’m sure he’ll have leftovers he can give the dog too. And we’ll try to find someone to take him in for good.”

“Right, let’s do that,” Akira agreed, getting up.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

“Oh, d’evening,” Miyagi greeted Shuji and Akira as they opened the door to the small restaurant at the corner of the street.

“Hi, Miyagi-san,” Akira chirped happily.

The next second the restaurant owner yelped in surprise as a huge dog followed the two young men into his rooms.

“What’s this?” he asked, eyes wide.

“Er…” Shuji mumbled.

“This is Mr. Honeybutt,” Akira explained. “We found him in one of the backstreets. He was all alone and didn’t have anywhere to go. We’d love to keep him, but… well, it’s difficult.”

“We wanted to ask if maybe it would be okay to leave him here,” Shuji cut in. “Just for a few days. We want to find someone to take care of him.”

Miyagi eyed the dog sceptically.

“He’s really sweet,” Akira explained. “And there’s not much to do either.”

“If maybe you can just feed him,” Shuji requested, “and let him stay in the yard. Just for a little bit?”

“Well,” Miyagi pondered. Then he sighed. “Okay, fine. I jus’ can’t letcha guys down on anything. Why dontcha take him to the yard, Akira-kun?”

The young man nodded eagerly. “Thank you.”

“Thank you so much,” Shuji stated as well, bowing slightly.

“Ah, s’okay,” Miyagi waved him off. “He looks cute, really. If me wash him, maybe me sista’ll take him.”

Shuji blinked. “Really?”

“Her’s lookin’ for a good pet for her two kids, ya know. They don’ live in the urbans, ya know. They have quite a lota space. Maybe her’ll like him.”

“That would be wonderful,” Shuji beamed. “She can re-name him too.”

Miyagi merely nodded at him, a broad smile on his face. “So, you guys wanna have dinner?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Shuji muttered. “Aren’t you still closed?”

“Ah, me have to get the stove heated up now anyway,” Miyagi stated. “You can be my first guests tonight. Guests come more easily if there are already people in.”

“I see,” Shuji nodded. “Then, will we get payment for earning you customers?”

“Me’ll make you a special price for the house dish, how ‘bout that,” Miyagi suggested.

“Great. Thank you so much, Miyagi-san. Ever since we moved here you’ve always been kind to us.”

“Well, young students need support,” Miyagi shrugged, as he started to rumble around in his kitchen. “And yous two are very neat guys too. Not like many of them who come in and don’t even greetcha properly. Well, it’s them rich kids, ya know. They think me’s scum.”

Shuji laughed slightly at that. “Akira is a very rich kid too,” he told the man.

“Eh?!” Miyagi made.

Shuji merely nodded. “His family is very rich. But somehow… he wants to do this in his very own way - like so many other things. He’s working hard for the university’s scholarship, even though his parents could easily afford the entire fee.”

“See, him’s a decent guy,” Miyagi stated.

“He is,” Shuji agreed with a nod. “He’s kind too. He found that dog on the street and simply took it in.”

“S’good to have such friends,” the restaurant keeper stated.

He was already roaming through his kitchen madly, collecting this or than, cutting things up, putting fresh pots on his stove.

Shuji nodded again. “To think that at first I didn’t even want to be friends with him…”

“Why not?”

“Well, you know,” Shuji explained. “I met him some time in Junior High. And he was like… a total weirdo. Wherever he went people’s heads would be turning, because he… well, he’s very special. Back then the one thing I wanted the most was to be liked by everybody. Being popular seemed like the most important thing. I even tried to hide that we’re close once we started to hang out. Actually, I wonder why he liked me at all. He was the only person I never talked to in public. But somehow we really became friends. He is a very reliable person and when my family had to move because of my dad’s job he followed me. Thinking back I’m really grateful for that. I don’t think I would have been strong enough back then… to keep on track. Today I’m very happy that we’re friends.”

“And yous two go to university together,” Miyagi added, putting a handful of noodles in a pot of boiling water.

“Well, we’re not studying the same things,” Shuji explained. “But we’re on the same campus. That’s why it’s handy to live together. It’s cheaper and we can share costs for food and stuff too. It’s working much better than I expected.”

“Why dontcha get your friend back here?” Miyagi suggested. “Me’s almost done.”

“Okay,” Shuji nodded. Then he considered the man once more. “Ah, Miyagi-san.”

“Hm?”

“I, er… can you please keep to yourself what I just told you? Somehow… it would be embarrassing. You know, if you told him anything about that.”

Miyagi merely waved him off. “S’okay. Me hears many stories every day. I like them too. Many stories are good stories. Me never tells them.”

Shuji sighed in relief. “Okay, thank you.”

With that he ran off towards the backyard. Miyagi smiled fondly as he heard the young man shouting through the house.

“Oi, Akira. Come back here, you overgrown child. We get… Oh my god, what have you been doing? You look like - no don’t touch me, you’re covered in mud. Are you mad?! Do you know how hard it is to - AAAAAHHHHHHRGH!!!!!!”

Miyagi jumped slightly at the cry. A moment later the two young men came back in. Akira had his pants and shirt stained in mud and Shuji looked like he had gotten some of that as well, small stains covering his clothes. He also looked like he wanted to kill his friend.

“Hey, come on, now,” Akira complained. “It was just fun.”

“I said don’t touch me and you just had to jump on,” Shuji complained, taking a seat, but not looking at the other.

“I was happy to see you,” Akira offered.

“Well, it’s gonna be some time now until you’ll be happy to see me again,” the younger man pouted.

“Yous two eat your soup,” Miyagi ordered, putting two big bowls on the counter.

“Thank you, Miyagi-san,” Shuji sighed, but a small smile tugged on his lips.

“Yes, thank you,” Akira agreed eagerly. “Oh, this looks totally yummy. Itadakimasu!”

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Shuji sighed as he got back into the living room.

“I think they’re gonna be okay,” he stated. “I used that special cleaner my mum gave me. We’ll probably have to wash everything twice, though.”

“It’s okay,” Akira stated. “If some stains remain, we just use them as play clothes.”

“Why would we need play clothes?” Shuji asked pointedly.

“Duh,” Akira made, making a face. “For play, or course.”

“Of course,” Shuji smiled, shaking his head. He sat down next to the other on the sofa, who moved quickly to give him more space. “You really like that dog, don’t you?” he asked.

“Ah, it’s okay,” Akira stated. “I’ll visit Mr. Honeybutt while he’s staying with Miyagi-san.”

“What’s with that name?” Shuji laughed.

“What about it?” Akira asked, blinking. “I think it’s cute.”

“Well… okay,” Shuji shrugged.

“You like him too,” Akira dared him.

“Well… maybe he could be cute,” the younger man admitted. “If you bathe him. And brush his fur and keep him clean. But we could not keep him, even then.”

“I know,” the other answered with a nod. “I’m also a bit happy.”

At that Shuji turned his head a bit to blink at the other. “Huh?”

“Well,” Akira stuttered, biting his lip nervously and Shuji noticed the slight blush in his face. “It feels a bit like you want me entirely to yoruself.”

And then, without a warning, suddenly Akira moved, a hand cupping Shuji’s face and his lips brushing the other’s softly. Shuji’s eyes popped open wide. He was frozen in his place, not even able to grasp what was happening. When he did realize what the situation really was he panicked, but yet he didn’t move. Too many things were spinning around in his head. Why on earth was Akira kissing him? Was it for real? Was it a joke? If it was a joke, was he supposed to laugh? If it wasn’t a joke, was he supposed to respond? What if he pushed the other back? Would it be bad? Because he was completely at a loss as of what to do he merely remained there, sitting, not doing anything. Finally Akira retreated a bit, looking at him nervously.

“I… I’m kissing you,” he stated simply.

“You… yeah,” Shuji mumbled.

“And?”

“And… what?”

“Well, I mean… I’m kissing you and… and you do nothing,” Akira shrugged. “Now I don’t know… what you’re thinking. Is it okay? Is it not okay?”

Shuji bit his lip. “I don’t know… what you expect me to do,” he stated simply. “I mean, you just do that out of the blue. Why did you do that? Is it a joke?”

At that Akira stared at him. For a second he looked smashed, but then he blinked and the expression was gone.

“Do you want it to be a joke?” the older one asked warily.

“I want to know what you meant by it?” Shuji demanded.

“Well, I meant that I like you,” Akira shrugged. “I’m sorry, I thought I was clear about what I meant… I mean, I applied at the same university, I arrange my schedule to match yours, I asked you to live together. I mean, it’s not like we’d really have anything in common. The moment we separate we’re like strangers. We don’t even have shared friends. We never go out together when we meet other people. We’re not on the same studies. Aside all of that, I asked if you want to live together. What did you think I meant?”

“Shared rent?” Shuji blurted out.

Akira sat back further, considering the other. He blinked several times, tilting his head one way, then the other. Then, finally, he shrugged.

“Oh, okay,” he said with a nod. “Sorry I gave it too much gravity. I thought we meant the same thing. Well, don’t think too much of it, okay?” He clasped his friend’s shoulder. “I hope I didn’t freak you out too much. I didn’t ruin you, or anything?”

“Huh?” Shuji asked, yet again confused. The other’s attitude kept changing too quickly for him to follow. “Oh, er… no. I… it’s okay.”

“Oh, good,” Akira sighed in relief.

“Is it… okay for you?” the younger man asked warily.

“Oh, of course,” Akira nodded. “It’s cool. We’re friends, right?”

“Right.”

“Okay, I feel like a cherry popper now,” Akira decided. “Want some?”

Shuji once again blinked at him. “Ano… yeah, that would be nice.”

“Okaa~y,” the older one chirped as he jumped up and hopped out and into the kitchen.

Shuji sank back into the sofa, eyes still wide, head still spinning.

What on earth is happening here?!

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First chapter. ^_^ I hope you like it. LOL! Akira's all "I'd totally do you, but it's okay if you don't wanna" and Shuji's like O_o  This is going to be very interesting. Thank you so much for reading, everybody! <3

PS: LJ won't let me set the header for some reason.  T________T  Will try again later. YAYS, header! \(^o^)/