I'd go gay for you - Chapter 3
Title: I'd go gay for you - Chapter 3: I'd never lie to you
Author: agiponpon
Pairing: Ryo/Tegoshi, Koyama/Tegoshi
Genre: romance, hurt/comfort, erotica (in later chapters)
Rating: G (in this chapter)
Chapter: 3/8
Disclaimer: I only own the story...
Summary: Tegoshi came out of the closet and might feel something from someone. But who?
"But I want to talk about it!" Tegoshi argued. His voice had risen an octave or two higher from sheer frustration and he kept pouting angrily. The kiss that had taken place last week bothered him still, but the rest of the band members had had enough of it. Seven days had revealed just as little as the seven minutes following the kiss, and Tegoshi's continuous cross-examinations started to get on the others' nerves. He had accused each member in turn, confusing Massu and deeply insulting Shige without finding the truth. Going on about one single kiss had made even Yamapi annoyed at Tegoshi's useless speculation. Tegoshi spoke about the topic at every chance, only to achieve endless awkward looks and eyerolling. All in all, everyone was completely tired of it.
"How do we know that you didn't just make it up yourself?" Shige complained for probably the hundredth time. "If none of us kissed you, what options are left there? The ghost of Johnny?"
Yamapi and Koyama gave Shige a warning look, but the damage was already done. Tegoshi looked at him shocked.
"Are you saying I'm a liar?" His eyes had widened from sheer shock. "That I made the whole thing up?"
Shige stared at the conveniently obscure ramen restaurant's desk helplessly and twisted his arms.
"Well, no, but..." He tried to keep the diplomatic approach they'd lost a long time ago. "There just doesn't seem to be any explanation for it. None of us did it..."
"How dare you?" Tegoshi snapped. If he'd had a bowl of ramen or a glass in his hands, he would have smashed it on the table Shige kept staring.
"Maybe it was Shige," Ryo suggested grinning, as usual. "He's the one who keeps insisting that he didn't do it."
Shige gagged and Tegoshi turned his furious glare to Ryo. Yamapi elbowed his friend painfully, and Ryo's gleeful grin turned into a grimace. For some reason the situation seemed to amuse him and so Tegoshi had accused him as well a couple of times. He clearly didn't take the problem seriously and that made him clearly guilty. Even Yamapi couldn't understand, why Ryo found the situation so funny and interesting.
"Why can't the perp just admit it? We should get this cleared over," Yamapi said calmly and looked at each of the band's members.
"Maybe it's because there's was no perp," Shige kept arguing. "I'm not the only one who thinks that. We've been through this, right?" he said and glared at everyone. Especially Massu lowered his gaze, looking guilty. Tegoshi bit his lower lip.
"I'm not the one who's lying," he snarled and got up so vehemently that he almost knocked over his chair. Nobody tried to deter him as he stormed out of the restaurant without even paying his part of the bill.
The restaurant's owner and only employee hobbled to the group's table on his ninety-year-old legs and smiled his customer service smile, that had permanently been etched on his face. He was so old that he didn't recognize the gang as a famous idol group. That was why his restaurant was the best.
"Esteemed gentlemen," he said in the politest of tones. "Who shall pay for the bill?"
The five members left behind looked at each other helplessly.
Tegoshi had barely walked a hundred metres towards his home when Koyama ran to him.
"Tegoshi-kun," he panted, making Tegoshi turn aroud. He hadn't realised he'd walked so fast.
"Kei-chan..." he said after identifying his friend. He was embarrassed after lashing out like that, and he didn't feel as angry any longer. But before he managed to open his mouth to say he was sorry, Koyama cut in.
"I believe you!" he said emphatically, staring into his younger friend's eyes. "I don't think you're lying."
First Tegoshi blinked his eyes, bemused, but then his face melted into a radiant smile.
“Thank you, Kei-chan,” he said, genuinely happy. Koyama grinned.
“Even though this seems to bother all our relationships and sort of tearing the band apart…” At this point, Tegoshi’s face darkened again, and Koyama hurried on. “I still believe you! And I understand that this is very important to you. It’s really nasty of someone to prank you like this. I mean, even if it was just a prank. He could be serious. But we must find the culprit, and I refuse to believe that you would make up something like this. You’re not the kind -!”
Koyama’s rambling was stopped abruptly when Tegoshi took a step towards him and raised a finger to his lips to quiet him down.
“Thanks, Kei-chan,” he said. Koyama tried to say something again, but Tegoshi’s finger remained in place on his lips stubbornly. “Thank you for always beng there for me. It really means a lot to me. I don’t know whtat would I do without you, Kei-chan,” he continued smiling so earnestly, that nobody could have thought it fake. Tegoshi was like that. Only he could say something so silly and ridiculously old-fashioned with a straight face and mean every word. Koyama’s face lit up into a smile and for a moment he looked almost as if he was about to cry.
“Well, this is what friends are for,” he said.
“You’re a true friend!”
And before Koyama had time to even move a finger, Tegoshi had already wrapped his arms around him and hugged him close, relieved that someone believed him. The last week had grated on his nerves more than the others seemed to understand. At the moment even a single understanding soul felt like a gift from Heaven.
Carefully, Koyama embraced him back, but then pulled away.
“Least I could do,” he answered.
“I’m so sorry I’ve been in such a bad mood and so difficult,” Tegoshi said. “I know that I’ve been a burden, but I just can’t get this out of my head! I can’t take it when someone jokes with me, Kei-chan, I just can’t take it! Especially when… Well… When I came out and all that.”
Koyama nodded understandingly.
“I know exactly how you feel,” he assured Tegoshi and believed he meant it. “Don’t worry, we’ll find the culprit sooner or later.”
Tegoshi smiled at him.
They walked together for a moment, until Tegoshi said goodbye to Koyama with a lighter heart than during the week.
Although Tegoshi had gone a moment ago already, Koyama still stood in the middle of the road. He had stared at Tegoshi’s back until it had disappeared from sight, and even after he kept staring ahead as if waiting for Tegoshi to come back. Of course, he wouldn’t return, he’d go to his apartment to play with his dog, Skull.
Tegoshi had really stolen his heart, Koyama thought, surprised. As if by accident he’d given a part of him to the other and that part felt all of Tegoshi’s sadness and happiness as strongly as the boy himself. Cheering up Tegoshi had cheered him up as well, and he hadn’t even noticed how the kiss had dragged him down, too. Now that Tegoshi’s steps seemed lighter and Koyama had received a hug that made him warm long afterwards as a prize, he believed it was all worth it.
“Kei-chan?”
Just like Tegoshi a moment ago, Koyama turned around as he heard his best friend’s voice call him.
“You didn’t reach Tegoshi?” Shige asked. Apparently he had left the restaurant shortly after Koyama, hoping to catch any of the boys.
“I did,” Koyama answered. The gentle smile hadn’t disappeared from his face. Shige frowned. “He left already. I got him to calm down. He’s no longer angry.”
“Good,” Shige said, clearly relieved. “Although I should have calmed him down. I made him angry, after all…”
“He’s not sulking anymore, isn’t that the most important thing?” Koyama asked. “Besides, calming Tegoshi down isn’t you strongest point…”
Shige gave an embarrassed little laugh, but he couldn’t deny the truth.
“Sorry that you had to do it in my place,” he said earnestly. Koyama patted him on the shoulder and chuckled.
They walked together for a moment, as if they had agreed to take the same route. Koyama kept his hand on Shige’s shoulder for a moment, until he lost himself in thoughts again and looked pensive. Shige looked at him with a familiar, worried look on his face and decided to say something.
“Do you want to walk to the station together?” he asked. Koyama nodded but Shige couldn’t be sure, if his friend had even heard the question. He clearly had something on his mind, and Koyama’s problems were Shige’s problems. He had decided it.
“May I ask a personal thing?” Shige asked carefully but unable to conceal the curiosity in his voice. Apparently Koyama was listening, because he nodded.
“Is it in any way possible that you’re in love with Tegoshi?” he blurted. That time Koyama didn’t nod right away.
Truthfully, Koyama hadn’t realized he was so transparent - and he definitely hadn’t expected to hear such a question from Shige. They had been best friends for years, but they didn’t ask personal things like that from each other. They kept private things private, and concentrated on their friendship and common things without poking too much into each others’ lives. Still, the line had to be drawn somewhere, Koyama understood, and felt gratitude towards Shige. He had no reason to hide his feelings for Tegoshi, expecially not from Shige. If his feelings kept growing like they had until today - each day felt like it brought a double portion now, that he understood the meaning of the wildly flapping butterflies - there could be a day when he’d tell Tegoshi. He had nothing to hide. He hadn’t done anything wrong, even though Tegoshi was his colleague, a boy, four years younger… The list seemed to go on and on, when the thought about it.
“I think I am,” he said finally, when Shige had already started to think that Koyama hadn’t heard his question. Shige only nodded In response. He had thought so.
“And did you kiss him in the dark?”
“Do you think someone kissed him?” Koyama avoided answering the question.
“He wouldn’t be such a nervous wreck if it weren’t true,” Shige remarked wisely. “I just thought that if you’re in love with him, you also kissed him. I don’t think any of us others would do so, right?”
Koyama didn’t say anything. He noticed dark clouds gathering in the sky, and noted, that it would start raining soon. They had to hurry if they wanted to make it to the station on time.
Tegoshi had to return to the Jimusho-building later that evening. It was a question of simple stubbornness and determination, because due to the free day tomorrow he had decided to visit his parents, and he wanted to dress in a coat his mother had bought him. It wasn’t a very beautiful coat, but fulfilled its duty acceptably and was unnoticeable enough for everyday use. As he had run out of the restaurant, he had forgotten his coat, and it happened to be the same coat he wanted to put on the next day. Ryo had nicely taken the coat with him as he returned to work after dinner, and told Tegoshi he could come pick it up if he wanted to. The coat was apparently on the dressing table, and so Tegoshi set out for the dressing room to get it.
The building was silent and nearly dark, because most of the employees had already left. Lights had been turned off, the hallways were quiet and dim, the stairways empty and the lifts felt even bigger and slower as Tegoshi ascended to the fourteenth floor. The receptionist had been the only person Tegoshi had met in the building. The ghastly atmosphere made him wish he wouldn’t meet anyone not alive. When the only light source was the exits’ green signs’ shine, it didn’t feel impossible to believe ghost stories. Tegoshi wished he didn’t have to return alone.
The route to the dressing rooms was familiar, and after walking through the dark hallway Tegoshi noticed, that there was still light in the dressing room. He opened the door with relief, looked around in the yellow light, and noticed his coat off-handedly folded on the table Ryo had promised. A small smile lit Tegoshi’s face, and he put the coat on. Why stuff it into his bag?
Just as he had gathered enough courage and determination to return to the dim and spooky building to get outside, a door slammed shut behind him. It gave him a start and made him instinctively turn around. He hadn’t really expected to see a ghost - or worse yet, nothing - but he still felt relief at seeing it was only Ryo.
“Ryo-chan. Good work today,” he said and smiled.
Ryo smiled. The smile was crooked and didn’t look very friendly, but Tegoshi was used to it.
“Same to you,” Ryo said. “Did you come for your coat?” he asked and nodded at Tegoshi, who was already wearing said item.
“Yes. Thanks for taking it with you,” Tegoshi said. “I was already at home when I realized that I’d forgotten it in the restaurant, and I must wear this tomorrow, so I was already on my way back. Then I noticed your message. Thanks! That restaurant is probably already closed anyway, and in that case I’d had to wake up earlier tomorrow to make a round there to get it.”
Ryo listened to Tegoshi’s narration with little interest, but he nodded every once in a while. Finally Tegoshi quieted down to breathe.
“Ryo-chan,” he remembered. “Could you remind me to pay Massu my part of the bill? He probably paid for me. Damn, I was pretty rude… Sorry.”
Ryo passed the apology with a wave of his hand.
“I can remind him, but I don’t know if it’ll be any help,” he said, smiling again at Tegoshi’s questioning look.
“Eh? How come? I have to pay back, I can’t make Massu pay for my food…” Tegoshi frowned.
Ryo took a step towards him. Tegoshi leaned on the desk behind him without understanding why Ryo seemed suddenly somehow intimidating. Taller, although they were really the same size.
“I oaid your food,” Ryo said. Tegoshi’s mouth fell open.
“You? Why?”
“Why not? Someone had to pay, when you ran out in a huff. Repayment only in cash, no credit cards accepted. No need to thank me.”
Tegoshi sighed and fished his wallet out of his pocket.
“How much do I owe?”
“10 000 yen,” Ryo said. Tegoshi almost lost his balance from sheer shock.
“What? It can’t be that much!” he exclaimed.
“I added a little tip,” Ryo answered nonchalantly.
“Ha ha, very funny. How much do I really owe?” Tegoshi was anything but amused.
“10 000 yen, I already told you.”
“I don’t have that kind of money with me right now!” Tegoshi sighed, unsure if Ryo was joking.
“Too bad,because I want my money now.”
Ryo took another step towards Tegoshi, who couldn’t back off due to the table right behind him. Ryo looked serious and for a moment Tegoshi feared he’d hit him, but Ryo laid his hands on the desk and leaned forward. Tegoshi leaned back.
“Maybe we could come to an agreement,” Ryo said as if he had had to make a huge sacrifice. “Any ideas?”
Tegoshi shook his head. He didn’t have any, and Ryo’s weird behavior confused him even further.
“Well, let’s do it like this. You answer my question honestly and you’ll only have to pay 1000 yen. How about it?”
Tegoshi nodded. It was a bit hard, when Ryo was so close to him, but he couldn’t turn down the offer. His portion had been 7200 yen, so having to pay only like 10% of that was fine with him.
“Well,” Ryo started without budging. Tegoshi felt his breath on his lips, and swallowed. “Why does that kiss bother you so much?”
“I… I don’t know,” Tegoshi mumbled. Somehow he couldn’t look Ryo in the eyes even though he was clearly seeking eye contact. “Probably because I don’t know what it was. It had to be one of us, and it’s really nasty that someone jokes with me like that…”
Ryo frowned.
“How do you know he wasn’t serious? If he’s in love with you but too shy to say it out loud?”
“I don’t think so… That kind of thing can’t happen… And it would be kind of cruel to just watch from the side when I roll around not knowing.”
“Was it that bad?” Ryo asked.
“What?”
“The kiss.”
“I don’t… I… I can’t say,” Tegoshi stammered. Ryo still hadn’t moved and he was starting to feel as bit uncomfortable. His heart was racing and his hands were so sweaty he had to wipe them on the hem of his shirt.
“Good boy,” Ryo said barely audibly. “You answered more than one question.”
Before Tegoshi could accuse Ryo of foul play, say anything or even open his mouth, Ryo had already covered the last centimeters between them and pressed their lips together.
It took a moment for Tegoshi to recover from the shock. He responded to the kiss instinctively, and noticed that Ryo was a gentle and tender kisser. He had never considered it before, but somehow he had thought Ryo was passionate and and dominating, not at all a caring person, but apparently he did have a softer side. Tegoshi noticed he was enjoying the feeling. Ryo raised his hand to his cheek. It was altogether hard to believe true.
But the kiss ended as fast as it had started, and Ryo took a step backwards.
“Good night,” he said and turned around so quickly, Tegoshi didn’t catch a look of his face. He walked away quickly, leaving a confused Tegoshi leaning on the desk and trying to clear his head, which felt like syrup.