Switch-Hitting Part 2

[bluebirdsongs]

5. Maroon 5--Misery
Kazuya really doesn't know how he does it, but he has to admit that Jin seems to balance school and partying almost amazingly well. Now matter how late he stays out (and Kazuya often stays up late, only to hear Jin slip in even later), the exchange student still manages to rouse himself in time for his classes every morning. And he must actually be going to class, instead of leaving the house and then ditching, or else the university would call, right? Maybe. Kazuya can't claim to know how these things work.

The fact that no call comes to alert the Kamenashis that their exchange student is playing hooky from school doesn't stop them from worrying about him. The first night Jin stays out past midnight on a weeknight, Kazuya's mother is frantic, repeatedly calling his cell phone until he picks up, and he texts back that he's okay-he's on the last train out of the city, and he'll be back in twenty minutes. The next day, Kazuya's mother phones one of her friends whose family has hosted several exchange students before, and she says that a lust for independence is common among college students, who are often used to living on their own shortly after they come of age.

Kazuya listens to his mother relate this, and he assures her that Ikeda-san must be right, if only because he's tired of seeing the worry lines that seem to permanently etch her features these days. The truth is, although Jin does go between school and staying out late like he's used to both working and playing hard, in the few times they've interacted since Jin decided to supplement his Japan study abroad experience with partying, Kazuya's seen in his bloodshot eyes a sort of weariness that seems to go beyond simple exhaustion. His instincts tell them that there's something wrong, something Jin either can't or won't tell them, but given Kazuya's track record with Jin, he doesn't feel like it's really his place to ask.

As angry as he had been about Kōji leaving and Jin intruding upon his space with his (attractive, he can admit to himself now) awkwardness and accented Japanese, as time goes by, he realizes his frustration has been sorely misdirected. The end of the baseball season gives him much more time to think about these things, whether he wants to or not, and he thinks that he'd like to start over with Jin if he can, because as he's watched Jin open up to his family, he's realized that the impression he got of when they first met was completely wrong. When he'd first laid eyes on Jin, he'd taken him for an aloof, egotistical jackass who was too wrapped up in himself to realize or understand exactly how much of a change to his family's lifestyle it was to host him. He's since come to realize, however, that Jin's not like that at all. Since Jin's moved in with him, Kazuya has yet to see him accept anything offered to him by his family with anything less than gratitude and humility, which he never would have expected. Furthermore, far from aloof, it turns out that in his daily conversations, Jin's actually a very sweet, bubbly, thoughtful person-someone Kazuya feels he could like if he tried. Someone he could like very much, in fact. But he's not hoping for anything like that at this point. He knows that so far he's done quite a lot to screw up his chances of becoming friends with Jin, and he'd consider himself extremely lucky if somehow, Jin might accept an apology.

That doesn't seem very likely at the moment. Where Jin had started to relax and appeared to be enjoying the time he'd spent with the Kamenashis, for all of his efforts to speak Japanese as much as possible and get better at the language, it's almost as though he's taken a huge step backwards in terms of his confidence and ability, and Kazuya doesn't have the slightest clue what happened to bring about that change. Usually bright-eyed and talkative when the family sits down for a meal, he's recently turned inward, looking for all the world like a deer caught in the headlights when someone addresses him. He responds by mumbling out an answer using only the simplest, most broken Japanese, his attention fixed firmly on his plate as he speaks. It throws all of them for a loop, and Kazuya's mother asks him several times what's wrong, only to receive the same answer-that he's tired, and his schoolwork is stressful, but he'll get through it. His repeated assurances that he's all right don't stop her from worrying, and the only reason she ceases to ask is the fear that if she comes across as too much of a nag, he might withdraw farther within himself, which would only make the situation worse.

Kazuya watches Jin from across the table as he eats his rice, and he wonders if he shouldn't tell his parents that Jin seems to be slipping deeper into his funk, not only coming back to the house late but tossing and turning in his futon for hours afterward, only finding sleep when exhaustion finally overtakes him, sometimes after dawn has already broken. It's the kind of thing he probably should share, but he chooses not to. It had come as a surprise to him when he'd realized it, but it's dawned on him that he feels like he owes it to Jin to be the one to pull him out of his slump. It's the least he can do to try and help after being so cold to him before. Even if Jin doesn't trust him right away (Kazuya can't say he'd blame him if he didn't), he thinks it would be a good chance to show Jin that he's changed and that he would like to start over. This desire gets stronger when Jin's uncharacteristic quietness and his sleep issues don't seem to improve much, but as much as Kazuya wants to confront him about it, something deep inside him tells him that Jin probably won't be willing to talk unless it's on his own terms. So as the weeks go by, Kazuya can only sit, watch, and wait, hoping that Jin will make the choice to reach out for help before things get really bad.

6. Imogen Heap--Hide and Seek

As much as he'd hoped for it, it's still a surprise when his cell phone goes off at half-past two in the morning. Not quite completely awake, he doesn't recognize the number, but when he answers with a sleep-laced, “Doumo. 's is Kame,” he quickly realizes it's both the call he'd been waiting for and the one he thought he'd never get.

“Kame? Kame...is that you?”

Kazuya sits up straight in his futon and holds the phone a bit more firmly to his ear. “Jin? Yeah, it's me. Listen, where are you? What's happened?” A quick glance to his right confirms that Jin isn't in his futon, meaning he could be anywhere. That anything could have happened to him.

Kazuya's heard that sometimes people learning a foreign language speak it better when they're drunk, but that doesn't seem to be the case with Jin. His Japanese is so muddled and broken that he has to ask him to repeat what he's saying three times before he understands.

“Kame, I'm lost. I don't know where I am.” The phrase he uses is a basic one commonly heard in regards to physical location, but listening to the tone of Jin's voice and his actions leading up to this phone call, Kazuya can't help but wonder if Jin's also lost his way spiritually or emotionally, and he responds as such.

“It's okay. It's okay, Jin, don't worry. Can you tell me what you see around you?”

Much to his relief, the gentle tone of his voice seems to calm Jin down and bring him back to his senses, if only a little. It's still hard to hear him over the noise of the street, though. In the background, he can make out pounding bass, the excited shouts of twenty-something-year-old girls, and the occasional sound of a car rushing by, followed by the blare of a horn. In a way, Jin's answer is a bit predictable.

“Tricked-out cars, clubs, drunken salarymen, whores. Ah, not whores-hostesses.” A bitter chuckle comes over the line. “And a bunch of foreigners who don't know their shit's about to get fucked up.” He pauses, and Kazuya hopes with a sinking heart that Jin isn't including himself in that last group. He does have to take a second to marvel at just how much and in what direction Jin's vocabulary has expanded since he started club-hopping. He re-focuses, though, when he hears Jin's voice again.

“Anyway, 'm across from all that. There was this place my friends wanted to go to, and I went with them, but it was bad. Really bad. So...I'm near there.”

Kazuya has no idea what club Jin is describing, but he has a general idea of where to find him, so he nods his understanding before remembering that Jin can't see him through the phone, and then he hastily assures him that he's on his way. “Keep your phone on and stay put. Call me if you need anything, but I'll be there soon.”

Jin mumbles something broken and unintelligible into the phone before the line drops, and Kazuya wastes no time in throwing on some clothes and grabbing the keys to the family car from the hook hanging on the wall by the back door. It doesn't matter that he still has over a year to go before he'll be eligible for a driver's license. This is an emergency, and besides, his brothers taught him how to drive when he was fourteen.

Kazuya worries he could easily spend hours roaming the twists and turns of the crowded Roppongi club district, trying not to bump any of the fancy foreign cars out on parade with his parents' tiny little Toyota, but he gets lucky-he's barely made it halfway down the main drag when a hunched over figure tucked in a narrow alleyway between two clubs catches his eye. Steps cautious, he squints to try and make out the person's features in the dark, but even when his eyes adjust, he can't see much of the man's face, as he has his arms wrapped tightly around his drawn up legs and his head buried in his forearms while his fingers clutch at his knees. His position makes Kazuya think of the method small children often use to hide-curling up within themselves in hopes that becoming small will make them invisible to the rest of the world. Kazuya can't help but wonder if this person is trying something similar.

His shoes send tiny bits of gravel skidding across the asphalt as he draws to a stop a few feet away from the curled up figure. He runs his tongue over his lips once and cocks his head to the side, trying once more to get a better look at him before hesitantly calling out, “Jin?”

Even in the dark, Kazuya can see the other visibly tense at the sound of his voice, and he knows at once that he's right. Jin's head lifts away from his arms, and he casts a sidelong glance at Kazuya, silently regarding him with weary, bloodshot eyes tinged with a haze of alcohol and deep sadness. For a few long moments, they just look at each other, but then Kazuya shuffles over and takes a seat beside him, sliding his body down the wall until his legs extend fully in front of him. Jin quickly looks the other way when he feels Kazuya's curious gaze on him, lowering his gaze to his jeans as he picks at a loose thread on the outside seam.

Kazuya focuses his attention on their surroundings when it seems looking at Jin only makes him retreat further into his shell. He looks up at the strip of night sky visible between the roofs of the two buildings he and Jin are nestled between, predictably devoid of stars due to the light pollution produced by one of the largest metropolises in the world. He looks at the little bit of the street he can see; every few seconds, a group of young people passes by, most of them babbling away in either Japanese or English, or letting out high-pitched peals of amused, excited laughter, oblivious to the tumultuous feelings of a twenty-year-old Japanese-American man with a lost soul tucked away in the shadows of the alley.

The steady, pounding bass beat from the club just beyond the wall they're leaning against travels through the bricks, sending little tremors of energy through their bodies at regular intervals. Feeling the vibrations brings Kazuya back to the situation at hand. He assumes this is the place Jin had been talking about on the phone earlier. His tone at that time had made it sound like something terrible had taken place in there, and he can't help but wonder what had happened to make Jin sound like that. Kazuya doesn't know much about clubbing except for what his older brothers have told him, but he's at least heard of this one-it's extremely popular with college students, and it has one of the best reputations of any of the places around, so what could have...?

7. Matthew Good--Avalanche

He looks over at Jin again to find him still picking at his jeans, and he fixes him with an inquisitive, sympathetic stare until Jin has no choice but to meet his gaze. His expression doesn't falter, even when Jin shoots him a look that clearly says he doesn't want to talk about it.

Eventually, though, Jin seems to figure out that Kazuya's the one with the car keys, and if he wants to spend the rest of the night somewhere other than a dirty Roppongi alley, he'd better admit what happened to make him place an almost pleading phone call to Kazuya's cell phone in the middle of the night. Plus, there's a rather large part of him that feels he needs to confide in someone, and even if he prefers that person be someone other than the host brother who's barely spoken to him in almost three months of sharing a room, he doesn't have any other options. He almost feels as though he's losing control of the emotions welling up inside of him, and he doesn't know what'll happen if he doesn't let them out. So Kazuya it'll have to be. There's something to be said for the baseball player driving all the way out here to come get him. That shows he must care on some level, right? He can only hope that it'll be okay.

He looks at Kazuya's face again, and when he sees the other still giving him that patient, knowing look, it's all he can do to keep the words from bursting out.

“I want to go home.”

A little jolt of something passes through Kazuya's body when Jin speaks, and he blinks with what looks like surprise. His tone, however, seems tinged with something along the lines of disappointment, as though he'd expected him to say something else. “Okay, well...I've got the car parked a few blocks away. I can help you walk there if you don't feel you can--”

But Jin starts frantically shaking his head before Kazuya can even finish his sentence. “No, I mean...I want to go home. To America.”

“Oh...”

An uncomfortable silence falls between them. Jin feels waves of unspoken bewilderment radiating from Kazuya in response to his admission, and he worries his bottom lip between his teeth. He guesses Kazuya would like to know why (no doubt to confirm whether or not he's at least one of the reasons, if not the main one), and Jin doesn't know if he can make him understand, but he wants to at least try, if only to get it off his chest.

Taking in a deep breath and slowly letting it out, he presses the heels of his palms to his eyes and rocks forward a little. “I never thought it would be this hard,” he weakly admits.

Kazuya has an apology on the tip of his tongue, and he opens his mouth to let it out before realizing that he doesn't even know what Jin's referring to yet. He clamps his mouth shut and wills himself to keep quiet until he's heard the rest of what Jin has to say.

“Coming to a foreign country, especially Japan...I thought it would be great, you know? And it has been. The food and the trains and your family and everything like that are awesome, but...even though it seems like everything seems to go so smoothly here, it feels like...”

He trails off for a long moment, racking his brain for words in his limited vocabulary that he might be able to use. “It feels like...there's a bad part, too. An ugly part. Maybe that's a bit strong, but I can't think of how else to say it. Anyway, it's as though there's a wall or something that'll keep me from ever really belonging. Even though I know this is where I come from. Do you ever have that feeling?”

He breaks off for a second to search Kazuya's blank expression, and he lets out a defeated sigh when he fails to find what he's looking for. “No, you probably wouldn't. It's weird, though. I know because I'm American, I'm an outsider, but I never thought...no one ever told me that...because I have a Japanese face, but can't speak Japanese...”

He falls silent again, and even though Kazuya thinks he knows where Jin's going with this, he refrains from trying to fill in the unspoken gaps Jin's left in his story, instead waiting for the haze of memory that's suddenly appeared in Jin's eyes to fade and for him to continue what he was saying on his own.

“The reason I started going to clubs was because it was comfortable. There were a lot of people, both guys and girls, to talk in English with, and they were from all over the world. I thought it was a little like LA. So I drank, danced, and...escaped. Where I came from or how good my Japanese was...they didn't care. It was just fun.”

He stops once again, and this time Kazuya does take the opportunity to respond. “So what happened?”

Jin flinches, and for a second Kazuya thinks he won't answer him, but then he sees Jin's shoulders sink a little with resignation, and he realizes he's just taking a few moments to gear up before sharing the rest.

“There was a girl. There's always a girl.”

Kazuya can't help but nod knowingly.

“She was Japanese, and she was gorgeous. All night long, I saw her looking at me from the bar. I thought she might have been like me, or maybe half, so we started dancing together. It...I don't know how to explain it in Japanese, but...I really liked her.” He adds, “We had chemistry,” in English, hoping Kazuya will know the phrase and better understand what he means, but receives only a blank look in response. “Anyway...”

“After a while, we got a drink together, and she started speaking in Japanese to me. I realized then that she thought I was Japanese. I mean, I am, but at the same time, not really. So...I got nervous, and...I don't remember what I said, but she didn't like it at all, and she went away...only to come back with her boyfriend. She had a boyfriend.”

“Bitch,” Kazuya helpfully adds, and he receives a smile from Jin. It fades quickly, though, when he goes back to his story.

“So...the guy started shouting at me. I didn't understand everything, but he probably wasn't too happy some foreign guy was talking to his girl, and...then the staff came over to see what was going on. I didn't know what to do, so...I ran out. And then I called you.”

Kazuya nods his understanding when Jin doesn't say anything more. “...I see.”

Jin goes back to staring at his folded arms, and in the brief silence that follows, Kazuya sees his opportunity. “I'm sorry,” he quickly blurts out.

Jin turns to look at him. “Why? It wasn't your fault.”

“I wasn't talking about that. I'm sorry for everything else. I've been horrible to you.”

A humorless laugh escapes Jin's throat, and his blunt confirmation of, “Yeah, you have,” really stings, but Kazuya can't get upset when he's the one at fault. He sees Jin's plump lower lip disappear between his teeth for a few moments before he turns to him and asks, “Why do you hate me so much?”

Kazuya's quick to respond with, “I don't hate you. I never have,” but the look Jin gives him when he says that lets him know that that's not even close to an adequate explanation. He draws his lips back over his teeth and bites down on them a little as he thinks about what he wants to say. Even though he's admitted it to himself, he knows he's not ready to tell Jin that one of the main reasons why he blocked him out is because he likes him. Besides, he doesn't even know if that makes sense. On the other hand, if he just tells him it's because he misses Kōji, Jin'll see right through him, because that alone isn't nearly enough to explain just how rude to him he had been.

While Kazuya agonizes over how to answer the question, Jin interprets his silence to mean that he doesn't know, and he concedes with a sigh. “You don't have to tell me.”

Kazuya quickly looks up. “No, I'll tell you. It's just...I don't know if I can tonight. From here on, I'd like it if we could start over, and...if we can, then I promise that before you leave, I'll tell you.” Kazuya's heart pounds wildly in his chest when he realizes that if Jin says yes, he'll essentially have agreed to a verbal contract to confess that he's developed feelings for him. Or at least it feels that way, because Kazuya's the kind of person who, when he says he's going to do something, always follows through. He can't help but nervously search Jin's face while he waits for his answer, and his stomach gives a funny little lurch that's not altogether unpleasant when he sees Jin nod.

“I'd like that,” he says, and they share a hesitant smile-their first mutual once since Jin arrived.

Kazuya awkwardly clears his throat as he starts to get to his feet. “I think it's best to wait until tomorrow to decide if you really want to leave Japan or not. Everything always looks different in the morning.”

He gets the feeling as Jin takes the hand he offers to pull him to his feet that he may have already changed his mind, but he thinks better of saying anything more about that at this particular moment. Instead, he fishes the car keys out of his pocket and spins them by the ring on his index finger, flashing Jin a smile over his shoulder as he slowly heads back towards the street. “For now, let's just go home, yeah?”

Jin stuffs his hands in his front pockets and nods. Kazuya waits for him to fall in step with him, and they leave the alley side-by-side.

~*~*~*~

8. Black Eyed Peas--Don't Lie

The November days turn darker and drearier in their march towards December, and a deep chill settles around the house, doing nothing to improve the moods of the boys already feeling oppressed by the amount of homework the academic year in full-swing brings them. Jin, Kazuya, and Yuya face the choice of cramming together around the kotatsu or freezing, which turns out to not be much of a choice at all when the wind picks up, rattling the windows and exposing all of the gaps in the molding that let cold air seep in. They sit together in silence for hours, elbows and knees accidentally bumping under the table as pencils scratch their way across paper and Kazuya's mother routinely brings them cups of hot green tea (to ward off the nasty cold germs, she says).

After two stressful weeks of exams, essay deadlines, and presentations finally come to an end, Kazuya treats Jin to yakiniku. It's partially to fight the burnout threatening their exhausted minds by braving the cold for some time away from the house, but Jin knows it's more that Kazuya wants to make up for how he had previously treated him, so he makes good on their deal to start over and accepts.

Kazuya can feel the looks they're getting from the rest of the family as he and Jin head out the door, as if they can't believe what they're seeing, and he thinks it might be wise to inform them upon their return that he and Jin are giving getting to know each other another try. He imagines they'll probably corner him to ask about it, anyway, so he might not have a choice. He just won't go into detail about what exactly happened to bring about the change. He doesn't know if that's something Jin wants him to share, after all. Somehow, he doubts it.

Not long after they sit down and the first plates of raw meat they ordered start to come out, Kazuya realizes Jin's fascination with watching his food cook extends beyond okonomiyaki. “They won't cook evenly if you keep poking them like that,” he chides, but Jin only pauses long enough in his prodding the bits of meat sizzling on the grill with the tips of his metal chopsticks to give him a look before declaring the pieces of strip steak perfectly cooked and distributing them evenly between his and Kazuya's plates.

Still a bit awkward with each other, it's easier to focus on eating than making conversation, but as time goes on, the atmosphere of the restaurant and the first round of grilled meat settling in their stomachs help them start to relax a little. When the chicken takes a bit longer to cook all the way through, it feels like an opportunity-one that Kazuya eagerly takes advantage of.

Taking a sip of his melon soda, he runs his tongue over his lips and clears his throat to get Jin's attention. When he has it, he leans a bit forward in his seat and says, “Thanks for agreeing to come with me. You didn't have to. I mean...I would have understood if you'd said you didn't want to.”

A quick glance at Jin's face is enough to tell him that his excessive formality and implied self-deprecation aren't necessary (or really understood, for that matter), but he can't help it. It's a habit he falls into when he's nervous, and right now, he's really nervous. He has to make a conscious effort to switch tactics, and even then he struggles to get words out. “I didn't really make an effort to get to know you before, but I was hoping... I'd like to try and do that now, if that's all right.” Hands folded in his lap, he doesn't risk making eye contact with Jin again until after he's given voice to his implied question.

His stomach goes sick with panic when Jin raises a hand to stop him. “I want to know something first,” he says, and Kazuya doesn't like the look of the long, slender index finger pointed in his direction. Jin has a tendency to be straightforward about things, and Kazuya feels his heart flutter anxiously at the thought of what he could ask. The way Jin maintains eye contact while leaving his sentence hanging doesn't exactly help. He can't help but squirm a bit in his chair.

“Why were you so...” Jin trails off as he searches for a word before deciding to rephrase his question. “Why didn't you like me?”

As expected, straightforward. Warmth floods Kazuya's cheeks in response to the question, and he stutters trying to come up with an answer, wondering if there's just something about Jin that makes him uncharacteristically transparent.

Jin just gives him a flat, even look in anticipation of a response, and after Kazuya takes a moment to calm himself down, he finds he can think rationally again. That doesn't mean an answer comes to him easily, though. He has to come up with something truthful to say that will satisfy Jin without laying all of his feelings out on the table.

He gets the impression Jin isn't a very patient person from the way his expression shifts from slightly expectant to a look Kazuya thinks might better suit the face of an interrogator when the silence stretches on a bit longer than either of them expects. Finally, though, he strikes upon a diplomatic answer. “Actually, there are two reasons,” he starts, thinking that if Jin's going to be straightforward with him, he might be expecting the same in return. “I said outside the club that I didn't feel ready to explain, and in some ways that's still true, but...” He betrays his nervousness by running his tongue over his lips again. “I'll tell you the first reason so long as you wait for me to tell you the second one, because...that's something I'll only say if I feel the time is right for it.”

Immediately, a number of defensive rebuttals come to his mind, just in case Jin tries to protest, including that the original terms of the deal were that he had until the end of Jin's study abroad program to tell him, which still gives him plenty of time.

It doesn't look like that's going to be necessary, though. Jin considers for a moment and then nods. “Okay. What's the first reason?”

Kazuya straightens a little in his chair. Thoughts that this is beginning to feel more like a business meeting than two teenagers going out for lunch start to enter his mind, and he wonders if maybe this hadn't been a good idea after all. “The truth is, I missed my brother.”

Jin's response to Kazuya's answer is to look like he really wants to know the second answer if the first one is so simple, but he stays true to his word and doesn't ask. “But,” he says instead, “you knew for a long time that he was going, right? It couldn't have been a shock.”

Kazuya feels himself go on the defensive. His whole body stiffens a little, and his voice loses some of its warmth. “Well, yeah, but...it didn't really seem real until just before he left. Right after he found out he was going to be able to go, he talked about stuff like what the campus looked like and all the fun things he wanted to do there, and then it seemed all of a sudden he was showing us pictures of his host family and going to the government office to get his passport and visa. It just...sunk in.”

Kazuya realizes after he finishes that emotion had slowly crept back into his voice as he'd talked about Kōji, and that he feels better for saying all of that out loud. He swears he'll walk out of the restaurant and never give Jin the time of day again if the older boy throws that back in his face somehow, maybe by laughing or calling him stupid for being so sentimental, or perhaps some combination of the two.

But Jin just nods, the look in his eyes surprisingly soft and sympathetic. “I understand. My parents were the same way before I came here. I bet it makes Kōji feel pretty good, knowing his little brother loves him enough to miss him like that.”

Before he even realizes it's happening, a broad, genuine smile makes its way across Kazuya's face, and immediately the atmosphere between them seems lighter. It's much easier to make conversation after they clear the air and find some common ground.

While Kazuya sucks on the straw of his soda, Jin leans forward a little in his chair, his expression almost eager. “So, you said you wanted to get to know me? What do you want to know?”

Kazuya decides it's in both of their best interests if he asks something easy. “What are your hobbies?”

The tips of Jin's long fingers find their way to the corner of his mouth as he considers. “Let's see...I love music. I sing; play the guitar, a bit of piano, and drums; rap; and beatbox a little. Never in front of other people, though!”

Kazuya laughs a little around his straw when he hears a hint of shyness enter Jin's voice, and the exchange student focuses on replacing the fully-cooked chicken on the grill with pork to try and hide the blush spreading across his cheeks.

“What besides music?”

Jin dunks a piece of chicken in his plate of sauce and brings it to his mouth, thinking as he chews and swallows. “I like soccer, hanging out with friends, and dancing. Actually, dancing's my favorite thing to do when I'm stressed. That's why I go to clubs a lot of the time. The scene, the drinking, and the girls are just an added bonus.”

He stops abruptly when he suddenly remembers the circumstances that brought them to this point, and Kazuya doesn't think there could be a better time to change the subject. “What's your family like?”

“Normal. Boring,” Jin answers promptly, looking more than a little relieved at the other's wise transfer back to a more neutral thread of conversation. “Dad's been working at the same company since before I was born, and Mom stays at home. I have a brother named Reio who's the same age as you, actually. I saw on Facebook the other day that he got into USC. That's the University of Southern California.” He pauses to make a face before adding, “University of Spoiled Children,” in English, translating what he said as best he can into Japanese when he catches sight of Kazuya's confused expression.

“Ah,” Kazuya says when he understands. “Do you and your brother not get along?” He doesn't mean anything by it when he asks, but he thinks he may have touched on a sore subject when Jin responds with a shrug.

“His and my school have a rivalry,” he adds cryptically.

“Ah, I see. Like Keio and Waseda! The rivalry between their baseball teams is sooo fierce that both schools cancel classes on the days they play each other!”

Jin laughs out loud, both at Kazuya's enthusiasm and his ability to bring seemingly every conversation around to baseball. “It would be cool if my school did that, but our rivalry's not quite that intense. Those universities, though, do you think you might go to one of them?”

It surprises Kazuya a little when Jin suddenly turns the conversation on him, but it would make sense that he wants to get to know him, too, seeing as Kazuya didn't really give him a chance to before, so he doesn't see the point in giving him anything but an honest answer. “Actually, I wasn't planning on going to college. Baseball's the only thing I've ever been good at, so I was thinking after high school, I'd focus on playing full-time-you know, get a private trainer, play on some club teams, hone my skills, etc. My goal's always been to play professionally, and I've got some scouts looking at me already, so...right now I'm focusing on staying healthy and in-shape. After that, I'll just have to see what happens.”

Jin nods along with practically every word. “Nothing wrong with chasing your dreams. Believe me, I understand.”

Kazuya finds himself leaning towards Jin, resting his chin on his propped-up elbows. “Yeah? What are you going to school for?”

“I'm a music major.”

“Ah, that makes sense. Wait a second--a music major who won't perform in front of people?!”

Jin squawks in protest. “I'm planning on being a songwriter!” he explains, using hand gestures so elaborate that Kazuya has to reach across the table to grab his wrist before his sleeve ends up in the fire. “Ah, thanks. But yeah. I love to sing, but more than that I want to be a lyricist.”

Even after Jin clarifies the specialization he's going for in his degree, Kazuya finds he doesn't want to stop teasing him about his shyness, if only because he finds it so ironic. “I think we have to go to karaoke after this.”

“Ah, no thanks.”

A hint of a grin comes across Kazuya's face, and there's a challenging note in his voice when he says, “That's too bad. You know, I'm not going to believe you've got any talent unless you prove it to me.”

Jin's eyes narrow as he sips from his glass of iced tea. “Fine, I'll go. I don't know if I can tonight, though. My friend Josh might call. So...maybe another time?”

Kazuya doesn't know if Jin gets the same feeling, but a small lurch of pleasant surprise definitely passes through him at the suggestion that Jin might want to do something like this again. “Sure. Let me know when you're free.”

Part 3