Fic: The Camera Eye: Welcome to the Club [Byou X Shou, NC-17]
Title: The Camera Eye: Welcome to the Club
Chapter: Eighth in The Camera Eye series, preceded by The Camera Eye. The Camera Eye: Going Major, The Camera Eye: Hearts and Flowers, The Camera Eye: Star Grabbing, The Camera Eye: Superstar, The Camera Eye: Trophy Boys and The Camera Eye: Dirty Soap
Author: Boots
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Porn industry AU, drama, smut, romance
Warnings: Male/male sex, polyamory, exhibition/voyeurism (since the characters work in the porn industry), begging, dirty talk
Pairing: Byou X Shou (main), Ruki X Shou
Disclaimer: Boys belong to PS Company, I own the story only.
Summary: A new star comes to PSC Productions, under the terms of a deal that’s gotten him labeled a diva both within and without the company. Shou is about to find out the truth behind the rumors.
Comments: Makes specific reference to the last two entries in this series (Trophy Boys and Dirty Soap) - it’s best to have read them before this one.
When Byou was officially signed by PSC Productions, it was treated as a major event. There was actually a signing photo - literally, Byou with a pen in his hand, bent over the desk in Saga’s office, with some of the company’s other stars applauding in the background. That was just about unheard of for porn.
Of course, that didn’t stop Uruha’s boss from saying to him later, “No more signing divas. Ever. Do you know how much this one cost me?”
“He’ll more than pay for himself within a year,” Uruha said.
“It’s not him,” the boss retorted. “It’s the three other people he insisted we sign as well.” Indeed, closing the deal had come with a caveat from Byou - that PSC Productions sign up his favorite writer (Jin), head cameraman (Rui) and uke (Manabu) as well.
“Saga needs the extra help,” Uruha reminded him. “He’s been writing just about everything single-handedly. And Lord knows I want a steady head cameraman to work with” - PSC had, until this point, been working with come-and-go crew members who floated between the porn houses.
“Fine,” the boss said. “And yet another uke? We have Shou. We also have Kazuki, Hiroto, Ruki . . .”
“Ruki’s a switch,” Uruha said. “Another uke will let him do more seme roles.”
“You just make sure Byou has a scene with Shou in his debut vehicle,” the boss said. “I want this diva to make his initial splash with the star uke, not with this new guy.”
Fortunately or unfortunately, Aoi happened to be passing the office at that point, and he stuck his head in and said, “Don’t you mean make his initial splash ON the star uke?”
“Aoi!” the boss said. “You’re not helping!”
“Look, I know you’re worried about all the new people,” Aoi said. “They’ll be fine. I’ll take the new uke on in my next video, okay? Give him a memorable debut. We all got our start somewhere, right?”
“And if Byou personally asked for him, I don’t think he’s a hundred percent newb anyhow,” Uruha said.
The boss sighed. “Fine. You win. You’ve brought enough money into this place that you get your way all the time, anyway. But if anything at all goes awry with this little scheme of yours . . .”
“It won’t,” Uruha said. His mind was churning right now to come up with ideas. His boss wanted a scene between Byou and Shou? He’d get a whole Byou/Shou vehicle. He was skeptical about the new writer? He’d have the guy write this screenplay and prove himself.
Uruha had gotten very good at outsmarting his boss - just another necessary skill one needed in the porn industry.
* * *
The screenplay Shou was given cast him as a photographer who was experimenting with a new telephoto lens when he happened to see his new across-the-street neighbor having sex with another man. This turned him on enough to immediately seek self-administered relief. He also watched the other man undress and caress himself, then have sex with a second man, before finally getting up the nerve to meet him face to face and begin an affair.
The finale of the story had Byou’s character finding out about Shou’s spying and breaking up with him - until Shou saved him from a jealous ex who’d come to take violent revenge. Throughout it all, Shou had sex with nobody but Byou - all his other scenes were solo.
It was a perfect vehicle for the new star - costarring with an established uke, plus getting to show his stuff with a couple of other actors, in a video that was packed with hot sex but had broad enough appeal that it might being in people who ordinarily didn’t watch porn.
“And we’re putting fliers out in Otome Road with just photos of the two of you - sexy and glamorous photos, nothing explicit,” Uruha said. “We might even expand to some of the more adventurous stores in Harajuku.”
“Wow,” Shou said. “You’re going all out, aren’t you?”
“We’re serious about this,” Uruha replied. Not to mention that he had to justify all this to his boss - especially the screenwriter, the cameraman and the extra uke, all of whom would be utilized for this video.
He wasn’t going to ask why they ended up with all these extra people - though he was definitely curious.
* * *
Shou’s peeping-by-camera and solo scenes were shot prior to his work with Byou - they’d be put together with the shots of Byou with his various partners (first Manabu, then Ruki) in the editing room. He was kind of bummed - because he was curious about the newcomer.
He knew what was being said about Byou on social media because of the terms of the signing deal - the term “diva” was being bandied about more often for him than it was for every idol singer in Japan put together.
This just served to make Shou all the more curious. When the porn industry gossiped about someone that usually meant they were jealous. Which meant Byou had to be even more extraordinary than he seemed in his videos - right?
“You’ll get your hands on him soon enough,” Ruki told him as they sat in a coffeehouse near the luxury apartment complex that was a common film set for them. “Why don’t you call him up and ask him out beforehand?”
Shou shook his head. “Uruha doesn’t want me to. He said he wants our first time on camera together to be our first time together, period. He wants my reactions to him to be natural.” He picked up his cup and drank from it, looking thoughtful. “You’ve been with him, haven’t you?”
“Where’d that come from?” Ruki said.
“You two did both disappear from the JAVA Awards afterparty at the same time.”
Ruki spluttered. “Like you were fucking chaste and restrained that night!” When he and Byou had finally exited the bedroom that night, he’d seen Shou, Kai and Uruha all exiting another bedroom together.
Shou looked down, flushing a little. And this was what separated him from all other porn stars - hell, most of the guys Ruki knew, period. He’d still genuinely blush when confronted with the fact that he’d had sex with two guys at a party.
“Okay, I had my fun, too,” he said. He looked up at Ruki, slowly. “So . . . how was he?”
“In-fucking-credible,” Ruki said. “I thought I was going to explode. He’s an artist who works in fucking. You’re going to enjoy yourself. And no, I’m not giving you the fine details. Uruha wants you to find out on camera, you find out on camera!”
Shou smiled, pressing his hand on top of Ruki’s. “Nobody listening to us would ever know we were dating,” he said.
“Well, we don’t exactly have a typical relationship,” Ruki said. It was typical porn polyamory. Ruki was Shou’s primary boyfriend, Kai was Shou’s secondary boyfriend and Uruha’s primary, and Ruki had some hopes in Byou’s direction. Plus, they were fair game for anyone else at their company on-camera, and they were open to any amount of casual flings.
“No,” Shou said. “I can’t say it’s the way I thought a relationship would be when I was a boy, but . . .” He squeezed the hand. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. With anyone else.”
Ruki raised his head, and his eyes met Shou’s. Slowly, their hands moved so they were clasping each other.
The l-word had never come up in their relationship - but there were some moments, like this one, when both of them quietly knew that it really wasn’t needed.
“You better make sure this is a good video,” Ruki said. “If it doesn’t sell, we’re all in deep shit.”
Shou smiled wider. They both squeezed each other’s hands, not breaking the eye contact. “I’ll make sure,” he said.
Yes. Definitely not needed.
* * *
Byou was impressed with what he’d experienced so far. He’d already filmed his sex scene with Manabu (Uruha wanted to start him off with a familiar costar to make him comfortable) and his character’s first meeting with Shou’s. (In accordance with Uruha’s wishes, they hadn’t talked with each other beforehand, so the scene had an appropriate feel of awkwardness and excited nerves).
He was arriving on the set today for the main event, the piece de resistance, the centerpiece of the video - the first sex between his character and Shou’s. They would have a shower scene later on, but it was the understanding of everyone involved that this would be the one to, as Jin had put it, “make them fire up Twitter.”
Byou was just glad that Jin seemed happy here. And Manabu. And Rui. Considering what they had gone through before . . .
He was sitting in a chair in the living room of the set, having his hair and makeup attended to by a cute loli. Across the apartment, Uruha and Rui were in the bedroom, setting up the cameras and discussing angles.
And here came his costar, his hair and face done already, wearing the shirt, jacket and dress pants that would be coming off him later. “Oh, hi,” Shou said. “You’re almost ready, it seems.”
“Just about.” Byou closed his eyes, allowing the young woman to finish her work with liner. Which was a shame, because it blocked his view of his costar. Shou was everything Byou had expected and more - beautiful, sensual, sexy, yet sweet and innocent at the same time.
No wonder the bloggers called him “the perfect uke.”
“You’ll be in this apartment a lot,” Shou said. “We use it all the time. That, and a big house downtown. We just change the furniture and curtains so it doesn’t look the same in every video. All of us take turns bringing in stuff from home.”
“You look like you’re at home here,” Byou said - but he still had his eyes closed. Well, sounded like he was at home here, at least.
“I feel at home,” Shou said. “This is the best job I’ve ever had. The people are terrific. Everything is relaxed.”
“And the sex doesn’t hurt, either?” The brushes were finally taken away. The loli showed him a mirror, and he nodded. She’d done a great job - bringing out his natural beauty without seeming too over-the-top.
Shou laughed, and blushed a little. “No. The sex doesn’t hurt, either.”
“Good thing it doesn’t, or you’d be doing it wrong,” Byou said. “Sit down. I want to talk to you before we do the scene. I know our director wanted us to be new to each other, but there’s such a thing as being too new.”
“Okay!” Shou pulled up a folding chair next to the one Byou was sitting in. “Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way right away. Yes, that was me on the Sunwash bottle. I shot the picture a year before I got into porn. I didn’t think they’d actually use it.”
“I wasn’t going to ask,” Byou said, “but you looked cute in it.”
“Guess you heard a lot about that mess” - meaning, the controversy that erupted when mainstream social media found out a popular family brand had a porn star on its bottle - “when you were at your old studio, huh?” Shou got a good look at his costar. Wow - even by the standards of gay porn actors, this one was really gorgeous. He seemed to radiate a raw sexuality from the inside out - a very good thing for this particular position.
“Not really,” Byou said. “I was too busy thinking about other things.”
“Like your departure?” said Shou.
“The departure, and what caused it,” Byou said. “And then holding my breath to see if your boss - our boss, now - would accept my terms.”
Ah, yes - the thing that got him called a diva. Shou noticed Byou said nothing about his social media status. Maybe he didn’t pay attention, or didn’t care. “What was it about the terms?” Shou said. “Because you asked them to hire the writer?”
“Not just the writer,” Byou said. “Look, it’s not a pretty story.”
“That’s okay,” Shou replied. “I don’t mind.”
Byou glanced over at Rui and Uruha again. “When we were at our old company, we had an asshole director. He believed in the casting couch - making actors sleep with him to get into his films. One day, he tried that with Manabu. Manabu turned him down - he was the first actor to do that.”
“What happened?” Shou said. “Did he get thrown off the film?”
“Not only did he get thrown off the film, but the bastard went right to the top brass and had him flat-out fired. And when Manabu tried to protest and tell the boss that he’d been harassed . . .”
This was the worst part. He took a deep breath and ran his hand over his hair. “The boss told him, ‘You’re in the sex industry. What do you mean, you were harassed? You signed up for this.’”
Shou cringed. He was sure that he was visibly squirming. He’d heard that PSC was an unusually nice company for the industry - but he never thought he’d hear something like that. “Oh, my God. He just . . . dismissed it?”
“And then Jin and Rui tried to stick up for him. They were on the set when the bastard hit on Manabu, and they went to the boss. They ended up getting fired as well. That’s when I knew I wanted out of that company, even if I had to wait tables.”
Shou thought for a moment. “You asked PSC to hire them if they hired you. . .”
“I already had the offer from PSC in front of me,” Byou said. “I was considering making the move before this happened. The firings pushed me over the edge. But I knew if I was going to PSC, I was going to make sure the three of them had jobs as well. So I stuck my neck out and told your bosses my terms for coming here. If it succeeded, we all ended up working together for a good company. If it failed, we’d all be waiting tables. I’m sure the bastards were planning to have Jin and Rui and Manabu blackballed from the industry.”
“You literally risked your career for them?” Shou said.
“Yes,” Byou said. “I had to. It was just right. I know I probably look like a diva to a lot of people right now, but - it was the opposite, really. ”
And in that moment, Shou fell a little bit in love. Never mind his complex web of feelings for Ruki and Kai. The fact that this man was this noble, that he was willing to put everything on the line for his friends . . .
Oh, yes, Shou would have NO problems offering up his body to this man.
“That’s . . . “ He groped for words. “That’s heroic. Just plain heroic.”
“You think so?” Byou said. “I was just doing the honest thing.”
Uruha walked over with an iPad. “Okay,” he said. “You two ready to go?”
“As we’ll ever be, right?” Byou said.
“Yes,” Shou said, standing up.
“Oh, and Byou?” Uruha said. “Your guys are working out GREAT. My boss is impressed - thank God. I don’t know how the hell your old company let them walk out.”
Shou and Byou exchanged looks. They’d tell Uruha - later. He had a right to know. But first, they had business to get down to.
* * *
The scene started with Byou and Shou’s characters eating dinner together and flirting, and Byou making a couple of references to the old boyfriend - “My last relationship ended badly. Since then - casual flings. But now, I think I’m ready to move past that.”
“You are?” Shou’s character replied.
“Yes. But let’s talk later, won’t we? Right now, I’m thinking of something else. Like . . .” He got up from the table and walked over to Shou. “Dessert.”
Shou stood up, and they leaned into each other, sharing their first kiss. And it was a nice one. Byou knew just how to use lips and tongue, pressing gently, tenderly, then getting more insistent, probing into Shou’s mouth, and Shou probed back, parting his lips so the camera could catch their tongues rubbing against each other.
A handheld camera tracked them as they walked to the bedroom, Shou leaning over to kiss Byou again, the two of them pausing by the bed. Byou leaned over to kiss Shou’s neck, his fingers running along the front of his shirt, unfastening the buttons one by one.
Shou tipped his head back, letting his eyes fall closed and his lips open as Byou pushed the garment down and off, running his nails lightly up his arms and over his shoulders, scratching him lightly, just enough so that Shou felt a tiny bit of pain, enough to spike things with a little hint of danger.
The camera zoomed in for a closeup as Byou began to lick down his chest, his tongue slow and hot and wet, circling his nipple before his lips closed around it and he sucked. His renowned oral skills were no mere hype - he had an instinctive knack for how to vary pressure, hard sucking followed by soft followed by licking, the pleasure within Shou peaking, then ebbing, then peaking again . . .
Shou’s onscreen emotions were always real - he’d never been guilty of “faking it” - but the moan he let out was one of unusually unbridled, out-of-control passion, even for him. He tangled his fingers in Byou’s hair, moaning “More . . .”
Byou raised his head, looking up at Shou with half-lidded, sensual eyes . . . and then reached down, unfastening and pulling down the zipper of his pants, sliding his hand inside. His fingers lightly brushed Shou’s cock - the specifics of what he was doing were hidden from the audience by the pants and underwear, but they could see motion under the cloth, enough to pique their imagination.
There was a pause, and then Byou pushed down all that fabric, while the camera lovingly captured the reveal of Shou’s cock. Byou ran his fingers slowly up and down the length, brushing back and forth, watching and listening for Shou’s reactions.
“There,” Shou purred, as Byou touched a spot at the base. “Right there . . .”
Shou squeezed his eyes shut tight, moaning as his fingers ran back and forth across the spot, touching just enough to make his nerve endings quiver, then dancing away. Good God, everything this man did was expert. Ruki wasn’t kidding. To say that Byou knew what he was doing was the understatement of the millennium.
He felt his hands being grabbed, and put on Byou’s shirtfront, and Shou began to unfasten buttons and zippers quickly. He saw Byou’s eyes devouring him with hunger, and it just fueled the fire inside him even more. He didn’t care about the cameras - he just wanted this man.
The shirt and pants couldn’t come off fast enough. Shou leaned over and ran his tongue over a nipple, remembering somewhere in the back of his mind that yes, they had to get this on camera, didn’t they, he had to make this visible. He kissed, licked again, and rubbed the side of his face over it, letting out a small moan.
“Oh,” Byou sighed. “Good . . .”
Shou moved to the other nipple, licking all around it, and realized he was reaching down, grabbing his own cock and stroking it, because Byou got him that hot, he had to have relief.
Byou suddenly put his fingers under Shou’s chin and tipped his head upward. “Now, you don’t have to do that,” he said. “I want to do it for you.”
He motioned for Shou to stand up, and he wrapped his fingers around Shou’s erection. Shou did the same to his, and the two men began to stroke each other, the camera moving in to get a close shot of fingers sliding up and down hard flesh, Shou circling the tip with his thumb while Byou caressed that spot at the base which had driven Shou wild before.
They moaned in unison as their hands moved faster, Byou twisting his hand a little as he stroked, Shou mirroring his motions, the two of them pushing their hips forward so their cocks brushed against each other a little.
Suddenly, Byou let go of Shou, and Shou did the same, looking confused . . . until there were hands on his shoulders, pushing him backward. He tumbled to the bed, and raised his head to look at his lover, panting and covered with sweat.
Byou ran his hands slowly down Shou’s chest, over his stomach, then down to his thighs. “Beautiful,” he said. “You’re so very beautiful.”
He bent over and began to kiss his way down Shou’s chest, flicking his tongue over the nipple again, nipping at the stomach. One camera traced his progress, the other showed Shou’s reaction, his eyes closed and his head moving side to side, slowly.
Byou raised his head just long enough to grab a bottle of lube from the nighttable. He opened it and poured it over his fingers, then bent over, looking up at Shou with a heated expression . . .
His tongue touched the bottom of Shou’s hardness and started to slide upward just as one finger pushed into his entrance.
Shou let out an animal cry. He grabbed at the bedding with both hands, spread his legs wider, and lost himself totally in what the other man was doing, in the motion of that hot tongue stroking his cock with delicious and agonizing slowness; in the finger that slid in further with each thrust, dancing around, caressing, trying to memorize his hot spots ahead of time so he knew just how to fuck him.
The scene that the camera was capturing was absolutely delicious, with Shou lost in total bliss, letting out primal sounds, beads of sweat running down his pretty skin, squirming and clutching and lifting his hips, then thrusting them down hard against the second finger that invaded him.
And there was Byou, calm and in control, tongue swirling along the shaft, moving down further . . . he licked along Shou’s balls, bringing a fresh moan and shudder, and then swept upward again, until he was circling the tip, licking up a drop of precome as if it were the sweetest nectar.
By the time the third finger worked into him, Shou was moaning, uncontrollably, “Fuck me, fuck me, please, I need it so bad . . .”
“Tell me what else you want.” Byou kissed the tip, and Shou shuddered again.
“I want your cock deep and hard in me.” This was totally unscripted dialogue - it was from Shou’s heart, not to mention parts lower. “I want you to fill me until I’m ready to burst.”
Byou pulled his fingers out. “If you want my cock, kiss it,” he said. “Show me how much.”
Shou got up on his knees - suddenly aware of the cameras again, mindful of where they were - and bent over, kissing the tip of Byou’s hardness worshipfully. He looked up at him before kissing it again, licking slowly around the head as he grabbed for the lube, pouring it on his hand and preparing Byou to take him.
“Good,” Byou said. “Now, get ready for me.”
Shou got into the classic uke pose, bent over with his ass in the air, all the better for the cameras to be able to capture everything - long shots of the two of them, closeups of faces and hands, extreme closeups of cock pumping in and out of ass. He felt Byou’s hardness press against him, the other man’s hands grabbing his ass, spreading the cheeks wider . . .
Then he was pressing into him, filling him like Shou wanted, and the uke pressed his fist against his mouth, not even minding the pain of initial penetration, because God, what this would feel like when it faded and became pleasure . . .
“Is this what you wanted?” Byou said as he paused, his cock sheathed within tight heat, his hands wandering over Shou’s body, lightly scratching his back again, running down his arms.
“Yes,” Shou panted. “You feel so good . . .”
“It’ll get better.” Byou started to move his hips, slowly, pulling back and out, pausing, pushing in. “You feel so good, too. You’re so tight . . .” His fingers slid under his body, finding and caressing the nipples. “Tight as a virgin, but you fuck like a slut.”
“Ohhh . . .” The dirty talk was turning him on even more. “Please, more . . .”
“You’ll get more.” And Byou started to thrust harder, speeding up a bit. “You’ll get as much as you want, beautiful. I love the noises you make.”
Shou gave him plenty of those noises. Oh, my God, the man was incredible. He was slowing down, then speeding up, thrusting long and hard, then rapid, shallow little pumping, stimulating one group of nerve endings, then another. . .
His cock was dancing in him. That was the only way to put it. And Shou could only thrust back, his hips jerking and swaying, pushing himself onto that wonderful hardness. He was panting and moaning and murmuring, feeling the sweat pouring from him, the impact as Byou’s flesh slammed against his again and again, all of it making him hotter and hotter, the tingling in his stomach so intense he thought he was going to burst into flame from within.
Byou pulled up on his shoulders, and Shou raised himself up until he was almost sitting on Byou’s cock, still thrusting back against him, a pose designed to put his orgasm on display for the camera.
He felt one hand wrap around his cock, stroking rapidly, and another sliding over his nipple, gently squeezing and caressing, and a hot tongue on his neck, licking slowly . . . and then came a deep thrust inside him, hitting the sweetest of sweet spots . . .
Shou let go, completely and totally. He felt the pleasure explode like skyrockets. He nearly screamed, the come pouring from him until he thought he was drained dry, but he didn’t care. Wave after wave of shudders passed through him, until he fell forward again, gasping.
He felt Byou’s last few hard thrusts, heard a loud cry, felt wetness pouring onto his ass. There was the weight of the other man crashing down on him, and then nothing but the heavy breathing of them both.
A voice from seemingly another universe yelled, “Cut!” Then, there was applause. Slow at first, then louder, faster, until it filled the whole room . . . the applause of people who knew they had witnessed something special.
Byou rolled onto his back, and Shou somehow managed to move. The sheets were stuck to him. Literally, glued to his body, by a mixture of sweat and come The room was still spinning around him.
Ruki wasn’t kidding when he said Byou was “in-fucking-credible.”
Shou turned his head toward the other man, who seemed to be recovering himself, panting with his eyes closed. “Welcome to the company,” Shou said, weakly.
“I’m glad to be here,” Byou replied. “I’ve never been so glad to be somewhere in my life.”
Both men laughed, and they leaned over and kissed. “How was I?” Shou said.
“Even better than I thought you’d be,” Byou said. “I’d say I was up for round two, but I don’t think I can move.”
Shou laughed. “What do you mean, better than you thought I’d be?”
“I watched your videos, and I kind of got a crush on you.”
“You did?” Shou said, blushing a little.
“You’re like some kind of fantasy,” Byou said. “You look so sweet and innocent and do such dirty things. I thought about what fucking you would be like a lot.” He nuzzled him. “I was hoping they’d give you to me for my debut.”
Damn . . . Shou found himself falling a little bit more in love. How many men could he have feelings for? He loved Ruki, he loved Kai, and now . . . now, he could love someone else.
His grandmother once told him he had an infinite capacity to love. He never thought he’d use it like this.
“We need to get cleaned up,” Shou reminded his co-star. “Afterward . . .” He smiled at the other man. “We can see about that round two, if we’re up to it.”
“If not now, maybe later?” The two men got up off the very sticky bed and headed for the bathroom.
“I’d love it,” Shou said, squeezing his hand. “Maybe we could even have dinner.” Such was the porn star’s life - sex first, dates later.
Shou glanced over at his director as they headed for the bathroom. He was going to sit him down later and tell him the truth about why Byou made his “diva deal.” He felt Uruha had a right to know.
But that would come later. The film crew had to deal with the rushes . . . and the two of them had to deal with other things.
Shou didn’t care what the rest of the industry said. As far as he was concerned, Byou was no diva. He was the opposite.
* * *
The video they made together was called Telephoto - Uruha decided it needed a “a classy title.” It worked - the DVD was a smash, and inevitably invited talk of a Telephoto 2. Uruha’s boss praised the video as brilliant, and amazing, and a classic - and tried to pretend the writing and casting was his idea all along. Uruha just smirked.
Eventually, the rest of their staff found out the truth behind their new staff members - and rumors leaked out to the industry as a whole. Gossip about Byou being a diva died down.
What didn’t die down was what happened, and continued to happen, between the two costars. Shou found himself with another secondary boyfriend - although he found himself sharing said lover with Ruki. They had three-way sex almost as much as two-way.
It was a win-win-win for everyone. Byou did a good deed for his friends, PSC gained another major star, and Shou found his love life getting even more complex - in the best possible way.
If he really had an infinite capacity to love, he would have a lot of fun finding out what that capacity actually was.
Chapter: Eighth in The Camera Eye series, preceded by The Camera Eye. The Camera Eye: Going Major, The Camera Eye: Hearts and Flowers, The Camera Eye: Star Grabbing, The Camera Eye: Superstar, The Camera Eye: Trophy Boys and The Camera Eye: Dirty Soap
Author: Boots
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Porn industry AU, drama, smut, romance
Warnings: Male/male sex, polyamory, exhibition/voyeurism (since the characters work in the porn industry), begging, dirty talk
Pairing: Byou X Shou (main), Ruki X Shou
Disclaimer: Boys belong to PS Company, I own the story only.
Summary: A new star comes to PSC Productions, under the terms of a deal that’s gotten him labeled a diva both within and without the company. Shou is about to find out the truth behind the rumors.
Comments: Makes specific reference to the last two entries in this series (Trophy Boys and Dirty Soap) - it’s best to have read them before this one.
When Byou was officially signed by PSC Productions, it was treated as a major event. There was actually a signing photo - literally, Byou with a pen in his hand, bent over the desk in Saga’s office, with some of the company’s other stars applauding in the background. That was just about unheard of for porn.
Of course, that didn’t stop Uruha’s boss from saying to him later, “No more signing divas. Ever. Do you know how much this one cost me?”
“He’ll more than pay for himself within a year,” Uruha said.
“It’s not him,” the boss retorted. “It’s the three other people he insisted we sign as well.” Indeed, closing the deal had come with a caveat from Byou - that PSC Productions sign up his favorite writer (Jin), head cameraman (Rui) and uke (Manabu) as well.
“Saga needs the extra help,” Uruha reminded him. “He’s been writing just about everything single-handedly. And Lord knows I want a steady head cameraman to work with” - PSC had, until this point, been working with come-and-go crew members who floated between the porn houses.
“Fine,” the boss said. “And yet another uke? We have Shou. We also have Kazuki, Hiroto, Ruki . . .”
“Ruki’s a switch,” Uruha said. “Another uke will let him do more seme roles.”
“You just make sure Byou has a scene with Shou in his debut vehicle,” the boss said. “I want this diva to make his initial splash with the star uke, not with this new guy.”
Fortunately or unfortunately, Aoi happened to be passing the office at that point, and he stuck his head in and said, “Don’t you mean make his initial splash ON the star uke?”
“Aoi!” the boss said. “You’re not helping!”
“Look, I know you’re worried about all the new people,” Aoi said. “They’ll be fine. I’ll take the new uke on in my next video, okay? Give him a memorable debut. We all got our start somewhere, right?”
“And if Byou personally asked for him, I don’t think he’s a hundred percent newb anyhow,” Uruha said.
The boss sighed. “Fine. You win. You’ve brought enough money into this place that you get your way all the time, anyway. But if anything at all goes awry with this little scheme of yours . . .”
“It won’t,” Uruha said. His mind was churning right now to come up with ideas. His boss wanted a scene between Byou and Shou? He’d get a whole Byou/Shou vehicle. He was skeptical about the new writer? He’d have the guy write this screenplay and prove himself.
Uruha had gotten very good at outsmarting his boss - just another necessary skill one needed in the porn industry.
* * *
The screenplay Shou was given cast him as a photographer who was experimenting with a new telephoto lens when he happened to see his new across-the-street neighbor having sex with another man. This turned him on enough to immediately seek self-administered relief. He also watched the other man undress and caress himself, then have sex with a second man, before finally getting up the nerve to meet him face to face and begin an affair.
The finale of the story had Byou’s character finding out about Shou’s spying and breaking up with him - until Shou saved him from a jealous ex who’d come to take violent revenge. Throughout it all, Shou had sex with nobody but Byou - all his other scenes were solo.
It was a perfect vehicle for the new star - costarring with an established uke, plus getting to show his stuff with a couple of other actors, in a video that was packed with hot sex but had broad enough appeal that it might being in people who ordinarily didn’t watch porn.
“And we’re putting fliers out in Otome Road with just photos of the two of you - sexy and glamorous photos, nothing explicit,” Uruha said. “We might even expand to some of the more adventurous stores in Harajuku.”
“Wow,” Shou said. “You’re going all out, aren’t you?”
“We’re serious about this,” Uruha replied. Not to mention that he had to justify all this to his boss - especially the screenwriter, the cameraman and the extra uke, all of whom would be utilized for this video.
He wasn’t going to ask why they ended up with all these extra people - though he was definitely curious.
* * *
Shou’s peeping-by-camera and solo scenes were shot prior to his work with Byou - they’d be put together with the shots of Byou with his various partners (first Manabu, then Ruki) in the editing room. He was kind of bummed - because he was curious about the newcomer.
He knew what was being said about Byou on social media because of the terms of the signing deal - the term “diva” was being bandied about more often for him than it was for every idol singer in Japan put together.
This just served to make Shou all the more curious. When the porn industry gossiped about someone that usually meant they were jealous. Which meant Byou had to be even more extraordinary than he seemed in his videos - right?
“You’ll get your hands on him soon enough,” Ruki told him as they sat in a coffeehouse near the luxury apartment complex that was a common film set for them. “Why don’t you call him up and ask him out beforehand?”
Shou shook his head. “Uruha doesn’t want me to. He said he wants our first time on camera together to be our first time together, period. He wants my reactions to him to be natural.” He picked up his cup and drank from it, looking thoughtful. “You’ve been with him, haven’t you?”
“Where’d that come from?” Ruki said.
“You two did both disappear from the JAVA Awards afterparty at the same time.”
Ruki spluttered. “Like you were fucking chaste and restrained that night!” When he and Byou had finally exited the bedroom that night, he’d seen Shou, Kai and Uruha all exiting another bedroom together.
Shou looked down, flushing a little. And this was what separated him from all other porn stars - hell, most of the guys Ruki knew, period. He’d still genuinely blush when confronted with the fact that he’d had sex with two guys at a party.
“Okay, I had my fun, too,” he said. He looked up at Ruki, slowly. “So . . . how was he?”
“In-fucking-credible,” Ruki said. “I thought I was going to explode. He’s an artist who works in fucking. You’re going to enjoy yourself. And no, I’m not giving you the fine details. Uruha wants you to find out on camera, you find out on camera!”
Shou smiled, pressing his hand on top of Ruki’s. “Nobody listening to us would ever know we were dating,” he said.
“Well, we don’t exactly have a typical relationship,” Ruki said. It was typical porn polyamory. Ruki was Shou’s primary boyfriend, Kai was Shou’s secondary boyfriend and Uruha’s primary, and Ruki had some hopes in Byou’s direction. Plus, they were fair game for anyone else at their company on-camera, and they were open to any amount of casual flings.
“No,” Shou said. “I can’t say it’s the way I thought a relationship would be when I was a boy, but . . .” He squeezed the hand. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. With anyone else.”
Ruki raised his head, and his eyes met Shou’s. Slowly, their hands moved so they were clasping each other.
The l-word had never come up in their relationship - but there were some moments, like this one, when both of them quietly knew that it really wasn’t needed.
“You better make sure this is a good video,” Ruki said. “If it doesn’t sell, we’re all in deep shit.”
Shou smiled wider. They both squeezed each other’s hands, not breaking the eye contact. “I’ll make sure,” he said.
Yes. Definitely not needed.
* * *
Byou was impressed with what he’d experienced so far. He’d already filmed his sex scene with Manabu (Uruha wanted to start him off with a familiar costar to make him comfortable) and his character’s first meeting with Shou’s. (In accordance with Uruha’s wishes, they hadn’t talked with each other beforehand, so the scene had an appropriate feel of awkwardness and excited nerves).
He was arriving on the set today for the main event, the piece de resistance, the centerpiece of the video - the first sex between his character and Shou’s. They would have a shower scene later on, but it was the understanding of everyone involved that this would be the one to, as Jin had put it, “make them fire up Twitter.”
Byou was just glad that Jin seemed happy here. And Manabu. And Rui. Considering what they had gone through before . . .
He was sitting in a chair in the living room of the set, having his hair and makeup attended to by a cute loli. Across the apartment, Uruha and Rui were in the bedroom, setting up the cameras and discussing angles.
And here came his costar, his hair and face done already, wearing the shirt, jacket and dress pants that would be coming off him later. “Oh, hi,” Shou said. “You’re almost ready, it seems.”
“Just about.” Byou closed his eyes, allowing the young woman to finish her work with liner. Which was a shame, because it blocked his view of his costar. Shou was everything Byou had expected and more - beautiful, sensual, sexy, yet sweet and innocent at the same time.
No wonder the bloggers called him “the perfect uke.”
“You’ll be in this apartment a lot,” Shou said. “We use it all the time. That, and a big house downtown. We just change the furniture and curtains so it doesn’t look the same in every video. All of us take turns bringing in stuff from home.”
“You look like you’re at home here,” Byou said - but he still had his eyes closed. Well, sounded like he was at home here, at least.
“I feel at home,” Shou said. “This is the best job I’ve ever had. The people are terrific. Everything is relaxed.”
“And the sex doesn’t hurt, either?” The brushes were finally taken away. The loli showed him a mirror, and he nodded. She’d done a great job - bringing out his natural beauty without seeming too over-the-top.
Shou laughed, and blushed a little. “No. The sex doesn’t hurt, either.”
“Good thing it doesn’t, or you’d be doing it wrong,” Byou said. “Sit down. I want to talk to you before we do the scene. I know our director wanted us to be new to each other, but there’s such a thing as being too new.”
“Okay!” Shou pulled up a folding chair next to the one Byou was sitting in. “Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way right away. Yes, that was me on the Sunwash bottle. I shot the picture a year before I got into porn. I didn’t think they’d actually use it.”
“I wasn’t going to ask,” Byou said, “but you looked cute in it.”
“Guess you heard a lot about that mess” - meaning, the controversy that erupted when mainstream social media found out a popular family brand had a porn star on its bottle - “when you were at your old studio, huh?” Shou got a good look at his costar. Wow - even by the standards of gay porn actors, this one was really gorgeous. He seemed to radiate a raw sexuality from the inside out - a very good thing for this particular position.
“Not really,” Byou said. “I was too busy thinking about other things.”
“Like your departure?” said Shou.
“The departure, and what caused it,” Byou said. “And then holding my breath to see if your boss - our boss, now - would accept my terms.”
Ah, yes - the thing that got him called a diva. Shou noticed Byou said nothing about his social media status. Maybe he didn’t pay attention, or didn’t care. “What was it about the terms?” Shou said. “Because you asked them to hire the writer?”
“Not just the writer,” Byou said. “Look, it’s not a pretty story.”
“That’s okay,” Shou replied. “I don’t mind.”
Byou glanced over at Rui and Uruha again. “When we were at our old company, we had an asshole director. He believed in the casting couch - making actors sleep with him to get into his films. One day, he tried that with Manabu. Manabu turned him down - he was the first actor to do that.”
“What happened?” Shou said. “Did he get thrown off the film?”
“Not only did he get thrown off the film, but the bastard went right to the top brass and had him flat-out fired. And when Manabu tried to protest and tell the boss that he’d been harassed . . .”
This was the worst part. He took a deep breath and ran his hand over his hair. “The boss told him, ‘You’re in the sex industry. What do you mean, you were harassed? You signed up for this.’”
Shou cringed. He was sure that he was visibly squirming. He’d heard that PSC was an unusually nice company for the industry - but he never thought he’d hear something like that. “Oh, my God. He just . . . dismissed it?”
“And then Jin and Rui tried to stick up for him. They were on the set when the bastard hit on Manabu, and they went to the boss. They ended up getting fired as well. That’s when I knew I wanted out of that company, even if I had to wait tables.”
Shou thought for a moment. “You asked PSC to hire them if they hired you. . .”
“I already had the offer from PSC in front of me,” Byou said. “I was considering making the move before this happened. The firings pushed me over the edge. But I knew if I was going to PSC, I was going to make sure the three of them had jobs as well. So I stuck my neck out and told your bosses my terms for coming here. If it succeeded, we all ended up working together for a good company. If it failed, we’d all be waiting tables. I’m sure the bastards were planning to have Jin and Rui and Manabu blackballed from the industry.”
“You literally risked your career for them?” Shou said.
“Yes,” Byou said. “I had to. It was just right. I know I probably look like a diva to a lot of people right now, but - it was the opposite, really. ”
And in that moment, Shou fell a little bit in love. Never mind his complex web of feelings for Ruki and Kai. The fact that this man was this noble, that he was willing to put everything on the line for his friends . . .
Oh, yes, Shou would have NO problems offering up his body to this man.
“That’s . . . “ He groped for words. “That’s heroic. Just plain heroic.”
“You think so?” Byou said. “I was just doing the honest thing.”
Uruha walked over with an iPad. “Okay,” he said. “You two ready to go?”
“As we’ll ever be, right?” Byou said.
“Yes,” Shou said, standing up.
“Oh, and Byou?” Uruha said. “Your guys are working out GREAT. My boss is impressed - thank God. I don’t know how the hell your old company let them walk out.”
Shou and Byou exchanged looks. They’d tell Uruha - later. He had a right to know. But first, they had business to get down to.
* * *
The scene started with Byou and Shou’s characters eating dinner together and flirting, and Byou making a couple of references to the old boyfriend - “My last relationship ended badly. Since then - casual flings. But now, I think I’m ready to move past that.”
“You are?” Shou’s character replied.
“Yes. But let’s talk later, won’t we? Right now, I’m thinking of something else. Like . . .” He got up from the table and walked over to Shou. “Dessert.”
Shou stood up, and they leaned into each other, sharing their first kiss. And it was a nice one. Byou knew just how to use lips and tongue, pressing gently, tenderly, then getting more insistent, probing into Shou’s mouth, and Shou probed back, parting his lips so the camera could catch their tongues rubbing against each other.
A handheld camera tracked them as they walked to the bedroom, Shou leaning over to kiss Byou again, the two of them pausing by the bed. Byou leaned over to kiss Shou’s neck, his fingers running along the front of his shirt, unfastening the buttons one by one.
Shou tipped his head back, letting his eyes fall closed and his lips open as Byou pushed the garment down and off, running his nails lightly up his arms and over his shoulders, scratching him lightly, just enough so that Shou felt a tiny bit of pain, enough to spike things with a little hint of danger.
The camera zoomed in for a closeup as Byou began to lick down his chest, his tongue slow and hot and wet, circling his nipple before his lips closed around it and he sucked. His renowned oral skills were no mere hype - he had an instinctive knack for how to vary pressure, hard sucking followed by soft followed by licking, the pleasure within Shou peaking, then ebbing, then peaking again . . .
Shou’s onscreen emotions were always real - he’d never been guilty of “faking it” - but the moan he let out was one of unusually unbridled, out-of-control passion, even for him. He tangled his fingers in Byou’s hair, moaning “More . . .”
Byou raised his head, looking up at Shou with half-lidded, sensual eyes . . . and then reached down, unfastening and pulling down the zipper of his pants, sliding his hand inside. His fingers lightly brushed Shou’s cock - the specifics of what he was doing were hidden from the audience by the pants and underwear, but they could see motion under the cloth, enough to pique their imagination.
There was a pause, and then Byou pushed down all that fabric, while the camera lovingly captured the reveal of Shou’s cock. Byou ran his fingers slowly up and down the length, brushing back and forth, watching and listening for Shou’s reactions.
“There,” Shou purred, as Byou touched a spot at the base. “Right there . . .”
Shou squeezed his eyes shut tight, moaning as his fingers ran back and forth across the spot, touching just enough to make his nerve endings quiver, then dancing away. Good God, everything this man did was expert. Ruki wasn’t kidding. To say that Byou knew what he was doing was the understatement of the millennium.
He felt his hands being grabbed, and put on Byou’s shirtfront, and Shou began to unfasten buttons and zippers quickly. He saw Byou’s eyes devouring him with hunger, and it just fueled the fire inside him even more. He didn’t care about the cameras - he just wanted this man.
The shirt and pants couldn’t come off fast enough. Shou leaned over and ran his tongue over a nipple, remembering somewhere in the back of his mind that yes, they had to get this on camera, didn’t they, he had to make this visible. He kissed, licked again, and rubbed the side of his face over it, letting out a small moan.
“Oh,” Byou sighed. “Good . . .”
Shou moved to the other nipple, licking all around it, and realized he was reaching down, grabbing his own cock and stroking it, because Byou got him that hot, he had to have relief.
Byou suddenly put his fingers under Shou’s chin and tipped his head upward. “Now, you don’t have to do that,” he said. “I want to do it for you.”
He motioned for Shou to stand up, and he wrapped his fingers around Shou’s erection. Shou did the same to his, and the two men began to stroke each other, the camera moving in to get a close shot of fingers sliding up and down hard flesh, Shou circling the tip with his thumb while Byou caressed that spot at the base which had driven Shou wild before.
They moaned in unison as their hands moved faster, Byou twisting his hand a little as he stroked, Shou mirroring his motions, the two of them pushing their hips forward so their cocks brushed against each other a little.
Suddenly, Byou let go of Shou, and Shou did the same, looking confused . . . until there were hands on his shoulders, pushing him backward. He tumbled to the bed, and raised his head to look at his lover, panting and covered with sweat.
Byou ran his hands slowly down Shou’s chest, over his stomach, then down to his thighs. “Beautiful,” he said. “You’re so very beautiful.”
He bent over and began to kiss his way down Shou’s chest, flicking his tongue over the nipple again, nipping at the stomach. One camera traced his progress, the other showed Shou’s reaction, his eyes closed and his head moving side to side, slowly.
Byou raised his head just long enough to grab a bottle of lube from the nighttable. He opened it and poured it over his fingers, then bent over, looking up at Shou with a heated expression . . .
His tongue touched the bottom of Shou’s hardness and started to slide upward just as one finger pushed into his entrance.
Shou let out an animal cry. He grabbed at the bedding with both hands, spread his legs wider, and lost himself totally in what the other man was doing, in the motion of that hot tongue stroking his cock with delicious and agonizing slowness; in the finger that slid in further with each thrust, dancing around, caressing, trying to memorize his hot spots ahead of time so he knew just how to fuck him.
The scene that the camera was capturing was absolutely delicious, with Shou lost in total bliss, letting out primal sounds, beads of sweat running down his pretty skin, squirming and clutching and lifting his hips, then thrusting them down hard against the second finger that invaded him.
And there was Byou, calm and in control, tongue swirling along the shaft, moving down further . . . he licked along Shou’s balls, bringing a fresh moan and shudder, and then swept upward again, until he was circling the tip, licking up a drop of precome as if it were the sweetest nectar.
By the time the third finger worked into him, Shou was moaning, uncontrollably, “Fuck me, fuck me, please, I need it so bad . . .”
“Tell me what else you want.” Byou kissed the tip, and Shou shuddered again.
“I want your cock deep and hard in me.” This was totally unscripted dialogue - it was from Shou’s heart, not to mention parts lower. “I want you to fill me until I’m ready to burst.”
Byou pulled his fingers out. “If you want my cock, kiss it,” he said. “Show me how much.”
Shou got up on his knees - suddenly aware of the cameras again, mindful of where they were - and bent over, kissing the tip of Byou’s hardness worshipfully. He looked up at him before kissing it again, licking slowly around the head as he grabbed for the lube, pouring it on his hand and preparing Byou to take him.
“Good,” Byou said. “Now, get ready for me.”
Shou got into the classic uke pose, bent over with his ass in the air, all the better for the cameras to be able to capture everything - long shots of the two of them, closeups of faces and hands, extreme closeups of cock pumping in and out of ass. He felt Byou’s hardness press against him, the other man’s hands grabbing his ass, spreading the cheeks wider . . .
Then he was pressing into him, filling him like Shou wanted, and the uke pressed his fist against his mouth, not even minding the pain of initial penetration, because God, what this would feel like when it faded and became pleasure . . .
“Is this what you wanted?” Byou said as he paused, his cock sheathed within tight heat, his hands wandering over Shou’s body, lightly scratching his back again, running down his arms.
“Yes,” Shou panted. “You feel so good . . .”
“It’ll get better.” Byou started to move his hips, slowly, pulling back and out, pausing, pushing in. “You feel so good, too. You’re so tight . . .” His fingers slid under his body, finding and caressing the nipples. “Tight as a virgin, but you fuck like a slut.”
“Ohhh . . .” The dirty talk was turning him on even more. “Please, more . . .”
“You’ll get more.” And Byou started to thrust harder, speeding up a bit. “You’ll get as much as you want, beautiful. I love the noises you make.”
Shou gave him plenty of those noises. Oh, my God, the man was incredible. He was slowing down, then speeding up, thrusting long and hard, then rapid, shallow little pumping, stimulating one group of nerve endings, then another. . .
His cock was dancing in him. That was the only way to put it. And Shou could only thrust back, his hips jerking and swaying, pushing himself onto that wonderful hardness. He was panting and moaning and murmuring, feeling the sweat pouring from him, the impact as Byou’s flesh slammed against his again and again, all of it making him hotter and hotter, the tingling in his stomach so intense he thought he was going to burst into flame from within.
Byou pulled up on his shoulders, and Shou raised himself up until he was almost sitting on Byou’s cock, still thrusting back against him, a pose designed to put his orgasm on display for the camera.
He felt one hand wrap around his cock, stroking rapidly, and another sliding over his nipple, gently squeezing and caressing, and a hot tongue on his neck, licking slowly . . . and then came a deep thrust inside him, hitting the sweetest of sweet spots . . .
Shou let go, completely and totally. He felt the pleasure explode like skyrockets. He nearly screamed, the come pouring from him until he thought he was drained dry, but he didn’t care. Wave after wave of shudders passed through him, until he fell forward again, gasping.
He felt Byou’s last few hard thrusts, heard a loud cry, felt wetness pouring onto his ass. There was the weight of the other man crashing down on him, and then nothing but the heavy breathing of them both.
A voice from seemingly another universe yelled, “Cut!” Then, there was applause. Slow at first, then louder, faster, until it filled the whole room . . . the applause of people who knew they had witnessed something special.
Byou rolled onto his back, and Shou somehow managed to move. The sheets were stuck to him. Literally, glued to his body, by a mixture of sweat and come The room was still spinning around him.
Ruki wasn’t kidding when he said Byou was “in-fucking-credible.”
Shou turned his head toward the other man, who seemed to be recovering himself, panting with his eyes closed. “Welcome to the company,” Shou said, weakly.
“I’m glad to be here,” Byou replied. “I’ve never been so glad to be somewhere in my life.”
Both men laughed, and they leaned over and kissed. “How was I?” Shou said.
“Even better than I thought you’d be,” Byou said. “I’d say I was up for round two, but I don’t think I can move.”
Shou laughed. “What do you mean, better than you thought I’d be?”
“I watched your videos, and I kind of got a crush on you.”
“You did?” Shou said, blushing a little.
“You’re like some kind of fantasy,” Byou said. “You look so sweet and innocent and do such dirty things. I thought about what fucking you would be like a lot.” He nuzzled him. “I was hoping they’d give you to me for my debut.”
Damn . . . Shou found himself falling a little bit more in love. How many men could he have feelings for? He loved Ruki, he loved Kai, and now . . . now, he could love someone else.
His grandmother once told him he had an infinite capacity to love. He never thought he’d use it like this.
“We need to get cleaned up,” Shou reminded his co-star. “Afterward . . .” He smiled at the other man. “We can see about that round two, if we’re up to it.”
“If not now, maybe later?” The two men got up off the very sticky bed and headed for the bathroom.
“I’d love it,” Shou said, squeezing his hand. “Maybe we could even have dinner.” Such was the porn star’s life - sex first, dates later.
Shou glanced over at his director as they headed for the bathroom. He was going to sit him down later and tell him the truth about why Byou made his “diva deal.” He felt Uruha had a right to know.
But that would come later. The film crew had to deal with the rushes . . . and the two of them had to deal with other things.
Shou didn’t care what the rest of the industry said. As far as he was concerned, Byou was no diva. He was the opposite.
* * *
The video they made together was called Telephoto - Uruha decided it needed a “a classy title.” It worked - the DVD was a smash, and inevitably invited talk of a Telephoto 2. Uruha’s boss praised the video as brilliant, and amazing, and a classic - and tried to pretend the writing and casting was his idea all along. Uruha just smirked.
Eventually, the rest of their staff found out the truth behind their new staff members - and rumors leaked out to the industry as a whole. Gossip about Byou being a diva died down.
What didn’t die down was what happened, and continued to happen, between the two costars. Shou found himself with another secondary boyfriend - although he found himself sharing said lover with Ruki. They had three-way sex almost as much as two-way.
It was a win-win-win for everyone. Byou did a good deed for his friends, PSC gained another major star, and Shou found his love life getting even more complex - in the best possible way.
If he really had an infinite capacity to love, he would have a lot of fun finding out what that capacity actually was.