Chapter 5: Semuke: Egoist: Various Cameos
Disclaimer: I do not own the following stories or characters:
Junjou Romantica
The Tyrant Who Falls in Love, (Koi suru Bo-kun), Tetsuhiro Morinaga, Souichi Tatsumi, Souichi Tomoe
Sensitive Pornograph, (Senshibitu Porunoguraf), Yamada Seiji, Hanasaki Sono, Ayumatsu Aki, Ueno Koji
The Uke Flu
Chapter Five: Semuke
"Well, Kusama-san, I think I can tell you now, why you caught the Uke Flu."
"Really?" Nowaki cried. "Then please tell me what in the hell is going on!"
Nowaki's large hands flew up to cover his mouth. He never used strong language (outside of talking dirty to Hiro-san in the bedroom). Nowaki lowered his eyes. "Please forgive my outburst, Suzuki-sensei."
Suzuki had taken a liking to Nowaki immediately and could certainly understand the man's dismay, given the circumstances. "Please don't be troubled, Kusama-san. You would not believe the expressions I encounter on a daily basis working here."
"I can only imagine." Nowaki appreciated the older doctor's aplomb.
"Getting back to the matter at hand," Dr Suzuki shifted the conversation wanting to alleviate Nowaki's embarrassment. "It is perplexing, that on the stricter seme/uke rules: age, social status, domesticity, interrelationship non-consensual/consensual sex (which often depends on which partner you ask), that the height-rule is the only one that you and your partner actually adhere to. I mean it is not that uncommon to find one or two of these excepted, on occasion, but almost all...The looser rules, sweets, sports, fuzziness, etc. you are half and half.
"So…" Suzuki stopped for a dramatic pause. "I think the reason that you contracted the Flu is that you are a 'semuke'."
"A what?" Nowaki had never heard of such a thing.
"A 'semuke', also otherwise known as a 'balanced seme/uke'. You see, Kusama-san, you could truly go either way. Being a semuke is actually a very rare occupation... mythological almost in fact. My friend, you're a little like a gay unicorn in that regard.
"Most yaoi men are inextricably inclined to one side of the scale or the other, but you, my boy, balance right in the middle. I believe you have been a seme because that is what your partner has needed you to be. Though I would venture a guess, that if you'd found the right seme, one that you truly loved, you could have just as easily, all these years, broken all the rules completely and have been an incredibly tall uke."
Nowaki considered this. He frowned. "Then why didn't I catch the Flu earlier? I have looked back over the past and feel very certain I never experienced the symptoms of it before, despite my exposure it from the very beginning of the epidemic. "
Dr. Suzuki looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, as I'm sure you know, the virus can lay dormant and be activated by certain biochemical responses.
"My supposition is that there is no coincidence that this came on at the time you and your partner became engaged. I would suppose that after that long of a relationship, when the proposal was accepted, you perhaps relaxed a bit, your resistance went down. The seme half of yourself that had been holding the virus at bay was momentarily overwhelmed and the Uke Flu took hold."
Nowaki 's mind was reeling. He had always been leery of polarization, of black and white thinking, when, in his opinion, the world was really a vast spectrum of grays. He had always felt the whole seme/uke designation system was a bit stupid as well and he'd never liked other people imposing their labels on him or his relationship.
And yet, he felt as though Dr. Suzuki had just told him he was some sort of relational hermaphrodite. He was surprised he found the notion of being a semuke troubling.
Nowaki had never known about all these rules and up until this moment he had never questioned the degree of his seme-ness. Constructions of masculinity or homosexuality had never been an issue for him, the way it had been, say, like for Hiro-san. Now grappling with the realization that he'd caught the Uke Flu and why, Nowaki was upset to find that he felt a little bit embarrassed and even in some indescribable way diminished.
Nowaki suddenly thought about how he sometimes gently teased Hiro-san about how upset the man would become when people mentioned his being a uke, particularly when these comments were dropped by semes like Akihiko or Miyagi. Nowaki had previously found Hiro-san's indignation cute, if a bit silly. Now, however, considering this whole semuke idea, the young doctor thought he might be coming to a new understanding of how his partner felt.
It was a lot to take in.
He looked down at the currently flat, hard stomach that lay just under his thin tee-shirt and tried to imagine not only what was taking place inside of him but how his stomach would be looking in a few short months.
"Well, my dear man," Suzuki felt a pang seeing Nowaki's disconcertion. It was a look he'd become entirely too familiar with since joining the clinic. Though straight himself, Suzuki took up the Flu field after his own son had come down with the flu early in the epidemic and almost died after being refused treatment by regular doctors.
"I guess as a doctor, you know I am going to recommend that if you decide to carry, that you begin setting up a series of checkups, ultrasounds, etc and start taking a good prenatal vitamin immediately. We provide a lot of these pre and post natal services, in addition to termination if you decide to go that route. I can also recommend a couple of good specialists to you for either, should you wish to seek treatment elsewhere."
Looking into Nowaki's stunned eyes, Suzuki smiled comfortingly. "Welcome to the world of medical miracles, Kusama-sensei.
"My suggestion is that you think about things for a bit, don't make any rash decisions. You should let your partner know what has happened, as soon as possible. I have seen many a reluctant uke put it off. Believe me, the sooner your boyfriend can begin to adjust to your new condition mentally, the better... for both of you.
"Why don't we make an appointment for you to come back in a few days just to check in? You can let me know what you have decided then."
After a few more questions and answers were exchanged, Nowaki stumbled out into the waiting room to make his next appointment.
Standing in front of him were the arguing lab-coated pair from earlier.
"I can't believe I'm actually considering doing this!" The pale, long-haired man turned away from the receptionist with his next appointment card. "What in the hell am I going to tell Tomoe... or my father? I'm not even married?"
"Souichi-san…" The tall dark-haired youth, dropped to one knee in the middle of the waiting room, his face incredibly earnest. "Would you like to be?"
"Shut the fuck up, Morinaga!" The spectacled man knocked his kneeling lover over.
Morinaga sat on the floor for a moment until Souichi turned around and barked angrily, "So are you driving me home or not?"
"Oh, yes," Morinaga said breathlessly. "I'm coming, Senpai."
"Yeah, that's what started this whole mess in the first place!" Souichi strode fuming out the door, a flurry of white-blond tresses whipping behind him.
Not everyone, however, was as upset by the Flu as Souichi was. As Nowaki left the building he paused to step aside for a beautiful young couple coming up the walk.
The smaller of the pair, a delicate man with shaggy honey-blonde hair, was wearing a pale purple cowl necked sweater that artfully draped his swollen abdomen. The man was practically glowing and talking excitedly. "I can't believe we are having twins, Seiji."
His lover, a brown-haired youth, was guiding him lovingly, an arm supporting the smaller man's overburdened back. "I can't wait to see the ultrasound today. Have you thought anymore about names, Sono?" His voice was filled with affection.
"I don't know…" Sono was smiling as they disappeared into the building, "For some reason the names Aki and Ueno keep flashing through my mind."
It was then Nowaki had first headed towards the park in a daze.
He needed time to think.
3/21/2012
Old AN: So, when I had started this fic, I was relatively new to formal yaoi culture in many ways, and definitely to the genre of MPREG. In planning my story, I had done some research, looked around, and could not find a yaoi word for "versatility" in pairings… as yaoi is not normally a particularly versatile genre generally. So on my own I came up with the term "semuke."
Today a lovely anonymous reviewer wrote with a correction, that the term is actually "seke." I did a google search, not that I doubted the reader, but I am a curious creature and like to be accurate when possible and sure enough, in the urban dictionary, there the term was with its definitions (which I am including here for the edification of all).
This said, I am sticking to "semuke" for this story… In part because I am fifty chapters into it and my readers who have been with me from the beginning know the term as such. Also I am keeping it because while "seke" is crisper and hipper sounding, I like the extended roll and softer feel of "semuke" as a term here. Finally because this is an AU where "seke" behavior is a rarity and "semuke" differentiates this making the holder of the "semuke" title something more mythical (if that makes sense).
Still, I thank you, anonymous reader, for the new term and hope after some of you read this to see it turn up in other fics. I am sure it will make its way into mine in the future…
As G.I. Joe says, "Knowing is half the battle!"… Oops, wrong fandom…
1. Seke
A slang word usually used in yaoi (male/male intimate relationships) culture, made by combining the Japanese terms "seme (the dominant one) and "uke (the submissive one). It describes a person that enjoys both positions in a relationship and moves between the two based on his mood, the mood of his partner, and the situation itself. Which, in real same sex relationships, outside the yaoi construct is not uncommon.
Example: As he didn't like limiting his options and found both positions enjoyable, he preferred the fickle nature of the label "seke".
2. Seke
It means you can either be uke or seme in a male/male "relationship"... Uke meaning submissive, seme meaning dominant...
Example: My brother's seke in his relationships...it depends on who's taller.
http www . urbandictionary define . php?term=seke (take out spaces)