How Gods Get Scouted - Masami/Yamapi

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How Gods Get Scouted
Nagasawa Masami/Yamashita Tomohisa
tinyangl, 756 words
Prompt: yamapi/masami, that's show business from sinonymity. Written here originally.


Masami knows whenever Yamapi's down. He drags his feet a little, his eyes lose their luster—despite the jokes, Yamapi is as expressive with his eyes as anyone else—and his smile never reaches the crinkled edges of his eyes like they usually do. But unless he says something, Masami never comments. Just goes about the rest of the afternoon preparing dinner for them.

She waits because he'll always talk about it with her.

And he does at the dinner table. Sighs as he tells her he'd gotten yet another rejection from a talent agency. The reasons were always varied—he was too stiff, he was too green, he was too old (they don't even know the half of it), and possibly the strangest to Masami, he was too pretty. "You would think they'd want someone pretty," Yamapi gripes. "Wouldn't I get people's attention?"

Masami smiles, swirling a glass of wine in her hand. "Maybe it's more of a threat than an aid. If you're too pretty, you won't be taken seriously."

Yamapi sighs, dropping his head to the table, narrowly missing getting his hair into a plate with a chocolate cake slice. "It's just discouraging," he mumbles. "I had hoped—"

"That it'd be as easy as walking in and they'd say 'You're in!'?"

Yamapi pouts, slightly squashed in his position. "No," he says grudgingly. "I kind of hoped I'd be scouted off the street."

Masami laughs, a full laugh that almost has her winded afterwards. At some point, Yamapi sits up and glares at her, but Masami can't pull it together quickly enough. "Oh honey," she says eventually, wiping tears from her eyes. "You're a little too old for that, aren't you?"

"In God years. But I don't look a day over 21!"

Masami raises an eyebrow.

"Okay, maybe 25."

She coughs lightly.

"Pushing 27."

"Getting closer," she hums.

Yamapi glares at her again, but Masami hides her grin under another sip of her wine. "Regardless," he huffs, crossing his arms tightly against his chest. "It just wasn't supposed to be—"

"—This hard?" Masami asks, putting down her empty glass. "You know, they say that if it doesn't take hard work, maybe it's not worth it."

"You sound like my mother."

"That was a low blow," Masami grumbles, leaning over to pluck the plate of untouched chocolate cake from Yamapi's side.

Yamapi tugs it back in his direction with a frown, his eyebrows furrowed. "Does it help that I think she's great?"

Masami tilts her head to the side, like she's thinking about this, but her hands never let go of the chocolate cake. "No," she says after a pause, "that just makes this a touch incestual." Yamapi lets go of the plate abruptly, shuddering from across the table. Masami gleefully takes a spoonful of the cake, relishing in the rich taste of chocolate on her tongue.

"You had your own slice," Yamapi grumbles.

"You were ignoring it. Chocolate cake is not made to be ignored." She takes another spoonful, and Yamapi glares as she enjoys it with every chew. After that, she opens her eyes and smirks before pushing the remainder of the cake towards him.

Yamapi spoons a large portion before eating it with gusto; Masami watches in amusement as he somehow manages to get chocolate at the edges of his lips. She props her chin up with her hand and smiles. After Yamapi polishes off his plate, cleaning off any remainder of chocolate from his lips with the back of his hand, he looks up and notices her gaze.

"It'll be okay, you know," she says. "Someone will see you and think you're perfect."

Yamapi's eyes soften—just the way she knows they can—and he smiles, a genuine one. "Just like you do?"

Masami laughs. "That would imply I think you're perfect." Yamapi glares at her, before leaning over the table to tug her close to him, pressing his lips against hers.

"You can't lie," he mutters as he leans forward, his forehead against hers. His eyes are half-open and lazy and Masami hates how much just this expression makes her heart skip a beat. "It's written all over your face." Masami grins, grabbing the front of his shirt before pulling him into another kiss.



Still, because the world is fair, Masami gets the first job.

"But how?" Yamapi asks, frowning as he puts down his "Acting for Dummies" book.

Masami grins, eyes twinkling as she settles into the couch next to him. "I was scouted as I was buying groceries."

Yamapi stiffens beside her and looks over with wide eyes.

"That's show business," she says before he retaliates, fingers at her sides before she has time to gasp in laughter.