Drabble Challenge Results!!
Hey guys!
A few days ago on my personal journal, I extended a challenge to my flist to have people reply anonymously with drabble challenges (100-300 word short stories), and then other could reply to them. I was really excited because we got quite a few replies, so here are the *pnish* ones!
1) Shower, Eiji/Wasshi
The water was icy cold, and little Eiji was, well... little. This couldn't get any more embarrassing.
"Don't look!"
"I'm not looking."
Wasshi had better not be looking. It was awkward enough sharing the same tiny shower stall without having to worry about his friend catching sight of... well, what little there was to currently catch sight of between his legs.
"Hand me the soap."
He hated smelling like sweat. After climbing all morning and all afternoon Eiji could feel the dirt embedded in his skin like tattoo ink. It wasn't fair that Wasshi didn't stink at all. He just smelled like the mountains and pine trees and warm sunshine and Eiji hated that their shoulders kept bumping as they washed.
Little Eiji seemed to feel differently however.
The cold water helped. A little.
A soapy hand touched his hip, warm fingers contrasting to the frigid water. Eiji swayed on his feet. How could he have never noticed this before? The strength Wasshi showed today, the joy, the determination, it had been... captivating.
But could he... did Wasshi feel it too?
"Hey Eiji? You done with the soap?"
Cold water only went so far. An oblivious friend took care of the rest.
2) Shower, Eiji/Wasshi
"I can't believe you actually want me to do this."
"Oh come on, just think of it like a public bath!"
"But public baths are generally big enough for more than one person."
"Well if you really want to stay all stinky and gross..."
With a heavy sigh, Wasshi finally subsided and shed his clothes, motivated by the promise of hot water and a clean body. Of course, he admitted to himself, the sight of Eiji's already half naked body was motivational in its own right.
Eiji turned the water on, giving it a minute to warm up as they stood together under the cold spray, all sweat and dirt and flushed cheeks and oh god, did they just bump hips?
Wasshi scooted away, as much as he could in the tiny shower stall, and handed his friend the soap. Studying the cracks in the bathroom tile sure was interesting. Definitely more interesting than a naked, soapy Eiji. But just to be sure, he figured he had better take just a quick little peek...
"Aha! I knew you'd look!" Eiji crowed, looking altogether too smug.
Wasshi, for his part, flushed and sputtered before finally finding his words. "You're looking too!"
Eiji nodded. And smirked.
Wasshi arched a brow. And grinned.
And Eiji dropped the soap.
3) Wife, Eiji/Daiki
He was nothing like Her.
He was all flat planes and bony shoulders, knobby knees and stubble in the mornings. She was smooth and full and perfect, silky hair and oh-so-demure. He was embarrassing at times, loud and obvious, petulant and demanding, while She was quiet but present, never one to be overlooked and always there when needed but never invading.
She was perfect, He was anything but.
But all of these differences He might have been able to deal with, save the one most important: She was the Wife. And He wasn't.
4) A half a can of hairspray, Eiji/Daiki
"Eh Daiki," Eiji called out, voice muffled through toothpaste froth and walls and it is only through true love that Daiki manages to make out what he is trying to say, "get me more hair spray, won't you?"
Daiki shot a scandalized look in the vicinity of the bathroom. "I just bought some last week!"
"It was two weeks ago," came the reply, and then a pause filled with the sound of teeth being cleaned, "And it's half empty now! I bet you use my hairspray!"
Daiki sighed into the morning papers. "Of course I do! It's there, isn't it! Plus, I bought it. Why do I furnish your bathroom for you? And it's still half full, Eiji."
The voice returned, clearer and filled with righteous indignance, "I refuse to hold debates about philosophical beliefs earlier than 10am in the morning. Anyway, just get me another can," there was a pause in which Daiki could picture Eiji double-checking his hair in the bathroom mirror, "I need it to look Sexy."
Daiki huffed, but the bathroom shelf found itself fuller with another can of hairspray.
5) Sheets on the floor, Eiji/Daiki
Eiji looked over at Daiki as he slept in the bed next to his in the small hotel room. By his estimates, Daiki had been asleep for at least two hours now, while Eiji had been stricken with an unpleasant bout of insomnia. So he was spending his time the best way he knew how; he was watching Daiki.
In all the times he had been around a sleeping Daiki - and there had been plenty - he had never paid particularly close attention to his friend's sleeping habits. Daiki was all over the bed when he slept, tugging at the sheets, twisting himself up in them, hugging his pillow and muttering nonsense.
It was strangely endearing, Eiji thought, that Daiki was almost as energetic in sleep as he was while awake. But as Daiki kicked almost violently at the covers, dragging them down to his slender waist, Eiji couldn't help but be thankful he was lying in the safety of his own bed. That boy was dangerous!
What seemed like a few minutes later, Eiji thought he heard his name being called. There was a pressure on the mattress next to him and he slowly opened one bleary eye to look up at the figure leaning over him.
"Eiji," Daiki whispered, voice sleepy and almost boyish - a combination few men in their twenties could execute so perfectly. "Eiji, I lost my sheets."
"Come on," Eiji replied, sliding over to the middle of the double bed, "you can sleep here."
Daiki crawled none too gracefully under the covers, pressing bony hips against Eiji's back and tangling their feet together. He slung one arm over his friend's side, twining fingers with the smaller hand that was already resting there. In minutes, he was asleep again, resting peacefully, and for the first time that night, so was Eiji.
6) Osaka Trip January 2006, Besshi and Daiki
There were many ways Besshi had intended to spend this weekend and, if he were honest, those plans probably had all involved junk food, stupid photos and good company.
The bag of convenience store food lay on the table between himself and Daiki, who was busy submitting the photo he’d just taken of them to the *pnish* blog. Their silly conversation had slipped into a brief lull but it’d fire up again soon, spurred on by the numerous maps in Daiki’s bag and the usual raft of daft ideas they always managed to construct without any effort.
Yes, Besshi thought, he definitely recognised all the ingredients, but trust Daiki to throw in a few trains and a trip to Osaka to make life more interesting.
7) Pickup lines, Eiji/Daiki
"Na, Eiji...I was thinking..." Daiki trailed off. Moved to respond at the silence, Eiji glanced up from the sink into the mirror, face still dripping with the water he'd just splashed on himself at the close of his morning shave. Daiki had his back to him, fiddling with the stove as he tried to get it to light.
"There's a change." He waited just long enough to see Daiki turn and throw a nasty glance over his shoulder at the other man, before fishing his toothbrush from the medicine cabinet. "About what?"
"Well, it's about...your introduction." He picked through the meager contents of the fridge and pulled out a carton of eggs of questionable quality.
"My what?"
"Introduction--you know, when we introduce ourselves on stage at shows?" Eiji frowned; he was quite familiar with the act--they'd been doing it for almost seven years now. Daiki continued, "You're getting a little...well, predictable."
Eiji laughed and smeared toothpaste over the brush bristles. "Are you saying that's a bad thing? The fans certainly seem to like it." He paused a moment, reminiscing about the response at their latest on, and in a squeaking falsetto added, "'Sexy~!'"
"That!" There was a bang as Daiki set a frying pan onto the burner with more force than necessary, and Eiji turned around, wide-eyed with a toothbrush hanging from his still-frothing mouth. Daiki's tone turned pleading as he stepped forward. "That--that pickup-line sounding introduction!"
Eiji started to respond, then quickly spit into the sink before continuing. "But--it's...tradition! It's not a pickup line. Everyone knows I'm sexy! I'm Sexy-chan!"
Daiki rolled his eyes and leaned against the bathroom doorjamb, crossing his arms and giving Eiji a look that said he could see right through the facade. "Eiji, you've gotta come up with better lines than that." Eiji turned away, finishing brushing his teeth while contemplating a nice long sulk. "It makes us look like, I dunno, like we're some looks-obsessed boy-band--"
"Not with your voice we're not."
Daiki smacked him across the back of his head for good measure, and tossed him a hand-towel to finish wiping his face. "Just lay off the pickup-lines in the opening dances, would you?"
"Hai, hai~" he responded obediently, pushing past Daiki out the door and flipping off the light. "Guess I'll have to find some new phrase to make you weak in the knees."
8) It was a perfectly normal day when..., Eiji/Daiki
It's a perfectly normal morning and they're sitting in a corner café when the first wave of missiles strike the heart of Tokyo. The destruction is catastrophic and explosively instant, and Daiki and Eiji are thrown off their chairs by the blast and buried under the floors of concrete that fall crashing on their heads.
When Daiki wakes, it's dark, his head hurts, his lungs are choked with dust, and Eiji is lying unconscious beside him, his leg pinned under one of the support beams that also saved their lives. They manage to pull Eiji free and crawl through the rubble on scratched palms and raw fingertips, moving aside bodies and broken furniture alike. When they emerge the air is rife with smoke from fires and there's blood everywhere, on Daiki's head, on Eiji's leg, on the sidewalk and on cars and on the tattered pieces of clothing caught under debris.
Their cell phones don't work. Eiji's is broken anyway. Daiki half carries Eiji as they walk the rubble strewn road, the blood from his leg leaving a dark trail in their wake. They make it to Daiki's apartment and find a flattened field of rebar and glass and concrete that stretches for miles toward the horizon.
Daiki turns them silently and heads away from the explosions they can still hear going off in the distance.
They find more survivors.
Eiji's leg is saved by a doctor but his gait becomes permanently hindered by a severe limp. Daiki joins the search parties while Eiji recovers, helping to locate children and the elderly and those trapped in places overlooked. Weeks pass. No more bombs fall on Tokyo but the state of the world is unknown. No one brings news and no one knows anything for sure anymore. The world of stage and the theater seems lifetimes away when water must be rationed, food divided, and grim sacrifices made.
Daiki and Eiji stop looking for familiar faces among the countless buried bodies and the few new survivors that steadily find their way to them. They remember, and that is all they can do.
These were a ton of fun, so I hope others join in next time! As with the TxN post, authors are encouraged to claim their works here (and if you feel like it, claim your request as well!!)
A few days ago on my personal journal, I extended a challenge to my flist to have people reply anonymously with drabble challenges (100-300 word short stories), and then other could reply to them. I was really excited because we got quite a few replies, so here are the *pnish* ones!
1) Shower, Eiji/Wasshi
The water was icy cold, and little Eiji was, well... little. This couldn't get any more embarrassing.
"Don't look!"
"I'm not looking."
Wasshi had better not be looking. It was awkward enough sharing the same tiny shower stall without having to worry about his friend catching sight of... well, what little there was to currently catch sight of between his legs.
"Hand me the soap."
He hated smelling like sweat. After climbing all morning and all afternoon Eiji could feel the dirt embedded in his skin like tattoo ink. It wasn't fair that Wasshi didn't stink at all. He just smelled like the mountains and pine trees and warm sunshine and Eiji hated that their shoulders kept bumping as they washed.
Little Eiji seemed to feel differently however.
The cold water helped. A little.
A soapy hand touched his hip, warm fingers contrasting to the frigid water. Eiji swayed on his feet. How could he have never noticed this before? The strength Wasshi showed today, the joy, the determination, it had been... captivating.
But could he... did Wasshi feel it too?
"Hey Eiji? You done with the soap?"
Cold water only went so far. An oblivious friend took care of the rest.
2) Shower, Eiji/Wasshi
"I can't believe you actually want me to do this."
"Oh come on, just think of it like a public bath!"
"But public baths are generally big enough for more than one person."
"Well if you really want to stay all stinky and gross..."
With a heavy sigh, Wasshi finally subsided and shed his clothes, motivated by the promise of hot water and a clean body. Of course, he admitted to himself, the sight of Eiji's already half naked body was motivational in its own right.
Eiji turned the water on, giving it a minute to warm up as they stood together under the cold spray, all sweat and dirt and flushed cheeks and oh god, did they just bump hips?
Wasshi scooted away, as much as he could in the tiny shower stall, and handed his friend the soap. Studying the cracks in the bathroom tile sure was interesting. Definitely more interesting than a naked, soapy Eiji. But just to be sure, he figured he had better take just a quick little peek...
"Aha! I knew you'd look!" Eiji crowed, looking altogether too smug.
Wasshi, for his part, flushed and sputtered before finally finding his words. "You're looking too!"
Eiji nodded. And smirked.
Wasshi arched a brow. And grinned.
And Eiji dropped the soap.
3) Wife, Eiji/Daiki
He was nothing like Her.
He was all flat planes and bony shoulders, knobby knees and stubble in the mornings. She was smooth and full and perfect, silky hair and oh-so-demure. He was embarrassing at times, loud and obvious, petulant and demanding, while She was quiet but present, never one to be overlooked and always there when needed but never invading.
She was perfect, He was anything but.
But all of these differences He might have been able to deal with, save the one most important: She was the Wife. And He wasn't.
4) A half a can of hairspray, Eiji/Daiki
"Eh Daiki," Eiji called out, voice muffled through toothpaste froth and walls and it is only through true love that Daiki manages to make out what he is trying to say, "get me more hair spray, won't you?"
Daiki shot a scandalized look in the vicinity of the bathroom. "I just bought some last week!"
"It was two weeks ago," came the reply, and then a pause filled with the sound of teeth being cleaned, "And it's half empty now! I bet you use my hairspray!"
Daiki sighed into the morning papers. "Of course I do! It's there, isn't it! Plus, I bought it. Why do I furnish your bathroom for you? And it's still half full, Eiji."
The voice returned, clearer and filled with righteous indignance, "I refuse to hold debates about philosophical beliefs earlier than 10am in the morning. Anyway, just get me another can," there was a pause in which Daiki could picture Eiji double-checking his hair in the bathroom mirror, "I need it to look Sexy."
Daiki huffed, but the bathroom shelf found itself fuller with another can of hairspray.
5) Sheets on the floor, Eiji/Daiki
Eiji looked over at Daiki as he slept in the bed next to his in the small hotel room. By his estimates, Daiki had been asleep for at least two hours now, while Eiji had been stricken with an unpleasant bout of insomnia. So he was spending his time the best way he knew how; he was watching Daiki.
In all the times he had been around a sleeping Daiki - and there had been plenty - he had never paid particularly close attention to his friend's sleeping habits. Daiki was all over the bed when he slept, tugging at the sheets, twisting himself up in them, hugging his pillow and muttering nonsense.
It was strangely endearing, Eiji thought, that Daiki was almost as energetic in sleep as he was while awake. But as Daiki kicked almost violently at the covers, dragging them down to his slender waist, Eiji couldn't help but be thankful he was lying in the safety of his own bed. That boy was dangerous!
What seemed like a few minutes later, Eiji thought he heard his name being called. There was a pressure on the mattress next to him and he slowly opened one bleary eye to look up at the figure leaning over him.
"Eiji," Daiki whispered, voice sleepy and almost boyish - a combination few men in their twenties could execute so perfectly. "Eiji, I lost my sheets."
"Come on," Eiji replied, sliding over to the middle of the double bed, "you can sleep here."
Daiki crawled none too gracefully under the covers, pressing bony hips against Eiji's back and tangling their feet together. He slung one arm over his friend's side, twining fingers with the smaller hand that was already resting there. In minutes, he was asleep again, resting peacefully, and for the first time that night, so was Eiji.
6) Osaka Trip January 2006, Besshi and Daiki
There were many ways Besshi had intended to spend this weekend and, if he were honest, those plans probably had all involved junk food, stupid photos and good company.
The bag of convenience store food lay on the table between himself and Daiki, who was busy submitting the photo he’d just taken of them to the *pnish* blog. Their silly conversation had slipped into a brief lull but it’d fire up again soon, spurred on by the numerous maps in Daiki’s bag and the usual raft of daft ideas they always managed to construct without any effort.
Yes, Besshi thought, he definitely recognised all the ingredients, but trust Daiki to throw in a few trains and a trip to Osaka to make life more interesting.
7) Pickup lines, Eiji/Daiki
"Na, Eiji...I was thinking..." Daiki trailed off. Moved to respond at the silence, Eiji glanced up from the sink into the mirror, face still dripping with the water he'd just splashed on himself at the close of his morning shave. Daiki had his back to him, fiddling with the stove as he tried to get it to light.
"There's a change." He waited just long enough to see Daiki turn and throw a nasty glance over his shoulder at the other man, before fishing his toothbrush from the medicine cabinet. "About what?"
"Well, it's about...your introduction." He picked through the meager contents of the fridge and pulled out a carton of eggs of questionable quality.
"My what?"
"Introduction--you know, when we introduce ourselves on stage at shows?" Eiji frowned; he was quite familiar with the act--they'd been doing it for almost seven years now. Daiki continued, "You're getting a little...well, predictable."
Eiji laughed and smeared toothpaste over the brush bristles. "Are you saying that's a bad thing? The fans certainly seem to like it." He paused a moment, reminiscing about the response at their latest on, and in a squeaking falsetto added, "'Sexy~!'"
"That!" There was a bang as Daiki set a frying pan onto the burner with more force than necessary, and Eiji turned around, wide-eyed with a toothbrush hanging from his still-frothing mouth. Daiki's tone turned pleading as he stepped forward. "That--that pickup-line sounding introduction!"
Eiji started to respond, then quickly spit into the sink before continuing. "But--it's...tradition! It's not a pickup line. Everyone knows I'm sexy! I'm Sexy-chan!"
Daiki rolled his eyes and leaned against the bathroom doorjamb, crossing his arms and giving Eiji a look that said he could see right through the facade. "Eiji, you've gotta come up with better lines than that." Eiji turned away, finishing brushing his teeth while contemplating a nice long sulk. "It makes us look like, I dunno, like we're some looks-obsessed boy-band--"
"Not with your voice we're not."
Daiki smacked him across the back of his head for good measure, and tossed him a hand-towel to finish wiping his face. "Just lay off the pickup-lines in the opening dances, would you?"
"Hai, hai~" he responded obediently, pushing past Daiki out the door and flipping off the light. "Guess I'll have to find some new phrase to make you weak in the knees."
8) It was a perfectly normal day when..., Eiji/Daiki
It's a perfectly normal morning and they're sitting in a corner café when the first wave of missiles strike the heart of Tokyo. The destruction is catastrophic and explosively instant, and Daiki and Eiji are thrown off their chairs by the blast and buried under the floors of concrete that fall crashing on their heads.
When Daiki wakes, it's dark, his head hurts, his lungs are choked with dust, and Eiji is lying unconscious beside him, his leg pinned under one of the support beams that also saved their lives. They manage to pull Eiji free and crawl through the rubble on scratched palms and raw fingertips, moving aside bodies and broken furniture alike. When they emerge the air is rife with smoke from fires and there's blood everywhere, on Daiki's head, on Eiji's leg, on the sidewalk and on cars and on the tattered pieces of clothing caught under debris.
Their cell phones don't work. Eiji's is broken anyway. Daiki half carries Eiji as they walk the rubble strewn road, the blood from his leg leaving a dark trail in their wake. They make it to Daiki's apartment and find a flattened field of rebar and glass and concrete that stretches for miles toward the horizon.
Daiki turns them silently and heads away from the explosions they can still hear going off in the distance.
They find more survivors.
Eiji's leg is saved by a doctor but his gait becomes permanently hindered by a severe limp. Daiki joins the search parties while Eiji recovers, helping to locate children and the elderly and those trapped in places overlooked. Weeks pass. No more bombs fall on Tokyo but the state of the world is unknown. No one brings news and no one knows anything for sure anymore. The world of stage and the theater seems lifetimes away when water must be rationed, food divided, and grim sacrifices made.
Daiki and Eiji stop looking for familiar faces among the countless buried bodies and the few new survivors that steadily find their way to them. They remember, and that is all they can do.
These were a ton of fun, so I hope others join in next time! As with the TxN post, authors are encouraged to claim their works here (and if you feel like it, claim your request as well!!)