fic for purple_lullabye (1/2)
Title: I’m trying not to tell you (but I want to)
By: misao_duo
Pairing: Kame/Jin
Word count: 13.745
Rating: NC-17
Genre/Warnings: AU; slice of life | language, humour, fluff, slight angst, sexual situations
Notes: - For purple_lullabye/jamie_spotty. Hope you enjoy it :) ♥
- There’s no need to have seen the movie
Summary: “You always do this.” Koki says. “You always find something wrong with anybody who likes you.” | A No Strings Attached AU.
12 years ago
The wind blows on the outside, shaking the fabric of the small, green tent from time to time. It’s perfectly warm inside it but Jin pulls the comforter covering him a little closer anyway, tries to ignore the annoying itchy spots he can feel in different parts of his body; for some odd reason, all kids in the camp were made to wash themselves in the sea rather than in a real shower, and the combination of cold, salty water and sand was definitely not a good one for cleaning purposes.
The entertainment world is full of sadistic bastards, Jin decides.
He hears an annoyed little grunt before the comforter gets pulled roughly from its other side, leaving his shoulders exposed.
“Kame,” Jin whispers, turning around and reaching out to poke the boy between his shoulder blades. “Kame, you awake?”
“No.” the other kid grunts; he squirms forward, out of Jin’s reach, moving inside his cocoon of sheets like a giant caterpillar climbing a tree.
“Yes you are!” Jin insists.
“No, I’m not.” Kame sighs impatiently. Jin thinks he sounds a bit grumpy in an amusing way, like he’s ten years ahead of his current age and already too old for this shit. “I’m sleeping right now, and you should be doing the same, so shut up and get unconscious.”
Jin giggles. “You’re a funny, weird kid, Kame.”
“Yeah, I’m weird.”
“I’m weird, too.”
“Yeah, right.” Kame scoffs gently. He turns around then, moves until wisps of spiky hair, bushy eyebrows and puffy, squinty eyes are visible from the top of the comforter. “Everyone loves you and you’re like, one of Johnny’s favorites or something.”
“I don’t really know how to sing,” Jin admits, “or how to dance. I hate cameras. I don’t even know why they let me come to this camp with the other kids. Not like I’m going to make it.” he sniffles.
His little confession is followed by silence, and Jin moves the comforter up over his head and hides under it, like the mature teenager that he is.
“Are you crying?” Kame asks after a minute.
“No.” Jin replies, voice muffled by fabric; he furiously rubs the heels of his hands against moist lids.
The raspy sound of cheap sheets sliding against each other fills the small tent when Kame wriggles closer to Jin’s side. “Hey, look,” he says, chubby fingers grabbing the edges of the comforter and pulling on it until the top of Jin’s head is visible again, “you can learn all of that. It’s gonna be all right.”
“You really think so?” Jin asks, coming out of his little shelter, little by little, until only his mouth is covered and he can look properly at the other boy.
“Yes.” Kame whispers, moving closer. He bumps his forehead gently against Jin’s and stays there; neither boy moving away from the contact. “I do.”
They stay like that, sharing each other’s presence and warmth for a few peaceful moments, until Jin breaks the silence again. “Kame?”
“Hmmm?”
“Wanna make out?”
Kame sighs in annoyance, bumps Jin’s head again, a little less gently this time. “No.”
“Ok.”
***
5 years ago
The party is in full swing when Kame arrives at the house, its entrance, kitchen and living rooms filled with lots of dancing, noisy, drunken and scantily dressed boys and girls. He is walking towards the back of the building, but stops for a moment when he catches sight of a familiar figure; the guy is wearing a worn out looking white hoodie and holding a cup of something disgustingly colorful that splashes over the floor when one of the two blonde girls he’s sandwiched between hits it with her arm.
He flails and tries to balance the cup to save some of the contents in it, and Kame smirks in amusement. He’s still distracted with watching the other try and look somewhat smooth while dancing in between the girls, despite how obviously drunk and uncoordinate they all are, when someone runs in his direction, shouting his name.
“KAAAMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.”
“Koki!” he greets happily, reciprocating the hug he’s instantly enveloped in.
Koki ruffles Kame’s hair playfully before frowning and pulling jerkly on the lapels of his winter jacket. “Kame, what the fuck are you wearing?”
Kame looks down in confusion to check the state of his clothes. “Prada?”
“This is a college party,” Koki explains, “you, my man, are overdressed for this shit. I mean, check this out.”
“OI,” Koki yells, hopping on top of one of the couches; his voice is loud enough to be heard in the three nearest rooms and lots of people stop dancing to stare at him with varying expressions of curiosity and annoyance. “ARE YOU ALL READY TO PARTYYYYY?”
His question is instantly met with cheers, pumping fists and approving cries of “yeah!”. A group of four girls take off their tops and twirl their clothing in the air as they shout back, and Koki smirks triumphantly back at Kame, winking and sticking his tongue out for effect.
Kame is still smiling at the whole ordeal when he turns and notices the guy he recognized earlier making his way through the crowd in his direction. “You,” he says once within earshot, one eyebrow raised questioningly, “do I know you?”
“Hi, Akanishi Jin from the Hadaka no Shounen Camp.” Kame greets. “Kamenashi Kazuya. You tried to make out with me inside a little tent on the beach?”
“Oh.Oh. Wow, really.” Jin replies, scratching the bridge of his nose and looking embarrassed. “Do you study here, or? I mean, what you…?”
“No, no, I’m studying in Keio.” Kame says. “But I have some family issues to take care of and I grew up around here, so.”
Jin’s eyes grow wide in surprise. “Keio? Wow! You grew up to be like …a lot smarter than me.”
“Yeah.” Kame smirks and accepts the plastic cup Jin grabs from a passing girl and offers to him after slapping her lightly in the ass. “Sometimes even my neck gets sore.”
“Why?” Jin questions.
“Because my brain is so big.”
When his line is met by silence that stretches for a few uncomfortable seconds, Kame decides to drink whatever it is that Jin offered him, just so that he can hide part of his face behind the rim of the cheap plastic cup; the truth is that he doesn’t know why he says stupid stuff like that when he’s a little nervous. They just come out. It’s always either silly jokes or -
“That was really fucking lame for someone so smart.”
Jin smiles mockingly at him and Kame almost chokes in surprise when an arm drapes around his neck and pulls, drags him outside.
***
They are lying together side-by-side on a relatively quiet spot in the backyard, several cups discarded on a nearby patch of grass.“So they really signed you up?” Kame asks in disbelief.
“Well, yeah,” Jin laughs sheepishly, “turns out I don’t really suck at singing or at dancing,” he explains. “Despite of what you probably saw earlier inside the house.”
Kame laughs. “Well, that’s good. But then why the - ?”
“Music degree?” Jin finishes for him. “Just because I have a contract with them, doesn’t mean they’re really letting me record my own songs anytime soon. Apparently, I have to ‘graduate’ inside the company or some shit. Try to write songs for a while before I can sing them. But hey, I really like music, so.”
“Impressive.” Kame grins; he watches Jin as he turns on his side and props his head up on one hand, looks down at Kame with calm, delighted eyes. “What?”
Jin smiles. “I like you.”
“Why?” Kame sighs, grin slowly turning bitter; he eyes the sky rather than Jin’s face, searching for some kind of distraction, something he can look at instead of that soft, captivated expression. “You don’t even really know me.”
Jin shrugs. “I like you.” He reaches out, gently pushes a strand of hair away from Kame’s forehead. “Can I, maybe call you sometime?”
“Akanishi. You’re a nice, fun guy and all.” Kame tries to keep his voice somewhat kind, but serious. “But if you’re luck enough, you’ll never see me again.”
Jin is still staring at him, looking disheartened, when Kame stands up and leaves.
***
1 year ago
“Jin!”
Hearing his name, Jin looks up from the flowers on display and finds Pi just a few meters away, standing beside a tall guy with shockingly blonde hair, holding a corndog with one hand and waving Jin over with the other.
“Jin, get your ass here, look who I ran into.”
“I will be right back.” Jin says to his companion, jogging to where Pi is.
“You remember Koki, right?” Pi asks around a mouthful of corndog as soon as Jin reaches them. “From college?”
Jin quickly accepts the handshake and one armed hug Koki offers. ““Sure. How’s it going, man?”
“Good, good.” Koki says. “I haven’t seen you guys since -”
“Akanishi.”
Despite his all-too-clear memory of that slightly nasal voice, turning around and seeing Kame walking towards them still takes Jin by surprise. “Kamenashi,” he chuckles in wonder, “what are you doing here?”
Kame smiles. “I moved here a week ago. I’m doing my residence at the Shimin Byoin.”
“Wow, congratulations.” Jin says sincerely. “I-”
It’s the quick, slight faltering of Kame’s bright smile rather than the sensation of slender hands wrapping intimately around his bicep that alert Jin to the new comer. “Found you!” the girl says, pressing her body against his side.
“Ah, Takako.” Jin wavers. “This is Kamenashi Kazuya. Kame, this is Uehara Takako.”
“Hello. It’s nice to meet you.” Kame says pleasantly, ready handshake and brilliant smile firmly back in place.
“And that is our mutual friend Koki.” Jin continues, gently leading Uehara towards the blonde guy.
He watches his girlfriend exchange quick pleasantries with Koki for a second before turning eyes back to Kame. “We haven’t seen each other since -”
“That party.”
“Yeah. That party.”
They stare at each other for a moment and then Kame disperses, looks at Takako’s back and to the expanse of floor between their feet; Jin thinks he glimpses a flash of a knowing smirk on Kame’s face before he starts talking again. “Well, we should head out.”
“Ah, well, yes, we should too.” Jin falters, “but we should hang out sometime. Let me just.” He reaches for his Iphone. “Give me your number.”
“Just give me your phone and I’ll put it there.” Kame offers.
“Ah ok, that’s easier.” Jin hands Kame his phone just as Takako settles back by his side, eyeing their exchange.
“We have somewhere we need to be right now.” she says, pulling on the sleeve of Jin’s shirt while he reaches out to get his Iphone back from Kame.
“Yes, yes we do.” Jin agrees, flashing her a quick smile before checking the new number on his phone and turning to Kame once again. “We should -”
“Yeah, definitely.” Kame interrupts smoothly, placing a pair of expensive looking shades over his eyes. “It was nice seeing you. Koki, let’s go?”
“Yup. See you guys.” Koki waves once before following Kame as he strolls away.
Out of habit, Jin lets Takako to place his arm around her shoulders as they start walking in the opposite direction; he still looks back to glance at Kame’s and Koki’s retreating figures one last time before allowing her to pull him forwards.
***
Today
“We can dream, woahh. We can dream, woahhhhh.”
From the other side of the glass in the studio, Jin watches as the kid squeaks the last lines of the song while trying, but not too hard, not to let his face show just how unpleased he is with the whole ordeal; that entire last verse is completely foreign to him, and even on other parts of the song, the lines that he actually recognizes are no more than three.
“Can you check if Chinen-kun is already lined up for his turn?” the studio director asks, and Jin takes a deep, calming breath, silently mourning his lack of opportunity to rip the copies of the new lyrics sheet and substitute them with its first, original version.
Not that those juniors would manage to sing it properly, anyway, Jin thinks bitterly.
As soon as the recording with five - out of fucking ten, he remembers irritably - kids is done, Jin heads straight to Johnny’s office.
Johnny’s secretary, Kawamura-san, doesn’t try to stop him when he stumbles into the waiting room, right hand wrapping instantly around the doorknob of Johnny’s door; she merely sighs and nods in acquiescence in reply to Jin’s mouthed ‘he in?’
“Sit and wait a minute.” Johnny mutters the second Jin is in, not looking up from a stack of papers he’s holding. “I’m finishing something.”
“How did you know it was me?” Jin asks in amusement, throwing his bag on one chair and sitting on the opposite one.
“Other people knock.” Johnny’s statement is followed by a couple of minutes of silence in which Jin distracts himself by looking at the posters and platinum discs certificates on the walls.
“Now,” Johnny says finally, putting his papers down, “what brings you here? Something happened during the recording?”
“The recording went fine.” Jin huffs, placing both hands on top of Johnny’s big, wooden desk; he remembers a time when his hands looked much tinnier and clumsier just resting on top of that desk. “Only, you know, that was not my song.”
Johnny sighs, looking down and shaking his head slowly.“You’ve always been a demanding boy.”
Jin doesn’t really have a reply to that because it’s kind of true; but he has also been patient. Patient and collaborative, not denying any jobs that gets thrown his way, even if they make him feel utterly ashamed of himself or indignant because his lyrics are getting first butchered and them having their sad, bloody remains sung by kids ten years younger than him.
A long time ago Johnny had told him in this very office that the road to success was a long, hard one and Jin had believed him; he’s just tired of the stupid pit stops he’s been forced to take along the way.
“Look kid,” Johnny says with seemingly infinite patience, “I know it’s been tough and I know you’re eager for your real chance.”
His small, wrinkled hands come together over the table to rest on top of each other; he doesn’t move from his chair to ruffle Jin’s hair fondly like he would have during old times - they are both too old for that now - but he sounds just as soothing. “Give me a little more time.”
“Fine.” Jin sighs, he pulls a thin pile of papers out of his bag and slips it under Johnny’s fingers. “Promise me you will take a look at these? An honest look, before you pass it ahead for other people to sing it or take it apart and turn it lame?”
Johnny blankfaces but picks the stack of lyrics up after a moment, and Jin says nothing further; he may be more daring than the average talents in the agency, but he knows there’s a time to push and a time to stop.
Jin is not really trying to peek at the other papers on Johnny’s office; he’s only shuffling objects around out of boredom when his eyes land on a very familiar name typed on one of the sheets. He sneakily pulls the document a little closer and skims it quickly.
His mouth opens and closes uselessly in shock before he can speak again. “You’re debuting Takako?”
Johnny looks up slowly from his reading material and at Jin’s face; he sighs tiredly.
“Are you?”
“I don’t owe you an explanation.” the old man says dryly, one hand landing calmly on the papers Jin had been skimming just seconds before, pulling them back towards him. He rises from his big chair and walks towards the cabinets on the corner with the files in hand. “Uehara has been trying -”
“I’ve been trying for twelve fucking years.” Jin interrupts, voice rising dangerously; he stops and takes a few deep breaths, keeps the whinnying, childish cries of ‘why? Why HER?’ confined to the insides of his brain.
Kawamura-san chooses that moment to knock politely on the office door and open it slowly; if she notices the tense atmosphere of the room, it doesn’t show on her perpetually even tone of voice. “Sr., Takizawa-san is here for your five o’clock meeting. May I let him in?”
Jin doesn’t stick around to wait for the dry dismissal he knows is coming; he zips his bag as noisily as possible and stomps mutely toward the exit.
“Kid.” Johnny calls, and Jin looks back at him from the threshold.
“I am not making you wait forever.” the man offers, “I’m only making you wait for now.”
“Whatever.” Jin mutters bitterly before leaving.
***
“Listen Jin,” Pi says sympathetically, his big, fat, super warm hand rubbing soothingly against one of Jin’s shoulders, “I know she hurt you, and I know it was awful, but it’s been one year -”
“IT’S BEEN EIGHT MONTHS.” Jin interrupts indignantly.
“As I was saying,” Pi continues evenly, “it’s been eight months since you broke up, and it’s about time you move on.”
Jin flounders helplessly. “It’s not. It’s not even that she. It’s -”
“Dude, I heard your ex-girlfriend is debuting before you.” Josh says casually, placing two full shot glasses on the bar counter. “That’s gotta buuuuurn.”
Pi rolls his eyes. “Smooth.”
Jin eyes Josh in disgust. “Can we talk about something else? Anything else?”
“Sure, of course, man.” Josh offers quickly, holding both hands in front of his chest in a gesture of surrender. “All I’m saying is that it’s gotta hurt extra shitty bad when your extremely hot ex-girlfriend, who dumped you, goes around debuting before you do - OUCH!”
“You’re a retard.” Pi deadpans, after smacking the back of Josh’s head.
“That’s it!” Jin declares, slamming his empty shot glass over the counter. “I’m going for it.”
Pi looks at him with an amused expression. “Going for what?”
“I’m going to call every girl on my phone,” Jin explains, fumbling with his Iphone’s contact list, “until someone agrees to have sex with me.”
Jin knows that idea hardly makes it into the list of best ones he has ever had, but he’s tired, he’s upset, and perhaps he’s a little drunk, too, and as long as no one gets hurt, he doesn’t see any real harm in having a little fun and someone to snuggle with.
“That’s wrong.” Josh points out, raising a brand new shot. “A toast to that.”
Pi happily clinks glasses with Josh before they drink in unison. “It’s a terrible, self-destructing plan, and we are behind you 100%.”
***
The last thing Jin remembers before passing out, is his 9th beer.
His 9th beer had been served to him by a very short, charming and long-haired waitress called Minato. Minato has worked on Jin’s favorite hang out place since forever and has known him and sold him booze since he started drinking legally. They are close enough to feel comfortable offering each other random counseling now and again.
Jin’s 9th beer is delivered to him with one such piece of advice.
“No sweetie, you can’t fly to Seoul right now just to hump a girl.” Minato berates him gently, taking his empty bottle from lax fingers and replacing it with a cold, new one.
“Can too!” Jin had whined in reply, and that had been right after his 4th Screwdriver and a little before those bushes had appeared out of nowhere and tripped him.
If he tries really hard, Jin can also remember being lifted from the floor and carried by Pi and Josh while flailing wildly and telling them that he was fine, that he hadn’t seen that traitorous bush near the curb but it was definitely not keeping him from flying to Korea.
He just wishes he knew if that had been before or after his 9th beer.
***
Jin wakes up with sunlight hitting him straight in the eye, and it takes him a few moments trying to futilely block it with one hand while nuzzling the fabric he’s drooling on, before he realizes it smells all clean and consequently kind of wrong; he’s lying on an unfamiliar couch.
He rubs his eyes and blinks several times before managing to focus properly and that’s when Jin notices a guy sitting on a nearby chair; he’s wrapping both hands around a mug with what looks like a huge false nose in it, and looks a little like he’d rather be anywhere but where he is.
“You don’t remember my name, do you?”, he asks eventually.
Jin tries to think of a polite reply, something along the lines of ‘I suffer from short term memory loss disorder’, but all he manages is an indecipherable groan.
“It’s okay.” the guy sighs, hopping up from his chair and moving to a nearby counter. “It’s Nakamaru. And you look like you need some coffee.”
“Coffee.” Jin agrees, voice rough from sleep and god knows what else. “Coffee is good.” He manages to sit up and it’s only then that he notices he’s wearing nothing but his boxers.
Jin looks around anxiously, arms closing over his stomach protectively, out of instinct; he’s not cold or anything, but after years of wearing baggy clothes, it feels weird to be almost naked in such a big room.
A small part of Jin hopes he doesn’t sound completely demented but the other, bigger part, is kind of freaking out like a girl. “Where are my pants?”
“I don’t know.” the other guy replies, sounding extremely uncomfortable; Jin notices he’s very careful not to look at his unclothed parts as he hands him a mug. “Here’s your coffee”.
“Thank you.” Jin eyes the guy as he goes back to the chair he had been sitting on before and drinks his coffee, trying to think about what to say; he wants to ask him about last night and why he’s semi-naked ,hanging around on his apartment if they have never met before. Jin doesn’t want to sound impolite or helpless, but it’s hard when one doesn’t remember anything that happened in the last eight hours or more.
He ends up blurting the first thing that comes to mind. “Do you have like, a really hot sister or something?”
Nakamura spits cereal all over the place. “WHAT.”
Jin is just about to stand up to get some paper towels, when someone else enters the room.
“Akanishi.” the person - and it makes Jin scared that maybe he’s more hung over than he initially thought upon waking up, because he cannot tell if it’s a guy or a girl - says, nonchalantly dropping clothes on the floor as if they were made out of something disgusting. “You left your socks in my room.”
“Did I?”
“You did.” The other confirms flatly, and Jin notices the deep voice. A guy, he concludes. Probably.
“Did I,” Jin stammers, “by any chance, left my pants in your room?”
“No. When we meet, you weren’t wearing pants.”
Jin feels on the very verge of hyperventilating when a nearby door slams and someone else joins the conversation.
“Stop messing with him, guys,” a familiar voice says, and Jin almost weeps in relief.
“KOKI!”
“Hey!” Koki greets casually, slouching by Jin’s side on the couch with his own mug.
“I know you.” Jin wheezes happily, not really caring that he sounds more or less like a panicky kid who has just found their mom after being lost in the mall for an hour.
Koki agrees good-naturedly, nodding and sipping his coffee. “Yup.”
“Listen, Koki,” Jin says conspiratorially, “what happened last night? Did I. I mean. Did we… ”
Instead of finishing, Jin eyes Koki with a mix of expectancy and dread; it’s not that he hasn’t ever experienced attraction towards another guy in the past or anything, but the idea that maybe he had fooled around with one and couldn’t remember a damn minute of it felt extremely uncomfortable. Besides, Koki is not his type.
“Have sex?” Koki finishes for him, one eyebrow raised over the rim of his mug.
Jin nods uncertainly.
“HELL YEAH, we did.” Koki grins manically, slapping him in the back a couple of times and completely ignoring the way Jin groans and covers his face behind his hands. “You, me, and that guy’s sister over there had a threesome!”
“EXCUSE ME.” Nakamura-or-something cries, and Jin peeks between two fingers just to check if more cereal is now decorating the floor.
That’s when he notices someone else leaning against the counter, calmly watching the scene unfold and hiding a smile behind his red mug; “You’re up.” he exclaims, the moment that his and Jin’s eyes meet.
“Kame.” Jin babbles, trying to pull his t-shirt down instinctively and then closing his arms over his chest instead when he remembers he isn’t wearing one. “You. You live here?”
“Yes.” Kame replies, moving to pour himself more coffee. “Are you feeling any better?”
“Did I have sex with anyone in this apartment last night?” Jin blurts out; it’s definitely not as smooth as he wishes he could be, but at least Kame is someone who’s a little used to his outbursts of sincerity, Jin figures.
Kame sighs around a smirk .“No, you didn’t.”
Koki slaps his back one last time before lifting from the couch. “Sorry, man.”
“Oh, thank you!” Jin fumes, frowning at everyone, including the slightly intimidating girl-guy. “That’s really funny. Let’s make fun of the hung over, half naked guy.”
“I do have your pants though,” Kame continues calmly, tipping his head towards the corridor behind him, “so if you want them, come with me.”
“Yes. Hm, thank you.” Jin silently picks his socks up from the floor, and tries to ignore how all eyes on the living room follow his movements as he does so.
“Why do you all keep bringing my sister up in conversation these days?” Jin hears a resentful voice ask, while he watches Kame make a turn and enter a room at the end of the corridor.
“She’s really hot.” someone else answers, and Jin recognizes the voice as being Koki’s.
“I don’t know.” a third party joins, sounding apathetic, “She definitely has a better nose.”
There’s a round of laughter, and an indignant cry of ‘OI!’ is the last thing Jin listens before closing the door to Kame’s bedroom carefully behind him.
Kame is organizing a series of bracelets on top of a dresser and Jin watches him for a second, takes in the changes he can notice since the last time they’ve seen each other. “Your hair looks different.” he points out.
Kame turns a little and blinks a couple of times. “Hm, yeah.”
“Looks good.”
Kame smiles. “Thank you.”
“So, hmmm,” Jin tries, feeling slightly more comfortable now with only Kame around, “how did I get here?”
“You texted me saying it was an emergency,” Kame explains, voice echoing a bit when he moves to the bedroom’s adjacent bathroom, “so I texted you my address.”
“Oh.”
“And then you got here, and I think you thought you were home,” Kame continues, returning to the room, “because you started taking all your clothes off.” he finishes, reaching for something hanging over a chair. “Here are your pants.”
Jin sits on the bed and fumbles while trying to put his pants back on quickly; he watches as Kame walks to a nearby wardrobe and opens it to reveal, from where Jin stands at least, what looks like a collection of way more than a couple dozen jeans.
Jin whistles low and Kame looks back at him over his shoulder, one fine shaped eyebrow raised questioningly.
“So…did I just pass out on your couch?” Jin asks, more to cover up the fact that he was being a creep than out of genuine curiosity.
Kame shakes his head. “No. Then you did this thing. It was like…a dance?”
“A dance?”
“Yeah. Like -” Kame wordlessly lays down on his back, then moves his hips and torso up rhythmically, keeping hands and feet on the floor like some kind of crazy upside down spider.
“I did that in front of you?” Jin asks, one hand over his mouth, completely mortified.
“Yeah.”
“Shit! I’m sorry -”
“No, no, it was exciting.” Kame smirks maliciously. “You were thrusting upwards like there was an imaginary lap dancer thrusting down on top of you, and you were cheering, saying ‘if I said do you love me, would you say ye-oh’.” he finishes with a hearty laugh.
Jin grins incredulously.“And you watched?”
“Of course I watched!” Kame states immediately. “Didn’t have to pay to see a Johnny put on a show in front of me. Koki shouted ‘ye-oh’, back at you.”
Jin laughs, feels a little less like a complete ass and a little better about the whole thing. “Look, I don’t even know where to start. Yesterday, I found out my ex-girlfriend is debuting - ”
“You told me that last night.” Kame interrupts kindly.
“Oh. Did I tell you in like, a charming way? Was I being like, charming and funny?”
“Yeah.” Kame says seriously, licking his bottom lip. “You were half naked and crying. So.”
Jin groans and runs both hands over his hair in frustration. Back to feeling like an ass. “Yeah, well, I’m a mess.”
He stares at the carpeted floor of Kame’s bedroom for a while and feels more than sees, when Kame sits by his side on the edge of the bed, places an arm comfortingly around his shoulders and rubs his hand in circling, soothing motions.
“It’s going to be okay.”
“Thanks.” Jin looks up and notices the way Kame is looking at him, how his eyes are slowly traveling over his features, from the morning stubble he can feel growing on his chin, to the bridge of his nose, stopping for a moment on the spot where the beauty mark near his eye is and settling back on his lips.
“Seriously.” Jin whispers, doing a similar mapping of a series of delightful details he can easily find on Kame’s face and experiencing a phantom but rising urge to kiss all of them. “Thank you.”
They stare at each other for a long while and keep staring even as Kame starts talking nonsense, eyes locked on Jin’s face. “I have to get ready. I don’t want to be late.”
“Yeah, you don’t want to be late.” Jin agrees, moving slowly closer, fingers pulling gently but deftly at the strings on Kame’s sweatpants.
“No, that would be bad.”
The words are just stumbling out of Kame’s mouth, Jin notices, he’s way more preoccupied with ogling Jin’s collarbones and neck and mouth. That suits Jin just fine, for he’s also more preoccupied studying Kame’s cheeks, eyebrows and eyes.
They hesitate in silence for a moment or two, but then Kame does that thing where he licks his bottom lip again, and Jin moves full on into his personal space and kisses him.
Kame’s hands are on him and threading through the soft curls on the base of his neck in a second; he gasps into the kiss, opens his mouth a little wider and pulls Jin closer.
Jin follows his lead eagerly, moves them up on the bed until Kame’s head is supported by his dozen pillows and Jin is pressing his body down on the mattress with his own.
It’s a bit troubling, trying to take clothes off and kiss at the same time, but Kame’s sweatpants are ridiculously easy to pull on and remove and Jin hadn’t even zipped his own pair back properly again; it’s also a little strange, having a body under his that isn’t all about curves and smoothness, but Jin finds that the mix of soft skinned planes and hard muscle of Kame’s form turns him on just as much, so it’s all good.
Jin is licking the side of Kame’s mouth and rolling his hips down hard, when he feels Kame’s hands on his shoulders, pushing him back a little.
“Condom,” Kame pants, “condom. Get a condom.” He pushes Jin completely off of him, turns around quickly and starts rummaging on his bedside drawer. “Got it.” he says a moment later, throwing the foil package on Jin’s general side of the bed.
Jin busies himself with getting rid of his underwear and trying to slip the condom on.
“Do you need help?” Kame hisses, and when Jin looks back at him, he sees Kame watching him closely, soft sleeping t-shirt still on but ridding up, lids dropping a little over hazy eyes, one hand lying on his crotch and fingers moving lower as he preps himself.
“I’ve got it.” Jin answers, moving in an almost frenzy until he’s standing over Kame’s body and in between his legs.
They gasp when Jin slips in; Jin kisses him deeply and thrusts with more force when Kame places hands on his ass and pull him closer. Kame arches off the bed and into him and sucks on his earlobe when Jin rolls his hips down just so.
“Hey.” Jin pants in between kisses.
“Yeah?”
“We are having sex!” he cries out happily.
“I know!” Kame laughs back, and it’s awesome, Jin thinks, the way they smile and slide and move together.
The sound of knocking on the door makes them both freeze in place and Jin looks at the entrance of the bedroom in mild horror.
“Kame, we need to be at the hospital in ten minutes.” one of Kame’s roommates, probably the one with the nose and hot sister, says.
“Okay.” Kame shouts back in the most normal and composed voice ever. Jin is still blinking at him in amazement and wondering exactly how he managed such a feat, when Kame’s voice drops lower and sultry again.
“You have 45 seconds to pull this shit together. Got it?”
“I’m almost there!” Jin snaps.
“Fine.” Kame snaps back, and they start moving faster against each other, kissing harder and thrusting with more force.
When Kame places a hand over his mouth to keep Jin from making any loud noises, Jin doubles his efforts by slipping a hand between them and wrapping it around Kame’s cock firmly; he smiles self-satisfyingly against Kame’s fingers when he has to cover Kame’s mouth with his spare hand to shut him up as well.
They come under Kame’s pre-determined time limit, arching and gasping with their hands on each other’s lips, Jin watching as Kame’s brows furrow deep before his entire faces relaxes and becomes peaceful.
Gorgeous, Jin thinks unbidden.
***
“Found it.” Kame says triumphantly, returning from the bathroom with Jin’s shirt in hand.
He accepts the piece of clothing and puts it on with a smile. “Great, thank you.”
“We’re not going to tell anyone about this, ok?” Kame proposes; he’s buttoning up a cream colored shirt and his voice sounds casual, but his eyes are on Jin’s and looking quite serious.
“Okay.” Jin agrees, blinking in confusion. Why would he even -
“It’s just easier that way.”
“Definitely.”
“Kame, time to go!” someone barks outside.
“Coming.” he shouts towards the door. Kame then turns and eyes Jin up and down, watches him as he finishes buttoning up a little slower than strictly necessary. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” Jin assures, running both hands over his hair to try and smooth it down a little. “Do I look like I just got laid?” he grins.
Kame rolls his eyes.
***
Jin and Pi are having lunch together, and Jin pulls his Iphone from his pocket to check his texts while Pi gets the bill.
Seeing Kame’s name on the bottom of the list has Jin thinking, not for the first time since the day started, on the possible implications of calling him up; his thumb hovers uncertainly on top of the screen for a few seconds.
Screw it, he concludes boldly, making the call before the courage to do so leaves him.
It goes to voicemail.
“Hey, it’s Jin.” he tries to sound casual. “Hm. I just wanted to follow up on that text with a phone cal, see if you want to hang out again.”
Jin is trying to come up with something else to say - something to make this message perhaps a little less lame and desperate sounding than it does - when he spots a red car parking nearby, and out of the passenger side comes no other than Kame.
“That’s so weird.” Jin smiles into the phone, ignoring the fact that he’s leaving a message instead of talking directly to anyone. “You just pulled off in front of the place I’m eating at.”
Despite how he’s followed Kame with his eyes from the moment he stepped out of the car, it’s only when he’s much closer to his table on the restaurant’s open area that Jin notices he’s not alone; there’s a guy walking by Kame’s side, wearing blue scrubs, just like the ones Kame wears, under a black jacket.
“Hi.” Kame says once he sees Jin, a small, surprised frown playing over his features before it gets replaced by a polite smile.
“Hi.” Jin replies, finally disconnecting the call and placing his phone back in his pocket as he stands up to greet them.
“Hey. Nishioka Tsuyoshi.” Kame’s companion introduces himself, offering Jin a handshake.
“We work together at the hospital.” Kame explains, “We have fifteen minutes to eat.”
“He is just using me for my car.” Tsuyoshi jokes.
Oh I bet he is, Jin thinks cynically. “So, are you a doctor too?”
“Not yet.” the other replies, “Fingers crossed.”
“Awesome.” Jin says, “I mean, that’s awesome for you.” He tries to catch Kame’s eye inconspicuously but Kame is looking at something behind Jin and raising his eyebrows in surprise.
“Hi, Yamapi.” Kame greets.
“Hey.” Pi greets back, placing his wallet on a back pocket and taking place by Jin’s side.
“We are kind of in a rush.” Kame apologizes, starting towards the restaurant entrance, “but, it was good seeing you all.”
“Nice meeting you.” Tsuyoshi adds, following.
“Nice to meet you.” Jin agrees; before even thinking about what he’s doing, he lays a hand gently on Kame’s shoulder as he walks past.
“You look good today.”
Kame smiles uncertainly at that, brows just a little furrowed, before continuing on inside the restaurant.
Jin is still looking at his retreating back when something solid hits his shoulder. “Ow. What the fuck?”
“You piece of shit.” Pi mock accuses, reaching forward and socking Jin again on the same spot.
“OW.” Jin complains louder, rubbing his abused shoulder as they sit back on their table. “What?”
“What?” Pi repeats around a knowing smirk, “Let me ask you one question.”
“Shoot.”
“Did you have sex with Kamenashi?”
“No!” Jin tries for indignant.
Pi smirks harder. “Did you. Have sex. With. Kame?” he questions again, pausing for effect between every two words and pinning Jin with his i-know-what-i’m-saying-and-i’m-gonna-crack-you-in-a-second eyes.
“…yes…”
“Yes!” Pi cheers. “Wow. Way to go, man!” he happily raises one hand and holds it in front of Jin.
“…but I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.” Jin smiles and chides weakly, after they hifive. “I called him, but he didn’t call me back, he just sent me a text.”
“What did he text you?”
“An emoji.” Jin finds the message on his phone and shows it to Pi. “A winking face, sticking its tongue out.”
Pi raises one eyebrow. “Just that? A winking face and nothing else?”
“I don’t know. What do I do with that?” Jin frows a little at his Iphone.
“It’s no good,” Pi tsks. “Maybe, I don’t know. Maybe he’s not into you.”
“Shit. Seriously?” Jin complains.
“Yeah,” Pi confirms sympathetically, “but on the bright side of things, Josh now owes me ￥10,000.”
“What for?”
“Nothing.” Pi’s smile is all-knowingly. “Just this bet we had going.”
***
“I told him he had clearly been tied by a complete amateur, and that’s why the binds were cutting his circulation.” Ueda says, stopping his tale for a second to pop a french frie into his mouth. “And then I showed him how to do it properly.”
“Good call.” Kame smirks, thoroughly enjoying the way Nakamaru chews while looking down at his plate, pretending that he’s not on the same hospital cafeteria as the rest of them and definitely not listening to the same conversation.
“Hmmm, Kame?” Koki nudges him in the forearm, looking at something standing behind Kame’s back.
Kame is about to ask what is it when whatever Koki has his eyes on moves closer and calls his name.
“Kame.”
Kame turns on his seat and stands up, ignores the burning he feels at the top of his ears as he watches Koki and Jin exchange smiles, and pulls Jin away from the table by the arm. “What are you doing here?”
“You didn’t call me back so, I thought I’d come here,” Jin says; he’s smiling dumbly as he pulls a bright yellow sunflower from behind his back and offers it to Kame. “This is for you.”
“A Sunflower?” Kame queries irritably, “For what? For having sex with you?”
Jin blinks at him as if he had been expecting a completely different reaction. “Yeah, you did a god job. So,” he moves the flower forward, closer to Kame’s face, “I thought you deserved flowers.”
“I am not a girl.” Kame deadpans.
“I know that.”
“I’m working.”
“Okay.” Jin concedes graciously, seemingly not affected by Kame’s obviously less-than-welcoming behavior. “What’s up with not calling me back?”
“Look,” Kame sighs, running one hand through his hair, “I’m not good at that stuff.”
“What, talking?” Jin says incredulously.
“Yes. Talking, communicating, relationship stuff.” Kame replies. “This is. If we were in a relationship, I’d become this scary, fucked up, probably not as invested as necessary but still weirdly intense about it person, and - ”
Kame stops blabbering because Jin is just grinning down at him, seemingly unconvinced despite the amount of words Kame has just vomited on top of him.
“I don’t have the time to be that.” Kame concludes, “I really. Don’t. This is my career.”
“Okay.”
Kame is just about to open his mouth and add something else, maybe repeat the he really doesn’t have the time for a relationship at the moment, and hey, it’s not like it’s anyone’s fault, when there’s a tap on his shoulder.
“Kame. Round.” Koki calls, walking past them. “Hey Jin!”
“Hey!”
“Right. I have to go now.” Kame says; he fixes his hair, straightens his lab jacket properly around his frame and looks back at Jin before following Koki back to the hospital. “We can still be friends, right?”, he offers tentatively.
Jin’s reply comes with a half smile, a sight way too sexy for the kind of sterile place they are in. “Of course.”
***
“You always do this.” Koki says, plucking Kame’s can of iced coffee from unresisting fingers as they walk the corridors.
“Do what?”
“You always find something wrong with anybody who likes you,” he points out matter-of-factly, “and I date girls with real problems. I date girls who are actually AV actresses, and I only find out about it much later, so thank god I always have safe sex, cause otherwise I’d probably have all kinds of nasty VD diseases by now.” Koki stops and gulps some coffee. “Not to mention kids.”
Kame smirks and steals his can back.
“And you,” Koki goes on, undeterred, “you find perfect girls and guys that treat you right and like you, and then claim that it will never work out, because you’re too happy together or some shit.”
“Look,” Kame sighs, “I know I’m supposed to want to be in a relationship, but I’d just end up with a broken heart and maybe some kind of lame matching jewelry, like a necklace, or a pinky ring.” He takes a sip of coffee and then hands the can back to Koki before retrieving his Iphone from one of his coat pockets. “From a purely logical perspective -”
“What are you doing?” Koki interrupts, eyeing the phone suspiciously.
“Texting him.” Kame says; Nonchalant, normal, like it’s no big deal. Because it really isn’t. A text means nothing and they had just agreed to remain friends.
Koki smirks and walks ahead of him. “Of course you are.”
***
“You bought him flowers?” Pi asks incredulously, his eyes huge and dumb looking and annoying.
“What’s wrong with flowers?” Jin says defensively.
“Jin, look.” Pi sighs, hands reaching for both of Jin’s shoulders in what Jin suspects is probably meant as a supportive/mocking kind of action. “I know Kame is sort of girly, but he’s still a guy. I’m sure you noticed that while you two were having sex.”
“YOU TOLD ME TO GET HIM FLOWERS.”
“But I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to actually go through with it!” Pi counters. “It was a terrible idea!”
A waitress approaches their table with beers and Jin is thankful for the interruption, leaps at the chance to change the subject of conversation to something other than his inappropriate flower gifting tendencies. “Listen, nobody knows about this, so don’t say anything to anyone, ok?”
“All right.” Pi agrees, tipping his beer back.
Jin’s phone beeps signalizing a new text message, and he retrieves it to check. “It’s from Kame.”
“What does it say?”
“It says ‘where are you?’”
“What are you writing back?”
“I’m typing, ‘hey, how u r doin’ and then I’m adding a winky face.” Jin replies; clearly, he’s a genius at text flirting.
Pi reaches out and flicks him on the forehead. “Jin, stop being such a retard. It’s after 10 pm. The ‘where are you?’ text is like saying ‘hey, I want to have sex with you, I just need to know how drunk you are.’”
Jin is pondering over Pi’s advice and rubbing his abused forehead when Josh reaches their table.
“Hey. Did you fuck Kamenashi and then gave him a bunch of flowers?”
“DID YOU TELL HIM?”
“No!” Pi denies immediately, followed by “okay, yes.”
“You can’t tell this to people!” Jin scowls.
“He just texted ‘where are you?’” Pi tells Josh, completely ignoring the way Jin grits his teeth and makes for his throat.
“Oh, he wants to get some.” Josh says casually, sliding in the seat next to Pi and stealing Jin’s beer bottle without another word.
“You both suck, and I’m getting new friends.” Jin whines in frustration; he pulls his phone closer to his chest and covers the screen with one hand as he types up a message, then hits send.
“What did you write back?” Josh asks when Jin puts his Iphone down again.
Jin scratches the back of his neck. “ ‘Hi.’ ”
Pi cackles out right. “That will never work in a million years.”
“Loser.” Josh agrees, clinking bottles with Pi.
They miss the moment that Jin’s phone beeps with a new message, and the self satisfying smile that opens on his features once he reads what it says.
Kame: your house in 30 minutes?
***
Part 2
By: misao_duo
Pairing: Kame/Jin
Word count: 13.745
Rating: NC-17
Genre/Warnings: AU; slice of life | language, humour, fluff, slight angst, sexual situations
Notes: - For purple_lullabye/jamie_spotty. Hope you enjoy it :) ♥
- There’s no need to have seen the movie
Summary: “You always do this.” Koki says. “You always find something wrong with anybody who likes you.” | A No Strings Attached AU.
12 years ago
The wind blows on the outside, shaking the fabric of the small, green tent from time to time. It’s perfectly warm inside it but Jin pulls the comforter covering him a little closer anyway, tries to ignore the annoying itchy spots he can feel in different parts of his body; for some odd reason, all kids in the camp were made to wash themselves in the sea rather than in a real shower, and the combination of cold, salty water and sand was definitely not a good one for cleaning purposes.
The entertainment world is full of sadistic bastards, Jin decides.
He hears an annoyed little grunt before the comforter gets pulled roughly from its other side, leaving his shoulders exposed.
“Kame,” Jin whispers, turning around and reaching out to poke the boy between his shoulder blades. “Kame, you awake?”
“No.” the other kid grunts; he squirms forward, out of Jin’s reach, moving inside his cocoon of sheets like a giant caterpillar climbing a tree.
“Yes you are!” Jin insists.
“No, I’m not.” Kame sighs impatiently. Jin thinks he sounds a bit grumpy in an amusing way, like he’s ten years ahead of his current age and already too old for this shit. “I’m sleeping right now, and you should be doing the same, so shut up and get unconscious.”
Jin giggles. “You’re a funny, weird kid, Kame.”
“Yeah, I’m weird.”
“I’m weird, too.”
“Yeah, right.” Kame scoffs gently. He turns around then, moves until wisps of spiky hair, bushy eyebrows and puffy, squinty eyes are visible from the top of the comforter. “Everyone loves you and you’re like, one of Johnny’s favorites or something.”
“I don’t really know how to sing,” Jin admits, “or how to dance. I hate cameras. I don’t even know why they let me come to this camp with the other kids. Not like I’m going to make it.” he sniffles.
His little confession is followed by silence, and Jin moves the comforter up over his head and hides under it, like the mature teenager that he is.
“Are you crying?” Kame asks after a minute.
“No.” Jin replies, voice muffled by fabric; he furiously rubs the heels of his hands against moist lids.
The raspy sound of cheap sheets sliding against each other fills the small tent when Kame wriggles closer to Jin’s side. “Hey, look,” he says, chubby fingers grabbing the edges of the comforter and pulling on it until the top of Jin’s head is visible again, “you can learn all of that. It’s gonna be all right.”
“You really think so?” Jin asks, coming out of his little shelter, little by little, until only his mouth is covered and he can look properly at the other boy.
“Yes.” Kame whispers, moving closer. He bumps his forehead gently against Jin’s and stays there; neither boy moving away from the contact. “I do.”
They stay like that, sharing each other’s presence and warmth for a few peaceful moments, until Jin breaks the silence again. “Kame?”
“Hmmm?”
“Wanna make out?”
Kame sighs in annoyance, bumps Jin’s head again, a little less gently this time. “No.”
“Ok.”
***
5 years ago
The party is in full swing when Kame arrives at the house, its entrance, kitchen and living rooms filled with lots of dancing, noisy, drunken and scantily dressed boys and girls. He is walking towards the back of the building, but stops for a moment when he catches sight of a familiar figure; the guy is wearing a worn out looking white hoodie and holding a cup of something disgustingly colorful that splashes over the floor when one of the two blonde girls he’s sandwiched between hits it with her arm.
He flails and tries to balance the cup to save some of the contents in it, and Kame smirks in amusement. He’s still distracted with watching the other try and look somewhat smooth while dancing in between the girls, despite how obviously drunk and uncoordinate they all are, when someone runs in his direction, shouting his name.
“KAAAMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.”
“Koki!” he greets happily, reciprocating the hug he’s instantly enveloped in.
Koki ruffles Kame’s hair playfully before frowning and pulling jerkly on the lapels of his winter jacket. “Kame, what the fuck are you wearing?”
Kame looks down in confusion to check the state of his clothes. “Prada?”
“This is a college party,” Koki explains, “you, my man, are overdressed for this shit. I mean, check this out.”
“OI,” Koki yells, hopping on top of one of the couches; his voice is loud enough to be heard in the three nearest rooms and lots of people stop dancing to stare at him with varying expressions of curiosity and annoyance. “ARE YOU ALL READY TO PARTYYYYY?”
His question is instantly met with cheers, pumping fists and approving cries of “yeah!”. A group of four girls take off their tops and twirl their clothing in the air as they shout back, and Koki smirks triumphantly back at Kame, winking and sticking his tongue out for effect.
Kame is still smiling at the whole ordeal when he turns and notices the guy he recognized earlier making his way through the crowd in his direction. “You,” he says once within earshot, one eyebrow raised questioningly, “do I know you?”
“Hi, Akanishi Jin from the Hadaka no Shounen Camp.” Kame greets. “Kamenashi Kazuya. You tried to make out with me inside a little tent on the beach?”
“Oh.Oh. Wow, really.” Jin replies, scratching the bridge of his nose and looking embarrassed. “Do you study here, or? I mean, what you…?”
“No, no, I’m studying in Keio.” Kame says. “But I have some family issues to take care of and I grew up around here, so.”
Jin’s eyes grow wide in surprise. “Keio? Wow! You grew up to be like …a lot smarter than me.”
“Yeah.” Kame smirks and accepts the plastic cup Jin grabs from a passing girl and offers to him after slapping her lightly in the ass. “Sometimes even my neck gets sore.”
“Why?” Jin questions.
“Because my brain is so big.”
When his line is met by silence that stretches for a few uncomfortable seconds, Kame decides to drink whatever it is that Jin offered him, just so that he can hide part of his face behind the rim of the cheap plastic cup; the truth is that he doesn’t know why he says stupid stuff like that when he’s a little nervous. They just come out. It’s always either silly jokes or -
“That was really fucking lame for someone so smart.”
Jin smiles mockingly at him and Kame almost chokes in surprise when an arm drapes around his neck and pulls, drags him outside.
***
They are lying together side-by-side on a relatively quiet spot in the backyard, several cups discarded on a nearby patch of grass.“So they really signed you up?” Kame asks in disbelief.
“Well, yeah,” Jin laughs sheepishly, “turns out I don’t really suck at singing or at dancing,” he explains. “Despite of what you probably saw earlier inside the house.”
Kame laughs. “Well, that’s good. But then why the - ?”
“Music degree?” Jin finishes for him. “Just because I have a contract with them, doesn’t mean they’re really letting me record my own songs anytime soon. Apparently, I have to ‘graduate’ inside the company or some shit. Try to write songs for a while before I can sing them. But hey, I really like music, so.”
“Impressive.” Kame grins; he watches Jin as he turns on his side and props his head up on one hand, looks down at Kame with calm, delighted eyes. “What?”
Jin smiles. “I like you.”
“Why?” Kame sighs, grin slowly turning bitter; he eyes the sky rather than Jin’s face, searching for some kind of distraction, something he can look at instead of that soft, captivated expression. “You don’t even really know me.”
Jin shrugs. “I like you.” He reaches out, gently pushes a strand of hair away from Kame’s forehead. “Can I, maybe call you sometime?”
“Akanishi. You’re a nice, fun guy and all.” Kame tries to keep his voice somewhat kind, but serious. “But if you’re luck enough, you’ll never see me again.”
Jin is still staring at him, looking disheartened, when Kame stands up and leaves.
***
1 year ago
“Jin!”
Hearing his name, Jin looks up from the flowers on display and finds Pi just a few meters away, standing beside a tall guy with shockingly blonde hair, holding a corndog with one hand and waving Jin over with the other.
“Jin, get your ass here, look who I ran into.”
“I will be right back.” Jin says to his companion, jogging to where Pi is.
“You remember Koki, right?” Pi asks around a mouthful of corndog as soon as Jin reaches them. “From college?”
Jin quickly accepts the handshake and one armed hug Koki offers. ““Sure. How’s it going, man?”
“Good, good.” Koki says. “I haven’t seen you guys since -”
“Akanishi.”
Despite his all-too-clear memory of that slightly nasal voice, turning around and seeing Kame walking towards them still takes Jin by surprise. “Kamenashi,” he chuckles in wonder, “what are you doing here?”
Kame smiles. “I moved here a week ago. I’m doing my residence at the Shimin Byoin.”
“Wow, congratulations.” Jin says sincerely. “I-”
It’s the quick, slight faltering of Kame’s bright smile rather than the sensation of slender hands wrapping intimately around his bicep that alert Jin to the new comer. “Found you!” the girl says, pressing her body against his side.
“Ah, Takako.” Jin wavers. “This is Kamenashi Kazuya. Kame, this is Uehara Takako.”
“Hello. It’s nice to meet you.” Kame says pleasantly, ready handshake and brilliant smile firmly back in place.
“And that is our mutual friend Koki.” Jin continues, gently leading Uehara towards the blonde guy.
He watches his girlfriend exchange quick pleasantries with Koki for a second before turning eyes back to Kame. “We haven’t seen each other since -”
“That party.”
“Yeah. That party.”
They stare at each other for a moment and then Kame disperses, looks at Takako’s back and to the expanse of floor between their feet; Jin thinks he glimpses a flash of a knowing smirk on Kame’s face before he starts talking again. “Well, we should head out.”
“Ah, well, yes, we should too.” Jin falters, “but we should hang out sometime. Let me just.” He reaches for his Iphone. “Give me your number.”
“Just give me your phone and I’ll put it there.” Kame offers.
“Ah ok, that’s easier.” Jin hands Kame his phone just as Takako settles back by his side, eyeing their exchange.
“We have somewhere we need to be right now.” she says, pulling on the sleeve of Jin’s shirt while he reaches out to get his Iphone back from Kame.
“Yes, yes we do.” Jin agrees, flashing her a quick smile before checking the new number on his phone and turning to Kame once again. “We should -”
“Yeah, definitely.” Kame interrupts smoothly, placing a pair of expensive looking shades over his eyes. “It was nice seeing you. Koki, let’s go?”
“Yup. See you guys.” Koki waves once before following Kame as he strolls away.
Out of habit, Jin lets Takako to place his arm around her shoulders as they start walking in the opposite direction; he still looks back to glance at Kame’s and Koki’s retreating figures one last time before allowing her to pull him forwards.
***
Today
“We can dream, woahh. We can dream, woahhhhh.”
From the other side of the glass in the studio, Jin watches as the kid squeaks the last lines of the song while trying, but not too hard, not to let his face show just how unpleased he is with the whole ordeal; that entire last verse is completely foreign to him, and even on other parts of the song, the lines that he actually recognizes are no more than three.
“Can you check if Chinen-kun is already lined up for his turn?” the studio director asks, and Jin takes a deep, calming breath, silently mourning his lack of opportunity to rip the copies of the new lyrics sheet and substitute them with its first, original version.
Not that those juniors would manage to sing it properly, anyway, Jin thinks bitterly.
As soon as the recording with five - out of fucking ten, he remembers irritably - kids is done, Jin heads straight to Johnny’s office.
Johnny’s secretary, Kawamura-san, doesn’t try to stop him when he stumbles into the waiting room, right hand wrapping instantly around the doorknob of Johnny’s door; she merely sighs and nods in acquiescence in reply to Jin’s mouthed ‘he in?’
“Sit and wait a minute.” Johnny mutters the second Jin is in, not looking up from a stack of papers he’s holding. “I’m finishing something.”
“How did you know it was me?” Jin asks in amusement, throwing his bag on one chair and sitting on the opposite one.
“Other people knock.” Johnny’s statement is followed by a couple of minutes of silence in which Jin distracts himself by looking at the posters and platinum discs certificates on the walls.
“Now,” Johnny says finally, putting his papers down, “what brings you here? Something happened during the recording?”
“The recording went fine.” Jin huffs, placing both hands on top of Johnny’s big, wooden desk; he remembers a time when his hands looked much tinnier and clumsier just resting on top of that desk. “Only, you know, that was not my song.”
Johnny sighs, looking down and shaking his head slowly.“You’ve always been a demanding boy.”
Jin doesn’t really have a reply to that because it’s kind of true; but he has also been patient. Patient and collaborative, not denying any jobs that gets thrown his way, even if they make him feel utterly ashamed of himself or indignant because his lyrics are getting first butchered and them having their sad, bloody remains sung by kids ten years younger than him.
A long time ago Johnny had told him in this very office that the road to success was a long, hard one and Jin had believed him; he’s just tired of the stupid pit stops he’s been forced to take along the way.
“Look kid,” Johnny says with seemingly infinite patience, “I know it’s been tough and I know you’re eager for your real chance.”
His small, wrinkled hands come together over the table to rest on top of each other; he doesn’t move from his chair to ruffle Jin’s hair fondly like he would have during old times - they are both too old for that now - but he sounds just as soothing. “Give me a little more time.”
“Fine.” Jin sighs, he pulls a thin pile of papers out of his bag and slips it under Johnny’s fingers. “Promise me you will take a look at these? An honest look, before you pass it ahead for other people to sing it or take it apart and turn it lame?”
Johnny blankfaces but picks the stack of lyrics up after a moment, and Jin says nothing further; he may be more daring than the average talents in the agency, but he knows there’s a time to push and a time to stop.
Jin is not really trying to peek at the other papers on Johnny’s office; he’s only shuffling objects around out of boredom when his eyes land on a very familiar name typed on one of the sheets. He sneakily pulls the document a little closer and skims it quickly.
His mouth opens and closes uselessly in shock before he can speak again. “You’re debuting Takako?”
Johnny looks up slowly from his reading material and at Jin’s face; he sighs tiredly.
“Are you?”
“I don’t owe you an explanation.” the old man says dryly, one hand landing calmly on the papers Jin had been skimming just seconds before, pulling them back towards him. He rises from his big chair and walks towards the cabinets on the corner with the files in hand. “Uehara has been trying -”
“I’ve been trying for twelve fucking years.” Jin interrupts, voice rising dangerously; he stops and takes a few deep breaths, keeps the whinnying, childish cries of ‘why? Why HER?’ confined to the insides of his brain.
Kawamura-san chooses that moment to knock politely on the office door and open it slowly; if she notices the tense atmosphere of the room, it doesn’t show on her perpetually even tone of voice. “Sr., Takizawa-san is here for your five o’clock meeting. May I let him in?”
Jin doesn’t stick around to wait for the dry dismissal he knows is coming; he zips his bag as noisily as possible and stomps mutely toward the exit.
“Kid.” Johnny calls, and Jin looks back at him from the threshold.
“I am not making you wait forever.” the man offers, “I’m only making you wait for now.”
“Whatever.” Jin mutters bitterly before leaving.
***
“Listen Jin,” Pi says sympathetically, his big, fat, super warm hand rubbing soothingly against one of Jin’s shoulders, “I know she hurt you, and I know it was awful, but it’s been one year -”
“IT’S BEEN EIGHT MONTHS.” Jin interrupts indignantly.
“As I was saying,” Pi continues evenly, “it’s been eight months since you broke up, and it’s about time you move on.”
Jin flounders helplessly. “It’s not. It’s not even that she. It’s -”
“Dude, I heard your ex-girlfriend is debuting before you.” Josh says casually, placing two full shot glasses on the bar counter. “That’s gotta buuuuurn.”
Pi rolls his eyes. “Smooth.”
Jin eyes Josh in disgust. “Can we talk about something else? Anything else?”
“Sure, of course, man.” Josh offers quickly, holding both hands in front of his chest in a gesture of surrender. “All I’m saying is that it’s gotta hurt extra shitty bad when your extremely hot ex-girlfriend, who dumped you, goes around debuting before you do - OUCH!”
“You’re a retard.” Pi deadpans, after smacking the back of Josh’s head.
“That’s it!” Jin declares, slamming his empty shot glass over the counter. “I’m going for it.”
Pi looks at him with an amused expression. “Going for what?”
“I’m going to call every girl on my phone,” Jin explains, fumbling with his Iphone’s contact list, “until someone agrees to have sex with me.”
Jin knows that idea hardly makes it into the list of best ones he has ever had, but he’s tired, he’s upset, and perhaps he’s a little drunk, too, and as long as no one gets hurt, he doesn’t see any real harm in having a little fun and someone to snuggle with.
“That’s wrong.” Josh points out, raising a brand new shot. “A toast to that.”
Pi happily clinks glasses with Josh before they drink in unison. “It’s a terrible, self-destructing plan, and we are behind you 100%.”
***
The last thing Jin remembers before passing out, is his 9th beer.
His 9th beer had been served to him by a very short, charming and long-haired waitress called Minato. Minato has worked on Jin’s favorite hang out place since forever and has known him and sold him booze since he started drinking legally. They are close enough to feel comfortable offering each other random counseling now and again.
Jin’s 9th beer is delivered to him with one such piece of advice.
“No sweetie, you can’t fly to Seoul right now just to hump a girl.” Minato berates him gently, taking his empty bottle from lax fingers and replacing it with a cold, new one.
“Can too!” Jin had whined in reply, and that had been right after his 4th Screwdriver and a little before those bushes had appeared out of nowhere and tripped him.
If he tries really hard, Jin can also remember being lifted from the floor and carried by Pi and Josh while flailing wildly and telling them that he was fine, that he hadn’t seen that traitorous bush near the curb but it was definitely not keeping him from flying to Korea.
He just wishes he knew if that had been before or after his 9th beer.
***
Jin wakes up with sunlight hitting him straight in the eye, and it takes him a few moments trying to futilely block it with one hand while nuzzling the fabric he’s drooling on, before he realizes it smells all clean and consequently kind of wrong; he’s lying on an unfamiliar couch.
He rubs his eyes and blinks several times before managing to focus properly and that’s when Jin notices a guy sitting on a nearby chair; he’s wrapping both hands around a mug with what looks like a huge false nose in it, and looks a little like he’d rather be anywhere but where he is.
“You don’t remember my name, do you?”, he asks eventually.
Jin tries to think of a polite reply, something along the lines of ‘I suffer from short term memory loss disorder’, but all he manages is an indecipherable groan.
“It’s okay.” the guy sighs, hopping up from his chair and moving to a nearby counter. “It’s Nakamaru. And you look like you need some coffee.”
“Coffee.” Jin agrees, voice rough from sleep and god knows what else. “Coffee is good.” He manages to sit up and it’s only then that he notices he’s wearing nothing but his boxers.
Jin looks around anxiously, arms closing over his stomach protectively, out of instinct; he’s not cold or anything, but after years of wearing baggy clothes, it feels weird to be almost naked in such a big room.
A small part of Jin hopes he doesn’t sound completely demented but the other, bigger part, is kind of freaking out like a girl. “Where are my pants?”
“I don’t know.” the other guy replies, sounding extremely uncomfortable; Jin notices he’s very careful not to look at his unclothed parts as he hands him a mug. “Here’s your coffee”.
“Thank you.” Jin eyes the guy as he goes back to the chair he had been sitting on before and drinks his coffee, trying to think about what to say; he wants to ask him about last night and why he’s semi-naked ,hanging around on his apartment if they have never met before. Jin doesn’t want to sound impolite or helpless, but it’s hard when one doesn’t remember anything that happened in the last eight hours or more.
He ends up blurting the first thing that comes to mind. “Do you have like, a really hot sister or something?”
Nakamura spits cereal all over the place. “WHAT.”
Jin is just about to stand up to get some paper towels, when someone else enters the room.
“Akanishi.” the person - and it makes Jin scared that maybe he’s more hung over than he initially thought upon waking up, because he cannot tell if it’s a guy or a girl - says, nonchalantly dropping clothes on the floor as if they were made out of something disgusting. “You left your socks in my room.”
“Did I?”
“You did.” The other confirms flatly, and Jin notices the deep voice. A guy, he concludes. Probably.
“Did I,” Jin stammers, “by any chance, left my pants in your room?”
“No. When we meet, you weren’t wearing pants.”
Jin feels on the very verge of hyperventilating when a nearby door slams and someone else joins the conversation.
“Stop messing with him, guys,” a familiar voice says, and Jin almost weeps in relief.
“KOKI!”
“Hey!” Koki greets casually, slouching by Jin’s side on the couch with his own mug.
“I know you.” Jin wheezes happily, not really caring that he sounds more or less like a panicky kid who has just found their mom after being lost in the mall for an hour.
Koki agrees good-naturedly, nodding and sipping his coffee. “Yup.”
“Listen, Koki,” Jin says conspiratorially, “what happened last night? Did I. I mean. Did we… ”
Instead of finishing, Jin eyes Koki with a mix of expectancy and dread; it’s not that he hasn’t ever experienced attraction towards another guy in the past or anything, but the idea that maybe he had fooled around with one and couldn’t remember a damn minute of it felt extremely uncomfortable. Besides, Koki is not his type.
“Have sex?” Koki finishes for him, one eyebrow raised over the rim of his mug.
Jin nods uncertainly.
“HELL YEAH, we did.” Koki grins manically, slapping him in the back a couple of times and completely ignoring the way Jin groans and covers his face behind his hands. “You, me, and that guy’s sister over there had a threesome!”
“EXCUSE ME.” Nakamura-or-something cries, and Jin peeks between two fingers just to check if more cereal is now decorating the floor.
That’s when he notices someone else leaning against the counter, calmly watching the scene unfold and hiding a smile behind his red mug; “You’re up.” he exclaims, the moment that his and Jin’s eyes meet.
“Kame.” Jin babbles, trying to pull his t-shirt down instinctively and then closing his arms over his chest instead when he remembers he isn’t wearing one. “You. You live here?”
“Yes.” Kame replies, moving to pour himself more coffee. “Are you feeling any better?”
“Did I have sex with anyone in this apartment last night?” Jin blurts out; it’s definitely not as smooth as he wishes he could be, but at least Kame is someone who’s a little used to his outbursts of sincerity, Jin figures.
Kame sighs around a smirk .“No, you didn’t.”
Koki slaps his back one last time before lifting from the couch. “Sorry, man.”
“Oh, thank you!” Jin fumes, frowning at everyone, including the slightly intimidating girl-guy. “That’s really funny. Let’s make fun of the hung over, half naked guy.”
“I do have your pants though,” Kame continues calmly, tipping his head towards the corridor behind him, “so if you want them, come with me.”
“Yes. Hm, thank you.” Jin silently picks his socks up from the floor, and tries to ignore how all eyes on the living room follow his movements as he does so.
“Why do you all keep bringing my sister up in conversation these days?” Jin hears a resentful voice ask, while he watches Kame make a turn and enter a room at the end of the corridor.
“She’s really hot.” someone else answers, and Jin recognizes the voice as being Koki’s.
“I don’t know.” a third party joins, sounding apathetic, “She definitely has a better nose.”
There’s a round of laughter, and an indignant cry of ‘OI!’ is the last thing Jin listens before closing the door to Kame’s bedroom carefully behind him.
Kame is organizing a series of bracelets on top of a dresser and Jin watches him for a second, takes in the changes he can notice since the last time they’ve seen each other. “Your hair looks different.” he points out.
Kame turns a little and blinks a couple of times. “Hm, yeah.”
“Looks good.”
Kame smiles. “Thank you.”
“So, hmmm,” Jin tries, feeling slightly more comfortable now with only Kame around, “how did I get here?”
“You texted me saying it was an emergency,” Kame explains, voice echoing a bit when he moves to the bedroom’s adjacent bathroom, “so I texted you my address.”
“Oh.”
“And then you got here, and I think you thought you were home,” Kame continues, returning to the room, “because you started taking all your clothes off.” he finishes, reaching for something hanging over a chair. “Here are your pants.”
Jin sits on the bed and fumbles while trying to put his pants back on quickly; he watches as Kame walks to a nearby wardrobe and opens it to reveal, from where Jin stands at least, what looks like a collection of way more than a couple dozen jeans.
Jin whistles low and Kame looks back at him over his shoulder, one fine shaped eyebrow raised questioningly.
“So…did I just pass out on your couch?” Jin asks, more to cover up the fact that he was being a creep than out of genuine curiosity.
Kame shakes his head. “No. Then you did this thing. It was like…a dance?”
“A dance?”
“Yeah. Like -” Kame wordlessly lays down on his back, then moves his hips and torso up rhythmically, keeping hands and feet on the floor like some kind of crazy upside down spider.
“I did that in front of you?” Jin asks, one hand over his mouth, completely mortified.
“Yeah.”
“Shit! I’m sorry -”
“No, no, it was exciting.” Kame smirks maliciously. “You were thrusting upwards like there was an imaginary lap dancer thrusting down on top of you, and you were cheering, saying ‘if I said do you love me, would you say ye-oh’.” he finishes with a hearty laugh.
Jin grins incredulously.“And you watched?”
“Of course I watched!” Kame states immediately. “Didn’t have to pay to see a Johnny put on a show in front of me. Koki shouted ‘ye-oh’, back at you.”
Jin laughs, feels a little less like a complete ass and a little better about the whole thing. “Look, I don’t even know where to start. Yesterday, I found out my ex-girlfriend is debuting - ”
“You told me that last night.” Kame interrupts kindly.
“Oh. Did I tell you in like, a charming way? Was I being like, charming and funny?”
“Yeah.” Kame says seriously, licking his bottom lip. “You were half naked and crying. So.”
Jin groans and runs both hands over his hair in frustration. Back to feeling like an ass. “Yeah, well, I’m a mess.”
He stares at the carpeted floor of Kame’s bedroom for a while and feels more than sees, when Kame sits by his side on the edge of the bed, places an arm comfortingly around his shoulders and rubs his hand in circling, soothing motions.
“It’s going to be okay.”
“Thanks.” Jin looks up and notices the way Kame is looking at him, how his eyes are slowly traveling over his features, from the morning stubble he can feel growing on his chin, to the bridge of his nose, stopping for a moment on the spot where the beauty mark near his eye is and settling back on his lips.
“Seriously.” Jin whispers, doing a similar mapping of a series of delightful details he can easily find on Kame’s face and experiencing a phantom but rising urge to kiss all of them. “Thank you.”
They stare at each other for a long while and keep staring even as Kame starts talking nonsense, eyes locked on Jin’s face. “I have to get ready. I don’t want to be late.”
“Yeah, you don’t want to be late.” Jin agrees, moving slowly closer, fingers pulling gently but deftly at the strings on Kame’s sweatpants.
“No, that would be bad.”
The words are just stumbling out of Kame’s mouth, Jin notices, he’s way more preoccupied with ogling Jin’s collarbones and neck and mouth. That suits Jin just fine, for he’s also more preoccupied studying Kame’s cheeks, eyebrows and eyes.
They hesitate in silence for a moment or two, but then Kame does that thing where he licks his bottom lip again, and Jin moves full on into his personal space and kisses him.
Kame’s hands are on him and threading through the soft curls on the base of his neck in a second; he gasps into the kiss, opens his mouth a little wider and pulls Jin closer.
Jin follows his lead eagerly, moves them up on the bed until Kame’s head is supported by his dozen pillows and Jin is pressing his body down on the mattress with his own.
It’s a bit troubling, trying to take clothes off and kiss at the same time, but Kame’s sweatpants are ridiculously easy to pull on and remove and Jin hadn’t even zipped his own pair back properly again; it’s also a little strange, having a body under his that isn’t all about curves and smoothness, but Jin finds that the mix of soft skinned planes and hard muscle of Kame’s form turns him on just as much, so it’s all good.
Jin is licking the side of Kame’s mouth and rolling his hips down hard, when he feels Kame’s hands on his shoulders, pushing him back a little.
“Condom,” Kame pants, “condom. Get a condom.” He pushes Jin completely off of him, turns around quickly and starts rummaging on his bedside drawer. “Got it.” he says a moment later, throwing the foil package on Jin’s general side of the bed.
Jin busies himself with getting rid of his underwear and trying to slip the condom on.
“Do you need help?” Kame hisses, and when Jin looks back at him, he sees Kame watching him closely, soft sleeping t-shirt still on but ridding up, lids dropping a little over hazy eyes, one hand lying on his crotch and fingers moving lower as he preps himself.
“I’ve got it.” Jin answers, moving in an almost frenzy until he’s standing over Kame’s body and in between his legs.
They gasp when Jin slips in; Jin kisses him deeply and thrusts with more force when Kame places hands on his ass and pull him closer. Kame arches off the bed and into him and sucks on his earlobe when Jin rolls his hips down just so.
“Hey.” Jin pants in between kisses.
“Yeah?”
“We are having sex!” he cries out happily.
“I know!” Kame laughs back, and it’s awesome, Jin thinks, the way they smile and slide and move together.
The sound of knocking on the door makes them both freeze in place and Jin looks at the entrance of the bedroom in mild horror.
“Kame, we need to be at the hospital in ten minutes.” one of Kame’s roommates, probably the one with the nose and hot sister, says.
“Okay.” Kame shouts back in the most normal and composed voice ever. Jin is still blinking at him in amazement and wondering exactly how he managed such a feat, when Kame’s voice drops lower and sultry again.
“You have 45 seconds to pull this shit together. Got it?”
“I’m almost there!” Jin snaps.
“Fine.” Kame snaps back, and they start moving faster against each other, kissing harder and thrusting with more force.
When Kame places a hand over his mouth to keep Jin from making any loud noises, Jin doubles his efforts by slipping a hand between them and wrapping it around Kame’s cock firmly; he smiles self-satisfyingly against Kame’s fingers when he has to cover Kame’s mouth with his spare hand to shut him up as well.
They come under Kame’s pre-determined time limit, arching and gasping with their hands on each other’s lips, Jin watching as Kame’s brows furrow deep before his entire faces relaxes and becomes peaceful.
Gorgeous, Jin thinks unbidden.
***
“Found it.” Kame says triumphantly, returning from the bathroom with Jin’s shirt in hand.
He accepts the piece of clothing and puts it on with a smile. “Great, thank you.”
“We’re not going to tell anyone about this, ok?” Kame proposes; he’s buttoning up a cream colored shirt and his voice sounds casual, but his eyes are on Jin’s and looking quite serious.
“Okay.” Jin agrees, blinking in confusion. Why would he even -
“It’s just easier that way.”
“Definitely.”
“Kame, time to go!” someone barks outside.
“Coming.” he shouts towards the door. Kame then turns and eyes Jin up and down, watches him as he finishes buttoning up a little slower than strictly necessary. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” Jin assures, running both hands over his hair to try and smooth it down a little. “Do I look like I just got laid?” he grins.
Kame rolls his eyes.
***
Jin and Pi are having lunch together, and Jin pulls his Iphone from his pocket to check his texts while Pi gets the bill.
Seeing Kame’s name on the bottom of the list has Jin thinking, not for the first time since the day started, on the possible implications of calling him up; his thumb hovers uncertainly on top of the screen for a few seconds.
Screw it, he concludes boldly, making the call before the courage to do so leaves him.
It goes to voicemail.
“Hey, it’s Jin.” he tries to sound casual. “Hm. I just wanted to follow up on that text with a phone cal, see if you want to hang out again.”
Jin is trying to come up with something else to say - something to make this message perhaps a little less lame and desperate sounding than it does - when he spots a red car parking nearby, and out of the passenger side comes no other than Kame.
“That’s so weird.” Jin smiles into the phone, ignoring the fact that he’s leaving a message instead of talking directly to anyone. “You just pulled off in front of the place I’m eating at.”
Despite how he’s followed Kame with his eyes from the moment he stepped out of the car, it’s only when he’s much closer to his table on the restaurant’s open area that Jin notices he’s not alone; there’s a guy walking by Kame’s side, wearing blue scrubs, just like the ones Kame wears, under a black jacket.
“Hi.” Kame says once he sees Jin, a small, surprised frown playing over his features before it gets replaced by a polite smile.
“Hi.” Jin replies, finally disconnecting the call and placing his phone back in his pocket as he stands up to greet them.
“Hey. Nishioka Tsuyoshi.” Kame’s companion introduces himself, offering Jin a handshake.
“We work together at the hospital.” Kame explains, “We have fifteen minutes to eat.”
“He is just using me for my car.” Tsuyoshi jokes.
Oh I bet he is, Jin thinks cynically. “So, are you a doctor too?”
“Not yet.” the other replies, “Fingers crossed.”
“Awesome.” Jin says, “I mean, that’s awesome for you.” He tries to catch Kame’s eye inconspicuously but Kame is looking at something behind Jin and raising his eyebrows in surprise.
“Hi, Yamapi.” Kame greets.
“Hey.” Pi greets back, placing his wallet on a back pocket and taking place by Jin’s side.
“We are kind of in a rush.” Kame apologizes, starting towards the restaurant entrance, “but, it was good seeing you all.”
“Nice meeting you.” Tsuyoshi adds, following.
“Nice to meet you.” Jin agrees; before even thinking about what he’s doing, he lays a hand gently on Kame’s shoulder as he walks past.
“You look good today.”
Kame smiles uncertainly at that, brows just a little furrowed, before continuing on inside the restaurant.
Jin is still looking at his retreating back when something solid hits his shoulder. “Ow. What the fuck?”
“You piece of shit.” Pi mock accuses, reaching forward and socking Jin again on the same spot.
“OW.” Jin complains louder, rubbing his abused shoulder as they sit back on their table. “What?”
“What?” Pi repeats around a knowing smirk, “Let me ask you one question.”
“Shoot.”
“Did you have sex with Kamenashi?”
“No!” Jin tries for indignant.
Pi smirks harder. “Did you. Have sex. With. Kame?” he questions again, pausing for effect between every two words and pinning Jin with his i-know-what-i’m-saying-and-i’m-gonna-crack-you-in-a-second eyes.
“…yes…”
“Yes!” Pi cheers. “Wow. Way to go, man!” he happily raises one hand and holds it in front of Jin.
“…but I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.” Jin smiles and chides weakly, after they hifive. “I called him, but he didn’t call me back, he just sent me a text.”
“What did he text you?”
“An emoji.” Jin finds the message on his phone and shows it to Pi. “A winking face, sticking its tongue out.”
Pi raises one eyebrow. “Just that? A winking face and nothing else?”
“I don’t know. What do I do with that?” Jin frows a little at his Iphone.
“It’s no good,” Pi tsks. “Maybe, I don’t know. Maybe he’s not into you.”
“Shit. Seriously?” Jin complains.
“Yeah,” Pi confirms sympathetically, “but on the bright side of things, Josh now owes me ￥10,000.”
“What for?”
“Nothing.” Pi’s smile is all-knowingly. “Just this bet we had going.”
***
“I told him he had clearly been tied by a complete amateur, and that’s why the binds were cutting his circulation.” Ueda says, stopping his tale for a second to pop a french frie into his mouth. “And then I showed him how to do it properly.”
“Good call.” Kame smirks, thoroughly enjoying the way Nakamaru chews while looking down at his plate, pretending that he’s not on the same hospital cafeteria as the rest of them and definitely not listening to the same conversation.
“Hmmm, Kame?” Koki nudges him in the forearm, looking at something standing behind Kame’s back.
Kame is about to ask what is it when whatever Koki has his eyes on moves closer and calls his name.
“Kame.”
Kame turns on his seat and stands up, ignores the burning he feels at the top of his ears as he watches Koki and Jin exchange smiles, and pulls Jin away from the table by the arm. “What are you doing here?”
“You didn’t call me back so, I thought I’d come here,” Jin says; he’s smiling dumbly as he pulls a bright yellow sunflower from behind his back and offers it to Kame. “This is for you.”
“A Sunflower?” Kame queries irritably, “For what? For having sex with you?”
Jin blinks at him as if he had been expecting a completely different reaction. “Yeah, you did a god job. So,” he moves the flower forward, closer to Kame’s face, “I thought you deserved flowers.”
“I am not a girl.” Kame deadpans.
“I know that.”
“I’m working.”
“Okay.” Jin concedes graciously, seemingly not affected by Kame’s obviously less-than-welcoming behavior. “What’s up with not calling me back?”
“Look,” Kame sighs, running one hand through his hair, “I’m not good at that stuff.”
“What, talking?” Jin says incredulously.
“Yes. Talking, communicating, relationship stuff.” Kame replies. “This is. If we were in a relationship, I’d become this scary, fucked up, probably not as invested as necessary but still weirdly intense about it person, and - ”
Kame stops blabbering because Jin is just grinning down at him, seemingly unconvinced despite the amount of words Kame has just vomited on top of him.
“I don’t have the time to be that.” Kame concludes, “I really. Don’t. This is my career.”
“Okay.”
Kame is just about to open his mouth and add something else, maybe repeat the he really doesn’t have the time for a relationship at the moment, and hey, it’s not like it’s anyone’s fault, when there’s a tap on his shoulder.
“Kame. Round.” Koki calls, walking past them. “Hey Jin!”
“Hey!”
“Right. I have to go now.” Kame says; he fixes his hair, straightens his lab jacket properly around his frame and looks back at Jin before following Koki back to the hospital. “We can still be friends, right?”, he offers tentatively.
Jin’s reply comes with a half smile, a sight way too sexy for the kind of sterile place they are in. “Of course.”
***
“You always do this.” Koki says, plucking Kame’s can of iced coffee from unresisting fingers as they walk the corridors.
“Do what?”
“You always find something wrong with anybody who likes you,” he points out matter-of-factly, “and I date girls with real problems. I date girls who are actually AV actresses, and I only find out about it much later, so thank god I always have safe sex, cause otherwise I’d probably have all kinds of nasty VD diseases by now.” Koki stops and gulps some coffee. “Not to mention kids.”
Kame smirks and steals his can back.
“And you,” Koki goes on, undeterred, “you find perfect girls and guys that treat you right and like you, and then claim that it will never work out, because you’re too happy together or some shit.”
“Look,” Kame sighs, “I know I’m supposed to want to be in a relationship, but I’d just end up with a broken heart and maybe some kind of lame matching jewelry, like a necklace, or a pinky ring.” He takes a sip of coffee and then hands the can back to Koki before retrieving his Iphone from one of his coat pockets. “From a purely logical perspective -”
“What are you doing?” Koki interrupts, eyeing the phone suspiciously.
“Texting him.” Kame says; Nonchalant, normal, like it’s no big deal. Because it really isn’t. A text means nothing and they had just agreed to remain friends.
Koki smirks and walks ahead of him. “Of course you are.”
***
“You bought him flowers?” Pi asks incredulously, his eyes huge and dumb looking and annoying.
“What’s wrong with flowers?” Jin says defensively.
“Jin, look.” Pi sighs, hands reaching for both of Jin’s shoulders in what Jin suspects is probably meant as a supportive/mocking kind of action. “I know Kame is sort of girly, but he’s still a guy. I’m sure you noticed that while you two were having sex.”
“YOU TOLD ME TO GET HIM FLOWERS.”
“But I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to actually go through with it!” Pi counters. “It was a terrible idea!”
A waitress approaches their table with beers and Jin is thankful for the interruption, leaps at the chance to change the subject of conversation to something other than his inappropriate flower gifting tendencies. “Listen, nobody knows about this, so don’t say anything to anyone, ok?”
“All right.” Pi agrees, tipping his beer back.
Jin’s phone beeps signalizing a new text message, and he retrieves it to check. “It’s from Kame.”
“What does it say?”
“It says ‘where are you?’”
“What are you writing back?”
“I’m typing, ‘hey, how u r doin’ and then I’m adding a winky face.” Jin replies; clearly, he’s a genius at text flirting.
Pi reaches out and flicks him on the forehead. “Jin, stop being such a retard. It’s after 10 pm. The ‘where are you?’ text is like saying ‘hey, I want to have sex with you, I just need to know how drunk you are.’”
Jin is pondering over Pi’s advice and rubbing his abused forehead when Josh reaches their table.
“Hey. Did you fuck Kamenashi and then gave him a bunch of flowers?”
“DID YOU TELL HIM?”
“No!” Pi denies immediately, followed by “okay, yes.”
“You can’t tell this to people!” Jin scowls.
“He just texted ‘where are you?’” Pi tells Josh, completely ignoring the way Jin grits his teeth and makes for his throat.
“Oh, he wants to get some.” Josh says casually, sliding in the seat next to Pi and stealing Jin’s beer bottle without another word.
“You both suck, and I’m getting new friends.” Jin whines in frustration; he pulls his phone closer to his chest and covers the screen with one hand as he types up a message, then hits send.
“What did you write back?” Josh asks when Jin puts his Iphone down again.
Jin scratches the back of his neck. “ ‘Hi.’ ”
Pi cackles out right. “That will never work in a million years.”
“Loser.” Josh agrees, clinking bottles with Pi.
They miss the moment that Jin’s phone beeps with a new message, and the self satisfying smile that opens on his features once he reads what it says.
Kame: your house in 30 minutes?
***
Part 2