Chapter Text
へ ♡ ╱|、
૮ - ՛ ) (` - 7
/ ⁻ ៸| |、⁻〵 Please, Promise You Love Me
乀 (ˍ, ل ل じしˍ,)ノ fic by MishaCollinsIsMyWife
Uramichi grabbed his bag and sighed, “another day” he said as if he had expected time to stop. He walked out of his apartment, it was an absolutely gorgeous sunny day, adults were out going to work, and kids to school. It was such a shame for such a beautiful day to be spent indoors, but alas you don’t just get to take off a usual Thursday because the sun was out.
Through beams of sunshine and children's laughter Uramichi carried his miserable self through the streets of Tokyo into the office that filmed Together with Maman—and a few other less important shows so no one mentions them. He went upstairs to his dressing room and just sat at his vanity staring through his own eyes, “why do I always come here so obediently? I could just stop coming, I could run away, I could live a peaceful life in a jungle with monkeys like that one guy. What was his name? Tangerine, no… Tomango? That’s not even a word, right?” He often had similar thoughts to this while spacing out in his room.
“Uramichi did you die or something? I'm trying to talk to you!” A slightly agitated voice called out, it was Kumatami.
“Sorry I wa—hey what was the name of the guy who lived with the monkeys and there was that girl with the yellow dress?”
“What?”
“Sorry, uh, what were you trying to tell me?”
“Mr. Derekida wants to talk to you,”
“Oh why?”
“Didn’t ask. Oh and it’s Tarzan by the way,” he said walking away.
Uramichi got up and left his room, Derekida was outside the room talking to Iketeru and Utano. “Ah Uramichi, here, come!” He said waving him over. Uramichi approached unenthused.
“Okay I was just about to tell these two, so you came just in time, Uramichi. Anyways, as I was saying, the station director and his grandson will be here again, so make sure to give that special-treatment charm!”
All three sighed, even the ever joyous —or rather oblivious is a better word— Iketeru was annoyed at the idea of having to coddle that kid, or be hounded by his mother if she decided to show up. Alas there was nothing they could do so they finished preparing for the day and headed out to record.
The intro went by with a breeze, the kids were well behaved and having a great time, and Uramichi only had to threaten Usahara once. Then the Special Episode Specific Segment came around, the ever evil Special Episode Specific Segment with weird costumes, a thousand pain inducing takes, and Uramichi having the looming threat of having to speak to the most confusing man he’d ever met: Hanbee Kikaku, the merchandising department guy.
For this segment the kids were learning not to go up to random animals and pet them, Utano was a mean cat who warned kids about the dangers of feral cats, Iketeru was a rabid dog who taught kids the danger of a dogs bite, and Uramichi was a, well he was a—
“URAMICHI IS A- HE’S A- OH MY GOD! HE’S- HE’S-” Usahara could barely speak, he was hysterical, just on the floor gasping for air at the sight of poor, poor Uramichi who was, “A MACAQUE!” (For the readers information, the Japanese Macaque is the northernmost monkey in the world and they primarily attack children and women)
The animal’s name being sounded as “Mah-cack” which is horribly close to “Mah-cock” was also “unforeseeably” affecting Iketeru’s childish ass. However, at Together With Maman the phrase “The Show Must Go On” damn near became a drinking game, so they dragged out Usahara—bunnied up, of course—and Iketeru bringing the—somehow—loveable idiots onto stage and getting them to—sort of— calm down.
There was retake after retake. Utano lost her voice by the end of filming. Uramichi’s knees and back suffered after they had him do gymnastic moves over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over. Poor Iketeru got chased around by kids who wanted to pull his tail and beat up the “mean old dog!” who threatened them. And then there was him, that unknowingly cruel station director's grandson.
The director's grandson was a quite well fed, unobident, demanding nightmare. He wanted piggy back rides, special songs, to be picked up and put down, and played with. He got jealous of other kids' toys, he wanted kids to give him their things, hell he was even being a little demanding twerp to the other kids. The Oniisans—and Oniichan—could barely take it. Usahara and Kumitani wanted to storm out. This stupid evil child. He made a 3 hour filming block feel like 300 hours, he was the devil to these poor overworked children's entertainers.
By the end of the segment and before the ending segment with a game and song, Uramichi made a break for the smoke room. In there he saw Hanabee Kikaku, the ever intimidating merchandising department guy.
“Hello there Oniisan!” Hanabee was friendly, but he had that crazed look in his eyes.
“Oh hello, it’s Hanbee right?” Uramichi asked though he knew the answer. He shuffled in the room and lit a cigarette.
“In the flesh,” He replied with an odd grin taking a hit off his juul.
The room fell awkwardly silent. They just kinda studied each other taking the occasional hit off their preferred method of lung destroying nicotine packed mood stabilizers.
Hanbee was 178cm(5 '10), skinny with slight muscle definition, he had mid length black hair he kept in a messy and droopy ponytail. His face is long, sharp, and pale, and his dark hair framed it almost beautifully. He had two lip piercings, a snakebite on the left side of his lower lip and a labret next to it. He also had a myriad of ear piercings, and what you couldn’t see often was his tongue piercing that sat behind the cut for his split tongue. Hanabee wore an illfitted slightly loose shirt, with tight white jeans, and calf high boots. You could almost read his personality, not only by the way the thin yet comforting fabric draped off of him showing his looser side, or his piercings showing off how creative and different he was from most others, but by the way he carried himself.
Uramichi was his opposite, he stood at 175cm(5 '8), slim and muscular—a body type often described as toned—,he had short brown hair that was well managed keeping his appearance collected. His face was a bit shorter than Hanabee’s but not by much, it was more squared out and "chiseled" though. He was a rather plain looking man. Uramichi was either in his gymnast outfit for work—a tight blue outfit that showed his great figure—,or his day to day baggy grey sweater or hoodie overtop a black tank top, and some jeans. You couldn’t read Uramichi as well, he appeared boring and average, he fit in, just like he wanted. No attention, just a guy.
Uramichi finished his cigarette, he went to leave but Hanabee requested something from him.
“Uramichi, if you could, after filming come to my office. I need you for a merchandising thing,”. The request was innocent enough, just more work for the two of them.
“I should be wrapped up by 5 if no one bothers me, I can meet you soon after,” he spoke with a soft and gentle smirk since it was an easy task to fulfil, if not a bit awkward.
Uramichi left to go wrap up filming for the day, and to the joy of everyone on set, that stupid director’s brat was gone. He had a tummy ache and left early. Uramichi played an easy game with the kids, they all sang a song, and it was all-in-all a good end to a miserable afternoon. Utano and Iketeru were even feeling better, though Utano’s throat still hurt and she couldn’t sing much with the kids. As Uramichi walked to his dressing room to get back into his daily wear, he thought to himself,
“Today was a rollercoaster, like Hanabee’s emotions. God damnit I have to talk to him, I hope he’s still calm like he was earlier. Actually he was super calm earlier. I wonder if he’s well, maybe one of his girlfriends dumped him? Or are they girlfriends or a bunch of hookups? I think he calls them his main and side girls… What does that even mean? Is he like a serial romantic? But he has multiple girls at once, so that wouldn’t be. God the phrase ‘multiple girls at once’ is awful. He probably does multiple girls at once. Ew don’t think that. What is wrong with me? What is wrong with him? Whatever. I should go up to his office now.”
Uramichi grabbed his backpack and headed up the stairs. He didn’t feel like trying to use the elevator since people were packing into them like sardines to leave work. Most everyone in fact, everyone except him, Hanabee, and a few editors, oh and poor Iketeru who was tasked with something egregious last minute by the director.
He opened the door to the merchandising department’s offices, and right by the door was Hanabee and his set up. He was sitting at his desk, working away on an Uramichi Oniisan doll design. Without turning around Hanabee knew Uramichi walked in, “Uramichi grab a chair and sit next to me for a second,” he requested.
Uramichi obliged and rolled a chair over, sitting next to Hanabee, facing him, but with his back against the desk. In an instant Hanabee grabbed his face with one hand, pulled it in, and studied it. His dark eyes nearly piercing through Uramichi’s soul. Hanabee was mere inches away from Uramichi, he sat and looked at him, feeling his face for a few minutes before working his way down.
“Could you please remove your jacket, I need to know what model I should use for the doll,”
Uramichi blindly obliged, he was in a trance at Hanabee’s confidence and concentration. He pulled off his dark grey hoodie to reveal his muscular body, barely covered with a relatively tight workout tank top. Hanabee slightly jerked back seeing this, he knew Uramichi was strong, but seeing him like this up close, and so much of his body was a new experience. Hanabee however continued, softly touching Uramichi’s arms and chest, down his torso a bit. He was jotting things down on a sticky note as he did so, measurements. The length of his arms, the width of his chest, where his torso tapered in, his approximate waist measurement, hips, legs.
By that point he was on the floor in front of Uramichi, head down, hunched over, writing and measuring with his hands. Uramichi couldn’t help but blush at the whole situation, I mean being touched all over by a guy you work with, but barely know sure is a flustering experience. He looked down at Hanabee, listening to him muttering, feeling his touch, taking in his unusual but almost—at least for now—comforting presence.
“This is how he gets so many girls, isn’t it? He’s so bizarre, he can switch up at a moment's notice, but right now… Right now he’s so thoughtful, he’s so gentle, he’s so- No don’t think that, you’re not that kind of guy and neither is he,”
“Okay that should do,” Hanabee said standing up, he was now looming over a currently deep in thought Uramichi. He looked down at him. He saw the light wash of blush covering Uramichi’s face, and he saw as Uramichi pulled himself out of thought and looked up at Hanabee. He was intimidating, tall, possibly handsome. “No,” he couldn’t allow himself to think such a thing. And to think it about a coworker who was 7 years his junior, terribly inappropriate. Yet he couldn’t help but think, “Hanabee is attractive. Why? Why am I attracted to him? Why am I attracted to a man? Am I that… desperate?"
“Ah okay, uhm let me know if you need me again anytime,” Uramichi forced out a sentence while zipping up his hoodie in order to distract himself. He got up, gave Hanabee a soft smile, and left his office. He darted down the stairs and walked as fast as he could back home. The warm summer sun illuminating his face, warm brown hair, and his dull dead eyes.
Uramichi rushed inside his apartment, it was cool, dark, and unwelcoming as he was. He pressed himself back into his front door and slumped on the floor burying his face into his hands pressing them into the tops of his knees. “Why? Why did I start thinking like that? I haven’t thought about someone like that in… How long ago was that?” He spoke, breaking the silence of his lonely apartment.
For as long as he could remember, Uramichi hadn’t thought much about romance. His childhood was spent training gymnastics, and his father shut down the idea of most personal relationships. Uramichi hadn’t had many friends as a child, he never had a girlfriend, and he honestly didn’t have much of a social life till he met Usahara and Kumatani in college. He hadn’t even gotten close to many of his teammates in gymnastics. For as long as Uramichi could remember he had been alone, training, with no one truly by his side. Maybe that’s why this caught him so off guard. He had been becoming friends with his coworkers, he had people around him who he could talk to. While he still held his guard up, not letting them in, not letting anyone know of any mental weakness he had. He was technically no longer alone. He was surrounded by coworkers, kids who admired him, even people who he could consider, friends.
By making friends Uramichi opened himself up, not fully, but he opened himself to possibility, something he often lacked, or rather feared. He sat on the floor a moment longer. Was it that he found Hanabee attractive or was it that he opened himself into noticing people he was interested in. How could he tell if this was love or not if he himself had no experience feeling it. Could it even be love? Was there love in attraction? Was there even attraction? Uramichi got tired of thinking. He made a quick dinner, and went to the gym before returning home.
Once back Uramichi went on his balcony to smoke, an often visited pastime of his. He got to thinking again—against his better judgment—about himself, his, noticings, “Okay, so, Hanabee. What about him? He is slightly taller than me, younger, erratic, his hair is long and silky, it wraps around his face wildly even drifting across it a bit. He has dark eyes that seem to see right through you, but they do it so… What’s the word? Is there even one to describe it, the feeling of him. Of his look. He’s so odd, demanding, and yet he seemed so fragile in that moment. So human, so understandable. He was so wrapped up in work that he felt readable, even though he caught me off guard I could tell what his next action would be. He felt… safe. Safe to be around. Safe to be touched by. But only at that moment. Why only that moment? What about that moment? Was it just relaxing after a busy day? Something to reward me after a punishing and embarrassing task. Why? Why him? Why why why why? why?”
His thoughts wracked soft yet harsh, conflicted. He didn’t know what he needed to do or what should be done, he was, “Completely and utterly baffled by him,”
Uramichi finished smoking, drank until he felt all warm and safe, with nothing able to reach him, all warm and by himself. He crawled into his cold empty bed, feeling all warm and nothing. He pulled his comforter over his body and passed out. Dreaming sweet dreams of little worry, with nothing to do, and nowhere to be. Sweet dreams of nothing, sweet dreams indeed.