Kareshi (04/11)
Title: Kareshi - Boyfriend for Rent
Author: Fabi & Dani ( dani_mathoz)
Translator: br_arashi Thank you ♥
Pairing: Junba (main), Ohmiya (mentioned)
Genre: Romance
Rating: PG-13 (This chapter)
Summary: 'One need a lover, the other need money... The only condition? Don't fall in love.'
Disclaimer: I don't own them, sadly ;-;
Just a reminder, English is not our first language so please be kind ♥
CHAPTER 4
“Here it is, Aiba-chan. Thanks for the hard work.”
Masaki smiled when he received the white envelope. He folded it and put it in his jeans’ back pocket.
“I am the one who should thank you, Riida. This payment comes in a good time. I have a debt to settle today.”
“Are you going to do it right now? Or do you still have time to try a new recipe I am testing?”
“I have a work to do in about… an hour” he answered after checking on his wristwatch. “However, I always have time for your recipes, boss.”
“Are you going to meet up with Jun-kun?” asked Satoshi with amusement while passing an arm over his employee’s shoulder and guiding him inside the kitchen.
“No. It’s another job. Actually, ever since that dinner, it’s almost a week since he contacted me. Either he isn’t in need of my services or he settled things up with that Oguri guy.”
“I doubt it!” Satoshi exclaimed as he served a piece of pie to Masaki. “Jun is full of pride. He never would admit that he made up this relationship only not to be outdone. I have to admit, Aiba-chan, that, at first, when Sho told Nino and me about this rental boyfriend thing, that I worried about you. Now, nonetheless, I think it shall be a good experience to our friend to have someone, even if fake, to call his boyfriend.”
“This is delicious, Riida!” Masaki shouted with his mouth full, as soon as he tasted the first spoonful of the sweet.
“Really? Do you think I should sell it?”
“For sure! The acid flavor of the lemon and the sweetness of the chocolate created the perfect match! And… what is this taste that lingers in the end? It isn’t strong enough to bother, but… it’s so intense at the same time…”
“Pepper” Satoshi answered with a satisfied smile.
“Eh?”
“Just a pinch of pepper” he repeated. “Just enough for people not to recognize immediately, but which insists to the point that makes them want to find out.”
“Lemon, chocolate and pepper? I never imagined these things combined could have such a perfect taste.”
“I knew it. I taste from this mix every day” the baker replied with a passionate expression.
“Nino?” guessed Masaki.
Satoshi nodded, taking the empty plate from the empty hands of the employee in order to serve him another piece of the pie.
“This guy invades my thoughts even when I am working in my recipes.”
Masaki smiled. Lucky clients, he thought.
“So, Ohno-kun…” he started, hesitating. “About what you were talking earlier… Jun-chan and Oguri-san… what kind of relationship they had?”
“Hmmm…” Satoshi bit his lower lip and looked up as if trying to elaborate a proper answer. “I never had much contact with Oguri-san, apart from those moments when Jun took him to watch Nino perform or in the fashion shows for his brand. Whenever I saw them together, though, they seemed to be very close. Even though Jun insisted that there was no commitment between them, it was kind of obvious that they weren’t just friends.”
“You mean… they never officially dated?”
“They never used that word, Aiba-chan. However, how would you call a relationship between two people who share good times and the bed? As far as I know, for as long as they were together, they never had anybody else. For the way I see, the two of them were the only ones who didn’t know they were dating.”
“I see…” Masaki mumbled, taking the last piece of pie to his mouth.
“Why do you ask? Are you worried about Jun?”
“More than worried, I am feeling a bit guilty. This job… of course, the money he offered me was the main reason why I accepted his proposal. But, I’m not heartless, Riida. I don’t want to take advantage of his suffering…”
“Don’t worry” his boss said, putting his hand on his shoulder. “You are not taking advantage of him, Aiba-chan. It’s just a favor exchange, nothing else.”
“Thank you, Riida!” Masaki said, relieved, checking on the time again. “Well, if I don’t rush now, I will certainly get late to work. See you tomorrow!”
As soon as he heard Ohno replying at his goodbye, Masaki started running to the door. In his rush, he ended up bumping into Nino, who was entering in the precise moment he was crossing the door.
“Sorry!”
“Don’t worry, Aiba-chan” Nino answered. The lad, however, didn’t even listen to him, already almost in the other side of the street. Shrugging, he turned his attention to the insides of the bakery, the scent of bread and cookies all around the place. “Oh-chan!”
He found his boyfriend in the kitchen, kneading a cake dough.
“You've finished your work?”
“I just need to bake this cake. Then, I will be all yours” he answered, covering Nino’s soft lips with a quick kiss.
“You care more about your work than about me… Haven’t we agreed that you would leave the bakery early today so that you could watch my performance?”
Satoshi raised his eyes to the clock on the wall.
“There’s more than two hours until your performance” he said calmly, while pouring the batter in a baking tray.
“It’s that I thought that we could enjoy each other’s company a bit before going…” Nino complained, with a sly and provocative tone. In a sneaky movement, he invaded the space between the table and his boyfriend’s body, with a sensual expression. Then, he dipped his index finger in the batter and took it to his mouth, sucking it, with fake innocence.
“Are you teasing me?” Satoshi faced Nino with an inscrutable expression.
“Is it working?”
Instead of replying, Satoshi turned around, giving his back to his boyfriend.
“Where are you going?” Nino asked, confused and unsure while following him towards the shop.
“I’m closing the bakery, Nino” he answered peacefully. “I don’t want to be sued for obscenity in case a client catch me making love with my boyfriend in the kitchen.”
****************************
Jun studied with interest the hall that Shun and his fiancée was showing to him. The place was beautiful, full of easels containing impressionist paintings in oil or watercolor. There were a few other works of art in the classic style too, to which he paid more attention.
In the middle of the hall, there were also modern sculptures in different sizes.
“This is the place in which we usually expose the works of our best students, beside some replica of awarded works, produced in our school,” Mayumi informed him, with a proud half-smile. “Every quarter of year we change the theme of the exhibition.”
“It’s amazing!” Jun exclaimed with approval. “What do you think, Sho?”
“The space is good and the concept is quite interesting” replied the photographer, who was also analyzing the area with interest. “I believe we could make an amazing fashion show and create a catalog here as you have always dreamed.”
Jun smiled with satisfaction. He had always planned to make a fashion show with his outfits at an artistic place. “Fashion and Art,” he had said to Shun, a long time ago, in one of his megalomaniac daydreams.
Two days after that dinner, he received a surprising call from him. Jun believed that, after what he had seen at his house, Shun would never look for him again. It was when he proposed him to make the fashion show of his dreams. Mayumi was an artist, just like her father, who happened to own a highly regarded Art School at Tokyo.
At first, Jun considered refusing it. Couldn’t Shun understand that it was almost unbearable for him to keep in touch? If he had chosen Hara-san, why didn’t he move away at once?
Nonetheless, running away wouldn’t help easing his pain. It was better to get used to see Shun beside his fiancée and, for the way things were going, his wife in a very near future.
He considered asking Aiba to go with him to see the facilities, but… after that kiss, he wasn’t sure about how to face him. He was angry, unsure and frustrated.
He decided to call Sho. Besides having a friendly shoulder, he would have the best professional advisor.
“I think it might work, Hara-san. I have already a whole collection in mind.”
“Take as long as you need, Matsumoto-san. Let’s go see the rest of the school?” she invited them.
Jun and Sho followed the couple. The school was very organized with specialized classrooms and classes given by reputed teachers.
“This is the drawing class” Mayumi informed them, pointing at an interesting and eye-catching environment.
Jun saw about twelve students and a teacher working with concentration to replicate the naked model who was posing at the front of the class.
For a brief moment, the model made him think of Masaki. The same brownish hair, the same cut, the same long neck and the same body structure…
He felt his face blushing, his heart racing in rage. Why was the image of that stupid being had to appear out of a sudden in his mind? Wasn't it enough for him to be everything he could think about those days? Reliving repeatedly that unnecessary kiss?
Nevertheless, no matter how hard he tried to cast him away from his mind, he insisted in remaining there. At that very moment, for instance, in which he was talking about business, why should that model look so much like him? Even his peculiar birthmark in his shoulder, which he noticed in that morning when Shun had showed up in his apartment, it was identical to the one decorating the model's skin.
“Masaki?!”
*************************
“Jun, what the hell are you doing?”
Only when the man forced a movement to free his hand, he finally recovered his senses. How had he ended up in that corridor? And what was Masaki doing there, facing him with anger and wearing only his coat?
“What are you doing?” he retorted, equally enraged. “Exposing yourself this way like a… a…”
“Like a what? I am working, Matsumoto! What right do you have to take me from there, in the middle of the class, as if you were my owner?”
“I…”
Only then, he remembered. As soon as he realized that it was Masaki the naked model posing in front of the strangers, he felt his blood boiling. He didn’t even think before taking off his coat and rushing towards him, covering his body and grabbing his hand to drag him out of there. Only at that very moment, he realized how ridiculous he had been…
“What was I supposed to do?” he lowered his voice. “Pretending not to see my boyfriend exposing his body sensually in front of everyone?”
“I wasn’t exposing myself sensually! I was posing professionally! It’s a worthy job, just like any other. As a stylist, how many times have you seen naked models in the backstage of your shows?”
“It’s different! None of them was my boyfriend!"
Masaki smiled nervously.
“Did you forget this is all a lie? Apart from Oguri-san, Hara-san and your intimate friends no one else knows about our relationship. I don’t know why you are so bothered…”
“That’s exactly the point! With who do you think I came here? This school belongs to Hara-san’s family, you know?”
Masaki bit his lower lip. Therefore, the Hara in the school name had something to do with Hara Mayumi?
“Oh… I see” he said, suddenly feeling a bit weird, disappointed perhaps. “So, you did all this so Oguri and his fiancée would believe that you were jealous?”
“Yes!” he lied. “Shun knows I am the passionate type of guy… He would find it weird if I didn’t act accordingly.”
“Ok, Jun-chan, I got it. Nonetheless, you have to learn one thing about me: no possessive boyfriend will ever force me to abandon a work. I will go back to that classroom and I am going to finish my job. I need this money” he said, returning the coat to Jun and moving away.
In an impulsive act, Jun held his arm.
“Masaki... “
With reluctance, the model turned back to him, impatient.
“Please… At least wear this coat until you get there…” he asked him, handing him the piece of clothes.
Jun sighed in relief as soon as Masaki complied with his request. He didn’t know the reason why, but he didn’t want anyone staring at his boyfriend’s naked body.
**************************
Masaki took a deep breath as soon as he left the building. The cold weather brought him the soothing effect he wanted. He wasn’t mad at Jun for the make-believe, but he couldn’t deny that it bothered him being used like that for him to strike another man. Nonetheless, once he was being paid, quite well by the way, he couldn’t complain. Besides, there were only two weeks to the end of that surreal contract.
He took the first steps towards the train station, but he didn’t go far due to a silhouette of a man almost the same size as him preventing him to pass.
“You are still here?” he asked him dryly, staring at the dark eyes that seemed to be covered by shame.
“Would you like a ride home?”
“I’m on my way to the station…”
“Please, Masaki, we need to talk.”
He considered refusing, but he was cold, hungry and tired. He placed Jun’s coat, which he was holding, at its owner’s hands and walked to the car that was parked a few steps ahead.
“I’m sorry. I think I overreacted” Jun said, when the car was already moving.
“It’s all right, Jun-chan. Even though our relationship is a lie, as long as that contract is valid, I shall do nothing to stain your reputation. However, I was doing nothing wrong and…”
“I know. I don’t know what got into me. Please, forgive me.”
Masaki nodded.
“Let’s be done with it, ok? I am starving. Wouldn't you like to have dinner with your boyfriend?”
Jun smiled and turned left, on the way to a restaurant that he loved.
The place was cozy, discreet and the food was delicious. As they ate, Jun told Masaki about his reasons for being at the art school, the proposal of a partnership in a fashion show and how much he had envisioned such thing to happen at him. Then, they started talking about random subjects. They even made plans to watch a baseball’s match together someday.
When they were already halfway, Masaki asked him to stop at a place first.
“Would you mind waiting for a while? There’s something that I need to settle” he explained.
Jun nodded and saw him crossing the street to approach a younger man who was standing in front of a crepe kiosk. He saw when they started talking in a friendly way.
They seemed very intimate by the way they touched each other in an amiable way or the sweetness in their smiles. In a way, Jun felt a bit annoyed by the scene. Could that man be Masaki’s real boyfriend? He saw when he handed an envelope to the stranger, who bowed at him in gratitude.
The amiable talk, however, seemed to take an unexpected turn. Suddenly, Jun saw Aiba starting to gesticulate, nervous. It looked as if they had started to argue.
Worried that he could be the reason for the disagreement, he crossed the street in a rush. He saw when the man grabbed Masaki’s sleeve, preventing him to walk away.
“Please, Yuu-chan, don’t do this to me. Let me go…” Masaki begged him, in a broken voice.
“Is there a problem, Masaki?” Jun intervened.
Masaki looked at him, surprised by his presence.
“Nothing at all, don’t worry” he replied and, turning to the other man, he added. “This is Matsumoto Jun, a fri…”
“His boyfriend” Jun announced in an impulse. He suddenly had the will to reciprocate Masaki’s action in the day they had first met. He wouldn’t let that brat hurt him and he was ready to tell him a few insults. Nonetheless, the man surprised him with a handshake, while analyzing him with curiosity.
“This is Yusuke, my brother” Introduced Aiba
“It’s nice to meet you” said the stranger, his smile strangely similar to the one that decorated his boyfriend's face.
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Notes: Hello minna! Waaah we are soooo happy with the reaction and comments of you beloved reader! Thank you soooo much :D
Well now is just the start, many comic moments will come! Did you liked of Aiba chan wearing fundoshi? xD
What about our jealous Jun? We want to read what do you think =D
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