hijacking your heart
Title: hijacking your heart
Pairing/Characters: Tegoshi, Koyama/Ryo
Rating: PG-13 ('cause they're strippers… lol)
Words: 2,905
Summary: (Romeos 'verse) Romeos gets a little ass. I mean… class. (Cait says she wishes I would get a little more class, but I'm just continuing in the grand tradition of having totally lame summaries. You all love me anyhow, right? Who reads them, anyway?)
Notes: And here he is, ladies and gents. XD Hopefully the next installment won't take as long… And… yes, I'm not supposed to be writing fanfic. I CAVED. (Is anyone surprised?) Shh. It was only a thousand words. >.> Also, Magnus Hirschfeld does indeed exist and is the author of (among others) Transvestites: the erotic drive to cross-dress of which I only read a few pages… but they were slightly interesting. :D
---
Ryo and Ohkura spoke quietly as they entered Romeos' main room a few hours before the club opened, and Ohkura stopped in the middle of a sentence when he realized Ryo was no longer beside him. Backtracking a few steps, he nudged his friend. "Ryo?"
"What," Ryo asked through clenched teeth, "is that?"
Following Ryo's gaze to the side of the main stage, next to the bar, Ohkura ventured a guess as to what he was referring to. "…A piano?"
"No. That."
Ohkura looked over at Koyama and the short brunet standing in front of the piano, chatting in a friendly manner. The shorter man's fingertips slid down Koyama's arm familiarly as he laughed loudly at something Koyama had said. "Ah. That's Tegoshi. New hire."
"We don't need anyone else. All the positions are full. And what the hell is there a piano here for? What is this? A lounge club?"
Ueda brushed past him. "It's here for me to play to accompany Tegoshi. Remember, boss is trying to add class."
"Class my ass," Ryo muttered under his breath, eyeing the way Tegoshi was flirting outrageously with his boyfriend.
Ohkura watched Ryo stalk toward the pair, and his jaw, and practically everyone else's in the room, dropped when Ryo grabbed Koyama by the collar, jerked him down, and kissed him, long and sloppy. When he pulled away Koyama had a goofy, dazed smile on his face and Ryo glanced dismissively at a politely-smiling Tegoshi.
"Who's your friend?" Ryo asked Koyama, feigning disinterest.
Koyama stared thoughtfully down at Ryo for a moment before answering. "Ryo-chan, this is Tegoshi Yuya. Tegoshi, this is Nishikido Ryo."
"Are you a stripper, too?" Tegoshi asked brightly, huge smile on his face and Ryo sort of cringed a bit.
"Yeah. Let's go, Koyama," Ryo said roughly, dragging Koyama off behind him, Koyama looking back over his shoulder at Tegoshi and waggling his fingers at him.
A few nights later he came through the employee entrance, and made his way into the dressing room, only to come to a dead stop in shock. There was a woman in their dressing room. Now, Ryo had nothing against women, but they set him on edge. Especially when they were in the middle of a guy's dressing room. Koyama would mock him, but that just wasn't proper. The show was on the floor. The dressing room was like the safe zone.
And. He blinked a few times. That bitch was hitting on his boyfriend. His shirtless-with-the-top-button-of-his-jeans-undone boyfriend. All right. He'd had it up to here. Obviously he needed to brand Koyama, or put a bag on his head or something. As he stalked up to them, he vaguely wondered why she was wearing a sparkly blue cocktail dress to a strip club, long black curls coming midway down her back but still not hiding everything the dress left uncovered.
Koyama noticed him and reached out for his hand. "Hey, babe."
Then the girl turned to him, tilted her head and smiled charmingly. "Hi, Ryo!"
Recognition hit him like a smack in the face and he jerked back, steadied by Koyama's hand around his. "Tegoshi. Why are you in a dress?"
Tegoshi grinned and twirled, stopping only to twist a finger around one of his curls and smile coyly at Ryo. "Because I look good in one?"
Koyama's laugh rang out and Ryo just curled his lip. "Your shoulders are too wide and you stand like a boy." But Tegoshi was right. He really did look good in it, especially with the makeup that made his already large eyes impossibly wider, and the touch of lip gloss.
Tegoshi just shrugged. "That's okay. They want me to be a boy. If they wanted to see a real girl, they're in the wrong place, yeah? But I thought that there are plenty of guys who'd like to see a pretty boy in drag, and the boss agreed." He looked over at Koyama. "Besides, it means I'm less likely to end up being recognized by a schoolmate, right?"
Koyama nodded. "Ryo didn't recognize you until you spoke, so I'd say it'll at least get you past cursory inspection."
Someone called for Tegoshi then, and he waltzed out. Still walked like a boy, but at least he was trying, Ryo guessed. "Schoolmate?" Ryo asked Koyama, looking with furrowed brows after Tegoshi.
"Yeah, he studies psychology at Waseda."
"Oh god." Just what he needed.
---
Ryo got real tired real quick of walking into the dressing room to find Tegoshi draped over Koyama like some glitzy stole, laughing and teasing, or heads tilted together ,whispering like old friends with smiles on their faces. Not that he was worried about Koyama. He just didn't like the kid's stupid face.
So it was understandable that he would be outraged when he walked into Koyama's apartment to see them sitting together on the couch, cramming their faces with popcorn and laughing like a couple of 10-year-olds. Ryo wanted to turn around and walk out, but that was way too drama-queen for him, so he sulked his way to the kitchen for a beer and then joined them on the couch, squeezing between them and popping the tab loudly. It was impossible to stay sullen long, though, when Koyama gave Tegoshi a meaningful look and they both started force-feeding Ryo popcorn accompanied by pokes from slender fingers in sensitive places (and that had better not have been Tegoshi's finger so help him) until he was laughing too.
But no matter how many hints or blatant make-outs, Ryo couldn't get Tegoshi to stop hanging all over his boyfriend. And there was no way he was going to be all stupid-girl about it.
"Koyama."
"Yeah, babe?" Koyama asked from somewhere around Ryo's toes.
"Would you - that tickles. Watch your stupid shoulder - please stop letting Tegoshi treat you as his personal piece of furniture? Only one person gets to hang his hat on your hook, and that's me."
Koyama sat up and blinked at him a moment, his lips twitching more and more until he finally burst into raucous laughter. "Hook… oh my god. Ryo." He clutched his sides and fell onto Ryo's lap and rolled around. When Ryo gave him an unimpressed poke in the ribs, Koyama sat up and schooled his features into a serious expression. "I promise that I'll never let Tegoshi hang his hat on my hook," and then he dissolved into giggles again.
---
Koyama leaned back against the wall, one foot resting against it and his arms crossed as he listened to Tegoshi sing to Ueda's accompaniment. When Ryo joined him, radiating tension and expression stony, Koyama uncrossed his arms to wrap his fingers around Ryo's.
"He's got a beautiful voice, doesn't he?" he whispered.
"Yeah, sure."
Lifting Ryo's hand to his lips, he pressed a soft kiss to his fingertips before smiling winningly at him. "Let's go."
That evening while Koyama was on stage and Ryo had just finished his last set for the night and showered, he sat on the couch in just his boxers and bathrobe, sprawled across, so tired he didn't think he could move if the building suddenly caught fire, but probably if Koyama did, he reasoned sleepily. Then suddenly he had a lapful of bony ass and lean muscle that was about twenty pounds too light to even think about being Koyama. He opened his eyes to slits, letting his most disdainful look settle across his face, to see Tegoshi's smiling face inches from his own. He willed himself not to move.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"You looked so comfortable!" he said, practically exuding sunshine and rainbows.
Ryo couldn't and didn't want to stop his lip from curling up in distaste.
"Actually," Tegoshi went on, a mischievous glint in his eye, and his voice in a more normal range, "you're taking up the entire couch and there's no other comfortable place to sit, so either you move or I'm staying right here."
They had a small battle of wills right then and there, Ryo torn between moving to get him out of his lap and not giving in to show him who was boss ("Yeah, take that. You'll sit in my lap and like it," just didn't seem like a winning argument, though) and Ryo felt his limbs trying to give in and move to give Tegoshi some of the couch, but cue Koyama walking in and stopping dead-still to stare disbelievingly at him, Ryo's eyes sliding guiltily over to Koyama.
Koyama raised one eyebrow expressively, and Ryo stuttered all over himself trying to explain what would possess him to let Tegoshi in his lap before he finally settled on a look that said, "Damnit, I'm tired," "Don't even think about judging me, you tart," and "Agh, he's so cute, what?" all at once, and Koyama just snorted and walked toward the showers.
One moment of weakness haunted Ryo for the next three weeks, Tegoshi suddenly deciding that Ryo was an excellent replacement for Koyama whenever the tall man was unavailable. He tried not to give in, really, but it was hard not to in the face of such joy and optimism. He guessed he was okay… If Koyama liked him, he had to put up with him too.
"Here," Ryo said gruffly, thunking down a cup of hot tea in front of Tegoshi. "With honey and lemon. For your throat."
Tegoshi turned adoring eyes on Ryo. "Thanks, Ryo-chan!" he said gratefully, voice rasping just slightly, and gently picked up the mug, pursing pretty pink lips and blowing over the surface before taking a small sip, then a deeper one, and sighing happily.
When Ryo passed the bathroom, he felt himself suddenly pulled inside by strong arms and pushed against the door by a very pleased-looking Koyama.
"Ryo-o," Koyama sang sweetly, running the tips of his fingers down Ryo's chest.
"What?" Ryo asked suspiciously, looking nervous as Koyama's long fingers reached to the side and engaged the lock with a click.
"That was very nice of you."
Ryo's eyes slid to the side. "He's just a kid, Kei. And you weren't there to mother him. I was just doing what I thought you'd do."
"So sweet," Koyama cooed, a mischievous twinkle in his eye that caught Ryo's attention and Ryo found himself unable to keep his mouth from crooking up at the edges. Especially when Koyama's eager fingers were already at the button of his jeans.
With rewards like that, it was no wonder he began loosening up whenever Tegoshi was around. He'd even stopped grinding his teeth when he found Tegoshi at Koyama's, feet tucked under him on Koyama's ratty couch as he tapped away at his laptop while Koyama moved around the tiny kitchen.
"What's he doing now?" Ryo asked, eyeing Tegoshi who was typing away obliviously.
"He's got a paper due tomorrow."
Ryo hummed. "And you're playing butler."
Koyama quirked his lips up at that, putting the final touches on the tea and winking at Ryo as he carried Tegoshi's out to him, leaving Ryo to grab his own. Well. At least he'd made it.
The apartment felt even smaller than it was with all three of them there, but he found he didn't truly mind. And when Koyama disappeared to take a shower, he slipped onto the couch next to Tegoshi and peered over at his laptop.
"What're you working on?" he asked.
Yawning and stretching a bit, wiggling his toes he turned tired eyes away from the screen and smiled. "It's a paper on heterosexuality and transvestism. I'm discussing the role cross-dressing plays for heterosexual transvestites. Too many people insist that it's sexual in nature, either as a fetish or as a sort of masochism, but I disagree with both. I tend to agree with quite a few of Magnus Hirschfeld's opinions as far as why transvestism is neither of these things, but I'm not quite sure he hits the mark either."
"Er…" Ryo tilted his head and stared. "Is this about work?"
Tegoshi laughed. "I guess a little bit." Then he glanced sidelong at Ryo, "Maybe it's all true and this paper is just an exercise in self-delusion."
Ryo wasn't going to lie to himself. Most of the implications went way over his head, but he couldn't help but be a little awed at the younger man. He knew he only had a year and a half left of school. Knew that he spent a lot of his free time on the soccer field, that he worked four nights a week at Romeos, and that he still found time to spend with his friends, and always had energy left over. Ryo was lucky if he still had energy left by lunchtime. He couldn't really blame Koyama for wanting to spoil him. So, with a snort at Tegoshi's "delusion" talk - as much as his subconscious liked to think Tegoshi was naïve, he knew better - he stood and went into the kitchen. "What do you want for lunch?" he asked, eyes directed at the countertop as he washed his cup.
"Anything?" Tegoshi asked, voice a little hopeful and a little delighted and a little bit sly all at once, and Ryo looked up with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, sure. Why not." And when Tegoshi wiggled a little, an excited 'yay!' popping out of his mouth, Ryo couldn't have stopped his pleased grin if he'd wanted to.
---
Tegoshi looked stunning as he lounged on the piano, though how he managed to stay on it Ryo had no clue; the ruby red material was slippery as silk, and as much as he didn't actually want it to happen, he kind of wanted to watch Tegoshi lose his precarious hold and go shooting off the side of the piano. His snickers were interrupted by a poke to his side.
"It would hurt," Koyama warned with a small smile, and Ryo had long since given up trying to figure out how he always knew what he was thinking but it was still a little startling.
They watched Tegoshi slide gracefully from his perch and take long, swinging steps toward a table full of girls near center stage. It wasn't often they had so many women in the club, but every now and then they had some in for the decade birthdays or bachelorette parties, and this group was the latter, the bride-to-be wearing a tiara on her head and blushing prettily as Tegoshi stood in front of her and sang something slow and dirty to her, smile sultry as he reached out and traced artificial nails over her cheek and winked. When she buried her face in her hands, Tegoshi just smiled at the girl to her right who looked more familiar than she ought to, to Ryo. And after his act was over and the strippers came out on the floor to some heavy bass beat, Tegoshi danced over to Koyama, steady in his heels and swinging his hips like a pro, and tickled his naked back with his fingertips. Koyama, not missing a beat, gave Tegoshi a lazy, smirking smile and rolled his hips against the smooth fabric of Tegoshi's dress and let Tegoshi slip slim fingers in his waistband and dance him back toward the women. Standing in front of the bride-to-be, Tegoshi and Koyama did a dirty little bump-n-grind to the beat before Tegoshi handed Koyama off to the girl, smiling at her reassuringly, and letting Koyama's near-perfect empathy get to work to get her to enjoy herself. Ryo filed away Tegoshi's pleased look for a time when he could frown.
For whatever reason, Ryo had begun to feel protective over Tegoshi. He didn't know why, really, because if anyone could make it on their own, Tegoshi could. But there was just something about his charming sense of naivety even in a place like this that made him watch him carefully. And when he saw Tegoshi getting comfortable at Romeos, too comfortable, he thought, he felt a tightening in his gut. Not again, he wanted to tell him. Don't be me. Don't get so comfortable you lose sight of what it is you really wanted and get lost inside yourself. Tegoshi was good at what he did there, yes. But he could do anything.
He found himself tugging Tegoshi's arm at the end of the night, as the younger man made to leave. "I'll walk you out if you'll wait a minute."
Pursing his lips slightly, Tegoshi nodded and leaned against the wall, watching Ryo tidy up his area before moving to lean next to him.
"Don't get used to it," he said roughly, looking at his feet. "Sometimes you think, 'This is okay like this for a while. I'm pretty happy. Other things can wait. Next year, maybe. Or the next. Until it's too late and you've missed your chance."
Tegoshi made a questioning noise in the back of his throat and looked searchingly into Ryo's eyes when he glanced up.
Clearing his throat, Ryo continued. "You know you're better than this, right?"
Tegoshi's smile was mischievous. "I know," he replied, bumping their shoulders together playfully. "But I'm glad you think so too."
Ryo laughed and shook his head. "I don't know why I worry about you," he said, and threw his arm over Tegoshi's shoulder. "Let's go."
He didn't even notice Koyama looking on with a determined expression.
Pairing/Characters: Tegoshi, Koyama/Ryo
Rating: PG-13 ('cause they're strippers… lol)
Words: 2,905
Summary: (Romeos 'verse) Romeos gets a little ass. I mean… class. (Cait says she wishes I would get a little more class, but I'm just continuing in the grand tradition of having totally lame summaries. You all love me anyhow, right? Who reads them, anyway?)
Notes: And here he is, ladies and gents. XD Hopefully the next installment won't take as long… And… yes, I'm not supposed to be writing fanfic. I CAVED. (Is anyone surprised?) Shh. It was only a thousand words. >.> Also, Magnus Hirschfeld does indeed exist and is the author of (among others) Transvestites: the erotic drive to cross-dress of which I only read a few pages… but they were slightly interesting. :D
---
Ryo and Ohkura spoke quietly as they entered Romeos' main room a few hours before the club opened, and Ohkura stopped in the middle of a sentence when he realized Ryo was no longer beside him. Backtracking a few steps, he nudged his friend. "Ryo?"
"What," Ryo asked through clenched teeth, "is that?"
Following Ryo's gaze to the side of the main stage, next to the bar, Ohkura ventured a guess as to what he was referring to. "…A piano?"
"No. That."
Ohkura looked over at Koyama and the short brunet standing in front of the piano, chatting in a friendly manner. The shorter man's fingertips slid down Koyama's arm familiarly as he laughed loudly at something Koyama had said. "Ah. That's Tegoshi. New hire."
"We don't need anyone else. All the positions are full. And what the hell is there a piano here for? What is this? A lounge club?"
Ueda brushed past him. "It's here for me to play to accompany Tegoshi. Remember, boss is trying to add class."
"Class my ass," Ryo muttered under his breath, eyeing the way Tegoshi was flirting outrageously with his boyfriend.
Ohkura watched Ryo stalk toward the pair, and his jaw, and practically everyone else's in the room, dropped when Ryo grabbed Koyama by the collar, jerked him down, and kissed him, long and sloppy. When he pulled away Koyama had a goofy, dazed smile on his face and Ryo glanced dismissively at a politely-smiling Tegoshi.
"Who's your friend?" Ryo asked Koyama, feigning disinterest.
Koyama stared thoughtfully down at Ryo for a moment before answering. "Ryo-chan, this is Tegoshi Yuya. Tegoshi, this is Nishikido Ryo."
"Are you a stripper, too?" Tegoshi asked brightly, huge smile on his face and Ryo sort of cringed a bit.
"Yeah. Let's go, Koyama," Ryo said roughly, dragging Koyama off behind him, Koyama looking back over his shoulder at Tegoshi and waggling his fingers at him.
A few nights later he came through the employee entrance, and made his way into the dressing room, only to come to a dead stop in shock. There was a woman in their dressing room. Now, Ryo had nothing against women, but they set him on edge. Especially when they were in the middle of a guy's dressing room. Koyama would mock him, but that just wasn't proper. The show was on the floor. The dressing room was like the safe zone.
And. He blinked a few times. That bitch was hitting on his boyfriend. His shirtless-with-the-top-button-of-his-jeans-undone boyfriend. All right. He'd had it up to here. Obviously he needed to brand Koyama, or put a bag on his head or something. As he stalked up to them, he vaguely wondered why she was wearing a sparkly blue cocktail dress to a strip club, long black curls coming midway down her back but still not hiding everything the dress left uncovered.
Koyama noticed him and reached out for his hand. "Hey, babe."
Then the girl turned to him, tilted her head and smiled charmingly. "Hi, Ryo!"
Recognition hit him like a smack in the face and he jerked back, steadied by Koyama's hand around his. "Tegoshi. Why are you in a dress?"
Tegoshi grinned and twirled, stopping only to twist a finger around one of his curls and smile coyly at Ryo. "Because I look good in one?"
Koyama's laugh rang out and Ryo just curled his lip. "Your shoulders are too wide and you stand like a boy." But Tegoshi was right. He really did look good in it, especially with the makeup that made his already large eyes impossibly wider, and the touch of lip gloss.
Tegoshi just shrugged. "That's okay. They want me to be a boy. If they wanted to see a real girl, they're in the wrong place, yeah? But I thought that there are plenty of guys who'd like to see a pretty boy in drag, and the boss agreed." He looked over at Koyama. "Besides, it means I'm less likely to end up being recognized by a schoolmate, right?"
Koyama nodded. "Ryo didn't recognize you until you spoke, so I'd say it'll at least get you past cursory inspection."
Someone called for Tegoshi then, and he waltzed out. Still walked like a boy, but at least he was trying, Ryo guessed. "Schoolmate?" Ryo asked Koyama, looking with furrowed brows after Tegoshi.
"Yeah, he studies psychology at Waseda."
"Oh god." Just what he needed.
---
Ryo got real tired real quick of walking into the dressing room to find Tegoshi draped over Koyama like some glitzy stole, laughing and teasing, or heads tilted together ,whispering like old friends with smiles on their faces. Not that he was worried about Koyama. He just didn't like the kid's stupid face.
So it was understandable that he would be outraged when he walked into Koyama's apartment to see them sitting together on the couch, cramming their faces with popcorn and laughing like a couple of 10-year-olds. Ryo wanted to turn around and walk out, but that was way too drama-queen for him, so he sulked his way to the kitchen for a beer and then joined them on the couch, squeezing between them and popping the tab loudly. It was impossible to stay sullen long, though, when Koyama gave Tegoshi a meaningful look and they both started force-feeding Ryo popcorn accompanied by pokes from slender fingers in sensitive places (and that had better not have been Tegoshi's finger so help him) until he was laughing too.
But no matter how many hints or blatant make-outs, Ryo couldn't get Tegoshi to stop hanging all over his boyfriend. And there was no way he was going to be all stupid-girl about it.
"Koyama."
"Yeah, babe?" Koyama asked from somewhere around Ryo's toes.
"Would you - that tickles. Watch your stupid shoulder - please stop letting Tegoshi treat you as his personal piece of furniture? Only one person gets to hang his hat on your hook, and that's me."
Koyama sat up and blinked at him a moment, his lips twitching more and more until he finally burst into raucous laughter. "Hook… oh my god. Ryo." He clutched his sides and fell onto Ryo's lap and rolled around. When Ryo gave him an unimpressed poke in the ribs, Koyama sat up and schooled his features into a serious expression. "I promise that I'll never let Tegoshi hang his hat on my hook," and then he dissolved into giggles again.
---
Koyama leaned back against the wall, one foot resting against it and his arms crossed as he listened to Tegoshi sing to Ueda's accompaniment. When Ryo joined him, radiating tension and expression stony, Koyama uncrossed his arms to wrap his fingers around Ryo's.
"He's got a beautiful voice, doesn't he?" he whispered.
"Yeah, sure."
Lifting Ryo's hand to his lips, he pressed a soft kiss to his fingertips before smiling winningly at him. "Let's go."
That evening while Koyama was on stage and Ryo had just finished his last set for the night and showered, he sat on the couch in just his boxers and bathrobe, sprawled across, so tired he didn't think he could move if the building suddenly caught fire, but probably if Koyama did, he reasoned sleepily. Then suddenly he had a lapful of bony ass and lean muscle that was about twenty pounds too light to even think about being Koyama. He opened his eyes to slits, letting his most disdainful look settle across his face, to see Tegoshi's smiling face inches from his own. He willed himself not to move.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"You looked so comfortable!" he said, practically exuding sunshine and rainbows.
Ryo couldn't and didn't want to stop his lip from curling up in distaste.
"Actually," Tegoshi went on, a mischievous glint in his eye, and his voice in a more normal range, "you're taking up the entire couch and there's no other comfortable place to sit, so either you move or I'm staying right here."
They had a small battle of wills right then and there, Ryo torn between moving to get him out of his lap and not giving in to show him who was boss ("Yeah, take that. You'll sit in my lap and like it," just didn't seem like a winning argument, though) and Ryo felt his limbs trying to give in and move to give Tegoshi some of the couch, but cue Koyama walking in and stopping dead-still to stare disbelievingly at him, Ryo's eyes sliding guiltily over to Koyama.
Koyama raised one eyebrow expressively, and Ryo stuttered all over himself trying to explain what would possess him to let Tegoshi in his lap before he finally settled on a look that said, "Damnit, I'm tired," "Don't even think about judging me, you tart," and "Agh, he's so cute, what?" all at once, and Koyama just snorted and walked toward the showers.
One moment of weakness haunted Ryo for the next three weeks, Tegoshi suddenly deciding that Ryo was an excellent replacement for Koyama whenever the tall man was unavailable. He tried not to give in, really, but it was hard not to in the face of such joy and optimism. He guessed he was okay… If Koyama liked him, he had to put up with him too.
"Here," Ryo said gruffly, thunking down a cup of hot tea in front of Tegoshi. "With honey and lemon. For your throat."
Tegoshi turned adoring eyes on Ryo. "Thanks, Ryo-chan!" he said gratefully, voice rasping just slightly, and gently picked up the mug, pursing pretty pink lips and blowing over the surface before taking a small sip, then a deeper one, and sighing happily.
When Ryo passed the bathroom, he felt himself suddenly pulled inside by strong arms and pushed against the door by a very pleased-looking Koyama.
"Ryo-o," Koyama sang sweetly, running the tips of his fingers down Ryo's chest.
"What?" Ryo asked suspiciously, looking nervous as Koyama's long fingers reached to the side and engaged the lock with a click.
"That was very nice of you."
Ryo's eyes slid to the side. "He's just a kid, Kei. And you weren't there to mother him. I was just doing what I thought you'd do."
"So sweet," Koyama cooed, a mischievous twinkle in his eye that caught Ryo's attention and Ryo found himself unable to keep his mouth from crooking up at the edges. Especially when Koyama's eager fingers were already at the button of his jeans.
With rewards like that, it was no wonder he began loosening up whenever Tegoshi was around. He'd even stopped grinding his teeth when he found Tegoshi at Koyama's, feet tucked under him on Koyama's ratty couch as he tapped away at his laptop while Koyama moved around the tiny kitchen.
"What's he doing now?" Ryo asked, eyeing Tegoshi who was typing away obliviously.
"He's got a paper due tomorrow."
Ryo hummed. "And you're playing butler."
Koyama quirked his lips up at that, putting the final touches on the tea and winking at Ryo as he carried Tegoshi's out to him, leaving Ryo to grab his own. Well. At least he'd made it.
The apartment felt even smaller than it was with all three of them there, but he found he didn't truly mind. And when Koyama disappeared to take a shower, he slipped onto the couch next to Tegoshi and peered over at his laptop.
"What're you working on?" he asked.
Yawning and stretching a bit, wiggling his toes he turned tired eyes away from the screen and smiled. "It's a paper on heterosexuality and transvestism. I'm discussing the role cross-dressing plays for heterosexual transvestites. Too many people insist that it's sexual in nature, either as a fetish or as a sort of masochism, but I disagree with both. I tend to agree with quite a few of Magnus Hirschfeld's opinions as far as why transvestism is neither of these things, but I'm not quite sure he hits the mark either."
"Er…" Ryo tilted his head and stared. "Is this about work?"
Tegoshi laughed. "I guess a little bit." Then he glanced sidelong at Ryo, "Maybe it's all true and this paper is just an exercise in self-delusion."
Ryo wasn't going to lie to himself. Most of the implications went way over his head, but he couldn't help but be a little awed at the younger man. He knew he only had a year and a half left of school. Knew that he spent a lot of his free time on the soccer field, that he worked four nights a week at Romeos, and that he still found time to spend with his friends, and always had energy left over. Ryo was lucky if he still had energy left by lunchtime. He couldn't really blame Koyama for wanting to spoil him. So, with a snort at Tegoshi's "delusion" talk - as much as his subconscious liked to think Tegoshi was naïve, he knew better - he stood and went into the kitchen. "What do you want for lunch?" he asked, eyes directed at the countertop as he washed his cup.
"Anything?" Tegoshi asked, voice a little hopeful and a little delighted and a little bit sly all at once, and Ryo looked up with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, sure. Why not." And when Tegoshi wiggled a little, an excited 'yay!' popping out of his mouth, Ryo couldn't have stopped his pleased grin if he'd wanted to.
---
Tegoshi looked stunning as he lounged on the piano, though how he managed to stay on it Ryo had no clue; the ruby red material was slippery as silk, and as much as he didn't actually want it to happen, he kind of wanted to watch Tegoshi lose his precarious hold and go shooting off the side of the piano. His snickers were interrupted by a poke to his side.
"It would hurt," Koyama warned with a small smile, and Ryo had long since given up trying to figure out how he always knew what he was thinking but it was still a little startling.
They watched Tegoshi slide gracefully from his perch and take long, swinging steps toward a table full of girls near center stage. It wasn't often they had so many women in the club, but every now and then they had some in for the decade birthdays or bachelorette parties, and this group was the latter, the bride-to-be wearing a tiara on her head and blushing prettily as Tegoshi stood in front of her and sang something slow and dirty to her, smile sultry as he reached out and traced artificial nails over her cheek and winked. When she buried her face in her hands, Tegoshi just smiled at the girl to her right who looked more familiar than she ought to, to Ryo. And after his act was over and the strippers came out on the floor to some heavy bass beat, Tegoshi danced over to Koyama, steady in his heels and swinging his hips like a pro, and tickled his naked back with his fingertips. Koyama, not missing a beat, gave Tegoshi a lazy, smirking smile and rolled his hips against the smooth fabric of Tegoshi's dress and let Tegoshi slip slim fingers in his waistband and dance him back toward the women. Standing in front of the bride-to-be, Tegoshi and Koyama did a dirty little bump-n-grind to the beat before Tegoshi handed Koyama off to the girl, smiling at her reassuringly, and letting Koyama's near-perfect empathy get to work to get her to enjoy herself. Ryo filed away Tegoshi's pleased look for a time when he could frown.
For whatever reason, Ryo had begun to feel protective over Tegoshi. He didn't know why, really, because if anyone could make it on their own, Tegoshi could. But there was just something about his charming sense of naivety even in a place like this that made him watch him carefully. And when he saw Tegoshi getting comfortable at Romeos, too comfortable, he thought, he felt a tightening in his gut. Not again, he wanted to tell him. Don't be me. Don't get so comfortable you lose sight of what it is you really wanted and get lost inside yourself. Tegoshi was good at what he did there, yes. But he could do anything.
He found himself tugging Tegoshi's arm at the end of the night, as the younger man made to leave. "I'll walk you out if you'll wait a minute."
Pursing his lips slightly, Tegoshi nodded and leaned against the wall, watching Ryo tidy up his area before moving to lean next to him.
"Don't get used to it," he said roughly, looking at his feet. "Sometimes you think, 'This is okay like this for a while. I'm pretty happy. Other things can wait. Next year, maybe. Or the next. Until it's too late and you've missed your chance."
Tegoshi made a questioning noise in the back of his throat and looked searchingly into Ryo's eyes when he glanced up.
Clearing his throat, Ryo continued. "You know you're better than this, right?"
Tegoshi's smile was mischievous. "I know," he replied, bumping their shoulders together playfully. "But I'm glad you think so too."
Ryo laughed and shook his head. "I don't know why I worry about you," he said, and threw his arm over Tegoshi's shoulder. "Let's go."
He didn't even notice Koyama looking on with a determined expression.