It's Complicated prologue
Every couple has their bad times, but when the time comes and you notice that there isn’t any but bad times left, what do you do? -You go to a therapist.
--
Ryo and Kame have been in love since high school. When Kame was freshmen, Ryo was his senpai, already in his last year. At first, Kame got bullied, but Ryo was almost always there for him, and he took care of that matter. The manly, protective Nishikido Ryo made Kame fall head over heels in love with him.
Now, 8 years later, they’re not happy at all. They might be living in a big house with a lot of expensive things, but since Kame did not work, Ryo was the sole breadwinner, having to work all the time, making him extremely tired.
They haven’t had sex in a long time, which was really stressful for Kame who hadn’t really done anything other than cleaning, shopping and taking care of the house while Ryo was working.
This was the part where Kame got maybe a little too familiar with alcohol.
After a year of living the shitty life they were living, they decided to go to a therapist.
--
Unlike Ryo and Kame, Jin and Yamapi didn’t have any problems. They’ve been dating for 5 years. They met in a club, had nice time and just decided to start dating. A year after dating they moved in together.
Even though both of them have jobs, they’re not that rich. They live in a small house with small rent, but they were always happy in it.
They always thought they had lot in common, both of them loved partying, both of them loved sex, only it seemed that Jin loved it a little bit more.
Nobody, except Jin knows whether it’s true or not, but Yamapi sincerely believed that Jin had cheated on him or was cheating on him for several reasons now.
Jin did everything he could to save his relationship, with time he managed to get Pi to a therapist with him.
--
“I am not happy.”
“And why is that, Kamenashi-san?” The therapist asked.
“I’m alone all the time!”
“No you’re not!” Ryo cut into the conversation.
“When am I not alone?! When I’m cleaning the house alone? When I’m going shopping alone? When I’m taking care of the laundry alone?!” Kame turned to Ryo, his boyfriend. “I’m not your slave!”
“Slave?! I’m the one who is working my ass off to pay everything for you! I’m the one who has to manage two jobs!” Ryo retorted back.
“You were the one who told me that I shouldn’t go to work!” Kame yelled back at Ryo.
“Yeah, that was before I noticed you’re spending all day long drinking beer!” Ryo was mad. “You have a problem!”
Kame was shocked. He didn’t have a problem with alcohol. He drank a few beers every now and then to make himself feel relaxed. Every now and then, everyday.
“You know-” Kame started calmly. “I really wondering why on earth haven’t I slept with someone else yet.” He kept going.
“Huh? We do have sex.”
“When was the last time we’ve had sex?” Kame had to ask and when Ryo couldn’t give him the answer, Kame got up. “Our time is up.”
“This went well. I’ll have to redo our next appointment. I’ll call you later.” The therapist said before the couple left.
--
“I can’t even look at him.”
“Pi, babe, please, look at me.” Jin tried to hold Pi’s hand, but failed.
“Jin, you cheated on me.” Pi finally turned to look at Jin.
“How many times I have to say this, I didn’t.” Jin sighed.
“And how long has this aura been going around you two?” The therapist asked.
“Huh? Aura?” Jin wasn’t sure what the hell he was doing there.
“For about a month, I guess.” Pi sighed. “It has been a little over a month since you cheated.” Pi said without looking at Jin.
“I didn-”
“You better not say I didn’t, I know you did!” Pi cut Jin’s sentence off.
“But I-”
“Shut up!” Pi almost screamed. He took a deep breath and there was a small silence in the room.
A small silence that took about 30 minutes.
And once again “This went well. I’ll have to redo our next appointment. I’ll call you later.” The therapist said before the couple left.
--
It’s been few days since the session at the therapist. It was the time for him to make a few phone calls.
“I have an idea.” The therapist announced.
“Eh?”
“Meet me here next Tuesday 5.30pm.”
“Sure.”
“See you then, bye.”
--
Ryo came back home. It was already past midnight. Ryo came home to find Kame sitting on the couch. “Why aren’t you sleeping?”
“I was waiting for you.”
“Eh?”
“We have another therapist session on Tuesday, 5.30pm.” Kame said, got up and went to bed.
Ryo looked at the table, it was clean except for 4 cans of empty beer. He sighed before following his boyfriend to the bedroom and going to sleep.
--
“Honey?” Jin walked into the bedroom.
“No, you can’t. The couch is still yours.” Pi murmured.
“I-” Jin lowered his head. “I know.” He sighed. “Next Tuesday, at 5.30pm, we have another therapist session, okay?”
“Fine.” Pi said without even looking at Jin.
Jin walked to Pi and sat beside him.
“Jin, I’m not the couch.”
“I know that.” Jin smiled. Pi made a joke for him. “I love you.”
“Mm.” Pi closed his eyes, with a small we can make this work- thought on his mind.
--
:: Tuesday ::
5.30pm
“Nishikido Ryo-san, Kamenashi Kazuya-san, Yamashita Tomohisa-san, Akanishi Jin-san.”
All four names were heard through the proclamation. All four of them got up looking like living question marks.
“Welcome, welcome.” The therapist said and told them to sit. He made Jin and Pi sit next to each other and Kame and Ryo on the two chairs in front of the chairs of Jin’s and Pi’s.
“Um, what is this?” Ryo asked looking Pi and Jin.
“Yeah? Is this the part of your idea?” Jin asked looking at the therapist.
“In a matter of fact, it is.” The therapist started. “I’m going to separate you for 2 months.”
“Huh? Separate? Me from Kazuya?” Ryo had to ask and the therapist nodded.
“Me from Pi?” Jin asked in horror and once again the therapist nodded.
“Oh that isn’t the whole of my idea yet, listen calmly.” The therapist said.
“Calmly? How can I be calm?!” Jin got up. “This is bullshit!”
“Jin, sit.” Pi said and Jin sat like a small puppy back on the chair.
The therapist sighed. “As I was saying, I’m going to separate you two-” He pointed Kame and Ryo. “And you two-” His point moved to Jin and Pi. “For 2 months.”
“And in these 2 months you’ll be dating the guy who is sitting in front of you.”
A huge silence with no movements.
Huh?!
“Let me explain this.” The therapist looked his patients. “You are aware only about the faults of your current lover. You can’t see the good sides of him. That’s why I’m separating you for 2 months so that you’ll know what your world would be like without him beside you.”
“Okay, that’s the separating thing, what about the dating some random dude- thing?!” Kame didn’t understand at all.
“It helps you find the positive things about your lover, when you notice that not everyone have those sides.” The therapist explained.
“I kind of like that idea.” Pi said then and Jin got up.
“What? WHAT?!” Jin didn’t like the idea at all. “Why?!”
Pi gave Jin a sarcastic smile. “It gives me time away from you.”
“Pi.” Jin sighed. “Look, I didn’t cheat on you, so this isn’t really necessary.”
“The fact that you’re denying it doesn’t matter. I know what you did.” Pi said without looking at Jin.
“Oh great, I get a cheater.” Kame had a little ‘tsk’ attitude.
“You.” Jin pointed at Kame. “Shut that small mouth of yours before I break you into 3 parts.” Jin was dead serious.
“You will not talk to him like that.” Ryo got up glaring at Jin.
“See? This is already progressing.” The therapist was somehow proud of himself. “So would you please? There’s more to come.”
“Plus, you said you would get the cheater?” Ryo turned on Kame. “That means you just decided we’ll agree on this one.”
“Maybe I’ll get sex from him, who knows?” Kame smirked at Ryo.
“You wouldn’t!”
“Hah! You’ll see!” Of course Kame was lying.
The therapist sighed. “You’re spending 1,800 yen an hour, are you sure you want to spend it like this?”
Silence.
“Well, if we agree on this, how would the whole thing work?” Kame leaned on his knees with his arms.
“You cannot be in any connections with your original lover. You are coming once a week here with your new lover and our next session with all 4 of you will be held after a month.” The therapist started. “Nishikido-san moves in with Yamashita-san and Akanishi-san moves in with Kamenashi-san.” The therapist showed them who would move in with whom.
“Wait, why do I have to move?” Jin whined.
“Because you’re the one who cheated.” Pi said, once again without even looking at Jin.
“No.” The therapist said. “After one month you will change houses so that Akanishi-san moves back to his own house with Kamenashi-san and Yamashita-san and Nishikido-san moves back to Nishikido-san’s place.”
“And that’s it?” Ryo still didn’t like this at all.
“And after 2 months we’ll sit here again to have a talk about what you’ve learned.
“So if, if we agree on this, when would this start?” Ryo asked.
“The coming Wednesday marks a new month, so then.”
“The coming Wednesday as in tomorrow?” Jin couldn’t believe it.
“Better start packing.” Jin could’ve sworn that the therapist had a sadistic smirk on his face.
They were about to get up when the therapist told Kame and Pi to stay.
“Why them?” Ryo had a bad feeling about this.
“This doesn’t include you, so please go start packing.” The therapist said.
After complaining a bit, Jin and Ryo finally left to pack. It seemed that they had all agreed on exchanging their lovers for the next 2 months.
“So, what is it?” Kame sat back on his chair.
Pi wondered the very same too.
“You two are spending the next night in a hotel.”
“Huh?” Kame and Pi said in unison.
“Of course, you don’t have to pay for it.” The therapist continued. “You are not allowed to make any contact with Nishikido-san and Akanishi-san, I’ll be informing them.”
“This experience starts now.”
TO BE CONTINUED