#slbp kageie

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Kageie (e i e i o) modern AU set up fluff. First part is here.

Credit and adoration again to Haraya,@jemchew, and @sengokugenkigirl for their Kasugayama Krew stories and nifty themes of written communication, some of which have helped me better learn Kageie’s character (he’s hard to pin down, even after playing Kenshin’s route!).
SFW. Third/last part up tomorrow, with a solidly NSFW bridge between Anchorandthemodern bj headcanon featuring these two to come!
Possibly important context: narrator/MC is a cousin of Ai’s mother, and her family connection to the Naoes are how she met the merry motley Uesugi crew in the first place. Like many fans I’m assuming Ai’s mom has died (AUGH Kenshin route GET OUT OF MY TEAR DUCTS).
            What are you doing for lunch?
Eating.
As I was telling myself not to sigh, I got another message.
A sandwich.
            Are you being literal or a smartass?
Literal.
Maybe a smartass?
            I’m free. Do you want to eat sandwiches together?
I was across the street from the Uesugi building, people watching the doors because the tower went too high to look at comfortably. I could easily get a convenience store sandwich and a protein bar.
He was typing. There was a long pause. I had rolled my eyes at people who stared at their phone screens like this before countless times. Oh, how the mighty fall!
Okay.
The biggest grin split my face.
Kanetsugu is taking Ai to a kite festival at the big park south of the city.
            That’s sweet! Are you going in a group?
Yes.
Well, that was sweet, and it was nice to hear about it from him. I counted it as progress that Kageie had shared this information, initiated the conversation, however tiny. Sometimes he did that now, little thoughts or photos from his day. Yesterday I’d guffawed in the locker room after reading the caption that accompanied a photo of a gorgeous, complicated flower arrangement—definitely Kagetora, definitely for something big—an all lowercase i don’t get it. It made me smile now, remembering it.
My phone chimed in my hand.
Are you coming?
            Are you inviting me?
Yes.
Well,that was certainly something.
           When is the festival?
Now.
            …like right now?
No. This afternoon. One.
            I’ll be there. I’ll call you when I get to the park.
Okay.
I had a great time. Ai was growing up so fast and so well that it did my heart good to see her wonder at the kites dancing in the sky. She was sweet like her father when he unbent. When her mother introduced Kanetsugu to our family I’d thought he was too stiff to be believed until I caught his eyes seeking out hers, lovesick and a little nervous. And then I’d liked him a lot, and he had never made me regret it. He was a solid guy and a devoted father, and he had weathered the loss of his wife as well as—better than—anyone could hope.
I let myself wonder if Kageie was like Kanetsugu at first, if he just needed an anchor and time to unbend. I didn’t think he was that much like him. But I didn’t think an anchor would hurt, either.
We got Ai cotton candy and lemonade and a kite to take home. Pretty ribbon tails for it she could switch out if she wanted. I retied one of her hair ribbons, gone loose from all her exuberant looking up into the sky, and caught Kanetsugu giving me a pained smile as I finished. I sent her to her father to fix the other one. When I turned to find a patch of grass to sit on, Kageie was watching me from his seat on his jacket on the ground, a few feet away.
“Why did you do that?” he asked as I sat next to him. His question was blunt but it was soft-blunt, the kind that might bump but didn’t mean to cut. He seemed more curious than offended. So I told him. He squinted at the father and daughter and said sadly, “I can’t tie nice bows.”
I laughed. It was so sudden and melancholy! What did he care about bows?
“Not everyone can,” I offered. “I think Kanetsugu is better at it than I am.”
Kageie squinted.
“He is,” he said.
I felt my back teeth come together, bracing to be ground. And then I remembered, and I was remembering more quickly each time, what I’d been told about Kageie needing bluntness and being blunt himself. I did a quick breathing exercise my coach had taught me and took stock. My initial reaction was offense, but… Kageie wasn’t wrong. And I didn’t hitch my self-worth to my bow-tying abilities. So this was okay. I just had to take a breath and think through it.
Kageie nudged me with his shoulder. “Yours aren’t bad,” he said.
I didn’t have to think about it to smile.
At dinner a few nights later, just the two of us, he was fidgety. We were in a comfortable and quiet place; I didn’t know what was up. So I asked. It was almost second nature now to just ask.
“You look nice,” he said, sounding unhappy about it. I was getting used to the occasional disconnect of his voice and his face and his words.
“Thank you,” I said. “I tried to. But your tone of voice makes you seem upset. Are you? Can you tell me why?” Sometimes it was hard to ask without feeling like I was talking to him like I would a child, so I had to remind myself I was asking because I wanted to know how he was feeling and hope that came through.
“I… didn’t dress up,” he said. And he looked miserable about it.
He certainly hadn’t worn anything that looked bad enough to catch my attention when we met outside the restaurant.
“I don’t think you needed to. I wasn’t expecting you to, and this isn’t a place you have to dress up for,” I told him.
He chewed on that, and the inside of his cheek for a minute. I worked on my soup as he thought.
“If I make fun of you,” he said suddenly, “tell me and I’ll stop. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
Something about that touched me so deeply I could feel myself blushing.
“I will,” I promised, putting down my spoon and reaching for his hand across the booth. “Thank you. I want you to do the same if you ever feel like I am making fun of you.”
He looked at our hands, and then at me. His pinched expression was replaced by a smile.
I about died.
After pacing in my apartment like an idiot for far too long, I finally pressed send.
            I have a meet this weekend. Would you like to come?
What would I do?
Breathing exercise, calm down, calm down. It was a fair question.
            Sit in the stands at the pool. Sometimes people cheer for the swimmers they know. You don’t have to do that. You can play on your phone.
I just want you to see me. I think I’m going to win. I wouldn’t want you there otherwise.
Should I bring you flowers?
I did a little dance, a spin. I hugged the phone to my chest. I was a fool.
            It couldn’t hurt.
A minute later, I added:
            You don’t have to. I would like flowers. But you don’t have to.
Why are you inviting me?
WhywasI inviting him?
Deep breath. Type fast. Send before you overthink it.
            I think I am going to win and I want you to see it.
Okay. :)
A smiley! Not the emoji, a typed-out smiley.
I was useless the rest of the day.
And the rest of the week I killed practice. I felt shark-sleek and fast.
He brought flowers. And Kagetora, who had clearly put the flowers together. The latter waved enthusiastically from their seats and the juxtaposition of the two of them (and the flowers) made me laugh. That was welcome, because I felt good but a little nervous.
My coach told me to get serious, so I did. 400 meters as a first event was a respectable challenge and deserved focus. But I sought out my friends, and every time I found Kageie and Kagetora, they were looking right back at me.
At the starting block, I focused. I told myself not to look at anything but the water, and not to think of anything but crushing this freestyle.
Kageie was watching.
The horn blared, and I sliced into the surface of the pool as precisely as I could, as far as I should. The moment of propulsion through the water, the whoosh and the sudden muting, the powerful caress and resistance of the water over the soles of my feet—I knew these things. I swam.
When the meet was over, I found Kageie and Kagetora (and the flowers, I found the flowers first, how on earth had he gotten stalks that tall?).
“That was cool,” Kageie said before we greeted one another, and I beamed at him. Kagetora did, too.
“Thank you,” I said.
“You were fastest,” he said.
“I was,” I responded, trying to make the answer more fun than smug.
Kagetora thrust the flowers at Kageie and put his arms around me to squeeze. Ever continental, he kissed my cheeks and gave me a very beautiful, very shrewd smile. Then his composure broke and he was the man who had waved to me from the stands, enthusiastic and cheerful, observations and questions coming rapid fire.
When his energy had run some of its course, he nodded toward Kageie beside us.
Kageie held out the flowers. It was a little hard to see him through them.
I took the vase—heavy!—from him.
“Thank you for coming,” I said. “I’m happy you were here. Would you like to go eat?”
“Yeah,” he said. Small smile. Enough to make me feel bubbly and victorious all over again.
“Yes!” Kagetora said. “Perfect! I want to take you both to one of my favorite places…”
And we were both swept away. Classic Kagetora.
I didn’t like the salad dressing.
I smiled. Put the vase of flowers on my coffee table since they touched the ceiling if I put them on the bar.
            Me either. Too sweet.
Do you like swimming?
I thought that was obvious, but I liked that he was asking.
            Yeah. I wanted to compete as soon as my instructors said I was good when I was a kid.
You looked really focused. Kind of mad.
            Oh?
As I was thinking about how to respond to that more fully, my phone dinged with a new message.
Yeah.
            I am really focused. Not mad. I try to only think about the event, and when I’m swimming I have to think about breathing and moving. So it’s probably the focus that makes me look mad, but I’m not. I feel really good when I’m swimming.
Okay.
And that was that.
Tagging@karalija @yoolee @han-pan @unicornthug4life @kawa-akarin @wonky-glass-ornament @opossumlyinsane @nightingaledarling @demonintheally @dani677 @astralandopal @flower-dragon @saizoswifey @akiko-moons @saialock @quincette @incubeebirb @little-mini-me-world @yuyuisakura-hime @saizos-little-lady @dear-mrs-otome @stars-over-omori @demonintheally @catchthespade @theweatheredwarrior @perfectruffian2389 @lovelygusher @jeonshim @shikikira @dreamfar628 @saeneras @scrappingandyelling@kakki-neko@masamunesmistressand@slbp-owns-ayame . :) xoxo!
(Feel free to let me know if you don’t want to be tagged! That is always okay.)

#to read #slbp kageie #omgomgomgomg #when im not drowning in work #thank you for the tag #cant wait

@jemchewreadsfanfiction

Thu, 01 Mar 2018 15:44:06

pseudofaux:

Kageieieieieieieie! Modern AU. NOT SMUT YET. This is set up fluff. Sluff? The how-they-fell-in-lurrrrrrrv story of the Kageie/MC couple in this headcanon post (which is totally smutty if you’re playing the ~~home~~ work game). Set a year or two before it.
Whole thing is up on Ao3, but I’ll be posting it in installments here through Thursday.
I need (and want) to respectfully acknowledge the A++ sterling QUALITY work of Harayaand@jemchew, who wrote KanetsuguandKageie pieces (both so good, go read!) that inspired this one. And @sengokugenkigirl‘slatest Mitsunari made me want to explore different types of communication/dialogue. Thank all three of you!
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