Matsumoto's shop of hopes and dreams - enter on your own risk: Chapter 1
Title: Matsumoto’s shop of hopes and dreams - enter on your own risk 1/13
Pairing: Sakumoto, Aimiya, (hints of past(?)Ohmiya and Matsumiya and Juntoshi? (but... well... you'll get it, when you read it. It's not a love triangle or anything, it's rather plot-relevant)
Rating: up to R
Genre: AU, romance, fantasy (it sounds superduper-magic-and-fantasy-heavy. It really isn't that bad though. There are no vampires or alike. It's more like a fairytale meets our world meets romance meets Nino in a tight gothic-like outfit)
Plot: When you have no other place to visit and lost all your hope, you'll go to a mysterious, little shop. Dealing with hopes and dreams and with his protector Ninomiya at his side, Jun keeps his real identity a secret, constantly on the run. No one knows who he is, what he runs from and where he comes from. One unfortunate day though a young doctor demands his services, asking for a piece of sunshine. It's the beginning of something... like the ticking sound of a clock you can't turn back...
Note: I don't know if it makes sense, but every now and then a story kind of happens to you, you know? It comes without effort. I wrote this around July in some sort of writing-haze, when I was free for a week. It really just came to me, and I'm so... anxious about this, because I love how it happened, and I hope you will love it too <3 (This whole story was inspired by yukitsubute writing me a message: *grumble* it's raining. - with my answer: Buy us some sunshine then :D)
“One bag with sunshine, please.” Sho bows slightly, eyes carefully looking into the two dark orbs staring at him intensely now.
“What do you need it for?” the man asks, his tone tinged with impatience, his prominent eyebrows furrowed slightly while he looks at Sho intently. He is leaning forward a bit, like he wants to scan every piece of Sho. He is apparently looking into his soul, at least Sho has heard this strange man does it. Matsumoto’s shop of hopes and dreams - make your dreams come true - enter on your own risk is a tiny shop - with a ridiculously long title - led by that one man called Matsumoto. He is taking orders for what people can’t buy in normal shops. Before placing his order Sho had to read the contract first, an unsettling feeling spreading inside him with every line he read.
Dear customer,
we are dealing with hopes and dreams, specific deliveries and particular demands. We promise you, with this contract, to attend to your wish, no matter what it takes for us to fulfil it. You however, customer looking for hope and dreams, have to abide by the following rules:
“We have a child in hospital whose condition got worse,” Sho explains nervously, not sure why he can’t lie to that man. The contract probably scares him, especially the last part, although he doesn’t believe in anything he reads here or heard about this shop. Yes, he knows there is magic and stuff like that, but this shop takes it a bit too far for his liking. However, it is true that no one told him any details about this place here, so apparently that guy is dangerous enough for people to follow the contract. And to be honest, believe it or not, Sho doesn’t want to take a risk. He doesn’t believe someone will be able to give him sunshine, true, but his little patient in hospital probably won’t make it long, and he wants her to at least smile one last time. Hence he goes for every single option no matter how silly it sounds. Like this shop here. As if anyone would be able to make the sun shine. “We organised a party for her so that she will be a little bit happier again. It’s supposed to rain at weekend and-“
“Hm.” The man interrupts him, and nods. “Fine. How much sunshine do you need?”
“Sorry?” Sho blinks.
The man lets out a frustrated sigh. “In case you order meat or cheese in a supermarket you’ll also tell them the amount you want, don’t you?”
Sho blushes. How dare this guy talk to him like he is an idiot! Of course he knows that. “Well, I’m sorry,” he says, not able to hide the prissy tone in his voice, frowning when the guy grins slightly. “But I don’t know how to measure sunshine.”
“For how long do you need it?” the guy asks instead of reacting to his hidden complaint.
“Sunday, for the whole afternoon. Starting at 2PM up to 7PM, maybe 8 PM if possible.”
“Are you outside in a garden, park, sea?”
“At a lake,” Sho stutters. “Right next to the children’s hospital.”
“So, it has to be enough sunshine to handle the wind too,” the guy muses, taking notes. “How many people? Anyone else of them suffering from a severe condition? I need as many details as possible.”
“Yes, six children, two of them suffering from a serious sickness, four of them gladly recovering. Their condition is still weak,” Sho mumbles, a little flabbergasted. “Plus me, two other doctors - one male, one female. Three nurses - one male nurse within them. Then our voluntary helper at hospital, a young friendly healthy guy. That’s it.”
The guy nods. “Fine, that’s not as much as I feared it would be. We won’t need that much sunshine then. I think three bottles will be enough.” He roams a bit in his drawer, then he puts a sheet of paper in front of Sho, next to the other other contract. “This is your specific contract for sunshine. Read it carefully.”
Sho does, eyes flying over the paper, until he halts at one specific part. With obtaining sunshine you accept that sunshine will be taken from someone else in exchange for the weather you would have had. We can’t regulate who will be missing it, and how important it was for that person. You accept that this person sunshine was taken from might suffer from the loss of it. “What does that mean?” Sho asks carefully.
The guy rolls his eyes like he asked the most stupid question ever. Arrogant prick. “It means that we don’t make sunshine just like that,” he explains impatiently. “We take it from a place that has sunshine of course. We are not a manufactory. No one can produce such a thing as sunshine.”
“It’s a huge responsibility,” Sho mumbles, looking at the sheet of paper. “It means someone else will suffer from a wish I have. May they forgive me.”
The guy’s eyes soften up all of a sudden, much to Sho’s surprise. “Sunshine is not that specific as a wish,” he explains, his face a lot friendlier and warmer all of a sudden. “It’s not that likely that it will do any harm to someone else.”
“But there is the option?”
“Yes,” he says earnestly. “There always is.”
Sho sighs, something inside him clenching tightly. He almost wishes that this weird shop is just a silly gimmick or some sort of sick game. “If this really works,” he mumbles. “I hope I’ll never need your services again.”
The guy’s lips tug but Sho isn’t all that sure if he smiles or looks sad. “You say that now,” he says quietly. “But everyone always returns.”
Something inside Sho’s chest clenches. He doesn’t know what to say, but the other man apparently decides their talk is over anyway. He waits for Sho to sign the contract and takes it away from him. He also takes the partial payment from him, noting it in his little book. “Please prepare the rest of the money until Sunday, cash,” he says almost a little cold. “I’ll bring you the sunshine half an hour before your party starts. 1:30 PM.”
“But how will I know that it works?” Sho stutters. “And how do you I know how to handle it and that you really come and-“
“You just be careful to fulfil your part of the contract,” the guy says firmly. “I’ll make sure to fulfil mine. Now, if you’d leave, please. I have work to do.”
Unfriendly idiot. Sho holds back a huff and a sharp answer as he leaves the shop. Well, at least he didn’t take all the money yet, so he assumes that Matsumoto guy has something up his pocket. He turns around a little, seeing how Matsumoto hovers over the book in front of him, forehead furrowed in concentration. He looks a bit tired but the way he looks into the folders and books in front of him is serious. He doesn’t look like a fraud. And unfriendly or not, he is really pretty.
~~~
Jun is wearing his tightest black clothes to emerge with the darkness of the night, glasses covering his face, while he approaches the man leaning against the balustrade in the park. He is covered in a broad jacket and jeans that are way too big. “Kazunari.”
“Finally,” Nino mumbles. “I’ve been waiting for hours.”
“Five minutes. I’m late five minutes,” Jun huffs. “Don’t be overdramatic.”
Nino chuckles. “I am not the one being overdramatic, princess,” he mocks Jun, ignoring the glare Jun sends him for this stupid nickname he always says when Jun is being particularly oversensitive. “It was a joke, chill. Man…” He reaches into his pocket. “Here is the part you needed. Three bottles out of crystal powder, and an additional one just in case, all of them were fumigated and they come with a lid out of dragon skin. There is a dragon suppliers’ strike at the moment though. Good thing I have my connections…”
Jun nods, and takes the four items into his hand carefully. He leans to the side a bit, waiting for Nino to open his jacket to cover him up. Then he searches for something in his bag, taking four dark, soft and dim balls out of it.
“Are these the rainy clouds?” Nino whispers. “Are you exchanging them already?”
“Sh,” Jun huffs. “No, right now they are only balls out of nothing. I’ll fill them with the rain of tomorrow now and exchange them with the sun from a place that will have sunshine.” He closes his eyes, concentrating on the task before him. For a while he feels like he is floating, somewhere far away from this land, above the earth. There is no ground, no time and no border for him. He focuses deeply for a moment when he reaches the wanted destination. Tomorrow, Wakkanai, children hospital. It’s raining heavily. Jun frowns, carefully reaching out his hands to take a piece of the sky in front of him. It feels cold and wet on his fingers.
Then he is back in reality, the four fluffy balls in his hands filled with dark clouds, little thunders appearing on them. The weather is indeed bad tomorrow. But in a certain place in Wakkanai it will be surprisingly nice weather. Well, such things happen, don’t they?
He closes his eyes again, this time he isn’t concentrating on a place or a time, but rather on himself. Tries to feel the coldness of the clouds, the intensity of the rain and the unsettling feeling the thunder gives him. When he feels it all, he bottles the feeling up inside himself, gathering it all until his body shivers, feeling cold and restless. The rest of the process goes fast. He closes his eyes again, floating to a place with warm weather. He has no real control over where he goes. It’s just the same time as tomorrow, a place where there is sunshine at the same time when the hospital party of tomorrow will take place. He has no time to choose a specific place though, the feeling of tension and gloom and darkness too strong inside him. So when he finds a sunny place, he reaches out his hands, opens the fluffy balls and lets the darkness escape. When he closes them again, there is shiny, sparkling sun inside them.
Jun coughs. “Finished,” he says in a hoarse voice while he lets the sunshine slide into the four bottles. They will remain there safely until tomorrow.
Nino frowns deeply while he watches him. "Jun," he says surprisingly earnest. “How many jobs did you do this week?” When Jun stays quiet, Nino grabs his arm. "Jun?" he says warningly.
“Too many probably,” Jun admits.
“Are you stupid? It will eat you up when you fulfill too many wishes. You are low on energy already, aren’t you? And you are freaking skinny. How much weight did you lose during the last week?” Nino grabs his arm again, his warm fingers wrapped around Jun's wrist now. “And you are ice-cold! Are you really shivering already? Fuck it, J, you should have called me earlier!”
“You have a life too,” Jun says calmly. “I can’t always bother you.”
“Shut up,” Nino huffs, grabs him by his collar and smashes their lips together. For a moment Jun feels nothing, just the coldness he is carrying inside him, and the gloomy, depressing feelings that come from fulfilling his clients’ wishes. He needs to give a part of himself, of his own warmth and of his own health and good feelings to do what his clients pay him for. It’s his part of the contract. No matter what it takes…
The coldness goes away, and Jun smiles against Nino’s lips when he feels how Nino’s life energy fills him up too. “Don’t overdo it, Kazu,” he says softly.
Nino chuckles. “I’m not running out of energy that easily.” His friend grins. “I’m just organising the supplies, not doing the real deal such as you.” He leans forward again, kissing Jun once more, and this time Jun can finally enjoy the kiss of his closest and most important friend.
He smiles. “Thank you,” he says sincerely. “Thank you.”
A/N: So this is it, the first chapter, more like a prologue actually.
*shiversinanticipation* So what do you think? This story is kind of like my baby. I put a lot of energy into it, and I'm kind of proud of it myself. I haven't written that genre since a long time, although it somehow used to be my strength. (but fantasy setting can be pretty draining too ^^) And... I'm so curious what you think! If you stumble over this fic and happen to read it, please tell me your feels <3
Chapter 1 hasn't a lot going on. It's only the start. This here is also about decisions that lead us to a certain path, and even when we want to, we can't just take these decisions back. By now we have Jun, and we don't know yet, what or who he is. And Nino, as Jun's...? Aiba will make his appearance in chapter 2, and Ohno will appear a bit later.
Pairing: Sakumoto, Aimiya, (hints of past(?)Ohmiya and Matsumiya and Juntoshi? (but... well... you'll get it, when you read it. It's not a love triangle or anything, it's rather plot-relevant)
Rating: up to R
Genre: AU, romance, fantasy (it sounds superduper-magic-and-fantasy-heavy. It really isn't that bad though. There are no vampires or alike. It's more like a fairytale meets our world meets romance meets Nino in a tight gothic-like outfit)
Plot: When you have no other place to visit and lost all your hope, you'll go to a mysterious, little shop. Dealing with hopes and dreams and with his protector Ninomiya at his side, Jun keeps his real identity a secret, constantly on the run. No one knows who he is, what he runs from and where he comes from. One unfortunate day though a young doctor demands his services, asking for a piece of sunshine. It's the beginning of something... like the ticking sound of a clock you can't turn back...
Note: I don't know if it makes sense, but every now and then a story kind of happens to you, you know? It comes without effort. I wrote this around July in some sort of writing-haze, when I was free for a week. It really just came to me, and I'm so... anxious about this, because I love how it happened, and I hope you will love it too <3 (This whole story was inspired by yukitsubute writing me a message: *grumble* it's raining. - with my answer: Buy us some sunshine then :D)
“One bag with sunshine, please.” Sho bows slightly, eyes carefully looking into the two dark orbs staring at him intensely now.
“What do you need it for?” the man asks, his tone tinged with impatience, his prominent eyebrows furrowed slightly while he looks at Sho intently. He is leaning forward a bit, like he wants to scan every piece of Sho. He is apparently looking into his soul, at least Sho has heard this strange man does it. Matsumoto’s shop of hopes and dreams - make your dreams come true - enter on your own risk is a tiny shop - with a ridiculously long title - led by that one man called Matsumoto. He is taking orders for what people can’t buy in normal shops. Before placing his order Sho had to read the contract first, an unsettling feeling spreading inside him with every line he read.
Dear customer,
we are dealing with hopes and dreams, specific deliveries and particular demands. We promise you, with this contract, to attend to your wish, no matter what it takes for us to fulfil it. You however, customer looking for hope and dreams, have to abide by the following rules:
- No orders for ruining someone else, may it be financially, physically or psychically.
- No orders to use for killing
- No orders for healing sickness
- No orders for making someone ill.
- No immensely selfish requests such as piling money. If you want to win in lottery, buy a lottery ticket.
- No orders that will help you commit a crime.
- You will always tell us what your order will be used for. We do not respect such things as privacy or data protection.
- Usage of your order is at your own risk.
- You won’t, by no means, share any details about this shop, the owner or how he made your wish come true.
- Specific orders will have specific rules to them. Read the contract concerning your specific order carefully.
- We take the liberty to refuse your order in case we don’t see its necessity and it doesn’t fit our ideals.
- With signing up, you agree to our rules. In case you fail to follow them, you - with your signature - officially allow us to punish you as we see fit, and make the fate you put on someone else return to you.
“We have a child in hospital whose condition got worse,” Sho explains nervously, not sure why he can’t lie to that man. The contract probably scares him, especially the last part, although he doesn’t believe in anything he reads here or heard about this shop. Yes, he knows there is magic and stuff like that, but this shop takes it a bit too far for his liking. However, it is true that no one told him any details about this place here, so apparently that guy is dangerous enough for people to follow the contract. And to be honest, believe it or not, Sho doesn’t want to take a risk. He doesn’t believe someone will be able to give him sunshine, true, but his little patient in hospital probably won’t make it long, and he wants her to at least smile one last time. Hence he goes for every single option no matter how silly it sounds. Like this shop here. As if anyone would be able to make the sun shine. “We organised a party for her so that she will be a little bit happier again. It’s supposed to rain at weekend and-“
“Hm.” The man interrupts him, and nods. “Fine. How much sunshine do you need?”
“Sorry?” Sho blinks.
The man lets out a frustrated sigh. “In case you order meat or cheese in a supermarket you’ll also tell them the amount you want, don’t you?”
Sho blushes. How dare this guy talk to him like he is an idiot! Of course he knows that. “Well, I’m sorry,” he says, not able to hide the prissy tone in his voice, frowning when the guy grins slightly. “But I don’t know how to measure sunshine.”
“For how long do you need it?” the guy asks instead of reacting to his hidden complaint.
“Sunday, for the whole afternoon. Starting at 2PM up to 7PM, maybe 8 PM if possible.”
“Are you outside in a garden, park, sea?”
“At a lake,” Sho stutters. “Right next to the children’s hospital.”
“So, it has to be enough sunshine to handle the wind too,” the guy muses, taking notes. “How many people? Anyone else of them suffering from a severe condition? I need as many details as possible.”
“Yes, six children, two of them suffering from a serious sickness, four of them gladly recovering. Their condition is still weak,” Sho mumbles, a little flabbergasted. “Plus me, two other doctors - one male, one female. Three nurses - one male nurse within them. Then our voluntary helper at hospital, a young friendly healthy guy. That’s it.”
The guy nods. “Fine, that’s not as much as I feared it would be. We won’t need that much sunshine then. I think three bottles will be enough.” He roams a bit in his drawer, then he puts a sheet of paper in front of Sho, next to the other other contract. “This is your specific contract for sunshine. Read it carefully.”
Sho does, eyes flying over the paper, until he halts at one specific part. With obtaining sunshine you accept that sunshine will be taken from someone else in exchange for the weather you would have had. We can’t regulate who will be missing it, and how important it was for that person. You accept that this person sunshine was taken from might suffer from the loss of it. “What does that mean?” Sho asks carefully.
The guy rolls his eyes like he asked the most stupid question ever. Arrogant prick. “It means that we don’t make sunshine just like that,” he explains impatiently. “We take it from a place that has sunshine of course. We are not a manufactory. No one can produce such a thing as sunshine.”
“It’s a huge responsibility,” Sho mumbles, looking at the sheet of paper. “It means someone else will suffer from a wish I have. May they forgive me.”
The guy’s eyes soften up all of a sudden, much to Sho’s surprise. “Sunshine is not that specific as a wish,” he explains, his face a lot friendlier and warmer all of a sudden. “It’s not that likely that it will do any harm to someone else.”
“But there is the option?”
“Yes,” he says earnestly. “There always is.”
Sho sighs, something inside him clenching tightly. He almost wishes that this weird shop is just a silly gimmick or some sort of sick game. “If this really works,” he mumbles. “I hope I’ll never need your services again.”
The guy’s lips tug but Sho isn’t all that sure if he smiles or looks sad. “You say that now,” he says quietly. “But everyone always returns.”
Something inside Sho’s chest clenches. He doesn’t know what to say, but the other man apparently decides their talk is over anyway. He waits for Sho to sign the contract and takes it away from him. He also takes the partial payment from him, noting it in his little book. “Please prepare the rest of the money until Sunday, cash,” he says almost a little cold. “I’ll bring you the sunshine half an hour before your party starts. 1:30 PM.”
“But how will I know that it works?” Sho stutters. “And how do you I know how to handle it and that you really come and-“
“You just be careful to fulfil your part of the contract,” the guy says firmly. “I’ll make sure to fulfil mine. Now, if you’d leave, please. I have work to do.”
Unfriendly idiot. Sho holds back a huff and a sharp answer as he leaves the shop. Well, at least he didn’t take all the money yet, so he assumes that Matsumoto guy has something up his pocket. He turns around a little, seeing how Matsumoto hovers over the book in front of him, forehead furrowed in concentration. He looks a bit tired but the way he looks into the folders and books in front of him is serious. He doesn’t look like a fraud. And unfriendly or not, he is really pretty.
~~~
Jun is wearing his tightest black clothes to emerge with the darkness of the night, glasses covering his face, while he approaches the man leaning against the balustrade in the park. He is covered in a broad jacket and jeans that are way too big. “Kazunari.”
“Finally,” Nino mumbles. “I’ve been waiting for hours.”
“Five minutes. I’m late five minutes,” Jun huffs. “Don’t be overdramatic.”
Nino chuckles. “I am not the one being overdramatic, princess,” he mocks Jun, ignoring the glare Jun sends him for this stupid nickname he always says when Jun is being particularly oversensitive. “It was a joke, chill. Man…” He reaches into his pocket. “Here is the part you needed. Three bottles out of crystal powder, and an additional one just in case, all of them were fumigated and they come with a lid out of dragon skin. There is a dragon suppliers’ strike at the moment though. Good thing I have my connections…”
Jun nods, and takes the four items into his hand carefully. He leans to the side a bit, waiting for Nino to open his jacket to cover him up. Then he searches for something in his bag, taking four dark, soft and dim balls out of it.
“Are these the rainy clouds?” Nino whispers. “Are you exchanging them already?”
“Sh,” Jun huffs. “No, right now they are only balls out of nothing. I’ll fill them with the rain of tomorrow now and exchange them with the sun from a place that will have sunshine.” He closes his eyes, concentrating on the task before him. For a while he feels like he is floating, somewhere far away from this land, above the earth. There is no ground, no time and no border for him. He focuses deeply for a moment when he reaches the wanted destination. Tomorrow, Wakkanai, children hospital. It’s raining heavily. Jun frowns, carefully reaching out his hands to take a piece of the sky in front of him. It feels cold and wet on his fingers.
Then he is back in reality, the four fluffy balls in his hands filled with dark clouds, little thunders appearing on them. The weather is indeed bad tomorrow. But in a certain place in Wakkanai it will be surprisingly nice weather. Well, such things happen, don’t they?
He closes his eyes again, this time he isn’t concentrating on a place or a time, but rather on himself. Tries to feel the coldness of the clouds, the intensity of the rain and the unsettling feeling the thunder gives him. When he feels it all, he bottles the feeling up inside himself, gathering it all until his body shivers, feeling cold and restless. The rest of the process goes fast. He closes his eyes again, floating to a place with warm weather. He has no real control over where he goes. It’s just the same time as tomorrow, a place where there is sunshine at the same time when the hospital party of tomorrow will take place. He has no time to choose a specific place though, the feeling of tension and gloom and darkness too strong inside him. So when he finds a sunny place, he reaches out his hands, opens the fluffy balls and lets the darkness escape. When he closes them again, there is shiny, sparkling sun inside them.
Jun coughs. “Finished,” he says in a hoarse voice while he lets the sunshine slide into the four bottles. They will remain there safely until tomorrow.
Nino frowns deeply while he watches him. "Jun," he says surprisingly earnest. “How many jobs did you do this week?” When Jun stays quiet, Nino grabs his arm. "Jun?" he says warningly.
“Too many probably,” Jun admits.
“Are you stupid? It will eat you up when you fulfill too many wishes. You are low on energy already, aren’t you? And you are freaking skinny. How much weight did you lose during the last week?” Nino grabs his arm again, his warm fingers wrapped around Jun's wrist now. “And you are ice-cold! Are you really shivering already? Fuck it, J, you should have called me earlier!”
“You have a life too,” Jun says calmly. “I can’t always bother you.”
“Shut up,” Nino huffs, grabs him by his collar and smashes their lips together. For a moment Jun feels nothing, just the coldness he is carrying inside him, and the gloomy, depressing feelings that come from fulfilling his clients’ wishes. He needs to give a part of himself, of his own warmth and of his own health and good feelings to do what his clients pay him for. It’s his part of the contract. No matter what it takes…
The coldness goes away, and Jun smiles against Nino’s lips when he feels how Nino’s life energy fills him up too. “Don’t overdo it, Kazu,” he says softly.
Nino chuckles. “I’m not running out of energy that easily.” His friend grins. “I’m just organising the supplies, not doing the real deal such as you.” He leans forward again, kissing Jun once more, and this time Jun can finally enjoy the kiss of his closest and most important friend.
He smiles. “Thank you,” he says sincerely. “Thank you.”
A/N: So this is it, the first chapter, more like a prologue actually.
*shiversinanticipation* So what do you think? This story is kind of like my baby. I put a lot of energy into it, and I'm kind of proud of it myself. I haven't written that genre since a long time, although it somehow used to be my strength. (but fantasy setting can be pretty draining too ^^) And... I'm so curious what you think! If you stumble over this fic and happen to read it, please tell me your feels <3
Chapter 1 hasn't a lot going on. It's only the start. This here is also about decisions that lead us to a certain path, and even when we want to, we can't just take these decisions back. By now we have Jun, and we don't know yet, what or who he is. And Nino, as Jun's...? Aiba will make his appearance in chapter 2, and Ohno will appear a bit later.