FAKE Quadruple Drabble: Stress Management
Title: Stress Management
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: PG-13
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: Having decided to quit smoking, Dee needs to find another way of relieving stress.
Written For: Weekend Challenge Prompt: Managing Stress: Yoga at 1_million_words.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: Quadruple drabble and a half, 450 words.
Quitting smoking was rough. Not that Dee had ever expected it to be easy, not after more than fifteen years as a smoker, but still… He’d been doing everything the right way, with nicotine patches and gum, and they did help with the cravings. What they weren’t quite so effective for, however, was helping him deal with the stresses that came with his job.
He hadn’t realised until now, three weeks into quitting, just how much he’d relied on his cigs to calm him. Just the act of taking a cigarette from the packet, sticking it between his lips, and lighting it, taking that first long drag, had been soothing in ways he hadn’t been aware of. Now he missed it like crazy.
It didn’t help that work had been even more stressful than usual over the last couple of weeks, and since he could no longer reach for his smokes to take the edge of, he needed to find an alternative method of managing his stress levels.
Sex would be his first choice, especially now that he and Ryo were settling into their relationship, but that wouldn’t be a good idea. He didn’t want Ryo to think he was nothing more to Dee than a convenient source of stress relief. Plus, it wasn’t practical. With smoking, he’d been able to reach for his cigs whenever he felt the need, and he could still do that with the nicotine gum, but he needed something more, so he did a little research and…
Yoga! Low impact exercise that would reduce stress and at the same time, improve his flexibility and muscle tone. It sounded ideal; it didn’t require a ton of special equipment, and he could do some light stretching exercises whenever he felt tense. Ten minutes in the locker room or on the firing range, hell, even in the office he and Ryo shared… Should be simple enough.
He bought a book and a DVD, headed home, and started with some warm-up exercises before moving on to basic yoga positions. They were kinda weird, a bit like playing Twister alone, and a lot harder than they looked. He’d just collapsed in a heap for the fourth time, when Ryo let himself in.
“What’re you doing on the floor?”
“Yoga, or that’s the general idea. Supposed to be good for reducin’ stress now I’ve quit smokin’, but so far all I’m doin’ is tyin’ myself in knots and fallin’ over.”
“Oh. I do Tai Chi, it’s very calming, and great for improving balance.”
“Yeah?”
Ryo nodded. “I could teach you if you like.”
“Does it involve havin’ to stand on my head?”
“Not if you’re doing it right.”
Dee grinned. “Sold.”
The End
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: PG-13
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: Having decided to quit smoking, Dee needs to find another way of relieving stress.
Written For: Weekend Challenge Prompt: Managing Stress: Yoga at 1_million_words.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: Quadruple drabble and a half, 450 words.
Quitting smoking was rough. Not that Dee had ever expected it to be easy, not after more than fifteen years as a smoker, but still… He’d been doing everything the right way, with nicotine patches and gum, and they did help with the cravings. What they weren’t quite so effective for, however, was helping him deal with the stresses that came with his job.
He hadn’t realised until now, three weeks into quitting, just how much he’d relied on his cigs to calm him. Just the act of taking a cigarette from the packet, sticking it between his lips, and lighting it, taking that first long drag, had been soothing in ways he hadn’t been aware of. Now he missed it like crazy.
It didn’t help that work had been even more stressful than usual over the last couple of weeks, and since he could no longer reach for his smokes to take the edge of, he needed to find an alternative method of managing his stress levels.
Sex would be his first choice, especially now that he and Ryo were settling into their relationship, but that wouldn’t be a good idea. He didn’t want Ryo to think he was nothing more to Dee than a convenient source of stress relief. Plus, it wasn’t practical. With smoking, he’d been able to reach for his cigs whenever he felt the need, and he could still do that with the nicotine gum, but he needed something more, so he did a little research and…
Yoga! Low impact exercise that would reduce stress and at the same time, improve his flexibility and muscle tone. It sounded ideal; it didn’t require a ton of special equipment, and he could do some light stretching exercises whenever he felt tense. Ten minutes in the locker room or on the firing range, hell, even in the office he and Ryo shared… Should be simple enough.
He bought a book and a DVD, headed home, and started with some warm-up exercises before moving on to basic yoga positions. They were kinda weird, a bit like playing Twister alone, and a lot harder than they looked. He’d just collapsed in a heap for the fourth time, when Ryo let himself in.
“What’re you doing on the floor?”
“Yoga, or that’s the general idea. Supposed to be good for reducin’ stress now I’ve quit smokin’, but so far all I’m doin’ is tyin’ myself in knots and fallin’ over.”
“Oh. I do Tai Chi, it’s very calming, and great for improving balance.”
“Yeah?”
Ryo nodded. “I could teach you if you like.”
“Does it involve havin’ to stand on my head?”
“Not if you’re doing it right.”
Dee grinned. “Sold.”
The End