TCM Act 10: Shift
Warnings: This chapter contains signs of rape and smex-implied humor.
[Scene 1]
Again with the fluffy dresses. Kyo was right to carry a stress ball around this time (courtesy of Teru). Unfortunately, by the time the photo shoot was finished, the ball was beaten and worn out--nearly falling to pieces. It could not handle the amount of anger and stress Kyo harbored. Teru stopped snapping pictures before smiling and saying, "Good job everyone!" He hooked up his camera to his laptop and clicked through the images. A little crowd began to form around the newly hired photographer, chirping, "This looks nice! That looks nice!"
In the end, everything turned out to be fine, and everyone was dismissed. Kyo allowed a sigh to pass as the crew began to disperse. His sight lingered on Bou for a while before a loud squeal shot through his ear drums.
"It's Hizaki!" a girl shrieked, pointing at the said model. Of course, people immediately surrounded her, seeing that she worked here, and asked her to calm down. They, as well, were excited about the celebrity appearance, yet they said nothing of the sort. Hizaki strolled casually over to both him and Teru, asking for the progress.
"Nothing seems to be happening," Kyo immediately responded, "on the exterior, that is. On the interior, his emotions seems to be clashing, but that is not affirmative. In addition, his job is getting in the way. There is not much room to balance food, work, sleep, and free time that I shall be stealing."
Hizaki sighed and placed a hand on the shorter's shoulder with a face that had turmoil written all over it. His aggitation was visible, but he was also boasting, "I told you so." The model cleared his throat, dismissing what he had to say and kept it to himself. "It's not an easy task this time," he reminded, "so I suggest that we either get him fired, get him some vacation time, or we make the shoots a little shorter. What do you think?"
"That, or we can play with his heartstrings for a bit," Teru added with a grin. He was happy to have a part in this conversation. Not only that, but he was quite glad and content to be arguing with his brother again. After all, they haven't seen each other in fifty-so years. His eyes darted back and forth between his brother and the murderer before stating his simple plan. "Hizaki can--"
Hizaki glared at his brother and snapped, "Forget that plan. Doing such things is a disgrace."
Teru chuckled while Kyo rolled his eyes. Of course the celebrity wouldn't risk his pride, pretending to be Kyo's lover. Hizaki was an elegant aristocrat while Kyo was a street rat--to put it in Aladdin's terms.
"In that case, I suppose I should bring up Jui and Shou," Kyo brought up, "since Jui was nearly broken down by Shou and only Shou. Imagine what two people can do."
Teru then pointed out, "Isn't that too suspicious? He may have been listening to the news and is aware of a murderer dubbed Uroboros-san who has killed two boys named Shou and Jui. He could piece things together or make a random assumption--and there goes our wonderful rich blood..." Kyo sighed and plopped into a folding chair next to Teru while Hizaki placed his hands on his hips.
"Then what are we supposed to do?!" both aggravated men fumed. Teru shrugged and began to polish his camera.
"Well, with what Hizaki had to say, we cannot fire him. It's also too early for him to get a vacation. The shoots cannot be shortened if we want good results--and believe me, good results are needed and necessary. Therefore, we have to make sure that Kyo has to spend as much time with Bou as possible--mentally, emotionally, and-or physically," Teru stated confidently.
Hizaki restrained himself from moaning, groaning, and/or rolling his eyes. This genius brain of Teru's rivaled that of Yuki, both of which was close behind Kamijo's genius as well. The only reason why he had lost respect (in Hizaki's opinion, and, of course, it was Hizaki's respect) was his decision to become a street artist three thousand years ago. Instead of displaying his irritation, he merely stayed silent for a moment before whispering to Teru, "What have you been doing for the last three thousand years? You're still as sharp as ever!"
[Scene 2]
"Ugh..." Tora grunted.
"You have to squeeze harder!" Kai cried. Behind them, Nao rolled his eyes. Hiroto yelped, seeing that when Tora finally tightened his grip, cream began to squirt right into the younger brother's face. Kai and Nao palmed their foreheads in unison.
Nao decided to speak up, "Tora, you've never baked a cake in your whole entire life, you've never decorated a cake in your whole entire life... Why are you starting now? That...cake...no offense... It looks hideous--even though Kai is teaching you."
"Devil Nao came out," the other three in the room chorused.
"Good afternoon!" Byou greeted as he strolled casually into Antique Café. He glanced at Hiroto and shook his head. "Did something happen? Oh, never mind. Forget I said anything. I don't want to know." Hiroto's face was smeared with flour and cream. Not only was the younger brother's appearance worth questioning, the older brother wasn't much better off.
Tora sighed and dropped the tube of icing onto the counter. He glared daggers at the male prostitute. He knew that his hair was sticking up at all ends, his face was covered in sweat, flour, and even a bit of cream, and that his hands were sticky from smashing eggs and nearly spilling the yolk, but that did not give Byou the right to pick a fight!
...Okay, maybe it did.
"What's with the...cake?" Byou questioned. "Something big happen?"
Kai sighed. "Well, there was a customer who came in and pointed at Tora, saying, 'I'll pay you 800,000 Yen if you bake a cake.' Of course, the natural reaction would be, 'What the hell just happened?' Now Tora went through that reaction and said, 'Sure! I'll make a cake!' until he realized he couldn't bake." Byou raised an eyebrow.
"...what the hell? That's too good to be true."
At that moment, the door bell chimed and in strolled the bartender with the ice cream man. Uruha and Reita stopped and stared at the brothers before shaking their heads as well. Tora and Hiroto shared a pout/scoff. (Well, Hiroto pouted and Tora scoffed at the same time.)
"Believe it or not, it is true," Uruha commented. "The same thing just happened to me. 'If you bring me the best wine in the world, then I'll pay you 800,000 Yen,' is what he said. Now tell me, what did he look like?"
Nao took the opportunity to speak up, "Rather crisp hair, if I do say so myself. His eyes were covered by sunglasses, and he wore a nice suit. I only took a glance, but I believe it to be Gucci. It was a nice suit...black wool, three buttons, with flat front trousers. There was a white button-down shirt underneath the jacket, I believe, with a clean and neat black tie." Everyone silently stared at Nao, who merely shrugged. Hopping off his stool, he dusted off the lint off his clothing, hung up his apron, and waved goodbye before leaving the café.
"I guess he was more observant than we thought," Reita mused as he watched Nao disappear off into the streets.
"Hey," Hiroto spoke up, "where's Kyo-san? He's usually here around this time."
Elsewhere, the barista scurried off into a local Starbucks and sat down in a seat. He smiled at his company and apologized for his being late. The short haired brunet smiled in response and shook his head, insisting that it was alright and that there was no need to treat him. The two young men ordered their coffee and scones.
"Rame, what do you think of Kyo-san?" Nao inquired.
The brunet remained silent. "That new regular you guys have?" he questioned before giving his straight forward answer, "There's nothing wrong with him on the exterior. He has a nice face, a cool personality. Although he seems to strongly doubt it, girls have crooned over his appearance. Even though he seems to hate being called cute, he is quite adorable--in their eyes, of course. In the interior, however, there's something strange and puzzling. Is that the reason why you called me out here?"
Nao thanked the waiter as their coffee arrived. He silently sipped his iced coffee before replying, "Yeah... Since Kyo-san showed up in our shop, there has been a lot of deaths around us. It's...odd." A smile curved onto his lips--reaching ear to ear. "This is really good!" he commented before furiously slurping down the contents of his plastic cup.
The duo was completely oblivious to the other pair just entering Starbucks.
"So no ice cream today?" Kyo questioned the new model, who changed out of the Lolita dress. Bou shook his head.
Silence filled the gap between the two as Bou began to fidget and fiddle with his fingers. Obviously, both blondes didn't know what to do with the other. Should they start a conversation? This silence wasn't completely awkward though. For Kyo, it was kind of peaceful (since the assassin lived with hearing bloody cries for help). For Bou, it gave him a chance to think about his next move...or rather, it gave him more time to be filled with anxiety and worries.
"Ano... Kyo-san?" Bou addressed the latter unsurely. "What type of situation would you consider this?" Bou prayed to the goddess of love that he would answer with "something like a date" although it was highly unlikely (coming from Kyo after all).
"SItuation?"
"Eto... Scenario?" Bou corrected himself.
Kyo raised an eyebrow before silently turning his head ninety degrees to the right to stare out the window. To Bou, being ignored by his bodyguard was like being stabbed by a sharp knife--and not just any bodyguard, it was Kyo. Another silence engulfed the two for a brief, succinct moment.
"This scenario?" Kyo repeated. "I guess it would be something like a bodyguard on his job...or a teenage girl trying to see how her crush works so that she can ask him out on a date."
Bou's eyes widened. For a moment, he panicked. The model did not see that coming at all. Kyo smirked and chuckled before directing the focus of his gaze onto Bou. Their eyes locked instantly. Bou could see clearly that Kyo was entertained, amused, and humored. In the end, Bou was just a toy, another person that was being played around with by "love."
However, Kyo wasn't the only one being read. Kyo himself was reading--he was reading Bou's eyes.
The rookie was transparent. He was afraid, but he was also curious. He was in love, but he was also beginning to doubt that emotion. The rookie, Kyo assumed, had a story that he wasn't telling him.
[Scene 3]
"Bou-chan~" Miku cooed as he knelt in front of the blonde. Bou clutched Miku's shirt and pulled him closer. He slid on the floor, inching closer to the brunet. "What's wrong?" Miku questioned with a light smirk. The blonde dropped his gaze, and, soon, his hands fell with his gaze--to the white tile floor. He couldn't respond. "Bou-chan~" Miku sang while resting his forehead on Bou's. Their hair entwined as Miku planted a soft kiss on Bou's nose.
It was different.
It was no longer gentle. There was some deeper purpose.
"Miku-kun--!" Bou gasped upon feeling a snake enter his mouth. Bou's eyes immediately closed while he was pressed against the wall. His pink sweater was pulled off as butterflies danced within his stomach. A warm appendage traveled about his collarbones before stray fingers roamed and found the perfect area to weaken him. A yelp left his lips as the hand slipped his skirt and began to massage lightly. "Miku-kun!" Bou cried. "What are you doing?!"
"I'm sorry," he apologized.
The door clicked open. Bou turned his head and found two more figures there.
"Kanon-kun! Teru-san!" Bou exclaimed.
"We heard," Teruki said as he fell onto the floor. Kanon locked the door behind him. Kanon also joined the circle. Miku's head dropped onto Bou's shoulder. "Pick one of us...although I'm aware Miku appealed to you first. I promise to make you feel a lot better."
Before Bou could respond, Teruki's lips began to leave chaste kisses on his bare skin. Kanon parted his lips to protest, but he was unable to find any words. He helped Bou pull off his clothes before--
"Hey, what are you not telling me?" Kyo demanded.
"I'd like you to tell me that first," Bou requested.
Kyo chuckled and rested his head in his arms on the table while his eyes remained on the model. "You finally developed some balls, huh?"