Fic: Boys Do Fall In Love 2/4
Boys Do Fall In Love
Part 2
They didn't think much of it. Not even when they went to the Kamenashi’s residence one Saturday morning and found Kazuya baking muffins with his mother and was wearing an apron that matched his mother’s. Koki explained how it was just that way with a brood of all boys; someone had to take the cudgel for the mother’s desire for a daughter. Koki even admitted how he, himself, had long hair as a young child and looked like a complete girl.
They were a bit bemused when Yamapi organized a talent show in school and Kazuya performed a samurai dance but Kazuya looked more like a geisha in heat rather than a warrior. After Kazuya’s performance, it was Yucchi who tried to explain about Oda Nobunaga and the warrior’s rumored relationship with the bishōnen page, Ranmaru Mori. They all nodded, a little less confused especially when Koki who interpreted the lipstick as blood.
By the middle of their second year in high school though, Kazuya started seeing them less coinciding with the start of rumors going around in school. During one of their regular meet-ups and Kazuya wasn't around, Yamapi matter-of-fact said that he just saw Kazuya out on a date with a guy. They were all quiet for a while, trying to digest the information because it, more or less, confirmed the rumor.
But when Jin asked “What does the guy look like?” and Yamapi said “He isn't all that hot”, they seem to have reached a unanimous decision on their collective disposition regarding the latest development in Kazuya.
Kazuya continued to avoid them though in what appeared to be a self-imposed ostracism. Until Koki got a call from Kazuya's mother one night and they all hauled themselves inside Kazuya's room uninvited.
“I’m fine,” Kazuya said. No one was convinced seeing the cuts and bruises on his face and his right hand bandaged.
“Who did this? Who beat you up?” Yucchi asked. It was one of the rare times Yucchi was visibly angry. His face was all red, looking like he was about to explode.
“I didn’t get beat up. It was a fight,” Kazuya corrected. “He thought just because...” - he paused and bowed his head - “you know...I'd put out so...” It was as close to coming out that they could get from Kazuya that time.
The four other boys fell silent. Koki had stopped pacing around the room, Yucchi had started gnawing on an hangnail near his thumb while Jin and Yamapi studied Kazuya.
“Look, I’m glad you’re concerned but I can take care of myself. And he's got it worse. He's got a broken arm.”
“Good,” Koki said. “Just because you're gay doesn’t mean you have to be a wuss.” Of course, only Koki could have delivered that line with the right amount of homie love wallop to stir Kazuya out of his persecution complex because while Kazuya's head remained bowed, a smile crept up his lips.
And of course, it was Yamapi's perverse impudence that would dissipate the remaining tension. He plopped on the bed beside Kazuya and asked, “So tell me, are you seme or uke?”
Yucchi, at that point, had gotten over his rage and looked horrified. Jin was just glad that they have Kazuya back.
♥
Kazuya had intended to do inventory of his baking supplies and equipments. It's something he likes doing when he’s stressed and stressed he definitely is. He opens the overhead kitchen cabinet only to find that it is crammed with instant ramen cups and boxes of store-bought choco-pies and he feels like he wants to explode.
“Tough day at work?”
Kazuya opens the fridge and looks for something to eat. He doesn't want to look at Jin.
“I bet that elf had been troubling you the whole day,” Jin says.
Kazuya continues to ignore Jin and quietly takes a plate from the fridge. Hamao, the new waiter, is the least of his problems. At least, the kid just looks at him starry-eyed. He only hopes the kid won't attempt anything further. He gets enough indecent proposal as it is.
“What the hell is that?” Jin asks, looking with disdain at the plate in Kazuya's hand.
“Steamed tofu,” Kazuya says, momentarily forgetting he isn’t talking to Jin because the dish reminds him of the guy who delivers supplies to the bake shop; a guy who always leers like he thinks just because he's got a cock he's god’s answer to Kazuya’s gay prayers.
“It looks like coagulated puke,” Jin says.
“I don’t think puke coagulates,” Kazuya says but he already lost his appetite.
“Well, if it does, it’ll look like that,” Jin says then laughs.
Hearing Jin laugh reminds Kazuya he is pissed at him. He throws the plate’s content in the trash and wordlessly stomps out of the kitchen.
He turns on the television as soon as he gets inside his room. He hates that he is angry at Jin. It is just that, unlike the early-morning hand exercise that was completely accidental, the hip-thrusting incident was clearly intentional. And it was insulting. He can ignore narrow-mindedness in others but when his friends slip and act like any other jerk, it just hurt.
In a while, he hears knocking then his door slides open. When he looks, the door is slightly ajar but no one is behind it. On the floor though is a steaming styrofoam cup of instant ramen with a pair of chopsticks on top.
♥
Jin warily watches Kazuya step out of the bedroom, bedraggled and sluggish. He holds his breath when Kazuya plods towards him in the kitchen and Kazuya pauses upon seeing him. “Who died?” Kazuya asks, question segueing to a yawn.
Jin finally exhales because Kazuya's talking to him. “It's Parent Teacher Day,” he says, adjusting his necktie. “You're late actually.”
“It's my day off.”
“Oh, right. I already made coffee.”
Kazuya nods. He turns on the radio before placing two slices of bread in the toaster. “Ham and eggs?” he asks as he opens the fridge.
“Actually, I need to go.”
“You've had coffee?”
“No, but I need to go,” Jin says and straightens his shirt. “I don’t wanna be late.” He goes to the living room and folds up his bed. Kazuya stops him though on his way out.
“Take this,” Kazuya says and hands Jin a thermal tumbler and a box. “Coffee's for you. The sweets, for the mothers. Believe me, it never fails.”
“Thanks,” Jin says and he wants to kill himself because Kazuya is being all nice to him after what he did. He was just fooling around but he should have known better than to tease Kazuya that way. He was completely mortified at what he did the night Kazuya punched him. He had been so guilt-ridden that the last two days he had let his students trash the classroom, eat whenever they liked and generally disobeyed him because he didn’t feel he deserved respect. “I’m sorry,” he says.
“For what?” Kazuya asks.
“For being an asshole.” There is just no way to put it. Even among friends there's just no breaching the line between good-natured teasing and downright crudeness.
Kazuya grunts. “Like you can be anything else,” he says but he is smiling.
“We’re okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Truce?”
Kazuya laughs. “Truce.”
Jin feels his shoulders relax and he takes a deep breath. “You know, you're not too bad for a room mate,” he quips.
“Ha. Ha.”
Jin smiles some more because even when half-awake Kazuya can do the sardonic look very well.
♥
“A dentist?” Jin asked, looking incredulously at Yucchi. “Who the hell dresses up as a dentist for a Halloween costume party?”
“I do.” Yucchi tugged at his dentist uniform, the collar biting at his neck. “Dentists are very scary creatures, for your information. Whereas a gangster is so stereotype,” he said as he gave Jin a once-over.
“At least, I look hot,” Jin said. He shot Yucchi on the head with his toy gun then tipped his fedora hat. Yamapi joined them. “And you are what?” Jin asked Yamapi whose costume was a glittery sleeveless shirt , threadbare jeans, a fur-lined jacket and a pair of humongous dark glasses.
“An idol in disguise,” Yamapi said, smiling wide.
“Scary,” Yucchi remarked while Jin shot Yamapi on the head.
In a while, a vampire Kazuya appeared. Jin gave him a look-over and said, “I see you came as you are - cold and soulless.” Kazuya flashed his fangs at Jin. Jin shot Kazuya in the heart.
Kazuya's response was a brief dry chuckle. “Wooden stake, baka. Not bullet.”
“Bite me,” Jin said.
The two's bickering was interrupted when Yucchi wailed, “Oh that’s so lame.” They all looked as Koki approached, dressed in all-white suit with a bunny headband on his head.
“Right,” Koki dryly said. “Like a Halloween costume party when it isn't Halloween is not a lame-brained idea.” He darted a look at Yamapi who just smiled.
Yamapi knew his friends hated it especially Koki who's gravely intolerant of what Koki termed as “childish whims". But Yamapi thought it was worth all the trouble seeing how, from across the room, his Sailormoon girlfriend who loves cosplay, looked at him adoringly.
“I think you're cute,” Kazuya said, wriggling Koki’s bunny ears.
“For that,” Koki said, “You get to have this.” He took out another bunny ears headband from his pocket and plopped it on Kazuya’s head. Kazuya looked delighted. He laughed, adjusted his headband then playfully pawed Koki's face .
Jin shot Koki in the head.
♥
They are all gathered around and had set aside the bottles of beer and shot glasses on the table. They all look excited as Jin places his leather bag on the table. Jin smiles, deliberately taking his time going through the contents of his bag.
“C’mon, c’mon, Jin,” says Koki. “I can’t stay here all night. It’s open mic karaoke night.”
It's the Friday of the week Jin's friends had looked forward to every year. On his first year teaching pre-school, Jin had forgotten about People in Your Neighbourhood Week and, at the last minute, had to turned to his friends to bail him out. He could only be grateful that, while he vehemently refused to have a condom salesman, a boring college tutor and a cosplay club floor manager in his class, Yamapi came up with a bright idea. That year Yamapi appeared in Jin's class as basketball player, Yucchi a sushi chef and Koki a truck driver. It has become a tradition since.
That week, Yamapi was a doctor on Monday, Yucchi was a firefighter on Tuesday and Koki, a rapper on Wednesday. Only Kazuya, as always, appeared as he was, not only because he's the only one with a decent and mildly interesting real job, but also because Kazuya flatly refused to take part in what Yamapi called “creative presentation". The others claimed Kazuya's just being his usual show-off self.
But most of all, Jin's friends looked forward to the end of the week when Jin would ask his students to make a drawing for whomever they thought were the best of the week’s guests. That Friday night in Koki's club, as usual, his friends all look just the way they did on Valentine's Day back when they were in high school and awaited who got the most chocolates.
Jin takes out several sheets of paper, goes through them before distributing them among his friends. Koki counts his sheets of paper then he whoops. “I got eight!”
Yamapi, Yucchi and Kazuya count theirs then they look deflated.
“I knew it. I knew it. A rapper beats a doctor and a fireman any day,” Koki says. “Eat dust, baker!” he says to Kazuya.
“Pâtissier,” Kayuza grudgingly corrects.
“Don't be sad, Kazuya,” Jin said. Kazuya always got the most drawings because his presentations always ended with the whole class decorating then eating a cake. Jin takes out something from his bag and hands it to Kazuya. “Someone from the class wanted you to have this.”
Kazuya’s face instantly lights up. “Eat my apron, rapper,” he says, looking smug. “I’ve got Pokèmon.” He turns to Jin and says, “I'm betting this is from Ken,” Kazuya says, fiddling with the plastic toy. ”Cause I let him decorate the cake with his teeth.”
“Wow,” Yamapi says. “A boy gives you a toy and it's pure love.”
“Yeah. I once gave a girl a flower-shaped red play dough but the meaning was lost on her,” Yucchi says, voice wistful. “Probably because it didn't look much of a flower and it was dirty.”
Koki snorts. “Pokèmon sucks balls.”
Jin rolls his eyes at the bickering. His friends can be worse than his students.
♥
Yamapi turned on the television and surfed through channels. He stopped at a music video channel and watched for a while. He chuckled then turned the volume louder before he threw the remote control on the bed and rejoined his friends on the floor.
“Fuck you very much, Pi,” Koki said when X-Japan’s Yoshiki Hayashi belted out “Where should I go now that you’ve left me?” on the television.
“You're welcome,” Yamapi said, patting Koki's back.
Koki was a rapper by heart, preferring the spoken words genre of music because it has the I'm-a-tough-guy-with-a-bleeding-heart going that was exactly what he was. But that night, he was simply a bleeding heart.
“You’ve had enough,” Jin said and snatched the can of beer from Kazuya’s hand.
“I’ve drank half!” Kazuya protested, trying to take back his drink.
“Half is enough for you, runt,” Jin said. “You’re not yet legal.”
“Neither are you,” Kazuya said but Jin downed his beer while fending him off. Jin put down the empty can leaned towards Kazuya then belched loudly right in front of his face. Kazuya grimaced at the smell and shoved Jin’s face away.
“Will you two quit it?” Yucchi reprimanded. “Have you no respect for the broken hearted?”
“Fuck you!” Koki said and hurled a shoe towards Yucchi who just laughed.
Kazuya had quieted and sat back down. He threw a surreptitious glance at Koki.
“What?” Koki barked at him.
“Nothing,” Kazuya said.
“Hey,” Yamapi intervened. “Give the kid a break. He can’t relate. He’s heart is still a virgin. Among others.” Jin chuckled and fell flat on the floor.
“Shut up!” Kazuya hissed.
“Fuck you, Pi,” Koki said again when X-Japan launched into “Crucify My Love.”
♥
Jin stops for a moment by the doorway. Kazuya seems to be home, he can hear music but the apartment is totally dark and it's too early for Kazuya to be asleep. He cocks his head and he smiles when he hears the familiar voice of Yoshiki Hayashi singing “Dry your tears with love.”
He steps inside, flicks open the light and, sure enough, Kazuya lies sprawled on the sofa-bed, bottle of beer in hand and staring blankly at the ceiling.
Jin takes a beer from the fridge before going to the living room. He sits on the edge of the bed where he can see four empty bottles of beer on the floor.
“This must be bad,” Jin says. “You're channelling X Japan.” He guzzles the beer and shivers at the sensation of the cold drink traversing down his throat.
Kazuya shoots him a quick glance and smiles before staring back at the ceiling. “Akihiko is seeing someone else.”
“Really?” Jin asks.
Kazuya nods. “He was supposed to be out of town, right? I saw him coming out of the theater tonight all snuggly with a girl.”
“What did they watch?” Jin asks. It's a silly question but it's the only thing he can come up with.
“The Expendables.”
“Not exactly a date movie with a girl, is it? Unless she's into Jet Li.” Jin takes another swig of his beer.
“Akihiko's into Jet Li,” Kazuya says.
Jin nods again. “He likes 'em small and fierce, huh?” Kazuya aims a bottle at him. “Harsh,” he mutters with a smile.
“Apparently, he likes 'em older office ladies.”
Jin finishes off his beer then belches. “I can gather the guys and we can beat him up, if you want.”
“Right,” Kazuya says, sarcastic. “I remember how you beat up those guys from Kurogin.”
Jin laughs, recalling the time when Kazuya was dumped by Nao, Kazuya's first and only girlfriend in Kazuya's last attempt to be at least bisexual and they all went drinking in a karaoke bar. They ended up in a brawl with five guys from Kurogin High.
“It was entirely your fault,” Jin says. “You were supposed to be heartbroken but you soon had your tongue down the throat of that brainless thug in front of his boyfriend.”
Kazuya chuckles. “Hayato,” he says. “Well, you got beaten up senseless, as I recall.”
Jin recalls how he hated that he ended up being paired in the brawl with Hayatos' boyfriend. “Yeah, well, Ryo...Rui's too pretty to hit.”
“Ryu,” Kazuya corrects then he snorts. “He's not pretty. He's anemic, that's why he's cold.” They chuckle then fell silent.
Jin studies Kazuya who seem to have quickly forgotten about Akihiko. “You don't look all that broken up so what's all the emo about?”
Kazuya shrugs. “I was hoping...you know...”
Jin nods. He understands, he thinks. His relationship with Yuki is exactly like that. He was never really madly in love with her and the days of heady infatuation had long ceased. He's hanging on to it hoping it'll get better even if he knows it won't. And having Yuki just somehow makes him feel safe. From what, he doesn't know.
As if reading his thoughts, Kazuya asks, “Why are here? I thought you have a date with Yuki.”
“Yeah,” Jin says. He collapses on the bed suddenly feeling tired. “If you call following her around while she shops a date.” Kazuya frowns at him. Jin sighs. “We did have the obligatory sex after though,” he says in defense.
In the background, X-Japan starts singing “Crucify My Love.” Jin and Kazuya turn towards each other then breaks out laughing.
They lay side by side until the song ends and Kazuya says, “We should go to bed, Akanishi.”
“Yeah? You think so?” Jin asks. For a moment he fears Kazuya might be affronted with his teasing but is relieved when Kazuya just smirks at him. He chuckles and says, “I am in my bed.”
“Oh. Right.” Kazuya struggles to sit up. “Though, technically, it's mine.”
“Yeah...yeah...everything here is yours,” Jin says.
“You bet,” Kazuya says and he smiles once more before walking away and disappearing in his room.
♥
It wasn't that she didn't smell nice. She did. It was just that Jin didn't care much much for floral scents. He lifted his head off her hair and it was how he caught sight of Yamapi, a few feet away. Yamapi was dancing with a girl but was giving Jin the eye and mouth twitching. Jin frowned. When he looked towards where Yamapi is gesturing with his mouth, he found Kazuya standing by the refreshment table. Alone.
Jin looked around the dance floor. Koki was dancing with a girl and so was Yucchi. He looked back at Kazuya. Kazuya didn't seem at all bothered that he was just standing there and watching everyone dance. But Jin was.
When the music stopped. Jin took a step back but another music played and the girl he was dancing with didn't let go and instead clutched him tighter. He tried to catch sight of Kazuya again but his partner led him around until they were in the middle of the dancing crowd.
“Who's he?”
Jin started and turned. It was Koki, still dancing with a girl, but had managed to sidle up beside Jin.
“Who's who?” Jin asked.
“He's Miroku.”
Jin's head snapped to the left. It was Yucchi, dancing on his other side. Jin frowned, wondering what they were talking about and how his friends managed to steer their partners towards him because Yamapi and his partner had appeared in front of him and Yamapi was pursing his lips once again. Jin craned his neck and found Kazuya was no longer alone. He was talking animatedly to a classmate whose back was turned against them.
“Miro-who?” He looked again at the guy talking to Kazuya and asked, “Isn't he the yakuza's son?” Jin asked..
“Miroku's father's the police inspector.” Jin was startled because it was his dancing partner who answered. He had almost completely forgotten about her even if she was very intimately pressed against him. “I think he's got the hots for your friend,” she said.
Jin stared at the girl for a second before looking back at Kazuya. Miroku seemed to have said something amusing because Kazuya laughed then looked down for a second before looking back up at Miroku, cocked his head, bit the side of his lower lip and smiled. Jin grimaced at Kazuya's cloying coquettishness. Jin's partner steered him around and he lost sight of Kazuya once again.
Jin shook his head, dismissing his worry over the runt. He lowered his face and buried his nose in his partners hair. She actually smelled nice but he still much preferred the scent of cinnamon and vanilla.
♥
Keiko steps out of the balcony and is met by the noxious smell of cigarette smoke. “I thought you quit smoking,” she says, wrinkling her nose wrinkled as she fans off the smoke from her face.
“Where's Pi?” is Jin’s reply.
“He isn’t here obviously,” Keiko says. She sets a bottle of beer on the small table before she sits on a lounge chair opposite Jin. “I am here though and you can talk to me.”
Jin snorts. “You’re not my best friend. Besides, you’re a girl.”
“If there’s someone being a girl here, it’s not me,” Keiko scoffs. Jin gives her a sharp sideways glance. “Why are you brooding?”
Jin sneers. “I'm not brooding.”
“Yeah? So why do you desperately want to see my sweetie?”
“I just...” Jin starts then trails off.
“You're so pussy whipped, Jin, it's just sad,” Keiko comments as she lifts her legs on the lounge chair, crossed her dainty ankles and she leans back. Jin doesn't bother defending himself because in truth he came to see Yamapi because Yuki, at the last minute cancels on their date, claiming she just isn't the mood. “That was good,” Keiko says after taking a drink. “So why's Kazuya bugging you?”
“What? What makes you think Kazuya's bugging me?” Jin asks, taken aback by the abrupt and out-of-nowhere question.
“I watch Bones,” Keiko says.
“Bones?”
“The forensic science series.”
“And that makes you a mind expert?”
“No,” Keiko says. “Solving crime is just a sub-plot in that show. It’s actually more about the continuing unresolved sexual tension between Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth.”
“What?” Jin asks, confused.
“I mean, come on.” She sits up and twists around to face Jin. “X Files got cancelled because Mulder and Scully hadn't hit it off by the ninth season and that was just as ridiculous as the idea of aliens on earth. And you've been friends for what? Ten years?” Keiko emphatically shakes her head.
“Thirteen years,” Jin absent-mindedly answers then blurts, “What the hell are you talking about?” Keiko narrows her eyes at him like he is deliberately being pig-headed. Jin is relieved when he hears the apartment door open.
In a while, Yamapi steps out in the balcony. “Hi.”
Keiko stands up, walks towards Yamapi and gives him a kiss. “I'll leave you boys,” she says but before she steps inside, she turns to Jin. “Dump her, Jin, and remember 'bros before hos'.”
Yamapi watches his girlfriend leave and to Jin he asks, “What was that all about?”
Jin doesn't answer immediately. He is sure Keiko was telling him something but he just can never figure girls out. He shakes his head and says, “You know, Keiko's pretty and all but she's just not right in the head.”
“Yeah,” Yamapi says, taking his girlfriend's place on the lounge chair, “but she usually got everything right down to pat. ” He pauses then adds, “And she's good to me. Doesn't go into a snit just because I couldn't tell the difference between mauve and nude nail polish.”
Jin is about to protest and defend his girlfriend but quickly realizes he feels no real indignation. He sighs, knowing what he needs to do.
♥
“Have we run out of choices?” Jin said, eyes on the television screen.
“I think we have watched every one of Jet Li’s movies. Twice,” Kazuya answers.
Jin is sitting at the top of the bed, leaning against the wall and hands dangling from his propped up knees while Kazuya sits cross-legged in the middle of the bed.
“We can watch it three times,” Jin says.
“What’s wrong with this one?” Kazuya asks.
“It’s a chick flick.”
“It’s not a chick flick.”
“It stars a chick,” Jin insists.
“A chick who wields a samurai sword and guts her enemies. Believe me there’s lots of blood in this movie,” Kazuya says. “And anyway, I watched Resident Evil 1 to 100 with you. That starred a chick.”
“Hey,” Jin says. “She isn’t just a chick. She’s Milla Jivo…Javo…” - he clicks his tongue - “and Resident Evil is classic.”
“Jovovich,” offers Kazuya. “And so is this,” he argues. “You just have an annoying fixation on everything American.”
Jin shuts up and they silently watch the movie. It's Saturday night and he and Kazuya are both home watching a movie. Jin would have found it pathetic but Kazuya's still nursing a not-broken-heart while he, forestalling the inevitable, doesn't want to see Yuki just yet.
“I didn’t know you have a thing for Ayase,” Jin says when the movie’s done.
Kazuya collapses on the bed, his head falling beside Jin’s hip. “Not Ayase. Ichi.”
Jin nods. He looks down at Kazuya and he smiles. “I’ve been told I look like her.”
Kazuya tilts up his head to look at Jin’s face. “You’re not even half as hot as Ichi,” Kazuya says but continues to stare up at Jin.
“What?” Jin asks.
Kazuya pokes under Jin’s right eye. “She doesn’t have that mole.”
Jin swats Kazuya’s hand away. He lowers his head, his turn to study Kazuya’s face. “Since when did you get all these moles on your face,” he asks. Kazuya shrugs. Jin touches a mole on Kazuya’s face and with a finger plays connect-the-dots with the moles, ending with the one above Kazuya’s lips. When he realizes what he has done, he freezes. He raises his gaze and sees panic flicker in Kazuya's eyes. Jin retrieves his finger away.
Kazuya stares at him for a second longer then turns away. “Goodnight, Jin.”
End of Part 2
Part 3