JE/NEWS- "Ganbatte, Kato Shigeaki"
Title: Ganbatte, Kato Shigeaki
Universe: JE/NewS
Theme/Topic: Encouragement
Rating: G
Character/Pairing/s: NewS
Warnings/Spoilers: UM Office AU, I guess. So if AU is not your thing…
Word Count: 1,048 (GUESS IT’S NOT A DRABBLE REQUEST ANYMORE?)
Summary: The life of Kato Shigeaki, office worker, is just as hard as the life of Kato Shigeaki, pop star. No really.
Dedication: Ann’s request on my drabble meme.
A/N: From the Office worker AU that Ann created here; it seemed only natural to combine two of her requests into one if I could. THOUGH THIS IS NOT YOUR XMAS FIC, I’m JUST WARMING UP.
Disclaimer: No offense intended to the personalities I am portraying? Mostly. >>
Distribution: Just lemme know.
Kato sighs and runs his hands through his hair before slouching lower in his chair and scowling at his computer screen.
In the cubicle beside his, he can hear Nishikido typing happily away; no doubt buoyed by the last big, red “REJECTED” stamp he put on Kato’s latest marketing proposal earlier this morning. Clearly it had been too much on Kato’s part to believe that one successful campaign presentation together as the new NewS Returns! Team would be enough to gel them as a unit completely, but even still, Kato thinks that sometimes Nishikido takes special pleasure in shooting down all of his best efforts.
As if to verify that, Nishikido suddenly starts humming to himself. Loudly.
Kato glares at the wall separating their desks and wonders if he should start looking for another job.
A few hours later, during his fifteen minute break, he runs into Masuda by the water cooler.
Literally.
Because as Kato rounds the corner, he realizes too late that Masuda is too busy watching the way the fluorescent lights from the ceiling bounce off the tops of his very shiny shoes to pay attention to foot traffic in the office.
Needless to say, the entire contents of his coworker’s cup ends up on the front of Kato’s shirt.
Kato spends the last fourteen minutes of his fifteen minute break in the bathroom, holding his shirt and tie out so that they can catch the hot air blowing from the electric dryer’s nozzle.
He wonders if today can get any worse.
He hopes not.
But turns out it can, and God decides to show him exactly how when Nishikido walks into the restroom five seconds later and sees Kato standing there holding out his wet shirt and looking pathetic. The two of them take one look at each other and Kato sighs while Nishikido marvels to himself about how this is suddenly the best day ever for some reason.
Kato grits his teeth when Nishikido’s humming starts up again at the urinal; he wonders again, if he should quit this job.
On his way out of the restroom he runs into Tegoshi-kun, who smiles brightly at him and says, “Yo, Shige!” without any honorifics at all, acting like Kato has not been at this company three or four years before Tegoshi even applied.
But under the power of the kid’s big smile and bright eyes, Kato doesn’t end up correcting Tegoshi’s rudeness for him after all; he only slumps his shoulders a little and says, “Hey.”
When Nishikido-san comes out of the bathroom a few minutes after Kato, Tegoshi beams at him and says, “Yo, Ryo-tan!”
Kato blinks when all Nishikido-san has to say about Tegoshi’s disgusting lack of formality is, “Hey, Tego-nyan.”
“You should treat me to lunch ne!” Tegoshi suggests to Nishikido next, without any fear.
Kato weighs the merits of using his body as a shield to save the life of this young one who clearly does not know better, but before he can act (or not act), he hears Nishikido chuckle and say, “Fine, but I get to pick what we’re eating.”
Tegoshi grins and attaches himself to Nishikido’s arm like the older man is a particularly cuddly teddy bear and not the meanest person in this office-or any other office- at all. “Okay!” he chirps. “Ryo-tan has good taste so I trust him, ne. Oh, we should ask Kei-chan to come with us too!”
Wide-eyed, Kato watches them walk down the hall together like that and can’t-for the life of him-figure out what he’s done to piss Nishikido off while Tegoshi has managed to stay on his good side.
Kato thinks that maybe he should quit after all.
Frowning, he heads back to his desk and puts his chin down on it; he stares at his screensaver for a few minutes and ponders the meaning of life.
Okay, maybe he won’t quit exactly, as today’s economy has made it increasingly difficult for young men like him to land stable, well-paying jobs. But he thinks that asking for a transfer might be just as good a solution; he hears that Shibutani-san down in packaging needs more staff members (especially ones who can actually spell real words correctly instead of trying to approximate them with bizarre crayon drawings and sound effects that mysteriously sound like farts).
Anyway, it’s a start.
That decided, he actually sits up and prepares to fire off a quick e-mail inquiry about any openings that might be available down in packaging, but just as the Outlook window opens he hears a soft knock on his cubicle wall.
“Kato-kun, are you busy?”
Kato turns to find Yamashita-buchou standing at his door, looking intent.
Kato wonders if maybe he doesn’t have to write that e-mail after all; maybe he is going to be fired because none of his marketing proposals are getting through.
He swallows and looks up at Yamashita-buchou as calmly as he can. “I’m not busy right now, sir,” he says, politely.
Then Yamashita’s intent expression instantly changes; he grins. “Good! Do you want to come take an early lunch with me?”
Kato stares at him; he isn’t quite sure how he’s supposed to respond to that. Is he going to get fired over lunch?
“C’mon, it’ll be fun,” Yamashita urges when he sees Kato’s bewildered look; he flashes his subordinate a confident thumbs up. “I’ll treat ne. Do you like yakiniku?”
A beat.
And Kato doesn’t know what it is about Yamashita’s crooked smile and that ridiculously out-of-place thumbs up, but for some reason, he suddenly feels oddly reassured.
“Um, sure,” he says, and can’t help but smile back at Yamashita, if a bit awkwardly. “Let me just…”
He turns around and quickly clicks his Outlook Express window closed without a second thought.
“Yosh, yakiniku, yakiniku!”
Yamashita-buchou cheers and hooks an enthusiastic arm around Kato’s shoulders as they head out of the office together, and when he says, “I think our team is really going to challenge each other and become something great soon, ne!” Kato can’t help it when he believes every single word of it.
Because as long as Yamashita-buchou says it like that, somehow Kato thinks it might really possible after all.
Even if Nishikido is kind of a dick.
END
EDITS PLZ.
Universe: JE/NewS
Theme/Topic: Encouragement
Rating: G
Character/Pairing/s: NewS
Warnings/Spoilers: UM Office AU, I guess. So if AU is not your thing…
Word Count: 1,048 (GUESS IT’S NOT A DRABBLE REQUEST ANYMORE?)
Summary: The life of Kato Shigeaki, office worker, is just as hard as the life of Kato Shigeaki, pop star. No really.
Dedication: Ann’s request on my drabble meme.
A/N: From the Office worker AU that Ann created here; it seemed only natural to combine two of her requests into one if I could. THOUGH THIS IS NOT YOUR XMAS FIC, I’m JUST WARMING UP.
Disclaimer: No offense intended to the personalities I am portraying? Mostly. >>
Distribution: Just lemme know.
Kato sighs and runs his hands through his hair before slouching lower in his chair and scowling at his computer screen.
In the cubicle beside his, he can hear Nishikido typing happily away; no doubt buoyed by the last big, red “REJECTED” stamp he put on Kato’s latest marketing proposal earlier this morning. Clearly it had been too much on Kato’s part to believe that one successful campaign presentation together as the new NewS Returns! Team would be enough to gel them as a unit completely, but even still, Kato thinks that sometimes Nishikido takes special pleasure in shooting down all of his best efforts.
As if to verify that, Nishikido suddenly starts humming to himself. Loudly.
Kato glares at the wall separating their desks and wonders if he should start looking for another job.
A few hours later, during his fifteen minute break, he runs into Masuda by the water cooler.
Literally.
Because as Kato rounds the corner, he realizes too late that Masuda is too busy watching the way the fluorescent lights from the ceiling bounce off the tops of his very shiny shoes to pay attention to foot traffic in the office.
Needless to say, the entire contents of his coworker’s cup ends up on the front of Kato’s shirt.
Kato spends the last fourteen minutes of his fifteen minute break in the bathroom, holding his shirt and tie out so that they can catch the hot air blowing from the electric dryer’s nozzle.
He wonders if today can get any worse.
He hopes not.
But turns out it can, and God decides to show him exactly how when Nishikido walks into the restroom five seconds later and sees Kato standing there holding out his wet shirt and looking pathetic. The two of them take one look at each other and Kato sighs while Nishikido marvels to himself about how this is suddenly the best day ever for some reason.
Kato grits his teeth when Nishikido’s humming starts up again at the urinal; he wonders again, if he should quit this job.
On his way out of the restroom he runs into Tegoshi-kun, who smiles brightly at him and says, “Yo, Shige!” without any honorifics at all, acting like Kato has not been at this company three or four years before Tegoshi even applied.
But under the power of the kid’s big smile and bright eyes, Kato doesn’t end up correcting Tegoshi’s rudeness for him after all; he only slumps his shoulders a little and says, “Hey.”
When Nishikido-san comes out of the bathroom a few minutes after Kato, Tegoshi beams at him and says, “Yo, Ryo-tan!”
Kato blinks when all Nishikido-san has to say about Tegoshi’s disgusting lack of formality is, “Hey, Tego-nyan.”
“You should treat me to lunch ne!” Tegoshi suggests to Nishikido next, without any fear.
Kato weighs the merits of using his body as a shield to save the life of this young one who clearly does not know better, but before he can act (or not act), he hears Nishikido chuckle and say, “Fine, but I get to pick what we’re eating.”
Tegoshi grins and attaches himself to Nishikido’s arm like the older man is a particularly cuddly teddy bear and not the meanest person in this office-or any other office- at all. “Okay!” he chirps. “Ryo-tan has good taste so I trust him, ne. Oh, we should ask Kei-chan to come with us too!”
Wide-eyed, Kato watches them walk down the hall together like that and can’t-for the life of him-figure out what he’s done to piss Nishikido off while Tegoshi has managed to stay on his good side.
Kato thinks that maybe he should quit after all.
Frowning, he heads back to his desk and puts his chin down on it; he stares at his screensaver for a few minutes and ponders the meaning of life.
Okay, maybe he won’t quit exactly, as today’s economy has made it increasingly difficult for young men like him to land stable, well-paying jobs. But he thinks that asking for a transfer might be just as good a solution; he hears that Shibutani-san down in packaging needs more staff members (especially ones who can actually spell real words correctly instead of trying to approximate them with bizarre crayon drawings and sound effects that mysteriously sound like farts).
Anyway, it’s a start.
That decided, he actually sits up and prepares to fire off a quick e-mail inquiry about any openings that might be available down in packaging, but just as the Outlook window opens he hears a soft knock on his cubicle wall.
“Kato-kun, are you busy?”
Kato turns to find Yamashita-buchou standing at his door, looking intent.
Kato wonders if maybe he doesn’t have to write that e-mail after all; maybe he is going to be fired because none of his marketing proposals are getting through.
He swallows and looks up at Yamashita-buchou as calmly as he can. “I’m not busy right now, sir,” he says, politely.
Then Yamashita’s intent expression instantly changes; he grins. “Good! Do you want to come take an early lunch with me?”
Kato stares at him; he isn’t quite sure how he’s supposed to respond to that. Is he going to get fired over lunch?
“C’mon, it’ll be fun,” Yamashita urges when he sees Kato’s bewildered look; he flashes his subordinate a confident thumbs up. “I’ll treat ne. Do you like yakiniku?”
A beat.
And Kato doesn’t know what it is about Yamashita’s crooked smile and that ridiculously out-of-place thumbs up, but for some reason, he suddenly feels oddly reassured.
“Um, sure,” he says, and can’t help but smile back at Yamashita, if a bit awkwardly. “Let me just…”
He turns around and quickly clicks his Outlook Express window closed without a second thought.
“Yosh, yakiniku, yakiniku!”
Yamashita-buchou cheers and hooks an enthusiastic arm around Kato’s shoulders as they head out of the office together, and when he says, “I think our team is really going to challenge each other and become something great soon, ne!” Kato can’t help it when he believes every single word of it.
Because as long as Yamashita-buchou says it like that, somehow Kato thinks it might really possible after all.
Even if Nishikido is kind of a dick.
END
EDITS PLZ.