Fic: Boys Do Fall In Love 1/4
Fic: Boys Do Fall In Love
Genre: AU, Friendship, Romance
Rating: M
Word Count: 14,000
Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies.
Warning: Unbeta-ed (oh and they drink a lot)
Summary: Not on few occasions had Kazuya questioned the sanity of his decision thirteen years ago when he arbitrarily joined a fray. On one hand, it earned him four friends for life. On the other hand, it earned him four friends and one of them was living with him.
A/N: Acknowledgement to fionnakreuz who introduced to me the term “circular jerking”. It meant something else given the context it was used but it nonetheless inspired a PWP that developed an attitude and demanded a plot :) Happy birthday, She. Title inspired by one drunken karaoke night and thanks, watanabe_je ,for you know what :)
Boys Do Fall In Love
Part 1
Thirteen year old Jin unwrapped his second choco-pie while his best friend since forever, Yamapi, sat beside him on the monkey bars. Their classes were over but their first day in middle school wasn't over yet. Still in their black uniforms, they watched with indifference the scene unfolding in front of them: a funny looking freshman and another one with a large nose were squaring off with three other freshmen.
Jin and Yamapi were getting bored. The crowd of similarly uniformed boys that had gathered around started hooting. It had been a couple of minutes of mostly circling around, shoulders rolling, clenched fists hitting air and spitting out creative invectives involving mothers and fornication. “Get it going, pussies!” someone shouted from the crowd. The warring boys stilled for a moment then a fist shot out and it landed on the big nose. The proper brawling commenced and everyone cheered.
“Yeah!” Jin sat upright, feeling the adrenaline rush. He liked real life fighting. Unlike the precise punching and kicking in the movies, real street fighting is awkward. Arms and legs wildly flailed; hands and feet landing on random body parts.
“Those two are goners,” Yamapi said, stating the obvious. The funny looking boy and his big-nosed friend fell down, dust screening them as they rolled towards each other on the ground while their adversaries collectively pummelled them.
“They're outnumbered,” Jin said. “It would not have mattered if it were the two of us,” he added. Yamapi silently agreed. It wasn't an empty brag. The two young boys had earned quite a reputation in grade school that automatically provided them a place of reverence in middle school.
“Now what the hell is that?” Yamapi asked when, out of nowhere, a ball of black fury came running, jumped on the heap of brawling boys and started hitting anyone his short arms could reach.
“Where did that runt come from?” Jin asked and he straightened up some more, craning his neck to get a better view of the new player.
“Whose side is he on?” Yamapi asked.
“Beats me,” Jin said. An arm shot straight up from the pile and the runt flew off and landed with a thud on the ground. The boy immediately picked himself up and threw himself back on top of the heap. The heap of young boys shook and the runt fell through the crack of uniformed bodies.
Jin and Yamapi looked at each other and they both knew what the other was thinking. “Oh fuck,” Jin said. He finished off his choco-pie then he jumped off the monkey bars, Yamapi at his heels.
While Yamapi, smiling from ear to ear, joined the fracas, Jin was clear on his mission. He dived through the flailing bodies, his elbows jabbed and his legs kicked until he found the runt. He was rewarded with a sock on his jaw and before the boy could butt his head, he gripped the thin wrists and he rolled the both of them out from under the heap.
Jin stood up, pulling the boy up with him then he threw him a couple of feet away onto a patch of grass. “Stay!” he barked, pointing at the boy. Fiery dark brown eyes under furrowed bushy brows glared at Jin but the boy did as he was told. Jin stood for a moment and watched Yamapi kick ass. Apparently, his best friend had decided they were on the side of the funny-looking boy and his big-nosed friend.
An hour later, five boys looking properly dishevelled and bruised sat on the pavement in front of a konbini and noisily sucking straws drinking artificially flavored slushie.
The funny-looking boy suddenly stopped and blinked. “Brain freeze,” he said. He turned to Jin and added, “Tanaka Koki.” Jin nodded. He didn't bother introducing himself. He knew the other boy knew his name.
The big nosed boy scrambled up and faced the other boys. Hands stiffly on his side, he said, “Nakamaru Yuichi desu. Arigatou gosaimasu!” then bowed from his waist.
Yamapi's laugh was caught in his throat, thoroughly amused at the formality made more ridiculous by a piece of blood-stained paper napkin lodged in one of Yuichi's nostrils. “Yamashita Tomohisa. You can call me Yamapi.”
“What's your name, runt?” Jin asked and lightly elbowed the littlest boy sitting beside him.
The boy let go of the straw and said in a quacky voice, “Kazuya,” and resumed sipping his drink, eyes still on Jin.
♥
Jin smiles over his bottle of beer when he sees the familiar mop of hazel brown hair bobbing up and down in the middle of the crowd. It's a far cry from the spiky dark hair and Kazuya looks nothing like the runt he first met but Kazuya still has the habit of barrelling through crowds.
Kazuya plops down beside him. Jin sniffs then says, “You smell like you rolled around in sugar the whole day.”
“Possibly because he’s a baker,” Yucchi says, eyeing Jin curiously.
“Pâtissier,” Kazuya corrects Yucchi. “I’m a pâtissier.
A waitress wearing the uniform micro-mini denim skirt steps up and hands Yucchi a glass of rum. Yucchi, as always, looks way too formal and stiff in his long-sleeved shirt topped by an argyle vest. “Thanks,” Yucchi says. The waitress winks. Yucchi blushes but still watches her ass swivel as she walks away.
“Ask her out already,” Jin teases. “She’s been flaunting her wares at you for months.”
“Shut up,” Yucchi says. “I’m not interested.”
“Yeah, right,” Koki says, suddenly appearing by their table. “Wipe your drool, professor,” he adds and swipes with his thumb on an imaginary drool under the corner of Yucchi’s mouth.
Yucchi swats Koki’s heavily bejeweled hand away. “Aren’t you supposed to be working?”
“I am. I am entertaining guests,” Koki says with a wink at Kazuya.
“Which reminds me,” Yamapi interjects. He dramatically pauses until everyone's eyes are on him. “You should set up a vendo machine of our products in the toilets here,” he says to Koki. “Free installation and you get a cut from the sales.” Yucchi looks scandalized while Kazuya tries to keep a straight face. Jin just grins. It's Yamapi. He's the unproclaimed leader of their group because he emanates Golden Boy and always gets away with everything. He makes being a sales representative of a pharmaceutical company famous for manufacturing condoms and lubricants appear as dignified as working in the Japanese Diet.
Koki's smile is patronizing. “Pi, we do not encourage sex in the toilet. And our patrons may not look it, but they're a pretty decent crowd.” He then makes a sweeping glance across his friends, eyes daring any one of them to dissent.
Jin, just as his other friends, looks around. They are the only ones who aren't famous in the club or, more accurately, look like someone famous. Koki vehemently refuses to call it a cosplay club and insists it's a club “catering to whims of fancy”.
“Yes I know,” Yamapi says, unrelenting, “but it happens anyway so might as well make a profit from it.” He turns to Kazuya and says, “And we can tie up with your bake shop because we’re releasing a new line of fruit-flavored condoms and lubricants. It will go well with your fruit tarts.” Kazuya gives him the finger.
“Why does lube have to be flavored?” Yucchi asks.
Kazuya reaches out and squeezes Yucchi's hand. “Do you really want to know, Yucchi?” he asks, batting his eyelashes.
Yucchi's eyes bulges for a second before he turns beet red. “Oh. No, thanks.” He slowly extricates his hand from Kazuya's grip then clears his throat. “How's Akihiko?” he asks in an obvious attempt to steer the conversation to another topic.
The glint in Kazuya's eyes does not disappear. “He's fine. He's out of town though.”
“You still going out with that hosto?” Jin asks and he smiles when he getst the expected sardonic smirk from Kazuya. He knows Akihiko works in a PR firm but he likes to tease Kazuya.
“You'd think hanging around decent guys like us would improve Kazuya's taste,” Yamapi says. Koki joins in with a “yeah” while flicking his almost non-existent blonde hair and fingering the thousands of bling-blings around his neck, resting on his chest covered by an animal-print vest.
“Right,” Kazuya dryly says. “A couple of pervs, a dweeb and - ” He looks Jin over.
“Hey,” Jin protests. “Teaching pre-school goes right up there with idols in the list of professions that makes guys hot.” It's one of his defenses for his career choice because he, himself, couldn’t quite figure out how he became a pre-school teacher. He thinks maybe Kazuya was right. Kazuya claimed that Jin's parents and all his teachers went on a pilgrimage in a temple one night and offered their next lives to Buddha for retribution for the all the troubles Jin had caused them.
He was in the middle of this thought when his phone rings.
♥
Jin's butt had barely hit his seat when the whole class stirred. There was a momentary flurry of chairs scraping on the floor and last-minute whispers before the classroom stilled into silence as their teacher stepped inside. In a moment, Jin feels the familiar probing of a pencil eraser on his back and he need not turn around and merely leaned back. “You almost didn't make it, Bakanishi,” Yamapi whispered.
“Spot quiz,” their English teacher announced, her voice was calm and matter-of-fact, like a disaffected jury would read out a death sentence. The whole class groaned. The woman smiled and said, “It's multiple choice.” Jin shook his head. What difference does it make? A death sentence, whether by guillotine or lethal injection is still a death sentence.
In a while, the whole class was quiet, the only noise was the scratching of pencils on papers. A few minutes later, Koki tapped his pencil twice. Yucchi coughed. Pencils scribbled. Half a minute passed and Yamapi tapped his pencil five times. Yucchi coughed twice. Immediately, Jin tapped his pencil six times. Yucchi remained silent. Koki tapped his pencil six times. Yucchi was still silent. In unison, Koki, Yamapi and Jin looked up from their paper and glared at Yucchi who shrugged and looked helpless.
“C!”
Everyone in the class looked up from their desk to the source of the annoyed-sounding quacky voice in front of the class.
“What did you say, Kamenashi?” their teacher asked, eyes sharp behind the thick spectacles.
Kazuya was poker faced. “I didn't say anything, sensei,” the boy said. The teacher's sharp eyes wavered when the innocent young face mirrored just a hint of confusion. She let the boy go with a warning glance that dissipated when Kazuya smiled.
The four older boys at the back watched with keen amusement the scene. Kazuya's got a way with faking innocence.
♥
Jin tries not fidget on his butt. He arrived 15 minutes before Kazuya’s break and the sugar high the Devil’s Food Cake he has consumed didn’t last long. He berates himself for drinking espresso because it is making him jittery. It's just Kazuya, he reminds himself, the runt who always comes through for them when the going gets tough.
“Is there anything else you want?”
Jin starts, surprised that the waiter has not moved away. He frowns because the waiter has been hovering like a hawk since he came in. “Is there anything you want?” he snaps at the boy. That earns him a kick under the table from Kazuya who has come out of the kitchen and is sitting opposite him.
“No, thank you. We’re fine, Mao-kun,” Kazuya says with a smile that flusters the young waiter who shuffles his feet for a moment before hesitantly walking away.
Jin watches the retreating back of the waiter who throws them one last look before disappearing behind the swinging doors of the bake shop's kitchen. “I swear, Kazuya, that kid’s been crushing on you since day one.”
“Shut up,” Kazuya says, “That’s my concern. Your concern is that you have no place to stay in at the moment.”
Jin smiles sheepish. “I was hoping it would be your concern,” he says. Kazuya’s expression remains blank save for the very slight arching of an eyebrow but it's enough for Jin to launch into his practiced speech.
“I hadn’t planned on it,” Jin says. “Nobody planned to have their water pipe burst and flood their apartment. And it isn’t like I had any other choice because, you know, Yamapi’s living with his girlfriend and Yucchi's got a new room mate and even if Koki insists he lives in the garage and pays rent, he still lives with his parents and there is no way I’m moving in with parents, mine or other’s.” He took a deep breath then leans back.
Kazuya stares at Jin. “Why won't you move in with Yuki?”
Jin's shoulders slump. He didn't expect the question. “Well, we kinda' broke up,” he mutters. It's true although even if they did not, he never seriously considered the idea of crashing at his on-and-off girlfriend's house.
Kazuya shakes his head. “Why do you put up with her?” It sounds more like a statement than a question.
Jin scowls. Yuki's the least of his problems. “Kazuya, focus. This isn't about Yuki and me. This is about me not having a place to stay.”
“Jin…”
“I’d teach you how to play guitar. It’s the only prized possession I was able to save, by the way,” Jin interrupts.
“Why would I wanna learn how to play guitar?”
“So you'd have a real musical talent,” Jin says then bites his lip, remembering he's asking for a favor and it's not a good time to insult Kazuya.
Kazuya takes a deep breath. “I don't think - ”
Jin puts on his best puppy-eyed face and moves in for the kill. “Of course I can get another apartment but I’ll have to get a better paying job and I’m sure the school can find a substitute in the middle of school year. You know, a temp who’s got cat-woman eyeglasses and wears her hair in a tight bun and will hit the kids with a stick if they can’t count from 1 to 100 but I’m sure the kids will get over it in 20 years with the right therapist.”
Jin tries not too smile too wide when Kazuya clicks his tongue and smirks. “Thank you. I promise I won’t get in your way.”
“Why don’t I believe you?” Kazuya says.
“I love you, Kazuya,” Jin says and blows his friend an air kiss.
♥
Not on few occasions had Kazuya questioned the sanity of his decision thirteen years ago when he arbitrarily joined a fray just because he needed some muscle-flexing being the youngest and smallest in their class and, ergo, ripe for the picking of bullies. On one hand, his impulsiveness earned him four friends for life. On the other hand, it earned him four friends and one of them is living with him.
“Have I ever told you how small I think your apartment is?” Jin says.
“Everytime,” Kazuya replies. He waits and when Jin doesn't move, he adds, “Don't you have anything to do like a lesson plan or making up with Yuki?”
“Yuki and I already made up and she's doing her nails tonight. And my Children of the Corn don't need lessons. They need exorcism.”
Kazuya is quiet and when Jin still doesn't move, he says, “Jin, I’m in the bath.”
“Yeah, I know,” Jin says, who is still sitting on the toilet bowl.
Kazuya sighs. Jin has been living with him for a week and found it perfectly all right to take a piss, brush teeth, primp up for a late night date or even just to merely talk even when Kazuya was in the bath. He can only be grateful Jin has not taken a crap in his presence.
“This is exactly my point. If your apartment is bigger, the bath would be separate from the toilet.”
“My place was bigger before you moved in,” Kazuya says.
“Whatever. I need to pee.” Jin stands up, and turns his back to Kazuya, poising himself above the toilet bowl and urinates. “Anyway, I’m glad you dumped that imbecile giraffe,” he says, looking over his shoulder. “He has a very unstable career.”
Kazuya doesn’t even dignify Jin’s statement with a response. It doesn't matter anyway no matter how many times he explains that Junno was just a house mate and not his lover. Jin, just as the others, had also latched on to the idea that his former house mate is an acrobat clown in a circus just because Junno smiles a lot and once did an impressive back flip. Junno, in fact, is a court clerk.
Done with his task, Jin shivers and zips up. He turns to Kazuya and beams.
“Flush,” Kazuya says knowing Jin always forgets. Jin does as he was told. Kazuya narrows his eyes. “Wash your hands.” Jin bends down and dips his hands inside the bath tub then he smiles once again before walking out.
Kazuya takes a long deep breath. Living with Jin isn't working.
♥
“It isn’t working,” Jin complains as soon as Yucchi opened the door.
“What is?” Yucchi asks.
“Living with Kazuya.” Jin toes off his shoes then proceeds inside Yucchi’s apartment. He stands in the middle of the living room and looks around. “You’ve got a much bigger living room and I can probably put some sort of divider here.”
“You are not moving in with me,” Yucchi says. “What’s wrong with living with Kazuya?”
“I sleep on the sofa bed in the living room. He wakes up too early,” Jin whines, hoping Yucchi will understand and he need not explain further but Yucchi looks completely confused. Jin clucks. “Kazuya…he wakes up too early and…and he listens to The Carpenters and sings Top of the World.”
“He makes you coffee and takes home left over from the bake shop.”
“Yeah,” Jin says, his voice losing the indignation, remembering that his sweet tooth has never been happier since he moved in with Kazuya. “That isn’t the point,” he says. Yucchi tilts his head, still looking confused. “He saw me,” Jin says.
“What?”
Jin breathes in deep. “It wasn’t my fault. I sleep on the sofa bed, in the living room and he wakes up too early,” Jin repeats which only makes Yucchi look more baffled. Jin stomps his feet in frustration. He grits his teeth then makes a jerking motion with his hand.
It takes Yucchi a few seconds to figure out Jin's hand gesture. His face quickly contorts in disgust. “Oh that’s…oh…”
Someone laughs and when Jin turns he sees Yucchi’s new room mate is behind them and obviously had witnessed everything. “Hi, Tat-chan,” he says, wishing the floor to crack open and eat him up.
♥
“I told him he should wash the bed sheets.”
“Kazuya…” Koki says, face covered with his hands.
Kazuya can only surmise that Jin told Yucchi and Yucchi told Yamapi and Yamapi told Koki and that's why Koki is confronting him. His friends are unrepentant rumor mongers. Kazuya would have been annoyed that he has to explain himself like it was his fault if not for the fact that he finds it amusing that Koki looks more embarrassed than he is. “I didn’t see anything anyway,” he says, trying to keep his face straight. “He did it under the blanket.”
Koki visibly cringed. “You could have walked away.”
“Well, I was having coffee and it didn’t take him long actually,” Kazuya replies, biting off a smile.
Koki covers his ears. “Okay. Stop it!”
Kazuya finally gives in and laughs out loud. “C’mon, Koki. It’s Jin.”
“Seriously, Kazuya,” Koki says. “I’m not saying Jin’s a letch or anything but...”
“And I am what?” Kazuya asks.
“That’s not what I mean,” Koki says, defensively. “You know, there's just no crossing the line.” For emphasis, Koki draws an imaginary line in the air.
“Cool it, will you? I know that,” Kazuya says, finally taking pity on Koki and giving him assurance.
“Okay,” Koki says then adds, “I mean, circular jerking was not really circular and we never looked.”
Kazuya smiles while he pokes the inside of his cheek with his tongue.
♥
Hair undone from previously being knotted in a tight bun, the woman took off then threw away her horn-rimmed eyeglasses and sat up on her desk in front of the class room. Her dark eyes never leaving her prey, she parted her legs and her skirt rode up her plump thighs. She wasn't wearing anything under.
The lone student serving detention fidgeted in his seat. When his teacher started to undo the pearl buttons of her prim uniform blouse, the boy kneaded the hard on under his black pants. When her ample breasts - nipples pink and taut - tumbled from beneath the pink ruffles, the boy jumped up so abruptly his seat toppled. More wooden chairs fell on the floor as he made a dash towards his teacher. The woman leaned back and parted her legs some more allowing the boy space between her thighs. Breathless, the boy pressed inexperienced palms on the juggling round breasts and said, “Yes, sensei....”
Yes Sensei.
It was the crafty title of the AV movie they were watching starring one a.k.a. Juusu Aiko. The movie wasted little time in its pretense on a plot and in five minutes got to the crux of the matter. Yucchi fidgeted.
A year into their friendship, while watching a particularly riveting porn, Yamapi introduced something only high school boys with hormones on overdrive could conjure. In the course of their 3-year friendship, they had done it a few times. Yamapi would always be the one initiating it and they would follow not out of anything except that it had been some kind of perverse tradition. Except for Yucchi. He had never warmed to the idea of group wanking, so he always head for the bathroom and relieve himself in private.
But it was different that night. The session was being done specifically for him, which was why he had the prized location of sitting on the bed. He regretted having confided in Jin but he was desperate. When his third attempt to have sex ended like the first two - getting off even before he could go beyond second base - he knew he needed help.
“It’s a practice in self-control,” Koki said.
“A dry run, so to speak,” Yamapi added, sitting right in front of the TV. “Well, not completely dry actually,” he added then chuckled at his own joke as he brandished a bottle of lotion in his hand.
Yucchi couldn’t quite get into the movie - teacher-student humping on the desk - mostly because he had yet to have a teacher who even remotely resembled Aiko-sensei. But porn is porn and it did its job because he felt the twitching inside his pants just as he knew for sure his friends did.
When Aiko-sensei, looked like she was about to go out her mind, Kazuya stood up and switched off the light. In the darkened room, Yucchi heard sounds coming not from the TV - pants being unzipped, a lotion bottle being squished and someone spitting.
On the screen, the camera panned out and focused on the back of the supposed errant student clad in only his black uniform jacket - not unlike their own school uniform - pants pooled by his feet. The boy on the screen moved jerkily between the spread out legs of his teacher.
Yucchi heard live grunts inside the room accompany the moaning coming from the TV. He sat frozen, unable to look anywhere but at the screen. He knew the blocking - Koki would be sit ting on a chair behind the study desk while Jin sat by the farthest corner of the room. Being the youngest, Kazuya would always find himself left with the most conspicuous place and would simply back himself into a corner and sat with his knees propped up with only his school bag and his jacket to shield him.
“Yes! Yes! Yes, sensei!” the errant boy on the screen moaned while Aiko-sensei shamelessly groaned. “Shit,” Yucchi muttered then wormed his hand under the pillow and closed his eyes. He would not know if one of them would be peeking at another.
♥
“Can’t you see I’m watching?”
Jin ignores Kazuya and continues surfing through the channels. He's glad Kazuya never mentioned the early-morning-show because, for Jin, it signalled it's okay to invade Kazuya's private space again.
“You’re just ogling the baseball players,” Jin says. He almost falls off the bed when Kazuya kicks him on the back. He sits back up properly and surfs through the channels again. Finding what he is looking for, he excitedly shifts. “This is more fun,” he says.
Kazuya groans. “I don’t understand how anyone can find amusing young men subjecting each other to ridiculous punishments while trying not to make a noise inside a supposed library. It isn’t funny at all,” he says.
“That’s because you're cold and soulless.”
“Well, you’re poor and homeless,” Kazuya retorts and lunges for the remote control but Jin manages to hold it away. He growls when Jin smiles smugly. “This is my house, my room and my TV!” he exclaims, still trying to snatch the remote control.
Stretching his arm up and away from Kazuya, Jin says with a grin, “Well, I’ve got the remote control and you’ve got short stubby arms.” They continue to wrestle for the device until Jin rolls off the bed. He stands up and shoves the remote control inside his pants.
Kazuya seethes. “You…”
Smiling proudly at the ridiculous bulge in his pants, Jin says, “Get it.”
“Give it to me, Jin.”
“Come and get it.” Jin leers and thrusts his hip forward. “I know you wanna.” It's too late for Jin to realize what he just said and done. He freezes when he sees hurt flash in Kazuya's eyes. The next thing he knew he is crashing against the television and his jaw is hurting.
End of Part 1
Part 2