247 lbs of Love: The Liar’s Game: Second Lie
Three simple rules, thirty short days
Title: 247 lbs of Love: The Liar’s Game
Summary: Jin, Yamashita and Ryo made a bet that Jin couldn’t get into Kame’s pants within a month. Stubbornly, Jin accepted the challenge; what he couldn’t accept were the feelings that came along with it. After all, the third rule was that it was Kame’s job to fall in love; not his
Genre: Romance/Drama
Pairings: Akame (main) [Jin/Kame], mentions of Ryoda [Ryo/Ueda] and Tomapi [Yamashita/Toma]
Other Characters: KAT-TUN, Ryo, Yamashita
Content: Romance, drama, light humor, inevitable angst, major Kokame friendship, slightly cruel plot?
Author: Nerd-san
Disclaimer: I am not in any way affiliated with Johnny Entertainment
247 lbs of Love: The Liar’s Game: Second Lie
The Liar’s Game: Second Lie
Rule 1: No one is to know about any of this being a game
Rule 2: If anyone is to find out about the lies, the game is over
Rule 3: You, by no means, are to fall in love with your victim
“Hey Kame,” Jin smiled charmingly in his friend’s direction as the latter only quirked a curious eye. What was Jin doing?
Kame wasn’t used to having Jin come early, for one, and secondly it wasn’t as if the latter had tried to put much of an effort into rekindling their friendship since what had happened two years ago. They weren’t on bad terms exactly, but they weren’t the best of friends at the moment.
“Oh…Jin,” he seemed to be mentally debating whether or not the figure in front of him had really been Jin. Finally he settled with a small, “G’morning.” Kame greeted the other man reluctantly, closing the door behind him.
Jin’s hand, however, beat him to the knob and overshadowed Kame’s smaller one. Kame fell motionless. What was Jin doing? His heart began to pick up its pace rapidly, and as soon as his senses had returned to him, Kame pushed Jin’s hand off of his own.
This wasn’t like Jin. At least not the Jin Kame knew now. The Jin that had barely spared him a passing glance in the studio, the Jin that hadn’t cared to give him a second chance since…
“Jin what the hell do you think-”
“I missed this.” Jin interjected, dismally bringing the cast off hand down to his sides. Kame’s back was still to Jin and he had very reluctantly turned around to face the older man, searching his eyes for falsehood.
In turn, Jin looked directly into Kame’s eyes in search of any remorse. He thought he had spotted a hint and that fact alone was enough to have him continue his terms. Jin wasn’t even sure what he was saying anymore; the only thought that ran through him was as it had been since yesterday.
This is just a game.
Jin sighed as he stepped back to give the smaller man some room. “I missed you, Kame.”
Kame’s eyes widened at the words and he looked back at Jin. Had Jin just said what he thought he had? It can’t be, Kame thought, this isn’t something he’d say. Not anymore, anyway.
Kame bit his lips and cast his stare off to the side. “It’s not like I’ve gone anywhere.” He settled on saying, now nervously walking into the room, dumping his bag on a nearby bench. “We see each other everyday.”
Jin defiantly shook his head and began to advance towards his band mate, his friend. The only words fitting to describe Kame at the moment were vulnerable, weak, dishearten. He looked like a lost child desperately trying to find his was back into civilization, into sanity. All the things Jin had always deprived him of.
Jin propped himself next to the younger man on the bench now so their shoulders were very lightly brushing one another. Kame refused to meet his eyes but Jin continued to remain seated as he was.
So he wasn’t speaking the full truth. So maybe a thing or two he had said had been a lie. But it was a game; it didn’t matter.
“I’ve missed this. I’ve missed us. Can’t we go back to the way things were?” At least Jin’s soft words held some truth to them this time. In actuality he had missed Kame, the sweet Kame who would smile at him regardless, the lovable Kame who would be there for him when no one else would.
“Jin,” Kame sighed, hoping to sound nonchalant. But he knew that deep inside somewhere his heart was pounding to the point wherein he wouldn’t be surprised if Jin could hear. “It’s not my fault we’ve become what we are now.”
“I know; that’s why I want you to give me another chance.”
Kame looked averse, seemingly caught between a rock and a hard spot. No matter how dearly he had wanted to wedge himself free from Jin’s gentle words, they had sparked something in him. He too had wanted to go back to how they were before.
But Jin had hurt him once before; he could easily do it again. But it wasn’t intentional. Jin didn’t mean it. He just spoke the truth, that time. It was Kame, the helpless Kame, who couldn’t handle it. He shook his head. It wasn’t Jin’s fault. Not entirely.
Kame looked down at his now sweating palms with a lowered head. Words weren’t something you played with. No matter how meaningless you think they sounded. They had already learned that.
But looking at Jin now, really looking at him, he seemed to mean what he said. He gnawed his lips, nervously hacking away at the flesh and Kame felt his hand beginning to shake.
He had promised himself to never let his guard down again and in time even managed to build a sort of wall around himself, protecting him from everything that dared to penetrate it. But Jin was an exception. Jin was always an exception. And Kame hated himself for that.
He felt his head slowly, painfully slowly, nodding. “We could try...”
Jin’s eyes lit up and immediately he shuffled his weight horizontally and threw his arms around Kame’s shoulders, dragging the younger man into himself. “You won’t regret it!” He inhaled Kame’s familiar citrus scent, smiling. “I promise!”
Empty promises.
“Don’t promise me anything, Jin.” He mumbled into the latter’s chest before pulling away. “We’ve always been and we’ll always be friends.” Kame stood up and much to his luck it was at the same time Ueda had walked through the door.
He hesitantly glanced at Jin and then Kame and then back, raising an eyebrow in question. “Am I interrupting something?” Their leader asked, genuinely concerned about giving the two their privacy.
Upon receiving Kame’s furious head shake, Ueda nodded and walked in the room casually chatting away with the relieved Kame. Jin watched the exchange of words and noticed how thankful Kame seemed to be for the distraction.
Jin didn’t know why he was truly saddened by this fact; it wasn’t as if he would be telling Kame these things had it not been for the bet. He could care less for the $247.00; it was his smugness that was on the line. Akanishi Jin did not lose.
Minutes later the rest of the band came bustling in, Jin having to endure their taunting remarks as to why he wasn’t the last one to show up for once. He pouted in his outrageous way and Kame watched his exchange of conversation from the corner of his eyes where he remained seated with the rapper now sitting next to him.
He glanced wistfully at the seat; Jin was just sitting here…
“Kame!”
Kame blinked out of his thoughts and turned to face an excited Jin at the other end of the studio. He looked like a child, Kame concluded. His cheeks were stained red with a flustered laughter and he chewed on his thumbnail uncertainly. Kame held in a stiffed chuckle.
Jin didn’t make any notions to move but instead continued to yell across the room. “Kame! Let’s go out for dinner!” The younger’s mouth fell open at the suddenness of the comment and was reluctant on closing it. He felt like a fish; his mouth hung open, unclosed yet gaping in shock.
“Come on!” Jin persisted much to everyone’s attention and Kame’s personal embarrassment. “We promised to try to get to know each other better! Kame-”
“Shut up and I’ll consider it…” Kame mumbled to himself, rubbing a weary eye with his hand. He felt his heart picking up speed again and hurried to excuse himself from the room.
He whisked past a frowning Jin and a concerned Nakamaru but nonetheless continued out of the dressing room with his excuse of needing the bathroom. KAT-TUN seemed to accept the justification and continued on with whatever it was before the morning’s activities.
The only person who saw right through Kame’s façade was Koki and he too hurried to excuse himself. He saw that familiar hopeful glint in the younger man’s eyes. He knew what he was thinking.
He didn’t need to search for too long to find Kame; he never did. Kame was exactly where he thought him out to be; latched on rather cozily to the same staircase, sitting in the same position, staring blankly at something that seemed to exist only in his imagination.
Koki figured that Kame had probably sensed his presence, but even if he had, he hadn’t made any acknowledgement of doing so. Koki shrugged inwardly as he neared the figure.
“What was all that about?” He asked casually, a flat hand pressed against the wall as he leaned his weight against it. “Jin, I mean.” Kame looked lost and even partially dazed as he sat with frustrated hands running back and forth through his hair.
“I don’t know.”
Koki shook his head and held in his sigh. Kame was a fool for Jin. Koki knew this and Kame knew this. It was a closed topic between the two; it had been for years.
And the way Kame had seen it; it would always be a congested subject. Something that was just left as is; something that wasn’t meant to be touched.
Until now.
Koki knew of Kame’s unrequited feelings and it hurt him to watch his friend’s optimism crumble before him. No matter how much he tried to hide it, Kame was still human. Perhaps a tad more hardworking than most people, but nonetheless he had feelings, even if he chose to write them off.
His defenses were high; very high. Koki had silently stood and watched as this friend had built his own solace in the back of his mind. He was lucky to even know as much as he did about Kame.
He watched as Kame forcefully clamped his hands together in some sort of frustrated manner. “I don’t get him Koki.” Kame looked at the older man with an expression of such loss and hurt that Koki had to force himself to tear his gaze. He didn’t want to see Kame hurt like that. Not a second time.
“I can’t take it. My heart’s still breaking…I miss him even more now that he wants to be close again.” Kame ran a frustrated hand through his chocolate-colored tresses. “I can’t even pretend that I don’t care. I hate his guts Koki…but I love him. I never stopped loving him.”
The words were just coming out and Kame knew he couldn’t stop them anymore. He had kept them in too long and finally they were reaching the surface; reaching their limits. “I miss him. I missed him, I still miss him. Oh god Koki. I don’t know anymore.”
The rapper rubbed a weary eye. “If you ask me…it seems a little fishy.” He admitted shamefacedly. Kame looked up at him in confusion.
Koki blinked twice before realizing what he had just said. He coughed, “Ah - I mean it’s not that I don’t trust Jin; I do!” He automatically added while waving his two hands in front of his face to emit cooler air. “It’s just that it’s a little…random. Even for Bakanishi.”
At that statement, Kame could only give Koki a small nod of acknowledgement. It was true, after all. This was the Jin who had hardly spoken a word to Kame since his return.
With time they had become comfortable with each other again and even retained their status as friends. But that was all it was.
Friends.
They didn’t go out to dinner together. At least, not alone. It was always in the company of at least one other person but even those three-man outings were rare. The two hardly saw one another outside of work.
At first Kame simply assumed it was because Jin was still uncomfortable around him. But as time passed, their feelings of friendship had changed. Kame’s into something more and Jin’s…he wasn’t even sure.
All he was sure of was that one day when Yamashita had called to ask him about Jin’s whereabouts, Kame had no idea. And Kame always had an idea of where Jin was.
Perhaps that was when he had first come to realize that he and Jin were no longer what they once were. And he dearly regretted that. He wanted to know about Jin. He wanted to know more about Jin. That wasn’t the case, however.
But here was Jin, the Jin now, trying to patch things up. His eyes sparkled with a little hope as Kame couldn’t stop the smile from crawling onto his features. Koki chuckled a little and pushed himself off the wall. “Well you seem to be in a good mood.”
“He wants…we’re going out for dinner.”
Koki nodded, slowly processing the information. “You and Jin?”
Kame said nothing but the oversized smile he wore on his face was more than enough of an answer for Koki. Koki grunted and shrugged in disbelief, “your heart was probably ready to explode, but you were acting very unaffected back there.” It was Kame’s turn to lightly bob his shoulders.
“You should let yourself just be vulnerable sometimes.” Koki suggested lightly as he squatted down next to Kame. In response, Kame sighed flippantly and turned to Koki with his inexplicably quizzical stare. He looked at his friend as if he had just grown a second head.
Koki quickly waved off the thought physically with his hands as if dispelling the thought for good. “What I meant was that you’re always giving Jin a hard time when it comes to stuff like that. It’s not like he can exactly atone for everything, but at least it looks like he’s finally trying.”
Kame flinched gawkily when Koki placed an awkward hand on his shoulder, giving it a small pat. “You should give him another chance.” Kame complied with a hesitant nod. “It’s not like he knew what he was saying that day, you know. He’s Bakanishi after all.”
Kame flushed a deep scarlet but said nothing. He blankly stared at his sweaty hands and exhaled noisily. “I don’t know if I can see him as a friend, exactly…” Koki folded his hands across his chest sternly and gave Kame that look. “…but if he’s trying I can try too, right?”
“Alright!” The latter cheered merrily as he sprung himself up from his excruciating squat. He grinned down at Kame in his normally slyly manner before sticking his thumb in the baffled man’s direction. “Operation Bring Akame from the Dead has officially begun~”
Kame shot up from his seat at the mention of his and Jin’s nickname and after a moment of incredulity had passed, choked out the right words. “W-What are you talking about?” He jeered in playfully punched the older man. “I said I’m going to try to see him as a friend, Koki, friend.”
“But you love him.” Koki interjected.
Kame stubbornly shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“You love him and it does matter.” Koki frowned and even though he didn’t see Kame following behind him as they made their way around the halls of the building, he felt the younger man falling into his step. “Stop belittling your feelings.”
“I have no choice but to belittle my feelings.” Kame sighed rather loudly as he began to pick up his pace. His rapidity was now equal to that of Koki’s. “You and I and hell everyone else in this damn building knows that Jin doesn’t like me.”
“That was two years ago Kame. Jin’s moved on. And I think the only thing blocking the renewal of your friendship is the fact that you’re scared of what he’d say again, right?” Koki knew he had struck a nerve from the sour look that graced Kame’s normally passive features.
Koki puckered a brow and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “And I told you, Jin just didn’t know what he was saying.” He reasoned with the younger male.
“Exactly.” Kame pointed out dismally, fumbling with his loose buttons on his shirt. “He said it subconsciously and that’s why I know he meant what he said.”
“Well…even if that’s so you can at least count on that idiot telling the truth.” The rapper pointed out with ease. “I don’t think lying is in his genes.” When Koki added this, even Kame was at a loss. He exhaled, deflated by the rather forceful argument of the latter.
“T-That’s true I guess.”
Koki had won and he knew it. He grinned playfully, and Kame continued to sulk away in his presence. Koki’s words had held some truth, after all. Kame reluctantly voiced his agreement.
“See? That’s a start.” Koki smiled, “so tonight you’re going to go out and have yourself some fun, okay?”
Kame heaved his umpteenth elongated sigh. His heart was pounding against his chest again. “I’ll try.”
They neared their dressing room and slowly the voices of their friends began to loiter around in the air. Koki went ahead first, fidgeting slightly with the knob. “Is there some other reason you’re avoiding Jin?” He didn’t turn back to Kame as he asked. “I mean, you know, asides that…”
“No reason.” Kame shrugged, feigning his usual incorruptibility. “I mean what’d you do if Nakamaru said he didn’t like you?”
Koki said nothing. Nakamaru was his boyfriend, or at least the two acted like so. It was a well-known fact between KAT-TUN and, for the sake of the couple; it was left as a fact between KAT-TUN and only KAT-TUN.
Kame smiled wearily at Koki’s predicted silence. “Painful, huh?”
“Kame if you don’t want to-”
“No.” The younger man shook his head much to Koki’s surprise. “You’re right. I have to move on.” He stood a safe distance behind the older man now as he placed a ready hand on the doorknob alongside Koki’s. “I’ll go out to dinner with him.”
Kame entered the room with Koki in tow, greeted lightly by their friends and manager before they had went off to pick up the script for the day’s shooting.
Jin glanced up hopefully at Kame and shyly, Kame gave the man an awkward half-nod of recognition before turning away completely, missing Jin’s inevitable frown.
Here it is again, Koki thought regretfully as he pretended to flip through the day’s worth of script work, Kame’s pretending he’s not affected.
The rest of day went on monotonously and as usual for Kame; ended painfully. It was the script’s fault - he had agreed - that he was forced into an unexpected proximity with Jin.
That was the reason his face continued to burn with embarrassment as the director instructed Jin to lightly wrap his arms around Kame in a suggestive manner, that was why his heart felt as if it was ready to jump out of him, that was why no matter what he did all he could think of was Jin.
The problem didn’t lie with him. It was with the script. It was with the director. It was with Jin. And perhaps that was why he had agreed to go with Jin to dinner - to resolve the problem once and for all.
And that was how Koki had found himself lounging around the front of Kame’s apartment, knocking at exactly six o’clock and wondering to himself why his friend wasn’t answering the door.
He rolled his eyes as he pushed through the unlocked door anyway, he knew Kame never kept it locked when he was expecting Koki, mentally scanning the room for the latter’s whereabouts before turning up with nothing.
“Kame?” Koki called out to reveal his presence although he was only greeted with an eerie quiet. A few more moments of stillness passed and Koki slowly made his way out of the front hallway and towards Kame’s room.
“Koki!” Kame screeched from his room and running, the latter heaved his way past the massive pile of discarded clothing at the doorway to make his way through.
He looked over skeptically at Kame as soon as he spotted the tiny figure cooped up in the corner somewhere near the closet, seemingly the cause for the mess he noticed, as he just managed to dodge an onslaught of jeans - in various hues - coming his way.
He grunted while stepping over the immense pile and cautiously made his way towards the youngest member of KAT-TUN, managing to evade one of Kame’s favorite shirts that were making a quick beeline to his unprepared face.
Surprise, shock and utter confusion were all emotions that ran through Koki but the only words he had managed to choke out were a mere, “what the living hell attacked your room?!”
Kame groaned in distress as he continued to fish through his closet, dropping to the floor as he began to search the bottom shelf for any suitable material. “I don’t know what to wear!”
Koki’s jaw nearly dropped. He coughed out a storm before turning to Kame, meeting the man’s serious-written eyes. His face fell somber realizing that Kame was serious. He crooked his head to the side and shrugged. “You’re an idol,” he said, “you’re meant to look good in whatever you wear.”
The distressed man didn’t seem to agree with Koki’s reasonable logic and shook his head furiously. Koki didn’t manage to move away from the pitched hat this time.
He sighed as he picked it up and placed it neatly back on Kame’s bed. “Jin won’t care what you wear. He’ll be happy as long as he’s with you.”
Kame’s back, which was still facing Koki, stiffened and noiselessly the man continued digging through the outfits. Koki spoke again, hoping to snap the latter out of his thoughts. “And if he does make a snide remark about whatever you wear; Ueda and I will personally kill him.”
The thought of KAT-TUN’s boxer and Jin fighting caused Kame to temporarily disregard his problem and laugh. Koki grinned in his accomplishment and settled down next to Kame, grabbing the white shirt he held out of his hands and held it up to examine it.
“What’s wrong with this one?” He asked.
Kame scrunched his eyebrows in distaste. “Jin doesn’t like white.”
Somehow Koki managed to keep the eye-roll to himself, but Kame playfully pushed the unsteadied Koki, knowing full well what he was thinking.
It took a while, what with Kame’s complaints and Koki’s eagerness to rid of the dreary subject of wardrobes but finally the two had found a design for the evening that they both had agreed with.
Kame had found himself with a red and black checkered fringe scarf wrapped around his neck in the fashionable early-autumn spirit. His jeans were black to the point wherein he was sure he wouldn’t be able to decipher his feet from the dark once the sun had set and he wore two shirts, mainly because he and his good friend’s long argument had resulted into it.
There was a black long-sleeved shirt under the grey t-shirt with swirly English cursive but because it had complimented the rest of his look, Kame kept it on. This was topped off with a red and black checkered vest atop everything, although Kame kept the zipper undone.
“Now come on!” Koki made haste and grabbed onto Kame’s elbow. “You’ll be late for your date if you don’t hurry it up!” Koki complained as he hurried to shove Kame out of his room.
Kame’s protests of the outing not being a date were ignored, however, and the two made their way out of Kame’s apartment and into the busy streets of Tokyo. Albeit fairly disguised, the idols continued to receive quite the odd number of stares.
“Anyways,” Koki yawned, looking at his watch; it was nearly ten. “I have to go and meet up with Maru, so I’ll see you tomorrow.” Kame nodded and watched as his friend ran across to the other side of the intersection.
“Tell me how it goes!” The rapper shouted loudly from the other side of the streets and Kame laughed shouting back his answer. So people were staring, so people thought he was a little crazy, but Kame didn’t care. At that moment, he had never felt happier.
To say he wasn’t nervous waiting for Jin outside the restaurant would have been a lie but Kame himself didn’t admit that.
He couldn’t place a reason as to why he had turned around every so often to straighten his scarf in the reflection of the window or an explanation as to why he continuously dug a straightening hand through his hair. He just did.
And it has nothing to do with Jin, Kame concluded privately.
His heart skipped exactly three beats when he saw the familiar glint of dark hair in the distance closing in on him with a silly hand gesture that so bluntly belonged only to Jin. His smile widened exactly four times in size and cheerily, Kame waited for the figure to run up to him.
He’s early again, Kame smiled as Jin began to laugh and rant away at Kame’s being untimely. Jin held out a hand for Kame and oddly, Kame stared at it. Jin rolled his eyes outwardly and grabbed a hold of Kame’s smaller, warmer hand.
Kame didn’t struggle nor did he say anything against Jin’s open affections. “You should let yourself just be vulnerable sometimes,” Koki’s words rang in his head and contently, Kame closed his eyes and allowed Jin to show him into the eatery.
Jin looked back at Kame’s outline and then again continued to stare straight ahead with an unusually unreadable expression.
It’s just a game.
-
Uh yeah, randomness…and I feel like this story is going to be Kokame-friendship vs. RyoPin-frienship in its own twisted…ly?…sick way XD