insaneneko

I've been digging through a couple of boxes of old BL novels and have come across a trove of stuff that I don't necessarily love but still occasionally reread. For some reason I have tons of older men x teens stories, which I've come to not care for as much as I used to. Being of similar age to or older than the older men myself, I guess I can't believe they'd put up with that much immaturity (or outright brattiness). But then, maybe older men can tolerate (or, heavens forbid, prefer?) that kind of thing better than older women? Or am I just a curmudgeon? :P In any case, I decided to mention two of the books I flipped through, the first because a scene in the beginning amused me greatly and the second because I could make a connection with the first. Both feature intelligent, arrogant rich men and not particularly bright, angelic/cute boys with "spunky" (bratty) personalities that belie their delicate appearances. Both books are pretty stupid and very cliched and somewhat tired, but still fun to flip through occasionally because they are such light fare (and don't piss me off totally).

The first book is Koi no shikake wa nenirini by Kuibira Harumo and illustrated by Sakuragi Yaya. This is about a kid raised by his mother who happens to have a Daddy Long Legs that provides monetary as well as emotional support (they correspond with letters). His mother has a tendency to fall in love very vehemently and run off with her lovers, leaving her son to fend for himself. She always returns after a short time, but this one time she does not. She had taken all their money with her, so the kid had been rather in trouble. A rich guy shows up offering to take him in temporarily, to fulfill a promise. The kid thinks the rich guy has some connection to his Daddy Long Legs and so goes to stay at the guy's mansion. But the two don't get along, and after several days the kid decides to leave and go back to his apartment. Unfortunately for him, he keeps making right turns and ends up right back at the mansion instead of at the train station. He repeats his circling back to the mansion over and over and over again. Sooo not bright. The rich guy had initially sent his secretary to follow the kid, but is exasperated at the kid's lack of direction and just watches him. I had to laugh at the kid's very earnest attempt to stomp out failing over and over again. The story is very cliched, with the two ending up in a sexual relationship that is adversarial. The kid thinks the rich guy is in love with someone else while using him for sexual release. The rich guy...has his own issues. In the end they reconcile their differences and live happily ever after. The kid's mother comes back after being dumped by her lover (again) but the kid decides to stay with the rich guy.

Gokigen nanamena goshujinsama by Fujisaki Miyako and illustrated by Koujima Naduki has less to recommend it. It's about a kid who is in an accident with a motorcycle rider. He bitches at the rider, who agrees that the kid's injuries are all his fault and pledges to take care of him while he recovers. The kid becomes the rider's "master," but is in fact dominated by the rider (who is a rich president of his own company). This naturally includes sex. Once again the relationship is adversarial and there are misunderstandings that are eventually cleared up. This story is much weaker than the first one I mentioned. The older guy's attachment to the kid baffles me, frankly. The Daddy Long Legs story at least gives good background for the rich guy's attachment to the kid (and provides some nice emotional resonance to various other aspects of the novel). This one? Not so much.